Disney World: Where All Your Dreams Come True

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Disney. I can now officially say that we survived Disney World with a 4-year-old and a 2-month-old. I admit that I was very nervous about going with the baby but he did really well. I thought I would share some tips and products that we used that kept things going smoothly along the way.

Packing
I decided not to use typical suitcases for the kids and instead packed all of their things in these Thirty One bags.

They are so roomy and easy to carry plus I wanted Audrey to be able access all of her things on her own. She is quite the independent little lady these days and always wants to pick out her own outfits, which leads me to my first tip. I put an outfit complete with socks, underwear, and hair accessories in a plastic bag.

That way, she could pick each day what she wanted to wear and I didn't have to worry about her picking something mismatched or just not appropriate for the weather. I got this idea from Pinterest and this blog. It worked really well.

Getting There
We live in Ohio so getting to Orlando by car takes about 14 hours. This was not something I wanted to do with an infant who nurses every 2-3 hours. That would mean that we would have to stop at least six times for a half-hour each time. Not something I was willing to do. At the same time, traveling by air with all of our stuff would have cost a fortune. So, this is what we ended up doing...I flew with the kids and my husband and his dad drove taking all of our junk with them. We didn't have to check any bags at the airport and they were able to drive without all of the chaos that ensues with two young children.

Nursing
One of my concerns about taking Will to Disney was how often he needs to eat. I am not usually one to breastfeed in public but I had to quickly get over my insecurities. My absolute lifesaver was my nursing cover.

 I usually tried to find a place with air-conditioning or a secluded, shaded bench. All the Disney parks have Baby Care Centers that I used whenever we were close enough to them. All in all, Will stayed satisfied and I welcomed the opportunities to sit down and take a break.

Keeping Cool
The hot, muggy Florida weather was another concern. We wanted to keep both kids cool and happy. These two products that I picked up at Babies R Us were absolute lifesavers for Will.



 The fan (Diono stroller fan) attached to his baby carrier so he always had a constant breeze. Be sure to bring extra batteries and a mini screwdriver along with you because you will need to change them. The sun shade (Summer infant ray shade) was great also because it extended the shade on our stroller and it provided UVA/UVB protection. Babies under 6 months aren't supposed to wear sunscreen but his doctor did okay us applying a little to his feet when they were sticking out.

As for Audrey, we were definitely OCD about sunscreen. We reapplied it every two hours and used an SPF 90. We also got her a spray fan like this one, which she loved.



Thoughts about the Parks
There are so many options when it comes to visiting Disney World. There are four different parks and a water park. You can buy tickets for multiple days and choose options like the Hopper. We weren't exactly sure how many days we wanted to go but we ultimately decided on four days with the hopper option, which lets you visit more than one park in a day.

We went into this trip with the realization that Audrey wouldn't remember every detail about it; therefore, we weren't stressed about seeing everything. We figured we would go back when she was older anyways. This mindset let us take our time and go with the flow.

Here's how it all went down...

Magic Kingdom on Monday for fifteen hours straight, open to close. We managed to cover about 75% of the park and we stayed to watch the electrical parade and fireworks at the end of the night, which were amazing!

Animal Kingdom on Tuesday for half the day. We did a safari and a few other things but didn't stay long. We were all a little worn out from the day before.

Hollywood Studios on Thursday for most of the day. This park consists mainly of shows so it was nice to sit back and relax. Plus, most of the shows were in air conditioning, which was a huge plus.

Friday we had reservations to eat breakfast with the princesses (booked several months in advance) at Magic Kingdom. It was definitely "magical" and Audrey had a wonderful time. From there, we did some things that we had missed on Monday and stayed until early evening.

So, we decided not to visit Epcot this time around since we heard that it doesn't have much for the little ones. We also didn't use the Hopper since we were always so exhausted by the time we were done at a park. I think if I had older kids it might be a good idea.

When doing the rides we used FastPasses as much as we could. You get a special ticket with a time frame to return to the ride. You then get in a special line with very little wait. You need your admission ticket to get a FastPass and once you have one, you can't get another for two hours.

Audrey's favorite thing, by far, was meeting the characters. She is at the perfect age where she isn't afraid of them and believes they are the real deal. Doing something like the princess breakfast or a meal at Chef Mickey is the best way to meet several characters at once.

Finally, I downloaded an app on my iPhone that was a great resource. It has a map with GPS of all of the parks, character meeting times, event times, wait time for rides, etc. It is called Disney Parks and it was free!

We stayed a week in Orlando so we only had a couple "off" days. It was a wonderful time with the kids but I could definitely use a vacation from my vacation.  : ) Pin It