Disney Tips!

Y'all, please know that I am NO Disney expert. However, I have been asked a LOT of questions about our trips, and I am more than happy to recount our experiences. I know we have only been twice, but we have definitely been bitten by the "Disney bug". We LOVE it and it just is the most perfect vacation for us. There is just something so magical about it, and you just have ZERO worries. No lie. From check in, to food, to needing something in the park, to check out, you are covered. The staff there is just so awesome.

Planning- Truth be told, Robbie and I didn't do a lot of planning. We didn't buy books or read blogs. We just knew we wanted to go through a travel agent. We went through Jerica Rossi with Cupcake Castles Travel Company. Her email is jerica@cupcakecastlestravel.com. We have used her both times and LOVE her. She is super quick with responses, and full of great info and advice! She made all of our stroller rentals, restaurant reservations, resort, etc. reservations. I cannot say enough good things about her. We have had two more friends book through her since we started using her. Her services are completely free, too! She is paid by Disney. So, email her today for a free quote! ;)

Resort- This trip, we stayed at Pop Century resort. We stayed at Art of Animation last year. They are both value resorts. We really like staying on property. You can take advantage of Disney's transportation system, and you can only get the dining plan if you stay on property. AoA is newer, but really is laid out the same as PC. They both have good food courts, an arcade, awesome gift shop, pools, etc. We had a family suite at AoA, since Mama and Hannah both went last year. This year, Hannah didn't go, so it was way more cost effective for us to stay in two separate rooms. We had adjoining rooms, which was awesome. William slept in Mama's room, so Robbie and I had plenty of room to spread all of our stuff out on the two beds. Even though it was a value resort, we were never bothered by that. We were literally only in our room for about 8 hours, to sleep and eat breakfast. Plus, the value resorts are a little more "tacky" aka Disney memorabilia everywhere, which William LOVED. The other resorts seem more "adult", and I think W wouldn't have enjoyed them as much.

Memory maker- Disney has an awesome Photo Pass system - you can stop at any Disney photographers in the park, and add the photos to your magic band, and then buy whichever ones you want. Well, this year we decided to go ahead and get the Memory Maker package. If you buy it in advance, you save $50 off of the price, and it was SO awesome. We got over 200 pictures! We stopped whenever we saw a photographer, and we also were able to get all of our ride pictures, character meet and greet pictures, etc. It was so awesome, and last year I spent about $60 just buying THREE prints, so to me it was worth the money to get them all, and I can print where I want to.

Table Service Meals- Table service meals are one of my favorite parts of Disney. They are so fun and nice, with amazing food! We always have gotten the dining plan, so we didn't have to worry about how much things cost. We all love it, and the table service meals can get expensive if you are paying out of pocket. A quick list of where we ate last time - 50's Prime Time in Hollywood Studios (LOVE, fun atmosphere and GREAT food - think Pot Roast, fried chicken, ribs, etc. Home cookin'.), Whispering Canyon at the Wilderness Lodge Resort (YUM! Hilarious servers, very interactive, all you can eat, BBQ type food), Tony's Town Square Restaurant at Magic Kingdom (AMAZING Italian food. The shrimp scampi was to die for!!! Beautiful views of Main Street USA.), Teppan Edo at Epcot (Japanese steak house. Really good, but honestly I prefer Kanki right here in Raleigh haha). This trip, we tried different restaurants: Hollywood and Vine at Hollywood Studios (Loved the food, loved the interactive characters), Chef Mickey's at the Comtemporary Resort (Pretty good food, loved seeing the characters), Ohana at the Polynesian Resort (AMAZINGGG, delicious, etc. Shew!), Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom (Decent food, William loved the Pooh  characters), Liberty Tree Tavern at Magic Kingdom (really good food!!). We still have so many places we want to try, but a lot of these, we would want to do again!

Polka dots and stripes- I was asked a lot where William's appliqued shirts came from. I got them from a boutique on Facebook, Polka Dots and Stripes. She is awesome, and so easy to work with. I found examples of shirts I wanted, and she was able to recreate them!
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Renting stroller- Both times we have gone to Disney, we have rented a stroller. We go through Apple Scooter, and the price is VERY reasonable. I LOVE our Britax, but it is so big, and I thought it might be hard to navigate through all of the people in the parks. We rented a City Mini jogging stroller - it was perfect.

Magic Bands- Something new that we didn't have last year were the Magic Bands. We LOVED them. I think as of right now, you have to stay in a Disney resort to get them. We got to go online and customize the color we wanted, and they shipped right to us. They let you into your room, into the parks, record all of your FastPasses, your debit card can be linked, and the Disney photographer scans them so all of your pictures are in one place. They were so awesome. They are a lot easier than the Keys to the Kingdom cards that we had last year, because you don't have to keep up with them - they're just on your wrist!

FastPass+- With the addition of Magic Bands, Disney now uses FastPass+ instead of the regular FastPass. This way was a lot easier. We went online and picked our FastPasses ahead of time, for each park. You can have 3 a day per person. We picked rides/shows that we knew were usually packed, and it worked out great. You also can change them at any time!! Many people were walking around the park on their phone, adjusting FastPass options!

My Disney experience- The My Disney Experience app was SO nice!! It has maps of the parks, records all of your reservations (dinner, FastPass) for each day. I made a wish list of things we wanted to do in the parks, and that was all there. All we had to do was download the free app, and our info was loaded from the website with our login info. It was so convenient, and even tells you wait times!!!

Under 3- Just wanted to throw this out there, if your child is under 3, they are FREE!!! We have paid NOTHING for W both times we went. No park tickets, no meal plan, etc. We occasionally ordered him a kid's meal if we ate somewhere that he didn't like the food. They are around $6, so not too shabby considering he was free otherwise!! Besides being free, there is a ton for them to do at that age! We took William at 18 months and almost two and a half, and both times he had a blast!!! He loved all of the shows, and any rides that he could ride (which was surprisingly right many).

Time of Year- Last year, we went to Disney in May. It wasn't too crowded, but it was super hot. This year, we went in February. It was PERFECT. The crowd was pretty similar to May, we thought. But the weather was amazing. It was around 75-80 degrees during the day, and 65-70 at night. We had sunshine every single day except one, and only 5 minutes of rain the entire time. It was so wonderful!!! I'd like to try the fall and Christmastime too! :)

That's about all I can think of right now! We just LOVE going to Disney. It is so magical and I just love how you can forget everything and just enjoy a good time. If you have anymore questions, let me know!! I love talking Disney! :)