Disney World with Seven Adults & Three Toddlers (Plus friends along the way!)

[KeepCalmAndCarryOn]

Disney Trip Report



We are just back from a week (plus a few days) in the Happiest Place on Earth! It had been a good seven years since we had been to the World so figured it would be helpful to write down some of my take-aways from the new(er) technology and traveling with three toddlers. (My 14 month old twins and my 2 year old nephew.) We were a party of 10; seven adults and three toddlers, and had at times up to 15 people as we met with friends who were down. It was also the Flower and Garden festival so I am a solid five pounds heavier.

We drove, and while it went AMAZINGLY well, our hope is to fly moving forward! Our twins are champion drive-nappers, so the travel from Maine to Florida was pretty uneventful.

I don't mean anything to sound negative because truly, this was the best week of my life aside from the week my twins were born (and every moment in between). I am hoping some of this might help another new parent plan their first adventure through the lens of a first time mama.


The Good

• Character Meals: I know character meals can be hit or miss with little kids; our kids happened to adore the characters and would scream out a big Hi! with a hug and a kiss for every character they met. The favorites were Minnie, Mickey and Pooh. Most of the character meals were also buffet or family style which allowed us to eat at their pace and get a good variety of food that they liked. These meals had no meltdowns and often were the best eating the kids did in Florida.
• Biergarten & Raglan Road*: Food with music and dancing were also a good mix for us. The kids would stop and dance just walking into a park, so when there was actual music and dancing, it was a great focal point for them. The dancers at Raglan were wonderful with our littles.
• Drummers, Street Performers, and Music: Taking the time to watch the drummers in Pandora, the concerts in Epcot, and the street performers in Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios was amazing. The kids were so interactive… I think my daughter expects applause whenever she does anything now!
• Slowing down: We took time to let the kids do this trip on their schedule. Naps happened in the room and in the stroller and we adapted as needed. We also tried to get pool time in, which was great for everyone. I admit we didn’t get as much pool time as we liked; if a stroller nap happened we just didn’t get back to the hotel in time for the pool, but well rested kids made a better experience for all.
• Boat Rides: Frozen Ever After, Small World, Three Amigos in Mexico, Pirates, the river ride in Pandora… Our kids loved the slow pace and music on these rides. They loved Frozen Ever After so much it softened the blow of the loss of trolls for me!
• We adored our meals at Sanaa and Rose & Crown as well, just wonderful people and wonderful food. Lots of laughs and lots of good eats.
• The Flower and Garden festival was awesome for trying snacks, and the shows around the World Showcase are always awesome.

The Bad

• Stroller Parking & Strollers on things that move: The only real negative experience I had was with a cast member giving explicit instructions to bring our double BOB to the BACK of the train in Magic Kingdom where there is an extra wide row. We even were asked to wait for the next train to arrive to allow for this space. When we loaded the train, we went to the specified row, walking past MANY other empty rows. Turns out, that row CAN’T hold strollers and we were told we had to remove the stroller by another cast member. When we tried to explain that we had been told to put the stroller there, we got quite a bit of sass. We were basically told we had to squeeze the stroller onto the train WITH us (wasn’t fitting) or needed to wait for yet another train, as the train had filled as we loaded. I completely understand the need for safety, but it was pretty upsetting to me - I am a rule-follower and while I am sure that for some cast members it gets tiring saying the same thing over and over, this was my first trip with kids and a stroller and it was all new to me.
• As an addition to this: Stroller parking is never super convenient to attractions or restaurants. I was pretty excited anytime the stroller was allowed in a five minute radius of wherever we were going This wasn’t a big deal, just something I never previously paid attention to.
• Coral Reef: LOVED our waiter. He was awesome. We were seated about as far away from the aquarium as we could be, and the reality is, with three small children those fish held their attention in a major way. We could walk to see the fish, but not without being over someone’s shoulder… and the meal itself took over two hours from the time we were seated until our food came out. My husband and I left early as the kids couldn’t handle it, thankfully we had a large party who could take the food to go. I can imagine this is a lovely place to eat for most, but definitely not recommended for littles.
• Raglan Road: Yet another where the seating of littles didn’t make much sense… We were in the back, far away from the stage, and my kids spent the entire time watching the music and dancers, dancing themselves. Another meal I shoveled between shifts Lots of potential here for littles, but the seating just didn’t make sense.

With the addition of the Fast Pass system and Magic Bands this was a learning trip for us in many ways, even though we have been to Disney more times than I can count. A lot changed in the last seven years; hopefully we will be returning soon!