We went on a Disney World trip for Graham’s first trip and my birthday in mid December. It was such a wonderful, memorable trip for just the 3 of us! We stayed on property, went to the parks, ate some yummy food, and enjoyed a slowed down version of Disney. I always hear people say “don’t bring babies to Disney, they’ll never remember!” but I have to completely disagree with that mindset….YOU will remember and that is just as important! I wanted to document how we did our Disney trip with our almost 18 month old so you can get some tips, tricks, and insight to help make your Disney World family vacation a great one, free of stress!
Disney planning can be extremely overwhelming and stressful. The more you go and plan, the more familiar it will become but if it’s your first time, first time in a while, or you don’t go often, it can be confusing. We try to save as much money as we can when planning our Disney trips. I’m here to break the stigma of not being able to go to Disney World without paying 10k.
Tips & Tricks
I’ll list information about our travel, stay, food, etc. but here are some quick tips and tricks for planning your Disney World vacation!
- Stay on property – look into renting DVC points!
- Don’t rent a car (utilize all FREE Disney transportation)
- Pay for park tickets you know you’ll use/get the most out of
- Plan resort and Disney Springs days (don’t go to a park everyday!)
Travel
We’ve both had a Capital One Venture Card for yearsss (I think about 8 years now). We have used point with our card on several different flights or trips but since we weren’t able to travel for a couple years, our points just kept piling up. We live in NJ and flights to Orlando can typically be cheap but sometimes they’re expensive! I always make sure to check flights and resort prices before we even start to really think of a trip. Our flights are typically around $100-$250 and we use points for this where we can.
Flight: This past trip, we bought 3 tickets so Graham would have his own seat and paid for all 3 with our points. Steve has his own card/points and I have my own card/points. We fly either from Newark or Philadelphia and always to Orlando (MCO).
Car Seat: We brought Graham’s car seat…he sits in a convertible one now but still fits in his newborn one, so we brought his Uppababy Mesa carseat and set it up in the plane seat closest to the window since it takes room up to the seat in front. We also used this for the Uber we got to/from the airport.
Stroller: We bought a smaller stroller so we wouldn’t have to bring our Uppababy Vista V2 stroller and risk getting it damaged or lost. I wanted to make sure it still laid back for him to nap in and that it had an under basket section underneath to fit a lot since that’s what we are used to and would definitely miss it. We bought the Summer Infant 3Dquickclose for $90. It worked well for what we needed but it is far from luxurious and doesn’t open as easily as it makes it seem but still worked perfectly for what we needed. You also have the option to rent a stroller from a 3rd party company down there and they bring it right to your resort! I just don’t know costs of that.
Uber: Since the Magical Express from MCO is no more (RIP!!! so sad) we opt to take an Uber from the airport to the resort and from the resort back to the airport. Depending on the time of day, one way is usually $30-$60. There is no need to rent a car for a Disney trip since they offer such great free transportation options. More on that below!
Stay / Resort
I have stayed in many places when doing a Disney World trip. Before we had Graham, we went on a trip with our friends and their toddlers and rented a house off property. It was fun to have a pool and a whole house but honestly, the back and forth driving, car rental price, and not being ‘close’ to the parks made it not feel ‘Disney’ and was not convenient. Everywhere in Orlando is basically at least a 30 minute drive unless you are staying on Disney property. We have vowed to always be on Disney property for future trips because it just makes more sense and is sooo much more convenient and easier to get around.
When we stay on property we love to stay at Port Orleans French Quarter for a moderate resort but this time we wanted more space, the ability to have a sink/little kitchenette area, and a balcony which are only available at deluxe resorts. Graham has 2 cups of milk a day so we wanted a fridge to keep a half a gallon of milk. He also naps 2-3 hours during the day and we didn’t want to have to just sit in a dark room while he napped in his crib- having a balcony makes more sense for this scenario.
I was able to rent Disney Vacation Club (DVC) points (which I have done a number of times in the past) for us to stay at the Polynesian for 4 nights which cost us a total of $1,580. For reference, the Poly can cost $1,000 a night when booking through the Disney site. Renting DVC points is always the way to go when staying at a Deluxe Resort! We wanted the ease of using the monorail or walking to Epcot on this trip so I focused on Monorail resorts and Epcot resorts when choosing our dates and points available. This time I booked direct with an owner when finding availability through private Facebook groups I am a part of. With this option you have to be extremely vigilant and understand what to look for/ask for to avoid a scam. I have previously rented through David’s Vacation Club Rentals which is a credited site and company.
Definitely do your research on types of resorts and resort rooms! The Poly does not have suites unfortunately but their DVC studio rooms have 2 separate bathrooms. One with a standup shower and sink and one with a tub/shower, sink, and toilet. We put Graham’s crib in the smaller bathroom so we could shut the door and still be in the main part of the room to watch tv, use the toilet, or go out on the balcony.
After this trip, we HIGHLY recommend staying on a monorail resort with young kids! Made nap times soo much easier and the amenities of a Deluxe Resort really are worth it.
Food
I packed cups of Annie’s mac and cheese, apple sauce packets, and some snack bars for Graham in our suitcase to have as snacks in the room or on the go.
When we first arrived, we got a half a gallon of milk from the convenient store in the resort located on the second floor.
We are not the type of eaters that need huge, sit down meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We chose to do 1 ‘sit down’ meal for this trip. We ate at Ohana for breakfast during a resort day and it was such a fun way to start the day! We never had to leave the resort which made it that much more convenient too.
For the rest of the trip we ate at the quick service (Captain Hooks or Pool bar) on the Resort or quick service meals in the parks. The kids meals all come with sides and we made sure to save those as snacks if Graham never ate them for later or the next day. The sides are typically clementines, apple slices, or yogurts. We chose to order oatmeal some mornings for Graham and were able to save that with the top that it comes with as well. We did the math afterwards and spent under 1k for food for all 5 days. That included meals, treats, snacks, drinks, and food at the airport!
Transportation
Getting around Disney property is super simple. We never feel the need to rent a car and are perfectly happy with using Disney transportation (buses, monorail, boats, skyliner). Staying at the Poly made transportation a breeze this trip and it definitely spoils you! The only parks we did this trip were Magic Kingdom and Epcot so we really only need to use the monorail. We did go to Disney Springs for a few hours and used the bus to get there. We also visited the Wilderness Lodge resort and took the boat to get there.
The only non Disney transportation we used (and typically use) is Uber to get to the resort from the airport and back to the airport from the resort.
Our Itinerary
Steve and I told ourselves that we would not push Graham just because we were in Disney. We have been enough times to know that this trip would be different than a typical one and that we wanted to keep it slow. I was also 21 weeks pregnant so a slowed down Disney trip sounded even more magical. We let Graham basically dictate our schedule and decisions. We never deviated from his normal bedtime and if he seemed like he needed his nap earlier than usual, we allowed it without saying ‘let’s try to do 1 more thing.’ It made it SO enjoyable. We highly recommend choosing a resort that you can enjoy and want to be at if the parks become too much (because they will). Do the parks you know your child/children will enjoy most. Don’t do all 4 parks just because you feel you have to! In the end we probably would have done 1 more resort day between the park days but below is the schedule we did that still worked so well!
We arrived on a Saturday around 2pm and enjoyed the pool and splash pad right away and ordered food from the pool lounge. We did the pool and sat on the beach in the evening and it was such a relaxing afternoon and evening after getting into Disney from a travel day. The next day (Sunday) we did a full resort day. We ate breakfast at Ohana where Graham got to see Mickey, Pluto, Stitch, and Lilo. We then took the monorail to Grand Floridian to check out the gingerbread houses and then took the boat to Wilderness Lodge to check out the resort and their Christmas decorations. Graham napped in the stroller this day. We made our way back to the Poly and spent the rest of the day in the pool and splash pad again. Later in the afternoon we took the bus to Disney Springs to enjoy a couple hours there where Graham got to choose a stuffed animal. He chose Pluto!
I chose to reserve our park days for Monday and Tuesday because it’s typically less crowded in the parks during the week. We also did not include park hoppers because we knew it would be too much with Graham and it wouldn’t be necessary. I made the decision to do Epcot on Monday and Magic Kingdom on Tuesday for 1 main reason. Magic Kingdom was having a Mickey’s Christmas Party on Tuesday which means that the park closes early for a special ticketed event. Most people don’t like that they pay the same price for a ticket when the park closes early at 7pm so they go to any other park that day besides Magic Kingdom.
Monday we did Epcot. Took the monorail there, took is back for nap time, and then back to enjoy the park the rest of the day. We did NOT deviate from Graham’s typical bed time. He got tired much more quickly than usual (remember that it’s stimulation overload for kids!) so we kept an eye on him and used him as our gauge of when it was time for a nap. We headed back to the resort at 11am for him to nap and we were back in the park a bit before 3pm. We only stayed until 7pm and he was in bed by 7:30pm. He got to ride Nemo, Figment, and the Mexico ride and LOVED them all. We also got to do the new Moana walk through experience and it’s so much fun and so beautiful! We did it as the last thing at night and it was a cold night in the low 50s but the water was so warm and still enjoyable! So just an FYI if you ever go during cold temps. He got to play in all the play areas (aquarium after Nemo, imagination area after Figment), with the drums and instruments in the outpost area, listened to live music performed at all the different countries (he loved the Japanese drummers!), watched the trains in Germany, and LOVED his new bubble wand!
Tuesday we did Magic Kingdom and got in at 8am for rope drop during early magic hours since we were staying in a Deluxe resort. The park was honestly empty all day so my theory of event days being very quiet during the day holds up! We got to ride and see a lot before the park even officially opened! I bought Genie+ for this day and the first ride I chose a fast lane for was Pirates of the Caribbean later in the morning. We rode It’s a Small World right when we got in then Winnie the Pooh. He LOVED Small World and playing in the line playground area for Pooh. He was exhausted right away and took a good almost 2 hours nap at 10am. Pirates broke down during our return time so we were able to make another lightning lane for a different ride and could return to Pirates any time during the day that we wanted. After his nap, we rode Little Mermaid, then pirates, then Jungle Cruise which was the only other ride we used a fast lane for. Graham enjoyed his first Mickey premium bar, got to see a parade and had no idea what was happening (LOL), took lots of pictures in front of the castle, watched the Tomorrowland Speedway cars for a while, and loved to just wander around! By 3pm we honestly felt done with the park day and that we didn’t need to stay any longer. We left at 3:30 and went back to the resort. We wandered the resort grounds and saw that they had a pottery painting craft so we sat right down and painted a pineapple together.
Graham LOVED running around and playing on the little hub grass area at the resort, the plants, and the beach so we made sure to enjoy those things a bit more after we painted the pineapple.
Wednesday was our flight home (wah!) so we had a nice slow morning, enjoying breakfast at Captain Cooks, hanging outside on our balcony (which Graham also LOVED), and enjoying walking around the resort one last time before our Uber came to pick us up.
Again, it was a slow, calm trip and worked perfectly for us! I truly encourage all paretns or families that want to do Disney and live close enough like we do, to not put pressure on yourselves to ‘do it all.’ Do what’s best for you, your budget, and your sanity! Graham honestly loved looking at the plants on the resort and in the parks, playing with the curtains in the resort room, and running on turf at the resort. Kids will be entertained on their own and do not need every park or shiny thing to be happy!
Remember to save this for your future Disney World vacation planning!
