August 2016

Hello! I am happy to share a very special Guest Blogger post by my niece, Heidi. We're sharing her recent visit to Disney. Enjoy her very practical and helpful Tips of Her Disney Story!

Greetings! Welcome to our Family Disney Vacation with Little Children! We are so happy to share our Best Tips! Meet my Family here at the Entrance of Disney World! :)

We were so blessed to have my Mom join us for this trip. The kids loved having her with us and we did, too! She is so fun and is more than helpful! Besides, look how cool and young my Mom is! These are my Disney make at home outfits! :)

Hollywood Studios and Star Wars Fun

Our family was able to take our children and my mom on a much anticipated trip to Disney World at the beginning of June! When my husband surprised us and told us he wanted to take us, I immediately started planning! I'm so glad I did! I decided to write a blog post to possibly help and encourage any other moms who want to make your trip the best it can be! Everyone's trip is different. There will always be the unexpected or disappointments, but if any tips I learned can help smooth out your trip, I will be so glad!

Our trip to Disney was the truly magical and a trip of a lifetime, and I will always treasure the memories that we made with our small children and my mom!

General Important TIPS:

Each morning, plan to arrive at each park with enough time before your first Fast Pass or breakfast to get a family picture with a Disney photographer! Go ahead and get the picture out of your way while your kids are happy, before it gets too hot, and you won't have to stress over it all day! At Magic Kingdom, we waited too late, and it was so hot! At Animal Kingdom, we were in a rush to get to our reserved breakfast and we missed pictures. Then it poured rain, so we were soaked when we finally got some taken.

Each day, figure out which princesses will be at the park, and stick your daughter's coordinating princess dress in your husband's back pack for your daughter to put on when you see the princess! This can be done over coffee in these cute Mickey and Minnie Mugs! :)

We forgot to do this a Hollywood Studios, so our daughter was sad when we saw Sophia the First and she didn't have her dress. We got a picture of her in her dress later at Disney Springs!

Pre-trip - Fun Stuff - about six months in advance

1) Make a link chain out of paper to count down the days to your trip!Here is our 40 day Count Down to Disney chain!

2) Download the "My Disney Experience APP"

3) Watch Disney Parks videos on YouTube to get your kids excited!

4) Read the Disney Parks Blog! So much great information there on a daily basis.

5) Buy Disney gift cards at Sam's Club to pay for everything. This can save you a couple hundred dollars.

6) A good Double Stroller that is Front to Back with cup holders and plenty of space is essential! Ours is a Graco! We are so glad we brought it with us. All three of our kids on it at once is magical! :)

7) Book resort and buy tickets through a travel agent. Though I have a friend who helped plan my Disney Trip, My Aunt, Carolina Mama, has a favorite Disney Travel Agent is Janna Hicks. She has a wealth of knowledge, experience and money and time saving tips.

Here is our daughter with Cinderella at the Castle! Priceless and Magical all at once!

You can see how happy she is with Cinderella! I am so glad we were able to get her a reservation!

8) Call Disney to make reservations at The Royal Table at Cinderella's castle. (You cannot book before the 180 day mark before your trip. If no reservations are available, continue to call every few days, and especially the day before you go to Magic Kingdom to check for
cancellations.) Our beautiful girl with beautiful Ariel!

9) Choose Fast Passes for the mornings so you can get new ones in the evening. Look at the park maps, and plan to go from one side of the park to the other! This is super important, or you will learn the hard way the first day, walking back and forth! (Just look at our first picture in front of the castle!)

However, look at this beautiful photo from our Mexican Outdoor Dinner. A special night, indeed! This was taken at the San Angel Inn Restaurante at the twilight dinner! Memorable!

10) Invest in the Memory Maker from Disney! All of the professional pictures that Disney photographers take of your family will be automatically uploaded onto your phone!

Another fabulous convivial photo from Mexico in Epcot at Dinner, the Grand Fiesta Tour! :)

11) Plan your outfits. We love dress up. Most of our clothes came from JCP, EBay, and Goodwill! Or, I made them with my sewing machine! To save money, we bought several long-sleeved clearance shirts at the end of winter for the kids and cut off the sleeves! I also made some of the skirts and two backpacks! Here is the Minnie Mouse skirt I made our daughter.

11) BEFORE you go, Buy Disney trading pins on EBay! The kids loved getting these in the mail and pinning them on our backpacks! You can trade pins at all the parks too!My children are younger so they were just happy to have their Disney pins. My Aunt said that at about age 9 /10 her boys LOVED trading at their pins at the Parks! A lot of the Disney Cast members are nice to the kids and trade with them. It is fun!

***Must have in hot weather: Spray fan water bottle- get at dollar store before trip!!! Use freezer bags to put ice in your cooler bag! Take lots of water bottles! Disney does give free water.

****Disney lets a bring a cooler into the Parks with food and drinks. Bring non-melting groceries for lunches and things like grapes, carrots, crackers, and M&M's to satisfy the kids between meals! Freezing water bottles half way can keep them even colder in your cooler until you drink them.

Day 1

First things first, we changed our Disney Count Down Chain Link chain to 0!

My husband called the kids on the phone pretending to be Mickey Mouse! This was super cool, and I videoed it! The kids totally love this! And they fell for it!

Get your Disney trading pins ready! Time to pin them on on back packs. You can trade them with others in the Parks later. The kids love them. Then, they can collect some of their favorites.

For traveling, we played "100 things to do on a trip" cards from Usborne. It was a great car entertainer! Mom was great with them!

Disney's New Orleans Riverside

We took a Horse and Carriage ride- My mom watched the kids so we could have some alone time! Thank you, Mom!

Get a park schedule for each day of your trip so you can plan for any events, parades, and shows!

Day 2

With my Dad being from New Orleans, we were excited to go straight for the Beignets from French Quarter! We love beignets! They were so good, but not quiet as good as my moms!

Magic Kingdom

We started out where Disney started - Magic Kingdom! One of our favorite things, we the fast pass parent swapping on rides for families with smaller children! We loved this! Older kids get to ride the ride twice, once with each parent, while the other parent watches the baby! This is great for families with children all ages.

We loved Splash Mountain! This is a family favorite! I love this one of our oldest two and me! We loved this!

FYI for boys, the Racecar Speedway was our least favorite ride! The lines were super long, and the cars are on tracks, which made the ride super slow and the cars jerk! That is not my style.

Space Mountain is a fun and unique ride. Most of it is literally in the dark. So I recommend Space Mountain for adults and older kids!

Lunch: Mike and Michaela at the Royal Table in Cinderella's castle, totally worth the cost for unforgettable Daddy/daughter date!

Classic, Daddy, Daughter and Cinderella! Magical Memories!

Dinner: Be Our Guest Restaurant: steak kids meal is $13, comes with a drink and choice of dessert! Best deal, even for adults! We got to take so many pictures. This was a wonderful experience! Our precious Princesses are ready to meet Belle!

It took our Princess a little time to warm up to The Beast! We still love this one, first glance.

Then, she was all Beauty and the Beast with him!

It was so beautiful! We loved seeing this iconic photo of the Rose and Beauty and the Beast! :)

Enchanted Tales with Belle was a must-do for little princesses, especially since Belle is not at the Royal Table or Be Our Guest!

Hollywood Studios

Loved getting to share Disney World with my Mom! Isn't she awesome in her Star Wars outfit! "May the Force Be With You!"

Chewbacca Time! He is so sweet!

Star Wars was a highlight!

The 50's Prime Time Diner was fun too! The waitresses made everyone mind their manners! Kids' meals are plenty, even for adults!

We even shared a milk shake - diner style! :)

Star Wars Hollywood Studios 50s Prime Time Diner

I was so glad I made our outfits! We bought the tee shirts but I made the girls dresses and I am really glad I did. You can order Star Wars fabric and make your own!

We had so much fun with Star Wars. I sew. I loved making outfits for each park. I made the girls several of their skirts, including their matching Star Wars skirts and bows! The Star Wars outfits were definitely our favorite outfits of the week!

We LOVED getting pictures with Star Wars characters! My Aunt, Carolina Mama, said they LOVED and still use! their custom light sabers that they made at Star Wars Hollywood Studios! I really like that idea so we let the kids creating their own light sabers was super cool!

Favorites: Indiana Jones stunt show and Beauty and the Beast show were our favorites of the day!

Church

We love supporting local churches while we are on vacation! Then, we can also be in worship together on vacation.

The church service was a reminder to our children how important our Faith is.

Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney)

We had one of our Star Wars outfits on at Disney Springs! :)

Here we are with The Hulk at the Lego Store Disney Springs! :)

Advance reservations are recommended and helpful!

T-Rex restaurant at lunch was super cool for our son!

Epcot

Pixar Short Film Festival- so fun with 3-D glasses: Mickey "jumps out," and water lightly sprays on everyone!

We all loved Soarin'!

Coke tasting around the world- we pointed to Thailand's watermelon flavor to support my brother who is a missionary there!

World Tour

French raspberry macaroons in France are to die for! Creme brûlée and chocolate dessert are amazing too! German dark chocolate salted caramels were delicious!

Here is the Men's Accupello and Musical Instrumental Group!

The American Heritage show made me tear up! This is a must-do, so look on your schedule! So moving and patriotic! Voices of Liberty acapella group was outstanding!

Kids' favorite was the Donald Duck boat ride in Mexico! Super cute! The Mexican restaurant is amazing- fabulous atmosphere! You feel like you are outside with the most beautiful scenery and lanterns, while you listen to a live vocal and instrumental group (rondiah?)

We saw Mary Poppins in United Kingdom and Snow White in Germany. She "reprimanded" our children in a very kind voice for not keeping their rooms clean all the time!

Snow White called Trey Dopey and asked to kiss him. He was NOT happy! We all thought it was hilarious!!!

Day 6

Animal Kingdom

Breakfast at Tusker House to see Mickey and Friends: pros: delicious and large selection of food, buffet style, all-you-can-eat!cons: expensive, and no photographer! Disappointed that a Disney photographer was not there, so it's up to you to get your own pictures with characters, asking those around you to take pics of your group and hope they don't cut people out or make the picture fuzzy!

The Safari was so beautiful!

The Safari ride was outstanding! Here is our Trey who LOVES animals!

It is wonderful to see all of the animals in the wild! We got a fast pass to go in the morning and then in the evening too! Expedition Everest roller coaster was fun for Mike and me! This was really fun and a smooth ride. It is cool to be really high up at the top of the roller coaster. We loved seeing the new Tree of Life!

We watched the indoor Nemo show during the rain downpour! Kali-River Rapids was awesome! I went twice and got soaked! Here is Mike with Trey after a big Splash of a ride!