Disney Vacation as a Family of Six: How Things Went Down

Phew! That title alone is equally as exhausting as the trip actually was- but was it worth it? Without a doubt. This is a long one, so hang in there…

As a part of the kids Christmas gifts this year, we decided to surprise them with a trip to Disney. They had randomly been asking for the past few months to go again, which made the whole surprise even better. Our elves on the shelves brought their gift for them straight from the holly, jolly man himself. So into their carriers they went to join us on the week long trip.

For starters, this is our third time taking the kids to Disney World (because, HELLO, under 3 get in for free!) And you can argue they won’t remember it all day- and you’re not wrong! BUT- there is a huge difference between taking a 2.5 year old to Disney to meet their favorite characters and a 7 year old. That 2.5 year old may not remember it, but BOY, they are believing and living for every second of that trip. Meanwhile, a 7 year old is living, but they know what’s behind that costume no matter how much convincing you do. Both are equally magical and witnessing Disney through the eyes of your children- no matter their age- is something so incredibly fun!

This time around we only spent 2 days at the parks out of our 7 day trip. The other days we spent at Busch Gardens and enjoying the AirBNB (yes! We rented one of those massive homes with decked out bedrooms, an arcade room, and pool!). We stayed with family and friends, a total of 13 of us. The house was more than worth it! It occupied the kids day in and day out- between the slides in the kid’s bedrooms, the arcade room, and the pool, they had plenty of space to run around and enjoy.

Our first day at the parks we split between Animal Kingdom and Epcot. We started the day at 8am and ended around 7:30pm. The kids honestly held up well, despite a lack of naps and an early wake up time. They thoroughly enjoyed the animals at Animal Kingdom and got to meet a few characters while participating in the Wilderness Explorers there (an interactive scavenger hunt throughout the park for kids- they complete activities to earn badges). Over at Epcot, a few of the adults enjoyed some drinks and foods from around the different worlds. The kids met Ana and Elsa and rode the Frozen ride, we journeyed through the new Moana trail, and rode Finding Nemo. All in all, a great day with minimal meltdowns.

Our second day at the parks was a bit of a different experience. Within 6 seconds of walking into the park, Colton was full on screaming. We had a long day at Busch gardens the day prior and started with the parks at 10am. Day two at the parks we park hopped from Hollywood Studios to Magic Kingdom. We had purchased tickets to attend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party- which gave us extended hours access to the park until midnight. If we had not purchased these tickets, I would highly suggest having a full day at Magic Kingdom, especially with kids. This is the most kid friendly park, as almost all of the rides have no height restrictions on them (which means, Mamas of babies- you can baby wear them on almost everything).

We spent half of the day at Hollywood Studios, meeting tons of characters: Sully, Mrs. Incredible, Olaf, Buzz Lightyear, and Joy. Colton (3), insisted on riding a roller coaster so he rode front row on Slinky Dog with the rest of the adults (we utilized rider swap to get everyone on without waiting double time). Colton was completely emotionless the entire ride due to being absolutely terrified. But it didn’t stop him- he continued asking for another coaster all day. Meanwhile, we took the other kids on Toy Story Mania, probably my favorite ride in all the parks. We walked through Star Wars and the girls became prime targets for the interactive show going on. Phil enjoyed his blue milk- which he gets every single time. We show the Frozen show, which was hilarious as usual (great opportunity to cool down and feed the baby!). And I annoyingly asked everyone for a photo in front of Minnie’s Runaway Railway.

We hopped over to Magic Kingdom that same day around 4pm. Using Mouse Watcher, we managed to snag two reservations for the girls to get theirselves all done up at Bippity Boppity Boutique. Taylor was living her BEST LIFE. Truly believing she had ice powers for a good hour following her appointment. The park closed at 6pm to anyone without tickets to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, which we had! Honestly, worth every penny. Lines were incredibly short- the most we waited for a ride was 20 minutes max. We were able to take the kids on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, Dumbo, The Barnstormer (another coaster for Colton- he rode this one front row, twice in a row, hands in the air and screaming), The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Space Mountain (Jax was SO scared, but brave enough to see this one through. Slightly hated us for it afterwards, but was heavily bribed and rewarded. He also still got on a coaster again after this, so we couldn’t have done too much damage, HA!), and some of the adults rode Tron. We really could have gotten on more, but we watched the fireworks and parade at the end of the night instead and the kids were beside themselves to see that Santa made an appearance. Overall, for a day that lasted from 10am until midnight, I was shocked by how well the kids managed and how minimal the meltdowns were.

Overall, my biggest advice in any travels with kids is to have very low expectations and extreme flexibility. We manage on a much less strict routine on vacation. It keeps our stress levels low, it minimizes power struggles and battles with the kids, and ultimately leaves everyone a bit happier. The kids eat when they want to eat, don’t eat when they don’t want to eat. Bedtimes and nap times simply fall into place whenever and wherever they do. We truly let them lead us in many ways. If there is something they want to do, we try our best to work it in. Vacationing for us, is ultimately for them. So we listen to their wants and needs and we go with it. This is far from our routined day to day, which comes with much more discipline and structure. But on vacation there are much less rules for us and it’s simply what works best. So in these few instances where our routine is out the window, our kids still manage decently well. Ultimately, vacationing with four little people to manage, who all have different needs, different interests, different agendas with the way things should go, is not easy. We have to do our best to make sure our travels touch a little bit on what everyone wants to do. So low expectations and flexibility are absolute necessities!

Sharing more soon! Anyone interested in the tips and tricks of Disney with kids? Let me know and I’ll give what I got!