Planning a trip at Walt Disney World, Florida

This could be a whole book rather than a blog so I’ll separate this into a few different posts depending on what you’re looking for.

We learnt the hard way that at any trip to Disney World or Disneyland you need to make a schedule to get the most out of your day. In 2016 we turned up to Disneyland LA with no plan. It was chaos. For the whole day we managed to meet one character and go on two rides. Absolute disaster. Every time we saw a princess or other Disney character we went to join the line only to be told that the queue was closed. We were so confused as to how people managed to get there in time.

Fast forward to 2018 and we had our first trip planned for Disney World in Orlando. We weren’t going to make the same mistake twice so we planned everything meticulously to make sure we didn’t get caught out. We returned in 2019 and are visiting again in 2020 so our planning has only improved.

To give you perspective, Walt Disney World is made up of four theme parks, two water parks, one shopping area and various hotels and restaurants. It covers almost 40 square miles – that’s the size of San Francisco!

Now imagine turning up to San Francisco with no idea what to do, where to go, and no reservations! So much time can be wasted just aimlessly wandering around trying to find things.

DOWNLOAD THE DISNEY WORLD APP

First things first, download the Disney World app. Not only is this a great way to check your reservations and fast passes whilst on the go, it also gives you an interactive map of all the parks and the ability to select the attraction you want to go and navigate your way through the park to get there – like Google Maps but for Disney World!

Before you book anything, take a look at the map and have a look at the attractions you want to visit and characters you want to meet. Then make sure you do them in a way where your attractions are close to one another rather than walking back and forth across the park and wasting precious time.

The next step is scheduling in everything to do. Split it across several days if you can, children get overwhelmed and tired in the parks so we tend to aim to leave by about 3pm. We also tend to stick to one park per day but depending on your energy levels and the ages of your party this might not be necessary.

YOUR PLANNING SPREADSHEET

Okay, before we start planning I have volunteered our very own planning spreadsheet for you to download and complete so you know exactly what you’re doing, on the hour, each day. You can download it below. You’ll need it to hand to complete the steps below. If you have any questions about it just leave a comment or send a question via our contact form and we’ll be happy to help.

Disney World Planning TemplateDownload

FASTPASS+ BOOKING

With your tickets you should get three FastPass+ allowances per person. These give you a much shorter wait time at attractions. (For more a more extensive explanation visit the Disney Website here.)

Prioritise what you want to do, your top three should be what you book as a FastPass+. Not everything has a fast pass option, you’ll soon find this out when you go to book them. If one of your favourite attractions doesn’t have a fast pass availability then have a back up option to book in.

You can book your FastPasses before your trip, up to 30 days before if you’re not staying at a Disney hotel and up to 60 days before if you’re staying on Disney property. I recommend booking your FastPasses as soon as it opens up, set a reminder on your phone if you need to.

Another recommendation I have is to book your FastPasses for early in the day. When you’ve completed all three of your FastPass visits you’re allowed to make another selection at a kiosk in the park. If your last FastPass isn’t until 6pm then that means you won’t have a very big window to choose more.

Finally, you can only book FastPasses at one park per day. So if you want to go to Magic Kingdom in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon you won’t be able to select FastPasses for both parks.

NON-FASTPASS+ ATTRACTIONS

After you’ve made your FastPass+ selections you need to factor in all the other things you want to do in the park. These will be activities where you didn’t want to use up a FastPass or an activity where there is no FastPass availability (a lot of character meets for example).

I like to give each activity a one hour window, it takes the pressure off and if there’s no queue you can often finish in 10 minutes.

Rides are usually open all day, character meets however are subject to timings. I found a really useful list on the WDW website of each character in the park and what time they appear. You can see it here

It’s also worth checking if there is a parade or night time entertainment at the park you’re visiting. There are parades and shows throughout the day at the Magic Kingdom, then of course you have the Happily Ever After Fireworks in the evening. At Animal Kingdom you have the Tree of Life Awakening and the River of Light Show. Epcot also has an amazing fireworks display, as does Hollywood Studios. This is a useful link to see the timings of each .

Hopefully by now you’ve completed most of your planning spreadsheet. Next up, is dining.

BOOKING YOUR DINING AT DISNEY

Not all your meals need to be booked when visiting WDW, a lot of restaurants provide “on the go” fast food and you can also via your mobile phone. However, with two young children we prefer to sit down and eat rather than them ending up in a right mess! So here are some tips on making the most of the dining at Disney.

Firstly, there are SO MANY restaurants at the parks, you have a tonne to choose from. All the restaurants are on the WDW website, along with the menu so you can check beforehand if it’s the type of place you want to eat.

When planning where you’re eating remember to take a look at what attractions you’ll be visiting around that time. Try to coordinate it so that you’re not dashing across the park for lunch or dinner and ending up flustered when you get there.

Make reservations in advance. From experience, the restaurants at Disney get busy from 11.30am onwards. If you turn up at a restaurant at 12pm onwards without a reservation and want to sit down then the chances are you’ll have to wait a while. Reservations can be made up to 180 days in advance and cancelled 48 hours or more before your reservation.

Do your research, some dining experiences give you priority views at fireworks and parades. I’d explain but that’s for another post.

CHARACTER DINING

Depending on whether or not you have a dining package at Disney, character dining can be expensive but in our opinion it is so worth it. This needs to be booked as far in advance as possible as it books up, especially dining at Cinderella’s Royal Table (yes – having dinner in Cinderella’s castle!)

Hopefully the above information has given you an idea on how to make the most out of your Disney World holiday. If you have any questions then we’d be more than happy to answer them.

In the meantime, happy planning!

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9th Jan 2020 0

Travelling as a family of four

As a family we got quite used to travelling with one small child. The adults outnumbered the children – woohoo! One sorted luggage whilst the other sorted the child – simple right? I’m glad we travelled so much with April when she was small and it was just us three, because that was the easiest we would have it for a while.

With the arrival of Luna in October 2017, our family became a family of four. We knew this wouldn’t hold us back from travelling, it’s something we are both passionate about. We want to see the world, we want our children to see the world and travel gives us important quality time together as a family.

In the 18 months Luna has been with us we’ve taken 6 family trips, including four longhaul flights. Whilst things became harder, and there were moments of utter stress, it wasn’t impossible. So I have a few tips for those of you travelling as a family, maybe you’ve never travelled together before, maybe you’ve travelled a few times and you’re unsure about another trip, maybe you’re seasoned travellers just reading about how other people do it, hopefully something here will be useful to you.

1. Agree your roles and stick to them. For us, we know that Em deals with the children whilst I deal with the luggage. If you don’t know what you’re doing then chances are you could end up with a lost suitcase, or a lost child. Knowing what you’re responsible for means everything is covered.

2. DON’T FORGET change for the luggage trolleys at the airport. Yep, we did this once on the way back from Belfast, had to try to co-ordinate 2 children, 1 pram, 2 suitcases and 2 car seats. It was impossible to say the least. We’d not had the best flight, neither child wanted to be in the pram, chaos ensued and in utter despair and exhaustion Em began to cry. How on earth were we going to carry everything from the luggage belts to the car? As luck would have it, a very kind gentleman overheard our dillemma and most likely saw us losing the will to live, he gave us the right change for the trolley and order was restored (well, sort of, cue more tears from Em at the kindness of strangers).

3. Accept help. It sounds silly, but being British, most of us politely decline help from people before we even think about whether or not we actually need it. When we travelled to Florida with both the girls Em went ahead to the airport whilst I sorted out the car parking. This meant Em had a 4 month old Luna in a sling, an almost 3 year old April in a pram and was pushing a luggage trolley. Before she even stepped foot in the airport someone offered to help Em, she almost declined (for no reason other than not wanting to inconvenience this kind woman), but last minute said yes and thanked her for the offer. She pushed the luggage trolley into the airport for and helped Em find where we were checking in on our flight before heading off to go and find her own check-in desk. From then on strangers offered us help throughout the whole journey, most of which we accepted. It made it easier for Em and they got to go home feeling content that they’d helped out a mother with two small chilren – win, win.

4. Flights. This is probably one of the most widely covered so I won’t bang on about it but take snacks – LOTS of snacks. Buy a new toy at the airport so that it’s still a novelty when they get on the plane and of course, take iPads. How entertained they can be depends on their age but the girls usually stay fairly occupied on flights with the above. On our latest flight to Florida April made friends with a girl her age and they sat playing together for most of the flight, it was amazing! Also, agree on which child you’re going to be responsible for for the flight, that way no one gets stuck watching all the children whilst the other parent just chills and watches a movie! Try not to worry about them misbehaving/being loud etc. If this happens you’ll find that most of the people on the flight actually have sympathy for you and want to help, so *try* not to stress about it.

5. Do your research. On our latest trip we very nearly ran into some trouble when we assumed a large family holiday provider would provide certain essential items on our trip. The first assumption we made was that car seats would be available for the private transfer we booked for our hotel (life is so much easier if you don’t have to take car seats on flights). We called up a few weeks in advance to make sure they knew we needed car seats, lo and behold they don’t provide them. That’s right, one of the biggest family holiday providers in the UK don’t ensure car seats are available for the private transfers they offer. This wasn’t written anywhere on their website either. We had to cancel our transfers with them and book alternatives. With the same company we discovered that on our flight back they didn’t provide bassinetts or sky cots for babies in first class (no, no, we’re not that posh, we got a last-minute bargain on the seats!) Cue a night flight with an angry 18 month old who doesn’t co-sleep. So, say it with me, “don’t assume, it makes an ass out of you and me”.

6. Get a double buggy. Yes, even if your eldest doesn’t usually use one. Okay I’m not talking about 10 year olds in a pram, but April never uses one at home, however on holidays where we spend a lot of the time walking she gets bored and tired. Having a pram for her to sit and take a rest or a nap is priceless. Some of our best sight-seeing time is when both the girls are asleep in the pram and there’s a short window of peace and quiet!

7. Other essential items include a baby carrier/sling if your child is small enough to still fit in one – let’s all cheer for hands free parenting! Sunshades for the pram – helps them to nap but also stops them peeking out at what’s going on and distracting them from sleeping. Snacks. Always snacks.

If you’ve got any more tips for travelling with two then leave it in the comments below.

To follow our travels as a family then follow our blog https://kinallytravels.family.blog/ or head over to our Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/traveldaddave

16th Nov 2019 0

Cruising with children

We recently went on our first cruise with the girls and I was surprised by how many of my friends asked me if cruising was suitable for children. I took my first cruise when I was 10, it was the year of the solar eclipse and we went on the pre-maiden voyage of NCL’s Norwegian Sky. To this day I am still in touch with one of the friends I made on board that boat. Almost every summer holiday growing up we went on a cruise, so I’ve always seen it as a family friendly holiday.

Em and Luna taking at walk at our first stop on the cruise.

Earlier this year we took our first cruise with the girls and I was so excited to share one of these holidays with them, and luckily they loved it! Roll on next summer when we go again with ALL my family!

Anyway, if you’re reading this you probably want to know how and why cruises are family friendly. We’ve only ever been with P & O Cruises so this is what we know based on their service.

They have all the gear – cots, high chairs, even fun under the sea themed bedding for April! The only thing we did bring with us was April’s bed guard, I’m not sure if they provide these but we didn’t ask.
Kid’s club!!! From the age of 2 and up there is a FREE kid’s club on board the ship. It’s filled with loads of fun activities, friendly staff and they even have pagers to give you so that if your child gets upset and needs picking up they can contact you no matter where you are on the ship. April has never ever been to a kids club alone before and she’s usually too anxious and nervous to go, but she loved it so much that every day she would be begging to go! On the last day they let her choose a gift to take home and gave us a folder filled with all the art work she had done during the holiday.
The family room. If you have a child under two all is not lost. There’s a family room which you can go to for them to have a run around and a play with lots of toys. You can’t leave them there but it’s a nice change of scenery and a place for them to release some energy.
Night nursery. We didn’t use it but if you fancy dinner in the evening without the children you can drop your baby/child off in the night nursery where they can sleep in cots or on mats whilst you have dinner or some drinks at the bar. The only caveat is that you child is settled or already asleep when you drop them off.
Children’s menu. Okay, so it was the same menu for every restaurant pretty much every day, but if your child wants something off the menu just ask, the waiters and chefs are always happy to help. On the first day we arrived there was a buffet set up in the restaurant, there was nothing there April liked so they made pasta with tomato sauce just for her.
Kid’s tea. If you dread the idea of taking your children to a 3 course meal every night in the main restaurants then there’s one that offers kid’s tea. It’s a buffet style restaurant with child friendly options which starts at about 5/5.30pm. We decided to only visit the main restaurant on “formal nights” (when they ask you to dress up in a suit and tie and a nice dress). On the other nights we got ourselves something from one of the fast service restaurants and gave the girls kid’s tea so they could have a play in the kid’s club afterwards then head to bed on time.
The pools. There are several pools on board the ships, some are for everyone, others are for adults only, other for children only. This is perfect as you know where’s best to take your children and you don’t have to worry about annoying any grumpy adults that don’t like children. Win!
Shows and cinema. Every evening there’s usually a theatre show on board, the ships have fully decked out theatres with professional lighting, props and performers. The shows vary but if you have an older child who loves musicals there will no doubt be at least one show on board the ship they would enjoy watching.

Depending on the age of your children there’s a few big screens on board the ship which show films at various times of the day. April loved sitting by the pool watching Wreck it Ralph 2 and the Greatest Showman.

Toy shops! At least one of the shops on board the ship will stock children’s toys and other things to keep them busy. We bought the girls some Lego each and a huge pack of crayons for their colouring books.
No flights (for most). Most cruises in the UK start in Southampton and return to the same place. This means you don’t have the ‘dreaded flight’ with your children before you can settle into the holiday. You check your baggage in and it gets delivered straight to your room, no airport carousel to battle with, hurrah!

April enjoyed the cruise so much that when our holiday was over she was already asking when she could next go on the ‘big boat’. Luckily we already have another booked so we were able to give her something to look forward to.

Hopefully the reasons above will help you decide whether or not cruising is for you. However there are a few things that you should note:

If you’re over 20 weeks pregnant you might not be able to cruise. Check with the cruise company. (The bonus is, if you weren’t pregnant when you booked then you get a full refund, so accidental babies won’t cost you anything haha)
Some companies won’t accept babies under 6 months. Again, check with the company you’d like to travel with.

If you have any questions that I haven’t answered here please drop me a comment 😊

11th Nov 2019 0