This month, I’m writing a series titled 31 Days of Disney! In this part of the series, I’m reviewing past Disney trips and lessons learned along the way. Today’s post is a review of our fifth trip to Disney World as a married couple; the trip marked our second Disney vacation as a family of four. If you’re considering a family vacation to Walt Disney World or Disneyland, love Disney or just want a fun and easy read, this post is for you!

Quick Summary of Our 2011 Disney World Vacation

Our 2011 trip to Walt Disney World Resort was unique (or not) in that we had just been on a week-long Disney World vacation in 2010. Hmmm…you wonder why in the world we would do that? Our 2010 trip was such a success that we decided we really wanted to experience Disney all over again.

We intentionally designed our 2011 Disney World vacation to be very similar to our 2010 vacation. One week long. Same Disney Value Resort, just a different building. Same dining plan. Fresh autograph books for each child. And all four Disney parks – Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. The only real difference was that since we’d just been there one year earlier, we felt like we really knew the ropes and inside tricks for experiencing Disney’s best.

No surprise, we had an another amazing Disney vacation!

While our 2010 Disney vacation provided the most significant, big-picture, long-term lessons, our 2011 trip helped refine our approach to Disney World so we could tailor our vacation to meet our family’s special needs and preferences. In other words, on this visit to Disney World, we really narrowed in on what we loved and did those things as much as we could.

Lesson 1: Character Dining is Awesome. Go all out!

On our 2010 vacation to Disney World, we greatly appreciated the Disney dining plan, so we purchased it again on our 2011 vacation. One of the things we LOVE about the Disney dining plan is the option for character dining. Character dining is a sit down experience – table service or buffet – and is available at all Disney parks and numerous Disney Resorts. Various characters come to your table while you’re dining so you can take photographs, get autographs and “chat” with them a bit. If you’re “talking” with Mickey Mouse, the interaction is all nonverbal. If you’re chatting with Snow White, she’s fully in character, voice, mannerisms and all. It’s pretty cool. We loved the character dining experiences so much in 2010, that we booked ALL of our sit down meals (1x/day) at character dining locations in 2011. It did require the Disney dining plan and more advance planning for reservations to pull this off, but it was so fun and totally worth it. For anyone traveling with children of ANY age, we highly recommend character dining. Each character dining location has a different set of characters, so you can choose your dining based on WHERE you’ll be that day and/or WHO you want to see! Character dining offers Disney guests the most close-up and personal interactions with characters, hands down.

Lesson 2: Do NOT leave to get a snack right before a parade starts (or you might look like this across from the rest of your party)!

Yes, this is a small, but important lesson we learned the hard way on our 2011 Disney vacation! I was in my first trimester of pregnancy with our third child during this trip, so the kids and I were eager to get a snack to eat during the parade at Hollywood Studios. We thought we had enough time to get over to a snack location, purchase something, and get back in time for the parade to start. NOT SO MUCH. We didn’t find a snack as quickly or as closely as we expected. The line was longer than we expected. And it took us longer to get through the parade crowds than we expected. In other words, we did NOT make it back to the parade in time! My husband sat on one side of the parade, while we stood (then sat) on the other. Once the parades get going, there’s not a chance to cross over. So if you must have a snack during a parade, make sure you get it well in advance of the parade, just to be sure! I’ll admit. This happened to me in the past at Magic Kingdom, but I was by myself. This time it impacted our whole family. Guess we learned our lesson! No big deal really, but a good insight for future reference.

Lesson 3: Get the kids some pool time!

We learned this lesson when we brought our son to Disney World for the first time in 2007, and we learned it again on this trip. Make sure to give your kids some down time in-between time at the parks! The best way to do this is to go back to the hotel and let them swim. It’s fun for the kids and relaxing for adults. It’s also surprising how many people are back at the pool in the middle of the day, even on property at Disney Resorts. You assume everyone’s at the parks, but there are plenty of people relaxing at the pool. Enjoy your time there, too. It’s all part of a great family vacation, and helps rejuvenate the kids for more fun at the parks!

Lesson 4: Disney pin trading is super fun for kids and nerdy adults alike!

See those things hanging around our necks? Those lanyards? Yes, there’s something I haven’t told you yet. Something my husband and kids are especially obsessed about when it comes to Disney parks. DISNEY. TRADING. PINS. Yes, everyone in my family LOOOOOVES Disney trading pins. They’re collectible trading pins you can purchase at Disney Parks and Resorts, and cost anywhere from $7.95 to $14.95 each, depending on how fancy the pin is. At my husband’s suggestion, we started collecting pins on prior trips, but on this trip, my family members went all in. When I say “my family members went all in,” that means I’m NOT the big pin collector, but I AM along for the ride! I choose 2-3 special pins on each trip, but my husband and children buy more. They have 2-3 lanyards each. I have one and I’m sticking to it! My husband is the most obsessed, but he’s also the one who was obsessed with collecting Disney movies when I first met him in college. So there you go! Anyway, I have to admit. Collecting Disney trading pins is fun for the whole family. You buy the Disney pin of your choosing. Stick it to your lanyard. And wear it around Disney everyday during your vacation. There are a bunch of us pin-collecting nerds around the place. You can’t miss us. We’re totally geeky. And we love pins. Want to join us? I’ll be talking a lot more about Disney trading pins later this month in a post titled “Disney Pin Trading Secrets.” It’s something I’d never choose to do on my own, but is a fun family tradition and memory. Who knows? It might be for you, too?!

Thanks for sharing the Disney love, friends! That’s all for today!

 

 

 

This post is part of a month-long series titled 31 Days of Disney! If you’d like to read more posts from the series, click here and you’ll be directed back to the 31 Days of Disney landing page. ALL posts from the series are linked within the body of that post. Find a title or topic that intrigues you, click on it, and the post will pop up for your Disney reading adventure!

I also placed the series graphic on the right sidebar of my blog’s home page, so click it anytime and it’ll bring you back to the 31 Days of Disney landing page where all 31 posts are listed and linked.

You can follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AmyBPederson where I’ll tweet links to all 31 posts using hashtag #write31days, and I’d LOVE to connect on Facebook at facebook.com/AmyBPederson. You can also find me on Instagram at instagram.com/AmyBPederson, and I might even do a few scopes live from Disney World, so follow me on Periscope at @AmyBPederson to see if I get brave!

So glad you stopped by! Make yourself comfortable. Take a peek around the place, and know you’re welcome back anytime.

This month, I’m writing a series titled 31 Days of Disney! In this part of the series, I’m reviewing past Disney trips and lessons learned along the way. Today’s post is a review of our fourth trip to Disney World. This was our first Disney trip as a family of four, our first Disney trip with two children, and the trip on which we learned the greatest lessons to date. If you’re considering a family trip to Disney with your children, love Disney or just want a fun and highly informative read, this post is for you!

Quick Summary of our 2010 Trip to Disney World

We decided it was time to take the plunge. Time to take the plunge into our first week-long Disney vacation as a family of four. We’d made three trips to Disney prior – when we honeymooned, when I was pregnant with our second child, and when we brought our son for the first time – but those trips weren’t the same as this one. This was a FULL. FLEDGED. FAMILY DISNEY TRIP.

This was our oldest daughter’s first trip to Disney. It was also her first airplane ride and her first time going on a week-long family vacation. For those reasons alone, it was special for our Elsa girl.

We got on that plane, deboarded in Orlando, Florida, and spent a week at Walt Disney World Resort. We made a good go at it, that’s for sure! We used Disney transportation. We stayed on Disney property for the first time ever. We purchased the Disney dining plan for the first time ever. And we did seven days of Disney parks and waterparks. As you might guess, that means this vacation was 100% Disney. Clearly, Disney floats our boat.

We had a marvelous time. Incredible, in fact. Looking back, I realize this vacation was not only fabulous, but an invaluable learning opportunity. We learned so much on this vacation. What to do. What not to do. And under ideal circumstances, what works best when traveling to Disney as a family. On this vacation, we learned lessons we’re still applying to this day. Here goes, friends.

Lesson 1: Staying on Disney property is convenient and fabulous.

Okay. So we did NOT stay at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort as pictured above. For some odd reason, I didn’t take any photos at our resort during this vacation, so this is the only photo I have of us on Disney property from this particular trip. We chose to stay at a “Disney Value Resort” as that was the only property type we could afford as a young family of four. Let me just say that the “value” resort was amazing. We loved it. It was perfect for our family. We were close to all the parks. We didn’t have to worry about renting a car, and instead took shuttles to and from the parks every day. Everything about our vacation was Disney all the way around, including the art on our walls, the shower curtain in our bathroom, and the Mickey shaped waffles for breakfast. Huge lesson learned on this trip. When traveling to Walt Disney World, we HIGHLY recommend staying on Disney property. Whatever you can afford. Whatever makes sense for your family. The “value” resorts are great. If you have money to do a higher-end upgraded resort, go for it! They’re all fantastic, incredibly convenient and well done, no surprise.

Lesson 2: Autograph books are AMAZING!

This was our first Disney trip with two school-aged children, so we had a lot of Disney tricks to learn while navigating this trip. On day one, we realized we’d be meeting characters at the 1900 Park Fare breakfast, and didn’t have anything for them to sign. I remember purchasing two autograph books and two big Disney pens at the Grand Floridian Resort gift shop just next to the 1900 Park Fare dining room. The kids used the autograph books that first morning and like mad the rest of the trip. They got autographs from EVERY Disney character they met. If you have preschool and school-aged children, I HIGHLY recommend purchasing an autograph book and big pen for each child the first day you arrive at a Disney park. It’s cheap. It’s fun for the kids to get the characters’ autographs, gives them more time with characters, provides great opportunity for photos, and is fun for them to bring home and show their friends all the autographs they got on vacation!

Lesson 3: Late night at Disney parks can be incredibly magical, even with littles! 

After one incredibly late night at Magic Kingdom during this trip, we became huge fans and proponents of occasional late nights at Disney parks! I realize it’s not conventional for parents to suggest late nights for kids. After all, they can get super crabby, which can ruin your next day. But if you plan it right, late nights with kids at Disney can be a huge success! On this particular evening, Disney was running Extra Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom. When you stay at a Disney resort, you can take advantage of special days when they open select parks early and keep them open late for extra enjoyment with fewer crowds. Extra Magic Hours are amazing, both in the morning and in the evening. Morning Extra Magic Hours are a great time to get in a couple rides and the best photographs without lines and crowds all around. But to me, evening Extra Magic Hours are extra special. On this trip, we became fully aware of the magic of Disney at night. We got an awesome seat for the electric parade, enjoyed snacks, put on our sweatshirts and literally ran around the park enjoying ride after ride with no lines AT ALL! It was amazing. A Disney memory I’ll certainly never forget. And one I’ll always try to recreate on future trips.

Lesson 4: Disney dining plan is the way to go! 

Did you know that Disney has a dining plan where you can pay a flat fee, in advance for a certain number of meals and snacks per person per day while you’re at the parks? This was the first trip we tried the Disney dining plan, and when it comes to Disney World, we’ll never do it any other way again. Disney dining is fantastic, and takes the hassle out of mealtimes for sure. On this trip in 2010, our next trip in 2011, and on our upcoming trip in 2015, we purchased the dining plan in which each person gets 1 sit down meal, 1 quick service meal, and 1 snack per day. It’s perfect for our family and highly recommended. The sit down meals include a whole range of options, including formal sit-down meals at steak houses and character dining. The quick service meals are just that…quick service at places all around the Disney parks; you pick up a meal that’s pretty much ready to go, and there you are! Time to eat! Snacks are self explanatory, and are actually a pretty good deal because you can choose anything from as small as a soda, to as large as a pineapple float. If I haven’t said it enough, we love Disney dining. The value is incredible. You don’t have to carry cash around everywhere or worry (or fight) about every single dollar you’re spending. I think you get much more for your money doing the dining plan than you would paying meal by meal while you’re at the parks. Plus, it provides young families with the amazing opportunity to meet characters up close and personal at the specialized character dining locations. Character dining is definitely a Disney must if you’re going all in for a week-long family vacation.

That’s it for today, friends. This post feels like Disney gold to me. Some of our greatest lessons were learned on this trip. If you have any questions about any of these items, please feel free to ask! I’m happy to chat and answer any questions you have.

 

 

 

This post is part of a month-long series titled 31 Days of Disney! If you’d like to read more posts from the series, click here and you’ll be directed back to the 31 Days of Disney landing page. ALL posts from the series are linked within the body of that post. Find a title or topic that intrigues you, click on it, and the post will pop up for your Disney reading adventure!

I also placed the series graphic on the right sidebar of my blog’s home page, so click it anytime and it’ll bring you back to the 31 Days of Disney landing page where all 31 posts are listed and linked.

You can follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AmyBPederson where I’ll tweet links to all 31 posts using hashtag #write31days, and I’d LOVE to connect on Facebook at facebook.com/AmyBPederson. You can also find me on Instagram at instagram.com/AmyBPederson, and I might even do a few scopes live from Disney World, so follow me on Periscope at @AmyBPederson to see if I get brave!

So glad you stopped by! Make yourself comfortable. Take a peek around the place, and know you’re welcome back anytime.

This month, I’m writing a series titled 31 Days of Disney! In this part of the series, I’m reviewing past Disney trips and lessons learned along the way. Today’s post is a review of our third trip to Disney World. We had one child at the time; he turned four a couple months prior to our vacation. If you’re young parents and are considering a first trip to Disney with your little ones, love Disney or just want a fun and easy read, this post is for you!

Quick Summary of Our 2007 Trip to Disney World

In the last Disney post, I told you about the time I joined my husband in Orlando for the tail end of his business trip, how I went to Disney World by myself one day, and how that was the ONLY time I’ve ever joined him on a business trip. So I accidentally lied. Sorry! Apparently, my memory failed me and I needed photo albums to remind me of the truth. There was one other time my son and I joined my husband for a couple days at the beginning of his business trip.

The year was 2007. My husband, our recently-turned four-year-old son and I made our way to the airport mid-week for our son’s first plane ride, his first visit to a Disney park, and our first trip to Walt Disney World as a family of three. We were super excited. Super psyched!

The trip was 5 days long. The first three days, all three of us were together. The last two days, I was alone with my son as my husband was busy doing marketing for a client at the annual North American Veterinary Conference. On this trip, we focused all of our energy on Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, as our son was still fairly small. And honestly, we weren’t sure if Epcot and Disney MGM Studios (now known as Hollywood Studios) would be appropriate for a child his age. So we kept it simple with parks we knew would be a hit for a four year old. We stayed off property and took shuttles into the parks every day.

All in all, our first trip to Disney as a family of three was great! Highly successful! I have absolutely NO negative memories of the experience. It was great to do Disney as a family for a few days, and it was just as great to do the parks with my son for the last two days while my husband was busy working. I remember a few people being concerned that our son was “too young” for Disney. Sure, he might not remember that trip in the long run, but he had a great time and was totally ready and able to handle a Disney trip at that age.

Personally, I would not want to take a baby, one year old or two year old to a Disney park. But if you’re considering a trip with children three years of age or older? I say go for it if you think you can handle it as parents. Ideally, you’ll want to bring them back when they’re older and can remember the experience more, but believe me, there are preschoolers and all kinds of little ones all over Disney parks!

Lesson 1: Do not be afraid to use a stroller here and there.

I’ll be honest. I really resisted the whole stroller idea on this Disney trip. Our son was four years old. He didn’t need a stroller anymore. But I also knew the reality at hand. We were were walking Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom ALL. DAY. LONG. I couldn’t expect him to withstand a long day of walking and activity without having some sort of opportunity to rest in between. So we did a mix of stroller, no stroller. The first full day, we didn’t get a stroller. The line for stroller rentals at Magic Kingdom was ridiculously long, and I wanted to try without one anyway. He made it through the day just fine. The second day, we rented a stroller. Third day, NO stroller. And the last full day, we rented a stroller again. Mixing it up worked great! My personal recommendation is to try doing Disney parks WITHOUT a stroller when your children are in that questionable age range of four and five years old. If you end up needing a stroller, you can rent one guilt-free, and your child can get a little breather. But no need to pay the extra $ and haul the thing everywhere unless you need to!

Lesson 2: Let your child take pictures!

One way we really got our four-year-old son engaged with the Disney experience on this trip was to hand him our camera and let him take pictures of us! He took this one of us by Cinderella’s castle at Magic Kingdom. Decent enough, right? This trip was back in 2007 when everyone was still carrying around full-size cameras, but now with the age of iPhones, it’s so much easier to hand your preschool and school-age children the phone for a few seconds and have them snap a photo. Photography gets your children engaged. It allows them to be creative. Taking photos might be a great distraction while waiting in long lines. And it might be a good motivator or reward for whatever desired behavior you want to reinforce as a parent. Take note. I’m NOT advocating for childrens’ iPhone use while at Disney parks. Please, NO. I’m going to be incredibly restrictive with my children on our upcoming Disney trip when it comes to iPhones and iPads. What I AM advocating for is getting children involved with picture taking, whether that’s on your iPhone or other small camera. I think it’s a great way to engage young children positively and encourage creativity while you’re on a Disney vacation.

Lesson 3: Make sure your child gets plenty of down time in-between visits to Disney parks.

One thing we learned quickly on this first trip to Disney with children was that we needed to give our son down time away from the theme parks. Typically, that meant going back to the hotel and letting him rest, play in the pool or dig in the sand for a while. Our son had a blast at the parks, but the experience felt even more balanced when we were able to catch some down time at the hotel. I’m pretty sure it reset his clock, and rejuvenated him for the next day’s fun at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. As an added bonus, the hotel and pool time was relaxing for me and my husband, too; our son was four and at that age where he needed general supervision, but not constant hand-to-hand attention. So as parents, the down time helped us reset for the next day’s Disney fun as well!

If you have any questions about traveling to Disney parks with young children, please feel free to ask! I’m happy to chat and answer any questions, friends!

 

 

 

This post is part of a month-long series titled 31 Days of Disney! If you’d like to read more posts from the series, click here and you’ll be directed back to the 31 Days of Disney landing page. ALL posts from the series are linked within the body of that post. Find a title or topic that intrigues you, click on it, and the post will pop up for your Disney reading adventure!

I also placed the series graphic on the right sidebar of my blog’s home page, so click it anytime and it’ll bring you back to the 31 Days of Disney landing page where all 31 posts are listed and linked.

You can follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AmyBPederson where I’ll tweet links to all 31 posts using hashtag #write31days, and I’d LOVE to connect on Facebook at facebook.com/AmyBPederson. You can also find me on Instagram at instagram.com/AmyBPederson, and I might even do a few scopes live from Disney World, so follow me on Periscope at @AmyBPederson to see if I get brave!

So glad you stopped by! Make yourself comfortable. Take a peek around the place, and know you’re welcome back anytime.

This month, I’m writing a series titled 31 Days of Disney! In this part of the series, I’m reviewing past Disney trips and lessons learned along the way. Today’s post is a review of our second trip to Disney World. I was 25 1/2 weeks pregnant with our second child during this trip. If you’re considering a visit to a Disney park while you’re pregnant, love Disney or just want a quick, easy and interesting read, this post is for you!

Quick Summary of Our 2005 Trip to Disney World

When we found out my husband was going to be taking another trip to Orlando, Florida, to attend the North American Veterinary Conference running marketing programs for a client, we realized it would be a perfect opportunity for me to join him for the tail end of his trip and have a little pre-baby #2 getaway. In the history of our 1 1/2 year engagement and 17 1/2 year marriage, my husband has done fairly extensive travel for business. This was the FIRST and ONLY time I ever joined him for a portion of a business trip. Never before. Never since.

My husband typically spent a whole week in Orlando for this particular convention. So he flew to Orlando early in the week and went about business as normal. On Friday, I dropped our two-year-old son with his grandparents and made my way to the airport. When I arrived in Orlando, I headed straight for the hotel.

My husband had plenty of business to finish up, including at least one day of work that Saturday, so I knew I’d need to keep myself busy for a whole day. Yes, I was 25 1/2 weeks pregnant. But ultimately, I decided that the best option would be to head to the Magic Kingdom!

We were staying off property at an incredibly large resort, so they had shuttle service to Magic Kingdom. I vividly remember waiting outside for the shuttle outside the hotel that morning. They dropped me at the gates, ferried me over to Magic Kingdom, and I spent the entire day there ALL. BY. MYSELF. For this 25 1/2 weeks pregnant with my second child, introverted Disney lover, it was absolutely perfect. Magical. Highly recommended.

Lesson 1: Let Disney take care of your every need.

Disney trips are amazing on any occasion. Pregnancy is no exception. Disney cast members will go out of their way to make your day magical, ladies.

In 2013, I wrote about a special encounter from my 2005 trip in Letters to the Unthanked if you’d like to read the whole story. Here it is in brief. I really wanted to go on a particular ride, but the line was ridiculously long and I wasn’t willing to wait 90 minutes. So I went to grab a Fast Pass so I could come back later and walk in without waiting, but when I went to get my Fast Pass, the Disney cast member attending the kiosk looked at my belly, smiled, handed me a Fast Pass and said “have a magical day!” It was incredibly magical, and a memory I’ll never forget.

Fast Passes work differently now, so if you go to a Disney park while you’re pregnant, don’t expect the magic to play out the same as it did for me in 2005. My point is that Disney cast members are aware of and accommodate all guests, including you, expectant mama. They will go above and beyond to meet your needs and make magic happen. Ask for help when you need it. Let them love on you. Let them work their magic. Let them take care of your every need.

Lesson 2: If you’re expecting your first child or have an invitation to leave children at home with family for the day, weekend or week, don’t be afraid to take the opportunity and visit a Disney park by yourself.

So I know it’s a little weird that I went to Disney World by myself for a whole day, especially when I was pregnant. Maybe that was a little out there? Maybe it was a little risky? Maybe nobody else does that? I don’t know. I guess I’m just “that person,” the person who feels totally comfortable doing things by myself. But let me just say, it was totally awesome, totally worth it, totally amazing to do Disney alone when I was pregnant. I never once feared for my safety, or worried something was going to go wrong. It was relaxing. I meandered as I pleased. I took in some afternoon reading with Princess Belle. And I had an amazing time. I always knew I was in the loving and caring hands of Disney, and that if anything were to go even slightly haywire with me as an expectant mama, that Disney cast members would be by my side. Plus, I did have my mobile phone, which helped both me and my husband feel secure knowing I could contact him at a moment’s notice and he could pop right over. I most definitely understand that not everyone has the luxury of going to Disney World for a day alone when they’re pregnant like I did that year, but if you’re local or in Orlando for business, I wouldn’t hesitate a second to recommend the experience.

Lesson 3: Look forward to your next Disney trip with great anticipation!

Okay. I kind of cheated a bit by dating this post 2005. Because actually? I’ve been to Disney World twice during pregnancy. I went to Magic Kingdom that day by myself during our trip to Orlando in 2005 when I was pregnant with our second child. Then I was pregnant again, this time with our third child, when our family of four visited Disney World in 2011. So I have a fair amount of experience doing Disney while pregnant (although admittedly, NOT during the third trimester dog days of pregnancy). Let me give this word of wisdom to pregnant mamas visiting Disney…it’s kind of cool to realize that when you walk out the gates of that Disney park for the LAST TIME when you’re pregnant and realize that the NEXT TIME you come, you’ll have that sweet baby with you. Right now, I’m so excited because I vividly remember walking out the gates of Magic Kingdom in 2011. I was pregnant and teary eyed, fully aware that the next time we come, we’d have that baby with us! Now that baby’s almost four and about to experience Disney for the first time ever. What a cool thing for sentimental mamas to experience. Live in that moment, mamas. That baby of yours is going to love Disney just as much as you did when you were pregnant.

 

 

 

This post is part of a month-long series titled 31 Days of Disney! If you’d like to read more posts from the series, click here and you’ll be directed back to the 31 Days of Disney landing page. ALL posts from the series are linked within the body of that post. Find a title or topic that intrigues you, click on it, and the post will pop up for your Disney reading adventure!

I also placed the series graphic on the right sidebar of my blog’s home page, so click it anytime and it’ll bring you back to the 31 Days of Disney landing page where all 31 posts are listed and linked.

You can follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AmyBPederson where I’ll tweet links to all 31 posts using hashtag #write31days, and I’d LOVE to connect on Facebook at facebook.com/AmyBPederson. You can also find me on Instagram at instagram.com/AmyBPederson, and I might even do a few scopes live from Disney World, so follow me on Periscope at @AmyBPederson to see if I get brave!

So glad you stopped by! Make yourself comfortable. Take a peek around the place, and know you’re welcome back anytime.

This month, I’m writing a series titled 31 Days of Disney! In this part of the series, I’m reviewing past Disney trips and lessons learned along the way. Today’s post is a review of our first trip to Disney World as a married couple. If you’re considering honeymooning at Disney, love Disney or just want an entertaining read, this one’s for you!

Quick Summary of our 1999 Trip to Disney World

We got married in June 1998 and promptly made a big move from Minnesota to Indiana for work and graduate school. So it wasn’t really a great time to embark on a traditional post-wedding honeymoon. After we got into our new apartment in Indiana, we headed straight for Louisville, Kentucky, for a couple nights away. Louisville was nice, but as you might imagine, wasn’t very “honeymoonish.” Nine months later, in March 1999, we decided to take a second go at a honeymoon and booked our first trip to Disney World as a married couple!

Someone generously gifted us their time share for the week, so we stayed off property at a beautiful resort. While we were at Walt Disney World, we visited the Magic Kingdom, Disney MGM Studios (now known as Hollywood Studios), Animal Kingdom, and Epcot. We also spent quite a bit of time at Downtown Disney, including a night at Cirque du Soleil’s show La Nouba, permanently located in the heart of Downtown Disney.

We had a great time, including lots of relaxation back at our two-bedroom time share suite, which I can see now was entirely too big and grand for two newlyweds. It’s safe to say we had no idea how good we had it! No kids. A huge suite to ourselves, generously gifted to us by someone else. And a whole week at Disney World? Sweet!

(My apologies for the off-color photos. 1999 was so long ago, we were still photographing with film then, so I had to take pictures of pictures for this post!)

Lessons Learned From Honeymooners

Lesson 1: Take lots of pictures of each other when you’re at Disney!

We have 44 photographs of our week-long Disney World honeymoon in 1999. Only 5 of those photos are of the two of us together. Let’s be real. When you’re traveling as honeymooners (or as a couple) you’re not going to have a lot of photos of the two of you together unless you’re totally into selfies, have a selfie stick, or are willing to ask people to take your picture all the time. Here’s the thing. It doesn’t really matter. Definitely make sure you get some awesome pictures of you as a couple. But go wild taking pictures of each other, too! Just make sure you get a diverse sampling of photos with characters and Disney-themed backgrounds. They’re fun to look through, and many years from now will remind you of simpler days when it was just the two of you! Those photos will remind you how thin you were, how overweight you were, how silly you dressed, how much fun you had, and how in love you were (and are) with your spouse. It doesn’t really matter if you’re photographed together or alone, just be sure to take pictures. They’ll bring back great memories someday.

Lesson 2: Stay up and do all the late-night adult activities you can!

As I mentioned earlier, we took full advantage of Downtown Disney as honeymooners. If you’re traveling to Disney as honeymooners (or as a couple, just the two of you), I highly recommend late nights at Downtown Disney. There are a LOT of things to do, including fabulous restaurants, bars, clubs, movies, shopping and entertainment such as Cirque du Soleil’s La Nouba. We’ve been to Disney World several times since our honeymoon, but we’ve never been able to take advantage of Downtown Disney the way we did when we were honeymooners with no kids. While we’re talking Disney night life, I also definitely recommend taking advantage of Disney’s late-night Extra Magic Hours. Extra Magic Hours are select dates where Disney parks are open extra early and extra late for guests’ extended enjoyment. As honeymooners, you have the distinct opportunity to take Disney up on their offer. Research which parks have late Extra Magic Hours the week you’re there, and go all out! Stay up late! Enjoy yourselves! Have fun! Disney is just as awesome late night as it is during the daytime.

Lesson 3: Raise your hands when they ask for honeymooner volunteers!

There are a few live shows at Walt Disney World that recruit volunteers to participate! One of those shows is “Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular” at Hollywood Studios. Guaranteed. They’ll ask for a whole host of volunteers, including a honeymooning couple. This is your chance. This is your big break. Whether you like it or not, you could be in a live show at Disney World. I’m not sure whose idea it was for us to volunteer (probably my husband’s since he’s the extroverted performer), but we did and found ourselves dressed like this in front of a crowd of several hundred Disney guests. We became part of the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. It was certainly out of my box, but definitely fun and a great memory and photo op, of course! So if you’re honeymooning anywhere Disney? Listen up, friends! Listen for cast members’ calls for honeymooner volunteers. You might have this one chance to be in a stunt show, or maybe you’ll get some other cool Disney perks you never would have received otherwise. Disney loves honeymooners!

 

 

 

This post is part of a month-long series titled 31 Days of Disney! If you’d like to read more posts from the series, click here and you’ll be directed back to the 31 Days of Disney landing page. ALL posts from the series are linked within the body of that post. Find a title or topic that intrigues you, click on it, and the post will pop up for your Disney reading adventure!

I also placed the series graphic on the right sidebar of my blog’s home page, so click it anytime and it’ll bring you back to the 31 Days of Disney landing page where all 31 posts are listed and linked.

You can follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AmyBPederson where I’ll tweet links to all 31 posts using hashtag #write31days, and I’d LOVE to connect on Facebook at facebook.com/AmyBPederson. You can also find me on Instagram at instagram.com/AmyBPederson, and I might even do a few scopes live from Disney World, so follow me on Periscope at @AmyBPederson to see if I get brave!

So glad you stopped by! Make yourself comfortable. Take a peek around the place, and know you’re welcome back anytime.