A brief look at our Disney experience:

44836190096My little family of 5 recently took a road trip {17 hours} to Disneyworld…..it was probably the best family vacation we have ever had. We have a camper, so we hooked that bad boy up and off we went. We drove 11 hours to Pensacola, FL the first day, then off to Orlando the 2nd. Our boys did AMAZING in the car, they are great travelers, but this was our first major road trip as we usually fly for long distances. We loaded up on movies and Wii games, I packed plenty o’ food & snacks, plus a goodie bag for each kid filled with books, treats, small toys, and car games. It couldn’t have gone any better. We surprised our boys as soon as we pulled into the Disney parking lot with my uber fantastic sister/brother-in-law :). We earned brownie points with the kids for sure. Disneyworld + camper + Aunt Frach & Uncle AD {Rachel & Adrian} = one awesome trip & tons of fun memories for us all!

44836190145We divided up the parks by days and went to Magic Kingdom 2 days and then went to Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot each one day. Then our other day we headed over to Universal Studios because we are all major Super Hero and Harry Potter fans…..it was beyond awesome! As for the Disney parks there were different things that we all loved and appreciated at each park for different reasons. Brandon and I were surprised at how much we loved Epcot, it was a favorite and we didn’t think it would be. Our boys liked a lot more than we thought they would too. Magic Kingdom is a very magical place, the kids loved it and we had tons of fun, but it is by far the busiest park. Madness. Animal Kingdom was a very relaxing and chill day for all of us, we were only there about 1/2 a day and saw almost everything we wanted to see. Hollywood Studios was a big hit because we got to meet a lot of characters and the boys favorite rides were there. Porter was able to ride the Tower of Terror…it was awesomely funny! {Don’t think I am a bad parent for putting him on such a big ride at 3…he was pissed every time someone told him he was too small…the boy has NO fear!} It took him a little bit afterwards to decide that it was an awesome ride 😉 He is a little thrill seeker for sure.

44836190132 3 of my thrill seekers…Porter not pictured due to height then loss of temper 😉

We took 2 backpacks and/or a cooler in most days packed with snacks and lunch + lots of water bottles. It is amazing at how much you eat and drink in a day when you are constantly walking for 10+ hours. We also did the dining plan and loved it…it made life so much easier. There were a few meals we could have done without, but overall worth every penny. I think my favorite convenience aspect was that our 5 day pass tickets were just like a credit card, we reused them each day instead of having to keep up with so many and it had my debit card attached to mine and Brandon’s along with our dining plan. That kept us from having to keep up with money as well. Awesome.

How to plan YOUR Disney experience!

44836190058We are a family that LOVES family vacations and take at least one a year, it isn’t something that stresses the Hubs and me out to no end. We love making the memories, so we just do it. A Disney vacation can be overwhelming though, we weren’t overwhelmed with the planning of this trip because we kind of had an idea of what to expect, we have been to Disneyland 3 times. That gave us a major advantage in the planning department. For those of you considering a Disney trip though and haven’t been or it has been a long time, one of Austin Moms Blog sponsors is definitely your way to go. Kingdom Planners is an Austin-owned national business that exclusively offers Disney Vacation Planning-Disney Land, Adventures by Disney, Disney World or Disney Cruise Line. Want to know the best part?! Their services are 100% FREE….yes FREE.

Even though we know the ins and outs of the parks now, when we plan our next Disney trip {which is looking like summer of 2014} I plan to use Kingdom Planners….an Authorized Disney travel agent who can find me the best deals and promotions….um yes please! AMB co-founder Vanessa and family are planning a Disney trip this summer and have already been in contact with Kingdom Planners. I am sure we will be getting a post-trip blog post 😉 I know I could have kept going and going about how awesome Disney is and how much fun we had, but there isn’t enough time for that HA!

 

Have you been to Disney? What was your experience?

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