In April of 2013 we took our first family trip to Walt Disney World with our 4 year old, 2.5 year old and 1 year old. Two of the kids were in Diapers and our 1 year old (who turned 1 the day we went down) was still not feeding himself and eating mostly baby food. We went flew down on Saturday at 11am and flew back the following Saturday at 9am. We went with my parents (they were there til Wednesday), my in-laws and my brother-in-law, sister-in-law and nephew. A total of 12 people... 8 adults and 4 kids. Many people with thinking about traveling with toddlers ask for my opinions and tips, so I thought I would jot some down over the next few weeks!!
First, let me tell you about my dream Disney vacation... I would love to fly down on a Friday evening and stay until the next Sunday. If I stayed on a Monorail resort I would probably get a park pass for every day there (yes, a 10 day pass) because it would be so easy to get to MK. If I stayed at a moderate resort (which is most likely) I would get a 6 day park pass with no park hopper and have the following schedule:
Saturday- Magic Kingdom
Sunday- Animal Kingdom
Monday- Swim, The Boardwalk
Tuesday-Magic Kingdom
Wednesday- Epcot
Thursday-Swim
Friday- Hollywood Studios
Saturday- Magic Kingdom
Can you tell that MK is our favorite?? I would still get the Disney Plus Dining Plan and use it depending on who goes with us... but on how to use the DPDP in another post.
So lets start at the beginning... to fly or drive? It's always a question that I get and you are probably not going to like what I say. But I say FLY, no matter what the cost!! Especially with 3 kids under 5 years old. Why? Disney makes it way too easy! So, if money is an issue, schedule your vacay a few months later so you have more time to save money.
Honestly, it probably depends on your family size if you would save that much money if you drove or flew. And it will also depend on the time of year you go. Always fly Southwest (which includes AirTran) because then you don't have to worry about all of the extra fees (seats, luggage, etc). I noticed this year if you flew in February, flights were as low as $109 one way. If you flew around Spring Break time, flights were $250 one way. I think we got our flights for $139 one way and that was more around my budget! Kids under 2 years old fly free... so last year, Gabe was totally free. This year, Gabe will only cost us $250 to take on vacation :)
And I have always believed that the saying, "You can't buy time" is false!! For us it would be a 20 hour drive to Orlando Florida... it takes two hours to fly down from Indianapolis to Orlando. That gives us 36 extra hours of vacation to relax. I don't know about you, but driving makes me tired... and if we chose to drive through the night with the kids, I would exhausted!! At this age, the kids travel okay, but they don't want to be sitting for 20 plus hours.
Last year we flew down at 11am, got to our hotel at 2pm and were able to check in and get some naps in. There was no 11am flight this year, and our options were 8am and 1pm. I have opted for the 8am flight... I will let you know how that went after our vacation :) Coming back to Indy last year, we had a flight that left at 9am!! Big mistake!! I was up until 1am packing, we had to be up at 5am... our luggage was picked up at 5:30am and our bus picked us up at 6 or 6:30am. It was nice in that we were home before lunch and for nap time (which everyone needed), but it was awful getting up that early and I vowed to never do that again! This year, we our return flight booked for 12:30pm... and if you have older kids that could handle it, you could book and even later flight and do another park day or downtown disney day!! This way we can sleep in, pack and still get home at a decent time!
Now comes the best part.... no need to rent a car when you get down there. And Disney handles your luggage!! AWESOME!!! I have no idea what the history is of Magic Express, but it is the best thing Disney does! After you check in your luggage at the airport, you don't have to handle it again until you get home. So this year, each of us gets to travel with 2 pieces of luggage, with a total of 10 pieces... and I plan to take full advantage. I think we should be able to pack anything we need. When you get to the airport, you are transported to your on Disney property hotel free of cost. Within a couple of hours, your luggage is delivered to your hotel room. When it is time to leave, you can request for them to come pick up your luggage and take it to where you can check it in at the hotel. Disney will transport you back to the airport and you will pick up your luggage back at your home airport!!
Here's the breakdown of driving round-trip:
Gas: $300-400
Hotel: $200-300
Food: $100-200 (you could pack your own food and a cooler. my parents were always really good at this, but I am not. And we would stop to eat so the kids could get out and play and walk around)
** We could pack our car with extra food and water for the parks and basically take anything we need
** We would have a car if we chose to eat offsite, although with a dining plan I wouldn't do that
** We could stay off site and save tons of money, but then we would miss part of the Disney magic from staying on site. And no Disney Dining plan, which can save you a considerable amount of money if you use it right
**A car for emergencies or if I need to run to the store for something
*Grouchy parents for a few days
*Grouchy kids
*less days at the parks or on property due to needing 2-4 extra days for traveling. Which is doable if you are a teacher and have a whole summer off, but not if you have a Monday-Friday job.
It really all comes down to money... if you are willing to scrap and save money for a few extra months, then there is no question... Fly!! But if you have the time and are trying to save money and do Disney for as cheap as possible, then driving is a great option too! The thing is, Disney is expensive no matter what, but to me it is worth the money to do a vacation right! Be as relaxed as possible and enjoy every minute of it. And Disney makes you feel like you are a very important guest no matter what hotel you are staying at!! WDW is also incredibly clean and kept up... and MAGICAL!!
Have a MAGICAL DAY!!!!!!
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