This Disney World with big kids guide breaks down everything from our ride strategy, to our tips on the best food on the dining plan, where we think is the best place to stay and more!
If you’re new here, you might not know, but we are a Disney loving family! We don’t go nearly as much as we’d love to, but have been consistent with every 3 or so years since Cooper, now 16, was a baby. This was our first stroller-less trip and let me just tell you – Disney with big kids is amazing. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved it every visit, but this one was extra special!
I think the best way to break this down is by each day, so grab some coffee…this ones going to be long!
Day 1
We arrived in Orlando the night before our Disney time started. Our goal was to maximize everything, so we stayed closeby at Springhill Suites Lake Buena Vista and it was incredibly nice and affordable. It was very Disney themed and they even had a Mickey waffle maker for breakfast! We were only there to sleep and woke up early to hit the parks!
There was a hurricane on the way through Florida, which made for a ton of rain, but also a very uncrowded park. We really hit the jackpot at Magic Kingdom, getting on a ton of rides! We did NOT pay for any Lightning Lane Passes, but did use the virtual queue for everything we could. We woke up that morning and got in the virtual queue for Tron, which as of this post time no longer requires a virtual queue. I would get it right at 7am now for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom instead and book it to Tron as my first ride of the day. Pro tip: You are able to book a 2nd virtual queue line at 1pm, as long as you are in the park the ride is in! We showed the parking booth attendant our hotel reservation in the Disney app and didn’t have to pay, even though we hadn’t checked in yet.
We opted for the Ferry boat from the Ticket and Transportation center over to Magic Kingdom. I’d say it’s about even time wise, if there is a line for the Monorail. It’s also way more fun and less crowded.
Pro Tip: pack your own ponchos. You never know when it will rain in Florida and you can save a ton of money. I got these Mickey kids ponchos and these regular ponchos that fold incredibly small.
We did get the Dining Plan on this trip, so I will show you all the food options as well! Cosmic Rays in Magic Kingdom is one of our favorite lunch spots. It’s in Tomorrowland and offers sandwiches, burgers and salads. I will also say that Disney was amazing with me being gluten free and they had plenty of options.
The sun finally came out and we were able to get on even more rides. The only “big” one we weren’t able to do that day was 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, which is one of our favorites. We did do a 6 day hopper pass so it went on the list as ride 1 for the next Magic Kingdom day. I’d say our longest wait of this trip was around an hour. We kept an eye on our app, noting if something was temporary closed. If you ever see that, get close and keep checking! Once it opens, you can be right in the front. This happened for us several times this trip.
Belt Bag | Disney Iron on Patches
We left the park to go check into our hotel, The Yacht Club. There were a few reasons we landed on this one and it ended up being a perfect pick. We have 5 people in our family, so that automatically cuts down some of the resorts. It was also a free dining period, where you get dining for free with your hotel and resort package. We decided to go up to a deluxe resort to get the full dining package vs the counter service only. We had initially discussed staying off property altogether, but ultimately the extra magic hours and the ability to get into the parks early in the deluxe hotels made it worth it for us!
The resort was gorgeous and our room was very spacious. For reference, we’ve stayed off property, at All Star Sports, Caribbean Beach, Saratoga Springs and The Beach Club. All great in their own ways, but I really loved the location of this resort. We also had a little patio that was great to get some quiet time to sip my coffee in the mornings. The refillable mugs came with the dining package and we filled them in the morning, in the afternoon when we came back from the parks and often after dinner too.
We decided to use the Dining Plan on counter service lunch and table service dinner. I brought food for breakfast, including bars, pancake and muffin cups that we heated in the microwave in the market where you fill your mugs. I also brought plenty of Liquid IV and water bottles. We brought a backpack with those each day to save on having to buy water.
After checking in, we walked over to Epcot for dinner. A huge reason I love this resort was the ability to walk to Epcot and also you can grab the new Skyliner or take a ferry from the boardwalk over to Hollywood Studios. We were also able to pop over to other parks because we got the hopper passes, which I highly recommend. We had dinner that night at Chef’s de France. We’ve eaten here a couple of times and I think the food is a good bang for your Dining Plan buck.
We took full advantage of the Extra Magic hours at Epcot that evening! We got on lots of rides, including the very popular Ratatouille. It is such a great ride for all ages and we all decided we wanted to do it as many times as possible during the trip. We also love Soarin’ and the classic Spaceship Earth.
Our day ended at 12:30am with 37,500 steps! Definitely wear comfy shoes in Disney!
Day 2
We rope dropped Hollywood Studios on day 2! Getting to the parks early was super clutch in getting on rides and being at a Deluxe resort allowed us to get in even earlier.
Tank | Skort | Socks | Ears | Bag | Watch Band
We were out of our hotel at 8 and on the Star Wars ride by 9 as our first stop. It is the most popular ride in Hollywood Studios! Next was Mickey’s Runaway Railway, which gets surprisingly long lines, but is a family favorite. By 10:15, we were at Rock-n-Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, before hitting Toy Story Land. Slinky Dog Dash was a very long line that we decided to wait on, but we did Toy Story Mania (another family fave) before grabbing lunch.
Lunch was at Backlot Express in Hollywood Studios. This is a place that is a bit tucked away and has a good selection for lunch. They also have drink stations you can fill yourself, which is nice for refill, since not all places offer that.
We met Edna and a few other characters before taking the Skyliner over to our hotel for an afternoon break. The Skyliner is like a ride in itself with really beautiful views!
Dinner that night was at Via Napoli in Italy in Epcot. It wasn’t bad by any means, but we all ordered a lot of pasta and it just didn’t seem like it was the best use of the dining plan. I do love the atmosphere and the food was good!
We got a couple night rides in and enjoyed the Epcot light show before calling it a night. We knew we were going to be up early for day 3!
Day 3
Day 3 we rope dropped (earlier than park opening because of our resort) Animal Kingdom and were at our first ride by 7:30. I think this park is absolutely underrated now with the addition of Pandora. There are so many great rides! We went straight to Avatar’s Flight of Passage, which is an incredible ride and the area is stunning.
We like to get on the Safari earlier in the morning when the animals are out, then we got on Expedition Everest and hit Kali River Rapids. Expedition Everest is a family fave roller coaster that has a separate line for single riders. If you don’t mind sitting separately, this lets you get on the ride in record time. They will fit you in with odd numbered parties and our whole family got on the same 1-2 cars each time. I’m pretty sure we rode it 6 times that day!
My body was craving some veggies so we did lunch at Restaurantosaurus. It’s tucked back into Dinoland and offers a couple great salads as well as chicken sandwiches, burgers and hot dogs.
A hidden gem for the grown ups in Animal Kingdom, is the coconut rum Dole Whip at Tamu Tamu. Right at the edge of Africa, this dessert only spot is a perfect stop for your sweet tooth! They have alcoholic and non-alcoholic treats, the latter can be used as snac\ks on your dining plan.
After the It’s Tough to be a Bug show, we headed back to our hotel to swim and cool off a little before our late dinner reservation at Steakhouse 71. This restaurant, in the Contemporary Resort, was the most difficult to get and top 2 favorites of the trip. I’m honestly surprised it was on the dining plan! We do have 1 kid still on the kids plan and he was very happy to get a steak off the kids menu.
After dinner, we caught the extra magic house at Magic Kingdom before calling it a day around 1am!
Day 4
I woke up early to jump on a virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy! We had been to Epcot, but hadn’t started our day there yet, so we hadn’t been able to use that feature. I got on line and figured that our call time would be around 10:30am, so we let everyone sleep a bit. We walked over to Epcot after breakfast and right to Guardians of the Galaxy. It is 100%, hands down, our entire family’s favorite ride. It’s fast and smooth and turns and is entertaining, but not spinny or dizzying. I can’t really explain how great it is!
Tank | Socks | Shorts: sold out, similar | Ears
We got on Ratatouille again (keep checking wait times on the app and run when it is low or has been closed awhile and will reopen!) walked around the countries and met some characters.
We ate at Connections Eatery, which has basically a couple restaurants in 1. It’s a great spot for a family since you can get pizza, burgers, salads and more.
One of the nice things about Disney with teenagers, is the ease to bop from place to place. The boys really wanted to go to Animal Kingdom to get on Expedition Everest again, so we just jumped on a bus and headed over. We did the single rider line a couple times, got snacks again at Tamu Tamu, used snack credits for Venti drinks at the huge Starbucks there and cooled off in Kali River Rapids.
It was back to Epcot for dinner at Teppan Edo. This is a hibachi restaurant in Japan that is quite entertaining as well! We have eaten here a couple times and you get a lot of food for your money on the dining plan. We ended our night with fireworks and even though it started to drizzle, you can’t beat a Disney firework show!
Day 5
We got in the virtual queue for Star Wars Rise of the Resistance at 7am. Since we didn’t get on Slinky Dog our first time at Hollywood Studios, we rope dropped and went straight for it this day. It’s such a fun ride! We love Toy Story Mania and waited a little bit in line to do that one again while we waited for our turn in line for Star Wars. We also got on Mickey’s Runaway Railway, which is an awesome ride, similar to Ratatouille.
Tee | Skirt: old Lululemon, similar more affordable option | Socks | Ears
We got a lot of ground covered early and headed to Epcot for lunch. We often stopped in at Epcot to eat and then walked back to our hotel. I got an extra bit of workout in since the 9 year old was getting worn out by day 5! We had lunch at Regal Eagle Smokehouse in the America portion of the World Showcase. It was a great mix up with BBQ chicken, ribs and burgers.
We took a swim break back at our hotel, which had an incredible pool! I can’t believe I don’t have a photo of it! Dinner was at Toledo in Coronado Springs Resort. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is the most underrated restaurant in Disney! The atmosphere is gorgeous and the food was so impressive. The desserts were extra special and they still got in some Disney feel at this high end steak house.
Day 6
We all wanted to get back on Tron and used our morning virtual queue line for that! While we waited our turn, we rode the race cars, The Little Mermaid (which my boys always do for me!), used up our remaining snack credits on Mickey pretzels, Starbucks and Dole Whip and took lots of pictures. We were leaving this day to drive back home, but adding a 6th day onto your park package was about $100 total for us, so it was worth it for the partial day! We feel like we did absolutely everything and then some. It was a wonderful trip!
Tank | Skirt | Socks | Ears | Belt Bag | Disney Iron on Patches
Until next time Disney!
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