We Spent a Week at Disney and Here's What We Did

Hey Howdy Hey!

Grab your fresh, hot Mickey waffle and get ready because it’s time to take a little trip to Walt Disney World! I’m inviting you to come on our family trip to Disney as I reminisce on our week in the happiest place on earth.

We had a fantastic trip and I’ll be the first person to tell you that I LOVE planning a Disney trip, but I also want to acknowledge how overwhelming it can be. My hope with this blog post is to give you a solid laid out itinerary of what we did, our personal recommendations for food and activities, and a list of what we would and wouldn’t do again.

Okay, let’s start from the beginning.

We wanted to go to Disney to celebrate my mom’s 60th birthday and if you ask me— it was a really special celebration and they definitely live up to their reputation of taking care of people on their special days. My mom was able to really feel loved and celebrated as cast members would shout “happy birthday!” As we were boarding a ride, shopping in a store, or dining in a restaurant. So, I’ll just go ahead and say that if you are celebrating something special at Disney— it will be well worth it!

Since we were celebrating my mom’s birthday, Alex and I wanted to get there a few days early in order to go ahead and get a few things taken care of so that as soon as my parents got there, we could start the celebrations!

This is a perfect segway into our next topic which will be a full breakdown of our itinerary. We were there for a week and I’ll take it day by day so I can get into those nitty gritty details of our day, including recommendations for food, rides, and so on.

WEDNESDAY

We woke up super early and drove straight through to Walt Disney World. It was a long day in the car, probably 12+ hours, but it was worth it and the drive was pretty seamless! Alex and I like to take turns driving and we make sure the boys have their car baskets stocked full of goodies to help keep them entertained and engaged on the long drive. Our “car baskets” are plastic baskets with a lid that I got from TJ Maxx. I love these things because they’re sturdy, easy to clean, and have a lid to keep everything stored safely inside. We stock the car baskets with books, hand games, Water Wow Pads, fidget toys, etc. I’ve created a full list of our favorite car basket items and put them all together in one easy resource that you can find HERE.

Now, don’t get me wrong— we also made sure that our iPads were fully charged and ready to go with episodes or movies downloaded. We pulled these out when we were about 2-3 hours outside of Orlando in order to give our boys a chill and relaxing end to such a long day.

We finally got to our resort around 6pm and let me tell you the excitement and relief we felt as we pulled up to the front door was unreal! We stayed at the Port Orleans French Quarter Resort which is something new for us. We’ve never stayed at a Disney resort before and I’m here to tell you, I think I’m becoming a resort girlie because it was INCREDIBLE. I never realized there were so many perks and benefits to staying on the Disney property. I’ll get to those all throughout this post, so stay tuned.

Once we got checked in, we went to see our room. We had a river view room which means we got to see the Disney boat driving on the river and taking people from their resort to Disney Springs. It was something so small, but I will admit that it was really cool to walk in and see “Welcome Booe Family” on the TV screen. The boys were so excited and it was just one of those things that really helped us to take a deep breath— we made it, we’re here, and we’re about to have such a great week. The room itself was perfect. We had two queen beds and we kept commenting on how the room was so suited for families to stay for an extended period of time. The drawers, shelves, and storage was unbelievable. I was always a little skeptical, wondering if we could make it work for a longer trip as a family of four and I’m here to tell you— we could’ve done it no problem. I will say that there is no kitchen. It’s just like your standard hotel room with a mini fridge. If having a kitchen is important to you, I would recommend looking into the suites option as I do believe those have kitchens.

After getting our things settled, we went to the quick service restaurant for dinner. I do want to take a second to clarify the difference between these Disney dining options. A quick service restaurant is like an elevated cafeteria experience. They have a set menu so you walk up to order and they have it ready in minimal time. The food is not out of this world, but it’s also not terrible. It’s standard quick service food so don’t expect it to be the best meal you have on your trip. If you’re wanting a nicer and better tasting meal, I would recommend looking into some of the sit down restaurants on the resort. Those are going to be your more elevated food option and tend to have pretty tasty dishes. Another thing to take note of is the resort mugs. Personally, I love them and think they’re adorable. My mom and I both really wanted to get one so I went ahead and snagged one for each of us. The resort mugs cost about $23 and get you unlimited tea, coffee, and soda refills for the duration of your stay at a resort. They only work on the resorts and not in the parks. I think it was totally worth it! I got coffee every morning and sometimes in the afternoon. A cup of coffee was about $4 so if you got six coffees, it already would’ve paid for itself.

Once we finished dinner, we were able to walk around the resort and look at all they had to offer. We watched as horse drawn carriages went by, taking people on a nice evening ride. These are isolated to certain resorts and are not available at all resorts so if that interests you, I would recommend looking into one of the Port Orleans Resorts (French Quarter or Riverside). We got to see the gift shop, arcade, pool, hot tub, playground, and so much more!

It had been a long day so we decided to head back to the room and get some sleep for the next day.

THURSDAY

We woke up and had things to do! My parents were coming in on Saturday and we wanted to go ahead and make sure we had things in order for my mom’s birthday. We had breakfast at Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory (the quick service option) and it was great! We OBVIOUSLY had to have Mickey waffles on the first day so it was just what we needed. After breakfast, we took the walking path along the river to the neighboring resort of Port Orleans Riverside. The aesthetic of this resort was a little more elevated in comparison to the French Quarter and while it seemed very nice, we still believe we made the right choice of staying at the French Quarter.

We walked through the front door of the Riverside Resort and right away, we saw Donald Duck! Cue the tears, am I right? It was such a magical moment to just walk in and immediately see characters for a meet and greet with no line. We went right up for pictures with Donald and as we turned around, we saw that Goofy and Pluto were outside by the river! The boys immediately ran right out to see them and again, there was no line. We got to run up and get big hugs and family pics with the characters. This is a huge perk of staying on the resort— characters will randomly come for meet and greets with little to no wait time.

It was such a magical start to our day and if you know me, I’m a crier. It was such a sweet moment and I cried a lot! Once we got our photos and hugs from our favorite Disney characters, we ran to catch the boat to Disney Springs. The boat ride from the resort to Disney Springs was maybe 15ish minutes and is actually one of our favorite things to do. The boat ride is peaceful and you get to see a lot of wildlife along the way.

We had one priority at Disney Springs— get a birthday button from the customer service hut and take it to the Christmas store so they could customize it for my mom. The button itself doesn’t cost anything and all you have to do is just walk in and ask for one. Customer service should have all of the celebration buttons you need (birthday, anniversary, etc.). At the ornament store, they have a separate counter for customizations and as soon as we walked up to the counter, I saw a huge display of buttons behind the counter. Turns out you can also get the button there and not just at customer service— I had no idea, but now you know! It was $5 a word and they had complimentary designs like fireworks, pixie dust, etc. to add to the style of the button.

They estimated that it would take about an hour so we decided to grab some lunch while they worked on the design. Personally, we didn’t want to eat at Disney Springs so we went to the bus hub and caught the next resort bus that pulled up. One of our favorite things to do is to walk around the various resorts and try some of the food or drinks that are just at the resort. So that’s just what we did for lunch! The next bus to pull up was headed for the Riviera Resort which is one of the nicer and more elevated resorts that Disney has to offer, but in my opinion is more for couples or those without kids. It’s a very nice resort, don’t get me wrong. I’m just saying I wouldn’t stay there with my kids.

We went to the first floor and had lunch at Primo Piatto, their quick service restaurant. I grabbed a salad and hummus with pita from the fridge while Alex had their chicken sandwich on focaccia with fries. The boys shared with us and let me tell you— it was delicious! I could tell my body needed some greens and this salad was so good. Topped with cucumbers, tomatoes, quinoa, feta, peppers, and topped with a super tasty vinaigrette dressing. The chicken sandwich was also incredible so if you need a solid meal, we would absolutely recommend this! I will also say that the salad was not isolated to just this resort, we found it more times throughout the week.

After lunch, we walked over to catch the skyliner and we wrote that to the Pop Century Resort. We’ve never been to that resort before so we decided to head that way and just take some time to walk around. It was a really cool resort and they have a lot of stuff to see scattered throughout the property. They have different sections and buildings dedicated to different centuries in time. We found a large Baloo the Bear and Mowgli, Mickey Phone, Big Wheel, etc. it was a really cool stop and very fun to walk around.

By this time, it was HOT and we were ready to camp out by the resort pool so we caught a bus back to Disney Springs, picked up my mom’s birthday button, and rode the boat back to the resort.

Okay, now it’s time to talk about the resort pools because YOU GUYS. This is one thing that Disney does VERY well and if you’re staying at a resort, I highly encourage you to check out what the pool looks like before you book. At the Port Orleans French Quarter, we had a really cool Mardi Gras themed splash pad complete with buckets, water slides, and so much more. The boys loved it and were entertained here for awhile. Then it was time to move on to the big pool which had a GIANT sea serpent waterslide for kids and adults. Our boys were 3 and 5 at the time of this trip and if you’re sitting there wondering about pool and water safety, trust me you’re not alone. I was worried about it too, but one thing I really loved was that they had complimentary life jackets by the pool, many life guards, and shallow pools. Even the waterslide itself moved slowly and didn’t have fast or shocking speed. This all really helped me to feel much better about being by the water with the boys and I wanted to make sure I passed that along for you too.

After a fun filled time at the pool, it was time for us to head back to our room to get cleaned up and ready for dinner. We had a reservation at Boatwright’s at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort and the best part was that we could walk from our resort to the restaurant. It was a short 10 min walk and was located at the same place where we had seen the characters and caught the boat earlier that day.

Boatwright’s was probably one of the best meals we had the whole trip and if you’re nearby, I highly recommend you getting a reservation. They had a lot of openings so it shouldn’t be an issue to grab a table at a time that works for you and their menu is stellar. They bring out a complimentary cornbread which was delicious and we ordered an appetizer of fried okra which was also very good. The boys shared the kid’s grilled chicken plate with macaroni and green beans, Alex had the Seafood Boil, and I had the grilled salmon. All of it was SO GOOD and we’re still talking about this meal even after we’ve come home. After dinner, we walked around the resort for a little bit and then walked on the well-lit path by the river to get back to our room. Walking along the river was so peaceful and quiet no matter what time of day, we felt safe and it was such a nice way to end our first day.

FRIDAY

We woke up early because it was our first park day— YAY! We were headed to Epcot and we really wanted to rope drop (be there right at opening) in order to maximize our time at the park. The park normally opens at 9am, but since we were staying at a resort, we got early entry which means we could get in at 8:30am. We caught a quick bus to Epcot and as soon as we got there, we hustled to get back to Paris in the World Showcase so we could hop on the Ratatouille ride before the line became insanely long. As we were walking through the park, we saw characters like Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Donald Duck, and more scattered throughout the park for meet and greets— again with little to no line. This is another perk of staying on the resort! Early entry offered early access to the park AND the opportunity to meet a bunch of characters. This isn’t totally advertised and I don’t think it’s something you necessarily know about until you’ve done it or know someone who has. We loved it though and just continued to solidify for us that staying at a Disney Resort was worth it.

Thankfully, the Ratatouille ride was at a 15 minute wait when we got there and it went so fast and smooth that we were able to get on in no time and then once we got off, we decided to hop back on and ride it a second time because the line was still so short and our boys LOVED the ride.

Now, let’s talk about breakfast because it was 9am by this point and we were in dire need of food and coffee! So we hopped through an alley in Paris and went to Les Halles which is a French patisserie that had the freaking best food. We actually came here twice that day and I’ll cover the second part in a little bit. We ordered half a baguette, a quiche, the yogurt parfait, and a croissant sandwich. It was 15/10 and if you’re in Epcot for breakfast, I cannot recommend this place enough!

Now that we had some full bellies, we made our way around the World Showcase in search for more rides. We got to hop on Living with the Land, Finding Nemo, Turtle Talk with Crush, Figment, Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros, and more.

At the time of our trip, Epcot was hosting their Food and Wine Festival so the World Showcase was on display with a bunch of little stands that had small sips and bites from each country. We really wanted to lean into the food for this trip so we started looking for lunch! We ended up having lunch in Mexico at La Cantina de San Angel. Our family shared some nachos and Alex and I had a margarita. Here’s a super tip: if it’s a hot day and you want a place to sit and eat, go to the far right of the ordering stand and you’ll see a covered patio with tables. Look between the last cashier stand and the start of the covered patio and you’ll see two doors. Go inside and you’ll find the nicest dining hall with AC, lots of tables, and overlooking the water. It was such a nice place to sit and relax while we ate lunch, especially when we couldn’t find any tables outside.

We continued through the World Showcase, taking shelter in Japan as we dodged a massive rainstorm. We went on more rides and continued to walk around trying food and drinks from each of the different countries. Our second stop at the patisserie in Paris was for a little afternoon snack of a half baguette and coffee mousse. Again, it was delicious! Another one of our favorite things we got was the maple popcorn from Canada and that’s also where we were able to find the Halloween Stitch popcorn bucket! It was such a cute popcorn bucket that glowed in the dark and had a little light up pumpkin.

Just a couple of hours before the park closed, my sister (who lives in Texas) showed up and finished our day with us! She had some serious FOMO on missing our family trip and decided to book a last minute flight to surprise my mom. We were so excited to see her and we took her back through the World Showcase to find some tasty dinner and ride Ratatouille one more time.

We shut down the park and left when the park closed, which was shortly after 9pm. Getting back to the resort, we were hungry— don’t ask me how because I feel like we had been eating all day long, but we also averaged about 23k steps considering we walked around the World Showcase three times. We grabbed some food from Sassagoula’s Floatworks (most quick service spots close at 11pm) before heading to our room for bedtime!

SATURDAY

This was a bittersweet day, sad because we were checking out of the Port Orleans French Quarter Resort, but happy because my parents were coming into town and our big family vacation was about to really start!

The morning was all logistical work to make sure we had everything set up for my parent’s arrival. After having breakfast at the resort (more Mickey waffles and coffee), we checked out and went to the new hotel to see about an early check-in. Thankfully, we were able to get in quickly and right away so we could start decorating the space for my mom’s birthday. I brought  a bunch of birthday decorations like streamers, banners, etc. and we started putting together my mom’s welcome basket. Her welcome basket was packed full of a bunch of great little finds to help her to have a great trip including— the Stitch popcorn bucket, resort mug, birthday button, and more! If you’re curious about all of the things we stuffed in her basket, I got you! I’ve linked it all HERE.

My parents got to the hotel shortly after lunchtime and remember, she didn’t know my sister was coming! We had my sister hide in the bathroom with our boys while my parents came inside. My mom was so overwhelmed with all of the birthday goodies that she was already very excited, but watching my sister walk out of the bathroom was the cherry on top of it all! She broke down crying and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. It was a super sweet moment and then we started talking about all of the logistics that brought my sister to Florida.

By now, we were all so hungry and we decided it was time to officially start our big family vacation. We changed our clothes and headed to Trader Sam’s at the Polynesian Resort. Trader Sam’s is a grotto themed cocktail lounge that is highly rated and very cool. They have this drink called “the pearl” and 9/10 you’ll get your drink served in a white pearl, but on rare occasions you’ll get your drink in the black pearl. It’s one of those fun little hidden Disney things that a lot of people don’t really know about. I had read about it prior to our trip and we all agreed that we had to go!

We paid to park at the Magic Kingdom parking lot because there was a short path that could get us access to the Polynesian Resort and it was easier to do that than taking a bus from Disney Springs. We tried to park at the Polynesian Resort, but they were currently under construction and couldn’t allow us to park there since we weren’t a guest at the resort or had a dining reservation.

If you want to find Trader Sam’s, go through the first floor of the main lobby of the resort and head to the back left corner. You’ll see a hallway and their quick service restaurant on the right. Just beyond that quick service restaurant is Trader Sam’s and I’ll admit that it’s easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. The lounge opens at 3pm and kids are allowed in until 8pm. They have small bites on the menu along with a bunch of tasty cocktails for adults and fun juices for kids. Walking in, we thought we were in good shape because there was no line, but we couldn’t have been more wrong. Apparently, they have a waitlist that opened earlier in the day and they were now completely booked for the evening. We were so frustrated because we thought we had done all of the work and all of the planning, only to have it fall flat.

That’s when I saw a sign for the Trader Sam’s Tiki Terrace which was outside and just around the corner. The tables here are first come, first serve and they have the exact same menu as Trader Sam’s so it was a win-win! We got to sit by the water and among a bunch of big, beautiful tropical plants and flowers while listening to the live music. It wasn’t the experience we planned for, but it was the experience we needed and it was so nice!

My mom, sister, and Alex all ordered “The Pearl” and when the waitress brought it out, she had the drinks covered with cloth napkins so we couldn’t see the drinks. She put the tray on the table and turned it until we said stop. Then she lifted off the napkins and we were so shocked and excited to see that my mom had received the black pearl cup! It was a fun little addition to the night and just one of those magical memories we’ll always hold on to. We ordered some food and we ended up staying there for a little while just because it was so nice to sit outside and listen to the music. At one point, Aspen and Graham had invited my mom and I to dance. To say it was a sweet little night would be an understatement and I have looked back on this evening many times since we’ve returned home. If you’ve never heard of Trader Sam’s, I highly encourage you to give it a shot! The food, drinks, and atmosphere were AMAZING!

After our time at the Polynesian came to a close, we split up and this is when Alex was very generous and offered to take the boys back to the hotel to let them play, get cleaned up, and put down for bed. Meanwhile, my mom, dad, sister, and I hopped on the monorail to head to the Grand Floridian Resort. Here, they have a Beauty and Beast themed cocktail lounge called “The Enchanted Rose” and my mom’s always wanted to go, but has never had the chance. With it being her birthday celebration, we knew we had to make it happen! On the ride there, we were trying to figure out when we had time just the four of us (our family) to be together and we realized that it had been 8+ years. So being able to have that time was so special and something we truly cherished.

Now, if you’ve never been to “The Enchanted Rose,” YOU HAVE TO GO! They don’t do reservations and it’s strictly walk in based. Thankfully, we were able to walk up and get in within 15 minutes. They have cozy chairs and a full menu of tasty bites and drinks. We got the hummus and truffle fries— which were delicious. Once you’re finished with your drinks and food, I encourage you to walk around the lounge and look for the subtle nods to Beauty and Beast. You’ll find Cogsworth, Lumiere, the Rose, and more on the shelves of the stunning lounge library. It’s an elevated atmosphere and they don’t have a dress code, but I would encourage you to wear a fun outfit!

When we got done, we stumbled upon a cast member who told us the Magic Kingdom fireworks were just about to start and then they proceeded to walk us outside to the stairs by the water and provide us with the perfect place to watch fireworks! We only waited for about five minutes before the fireworks show to start and the coolest part is that they pipe in the soundtrack for the “Happily Ever After” show and you’re so close you can even see the castle and some of the projections from the show. If you’re not going to be in Magic Kingdom for fireworks, I would encourage you to go to one of the nearby resorts (Contemporary, Polynesian, or Grand Floridian) to watch the fireworks show because they all pipe in the music!

After the fireworks were done, it was time to head back to the hotel. We caught the monorail from the Grand Floridian and we were supposed to ride it to the transportation center for the Magic Kingdom parking lot where our car was parked, but instead, we accidentally got off at the Magic Kingdom stop. If you haven’t been before and don’t understand the issue, let me just say— this was a massive mistake. You cannot get to the Magic Kingdom parking lot from Magic Kingdom itself. You have to take a boat, monorail, or bus and we completely forgot about this. As soon as we stepped off, we realized our mistake and as we looked around, we saw nothing but large crowds of people leaving the park. The fireworks had just ended and it was prime time leave time. We started laughing because what else can you do? We joined the large crowd of people to get back on the monorail which ended up being not so bad. We were back on the monorail within 15 minutes, but the monorail didn’t move. That’s when the announcement came through that the monorail was broken down and we needed to find an alternate route. After much discussion, we decided to take the well-lit path from Magic Kingdom through the Grand Floridian, through the Polynesian, and all the way back to the parking lot. Bottom line— it should’ve taken us maybe 40 minutes to get back to our hotel and instead, it took us two and half hours. Lesson learned: don’t miss your monorail stop and I share that with you so you can avoid the havoc too. This was, however, one of those things where we couldn’t stop laughing the whole walk there and it became a funny point of the trip that we constantly talked about and brought up. Safe to say, getting back to our hotel, we had one priority— BEDTIME.

SUNDAY

This was one of the rest days on our trip and I will be very honest in saying that if you haven’t taken rest days at Disney, use this as your reminder to start doing this. We love a good rest day where we get to take it easy, but I’ll also be honest in saying that our rest days don’t have a whole lot of “rest.” We still averaged about 15k steps on our rest days.

On this particular rest day, we did what we do best— we resort hopped. If you’re not familiar with this, it’s super easy. We just hop on a bus and take it to a random resort. We walk around and look at the resort for a little bit, maybe grab a bite to eat or a snack and then move on to the next resort. Disney resorts are so intricately and uniquely created so it’s really fun to see how they differ.

Our day started by having breakfast at “The Roaring Fork” at Wilderness Lodge Resort (my dream resort, some day we’ll stay there). We’ve been here before and we love it. The dining room is cozy and it feels like you’re eating in a log cabin. They also have some incredible food. For example, Alex had the “totchos” for breakfast that day and it was tater tots topped with sausage gravy, eggs, cheese, bacon, and chives. Listen, if you haven’t had the “totchos” consider this another reminder— get the “totchos.” My parents love and always get the giant bear claw pastry. It’s MASSIVE and so delicious. We usually have leftovers to take with us! While we were there, the cashier saw that it was my mom’s birthday and gave her a complementary cupcake that looked like a little campfire and it was the sweetest gesture. Just goes to show that each resort has a lot of food themed for where you are and it can all be really good.

After eating at The Wilderness Lodge, we went to The Animal Kingdom Lodge (the Disney resort with animals roaming in an enclosed savanna outside of the lobby) and the Riviera (some of our family hadn’t been there before). It was about lunch time and we decided to have lunch at the Riviera quick service restaurant again because I couldn’t stop thinking about the salad that I’d had a few days prior. We grabbed a coffee and strolled through the gift shop before leaving to head to Disney Springs. We walked around Disney Springs for a good while and grabbed a few souvenirs we had our eyes on.

From there, we picked up a pizza and went back to our hotel to play games and relax. We took our foot massager and my sister had taken her massage gun so we were in full on recovery mode!

MONDAY

This was our first park day as a big family and we went to Hollywood Studios. Since we were no longer on Disney property, we drove to the park and paid the $30 to park. We wanted to get there as close to opening as we possibly could in order to maximize our day. We started out by heading to Fairfax Fare, a quick service restaurant by The Tower of Terror. Here, you can get a Mickey waffle platter with bacon, coffee, and other snacks. Obviously, we got the Mickey waffles (I’m pretty sure I had them every day we were there) and they were delicious!

Next up—ride time! We made our way back to the rides we wanted to do first. Some of the family split up and went to ride Tower of Terror and Rockin’ Rollercoaster while the rest of the family went to ride Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad. As soon as we got off the ride, we immediately ordered lunch and I would highly suggest that if you want to have lunch from a quick service place at Hollywood Studios (like Woody's Lunchbox), order early in the morning so you don’t have a long wait. We reconvened in Toy Story Land and met in line for the Slinky Dog rollercoaster which was only a 45 minute wait. I’m still shocked that 45 minutes is a decent wait time, but it is and we were determined to ride this ride. Thankfully, the line moved along well and after that, we were able to pick up our lunch.

Woody's Lunchbox is a GREAT option for lunch in Hollywood Studios. They specialize in grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup and homemade pop tarts. We picked up our lunch and found a table in Star Wars land where we could sit to eat. Now that we were in Star Wars land, there were a lot of rides people wanted to go on such as smugglers run. Rise of the Resistance was an unbearable wait of an hour plus so we didn’t get to do that this time and just opted to ride many rides multiple times. We eventually made our way to the Indiana Jones show which is always a favorite and at 4:20pm, we got to Roundup Rodeo BBQ for dinner.

Goodness gracious, if you have never had the opportunity to eat at Roundup Rodeo BBQ— please make sure you check it out and make a reservation if you can. This is some of our favorite food at Disney and we love that it’s a family style restaurant. They have little horses your kids can ride to the table and the whole restaurant is Toy Story themed where you’ll occasionally have to pause if Andy comes in the room. The food includes all kinds of meat—ribs, brisket, sausage, and salmon paired with an assortment of sides like macaroni and cheese, watermelon, cucumber salad, slaw, corn on the cob, and more.

This was one of our big dinners at Disney so we decided to splurge and order the Mickey cake for my mom. When I added this to our reservation, I seriously thought it would be a small, 4-6 inch cake, but I was so wrong. This was a full sized cake that was worth every single penny. We were expecting the cake to be just okay, but it was absolutely delicious! We were so happy that we had leftovers to enjoy later back at the hotel, too.

After dinner, we found ourselves walking around Star Wars land where we stumbled upon the BEST find. We found a Star Wars popcorn bucket and we saw on the menu that they had a cold brew coffee with cold foam which we just HAD to try. My sister and I split the coffee and immediately went to order another one because it was that good! I have thought about this coffee every single day since we left and if you go to Hollywood Studios, promise me that you’ll grab this coffee, okay??? We continued to explore the park, ride a few more rides, and shop the stores before the park closed at 9pm

Getting back to the hotel, I think you knew our plan— play games, eat cake, and use our massagers to recover before another full day at the parks the following day.

TUESDAY

We were up and out early this day because we had a character breakfast in Magic Kingdom! Our reservation was for the Crystal Palace at 8:20am and this couldn’t have been more perfect. Normally, the park opens at 9am, but apparently, you can get into the park at 7:30 for access to an almost empty Main Street USA! The shops may not be open and you can’t ride rides yet, but there’s no crowd and you can get INCREDIBLE pictures by the castle with little to no one around.

Breakfast at the Crystal Palace was probably one of my favorite Disney memories to date. It’s a breakfast buffet and the food is so, so good. They also have a churro Mickey waffle that you can only get there and let me tell you— yes, it’s as good as it sounds. They also had cereal, yogurt, has browns, fruit, pastries, eggs, shrimp and grits, bacon, and more! As we were eating, we had the pleasure of meeting Eeyore, Piglet, and Tigger. Winnie the Pooh was at the front and you were able to go up and meet him at any time during your meal. In the past, we’ve done Ohana character breakfast at the Polynesian Resort and we’ve really liked that, but I think the Crystal Palace is my new favorite!

After we finished breakfast, we were able to scoot out and explore the park just shortly after it opened. We really wanted to ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train so we beelined for that first and only had about a 25 minute wait! After that we went on a lot of other rides such as Winnie the Pooh, Spinning Tea Cups, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Pirates of the Caribbean, and more. I’m sorry to say that we did not get to have a reservation at the new Pirates of the Caribbean lounge called “The Beak and Barrel.” We tried, but it was totally full and no one was cancelling their reservation. We were sad about that, but now we know that we’ll just try for it next time!

Lunch is and will always be from Casey’s Corner (giant hot dogs!) as we watch the parade and this year, we had a great spot for the parade! We stood right across from Sleepy Hollow (a quick service restaurant) which is right over the bridge behind the castle. We had a lot of space to spread out and we had a great view of the castle as the parade went by.

One big thing that I’d like to point out about our Magic Kingdom day is that we went on a party day which means that the park closed at 6pm for the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. We wanted to try to go to this, but tickets would’ve been $700+ for the four of us so we decided to nix it and do it again another year. A lot of people think that going to Magic Kingdom on a party day is a waste of time since the park closes early, but I’m here to tell you that it’s not! It’s actually the best time to go because we experienced low wait times and minimal crowds. As we were making our way to the exit, we stopped for some pictures in front of the castle and as you can see— we still got great photos with not a lot of people! Obviously, we were sad to leave the park especially when everyone was coming in all dressed up and looking cute, but we still had almost 12 hours of park time at Magic Kingdom and we got to do a lot of what we wanted so we’re counting it as a win!

Leaving was so hard because it was our last day and we had had so much fun, but we were all very ready for some rest and relaxation. We made our way back to the hotel for leftover pizza, cake, and lots of games!

WEDNESDAY

The saddest day of any Disney trip is the departure day so we always make it a point to have one last little dose of the Disney bubble before we hit the road. Having breakfast at a Disney Resort is an easy and fun way to end your trip! In the past, we’ve gone to the Roaring Fork before leaving, but since we had already done that, we decided to go to the Caribbean Beach Resort! We told the security guard at the gate what we were doing and he let us in to park there at the resort. We went to their quick service restaurant, Centertown Market, and we got to sit on their outdoor patio by the water. We had Mickey waffles one more time and it was absolutely perfect!

PIXIE DUSTING

Leaving our breakfast at Centertown Market is the perfect segway into our next topic and that’s Pixie Dusting! This is a really fun thing you can do along your trip and maybe, you’ve even been Pixie Dusted while on one of your trips? Pixie Dusting is a simple way to bring joy to a random person you meet while at Disney.

For us, this looked like grabbing three $15 Disney gift cards and randomly passing them out to people in the parks. We passed out one gift card to a couple who was celebrating their anniversary at Epcot and the other two gift cards were passed out to families who had dressed up really well for the Halloween Party on Tuesday.

Our final Pixie Dusting was done after our breakfast on Wednesday and one of the reasons we chose breakfast at the Caribbean Beach Resort is because of its close proximity to the skyliner. After breakfast, we hopped on the skyliner and went to the Cars building at the Art of Animation Resort. In the lobby of the hotel, we dropped off an umbrella stroller ($15 at Walmart) and stocked it with a bunch of fun little things— snacks, wipes, coloring book, crayons, $15 gift card, sunglasses, and other things like that. We put a little note on the top and prayed over it as we left. It was a really sweet and special way to end our trip and Pixie Dusting is now something we will do on all future trips to Disney!

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you’re still here, THANK YOU! The dedication and time that went into this blog post was not tiny, but rather mighty and I appreciate you taking the time to read about our trip. My whole purpose was to give you a real life look at a week long trip in Disney and I hope you’re leaving here with a few solid tips and nuggets for things you can do to enhance your next trip. As you leave, here are some other resources that you may find useful when it comes to planning a trip to Disney:

Disney Podcast Episode on Messy Motherhood-- On the podcast, I did a part one and part two episode to share about our trip! Listen here!

Disney Blog Post-- A compilation of our previous two trips to Disney and all of the things we did during that time. I give a bunch of tips and talk about how it was different to go in January versus September.

Disney Welcome Basket-- Here's everything we included in my mom's welcome basket (minus the popcorn buket, resort mug, birthday button, and Mickey cookies made by a friend).

Car Basket-- Here's everything we use in our car baskets for our boys to keep them entertained and engaged in the car.

Disney World Must Haves-- if you're going to Disney with your kiddos, you're going to want to check this out!

Let me know if you have any other questions and I hope you have the most magical day!

Until next time!

SB