Walt Disney World: 11 Must Do's for little girls

My four year old seriously lucked out.  She's been begging us to go to Disney World for the better part of a year and we kept putting her off -- telling her we needed to wait until her little brother got a little older.  But when my husband was scheduled to go on a business trip to Orlando we decided to hop on the tail end of his trip and make our first visit to Disney World.   (Actually, it turned out to be the best time to go because at not yet 2, my son enjoyed everything FREE of charge! Cha ching!)

I planned our trip for about three months to ensure we hit all the highlights -- focusing, this trip, on my daughter.  It's easy to see why people go back year after year to Disney World, there's just so much to do.  I figured this would be the only trip my son wouldn't mind missing out on the pirates and the "boy" stuff because...well, he was just too little to know any different.

DIY Disney themed photo books

Minnie Mouse for a DIY Disney themed photo book

Disney themed photo books are not the easiest thing to make because, from what I've found, there's only one online scrapbooking service that offers Disney packages.  I looked around for awhile after our recent trip and found that Snapfish offers Disney themes for an added prices -- albeit not too much.  The only problem, and what stopped me from using that service, is you can only pick one theme for the entire book and you can't mix and match with other Disney-related photo themes.  If you want your entire Disney photo book with a Mickey theme or want your entire family vacation on a Princesses backdrop you're in luck.  I was not a fan of being limited by just one theme so I set out to make my own Disney themed book.

4 Day Disney World Itinerary with Kids: What First Timers MUST see and do

Since my family recently got back from our first family vacation to Disney World I've been writing on all the tips and tricks I learned along the way -- you did read my Top 10 Tips for a First Time Disney World vacation didn't you? One of the best things I did for my family, was not only plan ahead, but make an actually itinerary.   

My kids were 4 and 20 months when we went in early February 2013 and this 4 day Disney World Itinerary worked out perfectly.  I've highlighted our family's daily highlight in green.
 

First Day: Magic Kingdom

** = MUST DO

Hours: 9am – 10:00pm  (check hours specific for your tour dates)

Leave hotel:  8:15

FIRST THING TO DO: Get FASTPASS for Winnie the Pooh (send one person -- DAD -- with all the tickets to get all the FastPasses, that way you're not all trekking across the park to get them).

·      Dumbo - FP

·      Peter Pan Flight

·      Seven Dwarfs

·      **Winnie the Pooh - FP

·      Country Bear Jamboree

·      Unspecified Counter Service Lunch  11:30 (we ended up eating at Liberty Tree Tavern)

·      Return to hotel by 12:30 pm for naps (click to read why this is soooo important)

·      Depart hotel for Magic Kingdom by 3pm

·      DINNER: 4:15 Cinderalla’s Royal Table at Magic Kingdom CONFIRMATION #: xxxx

·      Carousel

·      Small World -

·      7pm: Main Street Electrical Parade Main Street, U.S.A., Liberty Square, Frontierland

·      **8pm: Wishes Nighttime Spectacular -Magic Kingdom Theme Park, Main Street, U.S.A.

For Day 2...

Disney World the First time: 10 tips for taking little kids

My family recently got back from our first trip to Disney World...and now I feel like I'm one of those Disney experts...everyone knows one, right?!  Anyway, I thought a Disney tips series might be beneficial so here goes my first one...

We basically had no plans to go to Disney despite our four year old princess' pleas because our son was only 20 months at the time.  However, when my husband had to go to Orlando for business, we decided we'd at least save on his airfare by the rest of us joining him on the last day of his business meeting.  We only booked our trip about 3 months out because that's when we learned of the business trip so I was a little behind the eight ball to start.

I did a lot of research for our first Disney trip with the kids including reading The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World with Kids 2013 which I found extremely helpful and talking over tips with friends who frequent WDW.

Here are my top 10 tips for Disney World first timers.

1) Go off season: Disney World's off season varies, but any time during the summer, long holiday weekends (MLK, Presidents Day, etc), and holiday weeks (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Spring Break) are by far the busiest. We just so happen to pick one of the least busy weeks of the year -- the first week in February. The crowds were minimial -- relatively speaking.  We waited no more than 5 or 10 minutes in line for any rides and we got to go on all the kids rides and even some of the headliner adult rides like Rock & Roll Roller Coaster and Soarin' in Epcot.  This site has a great visual graphic of the crowds during each week to see what part of the year is the best time to visit Disney World.