We’re back from the happiest place on earth, Walt Disney World! I’ll start off by saying my husband and I are not Disney people and have always said we wouldn’t take our kids there, but here we are. We just got back from an amazing five days in Orlando with our kids and we had the best time! I guess never say never! I received a lot of questions on my Instagram about details regarding our trip and how we planned everything so I hope this helps! I will say we had zero regrets and we had the best time, we definitely did it the right way making it a stress free enjoyable experience. I hope you enjoy our Disney travel guide for first timers!
For starters, if you’re not familiar with our family we have two kids Noah (3) and Ellie (1). Their birthdays are four days apart and I really didn’t want to do a joint birthday party so we decided to do a big Disney trip instead. We went with our good friends and their two kids who are also close in age to ours. Our friends are annual pass holders so we knew we would be in good hands for our first experience there.
Where we stayed
There are so many places to choose from at Disney when it comes to your stay! We knew we couldn’t go wrong with the Four Seasons and I am so happy we stayed there! This resort is probably one of the top Four Seasons properties in the country. It’s incredible! Whether you have kids or not, the resort has everything you ever wanted.
Activities at The Resort
Overall
The Four Seasons Orlando is a stunning property conveniently located on Disney Property (not a Disney hotel). If you are looking for a great place to unwind and relax with or without your kids, this is your place. The property is beautiful and the amenities are amazing. I will share a few of my favorite parts of the hotel. My husband also loved taking walks around the property in the morning and watching the sun come up.
The Pools
The pools and outdoor areas are fantastic. There are multiple kid friendly pools as well as adult only. They have water slides, splash pad, lazy river and plenty of breathing room with the sheer size of the pools and number of them so you never feel crowded. The pool service is also amazing, with great drinks and food options. We rented a cabana for the day and we were super relaxed and comfortable. I recommend it if you’re planning on spending the whole day there!
The Spa
During our stay, we also booked a spa service and the amenities were amazing! They had a lot of outdoor areas where you could reflect and relax enjoying the beautiful scenery. Inside, they had a quiet room with a fireplace and multiple places to sit and read a book or do whatever else you want! I enjoyed an 80 minute massage while I was there.
The Food
The Four Seasons also has so many restaurants to choose from, including the rooftop restaurant Capa, which overlooks the park and you can see the fireworks show at night. The hotel also hosts a character breakfast in the morning and Mickey and Minnie join Goofy on Thursdays and Saturdays at Ravello which also serves as a fantastic Italian restaurant at night. For a quick bite, I recommend checking out the Lobby Bar for great cocktails and I had a delicious burger!
The Rooms
We stayed in a two room suite with two bathrooms that had plenty of space for the kids and all our stuff. The room was perfect and they had everything we needed to not think about anything but enjoying our time together, the staff and hotel took care of the rest with a fully stocked and super clean room.
We also requested a crib through the hotel and I know they can provide other baby items as well. They seriously think about every detail and make it easy for parents and special for kids!
Overall from the rooms, to the pools, the property, and the dining this resort is a perfect getaway when visiting Orlando and Disney!
TRANSPORTATION
We decided to fly to Orlando from Atlanta since it’s such a quick flight and I could not do the long car ride with our kids. We were going back and forth on whether it was better to rent a car or book private transportation in Orlando. Since there were 8 of us total, we decided to book private transportation while we were there. We booked all our car services directly with the Four Seasons. We had a Mercedes sprinter van with car seats that they provided. We arrange transportation from and to the airport as well as between parks. Like I said, the hotel has a free shuttle available but for our families it made more sense to do private rides.
planning
I think the length of our trip was perfect for our family! We had enough time to do everything we wanted and weren’t rushed or in a hurry. We did two park days and spaced them out and we also did a pool day at the resort. I can’t imagine ding back to back park days for our family so it was nice to break it up and give ourselves a break. It can definitely be overwhelming because there are so many parks to check out and things to do. My advice is to do your research and prioritize where you want to go and what rides you really want to check out. Since this was technically a “kid’s trip” we thought it was best to visit Magic Kingdom and Epcot.
the DISNEY parks
VIP Tour Guide
To make our lives easier, we booked a VIP tour guide for both park days. I honestly cannot imagine going to Disney without a VIP tour guide. It is absolutely worth the money and I cannot recommend it enough. We booked our tour through World Class VIP. I know Disney offers VIP Tours as well but it costs thousands of dollars. Ours was much more affordable and we had such a good experience! I believe the the only difference is that with Disney, you can go backstage/behind the scenes.
With the VIP tour guide, they manage your time at the park by starting early, knowing what rides to go to first, and managing your Genie+ account and booking rides. Our guide logged in to our Disney account and managed everything. She was also able to get us a reservation at the Be Our Guest castle restaurant which can take a months to get on the list. Another thing that was nice was that our guide would stay with our strollers and/or kids if they were asleep or too young for the ride.
Everything is strategically planned and you get to do everything you want in a shorter amount of time. I don’t think we ever waited longer than 5 mins to get on a ride. We communicated with our tour guide leading up to our trip and we let her know which rides were important to us. The parks can be intimidating especially as a first timer, so it was nice not having to worry about the layouts or have to look at a map.
What Did Our Day Look Like
Because we had four kids with us, our typical park day was 7am-2pm (Magic Kingdom); 9:30am-4pm (Epcot).
We were able to get early access to the parks thanks to our tour guide. Overall, we probably did 8-10 rides. We focused on the kids rides but there are seriously so many to choose from! Our son’s favorite at Magic Kingdom was the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train roller coaster. At Magic Kingdom we ate at the castle for lunch and we were also able to see a Mickey show.
At Epcot, our favorite ride was the Frozen ride for the kids with Ratatouille as a close second! We also were able to do an adult ride and we LOVED test track. We walked around the world and got some champagne in France and lunch in Mexico.
We were able to go on all the rides that we wanted and our youngest, Ellie was also able to ride almost all the ones we picked.
what to pack
As far as clothes go, comfort is key! We visited in February and the weather was in the 80s, which is warmer than average. Biker shorts, tee shirts, dresses, anything that is light! I also packed a few light jackets to wrap around my waist and wear in the mornings. I wore comfortable tennis shoes both days at the park. For me, it was a must to pack a hat, sunglasses, snacks and a portable fan (mostly for the kids). We brought a backpack as our “bag” and just threw everything in there (lots of snacks!) Disney doesn’t have a clear bag policy and they allow outside food and drink so take advantage!
This was our first trip with the kids that we did not bring any of our large baby products, which was nice! We rented a double stroller through Scooterbug rentals and had a great experience. They deliver the stroller to your hotel and pick up as well. We requested cribs/pack and plays through the hotel, which was one less thing to worry about. I believe they have high chairs too!
If you can’t tell, we had SUCH a wonderful time and it definitely exceeded our expectations. I loved seeing the look in my son’s eyes as he was observing everything around him and seeing his favorite characters.
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