Biggest 10 Lessons Learned on Baby Bricker’s First Christmas Trip to Disney World
Baby Bricker’s first Christmas-time trip to Walt Disney World was fantastic and fun…but not flawless. This covers the mistakes we made and lessons learned along the way, along with other thoughts about the good & bad of our family vacation to WDW with a toddler and actionable advice for other parents.
Our intention was/is to do photo reports following every family trip we make to Walt Disney World, similar to our ‘parent fails’ from Baby Bricker’s first WDW trip – part 1 and part 2. We also shared ‘what went right’ during our family trip – part 1 and part 2. Those posts were well-received by readers, both as recaps of our trip and teachable moments for other new parents.
However, it’s been a busy month-plus for us, Christmas is fast-approaching, and I have a backlog of (literally) three-dozen posts. Many of those are touring field tests that have a shelf life (so the clock is ticking on writing them!) and many others have practical planning advice. So they seem more useful than my musings about our trip, especially since many of the “lessons” we “learned” were really more like nice reminders, anyway. Here goes with the list of little lessons/reminders so you can learn from our mistakes/experiences, or simply hear about some aspects of our WDW Christmas trip, as the case may be.
Life Comes at You Fast
We previously mentioned that Megatron took her first unassisted steps in the parks shortly before Thanksgiving. It was a major milestone, to be sure, but progress isn’t linear. She only did that on a couple of occasions, and when we got back home, she no longer wanted to walk without holding one of our hands.
Fast-forward to the end of a long travel day that culminated in us finally arriving in our Cabin at Fort Wilderness. After throwing our stuff in storage spots and getting the requisite room photos and videos for a forthcoming review, we crashed. Megatron had other ideas.
Instead of crawling around a bit or, you know, falling asleep after being up since 4 am, Megatron explodes in a burst of speed that would make her namesake proud.
She was zooming all over the cabin, walking without assistance. It was unlike anything we had seen before. Well, I mean, we’ve seen people walk before. But we hadn’t seen this out of her. She isn’t just taking a few tentative steps at a time, she’s running around with a slightly-misplaced sense of confidence.
Obviously, I don’t need to explain this to parents, but toddlers walking independently is a gamechanger. Throughout the rest of the trip, she oscillated between wanting to walk all by herself with zero assistance (~75% of the time) and very much wanting our hands (~25% of the time). RIP babywearing, as she went from loving that to completely rejecting it in the span of a few days.
Cast Members are the Magic
That was a pretty awesome night one surprise, but the fun didn’t end there. After Megatron closed her rings running around our Cabin at Fort Wilderness (and thoroughly dirtied her feet), we headed out for dinner at Crockett’s Tavern. She made a lot of friends with the Cast Members there and we had a shockingly good meal.
After that, we made our way over to Tri-Circle-D Ranch, which is open late this time of year thanks to the Holiday Sleigh Rides. As mentioned previously, she and I watched “A Horse’s Tale” on the in-flight relaxation video screen during a recent long-haul flight to help keep her colm. Megatron construed these creatures as the “cat-cats,” so I wanted her to see the real thing.
Well, she couldn’t see the real thing because she and Cinderella’s Ponies are both on the short side, and a taller barrier separated them from each other. So I did what any good dad would do and lifted her above my head, Lion King style. Within a minute or two, a manager appears out of nowhere. He tells us that he was on his lunch break and saw us on the camera (uh oh…?), and our daughter’s reaction to the pony was adorable, so he wanted to let her see one up close–and pet one.
When I mentioned recently that Disney has “got me…hook, line and sinker” this is exactly the type of thing I’m talking about. It’s not just walking through the castle, seeing an amazing attraction, etc. It’s the people. Time and time again on this trip, Cast Members were the difference-makers and several of our most memorable moments were either interactions or them making magic for us–or both.
I hesitate to share specific examples because I’m sensitive of being a ‘blueprint’ for others trying to exploit Cast Member generosity (a ‘no good deed goes unpunished’ kinda deal). The bottom line is that Cast Members were fantastic for us on this trip. That’s always been the case, but we’re definitely finding it more true now that we have a daughter.
It’s not really actionable advice, but our recommendation here would be the opposite of using this as a blueprint for your own trip. Don’t go in expecting anything. Cast Members don’t owe anyone “extra” magic. From what we’ve seen, entitled attitudes are counterproductive, and the best recipe for success is being kind and gracious. Basically, being anti-entitled achieves more than the other way around.
Cast Members also made our first time meeting Figment as a family every built as magical and memorable as I had built it up in my head. Suffice to say, that experience exceeded expectations, and that was a direct result of Cast Members in the Imagination pavilion.
December is Delightful
During the first half of our trip, there were lows in the 40s and highs under 70 degrees. To be clear, this is not a complaint about it being too cold. After enduring several miserable summers, Florida can never be too cold. (See also, the Biggest Lesson We Learned from Baby Bricker’s Summer Trip to Disney World.) If you feel otherwise, remember: you can always put on more layers, but there are only so many you can remove before security gets involved.
Point being, the weather was blissful. It actually felt like Christmas. When the snow fell on Main Street, there was plausible suspension of disbelief. When we retreated to Wilderness Lodge on a particularly chilly evening, it was vaguely reminiscent of warming up by the fireplace back home in Michigan after a day in the snow. (Okay, not quite.) The weather was amazing, and such a sharp contrast to the last few visits.
It was also fantastic to return together as a family for our favorite window of the year after a 2-year hiatus. We missed our favorite week by a week, but it was still a fantastic time to visit. Slightly higher crowds, but it’s not like we were lining up for TRON, Slinky Dog Dash, or really anything with a material wait time. The trip felt way too short and we were sad to be leaving so soon–we immediately started planning next year’s Christmas trip upon returning home, and I can’t remember the last time we’ve done something like that!
#SaveDinoland
I regret to inform you that it’s not just the Boneyard that I love, but also, the character meet & greets in Dinoland USA. I had always appreciated these character costumes, especially around Christmas, but was pleasantly surprised by the incredible interactions.
Two of our top three character experiences occurred back here, and we met a lot of characters this trip. It just seems like these meet & greets offer more latitude for the characters to be goofy and improvise, and meaty and meaningful interactions. We loved them, and now are sad to see them go.
The Boneyard was something that we couldn’t wait to experience “again” with Megatron, despite barely even remembering it in the first place. It was definitely better than I remember–probably in part because there’s no way I had experienced it in full previously. I was relieved that it wasn’t all a big dig site with rocks and dust. There’s also a reasonably sized area for smaller kids with big fossils and squishy ground.
The Boneyard and areas like it also took on outsized importance as Megatron needed or wanted a place to run around, unimpeded. Even with low crowds at the parks (except EPCOT), this wasn’t really possible outside of play areas. One thing that surprised us is how many adults are oblivious to their surroundings (not a huge surprise, actually) and will mow down children. I’m all for more adults-only spaces at Walt Disney World, but it’s such a shame that the kids-only spaces seem to be going extinct.
Everything Takes Longer
One of the entries on our list of the Top 10 Things We Can’t Wait To Do with Baby Bricker at Walt Disney World was “4 Parks in 1 Day” including baby’s first Early Entry and rope drop. Hahahahaha.
The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Or in this case, the biggest pipe dream and wishful thinking. My reasoning was that, since Megatron is now on Eastern time and wakes up between 6:30 and 7 a.m., we could easily knock out Early Entry and rope drop. From there, why not hit all 4 parks.
Suffice to say, we never made it out the before before 8:30 a.m. That was actually an improvement over last time, but still not enough for 4 parks in one day. We did manage to hit 2 parks and several resorts in one day, which honestly felt like a pretty big accomplishment in retrospect. I just wish I hadn’t gone in with unreasonable expectations–I absolutely should’ve known better. Everything takes longer with kids.
We Want to Love Port Orleans, But…
The second half of our trip was at Port Orleans French Quarter. We stayed here mostly for the sake of the new rooms (review coming soon), but also since it had been a bit and we love the vibe of the Port Orleans Resorts. They are the last of the ‘old school’ Moderate Resorts left at Walt Disney World.
I’ll start out by saying that, from a practical perspective, French Quarter has clearly moved about Riverside in our rankings. That’s always been the case for Sarah, who appreciated the more compact layout and single bus stop even in our younger and more agile days. Now that we’re a family of 3, I agree.
Another positive is that bus service was fantastic. There’s always an element of luck–good or bad–to this, but we never had to wait long for transportation. With that said, we paid over $300 per night for our room, which was after discount and for one of the “cheaper” two queen bed rooms.
For almost the same price, we could’ve done Caribbean Beach. For much less, we could’ve stayed at Pop Century. Both would’ve been better options thanks to the Skyliner. For a bit more, we could’ve done one of the lodges, Gran Destino Tower, or the Garden Wing at Contemporary, which is quickly becoming a go-to for our family. And we would have done any of these options but for the “need” to review the new rooms. As regular tourists, the decision would’ve been a no-brainer.
The well-themed environment and romantic vibe of Port Orleans is fantastic, but only does so much. Once a hotel breaks the $300 barrier (honestly, I’d feel the same way if we paid $250), it had better offer something more. As it stands, we basically got a plussed-up version of an All Star for over double the cost. With no unique transportation and relatively average amenities, it’s really difficult to justify the Port Orleans Resorts at those prices.
Always Pack a Change of Clothes
You’re probably thinking that we’re total newbies because of course every parent knows to pack a change of clothes for a baby. And so do we. If anything, the best practice is two changes–never know what life is gonna throw at you!
No, this is that we should always pack a change of clothes for us. I won’t be going into further detail pursuant to our “rule” to never write anything embarrassing. But I’m guessing any parent with even a modicum of imagination can envision a scenario (or three!) where this would apply.
One thing that has really “amazed” me about being a parent is how squeamish goes out the window. There have been, ahem, scenarios that would’ve made me lose my lunch in the past. Now I just roll with the punches. It’s like a dormant instinct in me was awakened a year ago, and now my superpower is tolerance towards gross stuff. That’s not even a joke. I mean, it’s kind of funny what parents take in stride, but I don’t mean it as a “haha” kind of thing.
Food is Challenging
This was our first trip to Walt Disney World during which Megatron largely ate solids. This proved more difficult than we anticipated. I guess you could say we’re “picky eaters” when it comes to her food, and Walt Disney World isn’t conducive to that. We actually found it more challenging to feed her at Walt Disney World than in Tokyo or Hong Kong, and certainly more so than Disney Cruise Line (easiest of all).
I don’t want to fixate on this too much because I know we’re a small minority who cares, but Walt Disney World food is really unhealthy. Sure, there’s a lot that’s fine, but there’s a lot that isn’t–especially at counter service restaurants. Every location has binders that list ingredients, which are usually used for food allergies. In some cases, it was a hassle to see these–or undue effort to explain that we cared about food quality and didn’t have any allergies.
Remember back when Disney’s former CFO made the comments about food costs? Most fans focused on the infamous ‘guest waistline’ part, but she also said this: “We can adjust suppliers. We can substitute products.” Suffice to say, Walt Disney World has done exactly that, and some of the stuff in the food they serve isn’t actually food. If you’ve ever wondered why you feel bloated or lethargic after some meals at Disney, that might be your answer.
Part of me hated learning this, because I love eating Walt Disney World food. Yes, I had a hunch that it’s terrible for me, over-processed, full of fillers and carcinogens, etc…but so what? All things in moderation, right? I still feel that way when it comes to what I’ll eat, but Megatron is a different story. Feeding her at the parks is going to be tricky. (This is another scenario where I wish the park executives were subject to their own decisions. I know there’s no way health-conscious Bob Iger would put this stuff into his body.)
Thankfully, this is not an insurmountable obstacle. We already do grocery delivery every trip, but now we’ll be doing a lot more of it. We’ll pack more nutrient-dense and high-protein food for the parks, and supplement with meals at restaurants that have truly healthy menu options–and plenty of them do!
Leave Early for MCO
This is probably deserving of its own post as a cautionary tale, but we came shockingly close to missing our return flight out of Orlando International Airport. This was despite having a Mears Connect pickup time almost 4 hours (!!!) before our departure and having TSA PreCheck.
A couple of things went wrong for us, but based on recent reader comments and my own observations, what we experienced wasn’t necessarily an anomaly. Just two instances of bad luck–Mears Connect delay and long lines at the Delta counter–piled up together. If we had to go through the normal line for security (25 to 35 minute wait), we might still be in Florida.
Nowhere is Like Walt Disney World
Look, we know that we give grief to Walt Disney World. But it comes from a place of love and wanting it to be the best version of itself, truly the crown jewel of the Disney Parks empire. Because it is.
As much as we love and sing the praises of other parks, nowhere is like Walt Disney World for us. We don’t pretend that they’re perfect (because they aren’t!), but they are “home” to us. This was a perfect trip (not a flawless one–see the above points about a change of clothing and best laid plans going awry), and I felt that every step of the way–from our arrival afternoon to the final night of our trip.
An essay about what makes Walt Disney World special would be interminably long, and it’s my goal to start writing more concise posts–so I’ll share one objective and one subjective point. The objective one is that WDW really is the Vacation Kingdom of the World, or Walt’s vision for a city of the future vaguely realized.
Walt Disney World might be the best city that America has to offer (or at least the most functional one), and as someone who loves the urban experience, Walt Disney World makes me feel like I’m back in a Disneyfied version of Paris, Tokyo, or Hong Kong. (Seriously.) There’s really something to be said for taking the many forms of transportation, Park Hopping from Magic Kingdom to EPCOT; from EPCOT to Disney’s Hollywood Studios; from resort to resort.
Subjectively, every time we go back to Walt Disney World together, it takes me back to 2020-2021. I have little flashbacks to tough times, joyous experiences, and mundane moments. It’s fair to say that was a difficult time for everyone, us included. Walt Disney World got us through to the other side, and I will forever be grateful to the parks and resorts for that. I could fixate on the negative or try to block it all out, but as I sit there with Sarah by my side and our daughter in our arms, I cannot help but be appreciative and thankful.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on these little lessons learned (or ‘reminders’ of things we already knew) during Baby Bricker’s first Christmas trip to Walt Disney World? Anything else you’re interested in reading about with regard to Megatron, our holiday-time experience at WDW, or other topics touched upon here? Anecdotes of your own vacations with toddlers to the Disney parks? Any other questions? Hearing your feedback is always appreciated, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I love this article.
To add to other’s advice on feeding a little one in the parks; sides are you friend. On both a budget and a health level. We only ordered off the Kid’s menu a handful of times and regretted it almost all of them. (The mac and cheese with the Kid’s Tip Yip meal at Docking Bay 7 is a crime.) What we found works best is ordering a side or two or ordering a larger adult meal and splitting the sides with her. I was much happier with her eating an order of pintos and cheese or some mashed potatoes and veggies. Yes she also stole almost all my steak fries from Flo’s, but I can’t blame her. Lol. She also ate the tomato from my club sandwich so it worked out.
I sympathize with your Save Dinoland point. We recently went to a Moonlight Magic at Animal Kingdom where they had all the games open for free play with the only prize being “bragging rights.” Our 4 year old had a blast playing these and we did them over and over. They are simple, but it was magic for our little girl.
So I know a lot of people laugh/mock/belittle this practice… but when our daughter started walking, those kid leashes were amazing for us. Just like Megatron, she wanted to just “Go! Go! Go!” She had a little backpack (which we’d pack with some toys, etc) with an attached bungee strap we could hold onto to keep her close. She’d feel she has independence, but she couldn’t go far. And! The sleep SO WELL after walking around all day!!! Our son was completely different though… so YMMV.
i’ll never forget the time, years ago, when my mom and i were shopping at mgm (that long ago). a guy came in and asked the cm for the nearest clothing item in his size and baby size, didn’t matter what it was. well, he had an, um, unfortunate encounter with a diaper.
Would love an update to your grocery delivery post with more foods you get for the parks! I found it a bit challenging to find nutrient dense things that weren’t processed and could survive both the “beverage cooler” and being unrefrigerated in my backpack for the day. Thanks for sharing this post!
Ditto!!
Agree about the food. If it helps, this is what we have done with 2 and 3 and then 3 and 5 year olds: order grocery delivery of fruit and veg I know they’ll eat, plus full fat milk and some “healthy” kid snack bars. We are midday nappers, so after they wake up I give them a little pot of grapes, cucumber and tomato, with a sippy cup of milk. Then I know that even if they eat nothing but chips, they’ve had at least 3 portions of fruit/veg and some milk. The snack bars are for “muuum I’m huuungryyy” in lines!
I completely agree about the food. As Paris is our home resort, trip are by nature much shorter; still I don’t particularly enjoy my 6 year old gorging all day long on fried food.
I can’t imagine what it would be for a week long trip.
And now it’s too late to unlearn reading so I won’t he able to pretend there is only salad available !
I love reading your blog, Tom! The posts about traveling with Megatron remind me of traveling with my son and daughter (now 6 and 4) when they were that little. They change so quickly! We are headed to WDW in January and the planning seems so much easier now that both kids are a bit older. I am also excited to read the upcoming on-the-ground touring tips to help prep for our trip! Thank you for your thoughtful and thorough posts, as always! I also wanted to mention that as a survivor of disordered eating that some of the content around food/diet/”healthy eating” can be hard to read, especially from an Orthorexia perspective: https://www.waldeneatingdisorders.com/blog/8-warning-signs-of-orthorexia/ I put this out there in case other folks are struggling with their own journeys so they know that they are not alone <3
So glad you had a great time. Never doubted you would. Looking forward to seeing that bird cage by the Christmas Tree. Will be thinking of baby Bricker when I see it.
You can do four parks in one day but you’ll need a car.
Now you know the value of the boneyard. Too bad you’ll miss out on the benefit of Tom Sayers Island when she’s just a tad older and ready to enjoy it.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year friend.
Hopefully one day we’ll be able to sit by the fireplace and swap stories.
Yes on the food. Our kids are 6, 5 and 3 and our trip this last summer was a nightmare from a food perspective. Halfway through the trip, our oldest just stopped eating meals in the park. Every restaurant, counter or table service, serves essentially variations on the same three foods on the kid’s menus and our daughter couldn’t take it anymore. At first, the novelty of getting to eating foods we don’t regularly eat at home was fun for her but she just couldn’t sustain it and I can’t blame her.
(Also, it makes me kind of sad to see you gradually turn on the Port Orleans resorts. I love them. But also, I haven’t stayed in them since 2014 so I’m even worse.)
Our second day in the parks, 12/14, we saw you leaving AK while we were scanning magic bands to get in. Thought it would be weird to yell HEY BRICKERS! from some random family. Went in late (noon?), couldn’t do everything. I think the best advice for the holidays is rope drop and go til you drop. It really is the only way. We got engaged during the exact same timeframe in 2014, and the differences between days then and now are astounding. Last year September was like a dream in crowds/lines/rides/relaxation compared to this one. Still had a good time, but trying to experience the Holiday options AND rides is not feasible 1 park per day unless you rope drop and maybe even fastpass (though I have no experience with fastpasses now).
I’ve always found it interesting how much you value Skyliner in terms where to stay. My experience with Skyliner resorts is abysmal. Skyliner can stop with no warning when there is weather coming such that we have to a scramble for buses to get back to our resort! On the other hand, buses run regardless of weather. FQ is my “go to” moderate for all of the reasons you mention and more: compact resort footprint, one bus stop, exclusive bus (for the most part), good food at Sassagoula, easy transport to Disney Springs and now refurbished rooms! But hey! Don’t tell anyone. I prefer folks ignore FQ and it remain a hidden gem!
I feel like you haven’t read the Everyone Poops book to little Megatron yet. That one was a favorite during potty training. After being a parent for a while (16 yrs here) I feel like all sense of embarrassment has left me. Now my goal is to embarrass my kid, which takes no effort, can be fun, and just happens by being oneself. It’s fun to follow along with your travels and life. Please don’t take the criticism to heart that people want more conciseness. I can go elsewhere for that. The enjoyment of reading your blog is that you’re you, which means wordiness, which is great fun. Don’t give into the modern credence of no personality driven information. Besides I know there’s a lot of people interested in how you’ll do Disney now that you have a roamer who will want to do everything herself. I can hear the stroller debate warming up in the background. And even though that’s no longer relevant to a parent of teenagers, it’s great fun to relive vicariously through you and Sarah as it pertains to your family travel life. While everyone chooses different battles to care about for our little ones, universally we all understand the desire and drive for them and where it comes from. Merriest of Holidays upon your whole Family.
Speaking of potty training…Tom and Sarah you should know they sell kiddie underwear NOWHERE in Epcot (or they didn’t in 2001 nor did they sell little girl shorts). Let’s just say there was an “incident” at the kidcot station at the America pavilion. Big tshirt purchase =a dress with a breeze that day…you might think why wasn’t there extra outfit and underwear in your bag? It was months past prior accidents and we didn’t think about it! Lesson learned. No undies at the baby center in Odyssey bldg either! Weirdly great memory ha ha
I agree! Please don’t get all concise and boring on us. Those who love your blog, enjoy the voice in which you write. It’s why I read your site every day and have for five years.
Liz, they have Mommy stations in every park. They have formula, diapers, wipes, etc. They even have onesies for up to 12 month I think. I stopped in for an accident for my 4 year old. They did NOT have anything for that, but I packed extra undies just in case (going cowboy works if not walking all day or getting wet on water ride and walking) and buying some sweatpants in the main store of the park solved the problem.
Brian – yep – that was my point – no undies for a 4 year old at any mommy stations or stores for sale! She did indeed go commando on that day almost 20 years ago in a large t shirt. Sweatpants would be a no go since it was August! I wish they had sold undies (and/or that I thought to pack them for someone who had been fully potty trained for quite some time). SO…moral of the story is definitely pack extra underwear. This is a missed opportunity to help parents of preschoolers at the mommy stations.
I feel like I need to stick up for POFQ with kids, haha! Mine are a little older and the pools at FQ (and we went over to Riverside one day) are great! Add in the boat for DS and fishing at Riverside, it’s a great place for resort days. We liked Coronado too for the food options (and their pool) but having two pool options at PO and transport to DS was awesome.
In fairness, if I ignore what we paid, POFQ was fantastic!
It’s just that for $300/night (I think the total ended up being closer to $350), I expect more. It was literally triple what I paid for All Star Sports a couple months ago!
Totally get the $$ factor. But, with my older kids, pools for resort days need slides, so we automatically default to moderates or deluxe.
So fun! Every trip with kids is honestly completely different, yet the same magic. We just love it (and my kids are 17 and 18)! I just got back as well and December in Florida is honestly the best weather of almost any place in the world at any time. I love it so much! Trying to work out how to basically stay in Florida from November to May… guess not a true snowbird because I’m only going back as far north as Georgia for the summer! haha! Hopefully you have a review of the cabins coming soon, looking forward to that. Merry Christmas!
We just flew out of MCO back to LAX with Delta on Dec 8. We were about to go wait in the Delta check in line when curbside offered to check out bags. The was no-one waiting at all outside but the lines inside were crazy. They even took our 8-months olds car seat and printed the boarding passes for us. I tipped him of course, but there was no additional charge. I know for Delta it always says SEE AGENT for your bags if you have a child on you lap, but they were still able to help us. Saved us probably 40-60 mins (and we didn’t have to lug all our child gear threw a line). I for some reason though you couldn’t curbside with all the kids stuff, but it was the best money I spent to whole trip. We’ve go a 3 year old and an 8 month old, so we need all the help we can get on our airport trips.
That’s good to know! I’ve honestly never done curbside check-in as, in the past, it’s something we’ve never needed. (We traveled light up until this year, and when I do solo trips I still don’t check anything.)
With the benefit of hindsight, I would’ve paid a ridiculous amount to avoid that line. It was far and away the most stressful and unpleasant part of the entire trip–thankfully it was at the end, so it didn’t set the tone!
I am always pleasantly surprised that Disney allows you to bring in your own food and beverages…plenty of other parks do not. It makes traveling with kids so much easier. Love seeing little Megatron on her feet! (My back hurt just seeing her in the baby carrier.) the day they decide on 100% walking is fun, and exhausting! Merry Christmas to all the family!
100% agree about bringing outside food and beverages. She just eats a lot more now, so we haven’t fully caught up and incorporated that into our planning. Next time!
Merry Christmas to you, too!
On our stay there this past weekend, we also had a wonderful encounter with a CM at the All Stars Music resort. Much the same as you mentioned above in that you didn’t want to provide a blueprint for others to exploit CM generosity, I wasn’t going to mention anything about it … but I’ll chime in here to say they truly made a lasting memory for all of us by going the extra mile instead of just saying “no” when we asked about our particular situation.
That’s awesome to hear!
I should add that we fully expected the “no” response to our initial question, and would not have been at all disappointed had that been the case. Purely a matter of “let’s ask and see what happens”.
Also to piggyback on the other comment regarding bringing in food: parent-tip that insulated water bottles with some ice and water are the perfect containers to store cheese sticks/kid yogurt tubes/etc. that need to stay cold for later user. (freeze the yogurt tubes and they stay frozen well into the hot summer days, too.) And a small jar of PB plus a pack of Ritz or Saltine crackers makes for a simple, filling snack that you can make on demand.
Loved the post. I’m amused to see you making the family adjustments at the same time I’m exiting that phase. Between kids and just getting older-comfort, convenience, location.. become paramount. Commando touring becomes far less important than time for naps, pools and hot tubs, an air conditioned restaurant. (Soon enough, Riviera will become your favorite resort for the big rooms, compact resort, relaxing pool vibe and skyliner!)
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
“Soon enough, Riviera will become your favorite resort for the big rooms, compact resort, relaxing pool vibe and skyliner!”
You joke, but this is Sarah’s #1 or #2 pick for our Christmas trip next year.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you, too!
Missed each other at Jollywood, but we are planning Christmas 2025 week at Riviera (with kids back from college). So if you’re actually doing Christmas week, will meet up then.
And in seriousness — Contemporary (especially Garden Wing) is best for Magic Kingdom intensive trips. But Riviera may be best if you don’t want/need to be Magic Kingdom adjacent. Nice to see the resort growing on you.. I actually appreciate it more on each trip.
Did not know you guys left central Florida. A little surprised about that.
We loved our time in Florida and might be open to returning someday, but there are a number of little reasons why we left. The biggest, without a doubt, is the weather. We’re very active and Florida just isn’t optimal for that like 10 months of the year.
Plenty of other things we’re now realizing we miss about Florida, though!