lengmui
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2010
Just returned from a trip to WDW from June 21-28, visiting from Toronto, Canada! Some background: DH and myself have been to the world for a park only visit 10 years or so ago. Since then we have been back every other year for MK or sometimes HS mixed in as a pre-cruise park trip, so we know the drill pretty well when it’s just the two of us. We had our 3.5 yo with his this time! He has been to MK once right before COVID hit before our cruise but of course he has zero memory of it, so this might as well be his first trip. We booked this trip only a month or so in advance, after we had recovered from COVID ourselves. I don’t think I’ve ever booked Disney anything so last minute before!
YYZ > MCO: we had a 7am flight out of YYZ which has been famous for massive delays recently. Got there at 5:30 and pretty much breezed through security since we have a Nexus. Flight itself ended up being delayed an hour while we were on the plane since the cargo door had an issue. Lucky our kid was entertained by the iPad (Apple Arcade is great, all games work offline) and he was still a bit sleepy so napped on and off. Booked Mears Connect cause we didn’t want to deal with car seats and they worked fine. Was on the bus immediately and Pop was the second stop after AOA. Sunshine Flyer had a kids fly free discount just before I left but it was too late to change over.
MCO > YYZ: Mears bus came 10 minutes early. It was us and another family and we were both early so it was a quick boarding. The bus stopped at AOA before us (there’s a link to track the bus before it arrives, pretty nifty) and once we boarded we went straight to the airport. Driver wasn’t great on this trip, DS got pretty bad motion sickness. We were very early to the airport since they plan for 3 hours in advance. Air Canada agents are super slow at MCO but otherwise security was painless. Flight took off with just a slight delay. Upon arrival, only those with connections could get off first due to the infamous delays at customs. We were all able to get off around 5-10 mins later. We breezed through again due to Nexus, but luggage took almost 2 hours to get out.
Hotel: We stayed at Pop Century: 80s building 9. Very short walk to the buses (through the parking lot) and we had the computer pool right below. Not my first time here so nothing special about the room to note. This was the first time I did laundry on site, brought my own Tide pods and dryer sheets and it was sufficient. The buttons took a bit of figuring out; the first time I tried to wash it didn’t run because I missed pressing a cycle. Lucky it relented when I swiped my card again so I didn’t have to pay again. I also had grocery delivery for some snacks and fresh fruit via Instacart (Publix). Saved us a few breakfasts and we always had fruit on hand before bed which was great.
General ramblings in no specific order:
Closing thoughts:
YYZ > MCO: we had a 7am flight out of YYZ which has been famous for massive delays recently. Got there at 5:30 and pretty much breezed through security since we have a Nexus. Flight itself ended up being delayed an hour while we were on the plane since the cargo door had an issue. Lucky our kid was entertained by the iPad (Apple Arcade is great, all games work offline) and he was still a bit sleepy so napped on and off. Booked Mears Connect cause we didn’t want to deal with car seats and they worked fine. Was on the bus immediately and Pop was the second stop after AOA. Sunshine Flyer had a kids fly free discount just before I left but it was too late to change over.
MCO > YYZ: Mears bus came 10 minutes early. It was us and another family and we were both early so it was a quick boarding. The bus stopped at AOA before us (there’s a link to track the bus before it arrives, pretty nifty) and once we boarded we went straight to the airport. Driver wasn’t great on this trip, DS got pretty bad motion sickness. We were very early to the airport since they plan for 3 hours in advance. Air Canada agents are super slow at MCO but otherwise security was painless. Flight took off with just a slight delay. Upon arrival, only those with connections could get off first due to the infamous delays at customs. We were all able to get off around 5-10 mins later. We breezed through again due to Nexus, but luggage took almost 2 hours to get out.
Hotel: We stayed at Pop Century: 80s building 9. Very short walk to the buses (through the parking lot) and we had the computer pool right below. Not my first time here so nothing special about the room to note. This was the first time I did laundry on site, brought my own Tide pods and dryer sheets and it was sufficient. The buttons took a bit of figuring out; the first time I tried to wash it didn’t run because I missed pressing a cycle. Lucky it relented when I swiped my card again so I didn’t have to pay again. I also had grocery delivery for some snacks and fresh fruit via Instacart (Publix). Saved us a few breakfasts and we always had fruit on hand before bed which was great.
General ramblings in no specific order:
- Coming from Toronto (suburbs), wearing masks is still a thing here. Within Disney (or maybe Orlando in general) it’s like nothing ever happened. Probably less than 1% of folks wearing masks. Pretty much seemed like COVID is nonexistent aside from those warning signs - packed like sardines in the queues, as well as on the buses when it’s busy. If I was worried about catching it, I wouldn’t go.
- Contrary to many reports of how Genie+ is so worth it, I only ended up getting it for one day at HS. It turns out what I expected DS to like wasn’t the case. He ended up super afraid of the dark in many of the themed rides so only had the interest to go on once. Even the low lights in Festival of the Lion King (his favorite songs) were too triggering. His favorite rides all had short wait times so I didn’t bother getting Genie+ for our second MK day and just did standby.
- DS’s favorite ride ended up being the PeopleMover. Yay for me cause it is usually a good length ride considering the short queue.
- I got DH a ILL into RotR and he said it was amazing and fully worth the price. I didn’t want to leave DS with only one parent for an hour so I figured I will ride it next time I go! Glad he got to experience it as the bigger Star Wars fan between us.
- MK were full park days for us; the bus ride back to Pop seemed a bit too long to justify resting at the hotel so we went to the monorail resorts for a counter service meal to cool down both days. I think it really helps even though the walk to exit the park seemed so long. We took a break both days around 1-5, just chilling in the restaurants and the lobby. Highly recommend, just some time away from the park was enough to recharge us.
- If I got to do my second day at MK again, I would probably just go in the evening. The morning was so hot and muggy that we were all so grumpy before our break. Should have just went swimming in the hotel and went a bit later since the crowds were lower too.
- Our rest at the Poly was a highlight for DS. We got the Dole Whip there. DS loved the beach area (super fine sand) and we spent more than an hour there watching the storm clouds roll over MK just missing us while he played in the sand or with the ball.
- It was very very hot. I brought cooling towels but didn’t use it cause it left a wet spot in my clothes which sucked. I loved the neck fan as well as a small misting fan. Brita filter water bottle was also integral as Florida water tastes pretty crappy to me. I’ve been to the parks in August before so know how hot it can get; there wasn’t a huge difference to going this time but bringing a toddler in this heat is another challenge!
- DS was only recently potty trained and he had a tendency to go right at the end of a lineup (including for buses). If you can, always get them to go before lining up for anything. If not in the park (hard to access bathrooms), bring around an empty water bottle or worst case a ziploc bag. We had to use the bag holding his spare clothes on a bus ride once, it really wasn’t fun…
- It poured on our Epcot and Disney Springs days, ponchos worked great but our shoes and socks got completely soaked. Luckily we brought a pair of sandals for the kid before he got too grumpy, but we were stuck with the wet socks while going back. Bring a spare pair of socks even if there’s no room for adult shoes!
- On the day it was pouring in Epcot, Slyliner was closed so we had to take the bus back. Bus service sucks and it is hard to tell when the Skyliner is open or closed when they are at opposite ends from the bus. Bus took almost an hour to arrive, in hindsight it’s probably faster to take the monorail to MK and bus back from there.
- Some of the mobile order restaurants have different menus when ordering in person, especially the resort counter service. So if you aren’t in a hurry, no harm waiting until you get there to see if there’s anything on the menu you want that may not be in the app.
- Online order when you can! Many restaurants at Disney Springs have looooong lineups but they have apps or websites to order online and skip the line. Earls has an app, Chicken Guy has a site. Much more convenient this way.
- Mobile checkout at many of the gift stores is great, definitely cuts the queue times again! Once again, use it if you can (not all stores have it).
- DS had fun playing Pokémon Go and the Photopass Lenses (Snapchat filters) in the Disney app during lineups. Lining up in the heat isn’t fun for anyone but at least these helped a bit to pass time.
- Disney MagicMobile on the Apple Watch cannot unlock the room door, only the phone can. Luckily I had my MagicBand from last trip so I brought it along to make unlocking the door much easier (as well as Photopass scanning). If you have an old one, recommend you to bring it as it’s much more convenient than going through the app every time you want to open the door.
- I used the free TouringPlans reservation finder to get my only character meal at Tusker House, I’m so glad these finders exist! We also ate at Mama Melrose and Coral Reef, both booked just within 24 hours. Rest of the time we were happy with counter service as it was much more flexible especially with a young kid.
Closing thoughts:
- We went on the trip not knowing what kind of traveler my son was since the last time he was so young. Now that I know he is such a lazy traveler, we will be opting for a cruise next time with maybe one day at a park. At least until he is a few years older and can appreciate the rides and shows more!
- With such a young child, consider spending more on the hotel since you will likely be spending much more time there than expected. We always stayed at Pop before since we only needed a place to sleep. This time we went swimming many times, I would have loved having a nicer pool and ambience!
- All that said, I loved every minute of seeing his face light up in random moments. I will only have a chance to experience bringing this 3yo once, next time will be another older him! Even if he may not remember all the little things, I always will!
