Family trip WDW (with a little Vero Beach) May 2024

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Friday May 10: Magic Kingdom Night

Took the bus over to MK probably 30 minutes early for DD's BBB reservation. This was one of the highlights of our DCL cruise for her so I wanted her to get to do it again....but in the castle!

While we went to our reservation, DH and DS went to shop for a hat for DH (he had been debating whether or not to buy one the whole trip because the sun was bothering his head...and remember he is very frugal...but on the evening of our last park day...he decided to buy a hat) and they went to the dumbo playground.

But now BBB!







She was hyped while we waited.

And then her fairy godmother brought her to the room with all the outfits. She picked jasmine and she was brought into the changing room.



The mirror was magic! (That was different from DCL.)





And then we were brought back to the waiting room and she picked her hairstyle.



And then they brought us over to a different room for the hair and makeup!

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Friday May 10: Magic Kingdom Night cont

I don't know why but she didn't want me to take pictures of her during this part...normally she asks me to take her picture. Maybe she felt embarrassed in front of the make up artists? I have no idea but she did agree to some pictures.









She was very excited to have her daddy see her make up (maybe because he didn't see her on the cruise?) so I texted DH to meet us outside.

And she was so excited to show off her new look!
Now she wanted me to take her picture.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Friday May 10: Magic Kingdom Night

DH was not happy that she picked an outfit that showed her stomach so he tried to pull up her pants a lot. When she's worn this outfit to places since we've been home, we used safety pins to keep the two pieces together.







And here is the hat!

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Friday May 10: Magic Kingdom Night

Next was enchanted tales with Belle. This is a fun attraction. I like anything watching little kids doing stuff. And DS didn't cry!



I don't remember what character DD was.







And then I think the kids were getting hangry so we went to Pinocchio village haus for pizza. This was our last QS credit

DS was still very cranky after eating so DH decided to just head back to CBR. BUT to avoid the bus which he now really didn't like after the skyliner...he decided to take the monorail to Epcot and then walk through Epcot to the skyliner. He told me he enjoyed his long way home and DS fell asleep in the stroller and he used some snack credits on Epcot at festival booths.

Just as DS and DH were leaving DD saw a girl leaving BBB dresses as.....frozen 2 Elsa. DD's favorite at this time. She got really upset. She didn't know that was an option. I didn't know either. I validated her feelings and basically told her I would be sad too but then I explained we couldn't go back to BBB but I also told her the next time I bought her a present...if she still wanted it, I would buy her a frozen 2 outfit online. Her bday was only 2 months away. We were sad together for maybe 5 minutes and then she moved on. By the way....here she is at her bday party....as Elsa 2.







(And DS was a pirate)

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Friday May 10: Magic Kingdom Night

But back to MK...

I don't know what we were doing over here besides taking more pictures lol







And then we went to meet some princesses.

Another great interaction with Rapunzel. DD saw the kids in front of us asking the princesses for signatures and she said she wanted to do that too...so I pull out her coloring book that I just always carry around in case the kids get bored while waiting for something.

It wasn't even Disney themed. It was kittens...but anyway DD hands it to rapunzel and asks her to sign it and instead of just signing it she was like you like art? I like art too and went through the book and commented on her coloring. And then she signed it and then she posed for pictures my heart melted.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Friday May 10: Magic Kingdom Night

Tiana was good but DD was acting really shy



I don't remember all the rides we went on after this. I know we had a lot of LL stacked and it cooled off so I was able to kind of run us around with her in the stroller. It was a blast.

We did get to go to the dumbo playground! It was closed last visit. This place is just so cool. DD still talks about it











And then when we were on dumbo (the ride) the fireworks were going off. It felt really special. We still talk about that pretty often too

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Friday May 10: Magic Kingdom Night cont

We kept going on rides until DD couldn't walk.
I know we went on HM again...






I'm pretty sure the Aladin carpets was our last ride. DD said she needed a picture because she was jasmine.



DD picked out a fire torch toy as her souvenir from the store next to pirates. I started to try to influence her to pick something different (because I'm pretty sure that was a toy for the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland and it was just in that gift shop for some weird reason) but then I caught myself and just let her pick what she wanted. And both kids love that toy back at home sooo she was right and I was wrong

Then she fell asleep in the stroller and I spent a long time shopping on main St and just trying to take it all in since it was going to be awhile until next time

I probably fell asleep on the bus home again. But we got home safe and went to bed again

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Saturday May 11: Resort Day- Toppolinos Breakfast

We slept in as long as we could and then packed up. I don't think it took that long. I packed for me and the kids. We had one big suitcase for when we stayed at CBR and then a carryon for when we stayed at Vero Beach and All Stars. Plus a tote bag for whatever toiletries etc random stuff. DD also had a small carry on bag bag she filled with toys and books for the room. Mostly in the excitement of getting ready she wanted to pack a bag too and we were driving so why not.

I kept our swim stuff separated because we planned to swim at CBR before switching hotels.

But now onto breakfast. I told DD this was our fancy meal so she picked her Elsa dress she got from BBB on DCL with her new Jasmine crown. We drove over and DH dropped off DD and I while they parked. Some nice CM in the lobby treated her very much like a princess when we asked where to go. So sweet.

After checking in, we took pictures on the rooftop terrace.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Saturday May 11: Toppolinos Breakfast

We were seated and ordered our food. This restaurant was very full and a little chaotic for me but the food was really good and the characters cute and I liked that we could look out the window from our table and see the skyliner and CBR.

DS didn't get his own food here so we just gave him food off our plates. I got steak and it was really good but I guess I didn't take a picture.











DD liked that they were all different kinds of artists.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Saturday May 11: Resort Day cont

And then we went to CBR to swim. We were there a very long time until it was time for DS's nap. DD wanted to keep swimming so DH took DS back to the car to try to have him sleep in there but he wouldn't so he drove over to all stars since our room was already ready over there and DS slept there.



It was really nice to just hang out at the pool as long as we wanted. Eventually we got hungry and ate at the QS in the main lobby.



And then we swam more. DD even joined the other kids in the activities by the pool and won a necklace for dancing? I was just proud of her for not being shy like me. We mostly went back and forth between the pool, the kids splash pad and the slides at the big pool. Very relaxing.

But eventually DH texted me to tell me DS was awake and we felt ready to be done at the pool so DH came over and picked us up and brought us to all star movies.

This was a first hotel for all of us. We liked it a lot. It was way more walkable compared to CBR. We didn't use the pool at ASMo but it didn't look as much fun as the one at CBR or the one we had at Vero Beach. I really like slides now. I would definitely stay again if we weren't going to have a lot of pool time.

But we wanted to walk around to look at all the statues and roast marshmallows.





And then we went to the lobby to look at it....and I think we got an ice cream sundae to share? Just trying to use those snacks credits

And we liked the area they had set up to watch movies and they were playing the hunchback of Notre dame and it was near the end so we just sat down and watched.



DD fell asleep.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Saturday May 11: Resort Day cont

We debated letting her sleep or waking her up because she had wanted to watch the movie under the stars that night. But we decided to let her sleep so we went back to the room and we all went to bed early.

The next morning she was pretty mad at us for not waking her up. So since then if she falls asleep early, we wake her up. Lol

These are from the next day but here is our room:







I really liked it. I love the Murphy bed and didn't think it was too small. And I thought the theming was cute.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Sunday May 12: Departure Day

We woke up without an alarm and ate breakfast in the QS. Then we packed up the car and went to the playground. It was a good fenced in playground but then it started to drizzle so we went inside to the lobby and went to the arcade.





Some older kids kept cutting in front of DD while she was trying to play a claw game and we were having trouble helping her resolve the conflict and they did not have any parents around so we just moved on but maybe 10 min later this other older kid came up to DD and gave her a stuffed animal from the claw game and just told her she saw them cutting her so she got this for her. It was so sweet. We thanked her and found her parents and basically told them how awesome she was.

Originally we planned to leave around 5pm this day but with the whole license plate issue we decided to leave early just in case. We had an 11 hr drive and we both worked the next day.

So after the arcade we went to the gift shop for one last round of shopping. The kids got an extra toy because we were all sad and I used the remaining snack credits on caramel popcorn.

Then we drove through McDonald's and started the drive home. It took a very long time because DD kept getting car sick so we stopped a lot. But we never got pulled over.

One of our stops was buccees. We had heard about it but never been before. When DD saw the mascot she just automatically got in line lol. Disney trained her.



And our vacation was over

Next up final thoughts

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Final Thoughts

I just asked everyone their favorites!

DH


Favorite TS: Chef Mickeys - he said he likes buffets and they had a good selection

Favorite ride: smugglers run

DD


Favorite TS: Chef Mickeys (because she says she got to meet Mickey but I think at the time of the trip she said Akershus was her favorite)

Favorite ride: enchanted tales with Belle or TSM

Me


Favorite TS: garden grill

Favorite ride: HM or MMRR


Other thoughts:

I liked doing a split stay. It wasn't too hard to get them to nap with each split stay which was the worry. Once DS no longer "needs" to nap it will be even easier.

I really liked Vero Beach and will like to either start or end a WDW trip there again. But I need to know more about when the bugs come out because I don't want to meet them.

The skyliner is awesome but the older the kids get the less I think we will think the bus is a pain.

I don't really want to be so far from the main lobby again. Walks feel longer at WDW and I need to remember that.

I need to remember the heat is real in Orlando and to prepare accordingly. Now DD is in elementary school so I don't want to take her out of school so we are more limited for future travels but I need to factor the heat in.

I don't think the park hoppers really added a lot of value for us. I don't think we would pay extra for that in the future.

DDP was really great but we are too cheap to pay full price for it but it gave us the opportunity to try a lot of places in one trip and I am grateful we had it.

Driving is definitely better than flying for us. It's a lot cheaper. It's difficult but doable with 2 adults. It's more flexible.

I want to take more pictures next time but not if it means it takes me out of the moment.

We had a lot of fun. WDW is DD's favorite place and at this point in my life mine too. DH liked it I think? Lol. He said he liked eating at so many buffets and he liked discussing the transportation and watching a documentary about walt and transportation.

Future plans

So I bought a 100pt DVC resale AKV contract after coming home... I really want to try more hotels and the rack rates for the deluxe are too much and renting points made me feel nervous because of the cancellation policies (but I am open to trying in the future). And knowing how much I liked Vero Beach made me feel like even if the kids get sick of WDW...I could take myself to the beach ....or stay at AKV and just not go to the parks, I stayed there about 8 years ago for a night on the hotel side and liked it a lot. I actually looked into renting points to stay there this trip but it didn't work out

So here are the plans for our next vacation

Early June 2025
Drive to WDW
Spend one night at AKV jamno value studio (I wait listed and got it)
5 night DCL magic that goes to LP and CC
Spend one night at BLT studio (I hope we get a refurbished room, they look soooo nice)
One day at MK
Drive home

We plan to take advantage of the free water park deal.

And here are our tentative plans for the future:

June 2026
5 night AKV vacation with 2 park days

Thanksgiving Break 2026
3 night vacation....not sure what hotel..BRV would be great but don't think I can get at 7 months...maybe BLT? With again 2 park days

 

[Counting Stars]

This was such a terrific and fun trip report- Loved reading about your adventures and pretty amazed at how much you all tried and experienced with such a young family! I am totally impressed! Thanks for taking the time to share. You make some great points regarding travelling, particularly Disney traveling which is its own thing... And, Congratulations on your AKL purchase and Welcome Home! I love AKL, and we have three nights there this spring. We're doing a split stay as well because we like having different options. Makes it feel like two vacations

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

This was such a terrific and fun trip report- Loved reading about your adventures and pretty amazed at how much you all tried and experienced with such a young family! I am totally impressed! Thanks for taking the time to share. You make some great points regarding travelling, particularly Disney traveling which is its own thing... And, Congratulations on your AKL purchase and Welcome Home! I love AKL, and we have three nights there this spring. We're doing a split stay as well because we like having different options. Makes it feel like two vacations

Thank you for reading! While a little inconvenient, I really enjoyed the split stay too! Definitely agree it makes it feel like multiple stages to the vacation.