Flower and Garden, Here We Come! - Spring Break PTR - New!

[SimplyGoofy]

Flower and Garden, Here We Come!
March 2026 Spring Break Trip

My girls and I had the BEST Disney World trip last spring. We traveled with my sister and had six fabulous park days full of fun attractions, great food, and tons of smiles. The spring weather also beat the pants off the hot summer temperatures – plus, the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot continues to be one of my favorite things.

As 2025 went on, I kept returning to the memories of that trip and thought… boy, wouldn’t it be fun to do that again?

I priced out a few hotel options and looked at the airline website when prices were released… and kept the dreaming to myself.

I’m the major Disney fan in our house (although my girls enjoy the parks, too), but my husband G is less than enamored with Disney World. I’ve learned he was Googling, “what to do when you hate Disney World” during our family trip* … so I knew he wouldn’t be as excited as I was to plan another trip.

*Really, I understand. G doesn’t hate everything about Disney (he thought Zootopia 2 was great!), but the parks were chaotic and we ran into lots of entitled people during our 2024 trip. Both things drove him nuts. It was also ridiculously hot during our trip and I packed in every “fun” experience possible (10+ character meals, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, autograph books, the Fireworks Dessert Party, etc.), and it was all too much. He’s happiest hiking in a tranquil National Park – and “tranquil” can be tough to find in the middle of a Disney Park.

This fall was crazy with school, activities, work commitments, and then the holidays, so I never found the right time to bring up a possibly sticky subject.

Come early January, I decided to throw out the idea. To his great credit, he was very understanding about my wanting to return to Disney World, even if he wasn’t personally thrilled. He also agreed spring break was the best time to go due to the cooler weather and lack of school conflicts.

The tough thing about spring break is G’s work schedule – our spring break always falls on a week when G cannot take vacation days. This puts him in a tough spot, as he may not be enthusiastic about visiting Disney World, but he hates to miss out on experiences with his daughters.

I’d originally imagined a week-long trip with leaving on Friday, but what if we left one day earlier so G could join us for the long weekend before returning home for work?

Our kids are now seven and three. M could go on more of the “big kid” attractions like Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Star Tours on the early portion of the trip, but is now old enough to ride without another adult beside her during the girls-only portion. L should be able to join us on Slinky Dog and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (she's just shy of 38" without shoes - cross your fingers for us!), but isn't nearly tall enough for the other "big kid" rides. It would be great to experience more attractions and enjoy them with Dad.

G thought about it and agreed to join us for the start of our trip with a few stipulations: he didn’t want any character meals (noted), and he wanted a more relaxed trip (also noted). We still booked a few restaurants (he enjoyed the food at several restaurants, just not the chaos of the characters), but we’ll plan a structured but less frantic park day.

I think the cooler temperatures will help, too. It certainly helped our moods last spring!

Once G departs on late Sunday afternoon, the girls and I will have three more park days to enjoy more magic. We’ll save our fireworks and character meals for that portion of the trip (but just a few – nowhere near 10!) and hopefully enjoy a lot of pool time, too.

I’m SO excited that G is coming with us. The girls are super excited that he’s coming, too. My attempt to make our first family trip “the best ever” was not the way G wants to do Disney – which I understand now. I’d love another chance to share the magic without beating him over the head with it.

Do I think I’m going to turn G into a super fan?

Likely, no.

Do I hope I can make him like Disney World just a little bit more?

I sure hope so.

I'm excited you're here to help me plan!

Up Next: Hotel and Travel Plans

 

[SimplyGoofy]

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Just Yatching Around - Hotel and Travel Plans

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Just Yachting Around
Hotel and Travel Plans

We booked last year’s spring break trip just 61 days out and I was surprised at how many resorts were available. Nearly every resort except those on the monorail had some rooms available. Our full spring break week seems to be a bit of a Disney unicorn – last year our week had most of the lowest lightning lane costs for the month and we had no trouble finding room options or booking restaurants.

But this year, we were leaving just one day earlier (Thursday instead of Friday) and this made it a rougher go.

I LOVED the Skyliner last year, but I didn't want to deal with folding a double stroller over and over again. (Yes, our oldest is seven, but I was aiming to make this as easy on myself as possible. Disney park days are long and include a lot of miles!) That made me aim for the Epcot area resorts, where I could walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios and skip the folding business altogether.

But the availability of the Epcot resorts was surprisingly slim (as in, NONE) for Thursday night. A Friday arrival was no problem, but Thursday was a no-go.

Whomp, whomp.

So, new plan! We'd start at another resort and switch to an Epcot resort for the rest of our trip. There were a few great options for the first night, including Coronado Springs Resort (the restaurants and the pool appealed to us even though the tower was booked) and Port Orleans-Riverside (the proximity to Disney Springs would be fun). There was also availability at the Wilderness Lodge, the Poly, and the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but we decided to pick a less expensive option as our main resort was already pricy. With the All-Stars unavailable (!), we chose my old favorite, Pop Century.



I’ve stayed at Pop twice (one night in 2015 and eight nights in 2016) and think it’s a great resort.

I think the girls will LOVE all the colorful décor! It will be great to be on the Skyliner for our first park day (even with the stroller folding). We could even see the Cars section we missed exploring during last year’s stay!

Turning to the Epcot resorts, I wanted to stick with a Disney-owned resort, so the Swan and Dolphin were out. I was originally leaning toward the BoardWalk Inn as it would be completely new to us, but news about the pool refurb and M's waxing poetic about Stormalong Bay clinched our decision for a Beach or Yacht Club stay.

The costs were very close (each had availability with different discounts), so G made the final call: Yacht Club, as it would be new to us.

Yacht Club it is!

We ventured over to the Yacht Club for dinner at Ale and Compass in 2024, so we have seen the lobby before:



And, of course, the Yacht Club shares a pool (*cough* waterpark *cough*) with the Beach Club, so M’s swimming dreams will come true.

I’m super excited to stay at the Yacht Club! I'm thrilled about the pool and the easy access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. We've been fortunate to take multiple trips to Disney World, so I can't wait to enjoy the resort and feel less pressure to “pack it all in.”

As for flights and airport transportation, we did a rinse and repeat of last year. We booked the only airline that has direct flights to Orlando (easy choice, there), and we re-booked Cast and Crew Transportation to take care of our airport transportation. We did have to book two separate itineraries (as the girls and I are staying for seven nights while G is staying for three nights), but we're all flying in on the same flight.

I’m super excited about everything we booked! I look forward to seeing Pop Century and Art of Animation again, and I’m thrilled to stay at the Yacht Club. I’m also relieved to have our travel booked!

Up Next: General Park Plans