"Let's See What We Can See!"- Surviving WDW With Three Under 3! - And now... A CRUISE?! Updated 4/19!

[Sarahh1027]

Your trip report has been so helpful in planning my large group vacation this May with my littles!! Ill probably reread parts of your trip in the next couple months too haha
Selfishly hoping you and Haley can plan another WDW trip soon so I can live through you guys!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I feel like you deserve a great big round of applause for wrapping up not only this incredible trip, but also a full TR and your TR within the TR!!

Walking through this lobby always reminds me of the Full House WDW episode. Sing to me, Uncle Jesse!

YES! EVERY time!

Then, she proceeded to go back to her squad car, grab said coworker, and then all 3 of them gabbed about Disney World for the next 10 minutes. I love it- Disney bringing people together and saving my mom from a ticket! They sent her on her merry way without so much as a slap on the wrist.

This is amazing. I once was with a friend who got pulled over, but I happened to have taught the son of the officer, so we ended up catching up and talking about how he was on his way to Homecoming. She pulled out her phone to show me pictures and everything. No tickets, no warnings. She was lucky to have me riding along!! LOL!

6. RELAX and don’t be married to the plan. If things don’t go to plan, breathe, go with the flow, and know that EVERYTHING WILL BE OK.

I need this reminder for every day of my life, honestly!!! But it is solid advice for Disney trips, too!

We have briefly mentioned November/December 2025 to see the Christmas festivities.

I don't suppose you'll be there from Christmas to New Year's, but that's when we'll be there!!!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

So sad to see your trip come to an end! What fun memories you all made together. Thank you for sharing the fun with us!

 

[piglet1979]

I can't believe the report is done. I am going to miss reading it. The trip sounded like a lot of fun despite a few hiccups or craziness.

Our next trip will be in a few years when our friend's twin girls are about 6 or 7. I can't get them to go sooner. So it will be either 6-8 of us depending on if my kids go. Both might be out of college by then. I will be the planner of the group with maybe my son helping (he got into on our last trip when he went with the band and he was the planner of his group of friends). I am excited and nervous at the same time.

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Great trip report and some great tips in here! We're doing a full family trip for the first time with my daughter this summer. She'll be 10 months old plus there will be 9 of us adults. Definitely writing down some of the things you guys did with Ethan / ways you worked together to make it successful and fun for all!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Your monorail crawl sounded like the perfect way to end your trip! It’s a ride and a tour (with food opportunities!) all in one!

I tried those pulled pork nachos last May and I… didn’t love them? I think the main problem is I ordered them to-go (I ate them during our pool time) and I didn’t get a chance to open the box for 20-30 minutes while we fed the girls. I’d love another chance to try them… or perhaps I’ll try the ahi tuna nachos at Wailulu Bar & Grill at the Island tower because those sound GREAT.

Oh, poor Haley being over vacation… I know the feeling! I’m glad the drink helped. I’m also glad you had a relatively easy travel day (except for your poor mom). At least she was pulled over by another Disney fan!

I’ve LOVED reading your trip report - thank you so much for writing it! You did an excellent job coordinating a trip for so many people - I think it says a lot that you went again last fall and plan to have another big family trip in the future! I think your main points at the end are dead-on, especially about large groups taking longer to do anything. You’re also right that you don’t need nearly the amount of stuff you think when traveling with young kids!

I’m sorry you had to cancel your Disney Paris adventure. I’m sure you’ll get another chance to do something equally amazing in the future. I’ve never been to Disneyland Paris but have been to Paris - it’s an amazing place. The (only slightly) less famous art museum Musee d’Orsay was my favorite of the bunch, but it makes sense as I love the impressionist painters. I also highly recommend a visit to Versailles - the palace and the grounds are beautiful.

Good luck with house hunting! I hope you’ll stick around here even though your report is wrapped up. It’s always nice to chat with you!

 

[Paulaparm]

What a great trip! Thank you so much for sharing

 

[cindianne320]

As another poster said, I too teared up at the end of your report! So many good memories were made. Thank you so much for sharing them with us!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Oh Molly! Why am I actually tearing up at the end of this!? I just love reading about your trips! You guys did so well managing such a big group. I know it had moments of frustration but can you imagine if you just all showed up with no ADR or real plans and tried to make it work? It would be a disaster. I think that is why some of my IRL friends hate Disney, they don't plan enough!

I got tickled at your comments about Poly after being in Hawaii. I can definitely see that. I do love it, though. I think I will like the tower but since I don't have a long history staying there, I don't feel attached to how it always has been. I am dying to try those nachos! When we stayed there we didn't have enough time to eat a quick service meal. We did do a monorail crawl at Christmas to see the trees. Yours seems perfectly relaxing and a smart way to spend some time on the last day.

I do love the smell at Riviera so I need to check out those candles! Have you been able to smell any of the new Princess line at Bath and Body Works? I haven't. But what we really all want is hotel scents! If they could add a cruise smell I would give them all my money!

I cannot believe your mom got pulled over but it ended up being a Disney fan! Pixie dust back home!!

My final suggestion is to start saving for a Disney cruise. I think you guys would LOVE it. Start with a 4-5 day one and go from there!!

Thank you so much for reading along Amber!!! So happy I've found another friend through the wonderful world of he DIS

I'm really excited to check out the new Poly tower and see if my opinion still stands after staying there! We're planning on doing tons of resort time, and definitely going to check out the new Wailulu Bar!

YES! I have the Moana candle and Cinderella hand soap! I liked the scents, but honestly, I found a lot of them to be very similar (very floral smelling). The Moana one was easily my favorite just because it was different and more tropical than the others!

DCL is definitely in our future... hoping we can make it a reality in the next couple years!

Your trip report has been so helpful in planning my large group vacation this May with my littles!! Ill probably reread parts of your trip in the next couple months too haha
Selfishly hoping you and Haley can plan another WDW trip soon so I can live through you guys!

Thank you SO much for reading along!!!! I'm so glad my TR was able to help you plan!

When are you going in May?!? As you'll see in my next post, we may run into you guys!

I feel like you deserve a great big round of applause for wrapping up not only this incredible trip, but also a full TR and your TR within the TR!!


YES! EVERY time!


This is amazing. I once was with a friend who got pulled over, but I happened to have taught the son of the officer, so we ended up catching up and talking about how he was on his way to Homecoming. She pulled out her phone to show me pictures and everything. No tickets, no warnings. She was lucky to have me riding along!! LOL!


I need this reminder for every day of my life, honestly!!! But it is solid advice for Disney trips, too!


I don't suppose you'll be there from Christmas to New Year's, but that's when we'll be there!!!

Thank you so much for reading along Jackie! I always looked forward to our little conversation in the comments This is the first time I have finished a WDW TR since 2016, so I was pretty dang proud of myself

Awww shoot; we are now thinking on closer to April or May 2026. But I'm so looking forward to reading and following along with your Christmas/NY trip!!

So sad to see your trip come to an end! What fun memories you all made together. Thank you for sharing the fun with us!

Thank you so much for reading and commenting along!! I had a blast writing it

I can't believe the report is done. I am going to miss reading it. The trip sounded like a lot of fun despite a few hiccups or craziness.

Our next trip will be in a few years when our friend's twin girls are about 6 or 7. I can't get them to go sooner. So it will be either 6-8 of us depending on if my kids go. Both might be out of college by then. I will be the planner of the group with maybe my son helping (he got into on our last trip when he went with the band and he was the planner of his group of friends). I am excited and nervous at the same time.

Thank you so much for reading along!!! I'm hoping my report gives you some tips (and peace) about being a master planner It's stressful at times, but definitely worth it in my experience!

Great trip report and some great tips in here! We're doing a full family trip for the first time with my daughter this summer. She'll be 10 months old plus there will be 9 of us adults. Definitely writing down some of the things you guys did with Ethan / ways you worked together to make it successful and fun for all!

Thank you!!! I hope my TR can be of some help to you guys- you'll have a GREAT time!!

Your monorail crawl sounded like the perfect way to end your trip! It’s a ride and a tour (with food opportunities!) all in one!

I tried those pulled pork nachos last May and I… didn’t love them? I think the main problem is I ordered them to-go (I ate them during our pool time) and I didn’t get a chance to open the box for 20-30 minutes while we fed the girls. I’d love another chance to try them… or perhaps I’ll try the ahi tuna nachos at Wailulu Bar & Grill at the Island tower because those sound GREAT.

Oh, poor Haley being over vacation… I know the feeling! I’m glad the drink helped. I’m also glad you had a relatively easy travel day (except for your poor mom). At least she was pulled over by another Disney fan!

I’ve LOVED reading your trip report - thank you so much for writing it! You did an excellent job coordinating a trip for so many people - I think it says a lot that you went again last fall and plan to have another big family trip in the future! I think your main points at the end are dead-on, especially about large groups taking longer to do anything. You’re also right that you don’t need nearly the amount of stuff you think when traveling with young kids!

I’m sorry you had to cancel your Disney Paris adventure. I’m sure you’ll get another chance to do something equally amazing in the future. I’ve never been to Disneyland Paris but have been to Paris - it’s an amazing place. The (only slightly) less famous art museum Musee d’Orsay was my favorite of the bunch, but it makes sense as I love the impressionist painters. I also highly recommend a visit to Versailles - the palace and the grounds are beautiful.

Good luck with house hunting! I hope you’ll stick around here even though your report is wrapped up. It’s always nice to chat with you!

Thank you so much for reading Jenny!!! I had so much fun reading along with your PTR and have enjoyed your current TR as well I feel like we're so similar in regards to our Disney interests/park touring! And now, reading your TR has been extra exciting (as you'll see in my next update) I'm so pumped to stay at the Poly again and try out the Wailulu Bar! I hope you get a second chance at those pulled pork nachos!!

I'm realizing that you're probably on your Girl's Trip by now!!!! Have SOOOO much fun and I can't wait to read all about it!!

What a great trip! Thank you so much for sharing

Thank you so much for reading!!! I'm so glad you enjoyed

As another poster said, I too teared up at the end of your report! So many good memories were made. Thank you so much for sharing them with us!

Awwww Cindi thank you so much for reading and commenting along!! Excited to hear all about your upcoming trips on Facebook

 

[Mollydolly334]

Real Life Update- Guess Who’s Back… Back Again… May 2025!?!?

Hello DISfriends! After taking a little break from the DISboards, I return with great news…

WE HAVE ANOTHER TRIP ON THE BOOKS!! IN 55 DAYS!!



Ok, HOW did this happen???

Even though it’s been months and months since our May 2024 trip, I feel like finishing this TR really gave me some finality that we were NOT going back to Orlando anytime soon. Although we had been talking about doing a December 2025 trip, the family has decided that we probably won’t go back to WDW until April or May of 2026 due to a crazy travel schedule this year and difficulty coordinating holidays. Totally understandable of course!! But, the thought of not going to Disney World for a year and a half made me VERY sad.

I posted an angsty Instagram story…



Which immediately got so many concerned “Are you ok??” replies. YES!!! Just missing my happy place.

After about 2 weeks of me whining and groaning to Jake, he finally gave in. He offered, “We can go to Disney World IF… we pair it with Universal Studios”



YAY!!!! I’m so lucky that I have a husband who supports my Disney addiction.

Jake has 2 days of PTO to use up before July, so we figured that it would be smart to do a trip in the near future to maximize that PTO. Although I love going to WDW for the fall/Halloween festivities, we did NOT want to mess with going during hurricane season again, so that was out. We also briefly considered Easter weekend, but it was EXPENSIVE. After looking at dates, we decided to go during Memorial Day weekend!

So… here are our plans!!

May 21-23rd- Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort (Standard Room)

We’ll work a full day and fly in late on Wednesday May 21st, landing in Orlando at 9:30 PM. We are planning on taking an Uber to Cabana Bay Beach Resort and hitting the hay right away!



On May 22, we will hop between Island of Adventure and Universal Studios Park!



We have a dinner reservation for 8:30 PM at Cowfish. We are very intrigued about the burger-sushi concept! I’m sure we’ll end the night with exploring CityWalk (VooDoo Donuts is always a must for me)!



Then, on May 23, we’ll head back to IOA/US for some more fun! We have a lunch reservation at Mythos at 12:30 PM. The menu here looks great; both Jake and I love Greek food and this has some lighter options, which is always nice on theme park trips.



I don’t anticipate us spending a whole day here; we’ll probably leave around 4:00 or so to head over to Disney property and get all checked in there!

Originally, we thought that we would be able to swing going to Epic Universe. We were waiting on them releasing single-tickets to EU, but once they were released, we realized that it would only be for June 2025 on. We could have bought a 3-day park hopper that included 1 day at EU, but it was SO pricey. Almost $1200 for 2 people!! So, we decided to just stick with 2 days at the other two parks to make sure we’re not rushing around. We have decided to save EU for our big family trip next year!

This will be both of our first times staying on Universal property, and the first time that I have done more than 1 day at Universal on an Orlando trip!!! We are also trying 2 new TS restaurants to us. The rides at USO aren’t always my favorite, but I love exploring new places with my guy and it’ll be so fun to mix things up.

I don’t think we’ll do Express Pass… I’m hoping that we’ll be able to utilize Early Entry for both days and be able to ride our favorites (The Mummy, The Hulk, Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure, Rip Ride Rockit, Jurassic Park River Adventure, etc.). A lot of USO rides have simulators, and I don’t do well with those, so we’ll probably skip most that incorporate these (Forbidden Journey, Transformers, Simpsons, Kong). And Jake and I are SO pumped to ride Velocicoaster for the first time- that will be a highlight for sure!!



May 23- 27th- Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort (Island Tower- Duo Studio, Resort View)

After 2 nights at Universal, we will check into the POLY ISLAND TOWER!!!



I am SOOOO excited to stay at a "new" resort and check this baby off my list! It looks faaaaancy!

Like I stated above, on May 23rd, we’ll probably leave Universal Studios property around 4:00 PM or so and get all checked into the Poly. We have no plans to leave the resort tonight; we are hoping to maybe get some pool/hot tub time in, check out Wailulu Bar and Grill for dinner, and catch HEA/the Electrical Water Pageant from the Poly beach.



Hopefully we can also get into Trader Sam’s at some point tonight as well- sounds like a pretty perfect evening if you ask me!

The next day (May 24th) will be a full resort day!!



I’m hoping to grab some coffee at Kona Island (this little stand gets rave reviews and I’ve never tried it!). Then, it’ll be off to either Captain Cook’s for some Mickey Waffles/Tonga Toast or Gasparilla Island Grille for their MYO Acai Bowl!

We’ll spend the whole day/afternoon by the pool and just enjoying the resort amenities. Then, around 5:30 or so, we’ll head to Disney Springs for the evening for some shopping/wandering. We have a dinner reservation at The Boathouse at 8:30!



And, if you’ve retained anything from my TRs, you know that we’ll NEED to stop by Summer House for some cookies (for Jake) and Gideon’s for some cake (for me).

On May 25th, we will do a park day at Magic Kingdom!!



This will be a marathon day; we will for sure hit rope drop and go until park close, but probably have a break at the Poly at some point due to its prime location.

I struggled with ADRs on this day; I usually like to do 1 sit-down meal per day (preferably dinner) to give us some time to relax indoors. But, NOTHING was tripping my trigger! I briefly considered Citrico’s, Steakhouse 71, Kona Cafe, Narcoosee’s… but I ended up not booking any ADRs. This will probably be more of a snack-y day. Then, for dinner, I’ll probably just try to get a walk-up at Geyser Point at WL or try a QS in MK or the MK resort area!

Then, May 26th, we are back in the parks to enjoy Epcot for the day!



This will be another long day; they have Deluxe Extended Evening Hours tonight from 9-11 PM. Unlike the day before, we actually have 2 ADRs booked for today!!

If you know my sweet tooth self at all, you’ll know that there was one restaurant that I absolutely NEEDED to try..



The Cake Bake Shop!! We have a 1:00 PM reservation here for lunch. I’m not anticipating we’ll do a full meal, maybe we’ll split an entree and a couple cake slices or other desserts between us.

I also made a dinner ADR. Now, you may ask, “Why would you make 2 ADRs in one day during the Flower and Garden Festival?” Well… we just visited during last year’s festival, and there really aren’t too many new food items we’re jonesing to try. And, besides the PB&J soft serve, there wasn’t anything from the booths last year that I’m dying to eat again. So, I decided to make a dinner ADR for 7:15 PM at…



Biergarten! Jake loves the whole concept of “make an inside restaurant look like it’s outside,” and since I just ate at San Angel Inn in May 2024, this passed the torch to Biergarten!

I am hoping we make it here; but I also mayyyy cancel this ADR just in case we do feel like enjoying the booths and are still full from lunch. I love this restaurant so much and I feel like it’s underrated. I haven’t eaten here since November 2021 and Jake has never eaten here before! The vibes here are just immaculate, and the food is yummy too and something different than normal theme park food.

Finally, for our last day on May 27th, we will be doing another resort day to fully enjoy the Polynesian and all of its amazing amenities.



We are also doing brunch at 1900 Park Fare at 10:20 AM! This was a sleeper hit on our September 2024 trip and Jake proclaimed it his favorite breakfast buffet ever!! So, we’ll swallow our awkwardness with the characters to enjoy this amazing food.



We have a late flight home at 8:30 PM tonight, so we'll have the whole day to hang out at the pool and explore!

Honestly, I’m excited to have a more resort-centric trip this time around, especially since we’re forking over some extra cash to stay at the Poly! Since we are only doing Magic Kingdom and Epcot this trip, we really want to maximize our time when we’re actually in the parks. Therefore, we will be purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Pass for each day as well as Lightning Lane Single Passes for Tron and Cosmic Rewind.

I’ll post on this thread if I have any big pre-trip updates, but I’ll make a separate thread if I do end up writing an eventual TR (which is still undecided). I think this will be the perfect “buffer” trip before our big family trip next year, and I’m so grateful that we are able to sneak back to my happy place one more time this year.





​

 

[disneyAndi14]

I am planning MK on Sunday and Epcot on Monday! We will have to meet up and say Hi I haven’t seen you for quite sometime! Was it January 2020 before the world shut down?
I will be solo. I am just taking a 4 night trip over Memorial Day weekend all for myself!

 

[VAtink]

So exciting!!! That sounds like an amazing trip!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us!! All the best to with house hunting!! So exciting!!

WOW!! Just saw tonight’s update about your upcoming May trip! I hope you have the very best tone!! Sounds amazing!!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I feel like you just need to have a trip planned somewhere somehow to keep us Disney crazy people sane. Yeah to a trip. Universal will probably be on our agenda for next year over spring break.

 

[SEAGULL59]

Yay for a May trip!! I will also be in Disney over Memorial weekend with my daughter. We're so excited!!

 

[amazingact21]

Another trip is wonderful! When I saw your dates on the group, I thought you were going down for Epic. But I 100% agree with you on how brutal the 3 day ticket prices were. We had to wait and wait for them to release the single day tickets, because we could not justify that package.

Velocicoaster!!! It's insane and has to be one of the most thrilling coasters out there. I'm terrified of it, yet I still go on it every time I'm at UO.

The sweet potato fries at Cowfish are really good!

I've heard nothing but great things about the Cake Bake Shop. I'm sure you will have a lovely lunch there. Plus, it gets you out of the midday sun for a bit. Always a plus!

 

[piglet1979]

YAY!!!! I’m so lucky that I have a husband who supports my Disney addiction.

This is what I am missing. Jeff is trying to say when we go next we will only go for like 2 days and then the beach. We are still a couple of years away so i am just ignoring him right now. I have been missing so much right now. We have had a really long stressful few months and I could use some Disney but I don't think it will happen as we are looking to build a new home this summer or fall and need to save money.

 

[Sarahh1027]

Yay another trip! So excited for you guys! I will just miss you, I leave Disney on the 17th. This trip will be so nice and relaxing for you guys compared to the big family trips! Lol

 

[vamassey1]

Your new trip sounds great!

We may actually cross paths.

We're doing Disney the first part of our trip May 18-May 21.

We're at a Wyndam timeshare for May 21-May26th. We have tickets for Epic opening day and the 2 days park to park tickets for Uni & IOA. We plan on hitting both parks on Friday the 23rd and Sunday the 25th.

We don't have plans for May 24th yet. I was hoping for more Disney time but we haven't firmed that up.

@disneyAndi14 where are you on May 24th?

 

[Paulaparm]

We can go to Disney World IF… we pair it with Universal Studios”

Did he really think you might not agree to that?!?!
Sounds like you’ve got a great trip planned.
After our trip, Gary said he wants to try Universal next time. (In addition to WDW)