Well I gotta help you cross SOMETHING! A June 2025 PTR

[ExpeditionEmily]

Hello all! I'm back for another PTR after taking a hiatus from Disney this year. We're planning a large family trip for June 2025 and this will be my biggest group planning yet!


I'll be leading the trip plans along with my husband, Tyler. This is one of our most recent pictures from the late spring at a friend's wedding. At 6 months pregnant I hiked up a slippery waterfall in a dress and decided then and there that I deserved a Disney trip for conquering that! I'm Emily, a middle school special education teacher who most enjoys repeat rides on Guardians of the Galaxy, snacking around the world, pin trading, and floating in the Typhoon Lagoon wave pool.

My husband, Tyler, is also a special education teacher but at the elementary school level. He mostly loves the same things as me and will always carry the bags for us. He really enjoys just taking in the Disney atmosphere and chatting with other guests.

Typically we travel as just a duo, but this years trip will be a LOT larger!



My mom and dad will be joining us for the trip! The last time they were in the Disney bubble was March 2020 when they picked me up from my Disney College Program. We got to enjoy one night in Disney Springs together before COVID shut the world down.
Mom (Nana) loves Mickey Bars, the PeopleMover, and enjoys being able to relax at the pool during her Disney trips. My dad (2Pop), hasn't been to Disney in years, but usually enjoys vacations with thrill rides and Coors Light.

My sister, Abby (Aunt Bee), is also hoping to join us. Her boyfriend may potentially come as well, but they are both still undecided. I haven't been to Disney with Abby in years and honestly can't remember what she likes the most, but she definitely likes hitting all of the Disney stores!


My Aunt, Uncle, and cousin are up next! My aunt and uncle are definite "yes" with my cousin being unsure if he will come. Tyler and I did Disney with my aunt and cousin last August and I have gone on many trips with just my aunt, cousin, and I. My aunt is Disney obsessed like I am, and my cousin is happy to go anywhere that he can hop on a roller coaster and try some good snacks. My uncle is not Disney obsessed and could probably go without, but agreed to come on this trip. He plans to rent a car and visit some friends in the area, so he will be with us in the parks on and off.

Most importantly, the reason for this trip............


Tyler and I recently became parents to the sweetest baby girl! You won't know her name or see her face at this point, but baby girl is the reason that everyone wants to come with us. We can't wait to take her to Disney and my 39-week pregnant self cried while adding her to MyDisneyExperience when I booked this trip. We've been so in love with her which has led to many fun nicknames, one of which being Mr. Frederickson (hence the title of the PTR), due to the grumpy old man face she makes when she has to burp.

This will absolutely be a slower-paced trip than what Tyler and I are used to, with the large group and with baby girl joining us, but I am SO excited for this trip! Stay tuned if you'd like to hear more as I plan this trip too much during my maternity leave


​

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[CariadMartin]

Yes, I am so here for this! Can't wait to hear more.

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

Yes, I am so here for this! Can't wait to hear more.

Thanks for joining in! I feel like I have a LOT to coordinate and this will certainly be a learning process of doing Disney with a baby, but I'm really looking forward to it

 

[Disney102015]

Joining in!! So exciting to do Disney with the baby for the first time!

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

An Oddly Specific List of Firsts

As a new parent, I've been thinking a LOT about the things I'm most excited to do and experience with my baby for the first time. For now, most of our days are spent like this:


My sweet girl is now smiling, rolling over from belly to back, and overall just being more active and engaged! I thought I'd start the PTR with the oddly specific list of firsts and moments I'm most looking forward to having with her.
​

• Her first time seeing the castle​
• Crystal Palace - she LOVES her little Eeyore and Piglet stuffed animals already​
• Seeing Festival of Fantasy - she dances and smiles so much to any and all music, so I think this girlie will love any show and parade​
• Meeting Mickey! As a former cast member, this one is absolutely going to make me cry. The last time I met Mickey in Town Hall was the day COVID closed the parks. I cried so hard, got the most beautiful note from Mickey, and it was right beside my home of Tony's Town Square so it was just a perfect moment. The only moment more perfect than that will be my little bean meeting Mickey for the first time.​
• A haircut?! Highly considering taking her for her first haircut on Main Street. My grandfather owns a hair salon and has my entire life, so haircuts are special and sentimental for me. It breaks my heart that my grandfather isn't able to cut hair anymore as I got every haircut from him up until my early 20's, but getting my girl's hair cut on Main Street would be an acceptable alternate. ​
• Seeing Happily Ever After for the first time as a mom. Our trip last June was just Tyler and I - we planned so many fun extras with the idea that it would be our last trip as the 2 of us before adding to our family. We sat on Main Street holding hands and I just hoped so hard that the next time I was seeing Happily Ever After would be with our baby, and sure enough it will be! ​

Those are all the most sentimental things I can think of right now involving my baby bean's firsts! In other trip planning news, I've been starting to browse flight options for us. My parents plan to drive their car down and we'll be able to send a lot of our luggage with them (stroller, travel crib, baby formula, etc) which will help keep our first time flying with the baby as easy as possible. We do plan to purchase a seat for her and bring along her car seat rather than holding her as a lap infant. I've found good prices with JetBlue, but it's not from our preferred airport, so we're waiting until the end of October to see what Southwest releases in hopes of flying from a different airport. Stay tuned! ​

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Flight Options
Southwest released their flight options for June...and let's just say, I frowned. I'm not loving the prices at our favorite airport which leaves me torn on some options and things I'm debating.​

• Buy now or wait and hope they go cheaper?? This could for sure be a gamble in either direction.​
• Suck it up and fly out of a different airport to save ~$300ish? This would mean driving into a VERY crowded airport where we aren't familiar with the parking situation and setup as much since we rarely fly from there. Not loving the idea of being confused and lost for baby's first flight.​
• Considering if we should or shouldn't pay for baby girl to have her own seat? The anxiety tells me she needs a seat so that we can bring her car seat in case of turbulence. However, I think for a short flight she'd possibly be okay just being held by us and passed amongst our family. It also really depends on how mobile she is which we won't know until closer to trip time. ​

My aunt, uncle, and cousin plan to fly out of one of our preferred airports, though they are waiting in hopes of tickets on sale. I'd love for us to fly with them if possible to have a few extra hands for the baby. My parents are sticking with their plan of driving, and my sister + her boyfriend won't join us until Tuesday so they'll fly separately. Lots to consider but I'm hoping to make a decision and gameplan for this soon.

 

[SeanW]

Most importantly, the reason for this trip............
View attachment 893367

Tyler and I recently became parents to the sweetest baby girl! You won't know her name or see her face at this point, but baby girl is the reason that everyone wants to come with us.


​

This sounds very similar to my wife and I. We had our first baby, a boy who was born 10 weeks early in January and we are going to be going for his 1st Birthday in January. My Sister-in-law's baby was born 3 weeks after my son to the day and she was 6 weeks early so it will also be for her almost 1st birthday as well. So, the trip is supposed to be my wife, my son, my SIL, BIL, nephew, new niece, MIL, FIL, and myself. Well, my wife has family in Florida, and for 3 days of our trip her cousin, his wife, and their 2 sons will be coming to meet everyone, then my wife's other cousin and her daughter will be coming to meet up with us for 5 days, then my wife's Aunt, Uncle, cousin and her fiance will be coming for 3 days after that.

Everyone wants to come to see the baby's it seems haha.

We fly out of our smaller regional airport through Jet Blue. We could drive all the way down to Laguardia or JFK, but the ease and convenience of what you know, plus the lower lines in security and fewer people always wins out in our book. We don't have the issue of a $300 savings though. To me, with a new baby on your first travel trip, going with what you know and are comfortable with adds one less level of stress and chaos in the trip.

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

This sounds very similar to my wife and I. We had our first baby, a boy who was born 10 weeks early in January and we are going to be going for his 1st Birthday in January. My Sister-in-law's baby was born 3 weeks after my son to the day and she was 6 weeks early so it will also be for her almost 1st birthday as well. So, the trip is supposed to be my wife, my son, my SIL, BIL, nephew, new niece, MIL, FIL, and myself. Well, my wife has family in Florida, and for 3 days of our trip her cousin, his wife, and their 2 sons will be coming to meet everyone, then my wife's other cousin and her daughter will be coming to meet up with us for 5 days, then my wife's Aunt, Uncle, cousin and her fiance will be coming for 3 days after that.

Everyone wants to come to see the baby's it seems haha.

We fly out of our smaller regional airport through Jet Blue. We could drive all the way down to Laguardia or JFK, but the ease and convenience of what you know, plus the lower lines in security and fewer people always wins out in our book. We don't have the issue of a $300 savings though. To me, with a new baby on your first travel trip, going with what you know and are comfortable with adds one less level of stress and chaos in the trip.

Congratulations!! Hopefully we will both have smooth trips with all of the extra hands on deck to help out. I definitely agree we'd be more comfortable with our preferred airport, though the savings might draw us elsewhere. Fortunately most of our luggage will be driving down with my parents so we're hoping to only be wrangling baby girl, car seat/stroller, and a few backpacks or small carry-on items. I'm thinking we could MAYBE manage navigating a new airport situation if we have minimal baggage with us.

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Random Real Life Updates

No big updates on our trip planning. Prices are still nuts for flights from our preferred airport, so at this point I think we'll just book our non-preferred. The price difference is almost $2,000 which is crazy given that the airports are really only about 45 mins apart.

In other news, I've returned to work after my maternity leave. While it's great to be back interacting with adult humans and my students, I sure do miss the baby beans!

Other exciting life updates include family Christmas photos and we've recently hired a cleaning service that I'm super excited about. Tyler and I debated, price searched, and made pros/cons of it through my entire pregnancy. Ultimately for us, the price of the service is well worth keeping our weekends free and having more time to enjoy with each other and with our daughter. I'm continuing to finalize our ADR wishes, but man is it hard to navigate that with 9 adults and an infant! Anyways, this is just a ramble to say that I have no Disney updates as of yet.

​

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Flights Acquired!

After the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I went ahead and ripped the band aid and paid the insane flight prices. Well, Tyler did, when he handed me his credit card and said "Don't tell me how much this is gonna cost us." Yikesss.

So, we ended up booking our second choice of airports. It's still only an hour from home and we do have some familiarity with this location. Parking cost is more affordable than our third choice airport. We'll be on the same flight as my aunt, uncle, and cousin which means that we get some help with the baby and this is their top choice airport so they are comfortable to navigate there for us.

Our flight is with United which I haven't flown in a while, though I have had some BAD experiences with them as a kid on family trips. I'm trying to be optimistic about it since the flight times are pretty good and we got a full row of seats so that baby girl can be comfy in her own space. The flight has us leaving our area around 8am and arriving in Orlando at 10:30am. We are hoping to not check any bags and send most luggage with my parents who are driving, but may still need to check something. My aunt and uncle plan to rent a car for the week, so it's likely that the baby and I will go with my uncle in the rental along with all the luggage and we'll send Tyler, my aunt, and cousin in an Uber ride. We're considering using Mears as a back-up option but won't decide for sure until way closer to travel time.

I also decided to just go for it and applied for precheck. As you all know, the Orlando airport can get pretty crowded. We thought it was best to start using the precheck as we will be traveling with a little one who will need some extra time and patience. We're very glad to have the flights booked so now we can begin focusing on just paying off the trip, then thinking about our dining reservations!

In terms of real life news, my sister got engaged just before Christmas so now the family is in full-on wedding planning mode! Baby girl will be their flower girl in November and we can't wait. I definitely want to get them some cool Disney celebration pins to wear on the trip, even though Disney is not totally their jam. ​

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Disney Dining Plan
We've officially added the Disney Quick Service Dining Plan to our vacation! I wasn't initially planning on this as we typically don't get the dining plan. When Disney released the free dining offer, I wanted to check out the price difference for us. Since we had a discounted room, it did up our cost. However, the cost increase ends up being ~$235 per person. I did some quick math and this ends up being about $215 per person cost when factoring in the refill mugs, which we were for sure going to buy. That means Tyler and I will each have to surpass $215 on our costs for 14 meals and 7 snacks, which I think we can for sure make work in our favor. The alcoholic beverages being included is also a benefit since Tyler prefers to have a beer with lunch and/or dinners. We will definitely be paying out of pocket for some snacks, alcohol, and our table service meals, but we felt overall that the dining plan was a good deal this time around. We'll see how we like it - the only other time I used the dining plan was on a college trip in early 2016. I shared a room with 3 other girls so our dining plan was all linked, and one of the girls used up everybody's snacks on like day 2 of a 10 day trip.......so yeah, not great memories there Luckily Tyler won't do that since he won't have any idea how to work the plan. My parents, sister and aunt/uncle are all doing the DDP as well. Definitely gives us more to think about as we consider our ADRs. ​

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Dining Reservations: Almost a go!

It feels like FOREVER since my last update. Our ADR day is next week, so we've been working on those. Otherwise, our main Disney planning has involved MagicBand ordering, looking at some "enchanting extras", and finalizing our travel schedule. Here's the latest and the greatest:

MagicBands
We got them ordered for mom, dad, Abby, and John. Mom picked plain cream, Abby chose the Muppets LE release, dad went with the new Goofy Movie LE, and John opted for plain black. Tyler and I will just be reusing ours from last trip / previous visits. I have a pink treats band that I've loved for years and Tyler's got a plethora of Star Wars options.

"Enchanting Extras"
Still debating about a possible After Hours Event for Ty's birthday. I told him to choose between that, making a light saber, or a nice date night dinner (aka probably Yachtsman). He's still considering that one. We also decided to purchase Memory Maker for the first time ever! I'm still not fully confident on using / activating it, but we thought it'd be well worth it to have a cast member constantly wrangling baby girl for photos rather than trying to capture it all ourselves.

ADRs
Our ADR plans are still a bit up in the air. I know it'll be hard to find openings for 10 people, so we will likely split up for most meals. We're set on the following:
Steakhouse 71
Oga's Cantina
Yak and Yeti (for most of us)
Teppan Edo (I need to make this for my aunt/uncle/Jamison/Abby/John)
Garden Grill

I'm also considering Crystal Palace or 'Ohana since little lady is Stitch obsessed.

The Final Travel Schedule
We ended up swapping our flight coming home to arrive back here around 6:30pm rather than 9pm. Girlie goes to bed around 7pm so it'll already be a push, and we wanted it as painless as possible for her. 6:30pm will put us back home around 8:30pm which will be tough but doable for her. In doing that, we ended up getting a $300 voucher each (1 for us, 1 for aunt/uncle/Jamison) to use with United.

Here's where the most ABSURD girl math came into play.
Michelle (my aunt) and I felt that since we had the vouchers, a flight was basically free. We began mapping out trips together to use said vouchers. Somehow we landed on a cruise out of Baltimore (our home port / within driving distance).

So yes, we fully booked a cruise that was "free" because we had a flight voucher..........that we did not use.

To make matters even crazier, said cruise leaves the morning after we return from Disney. The plan is for her to come home with us, stay up late doing laundry and situating the house, then Michelle and I are off for a week long cruise. Because girl math. To be fully transparent, postpartum has been tough for me and this is REALLY needed for me. Can't believe I'll be on two weeks of back-to-back vacations!!

Anyways, for the fun update: Baby girl is almost 8 months old now! She's crawling ALLLL over my house, pulling to stand, and desperate to start walking. She currently loves Vampirina, Doc McStuffins, Stitch, and Minnie Mouse. We can't wait to gauge her Easter Bunny reaction to use as a baseline for if she will / won't like the characters. We received our Disney mail and this sweet baby is obsessed at just looking through the pages of photos.



Her favorite place to be - in Mama's lap, looking at her Disney pictures!

Another long wordy update but we will have ADRs finalized so soon​

 

[Sarahh1027]

Just read your whole PTR and so excited for you! I’m also planning my largest group trip and my littles first ever trip. We leave in 25 days. My toddlers are 2.5 and 1.5 and I need this vacation so bad. I’m grateful we will have my in-laws there to help us as well as aunts/uncles/cousins. I keep reminding myself that just being there will be wonderful and I don’t need to see/do all the things but it’s tough because like a lot of people on here I am used to being so go, go, go at Disney. Rope drop to close kinda gal at heart. I’m also 5 months pregnant (will be 6 months on the trip) so it’s tough not being able to ride all the bigger rides but I also have to try to still plan them in for my husband and in-laws. I’m not looking forward to LLMP day. But it’ll mean we are a week out, so bring it on!

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Just read your whole PTR and so excited for you! I’m also planning my largest group trip and my littles first ever trip. We leave in 25 days. My toddlers are 2.5 and 1.5 and I need this vacation so bad. I’m grateful we will have my in-laws there to help us as well as aunts/uncles/cousins. I keep reminding myself that just being there will be wonderful and I don’t need to see/do all the things but it’s tough because like a lot of people on here I am used to being so go, go, go at Disney. Rope drop to close kinda gal at heart. I’m also 5 months pregnant (will be 6 months on the trip) so it’s tough not being able to ride all the bigger rides but I also have to try to still plan them in for my husband and in-laws. I’m not looking forward to LLMP day. But it’ll mean we are a week out, so bring it on!

Sounds like a blast!! We plan on having a 2nd sometime in the next year or two, so I may be in a similar position in the years to come. Are you all doing any fun ADRs / anything exciting planned for the kids? I'm going back and forth on what to do and what to skip for our girl being so young.

 

[Sarahh1027]

Sounds like a blast!! We plan on having a 2nd sometime in the next year or two, so I may be in a similar position in the years to come. Are you all doing any fun ADRs / anything exciting planned for the kids? I'm going back and forth on what to do and what to skip for our girl being so young.

We have a few ADRs, although they are more so for my nephews who are 4 and 7! T-Rex, Sci-Fi, Oga’s, and Tusker House for my little ones
We are doing midday naps every day, my kids are not stroller sleepers whatsoever. We have two full rest days and 4 park days. I’m setting my expectations veryyy low haha
We will be riding the skyliner on a rest day, stopping at the playground at Caribbean Beach and looking at all the theming at AoA. Plus lots of splash pad time at our resort

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

We have a few ADRs, although they are more so for my nephews who are 4 and 7! T-Rex, Sci-Fi, Oga’s, and Tusker House for my little ones
We are doing midday naps every day, my kids are not stroller sleepers whatsoever. We have two full rest days and 4 park days. I’m setting my expectations veryyy low haha
We will be riding the skyliner on a rest day, stopping at the playground at Caribbean Beach and looking at all the theming at AoA. Plus lots of splash pad time at our resort

Great ideas! We LOVE Oga's and I've been considering Tusker House. I think our girl would love T-Rex/Rainforest Cafe but maybe when she's a little bigger.

We're debating if we want to try for the midday naps or just plan on doing rope drop - dinner time ish. She can stroller nap if she's exhausted but usually only in very small bursts. At home she typically goes two naps ranging from 1-2.5 hours and goes to bed around 7p. I guess we'll see how it goes and adjust plans through the trip as needed!

We for sure need to find allll the little playgrounds and areas to let her loose in because she's a speed demon with her crawling and just a very wiggly baby, so we'll need to make sure she gets that time to just roam around. Does Caribbean Beach have a nice playground?

 

[Sarahh1027]

Great ideas! We LOVE Oga's and I've been considering Tusker House. I think our girl would love T-Rex/Rainforest Cafe but maybe when she's a little bigger.

We're debating if we want to try for the midday naps or just plan on doing rope drop - dinner time ish. She can stroller nap if she's exhausted but usually only in very small bursts. At home she typically goes two naps ranging from 1-2.5 hours and goes to bed around 7p. I guess we'll see how it goes and adjust plans through the trip as needed!

We for sure need to find allll the little playgrounds and areas to let her loose in because she's a speed demon with her crawling and just a very wiggly baby, so we'll need to make sure she gets that time to just roam around. Does Caribbean Beach have a nice playground?

Check out the youtube channel Parents at the Parks! They do reviews for all the resort playgrounds, they also have a video of all the in-park water play areas. It was so helpful to me!
Stroller naps would save us soo much time, and we aren't even planning on staying at the parks late. But our kids just won’t sleep in the stroller so we are left with no choice lol our oldest can skip nap if he goes to bed early, and likewise our younger can do a cat nap like in the car and be okay. But for everyone’s sanity we are planning those midday naps!