I am by NO MEANS a Disney expert, like so many women. I’m a planner by nature, but we scheduled this trip very last minute (less than a week out), so I couldn’t plan as much as I thought I needed to. Would I have been able to maximize our time a bit more with more planning? Maybe. But I went in with realistic expectations, meaning that I knew we wouldn’t get to everything, but we would have the most fun with whatever we did, and our entire family had one of the best days of our lives.
With that being said, here is everything I did to plan for Disney, everything we ended up doing and how we did it. Hope it helps you make magical memories with your family too!
Pre-Trip Planning:
Since Disney is really not an “affordable” experience, we decided that we could only do one day and one park. I knew that if we were only picking one, that Magic Kingdom had to be it. It’s the most authentic Disney experience, and it’s the O.G. Of Disney world. So that was the first step — choosing which park you’d go to.
Buying Tickets and Choosing Parks:
I didn’t really know any differently, so I booked our tickets straight through Disney online. I found the booking system a little confusing, so hopefully I can help someone not be confused by sharing this info. You have to first purchase the tickets through the system. You also need to create a Disney account and download the Disney Experience App. Your tickets will be in the app, and you can also use it for other things throughout your day. If I could go back, I would’ve bought Disney Magic Bands. This keeps everything in a band on your wrist instead of on a card that they give you. They come in all different designs, and it’s just a fun part of the experience.
Next, choose the number of days and parks you want to do. This is also where you decide if you want to buy the Park Hopper pass, which means you can go to more than one park in one day. Obviously the Park Hopper is more expensive. You can also purchase the Genie+ option, but more on that later.
Once you do that, you have to then make a specific park reservation with the day that you want to do the park. Your reservation isn’t complete until you do this. **This is the part I found confusing on both the Disney Experience App and website. So don’t forget to do this!
In terms of other prep, I asked friends who had been and got lots of great advice from my followers!
Disney Clothing and Gear:
Even though I booked last minute, I was still able to order matching t-shirts and sweatshirts on Etsy that arrived in time for our trip. I also bought Mickey/Minnie ears ahead of time, as I know they’re more expensive ($30+) when you buy them at Disney. I got the ears on Amazon because the cuter ones from Etsy wouldn’t arrive in time for my trip. If you are planning with more time, I highly recommend purchasing from small shops on Etsy.
What To Bring:
Food:
Our family keeps kosher, so we don’t have the option of eating at Disney restaurants (although some of the restaurants do have Kosher options, it’s just really expensive). So we brought snacks and food for the entire day in a cooler bag that I bought on Amazon. One great thing about Disney is that they allow you to bring in any size food, drinks, etc. So this is a fantastic way to save a ton of money for anyone. We brought big stainless steel water bottles as well, so we had cold water all day long.
The only food that we purchased was Mickey Mouse Chocolate Dipped Ice Cream bars, because I felt like this was a staple. You can buy these at any of the carts that serve popcorn around the park. Obviously check the ice cream for yourself, but when we went, all of the ice cream offered was OU-D kosher. The ice cream was about $6 a bar. Incredibly expensive, but a fun “must-do” treat.
I also bought a few fountain Diet Cokes. These ranged from $3.50 to $5 depending where I bought them. **Important to note that many places in Disney don’t have lids for their cups, and they ONLY HAVE PAPER STRAWS, which I hate. I highly recommend packing your own plastic straws, if you’re a Diet Coke snob like me, or if you just don’t like to drink out of a disintegrating straw.
I was told that the ingredients for the popcorn are all kosher, but the “process isn’t kosher”, so do with that information what you wish.
There is also kosher pizza by the slice in Magic Kingdom at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe, which is in Tomorrowland.
Strollers:
We brought our Valco Baby Snap Duo Trend for our two kids (5 and 6 years and both under the 50 lb weight limit). This is a not a lightweight stroller, but we wanted the storage, and I also didn’t want to buy a new lightweight double stroller JUST for Disney.
My 6 year old walked almost the entire time, but my diabetic, 5 year old definitely needed the stroller. You can also rent strollers at Disney, and there are companies in Orlando that rent for Disney as well. We need one for the airport too, so we decided to bring ours.
Masks:
As of January 23, 2022, masks are required at ALL indoor rides and establishments at Disney parks and facilities (Disney Springs, etc).
Diabetes and the DAS (Disability Access Services) Pass:
I was the most nervous about bringing my 5 year old, Type One Diabetic to Disney. It ended up being totally fine, but I’m glad I was prepared. We brought an extra Dexcom sensor, Omnipod pod, glucometer and glucose tablets. We didn’t need any of it. My son also didn’t experience any severe lows, which I attribute to the beautiful weather. We came in January, but I don’t think I would ever come in the summer because the heat would be a problem.
DAS Pass:
Disney offers something called a DAS Pass for people with disabilities and medical conditions. It allows the person with the disability or medical condition plus up to 5 other people in their party to use the Disney Experience app to reserve spots on rides throughout the day. To my knowledge, this pass works the same as the Genie+ Lightning Lane passes.
You can either wait in an online queue to get the pass online between 30-2 days before your Disney reservation or you can do it at Guest Services right when you arrive. I’ve heard the wait time to get the pass online can be hours long, and at 10 am we waited about 15 minutes to get it in person. It was super easy, and I would just do it in person again.
Pros and Cons:
With the DAS pass you still have to wait your turn for rides, but it gives you a time that you can show up to the ride, so you don’t have to physically stand in line. It’s also great because as soon as you start one ride, you can go ahead and reserve the next ride without having to physically go to the ride itself. The only downside is that you can only reserve one ride at a time, and you have to complete the current reserved ride before you can start to reserve again.
The only difficulty I had was that a couple of times I reserved a specific ride, and then we changed our minds. Technically, you should be able to cancel your reservation in the Disney Experience app, but it wouldn’t work for me. So I had to go find a cast member at one of the various Disney Guest Experience blue tents to help me manually cancel our reservation before I could reserve a different ride. So be conscious of that.
Overall, it was great to have for both the diabetes and also with kids in general. If we weren’t eligible for the DAS Pass, I would have purchased the Genie+ pass. It was only $15 more per ticket. The kids were much happier overall because they didn’t have to wait in long lines like we’ve had to at other amusement parks.
Our Itinerary for the Day (by ride/attraction):
Each section is written in the order in which we did the attraction. We worked our way up Main Street to the castle, to Fantasy Land, to Tomorrowland, back to the castle area, over to Frontierland by the Jamboree Bears and walked back to Main Street past Aladdin and Tom Sawyer.
This worked for us. I’m sure there’s a better method to the madness, but it really is impossible to do EVERYTHING in one day. I’ll share what we did, what was amazing and what we would’ve done differently. Before I start, it was one of the best days of my entire life. Watching the joy my kids experienced was seriously unparalleled here. There is nothing like the Disney magic.
Since taking pictures and sharing is a speciality of mine, I’ll also share photo ops I found in each area.
Main Street and Castle Picture:
We started our day walking up Main Street to the middle of the park where the castle is. A lot of people try to avoid Main Street, but we wanted the full experience. I took a lot of photos and videos as we were walking.
Keep in mind that the sun will be directly at your back in the morning as you walk up to the castle. And when you turn around to get a picture in front of the castle, the sun is directly in your face. We had hats and sunglasses, so it was fine for us, but this could make a first stop castle photo difficult. There are a few areas to stop and get a castle picture. We liked the sidewalk area right before the ramp and stairs to actually go up into the castle. You can get great straight on or diagonal angle pictures here. **Have whoever is taking your picture take it from a lower angle, so you are above the camera. This makes for a great view of the castle as well, and it’s flattering for everyone.
If you’re able to get a castle picture with no one in the background, good for you. I think you’d be one of the few lucky ones to do this. If you take the picture in portrait mode, you see less of the people in the background, but the castle is also a little unfocused. I personally prefer this.
Regal Carousel and Meet the Princesses:
We walked straight through the castle and back to Fantasy Land first. The Regal Carousel is right in the middle when you walk through the castle, so we got in line for that first, while I reserved our spot to meet the princesses on the Disney Experience App with the DAS pass. The princess hall is right next to the carousel.
Due to COVID protocols, none of the characters were walking around, including the princesses. And you can see that the princesses were behind ropes, so you could only get so close. It definitely had the potential to be a really special experience for the girls (we went with family friends), but I think the experience was pretty sub par because of COVID. I wouldn’t waste my time on this, with the current protocols, again.
It’s a Small World:
While we were at the princesses, I reserved our spots for “It’s a Small World”, which is still in Fantasy Land. There was about a 45 minute wait around 11 am. But whether you have Genie+ access to the Lightning Lane, the DAS pass or nothing, this is my favorite ride, and it’s absolutely worth waiting for.
There is so much to look at in every part of the ride. My kids loved it, and it really took me back to being a kid. This is an absolute must of your day at Magic Kingdom. Masks were required on this indoor ride.
Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid:
What a cute ride! Kids loved it, especially Miri. I didn’t remember it from when I was a kid, but it was nice and slow (just my speed). This was our last stop in Fantasy Land.
You’ll notice that we missed a few Fantasy Land rides like the Peter Pan ride. Every time I looked in the app, the wait was over 1.5 hrs long. We only had one day in Magic Kingdom, and had to decide to skip a few things in order to make the most of our time.
Tomorrowland Speedway:
Next we made our way to Tomorrowland and started with the Speedway. This was the only ride that I didn’t reserve a spot for on the app. The line went really quickly, and we probably only waited about 25 minutes. The kids were able to drive on this ride, and they really liked that.
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin:
This ride was also a game, which was really fun for the kids (and the grownups!). You shoot lasers at targets to rack up points. We sort of played against each other as a family, and obviously, this mama won.
We didn’t know it would be, but this ended up being our last formal ride of the day. By the time we finished Buzz Lightyear it was already 3:30 pm. Our family made plans to go to Cape Canaveral for a Space X Rocket Launch, so we were leaving Disney at 4:45 pm, which was a few hours earlier than we would’ve left otherwise. See more about the rest of our Orlando trip in this post.
Frontierland
We headed over to Frontierland to finish our day. We caught the Mickey Parade here again, which is an ABSOLUTE MUST. It was definitely the highlight of my day. There’s something about the song they sing and the hype that really fills you up with the Disney Magic. If you have to, ask one of the cast members when the Mickey Parade will be so you can make sure to see it. We also caught Tinkerbell on parade, but she’s got nothing on Mickey and Minnie (no offense).
Main Street Gift Shops
We told the kids that they could get some souvenir’s at the end of the day. Since there are gift shops that span the length of Main Street, we figured we’d just walk through them to get out of Magic Kingdom. We ended up being sucked into the Disney/kid madness of wanting everything and spent about 45 minutes in the gift shops. It was very crowded (you are required to wear masks indoors), and it’s a little bit overwhelming. I really do think you have to set aside a specific, separate budget for souvenir’s at Disney. It’s very hard to not buy things, some of it is more worth it than others. I almost accidentally bought my 6 year old an $84 sweatshirt. We put it back, LOL. There’s also a lot of Disney at 50 gear this year, so that’s special to get as well.
What’s convenient is that in any of the Disney affiliated gift shops you can actually scan and purchase your items through the Disney Experience App, so you don’t have to wait in long lines.
Transportation:
In the morning, we took the shuttle from our rental house development (Encore Reunion) to the Magic Kingdom parking lot. Then we took the ferry boat over to Magic Kingdom. It took about an hour to get there with the other shuttle stops and traffic.
On the way out, we took the Disney Resorts’ Monorail line (NOT the monorail back to the parking lot) to the Polynesian Resort. We got an Uber from the Polynesian back to our development. This was much more time effective than a) taking the shuttle back and/or b) taking an Uber from the Magic Kingdom parking lot. By going to the resort for an Uber, we were able to avoid a lot of traffic and save time.
Final Tips:
There’s truly no way that Disney World isn’t the happiest place on earth. The customer service and kindness of the cast members didn’t go unnoticed, and that’s something I truly appreciated. I think it’s important to go in with realistic expectations, especially if you have little kids. You absolutely will not be able to do everything in one day, but if you’re able to enjoy what you do end up doing, it will still feel like the best day of your life. And that’s how I feel. I’m already dying to go back, and the memories that we did make will be ones that we’ll talk about as a family for many years to come.
I hope this was helpful for those of you heading to Disney for your first time. I hope it’s as magical for you as it was for us.
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