It’s been a full month since we took our “big” Florida vacation (insert all of the “time-flies” and “take me back” sentiments here).
At the end of April, we drove the 15 hours from Pennsylvania down to Florida.
We visited Disney Springs, Sea World Orlando, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Busch Gardens Tampa, and Carowinds (on the way home).
We have a LOT to share about our trip. It was amazing and wonderful and we seriously had the best time.
Before I jump into sharing photos and videos from our trip though, I wanted to share some tips and tricks – some things we learned, some things we did (and bought) that were super helpful, and some general “tricks of the trade” we use across the board when we go to any amusement park.
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Just in case you aren’t familiar with us and our family – my husband, Derrick, runs a growing YouTube channel and Instagram account called XscreamThrills. He has been obsessed with roller coasters since he was a little boy – and now, he has created an outlet to share his passion (and fund his obsession).
We travel A LOT and have visited amusement parks all around the country. We have two children and as they grow and get older, it only gets more and more fun to take them on our travels!
Riding roller coasters and visiting amusement parks is something we can enjoy as a whole family (and we have ever since our kids were babies). That makes it a very unique (and fun) hobby!
We were hoping (and lightly planning) to visit Walt Disney World in 2020, but before we could solidify (thank the Lord) any reservations, the pandemic arrived and shut the world down.
We did visit Florida in 2021, but because of the restrictions still in place, we made the (very difficult) decision not to visit Walt Disney World. As a past cast-member, it killed me to be so close and yet so far from the parks, but in the end, I knew it was the right decision. I wanted to visit the parks restriction- (and mask-) free. I’m SO glad we waited.
One more preface to all of this: going to Walt Disney World 13 years after working there was a completely strange/weird/wonderful experience for me. The parks have changed SO much – most of the time, I felt like I was in a brand new park. It was all so surreal.
Our Best Walt Disney World Tips & Tricks & Advice (2022)
Wyndham Grand Orlando
So, first things first – we stayed at the Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek. We booked through Airbnb and got a really incredible deal on a beautiful condo. We loved all of the pools and lazy rivers and amenities the resort had to offer – the atmosphere was simply amazing.
We did not realize (until we arrived), but the Wyndham Resort at Bonnet Creek is actually on Disney property (even though it isn’t part of the Disney resort). This meant we were included in all of the Disney park’s “early entry” access hours (which was an INCREDIBLE perk we didn’t even realize we would have!)
Genie+
We paid for access to the Genie+ system for each day we were in the Disney Parks. Derrick learned the app SUPER well – he watched YouTube videos, read blogs, and got acquainted with it in the weeks prior to our vacation (in other words, he downloaded the app & got familiar with average wait times etc.) That way, when we went, he had a really good idea of what was considered a “long” wait time and what was “short”, plus he had a better strategy in place when it came to figuring out which Lightning Lanes to book.
While I watched a few YouTube videos and had an “overall” understanding of how Genie+ worked, Derrick was 100% in charge of the app and running things. He would ask for my input in his selections, but most of the time I deferred to his judgement. He did AMAZING and got us onto everything we wanted!
PRO TIP: have one spouse be in charge of the Genie+ app! It would have been very overwhelming for me to add onto my plate (I was in charge of making sure everyone was hydrated, sunlotioned, happy, etc.)
Staying Hydrated
Speaking of staying hydrated – I bought a set of Liquid IV packs for wedding days (and found them to be a game-changer) and decided to bring them along on our vacation. They were AMAZING. We sat out in the HOT sun at noon to watch a parade on Main Street in Magic Kingdom & afterward, we were absolutely beat. We each filled up our water bottles at a water fountain, added a packet of Liquid IV, chugged that down & we instantly felt so much better! HIGHLY recommend – especially if you’re headed to Florida in the hot summer months!!
Magic Bands
Does everyone technically need one? No. We debated getting more than one at all, but ended up getting one for Derrick, one for myself, and one for Braelynn. We figured Leander wouldn’t care or would be too tempted to take his off, so we figured we’d just use Derrick’s phone for his ticket and Lightning Lane selections.
Of course, once he saw us scanning our Bands, he desperately wanted to scan one too. (We just had him hold his wrist up to the scanning posts while we scanned his card & he felt like he was “doing it”.) We assumed that we would simply use Derrick’s phone + the Disney app to scan, but they actually gave us a physical card on the first day when we went through the ticketing booths. It was slightly annoying to have to pull out that card multiple times a day (and keep track of where we put it afterward), but since it was only for one person, it wasn’t too bad. If we had skipped buying Bands for everyone, that would have been fairly frustrating! So, yes, they’re an added cost, but I’d say they were worth it (especially if you’re working the Lightning Lane magic with Genie+!!)
Rope Drop
Yes, you want to be at the parks at “rope drop” (meaning when they open the gates) – even if it’s SUPER early. For example: we were walking through the gates of Animal Kingdom by 6:45am for early access that started at 7am (and we were driving and parking and walking up to security before that). That might seem crazy, but it was 100% worth it. It’s cooler in the morning and you get so much more accomplished before the majority of the park guests arrive! I’d much rather be in the parks at 7am than 3pm!
Make A List
Make a list of your “MUST HAVE” attractions: this includes rides, foods, shows, parades, characters, and end-of-night shows (the fireworks). This will help drive & direct your day.
Disney is insanely huge and you cannot do it all in one day (or one week or even 8 months). So, pick your top “attractions” and hit those first (HINT: shopping is an “attraction” too!)
Mobile Food & Snack Ordering
Every single park needs to switch to mobile ordering options for food and drinks!! This was a game-changer to experience!! It’s SO fast and easy and convenient and beats standing in long, slow food lines every day & twice on Sunday. We were able to figure out where we were headed, order food in advance, ride a ride or two, and then simply pick up our next meal or dessert or drink item. No waiting in line – PERIOD. It was so smart and we saved SO MUCH TIME.
You don’t have to utilize the mobile ordering, you can stand in a “standby” line and order food, but you stand in enough lines at Disney, why stand in one more than you need to?
*A handful of the food stands did not feature mobile ordering – like where you get the traditional Dole Whip, but those options were few and far between.
Portable Phone Charger
We use our phones a lot in amusement parks – between taking photos and videos, looking at park maps, and keeping in touch with each other, our phones are a vital tool for our days. As much as we’re on our phones though, we typically never even come close to running low on battery power. Even at Universal, we were able to scrape by during a full 14-hour day on one fully charged battery.
That is NOT the case at Walt Disney World though. Utilizing the Genie+ app, you’re going to be on your phone A LOT. Add in mobile ordering plus all of the other things we use our phones for (photos and videos), one fully charged battery will not make it through full day.
This is the portable charger I bought – it charged our phones super fast & was very convenient.
Other Things We Bought
A new double stroller – it had pros & cons. The primary reason we bought it was because it folds up so much smaller than our old stroller (which helps tremendously when it comes to packing our car for a week-long trip). The basket underneath is much smaller than our old stroller, so we had to really shift how we were used to putting our stuff underneath. We made it work, but definitely need to make some adjustments for the future. Overall, it was a great stroller though! It gave Braelynn a place to sit down and ride when her feet got tired and Leander was able to hop in and out super easily.
Autograph books – we bought these (one for Braelynn and one for Leander) off of Amazon ahead of time. Since character meet-and-greets returned in semi-normal fashion about a week before our trip, we were able to actually hug and high-five and get autographs from the characters we met. Autograph books from Disney are pretty expensive, so buy them ahead of time. (And don’t forget to get pens too!)
Ears – we knew that we’d want to wear in infamous Mickey Mouse ears in the parks, but didn’t want to splurge on ones purchased from the parks. We knew they’d be worn on and off and the risk of losing or damaging them was pretty high, so we ordered these ahead of time and they worked great! I bought these ones for Braelynn and Leander and this pair for myself (Derrick decided to skip the ears this time).
New mattress for Leander – up to this point, Leander has always slept in a pack-n-play on our travels, but now that he’s 3 years old (and a full 40″ tall!) he does not fit in the pack-n-play anymore! We have the Slumberpod (a “blackout” tent that fits over our pack-n-play) so we just ordered the air mattress they recommend on their website that still fits inside of the Slumberpod! This was super easy, freed up a lot of trunk space, and still gave Leander a dedicated place to sleep (even though he was simply in the corner of our bedroom).
A LONG lightning cable – it’s a 15 hour drive from Pennsylvania to Florida, so that means the kids watched lots of movies and shows on my iPad. It’s getting older, so the battery doesn’t last quite as long as it used to, so having an extra long lightning cable meant that I could plug it in up front, while still reaching to the back of our car to charge.
Sketchbook for Braelynn – our little artist loves to doodle and draw in the car. However, that usually means our car is flooded with loose paper. Hoping to curb this issue, I bought a bound sketchbook for her to bring and it worked perfectly! I love that all of her drawings (so many of which are things she was seeing and experiencing) are all contained in one place and we can keep it as a fun keepsake!
Waterproof phone case – okay so we didn’t buy this specifically for this trip, but they are always amazing to have! We spent a lot of time in the pools and lazy river at our resort and having a way to keep my phone dry meant lots of fun videos and photos!
WalMart PickUp
Last but definitely not least: if you are staying somewhere for a full week (whether it’s a condo, a house, or a hotel suite) order your snacks and breakfast foods and a case of water from WalMart for pickup! We saved SO much time (and money) doing this!
Last year, we went to WalMart after checking into our Airbnb & wasted so much time wandering around the store, not knowing where things were and trying to figure out what we wanted to buy for the week. We ended up frantically eating a LOT toward the end of the week because we had bought too much.
This year though, we did a pickup order, which means we thought through what we would actually need ahead of time. This way, we got precisely what we needed and we barely threw anything away at the end of the week. It saved us valuable vacation time and was the ultimate convenience!! (Plus, because it was scheduled in advance, as we thought of things we needed or forgot while we were driving down to Florida, I could add things to our order up until a few hours before our scheduled pick-up time! SCORE!)
Okay, whew, that is a lot of stuff. But, this is kind of our “part time job”, so we take our traveling and amusment-park-ing pretty seriously.
We have SO much more to share! Stay tuned for photos and vlogs from both Derrick and I – we have tons of fun content coming your way and we’re so excited to share!
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