All tagged Disney with a Toddler
I did not mention this when writing about our time at Epcot, but we ended the night with a semi-upset child because she didn’t spend her gift card money from her Nannie. See Nannie gave all the girls a gift card since it is so rare they all go to Disney World (at the same time that is). Melody had been so torn on what to get, and she never found anything she loved. We didn’t really have time to go to the Creations Shop in Epcot at the end of our night. And Disney Springs sounded miserable that late too. So we told Melody we would go to Disney Springs when the opened. So that we did.
We spent our last day at Disney at Epcot. We opted to dedicate the whole day to Epcot. We had briefly considered returning to another park, but realistically staying at Epcot all day allowed us to see both Emily’s group and Rebekah’s group.
Tuesdays always seem to be a great day to visit Magic Kingdom, so we opted to do that. We ended the night at Epcot for the food! Epcot is our go to for great food, and we always have to fit in our must-dos. We snagged a decent timed reservation for Chefs de France on this evening, so we opted to do that.
Something new to Disney World since COVID is their park pass system. It was originally put in place to truly manage park capacity in the early days of reopening after COVID. You could not park hop, so this kept Disney World in complete control of where everyone would be. Then park hopping started. They still require that you book a park pass for your first park, then after 2 pm, you can park hop to any park with availability. It looks like the park pass system is here to stay until at least January 2023. So I wanted to do a post about booking said passes. Check it out below.
During our recent Disney World trip in May 2021, we stayed at Pop Century. During this time, there were still a lot of COVID protocols going on. [I am not sure when you are reading this as to the accuracy of how things are in the present, so keep that in mind.] With these changes, I wanted to refresh our experience at the food court here at Pop.
So if you have been here awhile or have been reading up on my Disney posts from the past, you will know we were NOT fans for Pop Century back in 2017. We had a lot of bad experiences here, and even though there is some nostalgia from it being the first Disney hotel Melody stayed in, it was totally not our favorite by any means. I never would recommend this hotel. Well back in May we gave it another try. Not because I wanted to, but when we booked our trip it was pretty much all that was available that was reasonably priced. So we gave it another go.
I have to admit, this was the hardest reservation for us to get at Disney World during our trip in May 2021. We really wanted this our first day for lunch, but we never got it. So we kept the reservation we happened to find before our trip for one of our evenings at Epcot.
When we visited Disney World back in May 2021, character meals were still minimal and came with little contact even when present. One we could not get before arriving was Hollywood and Vine during the breakfast hours. During those hours you are greeted with Disney Jr. characters. I thought for sure Melody would love this and be less skeptical. She is obsessed with Doc McStuffins, and she is a fan of Fancy Nancy. With little contact as an added bonus, I really wanted to snag this reservation. Well the night before a 9 am reservation opened up, so I grabbed it.
So in this COVID world, things are constantly changing. I really feel like that is totally the case these last few months. On our recent trip in May 2021, we expected it to be much different. We expected temperature checks, masks indoors and outdoors, relaxation zones, and plenty of social distancing. But literally days before our trip, that all went out the window. There were still rules, but not quite like we expected. Below you can check out what our trip was like with a lot of COVID rules in place. **Note that a lot of the rules have even changed when this article was published. It is a constantly changing thing. This is just how it was May 2021.
One of Brad’s most favorite restaurants at Disney World that we do almost every single trip is Chefs de France. On our last few visits, I finally found food I really loved there. My favorite has always been the lobster bisque, but on our trip in 2019, I found a new favorite - flat iron steak with pomp frites. It was amazing. But with COVID, they have limited their menu dramatically. So I wanted to do another review with the current menu. Below are review from previous trips:
No one ever wants to see their trip come to an end. We had some bigger plans for the day, but we opted to take it easy instead. Brad feeling super sick also didn’t help…
Our last park day started with a pressured filled morning. Today was our Hollywood Studios morning. This meant getting up to get a Rise of the Resistance boarding group at 7 am. We also had breakfast reservations at 9 am at Hollywood and Vine. While the breakfast was good, I do kind of wished I had not booked it. Then we would not have been in as much of a rush to get to the park. But such is life I suppose.
Our second day at Disney World was a jam-packed day that started way too early, to be honest. And honestly, we should have started even earlier, but breakfast was too much of a priority for us.
So our first day at Disney was meant to be a slower starting day since we arrived so late the night before. But that wasn’t entirely the case. We met my parents for breakfast that morning before heading to Epcot. I want to say it was round 8:30 that morning if not earlier. I am having trouble remembering entirely. But either way, it wasn’t quite sleeping in, but compared to other days, I suppose it was!
So we headed to our first Disney World trip post-COVID back in May. It was a Sunday evening. We opted to fly due to my dad’s work schedule and the cheap flights. But we were also forced to take whatever time was available. So we flew in late Sunday night. Melody was completely clueless. I was hoping for a fun reveal, but unfortunately it didn’t quite happen the way I had hoped.
During all of our trips to Disney, we have mainly taken one stroller. It is our everyday stroller (or at least it was when we went out places, ha!). We have taken an umbrella stroller on another trip too. So I wanted to compare our experiences with both strollers because I always debate which one will be easier on our trips, and I figured there are other people wondering the same thing.
As you can likely tell from a lot of my previous blog posts, we have been to Disney World quite a bit. I have been an Annual Passholder for two years, and I hope to be one again once we feel comfortable enough to travel back to Orlando. Over the last four years, we have been taking Melody to Disney and still eating at nice sit down restaurants at Disney World. We also do quick service, but we have made sure we still continue to eat at our favorite places even though we have a baby or toddler in tow. Today I wanted to share how we handle this and some advice I have.
So with all of our vacations being cancelled for the near future to Disney World, we now have much longer countdowns to make. This is a really easy countdown and can be adjusted for any length of time really. However, the shorter the better when it comes to coming up with ideas to put on each stick.
Every Disney trip we try and do some sort of countdown. I do try and come up with some original ones, but one we go back to often is the paper chains. It is easy and cute. And you and you can really make it more involved if you want too!
Back in October we flew to Disney via Frontier Airlines. It was my first time flying with them, but my mom had flown with them before to Las Vegas from Nashville. She didn’t have the best experience, but we were hoping for a great experience
