Our Last Minute Disney Vacation

I have a bit of a crazy story for you. A few days after the start of the new year, I was working on my blog post roundup of my most popular posts from 2024. That blog post led me to re-reading the blog post I wrote all about our first time at Magic Kingdom with the boys and left me feeling all kinds of nostalgic thinking about that amazing trip. Disney was stuck in my brain and I mentioned it to Ryan the next day, saying how much I’d love to do Disney with the kids again. We began remembering all the things we loved about our January 2024 Disney trip.

I then went off to Burn Boot Camp for a workout that Saturday morning and when I arrived home, Ryan said to me, “How serious are you about wanting to do Disney with the boys again?” He went on to say that he had two (very unusually) light days of work on Monday and Tuesday before things at work were set to get crazy again. It was a very short window but since his work schedule is packed with travel and craziness in the coming weeks, we knew we wanted to jump on it… and so a ridiculously last-minute Disney trip was born.

Less than 24 hours later, we were packed up and ready to board a flight to Orlando!

The boys were beyond thrilled and we certainly ended our winter break with a bang!

We’ve never done a big trip quite this spontaneously before but loved it so, so much. I think the fact that the trip was so last minute had some major benefits (we knew everyone was healthy, for one, and we knew the weather forecast for the next few days looked great) and we were able to take advantage of some lower last-minute prices (that were still very much bougie Disney prices, I should add). Such a last minute trip also took any self-imposed pressure to make the trip “perfect” off our shoulders. A trip doesn’t have to be perfect, or perfectly planned, to be so, so good.

Where We Stayed

We knew we wanted to stay on Disney property, if possible, during our trip because we felt like it truly added to the magic of our Disney experience last time. From searching for “hidden Mickeys” around the hotel, early access to all the parks (we majorly take advantage of this!) and riding the Monorail (a HUGE highlight for our boys) to checking Disney pin boards and swapping collectible Disney pins from various hotel shops and restaurants, we’ve had the best experience staying on property.

Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort

Price comparisons and room availability led us to stay at the Polynesian Resort, the same hotel we stayed in last year.

We’ve had the best experiences at this hotel and would highly recommend it for a myriad of reasons, most notably its incredibly convenient location to the parks (you can take the Monorail to Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios) and for its fun pool! Last year it was too cold for our kids to swim, but this year, their time in the pool was one of their favorite memories from our trip! (A lifeguard told us the pool temperature was 85 degrees during our stay which helped combat the cooler weather.) The Polynesian pool has a water slide, large hot tub and a splash pad area, all of which proved to be the best end-of-the-day free play activity for our boys.

We got Dole Whip for dessert every single night and loved the ability to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the hotel’s small beach. (They even play the corresponding music!) It’s a great spot!

Day One: Animal Kingdom and Epcot

I call Ryan the “ultimate Disney strategy dad” because he got really into maximizing our Disney experience when we went last year by checking crowd prediction calendars, familiarizing himself with the Disney app, checking in on ride wait times, booking Lightning Lanes, etc. Crowd calendars helped us select which day to do each park during this trip and we bought discounted park hopper passes through a Bank of America perk for every single day of our stay because they were much cheaper than single-park tickets for any park on any day of our trip. (A single park ticket was around $120 per person during our trip whereas park hopper tickets through Bank of America were around $75.) We only used the park hopper feature on the first day when we opted to do Animal Kingdom and Epcot in one day, and this was a great learning experience for us, as we thought we’d utilize the park hopper feature more often than we did.

Animal Kingdom

We knew from our trip back in 2024 that Animal Kingdom is a more relaxed park without quite as much to do. (It’s a great intro to Disney park and the park we visited first last year to help learn the ropes.)

We arrived super early to Animal Kingdom (a little after 7 a.m., right before it opened to on-property guests — FYI parking is also free if you stay on property!) and we “rope dropped” Flight of Passage, one of our big kids’ favorite rides from our previous visit. (Ryan and I love this one, too! It’s amazing and the flying simulator feels so immersive and realistic. It also didn’t bother my stomach and I think this is because it’s so smooth — even the drops are not too jerky.)

We learned a GREAT tip during this experience: Disney ride swap is a hugely valuable resource. If you have young kids and need to do ride swap (this was the case for us because of our 4-year-old’s height), they’ll let one person from your group go on the ride again through the Lightning Lane with the grownup who stayed behind. We utilized the heck out of this perk and Chase and Ryder took turns riding their favorite rides twice throughout our trip (once with me and once again with Ryan).

Chase, Ryder and I rode Flight of Passage while Ryan took Rhett on the Na’vi River Journey ride (this ride is only okay — not a “must do” at all) and then Ryan took Chase on Flight of Passage through the ride swap Lightning Lane again after we all “rope dropped” Kilimanjaro Safari, our second ride of the day (and the first one we did as a whole family unit).

The animals on the safari ride were all awake and alert and our whole family enjoyed this one!

With the rides our family cared most about under our belts, we spent a little more time wandering around the park before making our way back to our hotel and then catching the Monorail to Epcot where we spent the rest of the day.

Epcot

It was our family’s first time visiting Epcot and through Ryan’s research, we had our eyes on two main rides: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.

Unfortunately we were not able to book ANY Lightning Lanes because of the last-minute timing of our visit. (We didn’t realize this had changed since last year with the Genie+ system when you booked Lightning Lanes right before your park visit. Disney experts we are NOT.) Since we did everything so last minute, Ryan ended up calling Disney and asking what we should do because we were unaware of all these big changes since our 2024 visit. The woman Ryan spoke with recommended Premier Passes and we got incredibly lucky (I think this was the case, at least) because the price on the Premier Pass was much, much lower than it appears to be most of the time online (maybe because we were so last minute?). The Premier Pass we purchased to Epcot gave us Lightning Lane access to every ride and this was amazinggg and made our day in Epcot feel less stressful and so fluid. (It also majorly spoiled us.)

Here’s a recap of most of the things we did at Epcot and our overall thoughts:

• The Seas with Nemo and Friends: This ride got a solid “meh” from all of us… and we love the Nemo movie. We all agreed we would skip this one next time. The best part of this ride is the aquarium you can explore once you get off the ride.
• Turtle Talk with Crush: This was a cute and funny interactive show our whole family enjoyed.
• Soarin’: This was the first “big kid” ride Rhett was able to do and it blew all of us away! The best way to describe it is like an IMAX movie that makes you feel like you’re flying around the world. It was fun, not at all scary, and just plain cool.
• Club Cool: This was such a random stop we knew nothing about but it ended up being so fun! We were able to sip on free samples of sodas from around the world (some are much better than others, but that was part of the fun)! The boys all loved the watermelon soda most.

• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind: OH MY GOSH I LOVED THIS RIDE SO MUCH. It far surpassed the hype for me and was just the most fun rollercoaster I’ve ever been on in my life. It’s set to music (apparently the ride cycles through 6 songs — we got “One Way or Another” and it was awesome) and it’s also super smooth, unpredictable and just plain FUN. It absolutely made Epcot for me! 10/10 love, love, loved it! Ryan, Chase and Ryder absolutely flipped for this one, too!

• Frozen Ever After: I hate to say it but this one bored our whole crew. Please keep in mind our kids are not Frozen super-fans so we are likely not the target market for this ride, but it fell a little flat for all of us and is one we’d skip next time.
• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure: This 4D ride was such a cool one and we loved that it was also one our entire family could ride. We thought it was playful, thrilling and not-too-scary. Rhett (4yo) didn’t like that one part splashed a tiny bit of water on his face (the dramaaa) but other than that, it got a solid thumbs up from everyone in our crew.

• Spaceship Earth: Aka the ride in the big Epcot ball! I feel a little bad saying this, but this ride was a bit of a sleeper for 4/5 of us. (Rhett absolutely loved it, which kind of shocked me.) I have to think this one must be popular due to nostalgia? It just felt a little dated to us, though there were a few cool parts thrown in the mix. We’d skip this one next time unless Rhett was really dying to go again (which, honestly, is quite likely).

We also spent some time exploring the various countries set up around the World Showcase and got a few things to eat that we enjoyed. I honestly don’t have a ton of recommendations for Epcot food and drinks though, and I apologize for that, as I know this is part of what makes the park fun for a lot of people. (It certainly did for me when I visited the park in college!) For our family, at our boys’ ages, trying new foods and waiting in long lines to try something they may or may not enjoy eating didn’t have a ton of appeal to us so we mostly ate the food we packed in our cooler (and the refillable bucket of popcorn — don’t sleep on that deal). On that note, we also didn’t do any character meet-and-greets as this was another thing that did not interest our kids. They seemed really, really popular and looked like fun for kids who love characters though!

After spending most of the day wandering around Epcot, we opted to head back to our hotel in the early evening versus stick around the park for the fireworks. This was 100 percent the best choice for our family as our evening hotel time was a huge highlight for the kids during this trip!

Day Two: Hollywood Studios

Day two took us to another new-to-us park: Hollywood Studios! This park ended up being a slam-dunk park for our whole family. Our four-year-old was tall enough to do more rides in this park than Epcot and we kicked off our time at Hollywood Studios in Toy Story Land where we “rope dropped” Toy Story Mania. Unfortunately we got stuck on the ride (it was actually our car that broke down) but we were given Lightning Lane passes to use on any ride within the park for the rest of the day. We immediately put our Lightning Lane passes to use on Slinky Dog Dash, one of the most popular rides in the park.

• Slinky Dog Dash: This rollercoaster made it into our entire family’s top 5 favorite rides from our Disney trip! It was such a fun ride, not at all scary (you never go upside down and there’s no creepy music + darkness) and the entire ride is outside in the sunshine. It felt like a longer, smoother, more exciting version of Barnstormer, one of our boys’ favorite beginner rollercoasters in Magic Kingdom.

Can you tell Rhett was thrilled to be big enough to ride Slinky Dog!?

Some more highlights from Toy Story Land for our family included:

• Toy Story Mania: Yes, we made it on this one eventually and all three of our kids really enjoyed it! The ride is similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride at Magic Kingdom where you shoot at targets to accumulate points. Rhett sat on my lap for this one and I aimed our blaster while he pulled the rope to shoot at the targets and this worked well for us.
• Alien Swirling Saucers: My stomach is not the best with super spinny rides but Ryder and Rhett convinced me to go on this one. I’m so glad they did because the joy I got from watching the two of them laugh so hard at the way this ride bumped us into each other was one of my favorite memories from the day. The spins were also much more mild than I anticipated.

The Star Wars section of the park was a big draw for Ryan and Chase and the first ride we did together in this part of Hollywood Studios was Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.

• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance: I personally liked this ride (I thought it had a lot of “wow” moments!) but it got mixed reviews from the rest of our crew. It semi-scared Rhett and was just a little too much for our big kids (they love rollercoasters but are easily spooked by dark rides with “bad guys” and creepy music). Ryan also thought it was a little overrated.
• Star Wars: Millenium Falcon: We used ride swap for this one so Chase got to double up and do it twice. (Ryder opted out of this one after being spooked by the other Star Wars ride.) Chase first went on the ride with Ryan and was dying to do it again because he wanted to be in the pilot position. (You’re assigned one of three roles on this ride and pilot — specifically the front, left pilot — is by far the best.) Chase really liked this one but it was rough for me in terms of motion sickness. The capsule you ride in is also smaller than I would’ve liked as someone who doesn’t love enclosed spaces and the motion simulator paired with lots of jerky movements made me feel nauseous, though I felt fine within 30 minutes. Not at all a favorite ride for me.

Also worth noting, our kids all really liked the “blue milk” from the Milk Stand in the Star Wars section of the park. (It’s basically a fruity blue or green-colored smoothie.)

And another quick takeaway: We opted to check our double BOB stroller for this trip — it was free to check through American Airlines — and this monstrosity was worth its weight in gold for us. Even our big kids appreciated having a spot to rest during some of our longer treks across the park and you cannot beat the storage. We loaded it up with jackets (weather fluctuated from 35 to 76 degrees during our vacation) snacks, a mini cooler, water bottles, etc. We walked 25,000 steps (12 miles!) our first day and I cannot tell you how many DMs I got on Instagram echoing my advice to “just bring the stroller” even if you have bigger kids. (Stroller rentals are also available!)

A few more highlights from our day at Hollywood Studios:

• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway: This one was a cute, fun ride our whole family liked! It wasn’t anything mind-blowing but all the boys gave it a thumbs up!
• Indiana Jones Show: Our kids liked this show. It was okay for me and Ryan said it was a “great place to sit and have a snack.” Ha!
• Frozen Sing-a-Long Show: We made sure to catch this show after chatting with people in line who highly recommended it to our family. I LOVED it! It was legitimately funny for adults (Ryan and I both laughed out loud at the one-liners from the hosts of the show) and it was also a great place to chill for a bit while we were all thoroughly entertained.
• Rockin’ Rollercoaster: This was another ride swap ride we did and Ryder (6 years old) was the one who loved it most in our family! He loves rollercoasters and I was honestly a little shocked he loved this one as much as he did, as it’s a very dark rollercoaster. (Chase wasn’t as big of a fan and said it was a little too jostling for him.) Ryan and I both liked it but also heard it’s going to be completely re-done and changed into a new ride fairly soon.

Once again, we opted to call it a day in the early evening before the firework show in favor of swim time at the Polynesian pool, Dole Whip and beachside fireworks.

Day Three: Magic Kingdom

Day three was a complete whirlwind for our family. We had flights back home scheduled in the evening so we knew that in order to maximize our time at Magic Kingdom, we needed to get to the park bright and early.

We opted to do Magic Kingdom last (on a Tuesday) due to crowd prediction calendars and I think this was the right choice, though it was a little hard to wait to do our family’s favorite park until the very end!

There’s a reason everyone loves Magic Kingdom so much and, for our crew, a lot of this has to do with the fact that there is SO MUCH we can all do and ride together as a family. I have a much more detailed recap of our Magic Kingdom visit in this post: A Day at Magic Kingdom: Our First Time with Kids so I am going to do my best to keep this recap a little more brief. Definitely check out that post for a better breakdown of ride logistics, tips and tricks that worked well for our family.

Magic Kingdom

We rode the Monorail to Magic Kingdom from our hotel which made getting to the park a breeze. All of our boys love the Monorail with a fierce intensity, though Rhett is particularly obsessed. (Of all the choices for a special Disney souvenir he could pick from our trip, he chose a Monorail toy!)

Our family opted to “rope drop” the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in the Fantasyland section of the park which was a fantastic decision. (We picked up this tip last year and it was a good one if you’re hoping to do this ride without a Lightning Lane as the line for this one was long and steady all day long.)

Fantasyland

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: This was such a fun, not-at-all spooky rollercoaster and we all loved it! It was Rhett’s favorite ride of our whole trip (he’s only four but really likes fast rides) and the catchy “Hi-Ho” music made this one feel especially upbeat. Both Ryan and I remembered it being a little more jerky when we rode it last year but it felt smoother this year (maybe this was in our heads? Or maybe our seating position impacted this?) and we liked it even more than we remembered.
• Peter Pan: This was our second ride of the day, as it was a top request for our boys to ride together and we wanted to do it before the line got too crazy. It’s filled with nostalgia for me (I loved it as a little girl) and feels like Disney magic on a ride. It is not too spooky for young riders, though it is a bit dark.
• Winnie the Pooh: We lucked out because this ride was under repair and we just happened to be walking by when it reopened. It was another fun, simple ride our kids liked, though I think Chase (age 9) is aging out of this one a bit.
• Small World: We walked right onto this ride as well and our whole family (with the exception of Ryan – ha!) continues to enjoy this Magic Kingdom classic.
• Carousel: Just a simple merry-go-round but a classic Rhett really loves!

• Barnstormer: The timing of our early morning somehow worked out really well because we walked right onto Barnstormer through the regular standby line and were able to ride this one twice with no line! Our kids adore this ride, as it’s fast and fun and a great first rollercoaster.
• Dumbo: I took our younger two boys on this one and they loved the hidden play area inside the waiting area just as much as the ride. Ryder in particular loves this ride as he thinks it’s fun to try to fly his elephant higher and crazier than the other elephants.

Tomorrowland

Our kids absolutely flip for the Tomorrowland section of the park at Magic Kingdom, as it includes some of their absolute favorite rides at Disney World.

• Tron: The number one favorite ride in Magic Kingdom for me, Ryan, Chase and Ryder! This was the first year Ryder was big enough to ride Tron and he was so, so thrilled. (I took Chase and Ryan took Ryder.) It’s such a stand-out ride, even as an adult. It’s fast (and short) but unique and smooth and easily one of the most fun rollercoasters I’ve been on in my life! You ride on a Lightcycle (like a motorcycle — your stomach rests on a Lightcycle bike and locks your hips and legs into place) and if it’s an option and the wait isn’t too crazy, I’d wait a little extra time for a front row spot because it makes it all the more awesome. (Chase and I only had to wait 2 extra cycles for a front row spot and Ryan said the same of his experience with Ryder.)

Ryder already requested we print out the photo below from him riding Tron with Ryan to frame in his room!

• Peoplemover: We adore this easy, breezy ride, as it’s typically not too popular and we’ve been able to walk right on during our not-too-insanely-busy visits. Rhett and Ryder in particular enjoy this ride, as it takes you all over Tomorrowland and lets you get a sneak peek into rides like Space Mountain (which continues to be a “hard no” for all of our kids) and Buzz Lightyear.
• Tomorrowland Speedway: This continues to be a top favorite for Ryder (6-years-old) as he loves feeling like he can really drive a small car. Chase (9-years-old) likes it but wants to be able to drive faster and more independently. (Note: Chase has a lot of go-kart experience under his belt so it may still be thrilling for kids who aren’t quite as exposed to driving small, fast cars.) This is another one of those rides where the wait time is typically not too bad when we’ve been.

• Buzz Lightyear: A favorite all three of our kids love! Each person is given a little blaster to shoot at targets which was right up their alley. Note: If you get a score of 999,999+, you can claim a special sticker in the gift shop. We got stuck on the ride which allowed Ryan to achieve this score and they were kind enough to give stickers to all of the boys.

Adventureland

• Jungle Cruise: Jungle Cruise was one of my favorite rides as a kid and I’m beginning to realize that your boat captain can have a big impact on your experience. Our captain hit all the corny punchlines that make the ride fun but she came across as disinterested and, honestly, just really grumpy (and not in a funny, playful way). Our boys were oblivious though and really liked this one but they were more interested in searching for the fake animals than listening to what the captain was saying.
• Magic Carpets: Ryder was the only one who cared about this ride, so we did it together and had fun! (It’s very similar to Dumbo.) The wait was short and Ryan took Chase and Rhett on a walk through the Swiss Robinson Family Treehouse nearby while we did this one.

We didn’t have time to do everything we wanted to do during our day at Magic Kingdom due to lines and our evening flight back to Charlotte but we still had a blast! Some of the things we did during our 2024 trip we intentionally skipped this time (like Pirates of the Caribbean), but there were a few things we missed that we loved last year, including Thunder Mountain and the Monsters, Inc. show.

We also came more prepared to trade Disney pins which our kids were so, so into and it definitely added to the fun for our whole family. We bought a starter pack of pins at the Polynesian Hotel when we arrived which allowed our boys the opportunity to begin trading on the first night. They loved learning about different pin-trading strategies (and cool “secrets” like mystery pins you can earn through answering Disney trivia questions) and really enjoyed making pit stops around the various parks to look at pin board to see if they had anything worth swapping. If your kids (or you!) particularly enjoy scavenger hunts and fun collectibles, definitely look into the whole Disney pin phenomenon!

And now, nearly 4,500 words later, I think I’ve rambled on enough about our last minute Disney vacation! I really, really hope this blog post is helpful to those of you who may be considering a Disney vacation for your family. If there’s anything else you’d like me to address, please just let me know in the comment section of this post and I’ll get back to you as soon as soon as I have a moment!