Our 2024 Family Disney World Trip
We just got home from our big family trip to Disney World, and oh boy was it a whirlwind of fun and excitement! If you’re looking for a recap of our trip, you’ve come to the right place.
For the last year, I’ve been planning a family trip to Disney World with my parents. Neither one of them has ever been, and my mom has wanted to go for as long as I can remember. After our first trip last fall, they said they’d like to go with us next time so we made it happen this past week. It was such an incredibly special experience to get to visit my favorite place on earth with them!
A few years back, my mom was in a horrific accident that almost took her from us. We didn’t know if she’d be around today, much less able to handle 8 days gallivanting around Disney World! So, this trip really felt particularly special to me. There were so many “pinch me” moments during the trip getting to watch my boys run around with their grandparents.
Ready for the full recap? Let’s do it!
Day One: Resort Day
We stayed at Caribbean Beach resort again for this trip – we absolutely loved it on our first trip last year, and it kind of feels like our Disney home now. We adore the skyliner, the vibes are so fun and relaxing, and the food there is incredible. I think my family ate at least 5 or 6 Cuban sandwiches over the course of our trip – we couldn’t get enough!
We woke up bright (dark?) and early for a 6AM flight so that we could get there and really soak up the day. We wandered over to a couple of other resorts, visited Disney Springs, and had dinner at Sebastian’s (always a huge hit!). Then, it was an early bedtime for everyone so we could get ready for our first park day!
Day Two: Magic Kindgom
I always love to start a trip off with Magic Kingdom – especially for first timers! There’s something just so magical about turning the corner onto Main Street and seeing the castle for the first time. There isn’t anything like it!
We had an absolutely delightful Magic Kingdom day. We rode a few of our Tomorrowland favorites to kick off the day (there’s no better ride to start with than Peoplemover, if you ask me!) and Grant was so excited to get to ride Space Mountain again. On our last trip he was barely tall enough and didn’t make it on the ride the second time we tried. He was so proud to be well within the height limit this time around!
We watched the parade over in Frontierland and it was magical, as always. I will never ever ever get tired of the look on my boys’ faces when a character waves to them. There’s nothing like it!
After the parade, we had lunch at Cinderella’s Royal Table! Grant had been begging to eat dinner “in the castle” since our first trip, so it was a big deal for him. It was a ton of fun – but probably a one and done experience for us. The food was much better than I expected it to be, but probably not good enough to bring me back when there are so many other (cheaper) options. I’m so glad we did it, though!
I will note that I felt like the character interactions here were more rushed than other character dining we’ve done. I don’t know if it was just because my boys tend to clam up a bit when characters first walk over so they assumed they weren’t interested in chatting, but at other places we’ve been I felt like the characters did a better job of warming them up. It seemed like each princess only stopped by our table for a few seconds before moving on, and I would have liked a little more time.
We pushed through allllll day on our first day and stayed for fireworks. It was rainy most of the afternoon and evening, but it meant it wasn’t too hot so none of us were complaining!
Oh, and OF COURSE, I should mention we got to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure for the first time and it was delightful! It was so much fun, so adorable, and visually so stunning. I think the storyline is lacking a bit (it’s hard to follow!), but we all absolutely loved it.
Day 3: EPCOT + Halloween Party
We kicked off our EPCOT day with Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (a must-ride!) and then hopped in line to be one of the first to eat at our favorite bakery in the France pavilion (Les Halles!). We got tons of pastries and snacks and gorged ourselves and it was delightful.
We spent most of this day focused on riding all of the rides in EPCOT – we were coming back later in the week and I wanted to be able to spend our second day here focused on the World Showcase and eating all of the food. This day was just about snacking when we could and getting all of the rides in. Except Mission Space because you couldn’t pay me to ever ride that one again in my life.
My parents loved Soarin’ (because of course they did), and had fun on Guardians but said they didn’t need to ride it again, haha. This day was pretty brutally hot in the afternoon, so we were all dragging a bit. EPCOT is a favorite park for us but it doesn’t have a ton of shade and there’s so much walking, so it’ll wear you out fast!
We left EPCOT mid-afternoon and went back for a little rest in the hotel room before the Halloween party. We had reservations at 1900 Park Faire for dinner and we absolutely loved it. The food was incredible, the character interactions were fabulous, and it’s one of the most gorgeous restaurants I’ve seen at Disney! We loved exploring the Grand Floridian, and we all agreed we’d love to stay there someday. We will 100% be back for dinner at 1900 Park Faire again.
The Halloween party was a blast but very rainy. We didn’t get to do nearly as much as we would have liked – the rain pushed all of the crowds into the rides so lines were long. We did, however, snag really great spots for the parade and had a BLAST! It was delayed due to weather and we didn’t get to see the Headless Horseman, but we saw the Powerline Max dance party which was SO FUN. Corey was wearing his Goofy Movie shirt and Max spotted it – it absolutely made his night!
The Halloween parade is so incredibly delightful, and it was 100% worth the wait in the rain. We rode a couple of rides between the parade and the fireworks, but for the most part we only got to do those two things at the party. But, since we had gone in saying those were our only priorities, it wasn’t a big deal! We were thrilled to get to see the entertainment (even if we missed the Hocus Pocus show for the second year in a row. Thanks, rain!) and it was such a memorable night.
Day 4: REST!
After the Halloween party I knew we’d all need to sleep in and recover, so we didn’t make any plans at all for the following day. We slept in, wandered over to the Riviera resort for coffee, went to the pool, and just took the day easy. In the afternoon we all got dressed for dinner and went to do some exploring. We visited a couple of other resorts (Wilderness Lodge is incredible and I can’t wait to stay there!) and then had dinner at Ohana. We all agreed it was our favorite meal of the entire trip and Corey even said he wouldn’t be mad if we cancelled a different reservation so we could go back in the same trip.
Of course, I also made everyone dress in matching outfits so we could get some photos together. As one does.
Day 5: Hollywood Studios
This was the day that my dad was looking forward to the most because he’s a huge Star Wars fan. Thankfully, it didn’t disappoint. I wish I had a camera on him for the entirety of Rise of the Resistance – his mind was blown by that ride. We spent a ton of time exploring over in Galaxy’s Edge, and it was so much fun to get to experience that with him!
A surprise hit of the day was Toy Story Mania – as soon as we got off, my dad mentioned that he’d love to ride it again! We all got very competitive on it and Jackson was so proud to beat my dad, haha.
Today, we met Chewie, saw most of the shows, rode all of the rides, and had lunch at Sci-Fi Dine In (it’s a controversial one but we LOVE it). We went home for a break midday again and then came back to watch Fantasmic. We had the dining package from Sci-Fi so we had incredible seats…and the show didn’t happen. It was delayed a few times, started, and then stopped about 5 minutes in. It was a huge bummer but thankfully were were planning on coming back again so I knew we had another chance at it!
Day 6: Animal Kingdom + Hollywood Studios
It was really fun this morning to point out to my parents that they still hadn’t even seen all of the parks yet! Animal Kingdom is always fun but it isn’t necessarily our family’s favorite park. It requires so much walking and it always feels so much more humid there than the other parks.
Even if it’s not our absolute favorite, we still had a blast. Everyone LOVED Flight of Passage and Grant was so excited to get to ride it for the first time. He was nervous but he loved every second of it and my dad said that other than Rise, it was easily his favorite ride of the trip.
We watched the Festival of the Lion King (it was our first time seeing it, and it was incredible!), had a few snacks, and rode pretty much everything. Oh, and we stopped by Dinoland to make sure Grant got a dinosaur stuffie before the land becomes extinct (Jackson got one on our last trip).
We headed back to our hotel for a few hours in the afternoon before going back over to Hollywood Studios for the evening. We wanted to make sure dad got a little more time to explore Galaxy’s Edge (and ride Rise again!) and we wanted another shot at Fantasmic. Thankfully, it happened that night! We all agreed it was absolutely worth the wait (I’ll never get tired of that show) and I think all of the adults agreed it was one of the top 3 experiences of the entire trip. Can’t beat it!
Day 7: Magic Kingdom and EPCOT
We were all feeling pretty exhausted by this point in the trip and, spoiler alert, I was actively getting sick. So, this was a slightly slower and less exciting day. But, still magical! We slept in a little and headed to Magic Kingdom mid-morning. We did another round on Tiana’s (so fun!) and rode a few other favorites before breakfast at Crystal Palace. My family had been planning for this day for a loonnnnng time, and we all wore matching Pooh & friends outfits. It was so much fun to see the characters react to us, and the kids loved every second of it.
We got compliments on our outfits all day long, and we had a lot of fun with it. I think a family Disney bound might need to become a yearly tradition?!
(For the non-Disney nerds, a “Disney bound” is when you dress as a character might dress if they were real/human. So, not a direct costume, but an outfit inspired by them.)
We had some ice cream, re-rode all of our favorite rides, and soaked up the Magic Kingdom vibes before heading over to EPCOT to finish off the trip. We had already rode everything here a few days before so the only things we rode were Soarin’ and Guardians (or, at least, the four people in my family rode Guardians again).
We spent most of the afternoon wandering around the World Showcase, trying snacks, popping into pavilions, and taking it easy. I absolutely love just slowly meandering around EPCOT, so this was a ton of fun for me, even though at this point it was becoming more and more apparent that I was coming down with something. I was still hoping it was just allergies, though. (It wasn’t).
We headed back to the resort that evening and I took the kids for one last swim in the pool then picked up dinner for them at the hotel, which they proceeded to eat in bed in their pajamas at 9pm. Because that’s what you do in Disney.
Day 8: Rest + HOME!
Every time we’ve gone to Disney as a family, we’ve planned for a late flight home so we can enjoy one last day. And, every time, I swear we won’t do it again because it’s so exhausting. And yet, here we were with an 8PM flight back to Austin!
In all honesty, as exhausting as the long day was, we had a good time! We had a leisurely coffee and pastries at Riviera, headed back to Disney Springs for a little bit, and then visited a few different resorts. We love seeing all of the different places to stay! Over the course of our trip we either walked through or ate at 8 resorts other than our own! And we wandered past three more on the boardwalk, too.
We had lunch at Port Orleans (jambalaya! gumbo! beignets!), visited the animals at Animal Kingdom Lodge, and spent some time stretching our legs and soaking up the last of our Disney vibes before heading home.
Next time, I think I’ll book an earlier flight. But also, I’m so glad we had one whole last day to explore and just be in the Disney bubble!
We got home around 10:00 on Wednesday evening, and that night I tested positive for Covid. Because, of course I did. So, I’ve been holed up in bed trying to rest and recover and hoping that no one else in my family gets sick (though, I think Corey’s well on his way).
That’s ok, though. It was worth it.
We had an absolute blast on our trip, and I’m just so grateful we got to do this with my parents! I’ll never forget all of these special memories getting to watch my kids experience their favorite place with their grandparents.
And now, we can officially begin the countdown for our next big family trip – Disneyland next summer! Can’t waiiiiiitttttt!!!
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