I introduced my 3 youngsters to Disney World for the primary time. These had been the 4 finest and three worst issues about our journey.

• I am a mother of three youngsters, and we went with all of them to Disney World for the primary time in April. 
• My youngsters are all beneath 5, so seeing the characters was an enormous spotlight for them over rides. 
• We went in April and the warmth was already insufferable. 

Though I would not contemplate myself a Disney grownup, I like visiting the parks once in a while. We had been to Disney World when my oldest was 18 months outdated in 2019, and I used to be desperate to take our twins for the primary time.

My household had a visit to Florida deliberate, and I made a decision to examine final minute to see if there was nonetheless availability to go to Disney World. To my shock, there was, and we had been capable of keep in a property resort and do all 4 parks in 4 days. 

And though it was actually magical to take my three youngsters to Disney collectively for the primary time, not all the pieces was good. Listed below are the issues we beloved and did not love about our go to. 

We beloved the advantages of Genie+

Final time I used to be within the parks Genie+ did not exist, so it took me a little bit of researching and ultimately speaking to a Disney journey agent to know the way it works.

The lengthy story brief is that you could pay between $15 to $35 — relying on how busy the park can be — to have the ability to guide Lighting Lanes for rides. You possibly can solely use it for one experience at a time and may guide the following after you are scanned into the primary experience you are taking.

Paying extra to get pleasure from Disney just isn’t a plus, however the means to not stand according to three little youngsters beneath 5 actually improved our expertise. That stated, there have been some rides for which we might by no means get a reservation for, like Remy’s Ratatouille Journey or Slinky Canine Sprint. 

Epcot was the one park we felt like we might’ve carried out with out the additional expense. 

I used to be additionally impressed by what number of characters we had been capable of see

Throughout previous visits, discovering characters within the wild appeared nearly unattainable. I nonetheless keep in mind standing in line for nearly an hour for my then-toddler to take a photograph with Donald Duck at Animal Kingdom.

This time round, between reserving meet and greets with Genie+ and simply strolling across the park we had been capable of have our children see so many characters. 

This was necessary to us as a result of, being so little, our children had been largely into the characters whereas within the parks. Even when a personality was not out there for images and simply stated hi there to us from afar, my youngsters’ eyes had been glowing with pleasure to see them in actual life. 

The PhotoPass was nice, even with its glitches

As a result of I needed to doc this trip as a lot as I might, I paid $169 for the Reminiscence Maker PhotoPass. This meant we might scan our MagicBands (wristbands that assist you interact with the park) each with photographers across the parks or after rides to gather all of our images.

We made certain to cease by as many photographers as we might to get images and obtained some extremely particular photographs. 

That stated, the system just isn’t good. I used to be given three different households’ images from rides and meet and greets with characters, and I am nonetheless chasing down our images from using Expedition Everest that are nowhere to be discovered.

Even with these glitches, we had been capable of actually get our cash’s value. 

The brand new curler coasters had been superior

My husband and I had been ready to return into the parks after we put our children to mattress to do all of the curler coasters they’re too little to experience on. We had been actually blown away by Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Tron Lightcycle.

We did need to buy particular person Lighting Lanes for the brand new rides since we had very restricted time and needed to verify we might get on all of them. It was completely value spending cash to verify we’d hit the points of interest we needed to with out standing in line for hours. 

However eating at Chef Mickey’s was disappointing

Our children are all younger, in order that they had been extra concerned about seeing characters than getting on rides. Due to this, I made certain to attempt character eating. 

First, I made a reservation for Tusker Home in Animal Kingdom, which went above our expectations. The meals was scrumptious, the service was unbelievable, and the characters came to visit a number of occasions to bounce and work together with our children.

We beloved it a lot that we made a reservation for Chef Mickey’s at Disney’s Modern Resort the following day, however it was a very totally different expertise. 

I do not count on effective eating at a restaurant aimed to maintain youngsters entertained, however I used to be shocked by how a lot we disliked the meals. The eating room was packed and I believed the service was simply OK. 

However essentially the most disappointing half was that the characters going desk to desk spent little time with my youngsters and the expertise appeared rushed. The road to take a photograph with Mickey was additionally extremely lengthy and filled with overstimulated, screaming toddlers. 

The warmth was insufferable, even in spring

The final time I visited Disney World was in June and it was scorching sizzling, which was to be anticipated in Florida.

This time, I believed issues can be higher temperature-wise as a result of we had been moving into early April. I used to be incorrect. We discovered the warmth to be particularly insufferable at Hollywood Studios, the place there was hardly any shade to be discovered. 

This made our days actually exhausting for the children, so we made certain to cease by points of interest just like the Magnificence and the Beast Sing-Alongside Movie to get pleasure from some air-conditioning and shade. 

I additionally thought upgrading to MagicBand+ was form of pointless

All of us opted to have MagicBands so it might be simpler to scan into our reservations from Genie+, use our Reminiscence Maker, and cost issues to our bank card. I upgraded the adults to the brand new model of the bands which can be rechargeable and supposed to provide you entry to interactive components across the parks.

It prices $10 per band to improve, however we solely paid $5 as a result of we had been staying on a Disney property. However, in my view, the additional {dollars} spent weren’t value it. 

The upgraded bands are alleged to activate golden statues all through the parks, prompting little songs or phrases. We usually noticed folks standing in entrance of those statues waving their arms, double tapping their bands, and ready for one thing to occur. We had bother getting these interactions to work and, once they did, we had been dissatisfied.

Our bands additionally lit up throughout sure rides and exhibits. Throughout the fireworks at Epcot and Magic Kingdom, our bands shined a rainbow of colours and vibrated with the fireworks. Though it was neat, it wasn’t value paying further for.