Planning a vacation with multiples…. Part 4

Visiting Magic Kingdom

We were lucky enough to have help on our vacation, otherwise I’m sure our experience would have been a lot different. We arrived in Florida on Easter Sunday, which was great for traveling, because the flight wasn’t packed, but most of the stores were closed, so we couldn’t go grocery shopping upon arrival as planned.

We went to the Magic Kingdom on Monday. The hardest part about this park was getting from the car to the ticket

booth, and then taking another tram to the park entrance and then leaving the park to get back to the car. It’s not like you just park, put everyone in a stroller and walk into the park. The parking lot is so far from the ticket booth, that you need to take a tram and once you purchase your tickets, you take either a boat or the shuttle to the parks entrance. Not the best situation when you have 3 toddlers and have to remove the children and quickly collapse the strollers, pack them into the tram and then again into the shuttle, while trying to keep everyone safe. Like I said, if my sister and niece hadn’t been there to help, how would I have held all 3 toddlers, and a 4 year old myself, while hubbyBee collapsed and loaded the strollers?

Going to Magic Kingdom is AMAZING! Everything about it just made me smile. It was probably 91 degrees, but it is still manageable because there are water and beverage carts everywhere, and areas throughout the park with misting water, spraying statues, shade and other things to keep you cool.

One thing you must bring to the park is a squirt bottle. I picked one up from Target on my way to the park and used it all day long. It kept everyone cool and happy, and we just used the water fountains to fill it up.

The 3littleBees are 18 months old and really like their strollers, so they spent most of the day riding around. There was plenty of areas that we could take them out and let them run around for a bit, and of course Disney has the whole food thing down with plenty of restaurants with high chairs for everyone, and entertainment within the restaurants.

I think going after Easter was perfect timing… We missed all the spring breakers and school wasn’t out yet, so we didn’t see a bunch of summertime vacationers. The park was not very busy, so we waited 20 minutes or less on most rides.

Things I wish I would have known before walking into the park…

• Disney has an iPhone app that will tell you where the princess are and other entertainment tips
• There is a booklet that you NEED to pick up at the entrance (not the one with the map) that has all the hours listed for each parade and special show.
• It is so hard to locate the princesses for signatures!

Yes, it was very hard to find the princesses. They are tucked away, off the beaten path, under shady roofs and you can walk right by them and not even see them, besides the fact that they take a lot of breaks, so only so many people can wait in line for a signature.

Luckily littleBee1 was able to see the parade and performance outside the castle. She actually felt she got to meet all the princesses, or at least that is what she was telling everyone.

If you make it through the day and can stay at night, the castle is beautifully lit up and really is magical. They also have fireworks that originate by the carousel if you happen to be in that area.

If you plan to leave after the fireworks, be advised that EVERYONE else is leaving at that time too. You will wait in long lines to get onto the shuttle, which isn’t a big deal, because you can push the stroller into the shuttle and stand. Once you get off the shuttle, you get to another line to take the tram to the parking lot. This was a real difficult spot for us because 3 of the littleBees fell asleep and the other was so tired she insisted on being carried. No big deal, until you have to wake 3 kids to get them out of the stroller so you can be pushed and shoved by all the other people eager to go around you and take your spot on the tram. I suppose it’s upsetting to some to see strollers taking up space where they could be sitting, but oh well, we were in line first – so get over it!

We also went to Animal Kingdom and Sea World. Animal Kingdom had the parking lot tram, and you just walk to the entrance to get into Sea World.

If you are planning a vacation with multiples and and you’re freaking out, let me know, maybe I can ease your pain!

~Sue