A late highs and lows - Oct/Nov 18 - Beach Club with a toddler

[piglet100]

Hi everyone!
We are long back from our fabulous trip. The self imposed Dibb ban has been lifted as we start to look ahead to future trips and I can cope with my Disney FOMO! When we returned I started a new job and then it was Christmas so not much time to reflect on our trip.

So, I am going to aim my highs and lows mostly at those considering a trip with a toddler (ours was nearly 2), as I found all such info really helpful when planning. But short version - it was fantastic!

Lows - mostly flight related!
- Virgin Atlantic service - really underwhelming. On the way there they were not helpful at all travelling with a little one, we were skipped in the food rounds more than once, and generally cabin crew attitude was pretty sulky. The way back was better but not impressed overall.
- flight delay on the way there - just one hour but one hour too long with a fidgety toddler
- broken arm rests on seats on way there made wrangling said fidgety toddler trying to sleep even harder. They couldn't have cared less when we asked cabin crew if it arm rests were meant to be stuck down. Luckily on the night flight they were working.
- queues at MCO - arriving wasn't great but fine, departing we waited an hour at security. Lucky magical express gets you there so early!
- Celebration at Halloween - we went nice and early, had a lovely time, but getting home was a nightmare. We left early but still waited about 2 hours to find a car that could collect us, not fun at all with a little one (if it was just us we'd have just gone to a bar and waited out the crowds!) Ubers just kept cancelling on us, ended up with a Mears.

My Disney Experience app - just terrible! Crashed all the time, impossible to make changes to FP/see pics, really unstable during the whole time we were there. Hope they work on this! Had no problems last time/at home so not sure the issue.

Meh
Flying with a toddler - never going to be a highlight! He was pretty good but gone are the days of watching a film and relaxing! Definitely worth it though.
Food + Wine - no reflection of the food and wine, but it was so busy that getting round world showcase was very tricky with a buggy in the evenings (even at like 6pm!). The food and wine we did try was fab, and maybe it was because it was the final week, but it was less of a highlight than expected just because of the crowds.

Highs - everything else!
Beach Club - wow. Just wonderful. We had a room towards the Epcot side and being able to stroll to international gateway in just minutes was amazing. It definitely made a trip with a toddler much more doable and enjoyable. The room was gorgeous and spacious and plenty of room for the travel cot in the hallway making a bit of a separate quiet space for him to sleep. We got lucky as part of the Saratoga double booking fiasco and now I think we're stuck with Deluxes for life!

Free DDP - we ate so well, never felt like we had stodgy theme park food, and were able to feed DS well and as a veggie I loved having lots of choice. I hope it returns! We made a lot of ADRs at 180 but also moved things around and picked up some good ones last minute, and enjoyed trying out more resort dining than we had before.

Toy story land - new to us, slinky dog is so short but fab! Can't wait for galaxy's edge.

Cast members - so good with DS, always quick to offer a sticker or a smile if he was getting grumpy!

Rider switch - I had booked two fastpasses for us for rides DS couldn't do, but generally we didn't need them and the rider switch pass was added as an additional FP. Including for FOP and Slinky Dog. The time limits were sometimes a bit tricky but we did nearly everything we wanted using rider switch.

Food and wine kids races - this was on marathon Weekend. DS freaked out at the start line (! ) But we had fun, and there was loads going on at ESPN for the kids, it was a really nice morning and a change from the parks, nice for DS to just run around (though ot when he was meant to!) and hang out! Wasn't expensive and we got a medal and t-shirt too. Very well organised with buses from resorts etc.

Disney Springs was new to us, always seemed pretty busy but lovely new shops and restaurants. It's a bit of a standard outlet mall feel in parts, and we're lucky to have lots of the same stores here in London, but still enjoyed a few hours her over the trip .

Uber/Minnie Van - both were great. We used Lyft/Minnie Van a couple of times and they were super clean and had a great choice of car seats, but no fault with Uber either! We used Uber if they were nearer/cheaper.

Halloween/Christmas period - so fun to see Halloween disappear and Christmas pop up overnight! Even if it seems surreal to see Christmas stuff when it's boiling hot outside. We didn't do either party as didn't think DS would cope (and I think we were right) but would love to in future.

Overall I wouldn't hesitate in taking a 2yo again, yes you have to prepare for a slower pace and try and fit in naps and chill out time, but over 2 weeks you can still do so much! Disney is so well set up for families of all ages that it was really easy and mostly stress free.



So what's next! We didn't book free dining for 2019 and we don't really want to go back before Galaxy's Edge, so resigned to waiting to see if free dining returns in April. Depending on what that brings I hope we can go again in 2020, and maybe we'll get a DLP trip in this year if we're lucky!

[sheluk]

This makes me so excited for when we get to take my currently 14 month old (then almost 3 year old), fingers crossed for the Beach club with free dining too.

Did you have a particular room type that worked out better for the cot (as we’ll have an 18 month old in tow by then too!)?

Thanks for sharing, it’s so nice to hear good stories about taking wee ones xx

[Eccle]

Sounds like a great trip overall, a shame they weren’t more helpful on the flight though. Great to hear a good Beach Club review too, we check in there 6 months today!

From my experience, that sort of age is the worst to fly with, so you can look forward to it being less hard work on your next one, fingers crossed for 2020 for you!

Any meals you particularly enjoyed on the DDP, or any you weren’t as keen on?

[Cinderella]

Time to book the next !

[piglet100]

Originally Posted by sheluk

This makes me so excited for when we get to take my currently 14 month old (then almost 3 year old), fingers crossed for the Beach club with free dining too.

Did you have a particular room type that worked out better for the cot (as we’ll have an 18 month old in tow by then too!)?

Thanks for sharing, it’s so nice to hear good stories about taking wee ones xx

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He has his moments but more happy memories than tantrums!

I think we had a standard garden view room, it had two queen beds and was on a corner so kind of an L shape with the thin corridor being where we put the cot.

[piglet100]

Originally Posted by Eccle

Sounds like a great trip overall, a shame they weren’t more helpful on the flight though. Great to hear a good Beach Club review too, we check in there 6 months today!

From my experience, that sort of age is the worst to fly with, so you can look forward to it being less hard work on your next one, fingers crossed for 2020 for you!

Any meals you particularly enjoyed on the DDP, or any you weren’t as keen on?

See more...

Ah so excited for you, beach club was perfect! We're trimming our budget to get back there!
Hopefully by the time we go again he'll be able to sit still with a film/iPad for longer. He also learnt to smile in pictures the week after we got back, typical!

We absolutely loved Jungle Skipper Canteen and ate their twice. We love that kind of food and service was brilliant.
Similarly spice road table in Morocco pavillion was great if you like that kind of food.
Character dining wise, we were discussing this and said if we had to pay for meals we'd just do crystal palace (ds loves pooh!)and Ohana, but we also did the beach club character breakfast which was great, and garden grill which was fun but not great food for me as a veggie.
We also did trails end which was a fun trip to fort wilderness, and homecomin' at Disney Springs was delicious! Ah I want to go back now!

[piglet100]

Originally Posted by Cinderella

Time to book the next !

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Just waiting for free dining *fingers crossed*