Disney World: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Sharing tips from our trip to the most magical place on earth!

Disney World: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

A third-trimester pregnant lady, a three-year-old boy, and a 1.5-year old baby walk into Disney World in 97-degree weather. Does that sound like the beginning of a joke to you? Me too. And yet, we did it!

My in-laws were invited to an event in Orlando a few weeks ago and it happened to coincide perfectly with a deal on tickets to Disney World for Florida residents. We all discussed it and decided to go ahead and purchase the tickets to the parks so that we could go together with Jacob’s parents. It sounded so fun! I had been wanting to take my older on to Disney World at some point and this seemed like a great opportunity.

Then Jacob had to attend a different work event the weekend we were supposed to go and simultaneously my mother-in-law got sick. So we rescheduled to the last possible weekend we could go — the tickets expired on May 23rd, so we went the weekend before.

Unfortunately, the two-week delay resulted in about a 10-degree heat difference! What would have been a beautiful four-day-weekend in Disney World turned into surviving a heat wave.

But survive we did! We had an amazing, if exhausting, time, and it was a magical trip. I want to share a few ways we made this trip work with little ones in extreme heat and with me, the giant pregnant mama, trying to survive under the circumstances. If you can believe it, we made it home without anyone getting a sunburn or being dehydrated. So here are my tips. I hope they help!

1. Get there early and leave early. If you’re visiting Disney World in the summer and you have little kids, this is my BIGGEST tip. Getting out early in the morning is THE MOVE. First of all, the kids are up anyways! If you don’t leave early, they’ll get restless in the hotel, so you might as well get them up and out. Second, getting out early means two things: you can beat the heat for a short time in the morning and you can end your day earlier, which again beats the heat. We got to the park around 8:30 AM (we were staying on property, so we had early admission), and it made a big difference to the schedule of our day. Bonus: we were able to get on a few rides that the kids wanted to try even though I didn’t have a lightning lane booked! (Lightning lanes are an extra fee that allow you to skip the line.) After experiencing the extreme heat on our first day, I made the decision that we weren’t going to stay in the parks past 3 PM for the rest of the trip. By that time, the kids had seen enough anyway. Pushing them beyond their limits would not have been worth it and would have made everyone more unhappy. Besides, getting the children to bed at a reasonable hour kept them rested for the following day and meant that Jacob and I could go on little date nights while our in-laws rested and watched the kids. It was a great schedule for all of us and I can’t recommend it enough.

   

2. Bring all the heat resistant items. I may have gone a little crazy with the heat resistant items, but I have no regrets. Number one: refillable water bottles. These are a must-have. I brought one for each person, filled them before we left for the day, and then refilled them all multiple times throughout the day. Everyone drank a TON and I insisted on everyone drinking a lot as it is so easy to get dehydrated in the heat. Two: I brought cooling towels which we used a few times but definitely could have used more frequently as they were helpful in the extreme heat. Three: I brought a packable hat that made all the difference in the blasting sun, and I brought two misting fans that kept us all cool. These all really helped keep the heat bearable throughout the day.

3. If you’re pregnant, ride a scooter. I cannot tell you how self-conscious I felt about renting a scooter. But before we left, I happened to have an appointment with my OBGYN and I mentioned that we were going to Disney World. She warned me that in the extreme heat and with a lot of walking, I’d probably get a lot of contractions. She told me to take breaks every hour and a half and to drink a ton of water. “On second thought,” she said, “just get a scooter. Don’t feel weird about it.” The first two days, I didn’t get a scooter and I contracted like crazy. By day three, I didn’t have any pride. We arrived early in the morning and I signed up for my scooter and drove it around the rest of the day. It was a huge gamechanger. It made all the difference to my enjoyment of the trip and how much I could accomplish. Get there early to reserve your scooter as they do run out in the first couple hours of the day — you don’t need a reason to rent one, and anyone can do so. But don’t feel bad. It’s a health concern for expecting mamas — do what you have to do.

4. Don’t schedule too much in a day or have high expectations of what you can accomplish. This goes along with the getting there early and leaving early of it all. If you overstuff your day, everyone will be tired and frustrated by the schedule. I booked us lightning lanes for three of the four days and I didn’t go crazy trying to get us on a million rides. We have little kids so it simply isn’t necessary! First of all, the rides they want to ride don’t generally have crazy long lines. Second, they don’t need to run all around the park to get on as many rides as possible. Just a few will make it memorable — it’s not about jampacking the trip. It’s about enjoying it to the fullest. So instead of trying to see everything in every park, we basically did what we could until we were too hot and tired, and then called it a day. It worked out really well and allowed us to swim when we got back to the hotel which helped with the heat, too!

5. Go to shows to escape the heat. Sometimes, the best way to get a break from the heat was to see a show. There are a ton of amazing shows in Disney World, and getting to sit down in a shaded or air-conditioned area makes a big difference. It breaks up the day, provides great entertainment, and cools you off. Highly recommend!

   

6. Don’t sleep on the transportation — the kids think those are rides too! While we were at the parks, my son was obsessed with the Skyliner (gondolas between parks and resorts) and the Monorail. He absolutely loved these methods of transportation and begged to go on them. So we did! We didn’t even take them anywhere. We actually just rode them as rides and it was a lot of fun.

7. Snacks are a great distraction in line. And you don’t need a ton of treats! I brought cheesy penguins (the kosher version of Goldfish) from Walmart, peanut butter crackers, and clementines to keep the kids distracted throughout the day in line. It really helped! And I know it’s so easy to go crazy with sweet treats, but kids will be perfectly happy with one or two treats a day. And it keeps them from losing their ever-loving minds between sugar crashes.

8. Bring grandparents if you can! As I mentioned, Jacob’s parents coming along was amazing. First of all, they were incredibly helpful in every way during the day and the kids had so much fun with them being there. It also meant that we could go on a few dates ourselves in the evenings! It was a special added bonus that Jacob and I got to go out on our own after the kids were sleeping — we even got to go back to Epcot after the kids went to bed and explore. If your parents or parents-in-law can join, I highly recommend the extra pair of hands!

So, that’s the good, bad, and ugly of traveling to Disney World as a very pregnant mom of two toddlers. I hope that sharing our experience helps. Maybe you can use these tips to your advantage! Do you have any tips yourself? Share them below!