[00:00:00] Dana Stanley: Okay, so you’re about to hear from Whitney and if you’ve been around a while, you probably recognize her because her shop Wits Whimsy has sponsored the show before, but today I wanted to have her on as an actual guest because she just got back from a mid-January Disney World trip, and she has a very specific perspective that I think is going to be so helpful.

[00:00:21] Dana Stanley: If you’re planning a trip this year, Whitney has called herself a quote, moderate girly with deluxe tendencies. And on this trip she did something I feel like a lot of us are curious about, and she stayed at a value resort and this conversation is just packed with. A lot of like Disney planning, practical nuggets, especially what value resorts really feel like when you’re used to a moderate.

[00:00:47] Dana Stanley: What surprised her, what didn’t surprise her? How the transportation and food really shook out, but outside of her stay, just how January felt with kids, what she would a hundred percent do again, and things that she’s going to now carry into her future trips. And I think I’m going to steal as well.

[00:01:06] Dana Stanley: Alright, let’s get into it.

[00:01:12] Dana Stanley: Hello and welcome to the Laid Back Magic Way podcast. I’m your host, Dana Stanley, creator of Laid Back Magic. As a mom of three, I know how tough it can be to find time to plan a Disney World trip that doesn’t leave you feeling stressed or overwhelmed. That’s why I’m here to help moms like you create Disney vacations that feel even better than they look on paper here.

[00:01:32] Dana Stanley: We’re not chasing perfection, but creating our next favorite memories. So whether you’re brand new to Disney or looking to go deeper into the details, this podcast is your go-to for simple tips, mindset shifts, real life trip recaps, and expert insights to make your trip magical and manageable. New episodes drop every Monday, so be sure to subscribe so you never miss a moment.

[00:01:53] Dana Stanley: Okay, let’s dive in.

[00:02:00] Dana Stanley: Hello Whitney. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast before. We talk about your trip that you just got back from, which for people listening, we’re talking like it’s mid-January right now, and when we’re recording this, she like just got back. But before we get into that, can you just tell us a little bit about your family?

[00:02:20] Dana Stanley: How old are your kids, how you normally do your Disney World trips, because I know. This was not your first time. 

[00:02:26] Whitney: I have a seven and 6-year-old. Uh, my daughter, so is seven. My son Hart is six. I’m originally from Orlando, so a lot of our trips in the past have been like visiting family and just like popping over to the parks.

[00:02:39] Whitney: And now we’re kind of getting into our. Phase where we’re like taking bigger Disney trips and sometimes they’re three to five days. We don’t go super hard, but we stay at the moderate level a lot. And in the last year we’ve kind of done all three, you know, deluxe, moderate, and value level, which is what we’re gonna talk about today, which I’m excited.

[00:02:58] Whitney: But yeah, we’re not like big splurges, but we love to have a good time and yeah. 

[00:03:02] Dana Stanley: How often are you going like. Is it a big travel day when you go now? 

[00:03:06] Whitney: Yeah, we’re often driving from Virginia. We tend to like stop along the way at like family’s houses and we will, we’ll do like a three hour stint and then like the nine hours and get in and yeah, go from there.

[00:03:19] Dana Stanley: So in the past, like what are your, like go-to resorts usually when you stay? I know you’ve been kind of dabbling all over the place, but 

[00:03:26] Whitney: Yeah, we’ve stayed at a different resort every time thus far. We’ve stayed at. Coronado Springs Wilderness Lodge, port Orleans French Quarter, just recently at All Star Music.

[00:03:37] Whitney: And then, uh, Caribbean Beach in the middle there as well. I think that’s all of them. 

[00:03:41] Dana Stanley: My mom loves Port like a lot. That’s like her favorite resort. 

[00:03:46] Whitney: It was not something I was ever drawn to at all. Like even I’ve been to New Orleans a few times and it’s just like not so much my vibe and people kept talking it up and it just worked out one time that we did like a.

[00:03:59] Whitney: Three night stint, I think it was back in July actually. We loved it. I was shocked. We arrived at Sunset. It was so pretty and it just felt like. So good. So we were really surprised by that. Yeah, 

[00:04:11] Dana Stanley: I need to try, I think maybe people who have been to New Orleans don’t gravitate towards it, if that makes sense, because it’s like obviously not the same, but I need to give it a try.

[00:04:22] Dana Stanley: ’cause I know it’s like very peaceful and very quiet. But for this particular trip, how did you land on the value resort? Was it. Because you wanted to stay longer, you just wanted to try it. Like what made you go into that decision for this trip? 

[00:04:36] Whitney: Yep. So we went down to Orlando partially for my husband’s work.

[00:04:40] Whitney: So this is like, you know, not the trip of a lifetime, but we were gonna be going still for five nights, but. It wasn’t necessarily like our big trip of the year. It just was like a, Hey, I think we’re gonna be able to make this happen trip. We’re at the point where we just don’t want to push it and do too much.

[00:04:57] Whitney: Just like what we’re doing or how we’re spending when we’re at Disney. Like it feels good to like pull it back a little bit I think. And when we just like went on and looked and decided between all of them, it just felt good to save money this time. Like that just kind of hit me like I just was like, I think I wanna save.

[00:05:12] Whitney: So that’s kind of. Where it came from and just wanting to try somewhere new. So that’s how we landed there. It just wasn’t, you know, our big one, big family trip of the year. We think we might be going back in the summer. We had that kind of light at the end of the tunnel that we may stay elsewhere later.

[00:05:29] Whitney: So that was part of the decision making. 

[00:05:31] Dana Stanley: It’s funny you say that, ’cause I think I’m entering that mentality more than ever. Like I have never been like a, how do I phrase this? I budget at home. So that I don’t have to budget for Disney. So like I am, I love budgeting and just knowing where your money is going and keeping track, because if you’re not keeping track, it just disappears.

[00:05:53] Dana Stanley: So I’m not against that. It’s just like if you were Googling Disney World on a budget like I have. Never done that. But as the kids get older and people have more kids or kids are going into activities and schools and just as we as parents get older, you have to just be a little bit more mindful of like the long term, your money, long term, where are you like going to put that money.

[00:06:20] Dana Stanley: And we just have other trips or other goals and I’m like, I don’t know if I need to do, like you said, like it’s kind of nice. To not feel like sick about it when, when you’re staying in Disney. 

[00:06:33] Whitney: Yeah. There’s something happening where like we’re having that shift too with just activities at Disney with over planning, which is like your whole thing, right?

[00:06:42] Whitney: Is like pair it back. You can always add more, but it’s, we’re just kind of entering this phase where we’re like doing less and it feels so good. And I think also when you. Spend more, like there’s an added pressure, right? Um, like staying deluxe and doing this once in a lifetime trip. Feel 

[00:06:58] Dana Stanley: That’s so true.

[00:06:59] Dana Stanley: If you’re staying at like a very expensive resort, you’re like putting so much pressure on like this has to be amazing. 

[00:07:05] Whitney: Yeah, for sure. We stayed within the last year at Wilderness Lodge, Caribbean Beach, port Orleans, and now all Star movies. We went to Wilderness Lodge and we felt like we got a good deal.

[00:07:17] Whitney: Like we bought it, you know, when they were running one of their promos. We really liked it, but we still felt like, like I didn’t love how I felt about what I was spending when I was there. I felt like neutral about it, like not great. And um, we had a good time, but we did a split stay and I think we did like.

[00:07:34] Whitney: Four or five nights there and then did two nights and switched to Caribbean Beach after. I didn’t have like big expectations for Caribbean Beach, but we like really felt like we could kind of take a breath when we were there and we weren’t like pushing our budget to where it was like an uncomfortable place for us with Wilderness Lodge, but it still just felt.

[00:07:54] Whitney: Like really good once we got to the lower level, and I just felt good about what we were spending and I just could sense that in our trip, if that makes sense. 

[00:08:03] Dana Stanley: You have the gears turning in my head a lot thinking about that because I get what you’re saying of like, it’s not, it’s not like you’re doing it beyond your means, but you have so much more breathing room.

[00:08:15] Dana Stanley: When obviously you’re spending a lot less money, I didn’t even really clarify. For people that don’t know that Disney World has three categories of resorts and they are how they sound of value, moderate and deluxe. And I kind of picture it as like circles, like the closer you are to the parks and that very tight vicinity is gonna be the more expensive deluxe.

[00:08:38] Dana Stanley: Then a little bit farther, you have moderate, and then even farther you have value. So you are at all star movies. And can you talk a little bit about, obviously you are educated and are aware and in the Disney space, because you have a shop. Selling Disney, vintage Disney and secondhand t-shirts, which is amazing, and you go often, but even with what you already knew, was there something that you were going into it with, like a preconceived notion or like, Ugh, I’m so worried about this.

[00:09:15] Dana Stanley: Anything that you were expecting to not like? Maybe 

[00:09:18] Whitney: I was more curious than I was worried. I think one of my takeaways from staying value was like that deep down, you know, if you are kind of low maintenance or chill enough to stay value. And so about myself, I thought like, I know I can handle this. I think I’m gonna have fun.

[00:09:36] Whitney: I’m just one of those people like I’m an Enneagram seven, like I’m gonna have fun wherever I am. So going in, I was more curious, like hearing about these things that people were. Like on the internet, what you’ll read about the values or this one that we were headed to was things about transportation, noise, food.

[00:09:55] Whitney: Those are the things that kind of came up a lot. And so I was more curious than worried. I was a little worried that my husband would be overstimulated there, like with the theming and everything. So I was more worried for him, and I think he was a little worried about the food going in. Like is it just gonna be pizza and french fries to talk about kind of just what we.

[00:10:16] Whitney: Saw when we arrived and then I can kind of touch on those different categories of worries. When we got there, it felt like the lobby was like, you know, super cute, like there’s palm trees everywhere. The vibes are great, but it’s like larger right inside, and it feels like less of that like. Hug, like that themed like cozy lobby that you walk into where you notice what music is playing and the scents, like the smells, you know, things like that.

[00:10:43] Whitney: Um, the good ones. And it kind of felt like we were waiting in line to check in and it almost felt like at any minute, like a bus of softball players could just pull up and come in and check in, if that makes sense. That wouldn’t even cross your mind, like at the moderate or deluxe level. And so if that gives like a little picture of what we were feeling like, okay.

[00:11:04] Whitney: I can kind of feel the difference here initially. 

[00:11:07] Dana Stanley: More like a revolving door of like check in leave. 

[00:11:10] Whitney: Yes. 

[00:11:11] Dana Stanley: Not like a stay a while and hang out and lounge and, 

[00:11:14] Whitney: yeah. 

[00:11:15] Dana Stanley: Yeah. 

[00:11:15] Whitney: So the cast members, you know, they’re the same across all resorts, across the parks. Like you’re getting that same service that you get everywhere and actually like.

[00:11:25] Whitney: Comparing our check-in, let’s say at the Wilderness Lodge to all star movies. It’s funny because this is kind of silly, but when you check in at a deluxe resort, especially maybe if you don’t stay there really often, like in your mind, you’re dishing out more money than usual. You’re feeling good and it’s not like they’re like, hello, Mr.

[00:11:44] Whitney: And Mrs. Lauch, here’s your champagne, and like, let’s upgrade you to the presidential suite, like. That doesn’t happen, right? Everyone there is paying a lot of money, so you’re not like treated any more special. Not that I like really expect that, but there’s just something there. And I remember when I checked in there being like I didn’t really get time to like say, oh, can we be on the seventh floor or whatever.

[00:12:04] Whitney: It was just kind of rushed. And then when we go to all star movies, we kind of did feel special. Like we got Pixie dusted at check-in with. Um, a magic band for my son who had left his behind. They were just really sweet, you know, just like they are everywhere. Just to say like that is consistent across all resorts.

[00:12:20] Whitney: You never know what you’re gonna get. 

[00:12:22] Dana Stanley: Yeah. It’s not like they’re, you’re getting a less better treatment, staying value. The cast members are always amazing. 

[00:12:27] Whitney: No, not at all. And, you know, you have all the same things. It’s just not like tied up in the same bow, you know, it’s not presented. Everything’s not presented the same.

[00:12:36] Whitney: So we definitely felt that at the lobby, like that kind of. You know, bigger. Open, a little bit louder. Feel from the get go. Like even before we got to our room, 

[00:12:45] Dana Stanley: I was gonna ask about the room and, um, just because we’re touching on this actual resort, how did you feel about the noise? Like specifically the noise is what I think I hear about the most.

[00:12:56] Dana Stanley: I actually hadn’t even thought about the food until you said it, and we’ll touch on that too. But what did you think of the room? 

[00:13:01] Whitney: Yeah, so when we first got there, initially I thought. This looks clean. It looks crisp. It looks recently renovated, like this is great. It looked a little smaller out of the gate, like it’s missing that table and chairs that sometimes you get at like the moderate level in the window area.

[00:13:17] Whitney: And it took about once I was unpacking our clothes and uh. I realized like I’m putting me and the kids like clothes all in the same three drawers and kind of stuffing it in. It’s like, oh, this is feeling like a little tighter. And then by day two, we realized like we needed to put the Murphy bed up. So one of the beds is a Murphy bed and turns into a.

[00:13:36] Whitney: Um, a table and chairs, and we realized in order to be comfortable, we really needed that to be up other than at bedtime. So it was fine. We did feel a little more cramped than usual. Nothing alarmingly, but I think the bathroom was just as good as anything at a moderate level, but we could kind of feel it.

[00:13:54] Whitney: And we only did one park day on this trip. Whereas if we had been doing like the typical three, I think we would have. That would’ve felt worse, like just for the, the rest. And that goes for the whole resort, which we can keep getting into the vibe there. But yeah, it started to feel a little bit cramped just a little bit.

[00:14:13] Dana Stanley: And then, so what was the park that you went to while you were staying there? 

[00:14:15] Whitney: Yep. So we did Hollywood Studios to Magic Kingdom and we, we hopped between the two and like started at early entry and went almost to park close. 

[00:14:23] Dana Stanley: Oh dang. You did it all day. 

[00:14:25] Whitney: Yeah. Knowing you’re only going one, you know, for one day we really crammed it in.

[00:14:29] Whitney: I 

[00:14:29] Dana Stanley: know you went hard, so to get to Hollywood Studios, did you do the bus and how? Like what was the whole transportation situation? 

[00:14:38] Whitney: So that was another one of those kind of. Fear things that were out there like about the resort that was like, you know, there’s only buses and all three resorts share buses, so if you’re unfamiliar, the All Star value resorts are all star movies, music and sports, and you can share amenities between all three.

[00:14:55] Whitney: Even the pool. And there was some stuff online about like they each have their own bus stop. That, you know, they make their rounds and that didn’t turn out to be true for us. So we were staying in building two of, um, which is the Mighty Duck section of All Star movies, which was actually like closer to all star music, like the next resort over, like closer to their bus and food.

[00:15:19] Whitney: So we would like be able to use both sides. So we went to the the bus over there because we’re thinking like. Oh, we’re all loading up on one bus and like, I don’t wanna get missed in the morning. So we went over there, but that didn’t end up to be true. Like they each have their own bus stop and they each, you know, only collect people and drop people from that resort.

[00:15:40] Whitney: We got there at probably the worst time, which was like eight 15 right before, you know, the 15, 10 to 15 minute ride to Hollywood studios in the 8:30 AM start time, you know, for early entry. And we, so we missed like the first bus and then waited another five minutes and so that was not. Like a terror at all, like kind of what we had heard.

[00:15:58] Dana Stanley: So you didn’t have any stops, you just went 

[00:16:00] Whitney: no 

[00:16:00] Dana Stanley: straight to Hollywood studios. 

[00:16:02] Whitney: Yeah, it was direct. Just like anywhere else. That’s great that we’ve stayed that has only had buses. And I was gonna say, I’m like you, which is like I’m in the club that needs medication to get on the Skyliner. A very small club apparently that we’re in.

[00:16:15] Whitney: And so like I know to me the buses are like. Not negative at all to me because I’m avoiding that. Right. So like I don’t get the bus hate at all. Like those are like the 15 minutes that we just kind of chill and like, 

[00:16:31] Dana Stanley: yeah, 

[00:16:31] Whitney: look at what we’re gonna do for the day and put on a little lip gloss and pack your bag.

[00:16:35] Whitney: And so I don’t understand like the bus freakouts anyway. 

[00:16:38] Dana Stanley: Yeah. I kind of get surprised sometimes, like a member will ask me, um, you know, what’s the best way to get to Magic Kingdom or something? And I’m like, the bus. I mean, it, it is the, especially if you’re going to the park in the morning, I really don’t see a downside of just taking a bus.

[00:16:59] Dana Stanley: I can argue or have a little bit of like anxiety of coming back on buses just because I have like PTSD of having a toddler or an infant who’s overtired and it’s after fireworks and the buses can get like. You know, sometimes I’m stand, I’m usually not standing ’cause people are sweet and will let you sit if they see you with a kid.

[00:17:22] Dana Stanley: But you know, I’ve had, they kind of just pack you in there and some people are standing so. I can see like maybe at nighttime, but in general, and I think more so in the last two years than in years past. I feel like the buses are great. I think they’re realizing that they can’t have a lot of stops. They need like dedicated routes.

[00:17:45] Dana Stanley: If things get backed up, they just like throw in another bus. We’ve maybe waited in a line to get back to Boardwalk and it looks like this really long line and all of a sudden there’ll be like two buses pull up and I’m like, oh, like. They’re listening. Like they’re looking, they’re watching. So that should be a good reminder too, ’cause I’ve stayed deluxe and still had to share a bus stop.

[00:18:06] Dana Stanley: Again, I feel like they’re taking that away. But 

[00:18:09] Whitney: yeah, this didn’t feel any different than buses at Wilderness Lodge. At Coronado Springs, you know, port French Quarter. Yes. They have the, the boat or, um, what do they have? They have a boat that goes to Disney Springs, I guess so they, yeah, buses there too. So it felt the same.

[00:18:25] Whitney: There was no long waiting on either end, you know, coming home or from anywhere we jumped around. 

[00:18:31] Dana Stanley: Yeah, that’s great. I do think a place of having low expectations and then being pleasantly surprised, definitely like had its advantage here. I think it’s definitely worse if you’re expecting the opposite. So do you.

[00:18:47] Dana Stanley: Feel the same way about the food. Were you pleasantly surprised with the food? 

[00:18:50] Whitney: Yeah, I hadn’t done a ton of research prior because I knew we had some reservations at like decent other resorts, so it wasn’t like too worried going in. But we found it to be more extensive than than we expected. You know, if you’re someone that’s like worried about getting your protein and veggies in, like they’re gonna have options, is it gonna be like.

[00:19:11] Whitney: Antibiotic free chicken or like good, probably not, but like it’s kind of park food. But you know how like, you know, you can go to Columbia Harbor House and get like salmon and veggies, like it would be that level. There was I think some grilled chicken, maybe fish. There’s a ton of options. So it’s not super delicious.

[00:19:31] Whitney: Like it’s park food. 

[00:19:32] Dana Stanley: Is it like a cafeteria style? Like 

[00:19:35] Whitney: Yes. 

[00:19:35] Dana Stanley: Is it like sunshine Seasons and Epcot? 

[00:19:37] Whitney: Yeah. Yeah. It is cafeteria style. Um, really large. Pretty much like a cafeteria. Yeah. And there’s like multiple stations where you can get different food, but that is the only option you’ll have. There’s, you know, no other restaurants, no quick service, anything other than.

[00:19:53] Whitney: That like cafeteria style, which has, you know, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and then all three of those, all star resorts all have very similar offerings 

[00:20:01] Dana Stanley: and just to even like stand up for value when it comes to this too, if anyone’s. Has reservations about it is like, I love the boardwalk. Everyone knows that I love the boardwalk.

[00:20:13] Dana Stanley: I would kill for like a cafeteria style food spot at the boardwalk to just first off, the food is like, right, 

[00:20:19] Whitney: because they don’t even have like quick 

[00:20:21] Dana Stanley: service. They don’t have, they have a deli and I just don’t really love anything like on the menu. It’s kind of like. A bakery slash deli. So they’ll have like breakfast sandwiches in the morning, but you still, like, you wait in line, you tell them what you want, you go to the end, you pay and then you wait for your food and we kind of just, you know, I’ll mobile order, but then lunch is like tomato soup and pastrami and like ruben’s.

[00:20:48] Dana Stanley: I’m like, I don’t want that in 90 degrees in Orlando in the middle of the day. I mean, they have a pizza window. I’m not like, there’s definitely options. But it’s all outside. So I’m just imagining like if it’s raining or if you’re in a rush, like the cafeteria style is nice because you literally just get the food and you.

[00:21:08] Dana Stanley: Leave, and then you have all the options for the kids too. There’s always pros and cons to everything, but I don’t knock that anymore as much as I used to. Now that I have three kids that need to shovel food in their mouths very quickly when we’re like heading to the parks and things like that, I wanna talk more about.

[00:21:27] Dana Stanley: Like this trip in particular, now that we covered all of the resort things, this was a January trip, which I have never done, so I’m just curious how you liked January, like in terms of like the crowds. I’m sure the weather was amazing and I’m gonna be jealous just you talking about it. But yeah, I’d just like to hear more about your actual trip and how it all went.

[00:21:48] Whitney: Yeah, the weather was great. It was super hard to pack for before we left. It’s saying like 50 to 75 degrees, and so we just had. All the layers, you know, thankfully we drove, so we were like full to the brim. That was confusing. But the weather was beautiful. It leaned chilly for us even. And it was so nice because we had been in November before when we had great weather, but.

[00:22:13] Whitney: We were able to just slow down so much in the parks. Like we could think straight, like we just could pivot. We could stop and be like, you know, like, do you know that in Magic Kingdom over by the Rapunzel bathrooms, you can hunt for little Pascals in the water? 

[00:22:28] Dana Stanley: I know. And I never do it. 

[00:22:30] Whitney: Not news to you.

[00:22:31] Whitney: Yeah. 

[00:22:31] Dana Stanley: But those are the things that are so nice to like not have the time to do it, but like. Prioritize those like quote silly things that end up being the most fun. 

[00:22:42] Whitney: Yeah. And like your brain just works when it’s not as hot to be like, oh, hey, we’re over here. Remember that thing? Like, let’s go look. And so we just like take 15 minutes and they hunt and then they call me over and then they showed me all of them.

[00:22:54] Whitney: So we did stuff like that. Like all day. I felt like so much more than usual. We saw like they just danced with Chippendale and Hollywood Studios with like a band, and we walked through Galaxy’s Edge and took our time, which we’ve never done, and we stayed over. Like, I’m like say to my husband, do you wanna just hang out and see if the storm troopers come out?

[00:23:13] Whitney: Like in July we wouldn’t do that. We would just be like, I need, like I need to get somewhere to even like. Look at my phone and see, you know, there’s sweat dripping off my face. I can’t even see. I need to sit down. Like just, you know, it’s a little more chaotic. So we just really slowed down. 

[00:23:29] Dana Stanley: Yeah, 

[00:23:29] Whitney: and you just need a better plan and then you just kind of have to stick to your plan in the summer.

[00:23:33] Whitney: This allowed for a lot more. Hey, what do you wanna do? You wanna try this thing? You know? Um, so we just slowed down. Um, the crowd was definitely a sweet spot, so we caught the end of Christmas, which was fun and, but didn’t have to deal with like Christmas crowds. So this was like. We went the Sunday before, like most kids in the country go back to school on that Monday, which I think was January 4th.

[00:23:58] Whitney: And we did catch like the tail end of that holiday travel crowd. And then there’s like run Disney people coming in by like Wednesday, I think it was so like a few days later. So we like, there’s just this sweet spot in the middle where there’s like nothing major going on and the crowds were like moderate.

[00:24:16] Whitney: And you know, we used our lightning lanes and. Did everything we wanted to do. Yeah. January was fantastic. 

[00:24:22] Dana Stanley: So you did use Multipass? 

[00:24:24] Whitney: We did, yep. Mm-hmm. And I even slept in on accident. Like I think our day to choose to select our lightning links was the day after Christmas. So I was really tired and I think I missed like 15 minutes of, um, when I was gonna get up.

[00:24:37] Whitney: And so it’s a pretty good barometer if like you’re late and you still get Slinky dog by like 1:00 PM that’s a pretty good barometer I think of like, okay, I knew we were not gonna have. Like crazy crowds. So we still got everything we wanted. You know, really kind of put rides on the, not the back burner, but just like didn’t prioritize ’em as much, but had our lightning lanes and tried to just like explore more.

[00:24:58] Whitney: And that January weather really allowed for that, especially for my husband. Like he’s. More the type that would be affected and wouldn’t wanna go as hard. You know, when he is boiling hot, pushing the stroller. So 

[00:25:10] Dana Stanley: like every time you mention something about your husband, it sounds like me, I’m like, I would be overstimulated and I would be really hot too and not be able to, to hang for sure.

[00:25:19] Whitney: Yeah, I could see, yeah, I could see you guys having like similar temperaments. That’s 

[00:25:23] Dana Stanley: so funny. 

[00:25:23] Whitney: That’s funny. 

[00:25:24] Dana Stanley: I saw that you were able to catch the parade in Magic Kingdom. 

[00:25:27] Whitney: We had never seen that before and so we kind of prioritized going to Magic Kingdom on the second half of our park hop day, and we made it.

[00:25:36] Whitney: Well, I chose to do the 10:00 PM. Parade to have less crowds. So many people did leave right after the fireworks before, and so we got a fantastic spot right up in front of the castle, like to the left. So you see like the direction they’re coming and you have the castle and the parade, and. Both of my kids fell asleep prior to the parade, so I could only get Socy to wake up and she wouldn’t even get outta the stroller.

[00:26:04] Whitney: She like, thankfully we had packed a little blanket because it was chilly. So she watched, but it wasn’t like all I had imagined. But it was great. We loved it. It was beautiful and I was shocked we were able to gr, you know, just grab that spot. 

[00:26:16] Dana Stanley: Which, just a reminder too, if people didn’t catch it, your kids are six and seven, you guys still bring a stroller?

[00:26:22] Dana Stanley: They still need a stroller. They still fall asleep in the stroller. Did you have a double or like two singles? What’s your setup? What’s your stroller setup? 

[00:26:30] Whitney: We have a double that. It’s funny because we rented the same stroller that we have from like Kingdom Strollers or one of those years ago, and then we were like, we love the stroller so much.

[00:26:40] Whitney: We came home and bought that stroller and now we don’t use it and we are only packing it for the parks. So we’re like, how many more trips? You know, will this have in it like till till we retire it, but yep. Six and seven and there’s like no way we like ask them. We’re like, you think you can go without the stroller knowing that it’s a no?

[00:26:58] Whitney: And they’re like, no way. Like Uhuh so 

[00:27:01] Dana Stanley: well, and I guess the next step would be just maybe like one stroller and then they could like take turns or something like that. 

[00:27:07] Whitney: Yeah. 

[00:27:08] Dana Stanley: So for this particular night, it sounds like there. So she’s referring to the Starlight Parade, which is the noon nighttime parade of Magic Kingdom.

[00:27:18] Dana Stanley: So it sounds like there was a parade at maybe eight and then fireworks at nine, and then another parade at 10. Does that sound right? 

[00:27:27] Whitney: Yes. 

[00:27:27] Dana Stanley: Yeah, so that’s like if your kids can hang, which like you just said, they can’t really, but that second parade, I’m sure. Yeah, it would be like close to, not empty, but a lot of people leave after the fireworks.

[00:27:42] Whitney: Yeah, I would’ve, if I was thinking about it, would’ve tried to get them to rest like even at eight o’clock or whatever to make it. But yeah, it was really cleared out. By the 10:00 PM 

[00:27:53] Dana Stanley: That’s so cool. Yeah, it’s just different when your kids are older too. Like my oldest who’s nine for like a while now, if she wants to stay up late, she can, if she, it’s a weekend.

[00:28:04] Dana Stanley: If she doesn’t have to get up for school. Her attitude, her energy is fine when she stays up late versus like a three or 4-year-old. Like some of them like can’t, they will just. Literally freak out and not have a good time. So I am looking forward to that age, which I have a while. I have a while until all of my kids are that age where we can stay out late and do all of those things.

[00:28:30] Dana Stanley: Because kids that age when they get tired, they just like go to sleep. Which is amazing. It’s awesome that they took a little snooze. I wanted to talk, you kind of touched on it, about the weather and the layers and I recently, like I have a friend who’s trying to pack for Disney right now and she’s like, there’s no way I can’t not check a bag.

[00:28:52] Dana Stanley: Like I have to check a bag ’cause the weather’s all over the place and you have bigger layers. Do you remember, ’cause I think this would be helpful for people that are. Traveling soon, like even into February. What was like the outfit that you ended up wearing 90% of the time or like was the easiest and worked out?

[00:29:09] Whitney: I don’t remember, you know, wearing pants around Orlando in the last few years at all, and I think I only put shorts on once while we were there for a week. Actually, we were there even longer. Yeah, it’s funny because. Like, I made a, a post recently on Instagram about how like just the backup clothes that you pack and just throw in your bag, like that random baggy tea that you’re like, oh, like I’ll just maybell this around the resort.

[00:29:36] Whitney: Like it’ll end up being your favorite clothes. Like not the clothes that you like fret over. So I ended up like just packing two vintage teas. ’cause we just had one park day and wearing like my backup tee and loved it. But I ran into, it was chillier than I expected and I ran into Uniqlo at Disney Springs and grabbed like a knit.

[00:29:54] Whitney: Set like pants. And actually this thing I’m wearing, which is like a knit sweater set, right? And I was like, if I’m gonna get an opportunity to wear pants to the park like this cozy set, like this is it. So we’ll see how like the weather looks that day. So that’s what I ended up wearing with a vintage tea.

[00:30:10] Whitney: It’s not what I expected, but it really was chilly. So I think, I mean, it’s all about layers. If you’re packing, you know, anywhere, I think between like November and February we all like the kids and. My husband were all in like shorts and sweatshirts or shorts, t-shirts and a fleece. I got away with wearing like this light knit set and I just packed shorts with me in case I got hot and I did not, which was wild.

[00:30:33] Whitney: It was so comfortable. So yeah, layers. And we grabbed like a little blanket, thankfully to make it to the end ’cause it was quite chilly by the end of the night. 

[00:30:41] Dana Stanley: I said something recently because someone had asked me about just maybe not bringing pants at all and a. My recommendation would be if you’re flying, just wear your big stuff.

[00:30:53] Dana Stanley: On the plane, like always bring a pair of pants. I always bring a pair of pants even in the summer, just like restaurants or like maybe you’re just popping in somewhere. I’m like, I know my husband doesn’t understand, but I think it’s different when a girl is wearing shorts versus a guy because our shorts are like our entire leg.

[00:31:11] Dana Stanley: He’s like, how can you be cold? And I’m like, my legs get freezing ’cause it’s like my whole leg, yours goes to your knee. It’s like not the same thing. So I always bring at least one pair of pants and I have a memory of riding Slinky Dog Dash at nighttime in December. And it was kind of a chilly night. And I did like the shorts and the big hoodie, which is like the dream.

[00:31:32] Dana Stanley: And I’ll just never forget this ’cause I was on Slinky. With my brother-in-law and we were kind of cold, but then it like turned the corner to like get going and we looked at each other like, oh no. Like it was so freezing the whole ride because you’re so, just think about that of the air conditioning on the buses get freezing, restaurants get freezing, and being on actual.

[00:31:58] Dana Stanley: Rides, like picturing like test track or something. Tron, forget it. Like you just bring a pair of pants, you’ll be so happy that you have them. 

[00:32:07] Whitney: Oh yeah. I’m like that, like I, I lean cold. I’ve gotten like a little warmer since having kids for some reason. I dunno if I’m just moving more or what it is like, but I’ve always been the person that’s like freezing my mom’s the same way.

[00:32:18] Whitney: And like we were walking around, I’m like, mom, do you wanna wear all that? She’s like, it might be cold in the restaurant. And I’m like, you’re right. You’re right. 

[00:32:24] Dana Stanley: It’s, it’s true. You can always take it off. 

[00:32:27] Whitney: Yeah. It’s true. 

[00:32:28] Dana Stanley: Oh yes. 

[00:32:28] Whitney: And a stroller helps with all that stuff. 

[00:32:30] Dana Stanley: I mean, I’ll bring a stroller until my kids are like 18 because I need somewhere to put my drinks and my sweatshirts for sure.

[00:32:37] Dana Stanley: So after this trip, everything’s said and done, is there something that you did that you would 100% absolutely do Again, that maybe. You hadn’t done before? 

[00:32:49] Whitney: Well, just going in the cooler months and slowing down and exploring was new to us. Like we’re starting to slow down, you know, that’s, that’s just newer to us to really stop and, and try those little things.

[00:32:59] Whitney: So 100%, like we will weave that in as much as we can going forward. And, you know, we’ll try that in the, the warmer months and see how that goes too. We definitely would go back to wa, lulu. Which everyone is talking about right now. I feel like such a hit. 

[00:33:14] Dana Stanley: So good. It’s so good. At least it was when we, like we had such a good meal.

[00:33:19] Whitney: Yeah, it was delicious. And the view like we went at sunset and just seeing like. Sat outside, not in those like booths, which are so cozy, but like back in the table. So you had the view of the water. So we had like Sunset, could see the Grand Floridian, you could see the castle, you could see the contemporary, the moon.

[00:33:38] Whitney: There were boats. It was like we just looked at each other and we’re like, the value for like the price. You know what we’re paying. This is like the best meal we’ve ever had at Disney. And the food was great. Like it was good, but we really were just like this ambiance. Was a 10 outta 10 for us, and they still had the, I mean, it was like Christmas in Hawaii, like they still had all the Christmas stuff up.

[00:33:55] Whitney: That was a, a win. I know everyone’s talking about that right now. But on, on that same note, something I would repeat that I’ve been talking about lately is, um, like being assertive about your seating assignments in restaurants. So last year we went and we did like the Snow White restaurant with storybook and we did Ohana.

[00:34:16] Whitney: Mm-hmm. Storybook dining. Yes. And Ohana at the Polynesian, um, in the morning to see Stitch. And we were sat like back by the hostess, stand at both of those meals. And I just felt like so bad about how much we were spending. It wasn’t like enough to, to ruin the meal, but it definitely felt worse spending that kind of money when, you know, we were like in the back and we still got like.

[00:34:42] Whitney: The same interaction, but just, it’s just like, it’s like having seasonal depression, like not sitting by a window, you know, it’s just like such a downer being either in the back or in the in a dark spot. So we had that experience last time, which was fine, but I think I was running late both times, and so I just wasn’t as assertive of about like.

[00:35:00] Whitney: Mentioning anything about where we’d like to sit or whatever. So this time on this trip, we ate at wa lulu that we mentioned already at the Polynesian. We ate, um, at the Grand Floridian Cafe for brunch and cake bake shop on the boardwalk. So at each of those, I was just more. Assertive about like, I think one of them had like just a dropdown when I checked in online about sitting by a window at the Grand Floridian Cafe.

[00:35:27] Whitney: So then when I went up to the stand, I was just kind of made sure that they saw that and said, Hey, we’d love to sit, um, and wait for a window seat. Um, and that’s what we got. And it was so nice. Like we could see it was just a great spot. And you know, we saw Chippendale and Daisy like out the window just hanging out at the grand flow during that meal.

[00:35:46] Whitney: And then at while Lulu, we got there, checked in and. I think I already actually checked in, didn’t say anything, and then like later came up and said, Hey, I should have said this earlier, but you know, we’d love to sit outside and wait to sit outside. And they said, um, okay, I think it’s gonna be like 30 or 40 minutes.

[00:36:04] Whitney: And I was like, that’s fine. So, um, you know, it takes 10, like they always say that. So that was, and then we got this fantastic seat. And then at Cake Bake, I didn’t really know a lot about the seating inside, so I just said to the hostess, like, and maybe this is my new thing. I said, um. Hey, is there like a spot in the restaurant that you think is really cool?

[00:36:22] Whitney: We’d love to wait for that spot. And I, the key is always saying like, you know, we’d love a booth, we’d love to wait for a booth, whatever. Like, let them know, be kind and let them know that you’re willing to wait for whatever that is. 

[00:36:34] Dana Stanley: Yes. It’s like asking for like the front row or something. Like you can ask, just don’t be like demanding and say I’m prepared to wait.

[00:36:41] Dana Stanley: Maybe even get there a little bit early if you can, and say if it’s available, like we’re happy to wait a little bit longer for a seat by the window. Especially with like character dining, it really does make a difference with pictures. Like you’re there to take pictures with the characters. I a hundred percent agree about Ohana because.

[00:37:02] Dana Stanley: The last like three times I’ve been to Ohana, I got a crappy seat. The first time I went was amazing. Like in the main, you know what I’m talking about, like the main room with like all the windows around it. And it was back when they would take the kids around and they’d have the little ukuleles and it was like super magical.

[00:37:20] Dana Stanley: I want that again so badly. And every time I go to Ohana, I’m. Just a little bit let down, not a little bit, a lot let down. And I know it’s because I always forget to just request being by a window. And there’s other restaurants that maybe it’s not that big of a deal. Like topos, the tables are kind of all on the window wall, mostly not all of them.

[00:37:44] Dana Stanley: So like it’s just a better chance of having like a window seat. But at like Cinderella’s Royal table, you really should ask for like a window. Like there’s just certain, oh, I would ask, um. Aker Aker, which I can never say, I feel like you should ask for a window. So where did you end up sitting at Cake Bake.

[00:38:02] Dana Stanley: Now I’m curious what was like the cool seat? 

[00:38:04] Whitney: Yeah, and that was nighttime, so it wasn’t like a lighting thing, but they sat us just like right on that center. Like it almost looks like a carousel or something in the middle. Right? 

[00:38:12] Dana Stanley: Yeah. 

[00:38:12] Whitney: And so we sat like right. On that. That’s cool. Right up on that spot. So it seemed like one of the best, you know, seats in the house and Yeah.

[00:38:20] Whitney: There are restaurants we’ve just, I fully avoided because they’re dark and I’m like, I don’t, I don’t even like the vibes in there. I don’t wanna pay $300, 250 bucks, whatever. 

[00:38:28] Dana Stanley: Me too. Me too. 

[00:38:29] Whitney: To sit in there, like 1900, park Fair, like I’m not going there. There’s no window. There are even windows in that place.

[00:38:35] Whitney: I don’t 

[00:38:35] Dana Stanley: wanna, there’s no windows. 

[00:38:36] Whitney: Yeah. 

[00:38:37] Dana Stanley: There’s no Windows 1900 Park Fair was one of the ones that I hadn’t been to again, like kind of the same thing. Like I did it probably literally 15 years ago. You’re like, you don’t go back because you didn’t love it. ’cause it was still windowless back then. But then it’s like, well, I’ll give it a try.

[00:38:54] Dana Stanley: And then you are like, no, I was right the first time. I’m the same way. I need, I need some type of light. And most Disney restaurants actually do have. Quite a lot of light, but there’s just that handful that, like you said, it’s like a seasonal depression. This was so much fun talking about your trip. Thank you so much for coming on.

[00:39:13] Whitney: Yeah, 

[00:39:14] Dana Stanley: I loved this. 

[00:39:15] Whitney: Yeah, it was so fun to chat. 

[00:39:16] Dana Stanley: Where can everyone find you? 

[00:39:18] Whitney: So on Instagram, you can find me in my shop at wits dot whimsy. As of this recording, we’ll see. Might have some changes in the upcoming year with my site and my name. But with whimsy.com is where you can shop or, yeah, just there on Instagram.

[00:39:32] Dana Stanley: Awesome. Thank you so much. 

[00:39:34] Whitney: Thanks for having me, Dana. 

[00:39:37] Dana Stanley: Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Laid Back Magic Way podcast. If you enjoyed today’s episode and it was helpful for you. It would mean the world to me if you’d write a quick review, your reviews, help more moms like you find the show, and I read every single one of them.

[00:39:52] Dana Stanley: Seriously. Thank you in advance. You can find me on Instagram at somewhere worthwhile, and I’d love to hear from you there. DM me if you have any questions about this episode or what you’d like to see in feature ones. Until then, keep planning for your next favorite memory and I’ll see you next time.