[00:00:00] Dana Stanley: You know that Pinterest board you started for your family’s first trip to Disney World? With the matching outfits, the eating at the Castle Reservation, the idea of watching fireworks every night, while I’m not here to completely crush your dreams, I am here to help you because I’ve seen a lot of Disney trips over the years from my own families, but also inside my community as well.

[00:00:21] Dana Stanley: And here’s the truth, first trips are very unique. To start, you don’t really know yet what your kids are actually going to like in Disney World. You don’t know what you will like and if you’ve been as a kid, things are obviously completely different and trying to fit in everything into one trip is probably not the best idea.

[00:00:41] Dana Stanley: Today I’m walking you through the things I would not do on a first Disney World trip and what I’d say for Trip two, three, or someday. Let’s get into it. 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.

[00:01:05] Dana Stanley: That’s why I’m here to help moms like you create Disney vacations that feel even better than they look on paper here. 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.

[00:01:27] Dana Stanley: New episodes drop every Monday, so be sure to subscribe so you never miss a moment. Okay, let’s dive in. A big problem that first timers have isn’t necessarily that they want to do everything that’s part of it. But I think the main problem is that when someone pictures that they’re not picturing correctly how much quote everything actually is.

[00:01:50] Dana Stanley: To give you an idea, I’ve been visiting for close to 17 years, sometimes one trip a year, sometimes three, and then my husband has been since he was a kid, and I’m telling you there’s still a ride or two that even he hasn’t been on Every trip that we go on. We do something new. And when you think of the amount of trips that we’ve been on, and to have something new every time, puts it in perspective of just how big and how much there is to do in Disney.

[00:02:19] Dana Stanley: You probably clicked on this episode because you are a first timer, or maybe you don’t even really remember your first trip to Disney and now you’re bringing the kids for the first time as an adult. So a quick overview is that there are four theme parks that make up Walt Disney World as a whole. Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.

[00:02:39] Dana Stanley: There’s also two water parks, Disney Springs, which is like shopping and restaurants. Used to be called Downtown Disney, if that sounds familiar. And over 30 resorts. And they each have kind of like their own activities and restaurants on their own. And if I keep going, there’s also golf courses and spas.

[00:02:57] Dana Stanley: You get the idea. For more proof to back up the idea that no family should try to do it all in one trip. We’re talking over 170 rides and shows over 200 places to eat. And that’s not including Epcot, which has four rotating festivals throughout the year and its own individual food booths. And then Magic Kingdom has its own parties for Halloween and Christmas from August to December.

[00:03:22] Dana Stanley: So even if you went nuts and said, we’re gonna go to three restaurants per day, like breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we’re not gonna do any rest days. We’re not gonna go to the pool or do anything twice and we’re gonna stay for a whole week. You’d still only scratch the surface of how much there is to do.

[00:03:39] Dana Stanley: And then when you factor in your kids studies show that kids under eight can only realistically focus on two to three like big major things per day before starting to burn out. Everything that I’m saying right now is one reason that 22% of families report regretting their Disney trip. This was the first podcast episode I recorded because trying to do it all is not only impossible, but it’s setting yourself up to feel behind the entire trip.

[00:04:07] Dana Stanley: And if you know that feeling like you’re running late for something or the whole day feels like you just can’t catch up, times that by a whole vacation. Trust me. I’ve been there and it is an awful feeling, and if you’re listening to this and thinking, but Dana, we’re only going one time. This is a once in a lifetime Disney trip.

[00:04:25] Dana Stanley: I want you to go back and listen to that episode because I dive deeper into how much mindset is important going into a trip. Another factor is since the kids haven’t been there before, you’re kind of guessing what they’ll like and kids are. Wonderful, strange little creatures. When my daughter turned six, we had the hottest day in Magic Kingdom.

[00:04:47] Dana Stanley: We were hungry, we were hot, like just toast, and we had some time to kill before the parade, so I thought it was a genius idea to hop on the people mover in tomorrow land, and this is like the easiest chillest. There’s no line. It’s just flat. You just. Sit in a car that moves, you know, around tomorrow land and there’s things to look at.

[00:05:10] Dana Stanley: You get a view of the castle and then you go near Space Mountain. Very chill, very calm. Most kids love it. And my daughter, when I tell you she was terrified and she was crying, that she was so terrified. And I just remember. Looking at my husband, like how? Like why? I guess there’s just some dark parts that made her nervous and I spent most of the time just trying to calm her down.

[00:05:34] Dana Stanley: And while these things are completely uncontrollable, I wanna acknowledge that it is hard to plan for what you assume everyone will love, especially if you haven’t been there before. One of the easiest ways to get past this is something I usually try to avoid. At all costs, and that is YouTube. I’ll admit.

[00:05:53] Dana Stanley: It’s very helpful when it comes to this. So hopefully you’ve been listening to other episodes of my podcast and know that you can just go on the My Disney Experience App and start clicking around on different rides and reading the descriptions. Then if something is confusing or interests you. You could pull it up with a POV on YouTube.

[00:06:13] Dana Stanley: Literally type in POV Peter Pan Flight, POV, jungle Cruise. This is really helpful if you have a kid that is scared of the dark, because sometimes kid rides, like the people mover might have some dark parts that you would see on YouTube and be like, Ooh, yeah, my kid is definitely not gonna like that because you know your kid, even though you’ve never been to Disney before.

[00:06:35] Dana Stanley: You can use your common sense, like if your kid needs a nightlight to fall asleep, maybe the rides listed as dark rides could be a little scary for them. Or if you do decide to ride it and try it, which I do recommend, I don’t necessarily think you should avoid everything because you’re nervous. It’s gonna scare them ’cause they can surprise you.

[00:06:56] Dana Stanley: But going into the ride you can prepare them like, Hey, this is gonna happen and then this is gonna happen and then this is gonna happen and it’s gonna be so much fun. But there’s, you know, a part that’s dark. One of the things I do when story, my daughter, she’s more of like my nervous one. If we’re going on a ride that she’s nervous about, she just likes to know what’s coming.

[00:07:19] Dana Stanley: So I’ll give like a brief rundown of what’s gonna happen and then I’ll ask her. You know, do you feel safe with my arm on your lap? Do you feel safer with my arm behind you? And that usually helps a lot. I’ve even let her wear my sling bag across her chest. I think the weight of it helps her out, and I don’t wanna make it sound like I’m forcing her onto the ride.

[00:07:40] Dana Stanley: She’s just that type of kid. She’s like me. When I was little, I remember that feeling of like, I wanna get on it. I’m just terrified of like. The anticipation and like getting on. Once I’m on it and off, it’s wonderful. It’s just like that buildup that can be really scary for kids. You can pull a lot of ideas from your own day-to-day life.

[00:08:00] Dana Stanley: Like you might have a kid that will literally jump off, you know, the top of a playground. They’re probably not gonna be scared of like a little rollercoaster. Kids are definitely strange sometimes and unpredictable, but a good place to start is to think about how your kids are at home. How do they act at restaurants, how they are with tv, and like shows like how long can things hold their attention?

[00:08:25] Dana Stanley: That could even help you figure out if a lot of shows are a good idea. Let’s get into the things I would avoid on a first trip, and then I’ll cover what I would definitely do for a first trip. To start. I wouldn’t go nuts with the dining reservations and character meals. I’d stick with one per day. And I know this is hard.

[00:08:44] Dana Stanley: This is my hardest thing because we want to try new places and we wanna go back to the places we like. But if you’re scheduling two or three dining reservations, because we wanna try everything on this trip, just skip that. And I wanna say something like, is there good food in Disney World? Yes. But it’s not going to be the kind of thing.

[00:09:06] Dana Stanley: Where you have to pack everything into one week because you need to eat all of the food. In Disney World, like I imagine when I go to Italy, I’m truly going to be basing my entire trip around food. I don’t feel like you have to do that in Disney World. You’ll hear a lot about snacks and the best snacks to get, but I’m telling you, the best ones usually end up being like.

[00:09:28] Dana Stanley: What you are most familiar with and already really like, don’t stress yourself out feeling like you missed out because you grabbed like a Mickey Bar, ice cream cart instead of the new featured snack. I’ve done this so many times. I’ve had fomo. I’ve gone out of my way to get like the new festival snack in Epcot or whatever, waited in the line, spent too much money, and it’s usually just like fine.

[00:09:54] Dana Stanley: Good slash fine and then the next day I’ll randomly get ice cream and I’m like, oh my God, this is so good. It’s the spot and sticking to what’s familiar is great for the kids too. So for our first trip, I would focus on menus. I would look at every menu that I think we should have a reservation at. You know, your kids, you know what they like.

[00:10:16] Dana Stanley: You know what your husband likes. I would look at the cocktail menu and only stick to places that I’m very excited to eat at and not places that I think I quote should eat at. A lot of people think that if you’re gonna Disney for the first time, you have to eat at the castle. I think you could skip dining there for a first trip.

[00:10:35] Dana Stanley: With the asterisk that if you have a birthday or you’re like really celebrating something big, I would say just book it because it is very popular. But before I booked anything like very expensive or very in demand, a great idea would be to start the trip out with more of like a low key reservation maybe at your resort.

[00:10:56] Dana Stanley: I’ve been really liking doing a sit down dinner. At a resort on check-in day, we like get unpacked and then do an early dinner so we can head into the parks early. You could see how that goes and see how your kids are. And remember that you can cancel most dining reservations up to two hours before, which is so nice.

[00:11:14] Dana Stanley: It used to be 24 hours before, but now it’s a lot easier to make like game day decisions. So my advice would be to book one reservation a day tops, and depending on how the trip is going with dining. You can always cancel ones for the future. Like, man, we cannot have this kid in a highchair seven times this week.

[00:11:34] Dana Stanley: You can just cancel them. And also if your kid is doing awesome and loving it and love character meals, you can always make more dining reservations too. A lot of places, even the really hard to get ones once you’re on the trip. Tons of reservations open up, especially the night before because people start canceling like crazy because you know what?

[00:11:56] Dana Stanley: They booked too many. So just keep that in mind that you don’t have to stress too much if you want more. But the main thing is to not feel like you have to, you do not have to eat at certain places to have a great trip. There are some places that have a shorter cancellation window than those two hours.

[00:12:15] Dana Stanley: Like the firework dessert parties, and I’m going to link in the show notes a list of those just so you can see which ones are two hours, or maybe some are one full day before. Another thing I wouldn’t necessarily do on a first trip and think it could be saved for a second or third is park copying. You can totally do it for a first trip, but I don’t think it’s necessary.

[00:12:34] Dana Stanley: There is so much to do. In each individual park. And even if you’re taking like a midday break, remember that you can always come back. So if you get a Hollywood Studios ticket without a park hop and you need to leave, remember, you can always come back and park. Hopping kind of adds like a little bit more of a level of like expertise because now you’re starting to think about which parks are easiest to hop to.

[00:13:01] Dana Stanley: Like I, in my mind. Know the perfect combinations of where to start and where to end, and then also factoring in how to get from park to park. It’s a lot to keep track of, which is fine, but for a first trip, everything is new. I don’t think you have to add park hopping to it, and also it’s more expensive.

[00:13:22] Dana Stanley: There is an asterisk to this because between August to December, magic Kingdom closes early at 6:00 PM. So it makes seeing the fireworks and like the new nighttime parade a little bit harder instead of being able to stay in Magic Kingdom at night for seven nights a week. It’ll be more like three or four.

[00:13:42] Dana Stanley: So it makes it nice having a park hopper because you could go to Magic Kingdom on a party day, then hop to another park before six. Or vice versa, start in one park and then end in Magic Kingdom when they have fireworks. But for the other times of year, I don’t see the benefit of hopping on your first trip.

[00:14:00] Dana Stanley: I would save that for a second or third trip. I wanna talk about Epcot for a second. ’cause unless you are spending two days in Epcot, it’s really hard to see the entire world showcase on a first trip. So Epcot. To me, in my mind, has like two sections. There’s a lot more than two sections, but you have the World Showcase, which is 11 countries, and each country has its own restaurants and snacks and shops, and sometimes a show, sometimes a ride, and then there’s everything outside of the world showcase, tons of rides, experiences, playgrounds, all of the things.

[00:14:36] Dana Stanley: I think for a first trip, I think it’s very, very hard to do both of those things. I would either schedule out two days in Epcot. Or I would pick one or the other, like World Showcase or everything else. This is something that I can’t tell you for the life of me, how hard I try on every trip to like really experience the world showcase and take our time and go into the shops and watch the shows.

[00:15:00] Dana Stanley: Like I try to prioritize it and just with the kids and everything else that they wanna do in Epcot. We end up seeing maybe one, two countries. It’s very hard to see everything there. You could spend an entire park day just going around the world showcase and spending time there. A lot of times we end up in the world showcase in the morning, and a lot of the festival booths and some of the shops and shows don’t open until later in the day, like 10:11 AM.

[00:15:29] Dana Stanley: And it tends to throw everything off. So something to keep in mind for a first trip when you’re going to Epcot that it’s not just this like little park that you’re gonna pop into. There’s a lot to do, especially with kids in Epcot. So I would narrow down your priorities and or add a second Epcot day.

[00:15:48] Dana Stanley: While those are the things I think you could skip for a first trip. Here’s what I would definitely prioritize. And the first thing is you gotta do Magic Kingdom. I. It’s actually the park that stresses me out the most to plan for. So I’m not gonna say it’s my favorite, but again, we’re talking about first trips here, and in terms of feeling.

[00:16:11] Dana Stanley: The Disney Magic. There’s nothing quite like Magic Kingdom. You have the Castle, you have the classic rides, you have Mickey, you have the parades, like the other parks don’t have parades. There’s nothing quite like Magic Kingdom. And if it’s your first time in my mind, like you have to go to Magic Kingdom.

[00:16:27] Dana Stanley: Now, I will say I don’t think you have to have Magic Kingdom as being your first park. And this is what I teach inside of my planning guide. It really depends on. How the crowds are moving for the dates that you’re going. Depending on when you’re getting to Disney World, most people go to Magic Kingdom first, and depending on the day, that could make it more crowded.

[00:16:48] Dana Stanley: So don’t feel like you have to start with Magic Kingdom. I think you could visit it anytime in your trip and it would be just fine. Another thing I would prioritize would be to use lightning lanes. This is the Skip the Line system in Disney World that you can pay for. Which significantly cuts your time spent in lines.

[00:17:08] Dana Stanley: Definitely use lightning liens. You know, I advocate for these on almost every episode, but especially on a first trip, you’re condensing so much time by skipping longer lines. So you’re taking a normal park day. Like if someone just showed up and didn’t have a game plan and didn’t buy lightning liens, you’re gonna be spending half the amount of time in line as them.

[00:17:29] Dana Stanley: So you’re like doubling your part-time if you really wanna think about it that way. Because you’re spending less time in lines. The more time you have for eating at those restaurants we’re talking about and being at the pool, shopping, all those things that seem impossible when you’re spending the whole day at the park just waiting around, because you definitely do need to prioritize some downtime on a first trip.

[00:17:51] Dana Stanley: Everything is new and exciting and overstimulating. If you think, well, we’ve been to Bush Gardens before with the kids, or Six Flags, or whatever. Just know that it’s completely different, like it is a lot, which is wonderful and great and magical, but just prepare yourself and work that downtime into your trip.

[00:18:09] Dana Stanley: Something else I’d prioritize is kind of going nuts, so souvenirs, and this might surprise you a little bit, but I would not feel bad about the money that I spent on souvenirs. My husband and I talk about this all the time because. Like he does not need to buy something spontaneously as soon as he sees it.

[00:18:28] Dana Stanley: So with the kids, if they want something, I have certain things in my mind like stuffed animals. They love their stuffed animals. I loved stuffed animals as a kid, and I still have some from when I was a kid. And they have very happy memories in my mind. So when they pick out a stuffed animal, I’m like, go kid.

[00:18:47] Dana Stanley: Go buy it. Go to the checkout. And Colton’s looking at me like, well, you know, maybe we should. See if they want anything else and then we can always come back and No. And if you see something and you don’t feel like it’s ridiculous and you know that the kids are gonna play with it, I would go for it. My husband is the most patient person when it comes to that, and I am just a big believer in the actual shopping experience.

[00:19:11] Dana Stanley: Like he’ll find something in the store and then leave, and then he’ll find it on, you know, Facebook marketplace for half the price, which is wonderful. But when it comes to the souvenirs of Disney, I’m not going to pack like a cheaper bubble wand from Amazon, which honestly probably isn’t going to fit in my carry-on.

[00:19:33] Dana Stanley: So then I’d have to spend more money checking a bag just to buy like the legit Disney World bubble wand for $35 in the park when my kid sees the bubble wand, like I’m that kind of person I think. Half of buying something is like because you see it and you buy it and it’s from Disney and then you take it home and you remember getting it in Disney World.

[00:19:58] Dana Stanley: I hope that makes sense. So think of things ahead of time that are like. Green lights that you’ll for sure buy and things that you won’t, because on the other hand, like when my girls see balloons, they know not even to ask because I’m just not spending money on a balloon. That’s my thing. But you might have wonderful memories of balloons and like balloons or whatever, and that’s one of your green lights.

[00:20:24] Dana Stanley: And while I’m giving you permission to spend money on souvenirs. I would also prioritize the free souvenirs too, so the free buttons when you check in, or it could be something just tangible from the day, like a wrapper from something, or a tag from a toy. I would keep all of those together and that way when you get home, you could label them and have like a little memory box and you know that you’re gonna have everything tied to those memories.

[00:20:51] Dana Stanley: Park maps are a great one. Also free. I would go out of my way more for those things on a first trip than a second or third. The last thing I wanna say of what I would definitely do for a first trip. Is I want you to be the queen of pivoting and dropping plans like every time you say no to something or cancel a reservation or cancel a lightning lane or go back to the pool.

[00:21:16] Dana Stanley: I want you to think that you got like a point or a gold star. I’m giving you like a virtual high five because everything you say no to, you’re saying yes to something else. So like no to a lunch reservation that you made two months ago. Could be a yes to the pool, no to B Baity boutique. Maybe you’re saying yes to their first face paint.

[00:21:39] Dana Stanley: No. To park hopping. Maybe you’re saying yes to a nap. You get the idea. I had to make the tough decision to skip fireworks on our next trip when I realize our toddler is not going to make it to 10:00 PM Summertime Fireworks. That’s what I’m dropping. And you know what? We’re going to do something else fun.

[00:21:58] Dana Stanley: I know something else will come out of it, even if it’s small. So just keep reminding yourself that a first Disney World trip doesn’t need to check every single box, just the big ones. If this episode was helpful, you’re gonna love my free download. Called the Laid Back Magic Journal. It helps you set up trip intentions based on what your family already likes, so your trip feels more like you and less like something you piece together.

[00:22:24] Dana Stanley: I’ll link that in the show notes, or you can grab it at laid back magic way.com/journal. And if you want all of this stuff mapped out for you with my full Park guides Lightning Lane strategy tips, and ongoing support from me, join Laid Back Magic. This is my full planning program. And if you use the code in the show notes, you’ll get a special price for listening to this episode.

[00:22:47] Dana Stanley: Thanks for listening, and I’ll see you next time. 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 seriously.

[00:23:05] Dana Stanley: 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 future ones until then, keep planning for your next favorite memory and I’ll see you next time.