[00:00:00] Dana Stanley: You know how everyone has kind of unspoken rules, like maybe they don’t say them out loud, but to yourself, there are just certain things that you will and will not do. I realized after years and years of going to Disney World that of course I have certain rules, as in tips that I think people should follow when they’re planning for Disney World.

[00:00:20] Dana Stanley: Things that you need to be aware of for every trip. But I also have some unspoken ones just for myself in particular and our family. Well, on our most recent trip to Disney World, I broke pretty much every single one of them. Not on purpose whatsoever, but very much just kind of happenstance. Things just pivoted.

[00:00:42] Dana Stanley: And I found myself in situations where I was like, wow, I purposely avoid this. Why are we doing this right now? And what was surprising is that a lot of it still worked out. Some of it definitely didn’t, but it got me thinking about these so-called rules. They definitely help. But knowing when it makes sense to break them can actually help make things feel more manageable.

[00:01:06] Dana Stanley: So today I’m walking you through very specific things I normally never do at Disney World and what happened after I broke my own quote rules. 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.

[00:01:27] Dana Stanley: 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. 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.

[00:01:52] Dana Stanley: New episodes drop every Monday. So be sure to subscribe so you never miss a moment. Okay, let’s dive in. If you’ve ever felt like planning a Disney trip is all about getting it right, doing everything right, booking at the right time, showing up at the right time, packing the right things, I hope this episode will show you that sometimes things go wrong and that doing it wrong can still work out.

[00:02:18] Dana Stanley: Let’s start with the thing that affected our days from beginning to end. And that’s that we went in the summertime. So when I was finished drafting this episode, I asked my husband, Colton, Hey, what are some like rules we broke or mistakes we made on our last trip to Disney? And he was like, well, just write down all of your rules and like strike them out and there’s your episode.

[00:02:43] Dana Stanley: And I’m like, yes, that is true. But what specifically, and the one that he had mentioned that I hadn’t thought of really was that we went during the summer again. Now this is a tough one to talk about because I really love our summer trips. Like it’s definitely manageable and there are things that are really great about it.

[00:03:03] Dana Stanley: I think the summer has this old school thinking around it, like it’s very crowded. It’s summer and kids are all from school, but it’s really great in my experience. I think the summer has this old school thinking that it’s super crowded ’cause it’s summer and the kids have all from school. But in my experience, you can definitely find like little quiet pockets throughout the summer.

[00:03:26] Dana Stanley: This trip felt really manageable, so the dates were mid-July and of course I was strategic with things here and there. Overall it was really nice in terms of people. But it’s so hot, guys. We got a little lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it, of right before we went to Orlando, there was a heat wave in New Jersey, so the heat index.

[00:03:51] Dana Stanley: Kind of just felt the same of what we were used to being back at home and we were like acclimated. But even with that, I have a memory of like getting the kids out of the stroller for Winnie the Pooh. And I just feel kind of, not frantic, but I’m making sure that like the stroller fans are turned off so the batteries don’t die.

[00:04:12] Dana Stanley: I am making sure that all the kids drink water really quick. And then I was running in my bag just finding sunscreen like the roller, because crew’s little shoulders were out that day. And by the time we got in line, I just said to Colton like, man, if you just took the heat factor, like the summer factor out of the equation, this would be so easy or easier.

[00:04:34] Dana Stanley: And it’s true that if you’re not worried about the heat as much, you’re just less concerned for everyone. You’re not worried if the kids are uncomfortable. Or dehydrated and you know, do they need their sun hat? Like it’s all just a lot. And those cooler times in Disney World, while they exist, they’re just such short windows of time.

[00:04:53] Dana Stanley: Just obviously the majority of the year it’s hot, too hotter. And with every plus to things, there’s a downside. So like in January, February, a lot of things are maybe getting refurbished. Rides are sometimes closed. Some pools might be closed or maybe it’s just like too chilly to swim, even though the pools are heated and there’s not a lot of holidays.

[00:05:16] Dana Stanley: So like if that’s your thing, there’s just less stuff going on. And while I have thoroughly enjoyed our summer vacations and do not regret them at all, I still put the summer season. June, July, August on the last of my list for strictly just the heat. It’s my least favorite time of year for just the temperatures.

[00:05:39] Dana Stanley: Our favorite time to visit is definitely right before summer and right after, especially because we live in like a beach town too. We really try to stay put in the summer. Rural broken guys for the second year in a row. And that heat that I’m talking about, of course, led to another rule I usually swear by.

[00:05:59] Dana Stanley: And that’s the fact that we didn’t take a break from two to four o’clock, pretty much the entire trip, I think out of five park days. We only took a break back at the room one time. Which if you know me, this is the biggest role I have. I don’t care if you have a six month old or a 60-year-old with you. I always say take a break from two to four, but we somehow found ourselves in the parks every day staying from around park opening until about three, sometimes four o’clock.

[00:06:30] Dana Stanley: The culprit though, because this is not my fault, is our son crew who is. 22 months old. He takes a solid nap in the middle of the day when we’re home. So he will sleep three hours, you know, from 1230 to sometimes 3, 3 30. But I’m very used to his older sisters and the way they napped was later in the day, like 2:00 PM and that was perfect for a midday break.

[00:06:56] Dana Stanley: We would go to the parks early, head back to the room. The girls would take a nap, but for some reason, I think crew is just such a boy. He tires himself out very fast, so he was coning out by 1231, which was usually just when we were getting ready to head back to our room, like we’d say, let’s just do this ride and then we’re leaving.

[00:07:19] Dana Stanley: He would fall asleep on the ride. This child fell asleep on three Caballeros Ariel Under the Sea, and he fell asleep during the new villain show in Hollywood Studios, which is very good by the way. But imagine sleeping through like this very loud show with like bright lights and sounds, and there’s like smoke bubbles.

[00:07:43] Dana Stanley: It sounds great. Like, oh my gosh, she fell asleep in the park. That’s awesome for you. But the issue is two things. First off, I want a break. I wanna go back to my room and sit in the air conditioning, maybe take a shower, and I really like to take that time to organize a room a little bit and like just get the room back together.

[00:08:03] Dana Stanley: I feel like I’m not really able to do that without a midday break. I know it can be done, but I just. Like that middle of the day reset. Second is when he sleeps in the room. Again, we’re talking like a two, maybe three hour nap depending on how long we hang out at the room. Versus an in park nap is like 45 minutes.

[00:08:26] Dana Stanley: And by the way, usually Colton is holding him in this scenario and then you have to try to transfer him to the stroller. So it’s like really hot. You’re holding him, he is in the stroller, and then you kind of have to like put around waiting to leave the park because now he’s asleep. The last day we were there, we had a second day an Epcot planned to ride the preview of test track, which when you’re listening to this, is officially back open.

[00:08:54] Dana Stanley: Yay. And I was determined to get that child back for a nap because we were seeing Fmic that night and I knew he was not gonna be able to hang without that nap. And that day, thank goodness we went back because. I knew that like my nervous system was shot and told me to just sit and watch Shark Tank on tv, and that’s exactly what I did.

[00:09:17] Dana Stanley: And it reminded me in that moment like, yes, this is definitely the right move. I need a midday break. This is lovely. The only time that I would not take a midday break would be if it was maybe cooler weather. And the temps just weren’t bad. Even if it was like a little cold and I had to wear a long sleeve.

[00:09:36] Dana Stanley: Sounds so nice to me right now. And or if it was a pain getting back to the room, for example, it doesn’t make sense to take a midday break on a day that you’re going to only animal kingdom and it closes at six and you’re staying all the way across the property at. You know, one of the Epcot resorts. And if you find yourself in that situation, like me, with crew falling asleep at kind of the worst possible timing you can find ways to take breaks inside the park to either kill time or just wait until after they wake up.

[00:10:13] Dana Stanley: And so we usually just did like one more thing. So while he was sleeping in Epcot. On our first day, we got in line to see Donald in Mexico, which the girls really wanted to do. And while I was waiting in line, Colton went and grabbed some margaritas. Amazing. Was able to sit and drink my margarita in the shade with him asleep great in Hollywood Studios when he fell asleep at the villain show.

[00:10:37] Dana Stanley: We went around the corner to Hollywood Scoops and grabbed some ice cream again. Found some shade. In Magic Kingdom when you fell asleep. We popped over to Annie Gravity’s goodies over in Tomorrowland. Grabbed one of their seasonal ice cream floats again, sat in the shade. And then my daughter was able to dance with Stitch and she was very excited ’cause she was decked out, head to toe stitch over in Tomorrowland for Cool Kids summer.

[00:11:04] Dana Stanley: And we wouldn’t have been able to do those three things if he hadn’t fallen asleep. And we had stayed back. You know, you can’t do everything. You can’t do everything in the park and have a midday break. So there really is finding that balance of what you and your family need in that moment. I would say around one o’clock is when I would start taking inventory of how we’re all feeling and make the call.

[00:11:27] Dana Stanley: Then are we gonna stay in the park and do something chill or are we gonna go back to the room? And while that was all in the middle of the day, how our days started was another broken rule. And that was at, we showed up right at Park opening. One of my biggest, I don’t know if you wanna call it a pet peeve.

[00:11:44] Dana Stanley: But I do it to myself all the time, is getting to the park like exactly at park opening. Let’s say Magic Kingdom says Park opening 9:00 AM early entry starts at eight 30. Anywhere around that time feels more congested on the buses in line to scan in line for coffee. You get the idea. I’d much rather get there, you know, 7 38 or like 9 30, 10 if I can.

[00:12:12] Dana Stanley: But man, when I tell you we could not get out the door before eight 30, like almost very consistently, it’s almost like comical. It was like eight 30 on the dot and I was for sure not rushing, but in the back of my mind, I’m always shooting for 8:00 AM at the latest. We were just constantly running 30 minutes behind, and I know exactly why.

[00:12:34] Dana Stanley: It wasn’t because I take a lot of time to get ready or we weren’t prepped for the next day with our park bag and like waters ready to go. Snacks, of course, but it’s because I hate waking up my kids. When I say I’ve been to Disney World with every age of child, that means I just know how important sleep is.

[00:12:55] Dana Stanley: And when you have kids on vacation and they’re taking very short naps, they’re going to bed really late. And even like when you think of my 9-year-old, she’s not in a stroller. So anywhere we’re walking, she’s walking. They need their sleep. Now, normally I would just work in earlier bedtimes on nights that we wanted to be out the door early, but this trip was particularly hard because it’s summer.

[00:13:20] Dana Stanley: And summer means it’s not really dark until truly like 9:00 PM So we’d be doing our bedtime routine and trying desperately to just get these kids to bed. And they’re either like outside playing with all the other kids at Riviera when we’d normally be doing baths and books or we’re in the middle of the routine and you can hear like activity outside and it’s still light out.

[00:13:43] Dana Stanley: And the girls are like, why are we going to bed? And it would just like drag, like we could just not get everyone to settle down because it was still laid out. This is why we actually ended up skipping the fireworks and Magic Kingdom this trip because they started at 10:00 PM which like, oof, that’s just 10:00 PM is rough.

[00:14:01] Dana Stanley: Keeping the baby out that late. Just something to keep in mind when you’re thinking about your kids and sleep in Disney World in particular. The earlier the sunsets, the earlier fireworks or fantas are going to be, but the later, the sunsets fireworks aren’t starting until nine 30, 10:00 PM So just do not plan on having an early morning the following day if you have any of those planned.

[00:14:27] Dana Stanley: Okay. Even with tired kids and getting there at Park opening, we still manage to do some kind of unexpected new things for us. And this one’s kind of funny ’cause it’s such a rule for me and like I don’t expect anyone else to think this or do it. In fact, in my episode for first timers, I specifically touched on the fact that I think you should expect to dish out some cash on souvenirs, because I’m telling you, kids remember their trips for years and years from a stuffed animal or a pair of ears or a wand, whatever.

[00:15:07] Dana Stanley: When you have some tangible thing that you. Semi routinely see or play with repeatedly. It kind of like jumpstarts that memory in your mind and makes it fresh. Again, I can’t help but think of inside out when I say that, like imagining a memory, like the little globe and it’s really dull, and then they see like a stuffed Mickey Mouse, and then the memory gets a little brighter.

[00:15:33] Dana Stanley: You know, it just lasts longer. My girls specifically really love the baby versions of the stuffed animals, the characters that come in little swaddles. So they have all different ones from different trips. So as soon as we get to the parks and they pick one out, I’m like, yeah girl, let’s get them go to the cash register.

[00:15:54] Dana Stanley: And Colton’s kind of looking at me like, don’t you wanna wait? Like, see if they want anything else. But I know that they play with them and they’ll sleep with it the entire trip. So I actually love getting it as soon as possible if they’re absolutely sure, like that’s the character they want. Those were givens on this trip.

[00:16:10] Dana Stanley: And then I wanted to let the girls pick out one other thing independently that they really wanted. Because we go fairly often. They thankfully know what they want ahead of time. Like they can say, oh, I wanted this last time, or I want that. But my five-year-old, my sweet, sweet five-year-old, her special pick for this trip was the number one thing I have told them since they were born that we would not buy, and that is a balloon.

[00:16:38] Dana Stanley: She just wanted a classic Magic Kingdom main street. Disney World balloon and I get it like I really do. But all those magical reasons I just talked about, why souvenirs are important is literally the opposite of a balloon. You can’t take it home with you. You can’t really like play with it. And yeah, I know I could bring home like the deflated balloon.

[00:17:03] Dana Stanley: I could put it in a scrapbook or something, but it’s just not like a solid reminder of the trip to me. In general, we’re just not fans of balloons. We think that they’re a pain in the butt to carry around or have on your stroller, yada, yada, yada. But if you have a second child, you know, they’re usually the very sweet and easygoing one.

[00:17:23] Dana Stanley: Sailor’s the one that gives us no trouble, no fuss. And I feel like I tell her no every single day. Like, no, we can’t do that ’cause your brother needs to nap. Or No, we can’t do that ’cause you know, X, Y, Z. So you know what? I bought that girl her balloon, and it actually took. A full day or so, weirdly enough, because when you’re not used to buying a balloon, you realize that they’re not everywhere.

[00:17:47] Dana Stanley: Like when you’re looking to buy one. It’s funny because we like couldn’t find where to buy a balloon. We’re like, where are the balloon people? But she finally got her balloon. She got the classic Mickey face on one side, mini on the other. That’s the one that she wanted. And I will say I was shocked because after we got her the balloon, we brought it back on the bus for Magic Kingdom.

[00:18:08] Dana Stanley: And we put it in our room at Riviera, kind of next to her bed. And do you know, she never asked to bring it out with her again. Like me and Colton never said anything, but I didn’t want the pain of carting it around everywhere or having it on the Skyliner. So it was kind of just like a little room decoration for the rest of the trip.

[00:18:29] Dana Stanley: I think just the act of getting said balloon was very exciting to her. But the thing that made this a souvenir to me. Why I feel like this was a very good rule to break, if you wanna call it that. And what made it memorable, if you wanna say, that was the morning we went home. Sailor has been hearing the same story since she was born about how we got a balloon one time in Disney because a little girl gave it to her older sister.

[00:18:57] Dana Stanley: Story. You may have heard this before, that sometimes when someone is leaving and they can’t bring their balloon home with them, they’ll pass it along to another kid. So that’s what we did. And thankfully she wasn’t upset about it at all because before we bought the balloon, it was kind of again like a rule that we’ll buy you a balloon if you give it to someone else when you’re done.

[00:19:21] Dana Stanley: So that morning we were flying home. We had our luggage down in the lobby to go to the airport. And we just kind of scouted families in the lobbies and were trying to gauge like families that also didn’t look like they were leaving and also not too much in a hurry. And finally we found one, first thing I did was kind of whispered to the mom off to the side, are you okay with us giving you a balloon?

[00:19:48] Dana Stanley: Like you can say no. And she laughed and said that her son would love one. We found out that he also was turning five, just like sailor. And you know, I think it just made her feel good. So the whole balloon purchase was a success, and she will probably want another one on our next trip. So I’ll report back if this is something that I do again.

[00:20:11] Dana Stanley: And speaking of being caught off guard in the moment, we ended up in Magic Kingdom without a stroller. Now I have to add an asterisk to this because I would never in my right mind, go to Magic Kingdom without a stroller. What happened was I was spontaneous. Yes, your girl, Dana Stanley was spontaneous for one night, and I won’t say I regret it.

[00:20:36] Dana Stanley: It was worth it in some ways. And honestly, the biggest one was that I was able to buy the sweatshirt that I had been looking for any very specific size. We have to go back a little bit. So what happened was we were having dinner at 1900 Park Fair, and since we were at Grand for Floridian Resort and it’s connected to Magic Kingdom by the monorail, we decided even though we had Ubered to the Grand for Floridian, we would take the monorail to Magic Kingdom and then the free bus ride back to Riviera because it turns out our little boy crew loves the bus.

[00:21:15] Dana Stanley: It’s like his favorite. Ride of the trip is the bus. We were like, whatever, let’s just take the bus home. But when we got to Magic Kingdom to walk over to the bus stop, it was just such a nice night. Like the heat had broke a little bit. It wasn’t too hot. The crowds were really low. And I was just like, should we just hop in the Magic Kingdom and ride like one thing?

[00:21:37] Dana Stanley: But because we weren’t planning on this at all. And another reason why planning is so important. We had left our stroller at the hotel because we thought we were just going to dinner and going back. Now, if I had been alone, no way, Jose, would this have happened, but thankfully my husband was there and he’s like, yeah, I’ll just carry crew.

[00:21:58] Dana Stanley: No big deal. See if you can get a lightning lien for Pirates, which I did. So let’s just go get on one ride, maybe do some shopping and we’ll go back. That’s what we did. And although we didn’t die, I would say I almost died because if you can imagine, I’m dressed up from dinner and then carrying a toddler, like a very heavy toddler from the front gate back through Adventureland, because while, yes, Colton did hold him the majority of the walk, I am mom, which means he wants mom.

[00:22:30] Dana Stanley: So you can imagine, and I’m not gonna lie, it was like very stressful without a stroller. I didn’t have anywhere to put, you know, my big bag down for one. And obviously carrying crew is hard. The thing that was really funny though, after riding pirates and after a little shopping, which is like very chaotic.

[00:22:50] Dana Stanley: Was my five-year-old needed to be carried back to the bus stop. So while Colton was holding crew, I’m carrying sailor, which like if you thought my son was heavy, she’s so heavy. And I said, you know, Colton, take a video of me. Just so I can post this as a reminder that if you think your kid walks a lot at home or they don’t use a stroller at home, or if your kid runs five Ks, I don’t care, you should still bring a stroller.

[00:23:19] Dana Stanley: Or maybe you could be torn between bringing like a single or a double stroller. Maybe you have a little kid, an older kid, maybe you know you need one, but you’re forgetting that you’re, you know, four, five, 6-year-old. Yes, like they will need something to sit down. So bring a double stroller if that’s your scenario, or two single strollers, you’ll be happy that you have it.

[00:23:44] Dana Stanley: And then there was a rule that I am happy to break only when it actually saves me money. And for this particular trip, since we were staying at Riviera. It would’ve been the perfect opportunity to rent DVC points or rent Disney Vacation Club points. This is Disney’s timeshare program, and you’ve probably heard of me talk about it before, that you can save a ton of money on deluxe resorts when you rent points.

[00:24:11] Dana Stanley: You don’t have to be a member. You can just rent points from existing members. This was such a last minute trip and I honestly just waited too long. So guess what? There were no rooms to rent that were DVC. When I was talking to my friend Melissa, who’s a travel agent, she was like, Hey, you should actually look at Disney’s website because they’re having really good summer promotions.

[00:24:34] Dana Stanley: And you know what? She was right because with my annual past discount, I saved just as much as if I had rented points. And I’m telling you, it has been a very long time. Like it’s been a hot minute since I booked through Disney and broke my own quote rule. But I only have that rule. Because it saves me money.

[00:24:54] Dana Stanley: Just a reminder that if you’re wondering what will be cheapest or best, just price it out. I am sorry. I know it’s like extra work, but I get asked a lot, will I save money on X, Y, Z or should I stay here or there? And while I can guess, it depends on so many factors that you really just need to price out the options you are looking at.

[00:25:15] Dana Stanley: Which brings me to the last broken roll, the one that gets me every time it seems, and that is spending money on bottled water. I tell everyone to get a grocery delivery to the resort, always for snacks and all of those things, but especially for bottled water. If you buy a bottle of water in the parks, it’s going to be $4.

[00:25:37] Dana Stanley: But like we bought a big case of water from Instacart and ended up being 33 cents a water bottle. So spending $4 when you’re in the parks, especially when you can bring in your own water or get ice water at the quick service spots for free. Or use the water filling stations. It makes sense to not spend $4 on water, but there are times when you are somewhere doing something in the parks and you know what?

[00:26:06] Dana Stanley: You’re gonna walk by that big bin of ice with those. Cold, sweaty, dasanis looking at you and you are going to want it and you are going to be so thirsty and walk up and you are going to buy that cold bottle of water. I know this because my kind of like kryptonite for the past two years has very specifically been when we are leaving the Magic Kingdom.

[00:26:33] Dana Stanley: Like right before the exit, I am all of a sudden so thirsty and usually we’re headed back onto the bus. So like I know we’re gonna maybe be waiting 10 to 15 minutes for the bus, then the ride home. And this is always when I find. Our water bottles are like pretty close to empty. It’s the end of the day and there is a drink fridge inside the confectionary just before you leave.

[00:27:01] Dana Stanley: And I will literally cut the corner. Like I’ll go in one door and yell at Colton, like, take the stroller and I’ll meet you on the other side. And I bust in there, grab two bottles of water. They’re so nice and cold. I use my magic band, like I don’t have my wallet or anything. I just want these waters. And then I bolt out within 10 seconds on the other side.

[00:27:23] Dana Stanley: And when I tell you it is worth the $4 a bottle and then some, I mean it. And I wanted to just acknowledge this because yes, water is free in Disney. You should take advantage of that. But you know what? Just budget for a few bottles of those dasanis, okay? Because I guarantee you, you’re either gonna buy one or wish you had bought one.

[00:27:43] Dana Stanley: So there you have it. Seven rules. I’ve preached some to you and some maybe like privately to myself. That I went ahead and broke kind of by accident. I hope the takeaway from this episode is that all of these things usually work, and while you should definitely keep them all in mind and try your best, know that you can still adapt and pivot.

[00:28:08] Dana Stanley: Honestly, sometimes breaking your own rules is the best way to figure out which ones really matter and will make your next vacation even better. If and when you go back, if you loved this behind the scenes breakdown, make sure you’re subscribed to the show. We have a new episode every Monday morning.

[00:28:24] Dana Stanley: Okay, talk to 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.

[00:28:42] 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 feature ones. Until then, keep planning for your next favorite memory and I’ll see you next time.