[00:00:00] Dana Stanley: I’ve been seeing a lot of people round up their year in a way where it’s like the nails and fails. I dunno if you wanna say it that way. More like what they nailed and what they failed. I guess. I can’t really scroll or see anything anymore without my brain automatically applying it to Disney World and Disney World Planning, so I thought it would be fun.

[00:00:21] Dana Stanley: To do an episode looking back on 2025 of what I nailed and what I failed, but instead of my personal life or in my business, which could be a whole nother conversation for a whole other day. I would apply it strictly to Disney World Planning.

[00:00:42] 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.

[00:01:02] 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.

[00:01:23] Dana Stanley: Okay, let’s dive in.

[00:01:30] Dana Stanley: If this is your first time listening to the Laid Back Magic Way podcast, hello, I’m Dana. If you’ve been hanging out with me for the whole year of 2025, you know that I’ve talked about Disney World a lot this year from the mindset of going to the parks. And the family dynamics to ride strategy, lightning lanes and character dining resorts, strollers, apps, the hidden costs, the mistakes, morning routines, all the things, whether it’s been my regular solo episodes like this one, or q and a episodes, or more recently, I’ve been adding guest interviews, which has been really cool and really fun.

[00:02:17] Dana Stanley: Reflecting back on the whole year, I wanted to think about this in the way of, okay, here are the things that worked and here are the things that didn’t. And that way you and I both can learn from my mistakes and we can kind of carry the good things and apply them to our own vacations in 2026. I wish I could ask you like, do you want the good news?

[00:02:42] Dana Stanley: Or the bad news first to decide whether to do the good things or the bad things first. But for the sake of the episode title of what I nailed and what I failed, let’s start with the good parts of the things that I got right when it came to Disney World this year. The first like win that came to my mind was trying a new resort, like a different resort that I normally wouldn’t.

[00:03:10] Dana Stanley: Put at the top of my list to try. I am a creature of habit and I like staying at the places that I have stayed before or I feel comfy in. But this year we were able to stay at the Riviera and I think it was absolutely a win. I. And it was kind of an unexpected one because it’s not where I wanted to stay for this particular trip.

[00:03:31] Dana Stanley: I waited too long, which we will get to later in the episode, and I only had kind of a few options of like where I would stay and it was just kind of like a happy accident in this scenario. There were a lot of things I liked about the resort, and I’m going to leave a link in the show notes for my full review.

[00:03:54] Dana Stanley: Whether or not this resort is worth it. So I’m not gonna go into like the things that I liked about Riviera, but I want to say that it was a success in the sense that it wasn’t my first pick, but because it was different, it stands out in my mind so much. Like if you. You may be listening, and this doesn’t necessarily apply because you’re not planning on going to Disney World yearly, but if you go to Disney World often, I am kind of becoming more open to staying in different places just because something about turning 37, having my third baby being done with babies.

[00:04:37] Dana Stanley: And just thinking of memories and how to really remember and treasure things. And I’m not gonna talk about it ’cause I’m gonna start crying, but I think when you have these different experiences it kind of preserves it more clearly in your mind, if that makes sense. So I know like this trip, it’s going to be kind of categorized in my brain somehow of like before Sailor went to kindergarten.

[00:05:06] Dana Stanley: And just like even when we talk about, it’s like the time we stayed at Riviera. I just like that versus always staying usually at the same resort. And there are definitely pros and cons to sticking to the same resort, but I don’t know. I’m gonna, I’m putting that in the pro column of trying a different resort this year.

[00:05:25] Dana Stanley: I realize I’m going to sound. Cocky when I say this, I mean I am in the category of like, here’s everything I did right? But this one, like I’m really gonna sound cocky and it’s that I feel like I nailed Lightning Lane Multipass this year. I’ve always been a bit of like a fast pass slash lightning lane snob.

[00:05:48] Dana Stanley: So if you don’t already know, back in the day the Skip the Line system was called FastPass. And then it was Genie Plus, which is really when I got nerdy about it. And then it was switched to a similar system, but under a new name called Lightning Lane Multipass. So this year I really went back to the basics when I was booking our lightning lanes and also when I was booking for our family.

[00:06:13] Dana Stanley: I just followed the exact steps that I teach inside of lead back magic. How to, you know, prep the night before, or even that morning, not booking in chronological order, and really just plan them out so well, so that we weren’t zigzagging across the park at all this year. Even on the park days where things kind of went wrong, like if a rye went down or.

[00:06:37] Dana Stanley: Crew was losing his mind or skipping a nap, like those kinds of things or down pouring rain, things like that. It still managed to all work out with our return times or modifying, like if I had to choose the thing that went the best, I would say it was not waiting in line for sure. Another thing I feel like we really nailed this year that was completely new to us.

[00:07:04] Dana Stanley: Was splitting up more was splitting up more or knowing when to split up. And this is something that we’ve always struggled with in the past because we genuinely like all being together. Like if I had it my dream way, all of my kids would be the same height and we could just all ride together for everything.

[00:07:26] Dana Stanley: And obviously that’s close to impossible unless you maybe had triplets. So I definitely started coming around to this more just seeing my friends do it more, not necessarily in Disney, but on trips like, like the mom would take the older daughter to a concert and the dad would take, you know, the baby or the little ones like to an equally fun thing, like things that obviously like a little toddler or baby couldn’t do.

[00:07:55] Dana Stanley: One of the parents takes the older one to do something age appropriate with them. And my husband, I think, disagrees with this a little bit more than I do, but I think it is really nice splitting up as a mom because when you have multiple kids, it’s hard to feel connected to each kid equally and have like that one-on-one time.

[00:08:19] Dana Stanley: And splitting up really helps with that. But my advice for this, when it comes to Disney World and splitting up. And this would be obvious scenarios of there’s a ride that maybe a kid isn’t tall enough for. So one parent takes that kid to go do a ride or an experience or watch a show that maybe you have a kid that isn’t old enough or their attention span isn’t there.

[00:08:45] Dana Stanley: It is definitely not fun missing out on those things because you obviously don’t, you don’t want them to miss out on something just because they have a little brother or sister. But I will say my advice. For this, when it comes to Disney World specifically, is if you do split up, you have to do two things that you both really want to do.

[00:09:04] Dana Stanley: Like I’m not saying one of you go change this poopy diaper while you go have a margarita by the pool. Like that’s not what I’m saying. The best time this works is when both groups get to do something. They’re really happy and pumped about and can have fun together. A good example of this is when we were at the Riviera, my son really needed an early bedtime.

[00:09:28] Dana Stanley: Um, I think he had skipped a nap or maybe had a short nap, and I needed an early bedtime in the sense of I just needed like some quiet and calm. So my husband took the girls down to the pool, which he enjoys, like he’s not a. Stay in the room kind of guy like, I’m ready for bed at like eight 30. And he’s like, you’re joking, right?

[00:09:52] Dana Stanley: So he was happy to do that and be with the girls. The girls were thrilled, like they loved being in the pool and I was happy just being alone in the room, which I think sometimes. It seems like sad, like, oh mommy, we’re leaving you. And I’m like, no, it’s really okay. It’s really okay. I’m, I’m good in the quiet and these four walls and like everyone was happy in that scenario, but that could be totally switched for you.

[00:10:17] Dana Stanley: Like maybe you would be the person going to the pool and someone else would stay back. You can think of a million different scenarios, but if you are splitting up or maybe someone isn’t tall enough when you’re in the parks. Go ride something. Like if you’re doing even ride or switch, like don’t just sit around, go to a playground or get some face paint or go meet a character.

[00:10:38] Dana Stanley: Like do something that’s fun. Go get some popcorn and sit in the shade and like chat with your kid. Don’t make it like, ugh, we’re missing out because we’re waiting for Dad to get back with Big Brother. You know? And we did that more. This year than we’ve ever done. Obviously maybe adding the third kid and then also my five-year-old kind of like unlocked a bunch of rides with her height, so she was able to ride more of the big kid things and we were just like so much better about splitting up than in the past, and it felt really good.

[00:11:15] Dana Stanley: The last thing that I’m putting in the nailed category is. This is the first year where I didn’t get FOMO at all really when I was on the trip, which is a little odd just because this is one of the years where we didn’t go to Disney World a lot compared to other years, and I can genuinely say like, I didn’t care if we missed out on something.

[00:11:38] Dana Stanley: And I’m gonna talk about this a little bit on, on what I failed because we did miss out on a lot of things. And the truth is, I do put. A certain amount of pressure on trips because we’re not going every week, every month. We’re not local. I think some people think, I live in Florida. I do not. So it’s a big deal for us to go to Disney World and I, I want to do the things that I wanna do.

[00:12:00] Dana Stanley: I wanna do new things to review and, and give feedback to you guys, but I just didn’t feel it for this year, and I, I can’t really say why. It’s just something that I was like, you know what? If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. And there were scenarios where when I really thought about doing the thing that I quote wanted to do.

[00:12:22] Dana Stanley: The truth was, is like it wouldn’t have actually been that fun for us in that moment or the night or the mood I was in, or the mood my kids were in, or just what we needed. It was just a genuine like, you know what? I am much happier doing this thing or not doing that thing, which leads me to the failed category.

[00:12:45] Dana Stanley: Of the year when it came to Disney World. I was gonna say this last, but it makes sense ’cause this is what we’re talking about right now of I did not get to do everything I wanted to do. I could have like a very long list of like things I wanted to do. I wanted to visit the new cake bake shop on the boardwalk.

[00:13:04] Dana Stanley: I wanted to stay on the boardwalk, which ended up being fine. But the truth is, I really did wanna go back to the boardwalk. I didn’t even see the boardwalk this year, which is a very sad thing for me. We did not see the new nighttime electric parade, which hurts my heart ’cause I’m very excited for that show.

[00:13:25] Dana Stanley: ’cause that’s what I remember in Disneyland growing up as a kid was. The electric parade, like definitely top five memories as a kid is the Disneyland electric parade. So that makes me sad. I know that we’ll get to it again, but there were a lot of things that we didn’t get to do or, or the timing didn’t work with our trips.

[00:13:44] Dana Stanley: We had a great year of vacations, so nothing in this category is me complaining by any means, but it was a fail of just not being able to do everything that I had my heart set on. I think one of the reasons this happened, actually, I don’t think I know, is I waited way too long to book anything. I really, really dragged my feet in 2025 when it came to booking trips, and there’s so many reasons that this happened, but it was definitely a fail because you have to not only book early, but you have to prioritize travel, and I think this comes more naturally to some people.

[00:14:28] Dana Stanley: Than me of like if they were talking about Europe in 2028 right now, like that’s totally normal and not overwhelming for them. I’m not that kind of person. Like I love planning, I love the feeling of planning, but to execute the planning when it comes to travel and dropping money on something that is like year, a year or two out is really hard for me.

[00:14:56] Dana Stanley: And it’s something that I wanna get better at because the older we get and the older the kids get, and the older my parents get and Colton’s parents get is it has to be a priority or it’s not gonna happen. I just, I know that now and I understand it, and I just straight up failed that this year. I didn’t prioritize it is what it comes down to.

[00:15:17] Dana Stanley: If you wanna view it from, I didn’t prioritize my time or our money or our schedule into our Disney World trips. That’s what hap and I am determined to not let that happen again. I am not one to like make people feel guilty about not going to Disney World, or if you don’t have the finances to just put it on a credit card and worry about it later.

[00:15:43] Dana Stanley: Like, I never wanna sound like that. I mean more of like me being thoughtful. About our travel plans and then executing them. Not like, oh, it’d be so nice to visit X, Y, Z during X, Y, Z. Like if you are serious about it and your spouse is serious about it, you gotta just do it or it’s not gonna happen. I know that if I’m serious about it and like Colton’s serious about it, we have to literally put it in the calendar.

[00:16:14] Dana Stanley: Not only the dates of when we wanna go, but I have to put it in the calendar of like, no, we’re booking it. Like this Saturday night after the kids go to bed and putting it in our shared calendar. That’s the age that I’m at right now. But another thing that I failed in Disney World is just the like kind of fantasy of getting out the door early and waking up early and getting on the bus early and you know, being there before early entry and kind of like rope dropping a chill ride.

[00:16:43] Dana Stanley: That just went right out the door for me this year without fail, that just did not happen for us this year. And I think the fail really isn’t that I didn’t get out the door early. The fail is that I tried or wanted to like, I should have just been more realistic with, you know what, we’re probably not gonna get out the door before nine and then I wouldn’t have felt bad.

[00:17:08] Dana Stanley: It sounds so simple. Why did I do that to myself? I’m definitely going to be linking to the episode that’s titled I had an Anxiety Attack on the Skyliner. Here’s what happened, because that in itself just was obviously a fail. I thought that I would be fine riding the skyliner, even though I’m scared of heights, I can force myself to fly.

[00:17:33] Dana Stanley: I don’t love it. I can do roller coasters. I just thought I had done the skyliner in the past. I thought because I had done it before and was just like more prepared, I’d be fine. And I actually was like semi fine for maybe the first two or three rides. I think it was like the fourth one that I just had a full on panic attack.

[00:17:54] Dana Stanley: And if that isn’t like a straight up fail, I don’t know what is. So the biggest things I learned this year is to definitely prioritize, like thoughtful preparation is key. In all things in life, but especially your travel and your actual Disney World vacation and what you plan on doing. I also learned, you know, when you’re going to Disney World with kids, it really does hinge a lot on sleep and that it is okay to prioritize sleep.

[00:18:30] Dana Stanley: You know, I have friends that whose kids wake up at 5:00 AM. And so they are able to get out the door really early, but that also means you’re probably not able to stay out really late. So you might have to miss a parade or a party or fireworks. And it goes back to, you know, not having FOMO of like it is what it is, and if that is going to make things worse for you because maybe the kids aren’t getting enough sleep or you’re not getting enough sleep to just let it go.

[00:18:59] Dana Stanley: And I also learned that your. Mood is probably like the most important thing. If the day is super magical and it’s not raining and all of your lightning lanes are working out and all of those things, but you again, maybe didn’t get a good night’s sleep or your mindset is off or you’re. In a negative head space of the day.

[00:19:27] Dana Stanley: It kind of doesn’t matter how magical things are, and I know that because I’ve struggled with that this year, and I say it to my husband all the time of like when you’re struggling with like mood of when you’re having problems with mood, it doesn’t really matter. Like you could be sitting on a beach with a pina colada.

[00:19:44] Dana Stanley: It’s like a lens that you’re looking through that’s just like kind of clouding everything. So anything that you can do. To make sure that you are in a good head space is probably the most important thing of the whole vacation, to be honest, because even if things go like wrong, you’re calm enough to handle it first off, and it doesn’t feel like that overwhelming or that big of a deal if you feel good.

[00:20:11] Dana Stanley: So that is my 2025 Disney report. Um, the things I nailed, the things I failed. And the things I will try to do again now that I know better. If you’ve listened to even one episode this year and thought, oh, that’s actually really helpful, it would mean the world to me if you drop a five star review on the podcast.

[00:20:39] Dana Stanley: It’s a free way to support the show and it has more impact than you think. And if you have any notes for me on how I can improve the show. Email me at hello@summerwithwe.com. I’ll see you next week where I’ll start the year off with all the things I’m most excited about coming to Disney World in 2026.

[00:21:00] Dana Stanley: See you then. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Laid Back Magic Way podcast. If you enjoy today’s. 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.

[00:21:18] 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 future ones. Until then, keep planning for your next favorite memory and I’ll see you next time.