I don’t care how old you are.

Disney is magical.

There’s something about walking into those parks that makes adults feel like kids again and makes kids feel like whatever they’ve imagined might actually be possible.

And I think I love Disney with older kids even more than I expected.

For this trip, we had four adults and five kids.

My sister’s family and ours.

Our kids are close, and one of the things I love about traveling together is that the older kids naturally look out for the younger ones.

Which is especially helpful when the adults are outnumbered.

As usual.

We drove from Atlanta to Orlando and spent seven days doing all four Walt Disney World parks plus Discovery Cove.

And because apparently that wasn’t memorable enough…

a hurricane came too.

Getting There

We left Atlanta around lunchtime and headed south toward Orlando.

Except there was something slightly unusual happening on the interstate.

Everyone seemed to be going the opposite direction.

At one of our stops, someone asked if we were leaving town because of the hurricane.

We laughed.

“No…we’re actually heading INTO town.”

I’m fairly certain they thought we were nuts.

In retrospect?

Fair.

Our 8-Day Orlando Itinerary

Day 1: Drive Atlanta → Orlando + Disney Springs
Day 2: Discovery Cove
Day 3: EPCOT
Day 4: Hurricane/rest day
Day 5: Magic Kingdom
Day 6: Hollywood Studios
Day 7: Animal Kingdom

Day 8: Our fairytale dream came to an end and we headed home

It was packed.

But honestly?

I wouldn’t change it.

Where We Stayed

We stayed at Lake Buena Vista Resort Village & Spa, and we chose it specifically because we needed SPACE.

Nine people require space.

We had a three-bedroom suite with a large living room and pullout couch, two queen beds in the kids’ room, a full kitchen and dining area.

Our oldest slept on the pullout.

The girls shared one queen.

The boys shared the other.

And everybody had somewhere to exist without nine people being piled into two standard hotel rooms.

The other major selling point?

The pirate-ship pool.

That became very important later.

The entire stay was around $1,200, which we split between our family and my sister’s family.

Our portion was around $600.

For the amount of space we had?

I thought that was an incredible value.

And having a full kitchen saved us money too.

We ate breakfast at the resort before heading to the parks instead of buying breakfast for nine people every morning.

Nine people will teach you very quickly that a $7 breakfast isn’t actually $7.

It’s $63.

The Trash Chute Situation

There was exactly one thing I’d change about our room.

We were right beside the trash chute.

On the positive side?

Extremely convenient.

Nine people generate an impressive amount of trash.

On the negative side?

Every time we walked into the hallway, our noses immediately announced:

“Yep. There’s the trash chute.”

Thankfully, we couldn’t smell it inside our room.

Would I stay there again?

Absolutely.

I’d just request a room a few doors down.

Very convenient. Very unfortunate.

Arrival Night: Disney Springs

We arrived around dinner and headed to Disney Springs.

This is exactly how I like using an arrival day.

You don’t necessarily need to spend money on another full park ticket when you only have a few hours left.

Get settled.

Eat somewhere fun.

Walk around and get some of that long drive kid energy out. 

Let everybody get excited about what’s coming.

We ate at T-REX Cafe.

The food was okay and definitely Disney-priced, but the experience was really fun—especially for the younger kids.

Dinosaurs.

Roaring.

Meteor showers.

Noise.

Basically dinner inside a child’s fever dream.

Disney Springs itself is worth wandering if you have some extra time.

There are tons of shops, restaurants and things to see.

Would I give up an actual Disney park day for Disney Springs?

Nope.

But arrival evening or a morning before heading home?

Perfect.

Day 2: Discovery Cove

This was one of the experiences I was most excited about.

I’m an animal person.

If you give me an opportunity to interact with an animal while we’re traveling, there is an excellent chance I’m going to find a way to put it on the itinerary.

And Discovery Cove didn’t feel like another Orlando theme park.

It felt like we’d somehow checked into a tropical aquatic island in another country.

White sand.

Tropical landscaping.

Water everywhere.

Animals.

And you change into a wetsuit…

then basically accept that this is your outfit now.

We swam with dolphins.

Snorkeled with fish.

Fed rays.

Had a shark experience.

And did SeaVenture, where you put on what looks like a giant space helmet and walk along the bottom underwater.

The Kids’ Favorite: SeaVenture

The kids were unanimous.

SeaVenture.

And I get it.

You’re literally walking underwater.

I was slightly claustrophobic when that giant helmet first went over my head.

My brain needed a minute to understand what we were doing.

But this is something I’ve learned about myself while traveling.

There’s a difference between:

“I genuinely do not want to do this.”

and

“I REALLY want to do this…I’m just nervous.”

If it’s the second one?

I push myself a little.

Not recklessly.

Not because I think fear is always bad.

Sometimes fear is the thing telling you:

“Kaitlyn, perhaps we DON’T need to do this.”

But I don’t want fear making every decision for me either.

SeaVenture was one of those:

“I don’t know if I can do this…”

experiences that became:

“I’m SO glad I did.”

Swimming With Dolphins

Swimming with the dolphins was incredible too.

They’re such intelligent, curious animals.

One of the trainers working with us was pregnant, and one of the dolphins kept gently putting its nose near her belly.

The trainer joked that the dolphin knew she was pregnant before she did.

Do I know whether that’s actually what the dolphin was doing?

Nope.

But it was adorable.

Discovery Cove Is Relaxing…

…Unless You’re Us.

This is the one thing I would want someone to understand before planning their day.

Discovery Cove can be an incredibly relaxing tropical-resort-style day.

You can swim.

Snorkel.

Eat.

Float.

Hang out on the beach.

Do an animal encounter.

Relax.

OR…

you can book approximately every animal experience available.

Which is what we did.

Our schedule was FULL.

The staff had to coordinate our different encounter times so nothing overlapped.

And animals aren’t rides.

You can’t walk up and say:

“Excuse me, Mr. Dolphin. We have a 10:15.”

They have their own schedules and routines.

So before booking, I’d decide what kind of Discovery Cove day you actually want:

Do you want a tropical resort day with an animal experience or two?

Or…

do you want an animal-experience day in a tropical resort?

We chose option two.

And I wouldn’t change it.

But they are very different days.

At certain points our relaxing island vacation became:

“EVERYBODY GRAB AN ICE CREAM. WE HAVE TO GO SWIM WITH SHARKS.”

And Speaking of Ice Cream…

Food was included.

And with five kids?

That was fantastic.

The food itself was decent. It’s not the meal I’m still thinking about years later.

But being able to feed everybody without constantly pulling out my wallet was wonderful.

And there was essentially unlimited ice cream.

The kids thought they had discovered paradise.

There were also birds that had clearly spent enough time around tourists to understand exactly where they should stand in case someone happened to…

“accidentally” drop a French fry nearby.

I’m not accusing anyone of anything.

I’m simply saying those birds understood their audience.

My Disney Park Ranking

Now for the controversial part.

Our family did all four parks.

And we absolutely did not agree on which one was best.

My ranking:

#1 EPCOT

#2 Hollywood Studios

#3 Magic Kingdom

#4 Animal Kingdom

My son?

Hollywood Studios.

The girls?

Magic Kingdom.

And they are entitled to their incorrect opinions.

But that’s actually one of the things I love about Disney.

Everybody found their thing.

#1 — EPCOT

My favorite.

And honestly, this should surprise absolutely no one who knows me.

I’m a traveler.

I’m a foodie.

EPCOT basically looked at those two personality traits and said:

“Come on in.”

We didn’t plan a traditional sit-down lunch or dinner.

Instead, we started in Mexico and essentially:

ATE. OUR. WAY. AROUND. THE. WORLD.

This is my preferred method of international travel.

No airport required.

My favorite thing?

The arancini in Italy.

Hands down.

I also loved the focaccia.

Mexico gave us tacos and margaritas.

My daughters love sushi, so Japan was naturally a favorite for them.

My husband and brother-in-law basically loved everything.

And if you’re planning to drink around the world?

Tiny Tip

PACE YOURSELF.

The men committed to the assignment.

The assignment eventually fought back.

Eat.

Drink water.

Take your time.

There is absolutely no prize for finishing EPCOT unable to locate your own hotel room.

Guardians of the Galaxy

My favorite ride.

100% worth it.

I don’t like massive drops.

I don’t want to go upside down.

But Guardians was exhilarating in exactly the right way.

There’s a picture of my sister and me on the ride where we look about 12 years old again.

That picture is Disney to me.

Soarin’

Second favorite.

Which is particularly ridiculous because I’m afraid of heights.

But I was so captivated by flying over different places around the world that I barely thought about the height.

Apparently I will fly if Disney straps me into a giant hang glider.

Still not getting on an airplane though.

Frozen Ever After

Third favorite.

My kids were tiny when Frozen came out, and we watched it approximately 7,000 times.

Olaf is still my favorite.

So there was definitely some nostalgia happening here.

Mission: SPACE Orange

No.

Absolutely not.

My husband and I got strapped in and he looked down.

“What’s that bag?”

I pulled it out.

He looked at it.

“Oh my gosh. That’s a barf bag.”

Fantastic.

I spent approximately the next two minutes reconsidering every decision that had brought me to this point.

The G-forces were MISERABLE for me.

Never again.

If something happens to planet Earth and we have to abort…

I’m just gonna stay behind.

The Hurricane Day

Our storm came through overnight after EPCOT. The parks closed early, but due to the lack of crowds, we did everything at EPCOT in less than six hours and some things twice!

The parks closed the following day.

And honestly?

It turned into one of the strangest—and best—rest days we’ve ever had.

We never lost power at our resort.

Restaurants and businesses were closed that morning and started reopening later.

Thankfully, we’d packed plenty of food from home.

Because feeding nine people taught me to prepare long before the hurricane did.

We’d already planned to make breakfast in our suite.

Once conditions were safe, the kids played at the resort’s pirate-ship pool.

The adults?

Hammocks.

And it was wonderful.

No:

“Hurry up!”

No:

“We need to get to the next ride!”

No schedule.

The kids just played.

And our feet got a break.

Apparently it took an actual hurricane to make me schedule a rest day.\

Would we have physically needed a recovery day?

Probably not.

The crowds were so low during the rest of the trip that navigating the parks was dramatically easier than a normal packed Disney day.

But did we enjoy it?

Absolutely.

Would I Go During a Hurricane Again?

This is going to sound crazy.

Yes.

Now let me qualify that.

I’m not telling anyone to ignore an evacuation order, drive into dangerous conditions or treat a hurricane like a theme-park crowd hack.

Hurricanes are unpredictable. 

Storm surge, flooding, tornadoes, wind, road conditions and power outages are real risks.

Our experience was simply our experience.

And ours happened to work out incredibly well.

The weather leading into the storm was comfortable.

At EPCOT we wore ponchos and dealt with rain on and off, but it didn’t stop us from riding.

There wasn’t significant thunder or lightning until later, when we’d already made our way through most of the park.

The crowds were practically nonexistent.

So if we had another Florida trip planned and a hurricane entered the forecast?

Would I automatically cancel simply because there was a storm somewhere in Florida?

No.

I’d watch the forecast obsessively.

I’d follow official guidance.

I’d pay attention to park closures and local conditions.

I’d bring food and supplies.

And if conditions still made the trip reasonable and safe?

After this experience?

I’d probably call out sick and do it again.

#2 — Hollywood Studios

My son’s favorite.

We aren’t even huge Star Wars people.

But Galaxy’s Edge?

Very cool.

And Rise of the Resistance ended up being one of my favorite rides of the entire trip.

But my absolute favorite at Hollywood Studios?

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway

We rode it six times.

Six.

At that point we weren’t riding it anymore.

We were basically commuting.

Slinky Dog Dash

Another favorite.

This is a really good coaster for someone like me.

It gives you the roller-coaster feeling without the massive drops and upside-down nonsense that immediately removes a ride from my itinerary.

Tower of Terror

My children LOVE this ride.

I will never understand them.

I hate heights.

I also hate elevators after getting stuck in one years ago.

Disney apparently looked at those two fears and thought:

“What if we combine them?”

Sir.

No.

I did not want to die that day.

The children were welcome to enjoy themselves- and they did 4 separate times!

Mom waited safely on planet Earth. eating a Mickey Pretzel. 

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

Upside down.

No.

Star Tours

Feels suspiciously like boarding an airplane.

Made me motion sick.

Also no.

Fear is apparently very selective.

What We Ate at Hollywood Studios

We ate at Woody’s Lunch Box for lunch.

Good food.

But if mobile ordering is available when you visit?

Use it.

Hungry kids standing around waiting for food at Disney is not an attraction anyone needs to experience.

Dinner was 50’s Prime Time Café, which I really enjoyed.

The retro atmosphere was fun.

The kids liked it.

The milkshakes were delicious.

And because I have an egg allergy, I appreciated having allergen information available when ordering.

We also consumed the required quantities of:

Popcorn.

Cotton candy.

Pretzels.

Because obviously.

Stay for the Nighttime Show

Even though everyone was exhausted, we stayed for the nighttime show.

Mickey.

Music.

Movie scenes.

Disney songs.

Tired children.

Worth it.

#3 — Magic Kingdom

The girls’ favorite.

This is classic Disney.

The castle.

The characters.

The rides you remember from childhood.

And the nighttime fireworks.

This is the park where you walk in and think:

Okay. We’re at Disney World.

We arrived early and headed toward the back of the park before the crowds really made their way there.

That strategy worked really well for us on this trip.

We were able to get several rides done quickly before things became busier.

Magic Kingdom was also noticeably busier than the other parks for us as people started returning after the storm.

My Magic Kingdom Favorites

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

TRON

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Haunted Mansion

Pirates of the Caribbean

Peter Pan’s Flight

Winnie the Pooh will always get me because it’s one of those childhood Disney things I still love.

Jungle Cruise?

Fine.

Personally, I wouldn’t wait forever for it.

“it’s a small world”?

It’s a classic.

It’s also…

very much still “it’s a small world.”

You ride it because you’re at Disney.

Astro Orbiter

I tried.

I REALLY tried.

I made it all the way up there.

Looked around.

Kissed my children.

And went right back down.

Sometimes pushing through fear gives you SeaVenture or Flight of Passage.

Sometimes your brain says:

“Girl. Absolutely not.”

And you listen.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

Have you seen that drop?

No.

You guys have fun.

I’ll see you when you get back.

Meeting Characters

This was one of the fun parts of Magic Kingdom, especially with the younger kids in our group.

We met several Disney characters throughout our trip.

And even with older kids, there’s something about Disney characters that still makes everyone smile.

We’ve never done character dining.

When our kids were young enough to really be obsessed with it, it wasn’t something we could justify spending the extra money on.

Now they’re older.

So if you’re looking for:

“Is character dining worth the money?”

I’m not your girl.

We’ve never done it, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.

What We Ate at Magic Kingdom

We ate at places including:

Casey’s Corner

Jungle Navigation Co. LTD Skipper Canteen

Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café

My overall opinion of most Disney park food outside EPCOT?

Decent.

Expensive.

Not terrible.

We also had plenty of ice cream, pastries, donuts and popcorn.

Our popcorn bucket ended up being especially useful because our kids LOVE popcorn.

We’d refill it before leaving the park, then the kids would eat popcorn while watching a movie back at the resort before bed.

Sometimes the little traditions become the things you remember.

Stay for the Fireworks

If you’re going to stay late at one park?

For me, this is it.

The castle at night.

The music.

The fireworks.

Tinkerbell.

Everybody exhausted.

Adults whose feet no longer function.

Classic Disney.

#4 — Animal Kingdom

Last…

and kind of least.

I STILL LIKED IT.

Something has to come fourth!

And Animal Kingdom is a LOT of walking.

Kilimanjaro Safaris

Must-do for us.

Put me in a vehicle and drive me around animals and I’m happy.

Expedition Everest

Or, as I originally called it:

the Yeti ride.

My kids absolutely loved this thing.

I did not ride it.

Have you seen the drop?

Again:

No.

There is a picture from the kids’ first ride where every child looks like they’re actively regretting every decision that brought them to this moment…

while my husband looks like he’s having the time of his life.

Naturally, the kids then rode it about three more times.

Pandora

Hands-down the coolest part of Animal Kingdom.

And this is another example of me pushing through something I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy.

I was nervous about Avatar Flight of Passage.

Virtual-motion rides sometimes make me sick.

I’m afraid of heights.

It sounded like a terrible combination.

But I LOVED it.

There were a couple of downward swoops where I closed my eyes.

Otherwise?

Amazing.

The visuals were incredible.

This was absolutely one of those:

“I don’t know if I can do this…”

to

“I’m SO glad I did.”

moments.

Kali River Rapids

My second favorite Animal Kingdom ride.

It kept opening and closing during our visit, but we managed to get on it twice.

Na’vi River Journey

Meh.

It’s pretty.

It’s slow.

Personally, I wouldn’t wait a long time for it.

And during our particular visit, it felt like some of the effects weren’t working quite right.

Other people may love it.

They are entitled to their incorrect opinions.

What We Ate at Animal Kingdom

Satu’li Canteen was really good, although the kids weren’t particularly interested in it.

Flame Tree Barbecue was also good.

But my favorite sit-down dinner of the entire Disney portion of this trip?

Rainforest Cafe

Hands down.

It had that same immersive animated-environment feeling as T-REX Cafe…

but I thought the food was MUCH better.

Jungle scenery.

Animals.

Simulated thunderstorms.

And the greatest miracle Disney produced all week:

The kids ate their food.

If I could pick one sit-down restaurant from this particular Disney trip to repeat?

Rainforest Cafe.

Traveling Disney With a Blind Family Member

Accessibility matters to our family because our oldest daughter, Aubrey, is blind.

And one thing I want to be careful about when sharing our experience is separating what Disney offered during our trip from what Disney offers today.

During our visit, we used the disability-access accommodations available to us at the time.

We really only needed them at Magic Kingdom because the hurricane had made crowds so low at the other parks.

Discovery Cove also knew about Aubrey’s blindness before our visit.

And their staff were wonderful with her.

They helped her safely enter and exit different water areas and helped make the animal experiences tactile so she could actually participate.

That distinction matters to me.

Accessibility isn’t:

“She came with us.”

It’s:

“She got to experience it too.”

And that was something Discovery Cove did really well for our family.

Feeding Nine People Without Going Broke

We packed food.

A lot of food.

Before the trip, my sister and I compared snack lists and divided up who was bringing what.

The kids had snacks in the car on the drive down.

We had food in the suite.

We made breakfast there.

And we carried snacks into the parks.

This saved us a LOT of money especially when it came to water. 

It also accidentally made us very prepared when the hurricane closed restaurants for part of a day.

Tiny Tip : BRING WATER

Seriously.

Bring water.

We carried bottles in our backpack and refilled them throughout the day.

Florida + theme parks + miles of walking =

hydrate.

We also packed:

Ponchos.

Sunscreen.

Snacks.

Park Hopper?

Nope.

I know people LOVE park hopping.

It’s just not how we like doing Disney.

I barely have enough time to do everything I want in ONE park.

I cannot imagine spending part of that day leaving, traveling to another park, going through another entrance and then trying to cram another park into what’s left.

For us:

One park.

One day.

Arrive.

Work our way through.

Eat.

Ride.

Stay for the nighttime experience when we want to.

Return to the resort and pass out from exhaustion.

Done.

What About Paying to Skip Lines?

We did purchase Disney’s paid skip-the-line option that existed during our trip.

And because the hurricane absolutely destroyed the crowds…

we barely needed it.

Magic Kingdom was the main place where it became useful.

We were also refunded for the unused/affected portion.

Would I automatically pay extra again?

I’d look at the current system, our dates and expected crowds first rather than assuming we needed it.

Disney changes these programs frequently, so this is definitely one of those things I’d check again when planning another trip.

What We Spent

For our family, I remember the major costs being approximately:

Disney tickets + Discovery Cove experiences: ~$2,000

Our half of the resort: ~$600

Food: ~$1,000

Then we had gas, parking, souvenirs and miscellaneous spending.

This was one of our bigger trips.

And no, we did not casually wake up one morning and decide:

“Let’s spend thousands of dollars at Disney.”

The hotel and tickets were funded using our tax refund.

Then we money-tucked for food and souvenirs.

By the time the trip came around:

The money already had a job.

That’s how we make bigger trips work.

We’re not trying to spend the least amount of money possible.

We’re trying to spend intentionally.

Make breakfast in the suite.

Pack the snacks.

Bring the water.

Then spend money on swimming with dolphins.

Save on the things that don’t matter much to you.

Spend on the experiences that do.

Would I Change Anything?

Honestly?

No.

And I don’t say that about every trip.

I wouldn’t skip anything.

I wouldn’t reschedule anything.

I wouldn’t change the parks we chose.

I wouldn’t take away Discovery Cove.

I wouldn’t even change the ridiculous number of animal encounters we booked.

The hurricane rest day ended up being amazing, even though with the tiny crowds we probably didn’t physically need a recovery day as badly as we normally would at Disney.

The kids did incredibly well.

And I’m incredibly fortunate that my sister’s family and mine are genuinely close. 

And when you’re traveling with nine people?

That is worth more than any Lightning Lane Disney could possibly sell me.

This Is One They’ll Remember

This is probably one of my favorite trips we’ve ever taken.

Not just because it was Disney.

The kids were at the perfect ages.

Old enough to do the big experiences.

Old enough to appreciate where they were.

And old enough that they will actually remember it.

We also have some of the BEST pictures from this trip.

Everybody found their thing.

I found EPCOT.

My son found Hollywood Studios.

The girls found Magic Kingdom.

The kids found SeaVenture.

My husband apparently found joy in watching his children question every decision they’d ever made on Expedition Everest.

But that’s what I think I’ll remember most.

Not how many rides we rode.

Not whether we waited 20 minutes or 45.

Not how many countries we ate our way through at EPCOT.

It’s everybody being there together.

Because there are certain trips that become part of your family’s story.

Years from now, one of us is going to say:

“Remember when we went to Disney during a hurricane?”

And before they even finish the sentence…

everybody is going to know exactly which trip they’re talking about.

Those are the trips I’m collecting.

---

Tiny traveler. Big adventures. No airplanes required.

Planning This Trip Today? A Few Things Have Changed.

This post is our family’s experience from our trip, not a promise that Disney will work exactly the same way when you visit. Disney changes attractions, accessibility procedures, line-skipping programs, entertainment and prices frequently.

Disney’s current paid line-skipping system is called Lightning Lane, with Multi Pass, Single Pass and Premier Pass options. Check the current options for your dates rather than relying on what we purchased during our trip.

Disney’s current Disability Access Service (DAS) also has different eligibility and registration procedures than those we encountered on our visit. If accessibility matters to your family, check Disney’s current accessibility information before traveling.

Discovery Cove currently includes food and beverages, snacks, wetsuits, snorkel gear, towels, lockers and parking with admission, although specific animal encounters and packages vary.

And yes—bring that refillable water bottle.

Your feet may hate you by Day 4.

Your kidneys don’t have to.