Disneyworld (2023)

04/08/23

Summary

I visited Disneyworld in Orlando for the second time over spring break in March 2023 with my wife and kids (age 8 and 5). This ended up being a great time to go because the weather was mid-80s everyday so the parks weren’t too hot and the pool was perfect to end each day. From New York, the trip is certainly an easy flight to Orlando and given we would stay on the resort or just go point-to-point to the parks, we relied on Uber throughout the trip. We structured the trip to relax at the hotel on the first day and last day with the visiting of parks in the middle – we visited EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios (this last one was new for us) on this trip. We also used a wonderful VIP guide service called World Class VIP (special shoutout to our guide Kunal Malhotra) to take us through Magic Kingdom and then help us plan the other parks, dining, activities etc. We would certainly highly recommend the service to give piece of mind and peacefully optimize the few days spent in Disney – especially given the complexity around the new “FastPass” system which is now called “Genie+” and gives access to “Lightening Lanes.”

 

Accommodations

We stayed at the wonderful Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World® Resort for the second time and would reiterate our strong recommendation for anyone visiting Disney (even if you are going to Disney the place is amazing). It has the benefit of essentially being a Disney Hotel (officially an affiliate) while still being a Four Seasons – i.e. it is inside the Disney complex (and the hotel provides free transportation), early access privileges (same as a Disney-owned hotel) and the hotel has character breakfasts with Goofy and Friends (definite highlight!) a few times a week. Note for the character breakfasts that only Goofy, Mickey and Minnie come so you have to get your full character experience throughout the parks. The hotel gift shop is also a good place to get the autograph books for the kids to take with them to see the characters. The restaurants are also awesome – especially Ravello, PB&G, Plancha and of course Lickety Split for quick breakfasts and delicious gelato. Note – kids 5 and under eat free in some of the restaurants! The hotel amenities include an awesome pool and multiple water slides for the kids in addition to a lazy river, ping-pong, basketball, game room, sports courts etc. Fun Fact: You can actually see the fireworks from the rooftop of the hotel! We didn’t feel the need to spend the evening at the parks or go to a nearby restaurant to catch them. An all-around amazing experience.

 

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Recommendation

We would certainly recommend this trip! – especially for a 5-6 day visit. Our plan is to take both the kids every 3-4 years while they are young / pre-teens because there is so much to do for all interests – the kids really enjoy Disney and we can increasingly focus the trip on experiences for each child. Make sure to get the Character books from any gift shop as the kids will love getting autographs and pictures with their favorite characters! Half days at the parks continue to be a good move for us (coupled with chill time outside the parks at the hotel) and getting everywhere early meant we could do some popular rides without “lightening lane” access. Like with everything popular, especially dining, make your reservations 60 days ahead of time or at the earliest chance you can because for Disney everyone is on top of it earlier then you might think (and almost everything is cancellable). A few other specific items: We found it best to see the main characters outside of magic kingdom since so much of that park should be about the rides and parades.The Disney app is amazing and should be your center of focus for planning the trip. Related to that, learn the new lightening lane system in advance of going since now everything happens on the same day of the trip vs. in the past when rides could be planned in advance. Have an amazing trip!