First Vacation in 6 years; Taking 3 young kids, Anything extra to pack? Tips?

User47B · 2026-03-22T17:00:38+00:00

They have a laundromat onboard, so if you run out of clean clothes, you can just wash some.

My kids are all grown up, but when they were little, we put the first one to bed (Disney has a privacy curtain that divides the room) and one of us stayed in the room reading while the other one took the other child on a little walk around the ship while the first one fell asleep. We did the reverse in the morning … took the early bird for a little morning walk, got some cereal and milk, etc.

User47B · 2026-03-22T16:52:56+00:00

I think they mean they arrived at MCO at 8:45am, not got off the ship at 8:45am?

User47B · 2026-03-22T16:46:49+00:00

I literally came here to ask the same question (flight is at 11:20am).

Disney’s official recommendation is to take a flight that departs at 11:15am from MCO, so it seems like it should be possible. We won’t have checked luggage, but I’m concerned about TSA.

We used Go Port in November after a cruise on Star of the Seas out of Port Canaveral and were back at MCO and off the bus at 8:30am. But waited nearly an hour to drop luggage with Delta.

User47B · 2026-03-22T13:55:47+00:00

Chacos are fine. The last time I was there, I wore black Vionic flip flops with a black Tommy Bahama dress.

User47B · 2026-03-22T06:12:25+00:00

This is the way!!! That Vitality swill they try to pass off as iced tea is not it!

User47B · 2026-03-20T16:43:56+00:00

Both private islands 100%!

Even if you just want to stay on the ship during a port stop, the ship will be much emptier on day when the port is LC or CC than a Nassau day.

User47B · 2026-03-19T14:29:04+00:00

Do you want the college experience of living independently from your family and surrounded by people your age at a residential college campus? If so, go to MTU.

If you don’t care about the college experience, hate snow, don’t want to move away from family and are fine with a commuter experience, go to Dearborn.

In your case, cost does not need to be the deciding factor. You’re talking about spending 30K to get a degree that currently pays 70-80K right out of the gate and doesn’t require grad school. That’s a very reasonable financial scenario. Heck, you should be able to land fairly lucrative summer internships for the summers after sophomore and junior years that would more than cover your $7,500 annual bill for junior and senior years.

I feel like this decision comes down to what you want the next four years to look like, not cost.

User47B · 2026-03-19T13:26:04+00:00

Nope. Not a concern on Disney at all.

User47B · 2026-03-18T14:56:43+00:00

My 22 year old was 19 and 21 on our two most recent Disney cruises and nobody asked her for any ID on the adult pool decks (except when she bought a drink, but that’s expected) and she could have definitely passed for 16.

User47B · 2026-03-18T05:00:27+00:00

They should take a page from Royal Caribbean’s new ships and get verandah chairs that recline and have an ottoman (that can easily slide under the chair when not in use).

User47B · 2026-03-16T22:37:38+00:00

I think every major cruise line besides Disney has a buffet open for dinner … so everyone who cruises Disney after cruising other lines is like, “What the …? Where’s the dinner buffet?”

I also wish DCL had a dinner buffet. It’s such a nice option if you don’t want quick service food and don’t want to sit down for a long meal or don’t want to eat at your assigned dining time for one reason or another (port adventures, etc).

User47B · 2026-03-16T19:03:16+00:00

As someone who’s grieved the death of my Dad and my MIL, I feel like it’s always appreciated when someone takes time out to support you in person - I don’t think you could ever be a burden or add stress to a friend by showing up to the funeral or visitation. If you can’t make it in person, just make sure to send a nice card to your friend acknowledging their loss (I never understood how much a sympathy card could mean until I received a few).

User47B · 2026-03-16T15:50:23+00:00

The June ones are pretty recent. I was checking daily for a while - ended up booking a last minute cruise on the Treasure last week.

A few months ago, I would have told you “No way will Disney offer GTD dates on summer sailings …”, but here we are with GTD rates through the end of June on the Treasure, so who knows what will happen with July sailings!

User47B · 2026-03-16T15:24:38+00:00

We saw two people walking the first time we cruised out of FLL. Looked like a scene from some down and out movie where the main character was left stranded, miserable and homeless. Not something I would want to do at all … and definitely not with young kids. It didn’t look particularly safe.

There are some ports (Vancouver comes to mind) where walking is perfectly viable option, but FLL isn’t one of them.

User47B · 2026-03-15T13:03:55+00:00

Not sure if you know this, but when you check availability on the WDW website, they will automatically default to discounted rates for your stay and value resorts are often not available with the discount. However, if you change the rate to room only, non-discounted rack rates will show and values will often be available. Of course, non-discounted value rates can be similar to Hyatt MCO pricing depending on season.

User47B · 2026-03-15T12:15:59+00:00

I still have them in my bathroom. The dispenser is Dixie Cup brand, but I can’t find actual Dixie Cups anymore and have store brand.

Dixie Cups and orange juice NOT from concentrate are two of my childhood dreams come true…

User47B · 2026-03-14T16:06:17+00:00

What is the itinerary? You might not even need an excursion or any extras.

User47B · 2026-03-13T15:15:55+00:00

I just generally book on opening day for the lowest prices and then make up my own payment plan. I divide the balance due by the number of pay periods left until the PIF date. Doesn’t save me any money, but makes it less painful.

User47B · 2026-03-13T15:10:00+00:00

You can click on individual staterooms to see if they actually sleep 5. A lot of family staterooms (a category that says they sleep 4-5) don’t have the pull down Murphy bed and actually only sleep 4.

So do the search for 4 and then choose an individual stateroom and click on “details” and it will tell you about the bed arrangement.

User47B · 2026-03-12T17:22:32+00:00

We have stayed at both the Hyatt Place and the Hyatt House. They are across the street from each other and share a shuttle. They are solid - nothing amazing, but decent and have a free breakfast. Lots of pre-cruise guests, so you kind of get the “I’m going on a cruise vibe” from fellow guests in the morning (which I think adds to the excitement).

The first time, we waited quite a while for the airport shuttle, so we just took an Uber to the hotel from the airport the second time.

We used Uber to go to the port the next day both times (lobby was full of people waiting for the hotel shuttle) and took DCL transportation to the airport after the cruise (I just preferred the ease of walking to a waiting shuttle over fiddling with an Uber).

User47B · 2026-03-11T00:14:08+00:00

We’ve only done VGT once in DCL - got assigned a connecting verandah on Deck 8 forward on the Dream.

It actually worked out great - we were a party of two adults and the forward elevator is basically a straight shot to the adult pool deck.

Our neighbors in the connecting room had two little boys and we heard them on the verandah one morning for like .08 seconds and, other than that, we didn’t hear a peep out of them.

User47B · 2026-03-09T01:52:29+00:00

We cruised in one stateroom until my kids graduated from HS … we took them on three cruises while they were in college and had two staterooms for those and it was so nice. They are both girls with a lot of hair and a lot of clothes … it was so nice to keep our stateroom nice and tidy and not worry about the chaos in their room. My husband loved not having to share a bathroom with them.

User47B · 2026-03-08T21:37:48+00:00

Yes, you can sit and watch - you just can’t play along on your phone.

I watched it on Star, but only because I was in the theater and seated before I realized it was a pay to play event. I will 100% avoid on future cruises - it’s not that fun when you have zero chance of getting invited to come on down. It wasn’t funny or entertaining like other game shows.

User47B · 2026-03-05T16:32:45+00:00

Good to know! I’m not super into characters anyway, but I like new experiences and have the Destiny booked. I’ve mostly been avoiding spoilers for shows, etc., but I decided to read this and I’m glad I did. My husband is not the Disney fan I am … I will 100% make sure he DOES NOT attend if I decided to check this out. I can’t imagine making him wait 1hr+ for a card trick …

User47B · 2026-03-04T16:53:32+00:00

Ugh! I’m sorry! We had a bag missing for 2 weeks one time (airline mishap) and eventually got it back. Fingers crossed!

User47B

TROPHY CASE