Trip Report #3: A Tale of Two Stays: Navigating a Split Disney Trip with Family - 8/10/23-8/19/23
Trip Report #
We spent the bulk of this trip at the Grand Flo with my in-laws: my husband’s separated parents, including his mom, his dad, and his stepmom. The first half was with my mother-in-law; the back half was with my father-in-law and stepmother-in-law.
In the previous post, I established that we like to plan our trips around “pillars:” experiences that we know we want to accomplish on a trip. We use these as anchors: items to build our itinerary around. We like to keep it to 3-5 pillars or anchors per trip; to do more leaves us feeling too boxed in, regardless of whether it’s just us on a solo trip or with the kids.
This tactic becomes even more important when we plan to take someone to Disney. We pick pillars that we know will be specifically more interesting for the party we are hosting to Disney. The pillars we picked for my mother-in-law (MIL) were very different from what we picked for my father-in-law (FIL) and stepmother-in-law (SMIL). We started by asking them what their priorities were, and we created the pillars for them as a result of these conversations.
My mother-in-law was very amenable: along for the ride, willing to go wherever we would lead; she wanted to do things like meet the maximum number of princesses and take the maximum number of family pictures. My father-in-law wanted to make up for lost time; he hadn’t been to Disney World in a long time, and his previous trip had been unsuccessful by his standards (read: he had failed to ride Rise of the Resistance), so he had a specific agenda, and I had to make sure I helped him accomplish that agenda. To be clear, he didn’t make me feel like I had to help him accomplish this agenda; this pressure was completely self-imposed.
This post is literally labeled with the nature of this stay: this was our first split stay. We spent the first four or five days in a Grand Floridian Deluxe Studio with my MIL before moving to finish her time in Disney in a one-bedroom, still at the Grand Flo. We spent the time with my FIL and SMIL finishing out the one-bedroom at the Grand Flo before spending one night in a Studio in the Poly.
We moved around—a lot. This is the trip that confirmed for me my long-held suspicion: split stays are not my favorite. We haven’t really done one since; we’ll spend a cheap night in an All Stars resort before driving ourselves over to the Grand Flo for our solo trips, but we’ve vowed not to do this with the kids in tow again for a while. It’s too complicated and too hard, especially if your kids are still napping. The discomfort at not knowing whether you will have a room for the much needed nap time is constantly looming over your trip.
Still, the individual rooms were quite lovely. I believe the Deluxe Studio at the Grand Flo was my favorite, even more so than the one-bedroom. I’m well aware of how ridiculous that must sound; how could I not like a one-bedroom at the Grand Flo, after all? It wasn’t that I didn’t like it. I just loved the closeness of the Deluxe Studio. At the Deluxe Studio, it felt like we were in this together, and it was magical in its own right.
The Studio at the Poly left something to be desired. The door to our one bathroom was broken, and it made going to the bathroom in the middle of the night challenging, especially since our son was using the other bathroom to, you know, sleep. And while it hadn’t felt overly tight in the Deluxe Studio at the Grand Flo with my MIL, the Studio at the Poly with my FIL and SMIL felt decidedly tighter. Perhaps this is because it was a full extra person. Perhaps this is because we were coming off of staying in the one-bedroom. Regardless, it made things a little more strained than I wanted it to be.
The lobby of the Poly felt so very different from the Grand Flo as well. This was the first deluxe resort we have stayed in outside of the Grand Flo, and it was really the first time we realized just how much each resort has its own personality. To us, after the peace and quiet of the Grand Flo, the Poly felt like a train station, and as the night wears on, and as more drunk people wander in from drinking around the world in Epcot, things get dicier and dicier. There was an instance, one night, of someone getting off the Monorail and trying to talk to the kids that felt borderline unsafe. It put a pretty bad taste in our mouths, but finally, over a year later, we’ve planned another trip to the Poly, and I’m hoping it can redeem itself a bit.
Regardless of where we were staying, I noticed, instantly, when we arrived in FL that first day that things had changed. I already felt like it was my home; I felt like I was showing my in-laws around my home. This was the trip where we really settled into our status as DVC members, and I loved every second of it.
This was a jam-packed trip. Magic was everywhere. This trip, especially the part with my MIL, is still what I think of as my peak Disney trip. Merida walked off from her handlers and watched the castle show with our daughter. The Royal Table was at peak operating procedure and created a beautifully magical experience. Our daughter loved riding rides with my MIL. Everything was perfect.
The back half—with my FIL and SMIL—wasn’t less magical, per se, but it was more stressful—for me; I don’t think anyone else felt that way. They’re theme park people, so they had a plan. I felt a lot of pressure to get them on things: Rise of the Resistance, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc.
My FIL is a Disneyland expert, and I regard myself as the Disney World expert. There have literally been debates between us in the past as to which park is superior. So, I felt like it was on me to get him on the rides he hadn’t managed the last time he had been there on his own.
We also did Not-So-Scary during this trip. This was the trip that started the inclination that we just might not be ready for these late-night, separate ticketed events just yet. We have Annual Passes, so we paid a lot of additional money to stay for a few hours and be fairly miserable for the bulk of the time. The parade was amazing, and our daughter loved trick-or-treating, but we couldn’t do a lot of the stuff that we wanted because we didn’t have the time or the capacity to stay that late.
But, overall, this trip was extremely successful. We got my FIL on his rides. We got my MIL her magical experiences. The kids loved showing their grandparents around Disney. We left eager to come back, and isn’t that what really matters?
In Review #
Food #
We had some amazing food on this trip. Breakfast at the Royal Table, though expensive, never disappoints. Is it some of the best food I’ve had on Disney property? No. But is it pretty good, especially for Magic Kingdom? Yes. We also ate at the Tusker House, which did have some of the best food I’ve had on property to date, especially for a buffet/character dining experience. Last but not least, for one night, my MIL watched the kids while we went to have a date night at the Contemporary at Steakhouse 71. On this night, we fell in love with two things: The Contemporary and the Smash Burger at Steakhouse 71. We get it literally every time we go to Disney now. Can’t recommend it enough.
Highlights #
The Merida meet and greet where she completely left her handlers and watched the castle show with my kid was amazing. She talked to our daughter, asking for her favorite princess. When our daughter said Elsa, she said they should wait and watch and see if she showed up, and when she did, they danced to “Let It Go” together. I’m literally tearing up writing this now, and this trip was a year and a half ago (and Editor Kas, who now experienced this event nearly two years ago, is also still tearing up re-reading this!). Our daughter still mentions that day, and she loves Brave now, where she didn’t really care for it before. It was the definition of a magical Disney moment. In addition, getting my FIL on Rise of the Resistance was a mountain, and we conquered it.
Lessions learned #
We constantly fear we move too fast for some people, and when we host others, we constantly fear pushing them too far or too fast. My husband and I both move—very quickly, especially given the fact that we are at or below average height. But what can I say? We’re theme park people!