We love to visit the theme parks, but since COVID, we have not been able to enjoy them as much. We lost out on our annual passes to Disney, so we decided to do a one day family celebration trip to Magic Kingdom for Anderson’s 6th birthday and my nephew’s 7th birthday.
It has been THREE years since we have taken our kids to Disney, so they were all so excited!
When you grow up in the theme parks backyard, you kind of don’t realize what a big deal it is because you go all the time. Our kids have always been blessed with the theme park experiences, so this past three years has looked very different to them by not being able to go whenever we want.
We know that it is an amazing privilege to be able to swing over any day we choose and we don’t take it lightly. THIS first day back was incredible. While it was only for THE ONE DAY, we made the absolute most of it!
Now that our kids are all old enough to enjoy pretty much every ride, I decided to put together an itinerary for families with kids 5 and up.
Even without Lightning Lane Multi Pass/Single Pass, we were able to ride a TON of rides! Mind you, this was a packed Saturday – the weather was gorgeous and the park was so busy!
First – let me give you my PRO TIP: carry a bag and also make each kid carry a bag with their own snacks, water and sweater/hat/rain coat/weather accessory. I used my trusty Mickey bag that I was gifted from Disney Springs last year. This Petunia Pickle Bottom bag holds a ton!
I filled it with:
- more snacks
- 3 waters for me
- sunscreen
- hat
- hand wipes and sanitizer
- sunglasses
- wallet
Here are more items to include!
Day before:
pack bags and have water bottles ready
Day of:
6:30a wake up, breakfast, get kids ready
7:30a out the door
8:15a arrive at Magic Kingdom parking, go through security, take boat or monorail over to MK
9a arrive at Magic Kingdom
9:15a ride Pirates of the Caribbean
10a ride Haunted Mansion – it’s a classic and our older kiddos still love it!
11a ride Prince Charming Regal Carrousel and It’s a Small World, both were walk ons at this time of the day!
11:45a Ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure! Our group got called after a small morning downtime for the ride. Your Virtual Queue will greatly impact how your day goes – we stayed on that side of the park most of the morning to avoid a long walk once we got called.
12:15p Ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – our thrill ride loving kiddos love the ride AND the line of this one!
12:45p Watch the Country Bear Musical Jamboree – the new show is so refreshing (hello AC!!) and we loved seeing all of the updated bears.
1:15p Eat lunch at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe – we love the variety of food offered here, and who doesn’t like sitting down to rest your feet and cool off midday at Magic Kingdom!?
2:15p Watch Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room
2:45p Ride Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover
3:15p Watch Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – this 20 minute show is usually just a walk on, and another great way to cool off indoors.
3:35p Ride Space Mountain
4:30p Ride Tomorrowland Speedway
4:50p Ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
6p Head out of the park
**You could easily make a dinner reservation for this day in the park, or do a quick service dinner. Then I recommend souvenir shopping and sticking around for the fireworks and riding any other rides that have low wait times or you want to do again. Also, TRON Lightcycle Run now is a standby line only (no virtual queue) so getting dinner and eating that while in the line for TRON is another option for your family, especially if you have kiddos that love thrill rides!**
Here is our itinerary for kids under 5!
