Disney-world Florida with a toddler?!

[ClapYaHands]

We are looking at a big extended family holiday to Disney world Florida either towards the end of this year, or towards the end of 2025. In my own family there is myself, my husband and our two kids. Our eldest is 5, so a great age for Disney but our youngest is only 1. If we go this year, he will be nearly 2 and if we go 2025 he will be nearly 3.

I know he'd get more out of it when he's older, like 4+, but honestly him being free because he's under three is a massive financial help and this is when the extended family want to go out and we'd love to experience it all together.

I'm sort of thinking 2025 is the right choice, he will be a bit older, but still one month off turning three so free. Husband wants to go this year because we can see the prices and know we can afford it whereas next year hasn't been released yet and he's worried it might be unaffordable..

I think it’s much of a muchness in all honesty, I’d probably look at 2025, and if DH is worried about affording it you can put the money side you’d be using this year then it takes the pressure off. It’s unlikely to change that much in a year to be honest unless something significant happens.

I would just add that you shouldn’t book it until the actual flights are out (11 months in advance) as if you use a travel agent then you’ll be way overcharged for the flights - they don’t actually know the prices so they’ll just guess.

At over 2 but not yet 3 you don’t need to pay for a park ticket for him. While they are expensive, in the overall holiday cost I’m surprised it’s a massive financial help as you describe it.

Honestly long haul flights and jet lag with such a young kid wouldn’t be my choice of holiday. Is there not a venue thr extended family can agree on which is more suitable for you?

2025 is going to be better for your youngest but I think your eldest will find it more magical at 5/6 than they will at 7/8. A lot changes in those short years. Your youngest probably won’t remember much whichever you choose.

So the sensible idea would be to wait until they are almost 3 as I think the flight will be a lot easier. I can't imagine trying to entertain an almost 2 year old for 8 hours on a plane.

On the other hand - it's a big family trip and if that matters to you then just do it when you can. You never know what is round the corner. We debated taking our 14 month old along with other siblings and in the end went for it. 3 months later we were in lockdown and then COL crisis. Would not have made it if we waited.

Yes as long as we go before he's 3 his park tickets are free and it also made a difference to flight/hotel cost. I just mean we can't really afford to wait until he's 5/6 as we might not be able to afford that.

We went as an extended family a year ago in April. DD had just turned five and DS was 8 months. My niece had also just turned five and my other niece had just turned two. It was absolutely brilliant! I enjoyed it so much more than I thought. The older two girls just thought it was amazing and were completely entranced by the magic of it all. I think if we'd waited until they were older, some of that magic would have been lost. The 2 year old also loved it. My DS was (as you'd expect) completely oblivious! He really enjoyed being around everyone though. It was much easier to managed it all than I thought. My only advice would be not to say too far away from the park. We were in a villa about 25 mins away but it very rarely took that amount of time due to the awful traffic. It was often over an hour.

We went with DD3 and it was fine.

The hardest bit was keeping her hydrated and reapplying cream regularly, but other than that it was great!