Our first Disney trip!
Your first trip to Walt Disney World as a family really is a rite of passage.
That first family trip will always be memorable, and you can read about ours here (spoiler…I was not always a Disney fan).
Jennifer and I were recently doing a massive spring decluttering (I referred to it as a purging but Jennifer felt that term was just too gastric so we’re sticking with decluttering) when we came across one of the little things we (meaning she) did to make that first Disney trip extra special (and to assist me in making sure I knew where the kids were at all times).
You can see evidence of it in our shots in that post and we’ve recommended it to a number of clients in the past:
The family Disney Trip Tee Shirt.
By the front door at 3:00am ready to catch that early flight to Orlando!
1. Way Number One to Make that First Disney Trip Special: Consider the Family Disney Trip Tee Shirt for the Kids
What you ask is the Family Disney Trip Tee Shirt?
We have three kids: Veronica, Cecilia, and Becket.
They were young enough and small enough that we needed to find a way to keep an eye on them…you know kids out in public at that age, they’ll make we parents feel like secret service agents, charged at the cost of our very lives with keeping our eyes on them and keeping them safe.
To make that job a little easier, Jennifer had tee shirts made for each kid, embroidered with a mouse silhouette and the words Newsome April 2011.
She had one made for each kid for each day, with a specific color designated per day.
What did that accomplish?
Jenn had a ball having them made.
From the Poly to the Magic Kingdom by boat!
It made things much easier for me to keep an eye on the kids and for us to keep from leaving with fewer kids than we came with, and it made the packing process and the deciding what to wear process much, much simpler – cutting down on that dreaded decision fatigue.
What was the cost involved?
Shirts were $3.99 each from Michael’s, 3 each for 5 days, and embroidery locally for just under $40 total. The kids’ entire wardrobe for Disney was an extra $100.
2. Way Number Two to Make that First Disney Trip Special: Make Sure Your Kids are Good Ages.
What is a good age?
That depends on your kids.
But, we think there’s a sweet spot from around about 5 years old to just under 10 for that first Disney trip, which will almost always be Magic Kingdom centered.
Why between 5 and 10?
A few reasons:
They’ll be old enough to remember it. In the future, you’ll want to reminisce with the kids about the trip. Make sure they’ll be able to actually remember going.
They’ll be old enough to walk for themselves!
They’ll be young enough not to eat everything in sight.
Still young enough to enjoy the princess breakfast
They’ll be young enough to not fancy themselves too grown-up to enjoy being a kid at Disney. I’m reminded of the dedication CS Lewis made in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:
My Dear Lucy, I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather.
Here’s hoping we all stay young-at-heart-enough to always enjoy Disney!
Don’t forget to
Relax…you can get to Disney from here!
Hi! I'm Jennifer Newsome and I own and operate Southern Girl Travel with some help from my husband, Mark, and our three kids. This shot was taken in beautiful 