The Disneyland Expert mom: An In Depth Interview
Planning your first trip to Disneyland? Or maybe the first one with little kids? Katie of Family Travel Folio is a complete Disneyland expert and will set you up for success. If it’s your first trip to Disneyland or your 100th, I promise you’ll learn something from Katie! What’s even more impressive is that Katie is no one-trick-pony. In addition to be an avid Disney goer she has traveled the world!
Disneyland Expert Katie by the numbers
Despite juggling a full time job in cancer research, a part time travel blog, and two young girls (ages 7 and 4), Katie has somehow managed to travel to 4 continents, 13 countries, 20 states, and 14 National Parks. She has a goal of visiting all 7 continents and needs to check off Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. She isn’t sure exactly how many times she has been to Disneyland but let’s just say it’s A LOT!
Have You Always Loved Traveling?
When I was growing up, my family drove to Minnesota every other summer to visit family. Back when gas was cheaper (ha!).
I loved visiting family on these road trips and enjoyed our vacations to national parks like Carlsbad Caverns and the Grand Canyon, but I think my love of travel really clicked when I was 11. It was my first plane flight and I had saved up my allowance to help pay for a trip to the American Girl Place in Chicago, Illinois. It was just my mom and me. We took taxis, ate at new restaurants, enjoyed the full American Girl experience, and even got caught in the rain walking back to our hotel room.
I knew I wanted to see more, do more, and travel to more places. Before that, I think I was just along for the ride. Not really aware of what adventures were out there or where I might want to go.
Now I’m lucky to have a husband who also loves to travel and we get to share that with our girls. Adventure is out there!
How Do You Find Time For Travel?
My husband also works full-time, so we really leverage our weekends. Even if it’s a day trip or a weekend getaway, we count it as travel. To us, no adventure is too small! A day at Disneyland, camping close to home, or going on a hike still gives us some benefits of a full-on vacation. We get to leave the stressors of work, school, housework, and other responsibilities behind while we focus on each other.
What Advice Can You Give To Families Who Want To start traveling but feel nervous?
Our girls’ favorite part of traveling (other than water slides, rides, and climbing rocks!) is sleeping all in the same hotel room (or tent) as a family. I say this because most people are nervous about traveling with young kids, babies, and toddlers. Here’s the secret: that’s when they need your time and attention the most. What better way to give it to them than making memories together?
Yes, you need to bring all the snacks, have changes of clothes for diaper blowouts, and be prepared for patience through public meltdowns. But those are all parenting moments you handle like a pro every day, and it’s actually easier to have the patience and energy to handle it when your focus is on your family not a mile-long to-do list.
What Is One Travel Mistake You Have Made?
A travel mistake I’ve made was forgetting the girls’ snow pants when we were camping in cold weather. We knew the nights were going to get chilly, but there was no snow or rain so I didn’t think through packing the extra pants. I figured their baselayers with our sleeping bag liners would be enough. I added on as many layers as we brought with us and wrapped them in our camping blankets.
It ended up being fine, but now I triple-check the weather forecast before any trip and pack one more layer than I think I’ll need just in case. I also use my family travel checklist. Every time I don’t use a checklist when packing I end up forgetting something!
Favorite Travel Destination And Why?
It depends on what type of vacation I’m in the mood for.
A lot of our family live in Minnesota and Colombia, so those places will always be on the travel itinerary. Banff National Park in Canada was an amazing trip focused on hiking and nature. Whereas the Caribbean Cruise was full of fun activities and perfect beach days.
But, if I had to choose one favorite destination, I would say Disneyland. It’s the one place where no matter how many times we go, I never feel ready to go home. I think it’s because of the strong connection I have with the Disney stories and how different each visit is. There’s always something new to do and see. As the girls grow, each age has its own focus and highlights.
It holds a special magic in my heart.
The Disneyland Expert weighs in…
What are your top 3 tips for a family visiting Disneyland for the first time?
- Figure out what’s important to you: characters and autographs? Going on as many rides as possible? Character meal or watching the Fireworks? Create a must-do, would like-to-do, and a don’t need to-do list so you’re not stressed to try and “do it all.”
- Be flexible. You have a plan, but that’s just to guide you so you make use of your time instead of standing around not knowing where to go next. If you’re on your way to a ride but see a character walking around go ahead and stop. Disneyland is full of magical moments. You just have to slow down a bit to enjoy them and not rush through.
- Bring noise-cancellation headphones. A lot of the indoor rides can be dark and loud. The noise-cancellation headphones help minimize sensory overload, making some rides less “scary.” They are also great for the parades and night-time spectaculars like World of Color and the Fireworks. If you are in the market for noise-cancellation headphones I love these that we bring to concerts for the kids!
What do you think the absolute best age for going to Disneyland is?
Every age! Each age is a completely different, amazing experience. But if I had to choose, I would say the most fun age so far has been 2/2.5 years old. You don’t pay for their ticket, but they’re still old enough to walk, dance, and have big reactions! There’s no pressure to try a ride they are finally tall enough for. I also love putting more focus on the characters, and the pace is slower for you to soak it all in more. Oh, and food is cheaper, haha!
Where should families splurge vs save when going to Disney?
Disney extras will be different for everyone based on what kind of experience you want.
Splurge on the hotel if you want a fully immersive Disney experience. But skip the park hopper if you’ve never been to Disneyland before. There’s too much to do in one day and park hopping takes extra time and extra walking.
Skip the character meal if your kid will be afraid of the characters or not into them. But buy Genie Plus even if you have little kids if your focus is on rides.
You can bring your own food to Disneyland, so that can help save a lot of money. What we usually do is bring in our own food for lunch and then buy dinner.
How many days at the parks would you recommend for a family with young kids?
For the average Disneyland Resort vacation, I would recommend 3-5 days. If you don’t do the park hopper, pick one day at each park. Then on the third day repeat your favorite park.
For families with more time, I think 3 days at Disneyland and 2 days at California Adventure is perfect if you really want to do as much as possible. If you can splurge on the park hopper, it gives you more flexibility. Focus on each park separately at first then just park hop on your last days to repeat favorites or get to something you didn’t get to do yet.
Make sure to schedule an afternoon or a full day to enjoy the hotel pool and Downtown Disney.
It is so easy to get overwhelmed planning a trip to Disney, where do you recommend families start?
You need 2 things: your ticket and your park reservations. If you don’t live close (or want a staycation) you’ll also need a hotel. Other than that, there’s nothing you need to worry about!
If it’s exciting for you to book reservations for restaurants and extra experiences or plan cool things you don’t want to miss, then go for it! But if that stresses you out, don’t bother.
Some of the coolest Disney days we’ve had have happened by sheer luck. We didn’t get dining reservations at Lamplight Lounge, but they had a walk-in available and sat us in their secret VIP dining room! We’ve had a couple of cast members give us a random front-of-the-line pass to a ride not even included in Genie Plus Lightning Lanes. We brought our own lunch and Peter Pan and Wendy stopped by our picnic table to talk about eating chocolate-covered broccoli.
If you want to pre-plan experiences, but don’t know where to start then reach out to a Disney travel blogger (like me!) or a travel agent. It won’t cost you anything to ask us questions, and we love to help people plan.
Katie is someone I’ve loved connecting with on Instagram and I was so happy she agreed to share her travel expertise with me. I knew I wanted to share tips and tricks from a Disneyland expert because that is such a common big trip for families of young children!
Looking for more travel inspiration? Learn about a fellow travel mom, Priscila, who specializes in Pacific Northwest adventures with her young kids.
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