Tag: Florida

Details on Disney

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For my daughter’s 5th birthday, we took her to Dutch Wonderland in Pennsylvania and she loved it! So for her 6th birthday, we wanted to plan a trip to another theme park and we picked the Magic Kingdom in Florida. My goal was to keep the Disney trip as affordable as possible, while not missing out on the magic. I detail below how much we paid for each part including how and when we booked.

Overview

This trip took place from Thursday, October 3, 2024 through Sunday, October 6, 2024 to coincide with my daughter’s birthday, slightly cooler Florida weather and a school off day (October 3rd was a planned school holiday, so she only missed one day of school). Early access to Magic Kingdom park was 7:30 am and it closed early, at 6 pm due to the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween event. We did not leave the park until almost 7:30 pm and the crowds were definitely less during the day because of closing early for the separate ticketed event.

  • Thursday, October 3 – Arrived by plane, picked up rental car, Wal-Mart for snacks, Disney Springs, resort pool
  • Friday, October 4 – Magic Kingdom (open 8 am – 6 pm) and resort pool in the evening
  • Saturday, October 5 – Checked out of resort, Skyliner scavenger hunt (6 resorts) plus Port Orleans for Mickey beignets
  • Sunday, October 6 – Orlando Science Center, returned rental car and left by plane (This was a free day thanks to our Maryland Science Center membership. Read more about why Your Family Needs the ASTC Passport in a separate post.)
Early entry | TeamTravelsBaby

Flights

First, we had to find flights from the DC area to Orlando (MCO airport). Fortunately, the DC area has three airports and from BWI we found round-trip flights on Frontier. I booked our tickets on August 12th for $157.96 each ($473.88 total). We do not pay for seats, we bring “personal item” sized bags only and I download the Frontier app to put tickets in my Apple wallet so there’s no additional cost. Given we have a stroller (a Disney necessity, even with a 6 year old), we are usually able to board around the same time as Group 1, so we’ve never had a problem putting our personal item sized roller boards in the overhead bins and our backpack underneath a seat. (As an aside, I love that all three DC area airports have play areas – check out my blog post.)

Since it was a short trip, we booked a spot at the Parking Spot-West in advance (on October 2nd). They had a coupon code they had emailed for 20% off, so we paid $37.60 to park our car there and used their free shuttle to get to and from the airport.

Creative photo by Disney | TeamTravelsBaby

Accommodations

I did a lot of research on whether to stay on property (meaning in a Walt Disney World Resort) or off property (meaning a non-Disney owned property, but one in the nearby area). Ultimately, when factoring in the cost of parking of staying off property and needing to park at Magic Kingdom (which has a cost) and lack of early access (if you stay on property you can get into the park 30 minutes early), it became a no brainer. On August 12th, I booked a preferred room at Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort, one of the budget friendly properties on Super.com for Thursday, October 3rd and Friday, October 4th because I knew we were going to Magic Kingdom on Friday, October 4th and I didn’t want to worry about checking out the morning we were trying to go to the park. We paid $208.96 per night ($417.92 total). The rooms were fully refundable before September 25th, which also offered a peace of mind in case I had found a better price. Parking is free at the resort and transportation is provided to and from the parks. And while we didn’t use it, it looked like you could also get to the airport with included transportation.

As a quick point of comparison, I was considering Holiday Inn Resort Orlando, which had a complimentary shuttle for around $140 and Wyndham Lake Buena Vista, which also included a shuttle for around $97 + $40 resort fee. In hindsight, I still feel I made the right decision with staying on property because early access meant we were able to ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan, It’s a Small World and the Haunted Mansion all within the first 60 minutes of Magic Kingdom opening (rode between 7:30 am – 8:30 am).

I am very fortunate that one of my dearest friends lives in the Orlando area. We were able to stay with her and her family the third night. While we had to rent a car (which I’ll share in the next section), the rental car was very affordable and this saved us from a third night’s hotel stay. Although, if we did have to book a hotel for the third night, I would have looked for an off property deal.

All-Star Sports Resort | TeamTravelsBaby

Transportation

On September 16th, two weeks before our trip, I booked a basic four door car on CarRentals.com with Ace Rent a Car for $74.53. While there were actually cheaper cars, after a bad experience with “Mex Rent a Car” in Miami, I went for a company where I at least recognized the name. This was an off-airport car place, so we had to take the free shuttle. Fortunately, we did not wait long on either end of our trip. The biggest thing with rental cars is to avoid the extras. We brought our own car seat, we avoided the toll roads (which use Sunpass), have car insurance and filled the tank at the end of the trip.

Besides wanting to visit our friends, we also wanted a car in order to stop at Wal-Mart on the way to the resort to pick up food to bring with us into the park and have at the resort. We spent $12.16 at the end of the trip to bring the car back to a full tank of gas. We did not spend any money at our resort on food or drinks. For Magic Kingdom, you’re allowed to bring full water bottles, food/snacks, etc. Of course, always double check the official rules! We used a backpack and had no problems.

In front of All-Star Sports, there were various lines labeled by location (e.g., Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Disney Springs, etc.) and a television showing how long the wait was going to be for the next bus. This worked out perfect for us and we didn’t move our rental car after arrival until we left late on Saturday night.

Pop Century Resort
Art of Animation Resort
Skyliner free fun | TeamTravelsBaby

Park Tickets

My friend Jen is the co-owner of Out the Door Travel and I called her on September 25th to book our Magic Kingdom tickets. As an annual passholder for Magic Kingdom and mom to two boys, she was so helpful in answering my questions and giving me real advice. The single day adult tickets were $169 each and the child ticket (ages 3-9) was $164 for a total of $534.64 (includes tax). We did not pay for lightning lane or any extras. I did not want to spend my whole day on the phone or hustling from one thing to the next. I wanted more of an authentic park experience of my own childhood. The My Disney Experience app is great for being able to see the wait times. Again, early entrance was the true key to the day. We rode every ride, except Tom Sawyer’s Island and saw various shows and met characters.

Miscellaneous and Variable Costs

Shout out to my Buy Nothing group! Another local mom hooked us up before our trip with a refillable popcorn bucket ($2.25 for refills, which we did twice in the park), Disney pins for trading (which was a huge hit with my new 6-year old) and a stroller sign (it was very helpful for quickly spotting our stroller after rides). Separately, from another mom I got unopened Pez dispensers with two candies each that were great surprises at the park. Before the trip, I bought my daughter and I Halloween Disney themed shirts at Five and Below ($5.55 each) and a caribiner for the stroller ($2.96 at Strosnider’s). I also bought Addy and her friends a few surprises that I wrapped in tissue paper for ride lines such as silly putty, a deck of animal joke cards and a fidget fruit roll up type toy. My daughter’s aunt bought her Minnie ears and an autograph book that were huge hits for our park day and my in-laws gave her a Disney giftcard to spend. My daughter’s friends surprised her with a bubble wand with batteries, which was a big hit! Inside the park we got a crème brûlée croissant (around $5 and perfect to split) and at Port Orleans French Quarter Resort we got mickey beignets ($8.30 for three).

While we did not buy “real food” in the park, if we had decided to, I had my eyes set on the kids chicken meal at Pecos Bill Cafe in Frontierland or the kids flat bread pizza at Pinocchio Village House (near it’s a Small World and Peter Pan). Both had meal offerings for under $10. I got these ideas from a great Instagram account called MyDisneyAdventure2.

At Disney Springs, we played in the Legos (free, backside of Lego facing the water) and then built characters inside. For 3 characters its $9.99 and we built 6 so we spent $21.28.

Total Cost

In total, for a 3.5 day trip to Orlando that included one day at Magic Kingdom, it cost our family of three people $1,538.57. This covered: $473.88 for flights; $37.60 for parking at the airport; $417.92 for two nights in a WDW Resort; $74.53 for a rental car; and $534.64 for one-day Magic Kingdom tickets. I listed some of the other miscellaneous and variable costs in the previous section. My personal goal was to keep this trip under $2,000 which I successfully did. Did the total cost surprise you? Let me know in the comments.

Our various and miscellaneous trip costs totaled $123.94. This included $12.16 for gas; $21.26 Lego people; $8.30 Mickey beignets; $5.63 fancy croissant; $4.50 for two popcorn refills; $72.09 at Wal-Mart for food and a small sunscreen. So in sum, we spent $1,662.51. There were those few other expenses before the trip like the caribiner and Disney shirts and small toys from Five and Below, but this is less than an additional $25.

We are already planning a return trip for next year to visit Animal Kingdom! Did anything I share surprise you? Let me know in the comments.

About the Author

Lydia Garry and her family, TeamTravelsBaby, live in Silver Spring, Maryland, and are working to achieve “vagabond status”. Much of their affordable family travel experiences include U.S. travel, national parks and Europe. Adventure with them here, subscribe to their newsletter and follow along on Instagram!

Right Up a Birders “Alli” (gator)

Posted in National Parks, Read Them AllTagged , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

A whirlwind long weekend (3 day trip) exploring South Florida! Everglades National Park boasts tons of wildlife (like alligators and birds galore), biking through beautiful nature and air boat rides. Biscayne Bay National Park is nearby with a small land portion and views of the Bay. Tons of other great stops for viewing opportunities along Tamiami Trail and totally doable with a toddler.

Day 1 Highlights

  • Lee County Manatee Park (Fort Myers)
  • Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve (Fort Myers)
  • Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park (along Tamiami Trail)
  • Ochopee Post Office (smallest in the U.S.) (along Tamiami Trail)
  • Big Cypress National Preserve (along Tamiami Trail)
  • Animals – alligators, anhingas, great blue heron, stork, SO MANY BIRDS
Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve and Lee County Manatee Park | TeamTravelsBaby

When you find roundtrip tickets for $65, you book IMMEDIATELY! I couldn’t believe the deal we found (albeit on Spirit) to Fort Myers, Florida. Fort Myers is on the west coast of Florida and the airport is beautiful and all the car rental companies are ON PREMISES – a huge bonus. Recently, I discovered a new car rental site called “Wisecars” and I was very happy with it because it truly found the cheapest price for us (plus they allow cancellation up to 48 hours in advance). We rented from Budget and when we arrived, the line was SUPER long, but I was impressed it only took us about 45 minutes to get our car and be on our way.

Within a 15-20 minute drive of the airport is Lee County Manatee Park. This place was something like $2 to park (for an hour) and free to enter. It is an extremely short walk to the water (past a cute playground if you have kids) and during the cold months (like February), you can see manatees. We saw SO MANY manatees! There are volunteers there sharing information – like one of the 1000 pounds manatees eats 1/10th of its weight in food everyday! From here, we got our Wal-Mart water/snacks and then went to Six Mile Cypress Slough [sloo] Preserve. This place has the tiniest parking lot and they recommend carpooling or biking because there are literally not nearly enough spots for the middle of the day. We lucked out, found parking (which is like $1/hour) and absolutely loved the boardwalk trail. We saw anhingas (a type of bird), an alligator sunning himself, ibis, turtles and a few other animals.  The boardwalk is extremely well-maintained, and this is worth a stop if you have at least 90 minutes.

Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park along U.S. 41 | TeamTravelsBaby

We started our drive toward U.S. 41 (Tamiami Trail), which is the scenic drive across the Everglades (compared to I-75/Alligator Alley). This road is incredible, and you can literally see all types of gorgeous birds and alligators on your drive. Our first stop was Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. We parked right along the trail and headed for the walk in where we saw incredible birds, an eagle’s nest and a small alligator. We did not hike everything, but 45 minutes here was perfect for a taste of south Florida wildlife. As we continued along the road, it was super random, but we got to see the SMALLEST U.S. Post Office called “Ochopee”. Definitely a great photo op!

We nearly had the State Park to ourselves | TeamTravelsBaby

If your goal is to see alligators (like anyone who comes to the Everglades), then Big Cypress National Preserve is a must! Easy to park and free! They have a nice, short boardwalk where the opportunities to see alligators, birds, and alligators hunting birds are endless! Don’t forget to look down. It was crazy how many people walked right by an alligator without noticing it. There’s also a visitor center here if you’re a park stamp collector. We actually ended up stopping here twice because it was that good!

The smallest U.S. Post Office | TeamTravelsBaby

Day 2 Highlights

  • Shark Valley, 15 mile bike ride-alligators, all types of birds (Everglades National Park)
  • Flamingo Bay-osprey, crocodiles (Everglades National Park)
  • Royal Palm, Anhinga Trail-green heron, great blue heron, alligators (Everglades National Park)
We survived our first family bike ride…only 15 miles | TeamTravelsBaby

We started our morning early and headed to Shark Valley Visitor Center. We parked our car early as we waited for the rangers to open the gate (at 8:30 am for us). While we waited, we saw alligators next to our cars in the water. After showing our America the Beautiful pass ($80 annually), which I can’t recommend enough and as long as you visit a few parks is 100% worth it, we parked at the Visitor Center. As a side note, the Everglades alone are $35. Bike rentals are hard to come by, so get there when this place opens. It was easy to rent (by the hour for $9/hour/bike) and they have kid seats/helmets so our 16 month old daughter got to enjoy her first ride. Within our first two miles, we had already seen tons of alligators and a huge variety of birds. In hindsight, we totally could have turned around at this point and have been satisfied by what we had seen. BUT, we’re not those people, so we powered through and made it to the tower around the halfway point. The tower reminded us of the one we climbed at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We finished the 15-mile loop and will note that the first 7ish miles are definitely more scenic and have more wildlife.

We drove to the southern most visitor center in the Everglades called Flamingo Bay. Did you know Florida had crocodiles?! Honestly, even though I lived in Florida more than half of my life, I didn’t know that! We saw an almost 14-foot crocodile in the water (that people were kayaking in…because they’re crazy), a baby crocodile and the coolest osprey nest we had ever seen. This osprey nest was amazing because you could see the mama bird and then when the dada bird arrived with the food, you could see two out of her three babies! It was so much fun watching and our daughter loved it too! We heard manatees and dolphins can sometimes be seen in this area, but we did not see any.

Sunset on the Anhinga Trail in the Everglades | TeamTravelsBaby

On our drive out, we stopped at Royal Palm to walk the less than one-mile boardwalk through sawgrass marsh (Anhinga Trail). It was perfect timing because the sun was starting to set, and the lighting was great for taking pictures. PAY ATTENTION! I was so thankful someone pointed out the alligator under the open railing because it would have been super easy to walk by and not notice.  The coolest bird we saw here was a green heron! These birds are unique looking and can be hard to spot (we were lucky someone pointed it out to us). You will definitely see other birds and alligators here.

Day 3 Highlights

  • Biscayne Bay National Park (land portion)
  • Coopertown Airboat Ride plus alligator tail (Everglades National Park)
  • Fort Myers Beach

After a good night’s rest in Homestead, we made the 15 minute drive to Biscayne Bay National Park. We parked at the Dante Fascell Visitor Center and enjoyed the lovely Jetty Trail. You can see Miami and Miami Beach in the distance, spot birds and watch the boats leave for the Biscayne Bay National Park islands. This park is 95% water and if you want to see more than the trail and visitor center, you have some planning to do. If you’re a national park stamp collector, don’t forget to get one!

Biscayne Bay National Park | TeamTravelsBaby

In talking with another tourist at Big Cypress, we learned about Coopertown Airboat. All along Tamiami Trail you will see signs for airboat companies. Lucky for us, Coopertown (it’s been around for 75 years) had a great reputation and a GroupOn deal! Our daughter went for free and our America the Beautiful pass waived the additional fee for access to the park. Before the boat ride, there’s a short animal show. They have a handful of alligators on the premises and then someone presents a snapping turtle, a snake (which my 16 month old pet with excitement…not mommy) and talks about the Everglades. From here, we were placed on the airboat and having a toddler landed us in the front row! There are life jackets on-board, they offer you cotton balls for your ears and give the little ones headphones.

Riding on an airboat was not scary like I anticipated. It was a thrill! The boat moves really well, and you get up close and personal with birds (before they fly away) and alligators (yep, they may swim right next to your boat). The driver was informative and funny. It’s insane to imagine there used to be a canopy covering over the Everglades before Hurricane Andrew wiped it out in 1992. Seeing the Everglades via air boat is a MUST to complete any trip here. There’s a small restaurant next door and as part of our experience, I ordered alligator tail for us to try. Needless to say, it tastes like chicken? Well, it’s fried and breaded, so I couldn’t tell it was alligator and we both really liked it.

We made our way back down Tamiami Trail, stopping again at Big Cypress for up close alligators and birds and then at a random lake filled with white and brown pelicans, roseate spoonbills and tons of other birds before driving through Marco Island (absolutely stunning with cool canals) and Naples. Ultimately, we arrived at Fort Myers Beach. Fort Myers Beach took quite a while to get onto since it narrows to a one lane each direction road over a bridge. We found reasonably priced public street parking (on the right when you get over the bridge). We walked the historic pier, wandered between the shops and let Addy walk the beach for the first time. She loved collecting sticks, leaves and shells! We also took off her shoes and socks so she could walk into the ocean for the first time. The water was pretty chilly, but she tried! The sand between her toes didn’t bother it at all and at one point we thought she was going to lay down and make a sand angel. We caught a lovely sunset here before heading to Tampa to spend time with my parents and then fly home.

Fort Myers Historic Pier | TeamTravelsBaby
Thanks for following our trip to the end (aka sunset on Fort Myers Beach) | TeamTravelsBaby