She's Got It Together
She's Got It Together
Let’s Talk Disney with Katie Restrepo
In this episode, I chat with Katie Restrepo, a Disney expert and family travel enthusiast. We dive into all things Disney, from park hopping strategies to money-saving tips for your next magical vacation. Katie shares her experiences visiting Disneyland monthly with her family and offers insights on making the most of your trip, whether you're a frequent visitor or planning a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
We discuss the differences between Disneyland and Disney World, talk about transportation options, and explore ways to keep kids happy during flights. Katie gives us the scoop on character interactions, ride recommendations, and how to balance adult enjoyment with family fun.
As a mom who's done Disney both ways - going all out and on a budget - I loved hearing Katie's practical advice on dining plans, bringing your own snacks, and prioritizing must-do activities. We even touch on those magical moments that make Disney special, like playing hide-and-seek with Flynn Rider and Rapunzel!
Whether you're a Disney pro or planning your first trip, this episode is packed with tips to help you create unforgettable family memories without breaking the bank. So come along as we sprinkle a little pixie dust on your travel plans!
Hope you enjoyed this episode!
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Jessica & Samantha
We are not doing a park hopper for Walt Disney World. We're going to pick I think we can get two parks in in the time that we're budgeting but we don't want to take that time out of exploring that park to travel to another park. Exactly, I'm sure if you go a lot it'd be easier to be like okay, we did our favorite things here, let's hop over this one and that makes more sense. But if you've never been there, you hardly ever go. I don't think park hopping would be worth it at Walt Disney World. We're not planning on that.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone, and welcome to a brand new episode of she's Got it Together. I'm your host, jessica.
Speaker 3:And I'm Samantha. Each week we peel back the curtain on what it really looks like to have it together.
Speaker 2:From the messy moments to the milestones, we're here to share it all.
Speaker 3:So grab your favorite drink, get comfy and let's dive into today's topic.
Speaker 2:So when was the last time you took a vacation? How about a vacation your whole family enjoyed? I'm Jessica and we're here to dig into finding that magical balance so that everyone is happy when you're off on these great trips. I know it's possible, I've done it Not many times, but I have done it and we're going to chat with someone that really knows this, really knows how to manage it all, and we're going to be talking with Katie Recipo and she is going to just kind of break down all of Disney and how it really, really works, how to get the most out of it, tips and tricks. She's the expert. But before we get started, can you kind of give us a background? How many times do you go to Disney, and is this like a monthly thing? Do you do this all the time? How did you get into it?
Speaker 1:I mean, there's so many questions well, I I'm from San Diego, um, born and raised, and I've been going to Disneyland since I was two. I think was the first time my mom and dad took me. My mom is obsessed with Disney, so she kind of passed that on to her kids.
Speaker 1:Um, and we went about once a year, sometimes more, depending if cousins were in town and stuff. I had a season pass in college because I went to school like 30 minutes away from the park, so that was a lot of fun. And then these past two years my husband and I have had Magic Keys with our two little girls, so we've been going at least once a month. Wow, that's wild, you are close to Disneyland. Do you?
Speaker 2:do Disney World also.
Speaker 1:I have never been to Disney World, but next year we're hoping we're doing a Disney cruise and we're hoping to do a couple of days at Disney World. Tack that onto that trip. My husband's been to Disney world. Um, he is from Columbia and Florida is a lot closer and easier to get to than California, so he's been there. I'm like we need to go, cause I need to be there.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's fun. Yeah, I've never been to Disneyland, I've only been to Disney world.
Speaker 1:Oh funny.
Speaker 2:Um, probably, let's see, three times. I went when I was a kid and then I've taken both of my girls. We did like my first one when she was five. We took her and then about, let's see, well, covid messed us up, but we got another one in like 2022, I think it was. So, yeah, we've done three, but when we go, we go Like we just do it all and this is a huge production. It's like waking up at the crack of dawn, going all day, staying until the park closes.
Speaker 1:Oh yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just we're always so happy there. I mean it is, it's like the most magical place on earth. I mean they tell us Right For a reason. Yeah, exactly, there's something for everyone. But can you dive into? You know, like, what are your tips when it comes to traveling to Disney? You know, are there things that you should do avoid? You know, what do you have for us?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so when traveling to Disney, obviously we drive to Disneyland because we're hour and a half away. Um, we've done several flights with our girls, though, um, and really when flying you want to make sure that you have your shuttle transportation or however you're getting from that airport to the parks. I know Disneyland there's like four or five different airports you can choose from, so a lot of people are trying to narrow that down. Um, the John Wayne airport is the closest. It's like 15 miles away. Lax, crazy busy, but a very popular destination. Um, you know you have some other ones in some neighboring cities, and so you kind of have to pick. Okay, well, how long do we want to travel from airport to the resort? Which resort are we staying at? Is there a shuttle the resort offers or do we have to book a shuttle from the airport? All all the questions.
Speaker 1:I would say that renting a car is is not necessary, um, once you're at the resort, really, even if you want to go outside, to like the garden walk area, for some shops and restaurants there, it's all within easy walking distance. So you really don't need a rental car unless you're going. You know the whole Southern California thing. You got all the other stuff to do, but Disney itself, like it's not spread out as Walt Disney world. Again, I haven't been to Walt Disney world, but I've done my research. Planning for my own trip and park hopping is not the same thing. Disneyland, you're literally just. It literally is a park hop. You're, you're there, you walk out of one and you're in the other, basically, um, so you really don't need transportation while you're there, and a lot of hotels have shuttles, um available either included or extra fee to get to the resort in the morning as well. So, yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 2:I guess Disneyland is a bit different with that, because I mean, with Disney world it's it's literally its own little world. I mean you are in this cocoon and you know everything has shuttles, everything is, you know, connected in some sort of way. Um so yeah, I mean definitely wouldn't need a rental car or anything. We've never had one unless you went like you said, go outside of the.
Speaker 2:Disney area and, um, I like with, like Disney world. You know, with the traveling part, we always, we've always flown and we're in Michigan, so it's driving. Would you know, take us an extra two days.
Speaker 2:And it's just like I don't know. We did just drive to Florida for spring break. We didn't go quite. I think we were like an hour away from Orlando, so I mean we were pretty close, but I don't think I would want to do that for a Disney trip like that. I think that's a little too much and just tax on so much extra time. But when you're flying, though, do you have tips for when you're flying to keep the kids calm?
Speaker 1:Yes, stuff like that. So we've been on some short flights and some long flights. I think our longest was like uh, nine hours um flight with the kids. Uh, so it. It depends baby toddler versus older kid what you're doing.
Speaker 1:But for babies and toddlers, I know I was most stressed out about the ears popping on the plane and so I am like, okay, I was bottle feeding at that time. So I'm like I have a fresh bottle ready to go, I have a pacifier right here, I'm ready to, you know, get that um sucking sensation somehow to pop the ears, naturally. Yeah, so the poor little ears don't get hurt and they start crying. And you know you don't want to be the person with the screaming baby on a plate. Um, which is totally fine If you are like, don't stress out over that. Like, when I hear a screaming baby, I'm like, oh, I understand, mom, it's fine, but my babies, they were asleep. I'm like, wake up, you have to be drinking the bottle. Like you can't just during takeoff, like she didn't wake up the entire time for takeoff or landing. I'm like I was so prepared and it didn't even like all that stress leading up to something. That was nothing you know it didn't have, yeah, but you know, I was prepared.
Speaker 1:Exactly that's what we need just to be prepared. That's the biggest thing is if you're prepared for things that you've heard other people experience, um, and you have different options to try. That's the most important part. But then also just relax, like people are on a plane with other people. They know what's going on. You might get that cranky person who's like really if your kid is crying or something, but most people understand, you know. So don't, don't stress.
Speaker 2:Your stress is making the situation worse anyways you know Exactly.
Speaker 2:I know what we did when my oldest was I think she was probably two when we went. We had molds made for her ears, so that really helped a lot. I mean, she had her pacifier too, but that's something that we have used. I know a lot of folks, you know, put their earbuds in and just all that, but this worked really well for her and never had an issue. So another thing that I think you could probably consider it's a little bit more expensive. I mean, we had to go to the ENT and have the mold created, but they double, as you know, for swimming.
Speaker 3:So perfect, perfect Keeps the water out of the ears. I'm like, okay, yeah, that's great, we can do this.
Speaker 2:That's great, yeah. So okay, let's talk about, like, when we were there. You mentioned park hopping. Now, park hopping at Disney World obviously is pretty Crazy and I mean that's something we didn't do because to me, like you said, it's Disneyland, you're right there, disney World. It's like a whole fiasco to get to the next park and you're wasting an hour or so, hour or more trying to get to where you're going and you know you have limited hours and it's just to me like the park hopping part was just very, I don't know, just not worth the extra cost. But I mean I don't know, what do you? What would you think? I mean, you said you've done a lot of research on this, like what would? When you're planning your trip, what are you planning on doing?
Speaker 1:We are not doing a park hopper for Walt Disney world. We're going to pick. I think we can get two parks in in the time that we're budgeting. Um, but we we don't want to take that time out of exploring that park to travel to another park. You know, I'm sure if you go a lot it'd be easier to be like, okay, we did our favorite things here, let's hop over this one, and that makes more sense. But you know, if you've never been there you hardly ever go. I don't think park hopping would be worth it at Walt Disney World. We're not planning on that Disneyland. I also say if you're trying to budget and save money, forget the park hopper. It's not necessary. There's so much to do in each park. You're going to miss a lot if you're going back and forth because even though it's right there, you still have to go out. You know, scan your band or your phone to get back in.
Speaker 1:I will say we do park hopper sometimes. Um, and it is very convenient if we are trying to find all the short lines, like we're not doing genie plus and we're just like okay, these lines are crazy long over here. Let's look at California adventure. Oh, 10 minute wait, let's hop over there, but then you're doing a lot more walking, Um. So you know, we got our jogging stroller.
Speaker 1:We're good, we do it all the time, like, well, we'll go from one park to the other, or we're on all these rides at Disneyland and then hop over to California adventure for dinner and then hop back, um. So if you're there's stuff within each park you're going to want to just go with the flow of what the app time is saying for the rides, to just go with the flow of what the app time is saying for the rides, then definitely use it. Or if you go a lot and you're like I want that flexibility to go here or there, it makes sense. But if you don't go often and you're really wanting to dive in and soak in everything, then just do a day at Disneyland, a day at California Adventure, and then most people do that second day at Disneyland because there is a bit more there and it's the classic, you know, it's the original. So usually that's the one that you want to do two days at, and California Adventure can be one day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I would have to agree with Disney World. Going to Magic Kingdom, that's always been a two-dayer for us, maybe not back-to-back days, but it's just's so large in there and there's so much to see and you just hate being rushed I mean, I, you. Just it depends too on crowd levels and what you can actually accomplish within that time. So, yeah, I think that you know that iconic area is definitely worth the two days for sure when you go. So I guess this probably would be a tough question for you, but you know, one of the things that we've talked about before is how long do you go on these trips?
Speaker 2:Now I feel like Disneyland is going to be shorter because it is smaller and it's closer like to your home and things like that. But when we go to Disney World, you know it's this production. It's like we're flying there, we're going to make the most of it. We're there for like seven days. I know people that go longer, but I feel like for us that's kind of like the sweet spot because we can get all the parks in.
Speaker 2:We can have a down day, we can you know, still, like I like to do all the restaurants. I mean we do, like I said, when we go, we go big Like this is a ridiculously expensive trip and we only do it.
Speaker 2:This is why we've only done it twice since my kids have been around. But we go and do like we'll eat in the castle and we'll go to, you know, belle's castle and eat there and we do the dress. You know we get them done Like Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique wasn't up and running the last time we went but we had, you know, we had a fairy godmother come to our room and you know, did the whole thing and it's just like, how do you do this with that type of time frame and not, is there a way not to break the bank?
Speaker 2:I guess that's that's my question, because I break the bank every time.
Speaker 1:I have not yet figured out how not to. There is there is that I do have some money saving tips, but how long you go really depends on what you want to get out of it and there's different savings. Like, if you do go longer, there are more discounts. Um, good neighbor hotels will have a you know, book three nights, get a fourth night free, or two nights third night free, Um, so just looking for those, looking for those discounts and discounted tickets I know I'm an affiliate with Getaway Today and they're always having sales and you can look on their website and see exactly what you would get and what the original price is and there's no extra taxes or fees added. So it's a good way to kind of at least price match and budget and see if a longer trip would be beneficial for you. Price match and budget and see if a longer trip would be beneficial for you. Obviously, in good neighbor hotel nearby will be a lot cheaper than the? Um Disneyland resort hotels. Um, I know we were budgeting for Florida and we're just like, oh my gosh, these resort hotels are so much deeper California, Um, and we've done super budget and we've done all the bells and whistles.
Speaker 1:So you know grand Californian concierge level park hopper character dining, like all that. And then you know we, we bring lunchables into the park or buy a turkey leg and, um, bring in some Hawaiian rolls so we just make our own turkey sandwiches. That is so smart, that's I like that. So, just bringing in your own food, bring in your own snacks, maybe have like one snack or one meal that you want to buy. Quick service is obviously cheaper than the sit down dining. So there are ways to, you know, even split meals and stuff to really stretch it and make it worth it. And some of those snack items, like the turkey leg, is technically like a snack at the cart. It's huge. It can feed, you know, us, two adults with our two littles. Obviously, if you have older kids you might need a little more than that, but any food saving hacks are really good because you can spend a lot on food at Disney. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that's one of the most expensive pieces there, I mean really you can always decide you know, souvenir wise what you want to spend, like. That's totally negotiable, and the food, though, is just like once you're there. If you didn't come prepared, you're stuck with the prices. The food service is really good, but I wouldn't say that it's that cheap.
Speaker 2:I mean it's, it's still a convenience. You're being charged for convenience. What about the meal plan, the meal dining plan? I know they just brought that back. Is that something that you've done in the past?
Speaker 1:So that is Walt Disney World only and I was looking it up and if you're wanting to do some of the more sit down meals and stuff, it's worth it I was pricing everything out.
Speaker 1:I'm like, okay, would this make sense? And I'm like if we're just doing quick service dining, we have some of our own snacks we pack, then it didn't balance out with the amount that you would pay individually for things. But again, if you're going big and you're going for that big trip and you want that flexibility, if we want to eat at this restaurant and quick service here and a snack there, it definitely added up to save money. And we've done dining plans at other parks that were totally worth it. And then again, if we're bringing in part of our own food, like pack a peanut butter jelly sandwich, then obviously not worth it because you're not sitting down to just go all out with like, I want my meal, I want my drink, I want my snack, I want all the bells and whistles for it Utilize all those credits.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we did do it with my daughter the first time. The second time it wasn't available. But because we go big and we typically do everything we want to do the character dining and all of that I think that it was a great option. I mean, we used everything and actually we had snacks left toward the end. So before we left for our flight, we went to the gift shop and used all the credits left for our snacks and just took them with us.
Speaker 2:Oh perfect perfect, we weren't leaving anything behind. No, no, but yeah, I mean because being able to use at that time you credits, um, for the like, the character dinners and things like that, which was totally worth it because, like you said, you don't always do the sit-down meals, you can do the quick service or, you know, when you're at the park you don't necessarily eat three squares a day. You know like you're, you're busy and you know you're you're not even paying attention to the time and things like that. So, um, I think if you didn't go big, you would probably waste quite a few of them. But yeah, I think I'm excited they brought it back, because I think our next round will be doing it again, although we might not go quite as big.
Speaker 2:I mean, each girl had their own, like special trip. So I was like do it all. But if we go back back, I'm thinking it's going to be more casual and a little less, but still, I mean the dining is. You know, we love going to like a dining, like a sit down meal, every day that we're there, Nice.
Speaker 1:And it's totally worth it in that case.
Speaker 2:For sure, yeah, it probably would still be worth it for us, yeah, okay. So I mean still be worth it for us, yeah, okay. So I mean we've touched on the money, we've touched on the length and things like that. Can you just share, like some of your family experiences while you've been at Disney? I mean, like, what were your loves, what were your dislikes? You know what stuck out?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, of course we continue to go so often because it's a completely different experience. I know a lot of people are like oh, you're going to Disney again, Isn't it the same rides, the same thing? You don't understand. We've been going since my youngest was four months old. She just turned five. Her big sister is seven now.
Speaker 1:So we have seen the baby phase, the toddler phase, Now the little kid phase, where they're just starting to go on Indiana Jones and stuff like that. So you're really getting like the focus is on just the characters, the focus is on the shows and they have like little plays here and there and little music pop-ups everywhere and it's layers to Disneyland that people don't go for because that's not what's advertised. You know, it's all about the rides and there's so much more to it. So each time we go it's a completely different experience because we're focusing on different things, different rides. The lines are so long and we're saving money by not getting Genie+. Okay, what else can we do? Oh, let's go to this. You know Mickey's Philharmonic Philharmonic is the 4d movie. Um turtle talk with crush is a favorite, and it's all these really cool interactive things that have that Disney level of awesome to them that a lot of people just gloss over.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, I'd say it's the different ages, it's a different experience, I mean that's a really good point, because you don't really think about that.
Speaker 2:You think about what they're advertising, which is the rides and all of the you know, glitz and glam, but personally I'm not a huge ride fan, so I actually like all of the other stuff too. It's yeah, that is a really good point though. So with the kids, I mean, obviously the kids are good, but this whole idea is to be a family trip that has everyone happy. As an adult, what do you love there, like what's the best for you?
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh Again. I love everything. I love everything. I'd say my favorite ride is Thunder Mountain and I don't get to go on that every time because I've done it where I went on by myself. My husband stays off with the girls. They are tall enough to write it now, but we can put them on it once and they don't want to go on it again yet. Um, so they're like no. So you know, sometimes I, I will go on myself, um. I know Indiana Jones like we'll do um, writer switch sometimes. Sometimes I will go on myself. I know Indiana Jones like we'll do rider switch sometimes, because our oldest will go on that and the youngest isn't tall enough yet, and so dad will go on with older sister. I'll stay off, and then dad and mom will switch, and so my oldest gets to go on twice in a row, which she finds exciting, but then we get to do it. So I would say I do like some of the bigger, faster rides that we don't go on every time.
Speaker 1:But I love the character interactions. In Fantasyland you just have characters walking around. We played hide and seek with Flynn, ryder and Rapunzel. Mad Hatter and Alice on Main Street were playing musical chairs with the piano that's out there, and they do these little, just super organic experiences that are not just the wait in line for your autograph and picture, which is special itself, but these are. You know, you have characters like Peter Pan or Bert from Mary Poppins get on the carousel with you and you're riding the carousel with them, or they'll get on the teacups. So it's just super organic interactions that you don't know who you're going to run into either. So it's, I find that's really exciting.
Speaker 1:My husband he's not obsessed with Disney. I think I've converted him, but I think the big thing was going to Disneyland with the girls and seeing their reaction and seeing the park through their eyes and he's like, oh, I want to go now because I he can't get enough of it. He's so exciting to show them these next level rides and like, oh, let's try this and that, and so that's. What's really exciting for him is just seeing that transition of them, like I want to try this coaster now and let me go on that one.
Speaker 2:So that transition of them Like I want to try this coaster now and let me go on that one. So, oh, I love that. Yeah, I have to probably agree. I mean just seeing the reaction from the littles and you know just their enjoyment, their excitement. I mean that's just, that's everything. So do you go for dinners there? I mean, so you said you have the key now, right, do you just go in for special dinners or dinners just just you and your husband, or do you do anything like that?
Speaker 1:Um, sometimes, uh, we, we like to bring grandma a lot. My mom, my mom got a magic key because we did. She's like, if you're going all the time, I'm going to get one too. Um, so if we'll go with her, we'll get a hotel for the night and then we'll put the girls to bed and she'll just listen for them while we go back and spark and it's amazing, especially over summer they're open till midnight. So we're going on space mountain and like thunder mountain and all these big rides. There's no line for the um photo pass, uh, photographers at the end of the night. So we got really great pictures with just the two of us at night in front of the castle, all lit up. So there's definitely lots of fun things to do. We'll go on a Saturday coming up. We're actually leaving after soccer games to go up to Disneyland just for the evening. So we do like to kind of pick certain areas. I say galaxies, that just probably one of our favorite to just go be in that area, cause it's just the ambience is amazing.
Speaker 2:It is. Yeah, disney worlds is. It was just unbelievable.
Speaker 1:I it blows me away and I'm a I'm a Star Wars fan too, so I'm just like oh my gosh, this is amazing.
Speaker 2:I've left the earth and I'm here.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:It was very neat, but well, that's awesome. I mean, do you have any last tips that you'd like to share with everyone?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I would have an idea of what you know. You cannot miss, what you've heard of, what you know you've done before. You want your kids to experience and like, narrow that down to we have to do this and prioritize that, and then anything else you get like, oh, we want to do that but we don't have to or we can totally skip that and that's going to help you navigate your whole trip. Have your plan of where you kind of want to go, like, oh, let's start from this land to that land, to that land land, maybe hop over to this park, have an idea of what kind of food you want, um plan in your sit down dining and then be flexible.
Speaker 1:Though there's no wait time for this ride. We're walking on right now. Let's go on this before we keep going to where we were heading towards. Yeah, and that's going to be, that's going to be huge. We've gone with, you know, 19, 23 people when we do our whole extended family going. And it works. If you have your plan, like, okay, here's where we're going, you can branch off and come back. You can do, you know what you want and come back to us. Here's our plan, here's our path. And if you don't have that, you're all just standing around like where do we go next, what do we do? And then you feel like you didn't get much done that day.
Speaker 1:I'm like cause. You were standing there and you need to know where to go?
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely I yeah, planning is so important.
Speaker 1:Um, I actually have a ride guide. Um, that it's just a free principle. I can give you the link if you want, but it's all of the rides in Disneyland and California adventure and a checklist and they're color coded by height requirement. Can give you the link if you want, but it's all of the rides in Disneyland and California Adventure in a checklist and they're color-coded by height requirement so you can know just on one paper, instead of having to click around the app and be like can we even, are they even tall enough for this? Can we go on this right now? So, yeah, yeah, I hate the app. When we were there, like that was the one thing I'm like I have to.
Speaker 2:you know, I we did the genie plus and all of that, um, so I had to keep you know every time we got it right we needed to do the next one and it was like, and I had to have mobile ordering for food and everything. I mean it was very convenient, but it was also kind of annoying, but hey it worked. Um so well, that was awesome. Thank you for coming. Can you just tell?
Speaker 1:everyone where they can find you. They have more questions. Yeah, so I run a travel blog which is a lot of disney but also camping, hiking, road trips, travel familytravelfoliocom at fam travel folio on instagram. So those are the two main places you'll find me. If you sign up for my email list, you can get that free ride guide printable. And yeah, I send out emails just with more tips and tricks and just you know fun family travel communication so awesome.
Speaker 2:Well again, thank you so much for coming in and chatting with us about it. It's such a fun topic and I know there's just so much that you can dive into with this. That's the hard part. I'm like trying to just keep it right, but we'll have to have you back and maybe we can like I even with camping. I love camping. I love camping, I think. I think another visit is in your future.
Speaker 1:Definitely.
Speaker 2:But again, thank you for coming and sharing all of your knowledge.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. This was great.
Speaker 2:Thanks for joining us today on. She's Got it Together. It's been a real journey, sharing and laughing with you all.
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