Family Trip to Disney World: 5 Tips From a Visit With My 85-Year-Old Grandmother

My grandmother, who we phone Meme, is no stranger to travel—she frequented all seven continents with my late grandfather, bringing again memento presents from Australia, Egypt, and past and influenced my very own travels. For her milestone 85th birthday this yr, my cousins and I asked what she required to do to mark the situation. I couldn’t have been far more stunned with her response: “Disney Environment.”

Our family members journey to Disney Entire world, her very first time back in at the very least a decade, was prepared for March. My grandmother was entirely vaccinated but vaccines hadn’t nonetheless been rolled out to our age group, so I gauged desire with my cousins to see who was comfy touring to Florida through the pandemic. There ended up remaining five of us, with ages ranging from 17 to 85, along for the birthday journey of a life time. We figured out really a little bit together the way: Listed here are our strategies for savoring the Happiest Position on Earth, no matter if you’re younger or simply younger at coronary heart.

Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, 1 of the resorts on the Disney monorail route

Matt Stroshane/Courtesy Disney

Pick a resort on the monorail

The 1 request my grandmother experienced was to remain at a person of the lodges on the monorail route: The Present-day, Grand Floridian, or Polynesian Village Vacation resort. The Polynesian was going through renovations and the Grand Floridian was a bit expensive for our group of 5, so we landed on The Modern.

It was a single of the initial accommodations to open up in the park in 1971, so it seemed a fitting choice for the unique situation, with its 90-foot-tall Mary Blair ceramic mural, developed by the artist that worked on Cinderella and Peter Pan, and California Grill, one of the top rated-rated eating places within Walt Disney World.

We booked three rooms, all with balconies overlooking the Magic Kingdom. The Modern is found less than five minutes from the park entrance, generating it probable to go again into the park right after supper or return for a midday rest.

Pick out parks with extensive attractiveness

I took on the setting up, enlisting the support of a travel agent friend to cater to our huge range of ages, mobility degrees, and passions. Meme selected the parks: the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The company booked our group’s tickets, generating payments and logistics much easier. My grandmother is however pretty energetic, but because we all move at diverse paces, we didn’t pack the days far too absolutely. If you are traveling with an individual who works by using a wheelchair or scooter, check out out which rides are available and exactly where there are parking areas.