Our Mom and Son trip to Disney World

September 2019 (you remember when it was normal to go places) I had the opportunity to take a mom and son trip to Walt Disney World and I am so excited to share all the details. If you have the chance I highly recommend taking the opportunity to take a one-on-one trip with your child.

**This trip took place pre-pandemic and as such the pictures do not represent current park regulations. Check here for information about Walt Disney World during COVID.

The Convincing Stage

Let me preface this by saying this mom and son trip was completely my 12-year-olds idea. He came to me and presented his idea, he said I know you are going to say no but I want you to hear me out. He presented his plan, which included 4 nights with 4-day tickets (so we could go to all the parks). It also included the dining plan. “I will pick two of the meals and you can pick the other two,” he said. September was when he wanted to go because that was the cheaper time to go and it was my birthday month. He took it one more step and said he wanted to pay for half.

At first, I laughed, then I realized he was serious. I had a lot of objections, first, how can we go to Disney without your brother and sister? Second, dad is not going to go for this. Third, you don’t understand exactly how much money this will be. You won’t be able to come up with that much money in this little amount of time. (Keep in mind he is 12 so can’t get a real job.)

I decided I would price it out for him with the dining plan so he could see just how much it was going to be. Then he will change his mind, I thought. It isn’t that I wouldn’t love a trip to Disney, I would. Especially during my birthday month. Halloween decorations would be out. Food and Wine Festival would be going on. I just couldn’t see going with one child without the others. I am not even a mom that would never go to Disney without my kids, I’ve done that plenty. It’s just taking one and leaving the others that gave me pause. After pricing it out he thought a bit and said okay, sounds good.

Well that didn’t go as planned. I told him I would have to think about it. So he went off and started doing whatever jobs he could to earn money. Mowing grass and anything else someone would ask him to do. He really was working hard and was determined to make this mom and son trip happen.

The Crowdsourcing the Idea Stage:

First, I talked to my husband about the idea. He loved the idea and was completely on board. I was not expecting that, and it definitely didn’t help my case. Then, I decided I would talk to my mom. My mom is very sensible and level headed she will be on my side of things, no doubt. After bringing up his idea to her you would have thought I just told her I was bringing her to Disney. Her eyes lit up and she said “you have to do it”. What?! Not you too! She went on and on about how special it would be and how he wouldn’t want to take a mom and son only trip much longer. After all, he is 12.

Regretfully, I pushed a little further and decided to talk to a few more friends. Can you imagine my surprise when not one was on my side of things? I slowly began to lick my wounds and realized this may not be as crazy of an idea as I once believed.

Coming Around: The Acceptance Stage

Maybe I was wrong. I admit it. This may be a good idea after all. I am not ready to admit that to Brock, my 12-year-old. If this mom and son trip is going to happen I’m not telling him yet. So all the while he is still working towards the trip in hope that it will actually happen I am working on planning the trip. When he would ask me if I made a decision about it I would say I still have to think about it. Looking back this may have not been the nicest thing to do but I had to keep him guessing.

The Sneaky Stage

I wanted to make sure this mom and son trip was going to be memorable and fun. I wanted to incorporate things I knew he would be interested in. It wasn’t going to be the typical family Disney vacation filled with character meets and taking turns choosing rides.

Brock mentioned he wanted the dining plan, so I started asking questions. “You want the dining plan? Where would you want to eat to justify that?” He would answer unknowingly while I was jotting down all his answers.

• 50’s Prime Time
• Whispering Canyon
• Sci Fi
• Tusker House (Breakfast)

I was pretty excited he chose Tusker House so we could sneak some characters in on this trip.

I knew most of the attractions he would want to do. He is a HUGE Star Wars fan, and this was right when Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run opened. I decided that would be two of our days. I wanted to make sure he had ample time to spend in Galaxy’s Edge. We would do one day in each of the other three parks.

I did decide to upgrade us to Coronado Springs Resort from his original selection of All-Star Sports because the price difference wasn’t much.

The Reveal:

I’m not sure how I was able to pull off as much prepping and planning as I did without telling him. When I finally revealed that I had already booked the mom and son trip he was beyond excited. He had been planning and thinking about it for months and I don’t think he really thought I would agree to it. In fact, there were many times he thought I had completely forgotten about it.. BUT it was happening it is official.

Mom and Son Itinerary:

So many people have asked what things we did and what we enjoyed so I thought I would share that here.

Mom and Son trip Day 1: Early Morning Flight

• Park: Epcot

• Highlights:

  • Food and Wine Festival – Lots of great food to snack on throughout the day. We didn’t have a sit-down meal this day.
  • Rides – Soarin’, Test Track
  • Mom Extra note: While I was getting our resort refillable mugs Brock asked the woman if she had any buttons and got me a Happy Birthday button. Not sure if I mentioned this but he can be super sweet.

Mom and Son Trip Day 2: 

• Park: Hollywood Studios

• Highlights:

  • Galaxy’s Edge
  • Meals: 
    • Oga’s Cantina – Breakfast
    • Sci-Fi – Lunch
    • 50’s Prime Time – Dinner
  • Rides
    • Millenium Falcon: Smugglers Run
    • Toy Story Mania (we are both super competitive so this is a must for us)
  • Characters – We loved the interaction in Galaxy’s Edge it really puts you into the story. Helping Chewbacca hide from the first order. Running around with Rae. Seriously, these interactions are the best and for a mom and son trip where we weren’t going to have many characters, I was loving it.
  • Extra Highlights
    • Walking around Galaxy’s Edge taking in ALL of the details. I’m not a Star Wars superfan. I loosely follow the brand, but this land is something else. When I mentioned above it pulls you into the story, it really does. I was walking around the world using my translator and app to play interactive challenges.
    • Brock built his own droid at Droid Depot. This was a really cute experience and he really enjoyed it.
    • This was right after Galaxy’s Edge opened so, there were “extra extra magic hours”. Those extra hours meant the park would open at 6:00 am. Which meant we were there much earlier than that. They kept us all in the “hub area” of Hollywood Studios. When it was time to head to Galaxy’s Edge we were escorted by storm troopers.

Mother and Son Trip Day 3:

• Park: Magic Kingdom

• Highlights:

  • Meals: 
    • Casey’s Corner – Lunch
    • Whispering Canyon – Dinner (Don’t forget to ask for ketchup when you go).
  • Rides
    • Splash Mountain – This isn’t one I ride often but it was the first thing Brock wanted to go to. We actually rode twice and the second time got completely soaked.
    •  Space Mountain (Okay, all the mountains).
  • Characters – We didn’t see any characters here.
  • Extra Highlights
    • Haircut for Brock – this is actually kind of a tradition. Brock, well, all my kids love getting haircuts there. If they know we are headed to Disney soon they won’t get haircuts so they can get one there.
    • Fireworks – I was a little surprised Brock wanted to see the fireworks but he wanted to watch them because he knows how much I like them.

Mother Son Trip Day 4:

• Park: Animal Kingdom

• Highlights:

  • Meals: 
    • Tusker House – Breakfast – I mentioned this earlier but I was so excited about this meal. First, this is probably my favorite breakfast at Walt Disney World. Second, we got some of the characters that Brock wouldn’t have wanted to stop and see elsewhere.
    • Quick Service Dinner – we were too full from breakfast for lunch or dinner so we grabbed a drink from Pandora around lunchtime. Dinner we just grabbed something quick.
  • Rides
    • Expedition Everest – We headed there as soon as we walked into the park. It is one of my favorite early morning rides. The view is beautiful.
    • Flight of Passage – I still think this is one of the best rides I have been on. Y’all, the Banshee breathes.
    • Kilimanjaro Safari – This is one I can typically take or leave. This time, however, we rode right before it got dark and the lions were very active and were roaring. It was definitely neat. (Side note: I am writing this with Brock and he reminded me of that being a highlight. So it obviously was memorable when it was over a year ago.)
  • Characters – As mentioned above, we saw characters at Tusker House.
  • Extra Highlights
    • Kali River Rapids – This didn’t make our ride highlights but Brock does like this ride a lot. What he really likes however is standing on the bridge and pushing the button to shoot people on the ride with water.

Mother Son Trip Day 5: The End of our Trip

• Park: Hollywood Studios

• Highlights:

  • Meals: 
    • Woody’s Lunchbox – Breakfast
    • Backlot Express- Lunch
  • Rides
    • Millennium Falcon
    • Slinky Dog Dash
    • Tower of Terror (8 times, yes seriously)
    • Rock n Roller Coaster
  • Characters – Galaxy’s Edge characters
  • Extra Highlights
    • We ran into some friends doing a challenge and saw them several times throughout the day.
    • We went to the Indiana Jones show. They always ask for volunteers and the kids always ask us to volunteer. This time was no different, except, this time I actually did volunteer and I actually did get picked to go up. This is so out of my comfort zone but I thought it would be something he would remember forever.

I am so thankful I decided, with a little persuasion, to take this trip. Spending one on one time with each of my kids is something we put great value in, but this took it to another level. I say this all the time but life is short, make those memories. Brock still lights up when he talks about moments from our trip. I decided to take the trip and you should too. When you are ready to book your next vacation we would love to help. Contact one of our amazing travel professionals today.