I'm 24 years old, but Disney World family vacations have become even more magical as I've grown older

15.10.2023 - 10:49 / insider.com

My first visit to Walt Disney World was when I was 4. I'm 24 now and very fortunate to have had the opportunity to take an annual weeklong vacation with my family to Disney World every year since 2004.

As my years on this earth have increased, so has my love for the theme parks. I've noticed that my family vacations — often consisting of my parents, grandmother, and twin sister — have become even better each year, now that I live less than 10 minutes away from Disney World.

When I was a child, the last thing I wanted to do when we had only a week to spend at Disney World was walk around the world showcase at Epcot. I was particularly keen on spending 95% of our vacation at Magic Kingdom.

However, as I've grown up, I have taken a liking to spending a day or two with my grandmother to enjoy whatever festival Epcot is presenting. During a recent trip, we spent a day exploring the offerings at the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. It was nice to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the other parks and stroll around the showcase to admire the flowers and topiaries — especially the themed character ones.

One of my favorite parts about being able to stay awake later now that I'm older is the special-ticketed after-hours events. My family has attended just about every one of them together, from "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party" to "Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party," my favorite.

Since these events run from 7 p.m. to midnight, we typically spend the early portion of the day relaxing at our resort before heading over to Magic Kingdom for the long (but fun) night ahead.

It's super memorable to watch the special parade and meet with rare characters together. I wasn't particularly fond of wearing matching clothing to the parks when I was a kid, but now that I'm older, I realize it's less about the matching look and more about doing something fun with the people I love — it's especially cute when attending one of the festive after-hours events.

When taking family vacations as a child, my family often opted to stay at one of the value resorts such as Pop Century. It was a more-affordable option, and my parents couldn't justify spending upward of $400 a night when we would be using the room only to sleep since my sister and I insisted on staying at the parks from rope drop until we could no longer keep our heads up.

Now we splurge to stay at some of the Disney Deluxe Resort hotels, including Disney's Polynesian Village Resort and Disney's Yacht Club Resort, which is our favorite resort to stay at as a family. The rooms are spacious and well-themed. The resort is also home to an aquatic area, Stormalong Bay, which features a lazy river, as well as Ale & Compass, one of my favorite