Month: March 2021

Frozen Ever After for highly Sensitive Kids, a ride review and rating. Photo of Frozen Ever Ride entrance. From moms make it magical dot com

Frozen Ever After for Highly Sensitive Kids: a Ride Review & Rating

5 Comments / Epcot, Rides & Attractions / By

Going to Disney World and wondering if your highly sensitive or sensory sensitive kids will enjoy Frozen Ever After? Or will it cause meltdowns instead?

Well, you’ve found yourself in the right place!

Here you’ll find a thorough overview of Frozen Ever After, looking at factors like sudden noises, noise level, darkness, bright lights, speed, and “scary” visuals. Sometimes, these seemingly little things can induce meltdowns in our highly sensitive or sensory sensitive kids.

If you don’t like spoilers and it’s your first time going to Disney World, don’t read on! The whole purpose of these ride reviews and ratings is to make sure there are NO surprises that will throw off you and your children.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.

Ride Info

You can find Frozen Ever After at the Norway Pavilion in World Showcase at Epcot. It first opened on June 21, 2016. Since then, it has been one of the most popular attractions at Epcot. If you ever go to Epcot for rope drop (a park strategy to get there before opening so you can be among the first to get on one of the headliner rides before significant lines form), you’ll see people bolting towards Soarin’, Test Track, or Frozen Ever After.  

Clearly, it’s themed after the oh-so-loved movie “Frozen”. It features our favorite characters, Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf. You get to voyage to Arendelle on a Nordic vessel, through the frozen willow forest, and up the North mountain to Queen Elsa’s ice palace, while listening to so many of our favorite Frozen tunes.

This is an indoor boat ride, and the first attraction to install all-electronic audio animatronics. This technology allows the characters to move in a more lifelike and fluid manner. The duration of the ride is about 5 minutes, and there is no height minimum in order to go on this attraction. This means even infants can go on this!

But just because babies can ride this doesn’t mean it’s an attraction your highly sensitive or sensory sensitive kids will enjoy. Let’s break it down and figure out if this ride will be an enjoyable or unpleasant one for your child.

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Grand Floridian Cafe for Highly sensitive children: a restaurant review and rating. From moms make it magical dot com. Images show the outside of Disney's grand Floridian resort, and a family dining inside Grand Floridian Cafe

Grand Floridian Cafe for Highly Sensitive Kids

Leave a Comment / Disney Restaurants, Resorts / By

Wondering if dining at Grand Floridian Cafe will be a good choice for your family and your highly sensitive kids? 

Grand Floridian Cafe is located on the ground floor of the Grand Floridian Resort, which is part of the monorail loop of resorts near Magic Kingdom. It is lesser known than its neighboring restaurant, 1900 Park Fare; popular for its character dining where you can meet Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, and the stepsisters (not open as of March 2021). While Grand Floridian Cafe is not a reservation that you have to fight for, it is still worth checking out.

It is a table service restaurant, which means it’s a full-service sit-down dining experience in Disney language. The overall vibe is filled with elegant Victorian charm as reflected in the rest of the hotel, but it’s totally unpretentious. There are tons of windows, which look out at the beautiful rose gardens outside, letting in so much natural light. . 

You can find their menu here, which they describe as “American classics reinvented”. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and they’re actually really popular for their brunch fare. 

If you’re wondering about the level of sensory overload and whether it would be a good place to dine with your highly sensitive kids, let me break it down for you in this review and rating of the Grand Floridian Cafe.

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Photo of boy wearing noise canceling headphones with a Mickey sweatshirt. Text says - 18 essential items for your highly sensitive child at Disney World

18 Essential Items for Highly Sensitive Kids at Disney World

18 Comments / Highly Sensitive Kids / By

Are you trying to figure out what are essential items for highly sensitive kids at Disney World? The last thing you want to do is haul everything in your house for a family vacation. I have to admit, I tend to be an overpacker because I want to be prepared for all circumstances. But after multiple trips to Disney World with my highly sensitive kids, I have figured out a list of must-bring, essential items that you ABSOLUTELY need.

If you’re not sure what highly sensitive means, read more here.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.

1. Noise Canceling Headphones or Ear Plugs

Highly sensitive and sensory sensitive kids startle easily from sudden noises. And constant auditory stimulation is so overwhelming for them. My kids will sometimes complain that their ears hurt or that they have a headache after being exposed to lots of loud noises. So, how do you prevent your highly sensitive kids from sensory overload due to the loud sounds experienced at Disney World?

The answer is noise canceling headphones or ear plugs! We have two pairs of these headphones, which has a noise reduction rating (NRR) of 25 dB. The NRR measures how effective the device is at reducing noise levels. Any product rated in the mid-20s and low 30s is considered pretty good! There is a different model of these headphones which have a slightly better NRR at 27 dB.

For the littler ones, we love Baby Banz. My son outgrew his about 2.5 years old, but it was so comfortable for him even as a baby.

We used noise canceling headphones ALL the time on our Disney trips. Parades, shows, rides, and even the bathroom. Those notoriously loud automatic flushing toilets at Disney World can scare any newly potty-trained kiddos.

This is why this is an essential item for highly sensitive kids at Disney World.

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Text says Bay Lake Tower, a Resort Rating for Highly Sensitive Kids. Four photos of the outside of the Contemporary Tower, Magic Kingdom, the monorail, and kids standing on the second floor of a Bay Lake Tower 3-bedroom grand villa.

Bay Lake Tower for Highly Sensitive Kids

2 Comments / Deluxe, Disney Resorts / By

Are you considering staying at Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort with your highly sensitive kids? Let’s look at things like the proximity to theme parks, comfort level of the rooms, crowdedness, amenities, and theming to help you make your decision. 

If you’re not familiar, Bay Lake Tower is the Disney Vacation Club part of the Contemporary Resort. 

What is Disney Vacation Club?

Disney Vacation Club (DVC) is a timeshare program operated by Disney. Compared to traditional timeshare programs, it’s pretty flexible! You’re not locked in to a certain week of the year or a specific property, even though you do have a “home” resort.

Even if you’re not a timeshare owner, you can stay at a DVC resort by renting points through DVC rental companies like David’s Vacation Club Rentals or DVC Rental Store. It is cheaper than going directly through Disney, though cancellation policies are much less flexible. 

Full disclosure: we are DVC members. We joined in January 2019. What I love about DVC is that if you stay in a 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, or a 3-bedroom grand villa, you get a full kitchen and in-unit washer & dryer. It feels more like “home” than a standard hotel room, which is something I really appreciate with highly sensitive kids.

Photo of Bay Lake Tower and the Contemporary Tower, at Disney's Contemporary
Photo credit: magicguides.com
Disney’s Contemporary Resort

There are also two other sections of the Contemporary Resort: the South Garden Wing, and the Contemporary Tower. While Bay Lake Tower is fairly new, the Contemporary Resort itself is one of two original Walt Disney World hotels.

It’s located in between Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon. It is also known as one of three “monorail resorts”, with the others being the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian. When you book your room, you get to choose between a theme park view, a lake view, and a standard view. It does cost a little more to stay in a theme park or lake view room. 

In this review, I’ll be focusing mainly on Bay Lake Tower but will also discuss other aspects of the Contemporary Resort as a whole. Let’s see if Bay Lake Tower is a good choice for your family with highly sensitive kids!

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