Brenda Song on Being a ‘Disney Adult’ With Fiancé Macaulay Culkin—and Tricks to Keeping Her Sons Happy During Flights

For an entire generation, Brenda Song is the embodiment of luxury travel, having starred as hotel heiress London Tipton on Disney Channel’s The Suite Life of Zack and Cody during her teen years. But as it turns out, she learned about the elevated lifestyle alongside viewers.

“When we walked onto the set of the Tipton Hotel, I remember thinking, ‘Do hotels like this really exist?’” the 37-year-old actress told Travel + Leisure. “I was a little girl from Sacramento, and I didn’t know anything like that, so the Tipton was my first luxury hotel experience.”

Calling the set her “second home,” the fictional experience opened her eyes up to the real world of travel, which she quickly fell in love with. Ironically, she even ended up staying at her first luxury hotel while jet-setting to promote the show.

Now mom to Dakota, 4, and Carson, 3, with fiancé Macaulay Culkin, she’s instilling that passion for global exploration in her sons early, which is why her partnership with the new Citi/AAdvantage Globe Card “felt so natural.” Song said she loves being rewarded with points that can enhance the family’s travel experiences. And this card maximizes their value, with 6x miles per dollar on select hotels, 3x on American Airlines purchases, and 2x on restaurants, rideshares, cabs, and public transportation, among other benefits like a free checked bag and $100 in-flight credit. 

“Letting my boys enjoy the experience of traveling has been really nice,” she said, adding that her favorite perk is the four annual Admirals Club Globe Passes, allowing the family to relax before take-off. “We want our boys to be little travelers.” 

While taking off with the young kids can have its challenging moments, she and Culkin lead by example. “If we keep it fun, they’ll have a good time—and we want them to travel more,” Song said. Among her strategies is being an over-packer with a “Mary Poppins bag” filled with activities, like mess-free coloring and card games. “If we need it, I’m not going to lie, I pull out the iPads,” she admitted. “It’s always a shame, but because we don’t do a lot of iPads at home, they love getting them on long-haul flights.”

But the number one thing that the family depends on when they’re in the sky? “Snacks keep my babies happy,” Song said. Current favorites include Peakapop chips, Pirates Booty, popcorn, pretzel sticks, and “the only fruit I can get them to eat, berries.”  The Running Point star admitted that the goodies are as much for her boys as they are for her. “My favorite snacks are whatever my kids don’t eat,” she said. 

Of course, because they were both child actors, she and Culkin were already seasoned travelers before they had children. When it comes to romantic getaways, Big Sur is among her top choices, though nothing compares to Paris. 

“It’s so cliche, but Mack lived in Paris when we first met,” she said of Culkin, whom she first met in 2014 and reunited with in 2017. “It just holds such a special place in my heart.”

While her favorite spot in the City of Lights will always be Culkin’s old apartment, her favorite thing to do is just go into any random cafe and order a coffee and a pastry. “You can’t go wrong,” Song said. “I’ve never walked into a coffee shop and had a bad coffee or a bad pastry.”

But there is one destination that has remained a constant passion for the couple. “Mack and I are Disney adults,” the former Disney Channel star, who was also on Phil of the Future and “Stuck in the Suburbs,” said of their frequent visits to Disney parks. “We go all the time. The first thing I did after I wrapped Running Point was take the kids to Disneyland because I couldn’t miss out on Halloween there.”

She already has a return visit planned for the Christmas festivities. “I’m not kidding you, we’re obsessed,” she said. “When my friends go to Disneyland, they’ll ask me for advice, and I have all the exact things to do for every age range written out, including what rides to hit and how to hit them.”

Song’s sons are already Disney fans, especially of Disney California Adventure Park because of Cars Land and Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure. But on their most recent visit, they went to Disneyland Park, enjoying classics like Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Casey Jr.’s Circus Train, Jungle Cruise, and even Pirates of the Caribbean, despite its few scary moments. “They also went on the Haunted Mansion when it was decorated with ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’—I was so proud,” she said.

Something about this last visit felt more monumental for Song. “Before then, I felt like I was just dragging my kids because I was enjoying it and forcing them to like it,” the California native said. “This is the first trip I felt like they really enjoyed—I’m so proud of raising little Disney kids.”

The Song-Culkin clan hopes to go even bigger soon with a trip to Walt Disney World. “Mack and I would love to do that,” she said. But her ultimate family dream trip? Japan. Though she’s been for work, that dream vacation was the trip that got away in April 2020. “Then I had babies back-to-back, so we haven’t had a chance!”

Global travel is something she hopes to instill early in her children, giving them the privilege of experiencing other cultures. “We don’t even realize how much of a bubble we live in,” she said. “I learn so much about myself when I travel. I hope to encourage them to take a gap year after high school to just travel—together hopefully! So I really want to encourage them to just step outside of their comfort zone because being uncomfortable means you’re growing.”

As for her alter ego London Tipton’s growth? “My hope is that she’s now running the Tipton Hotel,” Song said. “But she’d also be a TikToker on the side—because it would be just like London to try to do all the TikTok dances!”