Disney World Vacation Round Up

Today, I will be sharing with you all the links to my previous posts about our trip to Disney World in October. Hopefully, they will be helpful to you. We had such a great time. It completely baffles me the people that don't have fun at the happiest place on Earth. Go in with the right expectations and all the right information.

Well, here they are! Enjoy!

Animal Kingdom
Hollywood Studios
Magic Kingdom Day 1
Magic Kingdom Day 2
Epcot
and a special one where we Ate Our Way Around the World!

Again, I hope you find these informative and helpful.

Vacation: Magic Kingdom Day 2

Our reservations for the Be Our Guest Breakfast were at 8:30am. When we got to Magic Kingdom, there was a special line off to the far left for people with early morning reservations. We were let in around 7:45am. They didn't care what time our reservation was for as long as it was before the park opened. We were able to take some pictures with not too many people in them. That was great. Just a tip though. To get to Be Our Guest, you will have to go through Cinderella's castle to get to that side of the park. We were not expecting this so we were a little lost for a couple minutes when all the ways to that side of the park were blocked off. We got to our reservation early, but we were let right in. That was nice. We had pre-ordered our food so we got to skip that step. You're allowed to pick your own seat so we chose to go to the west wing. It's definitely the most dramatic room of them all. There is the rose in the corner, the fireplace with the torn portrait over it, and there's even thunder and lightning throughout your meal. The west wing was a little dark (but I think that's the point). Just know that if you plan on taking pictures of your food, you will have a little trouble in this room without using your flash. You get your own drinks (coffee and fountain drinks) and silverware once you choose your table. If you got milk, they bring that with your food. Now to the food. My son got eggs and bacon. The scrambled eggs were very creamy. My husband got the Feast A La Gaston (scrambled eggs, herb-roasted potatoes, apple smoked bacon, chicken sausage, and fruit). The chicken sausage was sweet which was unexpected, but nice. The potatoes were amazing. I got the Croqhe Madame (open-faced ham sandwich topped with a fried egg, gruyere cheese, and bechamel served with fresh fruit). The bechamel was amazing. I wanted to just spread it on everything. The fried egg was over hard which was fine. Overall, everything everyone ordered was really good. Everything is served with a pastry plate for the table. They were amazing. I think we got a croissant, an apple pastry, a chocolate pastry, a mini blueberry muffin, a mini banana nut golden raisin muffin, and a cinnamon roll. Everything that we ate was super good. We definitely didn't leave hungry. That's for sure.

We immediately headed to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train after we left breakfast. That was the best decision we made because we saw the wait time for Standby go up to 210 minutes the day before. We were actually the first people in line by mere seconds! It was amazing. We were walked through the line by an employee to the front (I believe to ensure that everyone actually walked through the line instead of taking shortcuts or running) where we were in the very front of the first car of the day. That ride was fun! I can't say that I would wait 3 hours to ride it, but I am so excited that we did get to enjoy it.

We followed that up with Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid. Due to the early morning, there was no line. This is a constant loading ride. It was very cute. It felt like a 5-minute Little Mermaid's greatest hits. I really enjoyed it. We didn't really stop in the line because there wasn't one, but had we needed to stop, the line was pretty cool. There were a lot of things to look at.

Right next door, we met Ariel at Her Grotto. This was so cool. I just love that she was in her fins. I mean, I guess Ariel with her legs is okay, but it's so much better to meet her in her fins. She was so nice.

The line at Peter Pan's Flight was interesting. This is definitely one of those instances where Disney really fools you with all the rooms. Every time you think you're at the end of the line, you're wrong. But they do a great job of keeping you entertained with things to look at in these rooms. The ride itself was pretty good. You fly around in a boat looking at all the different scenes you would see in Peter Pan. It was great. It was very dark though.

The Barnstormer was a very very fast ride. And by that, I mean that it felt like it lasted no more than 30 seconds. It was definitely fun while we were on it though. It's a great starter coaster for small kids. We really enjoyed it.

We happened upon the Move It! Shake It! Dance & Play It! Street Party by accident. It just so happened to start while we were walking in front of the castle on our way to the other side of the park. I highly recommend it though. We saw Chip n' Dale, Mickey, Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, Phineas and Ferb, Baloo and King Louie, and Woody and Jessie. Once they surround the circle in front of the castle, they stop and the characters get down to dance. Then, they invite everyone to come dance with them. I totally suggest going by the Zootopia characters because this is probably the only time you will ever see them. It was a fun little dance break. Keep an eye on your child though because there are a lot of people there and it's easy to get lost in all the chaos.

We had a FP+ for Jungle Cruise so we headed over to it. It was pretty good. Don't try to compare this to Kilimanjaro Safaris in Animal Kingdom. It won't even come close to adding up to it. But for me, that's not the point of this ride. First of all, you're on a boat ride so it's a completely different feel. But second of all, the whole ride is filled with your guide telling horrible, terrible jokes filled with the worst puns I've ever heard. It was great. We loved it. The fake animals looked very cool. Had they been moving, I would have expected them to be real. We enjoyed our time aboard the Amazon Annie visiting jungles all over the world.

Our next FP+ was at the Haunted Mansion. It was a fun little ride with ghosts. Disney does a great job of making these ghosts feel real. I think that's the whole point of this ride. With that being said, don't think that it's scary. It's not funny or silly like I've heard others say, but it's definitely not scary. We really enjoyed the end of the ride when it showed our faces in the 'mirror' as ghosts with our names under them. That was super cool.

We met Anastasia and Drizella in Fantasyland. They were hilarious. They definitely weren't mean. But they were ridiculous. It was great. We really enjoyed them.

We decided to get a snack at Gaston's Tavern. We got a ham and cheese-stuffed pretzel and a chocolate croissant to eat and LeFou's Brew (frozen apple juice with a hint of toasted marshmallow and topped with all-natural passion fruit-mango foam) served in a souvenir stein to drink. It was all really tasty and it definitely hit the spot.

We had to stand in line for a while to meet Gaston, but that's okay because his handler, Michael, was very entertaining. Gaston himself was great. He and Owen showed off their muscles for a picture. He was very entertaining.

We went to Mickey's Philharmagic because we had some time to kill and I'm so glad we did. I actually really enjoyed it! I definitely recommend you go to this show. It wasn't all that busy so you should easily find a seat. We didn't have very high hopes for it. I really thought it would be boring, but it turned out to be great. It's about Donald stealing Mickey's magic hat and he ends up going through a bunch of Disney movies trying to get it back. We loved it!

We decided to go shopping at Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe where we bought some ornaments. They had a great selection.

Then we decided to get another snack. My husband and I got a turkey leg to share and my mom and son got some Mickey ice cream sandwiches. We all really enjoyed our food and we sat until it was time to go to our last FP+ of the day.

I'm so glad we had a FP+ to Enchanted Tales with Belle. We ended up waiting for 5 minutes before our show. We really ended our day on a high note with this one. There weren't a lot of boys, especially ones that wanted to participate so my son was the lucky one chosen to be the beast and he was absolutely adorable! I'm telling you right now, if you have a son, you want him to be the beast. It's the best role in the whole show. It was so cute, I almost got teary-eyed. If you're child was in the show (if you're child wants to be in it, they can be), you'll get a PhotoPass card to look at the pictures taken during the show.

When we got back to the hotel, we decided to go swimming at the pirate pool one last time. It was fun swimming in the dark with just the pool lights to light our way. Mom and I decided to try out the slide. It was fun! Then we got Dominoes for dinner.

Vacation: Magic Kingdom Day 1

We started our day off with a bit of confusion. My recommendation is to check the hours of the park you're visiting the night before you go! They are always subject to change. I had checked the hours a while before we visited to make our schedule and it had said the hours were 9am-10pm. However, what we didn't realize until after we got there was that the hours had changed to 8am-12am. When we arrived at 8:15am, the park was already open. Luckily, it wasn't too busy so we were able to go to a couple of rides before the lines got super long. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was closed for refurbishment so I have no comments on this ride. Also, Stitch's Great Escape was down while we were there so I have no comments on this ride either.

We started off with Astro Orbiter. I will tell you this. Owen and I sat very comfortably in this ride. My husband and Mom did not. It was definitely a tight fit for the two of them. It was pretty fun though. This ride is your typical up and down, round and round ride.

We saw that the Tomorrowland Speedway had a short line so we jumped over there. The cars don't go very fast and you can't actually drive them too much because there is a bar in the middle to keep you on the track. However, this means that our little 6yo son was able to drive the car. It seemed like it was nearly impossible to control the car. Even as a decent adult driver, it felt like I was bouncing all over the place. And while little kids may be able to drive, they may not be able to reach the pedal. Luckily, the pedal is in the middle of the car so an adult can easily press the pedal while the little one drives. It was a fun little way to waste time.

We had a FP+ for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and it was so much fun. It was similar to Toy Story Mania in Hollywood Studios, but it's also different and has it's own little story. This one actually has a gun that you shoot and you're able to control which way the car spins to choose what you're shooting at. However, it is a little difficult to tell what you're shooting at. There are all these little red dots to show where you're shooting, but it's hard to tell which one is yours. We had so much fun though.

Then we headed over to the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. My tip is, if you're horribly afraid of being singled out in front of a crowd, don't go to this. Seriously! Most people are great sports, but my husband wasn't expecting this and was completely extatic at the end when he wasn't chosen. If you embarrass easily, beware! Despite all of this, I will tell you that I actually laughed quite a bit. Normally, I'm pretty hard to make laugh. A lot of things that kids find funny, I'm not impressed by. This was funny!

We decided to ride the teacups at Mad Tea Party next. We loved spinning. It's just like all your usual spinning rides. You sit in a teacup and spin the circle in the middle to make yourself go. This means you can spin as fast or as slow as you would like.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was fun. It felt like we waited in line forever for this one though. Luckily, the line was pretty entertaining. The kids are free to play in one part of it while the adults stand in line. The ride is fine. While sitting in your honey pot, you go along on a story with Winnie the Pooh and all his friends. It's definitely a great ride for little kids. Our 6yo enjoyed it, but I think in a year or 2, it will be a little young for him.

We ate lunch at The Friar's Nook where we got pot roast mac and cheese and BBQ chicken mac and cheese. It was really good and really filling. Personally, I liked the pot roast better. I think it was because the BBQ chicken was a little sweet for me and had cole slaw on top (which would have been nice to know beforehand).

We got to meet Merida. When we first got there, kids got to try archery after they met her. However, a couple groups before us, one of the kids broke the bow so we didn't get to do it. That was pretty disappointing for our son. But that's not why we were there. Merida was so nice! She told Owen he reminded her of her brothers and she taught Owen the correct stance for archery. He really enjoyed meeting her.

We had a FP+ for Space Mountain so we went there. I was a little concerned that my son wouldn't like it because the whole ride is in the dark, but he loved it! It goes fast around in circles in the dark. That's pretty much the whole ride. You feel like you're going a lot faster than you actually are because it's so dark. That being said, it's a lot more fun than it sounds.

We decided to take a little break on the Walt Disney World Railroad around the park. There are 3 stops and you could seriously ride that thing all day because they never make you get off. That being said, we boarded in Fantasyland, went to Main Street U.S.A., then to Fantasyland, and finally got off when we got back to Fantasyland. There is a nice breeze while the train is moving. If you have your own stroller, you can take it with you if you fold it up.

My mom convinced us to go on “it's a small world” and that line was quite the pain. Part of that was because the outside part was all in the sun. Part of that was because the line was long. But I think the biggest reason that line was a pain was because the family behind us just refused to watch their daughter (2-3 years old) and she was out of control. She kept bumping into us, touching us, swinging the chains, going ahead of us, yelling, and pretty much just all around being annoying. Now, I work with kids so I'm not just sour toward them. However, I do believe in watching your children and correcting inappropriate behavior. Now, after we got on the boat (thankfully, not even the same one as the other people) we realized one thing. There is absolutely no leg room! Or at least, there isn't any in the front row. I mean, it's great to be in front and it looked like there may have been more room in other rows, but we definitely were uncomfortable. Oh, and have you heard the joke about getting stuck on this ride? Well, it may have only been for 10 minutes, but we were definitely stuck and the song just kept playing!

We watched the Princess Elena Royal Welcome by accident! We got to the castle early to watch the Friendship Faire and it turned out that they were welcoming Elena of Avalor right before that. It was pretty cool. She sang a song. I got a picture of Cinderella and Prince Charming in front of the castle so that was nice.

While we were waiting, we ate some Mickey bars, which are basically just dilly bars in the shape of Mickey.

So then, we stuck around and watched Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire. What a cute little show on the castle stage. There are SO many characters involved in this. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Tiana, Prince Naveen, Rapunzel, Flynn, Olaf, Elsa, and Anna are all involved. There are 4 songs and we all thoroughly enjoyed watching. We were really close to the stage so I was concerned at first that we wouldn't be able to see that well, but that wasn't the case at all. Plus, there were fireworks at the end of the performance. It was great! It seemed like they were lip-syncing to the original voices which we really enjoyed because the songs sounded really authentic.

We had a FP+ for Splash Mountain and I'm glad we did. That line was long. It was really fun! There are 4 rows and our party was in the last 2. It seemed like the front row got the most wet and sitting in the back, we just got a light mist to the face. That was actually kind of nice because it cooled us down a bit, but we didn't get soaked so it was still fine to walk around for a while after that. Usually, Splash Mountain is all about that 50 foot drop, but there is a nice little story that goes along with the ride involving Br'er Bear and Br'er Fox going after Br'er Rabbit.

Pirates of the Caribbean didn't have a very long line so we went on that. It was ok. You ride a boat through scenes from the movies. It was kind of fun looking for Jack Sparrow. In some of the scenes he's kind of hidden so you have to pay attention.

My family was not interested in going to The Hall of President's, but my mom was so she went by herself.

We went to meet Pooh and Tigger. That line was deceptively long. Pooh and Tigger kept having to take a break every 20 minutes so we were there for about an hour. They were great though.

We just had to ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant. It's an iconic ride after all. This is the ride that everyone thinks of when thinking of all the ABC shows in the 90s when the families would go to Disney World and there was always that clip of them riding the Dumbo elephants. We used a FP+ for it after we used our original 3. It was just like the ride we rode first. You know, your typical up and down ride that goes round and round.

We then booked another FP+ for The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. It was the same as Dumbo and Astro Orbiter with one small difference. It had a spitting camel. If you want to get wet, you need to gauge the height of the spit and aim for that and hope that he spits right when you're going by. If you don't want to get wet, you need to go either high or low when he spits to avoid the water.

We decided to call it quits after this ride and make our way back to the resort. After all, we had to get up super early for our breakfast reservations.