We FINALLY made it to Disney World with the kids! It was a long time coming and it was well worth the wait. We chose to enjoy Disney on Spring Break! I know you're thinking we are crazy, right?! The crowds were actually not bad. The overflow of people actually added to all the excitement and fun we had. We rode everything we desired to and avoided having a wait for most of our activities. We chose to go Sunday trough Thursday so that we could have a few days afterwards.
Convenience really stood out to us our whole trip. We were pleasantly surprised at the accommodations provided. Being that we stayed in the resort area, we had shuttles available every 30 minutes! Once in the park, there was a tram and ferry ready to take us to the gates. We used our car ONCE to go to dinner...talk about winning!!!! We received extra magic hours (2 extra hours of fun before and/or after normal park hours) and were able to map out our amazing trip.
DAY 1: Magic Kingdom
Day 1 was a whirlwind!! Upon entering, we were greeted by Mary Poppins and joined the school of fish (crowds of people) headed to the castle. Along the way we stopped by the sweets shop and the dress store where there was so many beautiful things. We ate EVERY Mickey shaped food available!!! Talk about over doing it, lol. As we got closer to the castle, the music started. We ended up being front and center for the street dance party and show featuring every character. Stephen and Joshua were the first to dance in the street with the dancers in front of the floats. We had so much fun! We dance for about 20 minute before enjoying the show featuring Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Rapunzel and even Elsa (to name a few)!! We went to the haunted mansion and took a boat ride on the bayou that were both super fun. The amount of creativity put into everything was so astounding to me. I was definitely impressed. We stayed from sun up to sun down...although we were exhausted, we were so happy we did.
DAY 2: Animal Kingdom
This was our favorite park! It was aesthetically gorgeous and housed our favorite rides! The avatar was a 90 min wait... I cannot believe we waited that long. This was one of the only two rides we waited for and it was worth it! This 4d experience took us to a different world where we flew through trees and dipped under waterfalls. We could actually feel the water on our faces and smell the fragrant flowers below us. We met Pocahontas and climb mountains escaping a yeti via rollercoaster! Animal Kingdom had beautiful water shows, theatre comedy and dance parties. We went on a late night safari to see beautiful lions, antelope, giraffes and other animals that roam the African plains. We are there 13 hours and crashed once we returned.
DAY 3: Magic Kingdom/Hollywood Studios
We decided to hit up Magic Kingdom again after leaving Hollywood studios. Hollywood studios was full of Pixar fun! Characters from movies like Toy Story and Cars were all present and ready for fun. We headed on over to Magic Kingdom to spend our last hours with all the magic. We arrived at Magic Kingdom around noon and headed straight for Tomorrowland. Once we grabbed lunch at the Space café (the loaded fries were so delicious!) and watched a few shows. We, then, visited all the princesses. By the third day, we were seasoned vets and knew how to effectively use our fast passes; which made a world of difference. We went to high tea with Belle and let the kids do damage in all the stores. We finally got to enjoy the mine train and the barnstormer; crossing off our checklist! We viewed the fireworks one last time before heading back to our hotel.
Planning is key with any vacation you decide to go on. We set a budget for spending money and were happily surprised we came in below it. We spent less than $500 additional over the Disney tickets and our hotel!!! We did amazing and didn't sacrifice ANYTHING. This amount included both food and retail for 4 peoples for 5 days (3 park days and 2 travel days)!!
Here's my need to know for Disney:
1) You can bring your own food if you wish
2) Be sure to bring a roomy backpack and fanny pack with you in the park
3) On busy days, the ferry is quicker than the tram
4) Popcorn bucket and the souvenir cup are refillable for $2
5) Plan you fast pass list 48 hours in advance if you don't have the wristband
6) If you stay inside resort area, you will receive extra magic hours for your entire stay
7) Go early AND late with a rest in between to get EVERYTHING done!
8) Stand in the front for every show and or parade and be animated! It's a guarantee most, if not all, characters will come over to you and your family! ( we got great photos that we are keeping sacred for the kids' memories later: ))
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Planning to go to Disney? Have questions? Email me! Follow on social platforms @guruwhoknew