Our Walt Disney World Florida Experience

Here is the orignal blog entry on our memorable trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. We had such a great time! Thank you in advance for taking the time to read. ☺

Here is the full entry (just in case the above link doesn't work).

When I mentioned to a few people that we were going to Orlando, Florida, the general response was, “Disney?” Although there are so many other attractions in Orlando, WDW is the main iconic attraction. The main attractions, not counting the Hotel Resorts and the Waterparks, are four theme parks: Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and Epcot. And as an added bonus, Downtown Disney. Each theme park is unique in its offering and generally use up a full day. We opted for a Park Hopper Pass that allows us to go to each park for one full day & an open 5th day at whichever one we would like to return to. As a family, we decided we would vote on which park to go to on the 5th day after we visited all 4 parks rather than choose ahead of time & reserve our FastPasses. Speaking of FastPasses, to maximize your time & avoid any more wait times than you need to, purchase your tickets ahead of time, register on line & reserve the FastPasses for your desired rides. Restrictions and rules differ depending on the type of tickets you have and whether or not you are under a Resort package. Look into all that information ahead of time and plan it all out. It makes the full experience less stressful.

Magic Kingdom
We had often heard that the best New Year’s Eve fireworks are at this theme park. It’s internationally famous with live webcasts so people from all over the world can view them. So, naturally it would be logical to predict that it would be extremely crowded that day. The Husband and I decided since the boys were now older, they could handle this challenging adventure and we would take a leap of faith and choose New Year’s Eve to visit this park. (I feel like there should be some kind of adventurous Indiana Jones music inserted here).  Our plan of attack was simple–get there early. So, at the pre-crack of dawn, the 4 of us trekked over to the Magic Kingdom, except you can’t get to Magic Kingdom directly. You have to park in their official parking lot & either take a monorail or take a ferry to the park. It is the only park of the 4 parks that does not have direct access to the parking lot from the park itself.  Did I mention we arrived at the pre-crack of dawn? And no, we weren’t the first ones there. There was already a substantial size & continuing to grow crowd in several lines. And it was also the first time we heard the dreaded phrase, “Fill in all the available spaces”. They wanted us to all gather & squeeze in–no need for lines–just squeeze in folks. Yeah. What could go wrong? When the gates finally opened, yup, you guessed it, there was a mad rush to get in. Running. Yeah…I’m not a big fan of crowds of people mad rushing and running to a final destination. But we survived it & found ourselves on a large ferry headed over to the Park.

My wide eyed 9 year old baby boy on the ferry & ready for the day!

 Again, we were organized and had a plan to head over to the “Mine” ride that is ever so popular and FastPass booked for a few months. We figured if we stand in line early enough we won’t have to wait in line for too long. Even heading over there at the start of opening, we still had to wait in about a 60 minute line. That’s not so bad though considering that the wait time can get up to 3 hours on peak days. And the ride itself is pretty fun. It’s not a heavy roller coaster and there’s some nice scenery focusing on Snow White’s Dwarfs. For my thrill seeking husband and kids, it was not very exciting. And yes, I can confirm first-hand that Magic Kingdom on New Year’s Eve is very, very crowded. I have to say though, if you manage your FastPasses correctly, you can maneuver through the crowds and reduce your wait times quite efficiently. I have to give ourselves pats on the back for planning ahead because the day was wonderful and we pretty much went on everything we wanted to. Space Mountain is always a favorite and the Husband and boys loved it. My 11 year old made a declaration that it is the best ride Magic Kingdom has to offer.  Splash Mountain is fun and surprisingly not terribly crowded that day. Personally, I don’t think you get too wet–like maybe a light sprinkle, but if you are truly concerned about it, make sure you bring a poncho so you don’t miss out on the ride. They pretty much have the same rides as Disneyland in Anaheim: Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World, Thunder Mountain, People Mover, Dumbo etc…

The boys enjoyed The People Mover. It goes through Space Mountain which they got a kick out of.

 However, they don’t have an Aladdin Magic Carpet ride that holds a very special place in the hearts & memories of my family. ♪ A Whole New World…♪ (Dedicated to my boys!)    Okay, so like I said, it was a very full and busy day–tiring but super fun.  But when it hits midnight, it’s time to gather for one of the greatest firework shows I’ve ever seen. It truly was spectacular–lighting up the sky in all different directions–just amazing! And nothing is better than celebrating with my 3 loves and getting hugs, kisses & “Happy New Years”.  What a fabulous party!   But the part that sticks out forever in my memory is the experience of trying to leave the park.  Holy socks!  There were so many people and we were all packed together like a herd of cows out to slaughter. (Sounds very dramatic, but dude, I was tired, cranky, claustrophobic, and feeling super desperate.) And once again, we heard the dreaded phrase, “Fill in all the available spaces.” Wait. Let me take a moment…that phrase gives me anxiety. And then when our ferry arrived people were pushing & squeezing to get in. I just grabbed on to my 9 year old for dear life because I didn’t want us to get separated. The husband was leading us and my 11 year old was following me closely. And I have to say, both boys were amazing troopers. They stuck it out with minimum complaining (I think I probably whined the most). We headed out of the park at about 12:15am and by the time we arrived at our hotel it was about 3:30am. Our hotel is only about 20 minutes away. *Shudders* I live to tell the tale. This experience alone, although filled with wonderful loving and fun memories,  was enough for me to decide this Park was not getting my vote for our 5th Day/2nd Park visit.

Live Army Man walking around ready for pictures. Very cool and I give him credit for having to endure that costume.

 Disney’s Hollywood Studios
 New day, new park.  This park is much more laid back and less crowded than Magic Kingdom, although there are still fairly large size crowds since we came on a peak part of the season. We made sure to pre-FastPass the most popular attractions: Tower of Terror, Star Tours, and Toy Story. All of these rides are enjoyable with my shining favorite being the Tower of Terror. That seems a little out of character since I’m far from a thrill seeker, but I enjoy the Twilight Zone concept and it’s majorly creepy in an artistic way. I just grip some handles next to my seat during the turbulent portions of the ride & I’m good to go. The Husband and the boys love the Star Tours Ride. It’s very adventurous and of course super nostalgic. The adventures change and the cute part (*spoiler alert*) is that a random “spy” is on every ride. One time it was my 11 year old son. He cherishes that moment.

My crazy guys just can't pass up this picture opportunity. Those Star Speeder go pretty fast.

                              The Toy Story ride is also fun, but extremely popular. The wait times are often in the hours and depending on who you ask, isn’t worth that much wait. But if you can fanagle yourself a FastPass, go for it.  Oh, and just a reminder to the Toy Story riders, make sure you put on the 3D glasses that are handed to you before you board the ride. I put mine on my head & forgot to wear them–and yeah, it is kind of necessary for the full enjoyment of the ride.   The highlight of the day was when the boys signed up and got to participate in Jedi Training. It’s open to kids 4-12 (so my 11 year old was able to make it, thank goodness). You are given a specific time to come back to the sign-up location to wait for your “training”. It was a bit of a wait & long enough for the boys to wonder if it was all worth it. But when it was finally time, they were told to stand up & try on their Padawan robes for a fitting. Okay, so that perked them up. When all the kids received their robes, they formed two lines & trotted over to a stage area right outside of the Star Tours Ride. All the kids get a lot of attention during this parade because they’re wearing their robes & look totally nerdy cute. When the training starts they are greeted by their “Master” teacher (we had a super actress–she was firm, sarcastic & stayed in character). They receive training in how to handle their light saber & proceeded to learn some moves to use against the “dark side”. And then finally (*drum roll*), the scary villains come out–Darth Vader, Darth Maul, and a couple of Star Troopers.  I really enjoyed the dude who portrayed Darth Maul. He got close enough to the audience where we could even see the color of his eyes. The costume was fabulous! Of course, we were suppose to act fearful, but I just thought he was awesome. The kids then get to “fight” their villain. What a great memory for the kids and fabulous picture opportunities for the parents. If you have children that fit into the age range & they have some knowledge or enjoyment of Star Wars, I wholeheartedly recommend that they sign up & participate in this experience.

Normally a Pacifist, my 11 year old held his own against the scary Darth Maul.

I'm not sure if one is suppose to be smiling while fighting such a scary villain. Leave it to my 9 year old to go against the grain.

Another highlight at this park is the Fantasmic Show, which is a spectacular light & water show. It defies description without completely spoiler alerting it for the viewer, so I’ll just say, you have to go and see it. Try to get a FastPass so you can get prime seats, but if you aren’t able to get one, at least try to get in line early. The stadium is huge but gets pretty packed since it’s a very coveted show.

 Animal Kingdom

In the background is the Tree of Life. I'm glad we have pictures for memories, but there is no substitute for seeing it in person.

 Okay, hands down my favorite Disney World park! I have a deep love for wild animals and a special passion for conservation and the plight of endangered animals so my thoughts & feelings obviously come from a very biased place. But this Park feels very special from the moment you see it and then step foot inside.  The center of the park is “The Tree of Life” which is a man-made tree with hundreds of different animals carved into it’s trunk. It’s breathtaking and gorgeous from afar and spectacularly detailed up close. They have a safari tour that is probably the closest I will ever get to experience a real one. Sometimes the line can get long for this attraction, but either FastPass it or make time for it. It’s totally worth it. They set up the animals in their natural surroundings and each tour is different because naturally no one can predict what animals will do on any given day. For our visit on this trip, we saw so many wonderful animals. The best part was that our driver/tour guide was well-informed and intelligent. We were able to learn so many things about some of the severely endangered animals of Africa and what we can do to help them. Did you know that recycling your cell phone helps with saving Elephant habitat? It makes me sad to also learn that one of the animals that Animal Kingdom houses is already extinct in the wild. The only ones that exist are ones in captivity. How sad is that? But it tells me that conservation work and awareness is still very much needed and I’m grateful for parks like this that work to help keep people informed.

My smart@$$ husband felt it was fitting for the "Asians to take a picture in front of Asia". Gotta love our White Mexican Boy. ♥

 The unofficial mascots for the Park are the beloved Lion King characters (still one of my all time favorite Disney movies) which is obviously fitting because the message of the movie is caring for “the circle of life”.  There is a wonderful Lion King music extravaganza show that is a must-see.  If you’re a fan of the songs in the film, get ready to sing along, clap your hands and stomp your feet. The performers are first rate and the sets and costumes are a delight to see. There is also a “Bugs’ Life” 4D  show. Get ready to exercise your different senses on this one. When we were filing out of this show, I turned around to make sure the kids were following me and spied my 11 year old examining the benches we were sitting on. He’s got a bit of that “engineering, how do they do that?” brain.  They have a large DinoLand section that reminds me of being at a fair. I have to admit this feels a little out of place with the rest of the park, but they have some great attractions including a time travel type dinosaur ride–the Husband described it as a cross between, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park. Kind of an unusual description but I believe it fits.  They have a “digging” play area for the younger kids–something we took advantage of 5 years ago when our kids were smaller, but had no time or need for it with this trip.  Just a hair’s throw away from this area is the theater that houses a live stage production of “Finding Nemo”. It’s a unique puppet/acting production based on the movie and the performers are excellent. The sets are colorful and elaborate. I get a big kick and laugh from how distracted the Husband gets with trying to deal with an actor performing with a puppet. It’s a must-see show though so make sure you make time out for it.

This is just one of the many unusual picture taking spots--so much detail.

 For a little water adventure, they offer a river rapids type ride. It’s a fairly short ride and in my opinion not as rough as it sounds.  We cheated a bit and wore our ponchos so we only got a little bit wet. I liked it because it wasn’t a choppy ride and didn’t have too many falls–which makes me very happy since, I’ve said before, I’m far from a thrill seeker.  And finally, the highlight attraction of this park for my guys (and me because it holds so many precious family memories) is the roller coaster ride, “Expedition Everest”.  It is based on the legend of the Yeti.  The line itself has pictures, information and tales of expeditions. It’s up to the rider to decide what’s authentic and what’s real. The ride itself is very thrilling and all do-able for me (the non-thrill seeker). There are fast moments, bumps and drops & some visual surprises.  We were lucky enough to go on the ride multiple times utilizing our FastPass and jumping on when the wait times were shorter.  All 3 of my guys now have a small stuffed animal Yeti as a momento of this ride and our experience at Animal Kingdom. It’s a fabulous park and I look forward to coming back again in future years.

Our family favorite. Baby Yeti is along for the ride.

 Epcot
 This is a very memorable park with lots of things to see and do. It can easily fool you to believe that it’s smaller than it actually is. When all was said and done, my family decided this was the park we would return to for our 5th Day/second visit. And I couldn’t be prouder and happy that the kids not only agreed with this choice, but were instrumental in making the final decision.

So much to see and do at Epcot. Love the uniqueness & beauty of these waterfalls fountain.

This is the famous ball photographed multiple times by millions of people. And it's beautiful in person.

Inside the famous and iconic Epcot Ball is a slow moving ride called “Spaceship Earth”.  This is an informative and engaging ride taking people on the evolution of information technology. It could use some updating to include the Internet and Social Media, but the main ideas are there and it’s completely fascinating.  There is also an interactive feature in the end that allows everyone to answer a few questions and a program comes up with an alternative “future” based on the answers given. It’s super fun for both kids and adults and the picture they snap and include in the final piece can be hilarious.  When you exit the ride, there are more interactive learning stations to entertain both kids and adults alike.  Another ride that may sound similar called “Mission Space” is anything but.  There are two versions for this ride, “Easy” and “Intense”. There are multiple warnings for the “Intense” ride letting people know that if you’re prone to motion sickness to not go on this version. Let me first state, that yes, I am prone to motion sickness.  But there are also multiple rides that warn this same thing and I can go on it and be just fine.

Test Track Creation Station. I can't even imagine how much time they logged on just creating and designing.

Test Track: Here is the Husband proudly buffing up his self-designed vehicle.

Let me give you a strong and heartfelt warning–if you are prone to motion sickness on a usual basis (like you feel that you need Dramamine to take before a flight or on a whale watching trip), then trust me, take the “Easy” option or just don’t go on this ride at all.  I made the unfortunate mistake to go on the “Intense” option thinking, I’ll just survive it like I survive all the other somewhat intense rides the boys convince me to go on.  This ride is different. It apparently spins you a gazillion (that may be a slight exaggeration) miles per hour in order to have that authentic feeling of riding a spaceship. I learned one very important thing…being an astronaut is not my calling. I definitely felt queasy and nauseous after the ride and felt I couldn’t shake it for the rest of the day. It was definitely a “lesson learned” moment for me.

Test Track: The boys teamed up to design their own car which they are also very proud of!

 Moving on to other memorable rides at Epcot, be sure to check out Ellen Degeneres’ Energy ride–it’s funny and unique. Also check out a ride called “Living on the Land” which the husband & I kept calling “Land of the Living” which caused some giggles because we kept connecting it to “The Walking Dead” which is so far removed from the ride. Consult a Park Map for all the other really great and entertaining rides offered at this Park as well as interactive learning stations–including a Piggy Bank game that teaches kids and families to save and invest money. But I can’t complete the trip back to memory lane without touching upon the guys’ favorite ride at the Park–Test Track. The concept of this ride is to test all the different aspects of a vehicle: performance, power, responsiveness, etc.  But what made the ride memorable was that the guys were able to design and custom build their own car–down to the shape, color and performance.  Once you’re on the ride, you can “test” the car you custom built against other “designers”. For the creative and engineering minds of my guys, this was, for lack of a better description, like a trip to Disneyland. On our second trip out, the boys spent quite a bit of time enthusiastically re-designing their vehicles. I commend the creators of this ride for coming up with an interactive way to bring in creativity.

World Showcase: My Lil' Mexican boys with their sombreros in "Mexico".

 And of course, the highlight of Epcot is the World Showcase where 11 countries (like Mexico, China, Italy…) are represented visually, artistically, culinarily (is that even a word?) etc… in very detailed and comprehensive remakes of their most iconic structures and customs.  It almost feels like you’re really in the country represented.  It’s about 1.2 miles long but so visually stunning you don’t even feel that. Try to spend time “in” every country. It’s really worth it.

World Showcase: Never has the husband...uh...or maybe gargoyle... ever been able to resist taking a crazy picture.

Chocolate brownie sundaes. *Sigh* of contentment.

Downtown Disney
Not officially a theme park, but a must-visit nonetheless. They have an AMC movie theater where we watched the latest Hobbit movie, they have a Lego Store which was extremely crowded and very popular, and they have various other shops and restaurants…but the highlight for the family (and especially me) is the Ghirardelli Ice Cream Shop. It’s worth all the walking and maneuvering through the narrow crowded walkways (at the time of our visit, there was some heavy construction going on so space was limited) just to smell the fabulous aromas coming out of the shop, snag some chocolate samples, and then dive into one of their famous sundaes. I’m a simple girl.
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 Some quick side notes: Parking is $17 a day at all parks. Parking at Downtown Disney is free. There are plenty of souvenirs, but you are hard pressed to find any souvenirs without Mickey Mouse attached to it. Why is this significant? Well, what if you just wanted some kind of memorabilia for say, Thunder Mountain? It seems the only option you have is a replica of the train with Mickey riding it. They should have some souvenirs that just say Walt Disney World or the name of each theme park. The souvenirs are over-run with Mickey’s image which is fine, but allow other options. *Rant finished*
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  We had such a memorable time at WDW! The Happiest Place on Earth for me is with my Crew: my beloved Husband and our precious Sons…and I feel so Blessed to create more happiness and memories we’ll cherish for a lifetime at these amazing parks. We’ll hopefully see you again, Mickey  Mouse!