Several have asked me about the details and planning for our
Disney World vacation.
I started with The
Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and Unofficial Guide The Color Companion to Walt Disney World. I also had Rachel, with Cruises, Inc. book
everything for us, which was wonderful.
We decided to stay at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort,
which is a Magic Kingdom resort on the Monorail. This gave us the quickest access possible to
the Magic Kingdom. I requested a lagoon
view room so that we could watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the comfort of
our room. We were in the Tuvalu building
on the first floor, right by the marina dock that has ferry service to Magic
Kingdom. It was amazing being able to
sit in our room and watch and hear the Electric Lights parade on the Seven Seas
Lagoon followed by the Magic Kingdom fireworks show. I will never forget watching the girls enjoy
the show! The resort restaurants that we
enjoyed were Captain Cooks quick service counter, Kona Café, which had
delicious steaks and ‘Ohana where we had a family style breakfast with Mickey,
Minnie, Lilo and Stitch.
Our first stop after we arrived at the Polynesian on the
Magic Express bus from the airport was Epcot.
I had reserved a Princess dinner at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. Before the dinner, we rode Test Track, Soarin’
and The Seas with Nemo and Friends.
Everyone LOVED Test Track. We
would have experienced it again had time permitted. The Princess dinner was in the Norway pavilion
and we were greeted by Belle, Aurora, Ariel, Cinderella and Snow White. The food was good and the girls enjoyed
meeting the princesses. After dinner, we
had Fast Pass tickets to meet Mickey, Minnie and Goofy at the Epcot Character
Spot. Our plan was to meet as many
characters as possible at the start of the trip, so that we could focus on the
rides and attractions. Before leaving
Epcot, we saw their fireworks show.
We spent two days at Magic Kingdom. It was the favorite park for our family. We had early park entrance by making
breakfast reservations at The Crystal Palace.
It was a buffet and we got to meet Winnie the Pooh and Friends. Breakfast was good, but my favorite thing
about it was the early entrance where I was able to get a lot of pictures
before there were crowds. Also, by being
first in the park we were able to be at the start of the line for meeting Elsa
and Anna. We had heard about people
standing in line two to four hours to meet these princesses, so we were glad
the girls got to meet them in under ten minutes! Next, we rode the new Seven
Dwarfs Mine Train. It was so much fun
that over the course of two days, we rode three times, even though the wait was
30 to 40 minutes. The girls also loved
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, “the wildest ride in the wilderness” as Lainy
called it. We rode this five times and
the wait was never long. Splash Mountain
was not our favorite ride. The line was
about twenty minutes and the ride was long and slow, with the only excitement
being the “splash”. No one wanted to
ride another time. We ate lunch both
days at Columbia Harbour House. The food
was good and we got a table upstairs, which was quieter. We also took the girls to Enchanted Tales
with Belle, where they enjoyed acting out a scene from the movie with Belle. We
would have liked to eat at Be Our Guest Restaurant, but were not able to get
reservations and it filled to capacity for lunch before we got there. We all rode Space Mountain and it got mixed
reviews. Lainy was terrified by the fast
ride in the dark and Lindy absolutely loved it and rode a total of three
times. We all enjoyed Dole Whips, even
though the line was quite long, probably a twenty minute wait. Other attractions that we were able to enjoy
were Astro Orbiter, The Barnstormer, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Dumbo
the Flying Elephant, Haunted Mansion, Mad Tea Party, The Many Adventures of
Winnie the Pooh, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Pirates of the Caribbean, Prince
Charming Regal Carrousel, Swiss Family Treehouse and Tomorrowland Transit
Athority PeopleMover. Sadly, the Walt
Disney World Railroad was closed for refurbishment.
On Thursday night, we had tickets to Mickey’s Not So Scary
Halloween Party. This was a lot of
fun. The parade was great, there were
fireworks and the ride lines were all shorter.
We didn’t actually do any trick-or-treating. The lines to get candy were longer than the
ride lines, so the girls decided that they would rather ride the rides.
We only spent half days at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood
Studios. The main attraction for the
girls to go to Animal Kingdom was Expedition Everest. It is the biggest roller coaster at Disney
World. To our surprise, Lainy really liked this one, but Lindy said, while
going up the big hill, “I don’t think this was such a good idea!” Lainy was tall enough to ride Expedition
Everest, but not tall enough for Primeval Whirl. ??? Lindy and Josh rode that
together, while I rode TriceraTop Spin with Lainy, which is another version of
the Dumbo ride. We ate a delicious lunch
at Flame Tree Barbecue. The Kilimanjaro
Safaris was also fun. Like getting to
ride through the zoo.
The main reason for visiting Hollywood Studios was for Lindy
to ride Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. This
was the one other ride that Lainy did not meet the height requirements, but
after Space Mountain, she didn’t want to ride this one anyway. Lindy, of course, loved this ride, too. She got to ride three times. We also enjoyed
the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure, Muppet*Vision 3D, Star Tours
and Toy Story Midway Mania!
Over all, this was a “Magical” vacation. We want to go again when Kyle is a little
older, maybe in five or six years. Next
time, we plan to stay at a Magic Kingdom Resort, on the Monorail again, but
focus our time at Magic Kingdom and Epcot.
The bus rides to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios were long and
there was not as much there that we would want to experience again.
I hope this was helpful to those of you who are getting
ready to plan a trip to Disney World.
