Once upon a time there was a world where elephants fly, the sky sparkles every night, and Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto all come to life. A world where you can visit eleven countries all at once, have a birthday party with Mickey and sleep all night in Cinderella's magical castle. A world where you can go on a real safari, watch Indy be a hero all over again, and free fall in a dark elevator several stories high. A world where Captain Jack Sparrow exists, you can travel in space at high speed and hang glide through distant lands. Once upon a time? How about now!? You can do all these things and much, much more at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. I have been able to travel to and explore Disney World twice now, first, with my oldest son, and second, with my youngest. We may just have to go again, because it just wouldn't be fair my oldest got to go twice. Now my youngest needs to go a second time :) Yes, I'll admit I love it just as much or more than my kids do. I'll look for any excuse to go again. I would say out of all the places I've been in the world, Disney World has to be my all time favorite! I guess part of the reason for this is because I've been a fan of Disney since I was a child and I'm definitely still a kid at heart. It's also fascinating to see through the eyes of my children.
Disney World consists of four major worlds, Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Magic Kingdom, which took us 2 days to experience, has all the classic rides Disney is known for. For example, The Haunted Mansion (my all time favorite), Pirates of the Caribbean, Dumbo, Mad Hatter Tea Party, Peter Pan's Flight, and It's A Small World. Of course it also offers the popular Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and many more. There is alot of shopping offered, at least one shop for each "area" within Magic Kingdom. These areas are, Adventureland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland and Mickey's Toontown Fair. You can find almost any character in any type product you want. There are also alot of shops along Main Street, which is right at the entrance of Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom is the best place to find all your favorite Disney characters. You can have breakfast or lunch with them too! When night falls on this land, a beautiful fireworks display lights up the night over Cinderella's castle. Disney really goes all out with this, just like they do everything else. Also, the Spectro Magic Parade (another one of my all time favorites) travels down Main Street and beyond just about every evening. All the characters shine with multi-colored and white lights through the whole production. It's truly an amazing sight to see! You absolutely can't miss it! If you want the full ambiance of Cinderella's Castle, fireworks and classic Disney at it's best in close proximity, I recommend a stay at any of the three deluxe resorts located on the monorail. They are Disney's Grand Floridian, Disney's Contemporary Resort, and then across the lagoon, Disney's Polynesian Resort. One other resort that's definitely great for families and close to Magic Kingdom is, Disney's Wilderness Lodge. The best way to travel from this resort to Magic Kingdom is by boat.
Epcot Center has two main sections, Future World and World Showcase. Future World consists of several rides and about 8 pavilions where you can see and interact with quite a few interesting displays. Depending on how much time you have, you can see Epcot in a day and if you really want to take your time, a day and half or 2 days tops. The popular rides here are Test Track, where you can actually see what it feels like to be in a car race, Mission:Space, and Soarin', where you virtually "hang glide" through several lands. One show I recommend here is, "Honey I Shrunk the Audience". There are several shows at Disney where you feel like you're right there with the people in the movie and they use real effects to make you feel that way. This happens to be one of them. World Showcase is eleven countries on display. As you enter each "country", you'll find the architecture, food, stores and entertainment are all from the culture of that particular country. Alot of the people who work within these "countries" are really originally from there. On their name tags, it has their name and what city and country they're from. There's one ride I recommend in World Showcase. It's called, Maelstrom and is in Norway. Every night, here at Epcot, they have a water and laser light show set to music called Illuminations. It's presented right on World Showcase Lagoon. This is another must see! As we were leaving Epcot, we rode the ride inside "Spaceship Earth", which is the big round ball Epcot is known for. We ended up riding it about 3 times in a row, because my youngest loved it. It's a slow-moving ride in cars through quite a bit of interesting "scenes".
Hollywood Studios was probably my least favorite of all 4 worlds. It was enjoyable, it just didn't seem to have as much to do and see as the others. We spent a full day here and left before dark. My recommendations in this world are, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular (my younger son was SO into Indy at this time, this show was perfect for him), Star Tours, another "feel like you're there" movie, Muppet Vision 3-D, and the Great Movie Ride. Other popular rides are, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Rock 'n Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith. One show we didn't get to see was Fantasmic. We didn't stay past dark, which is when the show starts. It's a lavish musical production with a mix of fireworks, lasers, fountains and Disney characters.
The last and newest of the 4 worlds is Animal Kingdom. This one was alot of fun and had a variety of options for entertainment and can all be seen in a day. The focal point for this region was the Tree of Life. It sits right in the middle of the park and is truly amazing. The trunk is carved with great detail and inside the trunk itself is another must see movie. It's called "It's Tough To Be A Bug" and is another of Disney's special features that includes great effects that make you feel right there. As far as rides, I recommend Kilimanjaro Safaris, Kali River Rapids (if you don't mind being soaked), and the Dinosaur ride. One that we did not ride that is very popular is, Expedition Everest. This is Animal Kingdom's newest ride and is a roller coaster style ride where you climb up and down "Everest" and try to avoid the legendary Yeti in the process. Animal Kingdom is broken up into the lands of Africa, Asia, Discovery Island, Dinoland U.S.A. and Camp Minnie-Mickey. There is now a deluxe resort right by this park that offers views of the safari animals and is called Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Downtown Disney is a great place to go for wonderful shopping and good restaurants. We saw the Cirque Du Soleil La Nouba, which was our first Cirque show. It was fantastic! This area is within the Disney grounds and can easily be accessed through the bus system.
When it comes to dining, Disney has it all! The following are some restaurants that are musts if you can make reservations ahead of time and have the time:
50's Prime Time Cafe in Hollywood Studios
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater in Hollywood Studios
Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort for great character dining
California Grill at the Contemporary Resort for nicer faire and also has a great view of the fireworks
Tusker House in Animal Kingdom for great character dining
Also, two dinner shows that are alot of fun are:
Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue - Offers delicious barbeque along with a saloon show that's been going on since 1974. Located at Fort Wilderness area.
Mickey's Backyard Barbecue - It's more like a big informal party where you can line dance with the characters and there are games for the kids. The food is self-serve, all-you-can-eat also at Fort Wilderness area.
One thing you need to know about, which can be found at all 4 parks, is Disney's Fastpass system. This is a great way to avoid long lines at the popular rides. You simply walk up to a Fastpass booth (there's always one close to the popular rides), request a ticket, and printed on the ticket is the time to come back for that particular ride. If you come back at the time it says, you won't have to wait in line at all, or at most a few minutes. You normally have to wait and ride the one you have a ticket for before getting another ticket. The system really works, even in the busy summer time when we went. There are times when a ride is extra popular and they've given out as many tickets as they are able and won't give out anymore for a specific day, but this rarely happens. I highly recommend using this system as much as possible, it saves alot of time.
When it comes to purchasing passes to the major parks, I recommend the Hopper passes for the number of days you spend at Disney (including the last day because the cost is only about 3.00 more per person for an extra day). These allow you to go back and forth between the parks if needed within the same day. For example, one time we were at Magic Kingdom all day, but we wanted to go see the Illuminations show at Epcot that night. The Hopper pass allowed us to do that. Some passes also include all the water parks along with the 4 main Disney parks. It's definitely worth purchasing it this way rather than as singles if you really plan to go.
Another thing to consider as a supplement to your package is a meal plan. Disney offers 2 main plans: Deluxe and Regular Dining. The deluxe plan offers 3 meals a day per person plus one snack per person, while the Regular plan offers 2 meals a day per person plus one snack per person. They now also offer a Snack Plan. You can go to just about any restaurant or character dining venue and use these passes. After seeing the cost of food on it's own and comparing it to the cost of purchasing these meal plans, I truly believe it's a better deal for your money if you purchase the meal plan.
The best time of the year to go to Disney for the price is after Thanksgiving and before Christmas, September/October timeframe and April/May timeframe (not holidays). A great time to go is to celebrate a birthday! Disney goes all out and treats the person celebrating a birthday like a VIP.
Overall, when planning your Disney World vacation, please consider all the possible add-ons that will save you money in the long run and will make your trip more enjoyable. I highly recommend staying on site if at all possible. Also, one of the three (Grand Floridian, Contemporary, and Polynesian) monorail resorts makes it even easier. It really does make a difference being right there close to everything and having easy access to all the different transportation venues. Also, consider adding a meal plan along with the Hopper passes with water parks included. One of the most important things you can do is plan ahead and organize your trip and what you want to do each day you're there. This will save an extreme amount of time! I purchased Birnbaum's Guide to Disney World and based on what rides were popular, park opening times, and what we wanted to do as first choice, etc., is how I planned each day. I did an outline on Word for each park and what ride/presentation we would do first, second, third, etc. within each park. I also planned out which park we would do for each day, depending on where we wanted to eat or where our character dining was for the day. There's alot of factors to consider. You will have an amazing time full of wonderful memories! I must say, Disney does everything right and has everything down to a science, all the way from line organization for the rides to park cleanliness. The service is excellent and everyone from the parks to the resorts goes above and beyond for their guests. It's a truly amazing and unforgettable vacation full of "happily ever afters".
