In this 4-part post, I am excited to finally let everyone know about our fantastic two-week trip to Walt Disney World and the Florida Keys. I am doing the posts somewhat out of order – starting with our week at Walt Disney World, then Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure, followed by our week in the keys, ending with fascinating information on planning, Fast passes, dining reservations, etc.
Part 1 – Walt Disney World
We left Spokane via Southwest Airlines (free miles by the way) with an overnight in Denver. (Note - This is is the first Kyle has flown in 16 years, plus he had a bad cold, so we were anxious how he would handle the flight. We were happy to find that he did great and the folks at Southwest are incredibly helpful in making the flight as easy for him and us.). The next day we flew on to Orlando, with welcoming 82 degree sunshine. Since we were staying “on property*” we caught Disney’s “Magical Express” bus from the airport to our chosen resort - Port Orleans Riverside, which was a great way to go.
For our 7 night stay, we chose Port Orleans because of the price, look and feel of the place and many great reviews, but I think Coronado Springs would have been a good choice too. We like the fact that we could take a boat to downtown Disney, which we did a couple of times. We upgraded (+$15/nt) to a “preferred” room which allowed us to be within easy walking distance to the main building, boats launch, bus stop and main pool. The room was large with two queen beds, a large bathroom and in-room coffee maker and min fridge. The “rack rate” for the preferred room at this resort varies between $216 to $313 per night depending on time of year. Our rate was $216 but we also took advantage of a 25% discount, lowering it to $167 after tax.
The resort is pretty cool, themed like a bayou, with buildings set among meandering paths along a creek. They have a great food court type restaurant (excellent pasta station), a table service restaurant, a bar, and a store. The main pool is pretty good with a decent water slide, but we found the hot tub to be oddly small.
For our trip we decided against the “Disney Dining Plan” which for their standard package costs $58pp to give you (1) table service meal, (1) counter service meal, and (1) snack. My opinion is that it would be too much extra work to think about every meal to make sure you get everything included in that day’s meal to get your money’s worth (entree, drink and dessert) whether you wanted it or not. Because we had the fridge, and to save costs, we planned on making some of our own meals, so we arranged for some basic breakfast and lunch groceries to be delivered by Garden Grocer. With eating only some of our breakfasts in-room, we spent around $100 per day for all of us. We did however, make several dining reservation during the week, which in-park guests can do up to 6 months in advance. (See part 4 - the planning blog later)
We pre-purchased 5-day “Magic Your Way” (non hopper) park tickets from Undercover Tourist, giving us somewhat of a discount. Using the Disney web site we linked those tickets to our online account and Disney then sent us the new Magic Bands. These babies are waterproof bands with imbedded RF ID chips tagged to your account. You use them to enter the parks, enter your room, and buy food and gifts. They were great! No hassle carrying lots of cash or worrying about tracking credit card receipts.
For the 5 days, we visited Magic Kingdom twice and Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios each once. On the sixth day we did Universal Studios Islands of Adventure (not a Disney park).
Day one we visited Animal Kingdom which is probably my favorite park. It is beautifully themed and a relaxing park to wander in. We originally had a dinner dining reservation at Tucker house, but cancelled it in favor of an excellent meal at counter service Yak and Yeti.
Let me say right out of the gate that one of the fun things we (OK-me) like to do is explore the great snack “opportunities” in the parks. Here we are enjoying a hand made chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich from Discovery Island Ice Cream in Animal Kingdom – my vote for the best snack we tried.
The Safari Trek is a great way to start the day.
Kyle loves the roller coaster rides, and I think Expedition Everest is one of their best. Animal Kingdom also has “Dinosaur” which is like Indiana Jones Disneyland.
Primeval Whirl
Days two and four were visits to Magic Kingdom. It is larger than Disneyland California, but has the same magical feel. Another new thing at Disney World related to the Magic Bands is the Fastpass+ system which is basically making advanced reservations for certain rides. You can pick up to three attractions per day, and reservation window is one hour. So if you reserved Thunder mountain for 11am, you can enter the Fastpass line between 11 and 12. We found this to be a pretty good system. Kyle also had an AAC pass which allowed him and us to get a return time to enter the fastpass line. So we never waited more than 30 minutes for any ride.
(Some of these photos include the second day at Magic Kingdom)
This snack experience was the famous Dole Whip float from Aloha Isla – very good!
We saw some large dwarves working on the new Mine train ride.
Thunder Mountain – my favorite Disney coater.
This snack experience was hand made caramel corn from Big Top Treats
The new Fantasyland area is looking great!
I tried to get him to drive slower, but kids these days…
I, er, let Deb and Kyle ride those spinny type rides, so I could, er, watch the wheelchair and take pictures... not that I mind those spinny rides of course.
This snack was iced coffee float from Sunshine Tree Terrace – not that great. We did a combo of snacking and counter service dining (Pecos Bill’s with huge and great meals) on the first day at Magic Kingdom, and had planned on a character breakfast at Chef Mickey’s/Contemporary the second trip, but cancelled it. We just can’t eat $30 worth of Disney waffles a piece. We did keep a dinner reservation at the Plaza restaurant on the second trip which turned out to to be so-so. Nothing special. The newish Be Our Guest Restaurant looked to have a pretty cool theming, and I wish I had made reservations there instead.
Day 3 was Hollywood Studios. We had originally planned on going to one of the Disney miniature golf places in the morning, but were beat, so we decided instead to have a leisurely morning and hit the park in late morning.
We rode Rock and Roller coaster a couple of times. As an afterthought, we tried the Tower of Terror worried that if would be too much for Kyle – he loved it and we ended up doing it TWICE!
One of the best snacks we had was at Hollywood Studios Starring Rolls Cafe. A hidden gem. We split a Butterfinger Chocolate cupcake.
Toy Story Mania. Kyle is used to those 3D glasses now.
One great surprise was Kyle’s interest in shows. In 2011 when we last visited DW, he wasn’t very interested in the shows, with the exception of The Lion king at Animal Kingdom (closed this trip of course). But we tried some shows and he did great. This Beauty and the Beast show was pretty good.
Our first official dining reservation was at Hollywood Studios 50’s Prime Time Cafe for dinner. It was very good.
The fifth and final Disney park visit was at Epcot. It was a full day, as we took the time to walk over and investigate the Yacht , Beach Club and boardwalk resorts out the backside of Epcot.
We ate lunch at Beaches and Cream at the Yacht Club resort.
We had strawberry shortcake and key lime pie snacks at Sunshine Seasons
This snack was a piece of caramel/toffee/chocolate candy and a cookie from Karamell-Küche in Germany.
It was a cloudy day at Epcot that day, and at the end of our day, we decided to head back to Great Britain and get some fish and chips before we headed back to the hotel. 1/2 way though the meal it started raining –hard, so we gobbled down the meal and beelined for the exit, and despite ponchos, got pretty wet and cold. On top of that, the fish and chips weren’t very good – we would have been better off going back to the hotel and eating in the restaurant.
We took the boat to downtown Disney twice during the week – once in the evening to shop around and eat sundaes at Ghirardelli, and the second time for dinner at T-Rex (see next blog).
We had a great trip and a super fun time at Disney World and I am looking forward to planning our next trip. The weather was mostly great in the low 80’s and sunny, although we had a couple rainy spurts here and there. Aside from some so-so meals, we have nothing we would have changed about this part of the trip.
Next time, if we can afford it, we’d like to try and stay at a deluxe resort so we can have boat or monorail access to a park. In my opinion, to get the whole Disney “feel”, you really need to stay in a Disney Hotel on property. I think you also need to do some planning to get the best experience and most fun on your trip. Maybe not a year in advance like I did, but at the very least, decide what restaurants you really want to eat at, and make dining reservations – because believe me, you’ll NEVER get in otherwise. You also should take advantage of making Fastpass+ reservations. If you want to take it a step further, subscribe to touring plans.com and set up daily touring plans for each park – it definitely helps to minimize walking and lines.
But no matter what, have fun and smile…you are at Disney World!
*Disney runs 17 resort hotels within Walt Disney World categorized by “Value”, “Moderate”, and “Deluxe”. A great resource to learn more about the resorts and pricing is www.mousesavers.com
Values: There are 5 Value resorts are All-Star Movies, All-Star Music, All-Star Sports, Pop Century and Art of Animation. These resorts tend to be larger with less amenities, simpler pools, less theming, etc, but less expensive than the Moderate and Deluxe.
Moderates: The 4 moderates include Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, and Port Orleans – French Quarter and Riverside. In these resorts, you’ll find better pools, larger rooms, mini fridges, and more dining options than the Value resorts. In some case there will be additional transportation options, such as boats that travel between Port Orleans and Downtown Disney.
Deluxe: The 8 Deluxe resorts include Animal Kingdom Lodge, Beach Club, Boardwalk Inn, Contemporary, Grand Floridian, Polynesian,Wilderness Lodge and Yacht Club. here you’ll see more elaborate theming, great pools, interior corridors, great restaurants, and in most cases at least two transportation options (among buses, boats, or monorail).
In addition to the above, Disney also has the Fort Wilderness Cabins which include a double bed and bunk beds in the bedroom and a Murphy bed in the living room, which sleep 6. Ft. Wilderness cabins have a full kitchen with all the basic cooking utensils, pots, pans and dishes supplied. Pricing is between moderate and deluxe.
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