The Disneyworld Breakdown
Cinderella’s castle looking all dolled up for the 50th anniversary. Taken on my iPhone before the fireworks.
OK, friends. Here it is. All your questions asked about our recent trip to Disneyworld. Here we go!
After postponing it almost two years (Thanks Covid!), the surprise Disney trip finally happened this past January. With unknowns about Covid every day, we wanted to at least have the kids fully vaccinated and, go during a time when there are typically lower crowds. When we went, masks were still required for everywhere indoors and Omicron was at its all-time high so the trip was a huge gamble but it ended up working out just fine and by some incredible miracle (well, that and science being on our side), we went and came back with nary a virus to report. That still baffles me - I mean, we did the Haunted Mansion where they shove as many people into a ‘room with no windows and no doors’ - and still came out unscathed. But it all worked out!
We kept it a secret from the kids (which was a blessing with all the postponing). We didn’t tell them until we dismissed them early from school (they thought they had appointments for their yearly physicals) and they walked out to see not only me, but my husband (who would normally be working) AND…. A LIMO. "
“Dad why are you here? And… why is THAT here?”
Navy (my blog nickname for my husband), said playfully, “Why not?” And that was it. We all got into the limo and headed back to our house to drop off their backpacks and then continued onto the airport. It was then that we played that classic family game: “so we have a limo, what should we do with it”, and eventually my son (who’s blog nickname shall be Buzz), suggested Disney (because kids always eventually suggest Disney). Navy said, “hmm if we’re going to go to Disney you’ll need these’ and tossed them their Magic Bands. And they flipped. We were on our way.
Why did we choose a limo, you ask? We needed transportation to the airport and wanted to mitigate Covid risk at every possible turn so we could have the best chance at avoiding it. We would usually take public transportation but that wasn’t going to work this time. When I researched having a car pick us up, I got the idea for the limo and giggled to myself thinking it was totally silly. It turned out it wasn’t THAT much more than getting any other car and, it actually gave us and the driver the lowest risk because of the divider. So, we made the jump and took the limo. It was a big moment and I love that it happened but we have explained to the kids how they won’t be in a limo again any time soon. That this is NOT the norm so don’t get too comfortable hahaha.
Now, onto the trip itself!
My kids greeting Mickey from a distance at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom.
KIDS AGES:
9 and 8.
WHERE WE STAYED:
5 nights at Port Orleans French Quarter
6 nights at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort.
WHAT WE DID:
We got 8 day park tickets so we did:
3 days at Magic Kingdom
2 days at both Epcot and Hollywood Studios
1 day at Animal Kingdom
and then did one hotel day at each hotel.
WHERE WE ATE (these are all the places we had reservations. We also ate quick service meals and snacked throughout the park. Favorites in bold):
Cinderella’s Royal Table (Magic Kingdom)
Coral Reef (Epcot)
Raglan Road (Disney Springs)
Tusker House (Animal Kingdom) (this was still really good just not a top fav).
Sci Fi Drive in Diner (Hollywood Studios)
Ale & Compass (Yacht Club - for breakfast and lunch)
Garden Grill (Epcot)
San Angel Inn (Mexico in Epcot)
Liberty Grille (Magic Kingdom)
Beaches and Cream (Yacht Club)
Skipper Canteen (Magic Kingdom). I got the pad thai here and it was my favorite meal of the entire vacation. I still dream about it. My beer was delightful too.
Trattoria Al Forno (Boardwalk Resort)
Meeting Mickey in the Magic Kingdom
The following are answers to YOUR questions from my instagram stories:
Q: How was the limo?
A: The limo was great. I am so happy we ended up going with it. It was really just lovely in every way. We ended up getting a deal so we had it for the way home as well and it was so wonderful to just come out and have a warm car waiting for us.
For locals: We used Express Limo. And thanks to the Magic Express being cancelled, we had Tiffany Towncar take us back and forth to the airport (in regular cars) in Florida. Both of these companies were excellent to work with.
Q: What was your favorite park?
A: I think we all unanimously think Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios are the top runners, and perhaps H.S. wins overall. Magic Kingdom has the castle and the nostalgia though, so I think it always wins based on that. But purely based on how much we enjoyed the rides, I’d say H.S. might win by a hair.
Q: What were your favorite rides?
A: Space Mountain wins for ride most ridden (4x), so I think that was probably the favorite. Since I was a kid, Splash Mountain was always my favorite but it was only open one day we were there and, the kids did not enjoy it that much. It closed the following day for refurbishment and it was clear it needed it. Everything was a little off and it was just missing that magical feeling it used to give me. Navy said the same thing - it just felt off - so I think that’s why no one loved it. I simply cannot wait for it to be done over with Tiana’s story. I bet it’ll be awesome. When we went on our honeymoon, Navy and I did Soarin and I thought it was lame. We did it this time and it was AWESOME. The kids absolutely loved it and I loved how much they loved it. Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run was a top favorite as well. I loved that so very much. Even more than Rise of the Resistance. Everyone was actually pretty let down by RoR which I was surprised by. I thought it was awesome. But I did like Smuggler’s Run more.
My kids walking through the lightning lane for Space Mountain
Q: Did you pay for the photo package or task yourself with documenting it all?
A: I paid for the photo package because I knew I wanted some shots of me in it that weren’t selfies. It was 100% worth it. The photographers were great (most of them - some were still fine but totally not into it) and they did fun shots with us (adding characters to the images; confetti; other little magical moments). I especially appreciated it the two times we split up; I got to capture the solo time I had with my son in Japan (in Epcot), and, with my daughter (blog nickname: Tink) in Morocco. The latter was especially excellent because the photographer was standing in front of Morocco ready to go because no one was there; everyone was getting ready for fireworks. I asked her to grab a photo and since no one was waiting, she legit had a mini session with the two of us. There are some really sweet shots and I’ll always love them and that little moment we had - something I think is especially important between mothers and daughters.
On this note, I also should point out all the images in this post are mine, taken with my iPhone, and you’ll notice faces aren’t in the pictures. I chose to include only shots where you can’t see their faces because right now we’re planning to keep their identities locked up as I return to blogging. Some day they might say they want their faces on here themselves, but until they are old enough to decide that on their own, we’ll give them anonymity as best we can. This decision was made after our trip so I didn’t take any of these with the knowledge of that. With our future adventures, I’ll be more mindful of grabbing the anonymous shots in pivotal places.
So while I unfortunately won’t be sharing any of the Disney images here to show off our family outfits/smiles/awesome shots, they do exist and we are very happy to have them. Any images I felt like taking myself were just icing on the cake and now, as I make our album of the trip, I’ll be able to see that I was there too.
One of my many margaritas on the trip. This one in a keepsake plastic glass from the poolside bar at Port Orleans. It was delicious and this spot at the pool was perfection.
Q: Did you pay for Genie+? (Got this question 6 times)
A: Yes. We did. For the entire trip and we paid for the Individual Lightning Lanes. Is it absolutely absurd that this system exists as a paid thing? Yes. Is it a pain in the butt? It definitely can be - and it can be hella confusing. Is it worth is? Absolutely yes. If you calculate the time you save standing in line and getting your worth out of the experience, then you can actually see how it’s worth the money (plenty of people have proven this online so I’m not going to break that all down here). But being able to skip impossibly long lines a few times a day was KEY. We didn’t use it for everything and I definitely stumbled a few times with getting it right at first, but once I finally got the hang of it, it was really really awesome honestly. So I fully recommend it even though, yes, I totally agree it’s greedy of Disney. At the very least, the individual lightning lanes are really pushing it. Stick those on Genie+ and knock that off. But would I pay for it all again? Yes, if I had the money, I absolutely would; especially if I’m going with kids. If it’s just grown ups? Take your time and don’t bother if you don’t have to. For kids? I think it’s a must if you can make it happen.
Q: ALL. THE. DETAILS. No “little recap!”
A: I’m trying! There is a lot more to come in this very post but if you still have questions when it’s over, feel free to ask in the comments section (after my last post I got many requests to bring back a comment section directly on the blog so I have done that for this and all the posts to come). If there are enough questions I’ll put together a second post. But, let’s see if I give you enough in this one!
Q: Recs on where to stay!
A: This could actually be a post on its own but I’ll keep it simple and say whenever we return to Disneyworld we will stay at Port Orleans French Quarter every single time. It was absolutely perfect and just our speed. We ALL loved it. Yacht Club is of course nice but it missed the mark for us this time for a few reasons (construction/cold pool water/size). Forever and ever and ever I’ll go to French Quarter. It was absolute perfection. And if you do want more on this (including other Disney hotels I’ve been to), I can definitely write up another post. Let me know in the comments.
Running toward the Yacht Club when we first arrived. We spent the day in Hollywood Studios and took the boat to Yacht Club from there so this was our view upon arrival. It truly is a gorgeous hotel.
Q: Is there anything you would advise us to skip?
A:
If you can’t do every park, I advise you skip Animal Kingdom though it really can be great so it’s worth going if you can. When we were there, Everest was under construction and that’s arguably the best ride there, so the park had less of a value.
Cinderella’s Royal Table’s meal is delicious and it’s so cool to eat in the castle but if your family doesn’t care about either of those things, it’s not worth the money. Right now, only Cinderella comes out and waves every 20 minutes and that’s it. No other princesses and no big moment with her either. BUT - it was one of the most delicious meals I had during our trip so as a foodie I didn’t care.
Mission Space at Epcot is 100000% skippable if you get an upset stomach. I went ahead and did it anyway - wearing my nausea bracelets - and it was still a mistake. I was fine enough but I could’ve done without the spins for a half hour after. They do have less crazy versions of the ride you can choose but the kids wanted to do the worst one. And, frankly, so did I! So I went for it. It was stupid. The only benefit is, now I know that given the chance to go to space, I should turn it down b/c I would NEVER MAKE IT through the trip there.
Disney Springs. It’s just not for us. We went there for dinner on our French Quarter hotel day and it was insane; long lines everywhere, and our dinner at Raglan Road was a huge disappointment. We couldn’t even see the Irish Step show from where we were! And I had been told this was going to be one of our best dining experiences of the entire trip. We also thought that going to the giant Disney store there was the place to get everything but they didn’t have anything more than the parks/hotels did and it was MOBBED. Just not worth it.
Avatar ride in Animal Kingdom. This didn’t do it for any of us and my son actually almost passed out because his seat was so tight so that was terrifying. Even without that though, none of us were that impressed. And it’s one we paid individually for. So totally not worth paying extra for it.
The Blue/Green milk in the Star Wars part of Hollywood Studios. But I mean, we’ve all got to try it, right?! Even though we all know it’s gross? But if you don’t need to check that off your list, yes, skip it. It really is that gross.
Beaches and Cream ice cream shop. Everyone raves about this place and maybe we’re ice cream snobs (is that a thing?) but it wasn’t anything worth all the panic to get a reservation. The place was FREEZING and so everyone who had just come out of the pool was miserable, and this was the one place we had cast members who weren't great. I mean - they were still fine - but they ALL seemed miserable. It wasn't worth scheduling our day around and the take out window is perfectly delightful so if you’re there and you want ice cream, I suggest you get it to go as the restaurant doesn’t give you any crazy awesome experience. However, this IS the place to get the massive kitchen sink sundae so if that’s what you’re after, you definitely need a reservation. And it certainly wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t something I’d call a MUST-DO.
While those were the things I’d skip, none of them were bad. And, there were SO MANY THINGS that were great. I wept happy tears often. My daughter has been obsessed with Tinkerbell since she could barely talk, and I wanted SO BADLY for her to meet her idol. But that character meet and greet wasn’t open due to Covid. Our best shot (after talking to MANY cast members over a long period of time) was the Calvalcade that Tink was in at Magic Kingdom. With little hope of anything happening, we sought a good place to stand. As we walked the route, she was suddenly in view. And so we stood where we were, and waited. Tink wasn’t only passing in a parade but she was up high on a treasure chest - likelihood of a Tink moment was low. It’s ok, I told myself; things always have a way of working out. And I was right. Tinkerbell noticed my Tink was wearing a Tinkerbell sweatshirt (and headband, necklace, earrings, magic band…. but who’s counting) and she made a whole MOMENT of it. We got the following unspoken dialog (all done with excellent hand signals): “Is that me on your sweatshirt?! Me? Oh my goodness everyone, it’s me! Well. Hm. ::uses her wand to whip up imaginary pixie dust and then blows it in Tink’s direction, gives a wave, a “hug” and a kiss:: Bye! I Love you!”
Friends, let me tell you, I was BAWLING and am, in fact, misty eyed again as I write it. I legitimately broke into tears at random times throughout the rest of the day. It was so lovely and epic and perfect and all the Disney magic one hopes for. The same thing happened with my son and Buzz during that Cavalcade in Hollywood Studios. So I guess the biggest tip I can give you is dress your kids in their favorite character’s “look” so they can be noticed from a parade. And hopefully character meet and greets will be back soon.
The sun rising over Echo Lake at the Yacht and Beach Club resorts. The Boardwalk Hotel can be seen in the distance.
Two completely random highlights that aren’t often noted in everything you read:
#1: There is a playground in Animal Kingdom that is mostly shaded and has an attendant at the gate and if your kids are older like my kids, you (parents) can sit and gather your thoughts while they burn some energy climbing and playing. It was excellent and we highly recommend it. Every park should have something like that.
On a similar note, the Dumbo ride has a great indoor area to play while you wait. Totally a fun moment you don’t expect.
And #2: There is a really fun Pirate Quest over in Adventureland. There are 5(?) different treasure maps you can follow and you go on a scavenger hunt to find where Captain Jack hid all the treasures. My kids LOVED this. It’s free and something different to do. Just don’t finish after 7pm because it closes then and you don’t get whatever little prize they give you. Which I know really isn’t anything big but my kids were bummed when they completed all the maps and went to turn the last one in and it was closed.
And a few other random tips:
We stood on the bridge to Tomorrowland for the MK fireworks the first night so that Tinkerbell would fly directly over my daughter’s head (yes, I cried that night too). While there is a tree that partially obstructs the view of the projections on the castle, you get an incredible view of the fireworks itself and there are seats and very few people over there. Plus you get awesome access to Tink. So, it’s a great spot if you want to avoid the BANANAS crowds in front of the castle. That being said, to be able to see the projections the 2nd time, we stood right in front and people actually spaced out really decently so it wasn’t awful.
My kids fell in love with pin trading so that was where they invested their gift cards and such. My husband felt like it was a waste but I argue that they’re smaller than all the other crap they might have wanted to bring home and, they can trade them any time they come back forever and ever and, put them on backpacks, etc. I found it to be a really ideal thing to do to keep them excited and have great souvenirs. The pins aren’t the cheapest but they have fun blind bags that you can get which usually have one or two you like less than the rest and then those are the ones you use to trade. Now when we go to Disneyland we can bring the pins for some more fun. I think it’s a pretty cool.
In celebration of the 50th anniversary, there are 50 statues of characters around the parks. I assume heavily these will stay beyond this year. These create a delightful scavenger hunt of their own. Tinkerbell is one of the hardest to find and we found her! They’re all supposed to be true to size which is also really exciting to see as sometimes things are bigger (or smaller!) than you’d expect.
The hotels often have activities so check what they’re doing on hotel days and let the hotel occupy your kids for a bit while you take a breath. Everyone wins!
I hope this answered all of your questions. If you have more, just let me know! It was a fantastic trip and I really wouldn’t change very much at all.