Tag: Magic Kingdom

Holiday Weekend at Magic Kingdom

On April 22, 2024

Rope drop at Magic Kingdom

For our first day at Disney World, we woke up early for rope drop at Magic Kingdom. Before we even left our hotel room, we got on the My Disney Experience app to try to get a virtual queue reservation for the newest attraction in the park, Tron. Unfortunately, all the spots filled up in one second. We still had a second chance to get a spot at 1 pm or we could buy a Lightning Lane reservation for $30 per person. This was the first inkling that we had that the parks were going to be busy this weekend.

Sunrise over Tomorrowland Once we got to the park, we headed for tomorrowland and waiting for the park to open, so we could get our first ride on Space Mountain! We caught a beautiful sunrise over Astro Orbiter while we waited (left). We got on Space Mountain pretty quick, but when we got out, the line was already 30 minutes long but Buzz Lightyear was only 10 so we saved the galaxy and then headed to Fantastyland and walked right on Journey of the Little Mermaid. From there, the wait was short for Haunted Mansion, so we headed there and got through the stretching room and it broke down. We were stuck for probably ten minutes in a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd in the loading area. We eventually got on the ride and then it was time for our breakfast Nutella Waffle at Sleepy Hollow. We got all of the done in the first hour and half the park was open.

After the first hour of so, the crowds got bigger and the waits got much longer. The good thing about Magic Kingdom is there are plenty of attractions that large capacity, so even when the headliners get busy, there is still plenty to do without too much of a wait. We headed back to tomorrowland and got our first ride of the trip on the PeopleMover and then rode Carosel of Progress and Monsters Inc Laugh Floor (I got picked which caught me off guard). We did a loop on the Walt Disney World Railroad and then got lunch at Casey’s Corner (corn dog nuggets and pulled pork fries were delicious). At that point, there wasn’t much with short waits, but we needed to be in the park at 1:00 to try again for a Virtual Queue for Tron, so we waited a bit for the PeopleMover again and managed to score a Virtual Queue right after we came out of Space Mountain.

Happily Ever After from Fantasyland

Virtual Queue acquired, we hopped over to EPCOT so I could get the Festival of the Arts Figment Popcorn Bucket. We went on a few rides and then took our first Skyliner ride back to Pop Century so we could drop off my popcorn bucket and rest a little before dinner. It felt like we were barely back in the room when it was time to head back to Magic Kingdom for dinner at Skipper Canteen, which is the best Table Service restaurant in Magic Kingdom, in my opinion. It was almost time for the fireworks, but we are not ones to stake out a fireworks spots hours in advance, so we rode a few more rides and then found a spot in Fantasyland, near the carousel for the show. Now, this was probably not the best spot to see Happily Ever After for the first time. You can’t see the projections on the castle at all. But, it was a really cool perspective with fireworks being shot off all around us.

Happily Ever After from Fantasyland After the fireworks, the park really emptied out. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean and Space Mountain before our Virtual Queue was called and we headed to Tron. Even though we had the virtual queue reservation, we waited about an hour for the ride and the ride itself was very short. Tron has an interesting ride vehicle which is kind of like if you were securely attached to a bicycle on a rollercoaster track. The launch has probably the most intense of all Disney Rollercoasters (possibly excluding Rock n Rollercoaster), but the track was incredibly smooth. All-in-all, I am glad we rode it, but I don’t know if it was worth the wait and I’m glad we didn’t pay for a Lightning Lane to ride it.

Afterward, we had time for one more attraction before the park closed and we practically ran to Jungle Cruise for the last boat of the night. I felt like we were riding with a bunch of Jungle Cruise nerds. It was one of the best Jungle Cruise experiences I have ever had. After we made it back, we stumbled exhausted to the bus stop for our ride back to Pop Century for a few hours of shut eye before another day of Disney craziness.

Overall, even with the crowds, we were able to do pretty much everything we wanted to in Magic Kingdom, with the exception of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which we hit later in the trip, and 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, which I wanted to ride again but after our experience in 2010, I will only ride with a short wait. Be sure to check back next week as we enjoy a rainy day at Epcot.

Thanks for stopping by! Check out our NEW Go See Do Explore Podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts. To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! For my list of gadgets to make your travels easier, click here. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.

Long Weekend at Disney World

By Ashleigh

On April 15, 2024

In Travel

Hanging with Walt at Dreamer’s Point

In 2021, we took a long weekend trip to Walt Disney World for the 5oth Anniversary of the Magic Kingdom. While it was crowded, we had a wonderful time. A few years had passed and some new attractions had opened up, so we decided it was time to head back to the most Magical Place on Earth. Because of my teacher’s schedule, we decided to visit during President’s Weekend. After booking our trip, I read several articles about how that it is one of the busiest weekends of the year at the parks. I renewed my TouringPlans.com subscription and read all of the tips I could find to beat the crowds, but I figured it wouldn’t be as busy as it was for the 50th Anniversary.

On our last trip, we splurged to stay at Coronado Springs, a Moderate Resort, and we didn’t think it was worth the money for the way we visit Disney World, so this time we went back to the value resorts and stayed at Pop Century. There have been some updates since we last stayed at Pop almost 10 years ago. Now, there is the Skyliner, a gondola transportation system that takes guests from Pop Century, Art of Animation, Caribbean Beach, and Riviera Resort to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Since Epcot is my favorite park, we figured spending a little extra (over the All-Star Resorts, the other Disney Value Resorts) and staying on the Skyliner made sense.

Skyliner at Epcot

Back in 2021, we only had three days in the parks, and we devoted one day to Magic Kingdom, one day to Epcot, and one day to Hollywood Studios. Since we had an extra day on this trip, we decided it was time to go back to Animal Kingdom. We also added on the Park Hopper this time so when we accomplished everything we wanted to at one park, we were able to leave and enter another park on the same day.

It had been a long time since I visited Disney World in February and the weather was much different from June or October. It was chilly (highs in the upper fifties, and low sixties) and it rained for two days straight. I am used to Florida’s afternoon showers, but this was something else. Everything was soaked. I am still recovering from walking two days in wet shoes (rookie mistake, I know).

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check back in the next few weeks as I recount our days in each of the parks. Check out our NEW Go See Do Explore Podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts. To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! For my list of gadgets to make your travels easier, click here. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.

Wordless Wednesday: It’s a Small World

By Ashleigh

On July 5, 2023

In Disney, Travel, Wordless Wednesday

It's A Small World

Wordless Wednesday: Cinderella Castle

By Ashleigh

On March 2, 2022

In Disney, Travel, Wordless Wednesday

Cinderella Castle's 50th Anniversary Makeover

50 Years of Walt Disney World

By Ashleigh

On February 28, 2022

In Disney, Travel

The view down Main Street on October 1

I remember walking down Main Street USA in 1996 toward the infamous Castle Cake that marked Walt Disney World’s 25th-anniversary celebration. As an eight-year-old girl, I thought it was awesome, and looking at pictures of that pink monstrosity still brings a smile to my face. Fast forward to 2011, Magic Kingdom was celebrating 40 years and I was very involved in the Disney online community at the time as a co-host of the Generation Mouse podcast. Some of my co-hosts were heading down to the celebration, but I was planning a wedding while doing my student teaching and a Disney trip just wasn’t in the cards. But, I promised myself I would be there for the 50th! I marked Friday, October 1, 2021 down on my calendar as a date to remember.

We booked this trip 500 days out, as early as Disney lets you book because I knew it was going to be a popular weekend. We booked flights using the last of our Spirit credit and of course, they canceled it and put us on a less-desirable flight that had us land in Orlando at Midnight on Friday. I heard people online talking about getting to the Magic Kingdom by 5 am and I knew with arriving so late, something was going to have to give. My plan was the get to the park for the early resort guest hours at seven, but traffic was insane so we got there right as it opened to everyone at eight with the bus driver taking us the back way to the park.

Waffle with Nutella from Sleepy Hollow

We walked through the turnstile and just hit a wall of people (top). There was a cast member standing outside the Emporium explaining to people that the store is on a virtual queue and at park open it was already full for the day. This was our first time in the parks since 2014, I wasn’t going to waste my time standing in line all day for merchandise. We headed to Liberty Square to pick up our breakfast from Sleepy Hollow that I had ordered in advance on the app. I was really glad that I had ordered in advance because the line went a ways back from the ordering window, almost back to the castle.

Exhausted Selfie in front of the Castle

We finished our breakfast and headed to Tomorrowland for our first ride of the day, bracing ourselves for the long lines that were predicted. The line for Space Mountain wasn’t bad, in fact, after riding once, we got back in line and did it again. I think in total, we rode Space Mountain 5 times, Splash Mountain 4 times, and Big Thunder twice with plenty of other rides in between. The longest wait of the day was for Jungle Cruise in the afternoon. It was listed as a 40-minute wait, but I think we waited close to 60. On one of our runs through Space Mountain, one of the cast members yelled “You should be happier! It was supposed to be busy today!” My travel agent even texted me at one point asking if the wait times on the app were correct because she couldn’t believe it.

Besides merchandise, the quick-service food was also insanely busy on the 50th. We had pre-ordered our lunch from Pecos Bills in the morning and when we got there to check-in, we were told it may be another hour before we could get our food. Luckily, I was able to cancel that and we walked over to Columbia Harbor House and got our food almost immediately.

Watching the sunset from the Tommorowland

Watching the Sunset from The TTA/Peoplemover

We had a really hard time getting a dining reservation for any restaurant in the park that day even with my travel agent getting on the phone bright and early on the day we were able to book. I kept checking the app every day, though, and the night before I managed to get us a reservation at Skipper Canteen. The downside of this reservation is it was at the same time as the fireworks. We weighed the options and with the busy day and very little sleep, we opted for the sit-down meal and I cannot tell you how glad I am that we made that choice! The theming in Skipper Canteen is so much fun as it goes along with The Jungle Cruise, but the food was amazing! Being able to wind down at the end of a busy day in the Magic Kingdom with a glass of wine was a great bonus!

Overall, it was a wonderful, exhausting day, in my favorite place. Main Street was a zoo the whole day so we just avoided it and enjoyed the shockingly short lines for the popular attractions. We got back to Coronado Springs late and did it all again the next day at Epcot! Check back next week to read about that!

Thanks for stopping by! If you are thinking of planning a trip to Disney, reach out to my friend and travel agent Allison at Adventures Away Vacations. To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my updated Gear Page.

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2021: Year in Review

By Ashleigh

On December 27, 2021

In Travel

Glacier National Park in June

2021 goes down as one of our best travel years yet. Despite COVID and all the precautions that go along with it, we were still able to get out there and explore these United States. Yes, my passport has been gathering some dust (that’s the nature of traveling during a pandemic) but I was able to see some sites this year that I have been dreaming about for a long time!

This year started off with a bang, and by bang, I mean snow and a cold snap in Texas. We tasted Texas wine and visited the home of a former president. Of course, the fun was only just beginning when our connecting flight got canceled and we were stuck in Orlando for two days! This whole ordeal still has me kind of nervous to fly. Not so nervous that I won’t do it, but nervous enough that I build in extra time and buy trip insurance before I get on a plane.

Grand Prismatic Spring – Yellowstone National Park

Of course, in 2021 we took the biggest trip of our lives spanning three weeks. We visited 7 national parks, 4 other National park service sites, and 4 state parks spanning 12 states (8 of which were new to us). We saw Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, and Glacier, places I have been dreaming about seeing for myself for a long time. It was a wonderful journey, but I hope I can say that it wasn’t a once-in-a-lifetime trip. I want to continue traveling like that and seeing all the places that make America beautiful!

Disney World 50th Anniversary

I don’t know if I can call the big trip the highlight of the year though, because I also got to be in the Magic Kingdom on October 1 for the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World. This has been a dream of mine for the last 10 years. It was a whirlwind trip where we had a hotel room we barely saw and got by mainly on caffeine. We also got to see Galaxy Edge in Disney Hollywood Studios. I know it’s not super new, but this was the first time I had seen it. I’m not a Star Wars fan, but I have to say, it was so cool! I still have to recap it officially on the blog, so that is all I will say about it for now. Stay tuned in the next couple of weeks for the details!

Runaway Camper Setup

We took some weekend trips around Michigan in the spring and summer and spent some time in our new mini camper. We finally kayaked out to Turnip Rock and walked across the Mackinac Bridge on Labor Day. We have some big plans for 2022 as well! I can’t wait!

Thanks for stopping by! To read more about our latest trip, check out the Epic National Park Road Trip. To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my updated Gear Page.

Disney Magic

By Ashleigh

On January 11, 2016

In Disney

Walt Disney World is a place I’ve been more times than I can count. Growing up, we visited every year. The Disney parks are one of the few places I can successfully navigate without a map (or GPS). There is something about seeing Cinderella Castle that just makes me feel like I’m home.

Not to get too Disney Nerdy on you but I love what Disney is doing with technology right now. At first, when I heard about Magic Bands (for those of you who are not in the Disney loop, you wear a bracelet that acts as your ticket and your room key) I was skeptical. I’m not someone who typically likes to wear things on my wrist. I was not a LiveStrong bracelet girl, but maybe I’m changing because I’ve had a FitBit on my wrist for over a year now. When we were in Disney, I LOVED my Magic Band! I didn’t need to carry a wallet to hold my ticket so if I didn’t want to bring my camera, I left the bag in the room and went into the parks with nothing. The super planner in me loved that I had everything planned in advance. Yes, some people feel like spontaneity is ruined with the pre-planning of meals and fastpasses, but I think the planning adds to the fun. And with all the additions and changes they’re making to the parks its hard to wait a few years between trips! If you’re thinking about a Disney vacation, I highly recommend talking to a travel agent. They really do take the stress out of all the planning that goes into a Disney vacation these days. I’m not affiliated with any agency, although if you’re an agent and are looking to advertise, send me an email!

As always, thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr!