Tag: Walt Disney World Page 1 of 2

A Rainy Day at Animal Kingdom

On May 6, 2024

Our third day at Disney World started bright and early with Early Entry to Animal Kingdom at 7:30 am and the rain was still coming down. We had not been to Animal Kingdom since our trip in 2015, so the whole Pandora section of the park was new to us. We headed to Flight of Passage for rope drop and the line was already pretty long by the time they let us in despite the early hour and the weather.

Flight of Passage is a Soarin’-like attraction where you ride on a Banshee over Pandora. The ride vehicle is more complex in that it appears to breathe underneath you, which is interesting. It is also in 3D which really affected my motion sickness. I had a headache for the rest of the day. If you get motion sickness from screen-based rides, you may want to consider skipping this one. Chris enjoyed it, though, and probably would have gone on it again if the line went down.

After getting off Flight of Passage, we noticed the wait for Expedition Everest was short so we headed over there for a wet roller coaster experience. We love that ride so much that when we got off, we went right to the single-rider line and rode it again.

At that point, Kilimanjaro Safari opened and had a ridiculously short wait so we ran over there and had probably the best safari experience that I had ever had at Animal Kingdom. Because it was early in the day and it wasn’t hot, all the animals were very active. The lion even roared at us as we drove by.

After our safari, we headed back to Pandora to ride Na’vi River Journey, which was the final new attraction for us on this trip. Na’vi River Journey is a calm boat ride through Pandora’s bioluminescent rainforest and the Na’vi Shaman of Songs sings as you float by. The wait was long but at this point, we were just glad to get a break from the rain. While we were waiting, the ride broke down so we ended up waiting for much longer than anticipated, but the other rides also had long lines at this point so we decided not to leave. Maybe the long wait affected our anticipation for this ride or maybe it was the fact that we had just experienced true bioluminescence in Puerto Rico, but I was not impressed with Na’vi River Journey. While the attractions in Pandora aren’t my thing, I have to appreciate the immersive storytelling in Pandora. I wish we had time to explore more of the land when I wasn’t getting soaked to the bone.

After leaving the Na’vi River, we headed to the Festival of the Lion King. In general, we are not big show people in Disney, but on our last trip to Animal Kingdom, I lost my glasses and we went to the Festival of the Lion King, but I really couldn’t see anything. I was glad we made a point to go back because it was visually spectacular and I really did enjoy it!

After the show, we had pretty much seen everything we wanted to see in Animal Kingdom so we stopped for lunch back in Pandora, at what may be my new favorite counter service restaurant, Satu’li Canteen. Their menu is inventive and has lots of healthier options. We picked one of the less healthy, the cheeseburger bao buns and they were really good!

After lunch, we utilized our park hopper and went back to Magic Kingdom to ride a couple of attractions that we didn’t get to on Friday. Due to the rain, the wait for Big Thunder Mountain was short so we headed there and rode it a couple of times until we were too soaked for comfort. Then, we hit Space Mountain again, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Peoplemover and we were getting cold. We had a dinner reservation at Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Village so we headed there early and hung out in the warm, dry lobby until our table was ready.

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Sanaa specializes in African food with Indian flavors and their food is not something we can find easily where we live. They have an extensive wine list featuring African wines and I was most excited to try their bread service. The bread service was wonderful and so much food! For my entree, I had the pork shank and Chris had the Potjie Inspired with the Goan Seafood Curry, Pork Vindaloo, and Lentil Daal. While we had many delicious meals on this trip, this one is at the top and it has inspired us to use some Indian flavors in the kitchen at home.

While I had originally planned to go back to the parks after dinner, we were tired and wet. We headed back to the resort, dried off, did some laundry, and watched Harry Potter on TV to prepare for our final day of Disney madness before heading home.

Thanks for stopping by! Check out our NEW Go See Do Explore Podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts. To read more about this trip, be sure to read our Long Weekend at Disney World Trip Report. 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.

A Rainy Day in Epcot

By Ashleigh

On April 29, 2024

In Disney, Travel

The Seas with Nemo and Friends

Our second day in Disney World was spent at Epcot. We got up early and were able to secure our Virtual Queue Reservation for Guardians of the Galaxy, another new to me attraction. Then we hopped on the Skyliner to the park for early entry and the rain had already started. We headed right from the International Gateway to ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. We rode Remy during our last trip on the day after it opened and I loved it! I have to say it lived up to my memory. I would have loved to ride it again, but by the time we were done with the ride, it was already up to a 45-minute wait so we headed to the Land and a short wait for Soarin’, which is another of my favorites in Epcot. Because of the 100 Years of Magic Celebration, Soarin’ Around the World was replaced with the original Soarin’ Over California (Soarin’ Around the World returned to Epcot after our trip). It was great to experience that version again and I would’ve ridden it again, but once again when we got off, the line was already long so we had a stop for breakfast at Sunshine Seasons, which was my favorite Quick Service in Epcot before COVID. It is pared down now, but it served its purpose.

We got a quick ride on Living with the Land and then headed to Test Track to ride single rider, but by the time we got there, it shut down due to the rain. At this point, everything else had longer waits than I would typically wait for any attractions, but we to get out of the rain, we waited 30 minutes for the Seas with Nemo and Friends. I’m not proud of it, but at least it was dry. From there, we headed to the Canada Pavillion to see the updated film with Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy of Schitt’s Creek fame. The film had me reminiscing about our 2022 trip to Vancouver and realizing there is way more of Canada than I have seen. I did miss the funnier Martin Short version of the film that we saw last time, though.

After that, it was about time to get some lunch and we decided to try some of the Festival of the Arts booths. First, we went to Pop Arts and had the grilled cheese and tomato soup, which was delicious but we realized that eating at the booths in the rain was unpleasant. Our sandwich got soaked and the soup was watered down, but overall it was pretty good. While we were eating and trying our best to stay dry, we got our notification that it was time to join the Virtual Queue for Guardians of the Galaxy – Cosmic Rewind.

Just like with Tron, it was a long wait with the virtual queue, but all of the other attractions had long waits at the time and we were enjoying getting out of the rain and drying off a little. Before this trip, I had never seen a single Marvel Film and didn’t know much about the Guardians of the Galaxy. The exhibits in the queue told a lot of the story and I was excited to see Terry Crews, who is always funny. The attraction itself was amazing (and is the most expensive roller coaster ever built)! We got Conga by Miami Sound Machine and I think that song has the best energy to accompany that ride. If you don’t mind rollercoasters, I highly recommend you ride Guardians of the Galaxy. We enjoyed it so much that we actually bought an Individual Lightning Lane for it later in the trip and we watched the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies when we got home.

I was glad we didn’t eat too much before riding Guardians, but once we were off the ride, luckily the rain let up and we enjoyed more of the festival booths. Since it wasn’t raining we went back to Test Track and were able to ride it. Wait times were still pretty high for everything else we wanted to do, so we decided to head back to Pop Century to rest and dry off before dinner.

Dinner was at a restaurant I’ve always wanted to try in Epcot, San Angel Inn. If you have ever been to Epcot, this is the restaurant inside the pyramid in the Mexico Pavillion where you can watch the boats of the Gran Fiesta Tour float by while dining, similar to Blue Bayou in Disneyland. San Angel Inn gets very mixed reviews online, but we have been having a lot of authentic Mexican food at home lately and this lived up to our expectations. I do not understand the hate this restaurant gets online. It is not TexMex; there are no free chips and salsa, but everything we ordered was wonderful! I would dine there again in a heartbeat.

Luminous

After dinner, we rode Gran Fiesta Tour and headed to find a spot for the fireworks. The cold, rainy weather really worked in our favor this time because there were not a lot of people left in the park at this point. We were able to find a spot on the bridge from England to France, with only a few umbrellas blocking our view. This was my first time seeing the new Luminous show. I was not a fan of Harmonious in 2021, if you didn’t camp out to get a spot right by the water with the right angle, you didn’t get to see the projection screens. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t like wasting my precious theme park time camping out for a fireworks spot so it didn’t work for me. Luminous greatly improved on Harmonious, in my opinion. While our view was slightly blocked by umbrellas, we were still able to appreciate the show. I also enjoyed that the show is a mix of music from Disney films and original music. I think this show does a good job of blending what people enjoyed about Harmonious and my all-time favorite theme park firework show, Illuminations into one, modern show with good music. I recommend you don’t skip Luminous when you’re in Epcot!

Luminous

Since we watched the fireworks from the Bridge by the International Gateway, we were able to get out of the park fairly quickly and were able to get on the Skyliner before a line formed. If the weather was better, we probably would have headed back to end the night in Magic Kingdom, but at that point, I was just looking forward to taking off my wet shoes and getting some sleep before an early morning at Animal Kingdom the next day.

A Disney World Fan’s First Visit to Disneyland

By Ashleigh

On June 26, 2023

In Disney, Travel

Disneyland Train Station

When we booked our California Coastal cruise, I knew I couldn’t step foot in Southern California and not go to Disneyland so we looked at our schedule and figured out how we could make it work. With logistics like our ship’s return to LA and our flight home, we only really had one day to spend in the Happiest Place on Earth. According to Disney die-hards, that is not enough time, but with a few tricks, we were able to see everything that we wanted to see and then some.

The day of our visit was a Tier 6 day, meaning the park is projected to be the busiest it gets and the price for a one-day ticket is the highest it gets. I knew this was not going to be a budget day in the park, so I decided to spring for the $25 extra per person for Genie + to make sure we would get to see the headlining attractions. Since I had experienced both Rise of the Resistance and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway on our visit to Hollywood Studios in 2021, I did not feel it was worth it to pay for the Individual Lightning Lane to experience shorter lines for these attractions. My goal for this day was to experience the attractions that are only available on the west coast or are significantly different than their Disney World versions.

It’s a Small World

One of the best ways to deal with shorter lines at any Disney Park is to get to the park before it opens for what is known as Rope Drop. The first hour the park is open is when the headlining attractions have the shortest waits. We were able to ride Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, Big Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, and Buzz Lightyear AstroBlasters in the first two hours before the crowds arrived. Throughout the rest of the day, we watched the wait times on the app and chose which attractions had the shortest wait. In the late afternoon after we had ridden pretty much everything we wanted to, Rise of the Resistance went down to a 45-minute wait, so we headed to Galaxy’s Edge to what is in my opinion, one of the most immersive Disney attractions of all time.

Splash Mountain

Disneyland and its castle are much smaller than their Floridian counterparts and things are laid out slightly differently. For Disney World veterans, it feels much like coming home but someone has rearranged all your things and in a few cases, made them much better. I have been going to Disney World since I was two and I never cared for Pirates of the Caribbean or the Haunted Mansion. They scared me as a kid so I don’t have the nostalgic attachment to them that a lot of Disney fans have. I rode both of them multiple times in Disneyland because they were SO good! Big Thunder Mountain and Buzz Lightyear AstroBlasters were better than their versions in Florida. The Jungle Cruise was so much more lush than the version in the Magic Kingdom. Even It’s a Small World (which is the original from the 1964-65 World’s Fair) is so much more impressive than the Magic Kingdom version. Chris wasn’t sure why I was making him ride it but he admitted afterward that it was actually really impressive. Now, Splash Mountain (RIP) has always been my favorite Magic Kingdom attraction and I did not enjoy the Disneyland version as much. I got absolutely drenched on that ride and it was only 60 degrees outside. Why do you get wetter in temperate California than in hot and humid Florida?

Disneyland also has more classic dark rides than the Magic Kingdom. I enjoyed Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, and Snow White’s Adventure. I was excited to take Chris on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride because I remembered it as a kid. I will say, I understand why they got rid of it in Walt Disney World. That was a strange experience. I don’t think there is another Disney attraction that ends with you going to Hell.

Us at Blue Bayou

Another thing that California has that Florida does not is the Blue Bayou Restaurant. Blue Bayou is located inside Pirates of the Caribbean. It is probably the most popular table service restaurant in Disneyland and it can be hard to get a reservation, but I managed to score one for lunch (their iconic Monte Christo sandwich is only available at lunch) exactly 60 days out. When we checked in on the day of, I checked a box that it was our first time in Disneyland and they seated us right on the water! It was fun watching the boats go by as we enjoyed our lunch. It was also a great way to rest a little after all the walking we did in the morning.

Walt Disney's Bench

As a Disney Nerd, one of the things I was most excited about was Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and the Disneyland Story. Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln was another attraction Walt Disney developed for the 1964/65 World’s Fair and nowadays, the preshow for it is a small museum dedicated to the history of Disneyland and Disney artifacts. It was very interesting to look at the scale model of Disneyland on opening day in 1955. Probably my favorite thing was the bench from Griffith Park (left) where Walt Disney first came up with the idea for Disneyland.

If you are a Disney Fan, you need to get to Disneyland! Your favorite attractions are better and there is nothing like walking where Walt himself walked. I really was not expecting to like it as much as I did and I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be so much different from the Magic Kingdom. I was disappointed that we only had one day. Oh well, I guess I will have to go back, stay in one of the resorts, and check out California Adventure too!

Thanks for stopping by! To read more about this trip, check out the Cruising the Pacific Coast Trip Report. 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 updated Gear Page.

Wordless Wednesday: Stormtroopers

By Ashleigh

On March 23, 2022

In Disney, Travel, Wordless Wednesday

Stormtroopers in Rise of the Resistance

Coronado Springs Resort Review

By Ashleigh

On March 21, 2022

In Disney, Travel

Some of the links below are affiliate links and as such, I earn a small commission from purchases that allow me to continue telling you my stories without costing you anything extra.

For my past several trips to Walt Disney World, I have chosen to stay at Value Resorts to save money. Since this was only a long weekend trip, I decided we could level up and stay at a Moderate Resort. My first choice was Port Orleans Riverside which one of my favorite Disney Resorts. But, due to COVID-19, it was not open yet, but was scheduled to reopen a few weeks after our trip, so we had to switch our original booking to Coronado Springs.

Coronado Springs is an enormous resort with over 2,300 guest rooms set up around a 22-acre lake in the Animal Kingdom area. The resort has three pools and multiple restaurants. The resort is themed to Mexico and the American southwest and is very beautifully landscaped. This is a convention hotel so it also has a convention center and a spa. If there is a convention, Coronado Springs can get very busy. It was pretty empty when we were there for the 50th, though.

There are some amenities that differentiate a moderate resort from the more budget-minded value resorts. Value resorts typically only have a food-court-type restaurant. This is an area where Coronado shines (thanks, in part to the convention center) with four restaurants and three bars. Moderate resorts each have a big theme pool. Coronado Springs’ is called The Dig Site and is themed like a Mayan pyramid with a waterfall running into the pool. The resort also has a playground themed to an archaeological dig. Transportation is a step up in the moderate resorts as well with several bus stops located around the resort as opposed to one main bus stop in the front of the resort at the values. Coronado Springs also has upgraded bathrooms in the rooms complete with a rain shower.

For the whirlwind trip that we did, we were not able to use most of these amenities (although the rain shower was appreciated). We were in the parks from open until close. I didn’t take a single picture of the resort. We did not make use of the pools or the lounges, although we picked up breakfast from the Mercado (the counter service restaurant) one morning. I enjoyed the breakfasts we had in the parks more, though. The additional bus stops were nice at the end of the day, but in the morning, many of the buses were full by the time they got to our bus stop. Overall, I wish we would have either shelled out more money for a deluxe resort close to the Magic Kingdom or saved and gone back to Pop Century.

Thanks for stopping by! 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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One Day in Disney’s Hollywood Studios

By Ashleigh

On March 14, 2022

In Disney, Travel

On our third and final day of our whirlwind weekend celebrating Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary, we headed to Disney Hollywood Studios. I mentioned in my post last week that Epcot has always been my favorite park. Well, the Studios (or MGM as I still think of it) has always been my least favorite park. But, in the 7 years since my last visit, a lot has been added to the park and my appreciation for it has grown.

This day started much earlier than I had anticipated. Since we were checking out, I called bell services at our resort to have them store our bags while we enjoyed our last day at the parks. I expected this would take at least half an hour. I was shocked when someone was knocking on our door less than 10 minutes later! We loaded all of our things onto a golf cart and he drove us to the front of the resort to catch a bus to the Studios a full hour before the park opened! We were one of the first buses to be allowed into the park that day. We went through security and sat down on the ground in the line for Rise of the Resistance to wait for the park to open.

Stormtroopers in Rise of the Resistance

I am very glad we chose Rise for our first attraction of the day. I have seen the original Star Wars trilogy but I am in no way a Star Wars fan. Even still, I think this ride is one of the best on Disney property! The ride itself is fun. It tells the story very well and the cast members were just phenomenal! I do know that it would have really freaked me out as a kid, so if you are traveling with an anxious child who doesn’t like to be yelled at, you may want to consider doing rider swap for this one. Sorry if that is a little vague, but I don’t want to give away the premise of the ride if you haven’t done it yet. Just trust me when I say it was great!

We got off the ride as the park was officially opening for the day and we headed to Ronto Roasters for breakfast. I had pre-ordered on the app so we just had to walk to the counter and pick it up. The downside of the over-the-top theming in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge is that the signage is nearly non-existent. As a first-time visitor to this part of the park, even with the app open, we passed Ronto several times before we found it! This was a big problem when Animal Kingdom first opened and they ended up having to disrupt the theming for clear signage and I think this may end up being necessary at Galaxy’s Edge.

From there we headed to Toy Stoy Land, the other new area of the park since my last visit. Toy Story is one of my favorite Disney movies so I loved the theming in this part of the park. Slinky Dog Dash is a fun addition to the park!

I was very excited to ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, but it didn’t live up to the other new attractions, in my opinion. Runaway Railway uses the same Trackless ride system that Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in Epcot uses. While it is exciting to finally have a Mickey and Minnie attraction in the parks, the animation is not the Mickey and Minnie from my childhood. They are based on the 2013 animation style. The train cars that you ride in seat four and so I was seated next to people I don’t know. When the ride gets to the Daisy dancing scene, our bare legs touched and that was kind of weird. Overall, it was a fun attraction and if you have kids that are used to this more modern animation, they will love it. I just wasn’t rushing back out to do it again.

For lunch, we ate at the Sci-Fi Drive-in Theater Restaurant (left). Sci-Fi is located on Commissary Lane, not far from Galaxy’s Edge. The theming of the restaurant is an old Drive-In. Diners sit in booths that look like cars from the 50’s and enjoy their dinner while watching trailers for ridiculous sci-fi movies and commercials for the concession stand. We ate here once when I was a kid and I really enjoyed it so I wanted to bring Chris. While the food is good, expect burgers and fries, you choose Sci-Fi for the theming.

This day we waited in the longest lines of the weekend, but with the Studios being such a small park, we still ended up riding everything we wanted multiple times. We did Rise of the Resistance twice, Slinky Dog twice, Midway Mania twice, and Smuggler’s run twice. I even finally got to ride Rock n Rollercoaster (I could never justify the wait last trip), but it didn’t live up to Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Storyland.

Overall, this day greatly improved my opinion of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Hopefully, I will be able to get back down there and check out Animal Kingdom again (I still haven’t seen Pandora-The World of Avatar) and maybe come up with a new ranking of the parks. Be sure to check back next week as I review our stay at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort!

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Wordless Wednesday: Epcot at Night

By Ashleigh

On March 9, 2022

In Disney, Travel

Spaceship Earth at Night

One Day in Epcot

By Ashleigh

On March 8, 2022

In Disney, Travel

Figment Fab 50 Statue

Epcot has always been my favorite park in Walt Disney World and on typical trips, it is the first park that I visit. I’ve always loved the Edutainment aspect of the park and it makes me sad that they are slowly fading it away in favor of more Disney characters. Figment has always been one of my favorite characters and I loved discovering his Fab 50 statue (above)!

Unlike the Magic Kingdom, a lot has changed at Epcot since our last visit to the parks. In 2014, we knew Maelstrom was closing and were able to get a final ride through before the transition to Frozen happened. Soarin’ Around the World was also new to us as the original closed in 2016. And the big attraction of the day was Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure officially debuting the day before.

Rattatouille Sign

After a long day at Magic Kingdom celebrating the 50th Anniversary, we got up early and got in the virtual queue for Remy’s (above). Even though I signed in right at 7:00, we were in boarding group 64 (if I remember correctly) with an estimated boarding time at 3:00. Being its second day officially open, it broke down a few times during the day. I think it was closer to 5:00 before we were able to enter the actual queue. This was my first time ever using Disney’s virtual queue system and I was surprised by how long the actual line was once our group was called. We probably waited almost an hour before getting to board our mouse vehicles. Overall, I really enjoyed the attraction. I liked it a lot better than Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Hollywood Studios which uses the same trackless ride system. I probably wouldn’t wait that long to ride it again, though. I tend to draw the line at a 45-minute wait.

This was by far our longest wait of the day. Just like on the 50th, wait times were much lower than I expected. We probably ended up riding Soarin’ five times, Gran Fiest Tour four times, Living with the Land three times, Test Track three times, and Spaceship Earth three times. The only other attraction with a long wait was Frozen Ever After which I don’t know that I will ever need to ride again.

Gusteau's Sign in Remy's Rattatouille Adventure

This was also my first time at Food and Wine Festival in Epcot and it was the first weekend day where all of the booths were open. I was told it is best to avoid weekends at Food and Wine if possible because the park fills up with locals, but we were only there for the weekend, so we had to make the best of it. It was definitely crowded but we started with lunch at the booths before it got too busy. Everything we tried was good, but none of it lived up to dinner the night before at Skipper Canteen.

As much as I was ready to crash before the fireworks, we made a point to stay to see Harmonious. Harmonious combines a typical fireworks show with fountains and lights combined with music from popular Disney music. Unlike Illuminations, which was the epitome of Epcot nighttime spectaculars in my mind, Harmonious is hard to appreciate if you don’t have a good view of the lagoon. Where Illuminations told a moving story that fit into the theme of World Showcase, Harmonious just kind of stings a bunch of fun Disney songs together. From what I was able to see, it was a fun show and I will probably watch it the next time I’m in Epcot, but I wouldn’t park hop from another park to see it as I had done with Illuminations.

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check back next week to read about our time at Disney’s Hollywood Studios! 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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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 and then at Hollywood Studios the next day.

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