Disney Recap – Part 1

 

Happy Wednesday everyone! It is seriously FREEZING here! –30 without the wind-chill…CRAZY!

With weather like this, I can’t help but remember the beautiful weather that we had a little over 2 weeks ago when we were in Orlando, Florida. *Sigh*

Once the chaos of Christmas and New Years were over, Ryan and I began to get excited for our trip!

Finally, on January 5th, we (as well as my parents) boarded a cold plane in Ottawa and arrived in balmy Florida to start our vacation.

Why Florida you ask? Why not an all-inclusive somewhere down south? Well, as a kid I went to Disney quite a few times. I loved it! Still do! Being that my husband is like a overgrown kid, I always thought he would enjoy it too! One day when I asked him if he ever had any desire to visit Disney, he surprised me by informing me that he would love it! That was it! It’s a trip that we have been waiting for since BEFORE we even engaged!

After a very stressful plane change in Toronto, we arrived in Orlando safe and sound. After unpacking and walking around the resort for a bit, we enjoyed a delicious supper at a restaurant called Boma.

The next morning it was time to start our Disney. First up, Epcot, one of my personal favorite theme parks!

Epcot is divided into 2 sections. The first section is more a futuristic world. With rides such as Mission to Mars, Spaceship Earth, Soaring and GM Test Track.

The next part of Epcot is called the World Showcase. This part takes you to different countries from around the world. You can visit Mexico, Norway, Canada, Italy, Germany, China and many more! As you enter each country you really feel like you have stepped off a plane to different place! The people who work at each country even come from said country!

A family tradition is to stop at Germany for their buffet lunch and a giant liter mug of beer! While sipping on beer and eating your schnitzel you can enjoy the live polka band!

Ecpot is a BIG park! And by the end of the day we were too exhausted to stay for the 9 PM firework show!

On the Monday, it was off to Disney’s Hollywood Studios! This was never my favorite park but surprisingly it ended up being Ryan’s favorite! As you walk down main street you are taken into old Hollywood. You are surrounded by your favorite character’s, movies and stars everywhere you turn!

I think one of the reason Ryan enjoyed this park so much was because it had a couple of his favorite rides of the trip. 1. Aerosmith’s Rockin’ Roller Coaster, where you go from 0 to 60 in 2.2 seconds as you race off with your V.I.P passes via limo to one of their concerts. And 2. Toy Story- a ride where you compete with the person next to you on shooting targets with a laser gun as you turn and spin around. 

That evening we had a delicious supper at Hollywood & Vine which also gave us V.I.P seating for the show that night, Fantasmic!

We really enjoyed the water show with fireworks and Mickey saved the day from all the evil villains!

It was a busy day but we headed straight to bed to be ready for the Magic Kingdom for the next day!

The Magic Kingdom theme park is a MUST do on every Orlando visitors list! It really is one of the most magical places on earth! You can’t help but feel like a little kid again when you are there! 

We had such luck at the park that day! It was hardly busy at all! Disney has a great program for it’s guests who stay with them that allows you to use this thing called a Fastpass! If a ride’s wait time is super long (sometimes the line can be over 3 hours long!) then you just insert your card, it shoots out a little slip with a time on it (it will say something like 1:30 to 2:30) and you come back at that time, show your card and go straight to the front of the line. No waiting! It’s amazing and we organized it so well that we never had to wait for ANY rides!

The morning started off with Pirates Of The Caribbean, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Haunted House, It’s A Small World, Peter Pan and Mickey’s Philarmagic (one of my favorites!)!

After all that excitement, we decided to grab lunch in Tomorrowland (part of Magic Kingdom) and do more rides over there! We did one of the scariest coasters, Space Mountain and then more calm rides like Buzz Lightyear, Stitch and Monster’s Inc.

We were finished all that we wanted to see in Tomorrowland so we headed to Main Street U.S.A for one of my favorite treats, a hot fudge sundae from the old time parlor. A MUST DO if you are ever at the Magic Kingdom.  

We headed to Frontier Land, where Ryan practiced his aim and mom and Dad played checkers while we waited for a parade to start!

Finally, the parade started and we got a good view of our pal Mickey and all his friends!

We then headed in to watch the Country Bears Jamboree show and then headed over to the Swiss Family Robinson tree house!

There is a new area of the Magic Kingdom called Fantasyland! It’s not complete yet but what is done is amazing! You can see Belle’s castle and a replica of her little village from the movie! You can even stop in at Gaston’s for a “brew”.

That night we had supper reservations at Liberty Tree. An old time American restaurant where everything is home home and served to your table, family style! It was one of our most favorite eating places of the whole trip!

I think the best part of being at Disney right after the holidays was that they hadn’t taken down any of their Christmas decorations yet! Lights, garland and everything festive was still up! Even the castle at the Magic Kingdom was draped in lights! 

The first few days at Disney were absolutely nothing short of Magical. It is still one of my most favorite places to visit and it was already such a joy to share that with my husband who was seeing everything for the first time! The best part? Our trip was just getting started!

To be continued…

xo