I am just now getting around to blogging about our trip to Disney World which was 6 months ago. I’ve been putting this off because it seems like a daunting task but I want to remember every detail from this trip because as cliche as it sounds, it truly was magical. Buckle in, this is a long post.
We were in Disney for 5 days from November 1st to November 5th. I was a little worried about how Ben would do on the plane ride, but the excitment of it and the activities I packed kept him pretty occupied. We had a direct flight and our plane left in the early afternoon and we landed in Orlando around 5pm. This trip was our first time flying Southwest and I was a little nervous about getting seats together since they don’t have assigned seating. Luckily families with small children get to board early so if you’re flying with young children take advantage of this! There were a few families who didn’t and the mom and dad had to split up or ask strangers to switch seats.
Once we arrived at the airport we took Disney’s Magical Express to the hotel. If I could give you only one piece of advice it would be to stay at a hotel on the Disney property. After hours of researching hotels, I finally settled on Disney’s All Star Movies. We knew we would be at the parks all day and would really only be using the room to sleep and shower. With that said, this hotel did not disappoint. The rooms were a fairly good size, there were several pools, movies and activities at night for the kids, an arcade, food court, and much more. Plus each set of rooms has it’s own theme. We were located in Fantasia. Although some Disney hotels can be more expensive than those off property, the All-Star hotels are super reasonable and you still get all the perks of any other Disney resort including transportation to and from the airport.
We went to bed shortly after we arrived at the hotel and then woke up early ready to tackle our first park, Hollywood Studios.
I did a lot of planning for this trip. For each theme park I looked up the rides, height requirements, etc and made a list of things I wanted to make sure we did. I didn’t want to waste time walking all the way across the park to a ride that Ben wasn’t even tall enough for. I will say though, that even with my outline of our days, I didn’t plan out every single minute. I wanted us to still be able to take our time, walk around, meet characters, and not be stuck to a timeline.
Hollywood Studios had lots of great rides and things to do and we ended up staying until about an hour before it closed.
Meeting Handy Manny.
I love this picture.
Our first ride was the Great Movie Ride. It took you through different scenes and sets of famous Disney movies.
Our next ride was Star Wars 3D. Ben was just at 40 in. which meant he was tall enough to ride. This one ended up being a little too scray for him and he clung to me through most of the ride.
A stop at Pizza Planet was a must.
After lunch we watched the Muppet 3D show and then made our way to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Play Area. I remember playing there when I was little so it was really cool to experience it with my own child.
By the time we were done playing, it was time for our first Disney parade and it did not disappoint!
After the parade we went to the Extreme Stunt Show. Make sure you get there early so you can get seats up close and in the middle.
One quick note about strollers. I highly recommend bringing one. Although Ben is more than capable of walking, there is a lot of walking at Disney. It was so nice to have our stroller at the end of the night or when Ben was tired. We just reclined it all the back and he was able to sleep. Disney also offers stroller parking outside each ride. You leave your stroller there and pick it up when you get off the ride.
Ben was so excited when Lightening McQueen made a special appearance.
For our final stop of the day was the Toy Story Mania ride. All the Disney planning websites will tell you to get a Fast Pass for this ride and they are right. The wait for this ride is easily two hours without a Fast Pass. We took advantage of Fast Passes throughout our entire trip.
We spotted the Green Army Man outside the ride.
We ended our day with frozen lemonades before making our way over to Chef Mickey’s for a character dinner.
More of our Disney adventure to come tomorrow!
