Disney Love

As I mentioned before, I had a BLAST on our Disney trip last year.  So much so that my newest hobby is stalking Disney blogs and rereading our unofficial guide.  Of course, Disney is very expensive so I doubt that we will be going back to Disney anytime soon, BUT when and if we do, I have some things that I will definitely repeat and some things that I will not do again. 

General
I will:

• Stay on resort property- you can't beat the convenience.

• Use Disney's Magical Express if we fly (again-convenience)

• Eat at least 2 sit-down dinners in Disney and make advance reservations for at least one (I want to ease into the ADR system because we really don't focus much on food when we are there)

• Get there before park opening- this helped a ton with managing crowds

• Use a touring plan

• Experience the evening shows
• Go to Animal Kingdom this time.

I won't:

• Buy a dining plan (unless it is a free special)- we just don't eat enough to justify it.
• Get a room by the swimming pool.  It was so loud!  Even after quiet hours.

Magic Kingdom
I will:

• Try to do a better job about experiencing Main Street this trip

• Try to be at the front of Cinderella's Castle for Wishes

• Possibly spend a park-hopper morning to take-in some of lesser attended attractions such as Tom Sawyer's Island

• Experience the new Fantasy Land- so excited!

I won't:

• Get on Carousal of Progress (I know this is a favorite of so many, but it got stuck for about 15 minutes on us, smelled musty, and was just outdated..I can totally skip this.)

• Get on Stitch's Great Escape.  It was horrible.  No thank you.

Epcot
I will:

• Spend more  time exploring the different countries.  We plan to spend a day and a half at Epcot next time.  I want to ride all of the rides, but I also want to savor the countries.  

• Eat at the countries.  I love the unique food and dining experience.

• Visit during the Flower and Garden Festival if we can.  It was so pretty.

• I will hit some of the minor attractions in Epcot such as Ellen's Energy Adventure, Journey into the Imagination, etc.  I just want to see what they are like.

• Ride Sum of All Thrills.

There is really nothing about Epcot I wouldn't do again!

Hollywood Studios
I will:

• Go to the Sci Fi Drive in this time.  I love that place!  It is just so fun!

• See Beauty and the Beast.  I was so disappointed we missed it.

• Take the Art of Animation tour.  I think it would be interesting.

Again, nothing at Hollywood Studios I would change.  It was great!

What are your must do's?  What do you dislike? 

Flashback Sunday: Universal Studios

After our days at Disney, we spent one day doing Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.  We had a choice of the van picking us up at insanely early or about an hour later.  We were stuck though, because if we chose the later time we would miss park opening.   So we chose the insanely early time, counting on traffic and other stops making the trip about 45 minutes long.  We were surprised when we were the only pick-up and it took about 10 minutes to get there!  ha!  I know the guy thought we were insane to want to show up so early!

Even though it was a good hour before official park opening, we headed to the gates of Islands of Adventure, hoping to be first in line to visit Harry Potter World.  Imagine our surprise when they let us go right in to the first gates of Islands of Adventure!  We soon realized that this was just shops and we assumed they would stop us at the next entrance, but we would try anyway!  We showed our tickets and they let us in.  We couldn't believe our luck!  We realized they were letting their resort guests in early, so at the next stop, they asked for our resort bands.  We told them we didn't have that, so they asked to see our tickets.  To our shock, they told us to go ahead in!  We were thrilled!!! It was like a little fun blessing from God to start our day.

We headed straight for Harry Potter World.  The theming is on par with anything Disney has ever done!  Totally immersive and awesome.  We were able to do ALL of Harry Potter World including the shops before the park even officially opened.

The chocolate frogs!

Three Broomsticks Restaurant

We did sample the butterbeer.  It was tasty but very sweet.

After knocking out the major blockbuster before the park even opened, we were at our leisure to do the rest of the rides.  We did some of the water rides and man that was a mistake.  We were SOAKED.  This might be good if it were July, but it was April and I was freezing.  We spent the money on two rounds in the people dryer and were still miserable.  Justin finally just bought me new shorts.  Islands of Adventure does not play with their water rides.  Only ride if you want to get soaking wet.  (even the log flume which is relatively tame at some parks).  We also did all of the DC comic portion of the park and enjoyed the Hulk, Spiderman, etc.  We  are both roller coaster people, so we really enjoy Islands of Adventure for the thrill rides.

Help!  A dinosaur is attacking!

Yeah, they try extra hard to get you wet. 

Justin's in the doghouse. :-(

We had ridden every attraction we cared to at Islands of Adventure by noon, so we headed over to Universal Studios.  I've got to say that I was not that impressed with Universal Studios.  It just seemed rundown.  BUT there are some great coasters there as well, so we will be going back.  Plus they are doing some refurbishments that should enhance the property.  The mild rides we road were Shrek 3D, Jaws, E.T. (pure nostalgia-I hope they never get rid of this one!), and Twister.  On Twister, Justin's sunglasses were literally blown off the top of his head.  They had to stop the ride cycle so a coast member could get them out of the set.  We rode the two big coasters numerous times.  Mummy Returns was WAY more awesome than I expected it to be.  We were done with everything we wanted to see at Universal Studios in plenty of time to go out to their City Walk and have a nice dinner at Bob Marley's.  Then we went BACK to Islands of Adventure to explore til closing.  We had more than enough time to do everything we wanted to do at the two parks.  It was really nice.  :-)

JAWS!  Glad we got to see this before it was demolished to make way for a new attraction.

We had a fun talk with the conductor of the Hogwartz Express back in HP World

Flashback Sunday: Epcot- Day 3

 Disclaimer: This happened over a year ago.  But I still want to finish what I started with describing our trip! 
The third day was Justin's family's last day in the World. They only were able to stay til about noon, so did not really get to enjoy the world's portion. 2 1/2 days in Disney is really hard to fit everything in, but I must say that I thought we did a very good job getting them to see most of Disney. We were fortunate because the crowds were crazily low for Easter (our bus driver told us it was the economy), and we did go at a breakneck speed (getting there before opening and staying until closing with no breaks). I would not suggest going quite that quickly with kids when you have more time, but our kids were troopers. We were fortunate to see almost everything at Hollywood Studies and Magic Kingdom, and the family got to do most things at Epcot's front portion, but just none of the other Worlds. We also skipped Animal Kingdom, simply because if you only have 2 1/2 days, it is not high priority in my opinion! 

We started off with Soarin' and I LOVED it!  It was so awesome.  I will say, we were spoiled by being in the front row and when we went back later with our fastpasses I was really annoyed by seeing the dangling feet.  I will always wait for the front row from now on.  We also went on Test Track (not my fave but Justin loved it!) and Mission Space.  I was really freaked out by all the warnings about Mission Space and at first opted to not do the intense version.   But somehow, I got in the intense line anyhow and man, am I glad I did!  It was awesome!!! I found that if you keep your eyes focused on the screen it wasn't bad at all.  We rode it twice!

We loved the Under the Seas portion of Epcot with the Finding Nemo ride.  It is a nice kid-friendly addition to what is such an "adult" park.  We also loved Turtle Talk.  How cute!  Next time, I hope we have more time to linger at the acquarium.  I really loved watching the manatees.  On the kid friendly front, I also highly suggest the character greeting spot in Epcot.  The line can get long BUT you can see all of the "major" characters (Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Donald Duck..) in one spot.  Stand in line once, see them all!  That's a pretty good deal in my opinion.

 A surprise favorite was the living with the land boat ride.  We weren't expecting too much from it, but it turned out to be really cool!  Definitely something I will do again.  Another thing I LOVED about Epcot was it was during the Flower Festival (that's not its real name but it is escaping me right now).  Anyway, the topiaries and flower gardens were amazing.  I hope to go back in April and May again next time so we can enjoy this more.  It really is worth it!

After we did the front part of Epcot, Justin's family had to head home, so they dropped us off at our hotel for the next 2 days: Pop Century!  Now, let me say that I LOVED Pop Century.  It was perfect for what we needed, which was basically a place to lay our heads.  It was pretty loud because we had a poolside room and next time we definitely will request NOT to be by the pool, but other than that it was great.  The Disney Transportation is so convenient and to me it is so much more relaxing to not have to drive yourself places.  Plus Pop has a dedicated bus service (and will continue to from what I understand...even with the Art of Animation opening) so we never had to wait on a bus long at all.  After we got settled in our room, we headed back to Epcot to tour the countries, just the two of us!

Sometimes the most fun experiences are the unplanned ones!  We had a great time watching these little ones with their momma!

This is one part of our trip we wish we had more time for.  Next trip we plan to dedicate a day and a half to Epcot because we really enjoyed looking at the countries and just didn't have enough time.  We rode the Viking ride in Norway, but that is really the only attraction we experienced.  Next time I want to see some of the movies and other attractions in this area.  We ended up eating in Japan at the habachi place.  Unfortunately, we have been spoiled by Little Tokyo and were not hugely impressed, but it was still a fun experience!  We staked out a spot for the fireworks on the water and then Justin treated us to Crepes from France while we waited.  It was a very lovely and romantic first night as a couple in the World! 

He put on a great show and we enjoyed getting to know our tablemates, but no rice only noodles!  We missed Little Tokyo bigtime!

Ready for the fireworks!

 Since nothing happens in Epcot after Illuminations, everybody just rushed to the front entrance to leave.  So Justin and I took this opportunity to take some night photographs and chill in the parks while we waited for the craziness to pass. 

Goodbye Disney!  See you next time!

It was a wonderful trip! I have never been a Disney enthusiast until this trip.  It was ridiculous how much fun I had!  We are so grateful for Justin's Dad letting us tag along and for the extra funds for a few days of a couple's getaway!