The Magic Kingdom Day:
We all got up really early to leave for Disney and traffic really wasn't that bad for a weekend. My family lives about 50 minutes from Disney on a good traffic day. I had planned our fast passes a few weeks ago and I was able to snag some great ones. This is the main reason I chose Magic Kingdom for the all day whole family trip. I'm not going to go into huge detail about every single thing we did that day but I will tell you highlights about fast passes, food and such.
Fast Passes: I chose 3 of our favorite rides for a fast pass. These were Buzz Lightyear, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I almost passed on Splash Mountain and did Haunted Mansion but in Feb it was too cold for a water ride so that settled that. I would suggest if you are going and can make fast passes in advance try to do the ones I listed as well as Peter Pan, Space Mountain, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Jungle Cruise and Dumbo. All of these are usually super long wait times. Peter Pan, the Mine Train and Space Mountain are super hard to get fast passes for. Some of the other rides that are popular will have low wait times occasionally which is really nice.
Food: We ate at Pinnochios Village Haus for lunch. It is fixed up cute and you have the option for indoor or outdoor dining. They have really good flatbread pizzas as well as Chicken Parmesean. The kids meals have good options as well! They also offer salads and maybe one other pasta meal, I can't remember. We all got pizza, salad or the Chicken Parm. The pricing is average on this. It isn't super cheap but definitely not expensive. The boys and Jalen had ice cream as a snack. I chose to use a gift card at Starbucks for coffee.
It rained on us in the early afternoon but we chose to stay. We were prepared and had ponchos and rain jackets in the backpack. If there is a small chance for rain ALWAYS prepare for it. Also many people will choose to leave if it rains and then the wait times go down. We just got in line for the people mover and rode it. If you find a ride that's inside or a shop to go in or a restaurant you can just wait out the rain. Florida's rain is Sporadic so it won't rain for long, usually.
Jalens Day: Jalen and I dressed up for church and then went to Epcot right after it. The Flower and Garden Festival was still going on and that's a big reason I did this short trip. I have never seen it before and I was dying to get to. It really is breathtaking. The atmosphere and the way the gardeners fix everything up is incredible. Not to mention good drinks and food! We had the famous Violet Lemonade which was awesome. I tried some hard cider that was really good since I am of age and she is not. We did have some fast passes for Spaceship Earth, to meet characters as well as Finding Nemo. There weren't many fast passes left so we did the characters and it was super fun meeting Mickey, Goofy and Minnie. We also did Living with the Land. We started pin trading on this day as well and I got a neat Hercules pin! We had an awesome time together like we always do. I am a Landrys Club Member (I'll post about that another day) so I had rewards for T-Rex, so we met my aunt, uncle and Jordan there at Disney Springs for dinner. That place is always amazing(read my last blog post)
Jordans Day: I decided to make good fast passes on the Monday to Hollywood Studios because some of the popular ones you need to make in advance. I knew at least one person would really go with me! Jordan gets off work early afternoon so he went along with me. We had Toy Story Mania, Star Tours and then there wasn't much else to pick from. I offered to watch him ride Rockin Roller Coaster but he didn't want to go alone. I don't blame him but I won't ride it. LOL. I have never seen Star Wars but after doing the ride 2 times and meeting Chewbacca, Storm Troopers and BB-88 I am going to try to watch ALL of them. I think I will enjoy it just because I loved everything they had at Hollywood Studios. I made reservations to the Sci-Fi Diner because I know he likes to eat there. You sit in an old car and there is a big screen like you are at a drive in movie. The food was super good and you get a discount if you are a season passholder. We walked around and did the Great Movie Ride as well as Indiana Jones Stunt show.
James Day: As I was laying out at their subdivisions pool Monday morning I was thinking what can James and I do? He has been in college so this is the first Florida trip where all 3 cousins are together. Every time I am down there I will do something special with Jalen and Jordan but James always missed out. I looked up breakfast reservations at Disney because we both really like that type of food. The Crystal Palace had one which is a buffet and I was considering it but then something magical happened. BE OUR GUEST HAD ONE!! If you know anything about Be Our Guest you will know it fills up 6 months in advance so you have to be on top of things or hope for a cancellation. I suggest checking on the Disney app a lot. Obviously I chose that option and it was AMAZING. How they built that place amazes me. The atmosphere was incredible the food was delicious and the servers were nice. For breakfast and lunch they bring you your food but you order and pay on a touch screen then choose which of the 3 theme rooms you want to eat at. For dinner it's table service and I assume you don't get to select your seat. We had a blast and then we did a few rides before he had to leave. He really likes the Haunted mansion as well as myself and it was only a 15 minute wait! We also both enjoy the peoplemover! I decided to just hang out alone at Magic Kingdom then around 3 ride the bus over to Animal Kingdom to meet my aunt, Jordan and Jalen.
Animal Kingdom with the 3: I met 3 out of the 5 at Animal Kingdom for the late afternoon/evening and I had already made fast passes. We did the Kilimanjaro Safari, Mount Everest (rollercoaster) and Dinosaur. I had never ridden the Mount Everest ride because I hate rollercoasters. They thought I could do it because I love Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom and it's a roller coaster. I actually didn't hate it. There were a couple of parts I did not care for but for the most part I enjoyed it. The safari I have a post about so if you are interested check out my site to find it. Dinosaur is a neat ride and I never expect some of the things that happen even though I've ridden it multiple times. We checked out some of the animal walking trails and the bats were outside! They were huge. We were sad the tigers weren't there but I'll be back again. We did dinner at Rainforest Cafe which I have a post about on my site as well. It was super good, like always. Jordan left after dinner and us girls stayed to do another ride on Dinosaur (we had a fast pass) and watch River of Lights. None of us had seen that new show they do on the water. It was actually really cool but I will admit it isn't as good as Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios. But, they are different so I appreciate both of them for what they are. Like I say it was good and if I don't see it again for a while I won't be sad but I really did like it so I will watch it again.
Jalen Day, Again: I seriously wasn't going to go to Disney my last day but I found another, yes another reservation for 2 at Be Our Guest. It was for lunch and Jalen has early releases on Wednesdays so it worked out perfect. I just picked her up 30 minutes from school and it was off to the Magic Kingdom. Lunch was super good but the breakfast was just so amazing I would do it again. I had this ham and cheese sandwich and I know what you're thinking, wow she had that in such a nice place? Well yes because this was incredible and it was some kind of french bread and cheese. Jalen had the same thing. Something that is really cool about breakfast and lunch at Be Our Guest is that you do not pay for your drinks. They have stations where you just get up and get your own. I think this is a great option. This is just my opinion but I think I know why Be Our Guest fills up so fast and is so popular. It has a really cool theme. Who woudln't want to eat where it looks like you're in the movie with Belle? The prices. Honestly for paying for food at Disney it really isn't too terrible. Breakfast was $24 dollars an adult BUT the portions were really big AND you don't pay for your drinks (free refills with to go cups!) Lunch is the cheapest being $14.99 an adult and free beverages. Now dinner will cost more and I'm not sure if the drinks are free but still worth it. Anywhere that is sit down at Disney for dinner time will cost you a decent amount. I think Disney should make more themed restaurants with this kind of set up. I've heard rumors about a Haunted Mansion themed restaurant and I HOPE HOPE HOPE they do this but keep it reasonable priced or do it like Be Our Guest. We met Gaston and Aerial as well as had fast passes for Thunder Mountain, Buzz and Peter Pan. We did other rides that were short wait times too. We did A LOT of pin trading the whole time I was down there. It is really addicting and I came home with none of my trader pins. I got many neat ones and I can't wait to make a pin board to display them. We got Starbucks as a snack and tradition.
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