In July we took another amazing vacation. It was the four of us, my sister Kristin, her husband Jeremy and their kiddos Austin and Katie, and my mom and dad. The first part of the week we took the kids to Disney World! I was just as excited as the kids because I couldn’t wait for them to experience everything. And I had not been there in many years so I wanted to experience it all again. It may have seemed we were crazy for going in July but it wasn’t too bad. Yes it was hot. Yes it was busy. But we still had an amazing time. We decided to not stay in the park since we were only there for a few days so we stayed at a condo about 10 minutes from the park. It saved us a lot of money and it wasn’t bad being away from the parks. If we didn’t drive down there it may have been a different story.
The first day we got there we visited Downtown Disney which is almost like a park itself but it is free. Blake kept asking when we were going to Disney because he didn’t see the castle. We had to keep telling him we were in Disney. The second day there we went to Animal Kingdom. Like I said before I hadn’t been there in many years and a lot of folks told me not to bother going there. However my kids love animals so I knew we would have a good time. I am SO glad we went. We had a GREAT time and the kids loved everything. Blake even rode his first roller coaster!! I was so proud of him…even though I know he did it just because Austin wanted to go and he wants to do every single thing he does. He was scared to death the whole time but when he got off he said “THAT.WAS.AWESOME.” He is so funny…I think he didn’t like that it was in the dark a little and it went backwards for half the ride – which I really didn’t care for either. I am really not a roller coaster person so hopefully Austin can take our place when he gets older.
We also go to do a meal with the characters. We did the Safari Lunch with Donald. All of the characters were there but Pluto and the kids were SO excited to get to take pictures with them. They got to interact with them for a few minutes which made their day. The food wasn’t so great but the experience was worth it for the kids. We also loved the Safari which was the first thing we did at Animal Kingdom.
The third day we went to Magic Kingdom. I was most excited about this park because we had reservations for the girls to go to Bippity Boppity Boutique and the boys to do a Pirate Adventure. And of course the castle and the characters. I really forgot how big the park is. We got there at 9am and left at 11pm and didn’t get through the whole park. Next time I will for sure break Magic Kingdom up in two days so we don’t miss anything.
There are so many things I loved about Magic Kingdom. First is Bippity Boppity Boutique. Katie and Kylie got to get their princess dresses on, get their make-up and nails done and get their hair done. They were in heaven and it was awesome to get to sit there and watch them. While we were doing this, the boys were doing the Pirate Adventure. They dressed up like pirates and got their own pirate name! Blake and Austin both loved it.
At the end of the night, there was the parade and the fireworks. Aaron and Jeremy took the boys to see the parade so that Kristin and I could take the girls to see the princesses. It was towards the end of the night and I knew I had to take Kylie to see them. It was a meet and greet so I knew that Kylie and Katie would want to do that over the parade any day. We stood in line for over an hour but it was completely worth it. There were three of them there – Rapunzel, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Cinderella. By the time we were at the beginning of the line, the parade was over so the boys got to join us. It.was.awesome. Kylie still talks about it today 2 months later that meeting them was her favorite part. It is worth the wait if you have little girls. Blake thought they were pretty too. He was really shy around Aurora so I think he liked her best.
Some of our other favorite things about Magic Kingdom were:
- Dance Party with Goofy & the Chipmunks
- Splash Mountain
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- The Jungle Cruise
- Finding Nemo the Musical (I HIGHLY recommend! It was amazing!)
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Blake’s second roller coaster and Kylie’s first!)
So that was our quick trip to Disney. We had an absolutely amazing time and now I know what we need to do and what the kids like best for next time. Some suggestions for others going:
- Get a stroller at any of the parks. Even if your kids are older, they will need a break. We didn’t rent them beforehand but you can rent the double strollers at the park which were great for us.
- Take an extra change of clothes for everyone if you are planning on going on any of the water rides. I didn’t need them but Aaron and Kylie needed them when we rode a big water ride at Animal Kingdom.
- Take snacks for you and the kids. It was mostly to keep them occupied when we had to wait in line (like an hour for Big Thunder Mountain).
- Map out the spots you want to hit first before getting to the park. That way you will be organized and get to the attractions you really want to see.
- Do the PhotoPass. It is free and you just present a card when you take group pictures with the characters. You can combine cards when you are all done and then purchase the whole CD which is what we did (my parents did).
- Do the FastPass when you can. We only did it once but it worked out great. We got the FastPass for Splash Mountain then got in line for Big Thunder Mountain. So right when we got off of one, we walked right up and got on the other. It is awesome when you are the one with the FastPass but not so much when it is someone else.
I am sure there are so many more things I can add but I made the mistake of waiting to write this post. Overall we had a fantastic time and I cannot wait until next time!
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