December 3-9, 2018
We were invited on this trip by some family and friends. Jason had never been to Disney and I only visited once in 2000. Why the heck not? DisneyWorld is magical as it is, but seeing it decorated and lit up for Christmas was amazing. There is SO MUCH to see and do that this is a hard trip to document. We went in with the mindset that this trip was really gonna cost us and honestly, it wasn’t that bad and really worth every penny.
>>Getting Around
Magical Express – free airport shuttle service for Disney resort guests
Bus Transportation – gets you from any Disney resort to any park and from park to park
Water Transportation – we took a boat from our resort to Magic Kingdom and back multiple times
The Monorail – more direct transportation, runs through some resorts and from Magic Kingdom to Epcot (and vice versa)
SkyLiner – was being built while we visited
>>Stay
Wilderness Lodge – this place was big and beautiful, the dining options (shout out to Roaring Fork for all my breakfasts) were good, Geyser Point was on the water and delicious, our balcony had a view on that darn geyser lol but it was only audible from inside if the patio door was open, the Christmas tree in the lobby was the biggest I’ve ever seen, the pool looked nice but we pretty much only showered and slept at the resort plus Jason forgot a swimsuit
>>Eat
DISNEY DINING PLAN: we booked the regular plan (includes 1 quick-service meal, 1 table-service meal, & 2 snacks or non alcoholic drinks per person, per day) – each actual meal included our choice of one regular or alcoholic (obvious choice) beverage; the table service meals were a drink, app, entree, and dessert pretty much everywhere that wasn’t buffet style; we were responsible for an 18% gratuity out of pocket at each table-service meal because our party had 6 or more people (easily paid with our magic band); book your table-service meal reservations 180 days in advance (our Disney agent did this for us); you get a refillable mug to use for coffee, tea, and water all day long at the resorts; at the end CASH OUT everything you have left for airplane snacks, we grabbed huge lollipops and stuff as souvenirs because we somehow still had food credits
BRINGING FOOD IN: many people don’t realize you can bring a backpack with all your own food and drinks into the parks, just be prepared to lug it around all day, Jason carried a refillable water bottle that we filled at water fountains all over the parks while I lived my best fanny pack life, when I visited as a teen we had a cabin at Fort Wilderness where we brought groceries and cooked most meals
MK Diamond Horseshoe – just don’t, apparently there aren’t any great options in MK
EC Biergarten Restaurant – this place is putting on a really fun noisy German Oktoberfest style show while you dine, it was a huge buffet and I’m not a huge fan of any buffet that isn’t breakfast, but I did find plenty to eat and all the guys seemed to really like it here
*AK Yak & Yeti – everyone should eat here, we all had great food and paid extra for more alcoholic beverages because they were on point
*EC Tutto Italia – another restaurant that was worth every penny, I let the server choose everything for me and there weren’t any crumbs left on any plates, also very good drinks
ST Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater – the atmosphere is fun, you sit in “cars” at a drive in movie that plays old cartoon clips, the food was tasty, lots of good burger and shake options
*MK Be Our Guest – I am an overgrown child and somehow traded in some quick meal credits to get Jason and I into this place for breakfast before the park opened, you are in Beast’s castle and I had to talk a walk around all the super cool dining areas before choosing a seat, an attendant had to help us order our food at a kiosk before we were seated, everything comes out on carts and it was all really good, chugged mimosas
AK Pongu Pongu – this was in the Avatar area, I think I had a bowl of noodles with meat in it, edible but not anything I’d want to eat again
EC La Hadienda de San Angel – really large portions of Mexican food, I was so stuffed from drinking in AK all day that I wasted a lot of good food and refused the included dessert
>>Play
TICKETS: we had a 6-Day Ticket with Park Hopper Option – if you’re trying to do this as cheap as possible, you can go regular ticket option, but we enjoyed visiting multiple parks per day and having dinner reservations at any park
FAST PASSES: if you’re staying at a Disney resort, use this! – book them 30 days in advance, this holds a spot in a shorter line for you to major rides, I’d recommend researching/knowing ahead of time what you want to do that typically has a wait and snag those ASAP, you have a 1 hour window to use that pass and they cannot overlap, you get 3 in whichever park you are visiting that day and once you use those you can search the app for more, confused yet? I was! But I did all this successfully lol. They just scan your Magic Band and let you in.
EXTRA MAGIC HOURS/ROPE DROP: Disney resort guests get extra time in parks that others don’t so it tends to be a little less busy – plan to be waiting at the park for it to open to get in line for any major ride you didn’t get a fast pass for, we did this for the Avatar Banshee ride a few days before our fast pass and for Slinky Dog Dash, if you stay in the park until it’s closing you can sometimes hop on rides again with a shorter wait (think Big Thunder Mountain Railroad)
SINGLE RIDER LINES: some rides have a single rider line that has little to no wait time, we rode Everest about 6-7 times in a row within an hour this way, this also got us on to Rock’n’Rollercoaster in about 20 minutes, you just might be sitting with strangers but who cares?
My Favorite Attractions (* = I recommend a Fast Pass)
ANIMAL KINGDOM: *Kilimajaro Safari, Expedition Everest, Maharajah Jungle Trek, It’s Tough to be a Bug!, Tree of Life, *Avatar Flight of Passage, Primeval Whirl, Festival of the Lion King
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS (Galaxy’s Edge area wasn’t there yet): *Tower of Terror, Rock’n’Roller Coaster, *Slinky Dog Dash, Toy Story Mania, Frozen Sing-Along, Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
EPCOT: Mission Space (regular & intense options), *Soarin’ Around the World, Test Track, Frozen Ever After, Jeweled Dragon Acrobats – you can meet SO MANY characters at Epcot
MAGIC KINGDOM: Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid, Pirates of the Caribbean, Swiss Family Treehouse, Peter Pan’s Flight, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, *Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, *Splash Mountain, *Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, The Dapper Dans, Once Upon a Time (fireworks show), catch a parade that rolls through here too because it’s magic
Other Stuff Worth Mentioning – don’t try to wear cute shoes because you’re gonna walk til ya drop every day; bring a poncho (some rides will get ya wet); there are really great margaritas all over Animal Kingdom; there is NO ALCOHOL in Magic Kingdom; pineapple dole whip is only in MK and AK; your Magic Band pays for everything, gets you in lines, and is your hotel room key
Breauxs Geaux 