Photo 82/365: Disney diary day 4

Animal Kingdom!

Think glorified zoo, really. Only Disney-fied, so way more fun. Some highlights:

Calvin participated in the Wilderness Explorers activity, which had us hiking all over the park in search of "rangers" so he could earn "badges" by learning some neat ecology facts. Two things. First, we were disappointed to learn that the badges were just stickers. Second, depending on your age and knowledge level (Calvin is at the top of the range), this will be just a hunt for stickers, not an educational activity. That's okay, it was fun.

Meals! We scarfed down breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe, and enjoyed a character lunch at the Tusker House that was delicious, but nothing, and I mean nothing compared to dinner at Tiffins. That was to die for. 

And Pandora was a delight to behold, especially after dark.

Photo 81/365: Disney diary day 3

Magic Kingdom!

We started this day just like we did day 2 in Epcot: with breakfast reservations at Be Our Guest before the park opened. I cannot say enough about this—for families who are comfortable getting up early, early breakfast is so rewarding. The quiet of the park, the space for picture taking, and the short ride lines immediately following the meal...not to mention that the parks in general seem to just get busier throughout the day, so the morning hours are the best. 

Our original plan included reservations for breakfast and dinner and a sort of "play it by ear" attitude about lunch. This wasn't a bad plan, but we were less than impressed with the counter service meal options, especially with regards to getting the most out of our meal plan. Ultimately it meant more leg work, more standing in line, and less food. We used the order ahead aspect of the My Disney Experience app, which saved us a lot of time in lines, but we still went back to our room and immediately added reservations wherever they were missing for the remainder of our trip. 

Favorites from today? Photos, photos, photos! Our favorite rides were the Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride, the Speedway, the Carousel of Progress, and the People Mover. And, of course, meeting Stitch.

Photo 80/365: Disney diary day 2 (and my take on some tips)

Epcot!

Epcot is arguably my (maybe our) favorite Disney World park. We love traveling the different countries, our favorite rides are here (Figment and Spaceship Earth), and you just can't beat the food options. Unlike the other parks, where table service restaurants are few and far between and adult beverages are just as hard to find, Epcot is swimming in great dining and drinking options. We had lunch in Morocco at Spice Road, a beer in Germany, a sparkling wine in Italy, and dinner in Japan at Teppan Edo, where they cook the meal right on your table. We made great use of our overkill meal plan by ordering one of everything that sounded great and treating it like a shared plate meal. It was delightful.

I did a lot of research before embarking on this trip, research that resulted in quantities of information that rivals our meal plan for over-abundance. Top ten (or so) lists are the big thing, of course: best tips, best snacks, best meals, best shows, best photo-ops. I took in as much as I could and here are some take-aways that I am really pleased with so far:

1. Breakfast reservations for before the park opened.
This was awesome. Possibly one of the best things we did all day. We'd made reservations for the Garden Grill for 8:00am. The food was great, we dined with characters, and we started our day with mimosas, but the best part about it actually was being in the park before everyone else. That meant not only did we miss out on long entrance lines, but we got to see neat aspects of the park before they were gunked up by pedestrian traffic.

2. Disney PhotoPass (and Memory Maker)
Family pictures on vacation are hard to grab, someone always having to play photographer and whatnot. But Disney's PhotoPass photographers waiting to take pictures of your whole family. And the whole magic shot thing, where they shop in graphics after the fact, takes on a sort of "collect them all" aspect that gave us an added activity throughout the day (plus something to giggle over when we looked at our shots on the Disney app while waiting for food or in lines). We added Memory Maker to our vacation package so that we would have unlimited downloads of all our shots for keeps, but you can easily have them shoot with your camera, or select pictures individually for download later.

3. My Disney Experience App
Speaking of the Disney app, that was another winner we were really glad to have. With it we were able to view our photos, manage our reservations, find our way through the park, and keep track of our schedule. 

4. Agent P's World Showcase
And speaking of scavenger hunt type things, the spy game in Epcot, Agent P's World Showcase adventure, was a lot of fun for all the kids in our party (that being three of us, you see).

5. Pin trading
In my pre-trip research something I came across was the tradition of pin trading. The existence of this activity escaped my notice on our last trip, but you'll see lots of Disney cast members wearing lanyards with a number of pins on them throughout the parks. Kids (of all ages, really) are encouraged to engage cast members for trades. I liked the idea of having something fun to do throughout the park aside from the various park games), and I took the recommendation of several other moms and bought a collection of pins off eBay for a major discount before we left. Pre-purchasing like that is a controversial practice, but I think there's a difference between collecting and participating, and participating provided a lot of fun for both Calvin and myself over the course of the vacation (and even led to one very, very special activity on our final day...)

Photo 79/365: Disney diary day 1

Today we find ourselves in the wonderful world of Disney. Apart from the scattered showers and chilly weather, it is already a splendid vacation. This is only our second visit, and I couldn't be sure the first wasn't a fluke, but so far it is living up to the legend we've made for it in our six year absence. The resort is nice, the transportation is reliable and friendly, and dinner in Disney Springs was everything we wanted it to be—all dinosaurs and meteors and mammoths (forget the fact that these things didn't actually exist all together, this is a land of fantasy after all).

Today was a travel day, made ever so easy by Disney's Magical Express, which whisked took us from the drab Orlando airport and dropped us directly into the Happiest Place on Earth. No need to get our bags, those were delivered to our room for us; no need to check in, our keys, in the form of wrist bands that are also our meal plan, were shipped to our home ahead of travel. The minute we arrived we were ready to hit the ground running. We did this by dropping our carry-ons in the room and hopping the bus to Disney Springs for some shopping at Pin Traders and dinner at T-Rex. I can already the deluxe meal plan will be overkill, with an appetizer, entree, dessert, and drink for each diner, but a delightful overkill at that. Tomorrow is Epcot, so early to bed and early to rise.