Hey y'all!
Last February, we spent a week at the most magical place on earth. I wrote a series of blogposts to share about our trip and the tips and tricks that we learned along the way. However, shortly after we returned home, Disney shut its doors due to COVID-19 and this content didn't feel appropriate or relevant. Now, that people have started to travel again, I thought it was time to hit publish on these posts and share them with you. I am so excited to share this trip with you and hopefully give you inspiration and tips for planning your own magical vacation. If you have questions about Disney or need help with your own vacation, feel free to reach out via email or complete my Disney vacation quote form here to receive a custom quote straight to your inbox. I would love to help you plan your own magical vacation!
Ever since the hubs and I started dating nine years ago, I have been dreaming about this vacation. You see, I grew up vacationing at Disney while the hubs has never been. It was so exciting to plan this vacation down to the smallest detail, so that I could introduce him to all of my favorite spots. Let me say, it was nothing short of magical and we are already so excited to come back! Over the next few weeks, I am planning to share several Disney related posts for those of you planning an upcoming trip or who love to read about all things Disney like I do. For our first post, let's talk about our itinerary. We planned to stay Sunday to Saturday, attending all 4 parks and Universal. However, we made a few changes along the way that really helped us to have the best vacation possible.
Day One - Saturday
It's travel day! It was frigid and snowing when we left mid-morning, so it was nice to be headed somewhere warm. From our home in South Carolina, it takes about 9 hours to make the drive and that is without stops. Now, my husband is one of those drivers who will drive all the way through without stopping. However, I am a small person with a small bladder, which means I usually have to stop a couple of times before we make it to our destination. So with stops for food and bathroom breaks, it takes us a little over 10 hours. Originally, our plan was to drive 6 hours and stop in Jacksonville, stay overnight and drive to Orlando on Sunday morning before heading to Epcot in the afternoon. We made it to Jacksonville around 5:30 and decided to keep driving since it was still fairly early. My only mistake here was that I booked a non-refundable room in Jacksonville. We weren't able to transfer the booking to the same hotel in Orlando, so we ultimately paid for two rooms this night. I am telling you this so that you learn from my mistake. ALWAYS pay the extra $5 for the travel insurance when booking a non-refundable room. Even if you think your plans won't change, they could and it is better to be out of a few bucks than a couple hundred dollars. Anyways, it all worked out and we made it to Orlando. We stayed at the Hampton Inn Orlando/Lake Buena Vista. This hotel is part of the Disney Good Neighbor program, meaning that it offers Disney quality at a cheaper price with shuttles to and from the parks. It is newly renovated and very nice! They even have maps for each of the parks in your room along with information about Disney Springs. It added to the excitement to get a taste of Disney from our hotel.
Where We Stayed:
Hampton Inn Orlando/Lake Buena Vista
(8150 Palm Parkway, Orlando, FL 32836)
Where We Ate:
Moe's Southwest Grill
(4710 Town Center Pkwy, Jacksonville, FL 32246)
Day Two - Sunday
I was giddy and woke up an hour before our alarm. It was Epcot day! The breakfast at the Hampton was delicious! They had smoothies, Mickey waffles and fresh pressed juices. After fueling up, we drove the 15 minutes to Disney World. We checked in to our room at the Contemporary Resort via the My Disney Experience app. Here's my thoughts on in-app check-in. It is good in theory. However, it doesn't save you a trip to the front desk. I checked in and let them know via the app that we would be arriving around 10 am. We knew that our room wouldn't be ready, since checkout wasn't until 11 am. We arrived, placed our luggage in holding and decided to do some shopping before hopping on the monorail. Since we were resort guests, we had magic bands that acted as our park ticket, room key and credit card while on this trip. While shopping at the Contemporary, we picked up an autograph book and a couple of pens for character meet and greets. However, at checkout, we realized that our magic bands weren't linked with our room reservation and tickets. This is where we had to head down to the front desk. Disney customer service is amazing and we were up and running within a few minutes! However, if we would have checked in via the front desk to begin with, we could have saved ourselves some confusion. So unless you are 100% sure that everything is linked, plan to still check in through the front desk so that they can verify everything, especially if you are planning to go straight to the parks like we were. I can't imagine having had to deal with that in the parks, although I know Disney would have handled it beautifully if we had. Once everything was linked, we hopped on the monorail and traveled around the Magic Kingdom loop, hopping off at the Polynesian for our first Dole Whip of this vacation. It was delicious! We got two Dole Whip soft-serves at the Pineapple Lanai and explored the Polynesian property. I didn't want this vacation to feel rushed. I wanted the hubs to feel like he could walk slowly and savor all of the sights and sounds, rather than rush from one place to the next. Once back on the monorail, we rode to the Ticket and Transportation Center before catching another monorail to Epcot. Crowds were low, with the longest wait time being 90 minutes at Frozen Ever After. We had fast passes for Spaceship Earth, The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Soarin'. We also rode Mission Space Orange and Green, Living with the Land and Journey into Imagination with Figment. We enjoyed a late dinner at the Coral Reef, plus a beignet and chocolate eclair at the Boulangerie in France. We didn't do much in the World Showcase aside from visiting France. We walked through it in its entirety with plans to ride Frozen Ever After. However, we ultimately decided that with the time we had left in Epcot, we didn't want to wait 90 minutes. Instead, we were able to grab a second FastPass+ for Soarin'. Let me tell you, this was favor of the Lord. If you have ever been to Epcot, then you know Soarin' is always at least an hour wait and the FastPasses+ are usually all gone. However, we were able to ride it twice with about a 30 minute wait each time. My favorite rides of the day were Living with the Land and Spaceship Earth. The hubs loved Soarin' and Mission Space. Our least favorite was Journey into Imagination with Figment. Full disclosure regarding Mission Space, if you get the least bit motion sick, ride the Green side. The Orange side was rough for me, as you experience g-force during the take-off. I am not one to feel motion sick and I survived the Orange side without incident, but I was taking deep breaths the entire time. Once we arrived back at the Contemporary, we were able to pick up our luggage from Bell Services and head straight to our room. You could also have Bell Services deliver your luggage, but since it was late, we decided to grab it ourselves so that we could shower and head to bed. Our room was in the South Garden Wing. We looked out over a sliver of Bay Lake and part of the running path. We weren't able to see the water parade, that comes across Bay Lake at night, but we were able to hear it from our room. Not to worry, we were able to catch it later in the week!
Where We Stayed:
Disney's Contemporary Resort
(4600 North World Dr, Orlando, FL 32830)
Where We Ate:
Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie (at Epcot),
Disney's Coral Reef (at Epcot)
Day Three - Monday
This was our Universal day and it was the most disappointing day of our trip. First off, it was hot. Not our hottest day, but coming from freezing temperatures back home, it felt hotter than it was. We got to Universal around mid-morning and we immediately could tell the difference between Disney and Universal. It was missing the magic. I remember having this feeling when I first attended Universal with my family during our last Disney trip. However, the feeling was more acute during this visit. We rode the Flight of the Hippogriff and got in line for the Forbidden Forest ride. This ride was the only one available during our last visit, so I was very excited for the hubs to ride it, since we are Harry Potter fans. From the moment we entered the line, the staff were yelling at us and it was mass chaos. Backpacks aren't allowed within the ride, so they have lockers for you to use. The lockers are very small and it is a mad dash to get a locker and get in the ride line before everyone else. We determined that I would wait and the hubs would deal with the backpack. We used an Ogio backpack that was a standard size school backpack. It wasn't overly full. However, it is a bit more structured than most Jansport backpacks due to the laptop pocket. We were ultimately told that we could not ride the ride due to our locker not closing with the backpack inside. There were no larger locker options, so we stepped out of the line and were a little upset. During our Epcot day, the Cast Members were more than willing to accommodate and provide alternatives places for us to store our backpack if necessary. With the line of Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure at a 90 minute wait, we decided to leave Universal and grab some lunch at Chick-fil-A. After lunch, we headed over to Disney Springs to try and find a Star Wars shirt for the hubs to wear at Hollywood Studios on Tuesday. The magic and sense of being "home" was immediate as we walked into Disney Springs. We found a Star Wars shop, where we grabbed his t-shirt and a coffee mug for his college roommate. We also stopped by the Vera Bradley store to pick up an ID holder for me, as I love to use this style to hold my wallet and my keys. We walked about halfway around the area, stopping in several of the stores, before deciding that we would head back and grab dinner at the Contempo Cafe. On our way to the parking garage, we were stopped by a cast member, who asked if we were willing to stay for a presentation regarding the Disney Vacation Club, in exchange for 8 FastPasses and a $150 Disney gift card. The hubs loved using FastPasses the day before and we knew that those could come in really handy during our trip. We immediately said yes and killed about 45 minutes before the presentation. During this time, we sat on a bench and talked about how amazingly this day had turned out. A rough start to the day brought us to Disney Springs, which we had not been planning to check out during this trip, and now we were leaving with extra FastPasses and some spending money. Again, FAVOR OF THE LORD. After the presentation, we headed back to the Contemporary, where we had a quick dinner at the Contempo Cafe. I got the roasted vegetable sandwich and hubs got a burger. Contempo Cafe is okay in a pinch, but you don't go to Disney for the Contempo Cafe. It got the job done, but didn't knock my socks off. After dinner, we stopped by the room to drop off our packages and freshen up. Then, we hopped on the monorail and rode over to the Polynesian for, you guessed it, another Dole Whip. This time, we got two Dole Whip swirls, which came with a swirl of vanilla ice cream. This made it even better! Think Chick-fil-a's Frozen Lemonade. The fireworks started soon after we got our desserts, so we walked over the beach area at the Polynesian and had a perfect view of the castle an
d fireworks display. This is a great way to take in the fireworks show, even when you aren't in Magic Kingdom. The Polynesian played the music used during the show, so that we could all get the full effect. About two-thirds of the way through, we decided to walk back to the monorail so that we could beat the crowds watching the fireworks. We rode back to the Contemporary and walked to our room. We watched some TV and went to bed early, because tomorrow would be our earliest wake-up day.
Where We Stayed:
Disney's Contemporary Resort
(4600 North World Dr, Orlando, FL 32830)
Where We Ate:
Chick-fil-a (13448 FL-535, Orlando, FL 32821),
Disney's Contempo Cafe (inside the Contemporary Resort)
Day Four - Tuesday
This was the most anticipated park for the hubs, and the park that caused the most anxiety for me. Tuesday was our Hollywood Studios day. In the weeks leading up to our vacation, the hubs was watching videos of the Rise of the Resistance ride and I was learning everything I could about the virtual queue and boarding groups. Bits of Bri on Instagram turned out to be the biggest help, as she was vacationing at Disney a few weeks prior to us and spent two days in Hollywood Studios. Her tips helped me to figure out how to navigate the park and determine what time we needed to be there. Our alarm went off at 6am, two hours before park opening. The hubs was wide awake and ready to go this morning, whereas I was a little slower to rise. Hilariously enough, we were the exact opposite every other day of our vacation. We were trying to decide if we should call a Minnie van or ride the bus to Hollywood, since we were wanting to arrive between 7:15 and 7:30 based on the timeline that I had determined. According to the app, the buses would not start running until 7:15. However, I called the front desk and they said that the buses had started running at 4am. We finished getting ready and headed down to the bus stop at the Contemporary around 7:15 and thankfully, the Hollywood Studios bus was still there and we were the last two passengers to hop on to the standing room-only bus. We made the quick ride over to the park. At this point, we split up with the hubs heading to bag check and I went through security and activated my ticket in the park. Up to this point, we had been told that once your ticket was activated, then you could get into a boarding group regardless of the time. We were a little worried since there were a lot of people already there. Once the hubs made it into the park, we headed over to Toy Story Land to wait for rope drop, while just about everyone else went towards Galaxy's Edge. While in line for rope drop, we were told that the boarding groups didn't begin until park opening at 8am. We stood in the rope drop line for 20 minutes or so, and you could see everyone pulling out their phones and getting ready to grab their boarding pass when the time came. At 8am, I was able to get a boarding pass through the app and we were in group 12. We didn't know how long it would take for our boarding group to get called, but based on what we had heard before, we didn't think that it would be a quick turn around with ride delays and breakdowns. We were just excited to be in such a low boarding group! At rope drop, we got in line for Slinky Dog and what was originally a 50 minute wait quickly turned into 2 hours. The accuracy of wait times at park opening can be hit or miss, so maintain a little flexibility here as the times get balanced out. At 8:22, our boarding group was called and we had two hours to make it over to the ride. We figured we had plenty of time so we continued to wait in the Slinky Dog line. At 9:22, we had still not boarded Slinky Dog and we were beginning to get worried. However, we stayed in line and at 10 am, we were able to ride Slinky Dog and head straight to RotR after a quick bathroom break near the connection point of Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land. Side note: we made friends with the family in front of us in the Slinky Dog queue. They were in boarding group 13, so we were all excited about the ride. As time started to pass, we were all talking about whether we should jump ship at Slinky and head over to RotR or stick it out. Thankfully, we all made it over to Rise before our time ran out. I love to make new friends in the lines. It is probably one of my favorite things! Because we came in through what is technically considered the exit for Galaxy's Edge, we got lost trying to find Rise. I would suggest walking in through the entrance near Muppet Vision, so that then Rise is on your immediate left. I won't give away any spoilers, but the entire experience was amazing and we made it with a few minutes to spare. We would have preferred not to cut it so close, but it all worked out perfectly! After riding RotR, we explored Galaxy's Edge and the hubs had a run-in with Kylo Ren. My husband had been watching TikTok videos of Kylo and the Storm Troopers interacting with the guests for weeks, hoping that he would also get to interact with them. Again, the Lord blessed us and allowed this to happen. At this point, we had a FastPass for Toy Story Mania, so we walked back to Toy Story Land and hopped in line. This is one of my favorite rides at Hollywood with the 3D effects and still is, even though I lost miserably to T. Next, we went to meet Darth Vader at the Star Wars Launch Bay and grabbed lunch at the Dockside Diner before going to the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. Afterwards, the line for Smuggler's Run had decreased to 55 minutes, so we got in line for that and were able to ride it before our appointment at Savi's Workshop at 3:20. Smuggler's Run is fun. However, we didn't think that it was worth waiting more than an hour for. After building the lightsaber, we grabbed a blue milk and walked over to meet BB-8, who was also at the Star Wars Launch Bay. The blue milk is interesting. I think it tastes like the green punch that we have at Christmas mixed with milk, so think pineapple juice and sprite with a milky texture. It isn't something that we would get every time we are there, but we didn't hate it. By this time, we were ready for dinner. I originally had our dinner reservation set for 5:35, but we decided to bump it back to 5:00 since we were at a point where we couldn't do anything else until after dinner. We checked into the 50's Prime Time Cafe and were promptly seated within 5 minutes or so. It was incredibly hot in the upper 80s, so we weren't super hungry but the food was still delicious. After dinner, we walked down Sunset Boulevard so that the hubs could see the Hollywood Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Roller Coaster. We did have a FastPass for Rockin', but neither of us are big rollercoaster people so we decided to wait about this one and switched our FastPass to Toy Story Mania. We got a few pictures and then headed back to Smuggler's Run to ride it one more time. Like I said earlier, I love the friendships that you make, while standing in line. You meet people from all over and it is so interesting to hear their stories. While waiting in line, we met a little boy and his mom. They were from Miami and the little boy had recently discovered a love for Star Wars. He was dressed as a red Storm Trooper. This was his first "big boy" ride, so they were equal parts excited and nervous. We actually all got to ride together and the little boy had a blast. It was even more fun for me to see the Disney magic through his eyes and help to make his experience all the more special. By the time we got off of Smuggler's Run and grabbed a few pictures of the hubs with his lightsaber in a darkened Galaxy's Edge, it was almost time for the park to close. We had time for one more ride, so we decided to jump in line for Slinky Dog. It was still a long line with close to an hour wait, but the great thing with Disney is that if you are in line for a ride before park closing, then they will still allow you to ride it. Roller coasters seem to always be so much more fun in the dark and Slinky Dog was no exception. Our favorite rides of the day were Rise of the Resistance and Slinky Dog. We didn't really have a least favorite here, and we recommend that you try to ride all of the rides that we rode. The only rides that we didn't ride were Tower of Terror, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and the Alien Swirling Saucers. The crowds were a little higher this day, but that was to be expected with the recent opening of Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge. It was still manageable and we were able to ride and do everything that we wanted to, some more than once.
Where We Stayed:
Disney's Contemporary Resort (4600 North World Dr, Orlando, FL 32830)
Where We Ate:
Dockside Diner (at Hollywood Studios), 50's Prime Time Cafe (at Hollywood Studios)
If you made it this far, thank you! I tried to be as concise as possible, while also giving you all of the details. I am so excited to share all of my Disney content with you, but I am going to spread it out over a few weeks/months so that those of you, who aren't Disney obsessed like me, don't get tired of the Disney posts. With that being said, are there any specific topics you want me to cover about our Disney vacation? I would love to add them to the list. Anyways, thanks again for reading this long post and I'll catch you on the next one!
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