It has been a little over a week since I left the place
"where dreams come true" and re-joined the real world. Returning to
Nova Scotia in full-fledged fall was a shock to the system, when we left for
Florida we had been experiencing unseasonably high temperatures for Canada's
Ocean Playground in October. I'm talking a week
long stretch in that had hit 20 degrees every day. I don't think we have had a truly nice day here in the sunny Annapolis Valley since we returned... gross.
Back to the magic... Our trip to Disney World was
amazing! It was my first time visiting Florida and it turns out going at the
end of October is the perfect time of year (for me anyways) to go. Everyday was
sunny and in the high 20s or low 30s and I don't think I felt a drop of rain
after stepping off the plane!
The entire trip was fabulous; we spent everyday of our
seven-day trip exploring the four Disney parks. There really is so much to do
we were fully immersed and could have used an extra day. Our longest day was
Saturday (the first day we were at the park) we started at the Animal Kingdom
when it opened and finished the day off with "Extra Magic Hours" at
the Magic Kingdom until about 2am. It was a long day, so we napped after lunch.
Taking advantage of the extra hours was key, we felt like we accomplished so
much in one day so we did not have to rush as much the rest of the trip.
So much of the "magic" actually happened
before we ever left Nova Scotia. If you are a seasoned Disney Adventurer you
may not be a fan of the new "My Disney Experience" app and system for
reserving "Fastpasses" and experiences but it was a huge help and a
nice guiding hand for our trip. We never waited more than 30 minutes to get on
a ride and that only happened once in the Magic Kingdom for the hottest ride at
Disney, "The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train". To be fair 30 minutes is a
very short wait to get on this red-hot ride; we experienced it at about 1am
during the "Extra Magic Hours". The only unfortunate thing about the
new "My Disney Experience" app and planning website is that
things can be fully booked up (like the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train)
before you start planning your trip! This happened to us so we knew that it was
do-or-die to get on the ride and we took our one shot when we could in the
middle of the night. It turned out that as I was trolling the system the night
before our last day of vacation someone else cancelled Fastpasses for the ride
so we snagged them and got to ride New Fantasyland's crown jewel a second time.
Speaking of New Fantasyland lets take a second and talk
about the addition to the Magic Kingdom that is bringing the crowds back to
Disney World to re-experience the magic. I am so happy that my first visit to
Disney World was after the New Fantasyland expansion. We truly experienced
New Fantasyland from hanging out in Gaston's Tavern to telling Belle a story as
part of "Enchanted Tales With Belle" we did it all! I strongly
recommend booking meal Fastpasses and pre-ordering food at "Be Our
Guest". We only did quick-service dining in the Magic Kingdom and our
meal in the Beast's castle was by far the best quick-service meal we
had! (You can check out the Fastpass system for "Be Our Guest" here)
Well now that the magical part of the trip has been
discussed lets travel back to the adult world. As a twenty-five year old woman
I would have to select the World Showcase as my favourite part of the trip. We
were lucky enough to experience the Epcot International Food & Wine
Festival while we visited, making the World Showcase even more interesting.
With the added booths it truly made it feel like you were walking around the
World. We had the majority of our table service meals at Epcot's World Showcase;
it was like dining in a new country every night! For a look at some of the
restaurants we visited you can check out my profile on Trip Advisor.
We also enjoyed The Animal Kingdom and Disney's
Hollywood Studios. We felt as though The Animal Kingdom was a true half-day
park for us but we also felt that it was home to the best roller coaster of any
of the parks, Expedition Everest. Yes, we liked it more than the Mine Train!
Hollywood Studios also had rides that we loved, but overall had an empty
feeling... like there was a lot of space ready to be transformed. The "Rock
'n' Roller Coaster"
and "Tower of Terror" were rides that we absolutely loved and had us
coming back to Hollywood Studios day after day. We also had one of the BEST
meals of our trip at Hollywood Studios at "Hollywood & Vine".
Yes, this was a little questionable as the restaurant is the host of the Disney
Junior character dining experience and we really did not care to see any of the
characters because we are adults without children, but the menu looked amazing!
The food selection did not disappoint. Though the kids rain around willy-nilly
chasing the characters and mowing down chicken nuggets, I
totally recommend this restaurant (and the lobster mac & cheese) to
everyone!
"Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party" was
another highlight of the trip, getting to dress-up and run around the Magic
Kingdom trick-or-treating made me feel like a giant child! World Showcase may
have been my favourite adult part of the trip, but my inner-child loved the
Magic Kingdom! We brought a massive haul of candy back to our hotel room and
still had a full bag leftover when we arrived home. The photo opportunities
were really neat with rarely seen Disney characters and the atmosphere in the
park was spooky... It was busier than I expected on a Tuesday night with ten
days to go before Halloween, next time I would try to go in late September to
beat the crowds.
Overall we had an awesome time at Disney World. It was
the first time in a long time that I have skipped the gym and discarded my
healthy eating habits. I was feeling a little sluggish towards the end of the
trip after being fuelled by sugar and sweets for an entire week, but that is part
of vacation, right? On a side note, everyday we took on average about 30,000
steps! Tracked with the brilliant "Breeze" app it was fun to keep
track just how much we were walking and then figure out the distances.
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