Disney Tips!

Y'all, please know that I am NO Disney expert. However, I have been asked a LOT of questions about our trips, and I am more than happy to recount our experiences. I know we have only been twice, but we have definitely been bitten by the "Disney bug". We LOVE it and it just is the most perfect vacation for us. There is just something so magical about it, and you just have ZERO worries. No lie. From check in, to food, to needing something in the park, to check out, you are covered. The staff there is just so awesome.

Planning- Truth be told, Robbie and I didn't do a lot of planning. We didn't buy books or read blogs. We just knew we wanted to go through a travel agent. We went through Jerica Rossi with Cupcake Castles Travel Company. Her email is jerica@cupcakecastlestravel.com. We have used her both times and LOVE her. She is super quick with responses, and full of great info and advice! She made all of our stroller rentals, restaurant reservations, resort, etc. reservations. I cannot say enough good things about her. We have had two more friends book through her since we started using her. Her services are completely free, too! She is paid by Disney. So, email her today for a free quote! ;)

Resort- This trip, we stayed at Pop Century resort. We stayed at Art of Animation last year. They are both value resorts. We really like staying on property. You can take advantage of Disney's transportation system, and you can only get the dining plan if you stay on property. AoA is newer, but really is laid out the same as PC. They both have good food courts, an arcade, awesome gift shop, pools, etc. We had a family suite at AoA, since Mama and Hannah both went last year. This year, Hannah didn't go, so it was way more cost effective for us to stay in two separate rooms. We had adjoining rooms, which was awesome. William slept in Mama's room, so Robbie and I had plenty of room to spread all of our stuff out on the two beds. Even though it was a value resort, we were never bothered by that. We were literally only in our room for about 8 hours, to sleep and eat breakfast. Plus, the value resorts are a little more "tacky" aka Disney memorabilia everywhere, which William LOVED. The other resorts seem more "adult", and I think W wouldn't have enjoyed them as much.

Memory maker- Disney has an awesome Photo Pass system - you can stop at any Disney photographers in the park, and add the photos to your magic band, and then buy whichever ones you want. Well, this year we decided to go ahead and get the Memory Maker package. If you buy it in advance, you save $50 off of the price, and it was SO awesome. We got over 200 pictures! We stopped whenever we saw a photographer, and we also were able to get all of our ride pictures, character meet and greet pictures, etc. It was so awesome, and last year I spent about $60 just buying THREE prints, so to me it was worth the money to get them all, and I can print where I want to.

Table Service Meals- Table service meals are one of my favorite parts of Disney. They are so fun and nice, with amazing food! We always have gotten the dining plan, so we didn't have to worry about how much things cost. We all love it, and the table service meals can get expensive if you are paying out of pocket. A quick list of where we ate last time - 50's Prime Time in Hollywood Studios (LOVE, fun atmosphere and GREAT food - think Pot Roast, fried chicken, ribs, etc. Home cookin'.), Whispering Canyon at the Wilderness Lodge Resort (YUM! Hilarious servers, very interactive, all you can eat, BBQ type food), Tony's Town Square Restaurant at Magic Kingdom (AMAZING Italian food. The shrimp scampi was to die for!!! Beautiful views of Main Street USA.), Teppan Edo at Epcot (Japanese steak house. Really good, but honestly I prefer Kanki right here in Raleigh haha). This trip, we tried different restaurants: Hollywood and Vine at Hollywood Studios (Loved the food, loved the interactive characters), Chef Mickey's at the Comtemporary Resort (Pretty good food, loved seeing the characters), Ohana at the Polynesian Resort (AMAZINGGG, delicious, etc. Shew!), Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom (Decent food, William loved the Pooh  characters), Liberty Tree Tavern at Magic Kingdom (really good food!!). We still have so many places we want to try, but a lot of these, we would want to do again!

Polka dots and stripes- I was asked a lot where William's appliqued shirts came from. I got them from a boutique on Facebook, Polka Dots and Stripes. She is awesome, and so easy to work with. I found examples of shirts I wanted, and she was able to recreate them!
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Renting stroller- Both times we have gone to Disney, we have rented a stroller. We go through Apple Scooter, and the price is VERY reasonable. I LOVE our Britax, but it is so big, and I thought it might be hard to navigate through all of the people in the parks. We rented a City Mini jogging stroller - it was perfect.

Magic Bands- Something new that we didn't have last year were the Magic Bands. We LOVED them. I think as of right now, you have to stay in a Disney resort to get them. We got to go online and customize the color we wanted, and they shipped right to us. They let you into your room, into the parks, record all of your FastPasses, your debit card can be linked, and the Disney photographer scans them so all of your pictures are in one place. They were so awesome. They are a lot easier than the Keys to the Kingdom cards that we had last year, because you don't have to keep up with them - they're just on your wrist!

FastPass+- With the addition of Magic Bands, Disney now uses FastPass+ instead of the regular FastPass. This way was a lot easier. We went online and picked our FastPasses ahead of time, for each park. You can have 3 a day per person. We picked rides/shows that we knew were usually packed, and it worked out great. You also can change them at any time!! Many people were walking around the park on their phone, adjusting FastPass options!

My Disney experience- The My Disney Experience app was SO nice!! It has maps of the parks, records all of your reservations (dinner, FastPass) for each day. I made a wish list of things we wanted to do in the parks, and that was all there. All we had to do was download the free app, and our info was loaded from the website with our login info. It was so convenient, and even tells you wait times!!!

Under 3- Just wanted to throw this out there, if your child is under 3, they are FREE!!! We have paid NOTHING for W both times we went. No park tickets, no meal plan, etc. We occasionally ordered him a kid's meal if we ate somewhere that he didn't like the food. They are around $6, so not too shabby considering he was free otherwise!! Besides being free, there is a ton for them to do at that age! We took William at 18 months and almost two and a half, and both times he had a blast!!! He loved all of the shows, and any rides that he could ride (which was surprisingly right many).

Time of Year- Last year, we went to Disney in May. It wasn't too crowded, but it was super hot. This year, we went in February. It was PERFECT. The crowd was pretty similar to May, we thought. But the weather was amazing. It was around 75-80 degrees during the day, and 65-70 at night. We had sunshine every single day except one, and only 5 minutes of rain the entire time. It was so wonderful!!! I'd like to try the fall and Christmastime too! :)

That's about all I can think of right now! We just LOVE going to Disney. It is so magical and I just love how you can forget everything and just enjoy a good time. If you have anymore questions, let me know!! I love talking Disney! :)

Leaving Disney

All good things have to come to an end, right? Saturday morning was our end. I was sooo sad. It didn't help that William kept saying, "You ready to go see Mickey??" I told Robbie I just wanted to quit it all and stay right here in this resort forever! You think I'm kidding?! 

Before we left, I took a few corny pictures around our resort - the pool area right by our room, the huge Lady and the Tramp that William had been obsessed with all week, and W in front of our room door, ha!

Robbie and I loaded the car, and then we all headed to the food court at the resort for breakfast. We had a counter service meal left from not using one one day, and so we figured we may as well use it! We had a huge breakfast, let William run around the arcade for a minute, and then hit the road!! :(

Pulling out of our resort :(

Our drive home felt SO long. There is no more excitement I guess, so it just goes on foreverrr. We didn't leave until 11:30 am, and didn't get home until 11:30 pm. We were exhausted. We stopped for dinner at a Shoney's in SC. I haven't eaten at a Shoney's since I was a little girl, on the way home from Norfolk with Mama and Granny. I had to order a hot fudge cake for the table, in memory of Granny. She would always get me one!!

We managed to unpack the car and then crawled upstairs to bed. Sooo many happy memories made on this trip! We are definitely becoming obsessed with all things Disney! :)

Disney Day 5!

On our last day in the parks, we went back to Magic Kingdom. We of course started our day with pictures in a different spot.{Y'all, I have to make a little detour real quick and tell you about a girl named Anna that we saw in this very spot that day. She was using her Make a Wish wish, and my heart just broke. She was in a wheelchair, and almost bald, and was blind. She couldn't have been more than 13. I literally could not stop thinking about her. So if you have a minute, could you send up a prayer for Anna?}

After pictures, we went to meet yet another Mickey! This one was super fun because he talked. He danced and sang "the hot dog song" and tried to get William to dance with him. William was BIG talk before he got up there. He kept saying he wanted to dance with Mickey, but then froze and could only giggle. Nana even got in on the fun with Mickey! ;)

After Mickey, Robbie took him to meet Chip and Dale. Mama and I just hung out on a porch, watching people walk by. I didn't even think he knew who Chip and Dale were, but he STILL talks about meeting them!

Our view while porch sittin'

By that time, it was time for our early lunch reservation at the Crystal Palace. It was a buffet with Winne the Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, and Tigger. William LOVED it. The food was okay, and they did have a lot of choices.

After lunch, we took more pictures. I am obsessed with the beauty that is THE CASTLE, so I like lots of different angles ha!! This was our ONLY non-sunshiney day. We only had rain for like five minutes, but it was windy and overcast! Still, no complaints on weather.

Is this one not hilarious?!

Another castle photo session ;)

We walked over to New Fantasyland. I want to eat at Be My Guest so bad!!! Dinner reservations are impossible to get, and we never got to the parks early enough to stand in line for lunch haha. But I loved looking at the Beast's castle!

We used a FastPass for the Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid ride. It was SO cool. Probably my favorite. TLM is my favorite Disney movie, so I thoroughly enjoyed it. Mama wanted to ride this one, and to get on, you have to be quick because the shells that you sit in are on a conveyer belt. It doesn't stop, and Mama was nervous. Sooo, she and Robbie sat together so that he could help her on and off, and William and I shared a shell. We all just loved it! After the ride, you can meet Ariel (!!!) in her grotto right next door. We waited toooooooooooo long in a hot and sticky cave. William actually fell asleep, and then of course would.not.smile when it was our turn. Oh well. I still loved meeting her! ;)

We used another Fast Pass on the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. We didn't do this last year, and it was so fun! William loves Mike, and so he laughed and laughed. It is an interactive show and pans the camera around the audience. You never know who they are going to pick!!

After that, we used our last FP on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. It was a lot like Toy Story Mania, and of course William loved it, because it was BUZZ. I actually didn't really like it. They used a lot of darkness and black light, and it just made my head hurt haha. As evidenced by the picture below, I don't know if it is one that I would ride again. Robbie and William loved it, though! :)

Since he was right next door, we ran over and met Buzz again. William was in heaven, again!

I finally got to try a Dole Whip! I have heard so many good things about them. I had a couple people tell me that the pineapple ice cream is too much with the pineapple juice, so I got vanilla with it. It was sooo good! Hit the spot on a hot day!

We had a tiny 5 minute rainshower while the Celebrate parade went through, so we just pulled on our ponchos and watched.

Are y'all tired of me stopping for pics with the castle? Robbie was. ;)

We rode the Mad Hatter teacups next. They were closed the last time we were there, so that was fun! William LOVED them and kept yelling to Mama (who sat out), "Nana!!! See!!" He was so proud of himself, spinning that big teacup around!

We finally met Daisy in Fantasyland. She was hard to find and William was dying to see her. Minnie was with her, and it's always good to see her again.

Waiting for Daisy and Minnie

Next up, William's first rollercoaster. He *just* made the height restrictions for Goofy's Barnstormer. I was a little nervous, since everyone in line was much bigger than him haha. I have to say - for a kid's rollercoaster, it was wild! But a lot of fun. Every time I looked over at William, he was looking like he hated life, so I figured he would be scarred for life. Nope. When it stopped he said, "Let's go again!!!" Ha! Maybe he'll be lover of rollercoasters like we are! When we got back over to Mama, I told her that he was yelling for her from the ride, and she said, "You took him on THAT?!" Ha! She thought we were on the Dumbo ride!

After Goofy's, we walked over to It's A Small World. I love that ride! Even though the dolls really do creep me out. William was just enthralled. I don't think he said a word the whole ride.

Playing with his new Clubhouse friends ;)

For dinner, we hit Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe. We ate here last year, too. It's quick and has an assortment of food, which is always good. 

After dinner, we headed over to Dumbo's ride. We actually skipped "Wishes" again. We watched it from Dumbo's ride, and it proved to be a great spot. We saw all of the fireworks, and of course the narration was being piped all over the park! Since there was no crowd because of the fireworks, we rode Dumbo, and then the Winnie the Pooh ride with NO wait. These were both popular rides during the day. So, if you don't mind missing the light parade and Wishes, or if you have two days in MK like we did and hit them one night and skip the next, you can hop on a ton of rides with no wait!

Flying around with Dumbo!

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Our last photo stop! I love the castle all lit up after Wishes. William had fallen asleep by then, so it was just Robbie and I. What an awesome day!!!