Disney Days

We promised a run down of how our Walt Disney World Vacation ended up and here are the details of each day‘s schedule. Is this how we initially saw it going down…no. We thought we’d leave the parks earlier, go back later and spend a lot more time at the resort pool, but this actually ended up being better than we planned! That’s just part of the magic of Disney, unexpected opportunities to do more. A see a lot of folks saying that Disney Magic at the park is dead. Well, I’m here to tell you, that’s not the case. Things are different without a doubt, but things are starting to return to ”normal”. Parades are back and as good as ever and character experiences are starting to show up on the schedule again-although autographs aren’t happening and they aren’t hugging/touching people right now. You can still get a photo with them from a safe distance. Don’t be discouraged about your plans to travel in the near future. It’s feeling pretty good out there and we are excited about planning our next trip for later this spring and again in the fall. But how did our “It’s still winter but it’s 85 degrees in Orlando” vacation turn out? GREAT! Here’s a breakdown of what our week looked like.

On the first night of Disney we checked into the hotel and ate some food that was swell! (Yup…I went 12 Days of Christmas on you...in March! You are welcome)

The last time we were here my wonderful amazing mom brought our whole family to Disney and booked us at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in one of the Jambo House villas. A-maz-ing. But…for this trip, it wasn’t quite in the budget to stay in one of the Deluxe Resorts. So we booked ourselves a nice little room at the All Star Music Resort. This resort falls into the category of Disney Value Resorts. As hotels go, it’s your basic nice hotel. There are Disney characters in the art work in the rooms, the pools are shaped like a guitar and piano, the food court is pretty decent and the standard rooms are simple, clean and reasonable for the price. Would I bring a family with more than 2 older kids to stay here in one room all together…probably not. The rooms are pretty small and for 3 adults, it was tight, but again, you aren’t really staying in the room much so it‘s not a big deal. If you are going as a couple, it’s just right. The second bed is basically a murphy bed that pulls over a table. I took my knee out on it like 10 times which is kind of annoying, but has more to do with me being uncoordinated than Disney’s design. We arrived at noon and check in isn’t until 3, but we were able to drop off all our luggage with the bellhop and hop a shuttle to Disney Springs for an awesome lunch at Frontera Cocina. Rick Bayless has created a great menu at that restaurant, it’s atmosphere is awesome, the servers are always on their game, the location is on the water front and the food is outstanding! You can see a picture of our Cochinita Pibil (the thing with the pink onions on top) which was so rich and flavorful. We shared that plate and the tortilla soup. After lunch, we headed over to the snack pavillion and grabbed a dole whip because…well, it’s Disney and it’s the only time I get that stuff! We shopped a little, walked around and listened to some musicians on the outdoor stage and then headed back to the resort to spend some time relaxing by the pool, checking out the life size game boards and the arcade. It was a great way to start our trip.

Day 2: Into the Wild- A Day at the Animal Kingdom Park

Animal Kingdom might be my favorite park. It’s hard to choose a favorite because I like all the parks for different reasons. But I’ve recently been watching a documentary series on Disney Plus about the conservation efforts and rehabilitation efforts that Disney is making at Animal Kingdom which tugs on my heart strings a little. Plus…Avatar Flight of Passage is my absolute favorite ride ever! We got to ride it for the first time on this trip and it was an almost overwhelmingly joyful experience. The sensation of flying is so realistic it was like being wide awake in one of the coolest dreams ever. I actually whooped in the ride…I instantly felt like a 10 year old, but I don’t care. It was great! Everest is down for the moment getting some refurbishments so that was not an option on this trip. Here’s the schedule for our first park day.

7:00am Hit up Genie+ to get Avatar Flight of Passage and Safari

7:15am Entered the park at and did the traditional photo stops at the entrance and the tree of life.

7:30am Starbucks for breakfast and caffeine

8:00am Genie+Checked in for the Kilimanjaro Safari: had a cool experience, we had to delay while on the ride because a couple of big cattle critters decided the road was more interesting than his food. So we got to chill for about 15 extra minutes on the safari watching the giraffes and zebras.

8:45am Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail

9:30am Frozen treat from a snack stand

9:45am Checked in for Genie+ It’s Tough To Be A Bug (started at 10 I think)

10:30am Walked through Asia and listened to the drummers on the riverboat

11:15am Disney’s KiteTails

11:45am Mobile ordered and enjoyed some cool AC in Restaurantosaurus

12:30pm Checked in for Genie+ Dinosaur (loved this ride too…it’s like riding through a jungle in a rough old Jeep)

1:15pm Feathered Friends In Flight

2:45pm Checked out Pinkerbell (an old flamingo that’s white instead of pink because he’s over 40 years old!)

2:00pm Satu’li Canteen for an awesome blueberry passion fruit dessert

2:30pm Checked in for Lightening Lane: Avatar Flight of Passage

3:00pm Checked in for Genie+ Na’vi River Journey

3:30pm Hopped a shuttle back to the resort for pool time and relaxation

The Kali River Rapids were also available in the afternoon for Genie+ but we weren‘t up for getting wet when the wind was blowing pretty hard that day. As you can see, we did a lot of stuff and had a blast doing all of it.

Day 3: Hollywood Studios

We LOVE this park. We love the glamorous era of Old Hollywood, Toy Story, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, thrill rides, great shows and fun everywhere you turn. We packed in so much to our HS day!

8:10 Arrive at the park and walk down the boulevard.

8:20 Genie+ Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad

8:45 Muppets 3D Show

9:30 Mickey and Minnie Short Film

10:00 Star Tours- this ride has had some serious upgrades and is much better than people give it credit for…definitely do it if you get a chance. It’s a different experience almost every time!

10:30 Brunch at the ABC commissary (buffalo chicken grilled cheese sandwich and farro salad/steak fries was BANGIN’ as the kids say.)

11:00 Walked through Walt Disney Museum and Walt Disney Presents

11:30 Watched the Pixar Pals Motorcade & checked out the shops

12:00 Genie+ Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular

12:50 Genie+ Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run

1:20 Beauty and the Beast Live

2:00 Mobile Order: Docking Bay 7 Moof Juice and dessert

2:30 Lightening Lane: Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance- fully immersive ride experience. It felt like we were on a spaceship.

3:15 Genie+Toy Story Mania

(Genie+ had available at 3:30 and then again at 4:30: Slinky Dog and available at 4:45 and then again at 6pm, we could have done Tower of Terror and Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster but we were ready to head back to the resort on this trip.)

3:30 hopped a shuttle to the resort and chilled in the pool for a couple of hours

6:30 grabbed dinner in the food court and watched some Disney+

Day 4: Epcot

I always have mixed feelings about Epcot when we try to spend the whole day there. It’s so flippin‘ hot. The pavement just reflects all the heat and there are not many shaded walkways until you get halfway around the World Showcase. But, there are so many cool attractions. We really wanted to get in all the fun things and see Harmonious so we split the day in 1/2.

8:15 arrived at the park

8:30 muffins in the Sunshine Seasons

9:00 Genie+ Soarin’ Around The World

9:30 Living with the Land- educational and relaxing and it was a 5 minute wait.

10:10 Lightening Lane Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure

10:30 Hit the shops in France and Beauty and the Beast Sing A Long

11:15 Canada Far and Wide in Circle-Vision

11:40 Reservations at Le Cellier for Steak and the best poutine!

12:45 Mission: Space- Green

1:30 Hopped a shuttle to the resort

Hung out at the resort by the pool, took a shower and a nap…best plan ever!

5:00 Hopped a shuttle back to the park

6:00 Genie+ Mission: Space- Orange (loved it!)

6:30 Genie+ Test Track

7:00 Gran Fiesta Tour

7:30 Dinner at Lotus Blossom Cafe’ (Orange Chicken Combo was really good)

8:00 Walked around the World Showcase just being romantic (Frozen was available on Genie+ but we really wanted to check out the showcase instead)

8:45 Grabbed a spot to watch Harmonious

Day 5: The Magic Kingdom

I still think you need two days to do everything you want to do in the Magic Kingdom, but we did a lot of the things we wanted to do and were worn out and happy at the end of the day. I think we will plan for two days the next time so we can ride all the things!

8:15 arrived at the park and took some photos

8:30 Buzz Lightyear‘s Space Ranger Spin (Dhubs beat me at this one)

8:50 People Movers

9:15 Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress

9:45 Hall of Presidents

10:15 Grabbed pretzels and headed onto the Riverboat

10:45 Watched the Celebration Cavalcade

11:00 Enchanted Tiki Room

11:30 Went to our Genie+Jungle Cruise….and it started storming so we hung out until 12 when we had reservations at the Jungle Navigation Co. LTD Skipper Canteen. Because we couldn’t use our Genie+, they gave the option back to us which we used later in the day.

12:00 Lunch at JNCLTDSC haha! The food was really good, but the service at this particular location was incredibly slow.

1:30 It’s time for a break because it’s still storming! Back to the resort for a nap and shower after the storm.

5:30 Hopped a shuttle back to the park

6:30 Genie+ Haunted Mansion

7:30 Genie+ Jungle Cruise

8:30 DOLE Whip!

9:00 Disney Enchantment Fireworks show!

9:30 Genie+ Pirates of the Carribean

10:00Casey‘s Corner Walt’s Chili Cheese Footlong (we split one and the fries and these are HUGE and tasty)

10:30 Back to the resort!

This is the only park where we felt like we missed out and most of that was because of the storm. The outdoor rides were closed from 11:30-4:30 so we went back to the resort instead of trying to cram into dry spaces with tons of other people. Options that we had planned during the down time included Genie+ at 1:30 for Big Thunder Mountain, Genie+ at 4:30 for Barnstormer and Genie+ at 7:45 for Peter Pan (we went to the Jungle Cruise instead). We didn’t get a chance for Space Mountain, Seven Dwarves, Splash Mountain, Mad Hatter Tea Cups, Small World, Magic Carpets, Under the Sea, Winnie the Pooh, or the character experiences with the princesses or Mickey Mouse. So as you can see, we could have spent another entire day filling in the gaps and riding our favorites again. Even then, we still had a great time and can’t wait to go back.

We hope this breakdown shows you a glimpse of what‘s possible even when you don’t stay at the park from open to close and how you can use the Genie planner and Genie+ and Lightening Lane passes to really make the most of your days at Disney. Now, for those of you who really like to push the envelope, you can add the park hopper option and go from one park another after 2pm (currently). We may park hop on our next adventure…who knows! We would love to help you plan your next trip or have you join us for ours! If you have questions or would like information about planning your best Disney vacation ever, check out our totally free planning and booking services on our home page!