When I read a Disney World trip report I find it helpful to learn how others enjoy the Magic Kingdom and parks.
Cinderella Castle is so beautiful when lit up at night:
Every trip is different! You might find new hints and tips in a report that you haven’t ever thought of. So I decided to do my own report here on the blog of our last trip. Hope you enjoy it!
I’ve categorized this post into sections so you can easily jump to the ones you want to read.
- Walt Disney World Trip Report Overview
- Planning a Trip to Walt Disney World – How We Did It
- Pearson Airport to Orlando Airport to Disney – Arrival & Accommodations Report
- Transportation to the Walt Disney World Parks from the Resort
- Disney Parks Overview
- Magic Kingdom Visit Report & Highlights
- Epcot Visit Report & Highlights
- Hollywood Studios Visit Report & Highlights
- Animal Kingdom Visit Report & Highlights
- Seasonal Review of Walt Disney World – Christmas
- Food & Snacks at Walt Disney World including Character Meals
- Shopping at Walt Disney World – What We Bought!
- Tips, Tricks & Lessons Learned
- Walt Disney World Trip Report Wrap Up & Final Thoughts
Walt Disney World Trip Review Overview
The trip was a dream come true for our family.
At first I was practically dragged along. I don’t love roller coasters, heat, crowds, waiting in lines or walking all day, lol! So… I was thinking this wouldn’t be that fun. OH – AND I’m vegan so I wasn’t sure about the food, either.
Before we get to what I thought, though, let’s discuss my family.
My daughter, 10, LOVED it. She had just recently become a huge Stitch fan and also a Winnie the Pooh fan. We based our trip around getting character signatures and that was a massive success. We got so many great signatures and had fun hunting them down.
My husband, 43, also LOVED it. He had dreamed of taking our daughter to Disney and I know he was so proud to be able to do that for our family.
Me, mom, 47, another Disney lover! I was so blown away by the whole experience while I’ll share all the details on below. The biggest things that impressed me were the attention to detail, the kindness and compassion of the cast members and how Disney really is a place for children and adults alike to be a kid again, or be an adult who has fun!
Planning a Trip to Walt Disney World – How We Did It
Big credit to my husband for the trip planning.
He researched everything. After talking to people at work he was also told to book the trip with a travel agent they recommended.
The travel agent helped my husband get the Walt Disney World resort booked, the tickets to all the parks, the character meals booked and the app set up so he could see everything in one place.
We HIGHLY recommend booking with an agent. And here’s the fun part – because I loved that first trip so much I actually BECAME a Travel Agent who specializes in Disney! Yep, you can book with myself. I work with Playcation Travel as a registered agent and we have an amazing team of specialists who can book Disney, Orlando, River Cruises, Cruises, All-Inclusives and more!
Back to booking Disney, though. If you can get your research in then you can find out what you want and communicate that to your agent. The more knowledge YOU have, the easier it is going to be to book your dream vacation! I’ve created posts on this site to help you with just that and you can also sign up to my email list to get regular (weekly) emails with Disney tips and advice!
Pearson Airport to Orlando Airport to Disney – Arrival & Accommodations Report
We flew out of Toronto on a VERY early flight. This meant we had to get up at 3am so we could leave by 4am to get to Pearson Airport. By the time we arrived in Orlando we had time to get our rental car, tour around to get some food and do some shopping.
Then we headed to our hotel, which was the All-Stars Movies Resort:
We were happy with the resort. This is one of Disney’s Budget Resorts and I think some people might think that means they’re not great.
They were nice! Yes they do open to the outside so they’re more like a motel than a hotel but that has it’s perks, too. It felt like we had our own little apartment right there in Orlando, Florida!
And the pools were great! I was a fan of the quieter pool, being more of an introvert myself. Here is the bigger one:
After a short break at the hotel we headed to Disney Springs. It’s a wonderful place but I will admit I was TIRED by the time we got there at about 5pm. Disney Springs has a lot of shopping, a bunch of restaurants, some food trips, outdoor entertainment and more.
Disney Springs
Disney Springs was lovely!
You don’t have to pay for parking. It doesn’t cost to enter. There are so many restaurants at Disney Springs, plenty of shopping, entertainment and more.
My hubby and daughter are huge shoppers. I followed alone as they went into store after store looking at what they might buy.
Transportation to the Walt Disney World Parks from the Resort
One of the potential downsides to staying at one of the All-Star Resorts at Walt Disney World is that the only transportation to the parks is by bus.
My husband has said many times that he thought the buses would be a lot slower because he thought they’d pick us up and then stop at the other resorts to pick up other people. They did not do that. Each resort has a bus dedicated to that resort and to a specific park.
So if we wanted to go to Magic Kingdom from our All-Star Music hotel we go to the bus area, get on the bus and get a drive straight to the Magic Kingdom!
At first we were trying to time ourselves to make sure we caught the bus but we found there was always another one coming in about 15 minutes so we just showed up when we showed up and always ended up getting to the parks in relatively quick order.
Sometimes the buses are crowded but it’s at most a 15-20 minute bus ride… no problem at all!
Disney Parks Overview
It’s hard to summarize the four parks in one little overview.
I’ll say this – every park is unique and special and magical and awesome.
Everyone has their favorites, though.
Here are my favorites, in order:
- Magic Kingdom – Yes this is a predictable answer but for me it’s Cinderella Castle and the magic of Main Street USA, especially in the Christmas season when we were first there.
- Hollywood Studios – It’s kind of a toss up between this park and Epcot but I really loved Galaxy’s Edge. I didn’t think I would but the nostalgia of my childhood really hit me while here.
- Epcot – We didn’t get to explore near enough of Epcot on our first visit there but our absolute FAVORITE EVER was the Journey of Water (Moana) exploration trail. So awesome!
- Animal Kingdom – This is an excellent park but I’ll admit I’m not the biggest animal lover so it was much more my husband’s jam than mine.
What can I say? They are all awesome. You definitely want to give yourself at least a day per park and two days for Magic Kingdom. There’s so much to do and explore!
Magic Kingdom Visit Report & Highlights
A big highlight of our days at Magic Kingdom = rain.
Yep. We decided to go in November and it was rainy season. Depending on what time of year you go you should expect this.
One of the best things we did for the rain was buy ponchos at a nearby Walmart.
We spent one and a half days at the Magic Kingdom. We didn’t get on a lot of rides and attractions but some of our favorites were:
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse
Our favorite activity was by far Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room – This was so fun! We first went in having no idea what to expect. The animatronics were so cute and by chance when we left it was completely pouring outside which was the effect inside the Tiki Room… so it felt much more real because of that!
And of course two other big highlights of the Magic Kingdom:
- Happily Ever After – the fireworks show. We stood right in the middle of main street and let me tell you it was CROWDED. Shoulder to shoulder and no room to move. If you want to have more space you’ll want to pick another spot around the castle. We loved the show, though. So awesome with the lights projecting onto the buildings in Main Street USA
- Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade – our favorite was the fire breathing dragon, which we managed to get a picture of! This parade was such fun.
Oh and there was another little parade that popped up whenever it started to rain. The cast members sang a catchy little rain song – it was so fun!
Ok this is becoming massively long so I’m going to break it up into two posts. I’ll also come back to update and add photos!
If you have any questions about booking a Disney vacation reach out! You can message me through this page.
I’ll update this post with the next part when it’s done!
Angela