An All-American Vacation… Disney World
When 5 adults decide to escape winter in the northeast and take a trip over the holidays, Disney World is probably not the first place that comes to mind. But, I'm still a kid at heart and since we wanted to visit friends in Florida anyway, I convinced my companions that experiencing Disney as adults would be a worthwhile trip!
We started our journey planning where to stay. We've all heard it before, but Disney is EXPENSIVE. Since we had no kids and didn't need all the benefits of staying on Disney property, we decided to rent a condo through HomeAway. It worked out perfectly - we found a condo at Mystic Dunes Resort at a great price. It had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, pools on the property, and we were an Uber XL away from all the parks. For anyone considering this option, definitely, plan on Uber/Lyft to take you where you need to go. The resort offers park shuttles but didn't have the best times and usually only one ride per day. It's not worth scheduling your day around the shuttle and you'll be crowded into a packed bus with stops at other hotels on the way. Tip for anyone going - we found Lyft to be cheaper than Uber almost every time.
As for the parks, well I found them to be just as magical for adults as they are for children! You look around in amazement at what Disney was able to build and orchestrate. Through grown eyes, you gain an appreciation of the architecture and work it takes to run this amazing place so seamlessly day in and day out.
Finding the Norwegian Trolls of Epcot
Fast Pass was the best decision we could have made when it came to our tickets. You get to breeze past the long lines and get a little spoiled while feeling like you’ve avoided the holiday craziness that everyone warns of. The Fast Passes went quickly though and then we really had to commit to rides if we were going to wait in line. Do yourself a favor and reserve these as early as you can. We ultimately decided that one ride was worth the standard line since we couldn’t score fast passes - Avatar Flight of Passage in Animal Kingdom. I won’t lie, the 2.5 hour wait was rough. After the first 45 minutes, time slows down and even adults get restless. But after the ride, we unequivocally decided it was worth it. My husband walked out saying “that just made Soarin’ look like a black & white game boy”. For those who don’t know, Soarin' is one of the most popular rides in Epcot (which we had a Fast Pass for) and had been our favorite up until that point.
A very early morning at Animal Kingdom
Here’s my rundown of the parks - Magic Kingdom is pretty amazing to walk through and enjoy. Many of the rides cater to small children so we focused on a few that we had Fast Passes for (Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Railroad, Peter Pan's Flight), had breakfast at Be Our Guest, and then left to another park for the rest of the day. Hollywood Studios was our least favorite, being a bit outdated and not having many rides that interested us enough to wait on line. They are building the Star Wars Park there, which will probably make it a more desirable destination in a few years. Animal Kingdom surprised us! I don’t think we had high expectations and only went for Pandora - The World of Avatar. Though we arrived at opening, the lines in Pandora were already several hours long, so we spent the morning exploring every other region with almost no waits at all! Kilimanjaro Safari, Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, Dinosaur and more. And when we finally got to Pandora, it was pretty incredible. Finally, Epcot was a favorite for us all. Just strolling through the countries was a great time and the park had some of our other favorite rides, including Soarin'. We also enjoyed two dinners there - one in San Angel Inn inside of the Mayan pyramid and another at Monsieur Paul in France. Disney can really bring out the charm of the countries in Epcot. As an added bonus during the holidays, the light show lasts an extra 14 minutes for what was already a long show. That sealed our impression that Disney tickets, while expensive, were totally worth it.
Found more family at the Kali River Rapids!
Finally, if you’re celebrating a birthday or special occasion, definitely tell them! When we picked up our tickets, the woman at the ticket booth happened to notice it was my brother's birthday earlier that month. He got a birthday pin and proceeded to get not one... not two... but SIX free items over our 3 days in the parks (yes, we kept count since we were all surprised). Free Starbucks, free cupcakes, free donuts and other items. Don't be shy about reminding places either!
A very happy birthday boy holding one of his free treats!
That's all for Disney, but if you have any questions just leave a comment!