Sunday, March 14, 2021

All About Our Day At Disney's Animal Kingdom #Disney

We spent the entire day at Animal Kingdom! We arrived at 8 am and we headed straight to Avatar Land. This is such a cool section of the park. The wait times were already at 45 minutes for Avatar Flight of Passage and the Na'Vi River Journey. We decided to ride Flight of Passage first. We absolutely loved this ride! It reminds me a little of Soarin' at Epcot. I highly recommend riding this. To describe the ride, you are virtually flying through Pandora on a banshee. Guests must be 44" or taller to ride. My daughter was able to ride even though she was in a boot.


The beautiful water fall outside of Avatar Flight of Passage





My kids really love the Kilamanjaro Safari ride! We saw many animals this time. The wait time was long though. We waited about 50 minutes for the safari at 11 am. 


We found the cutest cupcakes at Zuri's Sweet Shop in the Harambe Market. This is a great place to get some special treats to take home.

We explored Gorilla Falls after riding the Safari. My daughter loves hippo's and she was SO happy to finally see a hippo up close! Definitely plan to spend at least 30 minutes exploring Gorilla Falls. This was a really cool part of Animal Kingdom that we never knew existed on our previous visit a few years ago. 

My son was really excited to see a silverback gorilla. There are actually 5 of them living here however we only saw 2.

After exploring Gorilla Falls we headed to the Wildlife Express Train located at Rafiki's Planet Watch. This is a pretty cool open air train. It takes you to the Affection Station where children can pet many animals, learn about animals and even pick up a free coloring book.



Here is the Affection Section petting zoo. They have sinks located just outside of this area.

They offer daily complimentary drawing classes here at the Conservation Station!

There is a really high tech Veterinarian surgery center here where you can view live surgeries and procedures happening.

Next up we headed to Asia to ride Expedition Everest. The wait time was only 10 minutes!! We LOVE this roller coaster and we decided to ride it twice!! 

We had a nice afternoon snack at Tamu Tamu. Then we rode Dinosaur and explored Discovery Island. Animal Kingdom closed at 5 pm however if you hop in line for a ride by 4:55 they will allow you to ride. The gift shops do stay open much longer.

Be sure to snap some photos at the entrance to Animal Kingdom. They have a really cute photo area.

We had a great day at Animal Kingdom! I feel like it is one of the least crowded parks which makes it more enjoyable for me personally. We brought a soft cooler with our lunch and we ate in a nice shaded area in the Harambe Market. We purchased Dole Whips at Tamu Tamu and unfortunately they were extremely messy, sticky and dripping literally everywhere. We ended up throwing our daughter's away because it was just such a mess. I will stick to dole whips at Magic Kingdom from now on. Can't wait to return to Animal Kingdom. We LOVED the new Avatar Land and my kids said Avatar Flight of Passage was their favorite ride of the day. 

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Tuesday, March 9, 2021

All About Our Day At Disney's Magic Kingdom #DisneyWorld


My family visited Disney World last week and we had a great time! Today I am going to share with you our day at Magic Kingdom. Be sure to read all about our day at Hollywood Studios too!

Due to Covid Disney World has reduced their theme park hours. Magic Kingdom is currently open from 9 am to 7 pm. We arrived at the transportation and ticket center around 8:15 am and rode the monorail to Magic Kingdom. The monorail is no longer being packed with tons of people. There are partitions in place and you are assigned a spot. This was actually nice. Once we arrived at Magic Kingdom we went through the temperature screening and bag check. Main Street was a little busy already for 8:30 am but it was nothing compared to the crowds I am used to seeing. We discovered that Disney is allowing guests to enter the park prior to the official opening time of 9 am. I think they are doing this to prevent crowds from gathering at rope drop. 

We headed straight to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train however we quickly discovered the ride was down. We debated if we should wait since it is such a popular ride and the line was not long. A cast member told us it was probably going to be down for a while. We decided to move along. We headed to Sleepy Hollow for some breakfast! My kids LOVE Mickey waffles and what better breakfast than a powdered sugar covered Mickey waffle?! The waffles came with whip cream and strawberries but some of us opted for them on the side. The waffles are $6 which is not bad.


YUMMY!! 

After our 'healthy' breakfast we headed to Space Mountain. Unfortunately this ride was also down. What a bummer. We ended up riding Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. There was no line at all here. Then we headed to Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid. This is such a cute ride!! Then we went to the Barnstormer. This is a great first rollercoaster for smaller children.


Barnstormer

Next up we rode Dumbo. The line is usually so long for this ride and I was shocked that it was just a 5 minute wait!! The kids were sad that the Mad Tea Party was being refurbished and we could not ride this one.  Next up we rode The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh. This is another classic super cute ride. 

We headed to Liberty Square and basically walked right onto Haunted Mansion! 

My kids have always enjoyed The Magic Carpets of Aladdin

Magic Carpets of Aladdin

We had a delicious dole whip at Sunshine Tree Terrace directly behind the Magic Carpets.

My kids loved the raspberry dole whips!! 


After a quick 10 minute wait we were off at Tomorrowland Speedway!

We rode The Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean (45 minute wait!!) and saw a very brief character parade go by. We were unable to do the Swiss Family Treehouse because my daughter had sprained her ankle 3 days prior to our Disney vacation and she had to wear a boot. She could not do the many steps required for the Treehouse. 
We rented a wheelchair for our park days. The wheelchairs are available for $12 per day. You can not take them out of the park. They do have complimentary wheelchairs located in the parking lots for you to use to get to the actual entrance of the park. Side note: the trams are not working currently. 

Around 4 pm we noticed the lines to many rides began to decrease in wait times. We did our favorite ride: Carousel of Progress! This is a great place to cool off too. After this ride we rode Splash Mountain (30 minute wait) and Thunder Mountain (20 minute wait). Then we rode Space Mountain not once but twice. Our kids LOVE Space Mountain. At 6:30 we got in the long line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. The wait time was 45 minutes. This was our final ride of the day. We had a great day at our favorite place in the World, Magic Kingdom!! We did not see many characters and many of the restaurants were only available for pre orders on the app. This was a little irritating because we did not want to have to pre order food and pick a time slot for 2 pm when were hungry at 11 pm. This is why it is important to bring your own snacks and lunch if possible. Hopefully by the summer the restaurants will be open and the characters will be back.

 After riding pretty much all of the rides we had hoped to ride we went to the shops on Main Street at 7 pm. The shops stay open after park closing. Check out my Disney Souvenier Haul 

We did see Tinkerbell pass by on a treasure chest around 9 am when we were in line at Sleepy Hollow! 

Buzz Lightyear was greeting people on the stage in Tomorrowland! 


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Sunday, March 7, 2021

All About Our Day At Disney's Hollywood Studios #Disney

We recently took a 7 night Disney World vacation!! We stayed at https://www.wyndhambonnetcreek.com/ 
We rented a two bedroom condo that had a beautiful view of the lake and a swimming pool. The condo had a full kitchen with oven, microwave, full size refrigerator and dishwasher! The condo also had a washer/dryer which was great. Today I'm going to share with ya'll our day at Hollywood Studios. 

Due to Covid the theme parks have had their hours reduced. Currently Hollywood Studios is open from 9 am to 7 pm, however to minimize crowds forming at security at the entrance Disney has been allowing guests to enter the park as early as 8:00 am. We arrived around 8:15 am. We were able to park super close to the entrance. We went through the temperature check and then the bag check. Sidenote: Disney does not allow any masks that are gaiter style masks or any mask that has a outside filter attachment. Once inside the park we headed directly to Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. The first ride we rode was the Star War's: Millinneum Falcon: Smugglers Run. The wait time was about 45 minutes. Sadly we were unable to secure passes for the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. These become available at 7 am on the dot on the Disney Parks app. I was literally on the app at 6:55 am and I was still unable to secure passes. They do release more passes at 1:00 pm for guests that are in the park. We did not try to get the passes again. After the Star War's section my kids wanted to go to Toy Story Land which is directly beside Star Wars Galaxy Edge. 





We did happen to catch a few cavalcade's. We saw the Incredibles and Sully while we were eating. Side note: We brought a soft sided cooler with lunch and drinks.  Speaking of eating, you can only take your mask off in designated area's to eat or drink. You may not eat or drink in lines. Disney is really good about keeping guests 6 ft apart while waiting in lines for the rides. They have place markers on the ground. 

After riding Toy Story Mania (20 minute wait), Slinky Dog Dash (45 minute wait) and the Alien Swirling Saucers (10 minute wait) we took some photos and headed to Echo Lake to ride Star Tours. My kids loved loved loved Slinky Dog Dash!! This was their favorite ride of the day. We picked up a snack at Marketplace Snacks Booth which has DOLE WHIPS!! We opted for the classic Mickey ice cream bar $6 each! 


After a nice snack we headed to Sunset Boulevard to ride the Tower of Terror. My kids loved this ride!! The wait time was about 30 minutes. Next up we rode Rock N Roller Coaster. The wait time was only about 25 minutes in the late afternoon. My kids loved this so much that they begged to ride it again. So we rode it again HAHA. Then we went to Lightening McQueen's Racing Academy to cool off in the air conditioning. This is a great place to go when it is super hot outside. This is a cute 20 minute indoor show featuring a talking Lightening McQueen. Then my youngest daughter and I rode the new Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway. The wait time pretty much all day was 60 minutes but around 5:45 we noticed the wait time had dropped to 25 minutes so we headed there. This is such a cute ride, be sure to make time for it!! I'd recommend the later afternoon.




We discovered that if you are in line for an attraction 5 minutes prior to the park closing that they will allow you to stay and ride the ride. Also, the shops stay open after park closing. So at 7 pm even though attractions were no longer accepting riders in their lines we were still able to go in the shops on Sunset Boulevard.







Overall, we had a great day at Hollywood Studio's! We were able to ride everything that we had hoped to ride except for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. I highly recommend arriving at the parks at least 30 minutes before they officially open.

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