First Thing You Need to Know
A Disney World Vacation will bring new experiences, and will open up hidden excitement that will have you wanting to come back over and over again for more. Planning a Disney trip takes a lot of work. From where you may want to sleep, either at Disney World or off the property? From parking, how long you may want to stay, and if you and your family want to visit each of the four Parks or maybe two.
Before we dive in. The first thing you will need to do is create your personal account (if you don’t already have one) on the Disney World website. You will able to do things such as make reservations at restaurants through your account.
Here we will talk about the Four Disney World Parks:
Magic Kingdom
This park is one of the smaller parks but probably the most famous, and is best known for the ionic Cinderella Castle. You will normally see this castle at the beginning of every Disney movie. My jaw hit the floor when we came closer and closer of the view of the castle at Magic Kingdom. To actually see this castle in person was just absolutely unreal. The little girl in me had finally felt fulfilled in childhood.
Just know that people don’t actually go up and down or inside of the castle. When I walked up closer to the castle, I noticed that most of the windows had wood over them. There is an area below the castle where little girls get pampered that we observed, called the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. No one goes on the top floor of the castle and look out the windows or anything like that. So in other words the castle is just for the exterior look, not to actually go inside.
The Seven Dwarf Mine Train
The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was a fun ride that is a swaying roller coaster. Yes, I did scream. This ride was not as rough as the bigger rides you’ll find across Disney World. I would be comfortable allowing a 5 year old take a ride on this train.
We did see a Disney Parade at this park that was the coolest thing ever. All of legendary Disney characters were in this parade. Everyone from Bell and the Beast, Peter Pan, Mickey and Minnie themselves, and of course the Fire Breathing Dragon from Sleeping Beauty.
Animal Kingdom
This area was absoutely amazing and of course nature focused. This Park is so huge you’d probably need a full two days to explore it entirely. Here, you will find different sections of this Park dedicated to Africa and Asia with a unique blend of ethnic cultures. You will of course see animals all over. We saw monkeys swinging around, giraffes and dancers of the culture dancing in the streets with instruments. Yes, we did dance with them. If I could do it all over again, I would definitely set aside a whole day just dedicated to this Park, because we unfortunately didn’t get to see everything because it was just so big.
It’s Tough to be a Bug (A Bugs Life)
I was sad to hear that “It’s Tough to be a Bug” is now a retired attraction. This was a SUPER cool attraction that we had the pleasure to experience while at Disney World. This was a 3D show that took place inside of the Tree of Life. I absolutely loved this 3D show and was glad that I got a chance to see it.
The name says it all. This was a fun safari ride on the Harambe Wildlife Reserve of 110 acres. We saw Lions, Hippos, Giraffes you name it. The funniest part of the ride was that all of the cats were sleeping. None of the wildlife got close to us or anything but they were of course curious.
Yak and Yeti 10/10 (Restaurant)
We decided to dine at this restaurant during our walk through at this park. You can reserve a spot at this restaurant (and other restaurants) which is something that I would recommend doing at dining areas. The lines at dine in restaurants can get very long, and the wait time can be up to two hours. Definitely make reservations prior to going to dine in spots.
This is an absolutely stunning restaurant. I had the “Lo Mein Shrimp” and the “Dragon Roll Bowl” and I ate every bite. The the service here was definitely top tier service hands down. Trust me, you will not regret dining at this place. I thought the prices on the menu were pretty reasonable.
EPCOT
WHERE DO I BEGIN! This was hands down my favorite Park. You will need an entire day to see everything at this Park and we definitely saw everything. What I loved about this Park was how it paid homage to various Disney movies and the countries the movies represented. For example:
- Japan Pavilion: This area of the park was so cool. Here, we saw a show where traditional drums were beautifully played and where staff dressed in traditional Japanese attire. There was a huge Amine store where we bought a couple of Drangonball Z shirts. This store was unlike anything I’d ever seen. It’s been a few years since we were here and the area has evolved since then.
- Beauty and The Beast (France): There were people who were actual from France that worked in the the gift shops, and the Wine Store that we walked around in this area. This area made me feel like I was in France. The music from the movie played all over this area, and that alone will give you the feel of being in the movie. You will spot French brands were such as Perrier being sold in the snack stores in this area, along with different wines. You may get lucky and probably see Sleeping Beauty or Miss Aurora herself.
- Aladdin (Morocco): This area was small but very beautiful and elegant. I personally felt like I was at the marketplace like in the movie. When I was a kid I assumed that Aladdin was based in a country in the Middle East. I learned that the movie was actually based in Morocco at Disney World in EPCOT. In this section, you will find people dressed in Moroccan attire. Moroccan music played throughout the Aladdin area as well. We also got a chance to met Princess Jasmine and take a picture with her (note: my phone died and my husband for some reason could not find the picture he took of us on his phone LOL).
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Germany): In the German Pallivion area this section we saw several German restaurants/music and yes you could buy beer. This was also the case for the Beauty and the Breast section, we did buy wine. We didn’t see Snow White herself but it was still a site to see the Germany homage to the movie. The little shops had only German snacks that I didn’t know were German such as: Haribo Gummies
EPCOT is also where we met the Myth, the Legend, the Man himself Mr. Mickey Mouse. We also met Minnie and Goofy as well.
Disney Hollywood Studios
This was actually the first Park we got to visit. If you are a first time visitor at Disney World, Hollywood Studios is the perfect opening for you. Star Wars fans will drop to their knees at the site of Stormtroopers, parading up and down the streets of Hollywood Studios.
The Great Movie Ride
The Great Movie Ride was replaced with what is now “Mickey and Minnies Runaway Railway.” The former Great Movie Ride surprisedly closed the year we were there. The Great Movie Ride was a ride on a locomotive train through the Chinese Theater Replica. The ride had a live-action gun fight right in front of us, paying homepage to the 1950s crime mob movies (this was so cool), robots that sang and danced paying homepage to “The Wizard of Oz,” “Alien,” “Singing in the Rain,” “Mary Poppins” and many other movies dedicated to movies from the 1950s, 1960s and 1980s era.
Parking
You can either pay for parking at each Park, or you could receive complimentary parking at each Park. If you stay at one of the resorts at Disney World, you will receive free parking at any of the Parks. The parking is free for your entire length of stay if you are eligible for complimentary parking. Considering that parking can cost between $30-55 a day, you can save quite a bit of money over the course of your trip. Keep in mind only standard parking is free if you have an annual pass or if you are staying at one of the Disney Resorts, any upgrades will be extra.
Annual Pass holders receive complimentary standard parking all year long. One annual pass holder in one vehicle qualifies the whole car for parking.
Trams services are courtesy carts vehicles, that patrol the parking lots. These courtesy cart vehicles will come to pick you and your family up from where you parked, and take you to the entrance area of the Park. These trams carts will avoid a very long walk from your car to the entrance.
Charging Stations are also available for electric vehicles for your connivence throughout at each of the four Parks, including at the resorts.
If you’ve never been to Disney World, you’d be surprised to know that there is no parking at the Magic Kingdom. In order to get to the Magic Kingdom, you’d have to take a ferry because the Park is on an island. We actually parked at Epcot and took the Monorail to Magic Kingdom for the ferry. The monorail almost looks like a spaceship on rails and moves fast like a train in a subway.
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