Monday, October 22, 2018

Thoughts on Disney

While I get our photos organized from our trip, I wanted to share some initial thoughts on our Disney vacation.  Anyone who talked to me about it knew I was somewhat apprehensive about going on this trip.  I didn't really know what to expect and there are other destinations that I would prefer to go.  But we knew we wanted to take the kids and we didn't want to wait too long so E would be at a good age to enjoy it.  Now that we are back, I am definitely glad we decided to go. Disney is a magical place and E really loved it and it was fun to see him experience it all.  And we had fun too of course, there are lots of fun rides and cool things to see.


I think one of the things I will remember most is how hot it was! I know it is October but summer weather is in full force in Florida.  It was about 30 degrees Celsius everyday with humidity (and this is probably cooler than if you go in August).  The sun was out with hardly any clouds and there is very little shade in these parks (except for Animal Kingdom).  We just had to embrace the heat and sweat it out.  Poor Q does not like the heat and he found it uncomfortable in his stroller and didn't feel like eating much.  We let him have his soother and "Guy" (his stuffy) throughout the day so that helped a bit.

We ordered some groceries to our room through Instacart and that worked out very well.  We got yoghurts, strawberries, bagels, cream cheese, beer, wine, perrier, lemons, apples, cheese strings, Clif bars, and granola bars.  We ate breakfast in our room for four of the six mornings, and then brought snacks to the park.  We did buy a few treats while we were in the park, but mostly didn't need to and easily grabbed our own snacks when necessary.

I did not know that Magic Kingdom is a mostly dry park and they only just started serving alcohol in the sit down restaurants this year.  Not that it really mattered but when we went to the other parks (especially Epcot), it was nice to walk around with a cold drink, particularly a frozen margarita.

The Disney app is invaluable for checking wait times, getting around the park, looking for washrooms, remembering when your Fast Passes are, making reservations, and mobile ordering food at the quick service restaurants.   There were times when it lagged a bit and I had to close it out and reopen it but I can't imagine having to do the park without it.

We really enjoyed staying on the resort itself.  We stayed at Port Orleans: French Quarter.  It is one of the smallest resorts which we really liked since it was easy to get to the pool, restaurant, and bus stop.  You also get to take the boat to Disney Springs so we had the full transfer experience.  We did not rent a car and didn't feel like we needed one at all.  When you stay on the resort you get to book your Fast Passes early (60 days out), complimentary airport pick up (including luggage taken directly from the airline to your room), and early opening times at the parks on some days (we got to go at 8:00 am to Animal Kingdom).

So many people are wearing the Mickey ears hats and headbands, clothing coordinated to the park they are at that day, and matching family t-shirts. I could not get over it; Disney people are special people, they are really into it ;)  My favourite shirt was one that a man was wearing that said on the back "Let's get matching t-shirts, said no dad ever".  Hah!

We were tired!  Plans of Dave and I going back to Disney Springs for supper while Mom stayed with the kids were quickly replaced with a drink in the hotel lobby bar.  People do suggest doing a couple of park days, then taking a break and spending a day at the hotel before going back to the parks, we just did five days of parks.  Two of the days we didn't stay too late and came back to the hotel for supper and on the fifth day when we went back to Magic Kingdom, we spent the morning at the pool before heading there for noon.

We told E we would go back in a few years when Q is the same age as E is now, and he's already counting down.  They are building a Star Wars hotel with what looks like a gondola that takes you to Hollywood Studios where they are building a Star Wars land.  Sounds like something our family would be interested in!



No comments:

Post a Comment