Last week I returned from my family vacation in Walt Disney World in Florida. Florida’s in June are hot, humid, and stormy. However, despite the weather, and slipping down stairs due to rain. There were some highlights of the trip I wanted to share with you all. There were some rides, attractions, memories, and meals that I tried for the first time that made this trip special.
- June 13th, Disney Springs: After an early flight, we settled into our hotel and waited for our rooms to be available around 2 PM. Then, we went took a bus down to Disney Springs for a dinner reservation at Chef Art Smith’s Homecoming. This restaurant is very known for their Southern comfort food. While a majority of my family ordered the famous fried chicken and doughnuts, I ordered the fried chicken with mashed potatoes, and a cheddar drop biscuit. Paired with a white peach sangria, the food was to die for. However, the portion I had was very large and could definitely be two meals.
- June 14th, Magic Kingdom: This was the first time my family used a Disney base ticket. With this ticket, you can do only one park a day, but are allowed to break and come back to that same park as many times as you want. So on that Friday, we went to Magic Kingdom for early magic hours at 8 AM stayed til 1 PM, took a break, and returned later in the evening. For breakfast, we stopped at Gaston’s Tavern in Fantasyland for one of their famous large cinnamon rolls. Then, for lunch, we took the monorail for the first time to Polynesian Resort for a lunch. Their hawaiian sandwich, which features pulled pork, cole slaw, and sliced cucumbers, is so good birds were swarming my sister and I to get a bite. Another highlight of the night was the new Happily Ever After fireworks and castle projections. They seemed to include every Disney film you could ask for.
- June 15th, Animal Kingdom: Potentially one of the hottest days was the day we went to Animal Kingdom. We went on some rides and grabbed a bite to eat for lunch and then took a break in the afternoon. We returned in the evening to go on Expedition Everest (which had been closed earlier in the morning). We got dinner at Pizzafari, which has amazing personal pizzas and a very refreshing Mandarin Orange Vodka Lemonade. The highlight of that night was the Rivers of Light show that features beautiful music, projections, and water floats that light up the pond in Animal Kingdom.
- June 16th, Hollywood Studios: On Father’s Day, we had breakfast at the resort and then went to Hollywood Studios in the morning and evening. Some of my favorite things to do at Hollywood Studios is go on the Rockin’ Rollercoaster and see the Beauty and the Beast show, both of which we did in the morning. We also saw the Incredible’s Dance Party at Pixar Place. Later in the evening we got to see Toy Story Land. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip because it felt like I was reliving my childhood. Toy Story Land is a toy land, the characters are all over this new part of the park, and the Slinky Dog roller coaster is really fun. At the peak of the ride, you can catch a view of the new Star Wars land, which is opening later this year.
- June 17th, Magic Kingdom: We returned to Magic Kingdom on Monday for a character breakfast with Winnie the Pooh at Crystal Palace. The buffet was delicious and my mom and I tried an amazing white sangria made with sauvignon blanc, pineapple juice, and peaches and raspberries. Aside from the amazing breakfast, we went on more rides, shopped, found the famous purple wall and got some much needed ice cream at Edy’s Ice Cream Parlor.
- Tuesday, June 18th- Epcot: On our last full day, we went to Epcot. In the morning, we rode Frozen, Test Track, and grabbed brunch in France. I had a croissant sandwich with ham and cheese and a mimosa (which I spilled on myself so my dad kindly bought me another.) It poured throughout most of the day and evening on Tuesday, so we tried to make the best out of our time there. For dinner, we went to La Cantina de San Angel in World Showcase Mexico, which overlooks the lagoon. I ate empanadas con queso with a cole slaw and tried a frozen mango margarita, which was delicious.
- The Evolution of the Finger Guns: The TRUE highlight of the trip began at Magic Kingdom on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and trended throughout the trip. You may know that Disney has a photopass service that will take pictures of you on most rides and send them straight to your mydisneyexperience app. My dad decided in every picture we took he was going to point finger guns at the camera. This slowly evolved into my entire family trying to do it and the results are pretty hilarious. Enjoy.
I hope some of these highlights will help you on your own visit to Disney World! Looking forward to sharing some more of my summer vacation with you all.
Happy Summer,
Hayley
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