Florida, USA: The Magic of Disney World

Before we set off on ‘the trip’ we each wrote a list of things we wanted to do or see and where we dreamed of visiting in the world. Odessa’s list wasn’t very long, she wanted to see elephants and the pyramids and go to Disney. Being in the business of making dreams come true, we set off for a week of exhausting, nonstop adventure at Disney World, Florida. Sure, you can pop in and visit the Magic Kingdom for one day, but this was an all in, see everything kind of trip. The only thing missing were the Minnie Ears and matching family t-shirts, which run counter to Jim’s Strict Packing Rules.

Faced with a dazzling array of options for Disney hotels to stay at, we plumped for the Animal Kingdom Lodge, adjacent to Disney’s Animal Kingdom park and home to 200 animals who roam 11 acres across three savannahs surrounding the hotel and who we could watch from our balcony in brief moments of downtime between activities. As with everything Disney, the theming at the hotel was outstanding from the moment you enter the three storey lobby decorated like a lodge somewhere on the Serengeti. There were also fun kids activities to learn about traditional African games and music, the animals who live at the lodge, and the countries in Africa. Completing each activity earned the kids a different themed bead which they collect to build a string of memories. These activities are run by Disney ambassadors who are on cultural exchange from all over Africa and were a wealth of knowledge and happy to answer questions and talk about their countries. A little bit of cultural education we hadn’t anticipated from our Disney trip.

Hollywood Studios

Disney World isn’t just one theme park, but a cluster of four different parks. We dedicated a day to each, and bright and early on our first morning caught the bus to Hollywood studios. Hollywood Studios has undergone a big transformation in recent years. Previously a half day sort of park, there’s lot more going on with the opening of two big themed areas. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which opened in 2019 is Disney at its absolute best: the streets, props, sets, branding of Coca-Cola stalls and wandering storm troopers make it feel like you’ve actually set foot on the remote frontier planet of Batuu.

Over in Toy Story Land (opened in 2018), oversized props make it seem as if you’re the size of one of Andy’s toys as you explore classic rollercoaster Slinky Dog Dash, a rootin’ tootin’ shoot ’em up in Toy Story Mania and whizz about with aliens in the Swirling Saucers. We even got to meet a couple of the Green Army Men.

The biggest draw at Hollywood Studios is the Rise of the Resistance, a trackless dark ride where the queue becomes part of the experience as you are taken hostage in the Star Destroyer and work with the rebels to escape from Kylo Ren’s clutches, with a few of the Disney ‘Cast Members’ really getting into their role of Empire troops.

While Rise of the Resistance was a pretty epic experience, the kids much preferred the other two Star Wars themed rides- Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run and Star Tours, helped by the fact that they had almost no queues when we visited so could be ridden again and again. Star Tours is a motion simulator with 21 different sections of story which can be combined to create 700 different ride experiences, so the immersive ride was different each time. In Smuggler’s Run, you work together as a team to fly the Millennium Falcon and complete the mission you’ve been assigned, it was the interactivity that Rafe particularly enjoyed here. Outside of the Toy Story and Star Wars areas, there are other things to do. Not wanting to waste a moment which could be packed with activity, we sat down to eat lunch while watching the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular – showing the behind the scenes action in how stunt doubles perform death defying tricks in the movies. The newest ride at Hollywood, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway is another trackless car ride which sends riders off on an adventure with goofy in charge of driving the train along with a catchy theme tune. Later, Dessa and I joined in with much gusto at a Frozen Singalong performance while Jim and Rafe were scared out of their pants on the drop ride at The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

Top Five:

• Rise of the Resistance
• Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run
• Star Tours
• Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular
• Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway

Magic Kingdom

For day two, we ventured out (early obviously) for the classic Disney Experience: Big Fairy Castle, Space Mountain, It’s a Small World, a parade full of Disney favourites and a bonanza lights and fireworks show? In the spirit of Completing Disney, we did it all, including some of the random retro stuff like the animated bears singing at the Country Bear Jamboree (a good air conditioned stop on a hot afternoon) and Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress where we learnt just how much life has changed since 1900 with a catchy song (It’s a great big beautiful tomooorrrrrooooow etc etc).

The newest and fastest ride at Disney world, Tron opened only a few weeks before our visit.

“I’m Tronitised”

Dessa

Based on the apparently ground breaking 1982 movie which none of us have seen, we of course were keen to ride this motorcycle themed ride. It was dark, fast and thrilling, and Dessa, who was only just tall enough to be able to ride declared she was ‘Tronistised’ the minute her feet reached the ground after the ride.

Luckily, there were a host of rides more to Dessa’s speed preferences. That’s part of the appeal of Magic Kingdom, with a wide range of different experiences depending on your preferred thrill level. Peter Pan’s Flight was a magic adventure floating over London and Neverland, we loved the brilliant, fast paced shooting game at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and of course there are Classic rollercoasters with the Disney attention to detail in the queue and ride at the Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. There’s also gentle bobbling with animatronics, under the sea with the little mermaid and across the world with It’s a Small World. We watched the firework show from Main Street, with lights illuminating the castle and buildings around, classic tunes from all the favourite Disney Movies, and lights flashing on our interactive MagicBands. Even the most hard hearted anti-Disney cynic (me) could feel the magic at the Happiest Place on Earth ™. A long, exhausting, thoroughly enjoyable day.

Top Five:

• Tron
• Space Mountain
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• It’s a Small World
• Happily Ever After – Fireworks Show

EPCOT

EPCOT (Full name: Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) has two main areas, Future World and World Showcase, which has Disneyfied versions of a random collection of countries around the world. You can make a call from a red phone box in the UK, browse the souk in Morocco, photograph the red torii gate and cross bridges over koi filled streams in Japan. Eat some würste in a cobblestone biergarten in Germany. In Mexico there’s a tall Mayan temple and a wandering mariachi band. No stereotypes here. But also not many rides. In France, we shrunk down to the size of rates to ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (twice, because it broke down) and followed a DuckTails Scavenger Hunt, but mostly World Showcase involves wandering about, looking at stuff. Magic Kingdom has Tomorrowland, based on Walt’s vision in 1955 of what the future would look like in 1983. Over in EPCOT, Future World was set out as a vision of the future as envisioned in 1982. Times are a changing though, and this area of EPCOT is being reimagined at the moment, with lots of construction going on. The big draw ride is the rollercoaster Guardians of the Galaxy, Cosmic Rewind. It starts off backwards, very fast and has a brilliant soundtrack while you race through time and space trying to rescue the universe from something or other. I forget the story details. One time we rode it, the tune was Blondie’s One Way or Another, and it was EPIC – right up there in our top rides for the entire of Disney World.

Near here is Mission Space, where you can either travel in a spaceship with views of Earth from above, or travel to Mars and experience nausea inducing GForces. We spent ages at the aquarium part of EPCOT, with rescued manatees, huge rays, sharks and turtles. There’s also the interactive Turtle Talk with Crush, where a cartoon turtle talks to a room full of visitors. It’s really clever, and a lot better than it sounds now I’ve written that description. Of course we rode the train up through the golf ball, learning all about human history, and the Journey into Imagination with Figment, in an old, yet still brilliant ride with Eric Idle and a purple dragon. It’s one Jim remembered vividly from his childhood visit. Dessa’s favourite, which she rode multiple times was Soarin’, a hang glider simulator where you can view some of Earth’s most impressive sights from the air. It happened to be the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival when we visited, so there were lots of flower displays and Disney characters made up of plants to brighten the place up. Partly because we like an air conditioned sit down part way through the afternoon, but much more so because the films were funny, clever and captivating, a definite highlight was the Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival, with a series of three dimensional short movies, including the Oscar winning Piper, about a baby sandpiper. At the end of the day, we took in the fireworks from an excellent spot by the lake, completing our longest day with the most steps clocked up in the whole trip- with the kids measuring over 35,000.

Top five:

• Soarin’
• Guardians of the Galaxy, Cosmic Rewind
• Mission: SPACE
• Turtle Talk with Crush
• Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival

Animal Kingdom

When Disney+ launched in the UK, we were locked down at home in those COVID days, and a subscription to the channel offered a welcome distraction. A program set at Animal Kingdom, about the keepers and animals soon became a firm favourite with animal fanatic Odessa, who was very excited to meet the stars of the show, such as baby gorilla Grace, Kenya the giraffe and the cheeky parrots. And so, on day four, we were up early to be first in to Animal Kingdom.

While the animals (2000 animals from 200 species), and the Kilimanjaro Safari were the initial attraction, there were plenty, and varied things to do here. The acrobatics of the live Festival of the Lion King Show were incredible, as were the special effects on the 3d It’s Tough to be a Bug show. Rafe loved the jump scare of the classic rollercoaster Expedition Everest and rode it five times in a row. Both kids also spent a good hour digging for dinosaurs in the Boneyard- an activity which apparently never gets old. There was a fun kids activity across the park- collecting stickers by hunting out Wilderness Explorer staff who each had a little activity to learn about animals, conservation or the environment. We also stumbled across one of our best activities: the Animation Experience, in the conservation station. Here we learnt how to draw piglet under the supervision of a Disney animator and how Walt and his animators have used real life animals to inspire their creations. The big showcase ride at Animal Kingdom is Avatar, in the Pandora area of the park. Here (after a bit of queuing) you climb aboard your very own Mountain Banshee (a winged dragon, not a shrieking omen of death) and fly through the incredible landscapes of Pandora, a lot of fun. Each of the Disney parks has a key icon- the castle at Magic Kingdom, that big Golf Ball thing at EPCOT, and at Animal Kingdom, it’s the Tree of Life, a massive fake baobab tree, 45 metres high and constructed around an old oil rig covered in concrete and 102,000 artificial leaves, it’s not exactly living, or perfect for the environment, but still pretty impressive with 325 different animals carved into its trunk.

Top five:

• Avatar: Flight of Passage
• Animation Experience
• Expedition Everest
• Lion King Show
• Kilimanjaro Safari

Disney Springs, The Boardwalk, Fantasia Mini Golf and Typhoon Lagoon

Disney World is more than just the theme parks, it’s a whole self governing mini state, 43 square miles in size with its own police, road signs and tax laws. On our first evening, we popped out the the Boardwalk, a lakeside resort area with hotels, restaurants, an ice cream café for Dessa to get a Mickey Mouse sundae and Fantasia Mini Golf, themed around the ground breaking musical movie from 1940. We like a spot of mini golf, and this one certainly impressed. It is incredibly well engineered, so that none of the holes are frustratingly impossible, but all have little quirks and musical surprises, and one spot where you can get a bit damp if you’re unlucky.

Although Disney has two waterparks, since COVID it seems only one is open at a time. We spent a fun morning cooling off at Typhoon Lagoon, splashing in the lazy river, jumping huge surf in the wave pool and hurtling down waterslides. It’s close to Disney Springs, so we popped in here afterwards. Disney Springs is a town centre for Disney, with most shops you can think of, a cinema and restaurants to cater for any tastes. We enjoyed checking out all the new sets at the Lego shop, the important matter of choosing a hat pin at Disney Pin Traders and watching the volcano erupt at the Rainforest Cafe.

How we did it

There are many Disney specific blogs offering tips and tricks on how to best use your Disney time, or best save your Disney dollars, which we enthusiastically devoured in the days before we visited. By staying at a Disney Resort (the Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jamba House) we had the perk of entry to the parks 30 minutes before general opening, so we could use this time to rush in and get a head start in the queue for one popular ride each morning. Our overall strategy was to arrive early, stay late, get online at 7am and 1pm to get spots in the virtual queue for the newest, busiest rides, and sometimes throw money to purchase Lightning Lane passes for a few rides. Before arriving at our hotel, we did a vast shop at Publix for breakfast, lunches and snacks to keep morale and sugar levels high throughout. We had a few meals out, including incredible barbecue at House of Blues in Disney Springs, Chinese at Nine Dragons just before the fireworks at Epcot, Italian at Trattoria al Forno at Disney Boardwalk and the all you can eat buffet at Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, which was fabulous, if a little busy. While visiting our other stops in Florida we had a hire car, but due to the extensive free transportation around the Disney site, we returned the car just after the aforementioned Publix shop and used Disney buses, boats, monorails and cable cars to get around the somewhat vast site. We spent a week at the complex, with entry to the parks for four days, a day at Typhoon Lagoon, Disney springs and mini golf and one day to relax at the hotel making use of the pools, waterslides and kids entertainment.