Part three of our adventure has kicked off in veritable family style, with an action packed week at the iconic Walt Disney World in Florida. And it’s not just the four of us either, somehow we managed to persuade my parents to join us for a bit of Disney magic too.
One of the benefits of all the globe trotting we have been doing this year is accumulating swathes of airline travel miles, and the best way of using these perks is to upgrade your seats. As a bit of a birthday treat we decided to use some of our miles to put Mum and Dad up the front of the plane in the comfort of Virgin’s Upper Class seats. There was a bit of side benefit of this for us as well, as we were all able to breeze through the Upper Class security lane with them, shaving at least an hour off our queuing time, meaning we could enjoy the lounge for a bit of pre-flight brekkie.
It wasn’t long before we had landed in sunny Orlando, and were winging our way towards the fabulous Animal Kingdom Lodge in the Disney resort. After unpacking, there was enough time for a bit of dinner and a quick look at the animals on the Savannah outside the hotel before retiring to our rooms to plan the next day and sleep off the time difference.
A disney holiday can seem completely mind bending to wrap your head around. There is so much information out there about how you should approach it, and the best way to maximise your experience on what is essentially a very expensive week in a theme park. I have read countless websites and blogs, as well as talking to Disney veterans who plan everything in minute detail months in advance. After absorbing this information, we finally came to the conclusion that, while we obviously wanted to experience Disney to its fullest, we didn’t really want to obsessively plan our days, and were more in favour of winging it to a certain extent. These parks are so amazingly constructed that there is something to see and do around every corner, without rigidly sticking to an itinerary anyway.
So, while this isn’t gonna be a guide to getting the most out of your disney experience (we are still very much Disney novices), there might be a few tips in here for fellow first timers looking to glean some pre-holiday info like we did.
The first thing to know is that you have to pick which park you are going to visit ahead of time, and make a reservation. If you haven’t made a park reservation, even a valid Disney ticket won’t get you in. The second important thing to know, is that Disney’s fast track Genie+ scheme is an absolute must. It seems expensive at around $20 per person every day on top of the already expensive tickets, but it allows you to breeze to the front of the queue, straight past the thousands of poor saps whose lives are apparently not too short to stand in line all day! You can only book this on the day though, so wake up early and make your life easier.
We also decided to book a mobility scooter, courtesy of Scooterbug. This was for the benefit of everyone really, if anyone was feeling tired they could take the weight off, and it was a handy place to store drinks and bags etc. It became a bit of an attraction in its own right to be fair, with the kids taking turns to ride shotgun while the other hung comically from the back. A day here can involve a good six or seven miles of walking, so it just takes the edge off.
Beyond that, we didn’t really take it too seriously. We booked food as we went along, normally plumping for a blow out buffet breakfast to last us all the way to dinner. Without meticulously planning our days in minute detail, we still managed to get on pretty much all the rides we wanted to, thanks to jumping to the front of most of the queues courtesy of the Genie+. So, I guess what I’m saying is, if you don’t mind spending the extra you can pretty much take Disney as you find it, and breeze around soaking in the atmosphere. If you would prefer to save the money, you are gonna have to spend a bit more time planning your route around the park taking the queues into account.
Day one in Disney took us to the most famous of the parks, the Magic Kingdom. This is the park we all think of when someone mentions Disney. Nothing screams Disney more than walking up Main Street USA with the fairytale castle ahead of you. It’s also the biggest and busiest of the parks. I can’t remember the last time I went on a ride with my parents, so I was determined to get them on a few here. This was the right place to ease them in gently too, as there are a fair few gentle rides here. It was great to see them enjoying the Disney experience with Hunter and Bam, and really embracing everything that Disney has to offer. The great thing about having the photo package included is that you can have professional photographers take cheesey but brilliant photos all around the park. Talk about getting Dad to really step outside his comfort zone as he squirmed awkwardly at the back as the photographer directed us all into posing for shots. Dad actually joked that he had more photos taken of him this week than ever before in his life, and I think he’s probably right!
Day two bought us to the brilliant EPCOT. Ever since I was Hunters age, I had always wanted to stand under the iconic geodesic dome that is such an icon of Disney. And here I was. I’m not gonna lie, I was a little bit excited. What’s great about this park is that it still feels truly futuristic, even though it’s such an eighties version of the future. Maybe that’s just me showing my age as a product of the game boy age, because “Project Tomorrow” obviously looks very much like Project Yesterday now, but the retro-futuristic rides are still very cool. Again, I was very impressed that my parents took on the rides with (sometimes reluctant) enthusiasm. Dad chose to sit out Mission:SPACE, which in hindsight was probably a good idea, as it manages to achieve 3G of centrifugal force to mimic the disorientating feeling of taking off on a trip around Mars. Even Kate looked slightly green after that one!
Our third park was Animal Kingdom, bringing brilliant close encounters with wild animals, as well as cutting edge rides like Avatar Flight of Passage. The really amazing thing here is the sheer scale and intricacy of Disney’s set designs. You are whisked around the world to enchanting and far reaching corners of the globe you have only ever dreamed about. One minute you are in the back streets of Tibet to ride the brilliant Expedition Everest, and the next you are in the wilds of equatorial Africa searching for great apes at Gorilla Falls. It really is mind blowing, and it’s hard not to walk around slack jawed, gaping in awe at all the beautiful scenery.
The fourth and final park was Disney Hollywood Studios. I’ve gotta say that this was, in my humble opinion, the best park at Disney. It felt the most up to date, and the new Star Wars area is simply stunning. Rise Of The Resistance is hands down the most inventive and impressive ride I have ever experienced. It is not so much a thrill ride as an entire experience from the queue, all the way until you exit the ride, giggling like a school girl at what you’ve just witnessed. My other top pick here was the horrifying Tower of Terror, with its creepy, haunted theme and bowel-loosening freefall drops. Poor old Hunter may have pushed himself a tad too far on this one. He’s not a great lover of horror based experiences at the best of times, and managed to worry himself into a frenzy as we neared the front of the queue. His hand gripped mine tighter and tighter as his eyes started to well up, but he pressed on regardless and didn’t back out. Bam is the polar opposite of her brother, and is always the one screaming to go faster while laughing at the ghosts and ghouls around her.
It was time for my parents to have a day off from Disney, so we packed them off for a day trip to Kennedy Space Centre, while we enjoyed the water based delights of Typhoon Lagoon water park. To be honest, I’m amazed Mum and Dad managed four days straight in Disney. It’s a long old slog every day, especially when it’s 30 degrees outside. Maybe it was the calorific delights of our daily buffet brekkie that kept them going, or more likely the chance to spend some quality time with their grandchildren in one of the most magical places on earth. Yeah, that’s probably it.
What can I say about Typhoon Lagoon, apart from – wow. This is a brilliant water park, with an immense wave pool and a dozen or so epic water slides, and is a perfect break from the relentless pace of a week chez Mickey and Co. Bam even managed to get past the height restriction and get a go (or three) on the awesome five storey drop of Humunga Kowabunga. We all met up back in the hotel to compare the days notes of space rockets and pirate ships over an evening buffet. It’s ok, we didn’t have two buffets – we managed to escape the awful temptations of the morning buffet in favour of a lighter option (not that there is such a thing as a lighter option in America!).
We had one more day to spend together in Disney. So far we hadn’t managed to catch one of the famous firework displays, so tonight was the night. We opted for a later start to the day – a few hours in the hotel pool followed by an afternoon in Magic Kingdom to catch a few more rides, and squeeze a few more signatures in Bam’s photo album. That’s a weird thing, right, the character signatures? The suspension of disbelief while a guy in a suit (I mean, even the kids know it) awkwardly holds the signature album right next to his mesh covered eye holes, so that he can see as he scribbles the name of a fictional cartoon character. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great, and I love it as much as the kids do. But it is definitely weird how much we are all willing to buy into it.
We rounded the day off with yet another buffet, but this time in the Crystal Palace restaurant just in front of the castle, while Winnie The Pooh and all his friends did the rounds, hugging the children. And me. And Mum.
Honestly, this week of buffets has really set me up for the next few months of total over indulgence, sampling the best (and worst) cuisine the US of A can throw at me. I have already braced myself for my already expanded waistline to grow just a touch more!
We finished stuffing our faces just in time to make the mad dash back to Main Street USA to find a spot to watch the show. I was ready for the fireworks to be incredible, but I don’t think any of knew just how incredible they would be. It was a full 20 minutes of hauntingly beautiful, and brilliantly themed Technicolor explosions, all while the street and the castle were illuminated with projections of light and cartoon magic. And they do this every single night! My parents had decided to film the whole thing. I don’t think they realised it would be that long. They comically swapped the phone between them every few minutes as their arms grew weary in their attempt to capture the whole event on film, only to allow a tired slip of the thumb to ruin it by switching apps two minutes before the end. Technology and my folks have a distinct love-hate relationship!
As we struggled to find where we had parked our scooter in the post-firework throng, we met a few of the Deputy Sheriffs that are stationed in the park. I spent a good twenty minutes chatting with Deputy Joe about our current trip, as he furnished us with ideas for places to visit and potential routes across the country. These guys were a perfect example of what had stood out most to us during our first week in America, and that is exactly how friendly and accommodating the American people are. People here are polite and courteous, and always willing to help. It’s sadly a stark contrast to England. I hope the rest of America is like this, I might never go home!
We had one more experience to see out our final day in the park. At 2pm, I had entered the virtual queue for the unbelievably cool Tron Lightcycle rollercoaster, and 8 hours later it was finally our turn. Dad had decided to sit this one out as we sat underneath the coaster listening to the screams of the riders above us, but Mum decided it would be a fitting Disney finale for her and agreed to tag along. And what a finale. This roller coaster is awesome. You are catapulted to 60mph almost instantly, pulling 3.5G as you race your lightcycle along the neon blue tracks, imagining you really are in the 1982 fantasy world. Good on you Mum, what a way to end a great week.
That was it, Disney World had been amazing, but all good things must come to an end. After one more buffet breakfast together, we had to go our separate ways. Mum and Dad were off to have a recovery week relaxing on the sandy shores of Miami, while we were off to pick up our RV home for the next six weeks. The great American road trip starts here…