W A L T D I S N E Y
W O R L D
08/28/19 - 09/02/19
DAY 1
We have ended our last 9 summers with a traditional trip to Walt Disney World. It's a great time to go, because the southern schools have already started and the weather is still warm. We like to take an early direct flight to MCO and have mastered the art of quickly grabbing a rental car, some quick snacks/water for the room and checking into our Disney resort - all before noon! This year we stayed at The Wilderness Lodge. The Wilderness Lodge has a very relaxing Northwestern vibe. Dad always likes to go straight to the pool for a celebration lunch / drink that kicks off the annual tradition! We usually do not go to a park the first day but plan a nice meal. This year we headed to the California Grill for dinner at the very top of the Contemporary Resort. Delicious!!
DAY 3
EPCOT is our favorite place to book meals. It offers the World Showcase, which is 11 different country areas - each with different cuisines you can enjoy at night. Italy, Mexico, Japan, Canada & China - just to name a few. If you get a park hopper pass, you can do another park in the morning and come to EPCOT for dinner. We always have Via Napoli on our list for a delicious thin crust Pizza and a wine flight. France has a fantastic bakery and ice cream place, as well. "Future World" in EPCOT is in the front of the park and offers many fun rides. Test Track and Soarin are our favorites. Hold on to your seat, Test track drives you around a track at over 65 MPH! ...and don't forget to end you night with the EPCOT fireworks daily at 9:00 PM.
DAY 2
The Summer of 2019, marked the opening of the Star Wars Galaxy Edge at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The opening adjusted many of the parks hours to open very early to disburse any of the crowds coming for that event. We decided to kick off the parks with the Magic Kingdom! The Wilderness Lodge offers a quick boat ride directly to the Magic Kingdom. I think we were on the boat before the sun was officially up (6:30 AM)! You may think we are crazy, but we were on Main Street USA - the main entrance to the Magic Kingdom before 7:00 AM! We like to do the parks early because of the heat/crowds and enjoy the resort/pool for the afternoon. The Magic Kingdom does not disappoint!
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DAY 4
DAY 5
If you haven't been to Hollywood Studios lately, you won't recognize it. With the recent additions of Toy Story Land and Star Wars Galaxy Edge, its a great park to explore. Check out the new life size Millennium Falcon. The new Star Wars land is really incredible. After some touring around, we grabbed a bench on the main strip and enjoyed some Mickey Ice Cream bars. Definitely take some breaks! After the park, we headed back to the Wilderness Lodge for some swimming and an outside dinner at their lake side lounge, Geyser Point. The pool offers a fun slide and children's play area. Kids - watch out for the water buckets and spray hoses. Geyser Point quickly turned into one of our favorites for its very relaxing lake side atmosphere, food and drinks.
Day 4 - One of the advantages of the Wilderness Lodge, it a direct access boat ride to the Magic Kingdom. After a quick bite, we were on the 7:15 AM boat! It was a nice peaceful start to the day. The Magic Kingdom opened at 8:00 AM today, so we did our traditional "rope drop" and were on our way. We love the morning, especially at the Magic Kingdom, because it is not too hot or crowded and give you the chance to get on some popular rides without much of a line. We covered some of our favorites including Peter Pan, Pirates and Mine Train! Around 2 PM, we returned to the hotel and found a fun surprise in the lobby! Goofy and Mickey were there for a photo op! We headed to Disney Springs for dinner where we got another surprise. Chef Art Smith welcomed us to his restaurant, Homecomin'.
DAY 6
It's great to have some family traditions on a Disney vacation. One of ours is to have breakfast at the Cape May Cafe on the last morning of our trip. The Cape May Cafe is at the Beach Club resort and has a great buffet offering a wide selection - everyone will enjoy. While enjoying your breakfast, the characters (Daisy, Donald, Goofy and Minnie) will come around in their fun beach outfits to say hello, sign autographs and take some photos! We enjoy the time to review all the fun we had that week and start planning our next trip! The Beach & Yacht Club resorts are on our favorite Disney Hotels list. The sand bottom pool, lazy river and Ice Cream parlor (Beaches & Cream) are amazing. We can't wait to go back! 365 days to go!
WHAT WE THOUGHT OF IT
MICHAEL
KAREN
MICHAEL S
