Ten days, six parks, three escape rooms, twenty trips to the pool, one round of mini golf, and one hundred and twenty thousand steps later, and we’re ready to call that a successful trip.
While the first few days were us finding our bearings and navigating our new surroundings, the latter half of our adventure continued to bring us new experiences, while also providing a slight sense of routine, or at least a sense of confidence in knowing what to expect and how to properly do it. We had our list of must-dos while on this once in a lifetime trip, and I’m definitely glad that we extended our initial plans from 7 to 10 days so that we could effectively get it all in. I think the sign of a good trip, or at least a successful one, is when you find yourself on that final day in the sweet spot of still enjoying where you are but also yearning for your own bed. Leave one day sooner and you’re going to feel like you’ve missed something. Leave one day later and you’re going to find reasons to resent the place that you’re in. Our whole family entered the “I’m ready to go home” zone at precisely the right moment, and, save for one or two well-deserved and earned breakdowns, we made it through unscathed, though our bank account may feel differently about that…
In terms of how we spent the second part of our trip, we enjoyed many, many trips to the resort pool, with countless hours soaked up in the lazy river (which isn’t exactly lazy with two kids who see it more as a race track, and see you as more of a captain steering a ship down a rapid river full of crabs, and obstacles that could tip them over…but I guess that’s my fault for introducing the ideas), practicing our synchronized dance routines, and playing Moana. Though staying on Disney property would have offered us early access to the parks and few other perks, it was also more than twice the price and would have just been a hotel room , with no separate bedrooms, no kitchen, and no ‘free access’ pool. We really did find the perfect place to call home for our stay, with pool, amenities, and separate sleeping quarters all included. Even if you added up all of the Uber rides we racked up through the week, it still worked out cheaper than staying on resort, and we got to make our own food. I’d definitely recommend this way of doing things to anyone else planning to go.
When not in the pool, we were taking in the parks. Every last one of them. That’s a lot of ground to cover, and I can only imagine how much more it feels to someone half my size. Despite the endless lines and thousands of steps per day, however, our kids did exceptionally well, and only complained once – which was at the same time us parents also complained because it was so damn hot. That said, I must admit that we lucked out overall with our weather – 32 degrees most days, but it was also overcast, which meant that we weren’t beaten down by the sun, and while it threatened rain pretty much every day, we didn’t get hit with any of it; it really worked out perfectly in our favour!
As for the parks themselves, there were a lot of highs and not many lows, at least not any that were unexpected. Things are generally expensive, which we knew going in, but we thwarted many of the costs by packing our own snacks and lunches every day. A good thing, too, because as I mentioned in the previous post: the food was not good. There were some half decent options in Epcot, but all in all, the fare was pretty bad. Of course, we debriefed each park experience in real-time, but also had to create some overall rating system when all was said and done so that we could see which came out on top.
Top overall experience: Magic Kingdom.
The epitome of Disney, this park was truly the most magical of experiences. It felt like a true escape into the world of Disney, from the characters, to the rides, and was the only park we wanted to revisit (and we did!)
Aside from having some genuinely fun rides, I have to call out the fireworks display, which was, in a word: Epic.
Admittedly, the ability for us to attend the fireworks meant pushing our kids to beyond their capacity, with crowds I don’t want to endure again, but it was so totally worth it.
Most Immersive: Hollywood Studios.
This was the first park we hit up when we arrived in Florida, and though it may not have ranked as our overall top choice as a park, the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge was 100% the most immersive and jaw dropping part of the whole trip. It felt like we were on a different planet, with easer eggs everywhere. The rides, particularly Rise of the Resistance, left me giddy. 10/10, would recommend.
Best Surprise: Animal Kingdom.
While planning out our trip and trying to squeeze in everything we wanted, Animal Kingdom was actually on the chopping block. I’m glad we found time to make it happen, because it felt like a completely different experience from the rest of the parks. There were so many cool shows, animals, and features to take in. Nora did the safari ride 3-times because she loved learning about the animals so much, and the Everest ride definitely set the bar for thrills, at least as far as a Disney property is concerned.
Most Thrilling and yet somehow equally disappointing: Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure.
Okay, so this overall experience wasn’t great. It was ridiculously expensive because of how they set it up, though I know that’s partially on us. We hit these parks up for one purpose only: Happy Potter. Unfortunately they split the Wizarding world into two areas, which requires you to have two different park passes. Full transparency: this single say cost us $1000. Both areas were immersive and super cool, but also kind of limited to what was offered. The lineups were so long that you couldn’t get it all done in one day. That said, we did manage to check out the sights and shops and it was impressing what they managed to pull off to bring everything to life.
Outside of Harry Potter, however, Nora was in her element and she ranks this park number one. It is also this park that made me realize that, for as much as my daughter loves a slow safari ride, she like thrills even more. She was eager to go on the many offerings of fast-moving, fast-dropping, loopy-looping roller coasters and would have chosen to do them and only them all day long if she could. I love seeing how happy she was. I praise my wife for being the one to go on the rides with her.
The last note I’ll say about Universal, is that it all around felt like a different type of park from Disney. The crowds felt different, the atmosphere was different…it just felt very different in a way that I didn’t enjoy.
Glad we did it but wouldn’t go back: EPCOT.
It wasn’t bad, and I would still recommend it as something to experience, but I can’t sing its praises as some others might. I was excited to travel the world and experience something altogether different, but what I got instead was just a bunch of of differently themed shops to spend money on things I don’t need. There were certainly some cool and very impressive things we saw along the way, including, of course, the Ratatouille ride which was dear to my heart, but all in all in felt like the commercialization of around the world stereotypes that I sort of found problematic. Canada being represented wholly by poutine, hockey and Molson Canadian, left me feeling a bit more than sad.
Closing Thoughts:
Disney is all around great and I am so happy we did it, but Disney also has no shame in taking all of your money. They set parents up for failure by having flashing lights and candy on every corner. You can skip lines and avoid meltdowns for lighting lane passes that will cost you $150/day for a family of four, though that still doesn’t guarantee you will get on the rides that you want. Another thing to watch out for is scheduling. When we chose our Disney park days we didn’t think that we’d also need to consider special events that would close the parks early, unless you purchased and ADDITIONAL ticket for and ADDITIONAL $150 each.
I don’t want to end on a negative note, so let me just say that was had an epic, magical and memorable once in a lifetime trip. I am SO happy we did it and would recommend it to anyone wondering if they should, as long as you can be open to the fact that you’re going into and expensive but immersive experience.
Also, you should do escape rooms while you’re there. I love escape rooms.
This is such a thorough reflection. And I really appreciate the honesty.