Hello friends!
LONG time no post! And it seems like all my recent posts are travel related. Sorry about that, I don’t know why I’m struggling with regular content otherwise, but I hope to get back on it soon.
Our first anniversary just passed (crazy!) and we decided to take a domestic trip to celebrate it! Neither my husband or I have been to Disney or Universal since we were like in our early teens, so it’s been a long time. We decided to go to Orlando as adults and experience the magic again!
Let me tell you, the Disney/universal experience is totally different as an adult! It’s still fun, but you realize what you feared as a kid, really isn’t that scary.
So, we decided to spend 5 days there, and basically 3 days at Disney and 1 day at Universal and the last day we were SO tired that we just chilled and spent time in other parts of Orlando.
Head up, it is HOT in august (or any time of the year really) in FL. I hate this excessive heat, and I sweat buckets during this trip. That was probably the biggest downfall. But it was still an enjoyable experience overall!
Another benefit that Disney has that Universal doesn’t (but really should) is they make you basically download the Disney app when you buy tickets, and on that app, you can do a few different things. They can be used to scan your tickets in at the entrance, and then you can look up restaurants, wait times on rides, how far of a walk you are from point A to B and look through all the Disney parks at any point in time to plan your days.
Also, with purchase of a park ticket – you automatically get 3 fast pass’s per day/park. So, each day we had 3 fast passes for Epcot, Magic Kingdom and MGM/Hollywood studios. You can basically then, put yourself in ‘line’ at a specific time slot, with those fast passes at any ride. So, we had to be wise about what we truly wanted to do and not wait for vs. what we didn’t mind waiting for in line.
Here’s a breakdown of our trip and how we decided to tackle it all:
- Day One
- We arrived, checked in, picked up our rental car and had lunch. We bought a half day park ticket (admission after 12pm) because there is no point in spending money for a full day ticket if you can’t spend the whole day at the park.
- We decided to do Epcot on this day. Neither of us enjoyed Epcot as a kid, but it’s something you can appreciate more as an adult.
- We did the around the world walk first, seeing all the countries that they have and it’s super cute and unique!
- We did the frozen ride in the Norway part of the world, which was cute!
- And then we stood in line to meet with mickey and Minnie and goofy, sadness and joy and Baymax. Super cool and made me feel like a kid again!
- Since it was pouring rain, we couldn’t make our reservations for dinner at the Morocco part of the world. We had to eat at the electric umbrella because that was the closest restaurant to the front of the park, making for a quick exit.
- Day two
- We went to my favorite park of all MGM/Hollywood studios!
- We started off with the voyage of little mermaid show which was cute
- Followed by the toy Story land – which is brand new from when we last visited when we were teenagers. It’s a really cool idea and they did a great job executing it too! All the characters are there lined up to take pics (we only got it with buzz), and they made a few cool/cute rides we sat on alien swirling saucers, and slinky dog dash
- After that, we watched beauty and beast show live on stage
- Followed by my favorite ride of all time: TOWER OF TERROR! Oh man, as a kid this was the highlight of my trip lol. As an adult its still so fun, but you realize how much of a scardey cat you are as a kid 😛
- After that we were famished, so we got Mexican burrito rice bowls which were great.
- We ended the night on rock n’ roller coaster, which is probably the fastest roller coaster there is in MGM.
- And the highlight of the night was the Fantasmic show! It’s a water and light show effect that’s outside and gets packed quickly. So, we used one of our fast passes on it and it was SO worth it.
- Day three
- We went to my second favorite park on the third day, Magic Kingdom.
- Here, we probably did the most that we did compared to the other parks, but this is truly the heart of Disney and really has a lot going on to do and see.
- First and foremost, it was sweltering heat on this day, I mean every day it was, but with the threat of rain I carried the umbrella this day and ended up using it as a shade from sun instead, LOL
- We took pictures at the castle for awhile and then headed over to the speedway ride which is basically a go cart on a track. Followed by some shows: mickey’s philharmagic 3D show, the tiki room, and the pirates of the Caribbean ride.
- At 2pm they do the mickey and friends parade, so we got prime spot in front of the castle to stand/sit and watch it
- We had lunch at the Columbia Harbor House which was sea food, and super um!
- Then we did the haunted mansion ride which I also remembered as a kid, fearing it, but as an adult it was more entertaining really
- Then we did the it’s a small world ride, followed by big thunder mountain railroad and space mountain roller coaster (husbands favorite ride here)!
- That was the end of the day here. And the end of the Disney portion of our trip. We met up with 1 of my husbands’ cousins who lives in Orlando now with her husband for dinner, which was a nice way to end the evening.
- Day four
- Our last day of theme parking! We went to universal studios on this day
- We started off with the Shrek 3D ride, transformers 4D ride and mummy roller coaster. We also did the Spiderman ride, Jurassic park water ride and the Hulk ride.
- We spent a chunk of the day at HARRY POTTER WORLD, because if you know me, you know I’m obsessed. This was a dream come true!!! If you’re a potter head, I’d highly recommend checking this place out, it’s so worth it!
- From Ollivanders, to butter beer, the Gringotts ride and the forbidden forest ride, it’s all so magical!
- I spent a good portion of the time googley eyed over everything, taking pictures of it all and enjoying all that they had to offer.
That was basically our trip! It was a fun time but super tiring because of the heat and so much walking. It was a relaxing trip and nice time for a first anniversary trip.
Have you been to Disney world recently? How did you like it and what was your favorite part?
Until next time, XOXO
