MAGIC KINGDOM (DISNEY FLORIDA) SUMMER 2015

Part 1 of our 2015 summer trip – Orlando, Florida! We had two weeks to spend in God’s own country – one in Florida, the other in Maryland / Washington DC so we decided to do two days intense shopping in Florida (lower VAT on purchases), two days at the Walt Disney World parks, fly to Maryland to spend time with more family and friends then fly back to Florida to take our flight home. This was going to be a very busy vacay!

As most of you already know, there are four theme parks – Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and two water parks – Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach; there are also other attractions such as Downtown Disney. Based on research, Magic Kingdom is preferred for little tots as it has more baby-friendly rides. We also downloaded the “My Disney Experience” app which gives details of all attractions, where to dine and meet characters, waiting times for each ride, and resort maps (especially handy for locating restrooms). One other useful feature is the filter tool, attractions can be sorted by age, height or thrill factor. Other features include the FastPass and PhotoPass, it is a well integrated app which is a very essential tool for anyone looking to visit Disney World.

The afternoon parade was about to start when we walked in, like I kid you not these folks are the happiest people on earth! Their energy easily spread through the crowd and they had people singing and dancing along in no time; I even caught a glimpse of my husband jumping to the “move it shake it” song, very hilarious!

Within Magic Kingdom are different sections – Fantasyland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Main street USA, Liberty Square and Frontierland. Suitable rides for our toddler include Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger, Mad tea party, Prince Charming regal carousel, Dumbo the flying elephant, It’s a small world (gave hubby and I nostalgia), Ariel’s cove “under the sea”. Mickey’s Philarhar Magic is a must-see, the coolest 4-D show ever; Peter Pan’s Flight was also highly recommended but its waiting time was about 60mins which kept increasing each time we checked (don’t ask why we didn’t use FastPass).

So for any of you who might be planning a trip soon, below are a few tips that might help;

Wear comfortable shoes
Bring a stroller or fish out $15 for a rental.
Loads of designated areas to park your stroller with no fear of it being stolen.
Water, as much as you can carry
Free wifi available everywhere on the resort 😀
Plan your FastPass efficiently – we got 3 fast passes at the entrance and didn’t get another one until they were all used up.
Rain ponchos – I can’t stress enough to bring these with you (or buy for $8 each at the resort) for those sudden thunderstorms they get in Florida. Even with ponchos, we all had to take cover for about 20mins because the rain was very heavy.
Bring loads of snacks especially with little ones.