Sunday, February 5, 2012

Our Disney world "Birthday" weekend

              So, Friday was my son's 5th Birthday :_) 
                So crazy, how fast time can fly by...
 A few months ago, when my daughter turned 10yrs old, we took her to Disney ( Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom) for her Birthday celebration. We had so much Fun!  We decided to go ahead and get yearly passes. When it was time for my son's Birthday, we knew we were heading back to celebrate there again!  Going on a weekday was no prolem for us, this is one reason I am so Thankful we are a homeschooling family. If my kids were in public school we would either not be able to go on his Birthday or we would have had to have them miss school.
Anyways, we are not to far from Orlando, about 4 hours. We are close enough that we can get up in the morning and drive there, but to far to come back after a long day enjoying Mickey and friends, we always rent a room. ~> After doing some research I found an affordable yet, nice Hotel ( Clarion Inn lake Buena Vista ) The first trip I did not research and was not happy with the hotel (Seralago)  To me a hotel's first priority should be soft comfortable beds!!!!
On Friday Morning , the 3rd!!!! We woke my son up, singing Happy Birthday! I had all the presents on his bed with a white cake with white chocolate icing (his fav) He was so happy! After some cake for breakfast, we all headed to Disney World!
Since we already went to the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, We wanted to go to Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot.   Each park defiantly has its positives and negatives.

Magic Kingdom :
Positives-
Has so many rides!
Fireworks and Princess/Mickey shows
Stays open the latest
Negatives-
To busy! To many People! Overly crowded!
Some of the rides were not as great as they were made out to be
If you have a disabled person, not as much to do
No characters in sight! only saw characters when they were on stage or in a  parade


Animal Kingdom:
Positives-
Didn't feel as crowded
Animals ( almost feels like a zoo too! )
young children and disabled persons can enjoy most everything!
Educational and fun with a few rides

Negatives-
Closes early
In Dino land there is a ride that is 48 inches or taller, It is a kid roller coaster, but because of a bar you have to be 48inches. My son was very disappointed! With Mt. Everest under his 5 yr old belt ( a ride I will never set foot on again! To much for me ) I was surprised that he could go on that, but not this carnival type coaster :-/

Hollywood Studio's:
Positives-
Not overly crowded
Stays open pretty late
Great for people with disability's, as they can do pretty much everything
Lots of Shows! Great Variety!

Characters everywhere! Unlike Magic Kingdom, you can actually meet and get photos easily with Disney Characters. ( My son was so Excited to actually Meet Phineas and Ferb!!!! )

Negatives-
Had to really coordinate time and plan out your day. Most of this park is shows, so if you want to see it all you must make sure you have planned it well.







Epcot:
Positives-
As a homeschooler this place was a educational dream! So much to learn here! My kids defiantly got their homeschool social studies for the year!
Loved all the flowers.
very relaxing, not busy

Negatives-
Not much to do, ride wise
got a little boring
left after only a few hours and went to another park for the rest of the day




~ So this is my take on the parks, Our favorites in order are: Animal Kingdom,  Hollywood studio's, Magic Kingdom, and Epcot

My favorite thing out of all 4 parks was in Disney Hollywood studio's, Learning how to draw Mickey Mouse.


My husband, he is disabled, so for him an amusement park was a bit different. Even so, he said that he Loved Animal Kingdom. The Kilimanjaro Safari ride was his favorite thing to do!

Kilimanjaro Safaris
My daughter who is 10yrs old kept begging me to take her back on Mt. Everest in Animal Kingdom.

Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
My son who is 5 yrs old favorite thing was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster in Magic Kingdom.

The advice I would give for anyone thinking about going to Disney is:

 1st do not expect to do it all in one day! This was our 2nd vacation to Disney, going to all the parks once, Animal Kingdom twice, and we still have not done it all!

2nd Bring your own food! The food in Disney is super expensive and not very good IMO :(
We brought a cooler and hung it off my husbands power scooter. We went to subway and brought sandwiches, water, granola bars, and chips. We never got hungry and had people asking us where the subway was in the park, lol!

Which brings me to my 3rd tip, rent a power scooter! Luckily my husband has his own, but trust me you want to spend the money on this, especially if you have young kids. After a few hours they won't want to walk anymore and they can ride.. Or you won't want to walk and you will be glad you have something to ride ;)

So, untill our next Walt Disney World Vacation.......


Magic Kingdom

1 comment:

Kerry said...

Great review of all the different sections of the park!! It's been SO LONG since we went that I can hardly remember what differentiates each park. It was fun "seeing it" again through the experience of someone with little ones. Our boys enjoyed Disney World so much when they were little.