We finally got to go to Disney World after a couple years planning and rescheduling due to COVID. We decided on staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and purchased tickets for four park days: Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. We left on October 17th and the girls got to experience their first airplane flight to Orlando (which they both loved)!
We arrived to Orlando around 830am and hopped aboard the Magic Express to Animal Kingdom. We dropped our bags and hopped a shuttle to Disney Springs for the day. There we went to the LEGO store so that the girls could make their own, personalized LEGO figure and we ate at the Rainforest Cafe for an early dinner.
We went back to check in to our room at Animal Kingdom and settled in for our first, big day at Disney, Magic Kingdom!
Each morning the girls would request a wake up call from a Disney character but every day of the week it was Mickey. It was still fun to see the girls jump up and grab for the phone in anticipation!
We arrived at the Magic Kingdom and quickly realized how much there was to do there. I even got a little nervous that we wouldn't be able to fit it all in, in one day. After riding the Barnstormer and the Little Mermaid we grabbed two, HUGE cinnamon rolls at Gaston's Pub and washed it down with LeFou's brew - it's Frozen Apple Juice with a hint of Toasted Marshmallow and topped with All-Natural Passion Fruit-Mango Foam; SO good! After that we rode other rides like Peter Pan's Flight and It's a Small World. Lena even spotted Rapunzel's castle and saw Rapunzel and other princess friends!
The Castle was so beautiful, we took so many great photos of it! And the fireworks show in the evening was so magical; these are just a few of my favorite shots! We were right up front and sang and loved every, minute of it!
Day 2 - EPCOT
EPCOT was BIG! We did the most walking this day (24,000 steps)! We started off the day riding 'Soarin' which was super fun! We also rode other rides and took our time as we visited each 'country' around the 'world' of EPCOT. It was the food and wine festival so there were many, good food booths to choose from. I introduced Travis to 'pountine' (french fries with gravy and cheese curds on top) from Canada and it was a win!
The girls saw and talked to Anna and Elsa and we rode Frozen Ever After - AMAZING! It took you backwards and we sang 'Let It Go!'
For dinner we ate at Garden Grill. It's a revolving restaurant served family style. We loved our waiter and enjoyed seeing Mickey, Goofy and Chip and Dale!
Our most FAVORITE ride, probably of the whole week was Remy's Ratatouille! It's a 3D/ride/story all in one - so much going on and so much to see and experience with special effects.
We loved being a rat for that time!
We took our time throughout the park and stopped often for breaks and snacks, of course! Here is Laila with a couple of her favorite finds for the day.
The EPCOT 'ball' was so beautiful at night. It changed colors and looked rainbow at times! EPCOT was one of Laila's favorite parks that we visited. She even did some shopping and bought her fancy Loungefly bag in EPCOT.
Day 3 - Pool Day at our Resort - Animal Kingdom Lodge
We really enjoyed our break day! The pool had a slide that the girls loved and a hot tub that made for a nice, relaxing day. We had time to walk around the resort and see more animals too! In the evening we took the boat over to the Boardwalk to hit up Beaches and Cream for dessert. We loved this experience and the location of the Beach Resort.
Day 4 - Hollywood Studios - this day was my favorite!
We had so much fun at Hollywood Studios riding Mickey's Railroad, Tower of Terror and the rides in Toy Story land. The details of this area were meticulous and it was great to see it all come together. We enjoyed seeing the Belle and the Beast show and the Anna and Elsa Frozen show. We also watched a Muppets in 3D show that was unbelievable cool; it sure is hard to pick a favorite! The day flowed so well and the weather was beautiful. We watched the characters in the parade and Lena got up close and personal with Chip and Dale.
Day #5 - Last Day - Animal Kingdom Theme Park
Animal Kingdom was a BEAUTIFUL place. We rode the BEST rides there; Mt. Everest, Flight of Passage, the Kali River Rapids and took a Kilimanjaro safari and saw lots of animals including the biggest alligators we've ever seen in our lives. We had a DELICIOUS breakfast at Tusker House and we saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Daisy and Donald there! We also got to enjoy a kite show over the lake and tasted some pineapple Dole Whip! The girls did a scavenger hunt and stopped at several places to learn about animals and their habitats and could add stickers/badges to their resource books at each station. The Animal Kingdom theme park is a beautiful park to experience. Again we had beautiful weather the whole week and we can't wait to go back again and make more Disney memories!
