Our 2014 Walt Disney World Vacation pt. 3

Day 3: Monday, June 16th, 2014

For our second full day at WDW we headed back to Hollywood Studios for a full day of fun! Before leaving the resort we grabbed some breakfast – a veggie omelette for Ryan and some banana bread for Ellen! We headed off to the park for rope drop! Although there isn’t an opening show at Hollywood, we like to get there early in the day to avoid some of the large crowds who funnel in later in the morning.

Our first stop that morning was to the Backlot Tour. This is a tram-style train ride that takes you through the backstage of a movie studio. It has a bunch of old props from Disney movies and some great special effects that they use in major motion pictures! Unfortunately, we’ve heard that the Backlot permanently closed in August of 2014. We’re sad to see it go but glad we got once last ride before it closed!

After the Backlot Tour we headed over to the Animation Academy for another drawing lesson! We had so much fun on our first half-day that we couldn't wait to go back and draw another character. This time we drew Mike Wosowski from Monsters Inc!

Next up, we visited One Man’s Dream. We hadn’t visited this museum-like tribute to Walt Disney and his dream of building Walt Disney World on our last trip in 2012 but came across it this time around during our planning. We really loved this attraction. While it isn’t any kind of ride or thrill, it showcases many of Walt’s and Roy’s plans for WDW as well as many early pieces of merchandise and goodies. It’s a really great stop for any Disney-fanatic who loves not only WDW but also the history behind it.

We took a stroll through some areas of the park near One Man’s Dream and the Backlot Tour for some fun photo-opps before making our way to Muppet Vision 3D. We’re not huge Muppet fans but this is a fun attraction to add into our day.

Can you guess what we did next?? Another round at Animation Academy! Not only is this a fun and interactive attraction that gives you a free souvenir at the end of the 15 minutes but it’s also a great way to fill your time between FastPasses! Because classes run every 20 minutes or so you’re never in for a very long wait (as long as the line isn’t too long as they only let in a certain amount of participants per class). This time we drew Buzz Lightyear!

You can’t do EPCOT without visiting the Great Movie Ride! We love this attraction for its nostalgic feel but also as a great slow-moving ride to rest your feet!

By this time, we were in the time bracket to use our first FastPass which was for....The Hollywood Tower of Terror of course! We rode this on our first evening at HS but definitely weren’t about to pass up another chance to ride!

We decided to check out the Voyage of the Little Mermaid Show which is an indoor live show attraction. It was a really cute and there were appearances from all our favourite characters!

We had another FastPass booked for the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster so we raced over to that! One of our favourite rides at HS!

Because we had visited the park earlier in the week, we didn’t see Fantasmic again and used the time to visit some shops and get out of the park before the huge crowds. We called in an early (ish) night and headed back to our resort to rest up for tomorrow – Day 1 at Universal! 

Eating Around EPCOT

Eating Around EPCOT

EPCOT offers a great opportunity to experience different parts of the world all in the comfort of one great Disney park! One way visitors can get a taste (pun intended) of what each pavilion has to offer is through the delicious cuisine.

Here are some of the great food and snacks we sampled during our 2014 trip at Disney's EPCOT...

1. Napoleon - Les Halles Boulangerie & Patisserie: France

Yummy!

Delicious!

2. Frozen Beer and Sushi - Kabuki Cafe: Japan

Frozen Beer!

California Roll 

 3, Nachos and Guacamole - La Cantina de San Angel: Mexico

4. Bratwurst - Sommerfest: Germany 

5. Funnel Cake - Refreshment Port: America

It was the last snack of the night and being on the tired side, we forgot to take a picture of this sweet treat! 

These are just a sampling of all the great eats and treats offered at Disney's EPCOT that allow you to experience a different taste of  each culture. There is no doubt that there is something to meet everyone's taste and appetite size somewhere in the park! 

Happy Halloween 2014

Happy Halloween!

Halloween 2014

We hope all of our readers had a wonderful Halloween. Here is a touch of Disney that made it into our Halloween display this year!

Our 2014 Walt Disney World Vacation pt. 2

Day 2: Sunday, June 15th, 2014

We were so excited to wake up on our first full day of our WDW vacation &even more excited because it was Magic Kingdom Day! After an evening at Hollywood Studios we were in full Disney mode and ready to go! We definitely wanted to catch rope drop – a show put on at the Magic Kingdom every morning to officially open the park. So we got ready and headed to the End Zone Food Court at our resort for some breakfast. We wanted to fuel up for the day and both decided on the Bounty Platter – yum! We headed out from there to catch our bus.

Ready for the Magic Kingdom!

We arrived early and got a perfect spot to see the show and then make a quick dash into the park. After the show we headed straight for Big Thunder Mountain! This ride was under construction during our 2012 trip so we didn’t get a chance to ride it then so we knew we definitely wanted to this time around. We didn’t want to use a FastPass as we were limited to three so we decided to do it first thing to avoid long lines!

After Big Thunder we headed over to Ryan’s favourite attraction at Magic Kingdom – the Haunted Mansion. The lines were still short so we barely had to wait at all. You’ll notice throughout these posts that we visit the Haunted Mansion many more times before the trip was over!

That's one happy guy!

Making new friends

Since it’s close by, we headed over the Pirates of the Caribbean and took an air-conditioned boat ride through a pirates life. I swear one of the animotronic Captain Jack Sparrow’s is real!!

Next up was the Jungle Cruise. We love this attraction, not for its thrills or excitement but for the cast members and their witty jokes. It’s a great way to relax and have a laugh!

It was a really hot morning. It was mid June and the Florida summer was in full-swing so it was really hot well before noon. We took this opportunity to ride Splash Mountain to cool down! We were lucky enough not to get soaked but just enough to be refreshed!

It’s a Small World is a classic and although some people groan and complain about the repetitive song, we think it’s a tradition that must be done! It’s fun to go to in between FastPasses or as a break after running from one end of the park to another. Each time we ride, we find another small detail we never noticed before.

All morning we had been waiting for lunch. Not because we were hungry but because we had plans to go to the new Be Our Guest restaurant! If you check out our post on Magic Kingdom’s Be Our Guest Restaurant you’ll learn how we scored an additional FastPass for lunch! We headed over at the beginning of our FastPass arrival window. They looked us up & without any major glitches, we were in the restaurant & waiting for our meal. Ryan ordered the Roast Turkey Sandwich with pomme frites (French fries) and Ellen had the Croque Monsieur with pomme frites. Both were delish! We had pre-ordered our meal so when we got to the restaurant, we made our way through each of 3 dining rooms and found the West Wing and waited for our meal to be delivered. We knew we wanted to eat in the West Wing; it’s the smallest of the three rooms and quite dark but the theme was too good to resist!

The West Wing dining area

After lunch we made our way back to the attractions. First up – Space Mountain! Definitely Ellen’s favourite ride at Magic Kingdom, this ride is full of twist and turns in the dark which makes it all the more exciting.

We headed over the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and took a spin before going to Prince Charming’s Regal Carousel. Ellen made a mad dash to find Cinderella’s horse – the only horse with a gold ribbon on the tail.

We were pretty excited for our next attraction – the newly opened Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! We had been keeping an eye on the opening date of this attraction before our trip and we saw it was officially opened, we quickly logged into our My Disney Experience account and added a FastPass. We were glad we did. Firstly because the FastPasses quickly ran out and secondly, the standby wait was over 90 minutes! While the attraction was designed flawlessly and the coaster carts were unlike anything Disney currently has (the carts sway from left to right while going through the track) were weren’t over the moon impressed with the ride overall. Maybe we built it up too much beforehand but we found it to be slightly less thrilling in comparison to Big Thunder. Definitely a must-do to try it out and would be great for the kiddos!

After a full morning of non-stop attractions, the hot summer heat, and yummy but filling lunches, we were ready for a quick break! We headed back to our resort for a relaxing swim & early dinner.  We saw the clouds rolling in during our swim and knew we were in for a wet evening! We were confident the rain wouldn’t last too long but didn`t want to take any chances so before heading for dinner, we packed our poncho’s. We ate at our hotel before heading back to the Magic Kingdom. Ryan had a turkey sandwich and Ellen some chicken nuggets!

As we were waiting for the bus, the rain started. No big deal – we just pulled out our ponchos and made the best of it! First up was Stitch’s Great Escape. While we still miss the Alien Encounter, Stitch’s Great Escape was a great fit to avoid the rain and take in all that Magic Kingdom has to offer!

We headed over to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin where Ellen achieved a galactic hero score of 999 999!!

Waiting in line - happy we had our ponchos!

Galactic Hero!

Because we had used up all 3 of our FastPasses earlier in the day, we were eligible for one additional FastPass at time. While they couldn’t be booked through the My Disney Experience App, there were kiosks available throughout the park. There weren't a ton of options left this late in the day (all the popular attractions like Big Thunder and Space Mountain weren’t available) but we took advantage of what was available and booked an additional FastPass for Peter Pan's Flight.

The rain was easing up by now so we walked over to It’s a Small World and rode it again before heading over to Haunted Mansion for the second time.  Seriously...Ryan loves this attraction.

We used our additionally FastPass for Peter Pan’s Flight – which often has a moderate wait time so we were happy to have a slightly shorter wait. After Peter Pan, we went to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

The rain had completely let-up by now so we made our way back to Big Thunder Mountain. It was really fun to ride this at night! On our last trip, we didn’t stay out too late at the parks so we really missed out on the nightlife of the parks so we definitely wanted to take advantage this time around!

We had attempted to ride the Goofy’s Barnstormer earlier in the day but the line was really long and Ellen ended up feeling sick so we cut out of line and took it easy for a little bit, checking out some shops. This worked out great because when we came back to ride at night, the line was nearly empty!

The final ride of the day of was...Space Mountain! We couldn’t leave Magic Kingdom without another ride on Space. We made it back to our resort after a jam-packed bus ride and conked out!

Affordable Souvenirs at Walt Disney World

There is no doubt that a Walt Disney World can cost a pretty penny, especially those travelling as families or out of country so saving even more for souvenirs can be worrisome. For many people however, like ourselves, souvenirs are an important part of preserving the memories that are made during a great trip.

The great thing about Disney World is that they offer an amazing range of souvenirs that fit everyone's budget! We've come up with this list of a few of our favorite souvenirs that we've picked up over our trips to WDW. These items are both affordable and fun, and allow you to bring a piece of Disney back with you without the guilt of feeling you overspent or broke the bank.

6. Walt Disney World Mugs: Cost - on average $10.00 - $20.00 each

Disney mugs come in a variety of sizes and designs to suit everyone's taste. These are also practical souvenirs as you can use them on a daily basis and relive those vacation memories as you sip your favorite cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate!

5. Walt Disney World Snow Globes: Cost - $8.00 each

As we mentioned in a previous post about our Disney Collection, Ryan decided to collect a snow globe for each time we visit Disney World. Our snow globes contain the year that we went so that we can mark the occasion, but there are a variety of designs to choose from.

4. Disney World Magnet: Cost - $7.00 each (prices vary depending on magnet)

Like the snow globes we decided to buy this for our fridge because it marked the year that we went on our trip. Plus we get to remember our trip every time we go to the fridge!

3. Disney World Car Decals: Cost - $6.00 each

We found all these decals at the Mouse Gears store in EPCOT. We can't wait to put these ones on our vehicle.

2. Walt Disney World Pressed Pennies: Cost - $0.51 a piece

The more clean and shinny the penny is, the better the result!

These are some of our favorite inexpensive souvenirs to collect! The great thing about these is that you can get as many, or as little, as you want. The pressed penny machines can be found all over Walt Disney World in resorts, stores, and around all of the parks. You can find a pressed penny machine for just about theme, character, park or attraction. It's like a mini treasure hunt trying to find all the pressed penny machines are WDW. Be sure to have your bag of shiny quarters and pennies on hand at all times because you never know when you might find one (although there are maps online that show you the location of each).

** Pressed quarters also exist and cost $1.25 a piece.
** The pressed penny binder is great for holding your coins and cost roughly $10.00

1. Magic of Disney Drawing Art: Cost - FREE!

Ellen's Alien

Ryan's Mike Wazowski

Ellen's Buzz Lightyear

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you! The last souvenir in our list is completely free! The Magic of Disney Drawing Art class at Disney's Hollywood Studios allows you to take a drawing class with a Disney Imagineer who guides you step-by-step through the drawing of a famous Disney character. Each class takes roughly 20 minutes. They don't duplicate the same character twice in the same day so you can keep going back throughout the day and know you won't draw the same thing twice!

This was something that we found out about prior to our 2014 trip and had so much fun doing it that we decided to do it three times over the trip. The Imagineer chooses, or allows the audience to vote on, what character is drawn that session & you get to keep your drawing at the end of the class. We are definitely not artists in any way but the instructions were clear and easy to follow which helped us to draw our pictures to the best of our abilities. This is great way to sit down and get out of the heat & excellent for all ages. You really can't beat a homemade (FREE) souvenir! 

We hope you enjoyed the list! It is definitely only a sampling of the great souvenir ideas that can be found at Walt Disney World. These are just the souvenirs we have purchased so far. We love that they're affordable but still a great keep-sake that we can enjoy at home for years to come!

Our 2014 Walt Disney World Vacation pt. 1

Day 1: Saturday, June 14th, 2014

Our June 2014 Walt Disney World vacation was a highly anticipated trip for the both of us. It had been two years since our last visit and we couldn’t wait to get back! Flying from Atlantic Canada, we took two flights, connecting once in Laguardia, NY. Our flight departed at 6:00am and we were travelling internationally, so we had to be at the airport around for 4:00am. It was an early morning but full of excitement and anticipation. We had a seamless flight into Laguardia and had a one and a half hour layover before heading on to Orlando! The second flight was great and we arrived in Orlando around 1:00pm. We always use Disney’s Magical Express Transportation Services but opt to pick up our own bags. When you sign up for the Magical Express you’re sent two yellow tags to attach to your luggage. This notify's Airport/Disney staff to pick up your luggage and transport it to your resort and room for you. There is a waiting time so if you want to change when you first arrive at your resort, you may not be able to do so. While it’s a great service, it’s only the two of us and we find it just as easy to pick up our own bags and bring them with us on the Magical Express.

Our first time in NY

One more stop 'til Disney!

Before we knew it we were on the bus and heading to our resort – Disney’s All Star Sports Resort! If you’ve read some of our previous posts, you’ll know we always opt for the value resorts. Firstly, because they’re affordable and secondly, because they offer everything we need with a great theme. On our 2012 trip we stayed at Disney’s All Star Movies which was a great experience, we had no complaints. This time around, we considered going back to Movies but thought it’d be fun to check out all the value resorts so Sports it was! We arrived at the resort around 4:00pm and had the chance to grab some dinner (we hadn’t eaten much that day other than granola bars and plane snacks). We ate at our resort in the End Zone Food Court which offers a good variety of choices. Ellen opted for the make your own chicken salad and Ryan had the chicken dinner. After supper we headed back to our room to setup our window decorations. We had decided to decorate this time around and are happy we did, we had a lot of fellow guests admiring our window full of toys and Disney fun.  

After grabbing a bite to eat and getting settled in our room we were off to our first park of the trip – Disney’s Hollywood Studios! Our travel agent, Flight Centre, offered the opportunity to match/upgrade any offer Disney put out so when we noticed they were offering a free fifth park ticket with the purchase of a four-day pass (which we had already purchased) we jumped on the opportunity! Although we only had an extra evening to spend in the parks we couldn’t pass up a free ticket!

With our free ticket in hand...err programmed into our magic bands... we made our way over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. While we would have another full day of our vacation to devote to Hollywood Studios, the main reason we choose to go to this park twice was because we wanted the opportunity to see Fantasmic!

Our first attraction of the day was Star Tours – the Adventures Continue. We went on this in 2012 and had indifferent feelings towards it. This time around however, it was much better! From what we understand there are several different versions of the ride so this must’ve been one of the more exciting.

We had some time before our FastPass for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror so we headed over the Animation Academy. We hadn't done this in the past but knew it was something we wanted to try this trip. We loved it! In this session we drew a Little Green Alien from Toy Story. We enjoyed this so much that we ended up doing it two more times on our full day at DHS.

After the class wrapped up it was time for our FastPass window so we headed to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. This is an iconic ride at DHS and one our favourites!

By now it was after 7:00pm so we headed over to the Fanstasmic theatre to grab a good seat. We were pretty early and had about an hour to wait so we decided to get a Mickey Pretzel to snack on... yum! It started raining a bit so we pulled out our ponchos. We were worried the show might be cancelled or postponed due to the weather but we were happy when the lights dropped and the show began. Ellen was really looking forward to seeing Fanstasmic and we were not disappointed. It was full of classic songs, dramatic effects and a bunch of characters. It’s definitely on our must-do list for DHS now.

Waiting for Fantasmic!

A little rain never hurt anybody!

As you can imagine, when the show let out, it was dark and rainy and the area was packed with people leaving the park as it was close to closing time. We were passing by Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and couldn’t pass it up! We didn’t have a FastPass but the line was minimal and we were on our favourite DHS ride in no time!

3-2-1!!!!!!

We headed back to our resort after the roller coaster and called it a night. Little did Ellen know there was a surprise waiting for her in the room. Ryan had planned a Disney surprise through Disney Floral and Gifts by ordering a "A Magical Wish-Romance your Love" package and had it delivered in secret to the room. When we walked in the room she was surprised with her very own magic wand, a beautiful bracelett, balloon and sweet note. It was truly a magical and heart-felt surprise. We went to bed to rest up for a full and exciting day at Disney’s Magic Kingdom.