Disney Adventure

In August, my little ones, myself, and good friend along with her daughter finally made it to Disney World. We were there for a total of 5 days and honestly that was enough for us because by the last day we were completely exhausted. Overall it was a great trip and I would go again but I took a lot in during the trip that I would like to share…

1. Travel Agent: Although I usually plan my own trips from beginning to end I knew that it was best to find a travel agent that could plan this trip for me because unless you have been several times, it is VERY confusing!!! Tickets and other things are constantly changing and you want to make sure you know when to go for a better deal or when to stick with what you have. I hired Mouseketrips (https://www.mouseketrips.com/) to help me with my travels and overall they were great in getting me a resort that accommodated our needs as well as providing great suggestions on meal plans, restaurants, and rides. Our agent also created a daily itinerary for us to use as we navigated throughout the parks. Lastly, she reserved all of our restaurants and was really helpful in breaking down how things work at Disney and things to be conscious of. The only thing I didn’t like about my agent is that sometimes she wasn’t as timely as I would have liked which made me a little agitated and there were times where I would have to remind her to take the payment out as I paid over the course of a year. However, the manager was great at responding to any concerns that I may have had with the agent and overall I would still go with that travel agency if I took another trip.
2. Food: It is best to get a meal plan because the food is very expensive as to be expected, but that is mainly because of how it is served. It is truly about the experience. Bring plenty of money for gratuity as it is 18-20% . We had the meal plan that was a happy medium for our group which covered mainly lunches, dinner, snacks, and drinks (adult beverages too!). We paid for most of our breakfast meals just because we wanted more of our experiences to be during dinner. On our last day we had so much left over for snacks that we had to stuff some of them in our suitcases. Some of our favorite restaurants include:
   • Garden Grill (EPCOT), family style meal with Disney characters as the restaurant turns. It was really cool to notice the restaurant turning as well as getting to see a set up of a safari as the restaurant turned. Don’t worry, the turning should make you sick as you eat because it goes pretty slow.
   • Crystal Palace (Magic Kingdom), amazing buffet style meal with Disney characters. The food was so good and the kids really enjoyed seeing Tiger, Piglet, and Winnie the Pooh.
   • Rain Forest Cafe (Animal Kingdom), good food as you enjoy a rain forest inspired environment. This was one of my major favorites as we had a moving elephant right near our table. The venue is truly amazing!
   • Flame Tree Barbecue (Animal Kingdom), the food is great barbecue style food with a great view. The only thing we hated about this area were the large birds that would walk around us as we tried to enjoy our food.
   • Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge), buffet style African cuisines with a few American favorites. The best part was having the children try foods from the African culture. It was also great to see another resort, however there were no buses that went from one resort to another so I called an Uber so that we wouldn’t have to go back to the park and board another bus to our resort.
   • Wave (Contemporary Resort- Magic Kingdom), buffet style and to order meals with bottomless mimosas!! It was worth the walk from Magic Kingdom to Contemporary Resort
   • Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater (Hollywood Studios) to order food with a awesome drive-thru movie vibe playing all of our childhood classics like Tom and Jerry.
3. Parks: All the parks were pretty fun in their own way. We would have liked to have more time at EPCOT and perhaps less time at Hollywood Studios but it is all about interests. Our two favorites were Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom because of what they had to offer in regards to restaurants and attractions. The one thing we didn’t like about the parks was needing to use both wrist bands and thumbs to enter the park because with children and a crowd it can get pretty frustrating especially if it doesn’t work the first couple times. If we go again our parks of choice would be Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom.
4. Lodging: We stayed at the Pop Resort which allowed us to get the experience without spending a fortune for rooms we would hardly be in. Pop Resort was honestly a great choice for us and we enjoyed the 70s through 2000s theme. There was plenty of activities for the children to partake in and a bar for adults. There are also little cute lizards the walk around but they are harmless and we never seen them inside our rooms or the building of the resort.

Well that’s all I have for now, I know that was pretty lengthy but I wanted you to get the gist of my Disney experience. Check out the photos below and feel free to leave comments and ask questions.