Orlando, Florida.
My family has always been obsessed with Florida since the first time we went in 1995. Since then my Mam and Dad would work overtime and always be saving for our next trip. I was ridiculously excited to take my own kids and see their little faces as they turned the corner onto Main Street. It was very emotional.
Having a lot of experience of all the parks, and updating myself with Genie plus by watching Molly’s videos on the AllEars YouTube channel, we had a full itinerary. At the time, due to Covid restrictions still in place, we had to reserve places in parks and could only park hop after 2pm. This meant we had to organise our two week trip in advance.
3rd - Magic Kingdom
4th - Hollywood Studios
5th - Typhoon Lagoon/Epcot fireworks
6th - Epcot
7th - Animal Kingdom
8th - Universal Studios
9th - Blizzard Beach/Hollywood Studios
10th - Islands of Adventure
11th - Magic Kingdom
12th - Typhoon Lagoon/Hollywood Studios
13th - Universal Studios/Island of Adventure (with fastpass)
14th - Epcot
15th - Magic Kingdom
16th - Typhoon Lagoon
We bought a two week Disney ticket and three day Universal ticket, and decided to leave other parks in Florida for when the kids are older. This gave us enough time to explore all Disney Parks with the time they need, and this was also our first time taking kids. After reserving our park places in advance, I also booked in some special meals and experiences in the park, which can be done 6 months in advance. We decided to book lunch at Hollywood & Vine in Hollywood Studios (so I knew the kids were guaranteed to see some of the main characters - Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto), the Diamond Horseshoe in Magic Kingdom (to have a meal in the park before the fireworks) and a meal in Chefs de France to celebrate our anniversary. As always we planned on eating a substantial breakfast before getting to the park, have a light lunch or snacks in the park and leave for dinner. We found this to be the most affordable, however, we soon realised the kids needed somewhere to cool down and eat, so our plans often changed.
This was my first time using Disney Genie and Genie Plus, which was an additional charge per person each day. We would normally stand in the queue, however it wasn’t as easy with a 1 and 4 year old, so Genie Plus was needed much more than planned. An expense we had not accounted for. Each morning, when using Genie Plus, I’d quickly book in our first fast passes or ‘Lightning Lane queues’ for the whole family at 7am. I’d then be refreshing the Genie Tip Board as we walked around the park finding the short queues and booking our next Lightning Lane using the 120-minute rule. After 2 hours you can book a new Lightning Lane, even if you haven’t redeemed the first one. It is worth noting that if you get to a Lightning Lane you have booked, and you have been scanned in, you can make a new Lightning Lane booking then. Genie Plus also had a few extra perks, one being the Photopass lenses which were great for entertaining the kids in longer queues!
Even though it was an additional cost we got onto rides and into attractions that we would not have been able to queue for. The kids were happy so we were happy! I do miss the old times of running around the park to pick up paper fast passes from machines, and queuing has always been part of the Disney experience!
It is also worth mentioning that some of the new or more popular rides were not included in Genie Plus and required a whole online queueing system of their own. A few rides have individual Lightning Lanes and are quite difficult to book on and require you to be ready with your phone before getting out of bed! We did make some of them but unfortunately we missed out on Rise of the Resistance many times.
We had three days in Universal and Islands of Adventure. We planned on having a day in each and then mopping up any rides we could not queue for on a third day with a two-park fast pass. This became an afternoon fast pass when we found out the increase in cost from a few years earlier!
It is hard to write about all of the parks and they each deserve their own page. Overall Magic Kingdom will always be my number 1 park. I love the atmosphere and I will never forget Sam’s face as we turned onto Main Street USA. I always leave plenty of time to explore the park, have our favourite snacks and soak in the atmosphere. There is something for everyone. On our last visit near the end of the holiday, the park had been decorated for halloween. Bonus!
Sam’s favourite park, and a very close contender for myself, was Animal Kingdom. The new Avatar land is amazing and he could not get enough of the safari and animal trails.
Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure was a massive hit for the kids. Sam is obsessed with Jurassic Park (don’t miss Raptor Encounter!) and Dr Seuss, and as a family we are huge Harry Potter fans. We made sure we had our fill of frozen butterbeer before leaving the park for the last time.
It was sad to leave but we were ready and I knew I’d have to start a Disney saving jar for our next trip when the kids are a bit older. Until next time.