The Best of the Parks

We made it back from Disneyworld. It was a fun trip, despite the fact that it rained all day Monday, most of Tuesday morning, and then we had a downpour on Friday afternoon. We did have 2 days of sunshine, which was nice. I would have preferred more than just 2, but I guess it was better than being at work. I won’t bore everyone with a play-by-play of our 5 days in the parks, but there’s just so much to talk about! So I thought I’d break it up into 2 or 3 posts. Today I’m going to share the best of the parks – favorite rides, etc. We had the Park Hopper option on our tickets, which allowed us to visit more than one park per day – highly recommend this if you are going there! We did not stay in one park exclusively any of the days we were there.

We made it to 3 of the 4 Disney Parks – the one we skipped was Animal Kingdom. We went last time, and thought it was maybe a little better for older kids. We only spent half a day there before, so we didn’t feel the need to go this time. Maybe next time we’ll try it again. But the other 3 parks are great, and everyone found stuff that they loved at all of them. In the Magic Kingdom, as you can imagine, we spent most of our time in Fantasyland. This is where you find rides like Dumbo, Pooh, Peter Pan, It’s a Small World, Teacups, etc. I think we rode Pooh & Peter Pan about 4 times each! We did make it over to Frontierland to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which Zachary was big enough to ride this time. The 2nd time we rode it, he even put his hands in the air the whole time! We also spent a little bit of time in Adventureland, & rode Pirates of the Caribbean a couple of times, as well as the Jungle Cruise, and Aladdin’s Magic Carpets. Over in Tomorrowland, Zachary was not quite big enough for Space Mountain yet, but Josh, my mom, & I loved it (they have refurbished it since our last visit, and it is MUCH darker in there now – a BIG improvement!). The boys also loved Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – a cool ride, but not nearly as cool as Toy Story Mania over in Hollywood Studios.





Over at Epcot, the big winner was Test Track. The adults had ridden this last time, but Zachary wasn’t tall enough. But this time around he measured up & was able to ride it a whopping 6 times! (that was 2 times on each of 3 separate visits). It is a really cool ride, and once we got out into the speed area all he could say was “Woo hoo! Yeeeaaah!” and pump his fist. It was cute. He also loved the Universe of Energy, because of the dinosaurs. But that prompted him to act like a t-rex for the rest of the trip, always growling for meat. Zachary was also big enough to ride Soarin this time, and he loved it. We love that one too. There wasn’t as much for Liam to do at Epcot, although he does love the Nemo ride. We went on that a couple of times for him. I love the way they have the cartoon animation that looks like it is actually inside the aquarium with the fish!











Finally, the Hollywood Studios also seemed to have more for us to do this time. I think 40” is a magic number at WDW – once your child hits 40”, there are a lot of rides they can go on. Still not everything, but this allowed Zachary to ride the Tower of Terror (which he said he liked, but he could not get off of it fast enough), as well as Star Tours, which he LOVED! Somehow he has gotten into Star Wars lately, so that was a big hit. Of course Josh & my favorite there is the Rock & Roller Coaster, and Toy Story Mania is also a BIG hit (I won’t make a big deal out of my score of 114,900, and how I beat Josh, my mom, AND Zachary…). We sat through the Playhouse Disney show, as well as the Muppet 3D show, and the stunt car show. All very good. But probably the biggest hit at the Hollywood Studios this time was the Jedi Training Academy. Every couple of hours they do a little “show” next to the Star Tours ride. They take 12-15 kids ages 4-12 to join the Jedi Training Academy. We had gotten a tip from a “cast member” near the front gate to go stand in line for the first “class” to get Zachary signed up. He was about #11 in line (I huffed it back to stand in line for this while Josh ran for Fastpasses to Toy Story Mania). They signed each child in, then handed them each a brown robe to wear. They took them up on stage, and arranged them by height – with Zachary being one of the shortest kids, he got to be front & center. The Jedi Master taught them how to use a light saber, & they practiced a little routine. Then you hear the Darth Vader music, and there he is up on the stage. They take the kids one by one, and let them battle it out with Darth Vader, using the routine they had just learned. Then they have all the kids wave their light sabers at him in an effort to use the force to defeat the dark side. It was SO cute! At the end they got a certificate, and Zachary said it was the best day ever. So if you have a son (or daughter – there was one girl in his group) who likes Star Wars, and you are planning a trip to WDW, I highly recommend this activity.

And here are a few videos I took (I won't bore you with all of them, but here are a few to give you a flavor of this fun show).