I hadn’t been to Walt Disney World since I was eleven years old. For years my brother and I have been begging our parents to take us back there on an ‘adult’ family Disney trip, one where we can actually all go on all the rides now, and do the ‘drinking around the world’ experience at Epcot.
Unfortunately we still haven’t managed to persuade them, and so when Jasiminne and I were planning our New York trip, I said ‘what do you think about going to Florida for a few days after NYC?’
Jasiminne is the biggest Disney fan I know, so of course she said yes.
Flying from NYC to Orlando
Orlando is just a 2 hour flight from NYC, and with the flights costing us just £150 each with JetBlue, it was a bit of a bargain.
We left New York on the Sunday and landed in Orlando late afternoon, happy and excited about the next stage of our trip.
We checked into our hotel, the Hilton Lake Buena Vista, and got a nice upgrade to a Junior Suite thanks to my Diamond Hilton membership. The hotel was OK, it was a typical American hotel really that felt a little dated and tired, but had comfy beds and for some reason just felt ‘homey’…those sorts of hotels always remind me of childhood holidays to America, and every time I go into a chain hotel like that, it just feels ‘comfortable’ and nice.
After dinner at Red Lobster (I don’t really see why Bey loves it so much…), we then got an early night ready for Disney World the next day!
One Day Park Hopper at Walt Disney World Orlando
We woke up bright and early and after a bit of confusion over the free shuttle bus, we decided to just get the hotel’s town car to Magic Kingdom.
The park tickets were easy to pick up, and before we knew it we were on the ferry boat across the lake to the Disney magic! Words can’t explain how excited we were, and Jasiminne wouldn’t stop singing Disney songs haha!
As always any photos of me (apart from selfies) in this post are by Jasiminne.
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| I wore a white vest top underneath my tee because it was cropped…but I got too hot so ended up taking it off and just flashing my skin haha! |
Pirates of the Caribbean was super high up on my list of ‘Need to Ride’, except I’d forgotten that the ride is full of wax models….so I spent half of it with my eyes hidden behind my hands. Seriously. I’m worse than a child.
The Pirates of the Caribbean show with a very good Jack Sparrow/Johnny Depp lookalike was great fun though!
Also, I was surprised by the amount of adults who were there, it made me feel much better about the two of us being there by ourselves with no kids haha! There were heaps of older couples and groups of friends.
My favourite ride of them all was Splash Mountain.
Oh. My. Days.
Now I’m not good with wax models, and I’m terrified of the dark, and I don’t like heights…but I LOVE big drops.
Weird or what. I love the suspense and the moment you slide down a huge drop and your tummy turns and you can’t help but let out a huge shriek of excitement and laughter.
We then spent some time meeting the Princesses. Jasiminne legit wanted to meet them and had full conversations with them, while I had ulterior motives which will be revealed on my god-daughter’s sixth birthday in December.
After taking some photos with various Princesses, we then got the Monorail to Epcot as we had a Park Hopper ticket for the day and wanted to make the most of it.
It was great being able to switch between parks, but in future we’d definitely stay a couple of extra days in Orlando and get a 3-day park hopper ticket. By the time we got to Epcot it was about 5pm-ish, and after meeting Mickey, Minnie and Goofy, having a break in Starbucks, and then meeting Anna and Elsa…it was time to head back to Magic Kingdom for the Electric Parade!
We saw the most magical sunset over the lake as we were walking back from the ‘Norway’ section in Epcot, and I do wish we’d had a whole day at Epcot as well as Magic Kingdom. Next time!
We got back just in time for the Electric Parade (they really need quicker/more monorails…the wait for them was crazy), and it was just as incredible as I’d remembered!
Sadly the Electric Parade is finishing very soon, but I’m sure they’ll replace it with something equally as amazing.
By this point we were pretty hungry, so once the parade finished we dashed across the road on Main Street to Casey’s Corner for hotdogs. Dayum this was a good hot dog.
Also Casey’s itself was AMAZING. It was like an old soda fountain place and was so stereotypically American it’s not even funny.
I was really surprised with the food at Disney, I actually enjoyed everything we had there and thought the quality was pretty decent considering it was fast food in a theme park.
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| Photo from Disney |
After our bite to eat it was 10pm and time for the famous Disney ‘Wishes’ fireworks.
I’m not really a firework person, I get bored really quickly, but these…well these were different. I stood there in total awe for the entire display, it was just magical.
It’s so hard to describe because you really have to experience it for yourself, but the fireworks start with Jiminy Crickett and the Blue Fairy, and Tinker Bell flying down from the top of the castle while When You Wish Upon a Star plays.
For creative people who maybe aren’t so good at number and things, I think there’s just something about Disney that reminds you that anything is possible. It doesn’t matter what grades you got in school or what type of job you have, you are capable of so much and have so much power over what you do with your life, if you just have the courage to dream and imagine.
At the end of the day, Disney all started with a mouse.
Read all about my solo day at Walt Disney World!!
Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of Content Marketing at Amazon by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.
I think it's so amazing that you and Princess Jasiminne went to Disney. I've been to the one in Paris but the Orlando one always seemed like the 'real' one!
Wow it looks amazing! I went to Disneyland earlier this year and it's making me want to go again! It looks like you had the best time : )
Steph x. Hello, Steph Blog