Good morning folks. Hope you are having a fine start to the new year. Our year started on a slow note as as we caught up on much needed sleep and rested those tired feet. My first post of this year is about our last vacation of 2022- a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

A magical vacation to Walt Disney World

Now that we have experienced the magic for ourselves, there is no saying we won’t go back again and again! Never say never. Nevertheless, our first time at Disney will hold a special place in my heart.

We first planned a visit to Disney back in the spring of 2020. As we all know the world came to a stand still beginning of January 2020.

The universe always has a plan for you – wouldn’t you agree? This December, two years later, it finally happened and our timing couldn’t have been any better.

What better way to mark the girl’s 10th and 5th year than with Disney’s 50th year anniversary?

Florida here we come

We left for our week long vacation on Friday, 23rd of December – the same day as the historic artic blast, blizzards, fresh snow fall hit most of USA. Which led to unprecedented low temperatures through out the country.

“Enjoy your stay at the airport, you are not leaving until noon” said the security officer when we cleared security at 6.30am that morning . I remember shrugging it off, what did that even mean?

That day, we boarded our flight for Orlando 8 hours later than our scheduled departure. It was at midnight we picked our car from Orlando airport and made our way to the resort.

With hundreds of flights being cancelled that day, we were thankful to have made it to our destination safe and sound!

We stayed at an African themed resort- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge this vacation. Our room faced one of the four lush savanna’s that the resort as to offer – the sunset overlook.

With over 200 hoofed animals calling this their home my favorite part of the stay was watching the zebras and giraffes that made their way every day to a little water hole close to our room. It was an humbling experience to be so close to these beautiful animals, watching them in their habitat.

Walt Disney World

Disney is a vibe. It’s not a lie when they say it’s the most magical place of celebrations 🤩. ! The vibe rubs on to you the moment you set foot in one of the Disney theme parks.

Be ready to be swayed away in to a world of imagination with everyone’s favorites- iconic Mickey mouse and his friends, Disney movie characters and so much more!

Thanks to Disney’s Memory Maker add-on, this vacation I have plenty pictures of all four of us and not just selfies.

This time I wasn’t the one behind the lens, requesting my kids and S to smile while I freeze the moment in time on the camera. Instead I was in front of the camera smiling and posing for the photographer🤩.

And cutest part of this add-on was the magic shots – a little magic added to your photographs courtesy Disney.

Thanks to the artic blast we were freezing for the first half of our vacation. However despite the nail biting negative temperatures of -1 to -4 degree centigrade, we had the most amazing time exploring the four theme parks – The Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and EPCOT .

Now, in this post I am not going to unload you with all the details on the how and what of the planning your big Disney vacation.

I am here to share little magical pockets of our time in each park. Now let’s read and find out which was park was my personal favorite shall we?

Hollywood Studios

On 24th December dressed in multiple layers, with hardly any sleep in, the four of us set out to explore our first park- The Hollywood Studio. Boy the energy of the park hit us instantly. Do you know the first thing I did as we soon as entered the park ?

Pulled the kids to take a picture in front of iconic replica of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre . There was no stopping me after that 😂.

Our first ride for the day set was set inside the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre – Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad! We loved the ride to bits! It was so much fun and right then I knew it we are going to have a blast this vacation.

We sat in our carriage and joined Mickey and Minnie for a picnic when a sudden whoosh of a breeze almost flew N’s beanie off. And just as we were recovering from this, our carriage dived straight in to the river and spraying water on our faces 😂.

Most of Disney’s new rides are a complete immersive experience, tackling all your senses- touch, smell, sight and feel. Oh yes, we loved each one of them!

Now, S and V are huge Star Wars fans, you know this already from the Halloween and V’s 9th birthday posts. That meant we would not leave before we tackled every Star Wars ride that the park had to offer.

The most popular Star Wars : Rise of Resistance Ride was a family favorite. If you are a Star Wars fan, you are going to LOVE LOVE LOVE it, like how!

N got a bit spooked out by Kylo Ren. At one point in the ride Kylo Ren used his saber to cut through the roof 😱😜 and that is when we all heard N scream the loudest 😂 .

Hollywood Studios was my second favorite park of the four theme parks. Which was the first favorite though?

Animal Kingdom

Without further ado, I present to you my favorite park of all the parks- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park!

I enjoyed Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park for everything it had to offer – rides, shows and the food. My top favorites rides of our vacation come from Animal Kingdom- Na’vi river journey and Avataar flight of passage, an absolutely mind blowing impressive experience.

I loved loved the musical Broadway show – Festival of Lion King. The songs, the singers, the set everything about it was just amazing.

While we didn’t plan for a character dinning experience – which gets booked 60 days in advance of your trip, we got lucky with a reservation at the famous Tusker house just a day before our visit to Animal Kingdom.

It was a bit expensive for a buffet but the glow on N’s face and the twinkle in V’s eyes as Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy came around the table to chat with them made up for it. Oh yes, you bet S and I loved every bit of it too 🤩.

If not for the Star Wars rides, I bet the entire family would’ve voted this park their favorite too!

Magic Kingdom

Finally coming to the cutest magical park for the kiddos! Magic Kingdom park is where the magic first began – it was the first of the four parks that made it’s way in Walt Disney World.

You haven’t arrived in Disney’s Magic Kingdom if you are not wearing Mickey Mouse ears or that is how I sold it the idea to S 😂😜.

This is the park where you spend most time taking pictures and doing less rides 😂🤪. Mickey’s PhilharMagic , a 3D adventure show was one of my favorites here.

We grown ups weren’t as thrilled about the rides the park had to offer however V and N enjoyed every bit. My favorite ride of the park was Pirates of Caribbean ride.

A little fun fact, the film series Pirates of Caribbean was inspired by this ride in Magic Kingdom and not the other way around !

Through out the day Mickey Mouse and his friends keep surprising you with a parade, a mix of floats and music, dance at the Cinderella’s castle and more. There is not a dull moment in this park at any given time.

N was most thrilled when she saw Olaf, Elsa and Anna make their way down the road waving at all little ones.

You cannot leave the Magic Kingdom without watching their spectacular nigh time fireworks show –Disney Enchantment. A dazzling show of fireworks and music that leaves one awestruck. It is extravagant, stunning and a must see.

While Magic Kingdom didn’t have the most fun rides, it was magical in every sense! We loved this park to bits.

EPCOT

Out of all the four parks, EPCOT is most unique in it’s theme and design. The park has some of the most popular rides of Disney world – Guardians of the Galaxy- Cosmic Rewind and Remy’s Ratatouille, Frozen ever after and more.

EPCOT however is more popular among grown ups than little ones for what it has to offer -international cuisine and drinks. The breakfast at the French bakery outside Remy’s Ratatouille ride and dinner at Moroccan restaurant were finger licking good. I was in food coma that entire day !!

Compared to the other three, we did the least rides here. After crossing out the must do’s we took a break. Exhaustion and lack of sleep finally caught up with all of us! Instead of rushing in for one more ride or that show, we slowed down

Do not miss Harmonious, a breathtaking musical, fireworks and water nighttime spectacular. Though it starts after the park closes you absolutely should stay back and watch it!!

Focus on fun

There is a plethora of information available on the internet, and with all the – new booking system and the extreme wait times for the popular rides, it can get all a bit overwhelming when planning your trip to Disney parks.

And I will tell you what my friends who visited the parks before us told me – Go with the flow and have fun! And guess what? It works!

That is not to say we didn’t our research. We did googled the rides and attractions, educated ourselves with know how of Disney world, however instead of fretting about the “what if we don’t” we channelized our energies on “having fun”.

V is my not-afraid-to-try-anything girl hence it was no surprise that she enjoyed every roller coaster every park had to offer. It was N who stunned us by riding every ride with us and ending it with “Can we do it again?” 😜🤣.

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We closed the year of 2022 on a magical note! It was everything and more I had imagined this vacation to be. While our start was dramatic the end was marvelous.

“Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever.” ~ Walt Disney