Disney Travel Day
Leaving Shades of Green for the last time of the trip and heading home to Maine.
Author: Northwoods Thornes
Hollywood Studios Blog
Ben and I spent most of our time at Hollywood Studios in Galaxy’s Edge before we made use of our park hopper pass.
Magic Kingdom Blog
Magic Kingdom is one of my favorite parks, tied with Animal Kingdom. I have to say it’s a tie because I will probably say Animal Kingdom is my favorite when I start that blog post too. Our morning started early in hopes to catch the first bus to the Ticket and Transportation Center. The line of guests with the same idea seemed to tell me we needed to get up earlier for the rest of the trip. The 7:30 bus arrived at the TTC at 7:45, and we made our way right up to the monorail platform. Just to be turned away because the monorail was down this morning. Thankfully we were among the first groups of people to notice and made our way quickly over to the ferry. By the time the ferry docked and began loading passengers the crowd was enormous. If we had been caught even a few minutes behind that would have delayed our entry to Magic Kingdom by at least half an hour.
Getting into the park was a breeze, and we made it in with enough time to get in for early access. Following the crowd through Tomorrowland we jumped right in line for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I am an admitted travel weirdo and had the entire day planned out in advance. Waste not, want not…right? Believe it or not this was my first time on the Mine Train and I loved it. Second up on the roster is the Haunted Mansion which is a small hike from the Mine Train. Regular park hours had just begun as we got in line for Haunted Mansion. The line was basically non-existent but you could see the masses making their way through the park.
Ben and I operate on completely different eating schedules. Ben has to eat breakfast shortly after waking up and I was certainly pushing his limits. This called for Starbucks coffee and a breakfast sandwich. We had every intention of taking a little break and were just walking around with our coffee when we saw how short the line for Thunder Mountain was. What do you do with an iced coffee when you want to go on a ride? Well, you dump out your water bottle and put it in that. I’m not dumping my $6 ice coffee for anyone.
The day is absolutely cruising by. Every time I look at my watch I’m equally shocked with how much we’ve managed to do already and by how fast time is moving. Our next stop is Pirates of the Caribbean. The wait was slightly longer than average but not by a ton. We hit the point in the day where we want to start slowing down to prevent burn out, but manage to still operate full speed. We traversed the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse outside of Adventureland in record time. I have always been drawn to treehouses and forts so this attraction holds a piece of my heart, even though some think it’s a waste of time.
The line for the Jungle Cruise was a bit of a trap. The estimate was about 25 minutes when we got in line but it must have been right before they changed it. It was about a 45 minute wait and the heat was really beginning to kick up. With all of our major rides that we wanted to do out of the way we adventured through Tom Sawyer’s Island. This was another one of my favorite spots as a kid, also relating to the love of forts, tree houses and secret tunnels.
Our legs and stomachs were calling for us to take an afternoon siesta. We left the park and headed back to Shades of Green for some quality time at the pool and the sports bar. My original plan was to be back in the Magic Kingdom before Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party started. Things never go to plan on vacation and we lazed around a bit too much. The bus leaving the resort was also quite late, which put us back at the Magic Kingdom only a few minutes before the party started. The line for guests to get into the party was wrapped around the entrance by guest services. On a whim I went for the regular park entrance since we had day tickets too, and counted my lucky stars that it worked.
Starting out a special event at Disney already tired is not really ideal but there we were. Starbucks round 2 helped lessen the internal battery drain slightly. We fit It’s a Small World and The Little Mermaid in before heading back to Main Street to find the event wristbands. Corn Dog bites from Casey’s Corner was dinner tonight, but after a late lunch ended up being perfect. We didn’t have much of a plan for the party other than to enjoy the event itself. Walking around until we found something that piqued our interest was the plan, and that happened to be Thunder Mountain with a 15 minute wait. I was set on getting a good spot to watch the Boo to You parade and we were closest to Frontierland at the time. The timing was great because the Dapper Dans were performing right across from where we chose to sit. The crowds filled in really quickly for the parade. The parade was fun to watch but getting up after sitting for a while was hard.
The hunt for the trick or treating stations began right after the parade. The stations were giving out fistfuls of candy and we filled our bags so fast. We eventually had to choose to stop because we couldn’t fit another piece of candy, anywhere. This would be what a kid’s trick or treating dreams are made of. We watched the fireworks from the Tomorrowland bridge and the view was slightly obstructed. Thinking back I wish we had toughed it out on Main Street to get to see the whole show.
If you’ve made it this far in the blog, that is my advice. Don’t try to save time. Watch the fireworks from a prime spot. Our reasoning was so we could scoot over to Iron for our 11:00 Tron reservation. The logic was slightly flawed. We ended up circling the line a couple times because no-you cannot get on even one minute early. I was not expecting Tron to be over so quickly. Sure it’s a super fast thrill ride but the amount of time you spend in line to the amount of time spent on the ride is a bit skewed. (Still worth it).
We were wringing the last drops of energy we had to catch the last Boo to You parade on Main Street, and got a front row spot to watch the Villain Spooktacular. It was a fantastic performance but by the end of it my back and feet were screaming to be done for the day. The post park day exhausted walk to the monorail is one I think everyone can relate to.
Epcot Blog
Exploring Epcot in the morning then park hopping over to Magic Kingdom for the afternoon. We spent our evening at the Polynesian Resort hoping to see the fireworks.
What to Pack for a Cruise to Alaska
Having a hard time packing for your Alaskan cruise? We’ve got your back. We took an Alaskan cruise in 2023 and took note of everything we wish we had, and everything we wish we left at home.
Epcot Guide
Epcot is located south of Magic Kingdom on Disney property, and right next to the Beach Club, Yacht Club, and Boardwalk resorts. The transportation options to get into Epcot are the bus, monorail from the Ticket and Transportation Center, Boat from Hollywood Studios, or to drive in on your own.
Epcot is broken down into four worlds, the World Showcase, World Celebration, World Nature, and World Discovery. The Word Showcase is the most famous of the World’s and holds most of the visiting crowd. World Nature area holds the Land Pavilion, Moana Journey of Water, and Seas Pavilion. World Celebration and World Discovery hold some Epcot classic’s such as Spaceship Earth and the Motion Pavilion.
The world showcase Countries
- Canada
- Italy
- Morocco
- Germany
- United Kingdom
- American Adventure
- Mexico
- China
- Japan
- Norway
- France
Drinking around the world
One thing a lot of adults visiting Epcot do is, Drink Around the World. Getting one drink in every country until you’ve visited all countries in the World Showcase. There are even more stops if Epcot is hosting a festival with additional country stands. Drinking around the World is a lot of fun, but as always be careful with the Florida heat and drinking. Another thing that often gets forgotten is most World Showcase countries don’t have similar types of alcohol. You may end up mixing tequila, vodka, beer and other types of alcohol if you want to go to every country.
BEST RIDES
Frozen Ever After
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
Living with the Land
Mission Space
Soarin’ Around the World
Test Track
Test Track, Soarin’ and Mission Space are skippable in my personal opinion. They’re fun to add into your schedule if you have the time but not something you should base your day around. Living with the Land is a controversial one, some visitors think it’s not worth it but I love it. That one is up to you on if you want to skip it or not.
epcot special events
- International Flower and Garden Festival
- International Food and Wine Festival
- International Festival of the Arts
- International Festival of the Holidays
The festivals are a fantastic time to visit Epcot, there are additional food booths, entertainment, activities and decorations. The flip side is the crowds are considerably higher. If you do visit during a festival be sure to check out the different garden designs!
Epcot may lack rides but there is a ton to do here. While you’re walking through the World Showcase there are entertainment spots that hold different themed shows throughout the day. Be sure to check the entertainment schedules so you don’t miss Matsuriza, Reflections of China, or Luminous; the daily fireworks display. Epcot is a foodie’s dream, and a lot of Disney guests will visit another park during the day and plan their dinners at Epcot.
Hollywood Studios Guide
All the “must do” things at Hollywood Studios as an adult visiting the parks. Don’t waste your previous vacation time standing in lines for attractions that aren’t on your bucket list.
Magic Kingdom Guide for Adults
Disney World is geared towards families, but there is a large population of Disney Adults. This guide is for the Disney Adults to create their own magical day in Magic Kingdom.
Animal Kingdom Blog
The mornings seem to be getting progressively more difficult to manage, we weren’t late but we were moving fast to keep it that way. The first bus to Animal Kingdom was 6:15, we caught the 7:15 instead, and arrived by 7:40. We still got in during the early access time and made a direct move towards Avatar Flight of Passage. This was our first time seeing the world of Pandora, it was being built when we visited in 2017. I loved the concept of the ride, but it made me motion sick and I spent most of the ride with my eyes closed again.
Coffee never fails to fix me up, and Creature Comforts was on the way to the Tree of Life. It is worth it to take a minute to drink your coffee and sit near the tree, with low crowds. I was worried that we would have a hard time with the ride lines today so we opted in for the lightning lane passes. The line for Kilimanjaro Safaris was short as we passed by and we were able to hop right on essentially. Our first lightning lane is for the Na’vi River Journey at 11AM. The ride was really cool, but over quite fast. Making our way through Asia to Expedition Everest.
Reservations for the Nomad Lounge were booked out a little while, so we put our name on the walk up list and headed over to the Satuli Canteen for lunch. For being a quick service stop it was really good. Ben had the combination bowl and I had the cheeseburger bao buns. In perfect timing, we got the text that our table was ready at the Nomad Lounge as we were leaving lunch. They gave us a table outside, right on the river and it was a beautiful spot to have drinks. Taking the time to have drinks and sit for a little while gave us the charging time to tackle the rest of the day.
After break time was over, the Florida heat was full blast. Kali River Rapids was the only reasonable choice at this point. It was so hot out we dried off before we finished walking the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Our final ride of the afternoon was set to be Dinosaur. I’m so sad to see it go. We had explored everything we wanted to at Animal Kingdom, and made the transition to Disney Springs for the evening. There was no bus directly to Disney Springs, but we learned from the other night we can walk from the Saratoga Springs Resort.
Every time we visit Disney Springs we end up going to the same restaurants, but this time we were determined to finally make it to Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar. Our timing was slightly off, it was the transitory period between peak dinner hour and bar time. It was seat yourself so we did a couple laps around until we spotted a couple leaving the deck area. Our table overlooked the Boathouse car-boat launch, and the live music area. It was a great spot for dinner and a few drinks.
