It was the winter of 2010 and my mom and I were traveling to Orlando, Florida...to Disney World! During our stay, we
visited almost all of the theme parks: Epcot, Magic Kingdom park, Universal’s Islands
of Adventure, Universal Studios, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal
Kingdom. Because we were only there for six full days, our plan was to visit
one park each day.
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| We stayed at the Calypso Cay. It worked out really well because the hotel offered free shuttle bus transportation to and from the theme parks. |
Epcot
Epcot
stands for ‘Environmental Prototype Community of Tomorrow’. As you can imagine
this park looks very futuristic and it has rides with names like ‘Test Track’
and ‘Mission Space’. There was also this “prototype” room where I designed my
own roller coaster and got to ride it using a simulator! Later, we went on the
Nemo ride and saw a show called ‘Turtle Talk with Crush’. Finally, after
walking around the World Showcase, we ended our day with an awesome laser show.
Magic Kingdom
Today
was completely magical. We entered the Magic Kingdom and our eyes immediately
lit up- straight ahead was the glowing, magical castle of our dreams! As we got
closer, we saw Minnie and Mickey Mouse dancing together. Everything was decorated
in red and green for the holidays and there was even a giant gingerbread house!
We spent our day going on rides and, at night, we ate dinner
in Downtown Disney.
Islands of Adventure
HARRY POTTER!!! Finally the day had come! I was going to enter the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! This section of the park is like another mini park so we had to get a (free) ticket with a time slot on it...
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| Hogwarts!!! |
There are three main rides: Dragon Challenge (roller coaster), Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (3-D simulation), and Flight of the Hippogriff.
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| Hey, Buckbeak! |
Later, we grabbed some Butterbeer (!!!) and waited in line to check out Honeydukes!
(I recently found out that an Ollivander's Wand Shop was added as well.)
Since we spent so much time in the magical world of Harry Potter, we didn't get a chance to ride any of the Marvel superhero rides, which was a bummer. I think at least two days should be given to this park.
Universal Studios
Here, we saw the Macy’s Christmas Parade, and went on the Revenge of the Mummy ride, among other movie related rides.
Hollywood Studios
In Disney's Hollywood Studios, we went on the Rockin' Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror (the only main rides there). The rest of the time we just watched shows.
Animal Kingdom
For some reason I didn't expect this park to be very exciting, but boy was I wrong! I had definitely underestimated the Animal Kingdom's awesomeness. The Mt. Everest roller coaster was probably my favorite. Unfortunately, we didn't go on the safari but I've heard it’s a really neat experience.
The weather throughout our trip had been nearly perfect (it rained our first day at Epcot). Florida is known for having hot, humid weather but wintertime in Orlando is just right! (A jacket was only needed during the night when it got a bit chilly.)
Bye Disney!
Christmas Eve was our last day in Florida so we sadly packed up our bags to catch our flight back home. We stopped by Subway for lunch and ended up walking into a Walmart where we noticed a bunch of Disney items. So we basically got some last minute souvenirs- a Mickey shirt, a mug, and a few key chains.*The weather throughout our trip had been nearly perfect (it rained our first day at Epcot). Florida is known for having hot, humid weather but wintertime in Orlando is just right! (A jacket was only needed during the night when it got a bit chilly.)
*(Another) Souvenir Tip: It can be REALLY easy to spend a lot of money
in these theme parks. To avoid this, I recommend using a Penny Machine for a
quick and cheap souvenir (just make sure to bring lots of quarters and shiny
pennies!).
~sb