Ticking off Disney Resort number 4, Disney World! And of course had to start with Magic Kingdom – the park I was most excited to go to and experience, and where we probably ended up spending most time. Going over the end of November and start of December meant it was in the middle of Christmas season, which we were so excited to experience after having experienced Christmas at Disneyland Paris two years previously.
Cinderella Castle
My 4th castle, Cinderella Castle, and another completely different one for me – this one isn’t my favourite, I think I’ve been spoiled by doing the newest ones first and these just are more impressive to me. There’s nothing wrong with it, it just doesn’t stand out in the group – it has been repainted now from the pink back to the original lighter white/grey colour, so maybe that would make it pop a little more, but for me the grey brickwork at the bottom off-balances the pretty colours. Here you can walk through the castle and there are beautiful mosaics inside of the story of Cinderella, these are lovely but it’s a passage of high footfall so there’s not really opportunity to stop and look.
Main Street USA
The park entrance under the train station onto the square and onto Main Street USA is great, it has similarities to Paris and Hong Kong but on a much larger scale. We didn’t end up spending too much time here but I was pleased to catch a Daper Dan show a couple of times, and we enjoyed people watching from up on the train station. All the garlands and Christmas decorations were very pretty and of course the tree was huge in the middle of the square.
Tomorrowland
We spent so much time in Tomorrowland! Because we went on Peoplemover soooo many times, simple but fun and never too long a wait. We also really enjoyed the Tomorrowland Speedway because I suspect this is my only opportunity to drive a car haha XD My sister really enjoyed Space Mountain, she preferred it over Tron just because of the bike vehicle sitting position – I let her go on these alone because they’re not for me. We did also do the Carousel of Progress, but it was just a good break spot for us, it was a bit slow – but heard recently it’s getting an update so this would be nice to see. I don’t remember going on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, now I love a game like this, but find some of these really difficult, I think it’s because I’m used to the Shanghai version which is super up to date/modern and very reactive, so it’s easy to get a lot of points, whereas the version in Paris was really difficult and we failed so bad at it!
Fantasyland
Fantasyland, for me, in any park, is the epitome of a castle park – it’s all about the magic and nostalgia here the most. Our very first ride in the park followed our little tradition, so we headed straight for the Carousel when we got in and had finished taking pictures, I just always love a carousel^ This Fantasyland has so many attractions and is quite well spread out over a large area. I love Winnie the Pooh, so we had to do that at least a few times, although the line was quite long a lot of the time. A new ride for my sister was Seven Dwarves Mine Train, love this one, it’s very like Big Thunder Mountain, and those are about my limit of willing on a rollercoaster – this time I learned to keep my eyes open for most of it! Overall I think we did every ride in this land at least once. We did Small World a couple of times, but it doesn’t have any characters, so for me having done the same ride at Hong Kong earlier in the year, it just didn’t quite feel as good; the line for Peter Pan was very long most of the time, we ended up getting lucky and going during the Christmas party and it wasn’t too long, but again, I’ve been on the version in Shanghai which is just the same ride but more modern and newer, so this lacked the same sparkle. Something new to me was the Journey of the Little Mermaid, this was so cute and I really enjoyed it, as did my sister, so we did this a couple of times when the queue wasn’t too bad. And last but not least, we had a good time on The Barnstormer, which is more aimed at kids but was still super fun and quite thrilling when in the front row (if not a little of a squeeze to get two adults in the one row!).
Liberty Square
Liberty Square is one of the smaller lands, and has reduced further since our visit with the removal of the Liberty Square Riverboat, which is a shame because I really enjoying riding the boat rides around the parks! But it will be interesting to see where the future development of the space goes. A classic that I don’t think will go anywhere is next door, Haunted Mansion, and I just love this one, I went on a couple of times, and when my sister didn’t want to go again, I rode solo. I just really love the music and storyline of this one, just such a fun ride! This area also has the Christmas shop which was fun. And we did also do The Hall of Presidents, however not being American, it was quite a learning curve for us – but a good spot for a sit down in the shade for a while.
Frontierland
We really enjoyed Frontierland, it felt quite different to the one in Paris, and there isn’t one in Shanghai or Hong Kong, so this was fun for me, and overall we enjoyed spending time here and really liked the rides. On our visit Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was still using the virtual queue, we were lucky and were successful with this on both the days that we wanted and got pretty early boarding groups so both times it was basically a walk-on. I was really nervous about the drop/the getting wet at the end of the drop, but it ended up being really fun and I did go on a second time so it can’t have been that bad! I was happy to pick up the merch for this ride and the shops were very cute in this area. It was a toss up between that and Big Thunder Mountain as to our favourite ride in this land, we loved Big Thunder in Paris and while Paris pips this one to the post for top spot, this was still very fun and we rode several times. A major change since our visit has been the removal of Tom Sawyer Island and the rafts that ferry you back and forth from there, we enjoyed our walk around the island (even if the narrow underground passages at the fort were scary!), even as adults.
Adventureland
We didn’t spend a huge amount of time in Adventureland – it’s a relatively large area but we just found we bypassed it if we were going past. There are a couple of rides here, we did the Jungle Cruise (or Jingle Cruise for the Christmas season) and it was ok, but just not our preference in rides – the line was pretty consistently at a minimum of 60 minutes, and we didn’t think it was really that worth the wait. We did go on Pirates of the Caribbean a few times, it was a nice ride, very similar to the one in Paris, but with some differences that just made us prefer the Paris version (although to be honest, nothing beats Shanghai’s Pirates!). There is also the Swiss Family Treehouse, but we didn’t go on it, I think maybe it was closed on our visit perhaps as it didn’t cross our minds to go.
Parades and entertainment
I love the parades and shows at the parks so was very excited to see what was on offer. When we were there we saw the main Disney Festival of Fantasy parade, the smaller Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade, a special Thanksgiving cavalcade with castle show (because we were there on Thanksgiving day), and then Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire show on the castle stage. Maybe we missed it, but there didn’t seem to be a sit-down show in a theatre here, which I felt the entertainment offering was lacking compared to my other park experiences. In terms of nighttime entertainment we watched Happily Ever After twice as well – first time despite getting there early, it wasn’t early enough so we had a very side view which wasn’t what I wanted, so we camped out the second time and got a pretty good front view. Overall I really liked all the entertainment, it wasn’t the best of the bunch of what I’ve seen, but it was a solid offering – I think the parades ranked above the fireworks if I’m just looking at the entertainment that this specific park has to offer (I’m a Marie fan, so the cavalcade was perfect for me, Merida being in it was a plus^).
‘Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party’
Going over the Christmas period, of course we had to experience Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party! This ticket is an add-on, and is around $200 per person. We went mid-week at the start of December. On party days, if you don’t have a park ticket you can enter the park at 4PM, and if you don’t have a park ticket for that day, you need to leave at 6PM, with the party starting officially at 7PM. We were already in the park, so it was seamless to pickup our wristbands, ornaments and maps just after 4PM. Our top tasks for the party were to try all the cookies, and to see the Christmas parade, the stage show, and the Christmas fireworks. Our next priority was to ride the rides with Christmas overlays. And getting to do anything else was a bonus. We did well ticking off all of our to-do’s for the night and I’m really pleased we lasted until the very end! Absolutely loved the parade, I think we did prefer this over the daytime parade offerings.
Magic Kingdom food
I have loved trying all the Disney themed foods on all my other Disney trips, so was so excited to see what Disney World could offer. Personally I found the savory food items to be a little disappointing, not a great deal of choice, particularly if you’re preferring vegetarian or vegan (I don’t like a lot of meats, so prefer veggie options) – I got a bit fed up of fries after a couple of days. Of course, we didn’t try every single vendor or restaurant so maybe we missed something great. However the special pizza for the party at Pinocchio Village Haus was very tasty (and generous on the toppings), and we really enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern, those garlic butter bread rolls were delicious and we really enjoyed all the sides as part of the main course of the meal. Desserts and sweet treats on the other hand, generally pretty good! Not much can beat a Mickey shaped cinnamon roll with a castle view. Also loved the creme brûlée croissant, this was good to share, I think perhaps a bit much for one.
