Pre-Trip Our family's first ever trip to Walt Disney World

Hello everyone,

Our family is visiting the most Magical Place on Earth for the first time this Friday June 17th through the 27th. It's been our dream to go to Disney World. We had planned to go a couple years ago but we had to put our plans aside due to the pandemic. Our time has finally come and we are so excited that we get to bring along two little ones since we first decided to go. I would love to share our experience as newcomers.

Background
My wife and I love all things Disney. We are both Disneyland regulars and used to have annual passes so I am looking forward to comparing the two resorts. We have two under two so this trip will be less of trying to go on every ride and instead be more of trying to experience the resort. For example taking time to enjoy the sights and music while sipping our coffee, find park secrets, etc. We'll definitely go on rides but we are also aware we have two very little ones so we've tethered our expectations. So if there are any recommendations, I'd love to hear some since we are a few days out.

I've never done one of these before, but I'd love to give it a try! Anybody onboard?

 

[Laura Loves Tigger]

Hope you are having a good time! Looking forward to reading all about it when you return.

 

[Jabeth]

We just got back last night. We ended up needing an extra day since we had issues with our flight. That being said, we had an absolute blast! It was fun, tiring, hot, there were ups and downs and it was all magical!! There's so much to talk about with so many days it may take some time and now I feel like we need a vacation from vacation

I'll start with our first two days, Friday and Saturday we stayed at Disney's Pop Century.

The resort is an absolute gem! We loved the theming of the resort. We stayed in the 50's section so we got to see Lady everyday. Lady and the Tramp is one of our favorites so that was a treat. The resort has the Disney Skyliner which was so cool. Loved always seeing the skyliner moving in the sky. Loved being across from Art of Animation. We exploring the grounds and enjoyed walking past the larger than life characters. Staying here honestly felt a park minus the rides.

On Friday night we hoped on a bus to Disney Springs to say to some family who were at Disney World at the same time we were. On Saturday we went back to Disney Springs and ate at Chef Art Smith's Homecoming. The food was delicious! We headed back to our resort in the afternoon. We continued to explore our resort and headed over to the skyliner to the Caribbean Beach Resort. We ate there and walked around to the Riviera. Toward the evening we headed back to our room.

We couldn't believe how much fun we were having on our first two days without going to any theme park. The resorts are so gorgeous to walk around and explore. The food was really good. Our son absolutely loved going on the Disney Skyliner. Overall, our expectations were surpassed in our first couple of days. Our next day was the Magic Kingdom.

 

[Zipadeelady]

I don't do gif's too often but I'm hooked already.

And.... Sounds like you are too. I predict there will be many more trips in your future.

 

[Disstevefan1]

YaY! Looking forward to the rest of your trip report!

 

[cgersic]

I LOVE Pop Century as well. Location, next to Art of Animation and the Skyliner make it an absolute go to for me! Enjoying and can't wait for more!

 

[Jabeth]

One Sunday we went to Magic Kingdom. We hoped on the bus that morning. They had two buses at a time so getting there from our resort was fairly quick. We got there about 40 minutes before opening. The castle was magnificent! I always knew the castle at MK was bigger than Disneyland but that was a sight. My wife and I got tears in our eyes.

We walked through Main Street and headed toward the castle. We had reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table. A cast member let us through to Fantasyland before opening so getting to see Fantasyland empty was a treat. We went in the castle and ate a delicious breakfast. The staff was very friendly and the food was really good. We didn't feel rushed either which was great. It was the perfect way to start our day at the Magic Kingdom.

We then explored Fantasyland and checked out the shops like Sir Mickey's. We made our way to Liberty Square and watched the Hall of Presidents. My wife and I are both history buff so we loved the show. Our son was understandably bored. We then watched Country Bear Jamboree twice. After the first show our son signed for more so we went around to watch it again but we didn't mind the AC and its a good show too. I think it definitely holds up today. I thought it would be cheesy and move janky but I thought it was really well taken care of. Afterwards we had Genie Plus reservations for the Jungle Cruise. After Jungle Cruise we went on It's A Small World. Then we headed over to Pinocchio's Village for lunch and we had a window seat that looked over Small World. We mainly stayed in this part of the park before lunch. We would go into shoppes in between attractions or walking from one area to the next like the Christmas Shop to avoid the heat for our boys.

After our break at Pinocchio's Village Haus, it was time to see New Fantasyland.

 

[Jabeth]

We went on Ariel's Undersea Adventure and Winnie the Pooh. Afterward it started drizzling so we watched Mickey's Philharmagic. After the show we went back to Adventureland and tried the Sunshine Plaza orange ice cream. Gotta say we became fans. We went to the Tiki Room afterwards. By that point we had a reservation to meet Mickey in Main Street. On our way we caught a parade of characters. It was late afternoon so we didn't mind the walk down Main Street. After that we went to Tommorowland and watched the Carousel of Progress. Then we went on the People mover. We were pretty tired at that point so we left as the fireworks crowds were gathering.




Overall Magic Kingdom is a 10/10 for us. We absolutely fell in love with the park. We have been to Disneyland hundreds of times so we know what a castle park is like but it was a unique experience. We wanted to make sure to judge the park on its own merits not "oh there's no Indiana Jones" or "no insert here". That being said, Magic Kingdom is oozing with charm. Liberty Square is our favorite land, so quaint and unique to the park. There are so many classic shows to watch which was great to get out of the heat. We didn't ride the mountains or go on really big attractions but I thought we got the feel of the park. We love the Magic Kingdom. There were some rides that we thought were better versions than Disneyland like the Jungle Cruise and ones we appreciated the differences like Small World being indoors so the queuing was indoors too.

The next day was EPCOT...yea this was our only major disappointment