I can't believe the summer is almost over! Everything seems like it has flown by since our return from China in November. I hope everyone has taken a chance to get away for some kind of vacation with your family this summer. For us, we took the kids to Walt Disney World in Orlando. We had a great time and I thought I would take a chance to share some of that experience with you. I know this blog has mainly been about our adoptions, but now that we are finished with our seconded adoption, I thought I would continue to blog about our lives and observations from our daily lives.
We were in Orlando for one full week and had a blast. This was my 5th trip to the Magic Kingdom and like the others, this was no disappointment. We love everything Disney and any opportunity we have to visit a park.
This year, we decided to stay at the new Art of Animation resort. We booked a standard room in the Little Mermaid section (which is the only area with standard rooms). While the room was the size of a normal hotel room, we really enjoined the decor with the touch from Disney's Little Mermaid movie. The outside of the buildings were amazing with larger than life Decor and the entire building being painted to reflect the movie. These design elements were carried out throughout the other sections of the resort as well, with areas themed for The Lion King, Finding Nemo, and Cars. My favorite area was cars as they had life sizes cars from the movie along the main road in Radiator Springs (the sidewalk) that lead to a small pool with Cozy Cone cabanas and a massive entryway that was a three story replica of the Wagon Wheel motel.
As for entertainment, the resort boasts three pools themed for Little Mermaid, Cars, and Finding Nemo. The Finding Nemo pool, called The Big Blue Pool, is the largest pool at a Disney Resort and features a zero entry end and underwater speakers playing music and conversation inspired by the movie. There is also a small water spout play area next to the pool that is made to resemble playing at the reef.
If you prefer to stay dry, there is a large arcade in Animation Hall (the main building containing the arcade, check-in, shopping, and the food court), a playground by the Big Blue Pool and a soon to be completed play area in the Lion King Area.
Other resort activities include games and competitions for all ages, ping pong, and a nightly movie, all taking place at or in The Big Blue Pool.
We really enjoyed our time at the resort and always were treated very good by the staff. They were all very friendly and helpful for any of our needs. The Art of Animation resort is connected to the Pop Century resort via a bridge across the lake. We ventured over there one day to look around, shop, and dine in their facility. Much to our surprise, we experienced a very different atmosphere. At least for our experience, the staff at Pop Century were not friendly or helpful at all. In the store, I don't think a single Cast Member said a word to us and when we went to the food court area we found the same thing. We seemed to be more of an inconvenience to them instead of a valued guest. It seemed very odd to us as this was the first time we have every felt that way at any Disney property in either Florida or California. After dinner, we headed back across the lake where we were immediately greeted by a Cast Member when we entered Animation Hall.
Of course our experience in the parks was great as usual. We got buttons saying we were celebrating our 15th anniversary and were amazed at the response from the Cast. As we walked by, they stopped everything they were doing to tell us happy anniversary. It was amazing how much they were paying attention to all of these little details throughout the complex.
One of the first stops was the new Fantasy Land area. Although it is not complete finished yet, this is a great addition to the park. With new dining options like Be Our Guest (in the Beast's Castle from Beauty and the Beast), to Gaston's and all the former rides along with a new Little Mermaid ride (like the one in California Adventure), cue area for Dumbo and a second Dumbo ride, and an all new roller coaster for the Seven Dwarfs (which is not complete yet). This is a great area for the whole family and especially the little ones. The rest of the park as well as the other parks were filled with the old favorites and some new additions that are sure to please.
Each visit, we try to do a couple special dining events for the kids (and us) to enjoy. This year we had breakfast at Chef Mickey's with all the characters, and a special dessert event at the Magic Kingdom with a great view of the fireworks.
At Chef Mickey's we had some great Disney food at the all you can eat buffet, great service, and photo ops with Chef Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy. The kids had a blast and really enjoyed the personal touches from the characters.
The dessert party at the Magic Kingdom was probably as much for us as it was for the kids. It takes place on the patio of the Tomorrowland Tarrace. It is a ticketed VIP style event with very limited tickets available. The desserts were amazing creations from the Disney staff and very a highlight of our week. We were able to watch the electrical light parade from our table and have an amazing unobstructed view of the castle and fireworks. Although it began raining, the fireworks went on as promised and we were able to enjoy them from our covered patio area. If you are considering a Disney vacation, I would encourage you to do a few little extras like these to have an even more amazing Disney experience. Also, I would encourage you to look into the Photo Pass Plus option available from the Disney website. We were treated to special pictures all over the park as well as the normal service available to everyone. We also received free pictures at the Pirates League and at Chef Mickeys, which by them selves paid for the Photo Pass Plus. The other option we use is to order the CD that will include all of the park photos along with some other Disney stock photos, and the ability to upload all of our personal pictures that we can edit and personalize. The best part of the CD is that you are then free to use those pictures any way you choose including Facebook, Shutterfly, or printing pictures at places like Walmart. It is well worth the money and allows you to create some amazing lasting memories.
On this trip, we also took our kids to the new Legoland in Florida. While we did have lots of fun, we did not really feel it was worth the money. The rides are fun, but there is not a lot of them, and if it rains (which it did everyday we were in Orlando) they shut down the entire park. They do have a water park that was very fun and we spent probably more of our time there than at the main park. The food was more expensive than at Disney, and not at all as good as the food at Disney. Our son was very excited to see mini land which was amazing, but after 30 minutes, you have seen enough. He also was looking forward to shopping at the stores to find tons of Lego's not available in most stores. However, the shopping was a huge let down. First of all, if you are a Lego VIP mamber you cannot use your points or gain points for any purchase inside the park because Legoland is not owned by Lego. 2nd, the prices were no better than shopping online or at a retail store. 3rd, if you want variety, skip Legoland and shop at the Lego store at Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney's Lego store has a way better selection of Lego's and the store is owned by Lego so all your VIP perks work there. We even got a small Lego hot dog cart set free with our purchase just for being a VIP member. All in all, I would say Legoland Florida was a fun one time experience. I would not recommend it being added to your repeat Disney or Florida vacations.
So there you have it. This is our vacation in a nutshell! We had a great time and can't wait for the next Disney vacation.... Maybe back to the West coast next time, although Disneyland Shanghai is slated to open in 2015 and I would love a return trip to China! If planned correctly, we could even hit Disneyland Hong Kong on the way home!
