US Trip Part 7: Disney World, Orlando

26th December 2017 at 8:38 pm

Part 1: Los Angeles & Coastal Drive
Part 2: Exploring San Francisco
Part 3: NBA Warriors Game
Part 4: Pier 39, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz
Part 5: Las Vegas
Part 6: The Grand Canyon

Dear Chibi,

We woke up really early for our drive to Phoenix Airport. We end up seeing lots of cactus! Just when I thought we wouldn’t see any this trip :’D

Getting from Williams to Phoenix to Orlando took almost an entire day & with the timezone difference, we arrived in time for dinner ^_^” That’s one day gone.

This is the thickest and heaviest pizza I’ve ever had. Holy moly it’s all cheese inside??? What a monster o.o

I’ve never seen Hubby’s belly grow so big XD I ate about 1.5 slices, while he finished the rest ^^” Oh dear.

Disney World

The following 4 days were spent at Disney World’s four theme parks: Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and EPCOT. (If you’ve never heard of EPCOT, don’t worry- we hadn’t either ;D)

We stayed at Disney’s All-Stars Sports Resort, which allowed us to get to the parks easily and stay there til late. Unfortunately, it happened to be the week of Thanksgiving, so the parks were very very busy. Lines were huge regardless of the ride and most of the day were spent standing in line. There were express fast-passes you could reserve 2 months in advance, but we had no idea about them until the day. Oh well, we just had to deal with it ^_^”

Our MagicBands, a water-proof device which acts as our park admission, keys to our hotel & credit card. Really handy!

Animal Kingdom

Going to Animal Kingdom, I didn’t really expect anything. From the name, I thought it was just a zoo where you can see animals (kinda like Sea world!) XD Who knew it would end up being our favourite park out of the four :) This zoological theme park had plenty of rides and things to do.





Expedition Everest. This ride was pretty fun! We managed to go on this twice – once during the day and once late at night. The experience was very different in each (night time was way more scary, especially the yetti!) It was also pretty cold ^^”

Kilimanjaro Safaris was where we got to see animals from East Africa wandering around uncaged. I quite enjoyed the experience, it was cool seeing some of these animals in person for the first time :O



Finding Nemo The Musical was cute and fun too. I didn’t know what to expect. Would they be singing in costumes…? Turns out they’re performers carrying their characters around like puppets. It was really well done and engaging (they did the whole story). Their eyes and everything moved as well!

Photos from official sources

The best attraction by far was the newly opened Avatar Flight of Passage. It was so incredible and out of this world. There was so much thought and detail put into the experience, it must have cost them a fortune to build this. We waited 3.5 hours for this one, which was admittedly quite painful (lol This is the longest I’ve ever queued in a theme park) but no regrets. Coming here, it would have been the biggest mistake not to line up for this.

Ready for some photos?

Valley of Mo’ara, Pandora. Wooooow :D



The size and scale of this was incredible. So grand!…Could this be more amazing than the Grand Canyon? :O


Glowing fauna and flora


Floating mountains. So beautiful.

*gasp*


It took a very very long time to get to this point in the queue :’D At least there’s plenty to see in the line.

Hubby…?

Finally made it inside the cave! I don’t think we were even half way through yet.

Another area :O

We walked through a whole laboratory… o_o What the heck.

Oh my god………………… A life size Avatar. And it MOVES. This was getting too ridiculous!!

Yup… still moving through the laboratory.

Height of a Na’vi

Ohhh..so futuristic. Syncing our bodies with our very own avatar :D Very cool concept and a very immersive experience.

The virtual reality ride itself was the single best ride I’ve ever been on in my life. We got to fly on the back of a mountain banshee and soar through the world of Pandora. Everything about this attraction, including leading up to the ride just blew our minds and exceeded our expectations in every way possible.

By the time we finished, it was around 8.30pm. We still hadn’t checked out the other Avatar attraction: Na’vi River Journey. So yup, back to lining up we went :’D It was a pretty good ride but kinda paled a little compared to the one we just went on ;p

We left around midnight and people were still flooding into the park ^_^”

Magic Kingdom

Time for some Disney magic :) This was my third time at Disney Land (others being Tokyo and Hong Kong), but first time with Hubby. Let’s see how this one compares!

Upon entry, we rushed to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – a mine train roller coaster. This one was okay, not thrilling enough for my liking ^_^” A kid who got off the ride told his dad it was the best thing ever XD Next, we headed to the “Space Mountain” an indoor space-themed roller coaster. Hubby had really fond memories of this ride from Hong Kong’s Disneyland. We were both getting excited, but the ride was underwhelming. It was too dark and you couldn’t see anything. It was definitely not the same ride. Ah well…..


No idea who this bear is 8D

We finally had some breakfast at Cheshire Café. Oh so sweet *.*

The third mountain – ‘Splash Mountain‘ finally opened. Unlike the Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom, I was prepared with my Disney poncho. I was mostly dry (Though I feel like the Rapids needed it way more ;_;) This ride was alright, I think. Could have been more thrilling.

Mickey’s PhilharMagic Concert was lots of fun! I think I prefer the shows and musicals more than the rides here. Many characters from different Disney animation were featured along with their most popular songs.

Next up was the Jungle Cruise. The wait for this attraction felt like an eternity XD Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Unlike the Avatar ride where there was enough interesting things to occupy you with, there was pretty much nothing here to see. I think we spent almost 3 hours lining here.

Unlike the Safari tour in Animal Kingdom, this ones all fake animals ^_^” I wouldn’t mind as much if the line didn’t take so long but it wasn’t worth the wait. One kid on our boat was crying hysterically because he was busting to go to the toilet XD. Poor kid, he had to hold on for 3+ hours.

Time for Disney’s Festival of Fantasy! I always love watching the Disney Parades  :D!








Oh so epic! This dragon was the best.

CoooOool!




Breakfast, lunch and dinner at Disney consisted mostly of fries and burgers. (For some weird reason you actually have to ask for your burgers to have the vegetables or they won’t include it D:)



The highlight of Magic Kingdom would definitely be ‘A Frozen Holiday Wish‘-  Elsa’s Lighting of the Cinderella Castle show. That was the best :3

The show starts off with a cute little narrative with Olaf being his usual funny self.

Elsa does her thing to light up the entire castle, dancing to the song ‘Let It Go”. Everything becomes super sparkly and shiny! :D :D :D

It’s lit.

And the fireworks go off.

AND THEN SNOW FELL FROM THE SKY~! AhhhhhhhHHHHH! Yes, it’s not real snow but oh gosh I squealed like a kid. The feels. So magical and so much fun :D

Meet and greet with Belle from Beauty & The Beast. I can’t believe that wardrobe MOVES. Face, expressions, everything O_O

Disney Princesses are always great to see, but man I was so impressed by that Lumière at the back. This is next level puppetry.. It’s totally brought to life. Just like the wardrobe lady, he moves and speaks and has changing facial expressions O___O Woah.

It was getting pretty late now, and it was getting even more crowded. We managed to fit in two more rides in the night, one being ‘Tomorrowland Speedway‘.

This one’s for kids, but Hubby was having the time of his life, lol XD

Finally, ‘Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin’ – As you can see, we were taking this way too seriously ;D I did get the higher score..right Hubby?? ;)

Of course, this entry wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t at least mention ‘Happily Ever After’– The Magic Kingdom’s fireworks & projection display. It was spectacular, featured tons of Disney characters and lasted a good 20 minutes. It was a bit difficult taking photos so we did a video recording instead.

Hollywood Studios

It was a cloudy day with some rain throughout, yet it didn’t seem to deter people from going ^_^” Lines were still ridiculously long, rain or shine!

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror‘ our first ride of the day. Finally a scary ride?! I was getting heaps pumped for this :D

Oooohh..creepy interior.

The ride consisted of sudden rise & drops in a dark elevator. I’ve never been on the Space Probe ride, or anything similar so I was expecting something super super scary. I came out feeling a bit disappointed that it wasn’t as scary as I had hoped, lol. Fun ride nevertheless, though I felt a litttttle bit of motion sickness from all the movements.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – This ride was a lot of fun, the G-force felt great! :D


Down came the rain..


Star Tours – The Adventures Continue‘- a 3D motion simulator attraction. This one was alright, though the ride felt a bit dated. There were several Star Wars themed attractions in Hollywood Studios but neither of us are fans so we kinda skipped the others.


Meet and greet with Minnie Mouse :3

Hubby doesn’t know what to do with his hand 8D

‘Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular’– A stunt performance similar to the one in Gold Coast Movie World, with fire and explosives.

We stayed till the park closing time after watching “Fantasmic”, an outdoor extravagant musical featuring lots of Disney characters, songs and fireworks. This was pretty epic~ I loved how they featured the major villains from various Disney shows. The best part was definitely the dragon though!



Photos from official sources

Overall, Hollywood Studios felt similar to Movie World in the Gold Coast. I thought it was okay, but it was no where near as good as Animal Kingdom or Magic Kingdom, except Fantasmic – that was really good.

EPCOT

Finally, we’ve reached EPCOT, the last theme park on our itinerary. By day four, we were pretty “parked-out” ^_^ Three days standing in queues was probably the reason we were feeling a little fatigued XD

EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) is not your typical amusement park. It’s themed around technological innovation and international culture, with the park divided into two sections: Future World and World Showcase. I thought the attractions in Future World felt a bit nerdy and educational ^_^” Not exactly what I’d call fun but hey that’s just me XD


‘Test Track’ ride. You get to somewhat customise a concept car and see how it compares to everyone else’s car.

Alright, time to check out the 11 nations. Just within walking distance, you’re suddenly on the other side of the world. Can you tell which country we’re in?

 

Japan was the most exciting for me (biased much? ;D) The shops had so much cool items it practically stocked every Japanese product imaginable. It was here that I spotted a bunch of American Sailor Moon merchandise too :D








 

My favourite ride in EPCOT was ‘Soarin‘, where you get to hang glide above some of the most breathtaking wonders of the world, travelling from country to country. Australia was featured too. Ah, Sydney.

Spaceship Earth

Our future self, apparently ;)

Disney All-Stars Sports Resort

With our theme parks done, it was time to leave Disney Resort. We snapped a few pics in the morning before we left.

 

8DDDD


Good Bye Disney World!

Part 8: Orlando & Miami

13 Responses to “US Trip Part 7: Disney World, Orlando”

  1. Jacky says:

    The kid who was busting for 3hrs ended up being my hero. We saw him again at a different theme park and I didn know I had dropped my wristband, and it was the same kid who found it!

    • Chibi says:

      haha yes, what a crazy coincidence that he was in the same Jungle Cruise boat as us in Magic Kingdom, and then he was right behind us at Hollywood Studios at the Mickey Mouse meet and greet XD

  2. Kaz says:

    Wow what a super long blog entry!!! Would have taken forever to put together lol
    Looks like you guys had a lot of fun! Loved all the photos from the shows and def love seeing all the Disney characters! I tend to enjoy the shows more than rides at theme parks too!

    Omg that dragon!!!!!

    • Chibi says:

      haha, it’s a bit tricky trying to fit 4.5 days into one entry! I wanted to make sure it was detailed enough so I could remember some specifics in the future :)

      Yah, had lots of fun :D

  3. Mark says:

    that’s not a pizza, that’s like a pie XD. Wow, those animals are exotic. I want more of these single-movie-focused rides, though the wait seems ridiculous. If you want more thrilling, go on a roller coaster :p I have no idea who that bear is either, looks scary :p The parade at Disney World looks heaps better too.

    • Chibi says:

      We actually went on every roller coaster ^_^” Disney World is probably too child friendly for that XD

      haha, I thought if anyone knew who the bear was it would be you ;D

      And I agree, the more themed the ride, the better.

      • kaz says:

        haha I went googling for that bear and found it!

        Its from the Country Bears, which apparently were a show/attraction in disney called “Country Bear Jamboree” and cos it got so popular they made a movie for them in 2002 lols……..

      • Chibi says:

        lol…what. So..is he the villain..??

    • kaz says:

      hahah I think not?? He’s just one of the bears that play country music XDDD

  4. Jess-chan says:

    I recently went to Disney too and stayed at the All Star Movies Resort. It was a ton of fun ^^ And Tower of Terror was scary for me since I don’t like those kind of rides xD

  5. Jess-chan says:

    Oh and the Sorcerer Mickey near the pool was awesome too!