Through My Lens: The Magic, the Memories & the Reality of Walt Disney World
Ramblings from your Syracuse based Photographer and your Travel Agent Bestie about Walt Disney World - a fresh perspective.
I am still adjusting to being back in the "real world" after a magical and very last minute trip to Walt Disney World last weekend! I am still missing the scent of popcorn and candied apples on Main Street USA and the ambient music that nearly brings me to tears every time I walk into EPCOT! I miss the moments where I was just in the moment and not thinking about what bills I had to pay when I got home, or what I was going to make for dinner, or did I wash enough clothes so I had outfits to wear all week! Walt Disney World will always have my heart. It always inspires me to be a better version of myself and reenergizes me to keep chasing my dreams.
I know I post a lot of memes on social media about AD/HD and make jokes about how it affects my life, in an attempt to relate, but also to downplay just how much it does affect ever part of my daily life, including when I am at Disney World (or any vacation destination), how I run my business(es), how I work at my 9-5, how I relate to others, interact with my family and friends, etc. At any given time I have 80 thousand ideas running through my head and some of them are great ideas, some of them, not so much, some of them will take more than 30 seconds I think it will take to impliment and the list goes on and on. It causes me to be implusive and excited and I think that is why when I am at Disney it finds a way to inspire me, because don't get me wrong, I still have my moments where I am over excited, or irritable or bouncing off the walls, but there is also a calm that washes over me. For those few magical days I am able to escape the things that trigger me at home, large crowds, too much noise, people chewing near me, among a plethora of other things that set me off! Disney...it doesn't bother me so much. I look around at all of the couples, friends, families and even cast members, smiling and enjoying themselves and this kind of peace just washes over me in a way I wish I could explain! (And yes I still get annoyed when somebody stops right in front of me, or tries to cut the line, or whatever). I take in the sights, the smells and the sounds and I just feel like I am home. They sure know what they are doing in the feelings department. (I'm looking at YOU Disney Animation Studios in Hollywood Studios). Disney just calms my soul and challenges me to be better and I hope it never stops.
So enough sappy non-sense, lets get into last weekend's Disney fun and some thoughts about my trip. We flew down on a Thursday afternoon, and got to Orlando about 7:30ish. I will say that I absolutely LOVE JetBlue's non-stop option from Syracuse Airport...but I do miss when the non-stop flight was at like 8:00 in the morning, rather than at 4:15 in the afternoon. I do wish there were more non-stop options from Central New York. I know Frontier has a non-stop flight also, but they don't do the route everyday and that makes me nervous in the event of a cancellation or a flight delay. We also used to have a Southwest Option, but they pulled out of CNY last year, which disapointed me too! I liked flying with Southwest! JetBlue isn't bad, the plane was comfortable and the flight was pretty smooth.
The last few trips I've taken to Walt Disney World, I've started renting a car! My husband and I were LOYAL Magical Express users! I miss the days where we could check our luggage at our home airport and not worry about it again until it appeared in our room! Ahhh those were the days. Mears Connect is a wonderful option, but it just isn't the same. So we pivot and rent a car, and I must say, this has been a game changer. I am a HUGE Diet Coke fiend, (don't come for me... I already know, Soda is bad for you, diet is the worst... leave my DC habit alone okay!) so having a car, to stop at Publix or Target before we get to our resort is a great option. We can buy a 6 pack of soda for the room, some chips, or other snacks and anything we forgot, or didn't want to pack, like sunscreen and a face mask, or an obscure charging cable that I didn't realize I needed for my headphones! It also gave us the opportunity to try out a new restaurant off site on our first night, rather than trying to rush to the resort or Disney Springs before they closed. Another plus to renting a car, especially for my faith based people, is that we don't have to uber to go to Mass! By the time we would have gotten airport shuttles and an uber to and from church, it was just as cost effective to rent a car, rather than rely on other means of transportation. If you are wondering/Catholic, Queen Mary of the Universe National Shrine, is a wonderful option for Catholic Mass near Disney World... AND the Vineland Outlets if you wanted to get in a little discount shopping. Lastly what I loved about having a car was on our last day, we could control when we got to the airport, giving us a little more freedom to enjoy Disney for just a little bit longer! I know renting a vehicle is not for everyone, but it really did add a ton of value to our trip, and for the right client (I say this as a travel advisor), it can be a game changer! Plus if you are staying on Disney Property, parking is once again included in your stay, so there is no extra per night to park at your Disney Resort!
For this trip we stayed at Disney's All Star Movies Resort. The All Star Resorts get a lot of hate! I mean A LOT! I can't really omit myself from the All Star Hate Train... They (admittedly) are not favorite Resorts to stay at. However, they serve a great purpose. One of the best things about the All Star Resorts is their over the top theming. I absolutely walking through the common areas of an All Star Resort and seeing a larger than life Disney character from my favorite movie, or playing my favorite sport, etc. I will also say that the All Star Resorts food courts tend to be better than some deluxe resort quick service options, mainly due to the variety and spaces to sit and eat. There are some deluxe resorts that only have a couple of options on the menu and even less seating! That is absolutely a plus in my book. The resort was very well maintained, and the rooms were decent, albiet a little small, and we had an issue this trip with housekeeping not servicing our room at all, which did annoy me a little bit, especially because I hate having to call and bother people for extra supplies, like towels and coffee. The other issue I personally ran in to at the All Star Movies Resort, is that the beverage cooler did NOT keep my drinks very cold. I know it's not a full refridgerator and I appreciate and respect that, but even my cheapy skincare fridge keeps a can of soda cold... this unit barely kept them even slightly chilled below room temperature.
I will admit, I am spoiled when it comes to Disney... or even honestly most travel. I've had the luxury of being in the travel industry for almost 10 years all together, and I've stayed at nearly every Disney World Resort, been to some of the caribbeans best luxury resorts, stayed at castles in Scotland, and cute little hotels off the beaten path in England. I also happen to be a member of Disney Vacation Club, so I am used to staying in Deluxe Villa's with kitchens, and other homey amenities. DVC spoils me so! The perk of being so well connected to the travel industry is that I know myself, I am a bougie traveler, I appreciate little luxuries like being close to my favorite theme parks, and having a little more room to move around in the resort. Having multiple Disney Transportation options is key for me! I'm not the biggest fan of the busses. I like having multiple options for table service meals right there in the resort, for when I just want to take it easy! I LOVE having access to some of the more bougie merchandise like Lilly Pulitzer clothes or Dooney and Bourke bags. I like the elevated lounges and bars at Moderate & Deluxe Resorts. For some travelers the room is just a place to sleep and I deeply appreciate that, and can work with that, but for me personally, I am a little bit of a snobby traveler. I like what Iike, and what I like is little luxuries that elevate my stay. Will I stay at an All Star resort if it's my only option like it was for me this trip? Yes, absolutely because an All Star Resort Stay is better than not being able to go to Disney World at all... but if I had my choice and options available, it would not be my first, or even second choice, but again. That is just me! Just because I don't want to stay there doesn't mean anyone shouldn't.
We started our park time the next morning at Magic Kingdom! I absolutely LOVE going to Magic Kingdom on Party Days! For those not familiar, a party day is when Magic Kingdom shuts down at 6:00 to regular ticketed guests, and there is a special event, like Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party or Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party that evening beginning at 7pm, which requires a seperate event ticket. Why do I like party days at Magic Kingdom so much? I'm glad you asked... LOL! The park is generally far less crowded in the morning & afternoon on a party day. We were able to walk on to The Haunted Mansion, It's a Small World, The People Mover and had very low waits for Pirates, even Tron was only 35 minutes at one point, but my husband doesn't fit in the leg restraints so we had to skip it! The lines in the shops were low, we were able to get some amazing shots of the castle with very little crowd in the background, show crowds weren't too jam packed in. It really is a great way to get so much into your Magic Kingdom Day. I would NOT reccomend this strategy if you do not have park hopper tickets, but should you have an annual pass or park hoppers as part of your package, it's a great way to get a lot of your must do's done with limited wait times!
I took my professional camera with me on our first Magic Kingdom day. I wanted to capture some of the moments at the beginning of the trip and also make sure I had time to not only enjoy using my camera equipment, but also to give myself days off from lugging my camera and my flash, and my fiters, etc. to the parks. I love theme park photography. Of course, I am also a stickler for the rules, so I only take artistic photography in the theme parks, as Disney has a wonderful team of Photographers that can capture your vacation memories for you, and I wouldn't want to step on their toes. The only portraits I take in the parks are of myself and my husband because I don't use those commercially! Even though I am a photographer, I am a HUGE advocate of Disney's PhotoPass Photographers and using the memory maker. I make sure to always get MM on my trips or add it to my annual pass because they really do capture great photos! The beautiful thing about photography is that there is room for all of us in the industry because every artist has a different vision and a different eye for capturing beautiful photos and moments. Disney is also a FANTASTIC place to learn more about your camera! Since there are so many different lighting variations and you are moving from outside to inside and vice versa, you can have a field day adjusting your cameras manual settings. It really does allow for great practice and getting comfortable in manual mode on your camera. I love that Disney Destinations can fuel your passions in subtle ways like forcing you to play with your settings, or adjusting things to your needs. Disney Challenges me to be more creative and take risks and that is something that just speaks to my soul and is part of the reason why Disney inspires me so much.
After our mid afternoon siesta (I HIGHLY suggest taking a nap break mid-afternoon), we haded to EPCOT to try some of the delicious International Food and Wine Festival treats! All of the EPCOT festivals are lovely, but Food and Wine is always my favorite, they have so many different foods to choose from, and such variety, that there is something for everyone! I also love that they bring in national recording acts to play free concerts in their Eat to the Beat Series, and they had some amazing bands this year. Our trip fell during a lull in performers but generally we've been able to see Hanson, Fuel, New Found Glory and more! The merch is also super cute for Food & Wine Festival. Figment is a big mascot and I love seeing all of the Figment love during the fall! Another thing I love about Food & Wine Festival is that while World Showcase can get extremely busy and tight, it does generally mean that wait times for some of my favorite EPCOT attractions are lower, like Living with the Land, one of my favorite attractions at EPCOT! Journey into the Imagination with Figment also generally sees lower wait times when everyone is in World Showcase snacking around the world. Guardians & Test Track never see lower wait times, so those ones, the best rides, you just have to roll with the punches to get those, or get Lightning Lanes!
Favorite Eat @ Food & Wine: Hawaii, the Spam Rice Bowl! (I wish I remembered to take a picture of it, but it was just starting to rain when I grabbed it).
Oh, Hollywood Studios! Generally this is not my favorite park, but more recently I have come to appreciate it so much more! I LOVE Galaxy's Edge! I love that the Stormtroopers free wander and you can get some amazing character interactions. It's themed so well, and even if you are not a massive Star Wars fan, it's such a cool area to explore. The new Animation Studio is SUCH a fun place to explore, and get some great air conditioning. I will warn you though, if you watch the short film, BRING YOUR TISSUES! I know I am a huge softy, but this little short film was so incredibly touching! I don't want to spoil anything since it is so new, so just bring tissues....you'll thank me later, I promise! It's also a great new place to meet Characters! We met Rapunzel AND Chip and Dale! You can also meet characters from Alice in Wonderland, Goofy, Mulan and more! As an artist, the Animation Studio was sooo much fun for me to explore and we ended up spending a good amount of time in here. It was worth it though, because the AC was so refreshing. Did I mention it was HUMID AF while we were down there? I was drenched before we even walked in to the parks each day! The thing I love about Hollywood Studios is they have so many great options for quick service dining! We wound up at ABC Commissary, this was a great spot to get something a little leaner for lunch! I am on a GLP-1, so I am eating far less than I usually would at WDW. I loved being able to get a grilled chicken sandwich that still had great flavor and a salad as a side instead of fries or chips. We really didn't do any rides at Hollywood just because the lines were extra long, but honestly, it didn't bother me much because just walking around was a vibe that day! Of course we had to head back to the resort for our midday nap before hitting up Magic Kingdom again!
On days that there isn't a party during the fall Magic Kingdom can be EXTREMELY busy. Saturday was no different, but that didn't stop us from exploring and enjoying the evening at my favorite park! We did some shopping, of course and then got dinner at Pecos Bills. I've never actually tried it before...it wasn't my favorite, but I think I just didn't like what ordered. Also, I wasn't terribly hungry... go figure! However, this did give us the opportunity to get a FABULOUS seat for Disney's nightime parade, Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away. This is such a great parade. It replaced the Main Street Electrical Parade, which hasn't been around for several years, so it's nice to see a nighttime parade back at Magic Kingdom. The visuals are amazing and the music is so much fun! We had a great front row seat and were able to enjoy the parade from Frontierland. I can say that on nights Magic Kingdom is busy, I highly reccomend finding alternative viewing for the parade and for Happily Ever After. Main Street and the hub can easily fill to capacity or very close to capacity for these events and if you are clauistrophobic, finding alternative spots can be a lifesaver. For Happily Ever After, we found a spot between Main Street and Tomorrowland. They had the backstage area where you enter for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party open, and we found a spot there to enjoy the fireworks. It was great because as soon as HEA ended, we scooted right to Tomorrowland and were able to take advantage of a walk on to the people mover! It was awesome! I love Magic Kingdom at night. It just feels so magical with everything lit up. We spent the rest of the evening just wandering around and riding rides that had low wait times, The Teacups, Little Mermaid, It's a Small World... etc. Since we had gotten our must do rides done on the first day at MK, we didn't feel the need to wait for Haunted Mansion, Pirates and other rides that had longer wait times that evening. Closing the parks is one of my favorite things to do.
Sunday Morning started with Mass at 10:00am at Mary, Queen of the Universe National Shrine & Basillica. This church is near the Vineland outlets, so if you are looking to get some discount shopping done, you can check that out after mass. This is a Catholic church, but I am sure there are churches of other denominations nearby as well! I highly reccomend this church for Disney World Travelers that are Catholic and don't want to miss mass. They have a wonderful priest who always delivers great homilies, the choir is simply amazing AND they even have a cute little coffee shop right on property so after mass you can grab a little treat and a light breakfast or lunch. It's only about a 20 minute drive from Walt Disney World so it makes it easy, especially if you have a car, but also if you need to uber, it's not super far away. The campus is also very pretty, they have a great Catholic gift shop and plenty of seating! I really feel like this is my home church away from home. They are so welcoming. Back to Disney we headed after grabbing our coffee at the conclusion of mass.
Our last full day at Disney...SAD! But I was determined to not spend it sad we were leaving, because I know we'll be back (I'm a TA, lets be real, I'm already planning my next trip). We did some serious shopping at Springs. I wound up getting a Disney Coach Purse at the Coach store, and I absolutely love it. When you purchase a Disney bag, you are able to get your Coach Hangtag customized with a Disney Stamp. They do not allow the Disney Stamp to be customized on any other bags. I had to take advantage of that! We then had lunch at the Polite Pig...this was easily the best meal we had on property! I've actually never been here before, but I was amazed at how good the food was. Unfortunatly I was so excited for this meal, the only photo I took was of the brussell sprouts. They may not look appitizing, but man they were delicious. I got the chicken sandwich and it was incredible. Hubs got the ribs and he was very happy with them! Overall I would say 10/10! There was a line, but it moved pretty fast for how long it was. We checked out a couple more shops to walk off some of the lunch, and I may or may not have added a bunch of new Diet Coke merch to my collection, but it was worth it! I do love me some Diet Coke (maybe I mentioned that already?).
We spent our last evening at EPCOT! Of course I had to Live with the Land, because my favorite ride at EPCOT is a boat ride where I get to learn how they grow lettuce. We also spent some time doing Figment and looking at some of the indoor attractions because it was raining on Sunday evening. Didn't bother me much because we had lovely weather for the whole trip, and one night of rain was honestly pretty refreshing. After we got off of some of the rides, we walked around World Showcase one more time, trying a few things from Food & Wine Festival that we missed the other days. I did get the Mimosa flight at Shimmering Sips, that was prety delicious! The rain did clear some of the crowds from the park, so we were able to check out a lot of things that had longer waits on other days. We headed back to the resort a little early that night and checked out the resort a little bit. The shop and grabbed a later dinner at the Food Court. It was also really fun to put on a face mask and just relax with a Lifetime Movie... because who doesn't love murder movies when they are at the most magical place on earth? Am I just weird...don't answer that...(yes, yes I am).
Of course we ended the trip at Magic Kingdom, generally that is where I like to spend our last morning. I have to say goodbye to my castle! We drove to the park that morning so we could just head out to the airport when we were done, and boy oh boy, I do NOT like driving to MK in the morning! It was a mess! Everyone trying to get in at the same time, there were traffic delays and if it hadn't have been our last day, I would have absolutely reccomended taking Disney Transportation, but driving did give us a bit of extra time on the back end, because we didn't have to wait for a bus back to the resort. A little trade off for some extra Disney magic! Overall we had such a magical trip and I am so grateful that we were able to make it work for our schedules this year. It may have been a little shorter than what we are used to, but as Disney lovers, we know a short trip is better than no trip.
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Enjoy some of my photographs from the parks!
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