Disney World: Our Itinerary

Day One:
Our first night at Disney was perfect. We went to The Magic Kingdom, and we were only there about 4 hours, but we rode 9 rides, ate dinner, and watched fireworks. There were hardly any lines anywhere which was great. I was amazed to find out that there were very few rides that Hannah could not ride. In fact, she went on all of the rides our first night. First we ate a quick dinner at Cosmic Ray's. Hannah enjoyed the entertainment there and the food wasn't bad. The first ride we rode was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. This ride is a competition between riders to see who can hit the most targets with their laser guns. We rode it twice because there was no line, and I beat Josh both times. Hannah loved the large, talking Buzz Lightyear! Next, we hit Fantasyland and rode It's a Small World, Peter Pan's Flight, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. These are all original, classic Disney rides. Hannah liked them all, and I enjoyed getting to see them. My favorite was probably Mickey's PhilharMagic, which was a 3D show with lots of neat effects. Hannah really liked Dumbo, and she LOVED It's a Small World. She was mesmerized by all of the dancing dolls, and she was dancing and clapping along to the music. It was so much fun! Our last ride that night was in Liberty Square. We went through The Haunted Mansion. The good thing about Hannah's age is that she has no concept of what's scary, so she clapped and waved at everything. There were lots of 2,3,4 year olds who would not go on this, or several of the Fantasyland rides for that matter, but she loved them all. We finished the night by watching the Wishes fireworks over Cinderella's Castle. Hannah had about had it by that point. It had been a long day of traveling so we headed back to our resort to rest.


Day Two:
On our second day, we headed to Animal Kingdom first. We started the day by riding Expedition Everest, one of the biggest roller coasters at Disney. Josh & I took turns riding this one, since Hannah obviously could not ride it. It was a pretty good ride with a few decent drops and even went backwards in the dark. Next, we went on the Kilimanjaro Safari. We went through an "African savanna" and saw giraffes, elephants, rhinos, hippos, lions, cheetahs, etc. It was pretty fun, but a lot like going to the zoo. Then we went to see a show, Festival of the Lion King. It was a good show, and it was nice to sit inside and cool down. It was so hot that day, and they say that The Animal Kingdom is the hottest park because of all of the foliage. The music in the show was really good, and Hannah loved the giant elephant. We then ate lunch at the Flame Tree Barbecue, which was good. However, they did not have many options for kids. Hannah ate a bowl of baked beans which I think caused us some problems later. At this point, we were hot and tired and decided to head back to the room for a nap.

That evening, we went to Hollywood Studios first for dinner at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. This is one of Josh's favorite restaurants. The atmosphere was really neat, but it wasn't very conducive to small children, in particular, a baby. It was dark, and we were watching a movie sitting in a car (like a Drive-In Movie). The cars were the size of real cars, and there were three couples, plus Hannah in our car. I felt like we were disturbing the others. Josh and I took turns taking Hannah out. It was not a good choice for her, but it was a neat place, and I would recommend it to families with older kids. Next, we went and watched some of the Beauty and the Beast show and rode The Great Movie Ride. Both were ok, but we were all having a bit of an off night. I think we were all just hot and tired. We decided to hop on the Monorail and head to The Magic Kingdom to see the SpectroMagic parade. This was a good parade, but again, we were all tired. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean and headed back to our room. We had a rough night that night. I think the baked beans from earlier in the day were haunting us in the middle of the night (AKA-Hannah was screaming). She was also cutting her molars. At this point, I was afraid we might be in for a rough week, but luckily that was our only tough night.

Day Three:
On the third day, we headed back to The Magic Kingdom right away. Josh and I took turns riding Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Both were good rides that Hannah could not go on. We got Rider Swaps so that the second person got to go to the front of the line. I love whoever thought of this. Next we rode The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, which is similar to Dumbo, but better. Hannah loved moving the lever to make us go up and down. She was waving her hands and clapping. We ate lunch at Pecos Bill which was pretty good. Then we rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Hannah conked out on this and we stayed on for three trips around so she could sleep. Next we rode Buzz Lightyear for a third time (Josh beat me). We finished by going to the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. This was a really good, live interactive show. We thought it was hilarious.

That night, we headed to Epcot for the first time. We ate dinner at Teppan Edo which was an awesome Japanese Hibachi Grill. I have always wanted to go to one, but never have had the chance. I loved it. Hannah did great too. I actually fed her entire meal to her on chopsticks. I was impressed with myself. It's hard enough to do yourself, but to feed a toddler is extra impressive. I give myself bonus points for that.. hahaha. After dinner, we walked around the park. We ran into Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger at a toy store in England so we stopped for pictures. Next we saw a "Beatles Concert." Hannah was totally digging the music. She was clapping and dancing like crazy. We shopped around a bit, watched the fountains, and just enjoyed the evening. We finished the night by riding Spaceship Earth, which is an old ride, but Josh had never been on it. We actually thought it was pretty cool.

Day Four:
The next morning, we got up and headed back to Epcot since we didn't do much there the night before as far as rides go. First we rode The Seas with Nemo & Friends, and then we went to see Turtle Talk With Crush. Both of these were pretty fun, and I thought Turtle Talk was really funny. Then we went to ride Soarin'. We had a Fast Pass for this ride, so we got to go to the front of the line. It was an AWESOME ride. I loved it. I kind of wish I would have rode it twice. I thought it was so neat! While we were there, we also rode Journey Into Imagination With Figment, walked around and looked at the Aquariums, and tried pops from around the world. We finished by going to Mexico for lunch at Cantina de san Angel. We bought Hannah a maraca at the shop there. She LOVED it!

That night, it was back to Hollywood Studios for dinner at 50s Prime Time Cafe. This is a good place to go if you have loud, little ones. It was the first dinner place I felt totally comfortable with Hannah. It wasn't quite as upscale, but it was still fun, and the food was good. Josh got their famous PB&J milkshake, which actually was pretty good. I stuck with chocolate though. Our meals were good old home cookin' type meals. It was a good time. After that, the park was closing, so our only option was The American Idol show. We went and actually thought it was pretty good. People from the park were auditioning for a golden ticket to go to the front of any American Idol try-out. We got to vote for the winner. The set was very much like the real set. It was a lot of fun. Then we headed back early for bed.

Day Five:
On day five, we started at Hollywood Studios to hit some of the big rides. We took turns riding Rock 'n' Roller Coaster which was awesome. It was the best big ride we went on in my opinion. Next, I rode The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The guy said the line was only 10 minutes long, but it was actually 45 minutes. Josh didn't end up riding it, but he's been on it lots of times. I liked it, and I didn't think it was nearly as scary as it looks. Next we rode Toy Story Midway Mania which was by far the coolest ride there. We LOVED it! We used fast passes so we didn't have to wait in line. It was another competitive shooting game, but it was so much better than Buzz Lightyear. I LOVED it (and I beat Josh)! Hannah was holding on for dear life sitting between Josh & I, but she was laughing the whole time. We also went to the Muppet Vision 3-D show, which was Hannah's favorite thing that day. Josh & I took turns riding Star Wars which I thought was ok, but my back was KILLING me at that point. While Josh was on Star Wars, Hannah & I went to watch a band. The guitar player came down and talked to her. Then we went to see the Army Men from Toy Story. She thought they were hilarious and they talked to her too.

That night we got to go to Cinderella's Royal Table for dinner. It was amazing! I loved it so much. We actually had dinner in the Castle! Hannah wore her Cinderella dress and got her picture taken with Cinderella. Then we went upstairs for dinner. They did such a great job catering to the young children. They brought us prints of our picture with Cinderella right away. They also gave Hannah a Cinderella wand (which she LOVED) and a wishing star. Then, the mice and Fairy Godmother came out and sang and danced. They came around to each table for hugs and pictures. Hannah loved them and cried with her arms out when they walked away. The food was amazing. It was such a great dinner. After that, Hannah and I rode the Teacups. Then we spent some time shopping. We gave into the Disney temptation and bought Hannah embroidered pink Minnie ears even though she wouldn't wear them. We also bought her a Mr. Potato Head. They have this cool display with all of these Disney pieces, and we couldn't resist. It was "fit as many as you can in the box" for $20, and we fit a lot in the box! We didn't waste space with the head since we can get that at Target. We just got the exclusive Disney pieces. It may have been more for Josh & I than Hannah... hahaha. We also walked through Minnie Mouse's house and rode It's a Small World again. We finished by watching more fireworks, which Hannah really enjoyed this time. It was a perfect night.

Day Six:
We knew this was our last full day, and we were tempted to just hang out at the resort for the morning, but instead we jetted over to Hollywood Studios one more time. We had to ride Toy Story Mania again, and we actually got to ride it twice (Josh beat me both times)! Once we had Fast Passes so we went straight to the front, but the other time, we had to wait 40 minutes. It was worth it. That ride is awesome! We also went to The Little Mermaid show, which may have been one of Hannah's favorites. She was going crazy! We finished by going on the Walt Disney walking tour and eating lunch at the Toy Story Pizza Planet Arcade. We were glad we went back.

That night, we had an early dinner at Ohana which is at The Polynesian Resort. It was amazing. This was the hardest reservation to get, and I see why. There was so much food, and it was so good! All you can eat steak, shrimp, chicken, pork, noodles, bread, salad, etc and they brought it all to your table. The meat was straight off the grill on big skewers. It was so good! The bread pudding they brought out for dessert was amazing too! We were stuffed! Then we went back to The Magic Kingdom and rode the Train around the park. We also rode Aladdin, It's a Small World (3rd time!), Jungle Cruise, and Buzz Lightyear (Josh won). We watched fireworks, bought some candy, and left. We were all very sad leaving that night. We didn't think we would be back and we were so sad that it was over.

Dav Seven:
On our last day, we packed up and I convinced Josh that we had to go back to The Magic Kingdom one more time. I just didn't want to say good-bye. We rode the Transit Authority and Buzz Lightyear one more time (I won). We also ate lunch and did some last minute shopping, and then we said good-bye. It was such an amazing trip, and I'm sure we will carry the memories with us forever. I am so glad we went. I can't imagine what could be better.