Disney World – 10 Things to Know Before You Go

Recently I took a road trip to Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando Florida (not to be confused with Disneyland which is in California). This was my first time going. I have been wanting to go for a very long time and finally it happened, yay!. It was a great experience and I had a blast.

Walt Disney World Resort also call Disney or Disney World is made up of four theme parks; Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios, plus 2 water parks; Typhoon Lagoon and Disney’s Blizzard Beach. As well as Disney owned hotels, non-Disney hotels, ESPN Wide World of Sport Complex and Disney Springs it’s shopping, dinning and entertainment center.

We drove from South Florida, the ride was about 3 hours and we were only able to visit 3 of the theme parks. We had to make reservations for the days we were available to go and unfortunately there was no availability for Hollywood Studios, so we ended up going to 1 of the parks twice.

Magic Kingdom

This is the park where the magic truly happens. Magic Kingdom is where you will find Cinderella’s Castle, fun attractions, glorious fireworks, and view the enchanting parades. We did not get to do much there due to the weather, but we were able to go on a few rides. We went on the teacup ride (Mad Teacup Party), The Carousel, and the Jungle Cruise. Then the weather started to change, it got dark and started thundering and all the outdoor rides started closing down for safety reasons. We were already tired so we decided to go to our hotel and on the way there it started pouring.

Epcot

At Epcot you can travel through time, sky rocket off to space, Soar around the world, discover new things at World Showcase and stay later for the fireworks show Epcot Forever.

 At World Showcase you get to experience a piece of the culture of each of the countries there. Countries such as Canada, Mexico, Morocco, Japan, Norway, Italy, China, America, United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

Epcot is where we visited on our second and fourth day. While visiting we were more refreshed than we were the day before and we had a lot of fun. There were a lot of rides to go on, some of them the wait was quite long, but we waited it out and went on the rides and yes the wait was worth it. There was rain at Epcot on our first day there but the rain didn’t last long.  We ended the day with the Frozen Ever After Attraction. The wait was about 55 minutes but the ride was enjoyable.

During the time we went to Epcot they had the Flower and Garden Festival which displayed very lovely Topiaries of the Disney Characters as well as beautiful flowers, and great tasting food.

On our second day there we got to see Mickey and Minnie just by the Entrance, I was so excited.

Animal Kingdom

Here is where you can encounter all types of animals, like giraffes, elephants, Gorillas, and Flamingos. Not only will you find animals at Animal Kingdom, but there are some fantastic rides at this park. Fly a Banchee on the Avatar Flight of Passage attraction, Take a cruise along the Na’vi River, or take courage and go on one of the wildest rides at the park, Expedition Everest.

The wait for Avatar Flight of Passage was 90 minutes, then it jumped to 95, but felt like 2 hours, and we were really disappointed after we came off the ride only to see the line way shorter than we left it and the wait time dropped to about 80 minutes. Whether it was worth it or not would depend on you, oh boy. The wait to go on the Expedition Everest was not as long but oh what a ride. Everest Expedition is a roller coaster ride that takes you up a mountain and that’s all I will say about that 😄.

Hollywood Studios

Formerly known as MGM Studios, here you can experience terror at the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, train to fight like a Jedi, Join the Resistance at Starwars Rise of the Resistance and fight against the First Order sit back and enjoy the engaging stage shows, and much more.

Things to Know Before You Go

Disney’s tagline is that it’s the most Magical Place on earth and indeed it is. If you are planning a trip to Disney for the first time here are a few tips that I would like to share.

1. The wait time for getting onto rides can be long, especially if it’s a well-loved ride. We waited about two hours to get on Avatar Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom and approximately 55 minutes for the Frozen Ever After ride at Epcot.
2. Make sure to be prepared for the weather. With Florida’s weather you never know if it’s going to be rain or shine, so put a poncho or small umbrella in your bags or purses. You can also get these to buy at the gift store on site but they maybe a bit pricier there. Also If there is bad weather or it starts to get cloudy and there is thunder even if the rain hasn’t started yet most outdoor rides will close.
3. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes and clothes. Comfortable shoes because there is a lot of walking and standing in line. Comfortable clothes that is fitting for the weather especially in the summer it can be really hot.
4. There are some rides that require your child/children to be over 40-44 inches.
5. You cannot bring strollers in the waiting lines, they have to be parked at designated areas while going on a ride.
6. You may need ponchos for The Kali River Rapids ride at Animal Kingdom. I said maybe because some people come off the ride a lot wetter than others. Some are soaked from head to toe while others aren’t.
7. When ordering food at Disney’s quick-service restaurants such as Cosmic Rays It’s preferred that you order on the Disney mobile app and you will be notified once the food is ready for pickup. We learned this the hard way, but the good thing is the food was ready in no time.
8. You can bring your own food and beverage onsite as long as there is no alcohol and it’s not in a glass container. We were able to bring bottled water into the park as well as snacks packed in our knapsacks.
9. Walt Disney World has 4 theme parks and 2 Water parks. There are a lot of things to do at the theme parks so it’s hard to cover all 4 theme parks in one day. This is a big place.
10. Most table-service restaurants located at the theme parks require a reservation, the quick-service restaurants does not.

Even though the rain did spoil some of our fun at Disney, we still had a great time. Would I do it again 🤔hmmm, definitely. I hope you find the above tips helpful.