Hey everyone!! We just got back from another amazing trip to my favorite place- Disney World!! We had such a great week- here’s a recap:
We flew out early Tuesday morning. If you’re a Southern California local then I’m sure you know how convenient it is to fly out of Ontario airport! It’s so quick and easy- I highly recommend it. Our flight was great- we even got some homework done on the way.
We landed in Orlando and boarded the Magical Express to our resort. For those of you who don’t know, Disney World provides you with airport transportation if your staying at a Disney Property. You just step off the plane and walk on over to the Disney World transportation section of the airport and there will be a bus waiting for you. You get to relax in plush, comfortable seats, and watch televisions playing Disney cartoons. They’ll even transport your luggage for you so you don’t even have to pick up your checked bags. They just show up at your resort.
Right after we landed I received an email that informed me our room was ready and we could just head straight to the room with out checking in. Our Magic Bands were our room keys- it’s so convenient to not have to stop and check-in. So we arrived at our amazing resort- The Animal Kingdom Lodge! We love this hotel- we didn’t pay for a Savannah view room…but we had a Savannah view anyway!!! There’s nothing like watching giraffes, zebras, antelope, kudus, and warthogs from your hotel room! We checked out our room and then grabbed a bite to eat at Mara, the quick service restaurant at our resort. I finally got to try the Nyala peanut butter brownie and it was delicious! Then we had to get to bed- we were headed to Magic Kingdom in the morning!
Day 1: Magic Kingdom
We got to the park at 10:30am, which was pretty impressive since we were definitely still on West Coast time. We spent the morning riding rides and exploring Fantasyland. Cooper really enjoyed the Haunted Mansion ride and hunting for hidden Pascals outside of Rapunzel’s tower.
We had made it on a handful of rides before it was time to break for lunch. We made reservations for the Tony’s Town Square Parade Dining Package. You get an appetizer, entree and a dessert. Then after your meal you receive a voucher for the parade viewing area. It basically guarantees you an amazing spot to watch the Festival of Fantasy Parade without having to camp out hours ahead of time. This restaurant is Lady and the Tramp themed, and the food is Italian. I had the calamari appetizer, then the pesto gnocchi with grilled shrimp and it was all really good! My cheesecake dessert was also amazing!
We had finished our meal just as it was time to enter into the roped-off parade viewing area. So we showed them our vouchers to enter and got settled into the perfect spot for the parade. As you’ll see in the pictures, our parade viewing area was right near the beginning of Main Street. We had an amazing view of every part of the parade! Cooper loved every second- especially Maleficent’s fire breathing dragon!!
After the parade was over, we spent hours riding rides. Lines got shorter as the day went on and we were able to ride almost everything! We finally stopped to watch the fireworks show at 8pm. After that it was time for dinner!
We had 8:30pm reservations at Be Our Guest– the restaurant inside Beast’s castle! When we checked in with the hostess we asked if we could request a table in the West Wing. This is Cooper’s favorite thing to do in Magic Kingdom- eat in the West Wing. It’s dark, and spooky in there, he loves watching the Beast’s portrait change as the thunder sounds, and he likes to see the enchanted rose with it’s falling petals. We only had to wait a few minutes before our table was ready.
Dinner was great! They switched to a prix fixe menu since we were here last, but there were great options to choose from. You can take a peek at the menu here. My husband and I both had the filet mignon, and Cooper had chicken with rice. My steak was so tender and it had amazing flavor.
The best part of the meal was our dessert trio. They brought Cody and I these pretty plates with a truffle, grey stuff in a white-chocolate “Chip” cup, and a raspberry macaron. The stained glass on the plate was actually edible rice paper. I especially liked the Grey Stuff. It tasted like a cookies and cream flavored cheesecake-mousse. The truffle was a little bitter for me- I’m not a huge dark chocolate fan.
Cooper’s dessert was the same trio, but his white chocolate “Chip” cup came with a paintbrush and paint! He had so much fun creating a face for his “Chip”.
After our meal we walked around the restaurant to check out the other rooms. I love to see the snow falling outside of the windows in the Great Ballroom. This restaurant is really fun to explore- you’ll recognize so many fun details from Beauty and the Beast.
On our way out of the castle we stopped to see the Beast- of course! He was a wonderful host 😉
It was an awesome day spent at Magic Kingdom! We were really surprised by how much we were able to get done. We hit so many rides!
Day 2: Resort Day
We woke up the next day with tired feet! A day at Magic Kingdom requires a day of resting afterwards. So we spent day 2 of our trip at our INCREDIBLE resort: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge!
Upon waking up, Cooper immediately rushed to the sliding glass door of our hotel room and threw open the curtains. He was not disappointed- this was our view:
We got super lucky and had a Savannah view, without paying the very expensive upgrade for it. Any room in this hotel would have been great, but having animals to see made it extra special.
The entire resort is African themed and it is so beautiful. The lobby is breathtaking, the grounds are gorgeous, there are animals everywhere you look, waterfalls inside the hotel, African artwork everywhere, and a HUGE beautiful pool with a waterslide. The theming here is so great- you do feel as though you’ve traveled somewhere far beyond Florida. Obviously there are animal overlook areas, but there are also all kinds of activities. There are drum circles, face painting, educational displays, restaurant tours, paint and sip nights, Safari’s, artwork activities etc. The resort is seriously a trip in itself.
After eating breakfast in our room, we got ready for the pool. We spent the day enjoying the Florida sunshine and swimming. There were many trips down the water slide! Cooper also played on the playground for a while. It was a nice relaxing day!
That night we had dinner in the Kidani Village area of our resort. We ate at one of my favorite restaurants ever: Sanaa. The food here is beyond amazing! We came here on our trip last year and I couldn’t wait to come back! The cuisine is African food with and Indian influence. You can check out the menu here. The food is beyond flavorful and so different than anywhere else. I had the seafood curry dish with the cilantro and coconut milk veggies. We also got the bread service with all of the accompaniments. It was all amazing, but of course I forgot to take a picture. 🙈 If you want to make yourself hungry, just head over to the Trip Advisor page for this place and look at the pictures of the food. Cooper’s favorite part was his dessert- a paint your own cookie, with a brownie on the side.
After dinner we hung out at the arcade and played video games and basketball. Then we headed upstairs for bed since we had another park day the next morning. When we walked into our room we discovered that Mousekeeping had decorated Cooper’s stuffed elephant with my Minnie ears! We thought that was pretty cute!
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Well, that about covers the first 2 days of our trip! I still have 4 days to go, but I’m going to have to pause it right here. I’ll finish recapping the rest of our trip in another post! Thanks for reading!
If you’d like to check out any of my previous Disney World posts click any of these:
caligirlonthemove.com 
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