Today we are talking about my favorite topic ever – DISNEY!! 🙂 Todays’ blog post is answering a question I get ALL the time! If you know me, you know I love all things Disney. But more than anything else, I love all things Disney Parks! I truly love going to Walt Disney World and going there as much as I possibly can. It will NEVER get old to me. Jose and I have gone to Disney annually (though this year, he’s confessed he needs a break and change of scenery so we’re skipping Disney in 2017 but JUST THIS ONCE!) – we’ve gone 5 times in the past 5 years to Walt Disney World (I’ve been 9 times in total) and once to Disneyland in California and to our friends, family, and even clients, we are the Disney experts. I don’t mind having that title one bit 😉
The majority of people I know haven’t been to Disney World that many times, or sometimes at ALL, and Disney World is a huge vacation to plan, one that can be overwhelming. A lot of the time people are so overwhelmed by all there is to do, they always ask us “what are things we MUST do at Disney?” So if you’re planning your first trip to Disney in a long time or even your first trip ever, today I’m sharing with you our top 10 absolute FAVORITE things to do at Disney World! 🙂
*note: Disney World is made up of 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, 1 shopping district and 20 hotels, each with their OWN shopping & restaurant options! None of our favorites are located all in one spot at Disney. They are all spread out and all over the place! Be sure to visit my Disney post all about planning a Disney vacation – I give you the best tip of all which is to plan to be there for 6 days or more to experience as much as possible! 🙂 Also, these are not listed in ranked order.
1. Visit Disney Springs! One of the BEST parts of Disney World isn’t even at a theme park! It’s their shopping and entertainment district known as Disney Springs. Since the first time we visited it, we’ve been huge fans of Disney Springs (formerly called Downtown Disney) and we always put aside one whole day during our vacation to eat at a new restaurant, do some shopping, go see a movie & just stroll around. They have all types of quick service places to eat to fancy restaurants and they even have a brand new shopping area with popular stores like Kate Spade, Anthropologie, Zara and more! Plus the absolute biggest Disney Story there is! You can see a movie, sit in Starbucks, go bowling, eat sushi, ride an amphibicar and even catch a Cirque Du Soleil show that is one a kind to Disney! It’s FULL of fun things to do so make sure you go!
2. Eat the BEST steaks ever at Yachtsman’s Steak House! This might be our favorite restaurant on ALL of Disney property. We love us some meat and the best steak we’ve had (so far) at Disney has been at Yachtsman’s steakhouse at the Yacht Club resort. It’s a short walk away from Epcot, a boat ride from Hollywood Studios and is in one of the nicest hotels at Disney. The waiters are SO delightful and some of the nicest people we’ve ever met. We’ve eaten there twice and so far, haven’t been disappointed one BIT! If you love steaks, you can not miss a trip to this restaurant! (Honestly, our favorite part is the BREAD they serve you in the beginning. It’s worth going for that alone!!
3. Get a DOLE WHIP! This is our absolute favorite snack to have at Disney World. They are frozen pineapple treats and they are AMAZING. They can only be found in 2 locations at Disney World – one is at the Magic Kingdom at Aloha Isle in Adventureland and the other is at Captain Cooks at the Polynesian Resort. You MUST do it. We recommend saving it for the point of the day when it’s either super hot and you need something refreshing OR when you’ve been at Magic Kingdom for hours and are feeling a little exhausted. This will turn your day around and on a hot day, nothing is more thirst quenching! We always split one and it’s just the best. We love the classic Dole Whips and Dole Whip Floats 🙂
4. Ride the Peoplemover! Since Jose doesn’t love Disney nearly as much as I do, I always make sure we get to do the things he actually does love to do so he has the best time 🙂 I asked Jose what his number 1 must do at Disney World is and this was it! Luckily – it’s one of my absolute must-dos too 😉 This is an underrated ride located at the Magic Kingdom but it is one of our most beloved attractions and we can’t begin or end our days at Magic Kingdom without a ride on the People Mover! It’s the most basic attraction there is. I don’t even know if it could be considered a ride lol… but when you’ve been walking around for hours and need a break, THIS is the perfect break! You just glide above and through all the attractions in Tomorrowland and get to relax a bit 🙂 The PERFECT ride for when your feet need a breather. We’ve also hopped on the People Mover to watch Fireworks and that’s always fun too!
5. Start & end your day at EPCOT with Spaceship Earth! You know EPCOT. It’s a Disney park beloved by adults because you get to drink everywhere within it. It’s the park who’s icon is a big golf ball. But there is actually a ride INSIDE that golf ball (or using the proper name, geosphere!) and it’s one of our absolute favorite rides in all of Disney World. It’s called Spaceship Earth and it’s a slow moving travel-through-time history lesson with animatronics. We can’t get enough of it and the way we start all our days at EPCOT is by riding Spaceship Earth. We love it so much that we find it to be the perfect ending to a day at EPCOT too. All of that walking around gets you tired and before hopping on the bus back to your resort, it’s nice to get inside an air-conditioned dark ride and sit down for 15 minutes and relax 🙂
6. Don’t miss Kilimanjaro Safari! We absolutely LOVE Animal Kingdom park. We both love animals and always love to visit zoos and aquariums so Animal Kingdom park is a nature favorite. A seriously CLOSE second was telling you to ride Expedition Everest, the BEST roller coaster in all of Disney, but we decided to go with Kilimanjaro Safaris as our must-do at this park. It’s like a real-life African safari at Disney! There are so many different species of animals, from elephants and hippos to LIONS and giraffes, and they are all wandering freely around the savannah! It’s amazing how up close and personal you get to these animals and it’s amazing to see them in their “natural” habitat! It feels like you’re on a REAL safari at times and you easily forget you’re still at Disney World. Don’t miss this attraction!
7. Stroll around the Boardwalk Inn! If you’re staying on Disney property and take full advantage of their free transportation, it’s really easy to resort hop and check out all the other Disney resorts. We LOVE to do this and have visited almost all of them but our absolute favorite is Boardwalk Inn! Besides being a resort, it actually has it’s own BOARDWALK!! It’s own shops, ice cream parlors, restaurants, nightly entertainment (picture the entertainment you’d see on an actual Boardwalk – musicians and street performers!) It’s walking distance to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios! We’ve stayed at this resort and it was our favorite! One of our favorite memories at Disney is sitting on the boardwalk, eating a pizza we ordered on the boardwalk and watching BOTH Epcot & Magic Kingdom’s fireworks going off at the exact same time! SO amazing!
8. Ride Toy Story Mania! Hollywood Studios is the smallest Disney park and right now, it’s undergoing a MASSIVE overhaul which means a lot of the park is closed! You can do and see everything in this park easily in one day. This the park where you’ll find the biggest Star Wars presence, the Rock n Rollercoaster, and yes – this is the park where the infamous Tower of Terror is!! But our favorite ride in all of Hollywood Studios hands down is Toy Story Mania! This 3-D ride is SO fun! It’s themed after Toy Story and the ride vehicle moves you through different carnival style games while you play against the person in your car. Maybe it’s because Jose and I are both super competitive lol but we LOVE this ride!! It’s a really popular ride so we suggest getting fast passes for this ride! Don’t miss it!!
9. Soak in the magic of Main Street USA at Magic Kingdom! My absolute favorite park of all is Magic Kingdom. The essence of that park is in Main Street USA. It’s the first thing you see as you walk into the park and it is not to be missed. It’s the best in the morning when the park first opens. You’ll be able to take a horse-drawn carriage ride to Cinderella’s Castle & see some fun entertainment like the Dapper Dans crooning guests as they walk in, meet the citizens of Main Street or catch the Main Street Trolley Show! You can do souvenir shopping at the Emporium, grab a coffee at the cutest (& busiest) Starbucks ever, or grab some amazing sweets at the Confectionary (our ABSOLUTE FAVORITE is their massive rice Krispie treats!!) You can even eat at the Lady & the Tramp themed “Tony’s Restaurant” or grab some ice cream to enjoy on a hot day or snack on hot dogs and french fries from Casey’s Corner! My favorite stops in all of Magic Kingdom are right on Maint Street USA so it is a must-do!
10. Stay on Disney Property! When my family first started to travel to Disney, my parents watched their money and always stayed at a Holiday Inn right outside of Disney. One year my mom decided to treat us and booked a room ON Disney property – and we haven’t looked back since. It is 100% worth every penny and it is a MUST-DO for us. They have SO many resorts that you are guaranteed to find one that fits your budget and they provide their own transportation for you to the parks! You don’t have to spend money on a rental car when you’re at Disney. Not only that but they all have their own restaurants, bars, shopping, activities – plus, Disney has the BEST pools when you want to hang out at the hotel one day for a break! They have 20 different hotels so we always try to stay at a new one each time which makes each vacation fun and different from the moment you check in. You guys, if you’re going to Disney – stay at a Disney resort so the magic never stops!! 🙂
Those are our must-do’s for Disney World and we hope you add them to your must-do list when you’re planning your trip to Disney World! And if you ever want to chat all things Disney, be sure to email me at tina@tinaelizabethphotography.com 🙂
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