We have been home for just over a week and I am just now feeling settled in. How do you even begin to sum up a week at Walt Disney World in a blog post and possibly do it justice. At first, I was so overwhelmed with the whole week that I couldn't tell friends and family much more than "it was fabulous!!!" And it was! So, I decided to just let it stew a while and in the meantime, a friend who is going to Disney soon sent me an email with a lot of questions that I was glad to answer. Then inspiration struck - I am going to post her questions and my answers here. So, here goes:
Did you have as much fun as it looked?
Yes - we had as much fun as it looked - probably more! The girls were in heaven and just soaked it all in. We did have to remind them that mama and daddy got to pick some rides/attractions too, but they were good sports about waiting while we rode the big coasters and stuff. I took pictures like crazy trying to capture it all!
How was [the resort]?
We ended up staying on property at Disney's Old Key West resort (instead of where we originally planned to stay off property) - got a great last minute deal at the end of December. It was fabulous and all in all, we only paid a few hundred dollars more once you figured in the price of transportation, etc.
How was the weather?
The weather was great. Only had a few sprinkles on Sunday afternoon. Mornings would start out cooler (high 50's to lower 60's) and would get up to high 60's to lower/mid 70's. We did get to 80 one day. We pretty much wore short sleeves most of the time.
Were the parks pretty empty?
It was not crowded at all by Disney standards. We rarely had a wait longer than 15-20 minutes for anything and most of the time, not that long. I would say for most things, it was a 10 minutes wait or less. We took advantage of the Fast Pass for several attractions - Soarin', Thunder Mountain and a couple of others.
Did you do any other character meals besides Cinderella's Royal Table? Did they take you on time for your reservation? Was the food any good? How much time did the Princesses each hang out and visit at your table?
We only did the Cinderella's Royal Table breakfast. It was really nice - the food was actually really good - we both had an omlet - you had a choice of three different entrees. The girls got a plate with eggs, bacon and french toast. There were also muffins and biscuits, juice and coffee. When you first go in, you get in line to see Cinderella first thing - that was really the only time it felt a little rushed and I think that was really more me, thinking we had to hurry along. She talked to the girls and signed an autograph for them (I didn't know about the books then). They let me take a photo with my camera and then they took a picture. Then you went up the stairs and they showed you your table. After several minutes of eating, they started to introduce the Princesses. We were lucky, we were like the 5th table in the "line". The first princess comes out and goes to each table and spends about 3-4 minutes at each table. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it was plenty of time for her to speak to each of the girls and take a picture. Then she would move to the next table. At about the 8th table, they would introduce the next Princess and they would do the same thing. We saw (in addition to Cinderella at the beginning), Snow White, Aurora, Belle, and Ariel. The girls were so amazed. So, to me, the breakfast was worth every penny and then some!
We saw all of the Princessess and many other characters. The lines were longest for Ariel, the fairies, believe it or not, and Woody and Jesse. I don't think we waited longer than 20 minutes for any of them. The wait to see Ariel was longest - I do think it was about 25 minutes, then we saw Cinderella and Aurora in Mickey's Toon Town - and the fairies - Fawn, Tinkerbelle and Terrence. Micky and Minnie were in thier own area in Toon town and it went so fast and they took you in groups of about 4-5 families to a spearate room away from the queue, so there must have been 2 or even 3 sets of Mickey/Minnies going on at the same time. Oh and we saw Tiana and Naveen in Liberty Square. In Animal Kingdom, we saw several animal characters and also Pocohontas. She as so sweet! In Epcot, we saw the rest of the Princesses - Snow White - who spent a good 5-6 minutes talking to the girls in Germany, Mulan in China, Belle in France and Jasmine and Alladin in Morocco. Marie (from Aristcats) was also in France. Tara loved meeting all of the princesses, but she was not thrilled about the animal characters. At Hollywood, we saw Leo and Annie (from Little Einsteins), and JoJo. I think the characters meet and greets were Savannah and Tara's favorite part - the characters were so nice and the Princesses took the time to talk to them and give them a hug and post for pictures. It brought tears to my eyes several times just to see the "magic" as silly as that sounds!
The girls love Magic Kingdom best and we went 2 separate days. Thier favorite part was Toon Town. Tara loved the Dumbo ride and they both likes the cars in tomorrow land and the Small World ride. They both rode Goofy's Barnstormer and enjoyed it, but once was enough for that.
Was Animal Kingdom as boring as it sounds?
Animal Kingdom - we really enjoyed it. It is basically a very elaborate zoo, but the girls are crazy about zoos (we have a season pass to ours each year), so it was right up there alley. That is where they got the face painted and saw Pocahontas - which was one of the hightlights of ther trip! There is a really cool "safari" where we saw lots of animals. There is lots of really great scenary - definately a place to walk around and just soak it in. Also, there is a great coaster there - Everest!!! It rocked! There is also a dinosaur ride. So, an enjoyable day, but not as much to do as the other parks - it was a shorter day for us - we got there about 10:30 and left about 5ish. Most other parks we were there first think in the morning and didn't wrap it up until after 7!
Did you stay at the parks the whole day? Or did you go back to the hotel in the afternoon for naps/rest?
We stayed at a park the entire day. We took several breaks throughout the day - they are lots of places for that - all of the parks have a least one "play" area and there are tables and chairs and benches scattered throughout. We would just find a spot to hang out and pull out our snacks and relax for a while.
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