Disney World Recap

Hi Everyone! I got back from Disney World last week and felt like I needed a vacation to recover! 5 days of waking up at 7:30am, sleeping at 12:30am, and walking all day in either the hot sun or during a thunderstorm can tire a girl out. I had a great time with the bf's family, testing out the rides, and of course, EATING.

Our group of 8 (which included a 6 year old and 3 year old) stayed at Disney's Port Orleans - Riverside. It was much less 'cartoony' and had beautiful vegetation and water everywhere. It was very peaceful and didn't even feel like we were at a Disney resort at all. The free shuttles to the parks took about 15 minutes from the resort.

The main lobby had a cafeteria, which is where we ate if we weren't at a park. They served items like pizza, burgers, ice cream, cakes, chicken strips, pasta, fries, etc. They also offered waffles, pancakes, bacon, etc for breakfast. One night I had one of their apple pies a la mode, and it was so good. It stays opened until midnight everyday.

On our 1st full day we went to the Magic Kingdom. This was the park the kids loved the best. It is the most classic park with mostly kid-friendly rides. They had the most beautiful fire works show and light parade at night.

For lunch we went to Starlight Cafe in Tomorrow Land (looks more like 1980's land but that's ok, haha) and ate hot dogs, fries, and burgers. The cafe has 3 different 'Bays' (sections) for you to purchase certain foods. For example, Sandwiches at Bay 3, Burgers at Bay 1, etc. The hot dogs are actually really good after using their toppings bar.

For dinner we stopped by Casey's, which is a baseball themed eatery. It was raining cats and dogs so we were in there for a while eating hot dogs, corn dog nuggets, fries, and drinking sodas. They have mini bleachers to sit on and eat instead of tables. The corn dog nuggets were really addictive.

Next day was a trip to Animal Kingdom! It is the newest Disney park and is really quite stunning. My favorite ride was where you're inside a truck and are driving past all of the animals while on Safari. Oh yeah, and the Everest Mountain roller coaster was really cool with the Yeti theme.

For lunch the bf's bro got us food (sorry don't know where from, but I think it's Flame Tree BBQ). Anyway, it was in the Mickey's Campground section of the park. It was really delicious and it wasn't just hot dogs and burgers this time! We had orzo pasta, mac & cheese, rotisserie chicken and green beans with a brownie for dessert.

The day after that we went to Epcot, which happens to be my favorite park. There's a beautiful lake in the middle and really nice recreations of different countries. Throughout the day there are street shows for each of the countries like Chinese Acrobats, Japanese drummers or Belly dancers in Morocco.

For lunch we ate at Yakitori House in Japan. It was quite refreshing to eat something other than ball park food for every meal. I ordered the Japanese Curry, which was spicy and delicious.

I bought some treats in Epcot too. I got these Cola flavored hard candies that fizzle in your mouth in Japan, and Maple Syrup flavored chocolate in Canada.

I'm such a glutton while on vacation. Right before dinner the bf and I got 3 scoops of gelato in Italy, and funnel cake and fried ice cream in the US. It was all really good and well worth the money!

For dinner we ate at a real restaurant in China called Nine Dragons. It was to celebrate the bf's June birthday and his dad's May birthday. The restaurant was the most expensive out of all of the places we've eaten during the whole trip. It was like $17-25 per entree, where as all the other places were under $10 per item. The food was good, and they brought out some Ginger Cake with candles for their birthdays.

Our last day we went to Hollywood Studios. I think this used to be called MGM Studios. It had my ultimate favorite ride there- Tower of Terror! It is also the smallest of the parks, but they had fun rides and lots of shows to watch.

For lunch we bought some pulled pork sandwiches, pizza and chicken ceasar salad. The pulled pork was awesome and it was right across from the Beauty and the Beast show.

I got a lot of snacks here too including the best popcorn I've ever had! Probably because it was covered in butter. Then I shared a Fanta slurpee in Banana with the bf.

On one of the rainy nights we took a ferry over to Downtown Disney to check it out. It was really beautiful from the water with all of the colorful lights on the shops. They have a ton of restaurants, stores and some bars. We didn't really get to enjoy it that much since it was thunder storming, but it was fun while we were there.

My favorite store was the candy store where I had the option of personalizing a rice crispy treat! It was a Mickey head on a stick, dipped in white chocolate and covered in Oreo pieces. Heavenly!

Disney World was a good time despite the weather. Food was expensive, but that's expected. The lines for certain rides were around an hour long, but they have a Fast Pass where you retrieve a ticket that tells you when to come back and hop into a special line. It prevents you from wasting time in line. Great idea!
There is food tempting you everywhere with smells, pictures, and just seeing everyone else eating. It's hard to get away from, so I didn't and enjoyed myself!

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