Day 4
Thankfully the weather was finally going to be nice for a day. We slept in again and had breakfast in the hotel room. We had to do a quick target run to grab some extra food items we needed and then we headed to Disney Springs for the day. We spent the day walking around and looking in the shops. Teddy rode the little train and carousel and we also grabbed drinks at Dockside Margaritas and listened to the live music. We had an early dinner reservation at Rainforest Cafe. Despite our reservations we waited about 40 minutes to actually be seated. The food here is just fine.. We really went here for Teddy’s enjoyment. I can’t say I would go back again. After Dinner we headed back to the hotel to rest up as tomorrow was our first park day!
Day 5
We were up bright and early for Magic Kingdom! Now, I had been warned that it took some time to get to the actual entrance to the park and that we should plan for about 30 minutes of time to get from parking lots, to the ferry, to the entrance. This really did take quite some time and I had really wished we got ourselves up and out of the hotel sooner. Lesson Learned. I also think if you were not traveling on a school break time this may not be as big of an issue. We had to wait to catch a ferry because of a line on non peak times this may not be the case.
We had a great time at Magic Kingdom but it was absolutely packed! Thankfully we did have genie+ or else the lines would just not have been doable for us with a 19 month old. It was so fun to see the excitement through his eyes. We made it all the way to the fireworks that night! I wasn’t sure if Teddy would be scared of the fireworks so we didn’t bother waiting to get a spot in front of the castle and instead watched them from just in front of the Winnie the Pooh ride. This also gave us a chance to hop on that ride with no wait time right after the fireworks ended. Teddy did actually like them so next time I would plan to actually watch from the front as they have images projected onto the castle and that would have been neat to see! After that we headed home and passed right out.
Day 6
We knew we would need a rest day between parks so we slept in this morning and had a late breakfast in our room before we headed over to the pool. We spent several hours there and just enjoyed the sunshine. We headed back to get ready for a 5:30 dinner reservation at City Works at Disney Springs. This was a great meal, I’d definitely recommend this spot.
We walked around and did a little shopping after dinner and then called it a night! We spent several evenings and a full afternoon at Disney springs and there were parts we did not even get to! I think you could easily make an entire day out of shopping and enjoying the various things there are to do here.
Day 7
Animal kingdom day! Animal kingdom felt like such a breeze to get into after experiencing the Magic Kingdom entrance. You’re able to park and just walk right to the gates. We arrived right at opening and we had a plan in mind! I did purchase Genie+ again and so I was able to secure an early Safari ride with that so we knew we would head straight over to Navi River. The plan works out well as we arrived just in time to beat the line for this ride.
Sadly, our Safari ride got canceled because of a ride issue, however when this happens Disney issues you a freebie lightning lane pass to use any time in your day. So I was able to rebook the safari shortly after our original time with the regular Genie+ and then saved the additional lightening lane for a ride later in the day.
While we waited for our Safari time, we walked through the Gorilla Falls trail. This is a walking trail where you see live animals. Teddy loved this! I think a lot of people skip these because they aren’t “rides” but if you have a kiddo that likes animals/zoos then I wouldn’t miss this trail! We didn’t get to do the Maharajah Jungle Trail and I was bummed about that…next time!
Shortly after this it was our time for Kilimanjaro Safari. This was truly awesome. Now I’ve never been on a real safari so I’m sure it doesn’t compare to that, but I’d say it’s as close as you’ll get. We all loved this one!
Phil and I were able to do a rider swap for Everest, which was awesome and then we headed to Dino land for Lunch. After Lunch I took Teddy over to the Boneyard and Phil rode the Dinosaur ride while we waited for the next showing of Nemo. The Nemo show was good but If I was choosing only one for the day I would definitely pick the Lion King Show over this. Next up was meeting Mickey and Minnie! I did use a lightening lane for this as the line was about 40 minutes and I didn’t think Teddy could wait that long.
After this, We headed over to catch the Lion King show. This show is amazing and I would not miss this during a day at Animal Kingdom. After the show it was getting close to park closing time and we were starting to feel spent. We walked over to Pandora one last time to be able to see all the lights and glowing in the evening and grabbed a Night Blossom drink at Pongu Pongu. Mmmm, this was delish! Then it was time to head home and start packing up as we were flying home the next morning!
And that’s a wrap on our Disney 2024 vacation. We can’t wait to go back again! It truly is a magical place. I really didn’t think Phil would be saying he would want to return after this trip and even he has been saying we should go back. Hah!