We’ve got a special guest post from our favorite Disney friends! They recently took a great combined trip to Walt Disney World and a Disney Cruise to celebrate the end of the school year. One of the special events they attended was a Disney Villains After Hours Event at the Magic Kingdom.
After our Christmas cruise was done, we headed back up to Orlando and Hollywood Studios. We noticed it was a bit cool when we got off the ship in Miami. Once we arrived in Orlando, we realized it was a lot colder than we had anticipated. A cold front had moved in between the time we had left on the ship and when we returned. Unfortunately, having come from the Caribbean, we weren’t prepared (or dressed for) cool weather. We didn’t want to let it interfere with our visit to Hollywood Studios, but it definitely helped convince us to spend a shorter amount of time there. We used our three FastPasses that I had setup for the afternoon. We also spent some time in the Star Wars Launch Bay, mainly trying to stay warm. When we headed to Star Tours to use our fast passes, Nancy headed over to the Baseline Tap House, which is in the old Writer’s Stop location, and got a flight of beers and cider.
We planned to spend eight days at the Disney parks before leaving for Miami for our cruise. Because of the time of year, we expected it to be really busy in all the parks. We planned to get in a few rides in the morning by arriving for rope drop, use our FastPasses, then spend a good amount of time enjoying the atmosphere.
Time passed quickly as we waited for our travel day to arrive. The travel itself was actually pretty anti-climatic. The outbound flight for our trip left from Dulles airport. We had arranged for a cab to pick us up at 6:00 am and drop us at Dulles. We dropped our bags off and headed to the TSA Precheck line. We had packed our carry on bags fairly full, mainly because we were sneaking Christmas presents on for our girls. Of course, our carry on bags got pulled aside for additional screening. Luckily, the girls cleared without issue and we shooed them away while TSA looked through the bag. Nancy was able to tell the agent about the gifts and he discreetly searched the bag without revealing to the girls what the presents were. After we reassembled the bags, we were on our way to the gate.
During a recent New Year’s Eve visit to Epcot, we decided to stay at the nearby Walt Disney World Dolphin. Technically, this resort is on Disney property, located between Epcot and Hollywood Studios. The resort is not a Disney hotel though, even though guests get some Disney perks.
During a recent Christmas trip to Walt Disney World, we needed a hotel for two nights. We were returning from a Very Merrytime Christmas Cruise and were planning to visit the parks for three additional days . One of the nights (New Year’s Eve) would be spent at the Walt Disney World Dolphin so we wouldn’t have to drive after the fireworks at midnight.
Since we decided to activate our annual passes for a quick weekend trip in the summer, we decided to book a fall trip as well. We planned to travel during a long school weekend in early November. The girls had an early release on a Friday, plus the next Monday and Tuesday off from school. If we could get down there on Friday, we could have four days in the parks!
We are always looking to save money when visiting Walt Disney World. One of the primary expenses to consider when planning your trip is lodging. Any money saved on lodging can be directed to other expenses or set aside to upgrade your lodging on a future trip. Here are various options for getting your lodging costs down:
