Disney World - The most magical place on earth. And it truly is that. Three whole weeks spent roaming around theme parks, eating lots of delicious food, riding rollercoasters and meeting Disney characters.
I've been to Disney plenty of times before, but going to Florida from New Zealand for the first time was interesting. Instead of a 9 hour flight from the UK, it took pretty much a whole day. A 13 hour flight to Houston, followed by another 3 hours to Orlando, arriving after 8pm. It was straight to the hotel to get some food and sleep. Although in fairness, we all knew that was never going to happen. This was the first time staying in a Disney World Resort! Having that Disney magic start as soon as we checked in, rather than waiting for the first theme park day - amazing.
Port Orleans French Quarter - my new favourite place. With seven separate buildings, it was like a little complex to live in rather than a giant hotel. With a swimming pool right at the heart and river running behind where you could catch a boat to Disney Springs. Gone are the holidays where family holidays meant we had one room between four of us and someone was lumped with a blow up mattress on the floor for a week. We had two rooms and plenty of space. Walking in and having our name up on the TV, little Mickey Mouse shaped things and such a nice room was perfect after a long journey.
But of course it's not all about the resort - it's about the theme parks. First up was Hollywood Studios! Disney still has their park reservation system going, so we had to book our theme park days months in advance. Tower of Terror had to be the first ride of the holiday - for anyone who doesn't know, it's my all time favourite. Couldn't even tell you why, it just holds a special place in my heart. So naturally as soon as I got off the ride, I bought a pair of Mickey Ears based on the HTH.
Rock n Roller coaster then has to be next on the list of rides, followed by Mickeys Runaway Rail Road. I've never ridden Mickeys RRR before, this holiday was the first time and wow - I am in love with it. Got myself the matching loungefly purse and bag just to remember it.
Hollywood Studios has something else major that I've never done before - Galaxy's Edge. Star Wars fans will freak out when they see this land in person. And if you're in Galaxy's Edge, you have to try the famous blue and green milk (which is plant based). Sorry green milk, but I have to agree with the internet - blue wins. I definitely had it quite a few more times over the holiday.
Then there's the ride everyone wants to be on. Rise of the Resistance made me feel right in the heart of Star Wars - I was a rebel running for my life. But of course that wasn't the only new ride that I tried out this holiday.
On to Epcot where Guardians of the Galaxy was awaiting. I had heard a lot about this ride, so my expectations were up there. It did not disappoint. I came off the ride both times, with tears streaming from my eyes from the speed of the coaster. It's in a whole new world of its own. Epcot finally has a competitor for big rides (besides the timeless Test Track).
Heading to Animal Kingdom, I had never ridden Flights of Passage. Please don't hate me, but after all this time, I don't understand the hype. It was an awesome ride, don't get me wrong. But the fact that its been around for five years now and still has the longest wait times, I don't think it's worth it. I'd rather catch a few more rides on Expedition Everest.
The newest things in Magic Kingdom for us this year - was nothing. We had done everything in previous holidays, so we decided since we were staying on property and didn't have to worry about buses, we could try out the parties! Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party and then Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party. Both were amazing but for different reasons. You get characters coming out that you don't normally see, like Stitch in his Elvis outfit! There were additions to some of the rides like Pirates of the Carribbean having live actors and Space Mountain being in complete darkness. I have to say, that was my favourite way to ride Space Mountain so far. There was also new shows and parades for you to check out, a fireworks dispaly with Jack Skellington narrating on stage for Halloween. Everyone was dressed up for Halloween and honestly - I didn't. I couldn't figure out what to do, but I went and bought a new dress with cinderella symbols all over it and wore it with my gold Pirates of the Carribbean ears. Good enough, right?
Of course you have to trick or treat for Halloween, so we got these really cute candy bags (I didn't, mine sucked because I had the allergy friendly bag, but my dad was nice enough to give me his after as a souvenir). Then you just wander the theme park, get to a candy stop and they give you handfuls of whatever they have. They've got so much of it, by the end of the night you'll get two handfuls so they can get rid of it all. We ended up with a lot of stuff, which shockingly enough, didn't get finished by the end of the holiday. I got the allergy friendly since I'm vegan, so got a token at each stop instead. You then hand in all your tokens at the end of the night, they ask your allergy and pile stuff in to your bag, so you're not left without.
For the Christmas party, you get snack stops instead! You got apple cider, eggnog or hot chocolate depending on the stop, along with a sugar cookie. I got just the apple cider to drink as a vegan, but they did have allergy friendly bags of mini cookies at each stop. They were so nice, I got extras and took them back as snacks for the flight home (we did the Christmas Party on our last night).
Of course the other thing with this holiday was food - food is always a must whilst you're on holiday and Disney is no exception to that rule. This was the first year I was a vegan in Disney, so I wasn't sure how much variety I would get. Disney is doing plant based right though! Everything plant based is clearly marked on menus, most places have something to offer and I definitely did not feel left out. We ate at quite a few sit down restaurants whislt there, a lot of which were all you can eat skillets brought to your table. All of them had a plant based option, which as the only vegan in my family, meant I got my own personal skillet each time. We tried out Ohana's, Tusker House and Liberty Tree Tavern. Ohana's was the winner in my book! Their noodles, sausages and brocollini were to die for. Tusker house's impossible curry was second place, closely followed by my meatloaf dinner from LTT. Steakhouse 71 in the Contemporary Resort also had an amazing vegetable wellington on offer for vegans and their onion rings to start were delicious.
But if you're really interested in food and just like me, want to pick at everything, then Epcot's Food and Wine Festival was where it's at. We wandered and ate for an entire half of two days whilst there. My favourites were the Impossible Meatballs, the Chilli Mac n Cheese and the Polenta Fries. For dessert, you have to head to Norway and get the Kringla. I am obsessed and want another one right now - the chocolate one of course.
We were at Disney this year whilst it was unbelievably busy for the half marathon one weekend, then during tropical storm Nicole. The day before the storm was due to hit, there was just heavy rain all day. The parents survived until about 1pm at Epcot, at which point they went home and my brother and I headed to Hollywood Studios. It was the second last day of our holiday and we weren't about to spend it in a hotel room. Turns out everyone else is just as crazy as we are, because the park was still heaving with people. We got in about another 5 rides and half a show, including our third time on Rise of the Resistance. It was one of the best afternoons we had, just running from place to place in the rain. After all, a rainy day in Disney is better than a day anywhere else.
There were a couple of new rides at Universal as well - Velocicoaster and Hagrids. Loved them both! Hagrids queue was as long as people say, but we only waited the full length once when we rode it without my mum. With her wheelchair pass, we got to skip half the queue the rest of the time - silver lining to everything. Velocicoaster was without a doubt, the best rollercoaster I have ever been on anywhere. The fact that it doesn't have an overhead restraint is a real bonus for me - I hate them. A lap bar and all the corkscrews, quick turns, big drops and acceleration points, whilst running away from Velociraptors. What's not to love?
The one thing I would mark down Universal Studios for compared to Disney, is their plant based food. It wasn't as good, it wasn't widely available and it made life a little harder. The bolognese from Louis' and the Crepe from the Central Park stand were the absolute stand outs. Citywalk had a little more, with the vegan sandwich from the Bread Box and of course donuts from Voodoo being the favourites.
This holiday was a once in a lifetime experience. I've been to Disney before, plenty of times. I worked there for a bit during University. But this was a whole new level with extra magic hours, less time spent travelling each day, not worrying about how much to spend on things. It was also the first time I've been to a country that wasn't Australia or New Zealand in the last three years. Travelling has been hard to do these past couple of years, but this just reignited my love for it.
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