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We just got back from a trip to Disney World and I thought I would share some of the fun stuff we did. Many of the things we did were new to us, things we’ve never done on our previous trips to Disney World. This is one of the reasons why we love to go back to the Disney Parks every year, you an never do it all in one trip and they are always adding fun new attractions, rides and shows. This trip was a little different than our previous trips, we have always taken the entire family or just my husband and I have had a little getaway. This time however it was just my husband, my son Austin and me.
It may seem weird that we only took one child when we have 5, but this was a special trip. Our son Austin will be leaving in December to serve a 2 year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He will be serving for 2 years in…Paris, France!! (He is just a little excited). Since he will be gone for 2 years we thought it would be great to take a trip just with him so we could spend some quality one on one time together. Actually, I guess that would be two-on-one time.
Our son Levi said “Let me get this straight, you’re taking him to Disney World, because he’s going to France? That doesn’t sound right?” No worries, the other kids will get a chance to take a solo trip with their parents too. We let them choose where they will go on their trip (within reason).
My son Austin is the BIGGEST Disney fan in our family, I had no doubt he would choose a Disney vacation for his trip. He reads books about Walt Disney, Disney Imagineers, Disney Parks and more. He even attends Disney conventions so he can rub elbows with big time Disney Legends like Marty Sklar, Tony Baxter, Tony Anselmo, and Bill Farmer. (If you haven’t heard of any of these people, don’t let my son know…he will be offended). In his free time he also listens to Disney Podcasts. Mousestalgia is is fave if you are looking for a Disneyland Podcast.
We stayed at Disney’s Coronado Springs resort and were able to take advantage of the FREE Disney dining plan that was offered for select resort stays this fall! That was so much fun! I don’t think I would ever pay outright for the dining plan, because it was way more food than we normally eat. Each meal comes with a dessert and a drink, we don’t usually order dessert or even drinks for that matter, we usually stick with water.
The best part, is we got to test out the new Disney MagicBands. I loved the convenience of the MagicBands, they have microchip inside and you can scan your MagicBand to enter your hotel, enter the theme parks, use dining credits, use your Fast Passes and charge items to your room. Everything we needed was on our wrist. Coolest. Thing. Ever. I will have a post explaining all about these cool little devices sometime in the future. They require a post all of their own!
On our first day we headed to the Magic Kingdom. We got to eat lunch at the new Be Our Guest restaurant. The best part, we didn’t have to wait in the long huge crazy line because we were able test out the new Fast Pass for lunch at Be Our Guest (only select guests are offered this opportunity right now). The restaurant is gorgeous, the food was OK. I personally really enjoyed my meal, my husband and son…not as much.
We were able to find Push the talking garbage can. If you have never seen Push before, he is a hoot! He can usually be found somewhere in Tomorrowland, but we found him directly in front of Cinderella Castle just before a parade started. Side note: Do not call Cinderella Castle “Cinderella’s Castle” around a Disney geek, they will clown! They may go into a 10 minute tirade about how the proper title of the castle is in fact Cinderella Castle and not Cinderella’s Castle. Just sayin’ We were even able to figure out how Push was being operated this time, but I won’t share the details. I don’t want to spoil the magic for you.
At the end of the night we got to see Magic to Light Up the Night,a cool show that takes place on the front of Cinderella castle where the “castle is magically refashioned into an enchanted canvas unfurling with spectacular Disney imagery.” The show was stunning! Plus, I always love to see the castle all lit up at Christmastime. Gorgeous!
Please come back tomorrow for part 2, I will be sharing our adventures at Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.
Dalhai says
Congrats to Austin! I am your loyal follower from México City and I am LDS too! Even thought 89% of your entries only apply for US residents I still love your blog and read it 3-4 times a week. I love your free kindle post and disney tips! But the other súper cool coupons and deals you post make me angry, don’t get me wrong, its just that here in México we don’t have such great deals, for example, last weekend we had our “black friday” and the stores’ súper deals were 15% 20% off. WHAT!?!?! Anyway I can’t wait to read tomorrow’s part two!