When it comes to navigating Disney World’s parks and planning out your day (thus maximizing your time there), I have some tips that you might find helpful. To first time visitors (or those visiting with kids), it may seem a daunting task; yet you’ve overcome greater challenges. Yes, the parks are grand but not as vast as they appear when viewing the map online (like I did). It appeared certain attractions were kilometers away from one another, but that mostly proved to be wrong. I was pleasantly surprised how close in proximity our desired locations actually were, as we walked here and there. This is how our third day at Disney World unfolded.
Allow me to begin by saying, ‘Day 3’ at Disney World was spectacular! On our first day at Disney, we were whisked away to the charming Magic Kingdom, known as the land of the more classic of the Disney tales come to life. It was bustling with starry eyed princess lovers and admirers of Disney royalty (and timeless favorites). Our second park of choice was EPCOT, which invokes a more modern— even futuristic appeal than one of nostalgia for me. I was captivated by the execution and the thoughtful details of sight, sound, and smell that mentally transport guests around the world throughout the World Showcase. Hollywood Studios was the third park we visited — making this our final day at Disney for our 3 day tickets.
If your kids (and/or you) are a fan of Disney’s Cars movies, you are in for a treat at Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy. You’ll be on the edge of your seat! I know I was. I was just as enthusiastic as the younger fans in the room were. I think this is one of Hollywood Studio’s coolest attractions.
My boys love the Toy Story movies, but were a little wary when it came to meeting some of their favorite characters. Toy Story Land is really neat. The longest wait time was about 80 minutes [for the Slinky Dog Dash rollercoaster]. My oldest Christian and husband Joseph rode this one together as their final ride, while the little ones and I enjoyed some treats, took photos and posed with our glow sticks. Then we got seated for the nightly outdoor Wonderful World of Animation show at the Chinese Theater. This show includes fireworks. Christian and Joseph arrived when the first show was midway through and were able to watch the second/last show in its entirety. Some people were standing as they watched and others sat on the ground as we did. It’s not a grassy area but concrete. We were seated on one of the small blankets we packed with us. We were comfortable enough. I would say the shows are about 5-7 minutes long each. On their website, it says the total time is 12 minutes. It was enjoyable. There were a few spooky movie scenes. I knew when to shield the kids’ eyes and they were fine with me doing that. We arrived about 3 minutes until showtime and were some of the first people there. Let’s rewind as I share more about our day!
In a separate blog post, I’ve shared a list of items you might consider packing for your visit.
I love a good outfit change! I made sure the boys got to wear their Disney’s Cars tees and then a quick change into their Buzz Lightyear tees. It’s a simple thing but the kids were thrilled, as if they had transformed into space rangers themselves before entering Toy Story Land.
It was helpful to have our Disney World apps downloaded on our phones. We were able to check show times, estimated wait times for the rides, and use the GPS to walk from one attraction to another without getting lost.
I think I will add more to this post a bit later. Thanks for stopping by!
You can check out my other posts for our Day 1 (Magic Kingdom) and Day 2 (EPCOT) Disney experiences. ✨
Love Travels Fast 