Day 1 - Disney Springs & Walt disney world Dolphin Hotel
Shopping at Disney Springs
Since we arrived to Orlando early in the morning, we took our first day easy and started it with a quick 2 hour nap in our hotel room and then headed over to Disney Springs, the Downtown Disney of Walt Disney World. We enjoyed walking around and seeing the Christmas decorations, but the highlight was visiting a gluten free, vegan bakery in which we bought a bunch of baked goodies that we enjoyed the rest of the week :)
Hotel Hangs at the pool with a Rocket launch view
We spent the rest of the day in and out of the pool feeling like kids again as we splashed around, rode down the water slide several times, and did handstands in the water. Later that night, we went down to the beach by the pool and watched the rocket launch of the NASA SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts who were heading to the International Space Station for a 6 month science mission. The launch lit up the night sky with a burnt orange color!
Day 2 - Disney’s Boardwalk & Epcot
A Stroll on the Boardwalk
The first of the four Disney World parks we visited was Epcot. On our way to the park from our hotel, we walked on the Disney Boardwalk and took some pictures of the scenery and our matching temporary tattoos we got the day before at Disney Springs. It was a nice walk with not that many people around.
11 countries in one day at Epcot
It was a treat traveling to 11 countries in one day at the World Showcase at Epcot! We first stopped by the Future World section of Epcot where we experienced the second largest aquarium in the US. After visiting that section of the park, we walked around the World Showcase and admired all the details of the featured countries. Some of the highlights were seeing the inside of the Mexico pavilion pyramid modeled after an Aztec temple, riding the new Frozen ride in Norway, seeing different artists at work throughout the park, eating a caramel apple from the Karamell-Kuche shop in Germany, eating the yummiest nachos I’ve ever had at the La Cantina de San Angel in Mexico, and dancing on the way back to our hotel.
Day 3 - Disney’s Hollywood Studios
We were brought back home to southern California as we spent our third day at the Disney’s Hollywood Studios park. It was filled with beautiful and creative Christmas decorations that I particularly enjoyed seeing lit up at night with a nice cup of hot chocolate in hand. Highlights were walking around Galaxy’s Edge; going on rides, like Rise of the Resistance and Hollywood Tower of Terror; and taking the Skyline back to our hotel.
Day 4 & 5 - Magic Kingdom
We spent a couple of days at the Magic Kingdom, the Disneyland of Walt Disney World. We fell in love with the Christmas decorations and couldn’t help but reminisce about the times we went to Disneyland while growing up as kids. Highlights were going on nostalgic rides, like Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain; visiting the Tangled section of the park and eating gluten free pizza across from it while it was all lit up at night; getting a silhouette portrait done of myself; and watching Cinderella’s Castle transform into a festive one at night.
Day 6 - Disney’s Animal Kingdom
On our last day, we made some new friends with four legs at Animal Kingdom! Within seconds of walking into the park, we new this place was special and pretty soon marked it as our favorite Disney World park. Highlights were walking around Pandora, riding Kilimanjaro Safaris (which we rode twice and would have ridden more if I didn’t get car sick during the second trip!), visiting the animal habitats, and going on Expedition Everest.
Bloopers
Just a little extra fun from our week at Walt Disney World.
