Episode 6: The Happiest Place on Earth?
October 2024
My husband and I both have our individual memories of Disney World, from when we were kids. It was certainly different (way) back then. There were fewer parks, and fewer rides, and more characters walking around. And Disney certainly wasn’t a multi-day extravaganza full of on-site lodging, park hopping, and smoldering life savings either. For both of us, our parents drove us to Disney World from some much more reasonably priced city, location, or hotel; we spent a full day waiting in lines for rides and begging our parents for those souvenirs we probably wouldn’t end up getting, before hopping in the car and going back to wherever we came from. But it was magical for us, nonetheless.
We had taken our sons to Disney World twice, previously. The first time, when they were almost 3, a close friend invited us to join her with her family. At younger than 3 our kids were free, and we were eager to make some memories even if our kids might not remember them, so we jumped at it. It was September and scaldingly hot and humid, and the kids were too small to ride most of the rides, but they loved it. We found out that it is a horrible idea to try to potty train your kid(s) when you’re going to spend days at a park without immediate access to a bathroom, but unfortunately for us that was a lesson that we’d never get to learn from. In spite of that, we loved the smiles on their faces, the time with our friends, and the wine at Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival. When those same friends invited us to go again at the end of 2019, we were on board immediately. The kids were more involved in picking out rides, and again had a fantastic time. Then Covid happened, things got weird, and we weren’t sure if we’d ever make it back to Disney again (either because the park experience might have permanently changed, or our kids might age out of it before things normalized, or we might have tired of lighting our hard earned dollars on fire.)
But, in a stroke of good fortune, another great friend who is also a wonderful patient of Texas Dental Specialists told us that their family was going to go to Disney World in October, and asked if we wanted to join them. Without a moment’s thought, we were in. They are a fantastic family, and our time together is always full of constant laughter, so it was a no-brainer.
We flew United from Houston to Orlando, and in a very pleasant surprise, everything was on time and simple. After landing, we made a stop at the Publix grocery store on the way to the hotel to pick up breakfast food, water, and snacks. And we had a quick dinner at the hotel café, because we wanted to get up early the next morning to hit the good rides at Animal Kingdom.
On the first morning, we woke up at 6:30am to get into the early/resort guest line at the park. As soon as the gates opened, we rushed to the Avatar ride. The “2.5 hour”, “1.5 hour”, and “0.5 hour” wait time markers didn’t escape our notice as we hustled through the maze, thankful that we’d argued the kids out of bed that morning. The 4 minute ride was one of our favorites of the trip, though I don’t know if I’d have said the same thing if we’d had to wait 150 minutes to enjoy it. Avatar was followed by the Kilimanjaro Sarari, Everest (after a breakdown got repaired), the Kali River Rapid ride, and Dinoland (which all of the kids loved, and we rode repeatedly because there was no line). It was at about this time that, in spite of a 10% chance of rain for the day, the sky opened up, and a deluge of rain started falling on us. We had thankfully ignored the weather report and packed rain jackets and ponchos, but were soaked to the bone in a matter of minutes, regardless. We made the decision to jump on a bus and head to Epcot (and the comfort of Food and Wine Festival). The rain (which still hadn’t let up when we arrived at Epcot) seemingly scared people away, so we were able to ride Guardians of the Galaxy, and Mission Space, with almost no lines. Which made me secretly hopeful that it would rain every day. Alas, the rain stopped shortly after, and while we spent the rest of the night damp, we got to enjoy the food and the wine at the Festival away from raindrops.
My husband and I both have our individual memories of Disney World, from when we were kids. It was certainly different (way) back then. There were fewer parks, and fewer rides, and more characters walking around. And Disney certainly wasn’t a multi-day extravaganza full of on-site lodging, park hopping, and smoldering life savings either. For both of us, our parents drove us to Disney World from some much more reasonably priced city, location, or hotel; we spent a full day waiting in lines for rides and begging our parents for those souvenirs we probably wouldn’t end up getting, before hopping in the car and going back to wherever we came from. But it was magical for us, nonetheless.
We had taken our sons to Disney World twice, previously. The first time, when they were almost 3, a close friend invited us to join her with her family. At younger than 3 our kids were free, and we were eager to make some memories even if our kids might not remember them, so we jumped at it. It was September and scaldingly hot and humid, and the kids were too small to ride most of the rides, but they loved it. We found out that it is a horrible idea to try to potty train your kid(s) when you’re going to spend days at a park without immediate access to a bathroom, but unfortunately for us that was a lesson that we’d never get to learn from. In spite of that, we loved the smiles on their faces, the time with our friends, and the wine at Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival. When those same friends invited us to go again at the end of 2019, we were on board immediately. The kids were more involved in picking out rides, and again had a fantastic time. Then Covid happened, things got weird, and we weren’t sure if we’d ever make it back to Disney again (either because the park experience might have permanently changed, or our kids might age out of it before things normalized, or we might have tired of lighting our hard earned dollars on fire.)
But, in a stroke of good fortune, another great friend who is also a wonderful patient of Texas Dental Specialists told us that their family was going to go to Disney World in October, and asked if we wanted to join them. Without a moment’s thought, we were in. They are a fantastic family, and our time together is always full of constant laughter, so it was a no-brainer.
We flew United from Houston to Orlando, and in a very pleasant surprise, everything was on time and simple. After landing, we made a stop at the Publix grocery store on the way to the hotel to pick up breakfast food, water, and snacks. And we had a quick dinner at the hotel café, because we wanted to get up early the next morning to hit the good rides at Animal Kingdom.
On the first morning, we woke up at 6:30am to get into the early/resort guest line at the park. As soon as the gates opened, we rushed to the Avatar ride. The “2.5 hour”, “1.5 hour”, and “0.5 hour” wait time markers didn’t escape our notice as we hustled through the maze, thankful that we’d argued the kids out of bed that morning. The 4 minute ride was one of our favorites of the trip, though I don’t know if I’d have said the same thing if we’d had to wait 150 minutes to enjoy it. Avatar was followed by the Kilimanjaro Sarari, Everest (after a breakdown got repaired), the Kali River Rapid ride, and Dinoland (which all of the kids loved, and we rode repeatedly because there was no line). It was at about this time that, in spite of a 10% chance of rain for the day, the sky opened up, and a deluge of rain started falling on us. We had thankfully ignored the weather report and packed rain jackets and ponchos, but were soaked to the bone in a matter of minutes, regardless. We made the decision to jump on a bus and head to Epcot (and the comfort of Food and Wine Festival). The rain (which still hadn’t let up when we arrived at Epcot) seemingly scared people away, so we were able to ride Guardians of the Galaxy, and Mission Space, with almost no lines. Which made me secretly hopeful that it would rain every day. Alas, the rain stopped shortly after, and while we spent the rest of the night damp, we got to enjoy the food and the wine at the Festival away from raindrops
On day 2, we did something I didn’t think we’d ever do, and that we may never do again, but that was as amazingly worth it as I could have imagined. We bit the bullet, and our group decided to do the VIP experience at Universal Studios. While it isn’t a Disney property, it has absolutely amazing rides of all types. For those who don’t know, the VIP experience is an obscenely expensive option for groups of up to 10 people at most of these parks, in which you have a guide for the day who shepherds you to the front of the line for any ride you’d like to do, as many times as you’d like to do it. At some of the Disney parks, they get you into the Lighting Pass lanes for the rides, but you still have to wait behind everyone already in the line with Lightning Passes. At Universal, though, they walk you up the “Exit” lane, and you wait for no one. Ever. It was as hedonistic an experience as one could have at a family theme park; and all of us, kids and adults, reveled in it. We rode more rides than I can count, more times than I can count, and the favorite for the whole group was Hagrid’s Sidecar, which we rode 4 times in a row. Honestly, the whole Harry Potter portion of both halves of the Universal Studios park were an experience in themselves. Don’t miss the butterbeer if you get thirsty. We closed the day with dinner at the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. I’m sure the kids would have enjoyed all of the absolutely massive and delicious desserts if they hadn’t all fallen asleep at the table.
Day 3 was all Disney, all the time. We rode all of the rides at Magic Kingdom that we grew up with, plus Tron, which at least one of our kids was simultaneously terrified of, and demanding of waiting in line to do it again; and then we hopped over to Hollywood Studios for Star Wars, the Toy Story rides, Tower of Terror, and the Rock n’ Roller Coaster. Always accompanied by long lines, Mickey pretzels, and smiling kids. The only thing I would have done differently would have been to do the VIP Experience last, so that we didn’t spend all of Day 3 hearing various renditions of, “Why do we have to wait in this line”. We decided to close our last night the way we started, at Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival. I couldn’t recommend it more; I’m not a buffet person, so I’ll happily eat reasonably priced lamb chops from New Zealand, dumplings from China, and flautas barbacoas from Mexico, over tins of stewed meat and vegetables at a Character Dinner. And the night always ends with a fireworks show, which I probably enjoy more than the kids do.
On our last day, my husband had to leave early for a conference in Arizona, so the rest of us spent another rainy yet crowdless day at Magic Kingdom, making additional no-lines rounds on Tron, Space Mountain, and Buzz Lightyear, among other rides. Honestly, if there was a way to plan Disney trips around non-ideal weather, I’d do it every time! To be able to jump on and off of the rides of our choice, and to rarely have to stand in lines for any of them, is unlike any other Disney experience I’ve ever had. After a few hours soaking in our last bit of fun, we caught a ride back to the Orlando airport for another thankfully uneventful flight home to Houston.