Disney World Parks

During our first trip to Disney World we only went to the four main parks. Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios. We did not go to the two water parks or Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney is not a park, you don't have to have tickets to go there. I would have liked to have gone there but we just ran out of time. We will go there for sure on our next trip.

Our favorite park was the Magic Kingdom. Probably because it had the most stuff that Emme Claire could enjoy. The princess castle is there. The Dumbo flying elephant ride, Aladdin's magic carpet ride, The Haunted Mansion ride, the People Mover ride, Buzz Lightyear ride, there was a fun jungle boat ride, It's a Small World ride, Peter Pan's Flight ride, Winnie the Pooh ride and I'm sure I'm leaving out a few others. The Crystal Palace restaurant and Cinderella's Royal Table are also there. As well as the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, which is where you take your little princess (age 3 and up) to get their princess makeover! Unfortunately Emme isn't old enough to do that yet but I look forward to the day that she is old enough. She will LOVE that experience!!! Since this was our favorite park we spent two full days plus one evening there.

One very important tip I have for you in reguards to rides is to use the Fastpass! This saved us so much time! During our whole trip we never waited more than 10 or 15 minutes to get on a ride. If a ride had a Fastpass then we got it. They are free and I believe they are available to everyone. I really don't know why so many people don't use it. There was a 80 minute wait in the standby line for the Toy Story ride but with our Fastpass tickets we only waited about 10 minutes!

Animal Kingdom was a great park too. It of course has lots of live animals. We took a safari jungle tour that was cool. We watched the Finding Nemo show which was amazing!!! Don't skip that! They have this huge tree that has animals craved into it right in the center when you first enter the park, I think it's called the Tree of Life or something. It's pretty awesome! There is also a walk through safari area that is neat. We got to see a baby Gorilla there and it was so cute. And we really enjoyed the parade in this park.

Hollywood Studios was a fun park. We LOVED the Toy Story ride! It was so fun!!! Probably my favorite ride of all the ones we went on during the trip! Next time we go I think we'll try to ride it more than once. They have the Little Mermaid show which was pretty good. We saw the Muppet 3D show and it was cute. Also the Indiana Jones stunt show which was great! We went on the Backlot Tour which was neat. We will definitely go back to this park on our next trip!

Epcot was probably my least favorite park because there wasn't as much for Emme Claire to do there. But maybe when Emme is older we will enjoy it more. Epcot is broken into two parts. Future World which we enjoyed because they have The Seas building where the Nemo ride is. Also the Spaceship Earth ride is fun. There is a race car ride there too but we didn't do it because Emme was too small. World Showcase is the part where you walk through all the different countries and I don't know if it was partly because we were tired but we didn't enjoy it as much as I though we would. We rode two boat rides, one in Mexico and one in Norway. If we go back to Epcot on our next trip we will probably just do Future World.

Here are some pics from our day at Hollywood Studios.

These character pics were taken at our breakfast at Hollywood & Vine.
Emme met Leo from The Little Einsteins.


And June from The Little Einsteins. She liked June's jewelry.


Emme loved Special Agent OSO's watch and badge thing.


We met Handy Manny!


She gave Manny a kiss!


She also got to meet Jessie from Toy Story and loved Jessie's hat and belt buckle! I've been trying to find her that costume to play dress up in. I couldn't believe they didn't have a Jessie costume at Disney World.






While we were waiting for the parade to start these dressed up ladies were entertaining the crowd. One of the ladies spotted Emme Claire and she asked Emme to come out and walk the red carpet because she was so cute and dressed so stylish! lol Emme started to walk out there but then got shy and turned back around towards me. So I had to hold her hand and help her walk the red carpet.






Trying on her Minnie Mouse ears! We had her name monogrammed on the back of them. She'll get to wear them for years to come!


Emme met Sulley and Mike from Monsters Inc. She wasn't afraid of them which kind of surprised me. She even gave Sulley a kiss.




Emme loved watching the girl hoola hoop. She didn't want to go inside the restaurant because she didn't want to leave the hoola hoop girl.


Emme even got a chance to hoola hoop herself!

Disney World Restaurant Reviews and Info

I thought I would share with you some info about the places we ate and what we thought about them. There are a lot of restaurants in Disney World and so this is just a list of the places we ate at.

Our first night at Disney World we ate at Cinderella’s Royal Table. This is located inside the Magic Kingdom in the castle. You have to make reservations for this meal far in advance as it is one of the most popular dinners there, possibly the most popular one. We made our reservation about 2 months in advance and the only reason we were able to get them that close is because it was a slow season for Disney World because it was the end of January and kids were in school. If you do this meal I highly suggest you bring a princess dress for your daughters to wear because every other little girl will be in their favorite princesses costumes. You can also buy these dresses at Disney World, they are sold everywhere in the parks and the hotels. Emme Claire was dressed as Rapunzel, I bought her dress at the Disney Store in The Woodlands Mall back in November. She looked adorable in it!!! Dress code is casual but I wouldn’t go looking slouchy. I believe the princesses change from time to time so you won’t know exactly who you will see but you will definitely see Cinderella. She is outside the restaurant doing a meet and greet and taking photos with you before you enter. Emme LOVED her!!! She didn’t want to leave her side. Inside the restaurant we met Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Ariel and Snow White. You go sit down and begin ordering your food as the princesses are making their way around the room. They each stop by your table to visit and take photos with you while you are having dinner. We personally love all the character meals because it is the easiest and fastest way to meet the characters. Plus you are killing two birds with one stone. Food and characters at the same time instead of just eating and then having to stand in line at multiple places in the parks to meet the characters. We did one character meal everyday and I think we will do that again the next time we go. Actually we might do more than one character meal a day somedays. As far as the food goes, it wasn’t bad but it was far from the best meal I’ve ever had. Brian and I knew before we went that you don’t go to Disney World for fabulous food, you are going to have fun! Which we did have a lot of FUN! And maybe you might get a good meal here or there if you are lucky. So we weren’t very disappointed when the food wasn’t great. Almost forgot, during the meal they bring you a print of the photo of your child with Cinderella that was taken before you came in. It’s a set of maybe a 5x7 and four 4x6’s plus a photo of the castle. These photos are included with the price of your meal. Some of the other restaurants with character meals (1900 Park Fare and Chef Mickey's) also took your picture before going in but those pics were not included in the price of the meal and to buy them was about $30. This restaurant is more expensive than the average place in Disney. All the restaurants we went to were fairly expensive though, which is to be expected for a theme park. We had purchased the Deluxe Dining Plan and to each here it takes 2 meal points per person instead of one point.

The next morning we had breakfast at Chef Mickey’s inside the Contemporary Resort. This was a breakfast buffet. The characters were Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald. They each came by our table while we ate breakfast. Emme Claire loved this breakfast because she loves all the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters so much. I highly suggest doing this character meal if your child also loves Mickey and friends. The food was good. We found that all the breakfasts we had were good because the food is generally the same traditional stuff you are used to. Bacon, eggs, biscuits, pancakes, fruit etc. We enjoyed it. Emme wore a dress I made her that was very similar to Minnie Mouse’s dress. She looked so cute! Advance reservations are a must here as well.

We spent our first full day at Animal Kingdom and I did not make reservations for lunch that day. I figured we would just grab something somewhere in the park. We ended up eating at Tusker House and it was a lunch buffet. It was good but not great. Due to the time of year we went the park wasn’t very busy and we were able to get a table right away with very little wait.

That night we ate dinner at O’hana in the Polynesian Resort. This restaurant is similar to a buffet but they bring the food to you. They bring big bowls of salad and side dishes to your table to share family style and then men walk around with different meats that have been grilled on skewers, like chicken, pork, steak and shrimp. Sort of the way they do it at a Brazilian restaurant, if you have even been to one of those. The food was pretty good here. The atmosphere was nice. There was a Hawaiian lady entering the crowd and she had the young kids up doing the limbo and other games. We had a good time here and Emme got two flower lei’s given to her before we left. This is a popular restaurant so I suggest making reservations as soon as possible. We made ours about 2 months in advance.

The next morning we slept late and skipped breakfast. We went to Magic Kingdom and had another character meal for lunch. This time at The Crystal Palace with Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore and Piglet. Emme loves those characters because one of her favorite cartoons is My Friends Tigger and Pooh. This was a lunch buffet and the characters all came by our table during our meal. The buffet was pretty good but again it wasn’t outstanding. You must also make advance reservations for this restaurant.

Friday night we had dinner at The Plaza Restaurant inside Magic Kingdom. We had reservations here that I made only about a week in advance. The food was pretty good. They had sandwiches, burgers, salads etc. You might be able to get in here without a reservation but you might have to wait a while.

Saturday morning we had a character buffet breakfast at our hotel the Grand Floridian Resort in the restaurant 1900 Park Fare. The characters were Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter, Pooh and Tigger. Emme liked everyone except the Mad Hatter, he had a weird looking nose and she just looked at him and started waving and saying “Bye! Bye!” lol This was a really good breakfast with traditional breakfast choices. We made these reservations 2 months in advance but I would suggest making them as early as possible.

We spent Saturday at Epcot and had lunch at the Coral Reef restaurant which is in Future World inside the Nemo building. I booked this restaurant because I figured they served seafood which we really hadn’t had yet. Plus there is a huge aquarium in the restaurant and it said online that sometimes you will see divers in the water which I thought would be neat. Well, it would have been neat if they hadn’t seated us at the back of the restaurant. Brian and I could see the water okay because the tables are elevated like a movie theater but Emme couldn’t see it and that aggravated me. Also the menu didn’t have much seafood on it. I ended up ordering pork tenderloin. Go figure! The food was not bad but the waitress we had could have been friendlier. She was only one of a couple of employees that we had interaction with on vacation who were not spreading the Disney spirit. I would say 95% of the employees at Disney are super friendly and helpful. I guess there are always going be a few bad eggs. Haha! We had reservations here but I’m not sure how hard it is to get in. I guess when in doubt make reservations.

Saturday night we ate at Nine Dragons in Epcot China. We had reservations but I think we could have gotten in without them. The food here was very good as long as you like Chinese food, which we do.

Sunday we had another character breakfast buffet. This time in Hollywood Studios at Hollywood & Vine. The characters were June and Leo from The Little Einstein’s, Handy Manny and Special Agent OSO. This breakfast was good also and served traditional breakfast food. The characters and a few cast members did some singing and dancing to entertain the crowd. We enjoyed ourselves. We made reservations here 2 months in advance.

For dinner we ate at 50’s Prime Time Café inside Hollywood Studios. This was a very good meal! I had the pot roast with mashed potatoes and gravy and it was wonderful! The waiter we had was great too! The restaurant was decorated like a house in the 50’s so it was really cute. We made reservations for this 2 months in advance.

Monday morning we ate breakfast (not buffet) at a restaurant in our hotel called the Grand Floridian Cafe. We did not have reservations and had no trouble getting in. The food was excellent!!!

Monday for lunch we just snacked on stuff in the Magic Kingdom and that evening when we went back to our hotel we ate at the Grand Floridian Cafe again and again it was a great meal!

Main thing I can say is if you are wanting character meals book those as soon as you can. And try to plan your meals around the parks you will be at. I had to switch around some of my ressies so that it would be more convenient. For example, you don't want to have breakfast in Magic Kingdom, lunch in Animal Kingdom and dinner in Magic Kingdom. You would spend too much time traveling from park to park.

Loving the new year!!!

January has been pretty busy so far. But then every month in our life is busy!!! After New Year's we spent a couple of weeks at our house in The Woodlands and we just got back from there yesterday. Even though it can be tiresome having to drive back and forth from Louisiana to Texas I'm really glad we are able to do that. It feels like being on vacation when we go to that house. Well, it feels like vacation for me and Emme Claire not so sure about Brian since he is the one working out there. But anyway, maybe I'll start calling it the vacation house. :)

Back to January. I've been planning a vacation for many months now to........ DISNEY WORLD!!! :-) So excited! None of us (me, Brian and Emme Claire) have ever been and we can't wait to get there! I can not wait to see the look on Emme Claire's face and her reactions when she sees all her favorite Disney characters. I know I'm going to cry with happiness when I see the joy it brings her! We leave about a week from now, I'm counting down the day! I have been making some cute Mickey & Minnie inspired clothes for Emme Claire to wear while in the parks. I also got her a pretty Rapunzel dress from the Disney Store to wear when we eat dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table. I also got Emme lots of Minnie Mouse and other Disney character pajamas to sleep in on vacation too! lol Her Aunt Bridget gave her 2 sets of Minnie PJs and then I bought the rest. I'll take a pic of her each night in her Disney P.J.'s. :)
I've had a lot of help from a local lady that helps people plan and book their Disney vacations and she has been a life saver! But even with her help it's a lot of work and lots to think about. I think we finally got all the clothes we need for the trip. Now I need to make a trip to Wal-Mart to stop up on some things like ponchos, blister block, snacks etc. We are staying at the Grand Floridian which I hear is supposed to be the nicest resort in Disney World! Yippee! We are doing five character meals, so I'm sure between that and being in the parks Emme Claire will get to meet all her favorite characters at least once or twice. We decided to fly to FL because we don't think Emme Claire could handle that far of a drive (about 14 hours one way). This will be Emme's first time to fly. The flight isn't very long so I think she will be fine. She will have her own seat so maybe it will help cut down on the wiggles once we get her strapped down in the seatbelt. I will be sure to post lots of pics of the trip when we get back.

A Mickey Mouse dress I made. She will wear this with a white long sleeve shirt and black leggings underneath.


Minnie Mouse shirt and matching ruffle pants. Since the shirt is short sleeve she will either wear a long sleeve shirt under it or a coat over it. I made the pants and I sent the blank shirt and a piece of the fabric to a local lady who does monogramming and appliques and she fixed the cute top up for me. My machine does not do embroidery.


Minnie Mouse dress, shown here on my little model (pic taken at the end of Aug '10). She will wear those black leggings with it and a long sleeve shirt underneath.


Here is a view of the dress not on the model. :)


Also in January I found and booked the venue for Emme Claire's 2nd Birthday Party! It will be in Ruston, LA on April 23rd (her actual birthday). So glad to have that part taken care of. I also decided on the theme. FANCY NANCY!!! It's such a perfect theme for my little posh tot! She loves everything girly, sparkly and shiny! So we will have a Fancy Emme celebration like no other!!! I've already bought tons of party favors for the guests, I can't wait to share those with you all. The girls and boys will be greeted with a makeover turning them into Fancy Girls and Dapper Boys! This will be the most pink and purple lavishly fou fou decorated party you have ever seen! I can't wait to put it all together! It will be a most 'exquisite soiree', as Nancy herself would say. :) Stay tuned for pics of this party later on. And the cake is sure to be fabulous!!!

I haven't even had time to think about an Easter dress for Emme Claire yet and Easter Sunday is the day after Emme's birthday. I need to get on that as soon as we get back from Disney.

Also been thinking about where to take Emme Claire on our 3rd annual family beach vacation. When she was a little over 2 months old we went to Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, AL. Then when she was almost 14 months old we went to the Isle of Palms and Charleston, SC. So this year I'd like to stick with tradition and go to another new beach location but we haven't decided which one. All I know is we need to go after Emme's birthday party is over and before the summer heat gets too bad. I'm thinking we'll have to go in May and maybe during my birthday week would be a great time for it! :) We usually do go on a little trip for my birthday every year so this will work out perfectly!

I hope every one is having a fantastic new year so far!