Walt Disney World is the biggest Disney complex in the whole planet. It has four theme parks, two water parks, about a couple of dozen resorts, and a number of other activities that will surely whet your Disney appetite.
Theme parks are our thing so when we went here, we made sure we get to visit all four theme parks and spend one day on each. If you stay at a Disney Hotel Resort, you get to have "Extra Magic Hours" which lets you enter the attractions earlier than the general public. We stayed at All-Star Music Resort which is a budget Disney hotel. Their service is not on par with other more expensive Disney hotels but for the price, it exceeded our expectations. The decorations in the hotel ain't bad either and you still do feel the illusion of being in a fantasy world. The free shuttle to the theme parks and other attractions made it very convenient for us as well. We also bought our 4 parks - 1 park/day ticket from the hotel concierge. There's no discount but they do give you the "Extra Magic Hours" guide. This is very helpful since it makes it easier to plan which theme park you want to visit each day to take advantage of the earlier opening for hotel guests.
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| Hotel front |
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| View from our room |
The price we paid for the hotel was pretty good too thanks to a promotion at the time we went there. Their budget hotels' rates, which includes the three All-Star Resorts, was only 69usd/night. It was also advertised to pretty much every single travel sites so it wasn't hard to find and it was a no-brainer for the price. The 4 parks - 1 park/day ticket was about 250usd/person.
MAGIC KINGDOM
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| Magic Kingdom's icon: Cinderella Castle |
We chose Magic Kingdom for our first day since it is the one with Extra Magic Hour for sunday. It is almost a copy of the Disneyland in California in terms of its rides and it's icon being the castle. Almost all of the classic Disney rides are here including Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, It's a Small World, Peter Pan's Flight, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, and Space Mountain. The more unique rides and attractions are the following:
Hall of Presidents - a show where you get to see an Animatronics version of every US President from George Washington to Barak Obama
Philharmagic - a 4D show of Donald Duck being transported to the world of other Disney characters including Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. This attraction is also in Hong Kong Disneyland
Carousel of Progress - an animatronics show that presents the progress of American homes
Stitch's Great Escape - a round theater show with a plot of Stitch being captured and eventually escaping and jumping off the shoulders of the audience
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor - an interactive comedy show featuring Mike Wazowski and other monster comedians
People Mover - a ride that goes around Tomorrowland including a peek inside Space Mountain
Electrical Parade - a night-time parade full of lighted floats and characters wearing lighted costumes. Pretty much the same concept as "Dream Lights:
Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade"
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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| Animal Kingdom's icon: The Tree of Life |
We were pretty tired after our first day from Magic Kingdom so we wanted a short day for our next park. The Animal Kingdom is only open until 5PM and lucky for us, monday is it's Extra Magic hour day so it was the clear choice. Amongst the four theme parks, this is where we walked the most but didn't really see that much. It's probably because we're really just into theme park rides and this is more of a zoo with rides. We have been to other big zoos and safaris in Asia with a lot more exotic animals so we were really not that thrilled with their display of animals. But if we put ourselves in other person's shoes who haven't been to the zoos we've been, we can see how other people would be excited to see all the exotic animals displayed here. All of the rides and shows featured here are unique except for It's Tough To Be a Bug, which is also featured in Disney's California Adventure, and Festival of the Lion King, which is also played in
Hong Kong Disneyland. The other significant rides and shows are as follows:
Kilimanjaros Safaris - safari ride where you get to see elephants, giraffes, ostrich, lions and other exotic animals
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| Replica of Mount Everest |
Expedition Everest - roller coaster ride featuring a Yeti
Kali River Rapids - raft ride featuring some animal animatronics
DINOSAUR - dark ride featuring animatronic dinosaurs
Flights of Wonder - show of trained exotic birds
Finding Nemo Musical - show featuring the characters from the film of the same name
EPCOT
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Epcot's icon: Geodesic Sphere which
houses the ride "Spaceship Earth" |
It was tuesday and we were set to visit our third park for the third day. Thanks to getting to the hotel the past night because Animal Kingdom closes at 5PM, we had a good amount of rest. We know that there will be more walking in Epcot since Hollywood Studios is a theme park more on shows, we chose to visit Epcot this day. And as a bonus, Extra Magic hour for Epcot is also on tuesdays.
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IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth -
Epcot's fireworks and laser show spectacle |
There are not that many rides in Epcot but the few rides they have are pretty good. The highlight of Epcot for most people are seeing the miniature replicas of popular buildings from around the world and of course the fireworks spectacle at night called "IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth". Just like Animal Kingdom, most of the attractions here in Epcot are unique except for Soarin' which is also in Disney's California Adventure. The other significant attractions are:
Spaceship Earth - a dark ride that goes through significant technological events filled with animatronics
Mission Space - a simulated spaceship ride to mars
Test Track - roller coaster ride
The Seas With Nemo and Friends - a simulated underwater ride featuring characters from the movie "Finding Nemo"
Living with the Land - boat ride that goes thru the Epcot greenhouse
Journey Into Imagination with Figment - a kiddie ride about using our imagination with our senses
Captain EO - 3D movie featuring Michael Jackson as "Captain EO"
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| Soarin - a simulated hand glider ride |
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| The end picture you get after riding "Spaceship Earth" |
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| View of the Geodesic Sphere and its reflection at night |
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
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| Hollywood Studio's Icon: Wizard's Hat |
Our fourth straight day to visit a theme park this wednesday and we were tired. It's a good thing that most of the attractions in Hollywood Studios are shows. This means that we get to walk some and get seated while watching the show so this is a great way to still enjoy and maximize our time in the theme park without getting too tired. The only thing is that wednesday is not an Extra Magic hour day for Hollywood Studios. Still, being able to get that extra hour without the general public from 3 out of the 4 parks was not bad. And we really wanted to visit Hollywood Studios last because we want Fantasmic to be our last attraction as a finale. The other notable attractions on this park are below:
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Chinese Theater which is the entrance to
The Great Movie Ride |
The Great Movie Ride - ride that goes through scenes from classic movies filled with animatronics
Star Tours: The Adventure Continues - spaceship simulation ride through the world of "Star Wars" movie series
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| A scene from Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular |
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular - live stunt and special effects show
Studio Backlot Tour - tram ride with special effects and movie props
Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show - cars, motorcycles and speedboat stunt show. They re-enact vehicle stunts often seen in action movies
Voyage of the Little Mermaid - stage play with lasers and light effects featuring the characters of the movie
Toy Story Midway Mania! - interactive 3D ride where you get to play classic boardwalk shooting games
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - elevator drop ride
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster - roller coaster featuring the band Aerosmith
Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage - stage play with the same storyline of the movie
