Tag: disney parks

Discovering Disney Springs

manda_faromeiro

While on my most recent trip to Walt Disney World, my friend and I took a day off from the parks to visit the highly anticipated Disney Springs. For those who don’t know, Disney Springs, formally known as Downtown Disney is a massive outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment hub. While there are many Disney themed shops, there are also several other stores not affiliated with Disney whatsoever. There is so much to do and see here, and lots of money to be spent (if you’re not careful) and I will give you a rundown of just how our day was spent discovering Disney Springs.

After 3 long consecutive days at the parks, Saturday was a much-needed sleeping-in day and a day which we needed to simply go at a slower, less scheduled pace. While I mentioned before that I don’t pre-plan a ton of my trip when I go to the parks, with dining reservations and fast passes, you are bound by some sort of time keeping a schedule for part of the day; yet none of that was happening today! We were able to sleep in and get a good rest, and we didn’t head over to Disney Springs until about 1 o’clock in the afternoon.

Our View at Lunch Time

Upon arrival, we headed to D-Luxe Burger restaurant for lunch. This is a coined as a family-friendly spot for burgers and fries in a rustic atmosphere (though there is plenty of outdoor seating overlooking the water and other shops). For about $30 you get two gourmet burgers loaded with toppings, a generously sized fries for sharing, and two beverages. Of course, my friend and I shared this combo. D-Luxe also offers this delicious garlic-mayo for dipping; it was so good! They will cook your burger to your liking whether that is medium rare or well done etc. It was a really gorgeous day, so we definitely took advantage of eating outside; probably the nicest weather of the whole trip, a high of about 24 degrees Celcius.

After lunch, we began to walk about the docks at Disney Springs and check out the shops. Of course, instant favourites of ours were: Market Place Co-Op, Star Wars Galactic Outpost, Disney Pin Traders, Candy Cauldron, World of Disney, Ghiradelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop (yes we snagged some delicious ice cream and free chocolate samples!), Disney Style, and Ever After Jewelry Co. & Accessories. Unfortunately, Saturday was the day where I was feeling ill, and quite frankly, couldn’t really take advantage of all that Disney Springs had to offer because we had to leave a little earlier than we had planned. Nevertheless, we did have great success shopping! I was able to score a fantastic Star Wars sequence jacket & a Loungefly Star Wars bag; I had limited myself to only 2 items for the trip so I was really happy to find these.

There really is so much to do and see at Disney Springs; they have a movie theatre as well as live entertainment, mini golf, and so much more. When the weather is great, it is so easy to spend the whole day roaming the grounds and checking out all the shops and stops. I know that many people take 2 or 3 days out of their trip to explore Disney Springs, and it is easy to see why. Luckily, we were able to return to Disney Springs on the last day of our trip to do a few more things and indulge in Sprinkles Cupcakes! I would say that the shops at Springs offered some items you couldn’t find in the parks, which was nice to see. On that same note, if there was something you saw at the park you absolutely wanted but didn’t get, it is not guaranteed that you will be able to pick it up at Disney Springs. One way to check for sure is to ask a Castmember (Disney World employee) at the park if the item is available anywhere else; they have a handy app that tells them where the items are located. Also, on your My Disney Experience App, under the shopping section, you can look for items by name or franchise and the map will show you what other locations have it. For example, if you absolutely need that Mary Poppins bag, the app will tell you if you can get it at Epcot, Magic Kingdom or Disney Springs. Keep it in mind, next time you’re searching for something but remember that technology isn’t perfect. For example, the app didn’t say that my bag was available at Disney Springs, and it was! So sometimes you gotta roll the dice or take your chances; you may be in for a surprise.

Before you head to Disney Springs, check out their website for a list of all the shops and entertainment events going on. I recommend planning out at least a few of the things you want to see, and getting an idea of where they are located in relevance to each other. For dinner, almost every place requires reservations, so keep this in mind. You can call ahead, or use the Open Table website to look at some available timeslots (if any). Last, but certainly not least, have a budget! It’s so easy to get caught up in everything Disney Springs has to offer, but you don’t want to break the bank doing so!


Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for my next blog on our adventures in the Animal Kingdom.

My Magical Day in the Magic Kingdom

manda_faromeiro

Day 3 of our Disney World vacation landed us at one of the most magical of all Disney Parks; Magic Kingdom. Yes, you probably recognize it from all those glorious castle photos, but my post will share with you many of the wonderful sites and sounds (and smells) that come from spending the day at the Magic Kingdom!

There is so much to do and see at the Magic Kingdom, you want to ensure you get there as early as you can; this might not be rope drop, but getting there before 10 am is ideal. We arrived at 9 a.m, and our first Fast Pass wasn’t until later in the day, so we immediately headed over to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse! For those who don’t know, Mickey turned 90 recently, so he and Minnie are sporting special birthday outfits, and there are special things going on to celebrate his birthday. Ironically, my past few visits to Disney seldom included visiting Mickey Mouse, but this time we simply had to go do a character greeting. We were told from many people that this was the most anticipated character greeting in the kingdom so we would be waiting awhile; yep – the line was already an hour wait at 9 am. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find that once inside, we only waited 35 minutes! What a fabulous way to start off a magical day.

Celebration Mickey and Minnie Character Greeting

After saying goodbye to Mickey and Minnie, we made our way up Main Street, ran into Mary Poppins while listening to the quartet welcome everyone to the park, getting a whiff of delicious candy and baked goods, oh and snapping a few pictures in front of the castle. We headed over to tour the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, rode Aladdin’s Magic Carpets, and finally got to ride Big Thunder Mountain (the ride was closed for refurbishments my last 2 visits!). I must say, Big Thunder Mountain is a wicked ride; we were able to use a Fast Pass here but I would have gladly waited in line for it – it was a lot of fun! Before our next Fast Pass at the Haunted Mansion, we zipped over to Gaston’s Tavern to indulge in a decadent cinnamon roll that we paired with LeFou’s Brew; frozen apple juice with hints of marshmallow, topped with a creamy passion-fruit froth. Honestly, I could have had 2 or 3 of these they were so crisp and refreshing; we even had a few people stop us as we were walking back towards the Haunted Mansion what it was we were sipping. After using our Fast Passes for the Haunted Mansion, it was time for lunch.

Landing a reservation at Be Our Guest restaurant used to be next to impossible; the restaurant is right inside the Beast’s castle and during dinner service, the Beast will actually come out to see guests. Recently, they changed Be Our Guest lunch service to a quick service, which means that dining here doesn’t have to take up a lot of time, but it also allows for more guests to be able to eat inside the castle. We were able to snag lunch reservations, and while there were no characters coming around during our meal, it was really neat to sit inside the castle and get to explore the iconic rooms from the film. For about $20, I had a carved turkey sandwich with a side and a beverage; my friend and I shared the Master’s Cupcake, you know, the one with the grey stuff; it was delicious! Everything about the meal was good, and after snagging some pictures inside the castle, it was off for more adventures.

Once we left Be Our Guest restaurant, we stumbled upon Anastasia and Drizella, the step-sisters from Cinderella. I was excited to see them, as in past visits they had only ever been in the parades. I would be lying if I said that this wasn’t one of the top 3 moments of the day, perhaps even the trip. These ladies were such a hoot. Interacting with them was so much fun, and they were all about taking photos, especially selfies, after all, the attention was finally on them and not Cinderella. These gals had everyone in line laughing and made you forget about ever considering them to be ugly, evil or nasty step-sisters; they were amazing!

  • Meeting Anastasia and Drizella

We said goodbye to the sisters and used our next Fast Pass to ride Seven Dwarves Mine Train ride; a favourite of mine for many reasons. Next, we headed over to the Winnie the Pooh and Tigger character greeting; my best friends’ most beloved characters. We left the Hundred Acre Woods and headed for the Mad Tea Party, where we took a spin on the teacups! After the teacups, we headed over to Storybook Circus and met our pals The Great Goofini and Donald Duck. It was a busy afternoon of character greetings, but we weren’t done yet! Next up was my favourite character greeting in all of the Magic Kingdom: Merida (from Brave)!

Apart from being one of my favourite characters ever, Merida is one of the best character greetings in all of Disney World for many reasons. As adults, we know that there are several actors who portray these characters, and sometimes you can really point out the great ones from those who are mediocre. Each time I have been to Disney, the characters portraying Merida have been spot on. Everything from the accent (which is a hard one), down to the details in conversation and interactions with the guests, Merida always knocks it out of the park. She is my favourite Disney princess because she is brave, bold, daring, courageous, loyal, stubborn, rebellious and headstrong, but also kind, compassionate and loving; and who doesn’t love that hair! Thus, meeting Merida always brings me great joy.

Selfies with Merida 🙂

By this point, it was already after 4pm and there were still a few things we had to do. The rest of our day consisted of riding Space Mountain, grabbing a snack in Liberty Square (I made it my mission to ensure I got to have that Churro Ice Cream Sandwich), taking a few more castle pictures, meeting Rapunzel and Tiana, defeating Zurg at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, riding those Mad Tea Party teacups again, and hitting up some of the shops. Before long, the sun had set on another day at Disney.

The next two days of our trip were spent out of Disney Parks, as we finally got to visit Disney Springs. I’ll recap that in my next blog. Thanks for reading. Have a magical day!