Happy New Year!
I am finally getting this post up! We recently visited the happiest place on earth at Christmas time. This was just a quick trip. We did four park hopper days as usual, and had my mom and sister meet us there to surprise the kids.
Here are some highlights from our trip!
I have to admit, the food was not as exciting as the food in Disneyland but I did find a few good treats!
Genie+ - so fast passes are back! But unfortunately, they are no longer free. For $15/person PER day, you get to select fast passes, as well as the option to purchase a lightning lane pass. This is an additional cost on top of the $15/person per day. This isn't necessary, however if a really popular ride is hours long of a wait, it may be worth it. Prices will vary per ride. For Genie+, I purchased it on the morning of our park day whenever I woke up. At 7am is when you will start making your first selection. From our experience, chose whatever option is the earliest. You cannot book another fast pass until you redeem the current one you reserved. So in other words, if it's 7am and you select a fast pass or 2pm, you cannot book anything until after 2. So you'll have to wait in the regular lines. I say Genie+ is absolutely worth it for Magic Kingdom only, that's just our experience.
Magic Kingdom :
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| dress | shoes |
Always our first park day! My favorite. We purchased Genie+ this day. This worked great for us. We were all able to ride everything we wanted. We were also able to do rider swap on a few things which is great if you have a little one that can't ride certain rides. We used this in Disneyland as well and 10/10 recommend. This trip we tried a few new (to us) restaurants. We did a lot of mobile ordering as usual but did one sit down lunch.
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| Tee, leggings, plaid flannel, sneakers, bag, ears |
For lunch we tried Liberty Tree Tavern. The wait was a little long to get in, we already had reservations, but we waited a good 45 minutes on top of our reservation, just to get a table. Overall, It was great! It is New England style family dining. It was pot roast, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce - pretty much Thanksgiving food , my favorite. I love that whatever they bring out to you, you can ask for more. Basically a buffet that they bring out to your table. I was worried my kids wouldn't eat much but they ate a descent amount. I think we got three or four servings of that mac and cheese, lol. Unfortunately we devoured all of the food before I was able to get a photo. I did take one of the famous ooey gooey toffee cake! This was amazing, and I am currently looking online for a copycat recipe for it so if you have one, please send it my way :)
We tried the new coconut whip from aloha aisle (10/10!!!), the pot stickers from Sunshine tree terrace, the cheeseburger egg rolls from the eggroll cart in Adventureland (not pictured). All 10/10!!!!
Finally tried the famous Cheshire cat tail and it was a disappointment!!! My kids loved it, but I thought it had an odd after taste. Kind of like that burnt chocolate taste.
We also tried Pecos Bill Tall Tale inn and Cafe for a quick dinner on the go. This was great as well. Never tried this place before. This is also why we like coming back every so often- you get to try different places. It is impossible to try every restaurant in one trip. Anyways! We did a mobile order and picked up our food and found a spot to watch the fireworks that evening. No pics but we got the fajita platter - very good!
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| Spirit jersey (similar), leggings, sneakers, bag |
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| Gingerbread tee, tutu, jacket (sold out), patches |
Epcot :
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| jogger set, sneakers, bag, ears |
We love Epcot! We also enjoy eating and drinking around the world. After being stationed in Europe for three years, it's always fun to try some of the foods they offer there.
This was from the little Hawaii Mele Kalikimaka stand. This is the pork kalua and purple sweet potato and it was soooo good! 10/10!
The newest attraction here is the Ratatouille ride. We rode this for the first time in Disneyland Paris a few years ago- always a favorite. We also got to ride the skyliner which is also new.
Animal Kingdom :
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| Tee, leggings, bag |
We had breakfast at Tusker House - 10/10 recommend! The food was great, our server was great and the character interaction was good considering it is still slightly modified because of covid. The food is also a buffet style which they bring out to you. You can also ask for more of whatever you want. We had unlimited waffles, breads, pastries, bacon. sausage, eggs, etc. Well worth it. It was also my mom's birthday s they brought out a cupcake tray for her. The kids loved it!
Also tried Isle of Java for the first time and it was okay! I got the island cappuccino (contains alcohol) and it was okay. Also tried the chocolate tiger tail twist which was okay as well. Similar to the Cheshire cat tail. We didn't really enjoy any of the cold brews. Not sure if it's just how they're made but it was the same thing in Disneyland - not good. I think we'll avoid the cold brews next time and stick to our classic Starbucks or Joffrey's lattes lol
I also finally got to try out Pongu Pongu in Pandora. So good! This was the night blossom drink (slushy and fruity) i also got he French toast sticks which aren't pictured but they were good. I grabbed them for the kids to eat while we waited in line for flight of passage.
Hollywood Studios :
I think this park had the cutest holiday decor! The newest attraction here is the Minnie and Mickey runaway railway which I was SO excited to ride but it was down at the time. We purchased Genie+ for this day as well and found it to be a waste if HS is your only park. Luckily we had the park hopper so we just bounced around to different parks according to what fast pass we had. HUGE plus of having that park hopper!
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| tee, shorts, sneakers, bag, ears |
Food wise - At the Joffrey's stand near the entrance to Toy Story land they have the "Round em up latte" - you need to get this! IT's a goodness of cookie butter, dulce de leche, whipped cream, sprinkles (they were out at the time) and animal cookies! I tried it hot and iced and it is amazing both ways! They also sell this at the Joffrey's in Disney Springs - I found that out on our last night.
Inside Toy Story Land, we got the seasonal lunch box tart (apple pie) and the classic raspberry, We love these! It's basically a big pop tart - so good! In the past we've also tried the breakfast bowls. Those are great too.
I think my favorite food item in this park (besides the round em up latte) was the breakfast wrap from Ronto Roasters in Galaxy's Edge. So good! They had another one as well but I went with the breakfast one.
We visited the Grand Floridian for the first time (beautiful by the way!) and we got to see the real life gingerbread house display. I always watch the transforming Disney for the holidays shows and I always see the gingerbread house on there. It was fun to finally see it in real life. They sell a bunch of treats in there as well. We did breakfast here on the back patio. Look at the view! You can see the castle from here. ONE day I will stay here, lol one day!
Also not pictured, we went to the Polynesian to eat lunch and in their gift shop I found these Hawaiian shortbread cookies. Oh my god you guys, buy them! I saw a ton of people practically grabbing them off the shelves and figured I'd give them a try. We went back to the hotel and tried some and I instantly regretted not buying a ton more or at least a bigger container. Luckily I found the company online (Honolulu Cookie) and plan to place an order! We weren't able to get Ohana reservations this trip but it is definitely worth the trip here to check out the resort. They have their own dole whip stand as well.
Anyways, I'm not sure when we will be back here. There are a few new attractions opening (Tron!) which is exciting, and we love trying new food places so we will see! 😉
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