Tag: Disney

My First Trip to Disney – Food, Glorious Food!

Disney World is a magical place, but it can be stressful at times. One only has to watch the plethora of videos on the subject or read one of several books that have been published about planning your trip, to realize that there are so many restaurants and activities to choose from. Since most of us aren’t going to be able to enjoy every single dining experience or participate in all offered activities in one visit, it is important to focus on what is important for you and yours.

Dining Plan Or Not? I covered some of this is in my previous blog post about our trip and a large portion of the planning process went into food. Should we purchase the dining plan or try to save a little money and bring snacks, etc. 

Knowing that I wanted the most cost-effective experience without giving up certain luxuries that I envisioned for my Disney trip, we decided to go with the dining plan. I figured if we were going to spend the money to go to Disney World, we may as well go all out especially since we were already saving money on the rooms by getting the military rate.

After watching several videos and reading different articles and blog posts about how to get the most out of the dining plan, the anticipation of trying some of these restaurants at Disney World started to build.  

What Is the Dining Plan? There are three different tiers you can choose from. You can choose to go with quick service/counter meals only. You can opt for the Disney Dining Plan that includes one quick service meal per person per day, one sit down meal per person per day, and two snacks per person per day. The quick service and sit down services also include a choice of beverage. Yes, if you are over 21 this includes alcohol! If you like wine with your meal like I do, this is another added cost that is included in the dining plans. The third option is the deluxe plan. This plan is very similar to the second tier, only you have the option to use all of your meals as sit down meals.

A Villainous Zinfandel purchased at the Art of Animation gift shop before heading home.

The Disney Dining Plan tier two option is about $75.00 per person per day, and that includes your counter service, sit down service, and two snacks. (If you purchase the correct snacks, you can really come out ahead.) 

They have water stations at several counter service restaurants in the park where you can fill up the cups they offer so why would you waste a snack option on a bottle of water? Guests are also allowed to bring water bottles to the park if they choose. (Another strike against wasting a snack credit for a bottle of water.)

Instead of using your snack option on a bottle of water, get that cheesecake or Mickey Waffle! The Epcot Food and Wine Festival is the perfect place to use your snacks credits. You can’t use them on alcohol, but you CAN use it for the $8 lobster roll, scallops, or cheese and bread. A $4 bottle of water or an $8 snack? Seems like a no-brainer to me!

I used one of my snack credits for this lovely bread and cheese dip from Ireland in Epcot Center. The Guinness wasn’t bad either. 😉

The Dining Experience: Dining at Sanaa was by far my favorite dining experience of the entire trip! It is located at the Animal Kingdom Resort with a view of the savannah. It was too dark for us to see the animals very well, but it was still a wonderful experience.

Although appetizers aren’t included in the dining plan, we decided to order the Indian Bread Style that came with several flavors of Naan and dipping sauces. It was well worth the extra expense. 

Character Dinners: If you have the dining plan, you can use your dining credits for a character dinner.  There are some character dinners where you have to use two entitlements, but we chose a character dinner that only used one. Tip: Make your reservations ahead of time. We decided on Akershus Royal Banquet Hall.

While the food wasn’t Sanaa quality we got a decent meal. The carmelized brown cheese that was offered during the appetizer buffet portion of dinner was really tasty! I love pretty much all things cheese and dairy so this was a plus for me. 

Belle, Ariel, Cinderella, Aurora and Mary Poppins all made their rounds to the tables for photo ops. Aurora came up to the table and asked me to take a photo with her because I was wearing my Disney Villain Maleficent ears. My son won’t admit it, but he was blushing when he got the photos with them. 

By the time we were ready to leave, we saw our server with a long tray of sweet delights with the words “Thank you for your service.” Did I mention that Disney goes above and beyond when it comes to customer service? 

The dining plan worked out for us, and ended up saving us money, but I realize this may not work for everyone’s traveling needs. If you want to experience different character dinners and food options while at Disney World, I recommend the dining plan. I figure why not splurge while on vacation? 

      My First Trip to Disney World!

      Traveling makes my soul happy and I have been blessed with different traveling opportunities to different countries within the past few years. How funny is it that I had never traveled to what is often referred to as the “Happiest  Place on Earth” until a few weeks ago?

      How We Decided On Disney: Like many people in the world today, my daughter follows many different YouTube channels and social media accounts. There are several videos that have featured Disney trips including “Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.”  We got word that our son was going to be able to take leave before heading to the Middle East and we wanted to give him a fantastic vacation to take his mind off of everything. It has been quite some time since we have all traveled together. It is usually just my daughter and I. My daughter was more than thrilled that we were able to book Disney during the Halloween party.

      Resort and Park Tickets: It took a few different phone calls to reservations to get the best rate. Although they offer military rates they are few and far between, and when they become available they are swooped up rather quickly. I was finally able to get a military rate for the Art of Animation Resort and we stayed in the “Cars” family suite. The actual park tickets were about 50 percent off as well. My ex-husband/boyfriend (yeah, still unsure what label to use now and it is kind of weird but whatever!) went to Ft. Campbell and purchased the park tickets for the discounted rate. He is retired Army and still receives his benefits.

      We Are Here!: We arrived at Disney World in Orlando, Florida on September 30th and stayed one evening at  the Shades of Green. Shades of Green is a resort on Disney property, but is only for veterans, active duty, and retired military and their guests. The cost of the hotel is much less expensive than the typical Disney resort, but if you want to use the Disney Dining Plan and have access to the different resort benefits that staying on a Disney property allows, Shades of Green isn’t the best option.  We departed for the Art of Animation early the following morning to begin our Disney adventure! While Shades of Green is a nice resort, it really didn’t compare to the customer service and overall Disney experience we received at the Art of Animation. We weren’t supposed to check in until 3 p.m. EST so I expected that we would have to leave our luggage with the Art of Animation staff. However, they had our room ready by the time we arrived at 8 a.m. This was a wonderful start to our vacation! After checking out our suite we filled up our mugs with waters and soda to take to the parks with us. Side Note: When you stay at a resort on property you receive a mug that can be filled up at any resort at Disney World. We would fill these up with coffee in the mornings, then water and Powerade throughout the day.

         

      Our First Full Day: I have always felt drawn to Animal Kingdom and knew that this would be my first stop. Disney’s Animal Kingdom is a wildlife reserve, and I didn’t realize this until I was researching animal reserves in the United States for a presentation I gave for my students while I was living in Spain. I adored the safari ride, and the giraffes were so close I could almost touch them.

                                  

      Photo Pass: We opted to get the photo pass/memory maker package. With the military discount it was only $99 for our entire stay. This included access to all of the ride photos, and any special photos in front of different areas of the parks.

      The Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom

       

      Scarlett and her dad visiting with Minnie and Mickey in their safari outfits.

      Magic Kingdom: The next day we decided to go to the Magic Kingdom. As soon as I walked through the gates every bit of child like innocence flooded my being. As an adult, those feelings come in smaller doses as the years go by so I tend to relish the feeling whenever I get it.

      We stayed there until about 3:00 p.m. and then went back to the hotel to shower and change into our Halloween costumes for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Side Note #2: (When we return to Disney, we won’t do a park each day! We were only at the parks from October 1-4, and left Orlando on the 5th. We tried to squeeze as much as possible into one trip since Che only had a certain amount of leave time. We didn’t do the recommended “rest days” in between parks, and we felt it!)

      Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party: I was completely giddy the entire time! It is always fun to dress up in costumes whether for a Halloween celebration or onstage. I decided to wear a T-Shirt with the Sanderson Sisters and the famous song title “I Put A Spell On You” (“As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”) on the front. A cute pink witch hat along with the shirt and black tutu were comfortable enough for an evening of walking in the park yet again!

      I love Halloween, and every detail was amazing from the carved Mickey pumpkins to the Hocus Pocus Spectacular. We saw the Hocus Pocus show twice, got a great spot for the fireworks show, and a front row seat for the parade! The parade was my favorite! It brought every character from The Magic Kingdom together into one singing and dancing celebration including the villains at the end the show! Before the parade, we hit the trick or treat sections and rode “The Pirates of the Caribbean” ride again since it had an extra twist for Halloween which included a few live actors.

      The Monsters Inc. dance party was also a blast!  

      Before arriving to Disney, I did a bit more planning than I’m used to with a vacation. This had its pros and cons, but I will go into that in a different post. However, I did come across a wonderful vlog called Disney Food Blog, and I found the videos so addicting! They gave us so many tips on how to really use the Disney Dining Plan to our advantage, and I did just that! I highly recommend getting the dining plan if you are traveling with men and women that love to eat, or if you are like me and love to eat gourmet food. I honestly like the “all inclusive feel,” and it did take the stress off of the dining budget because it was already paid for!

      I was looking forward to trying some of the specialty Halloween food items that are only available at the party and the pumpkin cheesecake was one of those items I wanted to try. I was able to use one of my snack credits for the cheesecake!

      Tip: Use your snack credits for the more expensive items like cheesecake and items at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival vs. a bottle of water or bag of chips. This is how you really make the dining plan work for you! Also, use those sit down meals for that five star French or Italian restaurant that you may not go to on your regular night out. I have read that some people end up having several snacks left over, but we didn’t! The dining plan was a great choice for us.

      Epcot and Hollywood Studios:Our last two days consisted of going to Epcot Center where the Food and Wine Festival was happening as well! I was able to hit two special events during my first trip to Disney World! Two friends of mine who work at Disney met us at Epcot and we had a blast!

       

      Stay tuned for part two of our Disney trip! There is just too much to add in one post! I’ll talk more about the dining plan and how we made it work, and discuss some of our favorite rides. Disney can be a wonderful bonding experience for family and friends, but I can see how it can easily turn into a nightmare if you don’t just go with the flow. Our next trip to Disney will be less “planned.” 😉

      Mr. Walt Disney sure knew what he was doing though. There must be something in the water because I can barely remember the stressful situations. I’m kind of addicted now!