Destination Disney - 8 Favorite "Lands"

Week three's Destination Disney challenge is upon us.  This week I'll share my family's 8 favorite "lands" in the Disney parks.  Ones first thought when they hear "lands" in Disney parks may be EPCOT and the World Showcase but really, each park is broken up into sections.  Some are called "lands", some are "streets", some are "pavilions" (like those in EPCOT) and they all make up our wonderful, wonderful World.  On with the countdown...

8.  Future World - EPCOT The first half of EPCOT is my family's choice for favorite in this park.  My kids are too young to appreciate the World Showcase just yet.  However, they do enjoy playing in the Innoventions buildings and learning about the sea with Nemo and Friends.  And if you remember from my first Destination Disney post, Spaceship Earth is one of my 5 year old's favorite attractions.

7.  DinoLand USA - Disney's Animal Kingdom The kids enjoy the Boneyard and Finding Nemo - The Musical.  Hubby and I enjoy Dinosaur.  Plus the whole family likes having lunch at Restaurantosaurus.  We spend a lot of time in DinoLand USA when we visit Disney's Animal Kingdom.

6. Streets of America - Hollywood Studios After we've had our Toy Story fix, we spend most of our time at Hollywood Studios on the Streets of America.  The Muppets, the Backlot Tour, Lights, Motors, Action!... so much to do, so little time!  Plus, MUST have lunch at Pizza Planet!  Must.

5.  Pixar Place - Hollywood Studios Though it's made up of only one attraction, one character-spot and one shop, it definitely takes up a big spot on our list of favorites Toy Story Midway Mania and the chance to get a glimpse (or even a photo, if you're willing to wait!) are the first stop we make when we enter Hollywood Studios. A MUST for our family. You know how we feel about Toy Story Midway Mania!

4. Mainstreet USA - The Magic Kingdom It's here, on this simple street that my breath is taken away each and every time I step foot in The Magic Kingdom.  The sight of Cinderella's Castle.  The Mickey shaped balloons lining the street.  The magical storefronts.  The children (young and old) with smiles from ear-to-ear as they enter.  I adore Main Street USA.  I could sit on the bench beside Goofy and just people watch all day. (This is one of my favorite photos from WDW.  It's like a "Where's Waldo" of Mainstreet USA.  If look front and center, you can see my mother and I, waving.)

3.  Africa - Disney's Animal Kingdom Best part of Disney's Animal Kingdom.  Best.  We always start our day with Donald's Safari Breakfast at the Tusker House then move onto Kilimanjaro Safari.  I can't think of a better way to start the day.

2.  Adventureland - The Magic Kingdom Full of the classics, Pirates of the Carribbean, The Tiki Room, Swiss Family Treehouse, the Jungle Cruise... Adventureland is as absolute MUST for our family. (This hidden Mickey can be found on the bridge heading over to Adventureland.)

1.  Fantasyland - The Magic Kingdom The epitome of what Walt Disney World is about, to me anyhow.  Walt's touch can be felt here.  The upcoming expansion gets my heart pounding!  I haven't been this excited since they put the Mickey in PhilharMagic.  I do have to admit, I am sad that I won't be seeing Snow White like this again.

Wasn't that fun?!  Check out previous lists - Top 10 Disney Attractions and 9 Favorite Disney Characters.

And be sure to check back next week for our family's 7 favorite things to do OUTSIDE of the parks.

Destination Disney - 9 Favorite Characters

This week's Destination Disney challenge is to name our family's 9 favorite Disney characters.  Nine?  If it were just me, my list would read, 1. Mickey, 2. Mickey, 3. Mickey... you get the point.  I'm all about The Mouse.  My kids, however, have more eclectic tastes when it comes to characters from the Disney palette.  Don't get me wrong, Mickey is on their lists, he just doesn't occupy each and every spot.  (What a shame!) 
On with the countdown...

9.  Lilo     Our trip to the airport was about an hour long so I popped Lilo & Stitch into the kids DVD player for the trip, because I knew they were the first characters they'd meet at our O'hana breakfast the following morning.  Watching their faces as Lilo grew closer and closer to our table was awesome.  Then, when Lilo topped her "i" off with a flower in our 3 year old, Sami's, autograph book... priceless.  With that little flower, she became an instant favorite.

8.  Stitch Following just behind Lilo at O'hana, was her pal Stitch.  Playing around, getting into trouble, the little joker made the kids (and adults) laugh.  Stitch is one of their favorites in the movies, and he lived up to hype.  Yet, his soft side emerged, just as on film, when he kissed Sami on top of the head.  Both the kids love Lilo & Stitch so much, they were part of one of our vacation planning movie nights.  Take a look!

7.  Aurora Until our children's first visit to Walt Disney World, Aurora was just another Disney princess.  After, and she's become "our" Disney princess.  When she approached our table at Cinderella's Royal Table, she planted a kiss right on our 5 year old, Stephen's, cheek.  He was so incredibly proud of that kiss, he refused to wash his face and had to make mirror checks throughout the day to make sure it hadn't rubbed off.  It was so memorable for him that he still asks us "Hey, remember when Aurora kissed my cheek?"  Of course we do, buddy.  Of course we do.

6.  Minnie Mouse The place?  Chef Mickey's.  The dress?  Polka dots.  Sami could see her coming a mile away.  Her favorite Mouse.  Those dresses. Those shoes.  Those bows!  As Minnie finished up visiting the table before ours and moved in our direction, Sami actually shivered with excitement!  And to think, I thought she'd be scared of all these big, bold characters.  Boy, was I ever wrong!

5.  Buzz & Woody The wait to see this dynamic duo was nearly as long as the line for Midway Mania, but there were lots of fun photo-ops along the way to keep the kids busy.  We didn't tell them what was at the end of the wait, which made it that much more fun when they came into view.  Buzz & Woody were so fun and took LOTS of photos with the kids.  For more Buzz & Woody fun, check out Stephen's Midway Mania party!

4.  Daisy Duck Noticeably missing from Chef Mickey's (can't pull one over on my kids), Mom planned ahead and also booked Donald's Safari Breakfast at Disney's Animal Kingdom to right this wrong.  We were thrilled to make her acquaintance.  They kids got really excited to see her, as I don't think they expected to.  She was just as sweet as could be and really happy that the kids were so excited to see her.

3.  Cinderella The "queen" among princesses, Cinderella is a hot ticket at Walt Disney World.  After getting her make-over at the Bibbidi Boppidi Boutique, Sami couldn't wait to meet her doppelganger on our way up to Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast.  Cinderella couldn't have been sweeter to both our Princess Sami and our newly knighted, Sir Stephen.  My only complaint... we didn't know she wouldn't be joining us for breakfast, so we didn't get her autograph.  Boo.

2.  Tink She wasn't easy to find, but we did it.  Pixie Hollow was closed due to the new construction taking place at The Magic Kingdom and she'd been uprooted to a corner in EPCOT.  Not the nicest digs for such a sweet little fairy!  We waited quite a while to see her but it was SO worth it.  She discussed dresses and shoes with Sami for a good 5 minutes and took lots of pictures with both of the kids.  I only wish her fairy friends had been there with her.  Sami LOVES Tink and her friends.  Take a look at her Tink party.

1.  Mickey Mouse The kids had their say, now it's my turn.  After all, we mustn't forget, it all started with a mouse!  My absolute favorite, forever and always.  The big cheese, Mickey.  For those of us that love Disney, I don't even need to explain why.  This photo is of me and Mickey on my 30th birthday.  My love for all things Mickey has rubbed off a bit onto my children too.  Stephen's 3rd birthday was even Mickey themed.

 Honorable Mention:  The "Rare" Characters



From my very first visit in 1987, to my honeymoon in 1997.  I LOVE meeting the "rare" characters.

Wasn't that fun?!  Check out last week's list - Top 10 Disney Attractions.  And be sure to check back next week for our family's 8 favorite "Lands" inside the Disney parks!

Destination Disney - Top 10 Disney Attractions

My mission, as I've chosen to accept, is to name my family's top 10 Disney attractions. 

Heidi's laid her first Destination Disney mission upon me, and who am I to argue a chance to talk Disney!?  As you've seen here, Disney is my favorite topic!  You did see our vacation planning party, didn't you?

Feel free to join in.  Heidi will give us a new topic each week, for the next 10 weeks.  How fun will this be?!

So, here goes (in no particular order)....

10.  Pirates of the Caribbean

This classic was a bit intense for my 3 year old, but the 5 year old loved it!  He enjoyed comparing it to his Wii Legos Pirates of the Caribbean game at home.  We did the Pirates League just before riding, so he looked and felt like he fit right in with those swashbucklers.  Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirates life for us!  Stephen's always been a pirate fan, take a look at his 4th birthday party.

9.  Kilimanjaro Safari

One of my very favorites, I couldn't wait to share this attraction with my children!  We always do it first thing, as the animals seem more active then.  The gasps and ohs and ahs were priceless.  Kilimanjaro Safari will be the first ride we go on every time we visit Disney's Animal Kingdom.

8.  The Festival of the Lion King

I have to be honest, this last trip was the very first time I've done The Festival of the Lion King, but I'll do it every time now!  It was beautiful and fun and just what I'd picture a live-action version of the movie to be like.  The show made us laugh, sing and I even teared up a couple times.  The outfits and performers were breathtaking.  The whole family loved this one!  When the show was over, my 3 year old wanted to get up close and personal with Simba (left). 

7.  Fantasmic!    Fantasmic! gets the majority vote for nighttime show with my family.  The extensive cast of characters, topped off with the big time roll Mickey plays, puts this show at the top of the list.  The water, fire, light show... those are all just the sprinkles on top.     

6.  Toy Story Midway Mania

As is commonly the case, when we arrived at Hollywood Studios this trip, the FastPass for Toy Story Midway Mania was empty.  Did that stop us?  No way!  Our wait was only about 40 minutes, not bad considering, but the fantastic queue kept the kids (mostly) occupied the whole time.  My 5 year old, the "gamer" in our family, just LOVED this one.  So much so that his 6 birthday party was Midway Mania themed.

5.  The Great Movie Ride

The kids have never experience the Great Movie Ride at Hollywood Studios since we thought the "Alien" segment might be too intense for them, but it definitely makes my and Hubby's list!  We're both big movie fans and this attraction highlights so many of the greatest films of all time.  Plus, it's fun to play in the footprints out front.

4.  Spaceship Earth      Who would have ever guessed that my 5 year old's favorite Disney attraction would be Spaceship Earth?  He and his Dad rode it lots of time and he just loved it!  He even drew pictures of it days later.  I've done Spaceship Earth in the past but since I stayed with our 3 year old while they rode, I haven't seen the latest updates.  I'm hoping to get a chance on our next trip... I need to see what all the excitement's about!

3.  Splash Mountain

When asked about his favorite "exciting" attraction, our 5 year old chose Splash Mountain.  He rode (in the FRONT!) with his dad, lots of times!  That drop makes my toes curls, it amazes me how much he loved it.  I think I may have a adrenalin junkie on my hands.

2.  It's a Small World

This was my 3 year old's favorite before we even left for vacation!  She LOVES this song.  When we boarded those little boats and she heard her favorite song, she was so excited!  The cherry on top?  DOLLS!  Moving dolls!  What 3 year old wouldn't be in her heaven?

1.  Mickey's PhilharMagic    The boys in our family love Donald Duck.  The girls love Disney music.  What attraction fits them all better than Mickey's PhilharMagic?  A 3D & 4D adventure, starring Donald Duck, is loaded with the best of the best from Disney's soundtracks.  The only thing that could make it better would be pie.  Mmm.. pie.

Honorable Mention - The Monorail    Though it's not an official "attraction", my kids love the monorail just as much as another "ride" at Walt Disney World.