Saturday morning, we went to El Dorado Hills for an Easter Egg hunt before our 2pm flight to Orlando. It was super crowded, with 2 fields. One for 0-6 year olds and one for 7-12 year olds. I took Zach to the older kids’ field which had much fewer people (I guess somewhere in that age group, they grow out of egg gathering?) and ran back to meet up with James/Calie afterwards. It was then time to head to DISNEYWORLD! The flight was downright painless compared to my trip to Bangalore.
We stayed at The Animal Kingdom Lodge (2 bedroom villa in Jambo House) with our friend JP and his girlfriend Stephanie, who flew in from Australia. It was a nice deluxe resort hotel, and reminded me a bit of Aulani in Oahu. Our villa overlooked a “savannah” with animals … Calie was super excited to see a “Zebra for the first time!” (I guess we don’t go to zoos as often as we did when Zach was little)
Day 1: Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom
Got there at 10:30am, which is usually considered late for us, but we were battling a 3 hour time difference. Kicked off the vacation with a Kilimanjaro Safari!
It started pouring mid-afternoon, basically flooding according to my dry California standards. We did one ride in the rain and decided it was way too miserable and headed back to the hotel to rest and change. Once the rain cleared, we went back to the park for rides and dinner at Tuskar House (buffet). After dinner, we saw a really good Lion King musical followed by a scary Dinosaur ride and Expedition Everest roller coaster, which was quite disorienting at night and probably not the best choice after dinner.
We stayed until the park closed and then headed to Magic Kingdom, which was open to resort guests (Magic Hours) until 3am. Since we’re crazy and on Pacific time, we stayed until 3am. It was awesome! There were no lines at all. We went to the new Fantasyland and basically walked on to the new Little Mermaid ride (normally 90+ minute wait mid-day!) There was also a circus themed area where we were the only ones meeting/greeting characters.
Ride/Show tally: Kilimanjaro Safari, Pangani Forest Trail, Triceratops Spin (x2), Festival of the Lion King, Dinosaur, Expedition Everest, Pirates of the Caribbean, Under the Sea (Little Mermaid), Dumbo, Goofy’s Barnstormer, Tomorrowland Speedway, Astro Orbiter, Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (x3), Carousel (x4), It’s a Small World (x2), Peter Pan’s Flight (x4), Character Greeting (Minnie, Daisy, Goofy, Donald), Wishes Night Time Spectacular, Main Street Electrical Parade.
Day 2: Magic Kingdom
Due to an epic first day, we all slept in and didn’t get to Magic Kingdom until around noon on day 2. We still got in quite a few rides, although lines were long, so we limited ourselves to Fast Pass rides and ones with shorter waits. We also prioritized shows and rides unique to Disneyworld.
Lunch as a quick bite at Pinocchio Village Haus (we go there all the time in Disneyland, so not very exciting) followed by drinks at the new Gaston’s Tavern (LeFou’s Brew = frozen apple juice with hints of toasted marshmallow and a passion fruit-mango foam.)
Calista dressed up in a Minnie Mouse costume and was very excited to get personalized Mouse Ears! I wanted to get Zach one too, but he thought they were “silly.” 
We got really lucky with a cancelled reservation and got into the new ‘Be our Guest’ restaurant. It was themed as Beast’s castle … napkins were folded like red roses, huge chandeliers hung above us, and windows made it look like it was snowing outside. I highly recommend eating here if you can get reservations; They get booked up months in advance and for good reason! We were all pretty beat when we went home at 11pm.
Ride/Show tally: Buzz Lightyear (x2), Space Mountain, Carousel of Progress, Stitch’s Great Escape, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Under the Sea, Enchanted Tales with Belle, and Tiki Room (this show always brings back childhood memories!)
Day 3: Hollywood Studios
We got up early and got to Hollywood Studios when it opened (8am). Started the day with Toy Story Mania since we knew it was a popular ride. It was a hit with all of us. Zach also really enjoyed the new Aerosmith Rock’n Roller coaster! He said it rivaled Space Mountain as his top favorite ride of all time.
That said, this park was the kid’s least favorite … there were “too many shows”, which tested their patience, especially since our kids don’t watch many movies. We loved the cute ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ play area though – so many neat photos ops too!
We had a late dinner at Sci-Fi Café, a drive-in theater themed restaurant, where you ate in cars. They were booked for weeks (we couldn’t snag reservations), but we were able to walk in at 10:30pm. Score! We were quite literally one of the last families to leave Hollywood Studios after 11pm … it was eerie how empty the park was!
Ride/Show tally: Toy Story Mania (x2), The Legend of Cpt. Jack Sparrow, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (x3), Tower of Terror, The Great Movie Ride, Lights Motors Action Stunt show, ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’ playground
Day 4: Epcot
Slept in on day 4 and got to Epcot around noon. It just so happened that they had a ‘Flower & Garden Festival’, and the whole park was decorated with fun topiaries. So while it was busier due to Spring Break, there were some advantages to visiting last week.
Epcot had a good mix of documentary-type shows, rides, and hands-on experiences (similar to being at a children’s museum.) I really liked the World Showcase, although we didn’t have time to go through many countries on our first day there. I thought Disney did a very good job, and there were numerous restaurants I wanted to try. We ended up having lunch at San Angel (Mexico) and a cafeteria style dinner at Sunshine Seasons.
When Epcot closed at 9pm, we went to Magic Kingdom. John knew the differences between MK and Disneyland, and was able to direct us to the new-to-us experiences. We didn’t leave until 12:30am in the morning!
Ride/Show tally: the Seas with Nemo & Friends, Turtle Talk w/Crush, Aquarium, Mission Space, The Sum of All Thrills, Spaceship Earth, Ellen’s Energy Adventure, Innovations, Living with Land, Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, Haunted Mansion, Country Bear Jamboree, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Peter Pan’s Flight
Day 5: Epcot and Magic Kingdom
Got up early so that we could get to Epcot as soon as it opened (9am). We went around to all the countries in the World Showcase. Lunch was buffet at the German Biergarten … really good blaukraut (red cabbage) and cheddar beer soup. We ate and watched a music/dancing show. For dinner, we had French cuisine (Chefs de France.) It was quite good as well. The prices weren’t even that outrageous, especially since JP is a Disney Club member, which translated to 20% off our bill!
Zach’s favorite shows are documentaries, so Epcot was his favorite of all Disneyworld parks. He spent a lot of time in the museums reading about the displays; often we were the only family in there. He was very interested in the terracotta warriors and the various Chinese dynasties. It was also ‘Spring Fling’ week, so the kids participated in an Easter egg hunt and mini carnival games.
In the evening, we moved from Animal Kingdom to Port Orleans Riverside. While still a Disney resort, it’s a moderate (vs deluxe) hotel …and that was pretty obvious. There was such a big difference that I was really glad I didn’t go economy! The bathroom and bedroom were separated by a curtain, and there were no ramps or elevators so managing a stroller and luggage was a bit cumbersome. It was nice enough though, as all we needed was a place to sleep. I actually originally chose this place since it has a park and a jogging trail. How naïve of me to think we would have downtime!
Ride/Show tally: Mexico, Norway, China, American Adventure, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Test Track (x2), Soar’n, Journey into Imagination with Figment
Day 6: Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Universal Studios
James, JP, and Stephanie got up at the crack of dawn (maybe earlier … 5am) to catch a taxi to Universal Studios. In addition to park admission, they paid $109/each for ‘front of the line’ passes. This is definitely needed for peak times such as spring break, and saved them hours of wait time. They got to go on the Harry Potter ride twice! In the meantime, I am back at Disney with 2 kids. They were on their best behavior ever, as both kids reminded each other that there was only 1 parent “Remember, mom is the little red hen!” I had the kids bathed and out the door by 10am, with no stroller. I didn’t want to juggle a stroller, and decided that if Calista got tired, we’d call it an early day (ha!)
We went on the Nemo ride 3x and spend an exorbitant amount of time in the aquarium area. We had lunch at Via Napoli in Italy (overpriced unless you share a large pizza), dessert (school bread and a Viking mousse cake) at Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe in Norway, and then saw a 360 movie and acrobats at the China pavilion. Their favorite countries to visit were Italy and China, which is terrific since those are both on the 2-year plan for family vacations.
The kids played at the Wizard of Oz and Radiator Springs parks, and spent quite some time in the Innovation Center. We played a Piggy Savings game 5x and never won! There was a technology section that was poorly attended (but my kids liked) and a practice fire drill lesson.
At around 8pm, the kids decided they wanted to go back to Magic Kingdom. Calie had to say good-bye to Minnie and Daisy. We had dinner at Starlight Café, picked up Mickey bars for dessert from a cart, and did more rides. Zach and I were trying to predict what would happen next on the Jungle Cruise, and were pleasantly surprised that it was different than the one from Disneyland! Left the park at midnight. It finally happened. After years of pushing around zonked out kids in a stroller, they are now outlasting me. Holding her new Minnie Mouse toy, Calista said to herself (but out loud) “I am SO lucky!” Yes, we are. 
THANK YOU JP for planning an awesome trip!!!
Some pictures from James at Universal:
Ride/Show tally (Disney only): The Seas with Nemo & Friends (x3), Innovations (x5), Oz playground, Radiator Springs playground, Italy, China, Peter Pan, Small World (x2), Jungle Cruise, Characters (Duffy, Minnie & Daisy)
Disneyworld travel tips:
- It is REALLY crowded during spring break (and I assume other major holidays and summer) so if you can help it, avoid those time
- If you have to travel during that peak time, try to offset your hours. For us, travelling across 3 time zones meant we could stay up really late and eat at unconventional times
- Hit the big rides in the morning and the kiddie rides end of the day. Teenagers tend to sleep in and little kids usually go to bed early
- Obviously, make use of their Fast Pass and Baby Swap passes (yes, they do stack). The baby swap passes allows you to bring 3 additional people … so Calista helped us get on a few key rides an extra time!
- Buy the park hopper only if your kids are older. It was worth it for us since we’d hop to Magic Kingdom (open until 1am or 3am!) for a few hour after the other parks closed. For families with younger kids who plan on shorter days, it wouldn’t make sense since you lose time shuttling between parks
- Bring ponchos and wear water shoes on forecasted rain days
- Set expectations with the kids in terms of how long you’re willing to stand in line … ours was “no line over 35 minutes”
- Stay onsite. Disneyworld is huge compared to Disneyland. The bus system is pretty good, but if your kids are younger, staying at a hotel on the monorail is probably more convenient
- Plan at least 1 table service meal per day, maybe 2 if you’re doing super long days like we did. It’s a good time to give the feet a break and just reset from go-go-go! At Disney, the restaurants are themed and hence an experience on their own – in case you need to justify the increased cost vs getting a burger/pizza/turkey leg from a stand
- Plan a few ‘down’ days to hang out at the hotel, especially if you stay at themed Disney resorts (I wish we did that!)
- And really cheap-o tips … burger bars have free fixings including lettuce, tomato, grilled onions and mushrooms, nacho cheese sauce. You can make a super-duper burger with cheesy fries, heck even a salad for minimal cost. And if you crave a cold carbonated drink at Epcot, instead of spending ~$3, you can hit the Coca-Cola building for (big! unlimited!) samples of drinks from different countries. Just skip Italy
We got back late Saturday. On Easter Sunday, we had Tabitha’s family over for an impromptu egg hunt and lunch. They actually invited us to a park, but the weather forecast was rain (wrong) so we moved it to our backyard. James taught Chigme how to geo-cache (including a practice run to a nearby cache) … we are sucking more people in to our nerdy adventures! Happy Easter everyone!
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Congratulations Sophia and Eddie! Welcome to the world, Dylan! 
… we kept it simple with salad, cheeseburgers, hotdogs, and grilled pesto chicken. Dessert was watermelon and leftover ice cream cake. You know you’re good friends when you can serve leftovers, right? The kids had lots of fun playing badminton and Sam’s crazy ‘capture the ball’ game. Both Zach and Calie were so exhausted, they were asleep before 8pm. Way to go – we should have Sam over more often!
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