Going to Walt Disney World

Hello all! This is a long overdue post on my trip to Walt Disney World.

I first noticed the great prices for Walt Disney World sometime around this time last year. They do a great deal of 30% off hotel during the summer months, as it is not their busy season. It goes without saying that Florida is warm year round, and the summer exceptionally so.

Being the person I am, I always love to save money, especially on a trip. So I booked for the Caribbean beach resort for the month of July! It was surprisingly affordable and included a meal plan for a great price. I planned for 6 full days spent in the parks with one travel day on each side of that.

If you're going in the summer, I highly recommend getting some comfortable sandals. Don't take the cheap old navy ones, because by the first day I could tell they weren't cutting it for me. I actually purchased some in the park (Roxy brand) and I loved those flip flops. extremely comfortable, and when it rains you don't find yourself wearing wet sneakers for hours.

I'm going to say right off the bat that if you have a weak stomach or body that is affected by weather changes, I don't recommend going in the summer. The weather is highly unpredictable (which we knew, what we didn't know is that dealing with that would leave me feeling ill at least half the time we spent there.) It rains AT LEAST once a day. There was not a single day we were there that it didn't rain. So make sure you bring raincoats that will keep you somewhat dry once the sky opens up and begins to pour, as it will.

So, when we arrived to the airport, we were escorted to a bus that would take us to our resort. They try to put people on a bus who are going to resorts somewhat close to one another. We were one of the first stops and it was a very short drive. Despite travelling all day, we were still very excited at it was both our first time at Disney World. We checked in at the front desk, and then were told it was best to wait for a bus to get to our room.

Disney's Caribbean beach resort is one of the biggest hotels on Walt Disney World property. It has several clusters of buildings all named after places in the Caribbean. We ended up in the Aruba section, which was located right across the lake from the food court and main pool. It was actually close enough to walk to and from the front desk in my opinion, but others might prefer a bus. However, someone spotted us waiting and said we had just missed a bus, so one of the maintenance van drivers kindly took us directly to the Aruba area. This unexpected hospitality definitely lifted our spirits after a long day of travel.

I love that the rooms in Caribbean beach open right up into a walkway. It was nice to not have to take an elevator or navigate hotel hallways and walk straight into our door. Shortly after we arrived, someone delivered the package I had picked out for my Husband's anniversary gift. They had him sign for it, since I had included some Bailey's for the coffee and hot chocolate he would surely be having during mornings spent there.

Here's a photo of what his gift contained- pictured on the lovely Finding Nemo bedspread!

Once we got that all sorted, we headed for the parks right away. Even though I had not slept in quite some time, I was much to excited to spend the rest of the night in the hotel room. It started to get very stormy once we arrived, but we still took some photos and were too excited to be concerned. It did drizzle a little that evening, but no heavy rain and no lightning!

                  This is me attempting to look awake after not sleeping for 23 hours!
                           (I was too excited to sleep the night before our flight!)
This night was by far the latest we stayed at the park on our entire trip, and I have to say the best part of the night was watching the fireworks while riding Big Thunder Mountain! Seriously guys, it's one of the best views for the fireworks!

Cinderella castle as viewed from somewhere around Tomorrowland- by far the most peaceful place to view the castle. I'm sorry- my iPhone photos definitely don't do the castle justice!

We then returned to our hotel and had a little rest on a hammock on the beach at our resort- which was a beyond perfect way to end the day! Then I had a wonderful sleep- we didn't worry about what time we had to be up as we were returning to the magic kingdom- going there the night before helped us have our bearings and I wasn't concerned about missing out on time spent there!

I had done some sluething and found a way to make lunch reservations at Be Our Guest Restaurant, which I had heard was pretty busy most days! It was magical and I really loved the re-creation of Beasts castle and being able to eat there was nothing short of amazing. I hear that soon they are opening up fast pass reservations for lunch and they will be much easier to get, so keep your eyes peeled for that when booking your own trip.

While the main ballroom was beautiful, it was very crowded and noisy, so we took a look at the other rooms. The study was by far my favorite, but there was nowhere to sit, so we came to the music box room. This room was the emptiest and the quiestest, but oh so beautiful!

They slowly rotate to a quiet music box song!

There were cute little canvases all around the room depicting Belle and Beast's adventures, it was a really lovely touch. 

What happens next is truly amazing. You keep a rose token on your table, and your food finds you! Someone brought the food we had ordered on a cart, while there is soft drink machines in each room so you can get drinks at your leisure. My husband had the pot roast- which was positively divine. I'm not a vegetarian, but I had the vegetarian quiche. It wasn't my favorite, but I really loved my desserT, A strawberry cream cheese cupcake! Not too sweet, it was perfect for me.

cute little photo of my perfect cupcake!

I have to say, that while I love Disneyland more, Walt Disney World really has perfected their fastpass system. Booking three fast passes for the day really made getting onto the busier rides much smoother and much more enjoyable! It was a very hot day, and of course it did rain that day, but it wasn't for long and didn't invade on our fast passes. This by far was probably our best day in the parks.

Dole Whip floats are required on hot days!

We once again finished our day with a swim in our 'island's' private pool and a lay in a hammock complete with yummy adult drink. Having a pool in each area of the hotel was great for us- we were able to take a swim no matter what time of night it was, and the pool was never full of kids like the main pool was! So if you like to swim but don't enjoy crowded swimming pools, this hotel is for you.

This post is getting quite long, so keep an eye out for the post on the remainder of our days in the parks!

Disneyworld Magic Bands and Making Reservations

Since we are staying on Disney property when travelling to Disney World, we will be receiving Magic Bands. To my knowledge, since we live in Canada, we will receive our travel documents by mail and our Magic Bands when we check into the Caribbean Beach Resort.

Magic Bands are still fairly knew to Disney World from what I know, and based on my information about the technology, I really hope that someday they can also incorporate this into Disneyland.

Magic Bands are worn on your wrist and can be customized by choosing your color and adding a name. I have also heard that they sell certain accessories for them in the park! I'm looking forward to seeing these as you get to keep your magic band, and should you visit Disney World again, you are able to use the same magic band!

Magic Bands are all-encompassing and are your room key, your park ticket, and also hold reminders for events in the park, your dining reservations, fastpass plus, dining plan, and can be attached to a card and used for purchases around the park! You couldn't ask for better convenience in a Disney park!

So far, we have only made a few dinner reservations based on which parks we know we want to visit first. As of now, we haven't decided if we want to make more reservations or just play our days by ear. I know we are visiting at a very busy time, especially with the discounts and it being summer, and we are concerned about getting the most out of our table service credits. We are mostly hesitant for two reasons; one, you have to put your credit card on file and you are charged a fee if you don't show, and 2, we aren't sure how busy which park will be on which day and exactly where in the park each restaurant is.

We are definitely giving Liberty Tree Tavern and Rainforest cafe a try. The very day we booked our trip I attempted to book a spot at Be Our Guest restaurant, but it was already completely unavailable. I have heard rumors that you can use a fast pass reservation for a lunch time at Be Our Guest restaurant, and I'm still hopeful that we will be able to use a selection for this.

Fastpass Plus is something that will only be available to people with Magic Bands, and I believe also exclusive to people staying at the resort. Fastpass Plus allows you to make three advance Fastpass selections, from 60 days before your trip onwards. Two of the parks have tiered selections, where different rides and experiences are sectioned into groups where you may only choose one from each group. You are also not permitted to make two selections for the same ride. Once you have used your three fastpass plus selections for that day, you are able to go and make one new fastpass reservation at a time, as a normal guest would do. Most, if not all sites have recommended making your fastpass selections for the afternoon, when the park will be busiest and you will encounter the longest lines.

It also suggests that if you happen to have made a fastpass selection for a ride that turned out to not be busy, to not use your fast pass and instead change it to make use of it somewhere else. If this ever occurs on my trip, I will document it and report back.

All in all, I believe Magic Bands will make our trip that much more pleasant. Don't be afraid to ask any other questions in the comments. If I don't have an answer, I can surely find one for you!