Disney Fever

This is something I always have, but after talking to my friend who is planning a family vacation Disney style for summer 2007, I'm having an attack!! I'm one of those people who actually thinks Disney World really is magical, who loves white glove treatment and feels like every trip there is different, new and exciting. I'm a nut, I know!

Here are some of our family favorites at Disney World:

1. We love the sand-bottom pool at the Disney Beach Club Resort. It's phenomenal! We have only stayed there once, but it was totally worth it! We stayed at the Beach Club Villas the year they opened. It was a couple minute walk into the Epcot back entrance, a boat ride into MGM and a monorail ride over to the Magic Kingdom. I happen to thing that little circle of hotels is one of the more convenient areas to stay at Disney.

2. Typhoon Lagoon was a day well spent! We pondered spending one of our valuable Hopper days at a water park, but it was totally worth it. It was gorgeous, fun and relaxing. Not to mention, we still had an evening to go to one of the parks. If we spent another week at Disney, we'd do that again.

3. The Electric Light Parade - I'm so sad it's not there anymore. Last January we saw the new parade and it was OK, but that Electric Light parade is just incredible. We might have to head out to California to see it again!

4. While the new parade wasn't a hit, I was super impressed with the new "Wishes" fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom. It was long, the story idea was neat and the fireworks over Main Street are a neat effect. The smiley/frowny face fireworks and heart are a neat touch, too. We even watched the show one night from the Polynesian Cultural Center dock - that was fun.

5. The parade in the Animal Kingdom is a lot of fun. Unlike the parade in other parts of DW, it's a little more informal. All the characters are in the parade and they interact with the crowd. It's easy to get a closeup shot and it's not overcrowded. My girls LOVE the Animal Kingdom (?) so we always make it a point to go there.

6. Characters - I'm not sure why waiting in long lines to visit people dressed up like Disney characters is so, well, fun, but we enjoy it. We always hit the character area in the Animal Kingdom - well organized - and also in the Toon town area, the Big Top Tent between Mickey and Minnie's houses. Disney does a great job of getting everyone through the lines, allowing each person to have their own time with each character and time for pictures. We love that! We've also learned that trips during cooler weather seasons have more characters - they can stay out longer without that heat!

7. Any form of character dining! We were so disappointed that Disney nixed the character dining at the diner in MGM. That was one of our favorites - having lunch and dancing with Goofy, Minnie and Chip and Dale. We still caught them for breakfast at the Beach Club (highly recommend this buffet). Probably our alltime favorite to date, though, is the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. You get a great view of the castle, dine with Winnie the Pooh and friends, have an incredible meal and if you plan it just right, you can watch the fireworks from there.

In January, they were mentioning opening up the castle long for dining with princesses. We would LOVE that - we've never had the chance to do that, and with two little girls...

8. We found after our first trip that the store in Downtown Disney offered almost an identical selection as the stores in each of the parks, so when we are looking for that one special item to bring home, it's much easier to do it there than fighting the crowd on Main Street! We also enjoy LegoLand! I might add that you do not need to go to a Disney park to go to Downtown Disney - it's completely free! Save it for a day you don't have a park pass.

Well, that's it for now. I could go on and on but I won't bore you. It was fun talking about it with my friend because I got to dream a little bit about maybe going back sometime. On our next visit, Kt and I will have to check out VMK and the Disney Quests. We haven't had a chance to do that yet. Of course, now that our friends Kim and Mark live in Orlando, we also have someplace to stay, and they are the best Disney guides we know!! They know Disney inside and out. I'd share some of their little secrets, but then they wouldn't be little secrets anymore....

For now, for me it's just wishing upon a star!

(This post was prompted by T's Mrs. Disney quote - I couldn't let him have all the Disney fun!)

Links now appear per T's request!