this post is an overall synopsis of the theme parks. for a quick review of the rides and attractions, see the disney & universal rides and attractions post.
last week, i went on a fast and furious trip to orlando, florida. it was my first time to orlando, and on the itinerary was disney world (magic kingdom, animal kingdom, and epcot) and universal (island of adventure and studio). we managed to do all five parks in four days, sandwiched between two grueling travel days. here's how it went down:
thursday: travel to orlando
started with an early flight to orlando. included was 2 layovers (oy! why did i pick this flight??) anyways, everything went as expected. no delays, no drama. we did encounter a minor hiccup at the car rental place, but that was quickly resolved and off we went in our teeeny tiny car. we checked into the hotel, got settled in, grabbed a late dinner, and it was off to bed early to get ready for the next day.
friday: magic kingdom and epcot
WOOHOO! excitement is brewing for all of us. we've been to disneyland before, but this is our first time in disneyworld. just looking at the map of the disney parks was overwhelming. we knew we had a limited time here, and opted to get the 2 day park hopper pass. in addition, after some thought and consideration, we decided that we would prioritize 3 of the 4 major parks: magic kingdom, animal kingdom, and epcot (skipping disney's hollywood studios). we bought our tickets early, and set up fast passes for the major rides about 4 weeks in advance.
for our first day, we knew that we wanted to go to magic kingdom and epcot, spending most of our day at magic kingdom but ending the night at epcot where we would watch the IllumiNations show. the night before, we did a final check on park hours and looked at parking. we decided to park at epcot early in the morning, and take a monorail over to the magic kingdom. it worked out brilliantly since we were going to end up back there at the end of the night (and a bonus of getting to ride the monorail!) parking at disney parks is $17 per day (you can save your receipt and drive to a different park... we'll be needing this option the next day)
(i'm not going to post about all the rides we went on here, because that will be too long - however, you can see my other post about the rides <here> (coming soon))
we spent the entire morning and most of the afternoon at magic kingdom. got to see all the major attractions and rides, saw the parade (got rained on... darn florida weather!), ate [overpriced] disney food, and paid for [overpriced] disney souvenirs. after that, we hopped back on the monorail to go back to epcot to see if we can go on some of the rides. we were able to cut wait time and get on some of the big rides because it was later in the afternoon (yay!) was able to preview a part of the park and had dinner here. we also stayed to see the IllumiNations show which was a combination of lights, fireworks, pyrotechnics, and laser magic.
Epcot: Spaceship Earth
PS. MAGICBANDS. get them. use them. the end. (also, just to note - for a premium - around 40-90% more than online prices - you can get some awesome bands (cooler designs) at the parks - but that cuts into your time at the parks...)
saturday: animal kingdom and epcot
work up pretty tired, but still very excited about this day. our plan, drive to animal kingdom in the morning, then head over to epcot in the afternoon to walk through the nations and do the rides we didn't get to the previous day.
the day again started as planned. we arrived 30 minutes before the park opened to a pretty sizable queue. we waited in line and decided we would hit up some of the rides we had on our fast pass so that we can rearrange our day. it worked out well for us (getting there early and just hitting the rides right off the bat) because we got through 4 rides within the first hour!
we also found a decent place to eat in the park continued our tour of the park, and finally headed back to epcot.
back at epcot - everything was epic. epic wait times (we were out of fast passes at this point) and epic journey through the world showcase. (it really is a biiiiigggggggggg loop to get around all the nations - about 1.3 miles according to various sites) and it was a particularly difficult loop for me - as my feet were super tired (i was super tired) and my fitness isn't currently at its best. in any case, the showcase was beautiful. be prepared to plan time to stop in the shops and check out the various food options. i think ideally, this would have been a 2 day excursion around the world showcase, but we got through in one full loop and finished in time for a last round of rides at epcot before calling it a night.
bonus: we ended up at epcot during the internal flower & garden festival. this is a special event that runs from march through about mid-may in 2015. this meant that we not only go to see the impressive gardens and landscaping at epcot - we got to see special topiary and garden displays throughout. also, since it was the week before easter, there was an adorable easter egg hunt happening around the gardens.
sunday: universal studios and island of adventure
rides. rides. and more rides.
i have never been to a universal park before, so i wasn't quite sure what to expect here. however, i am a big harry potter fan, and was extremely excited to visit the harry potter attractions.
similar to the disney parks - we opted for the 2-day "park hopper" version of the tickets - allowing us go back and forth between both parks.
we arrived early to the universal parking (there's only one parking for both parks) only to find ourselves amongst a sea of people already there for early park hours and other early perks. we decided that we would head to the island of adventure first, specifically hitting up hogsmead in the harry potter land. after we did these attractions, we would walk around the rest of the island of adventure park, then hop on the hogswarts express to universal studio (note: you must have the park-hopper to do this!)
everything went according to plan - though we did have to wait in queues longer than expected for some rides. it ended up being an easy day in both parks - crowd level was moderate and day progressed pleasantly. we mostly stuck to our plan - starting the day in island of adventure and ended it in universal studios.
monday: universal studios and island of adventure
for our second day - we started off in universal studios to try to catch the rides that we missed the previous day. we knew that this day was going to be a pretty rough day - given that it was the official first day of spring break - and that the crowd was expected to be pretty intense. we stood through lines... got on rides, rides, and more rides... and alas, decided we'd had enough of universal and ended up walking back to island of adventure to close out or evening with what else but more rides. :)
tuesday: travel home
ugh. my least favorite part of this trip. not only because it was going home, but also because our timing was off. i was thinking that we would spend the morning just checking out orlando (downtown disney or other) but by this day, we were too exhausted and simply didn't have the energy to be in "exploration" mode. our flight was scheduled mid-afternoon, but our rental was due in by noon - so we decided we'll get to the airport early, return the rental, grab a bite to eat at the airport, and wait it out. unfortunately, there was a minor issue with our plan, which resulted in a delay, which caused us to miss our connection, and ultimately, resulted in a 3.5 hour delay in our return. this plus the time change AND our fatigue from 4 days-o-fun just meant a very unpleasant return journey.