Done By Disney

TRAVEL | USA | DISNEY

Reflecting on our first family trip to experience the magic

Did I do Disney or did Disney do me? I found myself asking that question a lot during the week that I spent in Orlando visiting various Disneyworld attractions.

Even though I knew it would cost a fortune, I was staggered by the ticket prices. A three-day pass to three attractions for three adults and one child cost about $900. What’s worse, we got ripped off by the person we bought them from, who should have given us a substantial discount. (Of course, nearly 14 years later, those prices don’t seem bad. The ticket prices for my trip to Disney’s Epcot Center in 2018 were also eyewatering).

Part of the magic of Disney is that you’re fully immersed in that world from time you walk through the gates of the theme park. But that also means you’re a captive audience, and those running the show take full advantage of it.

The big lesson: replacement items don’t come cheap. OK, so I shouldn’t have forgotten my young daughter’s hat. But was that any reason to charge $15 for a $3 cap? Another day, we all thought someone else had the sunscreen, but nobody did. Cost at Walmart: $4. Cost at the Magic Kingdom: $16. And the shop assistant said: “You don’t even want to ask about the price of cameras.”

But anyway, the important thing was that we’d finally made the Disney trip I’d been wanting to make since my childhood.

The Fabulous Vista Cay

One thing that did work out well was our accommodation. We opted to avoid the expensive Disney hotels, even though those would have given us early access to the resorts. Instead, we opted for a condo off Universal Drive, which turned out to be a great decision. (We got a great deal as it belonged to a friend.)

To say that the Vista Cay condo was fabulous doesn’t even do it justice. Newly refurbished, it managed to be immaculate AND child-friendly. We didn’t feel we needed to look after anything, but were supremely comfortable.

The kitchen was dominated by a tall stainless steel fridge which was big enough to fit a body in (clearly, I’ve seen too many crime dramas). There were soft cushions in the living room, along with a large flat screen TV. There was even a lanai where you could sit and have a drink while looking at the view of the lake. It was very tranquil, even though we were only a stone’s throw from Universal Boulevard.

All of us felt at home straight away. To add to the luxury, there was a pool and jacuzzi just across the car park. We soon learned there was no better place to decompress after a morning at a Disney theme park.

Exploring The Animal Kingdom

We planned to start our Disney adventure at the Animal Kingdom, since my daughter was obsessed with animals at the time. But before we could go anywhere, we had to get our tickets. This was in the days before the wonderful Disney app. Having read all the advice, we decided to get up at 7, get our tickets from the clubhouse and be on the road by 8.

It didn’t quite work out that way, but eventually we got our overpriced tickets and set off around 8am. We made it to the outskirts of the Animal Kingdom in about 20 minutes, but Disney has its own road system, so it was another 20 minutes before we actually got to the entrance to the car park, paying another $10 for the privilege of parking. (By the way, at the time you could leave the park and return on a day ticket, without having to pay admission or parking charges again).

After parking and getting on the tram, we finally made it to the entrance. Admittedly, we hadn’t chosen the best day for our visit, because we had an unmissable appointment at 2pm. We charged around, trying to cram in as much as possible.

First, we picked up Fast Pass tickets for the Kilimanjaro Safari, and had an hour to kill before our slot. So we lined up for the Wildlife Express, checked out the Planet Watch, then hustled back for the Safari.

It was great. As we jounced around the trails in a jeep, I saw giraffes, zebras, crocodiles and much more. These days I wonder whether they should really be out of their natural habitat, but at the time I was enthralled, as was my daughter. All too soon, it was time to head back to the car park, but where was the car?

None of us had taken note of the Disney character or the row number, so I stood with my daughter in the blazing midday sun, while hubby and sis searched the car park for our rental car. We made our appointment with minutes to spare, then returned to the Animal Kingdom to do the Everest roller coaster ride.

I love speed, so I really enjoyed the twists and turns. At one point, I turned to my sis and said ‘Are we going backwards?’ She gave me a withering look, and said ‘No, we’ve stopped’, just before the roller coaster shot backwards at breakneck speed in the dark. 55 miles an hour feels very fast in something that size.

While we were doing that, the other two attempted to find Nemo (the show was finished) and walked through Dinoworld. We met them at a cunningly disguised McDonalds with a primeval theme.

Food proved to be a challenge whenever we were inside Disney. Our party included a pescatarian, a lactose intolerant person and a couple of people who didn’t really enjoy fast food. Even my four year old was rejecting chips by the third day.

The Disney Blizzard

When it comes to water parks, my husband and I are big kids. In fact, we once spent an entire day at a water park in Lanzarote (in February!) riding the water slides till the staff were ready to go home. So, a Disney water park experience was at the top of our list of things to do.

For a minute there, it looked like it wouldn’t happen. It turned out that our overpriced tickets did NOT include water park access. That was an inauspicious start to our planned day at Blizzard Beach.

Since we were there already, we tried to figure out our options. The greeter clearly hadn’t got the happiness memo, and wasn’t very helpful, but eventually we realized we could just buy new tickets, which was cheaper than upgrading the tickets we had.

Next we needed a locker. These are cleverly placed to make you walk through the shop. We managed to get out with just the locker key, despite the temptation. Then we discovered that the “large” locker wasn’t that large. By this point, we’d had enough of add-on costs, and decided that everything was fitting in one locker, even if we had to cram it in. We managed it, and set off to do something to salvage the day.

We picked an attraction with a 30 minute wait time — Teamboat Springs. Of course, the wait got longer while we were in the queue, but at least we felt like we were getting somewhere. As we got near the top, someone sprayed us with water. It was truly refreshing and we started to feel better.

As it turned out, the top was not the end of the queue — there was another mile of snaking line to go before we could get into a family sized raft, grip our daughter’s hand tightly and swish around the water slide. It was a blast! We swirled around getting sprayed and all of us wanted to do it again as soon as it was over. We decided to save that for later and headed for a child-friendly activity — Tikes Peak.

This was one for the little ones, with mini water slides, floating icebergs and jets of icy water which were as much fun for the adults as the children. My sis opted to stay there with my daughter, while hubby and I headed for another attraction, Runoff Rapids.

This involved picking up an inner tube (tip: go for the double ones as the line is usually shorter) and hiking up the steps to the top of a water slide before swooshing down with no control whatsoever. It was so much fun that we did it again since no one was waiting for our tube. Then we decided that we couldn’t face the steps again and headed back to Tikes Peak to pick everyone up for lunch.

After lunch, it was off to the Lazy River for a relaxing tour of the whole resort. We made a couple of circuits, getting sprayed by icy water at intervals. Then hubby took my daughter back to Tikes Peak, while sis and I did the Runoff Rapids.

Next, we all headed to the wave pool, which was very wavy with a rather uncomfortable surface underfoot. Then hubby and I did the Toboggan Racer, an exhilarating downhill slide. Finally, it was back to Teamboat Springs for our final ride of the day.

Despite an inauspicious start, Blizzard Beach got the thumbs up from me.

Looking back now, this stands out as a great trip, even if we did feel herded around and price gouged. As a family fun experience, it was fantastic, and we’re still talking about doing Disney again one day.

© Sharon Hurley Hall

Sharon Hurley Hall is an anti-racism writer, a professional B2B writer and blogger, and co-host of The Introvert Sisters podcast. This is an edited version of a story originally published on Sharon’s Writing Lab.