Since I am planning my first official "Summer" trip to WDW, I've also been thinking a lot about how to beat the heat. I know it is going to be positively sweltering, and I know that I need to have a plan for how to deal with the heat. Getting overheated can really take the magic away from the most magical place on Earth!
10 - This one is a no brainer - hydrate! Bring water bottles with you to the parks, pick up a free water from any dining location, just drink lots of water!
9 - Find a shady area to cool off. There are some nice areas scattered all around the parks where you can sit and "rest a spell" as my grandmother would put it. :) Take advantage of these locations. If you are hot and tired, you are not going to enjoy anything. It is worth it to stop and take a break!
8 - Head toward an air-conditioned attraction. There are lots of these all over the parks. Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom, American Adventure at Epcot, One Man's Dream at Hollywood Studios, It's Tough to Be a Bug at Animal Kingdom, and so many more!
7 - Or enjoy a nice sit-down, shaded attraction. Our personal favorite is the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover at Magic Kingdom. This ride takes you all over Tomorrowland, indoors and out, and you even get to view some of the attractions from the ride! It is a great way to sit and rest, and enjoy a nice breeze. Some other examples might be Kilimanjaro Safaris at Animal Kingdom, the Studio Backlot Tour at Hollywood Studios, or the boat ride around the lagoon at Epcot. Once, we rode back and forth for nearly an hour while my daughter napped!
6 - Head back to the hotel for a siesta. Parks are hottest and most crowded between about 1 and 6 pm. This is a great time to take a break and head back to the hotel. You can rest, nap, go for a swim, or just take a break. Then, come back out around dinnertime refreshed and ready to enjoy the parks again!
5 - Take a lunch break (or breakfast, or dinner, or hey, you're on vacation, you can eat whenever you want). I always think it is a nice break when we stop for a meal or snack. You get to sit down for a while, cool down, rest your legs, and get some energy to enjoy the rest of your day.
4 - Go shopping! Nearly all the shopping areas in the parks are either shaded or air conditioned! This is a great time to spend some time looking around to find the perfect souvenir! If you don't want to carry it around the rest of the day, you can even have purchases delivered to your resort (if you're staying on-site)!
3 - Dress for the weather. Another no-brainer here. Wear light colors, and loose clothing. Hats are great, too for some relief from the bright Florida sun.
2 - Enjoy a frozen treat! This is a great time to enjoy a Mickey bar, Dole Whip, smoothie, ice cream, whatever your pleasure! Just make sure to eat it fast, because it's going to melt quickly!
1 - Play in the water! Take a ride on Splash Mountain (Magic Kingdom), Maelstrom (Epcot) or Kali River Rapids (Animal Kingdom). Find a water play area and splash around with your kids. In Adventureland at Magic Kingdom, you can get wet from the spray at the tiki statues, and the spitting camel. There is also the brand new Casey Jr. Splash 'N' Soak Station in the new Fantasyland expansion. At Epcot, you will find water play areas on the walkway from Future World to World Showcase, and you can sometimes get wet on the upper level outside the Imagination Pavilion. Or if you've purchased the Water Parks and More option, enjoy some time relaxing and cooling off in the water parks.
Well, those are my top 10 tips (in no particular order). Do you have any other ideas for keeping cool at WDW? I'd love to hear from you!
Until next time...
Disney Diva
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Friday, June 15, 2012
Monday, July 11, 2011
Downtown Disney
Lots of friends tell me that they haven't visited Downtown Disney because they don't have time for it while they're at Disney World. Well, that's understandable, but I will tell you that my family LOVES Downtown Disney! There are so many fun things to do there, and you don't have to have a ticket to get in!
Let's be honest here, my family loves going out to eat. So we love all the great restaurants at Downtown Disney. Our favorite quick service restaurant is Wolfgang Puck Express. We ate there twice on our last vacation. The food is unique and delicious! I highly recommend it, especially if you're on the quick service dining plan. I've also heard that Earl of Sandwich is good, but we've never tried it because we can't get enough of Wolfgang Puck!
There are also some great table service restaurants like Planet Hollywood, Wolfgang Puck Cafe, and Cap'n Jack's Restaurant. Those are on the table service dining plan. But there is also Fulton's Crab House (mmm...crab legs...), Rainforest Cafe, and House of Blues, but these are not on the dining plan. So try those out if you've got some extra cash laying around, or you just want the experience!
I have heard so much about DisneyQuest at Downtown Disney, but we've never made it there. I think I'm going to make that a goal for our next trip. DisneyQuest is an indoor, interactive theme park, with attractions like CyberSpace Mountain where you get to create your own coaster, Virtual Jungle Cruise where you can take a raft ride through dinosaur times, Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters, a bumper car/asteroid shooting ride, and Pirates of the Caribbean-Battle for Buccaneer Gold where you get to steer your pirate ship, and shoot your cannons on your own pirating adventure!
And my personal favorite, the shopping! You must visit World of Disney, the largest Disney character store on the planet! You can find just about anything Disney-related you could possibly imagine in this store. It is broken up into separate parts, but it is all part of one fantastic store!
There's also my daughter's personal favorite, Goofy's Candy Company. This is a really neat experience. You can choose a treat like a cookie, or rice krispie treat and choose all sorts of toppings. This year, we got a Mickey krispie treat dipped in milk chocolate, covered with sprinkles, and drizzled with dark chocolate. But you can come up with your own combination! You can also buy all sorts of other sweet goodies in here.
Then there's the Lego Imagination Center, where you'll definitely want to go if you have a Lego lover in your family! I am amazed at the things you can see here built out of nothing but legos. You can play with legos to your heart's content in this store.
There's the Disney's Pin Traders store, where you can find just about any pin you want, and trade if you want as well. Disney Days of Christmas is also a fun store where you can get ready for a Disney Christmas! And don't miss Once Upon a Toy where your kids can shop and play with tons of Disney toys! If you like to shop, you'll love Downtown Disney!
There is so much to do at Downtown Disney, you really should take the time to stop by. We don't spend a day there or anything, but sometimes we go to a park in the morning, and Downtown Disney in the evening. It's a treat for the whole family!
Until next time...
Disney Diva
Let's be honest here, my family loves going out to eat. So we love all the great restaurants at Downtown Disney. Our favorite quick service restaurant is Wolfgang Puck Express. We ate there twice on our last vacation. The food is unique and delicious! I highly recommend it, especially if you're on the quick service dining plan. I've also heard that Earl of Sandwich is good, but we've never tried it because we can't get enough of Wolfgang Puck!
There are also some great table service restaurants like Planet Hollywood, Wolfgang Puck Cafe, and Cap'n Jack's Restaurant. Those are on the table service dining plan. But there is also Fulton's Crab House (mmm...crab legs...), Rainforest Cafe, and House of Blues, but these are not on the dining plan. So try those out if you've got some extra cash laying around, or you just want the experience!
I have heard so much about DisneyQuest at Downtown Disney, but we've never made it there. I think I'm going to make that a goal for our next trip. DisneyQuest is an indoor, interactive theme park, with attractions like CyberSpace Mountain where you get to create your own coaster, Virtual Jungle Cruise where you can take a raft ride through dinosaur times, Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters, a bumper car/asteroid shooting ride, and Pirates of the Caribbean-Battle for Buccaneer Gold where you get to steer your pirate ship, and shoot your cannons on your own pirating adventure!
And my personal favorite, the shopping! You must visit World of Disney, the largest Disney character store on the planet! You can find just about anything Disney-related you could possibly imagine in this store. It is broken up into separate parts, but it is all part of one fantastic store!
There's also my daughter's personal favorite, Goofy's Candy Company. This is a really neat experience. You can choose a treat like a cookie, or rice krispie treat and choose all sorts of toppings. This year, we got a Mickey krispie treat dipped in milk chocolate, covered with sprinkles, and drizzled with dark chocolate. But you can come up with your own combination! You can also buy all sorts of other sweet goodies in here.
Then there's the Lego Imagination Center, where you'll definitely want to go if you have a Lego lover in your family! I am amazed at the things you can see here built out of nothing but legos. You can play with legos to your heart's content in this store.
There's the Disney's Pin Traders store, where you can find just about any pin you want, and trade if you want as well. Disney Days of Christmas is also a fun store where you can get ready for a Disney Christmas! And don't miss Once Upon a Toy where your kids can shop and play with tons of Disney toys! If you like to shop, you'll love Downtown Disney!
There is so much to do at Downtown Disney, you really should take the time to stop by. We don't spend a day there or anything, but sometimes we go to a park in the morning, and Downtown Disney in the evening. It's a treat for the whole family!
Until next time...
Disney Diva
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)