Williams Family: My "Belle" Day in the Walt Disney World Parks

When the husband and I were daydreaming about living with Walt Disney World in our backyard, we talked about themed park visit days.  I planned and enjoyed a day playing in the parks centered around my favorite Disney Princess, Belle.

Belle is my favorite Disney Princess because she loves to read, can see the person inside the Beast and Gaston, is brave, and of course, her yellow (my favorite color!) ball gown.  The color scheme helped me with my wardrobe selection for the day.

I mapped out my day--Hollywood Studios for Beauty and the Beast--Live on Stage with the first show at 11:00 am. It is helpful to know showtimes in advance which can be found on the MyDisneyExperience app or Walt Disney World website.

A boat ride from Hollywood Studios to EPCOT put me right where I wanted to be--France for Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along.  This is a continuously running show so I wasn't as worried about the timing. The animation reminded me of Mickey's Philharmagic and the star of this version of the story is LeFou, Gaston's sidekick. No photography or video allowed in the Sing-Along.

The next step was a timing mistake on my part--meeting Belle in EPCOT.  As I walked to the queue, she was greeting her last family and would not return for an hour. I walked on and rode the Friendship Launch from Morocco to Canada and stopped for a tasty lunch at Bramblewood Bites, an outdoor kitchen for Food and Wine Festival.  

I ventured through World Celebration, through the park exit, and up to the Monorail Station for a highway in the sky ride from EPCOT to the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) with a transfer to the Express Monorail to Magic Kingdom. 

Arrived just in time to watch the Festival of Fantasy Parade, with my gal Belle, at the front of the leading parade float!

Off to Fantasyland for Enchanted Tales with Belle.  The queue said 30 minutes, but the actual wait time was more like 45 minutes, plus the time to enjoy the attraction. Yes, I have experienced Enchanted Tales with Belle before, but the enchanted mirror in Maurice's workshop still blows me away!  I was chosen to play a knight for Belle's surprise!

As I walked out of Fantasyland, giddy from my time with Belle, I spied no line at Sir Mickey's Portrait Studio.  As I explained my themed day to the Photopass Photographer, we agreed on some playful photos featuring Beauty and the Beast inspired props.

One more stop on my Belle themed park day--Enchanted Rose, a Lounge, at the Grand Floridan, just a Resort Monorail ride away. The lounge has a light fixture that is inspired by Belle's dress.  (The same fixture is in Topolino's Terrace at the Riviera Resort, but I set that out of my mind and focused on Belle.) 

With my themed day complete, I rode a bus from the Grand Floridian to Hollywood Studios to the car.

Thinking about your own themed park tour? Consider your theme--the husband has one percolating. Know which shows, attractions, restaurants, etc. may fit with your theme.  I typed in Belle and Beauty and the Beast in the search function of the Walt Disney World website to help my plan. Plan for transportation if your themed day takes you to more than one location.  I enjoy the convenience of Walt Disney World transportation options--busses, boats, monorails, Skyliner.  And, make sure your theme park ticket allows for Park Hopping, if your themed day takes you to more than one Walt Disney World theme park.

Would I do this again? Definitely! 

Williams Family: Our Four Parks; One Day Adventure--December 31, 2018! (Part 2)

Click here to read Part 1 of Our Four Parks, One Day Adventure.

Let me remind you of the rules that we set for ourselves:

• A park icon photo at each park.
• Use only Disney transportation system.(Could we use all forms in one day?)
• Ride at least one ride at each park with a ride photo

So far, we had broken one of the rules as we didn't get a ride photo at EPCOT, just selfies in the line for Soarin'.

We strolled from Future World to the International Gateway at EPCOT and took the Friendship Launch from EPCOT to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

While on the boat, I used the My Disney Experience app to order lunch at Woody's Lunchbox using the mobile order function on the app.  It was easy!

Do you see the 2019 in our picture?  

When we got closer to Woody's Lunchbox, I used the "I'm here" button on the app and proceeded to the mobile order window to pick up lunch.  Did I say this was easy?  It automatically used our Quick Service Dining credits!

Soon it was time for our Slinky Dog Coaster Fastpasses.  Everytime this ride is fun! Also, as soon as we exited the attraction, I was able to snag a Fastpass for DINOSAUR!

The lines for the Star War Characters were a bit long, but Disney Chase Visa has a character meet & greet in Launch Bay so we stopped.  Good thing the husband had his wallet and photo ID!

We exited the park and made our way to the bus stop for Disney's Animal Kingdom.  This was the longest walk of the day!  The bus was full and we had to stand for the ride.  

Just inside the entrance to Disney's Animal Kingdom, Terk and Meeko were greeting guests.  We stopped to say "Hello!"

The photo above met the criteria for park icon photo!  You can also see by the sun that it was later in the day.

On our way to DINOSAUR, we stopped to greet Russell and Dug and met a family from our hometown in the line, too!  It really is a small world!

Since we were right there, we decided to see "It's Tough To Be A Bug" before making our way to Dinoland.

We rode DINOSAUR and the husband was so scared he forgot his part of the 2019 using his hands.  Oh, well!

Time to exit the park and take a bus to Disney Springs.  We had a dinner reservation!

Our reservation was for Enzo's Hideaway.  Seafood and pasta favorites were on the menu.  What was even cooler was the trip to the bathroom which is shared with The Edison.  

After dinner, we took a bus from Disney Springs back to our resort.

We did it!  We hit all four Walt Disney World Parks in one day, along with Disney Springs.  We used Disney transportation throughout and rode buses, the monorail, and two different types of water launches.  We even squeezed in a character meal and met characters at three of the four parks.  We got attraction photos at three of the four parks and icon photos at all four.

December 31 is one of the busiest days of the year for the Walt Disney World Resort.  Knowing this, we tried to move opposite the crowds in the order we visited the parks.  

We saved time traveling without bags.  The husband had the camera, portable phone charger w/cord, and wallet in his pockets.  The boy and I each had our phones and sunglasses.We made no purchases other than food throughout the day.

Would we do this again?  Sure!  But now we're thinking both water parks on the same day!

Williams Family: We Tried EVERYTHING in Toy Story Land at Disney's Hollywood Studios

When planning for our summer 2018 family vacation, we soon realized that we would NOT be at Walt Disney World for the opening of Toy Story Land--we would be boarding the Disney Dream the day before!  Not wanting to miss out on all the fun, we added a couple of days at Walt Disney World after our cruise.  So, on Thursday, July 5, 2018, we woke up before the crack of dawn and made our way to Disney's Hollywood Studios to tackle Toy Story Land.

Coming upon the entrance.

Welcome! Be sure to listen to the tall statues.

See the big footprint on the ground?  You're the size of a toy!

Crossing the bridge to Slinky Dog Dash entrance.

Extra Magic Hours, 7:00-8:00 am, were being offered to Walt Disney World Resort guests.  We were at the bus stop at our resort at 6:00 am and on a bus--with other guests--by 6:15.  When we arrived at Disney's Hollywood Studios around 6:30, guests were already being allowed into the park and the majority of folks were walking right to Toy Story Land.

We walked on Slinky Dog Dash for our first ride by 6:45, rode, exited, and back in line by 6:55 am with a 30 minute wait posted.

Next, we took a turn on Alien Swirling Saucers.

This matched the theme of our shirts for the day, so thought it appropriate to take a picture!

The music and queue at Alien Swirling Saucers is quite fun!

We then found the new entrance to Toy Story Mania and discovered that Mr. Potato Head was back in the stand-by queue!

We'd had a busy morning and it was time for a snack at Woody's Lunch Box.  The line wasn't too bad and we tried the Breakfast Bowl and Raspberry Lunch Box Tart along with the Mini Babybel Snack Cheese.

Babybel, by the way, is the sponsor for Woody's so be on the look out for Babybel chairs!  All dining is outdoors with tables for both sitting and standing.  We didn't have any issues finding a spot to sit for our mid-morning snack.

While we didn't stop for photos on our way into Toy Story Land, we did stop on the way out.  There were two Photopass photographers taking photos at the entrance sign, which made the process much quicker!

We took a break from Toy Story Land, but did come back later in the day as we had FP for Toy Story Mania.  When we returned, we met the characters located in Toy Story Land, too.

You can see the bathroom entrance behind in this photo.

The Green Army Patrol march back and forth Toy Story Land, interacting with guests and they now have their own drum corp.

Now, for our review:

The land itself is cute and creative.  The boy noticed all the "sponsorships" that the land would need to make it look all plastic--Lego, K'Nex, Tinker Toy, etc.  The queues are creatively done and do look like everything is a toy.

We would rate Slinky Dog Dash, just under Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in terms of thrill level.  The last big hill is great!  There's more room for legs, bottoms, bags, etc. on Slinky Dog than Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Coaster!  Thank goodness!

There's a ride photo on Slinky Dog Dash that "automagically" connects to your MagicBand, just like FROZEN.  So, no congregating at the exit to check out photos and watch guests take a photo of the ride photo.  You get the photo with your Photopass account.

There are 7 attractions--including character meet & greets in Toy Story Land--and 5 of those are outside.  Which means, only Toy Story Mania and Alien Swirling Saucers remain open during inclement weather.  Add wind, and Alien Swirling Saucers will close down.  We asked Cast Members what, if any, plans were in the works to relocate character meet & greets inside, and we were directed to Guest Services to ask/advocate.

If you Fastpass Toy Story Mania, you will miss Mr. Potato Head, so we recommend using the Stand-by queue at least once.  Be ready for the LONG walk to exit Toy Story Mania as it now exits in Toy Story Land.

Stand-by entrance on the left, Fastpass on the right

If you look at this photo, the Stand-by entrance  for Slinky Dog Dash is on the left, while FP is on the right, but the long lines for Slinky Dog seemed to be to the right of the red umbrellas--look at photo below--most of the day, so I'm confused about what happens when those lines cross at the entrance!

Guests in the Stand-by queue stand to the right of the red umbrellas.

Bathrooms.  There is one located on far to the left, across from Alien Swirling Saucers.  It's themed and colorful--reminds me of Legoland Hotel.  It's also big, which is helpful.  What's not helpful is that there is only ONE paper towel dispenser for the entire location.  Not one near the diaper changing station only ONE above one of the sinks.  There are two other "blade" dryers above the sink area that require guests to stand in front of the sink and dry their hands making other guests wait to wash their hands AND since the "blade" dryers are above the sink, little kiddos can't reach them to dry their hands, nor can they reach the paper towel dispenser.  I used the women's bathroom 4 times during our day and 2 out of 4 times that ONE paper towel dispenser was, you guessed it, empty.

We will add Toy Story Land into our touring plans.  Slinky Dog Dash Fastpasses are now the hottest commodity on Walt Disney World property and will be until Star Wars Land opens in the Fall of 2019.

We came to tackle Toy Story Land, and we did!