Sooo I did something kind of weird but it was really exciting, fun and exhausting all at once! I went to Walt Disney World ALL ALONE. I told you it was weird!! Well the whole reason I decided I needed to go (before I’m back there again this December hehe) is because they’re replacing Illuminations: Reflections of Earth with a new show! For those of you who may not know, Illuminations is the fireworks show in EPCOT and has been happening every. single. night. since 1999. 1999!! 20 years I guess is long enough for a show to go on before it gets boring but I STILL LOVE IT. The inner band geek comes out in me when the music starts playing, seriously if you haven’t heard it and you like movie sound tracks, or you’re in band or orchestra GO LISTEN. It is so beautiful and it’ll make you feel all kinds of things!!
ANYWAY. I could go on about Illuminations forever, but on a whim I booked my flight and a hotel and before I could even process what I was doing I was sitting alone on a plane to Florida. I got to my first hotel at around 10 pm, I was staying at the All Star Movies resort my first night, and Saratoga Springs the second two nights. I was #blessed and they put me in the 101 Dalmations section of the resort, it was SO CUTE. I basically went straight to sleep because I knew I had a VERY long day ahead of me the next morning. When I woke up I had the goal to accomplish all 4 Walt Disney World parks in 1 day. Sure, I’ve done it before but this was next level. I was up at 7 am and made it to Hollywood Studios a half hour before park opening.
My goal at Hollywood Studios was to check out Toy Story Land! I LOVE all the Toy Story movies, and seriously if you haven’t seen Toy Story 4 yet what are you doing?! You need to experience all that is Forky. Well I was shoved immediately in a line as soon as the park opened that headed toward Slinky Dog Dash. That was the ride I was most anticipating for my trip and I knew if I didn’t wait on line right then I would never get on. I waited about an hour and by the time I got off the ride, the line was at a 110 minute wait! IT WAS SO WORTH THE WAIT. It was such a fun ride and has AMAZING views of the park (especially Galaxy’s Edge!!) After Slinky Dog, I headed straight over to Alien Swirling Saucers because why not? Also a very cute ride and lots of fun - the music is awesome! I definitely couldn’t leave Toy Story Land without getting a snack from Andy’s Lunch Box so I got a Chocolate Hazelnut Lunch Box Tart with bacon sprinkled on top - SO GOOD. It’s basically a nutella pop tart with bacon on top so how could it be bad? It wasn’t even close to noon yet and I was DYING from the heat, so I popped into a few shops to soak in as much AC as possible! Then I jumped on the single rider line for Rockin’ Roller Coaster and of course loved every single second of one of my favorite rides!
Time was starting to escape me and I had a deadline to get to two other parks before 9 pm, which sounds like a lot of time buuuut Disney is HUGE so I had to start to hustle! My next stop was the Magic Kingdom - MY ALL TIME FAVORITE PARK. It is so immersive and magical, I love that it has a little bit of everything and of course Cinderella castle! When I got there my first goal was lunch. I got the most delicious corn dog bites from Casey’s Corner and ate them on the hub grass right in front of the castle. Talk about lunch with a view! It is summer so every park was super crowded so I knew I couldn’t get on a ton of rides, so I headed to the Tomorrowland Transit Authority to take a little break! The People Mover typically has a shorter line so I hopped right on, lounged out and took in the sites of Tomorrowland! I then snagged a fast pass for Jungle Cruise, which I haven’t been on in years so I was super excited! By then it was late afternoon and I was basically melting. My boat’s skipper was SO funny and knew how to make light of a sticky situation we encountered. The boats got backed up at the exit and we got caught between two elephants that squirted water out of their trunks, which typically is totally avoidable except we got stuck behind another boat and our entire boat got hit with water!!! Our skipper goes, “Well now you don’t have to go on Splash Mountain?” It was SO funny!! After the Jungle Cruise I walked around Fantasy Land, and hit up Mickey’s Philharmagic for it’s amazing show of course aaand for some more AC haha! Before I left I HAD to get a Mickey Premium Bar that totally melted before I even got through it all but it was delicious as always!
My next stop was Animal Kingdom! Animal Kingdom is so under appreciated and by the time I got there a Florida afternoon storm was just rolling in. Rainy Animal Kingdom is honestly such a mood and I LOVE it there in the rain! When I got there I headed straight for Expedition Everest, the single rider line was calling my name. I rode with an adorable family and it was their first time on the ride! They had their really small daughter on the ride with them and I assured them they were going to have soooo much fun!! And it was, this is 100% one of my favorite rides! Then I headed to Dinoland USA and it is just so cute there. I was able to get right on Dinosaur which I haven’t done in years because it’s always closed when I’m there! It was just as fun as I remembered!! When walking around Africa I saw some of the amazing performers out playing music and getting everyone to dance. They are so incredibly talented and so much fun to stop and watch!!
I had to head out of Animal Kingdom so I could grab some dinner in EPCOT before Illuminations started and I knew I had to get my spot early so I could fully enjoy my last time experiencing it! For dinner I grabbed some fish and chips in England, chips and guac in Mexico, and a grapefruit beer from Germany! You could say it was a pretty delicious dinner!! Before Illuminations I got to hit up one of my favorite rides, Spaceship Earth and enjoyed a time traveling journey before coming back to reality. I found my spot for Illuminations (Germany has so many good view points!) and just hung out until it was time for the show to start! I WAS SO EXCITED. And it did not disappoint at all. The music, the fireworks, the lights on the buildings I was just in awe of it all and was so sad to see it go but I am so excited to see what EPCOT will bring us next!
When I got back to my new hotel, Saratoga Springs I crashed! Thank goodness the next morning I planned on hanging out by the pool for a bit before facing the Florida heat again. I woke up, grabbed some mickey waffles for breakfast (SO GOOD) and swam by the pool for a few hours before meeting my bestie Hannah at Disney Springs! Hannah is a gal pal and she moved to Florida last year, so getting to see her was amazing! We stopped at some of my favorite shops including Free People, Anthropologie, Uniqlo and of course the World of Disney!! Yes this was the day I spent most of my money...but I mean, treat yourself right? We grabbed lunch at Chicken Guy, Guy Fieri’s new restaurant, yes we went to flavortown, and it was SO GOOD! Would definitely eat there again and again. We grabbed a drink at the margarita stand and waited out the Florida afternoon rain then headed over to the Boardwalk Resort. The Boardwalk is themed after the boardwalks we have up here in NJ and NY so it’s really reminiscent of home! It has the shops, food, games and view you would expect! We hung out there, shopped, grabbed food and took a ferry ride before parting our ways. I then headed over to the Polynesian resort to catch Happily Ever After from the beach forgetting that Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party started and the fireworks were so much later! So I watched the Water Pageant which is always so cute, grabbed a dole whip and headed back to my hotel to crash!
The next morning I was leaving but decided to sneak in some resort time before my flight. I love Saratoga Springs because it also reminds me of home! It’s themed after Saratoga Springs, NY known for its horse racing! The vibe is so classy upstate NY and I absolutely love it. I had mickey waffles once again for breakfast, swam for a bit and before I knew it, I was on my plane home.
I packed SO MUCH into 2 days I was completely exhausted when I got home! But I had such a fun time traveling alone and getting to do whatever the heck I wanted! I always see tweets like stop waiting for the weekend, stop waiting for your friends, just go do what you want to do and that has really been inspiring me lately. I’m always waiting for more time, someone to go with, more money and it’s like no stop you’re young just do it now! I hate the idea of wanting to try so many things and not doing them for whatever reason and regretting it later. It’s my goal, especially in the next few years to just go do, see and live because why not? So here’s to traveling, seeing and experiencing everything you possibly can in life.
