We visited Disney World for a week. While we visit about once a year, this trip did have some new experiences for us. The weather was perfect, mid-70s most of the trip. It had been much colder the week prior, so we were lucky. The parks were busy the first few days, but slowed down towards the second half of our trip.
We chose to use Mears again for transportation to and from the airport. Mears is a bus option, with their pickup terminal in the bottom level of the Orlando airport. This is a great option, especially for families, and comparable in price to an Uber. The only downside is you never know how many other resorts the bus will stop at before your resort.
For the first time, we stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort. This is a moderate category Disney resort. It is a very large resort, so keep that in mind if you don’t want to have to walk a lot. The property is Caribbean themed, and was very beautiful. There are multiple pools on the property. The best perk of this resort is the Disney Skyliner transportation. The Disney Skyliner gondola system is available for transportation to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios.
To minimize wait times on the newest attractions, Disney World does use a virtual queue system. This requires you virtually “getting in line” at 7:00 AM the day you are visiting the park. You will be given a boarding group, and notified when it is time for you to come to the ride. There is a second virtual queue opportunity at 1:00 PM, but you are required to be in the specific park that the ride is located in. Currently, Disney is using this system for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in Magic Kingdom, as well as Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind in Epcot. Going forward, any new attractions will be utilizing this system.
Another new experience for us was the Epcot Festival of the Arts. While we have attended all of the other Epcot festivals, we had never experienced this one as it is a very short festival. It usually runs from mid-January to the end of February. There are specialty food items, chalk art throughout Epcot, special artist booths with art available to buy, as well as performances by Disney Broadway performers in the evening.
Our family also did choose to purchase Memory Maker this time, which is Disney’s photo package. This means that all photos from your trip are available to download. This includes ride photos, specialty photos, as well as any photos you may stop and have taken by Photo Pass photographs around the parks. It really makes sense for families. As long as one person purchases it in the family, then everyone’s photos are available for the whole group as long as the reservations are linked.
Disney World has something different to offer depending on what time of year you visit. When booking a trip with us, make sure you let our agents know if there is something specific you are looking to experience!
Zack and Mandy Kemp
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