Magic Kingdom !

We travelled to Disney World in Florida with our 8-year-old Kidsetter for a once in a lifetime experience.

We stayed at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside within the French Quarter to ensure we could maximise our time spent at the 4 Theme Parks.

The grand lobby of the main building features tall white pillars, soaring ceilings and elegant chandeliers.

In true Disney style there is no detail left to chance. In the lobby the Kidsetters enjoy watching their favourite Mickey Mouse cartoon whilst the adults check in the hotel which is styled like a Steamship ticket station.

Arriving at Christmas made for a particularly special atmosphere surrounded by their wonderful decorations.

Port Orleans resort is separated into areas and our accommodation was located in Alligator Bayou, resembling the small cottages found in the rural bayou regions of Southern Louisiana.

Disney’s famed Imagineers surpassed even themselves when designing this elaborate recreation of the deep South along the banks of Mark Twain’s beloved Mississippi — or in this case, Sassagoula — River.

DisneyWorld is not for the faint hearted, it is a marathon and there are some tricks we’ve learnt along the way. We avoid the photo opportunities with Disney’s Characters as the queues are usually a mile long and waste a lot of time. We pre-book a Character dinner or lunch within the Park to take all the photos we want then. This is more difficult then you think. As we travel from Australia we have to book via the phone during their time zones. Also, they take bookings 3 months in advance so need to place reminders on your phone otherwise you will miss out completely as they book up within minutes of bookings becoming available.

We also avoid buying snacks at the food vendors as that also wastes a lot of time. We ordered gift boxes of snacks from Amazon to arrive at our hotel, which we would load into our backpack to snack on during the day.

We also spent approximately 300 hours watching You Tube prior to arriving following great content from people like Tim Tracker for inside tips and tricks. Our Kidsetter was keen on seeing Tim Tracker and what do you know….. his dream came true ! We have learnt SO much from Tim Tracker.

We kept our ride list simple. As we had researched every ride prior to arriving we had selected our top 3 rides we absolutely wanted to go on and anything else was a bonus. We will always head to furtheriest of the park as there are generally less queues as people are distracted with Character queues throughout the Park.

One of our first rides was within the Frontierland area of the Theme Park called the ‘Big Thunder Mountain Railroad’. We raced through a haunted gold mine aboard a speeding train on the thrilling coaster-style ride.

Next was Splash Mountain within Frontierland. A log flume ride based on the 1946 Disney film Song of the South with an exciting 52.5-foot, 40-mph final drop.

We moved on to Fantasyland and rode the Seven Dwarf Mine Train. We raced through the diamond mine from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on a swaying family coaster ride.

Our next ride was Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid within the Fantasyland area of the Park. We boarded a clamshell and become part of Ariel’s world on a musical adventure awash with scenes from the animated classic.

We moved onto Adventureland and flew high on The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Viewing Adventureland from above, on an enchanted carpet ride inspired by the Disney movie Aladdin.

We then took a cruise on the hilarious World Famous Jungle Cruise Tours. Boarding a canopied tramp steamer we cruised along the river on the watch for angry hippos, hungry lions and “sleeping” zebras.

Next we set sail on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, a swashbuckling voyage to a long-forgotten time and place when pirates and privateers ruled the seas.

We had to keep a spry eye out for Captain Jack Sparrow. Ye beware, mateys: Dead men tell no tales !

For our final ride in Magic Kingdom we headed to Tomorrowland. We put the pedal to the metal in our very own hotrod on the Tomorrowland Speedway and cruised along a scenic miniature motorway.

Due to us visiting during Christmas the Magic Kingdom was a flurry of festivities.

We thoroughly enjoyed watching Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration. Mickey Mouse and his pals invited their friends over for a Christmas party filled with holiday music, seasonal festivities and fun !

We had pre-booked dinner at The Crystal Palace; characters restaurant off Main Street. Winnie the Pooh and his Hundred Acre Wood pals visited for an amazing, all-you-care-to-enjoy buffet.

Our Kidsetter particularly loved his encounters with ‘Winnie the Pooh’ and wrote him a letter, which Winne was delighted to receive.

We watched the Evening Parade called ‘Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmastime Parade’. Experiencing the grandest of finales to our day as Disney stories are brought to life. Queen Elsa used her powers to create a sparkling, icy castle centrepiece for the celebration.