Disney Travel Day & Bay Lake Tower [Day 1]

Prior to Brayden starting Kindergarten, we took a super quick/long weekend trip to Walt Disney World and had an absolute blast! Our trip included a split stay with one night at Bay Lake Tower followed by the remainder of the week at Old Key West. We spent time in all four parks, did a lot of swimming, and even visited Blizzard Beach. These recaps will include the highlights of our days at Disney!

Oddly enough, just as we were about to leave for our trip, our Florida friend Randy was in Louisiana to visit his parents. He stopped over to say hi! (We live about 12 hours apart!) 

No and I mean NO Texas road trip is complete without a stop at Buc-ee's! It was definitely the highlight of Brayden's day!

We sure do love this place! If you've never been, you should stop by sometime! It's seriously the largest and cleanest gas station/restroom stop/souvenir store I've ever seen!

Our flight departed bright and early the following morning. We stayed at a park and fly hotel the night before and were then brought to the airport the following morning. TSA pre-check was open and running which was nice (sometimes it's not open that early) and we were through the gate in no time.

Somehow, we snagged the front front row seats on Southwest and joked that we were starting our trip off on "Southwest first class"! These seats were awesome! 

Only problem is, you had to store your bags overhead for takeoff and landing as there's no where to put them at your feet. I would totally sit here again, though!

Now that Magical Express no longer obtains your bags for you, we had to do something we've never had to do in all our years of flying to MCO! Baggage claim!

It was not bad or difficult at all, though! Just something new for us! 

The line for Magical Express was incredibly short. We got right into line 3 which also had zero line and we were directed right onto our bus!

Off to Bay Lake Tower! In total, the whole airport thing took about an hour, then another 45 minutes or so for the Magical Express trip. We landed at MCO a little after 9 a.m. and were up and in our room at 11 a.m.! 

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that our room at BLT was ready!

We booked a basic deluxe studio without anything extra.

The rooms at Bay Lake Tower are very nice and I'd love to stay longer on our next trip.

I love how clean and updated these rooms feel. 

A kitchenette with all of the amenities were included in this little alcove.

The overall size of the room was great as well!

We ended up with a lake view somehow, but I wasn't complaining! :)

The artwork was so cute!

After glancing over our balcony, what I thought was a lake view actually turned out to be a split lake view/theme park view!

We dropped off our bags and headed to the Magic Kingdom (more on that later) then came back to the resort mid-afternoon to swim!

Brayden LOVED their slide!

They also had this adorable splash pad!

Behind the pool area was the cutest little beach/relaxation section complete with comfortable outdoor furniture! It looked so nice!

Even though Bay Lake Tower isn't our home resort, we loved it and would definitely consider adding on points there in the future!

It was so nice to be "home"! 

Stay tuned for a peek at our time in the Magic Kingdom! :) 

Disney 2021: Animal Kingdom

Our last full day at Disney was spent in the Animal Kingdom. We arrived at rope drop and were able to get into the park pretty early!

Our first stop of the day was at Flight of Passage. Having never ridden this ride without a fast pass, I hadn't yet experienced the full queue line and I was excited to do so!

Seeing the full queue all lit up was really neat and something I'm glad I had a chance to experience, for sure!

After Flight of Passage, we jumped over to the Na'vi River Journey. 

I realize this is incredibly silly, but if you actually pay attention to the surroundings on this ride, you'll notice that the Na'vi are actually going along on the journey "with" you! (Hence the name "Na'vi River Journey"....serious face palm here.) How I missed this before, I'll never know!!

Up next was a ride on Kilimanjaro Safari, while it was still morning and the animals were out and about! 

We saw plenty of giraffes and elephants! It was great as always!

Such a gorgeous day!

As a mid-morning snack, I stopped at a cart near Asia where they offered fried pot stickers. These are my FAVORITE on Disney Cruise Line and were taken off the pirate night menu - I'm still bitter about it. 

 

When I saw a friend on instagram ordered these for herself a few weeks before our trip, I added them to my must do list and they did not disappoint! 

While our friends took a ride on Everest, Brayden and I hung out and enjoyed the atmosphere. 

We did a quick rider swap and somehow ended up on the very FRONT of Everest! This was my second time to ride up front and if you haven't done so before, you need to! It's so much fun!

For lunch, we had the pulled pork mac and cheese from Flame Tree BBQ. This is a favorite of ours and almost always an every-timer! While eating, we also saw a boat pass by with Mickey and Minnie on board! So fun!

After lunch, we walked over towards Dino Land and secured our Annual Pass magnets. We love this cartoon and thought the magnet was so fun!

One of Brayden's favorites in Animal Kingdom is Triceratops spin, so we all hopped on board for a quick ride!

Notice the now-gone Primeval Whirl in the background. I never had a chance to ride it as I tend to shy away from spin-type rides. Rest in peace!

I love how we still had a chance to see characters throughout the park without actually being up close to them.

It's Tough To Be a Bug was up next!

When we excited, we saw a beautiful hidden Mickey made of flower petals on the ground! 

I love the creativity behind this one and saw that Disney recently featured a cast member on their instagram who makes these beautiful icons throughout Animal Kingdom! So fun!

Dinosaur is one of my favorite rides in Animal Kingdom and we decided to make it our last ride of the day! Somehow, we were fully finished with almost every attraction in Animal Kingdom by 2 p.m.! 

Poor Brayden was scared to death! Hah!

Before leaving, we decided to grab a few snacks on the way out. I really wanted a few snacks from Pandora, so we meandered back over in that direction. 

On the way there, we spotted a few friends! 

Jason's favorite is the Night Blossom (I don't care for it as much) and my favorite is the Pongo Lumpia! 

This decadent treat is made with cream cheese and pineapple, wrapped in a flaky crust. SO good!

We also ordered Starbucks on our way out!

Our evening plans included a tour of the Copper Creek cabins at Wilderness Lodge (for our friends to see) as well as a dip in the pool!

This kid should have been born a fish. He would swim all day every day if I let him!

Our beautiful day turned into a beautiful evening.

Brayden LOVED the water slide at the Wilderness Lodge and still talks about it to this very day!

After swimming for a few hours, we returned to our room to change for dinner at Geyser Point.

While waiting, we also had a chance to see the Electric Water Pageant! This brings back such awesome memories of my childhood!

We all ordered the same thing - the bison burger. It was delicious!!

After hanging around the restaurant and enjoying our final evening in Disney, we walked over to Roaring Fork for dessert! :)

Brayden enjoyed a Mickey Bar...

...Jason LOVED this magic cookie bar... (I did taste it and it was amazing!)

...and I had a Mickey ice cream bar as well! Our friends also ordered ice cream! Perfect end to a great trip!!

Back in our room, Brayden played with his bubble machine out on the patio and then we drifted off to sleep with another amazing day in the books! 

Up next: Our final day (1/2 day) at the Magic Kingdom!