Day 2: Hollywood Studios & Animal Kingdom

As the days draw shorter and shorter, I am realizing that our next WDW trip is seriously coming up (and fast)! Since I'm still not finished recapping our August 2019 trip, it's about time I get right on that!

Our first full day began with breakfast at Trattoria al Forno. In order to get there in the easiest way possible, we called up a Lyft from the app on our phone. The amazing part about the whole thing is we could designate a pickup location directly from our resort building, eliminating an 8-10 minute walk to the front of the resort! Bonus!!

As an added bonus, this was seriously the most extra Lyft experience we'd ever had (and still have had). This driver had ice cold water bottles for everyone, Disney facts signs, snacks, and...he was wearing a bow tie. We felt like we were on Disney transportation!

After breakfast, we took the boat over to Hollywood Studios to check out Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy!

Several friends told me they didn't know this existed and it's honestly kind of tucked behind Rock n Roller Coaster, like a little hidden gem. It's SO cute!

While waiting for the next show to start, they had a group of entertainers dressed in fun race car attire to entertain the kids. They had games, bubbles, and music for dancing! Fifteen minutes didn't seem that long after all.

Once we got inside, we were able to sit on the second row and I'm not kidding you - this expression was seriously on my toddler's face for the ENTIRE show.

I don't think he moved. Or wiggled. I'm not sure about you, but that's absolutely unheard of for my toddler!

Overall it was a super cute show and well worth it! We will definitely be back!

Another attraction we missed on our previous visit was the newly revamped Disney Jr Dance Party. First, we had to take a picture with Pluto! :)

The Disney Jr Dance Party was yet another hit, but I honestly think it was just a little too long for a 3 year old. He loved the music and songs from all of his favorite Disney Jr. shows, but I think it could have been cut a bit shorter as he became restless at the end. He did love being able to get up and dance!

This show was fun for us, but Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy was definitely the highlight of the two!

The next stop on our journey was Animal Kingdom. Brayden and I snagged a drink and a quiet corner to attempt a nap while Jason rode single rider on Everest.

Did a nap happen? Nope. Oh well!

We also took a little time out to see Lion King and walk through Pandora.

This little walkway near Lion King is one of my favorite ways to get to Pandora!

Jason loves the Night Blossom - it's his "must do" every trip.

We somehow snagged fast passes for the Navi River Journey, so we also took a ride on that.

After a hot day in the parks, a little ice cream was necessary. I ordered this Simba's Sunset Dole Whip and while it was ok, I think I'll just stick with a traditional Dole Whip next time.

We found a quite secluded spot to sit and eat our ice cream and it was really nice. I love little alcoves like this one, quiet and sort-of hidden away from the hustle and bustle of the parks.

Our last ride for the day was Kilimanjaro Safaris.  Brayden loves giraffes and they were out in full force!

Remember that attempted nap? Well, he totally fell asleep in his stroller and we managed to keep him asleep on the bus ride back to Old Key West, too!

All that fun tuckered him out!

For dinner that evening, we decided on Olivia's because I'd heard rave reviews about their Buttermilk Chicken. I also managed to snag this reservation at the last minute which worked out perfect for us!

This restaurant is so cute - I would seriously return here again just for dinner! 

The walls are lined with photos of their DVC Members, dating back to the 90's. It was fun to look at frames, photos, and the years on each one!

Dinner began with rolls - YUM!

Jason and I both ordered the Buttermilk Chicken and agreed it was delicious!

Brayden had his own version, minus the white gravy.

Ok - y'all know my love for Ohana and their bread pudding. Well, imagine my surprise when I saw that Olivia's served Banana Bread Pudding with Bananas Foster Sauce? 

Yes, I'll add that to my order now, thank you!

Although the banana bread dessert was good, it wasn't as striking as the Ohana dessert like I'd hoped. It's definitely worth trying, though!

After a really long day, we decided to spend the evening relaxing at our resort and enjoying the swimming pool.

Brayden loved swimming and although we missed out on fireworks that evening, we were still close enough to hear/see them from our resort!

If you made it through this entire day's recap, I thank you for sticking around! We had a blast sharing this quick trip with Brayden and can't wait for upcoming one!

Next Up: Magic Kingdom

Day 1: Disney Travel & Arrival

Back in August, we spent a very quick weekend at Walt Disney World and although we were short on time, we had a ton of fun!

Earlier in 2019, we scoured the calendar for a weekend that would work to take a short getaway. I didn't think it was going to happen at first, but I'm so glad everything worked out and fell into place!

We also had several reasons for this trip - the number one reason being that we had some extra DVC points to use! Among other reasons, we also wanted to get Brayden's AP activated and take him to see the new Lightning McQueen Racing Academy (which turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip)! More on that in the next post, though...

We left on a Friday, I worked until noon that day, then we drove to New Orleans to catch a 6 p.m. flight. We knew our Friday would be long but we didn't care - we were going to Disney!!

We arrived at MCO around 9 p.m. and headed straight for Magical Express. Due to the time change, our bodies thought it was technically 8 p.m. and we hadn't eaten dinner yet. Although none of us were starving, we definitely wanted to eat dinner somewhere.

Magical Express was technically a ghost town which meant we were the first one on our bus! This also meant we got to sit for a while....a long while....and wait on the bus to fill up a bit more before taking off. Whomp whomp.

Finally though, we were off! We were also super excited to discover that Old Key West was our first stop! YAY!

Welcome Home! Best feeling in the world!

On our way to Old Key West, we received a text that included our room number. Since this was a new resort to us, (and it's BIG) we were completely lost. After attempting to figure out our way on a map, I asked a cast member at the hospitality house which way we should start walking. She asked if we'd ever stayed there and when we told her no, she asked us to wait. Minutes later (and much to my surprise), a very friendly bellman wearing a navy blue name tag (you know, those extra special ones) pulled up on a golf cart to take us to our room!! Along the way, he also gave us a "tour" of the resort which was super nice. What a special touch!

By this time, it was approaching 10:45 p.m. and we still hadn't eaten dinner. While waiting at the hospitality house earlier, we asked about dinner and they recommended calling out a pizza. Even though we had a long day and yes, I know it was late, we decided to take a bus to Disney Springs for two reason - #1 was to activate Brayden's AP so we wouldn't have to wait in line the following morning at the parks to do so and #2 we saw that Blaze Pizza was open until midnight or 12:30 a.m. and we really wanted to try it!

So, off to Disney Springs we went!

Since it was so late, Disney Springs was rather empty and I loved it! After asking about activating AP's at Guest Services, we were directed to the new ticketing location just down the way. Brayden loved playing on the colored bean bags by the TV in the back corner while we activated his ticket!

Finally, it was time to eat dinner! Jason ordered a pizza for himself and I ordered a pizza for Brayden and I to share. It was SO good, y'all!

I also found out that there's a Blaze pizza about an hour up the road from where I live! What a fun little way to have a piece of Disney at home with you!! I'll definitely visit in the near future!

The best part of all of this is that Brayden took a super late nap on the plane, he slept the entire flight, and he was good to go for the evening! We were shocked and pleasantly surprised to say the least! Yes, we were those parents who had our toddler at Disney Springs at midnight. It's vacation - YOLO!

Have you ever spent a late night at Disney Springs? What's your favorite quick service location at Disney Springs?