Disney 2018: Itinerary & Photos

Here is the itinerary I promised to post. This is a day by day guide to how we did Disney this year....

Wednesday: Flight to Orlando- late afternoon. Flight landed at 8pm
Rode the Magical Express to All Stars Resort and checked in to get a good night's rest. (We stayed one night at All Stars resort because we flew in the night before our reservation so that we didn't waste an entire day on travel) All Stars Resort is the least expensive tier of resorts that Disney offers inside of Disney.

Thursday: Magic Kingdom. Brought our luggage to the desk and had them send it over to the Grand Floridian. Ate a quick breakfast. Took the shuttle to Disney's Magic Kingdom.
Lunch: Ate a quick service lunch in the park. Left park around 4. We rode the Ferry over the water to get to the Grand Floridian and swam for a bit until it was bedtime. Dinner was quick service by the pool. Highlights of the day: Meeting Buzz Lightyear for Maxwell, sweet treats & exploring the Grand Floridian for our first time.

Friday: Epcot Flower and Garden Festival.  Breakfast: We slept in a little bit and then ate from our fridge in villa (from Garden Grocer) for breakfast.
We rode the monorail to Epcot. We used our snack points to eat around the world showcase. (During Flower and Garden Festival there are little pop up shops of snacks and drinks. It's my fav!)
Late Lunch/early dinner: Chef De' France in France, of course, before heading back to hotel.
We watched Lilo & Stich at movie night outside on the big blow up screen and ordered a pizza to be delivered to us on the lawn. They gave away free popcorn as well.
Highlights of the day: Tasting all of the drinks and tapas from around the "world", finding all of the characters in the gardens and of course sleeping in! Huge perk!

Saturday: Pool day Breakfast: Ohana Character Breakfast @ Polynesian's Resort (this is just a walk from the Grand Floridian) We took the entire day and just stayed by the pool after breakfast. All Disney Resorts have activity instructors that do kid games by the pools and arts and crafts throughout the day. So Ty and I laid in a Cabana all day, drinks in hand and watched the kids play in the water and go down the water slide a hundred times! It was wonderful. When doing Disney for more than a few days, always take a "Pool Day".
Lunch: Quick Service by the pool
Dinner: Food from our fridge in Villa

Sunday: Hollywood Studios & Downtown Disney
Breakfast: Quick service from the Grand Floridian cafe.
We took the shuttle to Hollywood Studios. We caught 2 shows (for the kids) and then left as they had refurbishment galore and the Toy Story Land doesn't open until June. (In my opinion you don't need a whole day at Hollywood Studios anyhow) Before leaving, we ate a cheese board and some beers at a little spot called Baseline in Hollywood Studios. After that we took the shuttle to Saratoga Springs Resort to see if it lived up to our home base and from there we walked over to Disney Springs and let the kids pick a toy and do some shopping.
Early Dinner: T-Rex Restaurant which Maxwell LOVED. (A dino lover's dream version of Rainforest Cafe). Then we headed back to the hotel for you guessed it,  pool, hot tub and relax before bed. We did s'mores at the campfire by the water and watched Fireworks

Monday: Epcot Day 2 
In my opinion, you can spend 2 days at Epcot if you have enough time.
Breakfast: Ate at Cafe from Grand Floridian before leaving and brought it with us to eat on the Monorail. My mother joined us for day 2 at Epcot.
Lunch: Tokyo Dining
Shopped in China and Japan, ate more snacks around the world and did more rides.
Dinner: Quick Service at Grand Floridian
Highlights: The Margarita from Mexico Flower & Garden Fest, seeing my Mom and step-father and meeting Disney characters with the kids.

Tuesday: Magic Kingdom Day 2 
Again, this is another park that you can spend 2 days at if you have kids my age.
Breakfast: Quick Service
My mother joined us at Magic Kingdom for day 2.
Lunch: Quick Service at Pinocchio Haus and then spent the rest of the day doing as many rides as we could.
Late Dinner: Be Our Guest Restaurant in Beast's castle. This was a 7:30 reservation and the kids were sleeping before we left! Tip: If you make a reservation and want to move it, just check in when you are ready and most times they will accommodate you. Be Our Guest is a popular one so we weren't able to move it up.
Highlights: Riding the Seven Dwarf's Mine Train, watching the kids delight and spending more time with my mom and step-father. Also, eating at Be Our Guest, Beast's Castle is pretty fun!!

Wednesday: Animal Kingdom 
Breakfast: We grabbed snacks and ate on the shuttle to Animal Kingdom. We got there super early so we could rush to the Na'vi River Journey ride which we couldn't get a fast pass to because of their rule of limiting how many popular rides you can pick.
Lunch: Yak & Yetti (One of my favs!)
Came back and hit up the hot tub one last time before dinner reservations.
Dinner: at Citricos which is an upscale restaurant at the Grand Floridian. Food was AMAZING!
Highlights: The Flight of Passage was my ALL TIME FAVORITE ride in all of Disney! They did an amazing job on it and I can't wait to go again!! Avatar world was so realistic and the kids loved getting their faces painted. Lucky Scarlett got to ride Flight of Passage twice since she was a rider swap.

Thursday: We ate a quick service breakfast by the water and then spent the day laying in the sand while we waited for our bus to come take us to the airport.

We had an AMAZING time at Disney and it will go down in our memories as a fabulous 2018 trip.