This is a blog of our trip to Disney in 2022. We decided to take the whole family on a trip to celebrate Randy’s birthday!! Since both Riley and Tanner could take the time off and join on the trip...
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Travelling thru the airport was extremely efficient. We decided to park our car at the airport, pre-purchasing our parking ticket for the week and printing a copy of the barcode. One tip is to take a picture on your phone of where you parked your car so that you can find it when you return!
Toronto Pearson Airport Parking
We also ended up using the new US CBP (Customs and Border Protection) MPC (Mobile Passport Control) app to get thru customs. You can pre-load the app with your information and the app provides you a timed entry barcode when you arrive at the airport. You have an hour to get thru the Security lines. The app allows you to bypass the general screening line and is very efficient.
I highly recommend that if you are travelling to the US from an airport that allows the use of the MPC app that you take the time to download and set up the app. It is very easy to use and it allowed us to bypass the general line much like using NEXUS! I will definitely be using this every time I travel from now on.
America's Diner
Despite being 1 a.m. Tanner was still hungry and wanted a pit stop on the way to the Hotel. We stopped at everyone's favorite 24 hour establishment and America's Diner for some fine dining - Denny's 😃
We decided not to stay on site and to stay at an off-site hotel - The Floridays Resort. The hotel is located near all the parks and allows us to have our own place with a kitchen and laundry facilities. The resort has two pool areas and the restaurant food was very fresh and good. The weather was warm enough for the kids to comfortably take advantage of the pools.
Our room had a balcony with a nice view overlooking the second pool area and a small pond with a large fountain.
Hollywood Studios
First official day at the parks! We decided to start at Disney's Hollywood Studios, including investing in the Genie+ pass and getting up early to get into a virtual queue. At 7 a.m. we were able to grab a spot on the currently most popular ride "Slinky Dog Dash" for 9:45 a.m. We showed up at the park for "rope drop" (i.e. arriving before the park actually opens at 8:30 a.m.) and raced to the walk-on line for the other major attraction (Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance). The Genie+ turned out to be a necessity at this park as we decided that we wanted to try to hit all the major rides by dinner time. Between strategically using our Genie+ and a couple waits, we were able to cover all the rides - leaving the park at around 6:30 p.m. A rushed but fruitful first day!
A summary of the day.
A cool souvenir are the Coke and Diet Coke Grenade bottles (we grabbed one of each) and the Star Wars "Sporks" (Tanner grabbed 4) and the Star Wars "credits" card (we put $100 of "credits" on this one! - everywhere we used it we were surprised how many of the staff didn't even realize it existed and were amazed when we asked to pay with it - and it worked!).
Finding the sporks turned out to be a bit of a treasure hunt as the location of the restaurant is fairly hidden and does not open till 11a.m. It is right by the entrance to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. I ended up ordering the sporks on the app for right at 11 a.m. pickup as apparently they sometimes run out.
Riley picked up a cool limited edition DB-8 drinking cup that surprisingly holds a lot of liquid.
Star Wars "Credits" Card (Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge - Silver Batuuan Spira):
Epcot
Today we went to Epcot. Lots of walking at this park. The center portion of the park is under renovations and at this time of year there are extra booths to celebrate the holidays that are set up in the World Showcase with specialty drinks and foods.
We got up early (7 a.m.) to use the virtual queue for the Guardians of the Galaxy ride (getting "block 90" of riders). The ride is quite spectacular (and turned out to Riley's favorite ride overall), however there is no stand by line and you must use the virtual queue in order to get on the ride - our time turned out to be around 2 p.m. In the meantime, we got on Test Track but the stand by lane ended up being much longer than the stated time. This happened again when we took the stand by lane for Remy's Ratatouille Adventure. Not very Disney like and we ended up cutting our time short at the park as a result.
Here are Tanner and Riley building their custom race car for Test Track.
When in long lines - I was able to watch recoded hockey games (or the World Cup games live) on my phone (VPN'd into the house)
Riley did end up picking up a nice Mickey and Minnie Loungefly backpack. These are the hottest item at the Disney park right now:
Hollywood Studios
Today was a trip back to Hollywood Studios to have a more relaxed day at the park and to grab a couple rides that we missed previously (the Tower of Terror was down on our first visit). Riley was not sure about going on the Tower of Terror as she was traumatized by going on it when she was very young. However, she gave it a try and made it thru !! Below is the evidence of her on the ride :-)
Volcano Bay
A day at the water park - Volcano Bay! We planned our day to get to Universal's Volcano Bay for rope drop. This meant getting to Universal's parking lot to hop on a bus around 8:45 a.m. We picked Saturday which is usually a very busy day - but we basically had a private park experience - parking in the first row of cars and able to walk onto all rides (i.e. no wait times). The only down side was that the main wave pool was under renovations and was closed. The weather was warm enough that we could enjoy the day even in the early morning. We found a good spot under a fixed canopy at the main entrance to the high-speed "lazy" river.
Disney Character Warehouse
On the way back from Volcano Bay we stopped at the Disney Character Warehouse and picked up a few items including that last pair of Disney Halloween Crocs and a couple Loungefly wallets each for $24.99:
Magic Kingdom
Today was spent at Magic Kingdom. Being a Sunday, we took a chance by going to Magic Kingdom as it is usually the busiest park on weekends, however it was a day for early closing as it was also hosting the Disney Christmas party and the park closed early, We hoped that this would deter folks from coming. It appears that strategy was a good one as it was reasonably quiet at the park. We chose to do stand-by lines and hit the major rides. Lines at the start of the day were reasonable and we were able to hit The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain with little if any lines. We finished with the Tomorrowland Transit Authority - People Mover and the Laugh Floor.
Overall a productive and somewhat relaxing day.
A summary of the day - When we went thru Space Mountain on the People Mover - the ride was shut down and all the lights were on allowing us a rare glimpse into the inter-workings of the ride.
Animal Kingdom
No Genie+ (i.e. no lightning lanes) so we went straight to Andora and went on Avatar's Flight of Passage which turned out to be a must see ride. By far the most technological wonder! The ride itself is incredible and definitely worth the wait. We then lined up for the Na'vi River Journey - do not wait for this ride if the lines are long. Its similar to Pirate of the Caribbean but being new, people are lining up. The posted time was 50 min but it took us over 90 min to get on!! You are better off skipping this ride and heading to other attractions.
We went to DINOSAUR which turned out to be a walk on (so came back later as well as Riley remembered and enjoyed this ride), did Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. Riley wasn't sure about this ride but ended up really enjoying it. We then did Kilimanjaro Safaris as it was a walk-on and we were surprisingly impressed by the number of animals and how active they all were. We closed out the day with a visit to It's Tough to Be a Bug under the Tree of Life.
A summary of the day
Travel Back Home
We checked out of the hotel in the morning and headed to the parks. We packed a change of clothes as we were booked on a late flight (9:55 p.m.) and it would likely be pretty cold back home when we landed. We stopped for dinner at a Denny's close to the airport (Last exit - exit 8 Jetport drive), however service was very slow but fine. We gas'd up the car and then headed to the airport.
Heads up - you will need exact change to get thru the last toll back to the airport in coins!! ($1.50). We ended up backing up into traffic as we did not have the coins!! Luckily it was late in the evening and not very busy!
Arriving at MCO
Being a Monday and late in the evening - the airport was effectively empty. If you can swing it, its a fantastic day/time to travel, except for the fact that it was so empty that they closed the duty free shop early (at 8:30 p.m.) and I was unable to purchase some Crown Royal!!. Nevertheless, no stress getting thru the airport for check-in and Security. At the gate - Air Canada was using new "biometrics" gates and we ended up having to split up by specific zones (they split window seats from aisle and interior seats??) in order to board and use the special facial recognition cameras to gain entry. Pretty cool technology when it works - a few passengers had issues trying to get through and not ideal if you are travelling as a family as it splits you up. This new process does add extra time for boarding as each passenger has to wait till the system scans your face. I could see this being a pain when the airport is very busy???
In YYZ - the exit was also very smooth, with customs using the automated machines being very efficient. No need for the ArriveCAN app. We had taken a photo of where our car was located and therefore finding the car was very smooth. exiting using a hard copy of the barcode worked seamlessly and we were home in no time...
Tips and Tricks for Car Rental, GPS, and Tolls
We rented from Budget and there are a few tricks.
- Car Rental - When you arrive, split up. One group heads to baggage claim and the driver should head straight to car rentals. This means you are likely to avoid the long lines of folks wanting to get a car. I ended up being first in line.
- Car Rental - Return - When you come back to return the car, you need to go the return at the correct terminal. We were at Terminal B - so needed to first follow the signs to terminal B and then the car rental returns. For Budget, it was not obvious as when we went into the garage, there was a huge automated gate blocking a small entrance (we were not sure that was the entrance and had to double back). You need to drive up to the gate and it will open to allow you in.
- GPS - Most cars now require a phone for GPS. That means that you will require a data plan in order to use Waze, etc. If you have a GPS you should consider bringing it pre-loaded with the addresses that you need to get out of the airport (i.e. your hotel), You can also add the Disney parks, etc. This way you can avoid a roaming package on your phone. We tried this and we were fine without a phone (relying only on WiFi).
- Tolls - IMPORTANT - Make sure that the EZPASS is closed in your rental car - ours was left open and when we went to pay at the first toll booth the operator said that we had already registered. We asked her to reverse the charge and closed the EZPASS (we will see if they charge us!!). You can use the Toll highways as long as you go to the Cash lanes (usually to the right). Of course - make sure that you bring cash.
- Tolls - IMPORTANT - When returning to the airport - you will need to gas up so you will likely exit at the last exit (Exit 8 - Jetport drive). However, to return to the highway and go the last couple miles to the airport the entry back to the highway is exact change only!! Meaning that you will need the exact amount of change to get back on the highway ($1.50). Make sure that you have this available!! We got caught and ended up backing up thru traffic to go get the change required!! (But that is a whole other story!).
- Parking - if you choose to park your car at Pearson. Book your parking ahead of time to save some money and print out a hard copy of your barcode to gain access to the parking lot. Leave the barcode in the car as you will need to exit when you return. Also, remember to take a picture on your phone of where you parked you car so that you car easily find it upon your return.