Maybe as expected, we planned very little for the day after drinking around the world at Epcot. In addition to needing to slow down and relax a bit in the middle of our trip, we also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to be spontaneous. A Walt Disney World trip takes a lot of pre-planning these days, which sometimes leaves little room for impromptu fun. The only thing we knew for sure that we wanted to do was spend time at Typhoon Lagoon, one of Disney World’s two water parks. Originally we had wanted to hop between Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, since we had each been to one of the water parks previously (just not the same one). Unfortunately, Blizzard Beach was closed for refurbishments while we were on our trip.
We slept in until about 8 AM and decided to order our breakfast to go from Olivia’s Café at Old Key West using the mobile order feature of the Walt Disney World app. We both ordered Mickey waffles with eggs and bacon. The Mickey waffles were delicious as always! We got ready and left our room to catch the bus over to Typhoon Lagoon, but when we got to the bus stop we were a little confused about how to get to the park. At the time were were in Disney World, there wasn’t a direct bus to Typhoon Lagoon from the resort hotels. However, there was a note on the bus board saying that all guests going to Typhoon Lagoon should go to Disney Springs and then transfer to a bus headed to Typhoon Lagoon. We decided that since it was a beautiful morning and we had the option, we would take the boat over to Disney Springs (like we had on night one) and then transfer to the bus. This might have been the wrong choice since we had to cross half of Disney Springs to get to the bus stop and we were both dressed only in swimsuits and cover ups.
After we figured out the bus situation, we were finally on our way over to Typhoon Lagoon. Overall, the ordeal to get to the park took us around an hour, so we didn’t get there until around 10 AM. Once we arrived, we rented a locker for the day and snapped a quick picture with the famous ship, Miss Tilly, atop Mount Mayday, the mountain in the center of the park that contains a lot of the slides and waterfalls. The story behind the park is the location was a formerly perfect and serene tropical paradise, but was turned upside down by a massive typhoon. Typhoon Lagoon has one of the world’s largest outdoor wave pools that releases a giant wave every 90 seconds, along with Disney’s first ever water coaster, the Crush ‘n’ Gusher.
Since we had a locker and were going to be around water all morning, we decided to spend the time unplugged. After putting on sunscreen, we went straight to Castaway Creek, the lazy river that goes around the perimeter of the entire park. This was a great way to get settled into the park and see where all the attractions were. This lazy river was so fun and relaxing. There were only a couple parts that were rough or unexpected (like when we went through a cold waterfall!). After going around the river once, we took the chance to hop in line for a few attractions.
The first water rides we rode were Keelhaul Falls and Mayday Falls, which were both shorter, single rider tube slides. They were very fun, but definitely just the warmup for what would come later. Next, we rode Gangplank Falls, a multi-person raft ride that starts a little further up Mount Mayday. One of the nice things about our trip to Typhoon Lagoon was that we didn’t wait longer than 20-25 minutes to ride anything, and most lines were even shorter than that. Before we stopped for lunch, we went down the Humunga Kowabunga slides. These slides are a whopping 5 stories tall! For comparison, that’s the same height as the big drop on Splash Mountain. Apparently on the slides, riders can reach speeds of up to 39 miles per hour. We can confirm: the Humunga Kowabunga slides are not for the faint of heart!
After almost losing our bathing suits on the Humunga Kowabunga slides, we went back to our locker to grab our wallets so that we could buy lunch at Leaning Palms. This was one of the only times on our trip that we stood in line for food instead of using mobile order, but we still didn’t wait too long. The food options at Typhoon Lagoon were not very adventurous, so we ended up grabbing simple theme park basics (a hot dog for me, chicken tenders for Mary Ellen) along with our usual Diet Cokes. Though the lines were short throughout the rest of the park, we saw the most people around lunchtime. The seating area that we went to was pretty crowded, but because we were a smaller party we didn’t have trouble finding a table.
The attraction we went to after lunch was the famous Crush ‘n’ Gusher. We let our food digest, of course, and then made our way over to the water coaster. The Crush ‘n’ Gusher has three different slide tracks: the “Banana Blaster,” the “Coconut Crusher,” and the “Pineapple Plunger.” The inner tubes for this ride are made to look like fruit crates, which adds to the idea that the attraction takes place in an abandoned tropical fruit processing plant. Unlike regular water slides that only take you on a downward trajectory, the Crush ‘n’ Gusher can also push you upwards just using water, which adds a lot of excitement and speeds you through twists, turns, and tunnels. We had so much fun on this attraction that we rode it twice!
Last up before we left for the day was the wave pool. The wave pool is huge and has a beautiful sandy beach area to relax in on the edge. We had an awesome time body surfing in the waves, but man, they were intense! Hot tip: don’t be like us and take your sunglasses out in the wave pool. You might lose them!
As we were gathering our things from our locker about to leave the park, I decided that I needed an iced coffee. Luckily, there was a Joffrey’s Coffee stand near the park exit. Disney has a longstanding partnership with Joffrey’s. It’s the official specialty coffee of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and the Disney Vacation Club. Joffrey’s coffee is available all over Walt Disney World, including in Disney’s resort hotel rooms. They even created a special 50th Anniversary coffee blend for the Most Magical Celebration on Earth. I got an iced version of the 50th Anniversary blend. It was so delicious! I was very impressed, especially because Joffrey’s coffee is cheaper than Starbucks. I ended up taking the 50th Anniversary blend packets that were in our resort room to use at home. Mary Ellen doesn’t care for coffee, so she got Dippin’ Dots from a stand nearby.
The bus situation on the way back to Old Key West was a little bit of a hassle, but much easier than in the morning since we took a bus from Disney Springs to the resort instead of the boat. It was definitely nice not having to walk through Disney Springs to the boat launch in our wet bathing suits. Once we got back to the resort, we cleaned up and rested a little bit. Then, we headed back out to go mini-golfing!
When purchasing our park tickets, we got the “Park Hopper Plus” option which not only allowed us to go to multiple theme parks in one day, but also gave us access to the water parks and miniature golf courses. There are two mini-golf courses on Walt Disney World property. One is called Winter Summerland and it’s near the entrance to Blizzard Beach. There are two sides of the course, called Summer and Winter. You’ll even find a message from Santa at the end of the Winter course! The second course, which is the one we went to, is at the Swan & Dolphin Resorts. It’s called Fantasia Gardens and is themed to the two Fantasia movies. The ultimate decision for us on which mini golf course to do was the fact that Blizzard Beach was closed for refurbishments and there wasn’t a way for us to get to the mini golf course without ordering an Uber.
Since buses don’t run between resort hotels, we figured that the simplest way to get to the Swan & Dolphin (without taking a rideshare) would be to go to Hollywood Studios by bus and then take the Friendship boat. Our boat ride from the Studios was so fun because the cast members played a Disney trivia game with us. One of the questions that the first mate asked was to name all the Disney movies with one word titles. We got all of them except for one (it was Splash!).
Once we arrived at the Swan & Dolphin hotels, we had to walk through the resorts to make our way over to the mini-golf course (which included a walk across a major road). I really enjoyed what little bit of the hotels we saw and would love to get the chance to explore the resorts more in the future.
Side note: There are people that go to Walt Disney World just to “resort hop”, which means that they spend all their time on property exploring the different resorts on property. I would definitely love to do a trip like that if I ever had the opportunity. There is so much to experience at Disney World outside the theme parks!
There are two ways you can plan your time at Fantasia Gardens You can either call ahead when planning your trip and make a reservation, or you can put your name on a wait list when you get there. When you arrive, there are two courses to choose from – Fantasia Gardens or Fantasia Fairways. Fantasia Gardens is the themed side that is more geared to a relaxing play through and is perfect for families or anyone looking for a fun, Fantasia-themed time. Fantasia Fairways is a more challenging course that is a miniature scale golf course with a higher level of difficulty. We chose Fantasia Gardens course because we wanted to enjoy the theming.
Both because we didn’t know how long we were going to stay at Typhoon Lagoon and because of our “DFW” (down for whatever) mindset, we did not make reservations for mini-golf. By the time we got there, the wait for the course was about an hour long. We decided to wait it out and enjoy some time relaxing outside (and also play on our phones). We also grabbed the classic Mickey Premium ice cream bars to enjoy while we waited. They were very refreshing in the heat. I was also starting to not feel well (we all know what happened here), but thought it was because of my grass allergy combined with the fact that I inhaled some chlorine at the wave pool earlier in the day.
After waiting for about an hour, we finally got our turn to play the Fantasia Gardens course. I will admit that I was definitely not on top of my game when we started. I think my game would have improved the further along we got, but we never got the chance to finish! It doesn’t look like it based on the picture below, but it was about to start pouring. By the time we got to hole 5 or 6, it started raining pretty hard so we all ran under the cave that was part of one of the holes to stay dry. After a little while, the cast members closed down the course because it didn’t look like the rain was going to let up anytime soon. We decided to not stay around and wait, as we wanted a chance to grab dinner at the new Steakhouse 71 lounge at the Contemporary resort before going to see the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. We were given a voucher to come back at any time and play the course in full. One of the best parts is that the voucher doesn’t expire. Disney is always top notch in their customer service, and we were very impressed! This just gave us another reason for us to come back to Walt Disney World (as if we needed a reason!).
Instead of trying to figure out how to get over to the Contemporary Resort using buses and/or other modes of transportation, especially in the rain, Mary Ellen decided to get us a Lyft. It was a very quick drive and we had a great conversation with our driver. We made it over to the Contemporary in no time and went directly to Steakhouse 71. We were able to snag a couple of seats together at the bar instead of waiting to eat in the main dining room. We had a wonderful bartender serving us who gave us some great recommendations.
Steakhouse 71 is one of the newer restaurants at Walt Disney World. It opened just in time for the 50th Anniversary celebration and is named after Walt Disney World’s opening year, 1971. Steakhouse 71 is known for steak, of course, but also hosts an amazing brunch that features Walt Disney’s prime rib hash and bottomless mimosas. We will definitely have to try to have brunch here in the future!
We decided to treat ourselves to glasses of Cuvee. The one we ordered was the Chappellet Mountain Cuvee from Napa Valley. We each ordered the Stack Burger with parmesan fries and split an appetizer order of the onion rings. I enjoyed our meal and was excited for the chance to try out one of Disney’s newest restaurants on property. After we finished our meal, we headed over to the monorail stop. The monorail actually runs through the middle of the Contemporary Resort! This was an anomaly when the Contemporary opened in 1971. After getting through security, we hopped on the monorail and headed over to Magic Kingdom for the fireworks.
We had a little bit of a problem when we tried to enter the Magic Kingdom. Like I’ve mentioned before, you have to have a park pass reservation in addition to a ticket to guarantee entry into a park. When you have a park hopper ticket, you only have to make a reservation for your first park and have the ability to hop to another park starting at 2 PM. You also don’t have to make a park pass reservation to get into the water parks. With this information, we figured that since we had gone to Typhoon Lagoon in the morning (without needing a reservation) and it was after 2 PM, we would be able to enter Magic Kingdom no problem. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The cast member at the turnstiles explained to us that we needed a reservation to get into Magic Kingdom since reservations are only needed for the four main theme parks and our visit to the water park that morning didn’t count as part of our park hopper. He was very nice and made reservations for us right then since there was enough space in the park. Again, Disney proved how great their customer service is!
By the time we got into Magic Kingdom, there were 20 minutes before the fireworks started which was plenty of time for us to find our perfect spots for the show. There was just one snag: it was still raining off and on, and there was lightning. We were told by another guest that the fireworks can run in the rain, but not if lightning is spotted. After waiting until 9:45 (the show was supposed to start a 9 PM), we decided to take advantage of the short wait times and ride some of the rides that were still open.
We headed straight to Fantasyland and first hopped in line for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. While we were waiting in the extremely short line, we had a great conversation with the cast member working at the attraction. Because we weren’t wearing any ears or themed shirts, he mistook us as Disney College Program cast members! This actually happened a few times. We were starting to think it was a sign that we needed to get jobs at Disney World and move there. This cast member gave us an excellent tip: he said one of the best views of the fireworks is actually behind the castle. Not only is it less crowded, but you also get to see some of the behind the scenes of the process, which is always so cool. I will definitely use that tip in the future!
After finishing at Winnie the Pooh, we went over to the infamous Mad Tea Party teacups to kill more time while we decided whether or not to wait any longer for the fireworks show. We chose to ride in the pretty purple teacup. This ride is always a little nerve-racking for me because I don’t want to go that fast. After figuring out how to control a steady speed, we had great fun spinning in the cups!
Finished with those two rides and not feeling up to waiting anymore, we decided to head over to the Emporium to purchase the merchandise we had been eyeing and call it a night. As we were walking out of the Emporium, we were shocked to hear the opening notes to the music of Disney’s Enchantment, the 50th Anniversary Magic Kingdom fireworks spectacular. As a side note, apparently there’s a lot of conversation over the fireworks shows at Magic Kingdom. I haven’t been to Disney enough or watched the shows on YouTube to really understand the different fireworks show they’ve had over the years. I loved the show they did for the 60th Anniversary at Disneyland, but that’s my only contribution to any conversation regarding nighttime spectaculars. Apparently, most Disney parks fans did not love Enchantment. Most either loved Wishes or Happily Ever After (which just returned to Magic Kingdom on April 4!). However, if you want to watch any and all of the fireworks shows, you can find them all on YouTube.
I thought it was really cool how they brought the projections from the castle all the way down Main Street. There were projections on all the storefronts, which was really fun. Other than that, I wasn’t blown away by the fireworks or the music. To me, it wasn’t comparable to the Disneyland Forever fireworks from the 60th Anniversary at Disneyland. We also heard fantastic things about Harmonious, the 50th Anniversary fireworks show at Epcot, and were very much looking forward to watching the show on the final night of our trip.
By the time the fireworks ended, it was 11 PM and the latest we had stayed out the entire trip. We were ready to head back to the hotel and get plenty of rest before celebrating Mary Ellen’s birthday the next day at Hollywood Studios! Our favorite unexpected moment from this day was definitely chatting with the cast member when we were in line at Winnie the Pooh. He gave us such a great tip for the fireworks that I know we will use one day!
Here are some more pictures from our day:
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