10 Things I Must Do While At Walt Disney World

2 weeks today we head off to my favourite place in the world this obviously calls for a WDW related post today, right? These last few weeks have really flown in and I can’t believe how soon it is until we fly. The next two weekends I will be staying at the boyfriend’s just to cram in some time with him before I go giving me about 8 days to get everything sorted. Now that’s scary! So here I am, instead of getting things sorted, I’m blogging and today I want to share with you the 10 things I have to do every time I’m at Walt Disney World. A lot of these are things to do with Little Miss, but hey it wouldn’t be a Disney holiday without her.

1. See The Welcome Show
Every time I go I try to see The Welcome Show even just once. It starts 15 minutes before posted park opening and it features the citizens of Main Street along with a host of Disney characters welcoming you to the park. I always cry. Every time. Especially how this usually falls on my first morning so I’m already incredibly emotional. In fact I’m crying just writing this as it’s such an amazing way to start our trip. In March I managed to see it three times in the ten days we stayed on site and it’s 100% worth getting up early for.

2. Eat a Mickey Cake Pop
My favourite Mickey shaped food is by far the cake pop. I like both the chocolate covered one and the sugar covered on. They have a choice of red velvet, vanilla and chocolate, I love the red velvet, like the vanilla but i’m not so keen on the chocolate. The ears are made of marshmallow. I could eat one every day, sometimes even more. In Magic Kingdom they’re available at the Main Street Confectionery and Big Top Treats and are just under $5 including tax (or they were back in March).

3. Watch Fantasmic
Hands down my favourite show in the whole of Walt Disney World is Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios. I don’t know what it is but it just gets me every time. It’s one of the things from my childhood trips that is still pretty much exactly how I remember it and perhaps it’s the nostalgic factor that makes me love it so much. Little Miss loves seeing Sorcerer Mickey defeat the villains (we’re team heroes i’m afraid!). Our first two trips we watched it just the two of us and there was something special in that but in March I got to watch in on my birthday with all my friends and that was just as special. Next month we have the Fantasmic package with dinner and guaranteed seats, I can’t wait to not have to queue for long and just hope there is room for me!

4. Eat at 1900 Park Fare
In the other side of the coin, a place I never got to eat as a child but always wanted to as a child, 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian resort! It hosts my favourite character dining, Happily Ever After with Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine and her daughters. I have such amazing memories from all our visits that it’s not a WDW holiday if I don’t eat there. I love breakfast too but not as much as dinner. The Tremaine’s make it for me, they’re so much fun and always have a lot of time for Little Miss, even when she’s dressed as Cinderella. LM also has the biggest crush on Prince Charming which is always so cute to witness.

5. Meet Peter Pan
On the subject of character meets, top of our list is Peter Pan. Little Miss could meet him at every set and never get bored. It’s the one line she’ll stand in for up to 40 minutes and never moan. The funniest thing was it was me who wanted to meet him on our first trip but it was her who needs to meet him every day we’re in Magic Kingdom. She talks about him all the time and I know that first hug on our first day is something she isn’t growing out of for a long time. She’s already pretty heartbroken about not being able to see him in Dream Along, she would loop between the castle show, meeting him at the map and seeing him in Festival of Fantasy all day every day if she could.

6. Sit on Hub Grass
Oh Hub Grass, one of my absolute favourite additions to the central plaza in front of Cinderella castle. A place to let your kids run free, to sit and soak up the sun, catch up with friends and have a drink and snacks. It wouldn’t be a trip to Disney World without sitting in this wonderful area. It’s such an easy place to agree to meet up with friends, watch parades and even the castle show. Little Miss loves it as she can play with her friends while the parents have 5 minutes. My favourite time is late afternoon when it’s starting to cool off.

7. Ride Peter Pan’s Flight
Like with meeting Peter Pan, riding Peter Pan’s Flight is a tradition that both Little Miss and I love. But it goes further back than that, it was a ride I loved as a kid and we always rode. My dad always asks if it’s still there and we even have bits of it on video from when he used to take the camcorder. Aside from the Seven Dwarves Mine Train it’s the one ride Little Miss always asks if we have FP for as she knows the queue gets long.

8. Have Starbucks at Disney
I know this is going to sound lame, but I promise you, Starbucks tastes better in Disney. I have hit up Starbucks at each park and it just tastes so much better than any Starbucks anywhere else. It must be the pixie dust. I love the passion ice tea lemonade as a trenta (a size bigger than we can get over here) which isn’t available in the UK, if anything that’s the best reason to drink all the Starbucks while watching a parade. They also do the best sized cups of free iced water.

9. Take a photo of Little Miss in front of the castle
I’m fairly sure this is a tradition for everyone, photos in front of the castle. However I rarely get in them due to not trusting Photopass to get my very illusive good side. I do take a photo of Little Miss in front of at least one side of the castle on every trip, it’s nice to look back and see how she’s grown!

10. Eat Mac & Cheese
Cake pops may be my favourite Mickey shaped food but my favourite Disney food is mac & cheese, specifically the kids mac & cheese (thankfully they serve it at Park Fare as part of the buffet). I fell in love with it on my first trip, but on my last trip when I had a very tight budget I ate a lot of it, pretty much daily when I was at the parks. Even though I’m on the dining plan I bet I used some of my quick service credits to get kids mac & cheese sometimes rather than a full size meal and I’m not even slightly ashamed of this.

Oh my goodness as if I don’t have a photo of Disney mac & cheese in all it’s yellow goodness! Tragic!