[The Travel Slut]

Just some general observations and experiences about Disney.

WDW, in the midst of summer, can be difficult at best ---despite the best of what WDW has to offer—and it has a lot to offer. My favorite time to visit is now--between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

One advantage about staying at a Disney “Value Priced” property is that rather having than expensive restaurants attached, they have food courts with café & deli priced food for the whole family right on site. Everything is cafeteria style. You can buy a reasonably priced meal for the family without having to drive anywhere. ( ie. cold cereal & milk for breakfasts).They have children’s play areas and themed swimming pools.

Suggestion: Go to a local grocery store and buy a foam cooler ($5.00) & milk, juice, cereal, finger foods) Fill the chest with ice ( from the hotel/motel) if your room does not come with a refrigerator.

Free things to do at Disney World especially now between Thanksgiving and New Years:

Go to the Contemporary Resort and to the California Grill on the 14th floor about a half hour before the fireworks start at Magic Kingdom. You have to go to either the 2nd or the 4th floor to catch an express elevator to the restaurant. Tell the check-in desk that you don’t have reservations but are going to the California Grill for drinks (you really don’t have to buy any) and to watch the fireworks. This is the tallest building in Disney and they have large windows and also two outdoor viewing walkways --- one on each side of the restaurant) that overlook a vast area. You can view the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom – for free-- and actually have a more unique view than many of the people inside the park! You don’t even have to buy anything at the California Grill although their martinis are quite nice.

After the fireworks, you may want to try the monorail which also goes right thru the lobby on the 4th floor of the Contemporary Resort. You can ride it around to two other resorts – The Grand Floridian and Polynesian Village - getting on & off – to go inside each of those resorts to see their Christmas decorations during the holidays. Kids will think it’s an “adventure” just to take the monorail ride & it’s free!

You can also ride the monorail to the stop at Epcot Center. It runs above parts of Epcot en route to the station so you can see how large Epcot & the World Showcase really are. To get to Epcot from the Contemporary resort monorail station you need to ride the monorail to the monorail transportation center (on the way to Polynesian and Grand Floridian resorts). You will need to disembark and then board the monorail that only goes to Epcot.


Go to the Wilderness Lodge – check out the lobby – they usually have a wonderful gingerbread house collection during the holidays. Then go outside – to the pool area, and follow the sidewalk down to the geyser area and also to a boat dock. Catch a Disney boat to cross over to another resort or just stay on the boat as it makes its rounds and returns back to the original dock. It’s a free boat ride – part of the Disney transportation system.



Go to Animal Kingdom Lodge (during daylight hours) (not the park – the resort) – after you check out the pool area & lobby – go out back through the lobby and you can view live animals roaming the property. It’s all free! There are three viewing areas and they are on both sides of the lobby—one surrounds the pool area, one is inside the lobby in a sitting area, and the other is outside the lobby down the stairs. The other viewing area is behind the pool and as a special treat at night there is an African-born guide with night-vision binoculars so that you may view animals roaming the grounds. The “guides” are extremely helpful and friendly. All Disney employees (they are called cast members) will always answer questions or help you out no matter where you are.


Downtown Disney is free as well as Pleasure Island now. Park at one end of the parking lot) and walk all of the shops. There is a Lego store that has an outside play area with tables & chairs and all sorts of legos that the children can just play with as long as they want. The stores are awesome – all child friendly – toys, candy and clothes. Look for Boats – one boat station is near the Rainforest Café and hop on a boat for a ride to another part of Downtown Disney or another Resort.

You don’t have to stay on property to be able to take the Disney transportation system (many people don’t know this). You can ride the boats, take the monorail, take the buses, etc. but be aware that they always have the right to ask for Disney guest ID.

Every Disney resort has a gatehouse with security as security precaution & they will ask to check ID unless you have a Disney car pass on your dashboard. Just tell the guard that you are “meeting friends” inside, checking out the resort for future stays or are going to eat at one of the resort restaurants etc. They will just ask for picture ID (driver’s license) – just show it and then drive inside to the self-parking area.

All of Disney’s Resorts will be decorated for the seasonal Christmas-time holidays, so resort-hop just to look at the beautiful special themed decorations. Just visiting the grand lobbies and their gift shops can be sensory overload for the children.

Just about anyplace near a theme park or Downtown Disney will provide nice viewing of fireworks displays at night.

If you are at WDW during January, you can watch the annual Disney marathon like I did this year. Events occur year-round and checking the Disney websites for special events at a time you are considering is advisable.