I've been to Disney World three times before, including a summer as a cast member, and I'm currently planning my fourth trip. For this next trip we're going with my cousins who have never been before and, even though my own first trip was only 6 years ago now, I had forgotten just how daunting (as well as obviously very exciting) the whole process of booking and planning a Disney World holiday for the first time can be. So, I decided to put together a few pieces of advice for anyone who's planning or getting ready to go on their own first trip to the most magical place on earth, to hopefully make it as stress-free as possible. 

Manage Your Expectations 

Going to Walt Disney World for the first time can be quite an overwhelming experience, particularly if you've never been to a Disney park before or are only used to smaller parks such as Disneyland Paris or Disneyland Resort in California. While you can of course expect to have an incredible time, the Disney World property is MASSIVE (about twice the size of Manhattan island to be exact) so you can't expect to do everything it has to offer in just one trip. 

When you're planning, getting everyone in your party to write down the top few things that they know they absolutely want to do, whether that's rides, restaurants, or character meets, can be a great way to make sure no one feels like they've missed out by the end of the holiday, and all the things you'll end up doing on top of that are then an added bonus.

Be Prepared To Queue

Honestly, there are few things more annoying than people complaining about having to queue when they're in a theme park, especially if it's during peak times. If you plan well and make the most of your fastpasses, you can take advantage of short queues as much as possible, but sometimes waiting in longer lines is just inevitable. While there's nothing wrong with skipping a ride for one with a shorter queue at the time, if you go in with the attitude that you won't queue for more than 20 minutes for anything, you could end up leaving disappointed that you didn't get to go on every ride you wanted to. 

Research, Research, Research

I wouldn't dream of going on holiday somewhere and not researching the best places to stay, where to eat, the most popular things to do, but a lot of people don't seem to do any research when it comes to a Disney World holiday. Maybe it's because people see it as just a theme park, and you wouldn't do much research before a trip to Alton Towers for example, but when you're spending that much money you want to make sure you're getting the most out of it. 

The Disney World website itself is a great starting point for research, with opening hours, restaurant menus, ride restrictions and more. Blogs, youtube videos and Facebook planning groups are then great for getting a more unbiased opinion on certain things that can really help when deciding between two restaurants or fastpasses for example. Personally, I would say there's no such thing as too much research when it comes to a Disney holiday, especially as things are constantly changing and updating, although make sure you don't spoil shows or rides that are so much better when seen for the first time in person.

Explore More Than Just The Parks
When you've spent so much money on park tickets, you of course want to spend as much time in the actual parks as possible. And while there's more than enough to do in the parks to keep you occupied for a two week holiday, there is also so much to do on Disney World property outside of the parks. Whether you take a day to do some resort hopping, do some shopping in Disney Springs, or play a few rounds of mini golf, taking some time to explore what's on offer that's not just rides and characters can be a great way to have a more relaxed day while still making the most of your surroundings, and can potentially help you plan where you want to stay on your next trip!

(You can find out more about my favourite things to do in Disney World outside of the parks here)

Let me know in the comments if you've got your first Disney World trip planned, or if you have any other advice for first timers!

Thanks for reading!

As I'm writing this it has been just over 36 hours since I left Walt Disney World and the Disney blues are officially setting in, making this the perfect time to write my trip report. Whilst I've previously written my trip reports with day-by-day diary entry type posts, I don't want to bore people with excessive details so I'm rounding it all up into one post instead and then I'll write some separate posts with more in depth reviews of things like the resort and the Halloween party. 

Trip Overview

Our trip was for 2 weeks, from September 22nd - October 6th and I was there with my mum and my sister. This was our first holiday together without my dad and brother and it was my first proper Disney World holiday with my sister (the first time we went she was working there and the second time I was working there) so it was a pretty special trip. It was also my mum's first time staying onsite and therefore getting the Magical Express from the airport, and she was so impressed with the efficiency of it all. We stayed at All Star Music, which was perfect for the little amount of time we actually spent at the resort, but I won't go into too much detail here as I'll be writing a separate post all about it soon. Having only ever been in the summer before, it was great to experience the parks at a different time of year and we would definitely go back at this time again. The parks were way less crowded, especially in the first week, with Slinky Dog at one point only having a 30 minute queue and Flight of Passage once having a shorter queue than Navi River Journey. The weather was still pretty hot and was apparently hotter than average for this time of  year, but it was still manageable for the most part and we had minimal rain for the whole fortnight. During our 2 weeks we did all 4 parks multiple times as well as Disney Springs, and we had a day at the outlets and the mall. We didn't do any of the water parks as we weren't really interested in them, and my sister went to Universal for a day but me and my mum weren't bothered.

The Parks

Magic Kingdom

Over the two weeks, we went to Magic Kingdom 5 times during the day and 2 times in the evening, not including the Halloween party. Whilst this isn't my favourite of the four parks, it is obviously the most magical and quintessentially 'Disney' so of course we spent both our first and last days there. During those days we managed to get on all of our favourite rides at least once, including Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and Big Thunder Mountain, and we got a fastpass for Mine Train. We also met plenty of characters such as Mickey, Tinkerbell, and Pooh and Tigger. We watched Festival of Fantasy twice and no matter how many times I watch this parade I still absolutely love it! I love how vibrant and colourful all of the floats are and the music is great. We also saw Happily Ever After twice and I sobbed throughout both times. Not only do these fireworks have such a special meaning to me after my program, they are also just the best night time entertainment I have ever seen in a Disney park and I will never get over how incredible they are. 

Epcot

Epcot quickly became my favourite park last summer and it didn't disappoint this trip, especially with the addition of the Food and Wine Festival. I experienced this for a few hours last year but to be able to properly experience it this year was amazing and it was everything I hoped it would be. We got to try some incredible food, with my personal favourites being the Steakhouse Blended Burger from Earth Eats, the Black Pepper Shrimp with Garlic Noodles from China, and the Fritto Misto from Italy. We didn't try many of the drink offerings as it was quite hot and we didn't want to dehydrate ourselves with alcohol but we did try the Chilled Coffee with Godiva Chocolate Liqueur from Belgium and the La Passion Martini Slush from France, both of which were delicious. As well as eating our way around World Showcase, we also went on all the rides we wanted to, including 2 rides on Frozen Ever After and Soarin', and we met all the characters at the Character Spot. I also got to watch IllumiNations for the first (and probably last) time. As much as I love Epcot for some reason I had just never got round to watching its night time show and whilst it definitely isn't my favourite, I really enjoyed it and the fireworks were spectacular. 

Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom definitely doesn't get enough credit for what an amazing park it is and it was definitely the quietest of the four parks whilst we were there. On our first day there we were able to do everything we wanted to apart from Flight of Passage which we had a fastpass for on another day anyway. We did the safari twice over our two weeks and we were lucky enough to see some amazing animals including a baby giraffe, baby elephant and some hippos out of the water. We also did both of the animal treks were we saw tigers, gorillas and meerkats amongst other animals. Pandora was just as incredible as I remembered and we managed to get on Flight of Passage twice which was also as amazing as ever. We spent one evening there and we watched Rivers of Light which I think is a nice nighttime show but it definitely doesn't compare to the others.

Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios was the park we spent the least amount of time in, mostly because it has the least amount of rides that we actually go on. We did all the shows (Beauty and the Beast, Frozen singalong, Muppetvision, Indiana Jones) and met Olaf, Mickey and Minnie, and Pluto but of course the highlight for this trip was getting to experience Toy Story Land. The park was actually a lot quieter than we expected it to be seeing as Toy Story only opened a couple of months ago but the queues really weren't that bad. We did Slinky Dog Dash, Alien Swirling Saucers and Midway Mania and I think I actually preferred the Swirling Saucers to Slinky Dog which is great because it always has a much shorter queue. The only problem is that all three of these rides are tier 1 fastpasses meaning you can only get an advanced fastpass for one of them per day. The good news however is that Midway Mania now has much shorter queues than it used to... we only queued for 20 minutes in standby and managed to get an on the day fastpass for it as well. Of course, we also saw Fantasmic twice during our trip which was as great as ever.

The Food

Would it really be an Amy Beatrice blog post if I didn't talk about food? This trip we were on the Disney Dining Plan which we upgraded to from the free breakfast we got when we booked our hotel. We absolutely loved being on the Dining Plan and we 100% found it worth the money we had spent to upgrade... we worked out that all of our food and snacks was worth almost double what we had actually paid and we got to eat at some incredible restaurants. As well as returning to some past favourites, including Ohana and 1900 Park Fare, we also experienced a load of new places where we had some absolutely amazing food. In particular I loved Teppan Edo, Boma and The Yachtsman Steakhouse. Our only disappointing meal was breakfast at Be Our Guest. There was nothing wrong with the food, but for the same price as a cronut, fruit salad and some pastries at Be Our Guest we had an all you can eat breakfast buffet at Trails End. As we were on the dining plan the cost didn't necessarily matter but if you're paying out of pocket that'd definitely something you should have in mind. 

Halloween

Finally, I wanted to talk a little bit about Halloween in the parks. Halloween starts in August in Disney World and I actually got to see some of the decorations before I left last summer but I didn't properly take it in. Magic Kingdom is really the only park that goes all out for Halloween and I loved all of the decorations - from pumpkins and scarecrows to orange leaves and sunflowers all over Main Street. They look so beautiful and instantly make you feel autumnal even when it's still 34 degrees outside. They had an amazing range of Halloween merchandise throughout the parks including ears, t-shirts, sweets, magic bands and much more as well as a load of special Halloween food. Our resort had a delicious pumpkin cheesecake as well as a Coco inspired Dia De Los Muertos spiced cupcake. We also went to a Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party but I'll be talking all about that in a separate post. 

So there is the most concise summary of our trip I could give which I realise is still pretty long! Whilst it felt odd to only be there for 2 weeks instead of 2 and a half months, and it was strange to be the one fully experiencing the magic instead of helping to make it, I had an incredible time with my mum and sister and it felt great to not have to leave them half way through the day to go clean tables or fry chicken nuggets! Even though I would definitely love to be a cast member again one day, I had a great time as a guest and I cannot wait to start planning my next trip!

Thanks for reading

Amy xxx

Whilst of course I love the overall magic of the Disney parks, meeting characters and going on my favourite rides, I have to admit that one of my favourite parts of visiting a Disney park is the food. Even though some people seem to think that the food at Disney is just overpriced, generic theme park food, I personally think that some of the best food I've ever eaten has been eaten in Disney restaurants. I'm going to Walt Disney World this autumn and honestly two of the things I'm most looking forward to are having the Disney Dining Plan, and experiencing the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot (please let me know if you're the same and I'm not an incredibly sad individual!) Having spent two and a half months in Walt Disney World last summer, I was able to visit almost all of the restaurants that I wanted to go to and ate some incredible food, so I wanted to share some of my favourite restaurants, both in the parks and the resorts, to help any of you who might be planning a holiday of your own and want some inspiration for your dining reservations. 

Quick Service Locations

Whilst people might not put that much thought into what quick service restaurants they go to as they don't require reservations, there are definitely some that I think shouldn't be missed, and that I always make an effort to go to. Even though these restaurants are the ones that sell the 'overpriced, generic theme park food' like hot dogs and chicken nuggets (although who doesn't love a Disney World chicken nugget?!) some of them provide great quality food unlike what you would normally expect from a theme park. 

Yak and Yeti - Animal Kingdom (Asia)

I'm fairly certain that every single time I have gone to Animal Kingdom, I have eaten something from the Yak and Yeti quick service (this restaurant is also a table service but I've never been there). There are plenty of quick service options available in Animal Kingdom, but I just love the food here so much that I feel I would be disappointed if I went anywhere else! My favourite meals from this location are the honey chicken and the teriyaki beef bowl, which are both served with rice and vegetables. If you're wanting something a bit smaller, the chicken fried rice side is also absolutely delicious, and it's a really big portion for just one snack credit on the dining plan! The only downside to this location is that all of the seating is outside and with little coverage, meaning it can get pretty hot eating there at lunchtime in the summer!

Lotus Blossom Cafe - Epcot (China Pavilion)

This is potentially my holy grail quick service in the whole of Disney World; if I could only go to one quick service location for the rest of my life this would be it. Why? Two words: orange chicken. I first tried this orange chicken during my first visit in 2013 and then had it at least 5 times throughout my almost 3 month long program last year and it was one of the first things I put down on our dining plans for later this year. Honestly, I don't even know if it's good orange chicken in the grand scheme of things, but it's not something that we have at Chinese restaurants in the UK (or at least not in any near where I live) so going here is my only chance to have it. I have also tried the Mongolian beef which I did really enjoy, however it doesn't seem to be on the menu anymore. Unfortunately, this location has the same problem as Yak and Yeti; whilst this restaurant is covered, it is not fully inside and so it can get pretty hot during the day.

Blaze Fast Fire'd Pizza - Disney Springs (Town Center)

Of course, how could I talk about Disney quick service locations without talking about Blaze? I'm sure if you know anything at all about Disney World you will know about Blaze Pizza. I went there a couple of times over the summer and thought the pizzas were absolutely delicious. There are quite a few places that you can get pizza in Disney World, from room service, to quick service and full service, so it's not the food offerings that makes this place stand out, but rather the quality of the food itself. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of pizza and believe that any pizza is good pizza, but Blaze is definitely a step above all of the other quick service pizza that I've had. Whilst they have a menu, you can also create your own and customise your pizza with any toppings and sauces that you want and the results are incredible.

Honourable mention: The Mara - Animal Kingdom Lodge (Jambo House)

Whilst this location is pretty out of the way for guests who aren't staying at Animal Kingdom lodge, I of course had to give The Mara an honourable mention as this was my work location during my program! This location provides the standard chicken nuggets, flatbreads and burgers, but it also offers amazing and more unusual food for a quick service such as African stew and rice, ribs and mashed potato and hand carved sandwiches. Because of its location some of the food served here is the same as what is served in Boma, the buffet service restaurant just next door, as they share the same kitchen, meaning you can get full service quality food for a much cheaper price (including the famous zebra domes which I cannot recommend enough!)

Table Service Locations

I am currently in the middle of my exams and unfortunately blogging has had to take a backseat for a while. Every so often I get an idea for a post and then I think about all of the revision I need to be doing and that idea has to get put on hold for a while. Even though I only have 2 exams this year, my second one is on the very last day of exam season, meaning I still have a whole 2 weeks to go before freedom. Whilst I don't have much time to write blog posts these days, one of the things getting me through my revision is planning for Disney World this summer (I check in to housing 4 weeks today!!). The American Disney Store website has a whole section of merchandise from the Disney parks so the other day I spent much longer than I should have done scrolling through every single section to see if there was anything on there that I wanted to find in the parks when I'm out there. And there definitely was. So here is my (very condensed) Disney World merchandise wishlist, of things that I don't want to come home without. 

1. An Alex and Ani bracelet - I don't own an Alex and Ani bracelet currently but I really like them and would love to get one when I'm there. I'm not entirely sure which one I want at the moment, but I do really love this Tinkerbell one which says "believing is just the beginning" 

2. The WDW 'four parks' jumper - I tried to get the Disneyland Paris version of this when I went in April but it is incredibly popular and was sold out everywhere. Hopefully I'll have more luck finding this one as I've had my eye on it for quite a long time!

3. The teacup tsum tsum - I don't have a giant tsum tsum collection but I do own quite a few and I know I will definitely be buying more than just one when I'm in Orlando. I mostly just buy ones that I think look cute and this one definitely fits that criteria! I also really like that it is a Disney parks exclusive one, and one that I wouldn't be able to get anywhere else.

4. A pillow pet - Like the bracelet, I don't know which pillow pet I want, I just know I want one! They look super cute and comfy and it will be great for soaking up all my tears on the plane home (I'm only partly joking). Also from what I've seen from vlogs and blogs, have you really done a Disney college program if you didn't buy a pillow pet?!

5. This Inside Out pin set - Like with tsum tsums, I wouldn't call myself a pin collector but I have a reasonable amount at home, mostly of characters from my favourite films or ones that I thought looked cute. I will definitely end up with more than just these pins, but these ones stuck out to me on the website. For Halloween last year, me and my family dressed up as the emotions from Inside Out; I was Joy and my mum was Sadness. As she's going to be out in Florida for her birthday I thought it would be nice to buy this set so I can have the Joy pin and she can have the Sadness pin as part of her birthday present.

6. This Marie MagicBand - I'm staying in a Disney resort before checking in for my program so I'll get a free MagicBand then, but Marie from The Aristocats is my favourite Disney character so I have a feeling I won't be able to resist buying this one as well!

The parks merchandise on the website is only a fraction of what will actually be in Disney World so these things definitely won't be the only things I buy (I think I might need to take an extra empty case just so I can fit in all the mugs I'm sure I'll end up buying). I already know that there are some other things that I've seen in vlogs and Instagrams that weren't on the website that I will be keeping an eye out for. You can look forward to a very large haul post when I get back in September (but I don't want to think about that just now). 

Thanks for reading!

Amy xxx

Wow. Just wow. If you had asked me to write this post last Wednesday I honestly don't think I could have because I was just lost for words. I feel so lucky to have been able to be at Disneyland Paris on April 12th, the official 25th anniversary of Disneyland Park. It was honestly the most magical day and it 100% reminded me of why I love Disney so much.

We got to the park just before it opened at 8am, which was a little bit later than we had planned. Luckily we'd parked in the Disney Village car park so there was no line at security and we were able to go straight through to the park, as the gates opened as soon as we got there. Once in the park, we picked up our free badges and programmes and headed straight down the arcade to central plaza. We didn't have the best view and were about 5 people away from the front, but considering people who were at the front had been queuing since about 4am, we didn't really mind!

We were waiting for about an hour before the show started and it was so so worth it! I don't think my words can still do any justice for just how incredible this show was, but I'll give it a go. To begin with, Mickey and all his friends came out from the castle (which was magical enough as it was). Then, as the show went on, characters that represented each of the lands came out and had a section of music and dancing. There was so many amazing rare characters out, like Kuzko, The Rescuers and the experiments from Lilo and Stitch, but my personal highlight was seeing all three of the Aristocats (my all time favourite Disney film). Right at the end, Catherine Powell, the president of Disneyland Paris, came out and made a speech before all the cast members came out and did a massive flash mob. I managed to hold it together until this point where I just started sobbing thinking "THIS WILL BE ME SOON!". Whilst it would have been amazing to be nearer the front and seen everything a little better, I just feel so happy and lucky to have been able to see it all in person. I've already watched it again on YouTube and you should definitely check it out if you haven't already. 

Later on in the day there were two 25th anniversary cavalcades, which was basically a parade of all the characters that we had seen that morning. We wanted to make sure we were at the front for this one, so we got there as soon as the first cavalcade finished and waited for almost 2 hours for the second one (the top of my head is still very sunburnt!). It was so worth it to be able to be at the front though and see all of the characters up close. I was able to take some amazing pictures which I know I will treasure forever!

I know there were things that we didn't do, like meeting Mickey and Minnie and everyone in their anniversary costumes, but the day was still absolutely magical without that. It was such perfect weather and I don't think I've ever seen the park looking so clean and sparkly! Bring on the 30th anniversary! 

If you want to see more pictures of my trip, check out my new Disney Instagram!

Thanks for reading!

Amy xxx

Some of my favourite posts I've done are photo diaries from various trips and holidays. I love going through all of my photos and being able to share some of my favourite ones on my blog. In September 2015, a few months before I started my blog, I went to Copenhagen with my family for a few days and I realised that I have never shared any of my photos from the trip, neither on my blog nor anywhere else. I had a really lovely time there, it was such a beautiful city and we even took a train over to Sweden for a morning too. I thought it would be such as shame to not share any of my pictures so here are a few of my favourites. 

Having been to Disneyland Paris multiple times in my life, I can safely say I've done around 95% of everything there is to do in the parks (not including the scary roller-coasters that I wouldn't go on even if you paid me). Because of this, there are a lot of things that I don't do anymore, or at least I don't do them every time I go. However, a lot of these things are things that you should definitely do on your first visit to the parks, in order to make your holiday as magical as possible (and none of them involve going on rides).

A lot of people don't realise that you can actually go up into the castle at Disneyland Paris. As you're walking underneath the castle into Fantasyland, there is a staircase on the left hand side that goes up into the castle itself. Up there is a little walk through that tells you the story of Sleeping Beauty through stained glass windows and tapestries. You can also go out onto the balcony and get a great view of Fantasyland for photos. It's really beautiful and is a great break from standing in long queues. As well as going up though, you can also go down into the dungeons of the castle, where the dragon from Sleeping Beauty is chained up. It might be slightly scary for little kids but it's really impressive and is one of the largest animatronics at a Disney park!

Even if you are far more interested in the rides than anything else, meeting characters at Disney parks is so much fun! If you've never met any characters before, meeting Mickey Mouse or a character from your favourite film is a great place to start. If you decide it's not for you, then at least you can say you met your favourite character, and if you love it you can continue to meet loads more! Also, if you don't want to queue for ages for characters, there are always a lot of unscheduled meets near the Casey Jr ride so if you're lucky you might be able to meet loads without having to queue!

You'll have to be organised and find a spot at least half an hour before the parade starts, but it is so worth it. Even having seen the current parade too many times to count, I still have to be at the front for the parade! Doing this allows you to properly see how amazing it is and you can see a lot more of the dancers and floats than you can with three people standing in front of you. Also, you can get some amazing photos and character interaction as well. My favourite place to watch the parade is by the entrance to Fantasyland, to the right of the castle. At this section you can only watch the parade from one side, meaning all of the characters on the floats are facing you and all of the characters on the floor come over to your side. As well as this, it's near where the parade starts, meaning you can get on your next ride whilst half of the guests are still watching the parade!

Dreams is the nightly fireworks show that is projected onto the castle and it is absolutely amazing. I was lucky enough to see it on its very first night and we waited probably over 2 hours to stand right at the very front which was absolutely worth it. You definitely don't need to see it from the front every time, but doing it once or twice is incredible. Being so close to the castle gets you really immersed into the story and you can take some great pictures without anyone's head getting in your way! (Next month a new show called Illuminations will be taking its place for the 25th anniversary, but i'm sure it will be just as good!)

One of the most magical things about any Disney park is the attention to detail that goes into every little thing. Even though it's easy to just rush through everything when you're at Disney, especially if it's your first time and want to do everything, take some time to just wander round the different lands and appreciate the design and imagination that went into it all. One really fun thing to do is to go hunting for 'hidden mickeys'. These are where little Mickey Mouse heads have been incorporated into the design of something so that it's not completely obvious that it's there unless you're looking for them. 

Whilst the rides are a huge and fun element of going to Disneyland, there is so much more to do there that will make your holiday unforgettable and different to any other!