2016: A Year In Disney

As 2016 is coming to a close, I'd like to look at the amazing feat Disney managed to pull off this year across the board. It was an absolutely brilliant year for the world's happiest company. The company slayed at the box office, television was on point, and the parks are improving. Things are certainly on the up and up for this wonderful organization. Before 2016 closes though, let's look at how historic this year really was.

Back in June, I posted a little piece about the 4 home runs to date in 2016. That bit was written before the Dory movie came out, before Doctor Strange, before Moana, and before the latest Star Wars film. Needless to say, it has gotten even more promising since that post. In order to not sound redundant, I will just say that those 4 home runs were amazing and I recommend them strongly. The 4 were the Lion Guard, Zootopia, Captain America: Civil War, and the Jungle Book. 

Before moving on to the second half of the year, I would like to go a bit further on how obsessed my children are with the Lion Guard. My kids love the show. This is especially true for our 4 year old son, Noland Jr. He has about 1/4 of the stuff he owns currently as Lion Guard related. The kid adores the show and the characters. Jr. is constantly trying to acquire new Lion Guard materials. It is a cool show for us too, because it is a bridge from the classic movie of our childhood, the Lion King. Just a brilliantly done show that hasn't lost any traction in our household.

Now onto the newer stuff...

Finding Dory was another smash hit for Disney and I too enjoyed the movie. I did not enjoy it as much as some people, but it was a great movie. The movie had really strong new characters and is certainly something Disney will continue to cash in on. It was not a failure by any stretch of the imagination and helped to grow the brand overall. Like I said, I enjoyed the movie and most enjoyed it even more than I did.

To me, perhaps the biggest hit and certainly the biggest surprise of the year was Moana. Now, I thought Moana would be really good, but it surpassed every expectation I had of the movie. After seeing Zootopia, I thought there was no way an animated movie could top that in the same year, but Moana was right up there. This movie was darn close to flawless and you must see it if you have not already. It will be interesting to see how the hype around this movie proceeds as time moves on.

Admittedly, I have not seen Doctor Strange or the latest Star Wars yet, but they have been hits. I have also heard terrific things from all that have seen those titles.

2016 also was the year we once again had Disney passes and there are some exciting things going on at the parks. Nothing at Disney World is as exciting as the additional hours at my favorite park, Animal Kingdom. Although I hear next year will be even bigger for this park and Disney World in general. Before we get to next year though, let's talk about one more thing for 2016.

Each year, we do a Disney countdown for characters and this year I decided to include more family. We had 11 family members each submit their top 50 solely Disney characters, and top 50 pixar characters as well. 50 points were awarded for #1 and 1 point for #50 for each list. Here are the top finishers after the vote and who the 4 in my immediate family voted for as their 5 favorites (for Eli we scattered toys and pictures and took them away after he chose somebody).

Overall Disney
#1 Simba
#2 Mickey Mouse
#3 Donald Duck
#4 Pooh
#5 Jiminy Cricket

Robinson Top 5 1-5
Me: Jiminy Cricket, Baloo, Pooh, Pumba, Donald Duck
Jenna: Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Aladdin, Rapunzel, Simba
Jr: Kion, Mickey Mouse, Bunga, Donald Duck, Nick Wilde
Eli: Mickey Mouse, Tigger, Pooh, Piglet, Kion

Overall Pixar
#1 Nemo
#2 Dory
#3 Woody
#4 Crush
#5 Squirt

Robinson Top 5 1-5
Me: Buzz, Crush, Rex, Bullseye, Marlin
Jenna: Woody, Buzz, Lightning McQueen, Marlin, Rex
Jr.: Buzz, Lightning McQueen, Mater, Woody, Rex
Eli: Buzz,Woody, Crush, Lightning McQueen, Squirt

As you can see sometimes the slam dunk winner in the house loses out overall. This was most true with Pixar as Buzz finished 1st for all 3 boys, and 2nd for Jenna. However, my brother and his kids didn't include Buzz and he finished outside the top 5. Crazy!!!!

I sure will have fun comparing the lists as they come out each year. It was a cool project that resulted in a fun coloring book for the kids.

This year in Disney was awesome! I have a feeling that next year could be even better! You will be able to follow our Disney adventures for 2017 right here.

Until next time, see you real soon!!!!

-Noland

Disney World Blackout Days Are Over

Thousands of Florida residents are about to be coming to Disney World! After a long summer for holders of Disney's Silver Pass, our blackout days have completed and we may now descend upon Walt Disney World Resort. The blackout days officially are over today Friday August 12th. For thousands of residents like us, that means we are ready to take many trips in the coming months.

The Silver Pass is more economical for our family and many others. Forcing us to avoid the park just 3 times a year. Those times are the weeks before and after Christmas, weeks before and after Easter and during the summer. Those blackout days are typically Disney's busiest times, but now with the tiered pass system it is a little less crowded during peak seasons than in years past. It is so brutally hot during the summer that it isn't missing too much, but if I said I did not miss Disney, I would be lying. My family loves the resort. Many visits will be happening through the end of 2016 and into 2017. The updates will be posted here with many pictures to come.

Here are some magic moments so far with our passes this time around....

Animal Kingdom added Lion Guard Statues around the park. Here my son is with the Fuli statue

My son got a lot of 1 on 1 time with one of his favorite characters Rafiki

We got plenty of time with Chip n Dale prepared for space too

Ate some delicious goodies

And who can forget meeting the 4 main Disney characters

Finally, we all saw my favorite character!

There is a lot more to come. Stay tuned for so much more magic!

-Noland

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom

Every time we go to the Magic Kingdom, we walk by this little game called the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. We always say that we will try it someday, ultimately skipping over the game because there is just so much to do at the world's most popular theme park. Why waste time on a card game when there is so much to do?

Well, that was until this past weekend. I made it a point to try the game and see if Noland Jr. would like it. I figured if nothing else, we could collect the cards and be happy. With some rare and cool cards, I figured that the family would at least enjoy that. Now that it is almost summer, the crowds are picking up anyways, so it is a good thing to do on a crowded day like it would be, I thought that anyway.

My take away is that I was right and wrong in my preconceived notions about the game. It is definitely not something to do if this is your first trip to Disney World. There is simply to much to do at the park and you don't want to be playing this game if it is your 1st trip. However, if you are park veterans like us that just were skipping over the game, it could well be worth it. Noland Jr. loved this game and said he wants to play again next time. If you are in that category like we were, read on...

You sign up for this FREE game at the firehouse on Main Street USA. One person in your party becomes the key holder (we chose Noland Jr.) and that person opens the portals at each location you must travel. Once you sign up and pick a key holder, you will get a map and a pack of cards. Each pack contains 5 cards. Again, all of this is included with your park admission. That is pretty rare for an extra benefit.

Once you get the stuff to start the game, you go to a land to defeat a villain as your current mission. You must defeat 9 villains to beat the game, and we defeated 3 on the day we went. If you do not beat all 9, you can start back where you left off last time when you arrive next. That is what my family will plan on doing.

Overall, we enjoyed this game, but it definitely had some issues that we noticed and almost gave up on the game from. The practice portal in the firehouse, used our spell cards with no problems. However, once the game started, Noland Jr. could not get any of the spell cards to read. I realized after we lost the same battle 3 times that I had to hold him up or use the card myself. He is tall enough to ride Splash Mountain, so I figured this wouldn't be the case. It was the case though, he was not tall enough for the cards to read despite no issues on the practice portal. Additionally, there were one or two portals that didn't seem to work for anybody. There were 2 or 3 that we saw multiple people fail at. One a guy had to shine an extra light at the perfect angle to get the screen to read. That can be frustrating, but still through that, Noland Jr. loved the cards and we did manage to figure most of it out on the 1st day.

Pictures of cards we own/what we think of them
Sorry for the poor quality of pictures, I should have had my wife take them :)

 This card was ok. Not our favorite and didn't do much, but was okay.

 The sword was one of our next card's to try, but we did not get to try it. This card seems like it would be pretty cool.

 The Laser Blast was the next one that Noland wanted to try. It looks cool, but as big a Disney fan as I am, I did not recognize Eve. Jenna said he/she/it is from Wall-E. I hated Wall-E so that would make sense why I don't recognize the character.

 This move would probably be pretty epic, but Jr. did not want to try it.

 Jr.'s 3rd favorite move so far, he really liked the fire on the screen and it burning the characters.

 Surprised we didn't use this yet, since we love the Mad Tea Party ride, but alas we did not.

 Our most used card and the card we started with. Jr. won the 1st 3 battles with this card before we moved on.

 You see blond hair flick the screen 3 or 4 times. I was very underwhelmed with this card. Not sure what I was expecting, but Rapunzel is my favorite princess and I was not a fan of this card.

 Really neat move that we finished of Cruella with. We all liked this one.

 This was my favorite move and Noland Jr.'s favorite move. It was really cool to see on the screen with Grumpy flicking his axes everywhere. Loved this card.

 I was prepared to use this immediately after Mickey and Rafiki, but Jr. put it at the bottom of our pile because he didn't recognize it. I guess we will be watching some Meet the Robinsons soon.

 The coolest looking card and our favorite character in the group. Underwhelmed though with the card. Still cool and we enjoyed it.

 Jenna's favorite card and our main card used to defeat Shadow Man. Love this one.

 This was the last card he wanted to use. Haven't used it.

We showed no desire to use this one either, but we will get to it eventually.

A master card list is contained below. Ones that we own are bold. Cards 1-22 on this list are labeled as rare, 23-41 as uncommon, 42-60 common, 61-70 super rare. The Super Rare cards are only rumored to be available in purchased packs available at the Emporium. Feel free to offer trades of cards and or share your comments on the game in the comments section. One of these cards supposedly features the cricket, so we obviously want that one in this house.
Rare
1. Apprentice Mickey's Broomsticks
2. Belle's Mountain Blizzard
3. Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blaster
4. Doris's Bowler Hat Attack
5. Eve's Laser Blast
6. Fa Mulan's Dragon Cannon
7. Flynn Rider's Frying Pan
8. King Triton's Trident
9. Lythos' Rock Titan Boulder Throw
10. Maurice's Wood Chipper
11. Maximus' Horseshoes
12. Merlin's Fireball
13. Monstro's Water Spout
14. Nib's Neverland Assault
15. Rapunzel's Hair Whip
16. Robin Hood's Magic Arrow
17. Simba's Roar
18. Fairy Godmother's Pumpkin Bash
19. The Giant's Giant Stomp
20. Tinker Bell's Pixie Dust
21. Violet's Force Fields
22. Woody's Cowboy Lasso
Uncommon
23. Aladdin's Lamp
24. Bolt's Super Bark
25. Cinderella's Magic Ribbon
26. Colonel Hathi's Righteous Stomp (want this one bad)
27. Eeyore's Gloomy Cloud
28. Frozone's Ice Blast
29. Lightning McQueen's Ka-Chow
30. Mickey's Magic Beans
31. Mike's Grand Entrance
32. Pinocchio's Sawdust Blast
33. Prince Phillip's Enchanted Sword
34. Snow White's Housecleaning
35. Headless Horseman's Exploding Jack-O-Lantern (Another one we want)
36. Mad Hatter's Tea Time
37. Queen of Heart's Card Army
38. Sugar Plum Fairies' Dewdrop Spiderweb
39. Wall-E's Trash Crunch
40. Yen Sid's Sorcerers Hat
Common
41. Aurora's Rose Petals
42. Baloo's Coconut Cascade (Noland Jr. said this is the card he wants most)
43. Cabellero Donald's Pinata (Has to be awesome!)
44. Dash's Whirlwind
45. Flower's Flowers
46. Gopher's Demolition Dynamite (Excited that Gopher has a role in this game, he is often forgotten)
47. Grumpy's Pummeling Pickaxe (Our Favorite Move So Far)
48. Lumiere's Candle Blast
49. Mowgli's Swining Vine (Mowgli is in the game too!)
50. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (There you go Toad fans)
51. Pocahontas's Colors of the Wind
52. Pongo's Soot Bucket
53. Prince Naveen's Army of Frogs
54. Pumbaa's Odorous Gas (The Card I want the most :)
55. Quasimodo's Bell (Cool that he is in game)
56. Rafiki's Wisdom Stick
57. The Blue Fairy's Wand Wish
58. The Woozles' Woozle Nightmare
59. Thumper's Mighty Thump
60. Tiana's Hot Sauce (Jenna's Favorite Move So Far)
Super Rare
61. Ariel's Bubble Attack
62. Dumbo's Pin Elephant Parade
63. Finn McMissile's Missile Salvo
64. Hercules's Tower Topple
65. Jasmine's Magic Carpet Tassles of Fury
66. Mama Odie's Magic Charm
67. Merryweathers Stone Spell
68. Mr. Incredible's Power Heave
69. Mushu's Fiery Breath
70. Winnie the Pooh's Honey Bees (don't want to buy a pack, but we really want this card)

Stay tuned on the blog for more Disney World tips and tricks...Next week though, we will talk about being a one cable TV household and why that is perfect for us.

- Noland

Winnie the Pooh is the Best

My family absolutely adores the character Winnie the Pooh. He is my second favorite character,in Noland's Jr.'s top 5 (his favorite was Pooh when he was 1 and 2), and Jenna and Eli's favorite. As a family, he is our favorite character. We love the movies, the books, the stuffed animals, and mostly experiencing Winnie at the Disney Parks. Before we get into the parks though, let me tell you that the 1st stuffed animal each kid got was a Pooh character. Noland Jr. being the fantastic boy that he is gave Eli his baby stuffed animal of Tigger on the day that Eli was born!

Look @ that sweet baby and his new stuffed Tigger cuddling him!

It is a point of ours each time to ride the ride, whether we do a Fastpass+ selection or hit it early in the day. We just love the character and all of his friends and think that Disney did a great job with this character. If there could be any more with him, we would surely enjoy it!

Let's start with what they do have, before we get into what was lost.....

First, the Crystal Palace!
This is the single greatest character breakfast we have tried at the Walt Disney World Resort. It is absolutely phenomenal. I cannot believe how great this breakfast experience is. Reservations are hard to come by though, so we have only been able to do it once for breakfast. Dinner is also available, but at $12 more per person is not an option we have explored. This is the only non special event where you can meet Piglet and Eeyore and something my family will be doing again! We will certainly give Eli the opportunity to experience it!

Noland Jr. meeting Eeyore @ Crystal Palace w/ Mom (2 years ago)

Now, the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride!
Many Disney purists are upset that the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride took over for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I am not one of those people, although I did enjoy the classic. Winnie the Pooh is far more marketable and has a great deal more fans than J. Thaddeus. My kids barely know about the Wind and the Willows, but I did expose them to it. However, they absolutely adore Winnie the Pooh. The bear is timeless. The toad is practically unknown by an entire generation. While it would be cool to reserruct that ride at say, Epcot, I rather enjoy that Winnie the Pooh got some more love at the Magic Kingdom.
This ride was one of the 1st rides to have an interactive queue, where kids could play while they wait for the ride. This fantastic idea makes waiting in line not such a bad thing. The pictures below are from the front of the queue and out in front of the ride. Noland loves the little Pooh house....

Front of Pooh's House

Pooh's mailbox and honey

Inside the house with Jr. and a photo bomber

The ride itself is incredibly fun and features scenes from the movie The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The actual ride focuses on the 2nd part of the movie, the Blustery Day. As I said, this ride is a ton of fun and has playful scenes. Another fun thing about this ride is it has a picture in Owl's house of Mr. Toad handing the deed of the ride over to Owl.

Ride getting ready to start!

Next, the Thotful Spot Meet and Greet!
Right next to the ride is a wonderful place to meet Pooh and Tigger. This spot is one of the most popular meet and greets in the entire Magic Kingdom. It is recommended to come at a time the two have taken a break and will be back shortly, this will decrease your wait time. This strategy also increases the chances that the duo will remain throughout your time waiting in line instead of stepping out for a break. These guys are really fun. This meet and greet occasionally features Eeyore and/or Piglet although that is rare. I have even seen Rabbit in here before with Pooh Bear. Below are some pics from our favorite meet and greet.

 Eli Meets Pooh

 Jenna and Tigger selfie w/ Eli who just wants to look @ Tigger

Noland Jr. w/ two of his favorite characters

Finally, the character breakfast @ 1800 Park Fare @ The Grand Floridian Hotel!
This is an experience we have not done yet, but are looking to try this summer! Winnie the Pooh and Tigger are a part of this character breakfast at Disney's fanciest hotel (at least that I have seen). I am sure it is a pretty epic experience to try.

There are also special meets at the Halloween and Christmas Parties!
I have said before that these are overrated to pay extra, but they are fun and I am glad we did each once to get the experience. The Halloween meet and greet with all four characters was almost worth it to do it by itself. When Eli is a little earlier, we will probably do it again. That way we  can see these characters in the best parade at Disney World and get to meet them all again as well.

Maybe a chance at the Epcot Training Meets or Character Palooza!
I have only gotten to see an Epcot Training Meet once, but I seem to remember that Piglet was in there. I have not seen any characters from Winnie the Pooh at the few Character Paloozas we have been to, but I have heard some rumors that it happens.

Rare rabbit sightings!
I have seen Rabbit @ the Thotful Spot meet and greets, and there are rumors of him being at Epcot Training Meets on occasion. One of our goal characters to meet this year is Rabbit and we will definitely be waiting in line if we see him again. Personally, I think he should be part of the Garden Grille character breakfast with Chip and Dale. Seriously is there a character you associate with gardens more than Rabbit?

They used to have him in 3 parks. Then regretfully moved him out of Epcot and Animal Kingdom. The Epcot experience was awesome because it was practically empty. You got to meet him in the setting of Christopher Robin's room and most people didn't know about it, so it was a great place to meet Pooh and Tigger. Since most people didn't know about it though is probably why they moved him out. The Animal Kingdom one is frustrating though. It was a great locale for them and it was the 1st meet and greet experience that Noland Jr. had at Disney World (pic below). It made little sense to move him out of that park where he was so beloved.
We need more Winnie! Pooh Bear in every park!!!!

I hope you enjoyed my bragging on Winnie the Pooh and talking about how you can experience him at the Walt Disney World Resort! This is our absolute favorite consistent Meet and Greet experience (Character Palooza isn't always consistent). I hope you soon get to meet him too, especially if you have children.

Join me next week as we discuss ........Continue to keep checking up for more Disney tidbits, tips, and other great tips to #LoveFL and cool things to do all over the country. Have a great week!

- Noland

Passholders Again!!!

So, we haven't been posting as much as normal lately, but my schedule has finally been rearranged to get back at it. Jenna will be on more now too, since Eli is 10 Months old!!!!! The little stinker is growing and getting quite the little personality. One of the first things we did when he got to be past 6 months was to get our beloved Annual Passes at Disney World back!

These passes are well worth the money if you live in Florida and Disney does a great job at making affordable payment plans for us. We pay about $60 a month for passes for me, Jenna, and Noland Jr. Eli is free because he is under 3 and Noland Jr. was free last time we had passes. For these passes we decided to get the Silver Pass because lower tier passes now come with free parking!!!! This family does not really have a desire to go in the summer when it is miserably hot and way overcrowded or during Easter/Christmas weeks when it is overcrowded as well. There is plenty of time to enjoy Disney in between those times.

Disney is full of magic for our boys and we just love it. There is so much to do and all 4 parks are like different worlds for our kids. Noland Jr. is at the perfect age for Disney and it is his favorite place to go in the entire world. Eli Thomas has a surprising amount that he can do at the park, especially  since he is under 1. While that is not the ideal age for a Disney trip, he still loves it and he is free!

Here are some of our favorite memories so far with these passes this time around!!!

We caught a rare character and my favorite...Jiminy Cricket

 On the safari! My favorite ride!

 Eli liked It's a Small World with KJ on her birthday!

 My beautiful wife and baby b4 Buzz

 With some of our best friends at the Visa character Meet. Love how suspicious Eli is of Mickey in this photo!

 With my best boys on St. Patty's day @ Magic waiting for Buzz. So much green!

 Waiting for the Disney Jr. show!

 Eli's 1st character he ever met, Donald Duck! This is @ the Baja Beach Club Breakfast!

 2 Boys Smiling with the coolest Duck around!

 Easter Egg hunting at Epcot!

 Met Brer Fox @ Character Palooza!

Disney makes us all so happy!!!

Thanks for stopping in and reading up on our recent adventures. Stay tuned for much more news and pictures on Disney, more zoo reviews, and more fun tips and tricks. Next week, we will have a review posted up on Zoo World in Panama City, Florida. Come to Florida! This state is unbelievable!

-Noland

10 Best Toddler Attractions @ Walt Disney World

What are the best things to do at Disney for me? This is what everyone at the park is thinking based on their current situations. We now consider ourselves experts having been passholders and want to help you out with tips for navigating the parks. From time to time we post those thoughts here. Today, we will go over the ten best attractions for toddlers. Disney can be a blast for you alone, but with kids, it is taken to a whole different level.

We will focus on the boy toddler, but most of these are great for girls as well. The focus is on the boy toddler is because we have a boy, but most of these are awesome for girls too. Additionally, the focus will be on freebies and not on add-ons you can purchase (character dining etc.).  Before we start the list, let's start with an honorable mention and that being the Boneyard in Disney's Animal Kingdom (pictured above). This attraction is an honorable mention because as cool as it is, it is a playground and not a ride at the end of the day. So with that in mind, here is the list......

10. Disney Jr. Live on Stage (Hollywood Studios)

This is a fun attraction that managed to make the list and would be higher for some. They have a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse part, a Doc MsStuffins part, a Sofia the 1st part, and Noland's favorite, a Jake part. This is an awesome little show that they do throughout the day at Hollywood Studios. It is pretty neat and I recommend checking it out whether you have boys or girls. It would be higher on the list, but it has the most uncomfortable seating arrangements at Disney. Not a fan of sitting on the floor at 6'3.

09. Mad Tea Party (Magic Kingdom)

This ride should probably be even higher because it fills my son with pure joy. Everytime we ride it, he has the biggest smile on his face. He absolutely loves riding this amazing attraction. I mean just look at him, he is absolutely thrilled on this ride. He loves the spinning teacups. It is probably the most iconic ride in the park too other than maybe Dumbo. They always show this one in the commercials and it is one that everybody knows. The best thing though about Mad Tea Party is that it usually has a wait time of less than 30 minutes.

08. Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (Magic Kingdom)

This ride is awesome for boys and girls, but especially boys. They get in a spinning ride and they get to shoot stuff. Each boy also gets in a ride with a character from Toy Story that is most likely their favorite. Our little guy loves Buzz and Rex and I think most boys are very similar. Not to mention that when he hears that drum in line, he dances everytime. Another great feature is that Buzz is able to be met right outside of this ride with a very short line usually. Love It!

07. The Three Caballeros (Epcot)

No picture for this one, but it is easily my favorite thing to do at Epcot with the little guy. The country of Mexico is easily my favorite in the World Showcase as well. The whole atmosphere is awesome! We love this ride because of the characters throughout and the singing during the ride. It is just an awesome experience. Of course it does not hurt that Donald Duck is the star of the attraction.

06. Finding Nemo the Musical (Animal Kingdom)

Not as cool as the other musical at Animal Kingdom, but just awesome. This is a really great show that you just must do. Jenna and I find ourselves singing the songs everytime we watch Nemo and they aren't even in the movie. In fact, we just sing them randomly sometimes. Jr. wasn't as into this as some other things so it is only 6 on this list, but he was a huge fan. His favorite part (like most of us) was when Crush entered the musical. Just Go with the Flow.....

05. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Magic Kingdom)

Toddlers love Pooh. If you are a parent of a toddler and your toddler doesn't know Winnie, you are doing it wrong. Now, this one might be controversial because it replaced Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (which I loved), but Pooh is more marketable and our family does like Pooh better. It has all the characters from the original Pooh movie including a lot of stuff on Gopher. My son's favorite Disney character is Pooh so obviously this ride is usually at the top of our list. Outside, you can meet Pooh and Tigger @ a Thotful Spot. Sometimes as was the case in the photo below, Eeyore and Piglet are there as well.

04. Peter Pan's Flight (Magic Kingdom)

This ride routinely has a line that is about an hour long or more. Peter Pan is one of the most popular rides in Disney. It is something that usually either needs to be a Fastpass+ selection or hit really early before the park gets busy. There is a reason for this. The popularity is because this ride is awesome. It is simple, but it is awesome. Each person gets to ride a pirate ship. Any boy that loves Peter Pan, Jake, or just pirates will love this ride. If your boy is like mine and loves all three, then you are in for a real treat. This is definitely a Disney must do.

03. Festival of the Lion King (Animal Kingdom)

Who has a boy that says their favorite movie is The Lion King? I do, I do! This is easily his favorite show in the park. It has the main songs from his favorite movie, the three main characters of the movie and a lot of animal effects. This is just the perfect show and the actors are AMAZING! I can't believe that I did not do this show before last year. See it soon are you are missing out!

02. Toy Story Mania (Hollywood Studios)

This is the most popular ride in Walt Disney World. Don't you want to see why it is the most popular ride at this wonderful resort? This is just such a fun and interactive ride. It is fairly new and they are going to be doubling the size of it due to popular demand. Seriously, this ride cannot get much better. It has most of the characters from the Toy Story movies and is just a great time all around. You do not want to miss this thrilling attraction.

01. Kilimanjaro Safaris (Animal Kingdom)

The best ride at Disney though is Kilimanjaro Safaris. It is our favorite, always will be our favorite, and the whole family loves it. This is the closest you can get to a real African safari without leaving the country. I have heard it on numerous occasions and it is free with park admission. Try getting closer to a hippo than you get on this ride, it just doesn't really happen. Now, try all the thrills you normally get on this ride added with a boy that loves animals. A boy that is learning to talk and gets excited by every new thing he sees. You try riding this ride with that boy like I did, and you will never want to get off. That right there is the Magic of Walt Disney World Resort. That magic is summed up in this one experience that you will never want to end.

Hope you enjoyed this list and that you get to enjoy all the wonderful attractions at the fantastic Walt Disney World resort. As always have a wonderful weekend and stay tuned next week for more awesome tips.

-Noland