We started off our visit to Florida at Disney World in Orlando—this time without kids. Having only been to Disney once before about 25 years ago, it was fun to experience the most magical place on Earth as empty nesters. We embraced our inner child and set out to see and do it all during Disney’s 50th Anniversary Celebration.
We camped at Disney’s beautiful Fort Wilderness campground during our visit. By staying at a Disney resort property, we also got free transportation to all of the parks as well as early park entry. Fort Wilderness lived up to its reputation as a first-class resort with all kinds of amenities and activities, immaculate grounds, and friendly staff.
Animal Kingdom:
Animal Kingdom is an entire theme park based around the wonder and beauty of animals and was our favorite park. Its 580 acres are home to over 2,000 animals that roam happily in natural habitats. The excellent Kilimanjaro Safaris ride takes you in an open-air, rugged safari vehicle for a guided tour of the African savanna. The ride tours the savanna’s 110 acres, making this one ride bigger than the entire Magic Kingdom!
Animal Kingdom’s newest section had our most favorite ride of all — Avatar Flight of Passage. It’s an amazing 3D flight where you ride atop a winged banshee over Pandora’s beautiful floating mountains and landscapes.
In the center of the park, the 145-foot-tall Tree of Life has 300 lifelike animal carvings and was our favorite photo spot. Beautiful during the day, it comes to life at night with a mezmerizing showcase of color and light called Awakenings.
We also had a special dinner at Tiffins Restaurant where they serve delicious African, Indian, and South American cuisine. I was fascinated by the displays of pictures and diaries detailing the research and travels of the Animal Kingdom’s designers as they sought to make the park as authentic as possible. We were impressed with the whole park and Disney’s commitment to animal conservation and well-being.
Fun Fact: Disney’s Animal Kingdom has state of the art facilities where their veterinarians and technicians treat animals ranging in size from a 2-gram poison dart frog to a 13,000-pound African elephant.
EPCOT:
Known by the iconic big silver sphere, EPCOT has two main parts. One area is the World Showcase where you can experience attractions, culture, food, and products from 11 countries. We definitely sampled lots of food here! The other area focuses on world and nature discovery, innovations, and the future. Amazingly, more than 30 tons of fruits and vegetables are grown at EPCOT every year to supply the many restaurants around the resort.
We enjoyed the Soarin’ Around the World ride which simulates a hang glider flight above breathtaking wonders of the world. The nightly fireworks show called Harmonious is one of the best we have ever seen. An innovative combination of choreographed fountains, floating giant screens, Disney music, lasers, and fireworks lights up the World Showcase Lagoon for 20 minutes each night before the park closes.
Fun Fact: The big silver sphere, called Spaceship Earth, actually comes alive with different colors after dark. It weighs 15.5 million pounds and has over 11,520 isosceles triangles and 3,840 points.
Hollywood Studios:
Hollywood Studios has 6 different Disney themed areas with rides, attractions, shops, and restaurants. We especially liked the Star Wars section which looked like the real movie sets with the Millennium Falcon, a space outpost, and galactic cantina. The Rise of the Resistance ride was our favorite in this area. Lots of other attractions with movie themes like Toy Story and Muppets offer lots of fun.
Fun Fact: The Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith makes you feel like you are really at a rock concert with its 32,000-watt audio system. There are 5 speakers positioned around each rider in the vehicle to give an optimal sound experience as you hurtle down the track at 57 miles per hour.
Magic Kingdom:
The quintessential amusement park, Magic Kingdom has great rides like Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, and It’s a Small World. The iconic Cinderella’s Castle is the centerpiece and hosts fireworks every evening. Although it is the smallest of the four parks in size, Magic Kingdom is the most popular park measured by attendance with over 17.5 million visitors a year.
Fun Fact: The Magic Kingdom is kept incredibly clean in part due its underground Automated Vacuum Assisted Collection System (AVACS) that can send up to 50 tons of trash a day to a central processing location at 60 miles per hour.
Disney Marathon Weekend:
Of course, I can’t forget to mention our primary reason for visiting Disney World in January. One of Mike’s bucket list items was to complete the Dopey Challenge run—the challenge consists of 48.6 miles in 4 consecutive days. I ran the 5K with him on Thursday, but then cheered him on as he did the 10K on Friday, the ½ marathon on Saturday, and the full marathon on Sunday. Over 30,000 runners participated in at least one event and only a hardy 7,000 of those completed the whole Dopey Challenge. Great job Mike!!
Extras:
We spent a free afternoon at Disney Springs for some shopping, eating, and entertainment. The huge Disney store was a great place for souvenirs, and we enjoyed yummy cupcakes from a cupcake ATM at Sprinkles bakery (a close second to ATMs that give money!). We were glad we got tickets to Cirque du Soleil’s Disney show called Drawn to Life, which we enjoyed even more than some of their other shows we saw in Las Vegas.
We also spent a morning at Disney’s Fantasia miniature golf course. They have the Gardens course with obstacles and characters or the Fairways course which emphasizes skill over chance using sand traps, bunkers, water hazards, and sloping greens. We didn’t get to the water park due to time limitations and cooler January weather during our stay.
A Great Experience:
One thing we had forgotten was how much walking and standing and waiting happens at theme parks! Good planning and comfy shoes helped us to maximize our time in each park. With one day allotted for each park, we made sure to use our time to the fullest. Even though I only mention a few favorite rides and attractions, we were able to do almost everything in each park (well, not the Tower of Terror because I’m not that crazy!)
I highly recommend the free My Disney Experience app which allows you to manage your whole visit and get in all the attractions you want. You can check wait time for rides, make dining reservations, view park maps, and much more. The Genie+ option was a game changer for us. We never waited in line more than 10-15 minutes for a ride when others waited up to several hours in the standby lanes. Definitely worth the extra $20!
Disney logos can be seen everywhere. In addition to the common places like foods and signs, we found some in unexpected locations: on the ground in Animal Kingdom, in the aquarium and greenhouse in EPCOT, and even an extra water hose.
We loved our stay at Disney, from the campground at Fort Wilderness to all of the parks and other experiences. The January weather was nice, and the parks were not crowded. It was fun to do things our way as empty nesters and spend as much or as little time where we wanted. We enjoyed our time feeling young again on the rides, eating ice cream and other treats, buying souvenirs, and taking lots of pictures. No matter what your age, its easy to have a ball at the most magical place on Earth.
Whaaaaat? Tower of Terror is the best ride EVER! Its my favorite! But, looks like you guys had a blast even without it. Disney in January is definitely the best – all the fun with none of the crowds.
My sister in law is a marathon runner and she also did the Dopey Challenge. I know how incredibly challenging it is – both mentally and physically. Congratulations on completing it!
I guess we will have to agree to disagree about Tower of Terror, lol. I am a big chicken😱. We did have lots of fun at Disney and you are right about January being a great time for low crowds. I was proud of Mike for completing the Dopey Challenge–it is definitely tough. Congrats to your sister-in-law for doing it as well.
Animal Kingdom would be my favorite park to visit with all those animals and a safari ride too. The fireworks display looks truly epic. I have explored the Magic Kingdom as well and it was so “magical” and special. Congratulations to Mike and all that running! Thanks for sharing 🙂
We are both animal lovers! I thought they did a great job with Animal Kingdom and really enjoyed all of it. EPCOT did take the cake on the fireworks–so many and such a neat show.
It has been awhile since visiting Disney World but you make it look fun to try as mature adults. No running for us but that was very cool. Will definitely look into staying in one of their RV parks.
We were surprised how much fun we had at Disney without kids. Setting our own timetable and activities was fun and relaxing. There is so much to see and do there so you will have lots of fun if you go. Fort Wilderness is a great RV park with lots of activities right there in the campground as well.