A page outlining our trips to Walt Disney World where we’ve had some of our favourite family vacations. More than a casual vacation spot for us, we are essentially ‘Disney addicts’.
Along with Camping (which is our favourite summer activity), Disneyworld is our favourite family vacation spot. Even before we had kids we’d been to Disney twice – it was the first place my wife and I went when we got together (both of us had also been when we were kids growing up with our families).
Two Decades of Disney Trips
My wife and I love Disney. On one of our first dates the topic quickly came up and we both lamented how our parents went to Disney without us. I was there as a kid in 1973 and again in 1976 but that was WAY before the park expanded massively adding EPCOT and then MGM/Hollywood Studios which, in 1991, neither I nor my (future) wife had seen. No surprises, then, that our first trip together was to Disney.
In 2001, when the kids were old enough, we flew down to Florida on our first family trip to Disneyworld (and it was a trip of many firsts) and in 2003 we went again, this time staying in our RV at Fort Wilderness (we visited my brother in South Carolina, staying in our RV, and just continued down). We’ve gone again numerous times – usually once a year – and yup, we’re officially Disney addicts. It’s a place where we can all “be a kid” and get away from regularity …. no cellphones, no instant messaging, no texting, just fun. (One could claim we are, as a family, ‘stuck with each other for a week’ and perhaps that is part of it as well).
While we liked taking the trailer in May and camping at Disney, between my work schedule and the kids school schedule the best time for all of us was in late December just before the Christmas rush. It was also, not coincidentally, one of the least busy times of the year to visit (not anymore, mind you, but back in 2005 it certainly was) and the Florida weather was a nice break from the lousy stuff we usually get that time of the year. Well, taking the trailer out at that time of the year was somewhat impractical as it would have required de-winterizing the unit in warmer climates and towing through some awful winter weather (namely the mountains of Pennsylvania and Virginia) to get there. Luckily, flights back then were amazingly cheap at around $49 to $69 each way from Buffalo. It was the perfect situation for us so we made a number of trips down there in the 2000’s and 2010’s invariably staying at hotels on DisneyWorld including Pop Century (our “go-to” resort), All Star Movies, Port Orleans Riverside, Port Orleans French Quarter, and in the wilderness cabins at Fort Wilderness (these aren’t rustic cabins and are hardly ‘roughing it’ – they feature air conditioning and a dishwasher).
Our absolutely cheapest trip was a 10-day trip in December of 2009. We booked the trip less than two weeks before we went and my wife managed to snag some deep discounts including free full dining. We stayed in Pop Century and the total, all-in and including flights, was under $3300 CDN.
So, our kids were fed a steady diet of Disney while growing up and our annual trip to Disney was an important thing for us – we’ve made a lot of memories on those trips, and have done a lot of things that no longer exist at the parks.
BELOW: A few photos from various trips. I like to take a group shot every trip so it’s fun to see the kids growing-up through the years.
2000’s
Due to both work restrictions (i.e. getting only a week off and not having extra days to travel), the kids being in school (so it was easier to pull them out just before Christmas than in the spring), as well as the availability of “deals” (more on that), most earlier trips involved flying down to Florida and staying in a hotel. Summer would be OK, but the park is considerably more crowded then and besides, I find the heat in Florida intolerable by the end of May. During the mid-2000’s Southwest offered fares as low as $49 US to Florida (part of those “deals” I mentioned) … you can see how we managed to do this trip many times previously without going broke … by the early 2010’s $129 to $149 one-way was more common (a sure sign that the economy was improving after the recession of the mid 2000’s). It’s fun leaving an airport covered in snow, and watching the plane be de-iced before takeoff (sometimes twice) then arriving in mid-80’s Florida just a few hours later. Leaving snow is generally an appealing thing!
For these trips we always stayed on Disney itself. Pop Century (a value resort) was our preferred spot – it’s clean and we really didn’t spend much time in our room so amenities like a nice pool are often lost on us. Later, we’re stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter, a moderate resort, since Disney had a habit of offering free dining (by special offer to previous guests) only when you stayed in a more expensive resort. I’m cheap, but the math is simple: when we were on the “full” dining plan which includes one table-service meal each day it was actually cheaper to stay at the moderate resort. Aside from saving money, Port Orleans is a quaint little resort (the smallest of any Disney resort) quite nicely decorated in the theme of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Small cobblestone-lined streets enhance the charm of the place along with wrought-iron trim everywhere. For our last few trips we rented a car as well since having had a rocky time with Disney’s luggage delivery service (it’s free, but you get what you pay for) and finding their bus system less reliable than it had been in the past.
We usually had breakfast in the room – coffee and a bagel is all we eat at home so why would I go for a larger offering here? The coffee at Disney was notoriously HORRID regardless so we brought our own coffeemaker and coffee from home (they later improved it and we just used what they supplied in the rooms). I just CANNOT start my day without two cups of decent coffee! And later at night, well, sometimes a cappuccino helps then as well (I started drinking cappuccino when I discovered how awful the coffee was at the park as well … it’s hard to bugger-up espresso when it’s made by a real machine … it is now a staple when I visit the Goofy’s Candy Company store).
So, our days usually began with breakfast in the room, often left-over dessert from the previous night’s meal. Ever had Pecan pie for breakfast? I have. I highly recommend it once a year while on vacation! A favourite of the kids were the cinnamon buns in Magic Kingdom – we’d often pick up a few at the end of a long day at the park to have the next morning. No, common-sense does not apply to nutrition choices for the entire week although the kids drank milk every morning. Early-on, we were part of “fridge swaps” to avoid paying $12+ a day for an in-room fridge (I did say I was cheap, remember) but in later years the resorts all had fridges.
Dining is a big part of our vacation – we don’t eat out a lot while at home and so it’s a real treat to go somewhere different and interesting each night. For me, personally, I really enjoyed the dining experience – it was my one and a half hours of enforced relaxation during an otherwise hectic day. On our earliest trips to Disney we’d always eaten the standard greasy fast-food fare that most people eat (“burger or hot-dog”, what’s your poison?) but later we discovered the dining plan (which they kept throwing-in to encourage people like us to spend our money there) and some nice restaurants catering to 
every taste. A personal favourite was Le Cellier in EPCOT. Being Canadian (since Le Cellier is the “Canadian” restaurant) has little to bias me towards this restaurant as being my favourite: the filet with the truffle sauce is just downright excellent and the ambience of a quiet, stone-laden wine cellar in the middle of park full of a mass of humanity makes for a nice change of pace – judging from the fact they book-up solid for reservations months in advance leads me to believe there are a host of others who agree. The relaxed attitude might change, mind you, when you get the bill for this place which is downright pricey … but being on the dining plan we didn’t have to shell-out over $150 for a meal so there’s no sticker-shock there. An improving economy led to the end of free-dining being included as an incentive to stay at Disney (and, no lie, one of the reasons we stopped staying at Disney hotels and did the camping thing instead).
2010’s
Fast-forward to 2015: the dining plan is all but gone (and certainly not worth the price) and the price of flights, hotels, and meals has skyrocketed. In addition, one kid was in University (so we couldn’t guarantee she’d be off in late December) and the other just graduated college: May wasn’t looking bad for timing. For us, the logical solution was to take our trailer to Disneyworld and stay at Fort Wilderness (which we had done is 2003 and particularly enjoyed, as well as staying at the cabins twice before). Traveling by road takes much longer than flying but getting there is half the fun. We did our 2015 trip by trailer, with my in-laws coming with us in their motorhome, and repeated it several times by ourselves. We’d usually take three days to get down, stopping in West Virginia and South Carolina for a night on the way.
Our 2019 trip had my wife and I take a leisurely trip down with the trailer by ourselves then meet our kids at Fort Wilderness (since both were working and neither could afford an additional five days off work for travel they flew down). Traveling in late April, it is an interesting trip to leave a fairly barren outdoors in Canada (plants and flowers hadn’t began to bud yet in April so trees have no leaves) and watch as the vegetation becomes more green and lush the further south you go – first a little green as you approach West Virginia then quite lush in South Carolina with Palmetto trees everywhere.
On the way to Disney for this trip, we took our time, stopping in SC for a few days then stopping for a few days at Tomoka State Park in Florida (the “real Florida”). The campground is beautiful with sand and tropical plants offering a refreshing change of scenery for us. Nearby, we visited the old Bulow sugar plantation ruins. Finally arriving at Disneyworld, we stayed at Fort Wilderness for a little over a week. For us, having a trailer was a great option – we were close to the Magic Kingdom (our favourite park) and had our own food and drinks to enjoy (since, unfortunately, the meals at the park weren’t what they were a decade before so it was nice to enjoy some non-greasy fare of our own).
Our 2024 trip was similar but this time in October (I had retired so there were no restrictions on when to go) and included taking both son-in-laws, neither of whom had been to Disney before. My wife and I had a ‘leisurely’ trip driving the trailer down then met the kids there (who flew down as they both work and can’t spare the time to travel). The trip was ‘leisurely’ until we hit Florida only to realize Tomoka (where we planned to stay two nights) had closed due to the impending hurricane Helene. We ended-up staying at a KOA in Davenport to weather it out which was a better idea given it was in central Florida and out of harms way avoiding the hurricane in the gulf and the tornadoes spawned on the dirty (Atlantic) side which we just learned about from another camper who was fleeing the Miami area. We had ten nice days at Disney with great weather for six or seven followed by a few days of rain as the NEXT hurricane, Milton, started making its way to Florida! We got out just in time (Disney posted a message the night before we left telling us they were evacuating the campground) along with a bizarre amount of traffic fleeing north and with enough fuel to make it to the Georgia border. Whew! We unknowingly wedged our ten day trip right between two hurricanes and we now understand what ‘hurricane season’ is.
To be honest, the trailer is more comfortable than many hotel rooms: once connected to services (electrical, water, and sewer), it becomes a lot like a hotel room with full facilities, and our own ‘stuff’ (and ‘our own dirt’ should that come up).
Out With The Old … In With The New
Over the years we’ve seen a number of rides come and go. Most weren’t a big deal and were replaced with newer attractions. Of course some are sadly missed like Journey Into Imagination (the original, from the 90’s) but where they disappeared, something would always pop up to replace it (sometimes better, or in the case of Journey, sometimes worse). The late 2010’s saw a huge number of changes, though …
In 2016 we saw the Main Street Electrical Parade for the last time (which ended that year without warning that year). We saw it several times that trip and I really miss a nighttime parade at Disney.
2017 brought a number of closures including the Great Movie Ride (It was the last of the opening-day attractions for Hollywood studios and closed without warning in 2017), DisneyQuest (Which we had expected to have already been closed by 2017 but luckily it was still open and included on our “Waterparks and more” ticket option), the Universe of Energy (in which the proverbial “writing was on the wall” as the attraction was dated and rumoured to close soon for some time), the closure of the Flights of Wonder bird show, and one of the last showing of the Wishes fireworks show (which closed on May 11th, just after our visit).
Our trip in 2019 was the last time we would be able to see the long-running and rather spectacular Illuminations, Reflections of Earth fireworks show in the lagoon at EPCOT.
… so, between 2015 and 2019 a massive number of attractions were closed forever and most had not yet been replaced (like the nighttime parade) as of 2019. Finally it looked like there would be some new additions like in 2019 when, for the first time, we were able to see the new land of Pandora including the spectacular new Flights of Passage attraction – we had seen the land under construction for years , taunting us, and we finally got to experience it – it was quite ‘over the top’. As well the new Slinky Dog Coaster was open in Hollywood Studios. We were pleasantly surprised on our 2024 trip that a number of new attractions had (finally) been added: Disney has been adding thrill rides lately including the new Tron and Guardians of the Galaxy coasters (both are impressive) as well as re-theming a few rides (namely Tiana’s Bayou Adventure which isn’t bad, but the story makes little sense compared to the old Splash Mountain which for some time was my favourite ride).
I’m kinda partial to the good old dark ride (think Haunted Mansion) and so for me the best new ride, heck my new favourite, is Rise of the Resistance. I saw the original Star Wars in 1977 (I believe everyone alive in 1977 did) but haven’t followed the newer movies – regardless I really like this ride which is part live-action show with cast members playing various roles (with parts reminiscent of the Great Movie Ride). The ride itself is impressive with huge sets, multiple levels, and over-the-top special effects.
BELOW: Memories and experiences we’ve had over the years, most of which you won’t find at DisneyWorld anymore!
Disney Past
If you’re nostalgic like me, you might enjoy a flashback to some long-gone Disneyana that I dug-up …
Here’s a scan of an old Disney guidemap. It is undated, but judging from the attractions, and when I was there as a kid, probably dates around 1972-1973. A few neat attractions no longer at the Magic Kingdom include the Main Street Cinema, 20000 Leagues, Flight to the Moon, and the Skyway between Tomorrowland & Fantasyland.
Strangely, “If You Had Wings” which opened in 1972 is not shown on the map (although I recall it being there). Carousel of Progress nor Space Mountain are shown on this map as they opened later in 1975, nor are the later Thunder Mountain (1980) and Splash Mountain (1992) attractions.
A few years later, and we took a second trip to Disney staying in my uncle’s motor home. This guidebook from 1976 holds a host of good memories! Aside from the guidemap on the last page, showing rides at the time, these pages also list the ticket required for each attraction. At this time, Disney sold coupon books and a ticket, varying in value from “A” through “E” with an “E” ticket being required for the best and most popular rides.
I’m sure you’ll get a kick out of this one and it will certainly educate you as to the origins of the phrase “An E-Ticket Ride”! (And if you ever stay at Pop Century, look in the display cabinets of memorabilia in the main lobby: they have a real “E-Ticket” in there).
Oh, and the big NEW ride for 1976: Space Mountain which had just opened.