The Disney Dining Plan: Is It Worth It?

Welcome to this month's Blogorail Orange Loop. Today we are sharing parts of a Disney vacation that people often ask, is it worth it?

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I like to eat.

In fact, as I thought about how to start this post, my mind immediately went to some of my favorite restaurant and dining experiences at Walt Disney World.

Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café. Pecos Bill's Tall Tale Inn. Be Our Guest Restaurant. The Electric Umbrella. Yak and Yeti.

One of my favorite quick-service restaurants, located at Epcot!

My mouth is literally salivating just thinking about the chicken fingers and fries that I always get from the quick service restaurants.

But the problem is that with as expensive as a vacation to Walt Disney World is, one's dining experiences often suffers. Does our family really need to go to a character meal or eat at the Be Our Guest if we are purchasing a three day Park Hopper for each member of our family of five, as well as staying at Port Orleans Resort: Riverside? Maybe we should just stick to PopTarts each morning for a late breakfast and a quick service meal for dinner...

The nice thing is that this is a decision that you don't have to make!

Instead, you can choose the Disney Dining Plan!

The Disney Dining Plan has different levels guests can purchase to add to their vacation package (as long as they stay at a Disney resort hotel and purchase theme park tickets), tailored to their vacation budget and the type and number of meals they would like to partake in during their trip.


There are three levels to the Disney Dining Plan (all prices are based on a five night trip for a family of four, added on to the price of your resort and park ticket prices):
-The Magic Your Way Package Plus Quick Service Dining ($691.83) gives guests access to two quick service dining meals per person per night, two snacks per person per night, and one insulated drink mug that can be refilled at your resort hotel.
-The Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining ($943.06) gives guests access to one quick service meal per person per night, one table service meal per person per night, two snacks per person per night, and one insulated drink mug that can be refilled at your resort hotel.
-The Magic Your Way Package Plus Deluxe Dining ($1,454.26) gives guests access to three meals per person per night from any category per night, two snacks per person per night, and one insulated drink mug that can be refilled at your resort hotel.

To really understand what you get when you purchase the Disney Dining Plans, we probably need to define the different levels of dining experience one can experience:

• Quick Service is also known as counter service and is similar to fast food restaurants. This is a dining location, usually in the parks but also including resort food courts and a few locations at Disney Springs, where you stand in line to order your food, pick it up at the window, and find an empty table at to enjoy your meal. These dining locations usually have limited menus, featuring on average no more than five or six options to choose from. Meals at a quick service dining location usually run anywhere from $8-$14 dollars per person. Some of my favorite quick service locations are Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe and Pecos Bill's Tall Tale Inn in the Magic Kingdom, the Electric Umbrella at Epcot, the Backlot Express at Disney's Hollywood Studios, the Yak and Yeti Local Foods Cafe at Animal Kingdom, and Wolfgang Puck Express at Disney Springs, as well as the numerous resort food courts. 
• A Table Service meal is a (sometimes) more laid back experience. Upon checking in, a host or hostess walks you to your table, where they give you a menu to order from. This is a full-service dining experience, where patrons can order soft drinks, alcoholic beverages (not covered by the Dining Plan), appetizers, salads, entrees, and desserts. Because you are at Disney World, these table service meals are usually themed and sometimes feature entertainment. Meals at a table service dining location can run anywhere from $14.99-$59.99 per person. Please remember that most of these table service dining locations require advanced dining reservations (ADRs) that can be made on Disney's website up to 180 days in advance. Some of my favorite table service locations include the Liberty Tree Tavern and the Be Our Guest Restaurant at the Magic Kingdom, the Coral Reef Restaurant at Epcot, the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and the Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe at Disney Springs. 
• A snack is exactly what it sounds like. These small items can be redeemed at many locations throughout the Disney resorts and parks at locations including food courts, quick service locations, and even food kiosks. Some examples of what qualifies as a snack is a muffin, a piece of fruit, a box of popcorn, an ice cream bar, a bottle of soda, or even a cup of coffee.

Yummy Disney cookies (almost too cute to eat)!

Yummy cupcakes from the Boardwalk Bakery count as a snack!

There are often coolers in resorts' food courts filled with snack items.

And of course, my favorite Disney treat, the Dole Whip, counts as a snack credit, too! Yessssss!

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's look at some "disadvantages" that many see with purchasing the Disney Dining Plan:

1. First is obviously the price. The Disney Dining Plan must be paid for ahead of the trip at the time the entire package is paid in full. This amount may seem like a large cost to justify, especially months ahead of actually taking the trip. My wife and I have often had the "dialogue" about whether we could justify spending $700 on food for a five day trip.

2. The second argument against the Disney Dining Plan, honestly, doesn't make sense to me. A lot of people argue that they don't purchase the Dining Plan because of the quantity of food that you get with your meals. I don't see this as a problem, because as stated above, I like to eat. However, when visiting a table service or signature dining experience while on the Dining and Deluxe Dining plans, not only does your meal include a full entree with accompanying sides, but also a dessert. Now, again, I personally don't see this as a problem ("free" dessert with every sit down meal?) but some prefer to not eat such large, heavy meals while traipsing miles through crowded theme parks in central Florida.

"Free" Dessert???

Regardless of these two "disadvantages," I find that there are more advantages to the Disney Dining Plan that motivate me to purchase the plan when we book our vacation to Walt Disney World.

1. Refillable drink mugs. Included for each member of your party is an insulated drink mug that can be refilled an infinite number of times each day of your vacation at your resort. Because these plastic mugs are insulated, they can hold both hot and cold drinks. Therefore, you can refill your mug with soda, Joffrey's Coffee, water, and other drinks available at the resort food court or dining location. Now, not that I've ever done this, but I have "heard of people" who bring their refillable mugs when they resort hop (like riding the Monorail loop or go listen to YeHaa Bob over at Riverside) so they can take advantage of the soda fountains at the other resorts too. Disney's expectation, however, is that these mugs are only to be used at your home resort, but, I mean, it's not like there's anyone policing the soda machines...

My beautiful wife holding a refillable drink mug.

2. Ease and Freedom. The nice thing about the Disney Dining Plan is that it is linked right to your MyMagic+ account and your Magic Band or room key. After ordering at a quick service location or at the end of your meal at a table service location, Cast Members simply instruct you to tap your Magic Band or swipe your room key, automatically deducting your meal points from your account. No carrying around cash or a credit card, no fumbling in a bag or back pocket for your wallet required! No lifting of the sweatshirt tied around your waist, embarrassingly revealing your fanny pack, needed (again, not something I've done any time over the past five years...)!

Does anyone actually wear fanny packs anymore??? Because I don't...👀😐😶

3. Price of meals. Let's say that you decide to go with the Magic Your Way Package Plus Quick Service Dining at a total price of $691.83 added to your five day trip. This is actually a discount on food if you "go big" at the quick service locations. "Why?" you ask? The Quick Service Dining Plan allows you to not only purchase your entree at the dining location, but also a soda. So let's say that you spend $14 per person at the quick service location for two meals a day (lunch and dinner) across your five day trip. That totals out to $700 spent on food during your trip. And that doesn't even include breakfast! So let's say you spend an additional $6 per person on breakfast each day...that brings your total up to $850! Rather than spend that money, using the Quick Service Dining Plan allows you to get your two counter service meals with drink, as well as eat a muffin or piece of fruit (or if you're like me...nectar from the gods--erm I mean coffee) for breakfast, using one of your two snack credits per day. In the end, you'll be saving $150!

4. Cheating the system. After taking multiple trips to Walt Disney World on the Disney Dining Plan, my wife and I have found ways to "cheat the system." For example, let's say that you decide to go with the Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining. This package provides you a counter service meal and a table service meal each day, as well as two snacks per day. Table service meals at Walt Disney World range anywhere from $14.99 to $59.99 per person. Since Disney doesn't designate what table service restaurants you can or cannot use your dining credits at, you can choose to use your daily credit on a more expensive, exclusive, and/or "fancy" dining experience (although some table service restaurants require the use of two table service dining credits, so make sure to check into that ahead of time). This includes character dining experiences! My recommendation is that if you want the best "bang for your buck," visit Disney's website and go to their dining page. Here, you can look at the menus for each restaurant on property and can learn what restaurants take how many dining credits. For example, you can dine at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater at Hollywood Studios, where meals run for an average of $20 per entree. Or, you could choose to eat at Boma, located at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, which averages $45 per person. Both meals only take one table service credit! The Sci-Fi is a fun, immersive dining experience, but serves your basic theme park fare of burgers and fries, with a limited selection of other entrees. However, Boma provides patrons with an authentic African buffet dining experience, giving diners the options of salmon, turkey, ribs, striploin, and many other higher end foods flavored with an African palate. If you prefer a quieter, higher-end meal, by purchasing the Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining, you are getting more for your money by going to one of these higher-end options. Character meals are also only one table service credit on the Dining Plan. So if your little one wants to meet Mickey and Minnie or Cinderella and Belle, you can enjoy a meal with "character" at one of many dining locations (many of which would cost an average of $40 per person if you pay out-of-pocket). Some examples of this include Akershus Royal Banquet Hall at Epcot, the Crystal Palace at the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood and Vine at Hollywood Studios, the Tusker House Restaurant at Animal Kingdom, and Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort.

Liberty Tree Tavern

The Crystal Palace

Another way my wife and I have figured out a way to "cheat the system" deals specifically with one of my favorite breakfast locations on Disney property: the Be Our Guest Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom's New Fantasyland. While this new(ish) restaurant is a deluxe and elegant table service restaurant at dinnertime, during breakfast and lunch the restaurant serves as a quick service dining location. This means that if you have purchased the Magic Your Way Package Plus Quick Service Dining, you can still enjoy this wonderful and well-themed table service dining location using one of your quick service dining credits! Just be sure to secure an Advanced Dining Reservation ahead of time, as the stand-by wait to get into this restaurant can be quite lengthy without one.

Be Our Guest Restaurant

5. Budgeting. Disney vacations are friggen expensive. I don't think any of us would deny that fact. However, more often than not, when we book vacations, we only book the resort and park tickets ahead of time, meaning that we then have to come up with some sort of vacation budget for our trip. That means that we have to estimate approximately how much we will spend on things like meals, souvenirs, and entertainment (Characters in Flight? Mini golf? Water parks?) and set aside additional monies for them prior to our vacations. And unless we end up pulling extra money from somewhere else, this could lead to meals and/or experiences being cut out of the vacation should we exceed our budget. When you purchase the Disney Dining Plan, it is included in your total vacation cost that needs to be paid off before your vacation. This means you don't have to budget for meals ahead of time, but rather could choose where you want to eat when you get "rumbly in your tumbly."

6. Free dining. Who doesn't like free stuff? I mean, someone offers me free food? Holy cow. I would be in heaven. I mean, it's amazing enough if I'd be in Disney World, but having free food at Disney World? Where can I sign up??? No, this wish doesn't require pixie dust to grant the wish, just a little bit of planning and travel flexibility. Every year, Walt Disney World offers special vacation offers for free dining if guests travel during certain dates. This means that guests who travel to Walt Disney World during certain times of the year (usually the "slower" times of year) and stay at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel are eligible to have a free upgrade of the dining plan added to their vacation package. However, there are some stipulations. In addition to being required to visit during a certain date range, guests usually have to stay at a moderate or deluxe resort and purchase a certain number of theme park days on their ticket. The free dining plan is usually an upgrade to the Magic Your Way Package Plus Quick Dining. Check on Walt Disney World's Special Offers page throughout the year for more information.


So what would a hypothetical day look like for my family on the Disney Dining Plan?

• On the Quick Service Dining plan, usually we start with using our snack credits for breakfast. We might use our credit to get a muffin or piece of fruit or carrots and hummus. We wouldn't need a beverage with our breakfast, because we could just bring our refillable mugs with us to the dining hall and fill those at the coffee percolators or soda fountains instead. For lunch and dinner, we would choose a quick service dining location located where we planned on spending our day. For example, if we are hanging out in the eastern half of the Magic Kingdom, we may decide to eat at Pinocchio's Village Haus or Cosmic Ray's depending on how busy the restaurants at that time. Or if we decide to spend an evening riding the Monorail around the resort loop, we might decide to disembark at the Contemporary to eat at the Contempo Cafe. The Quick Service dining plan gives you the flexibility and ease of deciding where to eat without having to budget or plan ahead with Advanced Dining Reservations. It allows for a truly spontaneous vacation experience.

Casey's Corner

The Riverside Mill Food Court at Disney's Port Orleans: Riverside Resort

• If my wife and I decided to purchase the Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining plan, we would likely start the day off the same way, redeeming our snack credit for breakfast. One big difference between the Quick Service and table service dining plans, however, is the necessity of making advanced dining reservations, which requires guests to make daily plans up to two months in advance. For example, during our last trip, we decided to have breakfast at the Be Our Guest Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. Because of the popularity of this restaurant, even though it is considered Quick Service at breakfast, we had to make advanced reservations, and were lucky enough to score an ADR at 8:15 in the morning. This meant that when we finished our meal around 9:00, we were able to hop on some of the more popular Fantasyland attractions just as the Magic Kingdom was opening. Because we ate at the Be Our Guest, that determined ahead of time that we would be spending the day at the Magic Kingdom. In the scenario where we got our snack for breakfast, we might spend our day at Epcot and get a quick service meal at La Cantina de San Angel, located across from the Mexico Pavilion (can you say "churros"???). This would maximize our park time during the peak of the day's activity. However, after the sun goes down and things start to become calmer and more peaceful at Epcot, we might decide to have a romantic table service meal at the Coral Reef (read my review of the Coral Reef as an idea romantic meal). Again, the necessity of having an ADR for the Coral Reef required us to plan our day around Epcot two months in advance, meaning that this was the day we had to book our Epcot FastPass+ reservations, as well. Purchasing the Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining requires more planning ahead of time and less spontaneity, so make sure you account for that.

My dad and I at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater

Tony's Town Square Restaurant on Main Street, USA

The Coral Reef Restaurant at Epcot

While the Disney Dining Plan can potentially be a large amount of money to have to shell out prior to your Disney vacation, I do believe that it is well worth your money in the end. It provides a less stressful experience while on your vacation and allows you instead to enjoy the magic of Walt Disney World on a moment-to-moment basis.

For more opinions on what is & isn't worth the splurge at Disney, check out the other great posts from the Blogorail!

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Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail Orange | Is It Worth It? Loop:

• 1st Stop - Heidi's Head | 5 Reasons Why a Tour at Walt Disney World is Worth Your Money
• 2nd Stop - Saving Up for Disney | Is it Worth it to Stay at a Disneyland Resort Hotel vs Off-Site?
• 3rd Stop - Frontierland Station | Character Dining: Is It Worth It?
• 4th Stop - Cool Nouns | Park Hopper Tickets
• 5th Stop - Distalgic | The Disney Dining Plan: Is It Worth It?

An Addict's Guide to Preparing Kids and Teens for Disney

Welcome to this month's Blogorail Red Loop. Today we are sharing ways for you to prepare kids for a Disney vacation.

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Having visited Walt Disney World numerous times growing up, I was very excited to plan my first trip to the resort with my wife when we visited by ourselves in 2012. We got to choose what thrill rides to get FastPasses for, what parks we could go to in order to take advantage of Extra Magic Hours, and what fancy restaurants we could eat at using our Disney Dining Plan.

Gettin' lit at the Victoria Falls Lounge with our Disney mugs...drinking..soda..

Partying it up at Downtown Disney! Well, not really...

However, when we planned out our next trip for the summer of 2015, we were preparing for a very different vacation: our first visit to Walt Disney World with children. (cue dramatic soap opera music)

You see, my wife and I were in the process of adopting three kids: twin four year old boys and their fifteen year old sister. As someone who lives 800 miles away from Walt Disney World and is a teacher who can't afford to visit central Florida very often, I wanted to make the most out of my trip (I'm one of those WDW nuts that likes to do everything at the parks, sometimes going on favorite attractions multiple times). I had a few concerns:

-How often would I have to go back to the hotel for naps?
-Was I going to waste my money by staying at a moderate resort?
-Would we spend more time at the pool than the parks?
-What attractions would we not be able to experience because the boys wouldn't be able to handle it?
-Would my teenage daughter be "too cool" for Disney World?

These fears and more circulated through my mind during the months leading up to the trip.

After a little pep talk from my wife, I realized that with the boys being as young as they were, this trip would be different than those I took in my high school/college years or the two trips I'd taken with my wife since we'd gotten married. We would have to take things slow on this trip, and rather than making it about fulfilling my addiction, it would have to be more kid-centric. The selfishness in me understood, even though I didn't want to hear it.

Together, we formulated a plan: in order for our trip to be as successful as possible with our kids, we needed to prepare them as much as possible for the types of things they would experience on the trip.

Lucky for us, my wife and I are both educators, and as a result, had almost a month to help prepare our kids for the trip.

Disclaimer: The following is what worked best for my family and children. Feel free to use these as ideas or inspiration, although you may need to apply or adjust according to your family's needs.

Counting Down
Let's face it: if you're reading my blog, you more than likely have visited, enjoy, adore, love, are obsessed with (sometimes unhealthily) with Walt Disney World. When preparing for our trips, we always create some sort of countdown until that magical day when we get to depart for our happiest place on earth. Don't lie: I see your bragging countdowns all over DisTwitter and Facebook... *eye roll*

Kids like counting down to important events, too. And having the ability to get excited about seeing their favorite cartoon and film characters? They'll jump all over that like Tigger jumping on Pooh.

Our boys don't like surprises. Because of their past, they always need to know what is coming up in anticipation to feel comfortable. As a result, when we announced we'd be traveling to Walt Disney World, they needed to know where it was and when we were going. We decided to create a chain of red and black paper rings, each labeled with a number to represent the remaining amount of days. The last three days of our chain, I drew the park icons on paper plates to show that we were in the last few days to help get them more excited about the trip. We then draped it around the boys' playroom so they could see the chain and get excited about our vacation in their space. At the end of every day, the boys could tear off one of the rings to signify that another day was done and we were that much closer to our family vacation.

Park Practices and Etiquette
Those of us who are Disney World fans and take trips on a fairly regular basis as a result of our love for Disney can be quite snobby persnickety about certain things. I would argue that many of us likely have certain activities, practices, and even unwritten rules that we adhere to when we visit the parks.

As someone who counts myself among the Disney World faithful, I realized there were certain practices and a set of Disney World etiquette that needed to be instilled in my children.

If I wanted to maximize our time at the parks, I realized that we needed to get our boys (and to an extent, our daughter) into the practice of spending a day out and doing things in a similar way we would at the parks. In other words, we needed to wean all three (yes, my daughter still enjoys a good nap) off of their daily afternoon resting time.

Throughout the weeks leading up to our trip to WDW, our family spent numerous days out to prepare the children for the busy days ahead. For example, we took a day trip down to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. The zoo is so large that one could spend the entire day seeing the different animals and exhibits, as well as riding the tram from one side of the zoo to the other. On another day, we took our kids to the museums in Raleigh, once again giving them the opportunity to walk from place to place without an opportunity to rest. A few times in the month leading up to our trip, we took day trips out to the North Carolina coast to spend time on the beach, playing in the Atlantic, helping our kids to adjust to the beating of the southern sun and the draining effects it has on one's body. In all three instances, our kids did not get their typical "quiet time," and they also had to adjust to lengthy car rides to arrive at our destination (ranging from 45 minutes to approximately three hours...much shorter than the ten-hour drive to Orlando, but good practice, nonetheless).

Enjoying the NC Zoo to prepare for Disney's Animal Kingdom

Another way we got our children accustomed to the practices and etiquette of vacationing at Walt Disney World seems like a fairly regular activity and one not usually associated with preparing for Walt Disney World, but, in my opinion, important. When planning our trip to the parks, my wife and I wanted to make the vacation memorable for our kids, which meant that we wanted to include some fun dining experiences. In addition to choosing to purchase the Disney Quick Service Dining Plan for our trip, we also made reservations for the Be Our Guest Restaurant and the Cape May Cafe, located at Disney's Beach Club Resort. It is usually...interesting...to take my family of five out for a meal. There are usually two or three voices talking over each other while one boy is sliding off the booth and beneath the table, while another is sitting half of a butt-cheek on my lap and coloring or chasing his crayons off the table. However, this is not a very big deal, as many of the other families eating at Texas Roadhouse are doing the same things as us, so no one really notices the shenanigans happening at the Kiste table. We were going to be spending quite a bit of extra money on these meals at Walt Disney World, and I wanted them to be as enjoyable for our family as possible without being totally disruptive to those around us. My wife and I came up with a plan to start visiting some "nicer" sit-down restaurants in preparation for the dining experiences we would share together in late June. I convinced my wife that we should bring our family to Longhorn Steakhouse (partially because I had a coupon and partially because that restaurant feeds my Walt Disney World Withdrawal, as I explain in a previous post). This restaurant features a quieter, more intimate atmosphere replete with western theming, which allowed my children the opportunity to practice their "inside-a-nice-restaurant voices" that other vacationers may expect of them at the Cape May Cafe. It also gave me an opportunity to get used to paying a rather costly dinner bill.

Mickey Waffles at the Cape May Cafe...the meal was a success!

Bringing a couple of four year olds to Disney, I realized that we would likely be meeting many of the characters. I'm not sure about you, but there was something slightly freaky about meeting the characters growing up. I'd seen Mickey and Goofy on television and cartoons, yet here they were standing in front of me, much larger than me and not saying anything. They don't speak, they don't blink and all they really do is hug and wave and pretend to kiss or lick me. I knew that my boys were of a similar mindset. One of my boys especially is a very logical person: anything that doesn't quite make sense to him makes him nervous and hesitant, and there is nothing terribly logical about a six-foot-tall Winnie the Pooh standing in front of you to converse with. Heck, this kid was even made nervous by Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny (although maybe the Easter Bunny thing was my fault...I took a selfie sitting on my couch and superimposed Easter Bunny parts onto my picture...the boys wouldn't sleep for a week).

The thing of nightmares.

My wife and I came to the conclusion of explaining to the boys that we were entering the characters' world, that they lived, worked, and played at Walt Disney World, and that as celebrities, it would be our mission to get their autographs and pictures taken with them. Even though we knew it was fiction, the boys seemed to buy into the idea. I even faked receiving a phone call from Mickey inviting us to have breakfast with him and his friends at the Cape May Cafe, which helped to drive this illusion home to the boys even more. As our trip drew closer, we had the boys help us make homemade autograph books for the characters out of copy paper, writing the names of the anticipated characters we would meet (the Fab 5, Stitch, Pooh and Friends, etc) and placing a sticker of the character in the corner. We also left a few places blank for any characters we would meet that we didn't anticipate ahead of time (like Russell and Doug from Up). Inviting the boys to create these books with us helped to alleviate any apprehension about meeting these large, fuzzy, mute characters when the time actually came.

We also needed to figure out a way to prepare our boys for waiting in attraction queues, but this is not something you can really prepare for in the "real world" outside of going to hang out at the DMV, which was not something I was willing to sacrifice my time to do. Instead, we devised a plan of how to occupy their short attention span while waiting in potentially long lines. We were able to snag some FastPasses using our Magic Bands ahead of time (I'd woken up at midnight sixty days before our trip to make the reservations online...we got them for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, Everest, Peter Pan's Flight, and other popular attractions), which helped a little with the more popular attractions. We also knew that some attractions had built in distractions, like the highly engaging queue for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Dumbo the Flying Elephant. My wife decided to pack some "queue distractors" in her park bag, such as pipe cleaners (to make shapes and animals out of), small picture books (to read and practice letter recognition), small toys (such as cars or Lego people), and small bags of snacks (like Goldfish for me the kids to stuff their face with). Overall, these strategies were helpful in minimizing the impatience of waiting in line.

Indoctrination
Another way that was key for preparing the children of a Walt Disney World addict connisseur for a trip to Walt Disney World was to indoctrinate them. I wanted to help educate my kids about what they were going to experience without giving too much away. I wanted them to know what to anticipate, as well as getting them excited about visiting my favorite place on the planet.

Let me just say this: the Internet is a wonderful thing.

While some kids spend their time watching Saturday morning cartoons, in the weeks leading up to our vacation, my kids spent some of their mornings watching the Walt Disney World Vacation Planning DVD or videos of different attractions and parades on YouTube. However, the most common video shown in my home in the weeks prior to our trip was the Walt Disney World Must-Dos hosted by Stacey Aswad on the Walt Disney World Resort TV channel that plays in the hotels. My boys quickly were able to recognize and identify Cinderella Castle, Figment, Spaceship Earth, the Tree of Life, the Tower of Terror, and other Disney icons. This made the trip more special when they were finally able to experience it in person.

As someone who loves Disney and even helps to support my income by writing books about the parks, I love listening to the music and soundtracks of the parks, attractions, and resorts. I have hundreds of minutes of background music loops on my iTunes, as well as regularly listen to the streaming music on the Subsonic Radio app. I often play this music as I do the dishes, play with my boys, or even help them take showers. They now regularly request certain music loops, like the Tree of Life BGM or the Animal Kingdom Lodge lobby loop. They were quite excited to hear the loop in person on our trip, pointing out to me that "we listened to that song on Daddy's phone!"

I also loved to indoctrinate my kids prior to our trip by showing them park maps or books about the resort that I'd collected through the years, pointing out my favorite lands, attractions, and restaurants. They realized how important the parks and resorts were to me and it got them excited for our trip (and also shows that my master plan for creating little Disney addicts is finally coming to fruition...*twirls my mustache* BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAAAAA!!!!).

Boy #1 excitedly holding Daddy's book, A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World Vol. 1

Enriching Ideas for Older Children
My wife and I had an interesting, yet exciting situation: not only were we bringing two four year olds to Walt Disney World for the first time, but we were also getting the chance to expose a teenager to the Disney magic for the first time, as well. Like stated above, I had some reservations about it: would she even like Disney World or would she think it was "uncool" and "kiddy stuff"? Luckily, our daughter loved the parks. She was charmed by the theming and Disney magic, even going as far as trying on princess hats and posing with the characters.

But I wanted her to get the most out of the parks as possible, as well. She would likely be more interested in the stories told by the parks and attractions, rather than enchanted by the spellbinding magic that younger kids often experience. As a result, we decided to include her in the planning process of the trip and enrich what she would experience while vacationing in the "Vacation Kingdom."

While planning our trip, we had two options of what resort to stay at, both of which were comparably priced. Because we had a family of five, there were only a few resorts to choose from within our budget: Disney's Port Orleans: Riverside and Disney's Caribbean Beach resorts, both of which had rooms featuring a bench that folded down into a trundle bed. We showed her the features and themes of both resorts, and allowed her to pick which she'd rather stay in. She was impressed with the charm of the antebellum-themed resort along the Sassagoula River. In fact, I think she enjoyed the resort that much more because she was able to help make the decision for our family to stay there (which I appreciated too, because the price was a little cheaper than if we'd stayed at Caribbean Beach).

We also included her in looking at the restaurants and attractions of the parks. We planned on only spending two days at the parks (one day each at the Magic Kingdom and Disney's Animal Kingdom), so we used that as the parameters for the restaurants she could choose from. Together, we decided to do breakfast at the Be Our Guest restaurant in New Fantasyland, as she had enjoyed Beauty and the Beast growing up (although it makes me feel incredibly old to know that it came out before she was born and I was four when I saw it for the first time) and figured it would be a good introduction to the immersive storytelling of the Disney theme park experience. She also expressed that she enjoyed thrill rides and roller coasters, so together the three of us decided to book FastPasses for Dinosaur and Expedition: Everest at Animal Kingdom and the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train and the Haunted Mansion at the Magic Kingdom (our other two FastPasses that we booked were Peter Pan's Flight and Kilimanjaro Safari). Taking ownership for our vacation plans once again made her feel included in the process and helped to her enjoy the trip more, rather than feeling like we were just going to Disney World for Dad or for her little brothers.

Because it was her first time and because she is a quite intelligent teenager, I thought it would help her to enjoy some of the attractions of the Disney parks more if she knew the context of the rides and shows she would experience. For example, one of my family's favorite attractions growing up was the Swiss Family Treehouse. While the walk-through attraction is cool as a standalone, it is enriched when you know the backstory of who the Swiss family that supposedly lived in the Adventureland treehouse was. I had picked up a VHS copy of the 1960 Disney film Swiss Family Robinson at a library book sale earlier in the summer and made my daughter and wife watch it with me a few weeks before our trip (let's be honest...she spent more time on Snapchat than actually watching the film, and we only made it about 2/3 of the way through the film before turning it off), and it really helped to explain the context and enrich the experience of climbing the 116 steps above Adventureland to marvel at the engineering feat of the Robinsons while surviving in the jungle.

Another film we watched as a family prior to our trip was the 1946 animated film, Make Mine Music, specifically for the sequence, "Casey at the Bat." This story of an arrogant baseball player upon whose shoulders the fate of his team rests on is the inspiration for the Main Street USA quick service restaurant, Casey's Corner. While there are only a few references to the animated sequence in the restaurant chock-full of historical baseball photographs and memorabilia, having the film context for the restaurant's inspiration helped to enrich the experience for all of us (I do a very in-depth analysis of "Casey at the Bat," Make Mine Music, and Casey's Corner in A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World Vol. 2).

But there was no joy in Mudville...

While we did not have a chance to watch these films, there are some other great underappreciated films that inspire Disney attractions. Yes, everyone has seen Tangled and The Little Mermaid and Frozen. But did you know that many props, images, and even foliage in Liberty Square takes direct inspiration from a film? The 1957 live-action Disney film, Johnny Tremain has numerous references throughout the early American land in the Magic Kingdom, most prominently being the Liberty Tree. While guests who have not seen the film can appreciate the history lesson provided by touring the land and its attractions, the context of the land can be more appreciated with having viewed the film first.

Thirteen lanterns for thirteen colonies

Another film that can help provide context to teens and families prior to visiting the parks is the 1944 Disney animated film, The Three Caballeros. The film stars Donald Duck on his birthday, learning about Mexico and Brazil as a result of gifts given to him. Once again, while many guests can appreciate and enjoy the Gran Fiesta Tour at Epcot's Mexico Pavilion, viewing the film before visiting the parks can provide the background context for who Panchito and Jose Carioca are, why they are riding on a magic serape, and why the three animated birds are performing in a concert in Mexico.

While not necessarily Disney films, I think it is also worth mentioning that families with older kids watch some of the films depicted on the Great Movie Ride over at Hollywood Studios. Last year, I taught a film history class in conjunction with Advanced Placement European History. To successfully teach the class, I decided to watch many of the films that were portrayed as "great movies" and considered game changers according to the Great Movie Ride. Two of my favorites, which I feel would help provide context to young people and families who plan on experiencing Hollywood Studios' iconic attraction (which were part of the previous pre-show film) are Footlight Parade (a big-budget Busby Berkeley musical from 1933) and The Searchers (directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne). Neither film gets a whole lot of attention in the attraction itself (in fact, Wayne is shown sitting on a horse discouraging guests from continuing on into the attraction...there are no other references to The Searchers in the ride), but viewing the two films ahead of time will not only provide great entertainment but will also help guests who plan on experiencing the Great Movie Ride to understand what made the big budget musicals and western films so important in film history.

I "searched" for another picture that wasn't so blurry, but couldn't find one in my files. (hehe PUNS)

Ultimately, traveling with kids is a very different experience than traveling with adults or even when you traveled to Walt Disney World as a high schooler or college student. Many people have said that vacationing the Disney World is a new and much more enjoyable experience when you get to see the magic of the parks through your children's eyes. I didn't really understand that, or necessarily even agree with it, until I was able to do it for myself. In fact, the first few moments at Disney World with my kids, seeing my boys' reactions to the statues of Lightning McQueen and Mater over at Disney's Art of Animation Resort, brought tears to my eyes and was the most magical moment of my entire trip (read more here).

But planning a trip to Disney with kids can be very overwhelming. I didn't want to be one of those parents we all see dragging a screaming kid through the parks, losing their cool, or fighting with their spouse. We saved ourselves a lot of grief by taking some simple steps to plan ahead, and it truly created a magical experience for my new family on our first trip together. For more ways to prepare kids for Disney, check out the other great posts from the Blogorail!

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Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail Red | Preparing Kids for Disney Loop:

• 1st Stop - Love Our Disney | What If Your Child Gets Lost At Disney
• 2nd Stop - The Delightful Life | Our favorite Kid-friendly Disney planning resources
• 3rd Stop - Distalgic | An Addict's Guide to Preparing Kids and Teens for Disney
• 4th Stop - Mousekatools Mom | Using YouTube to Prepare Kids for Disney
• 5th Stop - I Am a Mommy Nerd | Ready, Set, Let's go to Disney

A River Fantasy from the Jungle Navigation Company

Welcome to this month's Blogorail Green Loop. Today we are sharing some of the best queues at the Disney Parks.

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One of the things that I love most about vacationing at Walt Disney World is their ability to immerse guests in story.

Yeah, the special effects, technology, ride mechanisms, and animatronics are cool, but it is the story that can make or break an attraction or land. These stories touch (pun intended!) all of the senses to create the illusion that guests have literally stepped into the time period, place, or plot of whatever Imagineers wanted conveyed when they developed the attraction. Take, for example, Pirates of the Caribbean. Imagineers didn't just create cardboard cutouts of buildings with some fake palm trees and call it a day: layers of dimensional and sensory detail was created to give the illusion that guests were really in a seventeenth century Caribbean town being looted by ruthless pirates. The musty smell of water fills the nostrils of guests, letting you know that you are being transported geographically. Clouds are painted on the ceiling of the ride building to place the attraction at night time. Spanish and pirate lingo is used to place guests in a specific location, while the well-known song, "Yo Ho! A Pirates's Life for Me" gives the attraction, which could otherwise be sinister, a playful undertone. Imagineers also used accurate historical layering of details to place guests in a specific era of history (I explain specifically how accurate the architecture of the attraction is in another post, which you can find here).

My absolute favorite attractions don't just immerse guests in the story while riding through show scenes, however. Instead, many of these attractions start telling their story and placing guests into a specific time and place before they've even boarded the ride vehicles, while waiting in the attraction's queue. These queues not only help to establish the story of the attraction, but also help to pass the time away through the layers of detail, oftentimes engaging more than one of the five senses in the process.

One of my all-time favorite attraction queues is that of the Jungle Cruise in the Magic Kingdom's Adventureland. The attraction (which I detail in more depth in my book, A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World Vol. 1), takes guests on an adventure down the rivers of the world through Asia, Africa, and South America. Along the way, guests pass by exotic plants and animals, coming face to face with lions, tigers, and...the backside of water (HA! You thought I was going to say bears! Oh, my...). The attraction is meant to take place during the early 1900s during the age of western imperialism, shortly after the Berlin Conference when Germany facilitated the breakup of Africa to avert war between European nations. This resulted in European nations colonizing land in Africa and Asia for access to raw materials, often at the expense of the native peoples. However, this attraction does not touch on the brutal treatment of the native peoples, but rather takes on a more humorous tone, acting as an expedition providing tours for guests to explore the flora and fauna of the world's rivers.

The story of the Jungle Cruise begins before guests even reach the queue. As guests enter Adventureland from the hub, they now pass the new Skipper Canteen restaurant, which serves as the mess hall and headquarters of the Jungle Navigation Co., which provides the exotic tours of the world's jungle rivers. As guests wander deeper into the jungles of Adventureland, a ship's mast holds a sign made from a boat rudder and paddle, encouraging guests to wander down a path and away from the land where the boat dock is located at which guests will board their boats for their jungle river expedition.

Guests travel down a ramp or stairs to the courtyard in front of the attraction's queue building, where a large sign advertises to guests the Exotic Jungle Cruise Expedition, explaining that the tours of the world's jungles would provide guests with "comfortable accommodations" provided by "expertly trained tour guides."

"Expertly trained," eh?

Other broadsides are pasted along the exterior wall of the queue building and along the walls along the switchbacks, advertising various tours and expeditions provided by the Jungle Navigation Company's affiliates. These broadside posters allude to some of the sights guests aboard the Jungle Cruise will see, such as a Nile crocodile and Asian and African elephants. 

Excursions to the land that time forgot. And so will you.

Join the Elephant Safari Company as they search for lions, tigers, and bears. Oh, my.

As guests enter the queue building and pass through the attraction's turnstiles, an excellent example of syncretism on the part of the Imagineers can be found on the right: an archeological dig site featuring implements like shovels and picks, surrounded by crates addressed to Doctor Henry Jones, making reference to the Indiana Jones films.

The walls are lined with various artifacts that would be used on a jungle expedition, such as mosquito netting, canteens, and rifles, as well as various things tour guides have picked up along their journeys, like African masks.

Not sure having life jackets handing on the wall is a good omen for a jungle river expedition company...

As guests continued to wind through the queue's switchbacks, they pass by the booking office for the Jungle Navigation Company. The office appears as though the owner of the office has recently stepped out: a ceiling fan spins while a desk lamp illuminates papers strewn across the desk. Books and artifacts from jungle expeditions decorate the office, including framed insects, pith helmets, and tea kettles, adding to the story that a western imperial bureaucrat operates the tourist organization. The level of detail in this office is incredible, really helping to contribute to the place and time of the attraction's setting. Mosquito netting hangs around the open air office's windows to prevent disease-carrying insects from reaching the office's occupant. This is a detail that Imagineers put in to simply enhance the story presented in the queue; it serves no purpose except to further the plot and create a deeper theming.

The queue also features signs and props that utilize the sense of humor that permeates throughout the script of the skipper. Let's face it: as a teacher, my sense of humor is very cheesy. I make bad puns on a regular basis. As a result, I get a pretty big kick out of the jokes in the script of the attraction and the queue. One of my favorite examples hangs from a rafter of the queue building, just prior to the dock where guests board the jungle cruise boats. A tee-shirt, mauled by claws, advertises "free kittens to a good home." Another sign hanging in the queue is attached to a large cage, encouraging those standing in line from not putting their hands inside the cages where "live cargo" is kept (if they want to keep their hands, that is).

Someone seems a little too enthusiastic to give away these "striped" kittens...

A little detail I always love about the queue of the Jungle Cruise (and one that only seems to be turned on occasionally), is located just prior to loading onto the ride vehicles. Sitting atop a barrel is a small cage holding a large tarantula. When the effect is working, this tarantula jumps, startling guests standing nearby. Upon closer examination, it is obvious that the tarantula is fake, but when that thing jumps (caused by a simple effect of a small piston from below), it can certainly startle those around into thinking a real spider is enclosed within the cage.

Another of my favorite parts of the queue sits across the river from where guests load onto the Jungle Cruise boats. As I explain in my chapter on the Jungle Cruise in Volume 1 of my book, 

"As guests approach the loading dock, a small shack is spotted across the river, situated along the bank. The shack has a wrap-around porch with a roof supported by bamboo poles. The roof is made of thatched straw and is angled at a steep grade, representative of the imperial architecture of the 1930s European jungle colonies. Mosquito netting hangs from the railings of the porch, and a gun rack holding numerous rifles is mounted to the wall of the hut. Other props lie about the porch, including a cane chair, a pith helmet, and a long red crutch, leading the observer to assume that the owner of the hut may have contracted some sort of exotic disease that has left a crippling effect. A curtain hangs in the doorway of the cabin, behind which can be seen the foot of a bed. A sign with red letters spelling “Keep Out!” hangs from the porch, which may reinforce the assumption that a person with a dangerous, contagious disease lies inside, but also warning passengers of the “dangers” that lurk ahead on their jungle voyage."

I love this detail for the same reason I love the office explained above: it would have been cheaper and easier for Imagineers to simply leave this area as part of the dense jungle waiting to be explored, and guests would not have known any better. However, in an effort to further set up the story of the attraction, as well as allude to the mysteries and dangers of the adventure lying ahead (Who lives in this cabin? Where is the occupant? Why should people keep out of it? Is it infested by dangerous bugs? Is the occupant sick with malaria?), the ride's designers took the time and effort to build this set piece, whose only purpose is to add to the story of the attraction and build anticipation.

Maybe this is Uncle Orville's vacation home and he just wants his privacy...

The Jungle Cruise queue takes on new life during the last few months of the year when the attraction receives the "Jingle Cruise" Christmas overlay. Christmas lights hang stringed throughout the queue, while reindeer antlers adorn the masks on the wall. However, my favorite part of the new Christmas-y queue is the booking office. Once again, the booking agent has stepped out of the office (he seems to never be around when I visit the attraction...so much for booking a tour!), but this time has left behind seasonal decorations. A silver tinsel Christmas tree stands on his desk, illuminated by a rotating tree light. Poinsettias, garlands, and Christmas lights hang around the office, adding a festive layer to an already detailed scene.

Talk about a fire hazard...if they're not careful, they could burn down the entire rain forest with that tree light!

However, the part of the Jungle Cruise queue that ties the whole waiting-in-line-story-telling experience together for me is the queue audio loop, which, unfortunately, many guests don't even notice. As guests enter the jungle outpost building, they are greeted by period music being played over a radio station hosted by Skipper Albert Awol, known as “the voice of the jungle, broadcasting to all points unknown.”  Awol plays various instrumental and crooner songs in the style of 1920s and 1930s swing music, performed by artists like Dick Powell and Coon Sanders, interspersed with news and jokes relating to the attraction. Those familiar with the attraction would appreciate Awol’s jokes that those who are not would not necessarily understand. For example, Awol announces to skippers that “a blue jeep that has previously been reported missing has turned up at a nearby base camp,” referencing the scene where the gorillas have destroyed a camp. Another humorous piece of advice Awol gives to skippers is that “failure to respect the animals may result in pointed confrontation,” which corresponds to a Marc Davis-inspired scene of explorers climbing up a tree while an angry rhino tries to impale them with his horn. As a history teacher (I actually use this music loop in my classroom to teach the music of the 1920s) and amateur historian, I love this music, because it truly places you as the guest in a specific time period. For a few minutes, at least, the illusion is created that you truly are in a station awaiting a jungle river safari sometime during the first decades of the twentieth century in a remote outpost.

While many feel that Main Street USA gets them into the Walt Disney World mood, preparing them for the rest of their magical stay at the resort, I believe that, for me at least, it is the Jungle Cruise and the immersion of story within it that prepare me for the adventures I will experience throughout my stay. The levels of detail that the queue holds can create something truly magical, transporting you back in time and across thousands of miles to somewhere new. However, this only works if you follow this suggestion: the next time you are waiting in line for a Disney attraction, try to recognize that you are not just "waiting in line" to experience the ride or show, but rather that the queue is meant to be the introduction to the story. By having this attitude, your experience of the attraction as a whole, queue included, will be that much richer.

For more great Disney queues, check out the other great posts from the Blogorail!

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Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail Green | Best Disney Queues Loop:

• 1st Stop - Distalgic | Jungle Cruise
• 2nd Stop - Magical Mickey Tips | Haunted Mansion
• 3rd Stop - What's the Point? | Dumbo
• 4th Stop - Adventurer Mom | Kids Favorite Queues
• 5th Stop - Superheroes and Teacups | Toy Story Mania

Nostalgia Snacks at Walt Disney World

I am a nostalgic. And being nostalgic makes me stubborn. And stuck in my ways.


This happens all the time at restaurants. I go out to eat to a restaurant for the first time with my family and find a meal that looks appetizing to me. If we enjoy the restaurant, and we go back...I order the exact same thing. There could be forty other things on the menu that look slightly appetizing to me, but I will only order the one dish every time we go back. Take, for example, Texas Roadhouse. They've got many delightful dishes on their menu. However, I will only ever order their chicken crispers, which are a crispy, lightly-breaded chicken tender with fries. Or take, as another example, one of my favorite (and my mom's favorite--shout out, mom!) restaurants: Cracker Barrel. This is a restaurant you could get breakfast during their operating hours, as well as country fried steak, hamburgers, chicken pot pies, or roast beef. However, every time I go, I get the Chicken Tender platter, which allows guests to choose three sides and their choice of biscuits or corn bread. I always get the fried chicken tenders with fries, mashed potatoes (and butter), macaroni and cheese, and buttermilk biscuits with a Diet Coke. I could choose anything off the menu, but I always choose the same


because it is comfortable.


It's much the same way at Walt Disney World. However, once in awhile, I decide to be "adventurous" and try something new in the way of snacking. And very rarely the snacks I've tried at Walt Disney World have been disappointing to me.


Here are my top suggestions for snacks at Walt Disney World that everyone should try at least once.


Disclaimer: Remember, I'm a good Dutch boy who is a nostalgic who likes to be comfortable, so this is by no means an exhaustive list. I know that there is a ton I need to reach out and try yet, so don't judge! These just happen to be my favorites. :)


1.) The granddaddy (arguably) of all snacks at Walt Disney World: The Dole Whip. I saw online once that someone stated the Dole Whip to be overrated. This is an objective opinion of that poster. I would argue that the Dole Whip is an amazing snack that I personally go out of my way every trip to enjoy. There are two places on Walt Disney World property one can go (to my knowledge) to get a Dole Whip (or a Dole Whip float if you prefer): Aloha Aisle at the Magic Kingdom (although during my last trip in August 2015 they were being sold at Sunshine Seasons Terrace) and the Pineapple Lanai outside Captain Cook's at the Polynesian Resort. For those of you who are unaware, a Dole Whip is a traditional twist-style ice cream dessert. However, rather than the snack being a twist of chocolate and vanilla, a Dole Whip is a twist of pineapple ice cream and vanilla. It creates the perfect taste combination of tangy and sweet ice cream. A Dole Whip Float, on the other hand, is similar to a root beer float, but instead of root beer, the ice cream is suspended in pineapple juice. Guests who are crazy enough to not enjoy pineapple (such as my father), can opt to choosing a Citrus Swirl, which is identical to the Dole Whip, but substitutes orange-flavored ice cream for the pineapple. When visiting during our last trip in Summer 2015, we snacked on our Dole Whips twice: we quickly slurped our dessert at the tables between Sunshine Seasons Terrace and the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, as well as at tables overlooking the Volcano Pool of the Polynesian. I am unashamed to say that I got my daughter hooked on the delicious treat. I was also lucky enough to find that a small ice cream shack in my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan also sells Dole Whip desserts, which will now give me a chance to enjoy the nostalgia of fond memories when I go home for the summer.


2.)  The second treat that I enjoy when visiting Walt Disney World is the churros. My first exposure to Disney's churros took place during my second anniversary trip with my wife in June 2012. We had been staying at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge (when my wife accidentally almost killed a giraffe...read about it here) and had taken advantage of the deal of free dining by staying at a deluxe resort. As a result, during this trip, we had eaten an enormous amount of food, being lucky enough to have both an entrée and dessert with each meal. We were visiting Epcot and decided to eat at La Cantina de San Angel (the outdoor counter service adjacent to La Hacienda de San Angel across from the Mexico Pavilion). After eating our tacos and quesadillas (or whatever we ordered), we decided to choose the hot churros with the caramel dipping sauce as our dessert. We were both lucky enough to order these warm, delectable treats, each getting four or five churro sticks as part of our dessert order. I had never enjoyed a churro before. And after this experience, I was hooked. A churro is a stick of fried batter covered in cinnamon and granulated sugar, that is usually served warm and often dipped in a sauce such as caramel or cream cheese. It was delicious and now, every time I go back to Epcot, I will be getting this delicious treat. I know they have churro carts elsewhere, but the positive memory of eating them with my bride at Epcot's Mexico pavilion may hinder me from enjoying them anywhere but there.


3.) Some peoples' go-to snack at Walt Disney World or any Disney park is popcorn. People line up, especially in the international parks, to try different flavors of popcorn. However, I'm such a nostalgic that I don't even know whether Walt Disney World sells any flavors of popcorn other than butter-flavored. I'm not a huge popcorn fan at home. Even when I go to movies in the theater, I don't really care for popcorn: it gets stuck in my teeth, I usually swallow a kernel or two, and I inevitably inhale a piece of popcorn into my lungs, leading to a coughing fit and the beefy muscle man in front of me turning around and giving me dirty looks for interrupting a mushy scene of the chick flick we are watching. However, while not a fan of popcorn, eating it at Walt Disney World at least once during a trip is a requirement due to the nostalgia factor for me. When I was growing up and I would visit the parks with my brother and parents, we would always eat a big breakfast at our resort's food court or a character meal before starting our day in the parks. We would also plan on a big meal in the evening. To save money, we would usually have a snack mid-afternoon. Because a "small" popcorn was usually served in a big box (we so felt like we were playing the system), we would get two boxes of popcorn to share between the four of us and some 20 oz. of soda as a snack. We would find a spot in a rocking chair or on a step or porch of Frontierland or Liberty Square and eat our popcorn and drink our soda while we people watched. Again, I'm not a huge fan of popcorn and I'll rarely eat it (I'd opt instead for ice cream or chips for a snack at home), but there is something comfortable and happy about eating popcorn at the Disney parks, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios especially, that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.


And there you have it. There's round one of my favorite Disney snacks. I know there are a lot more that I haven't even touched on, like a turkey leg or a Mickey pretzel or even a Mickey ice cream bar. However, these are my top three, all because they are attached to a special place in my Disney consciousness.