You’ve seen how I spent my time in Disneyland in California as an adult. Now, we’ll see how I spent time in Disney World in Florida!

In college, I had roommates that loved Disney. Two of them would go with their families regularly. I didn’t go as often but considered myself a Disney kid growing up. I watched Playhouse Disney, Disney Channel, not mention growing up with the movies in the Disney Renaissance era.

The four of us talked about going to Disney together as a group one day. However, before we knew it, we graduated and went on back home and/or to jobs in different states.

That was until I came across an opportunity and the time finally came! I’ll get into how we decided to go in the next post.

It was in March 2022, two years into the pandemic. I was vaccinated and boosted so I felt safe to travel again. The original plan for the trip was in 2020. We all know what happened that year.

Orlando International Airport

I flew into Orlando early morning. This was out of habit from flying standby most of my life (although, I wasn’t flying standby this time). I waited for my friend, Elise, who was coming in an hour after I landed. We both lived the closest to Disney World compared to everyone else so it made since we would be the first to arrive.

I found what terminal her flight would land in and took the Orlando International Airport’s train system to her terminal. Thankfully, it was on the same side of the airport.

I grabbed Burger King for breakfast while I waited for her. Unlike New Orleans, I was able to keep my bag with me on the flight so I didn’t have to worry about it getting stolen from baggage claim.

When Elise’s flight landed, we ran and hugged each other. We hadn’t seen each other in nearly a year. However, out of everyone, I’d seen her the most recently. My mom and I had to go to Alabama for her kidney surgery so I met up with Elise while we were there for the month.

Elise and I we waited for her luggage which took longer than usual . I swear there were people from three separate flights standing around waiting for their luggage.

Getting to Art of Animation

Afterwards we went to the far right of the baggage claim to the Mears Connect and got on our bus that we booked previously. There were about three stops before we got to our hotel and it only took about 30 minutes from the airport.

The Art of Animation was where we stayed. There was sketch work of different Disney classics blown up on the walls. It reminded of the “Animator’s Palette” restaurant on the Disney cruises.

Because we were early, we asked if we could check-in. We had to wait a few minutes, so we explored the gift shop in the Art of Animation. It had everything from magic bands, to toys, to home décor. We’d checked our bags in expecting we’d have a wait longer but nearly 5 minutes later, we were able to go to our room.

The Suite

We got the Cars suite which meant we were on the “Cars” section of the resort. They had Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, and Lion King sections as well.

Once we dropped off our bags off in the room, we went back to to the food hall for lunch. I stayed simple and went for pizza (this was before I was diagnosed with GERD). After lunch, we waited for the rest of the group, charging our phone and chatting.

Two of them, Cali and Skye, came in together. I’d assumed they were going to wait for the last person, Sky (no, it’s not a typo there are two people named “Sky/Skye”). However, they came to the resort in a $60 taxi.

Sky came in an hour or so later in the early evening in a ride share, she paid roughly the same amount as they did for their taxi. Elise and I only paid $15 each with Mears Connect.

Tip: If staying a Disney Resort (or any other amusement park) do your research when finding the best way to get there.
Mears Connect is cheaper for 4 or less people. Uber/Lyft or Taxi is cheaper with 5 or more people (but keep in mind the surcharges) because you can split $60 with 4 or more ways as opposed to two or paying the full amount yourself.
If you’re a family of four (meaning the parents paying), it would cost the same using Mears Connect or Uber/Lyft/Taxi. If you’re a family of 5 it might better to use a ride share (if it can fit all of you).

Disney used to offer free shuttles for people who stayed on the Disney campus. They retired this service at the beginning of 2022 (just our luck, huh?).

Heading out to Disney Springs

We were all together now!

We made a Publix delivery order for snacks and quick options for breakfast throughout the week (although, we ended up not eating or drinking everything we bought). Once the delivery arrived, we went to Disney Springs. It used to be “Downtown Disney”. The resort offered a bus shuttle to Disney Springs which was a perk.

When we arrived, Disney Springs was extremely crowded. I was surprised but I had to remember is a was Saturday night so tourists and locals were out enjoying the night life.

The restaurant we choose, CityWorks, was practically all the way in the back on the other side from where we entered. When we finally go there, wading through the crowd of people, we had to wait an hour before we were seated. This gave us a chance to walk around. I bought my spiked Mickey ears while we roamed.

The idea of Mickey ears didn’t really appeal to me at first. None of them matched my style. But when I saw these, I thought they were so edgy and cute and couldn’t help myself. I didn’t even see them other places until we went to Magic Kingdom which was on the last day.

After doing a little shopping elsewhere, we finally sat down for dinner. I ordered the Tex Mex Mac N’ Cheese which has chorizo, tortilla strips, and cilantro. It was pretty tasty and a great portion size. There was enough for leftovers for my dinner the next night. I won’t lie though, I regret not ordering burger. 

Despite the lines for the shuttles back to the resorts being ridiculously long, they bussed us out efficiently.

We settled down as soon as we got in the room. We had an early morning tomorrow.