What a wonderful trip we had at Disney! We traveled to Orlando for Calihan’s first birthday last year and it was a blast, but this year topped it! I love watching the different ages see the parks. There are so many fun things for any age to do at Disney and each year gets better and better.
This year Calihan’s favorite ride was the Alien Swirling Saucers at Hollywood Studios! He’s 36 inches so he was able to go on this one and he was smiling from ear to ear the entire time! I was shocked because normally he’s pretty chill or hesitant and this one he was laughing so hard. I love the little belly laugh he has! The ride is similar to the teacups except you don’t really spin, but instead whip around. This sounds horrible but 100% worth the smiles I saw.
Take an intergalactic spin with the adorable aliens from Toy Story. 32in (81cm) or taller
Another favorite ride of his was Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid at Magic Kingdom, which was the first one we went on. He was dancing to the music and waving to Ariel at the end. The only hard part with most of the kids rides is that they have dark sections that take some getting used to for kids sometimes. Cal seemed to be fine, but he’s braver than I was as a child!
His favorite ride at Animal Kingdom was the safari! He loves seeing all of the animals! He really enjoys learning about and observing different animals so we knew he’d love this one! After the safari there’s trails you can also go on where there’s more animals and birds almost like a zoo. Calihan’s favorite stuffed animal is the Okapi he received from my friends at Animal Kingdom Lodge. He will not put “Opi” down anywhere so when he saw one in real life he was super excited!
There’s also The Seas with Nemo and Friends at Epcot that he enjoyed. We watched Finding Nemo right before we left for Disney so he was excited to be on the ride. If you haven’t been on this ride, you are in a seashell similar to Under the Sea and getting a quick recap journey of the movie. There’s music and fun interactions with Crush, Nemo, Dory, Bruce, and more! After the ride there’s a big aquarium where you can see dolphins, manatees, and so much more. The information station was handing out cute books to kids that had all of the sea life in it. We would show Cal a shark in the book and then he would point and say shark to the ones he saw in the water. This is such a cool experience after a ride!
Cal’s big thing right now is Disney’s Cars and there’s a cute little show that is at Hollywood Studios behind Rock n’ Roll Rollercoaster that features Disney’s Cars with Lightning McQueen. The show is set up so cute with two cars out front with music to keep the kiddos busy while they wait and then inside has bleachers with surround screens so every angle is great. There’s an entire racing journey and the kids can shout things out to get involved and everything! We ended up watching the show twice because he loved it so much. The photo below is him almost in tears because he didn’t want to stop dancing or leave that area. He probably would have stayed there the entire time honestly. He loves Cruz Ramirez also!
Calihan’s other favorite things to do involved eating and dancing around the countries, and meeting the characters! He was blowing Minnie Mouse kisses the entire time we saw her. Disney is still doing distancing with the characters which I’m completely ok with especially for safety! I do believe this helps Cal also because he likes to see the characters from a distance and not right up in his face. He ended up seeing quite a few characters! We watched a few cavalcades and then at Epcot they had so many out and about. His interactions with Pooh were also hilarious because he would think it’s funny that Pooh would “try” to catch things with his net.
We didn’t go out of our way for the fireworks or nighttime shows because I will say it’s very hard with a two year old. Some two year old’s stay up late, but Cal likes being in bed early. He fell asleep both times in the stroller and so meeting the characters made up for all of that!
If you can watch a firework show or any show, it’s normally worth it! I can’t wait to see them next year.
Cal is just like myself and is such a foodie! I love taking him to Disney because he will eat all the fun snacks with me. He does love popcorn but I don’t ever want to recommend that as you really have to be careful with it! We do let him have it though especially at Disney. He gets the bucket right away and we refill it constantly ($2 refills) because he will devour it. Most of the items we had he would try especially anything that involved chocolate or this cheesecake from Food and Wine that was amazing! I originally planned on having it all to myself and Calihan had other plans.
Epcot is normally all of our favorites because it has delicious food and music. Cal loves the rides but if you put him in front of the American pavilion and let him dance to the music all day – he would be more than happy. There’s also some cute kid rides such as Nemo, and my personal favorite Figment. They are great for those breaks that are needed from all the food. The only ride close to a thrill ride for the older kids and adults is Test Track. There is a thrill ride – rollercoaster coming in though! I’m pretty excited to spruce up that area of Epcot with a thrill ride.
I also can’t forget his love for the ducks at Magic Kingdom – best friends
I’m a big believer that Disney is made for any age. I grew up going quite frequently and then had the best time working there when I was in college as well. As a parent, I am even more emotional as I see my son smiling and laughing while doing the things I did as a child. Last year, he was only one and I practically cried of happy tears when he had his cupcake on his birthday down Main Street! This year, the blowing kisses to Minnie and the belly laughs on the saucers made my entire year. The joy it brings at every age is everything!
The biggest tip I have is to go with the flow and know that Disney is so big. There’s no way to try every food item or ride every ride in a short amount of time so just relax and enjoy the simple things.
As always, thank you for reading! xo
