Another fun addition to our series of Disney Parks Blog posts featuring the Walt Disney World Moms Panel comes from one of our Florida-based panelists, Suzannah DiMarzio. As a panelist who lives fairly close to the magic, she can visit the parks after dinner on a whim!
“If I had two hours at Walt Disney World Resort to make a lifelong memory, I would arrive at Magic Kingdom Park after dinner so that the heat of the day will have already passed. In my dream situation, I will have enjoyed the day at the Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa while my children are being entertained by their dad, so that I’m rested and rejuvenated for the night!
Since we are locals, we usually don’t stop and enjoy the fun snacks the Walt Disney World Resort has to offer. My 2 year old is in love with the popcorn, my 10-year-old daughter and I both love the Dole Whips at Aloha Isle in Adventureland, and my 12-year-old son loves the classic Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bars. My husband prefers the Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich.
We would purchase our snacks and then we’d settle in for some nighttime magic that only Disney Parks can provide: the Main Street Electrical Parade and the all-new “The Magic, The Memories, and You!” castle projection show. And not to be forgotten, the Wishes Nighttime Spectacular fireworks make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!
By the end of the evening, I will be sobbing. I cry at pretty much all Disney shows and my family will embarrassingly walk me out of Magic Kingdom Park. Good stuff!”
What’s your favorite Disney memory? Please share it below in the comments.
Comments
My favorite memory is in 2007 I went with my mom. We rented a wheelchair and I planned on 2 days at parks and 1 day to relax. On the third day I asked mom what she wanted to do, the pool and Downtown Disney or to a park. She said a park. So we had 3 days of parks. What a great trip that was. We also got a behind the scenes tour of the dolphin encounter at EPCOT. What a treat that was. I lost mom last September but have wonderful memories of taking her to Walt Disney World.
My most memorable moment was our sons first trip to Disney in 2005. We were at Fantasmic and as the serpent wrapped around the mountain, our son at the age of 4 stands up and screams at the top of his lungs….”look out mickey, there a snake behind u”. We all assured him it would be fine……I too cry at all the shows bc it is all so magical…… 😉 thanks for sharing!
One of my favorite Disney World memories is from my second WDW vacation. My mother, took my brother and I to Disney World for 10 nights, one night when we were there we went to California Grill for supper. It was delicious! After supper we took the monorail over to the GF where we walked around on the beach, and through the resort. After that we went back to the California Grill to see the fireworks. It was a truly magical ‘two hours’. 🙂
My favorite Disney memory (although it’s hard to choose) was when my husband and I went in 2007 for our 10th Anniversary Celebration. We had a wonderful celebration dinner at Artist Pointe. Afterwards, we shared an “Anniversary Celebration” Wishes Fireworks Cruise with a couple that I had met on a Disney forum. It was the most special anniversary celebration, plus we developed a new friendship with another couple who shares our enjoyment of Disney.
I would turn back time and go back to when my daughter was 3 years old, she is now 13. As we were walking down Main St and she saw the castle in the distance she turned to me and said, Dad all my dreams have come true! WOW, It made me speeechless and I must confess, brought a tear to my eye.
Just walking to the castle and through it took about two hours that morning and was quit possibly the best two hours of my life.
Disney has become “that” place for our family and those two hours were great.
I love all the posts. Thank you all for sharing.
My favorite two hours in the WDW park were this past January. I was there with my family of five, my brother and parents. We all went to HS early and it was pouring rain so we went back to the Wilderness Lodge to wait it out. When it stopped we shot back over there and the park was virtually empty. We went on all the rides including Toy Story with no lines at all. And to watch my kids have the park to themselves for those two hours was just magical.
My best two hours in and out and in and out of the parks was the Princess Half Marathon in February. I felt like Tinker Bell flying from character to character my camera at the ready for the entire 13+ miles. It was just me and my best 13,000+ friends. I wore a smile through the entire race and was thrilled that I had been able to make the trip happen. At the end of the race my father was there to cheer me on. I was amazed to see all of the medals hanging on the racks at the finish line and to know that each of them represented a fellow runner still out there. I wore my medal all day and even took it to show my favorite character – Mexican Donald (He seemed very impressed with me effort). Great memories to be added to this year when my sister will run it with me!
Wow! So many amazing memories. I have about a zillion. These are all so very sweet!
My favorite Disney memory was this past January at the Magic Kingdom. Nighttime is my favorite time of day to visit Magic Kingdom. My daughter and I were in line for Dumbo and planned to finish up and then take a seat to watch the fireworks. We ended up being in line as the fireworks began, so we ended up on the ride with fireworks around us the entire time. Dumbo is a unique spot because some fireworks launch at the castle and others behind the ride, so we were completely surrounded. I’ve been going to WDW for 30 years and that by far was the most magical moment that my daughter and I will not soon forget!
Laura, I loved your post because I too always walk out of the park with red eyes from crying during “Wishes.”
I can’t decide how I would spend my 2 hours, but I know what my husband would do: He’d ride Toy Story Mania as many times as possible within those 2 hours and try to get a high score!
One of my favorite memories happened in the evening on the beach at the Polynesian where we stay on our Disney vacations.
I have an extremely busy family. We seldom have downtime and that’s one of our favorite perks to vacationing at WDW… we are in control of how busy we do or do not want to be.
On this particular evening, my husband and I were able to locate an empty hammock close to where our children were playing with some other children they’d met while on our trip. We curled up in the hammock while we watched our kids, the electric water pageant, followed by Wishes and it was the most relaxing and romantic moment we’d shared in a long time with our children close by.
I love your post Laura because it is so relaxing and wonderful.
For my family, it’s all about the RIDES! We love hitting all the rides and as many times as possible during a day at the park. So, if we had two hours it would go something like this…
We would also choose the evening time for a cooler temperature and mostly for the beautiful way the park lights up – it’s really magical! Big Thunder Mountain would be our first ride because there’s nothing like BTM at night, racing around that mountain. If the lines not too bad, we would go twice. Next would have to be the Haunted Mansion, this is the only time to really enjoy this ride due to the atmosphere created by darkness and the lightning strikes. Really creepy and again, a couple times on this ride if possible. With the two hours getting close to ending, we would definitely close with a nice boat ride on the Pirates of the Caribbean and feel that our time had been well spent.
We were so lucky to return to Walt Disney World this past April for our 20th Anniversary. My husband and I honeymooned there and have been back several times with our family over the years. On our first day at the parks we were given “Happy Anniversary” buttons to wear, and our three children wore ones that said “We’re Celebrating!” Every time a cast member walked by us, they’d congratulate us, wish us well, or ask us how many years we were married. We were so excited to be at WDW, but the special attention truly made our Anniversary a magical celebration!
My favorite memory of Disneyland is going in the month of February and it rained so everyone left the park. My family being from Seattle doesn’t get bothered by the rain so we stayed and enjoyed the empty park. I loved riding Space Mountain 10 times in a row without even getting off the ride because there were no lines. It was one of my favorite trips to the park.
The fireworks have always been a special part of the Magic for me, but one of my most cherished Disney memories came early in the morning.
I went to the Magic Kingdom by myself one day, and I was on the first ferry to go across. A light mist filled the air, and though the ferry must have been filled with guests I felt peacefully alone. The Magic Kingdom grew closer, and I could start to make out the shapes of Space Mountain and Cinderella Castle. It was an amazing experience. That ferry ride was magical for me, and I wouldn’t trade the memory for anything.
One of my favourite disney memories is waking up the next morning (after our long flight the day before) and making our way to Magic Kingdom! I then remember me and my mum running to the castle and then just breaking in down in tears as we were so happy!
My favorite memory with our 4 children’s first visit to Disneyland was at Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island. We were waiting to take the first raft across. My wife sends me on a coffee run. I get back just in time to see them ‘on their way’! She calls me to inform me that we are playing hide-n-seek, and ‘Tag, you’re it!’
After several successful ‘finds’ all over the island, it was time for mom and dad to hide from the kids – ages 10,8.6 and 3. Each group had a cell phone. Having recently searched high and low, I had found the perfect hiding place. It was way back in a little rock cave. Our whole family had the best quiet relaxing FUN 2 hours ever!!!!!!
Comments are closed.