Parks Around the World

So this whole blog has been about Disney World in Florida, and we all know there are other parks around the world, but where are they? Do they have the same things as Disney World does? These are good questions that will be answered in today's blog.

Disney is Global

There are seven Disney theme parks in total, and that's including the one in Florida. Let's list them off...

There is:

Disney Theme Parks

• Disneyland in California
• Aulani in Hawaii
• Disneyland Paris in France
• Hong Kong Disneyland in Hong Kong
• Shanghai Disney Resort in China
• Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan
• And of course Disney World in Florida

All of the links above are for the parks official websites, so feel free to see more of the parks if you wish to.

The only theme park not shown in the picture to the right is Aulani.

The newest resort would be the Shanghai Disney Resort when it opened on June 16th, 2016. The oldest Disney theme park is Disneyland in Anaheim, California, opening on July 17th, 1955. 

But I'm sure that you guys want to know more about the parks themselves and what you can do there, so let's get right into it.

Disneyland

Disneyland is the only theme park to have been designed and built under the direct supervision of Walt Disney.

Disneyland's Building Site

Disneyland has three main hotels, and then some neighbouring hotels that are in Anaheim. Their hotels are Disney's Grand Californian Hotel and Spa (kind of sounds like the Californian version of the Grand Floridian doesn't it?), Disneyland Hotel, and Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel.

Disneyland has a lot of the same things that Disney World has (I'm going to be comparing all of these parks to Disney World, just so you know), but Disneyland only has two parks to it, and it isn't even as big as the Magic Kingdom in Florida, alone. That doesn't mean that it's a bad park just because it isn't big. I would still love to go there and experience the Disney in California.

There are still character meet-and-greets that you can do, and formal dining or character dining. There are a lot of Disney-themed shops that are in Disneyland where you can get any type of Mickey ears you want.

Overall, it seems like a great place to breathe in all of that Disney nostalgia from when it was first built. And to think, Walt Disney himself walked around in that park so many years ago.

Disney's Aulani Resort and Spa

While it may be super cool to go to a Disney resort in Hawaii, I should tell you that there is no theme park there. Aulani is just a resort, but it has a lot of things that you can do at the resort.

Disney's Aulani Resort and Spa

At Aulani, they have pool parties with the Disney characters. A pool party, can you believe it? I honestly would love to party with Goofy or Stitch.

And we can't forget about the spa and salon. The Laniwai Salon and Spa offers family massages as well as treatments for new or expecting mothers. Talk about a good way to relax. There is also a salon where you can get a facial, manicures, pedicures, whichever, and your kids can too in their own little salon.



Another cool thing about Aulani is that there is a Rainbow Reef, where you can snorkel and see hundreds of bright and tropical fish, along with artistic carvings in the rocks. There are also so many pools at Aulani. I mean, if you look at the picture above, you can see how many pools there are and I don't think that that's all of them. Can you tell I like to swim?

Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris is located in France, and they're just celebrating their 25th anniversary of being open, so let's give a small clap to Disneyland Paris. 

Disneyland Paris

I believe the castle that is the centerpiece in Disneyland Paris is Belle's castle, which makes sense, since Beauty and the Beast is set in France.

Disneyland Paris also has character dining and they also have parades and firework shows, where you might see a certain dragon (Maleficent) who breathes real fire.

From what I've read on the Disneyland Paris website, they have character parades everyday.  So if you really like parades, I would suggest you go to one and enjoy all of the characters.

I feel like I will cut the list of Disney parks in half for this blog post, and then do the other three parks in a future blog post. I just don't want to make this blog too long for you guys, so let me know if you're interested in reading about the other three parks.

"Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends"
                                           - Walt Disney

Different Types of Tickets and Transportation

We all know about the amazing things to do at Disney World, but how much does it cost to do those things, and how can you get there?
These are two very good questions that will be answered in this weeks blog, as we look at the different park tickets that you can buy, and what resources there are for getting from place to place.

What kind of tickets are there?

So there are two different kinds of tickets. There are just the one day tickets that you can only go to one park for that day. But, if you want to go to multiple parks in a day, you can choose to get the park hopper tickets. The name literally says what you can do, by going from park to park.

One of the first tickets designed for Walt Disney World

According to the official Walt Disney World website, if you want to purchase park tickets for, let's say, 2 days, then the price per ticket is $99.50 but if you want to purchase park tickets for 10 days, it's $44.00. Keep in mind that these are just the starting prices, and if you want to get park-hopper tickets, then the price will increase. And of course, adult tickets are more expensive then children's tickets.

A picture of the price of theme park tickets for Disney World

If you want a 2-day ticket for one park and for one person over 10 years old, then it would cost $199.00, but if you want a 2-day park hopper ticket for one person over 10 years old, then it would cost $259.00. As you can see, the park hopper tickets are about $60 more, but you get to go to another park in the same day, so if you felt like going on some rides in the Magic Kingdom, and then going to see the show in the Tree of Life later on, then the park hopper tickets allow you to do that.




There are also tickets that you can purchase for extra magic hours (when the parks are open after closing hours). These tickets are for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, which I've been to and it's honestly so cool to see so many people dressed up as Disney characters.

My aunt and I at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

To the left is a picture of my aunt and I at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party. I went dressed up as Minnie, and my aunt was Mickey. I thought there would be a lot more people dressed up as Minnie and Mickey but I was wrong. Now that doesn't mean that there weren't a lot of people dressed up as them, there just wasn't as much people as I thought there would be.

It was really cool though, we got to see a lot of different costumes, for example, I saw someone dressed as Maleficent, I saw a Jack Skellington, and there was even someone dressed up as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

If you go to Disney World, I definitely recommend going to this party. The tickets start at $74 for adults and $69 for children, and you have to purchase these tickets individually but it's so fun and you get to walk around all of Magic Kingdom and collect candy from these huge bins that they have, and you can get special Halloween pins to collect and trade, it's just a really good time so I recommend going.

How can you get to all of the parks?

If you're worried about not being able to bring your car to Disney World, then stop it because there are special Disney buses that take you from your hotel to whichever park you want. There are even buses that can take you to Blizzard Beach and Disney Springs.

So you don't need to call a cab to get from park to park, instead you can save that money and go on the buses that run 45 minutes before all the parks open, and they run until 1 hour after the parks close, so it's plenty of time for you to enjoy the fun of the parks from open till close (if you want to).

Disney Transport Buses

The only time you will need to call a cab is if you want to go to a mall or something like that, because the Disney transport buses don't go to places outside of Disney World. There is also a monorail that will take you to the Polynesian resort, the Grand Floridian resort, the Magic Kingdom, and the Contemporary resort, in that order.

This is really the only mode of transportation that Disney offers, that I know of at least. If you guys know of another one and I didn't talk about it, please comment down below what it is.

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths"
                                                  - Walt Disney

Disney Springs and Extra Places to Visit

We've learned all about the parks, but what's outside of them? Well, there's a lot more places to go in Walt Disney World without having to go to any of the actual parks.

So, if you don't feel like going on any rides and you don't want to lounge around your hotel, there are plenty of things for you to do downtown.

Disney Springs

One very popular place is Disney Springs, formerly known as Downtown Disney. Disney Springs is located on Buena Vista Dr. not far from the Disney World parks where you can go and shop all day long. You actually might need a couple days to get through all of the shops that Disney Springs has.

Disney Springs, Walt Disney World

There are also a lot of places where you can eat and try different foods, whether it's seafood, Chinese food, or having a burger at the Rainforest Café.

Now let's get into the shops...

Places to Shop in Disney Springs

Lefty's - The Left Handed Store Mugs

I was searching what the best stores were in Disney Springs recently, and I came across a store that I find really cool. It's a store for people who are left-handed, and it's called Lefty's - The Left Handed Store. Being someone who's left-handed, I think that this store is pretty cool to have. I would especially love to have left-handed scissors because the right-handed ones never work for me (obviously) but I have to give props to the Disney company for thinking of this.

There are also a lot of clothing stores in Disney Springs, and I mean a lot. On the Disney Springs website, I counted roughly 51 clothing stores, not including all of the jewelry stores or shoe stores either. Now you get why I said you might need a couple of days to complete your visit to Disney Springs.

One of my favourite stores though is called Disney's Design-a-Tee. You get to design your own t-shirt using different colours and different patterns or you can even put your favourite Disney characters on it. When I went there, I designed a shirt that was blue, and it had characters from the movie Frozen on it. You don't have to do characters though, you can put anything on your shirt and make it any colour you want.

The World of Disney store

Another huge and very well-known store on the Disney Springs boardwalk is called The World of Disney. This store has just about everything you need to satisfy your need for Disney merchandise. There are about twelve "rooms" in this store that are filled with character toys, ornaments and decorations, clothing, household items, pins, and so many collectibles. All Disney themed of course.




Extra Places to Make Your Stay More Magical

One place that I have heard so many great things about (but never had the chance to go) is Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park. It's a huge water park with a beach, a lazy river, so many pools and a lot of waterslides. Typhoon Lagoon just recently added a new attraction to the park which is called Miss Adventure Falls, and it is the longest ride in the history of Disney water parks, so I would definitely want to go on that. You get on a raft with three other people, and throughout the ride, you see treasure and you meet a special character for that ride.

Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park

Of course, this is isn't the only waterpark that Disney has. There is another one, and it's called Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park. This water park is themed to be an old ski resort that melted down into water park. You can go down one of the world's tallest and fastest water slides called Mount Gushmore, or you go float down a relaxing river and then get tan on the white-sand beach. Younger kids even have their own splash pad and water slides to have fun and get soaked in.

Overview of Disney's Blizzard Beach

I haven't been to this water park either, but it definitely seems like it would be a great way to cool off during a really hot day.

I also would really want to go on Mount Gushmore, because I love water slides, especially if they're longer, because there are so many waterslides that are over a few seconds after you just got on, and I like the thought of having a waterslide that is long enough to actually enjoy it.


These aren't all of the places that are available for you outside of the Disney World kingdoms, but they're the most popular or well-known places that Disney has. If you have heard of a place that Disney has and I did not list it, feel free to comment down below what it is and I might include it in my next blog. Thanks for reading!

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them"
                                           - Walt Disney

Different Hotels in Disney World and Their Amenities

I've told you all about the parks and what you can do in them, but where can you sleep? Maybe the question should be where can't you sleep? There are so many hotels to choose from in Walt Disney World, and they all have different themes.

I have only been to three out of the huge variety that they have, but a lot of the hotels have the same kind of layout and elements to them. Today, I will be separating some of the hotels into two categories: more budget-friendly hotels, and the more expensive high-end hotels.

First, let's start off with the more budget-friendly hotels.

Keeping an Eye on Your Budget

We all know that going to Walt Disney World is not cheap, so you don't really want to worry about how much your room is costing you per night. You can probably imagine all of the fancy hotels that Disney World has, but that's for later. Right now, let's look at some of the more affordable hotels that Walt Disney World has to offer...

All-Star Music Resort: Rock section's entrance at night

The least-expensive hotels to stay at would have to be a part of Walt Disney World's All-Star hotel set. There are three hotels apart of this set, and those are the All-Star Music Resort, the All-Star Sports Resort, and the All-Star Movies Resort. I have been to two out of three of these resorts. I have been to the Movies and Music resorts, and their hotels are really nice. I love the pools, especially since most resorts have at least two or three swimming pools, and I especially love the cafeteria's. In each Disney World resort, there is some form of dining, whether it be a simple cafeteria or an actual restaurant.

You can eat at the cafeteria as a part of your dining plan, or if you upgrade your dining plan, you can eat at more fancier restaurants inside of hotels, as I talked about in my last blog post, so if you would like to know more about the dining plan, please feel free to check out my previous blog post to get more of an understanding on what it is. But this post is about the hotels so let's focus back on them.

The All-Star resorts have different sections in them, so if you are staying at the Movies resort, then you could be in the Toy Story section, or the 101 Dalmatians section.

All-Star Movies Resort: Toy Story section

If you are in the Music resort, then you could be in the Rock and Roll section, or the Pop music section. And the same goes to the Sports resort. I have never been to this one, but I know that one part of the hotel is football, where another part could be soccer.

Now let's talk rates. These hotels are the cheapest ones to stay at, only costing $96 per night for a standard room, which for Walt Disney World, I think it is pretty cheap. That doesn't mean that the hotels aren't nice though: don't associate price with quality when it comes to Disney.

But of course there are more affordable resorts than this one.

Another great resort that you can stay in while staying budget-friendly is Disney's Pop Century Resort. At only $108 per night for a standard room, it is $12 more than the All-Star Resorts, but I have been to Pop Century and I can say that it is so cool. The interior décor in the rooms takes you back through the years, by having souvenirs from those decades, so you can see what was trendy back in the 1980's and so on.

Bowling pin swimming pool at the Pop Century Resort

Sleeping in Luxury

We have now seen some of the more affordable hotels, so let's see what we can get if we spend a little more.

I have never been to an expensive hotel before in Walt Disney World, so I have no idea what they're like, but I've heard that they can get pretty fancy.

Savannah at the Animal Kingdom Lodge

One hotel with a high price tag attached to it is Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, starting at $324 per night. If you have read my post on the Animal Kingdom, then I have mentioned this hotel before, just not its exact price. For this much money you get to stay in a lodge-style hotel with a savannah, where giraffes and other animals can come to your window.

But I have also heard that there are few animals in the savannah and that it's not really worth it to stay there for that reason. I guess it all depends on what you like in an animal-themed hotel.

Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa

Another expensive hotel is Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, with the price of $338 per night. This hotel has a late 1800's theme and there are even tree-house villas that are elevated 10 feet off of the ground. And, as the name states, there is a spa at this hotel where you can get a facial, massages, pretty much anything you want.


The resort also features pools with a waterslide, which we all love because how can you not love a waterslide? There is also the Lake Buena Vista Golf Course, where you can play right beside lakes and forests. There are also golf carts with GPS's so that you can find your way around the huge golf course.

And I saved the most expensive for last. The hotel that takes the "Most expensive hotel in Disney World" award is the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. I'm just noticing how many Disney hotels have spas in them. The price of this Victorian-style resort is $574 but it can go all the way up to $2,047 per night! Can you imagine spending that much money for one night? I can't, that's for sure.

Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa

I've always wanted to just go and see what it looks like besides seeing it in a picture, but there is no way that I would spend that much money if I'm just going out to the parks all day and only sleeping in my room. Sure I would swim but you can do that at a more affordable hotel, right?

The hotel itself though does feature a world-class spa and health club where you can go to relax and have a mind retreat in the Floridian garden at the turn of the 20th century. There is also dining, which includes dining with Disney characters and signature dining feasts. There is also the Grand Floridian Café that you can have breakfast, lunch, or dinner at, and the price can be included in some dining plans.

Keep in mind that the prices I am listing are for standard rooms only. If you wish to upgrade your room, it will most likely be more expensive.

This are all the hotels that I will list for this blog post, but if you guys would like another post on affordable and expensive hotels, just comment down below and let me know. I'd love to hear what you thought!

"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island"
                                     - Walt Disney