Happy New Year Disney fans! 2018 is coming in with a wallop with this cold weather. Am I right? As I get older, I become increasingly intolerant of the cold. So as usual, my thoughts turn to my favorite warm place-Disney! I wanted to muse on our Dis-related experiences in 2017 and look forward to what we are planning in 2018. Very exciting stuff!
My favorite Disney moments of 2017 were as follows:
- Watching Happily Ever After for the first time. Wishes was a great fireworks show, but Happily Ever After upped the ante. The addition of castle projections, new, exciting pyrotechnics and great new songs highlighting Disney from the 90’s and my favorite, Moana, had me tearing up more than once. I really lost it when Tinkerbell flew down from the castle. The fact that they kept my favorite part from Wishes made me love the new show even more.
- Visiting Pandora and riding Flight of Passage. Well, duh, this is stating the obvious. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who visited Pandora and wasn’t impressed. I just couldn’t get enough of this incredible place. From the floating mountains at dusk to the bio-luminescent plants glowing at night, everything about it was magical. And Flight of Passage is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I’m so glad we got to visit while Animal Kingdom was having Extra Magic Hours in Pandora from 10pm-midnight. It let us spend even more time oohing and aahing and made the stand by lines for both Pandora rides much more manageable.
- Music of Pixar Live! I enjoyed this show Hollywood Studios so much. The music was wonderful, and paired with footage from the movies and the actual characters on stage, it was an overall excellent experience. I can confidently say there wasn’t a dry eye in the house during the “Up” sequence.
- Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. We were so lucky this year to be able to attend the Magic Kingdom’s hard ticket Halloween Party. We had such a blast watching the Boo To You Parade, the Hallowishes fireworks show and the treat trails, where we filled up with a year’s supply of candy. I can’t wait to do this party again.
Now, looking ahead to 2018, we have some exciting things lined up.
- Our daughter is now 10 years old and a huge fan of the Harry Potter books, which of course means…that we are going to Universal Studios Orlando this year! I am excited to explore a completely new park(s) and especially am looking forward to checking out Volcano Bay. We’re staying at Cabana Bay, which looks super fun and kitschy and has an awesome lazy river. That will happen in August.
- We are planning a tentative November trip to Disney to check out Toy Story Land! We are hoping for the Free Dining promotion, and are planning a split stay so we can rent DVC points and stay a couple of nights at a Deluxe resort (our first time!) We’re thinking Animal Kingdom Lodge or the Boardwalk Inn. We want to check out some DVC resorts because…
- We’re buying into the Disney Vacation Club this year!! It makes sense for us and I have been doing a LOT or research into it. We know that we want to vacation at Disney most years. And as much as the value resorts are great, mama likes Deluxe digs. I’m going to do a whole post on what I’ve learned so far about DVC and explain why it’s a good fit for us.
So that’s where we are for 2018. We are excited to experience some new things and revist our perennial favorites. We’ll keep you up to date on all of it, as always! Do you have any Disney plans for 2018? Let me know in the comments and be sure to subscribe to keep up with all our adventures.
The Budget Disney Diva 