30/08/2026
DAY 11 & 12 β A CHILLED DAY, FRIENDS, AND THREE DISNEY PARKS! π΄βοΈπ°π’
After a couple of very busy days tackling the Universal parks π’, we decided it was time for a much-needed chilled day π. My knee was still pretty swollen, so I wanted to give it a chance to settle down, and after the heat, crowds and general craziness of the parks, we were all ready for a bit of recuperation.
One of my travel friends had flown out the day before to spend a couple of weeks at their villa π‘, so we decided to go and visit them and spend the day chilling out together. They came to pick us up as they had a hire car and were dropping their son and his friend's at Universal, we then stopped at Publix to grab some lunch supplies and a couple of frozen cocktails πΉ before heading back to the villa for the afternoon.
My friend lives in Wales, so although we know each other through the travel industry, we don't get to see each other very often outside of corporate travel events. It was therefore really lovely to have a proper catch-up at her second home in Florida rather than just squeezing in a quick chat at a travel event!
We were dropped back at the hotel at around 6pm, got showered and chilled in the room for a bit before ordering dinner. The kids and Lee decided on Wingstop π, while I went for a seafood boil π¦π¦ because, quite frankly, you can never have too many seafood boils when you're in America! Especially when the prices are so much cheaper compared with seafood prices back home in the UK π¬π§.
It was a relatively early night π, with the aim of getting the kids into bed and asleep by around 11pm so that we could get up nice and early and head out for a full day at Disney π°β¨.
Now, this isn't a full Disney holiday for us, so we hadn't bought the 14-day Disney tickets ποΈ. And when people ask me how we can afford to come to Orlando every year, this is pretty much the reason why. We don't try to tackle every single park in one trip because doing everything can make for a very expensive holiday π°.
Of course, I completely appreciate that for many families, a trip to Orlando is a once-in-a-lifetime holiday βοΈπΊπΈ, and they will quite understandably want to make the most of their 14-day tickets and visit Disney and Universal as much as possible.
For us, though, we had only recently spent two weeks at Disney, so we decided to buy a one-day Park Hopper ticket instead ποΈ. The main reason for the Disney visit was Epcot and the Food & Wine Festival π·π§, but as it was a particularly hot day βοΈ, we thought we'd see if we could squeeze in Magic Kingdom in the morning, then at least Epcot, and possibly one other park depending on how we were getting on with time, queues and rides.
And somehow, we ended up doing THREE PARKS! ππ°π’
We got to Magic Kingdom at around 9:30am after getting an Uber from Surfside Inn and Suites π. The Uber cost around Β£17, but one thing to remember with Disney is that the Uber drops you at the Transportation and Ticket Center rather than directly at Magic Kingdom. From there, you then need to take either the monorail π or the ferry β΄οΈ over to the park.
I had also decided that today was going to be the day I hired a mobility scooter l. After everyone had spent the previous few days pushing me around, I figured it was probably time to give them a day off! π Especially if we were attempting THREE Disney parks in one day.
We queued up, got the scooter sorted and finally made it into Magic Kingdom at around 10am π°β¨.
We decided to head straight over towards the TRON area because the wait time was showing at only 35 minutes. We'd ridden TRON a couple of years ago, but it really is such a great ride π’. Although, I do always feel like it's over far too quickly, especially if you're waiting more than 40 minutes to ride it!
After that, the kids headed over to Space Mountain π. There was absolutely no way I was going to be able to bend my knee into those tight little rocket capsules, and to be honest, I wasn't feeling like being shaken around first thing in the morning anyway! π
Instead, I headed over to the Joffrey's Coffee queue β to get myself a pumpkin spice latte π and waited for them to come back.
As it happened, one of Ava's friends was also in the park that day π, so Ava wanted to meet up with her and go off together for a couple of hours. We decided to split up and let the girls do their own thing for a while, while Dexter, Lee and I headed off together.
But obviously, we couldn't do that without a breakfast snack first! π
We grabbed a Mickey pretzel π₯¨ and a churro for Dexter before heading over to Big Thunder Mountain ππ’. The wait time was around 30 minutes, so we jumped in the queue and then went off for a ride on the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness.
After Big Thunder, we headed over to Adventure Isel to ride Pirates of the Caribbean π΄ββ οΈ and, of course, grab an obligatory pineapple Dole Whip Float ππ¦!
By now it was around 2pm, so we met back up with Ava and headed out of Magic Kingdom to make our way over to Epcot π.
We already had a Lightning Lane booked for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind for 3pm, so we headed over to the monorail and made our way across to Epcot.
Because I'd already paid for the scooter, I was able to re-hire one at the other Disney parks by simply showing my receipt and proving I'd already paid the initial hire fee. The initial hire cost was $65 π΅, which was actually $10 cheaper than the scooter hire cost at Universal.
Unfortunately, there were no scooters immediately available because they'd all been hired out for the day. We had to wait around 20 minutes for one to be returned, but it wasn't too bad.
We then headed straight over to Guardians of the Galaxy ππ’.
One of the really good things about this particular ride is that, as its a relatively new attraction, it was designed with accessibility in mind. I was able to stay on my scooter for the full length of the queue and right up to the boarding area, which made such a difference β€οΈ.
And I have to say, this ride STILL remains my favourite ride in the whole of Orlando! ππ’
Don't get me wrong, the new Stardust Racers at Epic Universe is brilliant π, but there is just something about Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind that I absolutely love. It feels so smooth, so new and so completely different.
Nothing I've ridden since has quite come close.
And this time we unlocked a new song too β Disco Inferno! πΊπ₯πΆ
After riding Guardians and heading towards the queue exit, we could see absolute carnage outside π³. People were frantically trying to put on ponchos, and it didn't take long for us to realise why...
The heavens had opened once again! π§οΈπ§οΈπ§οΈ
Yep... we'd managed to hit the theme parks during another torrential Florida downpour! πβπΊπΈ
This time I wasn't taking any chances. I bought myself a Disney umbrella βοΈ and two ponchos for the kids because I absolutely did not fancy spending the rest of the day walking around in soggy clothes again! π Lee decided he didnβt need any of that then tried to get under my brolly and steer it away from me, Pfft I don't think so pal!
We headed over towards Test Track , which had been closed the last time we'd visited Disney in 2024, so we were really looking forward to finally riding it and seeing the improvements and changes they'd made.
Sadly, there was still lightning in the area β‘. Even though the rain had eased, part of the Test Track ride is outside, so the attraction remained closed and it wasn't looking like it was going to reopen anytime soon.
Our original plan had been to head around World Showcase π and tackle Emile's Fromage Challenge π§. However, we quickly realised that a lot of the Food & Wine Festival stands weren't actually open yet, as many of them didn't open until mid-September and even into the beginning of October.
Out of the six different cheese options we'd been looking forward to, only two were actually one Ava would like and you needed to collect 5 cheese stamps to complete the challenge π©.
So, after flicking through the Food & Wine Festival booklet and realising we'd be spending a lot of time and money on food that nobody really wanted, we decided to change our plans.
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS IT WAS! π¬π’
We headed out of Epcot, made our way to the buses π and hopped over to our THIRD park of the day β Hollywood Studios! π¬β¨
A lot of the rides at Hollywood Studios are inside so rain and thunder storms are not an issue and rides all remain open. So we thought this seemed the best plan.
If I'm honest, there was one ride I really wanted to do here anyway...
THE TOWER OF TERROR! π»π¨π’
It is without a doubt my absolute favourite ride at Hollywood Studios, so if we were going to make it to a third park, that was the one I wanted to tick off!
As we entered the park, it seemed like everyone else had exactly the same idea! π
People were pouring into Hollywood Studios from every direction, and it quickly became apparent that the park was absolutely rammed π³. Wait times for a lot of the attractions were 60 minutes and upwards, which is just way longer than any of us are prepared to wait!
Luckily, the Tower of Terror was showing a 35-minute wait, so we jumped straight into that queue π»π’.
Ava and I rode TOT and the boys decided they were hungry and wanted to go and get some food instead, so we split up and eventually met back up after riding the Tower of Terror.
By this point, we'd assessed the queues, the crowds and the general chaos and decided we'd had enough! π
Ava was also saying that her legs were aching, so we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel.
We made our way towards the Uber pick-up point and grabbed an Uber back to the hotel at around 8pm.
To be honest, we couldn't believe how many people were STILL flooding into Hollywood Studios as we were leaving. Even at 8pm, people were pouring through the entrance! π³
We suspected Hollywood Studios was particularly busy because Magic Kingdom had a Halloween party that evening ππ». That meant lots of people had probably either avoided Magic Kingdom altogether or had hopped out of Magic Kingdom when the park closed to regular guests at 6pm.
But we'd managed to do the three big rides we'd wanted to do, get our fave disney snacks and just generally breath in the Disney magic for a day!! And having only spent two weeks at Disney not that long ago, we didn't feel like we were really missing out on anything. This was simply our quick Disney top-up! π°β¨
Three parks, fave rides, plenty of food and a whole lot of Florida weather later, we'd definitely had our Disney fix! πβοΈπ§οΈπ’
Back at the hotel, everyone got showered, I had a lovely bath to give my knee a bit of a rest, and then we ordered some food for me and Ava before settling down in bed to watch a film π¬β€οΈ.
Not a bad way to end a very unexpected THREE-PARK Disney day! π°ππ¬π’β¨β€οΈ
