Since I used to be a cast member at Walt Disney World and I go back to visit almost every year, I often get asked for my favorites and tips. So here they are!
* Ask to sit in the front with the conductor on the monorail. It’s cool.
* On main street in Magic Kingdom, all the writing on the windows are the “credits” for the park. Walt’s credit is above the ice cream parlor on the window facing Cinderella’s castle.
* If you want to ride Spaceship Earth (the ride in the big ball in Epcot), do it later in the day. The lines are LONG in the morning because everyone walks in and stops there first but in the evening no one is in line.
* In Magic Kingdom, the best place to view a parade is the Main Street train station second level, if you get there early enough there are chairs up there. Second choice is Frontier Land. Also, lines for rides are shorter during parade times.
Here are my favorite rides/activities in each park!
Magic Kingdom
-Spectromagic Parade
-Pirates of the Carribean
-It’s a Small World
-Splash Mountain
-Space Mountain
-Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
-Haunted Mansion
-Daytime Parade (they change this but it is aways awesome)
Hollywood Studios
-Fantasmic (this is actually my #1 favorite thing in Disney World!)
-Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
-Tower of Terror
-Great Movie Ride
Animal Kingdom
-Dinosaur
-Expedition Everest
-Kilimanjaro Safari
-It’s Tough to Be a Bug
Epcot
-Test Track
-Drinking around the World. This isn’t an official activity but a fun one! Start in Mexico or Canada and have a drink at every country until you reach the other side. I’ve actually never been able to complete it!
There is so much yummy deliciousness in WDW it is hard to choose. But I have and here are my favorite eating spots! If it is marked with an *, you should call (407) WDW-DINE (939-3463) to make reservations.
Magic Kingdom
-Main Street Bakery; the cookies here are SO amazing!
-Pineapple Whip in Adventure Land by the Tiki Room
-Turkey Legs in Frontier Land
-Liberty Tree Tavern*; kinda like Thanksgiving dinner, this one is yummy and Minnie Mouse & friends come to your table!
Epcot
In Epcot I like to grab snacks from the different worlds but the only thing I’ve ALWAYS grabbed is pastries from Boulangerie Patisserie in France.
Hollywood Studios
-Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater*; it’s like a drive-in movie! So cool!
Animal Kingdom
-Donald’s Safari Breakfast*; some fun dishes with Donald and Mickey coming to your table!
Any Park
-Fresh Pineapple Spears. I have no idea why they are so good but they are!
That’s it for now! Share your favorites and tips in the comments!
Hi, my name is Monica and I’m addicted to TravBuddy.com. Whew, it feels good to type that out load. But seriously, I’m so addicted! My friend Brian told me about it like a week ago and ever since I’ve checked it obsessively! It’s basically facebook/myspace for travelers and I’m loving it!
I know what you’re thinking –Really, Monica? Another social networking site? YES!!!! Let me tell you why. I’m headed to Europe tomorrow and I’ve already made plans to meet up with a group of girls in Madrid and watch soccer! I also got an invitation to go drinking in London which I only said no to because I will have teenagers with me. The people on the site are welcoming, friendly, ready to meet people and ready to travel. What else could I ask for in an online community? Oh, that’s right, the ability to smile at cute people. TravBuddy.com has it!
So take your happy self on over to TravBuddy.com and be my friend and smile at me! :)
Kayak.com is the best flight search out there. Period. When you search, it searches all the different sites and brings you back a mega list in an easy to read interface. Then, Kayak starts to really shine with its awesome filters! You can choose specific airlines or airports. You can tell Kayak you want to fly between certain hours. You can tell Kayak that you only want an hour layover. You filter to exactly what you want and Kayak shows you. Try it, you’ll love it as much as I do.
I’m headed on a European tour this summer with my cousin and her Girl Scout troop! Here’s a map of the tour:
The part that I need your help with is where to go after the tour is over. It ends on a Wednesday in Munich so I want to spend the rest of that weekend somewhere but I’m not sure where.
Here’s what I’m thinking (in no particular order).
1. Kathmandu, Nepal — Before I went to Peru, I toyed with the idea of climbing Mount Everest. Ha! I’m over that but I’d still love to see Nepal.
2. Placencia, Belize — I could do this in a weekend. In fact, anyone want Memorial Day weekend plans?
3. Petra, Jordan — Indiana Jones, anyone??? This is one that I’ve wanted to go to for a while but haven’t quite made it.
4. Palermo, Sicily — Not so sure about this one. It seems wonderful but I think I’ll wait & take my kids (later, when I have them).
5. Queenstown, New Zealand — This is on my short list! But I want to go in their winter so I can board!
6. Imet Gogo, Ethiopia — I actually had a car service driver from Ethiopia once. He was really cool & got me to eat Ethiopian food which was actually excellent. I would visit.
7. Chiang Mai, Thailand — a Night Bazaar with bargain crafts and fashions and hotel rooms start around US$5.00 per night?? I’m so there one day. Probably not this year but you never know.
8. Marrakech. Morocco — Who doesn’t want to go to Morocco after seeing Casablanca (the best movie ever)? And there would definitely be a stop in Casablanca.
9. Budapest, Hungary — I’m going to Europe in June & have a couple of extra days. I was thinking of going to Prague but perhaps Budapest instead. Hmmm….
10. Buenos Aires, Argentina — Strangely enough, I got the overwhelming urge to go to Buenos Aires on Sunday, right after my break up. I’m going to get to work on this . . .
This list works nicely with my top 10 places to go which are:
1. London, Paris, & the Alps — I’m doing this in June with my cousin Danica & her Girl Scout troop. Should be entertaining.
2. Prague, Czech Republic — Ever since Sydney Bristow went there, I’ve wanted to follow. However, I may switch to Budapest since I’m an independent traveler.
3. Buenos Aires, Argentina– I’m not really sure what is drawing me here but something is.
4. Egypt – Pyramids & Camels. Enough said.
5. Queenstown, New Zealand — A center for adventure tourism & cute boys with accents?? Hello!
6. South Africa — I’m highly in need of a safari and some shark diving.
7. Great Barrier Reef, Australia — Diving to see one of the most beautiful underground scenes in existence is so on the list.
8. Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Gotta do this on properly BEFORE the husband & kids.
9. Somewhere in India — I’m not sure exactly where but most of the people I meet from India are so fascinating. I want to go see this place!
10. Taipei, Taiwan — I have friends that live here or have lived here so I’d like to see it. I might get a chance to go to a wedding there this year but we shall see.
So that’s it, I’m planning my 2008 travel and #1 & 2 have already made the cut. I’m honestly trying to figure out how to go to Buenos Aires & still work enough. Exciting!!!
Since Danielle, Alana, Carolyn & I are all turning 30 this year, we decided to venture out to Cancun to celebrate!
Day 1 – Travel & Arrival
Flying Continental airlines is a new experience for me. After a 2 hour delay in Houston due to weather, I was on my way to Cancun. Carolyn & Danielle were waiting on me and I had no way to get a message to them. It’s crazy how dependant we are upon cell phones.
Upon arrival they pushed us through immigration & customs. Note to all people going though immigrations in Cancun, the line closest to the office (all the way to the left) seems to be the quickest because two agents serve that line. Of course, I only noticed because I was in the line next to that line and had to watch everyone move faster than me. Then, after gathering my luggage, we had to go through customs. This is fun because you get to push a button on a stoplight. If the stoplight turns green, they don’t inspect you. Red means you’re getting your luggage opened and shuffled through.
When I arrived I was promptly shuttled into a big van and taken to my hotel. I got to the room and saw a note from Dani & Carolyn saying they were across the street at Margaritaville! Since it sure is 5 o’clock somewhere, I head right on over. The place was hopping with a live band and the waiters dancing on the stage. The bar has a ton of dollar bills with writing over them, so Carolyn added ours.
And since it was our 30th birthday party trip, I gifted my fav ladies with custom designed red & green garnet earrings to honor the sorority that brought us together, Alpha Chi Omega. Thanks Lori Lewis Designs for the earrings!
We also did a lot of yelling over the music to catch up with each other & my friends learned that I was in a walking cast because I had a separated ankle. Don’t think for a second that something like a separated ankle was going to slow me down!
After catching up, making our mark on the place, getting gifts, drinking a margarita and eating cheeseburger in paradise we were ready to go back to the Hotel Flamingo.
Day 2 – Beach & Shopping
After sleeping in (well, I slept in, Carolyn, Dani & Alana all went for a walk on the beach), we laid on the beach under the beautiful tiki huts. Ah, the joys of vacation. Around 1 pm we decided we were hungry so we showered up & headed to the Rainforest Café for lunch.
Full & happy, we head across the street to an open flea market. Every vendor is asking us to come into their store and let me tell you some of them have entertaining opening lines. Among our favs were “If I don’t have what you’re looking for, I’ll steal it for you!” and “Come in! Prices cheaper than K-Mart”. That last one isn’t much of a selling point but I don’t think that guy knew that.
In order to get a real feel for Mexico, we headed downtown on the bus. Now, I have to note that the bus system in Cancun is awesome! For 65 pesos, you can pretty much go anywhere you want! We hopped off at the first sight of a flea market where Alana & I proceeded to buy hammocks for $20 USD. I also bought a pretty vase and Carolyn received compliments on her hair. This pretty well was in the middle of the flea market so we created a photo op (shocking, I know).
For dinner that night, we ate at 100% Natural and got more than we bargained for when we realized they don’t serve soda. Pool Alana had to drink water, which she can’t stand! The favortite dish was Danielle’s. She had the Quesabrosas, 3 whole wheat tortillas with cheese, spinach, mushrooms, onion and a 100 salad with beans vinaigrette. I tried nopal (cactus) and it was good but not great. Alana learned that the cheese served with the tacos is very bland. Overall, we’d recommend this place and it one of our cheaper meals.
All that healthy food made Alana’s stomach hurt since it is used to Dr. Pepper and non-healthy food. In order to fix our error, we headed to Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Co for their cookie dessert & a Coke for Alana. We sat outside next to the beautiful bay and it was pretty windy. So windy that it blew Alana’s coke can into the water right next to a CROCODILE! A waiter came out with some raw chicken to feed Mr. Croc. You have to drop the chicken right into Mr. Croc’s mouth and when I tried, I missed. However, the waiter hit him right on the mark and Mr. Croc enjoyed his dinner.
Apparently the crocs are common occurrence and we just didn’t see the sign.
Day 3 – Tulum, Xel-Ha, & Partying
For $89 USD we were set up with a luxury bus to Tulum & Xel-Ha (pronounced shell ha). Tulum was gorgeous and I’ll just let the pics speak for themselves. (clicking a pic will take you to the entire album)
Xel-Ha is a gorgeous water theme park. We ate a yummy buffet lunch and then snorkeled down their river. Along the way, we found a Rope Crossing and Dani, Carolyn, & Alana all tried, but only Alana made it all the way across. Thank God the bus ride home was about 1 ½ hours because we all needed a siesta!
La Distilleria was for dinner! Their chicken mole was excellent and so was the beef.
Also, I couldn’t pass up the chance to try a tequila sampler!
Now we were ready to party! We headed to the party spot in the hotel zone and went into the Baja Beach Club because there was no cover charge and 2 for 1 drinks. The people watching was some of the best on the island. This girl entertained all of the club and earning the nickname “that girl”. We decided to leave after two girls with shot bottles walked up, proceed to pour shots down our mouths, shake our heads, pinch our nose, and grab out tits. Yes, seriously. To make it worse, they CHARGED US $6 USD for the “privilege”. Evil shot wenches!
At that point Alana & Dani had enough & headed back to the hotel. Carolyn & I stayed and paid the $40 USD to get into Coco Bongos. Now, $40 is expensive but it was all you can drink and we were on vacation. We had NO IDEA what we were getting into but we loved it. Once again, I’ll let the pics & video speak for themselves.
Day 4 – Shopping & Salsa
Ah, another morning at the beach and an afternoon of shopping. Life is rough in Cancun.
We separated for dinner tonight with Alana & Carolyn dining at Pat O’Brien’s while Dani & I headed to Labna for true Yucatanean food. Labna was a little hard to find and it was in downtown so we had to ask several people for help. We finally found it and had yummy food & drink.
Our waiter was the sweetest guy and he kept calling us Barbies. Hee. They even gave our purses little things to sit on.
Overall, Labna is highly recommended!
Our waiter also walked us to the corner and pointed us in the direction we needed to go to find Melao (a salsa club) and kissed us on the cheek. On the way to Melao, Dani’s new, $50 USD necklace broke and we didn’t realize it at first so we had to retrace our path. Both of us expected the necklace to be gone but it wasn’t. There it was, on the sidewalk untouched even though there was a woman sitting there the whole time.After retrieving the necklace, Dani & I headed to Melao. We walk in to this beautiful bar with a high, thatched roof that isn’t enclosed. We’re immediately greeted and asked if we would like a table in the front, medium, or back. Hee again. We choose medium because, really, who doesn’t want to sit in the medium section? As our tasty mojitos were being served, the owner of the bar came to say hi. He asked if we knew how to salsa and when we said no, he had his staff teaching us! This is quite an accomplishment seeing as how I have a walking cast on my leg!
We were the only tourists in the place and yet, we felt like we totally belonged. There were excellent partner dancers and people of all shapes & age dancing away to the festive band. Melao quickly become one of our favorite places on the trip. Getting through this night, Dani & I had to ask for a lot of help. I must say, everyone was extremely nice and helpful and I wasn’t scared once, even though I fully expected to be in downtown Cancun.
Overall
Sadly, our vacation had to end but we had a great time! Here’s a quick cheat sheet to make it easy:
Don’t miss Beach – the beaches are gorgeous if you didn’t already know. Melao – a great salsa club! You can find it on Yaxchilan Avenue in Centro (downtown). Drinks range from $2-6 USD. Tulum – this isn’t the greatest or biggest of the Mayan ruins but it is the only one with the Caribbean Sea for a background. $4.50 USD entry fee and a $3.50 video camera charge. We paid Grey Line Tours $89 to take us to Tulum & Xel-Ha, which included admission price for Tulum and the all inclusive package (including alcohol) at Xel-Ha. Xel-Ha – a great water park where you can swim with dolphins. They have several different packages ranging in price. We paid Grey Line Tours $89 to take us to Tulum & Xel-Ha, which included admission price for Tulum and the all inclusive package (including alcohol) at Xel-Ha. Coco Bongos – Cancun nightlife at its best. $40 all you can drink. Labna – great local food for a reasonable price. Dinner is $6-22 USD and I recommend the Tour of Yucatan.
Skip Altogether Hotel Flamingo – this hotel experience was a disaster. It is loud 24 hours a day due to the music in the pool, the echoing hallways, and Margaritaville across the street. Also, there was a problem with little bugs and since it is an old building and there are all kinds of plumbing problems. The housekeeper skipped cleaning our room one day and we couldn’t seem to get enough towels even after asking repeatedly. Chain Restaurants – they are so many here that if you could feel like you never left home
Transportation To & From the Airport – use one of the shuttle bus companies. No need to arrange ahead of time for the trip from the airport to the hotel since the companies are all lined up waiting on you. It does take a little while, as the shuttle stops to let off passengers at other hotels. We called for a pickup and the shuttles arrived on time and mine didn’t stop to pick up anyone else. We each paid $11-12 USD for each trip ($22-24 for round trip).
Taxis – another good bet. They are supposedly regulated but we found that they lie. Bargain to keep the drivers honest and make the driver teach you some basic Spanish on the ride.
Bus – this was my favorite mode of transportation. There are bus stops but we learned that if you stick your hand out, the drivers will pretty much stop anywhere. Be sure to let the driver know when you need to stop, otherwise he might pass it up. $0.65 per ride.
I grew up in Poplar Bluff, MO fighting with my little brother in the mud. After many slips, scratches, & bruises, I left him & the rest of my family to go to college at Southwest Missouri State University. Had a ball there and managed to get a degree in info systems, become a sorority girl (Alpha Chi Omega), and make some of the best friends a woman could have! Now I'm living in Los Angeles, working as a tech geek, and trying to figure out what the hell is going on in my world!
