As part of a recent week-long road trip down to Florida to see family, Olivia and I were fortunate enough to spend a few days at the theme parks of Orlando on the journey back home. By coincidence, we happened to plan this trip around the weekend of Halloween, a time we would typically avoid in normal years. With October 31st being a Saturday, we decided to get our Disney fix in early before the crowds showed up for the weekend. Check out the video below to watch the recap of our Thursday spent at the Magic Kingdom on October 29th:
I won’t go into huge detail about this trip to the Magic Kingdom, but I will speak quite a bit about some of the special Halloween offerings the park has this season, and of course the changes Disney (and all theme parks for that matter) have had to undergo due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Firstly, I’ll start off with our ride count, as wait times and crowd levels are quite the concern these days, especially without fastpasses being offered. We were fortunate to be some of the first in the park (around 8:30am), and with this I noticed some distinct changes in entry procedures that I was a big fan of. Thankfully, as soon as we entered the park around 8:30am, we were able to head straight to our first attraction to begin queuing. We decided to hit Seven Dwarves Mine Train first as neither of us have done the relatively newish coaster on any trips prior. By the time we got to the entrance, they were already cycling trains and the line was moving quickly, well before official park opening. I could definitely see how some wouldn’t like this, but because we arrived so early, I was definitely a fan. We were off the ride just after 9am. From there we hit:
- Big Thunder x2
- Splash Mountain x2
- Space Mountain x2
- Haunted Mansion
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Barnstormer
We were especially thankful to get a couple good rides on Splash Mountain, given the recent news of its “fast-tracked” re-theme to Princess and the Frog. It is one of my all-time favorite attractions and will be sorely missed. Thankfully I got plenty of good footage from our two rides, and even more great memories to remember.
The real reason that we settled on Magic Kingdom for this visit was to indulge in some of the delicious Halloween treats they had to offer (this would be a recurring theme for the entirety of our week, even at Universal). I’ll present our favorites treats in list form:
- Strawberry Fanta Dole Whip, Sunshine Tree Terrace
If the name alone doesn’t make you want one, add in the fact that it was a typical humid Florida day that we visited and you will be begging for one. This float was the best I’ve ever had, with the strawberry soft serve and fanta mixing perfectly. I wish we got more than one of these bad boys. It was so delicious we forgot to take a picture!
- Buffalo Chicken Tater Tots, Friar’s Grill
Not sure if this is actually a Halloween treat but these were absolutely delicious. I guess, given the name and ingredients, you cant really go wrong. But these were so damn good—tasty chicken, good mild buffalo sauce with cheese and ranch? What else could you want in life.
- Mickey’s Monster Mash Burger, Cosmic Ray’s Café
This was a last minute play call that definitely worked out for the best. I was able to mobile order this burger (a breeze), and we were able to get off our feet for a minute in the A/C inside Cosmic Ray’s. The burger itself was tasty, not anything crazy but definitely an above average theme park burger. The bacon on it was super crispy and the sauce they served with it was interesting as well. Couldn’t really taste the tater tots on the burger but might’ve still been loaded up on them from earlier in the day!
- For Better or For Worse Wedding Cake, Liberty Market
This treat was one of the more anticipated I would say. I was thankful we were able to squeeze it in at the end of our day, and it did not disappoint. One of the better slices of cake I’ve ever eaten. Nice and light as well, not too overly heavy or sweet which was perfect for the Florida heat. Hoping they have this one again next year because it will certainly be tops on our list again.
- Peter Pan Float, Storybook Treats
This treat was unfortunately a miss for me. Sounded great on paper (lime dole whip + sprite), but sadly did not deliver as we hoped. Might’ve been because of the delicious strawberry float that we had previously, but this one definitely wasn’t as tasty.
- Mickey Pretzel
Not a Halloween treat at all, but we had a mickey pretzel and I don’t really understand the hype? Ours was kinda hard and not super enjoyable and the “plastic cheese” had a bit of a funky taste to it. I’m an Auntie Anne’s guy through and through (more on that in our Universal report).
And I think that’s it! We broke up our day into two separate visits essentially, with us coming and going around lunchtime to return to the hotel to let Ellie out for some exercise. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to come and go, as the transportation at the TTC was very organized and efficient. Definiely made our day quite a bit less stressful. In terms of crowd levels, I thought the park was extrememly manageable, and the longest queue we stood in all afternoon was Pirates at around 30 minutes. We did notice that most of the posted wait times were severely inflated, something to definitely note for a future visit.
All in all, we had a tremendous day at the Magic Kingdom. I’m super pleased with our choice in park as we only budgeted one day for Disney. Everything went according to plan (as much as you can ask for with a day at a Disney park) and we felt extremely comfortable with all of the safety measures they had in place. Mask enforcement and social distancing was excellent. Disney and Universal are definitely setting a high standard in this regard, which is great to see.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for my next update on our time at Universal Orlando Resort!
– Walker
Texas-Ranger Travels 