Five of our Favorite Ways to Spend a Non-Park Day at Walt Disney World

Good morning!

Here in our house, we are celebrating our new son, who was born just 3 weeks ago! Due to the fatigue that all new mommas are familiar with, my creative juices aren’t flowing as well as usual- however, while looking through photos of our last vacation, I realized that this topic wouldn’t take much thinking on my part, due to our vacation style. All who know my family are aware that we spend quite a few of our vacation days outside of the parks, enjoying all of the amenities of Walt Disney World that others may overlook in favor of the parks. While we do love the theme parks, our everyday lives are so busy that we often prefer just to enjoy each other’s company doing something a bit more relaxing than running from attraction to attraction. Below, I describe five of our favorite ways to spend our days at Walt Disney World outside of the theme parks.

(Playing with bubbles at the pool at Animal Kingdom Lodge- Jambo House)

1- Renting a surrey bike- My son had been asking for MONTHS if we could rent the ‘big bike’ while on vacation, so on our February trip, we did just that! Several resorts offer surrey bikes for rental, but we chose to rent at the Boardwalk because we thought it would be fun to bike over to the other Crescent Lake resorts (Yacht and Beach Club and the Swan and Dolphin), and I loved the idea of being able to bike near the International Gateway at Epcot. We paid $25 for 30 minutes, and this was enough time to make the loop around Crescent Lake twice. My son LOVED helping us steer, and ringing the bell to let others know we were coming up behind them. After our fun trip around Crescent Lake, we walked over to Big River Grille & Brewing Works for lunch, where we were seated immediately, even without an advanced dining reservation (ADR). The Boardwalk is such a fun area to walk around, especially at night when the street performers come out to entertain (for free!) and the area is hopping!

(Riding our Surrey bike around The Boardwalk)

(Enjoying an outdoor lunch at The Boardwalk)

2- Bowling at Splitsville Luxury Lanes- Disney Springs, which has been under refurbishment for some time now, is an excellent place to spend a few hours or even a whole day outside of the theme parks! There is fantastic shopping, great indoor and outdoor entertainment, exquisite food, and more! We love the food at Splitsville- the sushi, as well as the huge pizzas, are both standout items! You can either bowl and eat at the same time, or separate from one another (we’ve done it both ways). This would be a great way to spend a rainy day at Walt Disney World!

(Enjoying the delicious sushi at Splitsville)

(The huge pizzas at Splitsville- sadly I couldn't finish mine!)

(Having fun bowling at Splitsville!)

3- Checking out other Disney Resorts- Ok this is probably our number one favorite thing to do on a non-park day. We often eat our meals outside of the parks because we enjoy the theming at the resorts so much. The resort we probably frequent the most is the Grand Floridian- we absolutely love the restaurants here, from Gasparilla Island Grill, the quick service spot, to the Signature Restaurants Narcoossee’s and Citrico’s, to 1900 Park Fare, which is our favorite character breakfast spot, and the Grand Floridian Café, a casual eatery that we tend to visit for dinner every trip. We love watching the fireworks from the dock outside near Narcoossee's, and it's so enjoyable to grab a drink at Mizner’s Lounge and listen to the live orchestra nearby. Even sitting in the lobby listening to the piano player is relaxing! We can find something enjoyable to do or see when visiting just about any Walt Disney World Resort!

(Watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the Grand Floridian)

(Relaxing at Mizner's Lounge at the Grand Floridian)

(Even the lobby of the Grand Floridian is fun!)

4- Pamper yourself at a Walt Disney World Spa- Senses Spa at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa can provide a wonderful morning, afternoon, or even a whole day of relaxation. My husband has done both a Swedish massage and the Gentleman’s Retreat package at Saratoga’s spa, both of which he really enjoyed. Per my husband (I have never used the Spas), here are a few tips:

-Go before your appointment time to enjoy the amenities at the Spa.

-Feel free to stay after your spa appointment, all day if you wish, to enjoy the amenities at the Spa. 

-You can also leave and come back later the same day as your appointment if you wish.

-If you are DVC, you receive a complimentary drink with your Spa appointment.

-Ask for the Spa menu if you wish to order drinks and/ or refreshments (extra fees apply).

-It is less expensive per service to book a package- and he highly recommends the packages for the ultimate in relaxation!

(Senses Spa- Image from www.chipandco.com)

5- Spend the afternoon- or a whole day- at your Walt Disney World Resort pool- Being from the Midwest, where we only get the chance to swim a handful of months throughout the year, we LOVE visiting the pool or pools at our resort! Our favorite two pools currently are the Paddock Pool at Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, and the Samawati Springs Pool and Uwanja Camp water play area at Animal Kingdom Lodge- Kidani Village (note that when you stay at either Animal Kingdom Lodge- Jambo House or Kidani Village, you are allowed to use either resort’s pool!). My 4-year old son is a water slide aficionado, and these two pools boast AMAZING water slides. All moderate and deluxe Disney resorts feature fun, themed water slides for resort guests to enjoy. We also enjoy the outdoor quick-service spots at both of these pools, which make grabbing a refreshing drink or a quick al fresco lunch easy and fun!

(Water slide at the Paddock Pool at Saratoga Springs)

(My son enjoying the water slide at the Paddock Pool at Saratoga)

(One of my favorite photos- enjoying the pool at Animal Kingdom Lodge- Jambo House)

(Playing at Uwanja Camp at Animal Kingdom Lodge- Kidani Village)

There are truly countless ways to enjoy your Walt Disney World vacation, and each family will have their own favorite ways to spend their day. No matter what you choose to do on any given day at the World, I know that you will have a great time! Thank you for reading, and Happy Travels!

Minnie Van Service

Hello and Happy Spring!


Here in Indiana, it’s currently snowing on this late-March day. Not very spring-like! Let’s hope that we see some sunshine and mild weather soon!

My family did get away for our Winter 2018 Babymoon last month, and we had a wonderful time. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge for the very first time, and I developed such an emotional attachment to this resort. This place is gorgeous, there are so many activities to enjoy, the pools (we checked out the pools at both Jambo House, the main resort, and Kidani Village, the Disney Vacation Club addition) are amazing, and of course the animals are beautiful and majestic. Both my husband and I agreed that will not be our last stay there!

(Enjoying the beautiful savanna at Animal Kingdom Lodge)

The one downfall to Animal Kingdom Lodge (AKL) was that it is far out from many of the resorts we like to visit in the evenings, as it is close to, of course, Animal Kingdom Theme Park which is located in the southwest corner of Walt Disney World. My husband and I tend to favor the Magic Kingdom Resort Area restaurants, dining in these resorts 3 out of 4 nights that we were not eating at the theme parks. Luckily, we had the Minnie Van service activated on our phones back in November, so we were able to use this service several times on our trip. Let me explain to you how the Minnie Van service works!

(Enjoying dinner and a view of the fireworks at the Grand Floridian Cafe near the Magic Kingdom)

The first step in using this service is to get your phone activated from one of the resorts that officially offers this service. At this time, the Minnie Van service is still in a test phase, and every resort cannot unlock the service, but all of the deluxe resorts and several of the moderate and value resorts do. I believe that my husband and I both downloaded the ‘Lyft’ app on our iPhones prior to activating the Minnie Van.

EDIT: As of April 2019, the Minnie Van service is no longer in test phase, and you can view the Minnie Van as a vehicle type when you are on the Lyft app. It is typically the last vehicle type so you may have to scroll through a few options. If you’ve never used Lyft before, you will receive an offer for $15 off your first ride.

(Our Minnie Van picking us up at the Boardwalk one evening)

Once the service is unlocked, you simply go onto the ‘Lyft’ app, and once you are in, you will see several options of pick-up vehicles, one being the Minnie Van (available daily from 6:30am until 12:30am). You will choose this option, and verify your current location, and a short while later, a Minnie Van will be pulling up to you to whisk you away to the Walt Disney World location of your choice! Easy as that!

(Our Minnie Van whisked us away to our 'home' Animal Kingdom Lodge in February)

I am not one to use Uber or Lyft, because I have young children and I don’t like that I cannot verify the integrity of the car seats in these privately-owned vehicles. I also do not live in a big city, so there is no reason really for me to use these services. However, the Minnie Van service is operated by Disney Cast Members, and these Cast Members have been trained on car seat installation and safety. Since these vehicles are owned by Disney, I feel confident that these car seats are safe, not past their expiration dates, and have not been in a previous accident. Two car seats are loaded into the back of each Minnie Van, and it takes just moments for the Cast Member to install the seats for the children in your party.

(My husband getting into the Minnie Van after getting our son loaded into his car seat)

The Minnie Vans are all Chevy Traverses, which allow six passengers per ride. Back in November 2017 when we traveled with my parents and my Aunt, we were actually planning to eat dinner over at Animal Kingdom Lodge (we were staying at Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa). We got a later start than we had planned, and my husband suggested we use the Minnie Van service, as all six of us could go together in one Minnie Van.

(Back in November when we were staying at Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa- after we had dinner at Animal Kingdom Lodge, I grabbed some infamous Zebra Domes to take back to our resort for dessert!)

The price of the Minnie Van has gone up since our February 2018 visit, where we paid $25 per ride- now the price varies depending on the milage of your trip. I still recommend going this route if you are in a hurry, or you simply don't want to deal with switching transportation at a park when going from one resort to another and don't mind spending some cash.

(After a fun night at Top of the World Lounge, we shared a Minnie Van with friends back to our Disney Resorts)

We mostly used this service at night, when we were tired and didn’t want to deal with multiple transfers to get back to AKL. We also used this service one day back in November when we were having professional photographs taken by Disney Fine Art Photography- the temperature was in the high-80’s and we didn’t want to be sweaty messes by the time we arrived at the Grand Floridian for our session. We were able to wait in the shade for our Minnie Van to pull up to our resort, and it took us right to the lobby of the Grand Floridian, where we were meeting our photographer. This service is also nice if you have dining reservations at another resort- typically you must allow at least an hour-and-a-half to get from one resort to another, but using this service, it can take under half an hour!

(Awaiting our Minnie Van to take us to the Grand Floridian for our photo session)

(When we got out of the Minnie Van for our photo session, we were greeted by Richard at the Grand Floridian!)

Two more things to mention- out of the six times that we have used this service, we’ve only had to wait more than 10 minutes once. This was just after 9pm one night, and so I think many people were probably using this service to leave the parks after the fireworks. The nights we used it closer to midnight, we probably only waited 2-3 minutes for a Minnie Van to show up.

EDIT: As of April 2019, we’ve now used this service at least a dozen times. It’s addicting! While it used to take at least an hour typically to transfer from, let’s say Port Orleans Riverside Resort to the Polynesian Village Resort, it now takes 10 minutes via Minnie Van. We LOVE chatting with the friendly cast members driving the Minnie Vans, they are always so professional and courteous, and they install the car seats correctly and efficiently (the seats are Grace Forever car seats, which will safely transport children of all ages, including infants). They play fun Disney-themed music in the vehicles, and you can control the climate. 

The final point is that this service now offers airport transfers as well as transfer to Port Canaveral for your Disney Cruise. It’s a much heftier price tag for the trip over to Orlando International Airport or to Port Canaveral. Since the Magical Express service to and from the airport is free, I don’t think my family would ever use this feature, but I could see us using it over to Port Canaveral at some point in time since those transfers are not free.

(Disney's Magical Express- photo from wdwinfo.com)

I hope you learned something about the Minnie Van service- as always, if you have any questions on the Minnie Van service or anything Disney-related, or are interested in using my complimentary services to help book your next Walt Disney World vacation, please feel free to email me at dana_w@wishingonastartravel.com. Happy Travels!

Walt Disney World while Pregnant

Hello and welcome to Dana’s Mouse Tails! First of all, I want to say a huge THANK YOU, as my blog has reached over 10k page views- this is huge for me, as I simply created this blog for fun at the request of family and friends. Again- thank you for reading, and I truly hope you enjoy what I create!!

(My son Camden at the runDisney Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend Expo at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in November 2017)

I took a few months off from blog posting, but I am back and ready to share! We just returned last night from a wonderful stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge, which was the perfect resort to stay at for a more relaxing Disney vacation. The reason we wanted a more relaxing vacation is that I was 30 weeks pregnant on this trip, and our main goal was simply to have some quality family time together. This was my third trip to WDW while pregnant- I went at about 24 weeks when I was pregnant with my now-four-year-old son, and we went several months ago, back in November 2017 when I was about 16 weeks pregnant.

(A beautiful February day at the Magic Kingdom)

If you travel to WDW early on, during your first and even second trimester, I don’t know that you need to take many precautions unless of course your doctor recommends you do so. In November, I was able to run the Wine and Dine 5k and 10k with absolutely no difficulties or modifications, but I was a runner long before I became pregnant. If I would have had to run a race this past vacation at 30 weeks, I am sure I would have been much slower, and I probably would have walked a lot of the races. The most difficult part of traveling in the beginning of the second trimester was the fact that I could not ride everything with the rest of my family- my son rode Test Track for the first time with my father and husband, and it made me sad that I was not there to experience his first ride! I also found it difficult- and disappointing- that I could not eat the same things that my family was eating. I LOVE shrimp, and the night we visited Cape May Café, a seafood buffet, for dinner, I was unable to enjoy the cold shrimp and cocktail sauce that the rest of my family enjoyed. And then there was the alcohol during the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival- I certainly did miss the Grand Marnier slushie in France, the margaritas in Mexico, and the grapefruit beer in Germany!

('Eating For Two', as my shirt announces- 16 weeks pregnant at the Wine and Dine Fall Feast 5k in November 2017)

When I traveled to WDW back in 2013 at 24 weeks pregnant, I also did not make many modifications, except of course I couldn’t go on the roller coasters, and had the same food and beverage restrictions. This trip was nice because my husband and I had a king bed at Caribbean Beach Resort, and so there was plenty of room to spread out. Now that my son travels with us, we no longer are allowed to book a king-size bed room (in the standard WDW resorts, you can only request this room type if there are two in the room, or two plus an ‘infant’ under the age of three years old).  I will pass on that if you book a Deluxe Villa (one, two, or three-bedrooms), you are given a king-size bed in the master bedroom- if you are traveling pregnant, this may be worth it to you to spend the extra money for a Villa for this very reason!

(In November, we shared a two-bedroom Villa at Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa with my parents & aunt- this is the Master Bedroom with a King-Size bed that my husband and I shared)

Traveling in the third trimester at 30 weeks pregnant proved to be just a tad bit more difficult than my previous two trips I’ve mentioned. Besides having to stop at nearly every restroom we passed, I simply moved more slowly this trip. I also had more difficulty sleeping- for this reason, I would recommend bringing a tablet or something else to read in the dark room while the rest of your family sleeps. This had nothing to do with being on vacation, I simply am not sleeping very well in general this pregnancy- many nights I read while my family slept, and days that I woke before dawn, I would do the same. It was nice to be able to read while still keeping the room dark for my sleeping family.

I also would schedule plenty of time to relax, especially if you travel later on in your pregnancy. The day we arrived, we spent several hours in the pool at Jambo House at Animal Kingdom Lodge, and the following day after our brunch reservations, we spent the majority of our day over at the other section of Animal Kingdom Lodge, Kidani Village, playing in their pool and utilizing the kids water play area, Uwanja Camp. We did a lot of activities outside of the theme parks, including bowling at Splitsville Luxury Lanes at Disney Springs, renting a Surrey Bike at the Boardwalk Resort (which my son had been asking to do for MONTHS), and walking around Art of Animation Resort checking out all of the Cars décor (Cars is my son’s favorite movie). These activities were enjoyed at a more relaxing pace than the theme parks, as we didn’t feel like we had to rush through to get our money’s worth as you often feel while in the theme parks. We also checked out many different restaurants at different Disney resorts, which we got to typically via monorail or boat (an enjoyable ride in itself!). Finally, Animal Kingdom Lodge had MANY different cultural activities to enjoy- we could have spent a week at the resort simply enjoying these amenities! I had good intentions to do the cookie-decorating, as well as a tour of one of the restaurants at Animal Kingdom Lodge, both of which were offered daily, but I never got the chance- guess I’ll have to go back! I was, however, able to try out the night-vision glasses, offered every evening for free at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Watching the giraffes roam the savannah at night through these glasses was just breathtaking!

(Playing at Uwanja Camp at Kidani Village at Animal Kingdom Lodge)

(Bowling for three at Splitsville Luxury Lanes)

(Checking out the Cars section of the resort at Art of Animation)

A few final tips would be to stay hydrated- this was the first trip I brought a large water bottle with me, which I kept filled at all times. Go at an easy pace, and don’t schedule too much- this was the first trip that the majority of our days had no set plans- we simply decided we’d see what the weather was, and go from there. We ate when we wanted to eat, rather than letting reservations dictate our plans, which was wonderful. I also took some time for myself while my husband and son rode the rides that I couldn’t when we were at the theme parks. I either wandered around and took photos, or I rode a few of my favorites. While they were off using their FastPass for the Tomorrowland Speedway, for example, I enjoyed a ride through the world of Ariel on Under the Sea- Journey of The Little Mermaid.

(Enjoying a solo spin on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority while my husband and son enjoyed a ride not suitable for pregnant women to ride)

(I DEVOURED this pineapple upside down cake at Aloha Isle in Adventureland- Hey, I'm eating for two!)

(I was still able to enjoy a few 'mocktails' when we visited a lounge at WDW)

I hope that some of these tips will help- if you have any questions, feel free to email me at dana_aimee@hotmail.com. Thanks for joining me, and Happy Travels!