12 Parks in 16 Days - Disney Parks Around the World Trip Report

[Skywatcher1206]

Great trip report and definitely a bucket list item! You may have said this earlier in your report but is there a reason that you went in the direction you did vs going the other way?

 

[Rimmit]

@Rimmit CONGRATULATIONS to your dw for such amazing progress on her recovery journey! She must be a very strong woman and she's lucky to have you as her biggest cheerleader!

I've been team carry-on only for a few years -- it makes travel so much easier. Not sure if your backpacks are this style, but having one is like having another suitcase. I got one for my ds before Japan and he loved it. I also have the Rimowa extra large carry-on which fits an incredible amount (the suppression straps are next-level). When I was heading to London in December the AA gate agents at JFK made me put the Rimowa in the luggage sizer and it fit thankfully (that was the first time I've been questioned on the size, but it is definitely on the large side).

I usually buy a pin at Disney, but this time I couldn't find a pin at DisneySea that I liked. I really, really wanted a Fantasy Spring pin, but they were sold out everywhere (I even asked at the FSH). Super disappointing. I did get small (key chain size) Duffy and Shelley Mays. Ds and I tried the chocolate popcorn from DisneySea -- neither of us was a fan, so most of it (sadly) went in the garbage. I didn't bring home the popcorn holder (seems kind of useless to me), but ds squished it up in his bag and said that he'll give to his best friend's son. The line for the popcorn was close to 30 mins -- not worth it, but I had the free coupon so I waited -- no way I would've done so otherwise.

Our last day I had so many little pieces of paper to carry at DisneySea: our priority pass & drink tickets, breakfast vouchers, early entry passes from FSH and vouchers for the free merch and popcorn. At our first ride (Peter Pan) in FS we were given bracelets to wear (which we had to show for all rides in FS) and had to show our PP and park tickets. That took a little while in each line!

Carry ons make life so simple. Doing laundry is the trade off, but I'd rather do laundry than check a luggage this day. No worrying about lost luggage. No waiting at the carousel after immigration or at the final destination.

Our backpacks are not like that in that they are softer on the edges, but similar concept, but each one is the maximum allowable size when full.

I have a photography backpack, that fits exactly into the personal item sizer. If I don't pack my photography equipment just right, it won't fit. It's the absolute maximum for a personal item. From a weight standpoint the backpack can be an issue sometimes, but it's only been weighed once, and that was in Shanghai in all my travels.

Yes, did you see my picture with of all the VP papers we had lug around. It was a ton. I was so scared to lose them. They need to give you a lanyard to stick them in imo. Yes, we got our bracelets both days we were at TDS. I initially kept them as as souvenir but ended up throwing them out. We debated bring the popcorn bucket home, but realized we'd never use it. So that was left in the room as well. We did take home the blanket. We squished it down and made it fit. We left the seat cushions and shoulder bags behind.

We threw out all the roast beef flavors. Not our taste.

 

[Rimmit]

Great trip report and definitely a bucket list item! You may have said this earlier in your report but is there a reason that you went in the direction you did vs going the other way?

It's explained on our blog as the planning was intense, but to summarize, I booked almost all the airfare initially on points and miles. We initially were only going to the Asia Disneys. The way the redemption worked out was that we had a 10 hour transit in Paris, and thought, might as well go to the Disney Parks there and hit all the international parks. Then we realized we flew out of MIA to CDG, so we were like, might as well go to Orlando when down in FL. On the way back we were initially flying through LAX so thought, might as well stop at DL as well. The trip kept growing based on where the planes were taking us.

Long story short, it comes down to what business class flight redemption I could find, and you are at the mercy of what is available when using points and miles.

 

[Rimmit]

We are flying American Airlines today in Domestic First Class and so for the first time since our Delta flight to Miami we were back on a carrier that we have been on before. The flight boards on time with no further delays and we have seats 2A, 2C ,2D.

The seat is pretty spacious especially for a four hour flight so I can’t complain. After all the long hauls this trip, four hours seems like nothing.

I definitely have ample leg room.

We take off on time without any further delay. Shortly after takeoff they serve some nuts and a beverage.

They actually go ahead and give you an extra small shooter as well. I guess the flight attendants didn’t want to be bothered with you asking for a second drink.

Chicken enchiladas or stuffed bell peppers. Worst possible options for me.

Beggars can’t be choosers and as such I eat a reasonable amount of the chicken enchilada out of hunger. It was ok I guess. Anyone that knows me knows that as much as I like McDonald’s, I have the same level of disdain for Mexican food. Kendall and Lucy love Mexican and they definitely seemed to enjoy it. They did serve some Häagen-Dazs ice cream for dessert which was nice, but of course it was caramel flavored which is not exactly my favorite either.

It was at least better than the enchilada though. I really wish McDonalds would cater these plane meals. Fun fact, in the 1990s McDonalds did offer Happy Meals on select United flights. Sadly I never got to try one.

I rarely get a window seat these days as I normally prefer an aisle due to easy bathroom access or because Kendall and I take the middle and aisle on a long haul flight. I was sitting next to Lucy today and she wanted the aisle for the easy bathroom access. I miss the window seat as I love seeing the sky as it makes for some great photography especially around sunset or sunrise.

We land early with an hour to make our connection thankfully so we aren’t concerned with missing our connection. I call the taxi company right after landing and they state they can’t pick us up due to the roads. At this point, we have kinda resigned ourselves to likely being stuck at the airport overnight until the roads clear up and someone can come get us.

Shortly after landing as we are walking to our gate I get a notification of a delay of our flight till tomorrow morning, likely due to weather, but they never tell us the cause for the delay. Normally, I’d be kinda upset about this, but this was actually ideal as spending the night at Huntington Tri-State Airport is not exactly ideal.

I book a Residence Inn by the airport and we get a taxi. At this point all reasonable travel expenses are covered by our travel insurance policy so waiting 20-30 minutes for a shuttle is just not worth it as we are tired and just want to get to the hotel and sleep. If we had to pay for the taxi, we’d maybe weigh the cost vs time aspect but since it is on insurance’s bill at this point we opt for efficiency rather than cost savings.

We get to the Residence Inn and check in and schedule a cab for tomorrow morning as the shuttle is fully booked from 7:00-8:00 and we get to bed.

The end of our adventure with have to wait one more day.

Day 20, January 6th, 2025 Step Count – 9,057 Steps

Total Step Count – 328,179

 

[Rimmit]

“And so, our journey comes to an end. But yours continues on. Grab ahold of your dreams and make them come true. For you are the key to unlocking your own magic. Now go. Let your dreams guide you. Reach out and find your Happily Ever After.”

Day 21 - The End Redux

So we totally overslept this morning. Whoops! We woke up at 7:23AM as we completely forgot to set an alarm. Typically the hotel calls you when they call the taxi to make sure you’re ready for the taxi, but of all days they did not call, it was today. Our taxi was supposed to be here at 7:30AM and we had 7 minutes to pack and get ready. We’re not really worried about missing our flight as it isn’t till 10:00AM so we have ample time even if we miss our taxi, but would prefer not to miss our taxi.

We wake Lucy up, quickly pack and get downstairs by 7:38AM but our taxi has already left. We end up calling an Uber. While we could wait till the next hotel shuttle but Uber would be faster and we will be reimbursed by insurance at this point due to our travel delay.

At about 9:00 we get to the airport and head through security. We use the TSA precheck line which is notably shorter this time than the regular line. We get to the TSA agent and for some reason Lucy’s boarding pass won’t scan. It’s likely having something to do with them reissuing the boarding pass after our flight was delayed till today. Mine and Kendall’s passes are linked to our ID so we have no issues, but Lucy has no ID to scan and she has to rely on her boarding pass.

Despite everything that has happened this vacation, I have zero anxiety regarding this as I just find it hard to believe they would deny a child with a valid boarding pass the ability to travel with her parents within the United States. They just need to get their act together and figure out how to get it to scan or just allow her through security.

The TSA agents have a quick discussion amongst themselves about letting Lucy through. Eventually, they talk about her needing a physical ticket, but one of the other agents states that likely won’t scan either. They reference a list of delayed flights from yesterday and ours is on it, they then look closely at her digital boarding pass and then they just let her through.

We go through security right near Terminal A, which is right by The Club at CLT, which is a lounge we have access to via our Capital One Venture X or Amex Business Platinum. It’s one of the nicer lounges from The Club.

It’s not as nice as The Club in San Franciscobut it’s definitely better than the Atlanta or Cincinatti ones that we frequent.

There isn’t a huge variety of food but it is enough to keep us from having to buy breakfast and drinks at the airport. Along with the continental breakfast options of fruit and cereal, they do have a warm food station where you can order some eggs and grits.

About 30 min till boarding we head to the gate as we are at the opposite end of the airport at Terminal E and it’s about a 20 minute walk. We get to the gate early and wait for our boarding number to be called. Today we don’t really have any benefits on the flight except we get a slightly earlier boarding number as I am an American Airline business card holder.

Today for our 11th and final flight of the trip we are flying on an Embraer 145, which is a smaller regional jet. We have seats 7A,7B, and 7C.

For the AV geeks out there, on this trip we have been on a total of 8 different aircraft this trip which has included an A319, A320, A321-neo, A330-900neo, A350-900, 787-8, Embraer 175, and an Embraer 145. Interesting fact is the A350-900 was our most flown plane this vacation with 3 flights. Two more fun facts. One is that we only flew on a Boeing plane just once the whole vacation, a 787-8. The second, almost just as shocking is that we didn’t board a 777 at any point as those are traditionally the backbone of any international long haul fleet.

Take off was 30 minutes late, but it’s a short 40 minute flight so we will still be on time. As we approach our area we see it covered in snow.

This was our biggest snow in several years with 12 inches over the last 48 hours. We touchdown on time despite the delay.

It definitely looks a little different than when we left on Day 1.

We then wait in the freezing cold for them to unload our gate checked bags as on these smaller regional jets there just isn’t space in the overhead bin for a full size carryon so every single carryon must be gate checked.

Thankfully, today the taxi’s are running as the roads have cleared some. I called while we waited in the lounge in Charlotte to arrange for a taxi pick up. Unfortunately, it was not here yet, and we wait, and we wait some more. While waiting we see a friend that lives in our neighborhood and she offers us a ride as we had been waiting 40 minutes at this point. Ironically, right as her brother arrives to pick her up our cab arrives. There is only one taxi company in the area, so you don’t want to burn that bridge in the rare event you need a taxi, so we go ahead and take it rather than take the free ride home.

The main roads are in decent condition, and we arrive at our home blanketed in snow a short 25 minutes later and our around the world journey comes to an end right where we started, 337,543 steps later. Home sweet home.

Thanks for following along on this once in a lifetime adventure. It’s hard to believe after all that we are right back where we started, albeit with a whole lot more memories. I can only hope that this can help others to plan their dream Disney trip, and help them avoid some of the pitfalls that we fell into. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.

It’s not goodbye. It’s see ya real soon!

“The end of a journey means the start of another one.”

Day 21, January 7th, 2025 Step Count – 9,364 Steps

Total Step Count – 337,543

Stay tuned for the final stats and trip breakdown!

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

Thank you for sharing your journey! I really enjoyed reading about your adventure, and I also read your blog surrounding Kendall’s accident. I’m so glad your family got to take this magical trip and that her recovery has come so far that she was able to do the amount of walking that she did!!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Wow, what an adventure! Thank you for sharing it with us.

 

[Rimmit]

Thank you for sharing your journey! I really enjoyed reading about your adventure, and I also read your blog surrounding Kendall’s accident. I’m so glad your family got to take this magical trip and that her recovery has come so far that she was able to do the amount of walking that she did!!

Me too. I thought we may have bit off more than we could chew at times, but she only needed a wheelchair very sparingly, so that was impressive. Thanks for following along!

Wow, what an adventure! Thank you for sharing it with us.

Thanks for reading!

 

[SuperPreparo]

I loved this trip report!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[DianaMB333]

Thanks for sharing!!

 

[Camonkeygirl]

I enjoyed reading your report. Thank you for sharing.

I too have done all of the Parks, but not in 16 days. As a Ca resident, Disneyland is my home park, First visit to WDW was in 2013, Hong Kong in 2016 and 2017, Shanghai in 2017, Paris 2023, Shanghai 2024 and Tokyo 2024.

 

[KEK1]

Amazing trip and TR! Thank you!

 

[Rimmit]

I enjoyed reading your report. Thank you for sharing.

I too have done all of the Parks, but not in 16 days. As a Ca resident, Disneyland is my home park, First visit to WDW was in 2013, Hong Kong in 2016 and 2017, Shanghai in 2017, Paris 2023, Shanghai 2024 and Tokyo 2024.

I love WDW. We have no "home" park per se, but my parents retired to Orlando, so that's about as close as home park as I'll get living 13 hours from Orlando. We were supposed to get to all the Asia Disneys in Mar 2020 but clearly that ended up not happening. We got there eventually, albeit it definitely wasn't easy.

 

[Rimmit]

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

The following article covers the final itinerary AFTER all the changes due to Air France. It also includes the final stats of the trip, and the most frequently asked questions regarding our once in a lifetime Disney journey around then world.

The Final Itinerary​

• Day 1 – Huntington to Orlando, Stay at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Day 2 – Ohana for Breakfast, Hoop Dee Do Revue, and Notre Dame vs Indiana
• Day 3 – Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Magic Kingdom
• Day 4 – Orlando to Miami, Denial of Boarding in Miami, Stay at Fairfield Inn Miami Airport South
• Day 5 – Miami to London
• Day 6 – London to Paris, Stay at AirBnb
• Day 7 – Christmas Day, Disneyland Paris, Stay at Disneyland Paris Hotel
• Day 8 – Walt Disney Studios Paris and Disneyland Paris
• Day 9 – Disney Village, Walt Disney Studios Paris, Paris to Hong Kong
• Day 10 – Stay at Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel
• Day 11 – Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, Crystal Lotus Lunch, Hong Kong Disneyland
• Day 12 – Hong Kong to Shanghai, Shanghai Disneyland, Stay at Shanghai Disneyland Hotel
• Day 13 – New Years Eve, Shanghai to Tokyo, Stay at Fantasy Springs Grand Chateau
• Day 14 – Breakfast at La Libellule, Tokyo DisneySea, Stay at Tokyo Disneyland Hotel
• Day 15 – Tokyo Disneyland, Stay at Tokyo DisneySea Hotel Miracosta Disneyland
• Day 16 – Notre Dame vs Georgia, Breakfast at Oceano, Tokyo DisneySea
• Day 17 – Breakfast at Oceano, Ikspiari, Tokyo to San Francisco
• Day 18 – San Francisco to Anaheim, Stay at Disneyland Hotel
• Day 19 – Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure
• Day 20 – Los Angeles to Charlotte, Stay at Residence Inn Charlotte Airport
• Day 21 – Charlotte to Huntington, Home

The Final Stats​

• Number of Disney Parks: 12
• Number of Park Days: 10
• Number of Rides: 96
• Number of Hotels: 11
• Number of Disney Resort Hotels: 8
• Number of Disneyland Hotels: 5
• Number of Flights: 11
• Number of Airlines: 10
• Number of Countries/SARs Visited: 6
• Number of Airports: 14
• Number of Airport Lounges: 12
• Number of Miles Flown: 21,197
• Number of Hours Spent on a Plane: 41 hours 3 minutes
• Number of Steps Taken: 337,543
• Number of Time Zones Crossed: 24
• Number of Times Wrongfully Denied Boarding: 1

Frequently Asked Questions​

Why would you do this? This seems absolutely miserable.

This is similar to the age old question of asking a climber why he climbs. The classic answer to that is, “Because it’s there.”

My answer is then, “Because they exist.” For a more detailed answer I suggest you check this post.

Were you glad you did it?

Totally! This was hands down one of the most unique and ambitious trips we’ve ever taken. It was incredible to experience all the Disney Parks in one trip and is something that will almost assuredly never happen again. This ticked off a lot of boxes on our bucket lists including:

• Circumnavigating the globe in one trip
• Visiting all 12 Disney Parks
• Staying in a club level room
• Doing a VIP tour
• Doing all four parks in one day at Disney World
• Staying on property at all the Disney Resorts
• Staying at all the Disneyland Hotels
• Spending a night inside a Disney Park – Three nights actually as Fantasy Springs Grand Chateau and Hotel Miracosta are both inside Tokyo DisneySea.

Really staying on property was a real treat for us, as despite our innumerable Disney trips we had only stayed on Disney property as a family a total of 6 nights prior to this trip.

Despite the Air France debacle which definitely caused a significant amount of grief, we still had a great time at each park and loved seeing all the different shows, parades, attractions and nighttime spectaculars. This was definitely a dream trip for us.

What was your favorite park?

Tokyo DisneySea hands down. It was just so well themed. They clearly put a lot of thought into the flow of the park when they initially designed it. The sheer attention to detail was incredible. They spared absolutely no expense when designing this park, and it almost felt like they had a blank check as pretty much every single attraction and land was just so well done.

Nearly all the rides were grand and had a massive sense of scale about them. Unlike most of the US parks it is very much thematically intact with minimal IP injected. It is just such a unique park compared to all the other Disney Parks. The new land, Fantasy Springs, is awesome and has added some great new rides to the park.

Also the fact that Tokyo DisneySea has not one, but TWO hotels that are literally in the park is an added bonus.

What is your least favorite park?

Walt Disney Studios Paris. We had been there before and knew going in it was pretty subpar.

They have made some improvements since the last time we went such as retheming an area to Avenger’s Campus, but it’s still very small without many attractions, and the theming is pretty much nonexistent. There are some highlights though in that it has the Crush Coaster and the best of all the Tower of Terrors.

How would you rank the parks?

That’s tough as they are all so good except for Walt Disney Studios Paris. It’s also hard because each park has some strengths and weaknesses, and everyone has personal preferences, but for the sake of making a list here it goes.

1. Tokyo DisneySea
2. Tokyo Disneyland
3. Disneyland
4. Magic Kingdom
5. Disneyland Paris
6. Epcot
7. Hollywood Studios
8. Shanghai Disneyland
9. Hong Kong Disneyland
10. Disney’s California Adventure
11. Animal Kingdom
12. Walt Disney Studios Paris

What was your favorite hotel?

Fantasy Springs Grand Chateau was absolutely amazing.

I had lowered my expectations going in as many bloggers and reviewers have not been very hot on Fantasy Springs Hotel describing it as bland and uninspired. I did not feel that at all. It was not as ornate as the Hotel Miracosta or Disneyland Hotel, but it was impressive in its own right. Our room there was just magical and definitely exceeded expectations.

Our balcony had a view of Fantasy Springs and it was just fun to people watch. The service there was absolutely top notch and among the best of any hotel we have ever stayed at.

What was your favorite ride?

That is a tough question and akin to asking someone who is their favorite child. In the end though we are talking rides and not children. I’d probably have to say Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast. It’s definitely not the most thrilling ride, but of all the rides I’ve been on in all the parks it captures the spirit of a movie the best.

It also doesn’t rely on screens and is really just a very amped up modern dark ride with a very unique ride vehicle that really draws you into the scenes. It basically just took tried and proven concepts and improved upon them in all aspects. They further combined it with some impressive practical effects and one of the best Disney movie soundtracks of all time. That is the definition of a winning combination. It’s just an amazing ride.

Rise of the Resistance is the only other ride that could possibly compare and for most people it probably comes down to personal preference which is better. Rise of the Resistance is more thrilling and technologically impressive with grander set pieces, but Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast is more whimsical and just quintessential Disney.

 

[Rowlf the Dog]

Thank you very much for your trip report. I will also do a world trip with visiting every Disney Park around the world in 2026, but fortunately not on my own but with a German travel agency, who specialized in amusement park group travels, so hopefully without the hurdles you had.

 

[Rimmit]

What shoes did you wear?

There is nothing fancy here. I was wearing either Under Armour size 6 kids running shoes or on colder days I would wear my Columbia hiking boots .

Is this some type of Guiness Book of World Record?

Not even close. The fastest is 75 hours and 6 minutes by a Canadian named Lindsey Nameth in 2017.

There was also a guy named Nathan Firesheets who did all 12 parks in 12 days and did ALL the operating rides at the time in that time span as well.

For comparison we only did 96 rides in 16 days. Our goal was not to do as many rides as possible, as we sprinkled in shows, parades, dining, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, character greets, and nighttime spectaculars. We were not remotely trying to do every single ride. We wanted to experience a variety of what the parks had to offer and rides are only a part of the entire park experience. Also, traveling as a family of 3 with a 9 year old is just going to slow you down compared to an adult couple or a solo traveler.

In terms of records set though, I am willing to bet Lucy at the age of 9 is the youngest person to have done all 12 parks in a single trip though. The Adventures by Disney 115,000 USD private jet tour had a minimum age of 12 years old. I have scoured Facebook groups and forums extensively searching for tips and trip reports for a trip like this and there were only a handful of people I could find that have done this that were not on the Adventures by Disney trip. Most either visited all 12 parks over a multi year time span, or in the rare situation where they did it all in one trip, were at minimum a family with older teenagers. I could not find a single child that had done it. This is not an easy trip for a child, but Lucy was an absolute trooper and aside from some occasional jet lag did amazing on this trip.

I would also bet we were the first family to do this and stay at all the Disneyland Hotels. So if you’re looking for some kind of world record, I’d say we were the fastest to ever stay at all the Disneyland Hotels clocking in at around 10 days. No other trip I found did this, and even the Adventures By Disney Private jet tour did not stay at the Disneyland Hotels each time, opting for the Explorer Lodge in Hong Kong, and Grand Californian in Disneyland, and in the 2023 trip they stayed at Disney’s Hotel New York instead of Disneyland Hotel Paris as it was undergoing renovations at the time.

Did you feel like it was too rushed?

The way it ended up, absolutely. For the Asia portion we initially had 4 nights in Shanghai, 3 nights in Hong Kong and 4 nights in Tokyo for a total of 11 nights in Asia. In order to keep the vacation together after Air France denied us boarding we ended up with 2 nights in Hong Kong, 1 night in Shanghai, and 4 nights in Tokyo for a total of 7 nights. That is a long way to go and a lot of flights for just 7 nights in Asia. We only had 19 hours in Shanghai total, and that is obviously not enough time.

Our hotel hopping situation was amped up due to the changes as well. Originally the number of nights per hotel was 3 nights in the Polynesian, 4 nights in Shanghai Disneyland Hotel, 3 nights in Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel, 1 night in Fantasy Springs Grand Chateau, 1 night in Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, 2 nights in Hotel Miracosta, and 2 nights in Disneyland Hotel. So our hotel situation looked like this: 3-4-3-1-1-2-2.

The way it ended up was 3 nights in the Polynesian, 1 night in Fairfield Inn in Miami, 1 night in an Airbnb in Paris, 2 nights in Disneyland Paris Hotel, 2 nights in Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel, 1 night in Shanghai Disneyland Hotel, 1 night in Fantasy Springs Grand Chateau, 1 night in Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, 2 nights in Hotel Miracosta, 2 nights in Disneyland Hotel, and the 1 night in the Residence Inn in Charlotte due to our overnight delay. So ultimately our hotel situation was: 3-1-1-2-2-1-1-1-2-2-1. That is a lot of hotel hopping. If this was a road trip, that would be marginally feasible as you aren’t going through air port security and you’re just hopping into and out of a car. Given this was combined with 11 flights, 14 airports, jet lag, and a variety of other forms of transportation it definitely got pretty hectic at times.

We had always planned on hopping in Tokyo as it is a very complex resort to book. If you get a Vacation Package, you will assuredly need to move hotel rooms at least once because of the how hotel bookings work in Tokyo Disney. Hotel hopping in Tokyo is a VERY common thing and practically a necessity for many.

Initially, we only had 7 hotels booked, and didn’t really hotel hop until we got to Tokyo. Unfortunately, we ended up with 11 hotels, and never stayed in one hotel for longer than 2 night after our stay at the Polynesian Village Resort in Orlando, which made for a lot of packing and unpacking. Thankfully, we are team carryon which helped keep the insanity down some.

What was the hardest part?

The jet lag for sure. I am Filipino so I know what the jet lag is like going to Southeast Asia, and that’s why we had more time scheduled in Asia initially to help our bodies adjust. Sadly, due to circumstances beyond our control that is just not how it turned out, and our bodies adjusted to the schedule right as we were leaving Asia.

What souvenirs did you buy?

To be honest we bought very few. I personally only bought a hat, which I subsequently lost the same day I bought it. I was looking for a zip up sweatshirt or fleece the whole vacation but never found one I liked. We did buy a magnet at every hotel and park that had them, but not all hotels had a souvenir magnet. Lucy bought some pins to trade, a lanyard, two sweatshirts, a signature book, a Stitch purse, a Stitch water bottle, a hat and some pens. Kendall also bought a lanyard and pins along with a Disney World VIP Tour Spirit Jersey, VIP Tour Loungefly, a hat, and a sweatshirt from Disneyland. We also bought a couple very small souvenirs for some friends at home. Amazingly, we bought zero t-shirts on this trip.

I did keep some of the documentation from the hotels and all the hotel keys for every Disney Hotel we stayed at.

I also kept any physical park tickets we had, but the only park that had physical park tickets was Hong Kong Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland. The Tokyo Disney Hotels each gave us several souvenir tote bags so we brought home one tote bag from each hotel. Fantasy Springs also gave us a small memory book that we could put our room keys, and other trinkets and souvenirs from our stay and we brought it home. Believe it or not, but that was all we took home despite going to all 12 Disney Parks in the world.

Which is your favorite castle?

Tokyo’s Cinderella Castle. Tokyo is a clone of the Cinderella’s Castle in Magic Kingdom except it still has the original color scheme which I prefer compared to the pink color scheme Magic Kingdom has now.

What was your favorite nighttime spectacular?

After seeing all the nighttime spectaculars around the globe, my favorite is ironically the one we didn’t get to see. Happily Ever After was sadly replaced at Magic Kingdom by the holiday fireworks show, Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks, while we were there. Happily Ever After is exactly what you look for in a nighttime spectacular in that it does an amazing job of evoking emotions via the use of music, projections and fireworks. It’s just absolutely magical.

Of the ones we saw, even though we didn’t see it up close with the projections, Illuminate in Shanghai Disney holds a special place in my heart. They had great music, and the effort it took to get to Shanghai really just amped up getting to see it as we really didn’t think we were gonna make it to Shanghai after Day 4. The fact we watched it from the terrace at our hotel as we had a late night snack also just capped off our short stay in Shanghai in the most perfect way.

How was the weather?

The weather was actually great! God threw us a bone and it only rained 15 minutes the whole vacation and we even happened to be indoors when it happened. In regard to the cold, it actually wasn’t that cold except our last day in Tokyo. We prefer to go to the parks in cold weather rather than hot weather, as the heat just wears you down and people in the parks tend to be grumpier in the hot weather. You can only strip off so many clothes, but you can always layer up more to stay warm.

If we were to do this again, we’d without a doubt do it the same time of year well before we’d try to survive the parks in the summer in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Orlando. The heat and humidity in those three cities would absolutely kill us.

What was the best thing you ate?

McDonald’s obviously!

Aside from that though, the gumbo in Blue Bayou was pretty good and probably my favorite food the whole vacation. The beef chuck in peanut sauce on the Air France flight was pretty good as well.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I have definitely noted: do not fly Air France to China! We fly them a lot to Europe in business class because they have direct flights from RDU to Paris. Haven't had issues, except when getting miles refunded from cancelled flights (calling Flying Blue can be a pain). I'd like to at least see HKDL at some point, but I think we'll go over the Pacific on a different airline.

 

[Rimmit]

I have definitely noted: do not fly Air France to China! We fly them a lot to Europe in business class because they have direct flights from RDU to Paris. Haven't had issues, except when getting miles refunded from cancelled flights (calling Flying Blue can be a pain). I'd like to at least see HKDL at some point, but I think we'll go over the Pacific on a different airline.

Yes. that is a 0/10 do not recommend. If going to China and not getting a Visa, use an Asian carrier. They'll have a much better chance of knowing the rules.

 

[DianaMB333]

I will play safe and do the visa application.. … hopefully it won’t be an issue

 

[Rimmit]

I will play safe and do the visa application.. … hopefully it won’t be an issue

That is definitely not a bad idea. I can’t see how it would be an issue with a visa. You’d have to have the worst check in staff ever for them to deny you then.