Almost a year ago, my mom brought up surprising my brother, Ryan, with a trip to Disney World for his 30th birthday. She said Aaron and I would have to go since she doesn't like to ride the rides. Well, the time came and it all worked out perfectly! Ryan had no idea he was going to Disney and once he found out, he didn't know Aaron and I would be going as well! Our flights landed close tot he same time and we were able to surprise him at the airport.
We took the shuttle and headed to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort.
We were all starving so we ate at Banana Cabana which was located on our resort.
After this we all took a much needed nap as we all were exhausted from flying. When we woke up we went on the Skyliner and checked out the rest of the resort.
The next morning we headed to Hollywood Studios. Thankfully, staying in the resort was so convenient as we did not need a car. We were able to take the Skyliner over to most of the parks and didn't have to worry about traffic... except the lines to get into the park.
Once we got inside the gates, we had to talk to Guest Relations about Ryan. Since Ryan has special needs we were able to get the ADA pass. Now, this is different than the Genie Pass or any of the other passes you can buy. Those passes only allow you to book the lightning lane every 1-2 hours and you can only use it on each ride once a day. Lightning lane is what gets you to the ride quicker as there are long lines. With Ryan, we were able to book the lightning lane as often as we wanted for all the rides. The only thing was, we could not book more than one ride at a time. Once we scanned in, we were able to book the next ride. Mom and I had a good method where I'd text her that we were on the ride and she could book the next ride. I'll say this, I'll never go to Disney without Ryan for many reasons, but this especially. We would've been waiting in lines all day. Instead we were able to go on all the rides and some more than once!
From the moment we got into the park, Ryan was talking about the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith. So, this was our first stop!
Ryan loved the ride!
If you wonder where all my planning skills come from, the answer is my mom. She planned this entire trip all the way down to the Disney PhotoPass Photographers. These are staff who are inside the park and take photos of you in some of the best spots!
It was so neat since we had no idea why they were making us do certain poses. Then when we downloaded the photos we were able to see that they were putting characters in our hands or balloons. At times we had to wait 20-30 minutes for the lightning lane so we checked out a few rides or shows that had short wait times. We decided to go to Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy while we waited.
We still had a little more time, so we got some photos taken.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is a 'haunted elevator' that Ryan was so excited to go on. Aaron is not a huge fan of the rides that drop so he and my mom stayed back. Up Ryan and I went and this ride was so fun! Ryan has the best luck too, we were always in the front!
Then as we walked to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance we made a pit stop to check out the chipmunks which Ryan loves!
...and of course grabbed some food on the way. Disney needs to call Auntie Anne's since their pretzels are not up to par!
The Star Wars ride was awesome! Even my mom loved it and she doesn't go on many rides!
Here's a little video of the ride.
As we waited for one of our reservations, we went to the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular and For the First Time in Forever: A "Frozen" Sing-Along Celebration. Both were great and it kept Ryan distracted from waiting the 20 minutes until our next reservation.
Then went on Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, met Sulley, and checked out some of Disney's history.
Lastly, we headed over to Toy Story Land where we did Toy Story Mania!
Toy Story Mania is a super fun ride where you shoot lasers and get points for hitting the target. Aaron was the winner! While we were waiting for Slinky Dog Dash, Alien Swirling Saucers had a short line so Ryan and I headed over there.
Then, our last ride, was Slinky Dog Dash!
After that, we were all exhausted. We took the ferry from Hollywood Studios to Epcot where we caught the Skyliner. Back at the resort, we hung out at the pool which Ryan loved since there was a water slide.
After that, we grabbed food and watched the fireworks that were happening at Epcot.
Then off to sleep we went! As you can see, Ryan was struggling to stay awake by the end of the day. We rested up to prepare ourselves for another full day at the park, except this time we were headed to Epcot!
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