Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a rollicking runaway train of a roller coaster that rushes through the gold-mining town of Tumbleweed in the Frontierland area atMagic Kingdom theme park.

A ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad provides mild but wild thrills to those aboard—from big kids and teens to adults not up for the really big thrills found on the other 2 Magic Kingdom “mountain” attractions: Space Mountain and Splash Mountain.

But this ain’t no kiddie coaster either. Climb aboard, partners, and you’ll be warned to “hang onto your hats and glasses ’cause this here’s the wildest ride in the wilderness.”

Listen to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad wheels chug-chug, then ratchet and race across seemingly rickety tracks. Swoop around sweeping turns and tear up rolling hills that dip or drop into canyons and caverns, slip under a booming waterfall or swish through the ribs of a dinosaur skeleton. The steam whistle blows-another curve is coming up Better hold on!

And keep your eyes open, there are spectacular sights through the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad gold-mining camp and cactus-scattered desertscape. Be on a lookout for critters. A bleating billy goat guards a mountain peak. A family of opossums hangs overhead at the entrance to a cave. Bats, chickens and donkeys complete the Old Western-themed scenes.

Thar’s Gold in the Big Thunder Mine!

Or there once was, so goes the legend. Gold hounds made a mad rush to the 2.5-acre Big Thunder Mountain and settled in the town of tumbleweed. Everything was fine as cream gravy until a flash flood washed over the mountain and ruined any chances of mining more gold. But this didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits. Dismissing the fact the Tumbleweed saloon’s in danger of sinking, the townsfolk gather in their favorite watering hole to cash in their current riches for a raucously good time before heading for drier digs. Wait, not everyone’s here. Have you seen Cousin Ed? There he goes! Clad in his longjohns, he’s caught up in the flood and is spinning through the waters while sitting in his bathtub. Doesn’t he look surprised!

The other big surprise for the town is that the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad trains that transported the gold ore from mining sites to the town have developed a mind of their own and they’re running loose on the tracks—climb aboard!
For some added fun, take a ride in the daylight, then again under the night sky. You might catch something you didn’t see or hear with each trip you take on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Dining aboard the Disney Fantasy promises a culinary confection of fresh, expertly prepared dishes with a dash of Disney magic. Offering eclectic menus, wondrously themed restaurants and Disney’s innovative Rotational Dining where you can enjoy a different restaurant every night of your cruise, Disney Cruise Line invites you to feast on the finest dining at sea.

Animator’s Palate is a Main Dining restaurant located on Deck 3, Aft aboard the Disney Fantasy that serves dinner. Paying homage to the magic of Disney animation, Animator’s Palate includes a unique dinner show starring some of your favorite Disney characters.

Cabanas is an indoor/outdoor Casual Dining restaurant located on Deck 11, Aft on the Disney Fantasy that serves a culinary confection of fresh food favorites. At breakfast and lunch, Cabanas offers the finest in made-to-order dining; at dinnertime, the restaurant is transformed into a table-service dining room serving Main Dining delights.

Enchanted Garden on the Disney Fantasy is a Main Dining restaurant located on Deck 2, Midship that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Inspired by the opulent gardens of Versailles, Enchanted Garden magically transforms from day to night.

Palo on the Disney Fantasy is an Adult Exclusive restaurant located on Deck 12, Aft that boasts Northern Italian cuisine for dinner. Additionally, brunch is offered on select cruises. Reservations are required to dine at Palo and can be made online or upon boarding the ship.

Remy is a lavish Adult Exclusive restaurant located on Deck 12, Aft aboard the Disney Fantasy. Offering the most upscale and romantic dining experience available onboard, the restaurant serves the finest in French-inspired cuisine for dinner.

Royal Court is a Rotational Dining restaurant located on Deck 3, Midship aboard the Disney Fantasy that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Inspired by the classic Disney films Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty, the décor and atmosphere of Royal Court is especially beautiful.

Disney’s Oceaneer Club is a children’s activity center located on Deck 5, Midship on the Disney Fantasy. It is the perfect place for children 3 to 12 years of age to immerse themselves in the imaginative worlds that only Disney could create, while performing on stage, playing games and enjoying a wide variety of supervised activities.

Design
The Oceaneer Club’s central rotunda is its main gathering place and, at the same time, a portal to other “lands,” including Andy’s Room, Monster’s Academy, Pixie Hollow and Disney’s Explorer Pod. It provides a welcome environment for children, featuring twinkling constellations of Disney characters on its ceiling and sparkling pixie dust. The room’s focal point is a stage area where kids can join storytelling sessions and attend special visits by the world-famous Disney character, both in person and virtually.

The rotunda also has a 103-inch plasma screen for watching movies and for magically awesome interactions with Crush, the animated sea turtle from Disney•Pixar’s Finding Nemo, who speaks like a surfer dude. The turtle personally chats with kids during his real-time animated appearances, asking them about themselves and the human world they inhabit. It’s way cool!

Disney’s Oceaneer Club includes:

•  4 distinctly themed play areas
•  Computer banks with child-friendly computers
•  A reading area
•  Multiple televisions
•  Play structure
•  A giant TV screen

Operating times vary when we are in Port, so once you’re onboard check the Personal Navigator—the Disney Cruise Line daily newsletter detailing all there is to see and do—for the most accurate times.

Themed Spaces
Branching off from the central rotunda, Disney’s Oceaneer Club includes 4 themed spaces:

1. Andy’s Room – Inside this vibrantly-colored room, the world of Disney•Pixar’s Toy Story comes to life. Children feel toy-sized, because everything around them is built large scale. Throughout this space, kids can play with larger-than-life characters from the animated film, including Rex the dinosaur, Hamm the piggy bank and Mr. Potato Head. This room also features a huge Slinky Dog structure that kids can climb through.
2. Monsters Academy – This area is based on the Disney•Pixar animated film Monsters, Inc., the centerpiece being an elaborately themed play structure, where kids can immerse themselves in the world of Monstropolis. It also boasts computers with unique interactive games.
3. Pixie Hollow – Inspired by the series of Tinkerbell movies, this fun interactive space transports children to the magical world inhabited by fairies. A pixie dust tree stands in the corner of the room, with glittering lights twinkling among its leaves, and fun acorn and mushroom stools are sprinkled about for children to sit on. This endearing and tranquil environment is designed for dress-up play, individual craft projects and storytelling sessions.
4. Explorer Pod – Children can explore the Nemo Sub—a scaled version of a submarine inspired by the Disney•Pixar animated film Finding Nemo. The bright blue and yellow submarine surrounded by a seascape features virtual environments for children to discover. Onboard the blue and yellow submarine has 16 interactive computers stations for fun-filled individual or group games.

What makes Disney’s Oceaneer Club even more magical is an endless supply of toys and games, an open seating area for arts and crafts, and ongoing Disney movies. Mats for naps are also available.

 

Updated November 3, 2018

With the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter, many guests staying at the Disney Hotels or Orlando area hotels want to spend a day at Universal Orlando Resort. Disney does not provide transportation to Universal Studios from the Disney Hotels, so how do you get from Disney to Universal Studios? There are several ways to get from the Disney Hotels and the Orlando area hotels to Universal Studios.

Tickets with Transfers Combo

Destinations in Florida Travel offers a ticket called the 1-Day/2-Park Pass or 2-Day/2-Park Pass and they include shuttle transfers from the Disney Hotels and Orlando Area Hotels. The shuttle transfers are on board Mears Transportation. It is an easy process. Once you book your ticket, you call Mears about 24 hours before you are visiting Universal Studios to schedule your pickup time. Then you are picked up outside your hotel for your day at Universal Studios.

Once you are done playing at Universal Studios, you call the same number to schedule your pickup time to head back to your Disney Hotel. In the afternoon, the shuttle runs every hour (quarter after) from 3 PM-2 AM. This means you can stay and play at CityWalk after your day at Universal Studios and then take the shuttle back to your resort.

The shuttle transfers saves you from $90 on transportation from Disney to Universal Studios. Plus, this ticket is also saving you $10 per person off the regular gates prices.  One more HUGE perk, you do not have to wait in line at the ticket windows.  You walk right up to the electronic kiosks to pick up your tickets.  This can easily save you 30 minutes!  To book your tickets, call Destinations in Florida at 877-918-8941.

Renting a Car

Another transportation option is renting a car. Disney World has an Alamo Office right in the middle of the resort at the Walt Disney World Car Care Center. You can rent a car for the day and head to Universal Studios. Be sure to take parking at Universal Studios into your budget, since this is an additional cost when renting a car. Alamo will pick you up at your Disney Resort and take you to their office. After your day, they will also take you back to your Disney Resort. So, you don’t have to worry about transportation from your Disney Hotel to the Alamo Office.  Keep in mind you will have to pay for parking at Universal Orlando Resort!

Take a Taxi

If you are not a planner, you may just want to take a taxi for your transportation. You can always catch a taxi outside your Disney Hotel or you can call 407-699-9999 to get a taxi. The price is right around $45 each way plus tip for a taxi from the Disney Hotels to Universal Studios.

These are three ways to get from the Disney World & Orlando area hotels to Universal Orlando Resort.

As travel agents based in Florida, we are lucky enough to experience the newest attractions, rides, parades, and restaurants at the Walt Disney World Resort.  This week, the newest restaurant opened at Downtown Disney Marketplace.  Our entire office took the afternoon off to experience T-Rex to share with our customers.  I took my family, including my son who is 4 and daughter who is 2, to this new restaurant.  With the name, T-Rex, I am sure you can tell it is themed after dinosaurs.  The first glimpse of dinosaurs happens as you walk through the entrance of T-Rex with the huge dinosaur fossil.  As you walk to the hostess stand, you see a huge animiatronic T-Rex, to welcome you to the restaurant.  This dinosaur is amazing to watch as he moves.  His eyes look so real as they scan the restaurant (for his next meal.)

The restaurant has animatronic dinosaurs, everywhere you look.  T-Rex is themed after fire, water, and ice.  The water section you will immediately see as you walk to your seat with bright blue colors and sealife floating from the ceiling.  The water section features a huge octopus, lots of jellyfish, and several aquariums with fish.  I loved this section with all of the vibrant colors and sealife.  For those hidden Mickey fans, there is a Mickey Mouse hidden on the octupus. Here is a picture (above) of the water section with the huge octupus and jellyfish.

The next section as you walk through the restaurant is fire.  This section features the huge fire pit, where they cook your meals.  This is where you will also experience the meteor shower as part of the “show” during your meals.  The last section is ice, which is almost breathtaking.  This whole section of the restaurant is a huge glacier with a wooly mammoth and even a t-rex frozen in the ice.  The ice changes colors during your meal, making it an even more amazing experience.

As we sat in our seats, we were just mesmerized by all of the dinosaur animatronics, colors, and sounds.  Both of my kids were wide-eyed and actually quiet (for a change).  I think we were in the restaurant for over 30 minutes just looking at everything, before we even thought about eating.

The menu is very similar to Rain Forest Cafe, with lots and lots of options.  They featured great appetizers, sandwiches, salads, pasta, seafood entrees, and incredible desserts.  Our server was excellent!  He was a recent Orlando local and very excited about his new job at T-Rex.  He did an incredible job, especially for a brand new restaurant.  The food and desserts were incredible.

After enjoying dinner and this pre-historic experience, stop by the gift shop.  They have lots of fun souvenirs for the whole family, including some activities for the kids.  Build a Bear has the Build a Dino store, where your child can build a dinosaur and even dress them in the most fashionable modern attire.  You can even let the preschoolers play in the Discovery Dig Site outside and discover fossils and dinosaur bones.  This activity is free for all guests.

We spent several hours at T-Rex during our meal and then in the gift shop area.  Our kids are already talking about another visit to T-Rex!  This brand new restaurant is a must see for kids of all ages during a Disney World vacation.  They are not taking any reservations until after New Years.  They are taking walkups only.  To avoid the longer waits, plan on having lunch or dine during off hours (like 2-4).  This is an incredible restaurant and we recommend this for any family visiting Disney World.

Review from Allison Jones – Disney Specialist at Destinations in Florida Travel