What a fun store! Peanut M&M's are my favorite candy, so I absolutely loved getting to walk through…read morethis store for the first time! I've always enjoyed how, over the years, the M&M's characters have each developed their own personalities, and that really comes through in all of the fun apparel and merchandise throughout the store. They even have the history of M&M's displayed on the wall, which was really cool to read about. The entire store is so bright and colorful, thanks to all the different M&M colors! I also loved seeing all of the newer customization options. You can create your own customized M&M's and choose from so many fun ways to package them, including champagne bottles, cakes, mini containers, and even very large containers. I already know I'll be getting my own customized M&M cake for my birthday next year. No doubt about it! And the back wall of M&M's absolutely blew my mind! Not only can you get them color-coded, but they have SO many additional flavors that you don't typically find at the grocery store. For a candy store, there was definitely a lot to see and do here! Speaking of customization, you can literally customize your own M&M's right in the store using one of their kiosks, which is such a fun feature. If you're an M&M's fan, this is definitely a fun store to explore. There's way more here than just candy!

Do you love M&Ms and all the stuff which features them? Have I got a place for you to visit. We…read morewalked into here while waiting for our movie time and the amount of merchandise ranged from shirts, kitchen items, pajamas and a wall of the ultimate level of M&Ms, in many flavors. They had the minis, they had isolated colored bins of the candies so if you Only want to eat a specific one, they have it! I wish visitors would manage their kids better because some were being wild but there were employees available to provide assistance if needed. The prices were decent so you won't break the bank while getting some treats or knickknacks.

Island Mercantile and the Island Mercantile food cart right next door is the largest merchandise…read moreshop at Animal Kingdom. It has about everything from hats, shirts, and plush items. It also has a nice selection of Disney Fine Art both in the store and around the outside areas of the shop. Service is fast when checking out. You can also utilize the Merchandise Mobile Checkout on your phone as well. There are a variety of items. When I went the featured items were the Bluey ones. The Island Mercantile food cart is another home to the viral Cookie Dough Ice Cream sandwich. It was the perfect treat on a hot day. It quite a large sandwich and it does melt quickly. However, it came beautifully wrapped which helps stop some of the melting. The sprinkles in the sandwich were a fun touch and it was an interesting mixture of cookie dough and vanilla ice cream. It can easily be shared with multiple people.

Island Mercantile is located in Discovery Island at Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park. You'll see…read moreit on the left side as soon as you enter Animal Kingdom going towards the Tree of Life. It's one of the larger gift stores in Animal Kingdom. This is also one of the main shopping areas inside the theme park. This store has some much merchandise! There is food, pins, apparel, accessories and so much more! While I was shopping at this store during the holidays, there was a lot of Up merchandise, Disney Pins that were Animal Kingdom theme, and even a discovery series pin! I really liked the coco inspired Merchandise! There were some toys and really cool shirts! I think the largest section of the store was dedicated to Lilo and Stich though. We saw a lot of Lilo and Stich merchandise like key chains, plush, shirts and a lot more! This is one of my favorite stores to shop at inside Disney's Animal Kingdom. Annual Passholder discounts and Disney Visa Cardmember Perks do apply at this store!

You're in the mall (Disney Springs) and of course there will be a toy store. This one has toys for…read morevarious characters. There's a make-your-own light saber bar in the middle of the store if that's your thing. I'm not sure there's much that you can't fin din other stores, though the make your own light saber thing is a little harder to find. We had fun taking photos with Buzz at the front of the store--once my little one got over her apprehension of the big spaceman.

After visiting Pin Traders at Disney Springs, my daughter and I stopped inside Once Upon a Toy!…read moreOnce Upon a Toy is located at the Marketplace inside Disney Springs. Current hours are from 10:00 A.M to 11:30 P.M, but hours can vary. You can check the Disney World mobile application for the most up-to-date hours! Once upon a toy has so much merchandise! There are collectibles here, board games, plush, puzzles, apparel, and accessories. There are also multiple photo ops inside the store too! Outside the store, you can take a picture with the Tinker Toy display, Buzz Lightyear, or even Mr. Potato Head from the Toy Story movie! Once Upon a Toy does accept Annual Passholder discounts and the Disney Visa Card Member Perks. This store is one of the best toy stores in Disney Springs! You can find most of these items at the World of Disney store though. It's a must visit while you're in the Marketplace area!

We returned to SeaWorld this weekend to finish our sampler lanyard. We had until the end of the…read moreChristmas Celebration to get all our samples. This visit I had the Bison Burger, Joyful Chicken & Waffles, and Frozen Eggnog Delight. Everything was delicious. The Eggnog, however, was not frozen as advertised. We couldn't leave without seeing the Winter Wonderland On Ice again. The violinist and ice skaters were amazing. The ice skaters' performance is synced with the surrounding trees lights. I look forward to returning next year for SeaWorld's Christmas Celebration.

The shows and coasters are great! Top notch entertainment. Only thing wrong are the security…read moreguards collecting a paycheck and being a-holes. The Christmas atmosphere was excellent.

We had a wonderful experience and the best trip to this park we've ever had!…read more The performances (live and otherwise) are phenomenal and amazing! We are grateful for such superb experiences that we enjoy so very much! The rides at the park go From exhilarating (Expedition Everest) to docile and educational experiences with Bluey - plus the Animal Safari which takes guests through the savanna with a guide in a tour bus - elephants, hippos, birds of many kinds - big cats and more! We saw them all!

I asked for a replacement Lightning Lane pass because the ride was down. I never imagined that…read morerequest at Animal Kingdom would escalate into frozen admission passes, questions about fraud, and three hours outside in the Florida heat for my daughter and her friends. We had been Disney annual passholders for over five years and had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars with Disney. This trip was a graduation present for Yasmine and her three friends: a week at Myrtle Beach followed by a week at Disney. There were eight of us altogether. The dispute began when we tried to use our paid Lightning Lane access and the ride was unavailable. I asked for another pass. During the interaction with an employee named Tyler, whom I found confrontational, the focus shifted to our Florida residency after I mentioned that we had flown in. We had flown from Myrtle Beach. It was the first half of their graduation present, and we have one-way plane tickets documenting that journey. Flying into Florida does not establish that someone is not a resident. By then, our group had already spent two days at the theme parks and two days at the water parks. On the fifth day, our passes were frozen. During this dispute, Yasmine and her friends were made to sit outside in the heat for THREE HOURS. Later that day, they passed out and became severely ill after that prolonged heat exposure. Instead of enjoying the graduation celebration I had planned, I was watching these young people suffer. That is the memory Animal Kingdom left our family with. Other members of our group were subsequently cleared after providing documentation. Yasmine remained blocked. The demands for proof extended to asking her to log into her school portal. Disney wanted approximately $500 for her to enter for two days. I understand verifying residency. My question was why my daughter had to produce a Florida-issued ID when the other seven people did not, and why the alternative proof listed on Disney's website was insufficient in her case. The executive follow-up made the experience worse. On October 5, Rick from Executive Correspondence told me Disney had the right to ask. He stated that the website required a Florida driver's license, Florida state ID, or Florida-based military ID. When I read him the provision allowing alternative residency documentation, he said he was looking at the website and did not see what I was seeing. He repeatedly disagreed that we had been discriminated against. He refused compensation and a refund. I still did not receive a specific explanation addressing the discrepancy. We canceled. More than five years of loyalty ended with me feeling that Disney was determined to keep our money but unwilling to meaningfully address what happened. Before you commit your family's vacation budget to this park, consider that the experience you are buying includes how you are treated when something goes wrong. In our case, a request about paid access to a closed ride became an exhausting ordeal, and escalating it brought no meaningful resolution. I chose Disney to celebrate my daughter's graduation. I cannot replace that milestone or erase what happened to her and her friends. I deeply regret trusting Animal Kingdom with that celebration.

I always start my Disney vacation at Magic Kingdom. After entering, you walk around the corner to a…read moreview of the castle down main street. It really is a magical sight to see. I'd highly suggest getting here early, staying on property(at deluxe resorts only) gives you an extra hour of early entry. Tomorrowland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Adventureland each offering their own special treats and rides. I love this park for the variety in its attractions. Pro Tip: Staying in a Deluxe resort, on select days throughout the month Late hours are available for only these guests offering shorter wait times & low crowds. I highly recommend it, if it's possible for your trip. These resorts typically offer multiple ways of transportation to the parks as well: boat, monorail, skyliner, walking, etc. Rather than getting on a bus for every park, which can be packed and unreliable at times. **MUST TRY: Located at the Springroll cart right outside Adventure land near the castle. The Cheeseburger Eggrolls.. YUM!! A MUST for me every visit.

A SERIOUS TRANSPORTATION & EMERGENCY-EGRESS CONCERN AT MAGIC KINGDOM…read more I absolutely love Magic Kingdom, but I believe Disney needs to seriously reconsider how guests travel between Magic Kingdom and the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC). Tens of thousands of guests can leave the park within a relatively short period. If approximately 20,000 guests need to reach the TTC during a concentrated departure period, the existing transportation system can become severely overwhelmed. When the monorails and ferries are operating normally, guests can divide between the two systems. But when the monorail is unavailable, thousands of people become dependent on the ferries. Consider just one hypothetical scenario: * 20,000 guests need to reach the TTC * Three ferries are operating * Each carries approximately 600 guests * A complete ferry cycle takes approximately 12 minutes Even under these optimistic assumptions, it could take approximately 135 minutes to move the entire crowd--and real-world loading, unloading, crowd movement, strollers, wheelchairs, children, and other delays can make the actual situation substantially worse. A guest leaving Magic Kingdom around 9:15 PM could potentially find themselves still trying to reach their vehicle close to midnight. That should not be an acceptable possible outcome. More importantly, I believe Disney should examine this from a life-safety and emergency-egress perspective, not merely a convenience perspective. The current system relies heavily on mechanically and electrically powered transportation. If a major emergency, power failure, mechanical failure, fire, severe weather event, or other incident simultaneously limits these systems, what independent high-capacity means exists for tens of thousands of guests to safely reach the TTC? I am not claiming that this necessarily constitutes a fire-code violation. That determination should be made by qualified fire/life-safety engineers and the appropriate authorities. However, the question deserves a serious formal review: Does the current transportation infrastructure provide sufficient independent emergency egress capacity if the monorails and ferries are simultaneously unavailable? A dedicated pedestrian bridge could address both the transportation bottleneck and this potential life-safety vulnerability. A roughly 15-foot-wide pedestrian bridge could provide hundreds of pedestrians per minute of independent capacity without relying on propulsion systems, electricity, or mechanical transportation. Instead of: Monorail + Ferries Disney could have: Monorail + Ferries + Pedestrian Bridge The bridge would provide: * A completely independent transportation option * Additional capacity during normal evening crowds * A backup when the monorail fails * A backup when ferry operations are disrupted * An emergency evacuation/egress option * Improved accessibility and reduced crowd congestion * Greater resilience for the entire transportation system This isn't about replacing the monorail or ferries. It is about redundancy. Disney invests enormous amounts of money creating attractions that guests remember for years. A pedestrian connection might not be as exciting, but it could benefit millions of guests and potentially provide an important layer of emergency resilience for decades. I strongly encourage Disney to conduct a professional feasibility and life-safety study of a dedicated pedestrian connection between Magic Kingdom and the TTC, including engineering, crowd-flow, accessibility, environmental, fire-code, emergency-egress, and cost considerations. The Happiest Place on Earth should have a transportation system that remains safe, reliable, and functional even when mechanical transportation fails. Please seriously consider building the bridge.

Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios nails the concept it is built around. I walked into an area…read moredesigned to make me feel like I had been shrunk down to toy size and dropped into Andy's backyard, and the execution of that idea was thorough. Giant game pieces, oversized footprints, building blocks used as architecture, and Christmas lights strung overhead as decoration all reinforced the scale in a way that rewarded me for actually looking around rather than just moving from ride to ride. Slinky Dog Dash is the anchor attraction and delivered as a family coaster that works for a wide range of ages. It is smooth, fast enough to feel exciting, and the Toy Story theming throughout the track layout is well integrated. Wait times regularly stretch past an hour, so prioritizing it early in the day or using Lightning Lane is the practical move. Toy Story Mania is an interactive 4D shooting game that holds up across multiple rides and was genuinely competitive and fun for my group. Alien Swirling Saucers is the gentler option that skews younger, but it is an easy yes for anyone who does not mind spinning. Woody's Lunch Box is worth building a meal or snack stop around. The totchos and grilled cheese are the items that keep coming up for good reason, and the Lunch Box Tarts are worth grabbing for dessert if I want something to eat while I keep moving through the land. The one consistent practical note is that the area has very little shade and gets genuinely hot during the middle of the day. Coming in during the early morning or staying into the evening is the right call. At night the land takes on a different quality with the lighting, and it is worth lingering in if my park day extends into the evening hours.

Toy Story Land at Disney's Hollywood Studios was just OK for me. The area is relatively small and…read moregeared mostly toward children; it reminds me of the more whimsical, childlike lands at Universal Orlando, like Seuss Landing. We came here for Toy Story Mania!, which I enjoyed. I reviewed that ride separately here on Yelp and gave it four stars. A popular ride here is Slinky Dog Dash. It looks fun, but I'm not a fan of roller coasters. There's also Alien Swirling Saucers, a spinning ride similar to Mad Tea Party. Unfortunately, I'm not interested in getting motion sickness. My wife thinks Woody's Lunch Box is fun. It's a counter-service restaurant themed after Sheriff Woody, the iconic cowboy from the movies (voiced by Tom Hanks). Toy Story Land at Disney World opened on June 30, 2018. Other versions exist in France (the original), Hong Kong, and Shanghai. The Florida version is the newest of the four and replaced the Studio Backlot Tour, which I visited as a kid circa 1989-1990 (RIP).

This is a must-do must-stop here first before going home tradition! They have changed the outside…read moreof the store since we were here last, and made it less crowded with more room due to the pandemic. I still love it here. It is great for that last-minute shopping just in case impulse, of if I visited Universal or other resorts I need to get my Disney snack fix!!!! If you are a Disney fan like myself, you might have seen those subscription boxes to get Disney foods and snacks. They are quite pricey but very tempting! Instead of indulging online, I like to stop here and get my Mickey rice crispy treats! They are the same ones as in the parks and at the hotels. I picked up some coffee from the parks, candy, and savory treats as well. The service here is great. A lot of distancing, limiting customers, and following the current rules. It is not a trip to Florida or MCO without coming to this shop.

I've got to tell you, I'm not a huge fan of the Orlando airport. It's just always a hassel. It…read moretakes so long to get through security, and there are always so many kids! (Not my favorite thing.) But, Disney's EarPort always makes the experience of being there a bit better! It's such a fun shop. I like to go in and look around, shop for myself, or pick up gifts for others. It's great for whatever shopping you may need to do. This spot carries so many items! There's clothing, accessories, mugs, toys, candies, and so much more. Plus, since Star Wars joined Disney they have tons of cool Star Wars merchandise, which is really one of my favorite things about this place. If you're in the Orlando airport you've got to check out Disney's EarPort!