We are a Disney family. There, we said it.
Between DVC ownership at Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at the Wilderness Lodge, years and years of annual trips with the kids — Rachel was a baby and Scott was a toddler — high school marching band trips, birthday celebrations, and more park visits than we can reasonably count, Walt Disney World is less a vacation destination and more a second home. A very expensive, very hot and humid second home with excellent potatoes au gratin.
This Disney World Labor Day 2025 trip was a 4-night stay in a Copper Creek 1-bedroom villa, timed around Rona’s birthday and Disney’s excellent 3-Day, 3-Park summer ticket offer. Magic Kingdom was excluded — we’d been the year before — so we focused on Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and EPCOT, with some Disney Springs and resort dining mixed in for good measure.
The short version: Hollywood Studios was hot and relentless. Animal Kingdom was also quite hot, but it delivered. We did break our cardinal rule of NO BACKTRACKING, but it worked out just fine. EPCOT during Food & Wine Festival is always worth it. Storybook Dining at Artist Point was delish as always. And the potatoes au gratin at Steakhouse 71 at the Contemporary deserve their own post.
You can read the entire trip report, in order:
Day 1 — Arrival, Hollywood Studios & the Glass Pumpkin Copper Creek villa tour, rope drop at Hollywood Studios (Rise of the Resistance, Millennium Falcon, Toy Story Mania), glass blowing at Arribas Brothers in Disney Springs, happy hour at Raglan Road, and birthday dinner at Steakhouse 71. → Read Day 1
Day 2 & 3 — Animal Kingdom, EPCOT & Wilderness Lodge Dining Early rope drop at Animal Kingdom (Avatar Flight of Passage, Kilimanjaro Safari, Festival of the Lion King), birthday dinner at Storybook Dining at Artist Point, then EPCOT with Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Food & Wine Festival, Space 220, and San Angel Inn. → Read Days 2 & 3
The Full Trip Breakdown — Tickets, Lightning Lane & Dining Was the 3-Day 3-Park ticket worth it? Was Lightning Lane Multi-pass worth adding? A look at the costs, the crowds, and our honest take on what we’d do differently. → Read the Full Breakdown