Arguably one of the most exciting places in the world—Walt Disney World has brought joy to families worldwide for 50 years. Growing up, the media didn’t always portray equal representation and as a young black woman my peers and I often felt the effects from that.
From Princess Tiana to Princess Jasmine—times are changing, giving girls the confidence to be themselves and live out loud. Disney World Resort recently introduced award winning icon Kelly Rowland to mentor 100 students in the 15th year of Disney Dreamers Academy. Currently transformed into “The World’s Most Magical Celebration,” the iconic resort is celebrating with an 18-month Disney adventure in honor of the 50th anniversary.
Showcasing tons of new eye-popping exhibits, ‘The Soul of Jazz’ at Epcot Center takes you on a musical tour to learn about the history of jazz music boasting artifacts from Harlem and Kansas City. Also located in Epcot, Gospel star Kierra Sheard is among one of the celebrity voices featured in ‘Harmonious’ the new Nighttime Spectacular. The EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival has the most unique lush gardens and fragrant blossoms turned into your favorite Disney characters.
5-year-old ‘kidpreneur’ Felicity Franco recently ventured to Florida for her first visit to the illustrious Walt Disney World. Armed with her pink unicorn camera and red velvet Minnie Mouse ears, Felicity snapped photos of moments that wowed her during her trip. The colorful kindergarten-er shared with us a few of her favorite moments at the greatest place on earth.
What did you think when you first laid eyes on Disney’s Magic Kingdom?
I was going nuts when I first got there because I was so excited to be at Disney World! SO cool and I saw my friend Orly there from my school too!
What a coincidence! What was your favorite ride at Disney today?
My favorite part of Disney was ‘The Haunted Ride’ (at Magic Kingdom), because it was scary and I like scary stuff. I remember that it had a creepy head popping out, it scared me when I got right next to it. I really liked the ‘Finding Nemo’ ride… it was fun fun!
Really what were they doing on that ride?
They were looking for Nemo! And they found him at the end.
Who was your favorite princess to meet?
Tiana was my favorite princess to meet—because she’s brown like us!
She had on a nice outfit and I like her hairdo. When I took a picture of her she was really nice. I took pictures of Ariel and Rapunzel and a lot of princesses. I pretty much liked Cinderella’s slipper, when I get older I really want to wear that.
I know as the health and wellness princess, you prefer vegan food—did you eat any good food at the park?
The food was reeeally good there. I liked the food and I also really loved the rice and veggies—I really like veggies. I ate some eggplant with hummus and the vegan (Impossible) rib bowl. The vegan hot dog was really good, and it had veggies!
What did you think about the nighttime ‘Disney Enchantment’ at Magic Kingdom?
Amazing! The fireworks was my favorite part…ahhh-mazing, because they were so pretty. (smiles)
You also visited the Flower & Garden Festival at Epcot?
Oh yeah! Also the butterflies, they were so pretty. One of them got out but…that’s ok. I saw Simba, The Lion King and Peter Pan. We saw Mickey and Minnie Mouse sculptures made out of grass so so cool.
I was taking pictures of the flowers. They were so pretty.
What would you do to improve Disney World to make it better?
The candy shop could have added more dark chocolate. (giggles)
What did you think about the people that were working at Disney World?
Ohhh they were really really nice to us. Everybody at Disney, like nobody was mean. like they were just like all nice.
How did you like Epcot Center?
I liked that talking turtle, Crush, I wasn’t shy to speak when they gave me the mic. I thought wow he’s actually funny and I know he’s from Finding Nemo. He was the funniest turtle I’ve ever seen. I saw Dolphins and a stingray trying to get out (giggles) I put my head in a shark but it was fake, I loved the playground there. It had cool stuff and I was able to climb under the little hole.
How did you like the hotel, Disney Animal Lodge?
The hotel was soo fun. It had hidden Mickey Mouses and we found a lot! It has nice balconies and like… giraffes keep on coming to us, they are trying to get in! (laughs) The giraffes are the cutest for me. I remember that it’s fun, it was really really fun and I remember I was with my favorite mommy.
What are you going to tell your friends when you go home?
Guess what guys? I went to Disney World but also Florida and it was really beautiful. We had a balcony and animals kept trying to get in.
The place is really cool. I’m gonna tell my friends I got to go on a haunted ride. Every kid should go to Disney World because they will love it and get to see Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse.
Couldn’t have said it better.
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