Spring Break on the West Coast

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

Spring is such a lovely time! When we get to spring break week, that means summer is right around the corner, but the fun is already starting! For our spring break this year, the fam and I went to California to visit Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood, and take in the touristy sites of the greater Los Angeles area. While we’ve been to Disneyland several times before, this was our first visit to Universal Studios Hollywood, and we were very excited to see Super Nintendo World in person. It didn’t disappoint! Let’s dig in to the deets…

I tell you, as I get older, flying through multiple time zones really kicks my butt! California’s not even that far behind Virginia and I just felt wiped out when we got to Anaheim. I don’t think I ever really adjusted to the time difference on this trip and coming home to the actual time change (spring forward!) surely didn’t help anything. Anyway, we flew into Santa Ana/Orange County airport, so we were very close to Disneyland. After a quick Lyft over to the Disneyland hotel, we got checked in and saw our ah-mazing room for the first time. Two-bedroom family suite in the Frontier tower and I upgraded to add access to the E-Ticket Club upon arrival. This room was killer. You walked in through the double doors, down a hallway into the room’s living room area (convertible sofa and two chairs). Behind the sofa area was a gigantic dining room with a huge table plus a wet bar with a large counter and cabinets. Down another hallway past the wet bar was bedroom number one with a king bed and its own full bathroom then a second bedroom with a king bed and its own full bathroom. There was also a half bath in the hallway between the two bedrooms. This room was quite possibly bigger than my house! We loved every minute of the stay there and did not want to leave! It even had its own doorbell… couldn’t figure out quite why until one evening the doorbell rang (housekeeping) and I realized I never would have heard them knocking from back in the second bedroom otherwise. Livin’ the life!

 

Adding access to the E-Ticket Club lounge was the best. We’ve enjoyed the lounge on prior trips and knew that the offerings there (breakfast, snacks and drinks during the day, appetizers and drinks in the evening, and the desserts late) plus the ability to see Disneyland fireworks from the lounge and the INCREDIBLE staff (thank you ROBERT!!!) make adding the access on a no-brainer for us. While the add-on isn’t always available if you didn’t book a club level room initially, the cost of $250/night plus tax can be a super deal, especially if you have a bigger family. We were just a party of four with the fam, me, and the daughter’s BF, but we definitely got our money’s worth.

The two parks, Disneyland and California Adventure, were perfect as usual. Our lines were decent, Genie+ worked well, and the weather was fine (albeit a bit chillier than I prefer). The food is always hit or miss for me and the daughter since we’re vegetarians and, for whatever reason, I feel like the food there just isn’t made to suit us. There’s not even a ton of the ‘fake meat’ products out there, which we don’t like anyway, but just so meat heavy overall. It’s a bummer for us, because we definitely like to eat! We did have quite a few rides going down during our stay and that was also a bummer, but we dealt with it and rode what we could. We were also able to go to the first Disneyland After Dark: Disney Channel nite event after hours at the Disneyland park one evening. The After Dark events aren’t new but this was the first time there was a Disney Channel themed one. We had a good time there during the event but didn’t stay super long as all of us were wiped out and I was having issues with one of my feet. I tell you though, Disneyland guests get way more into these after-hours events than the guests at Disney World do. It’s always like night and day between the two coasts and how much the guests really ‘do Disney’. I think it is the difference between the California parks being visited by more locals and the Florida parks being visited by more out-of-towners. You can tell that the CA folks are frequent visitors and really get into the spirit of the parks. Totally different vibe (and I like it!)

Before we left Anaheim to head to North Hollywood, we took a day to do a Los Angeles City Tour. We’ve done these in the past but chose to go with a different company for this tour. The group was small with the four of us and only six others. It lasted a good while, taking up the bulk of a day, but we got a lot in and had a great time. We stopped by the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum which held the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics, the Staples Center (now called the Crypto.com arena) where a variety of teams including the LA Lakers play, Griffith Park and the Griffith Observatory where you can see the Hollywood sign from afar, the Beverly Hills sign, the Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach, the Walk of Fame and Dolby Theater area (the Oscars were being set up to be held that weekend), the Original Farmer’s Market and The Grove, and then drove past various landmarks in LA and the surrounding area. We had lunch at the Farmer’s Market, which is always fun and offers a variety of choices to enjoy. It was handy to refresh ourselves with that area since we were coming back there the following day for another activity.

After leaving the Disneyland hotel, we took a Lyft over to North Hollywood for our next hotel, The Garland. We’ve stayed there in the past and it is a boutique-style older hotel, just over 50 years old now. It’s a cute place, funky retro, but we had some overall unpleasant staff interactions there this time, so we likely won’t return. I am not sure that we would have anyway, since we don’t normally have a need to stay in that area, but I will try another option if we do.

The reason for being over in North Hollywood was so we would be closer to Universal Studios Hollywood for our day there. We also had reservations to play the Squid Game The Trials Experience over near the Farmer’s Market at CBS Television Studios, so being in North Hollywood was closer than coming to that area from Anaheim. This experience is now closed, it ended its run a couple of days after we left, but it was incredible. Definitely a highlight of our trip overall. If you’ve ever watched the Squid Game show on Netflix, it was very much like that, without dying of course. No big piggy bank of money for the winner at the end either. We went in with a group of probably 30ish people and played a variety of games themed like the ones on the show. It was intense at times, and we all had so much fun. I came in third somehow miraculously and the daughter was the overall winner! She kicked everyone’s butt, including mine, who she trounced in the final game by knocking the egg I was holding off of my spoon. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but I have seen some pics and videos circulating online that capture some of the games. And yes, Red Light, Green Light was one of them! As the winner, she got to go into the VIP lounge at the end of the experience (normally a paid add-on) where you can watch the other players go through their games in real-time while on comfy sofas and with snacks/drinks for purchase. They also had a photo booth there for those fun strip photos you can take a touristy spots at no cost, which was great since the ones out in the main experience were $6/each. You were able to shop in a market for souvenirs from the game and also purchase Korean foods and snacks before/after you played. It was a lot of fun and I would definitely do it again should it show up somewhere else I’m visiting.

On our day at Universal Studios Hollywood, we had to get up early and Lyft over to the park for Early Entry at Super Nintendo World. This is an add-on for about $20/person and well worth it. You are given an hour in that land before it opens to everyone else. As small as SNW is and as many people as want into it, that hour really comes in handy. We were able to get in, look around and take some pictures, and ride Bowser’s Challenge with a 30-minute wait (which I think was actually probably shorter than that). I’ve been on a lot of rides in a lot of places and this one definitely ranks up at the very top. It is interactive and whimsical and, despite all the motion, none of us felt sick, which was very surprising. I could have gone on it over and over just to watch more of the ride itself since I focused so much on playing the game the first time. Ten out of ten, highly recommend. The theme overall in this land was incredible, definitely brought back so many childhood memories of hours playing Super Mario Brothers. We ate at Toadstool Cafe which was good, but had a very long wait for ordering and getting your food. This restaurant requires a reservation that can only be made the morning of the visit, but it was definitely worth trying out and seeing inside of. We also had some fun Mario themed drinks back in the regular part of the park at the Power-Up Cafe that were quite delish, and I would buy them again. Overall, I wish the land was bigger (shoot, it could be a whole park!) and had more rides but I think that’s generally how it goes when there’s something you like. You just want more, more, more!

 

The rest of the park for me was just ok. We did get a complimentary Express Pass to use for the Studio Tour included with the SNW Early Entry, so we used that before it expired at 11am. The Tour was fun, and I enjoyed the King Kong, Jaws, and Nope sections the most. It ran for about an hour and kept my interest up. Afterward, we went to the Harry Potter section of the park and walked around with a Frozen Butterbeer. I’m not the biggest Harry Potter fan but it was well-done like the sections of Universal Orlando and more compact since they only have one HP section versus the two in Orlando. The Simpsons area was fun, and I wish we could have tried the ride there, but the line was pretty long and we were about out of stamina since we were at the end of our trip. I’d say the other highlight besides SNW and the tour was the Waterworld show. That one was unexpectedly very good and well worth the time spent. Stay out of those splash zones though! We skipped CityWalk this time and decided just to go back to The Garland and get in the hot tub for a bit (great choice, in fact).

After all of the fun, it was time to hop on a plane and fly back to reality. Darn reality! Now I am anxiously awaiting our next adventure, but I have about a month to go! Stay tuned!

xoxo,

Amber

Festival of the Arts 2024!

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

My favorite festival at Epcot is the annual Festival of the Arts, held in mid-January to late February. It is my favorite for several reasons including the cooler weather, the more ‘inventive’ food offerings in the festival food stands, the paint-by-number mural, the life-size art backdrops for photos, meeting my favorite artists, and the artwork offered for sale, display, and being created in person on-site. My tippy top favorite reason though is that my daughter started as a single-day chalk artist at the festival last year and was invited back this year to chalk for two days in January! Let’s dive into the trip deets!

We flew in to Orlando late on a Friday night, gotta work around the college schedule! Our lodging for this trip was the incredible Disney’s Polynesian Village resort in a deluxe studio villa. We’ve stayed in these before, on their opening day as villas in fact, and a few times since. I love, love, love the views from the lake view villa rooms. We had the best view of Magic Kingdom and Cinderella Castle from our patio. This was super when it came to watching fireworks from the room. One thing that majorly stinks about lake view studio villas here? The Magic Kingdom Ferryboat! The Transportation and Ticket Center, aka the way you have to come into the Magic Kingdom if you’re staying off-site, is right beside the Polynesian resort. This is great for being able to run over and hop on the Epcot monorail line. This is the pits though if you’re in a lake view studio villa because you hear the darn Ferryboat horn every time the ferry comes and goes over to the park. It’s enough to drive you bonkers until you finally get used to it… you know, on your last night of the trip. LOL. You can also hear the train’s whistle from Magic Kingdom but I actually quite enjoy that sound. But the ferryboat, man… and the ferryboat’s man, giving the spiel over the boat’s PA system about going over to the park and all that. At least you don’t have to ride to the park on that behemoth yourself though!! From the Polynesian, you can take the resort monorail line or hop on the resort boat from the marina (much, much smaller than the ferryboat). Boat noise aside, the Polynesian is my fave and I always love my time there.

So January, right? It’s Florida though, so it’s always hot and sweaty, right? No! No! No! I tell clients all the time that you’re not guaranteed the hot sticky weather unless you’re traveling in mid to late April through about early October. Before and after that, you can have the heat but you can also have the cooler temperatures. On our trip, it was FREEZING! I have been to Disney umpteen times, all throughout the year and have never had it that cold. The air temps maxed in the 50s but it was windy and felt much colder than that. Once the sun went down, BRRRR! We had heavy coats and jeans on and were still cold. Many guests had hats, gloves, heavy coats, etc. on every day and I think I only saw somebody in the pool once, on our very last day when it started to warm up a bit. I’m usually quite hot and don’t think I had one drop of sweat the whole time. It was a short little burst of cold and then warmed back up some the day we left. Wouldn’t you know?! We even came back to the room shortly after dark one night because it was just too chilly to be comfortable.

While we were there, we hit all of the parks except Animal Kingdom. That one seems to get less love from us than it should but we were on a tight schedule so that had to be pushed aside. We had three full days plus an After Hours event at Magic Kingdom from 10pm-1am. While the tickets for the event were close to $175/each, it was worth every penny to have the park be super empty with attractions open (basically no waiting on anything), free snacks (popcorn, various ice cream novelties) and drinks (bottled sodas and water), a second set of fireworks, and — wait for it — Tron with a standby line! Tron is normally only available with the purchase of an Individual Lightning Lane timeslot at 7am for about $25/person or by booking a free Virtual Queue slot at 7am (books in seconds and you still end up having to wait a while in line). There is no regular/standby line to use for this attraction due to popularity. But during the After Hours event, there is no Individual Lightning Lane/Genie+ service available and the Virtual Queues don’t operate either! So the standby line is put into service and you can ride as much as you want! The wait for Tron for us said 20 minutes but we walked right on and through the queue, up to the main room where you board the lightcycles. We probably waited 5-10 minutes in there. While we only rode once (thanks motion sickness) we could’ve ridden at least once or twice more with , that same super short wait. We also rode pretty much everything else we wanted to ride: Pirates, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan’s Flight (with maybe a 5 minute wait?), Buzz Lightyear (twice), Tron, Tomorrowland Speedway (the only people on the track!), and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. We shopped, had snacks/drinks, and went at a nice pace. We rolled out of the park at just about 12:30am… with a flight at 10am and needing to leave for the airport at 7-7:30am, we had to get some rest!

Hollywood Studios was a blast, as always. We usually go in and head straight for Tower of Terror. I would ride that over and over if I could do it with a minimal wait. Those varying drop sequences are the best! We hit Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, went on Star Tours (hoping for a new clip in the ride but we always get the same few), had some lunch, enjoyed a bit of shopping, and then hopped on the Friendship Boat over to Epcot for the rest of the day.

Epcot is probably tied with Magic Kingdom for us as our favorite park. I love how it evolves throughout the year with each festival and its offerings. This was the first time we had been in Epcot since the area behind Spaceship Earth had reopened (in December) and it was a real delight to see what it had become. I love the new space being so full of trees and greenery, areas for sitting and relaxing, charging stations available, spots for character meets, the new Dreamer’s Point statue of Walt Disney, and the cool lighting that comes alive after dark to add a special touch to the area. I know there has been grumblings about how it took so long to morph the old area into this new space and that some people were expecting more but I think it is absolutely perfect. This area will continue to become just what Epcot needed, a place to relax and reflect and enjoy a bit of nature.

We tried out the new Moana water-themed walk through attraction and I really enjoyed that as well. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect and definitely prefer to walk through when it isn’t very crowded but playing with the water features in this area was a lot of fun and made for many great photo ops. I can imagine small children really getting immersed in the experience and having a blast, making lots of fun memories. Definitely try it out, no matter how old you are!

Festival of the Arts was our reason for coming to Disney and we could have stayed for several more days just to soak more of the festival in. The kid chalked for two 3-hour morning shifts and the hubs and I explored the festival while she was making magic on the bridge to World Showcase. I tell you, I could keep going back to the paint-by-number mural over and over (ok, so I might have done it three or four times one day) because it is just super fun. I love watching the little squares fill in and the mural come to life.

I wish the food stands had more vegetarian food offerings (and less of the fake meat posing as something vegetarians want to eat) other that just desserts but they are some pretty darn beautiful little desserts! The visual appeal of the food during this festival is on point. Of course, watching the artists create new pieces during the festival and also sign their art for fans is a huge draw as well. Fan-girling over our fave artists and seeing all of the different styles of art is the best. We can’t wait for next January to head back and create some more art-filled memories! Here’s my favorite artist’s work!

xoxo,

Amber

Recapping the fall, y’all!

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

Wowza! I was coming to write about my latest trip to Disney and realized my last entry was from July! That means I have neglected to fill you in on all of the excitement of the last six months!! I will hit the highlights from the fall and move on to my recent (January 2024) trip in the next post. Hold on to your hats! It was a busy six months…

In August, the hubs and I went to The Omni Homestead resort for a few days for an annual conference related to his job. This resort is full of Southern hospitality and not too terribly far from our home. If not for the winding roads and mountain climbs, it would be a lot closer. I had a great time relaxing by the pool while he toiled away and wouldn’t mind sneaking over for a quick getaway there again when the weather warms back up.

In September, the hubs, kid, and I went to Disney World for the kid’s birthday celebration. (I really do need to stop calling her a kid since she’ll be 20 this year…) We enjoyed a lovely stay at Disney’s Riviera resort, some park time, and the hubs went over to Universal for a Halloween Horror Nights evening out. Going to Halloween Horror Nights remains a “hard no” for me and the kid.

October and November were slow months for us, no big adventures. In December, we headed to Hilton Head, SC for our annual holiday getaway. We normally go there over Thanksgiving but switched it up to go right before Christmas. That was a nice change and helped get us all in the holiday spirit. Disney’s resort at Hilton Head is undergoing a huge renovation project and we were very fortunate to have been able to stay in a renovated room. The updates in the rooms are incredible and I can’t wait to stay there again!

Our last jaunt in 2023 was for New Years Eve. We headed up to the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland (not to be confused with the Inner Harbor in Baltimore) and spent a couple of nights enjoying that area, driving into DC to visit some of the Smithsonian museums, and watching the fireworks over the Potomac River as we welcomed 2024. There is also a traveling exhibit about the Titanic at the National Harbor which was a delight to check out before we headed home. Check out the third class menu (actual one!) from the doomed sailing.

Phew, that was a quick recap! I hope you had a great second half of 2023 and an even better 2024!

xoxo,

Amber

Melting on Main Street USA

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

The fam and I have been to Disney many times in the summer so we feel like old pros when hitting the parks during their ‘melting point’. Packing the essentials like hats, cooling cloths, neck fans, and wicking clothes is a no-brainer but also making sure we plan for plenty of pool time and midday breaks is a requirement. Every year it gets hotter and hotter and we sweat more and more, but we still have a blast and make some incredible memories. Late June of this year was no exception and, while it was well over 100 with the heat index, we had so much fun!

Our home base for this trip was Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge resort. We’ve stayed here several times, including during our pre-cruise stay in March. This time we had a one-bedroom villa in a fantastic spot right near the entrance to the villa building. These rooms are incredible and have been recently renovated. They feature a master bedroom with a king bed and a living room with a wall pull-down queen bed. The wall pull-down beds are being installed in a lot of different room types at Disney and are MUCH more comfortable than the old-style sofa beds. These have one single piece mattress instead of a mattress that folds and has bars underneath to support it. We also had a full kitchen, washer and dryer (very useful in the summer, I probably did 10 loads of laundry!), and a huge master bathroom with a water closet, large walk-in shower, two separate vanities, and a large soaking tub. Two patios (our room was a ground floor room, otherwise we would’ve had two balconies) completed the comfortable accommodations.

The wall pull-down bed in the living room comes down from behind that piece of artwork. The sofa flips into itself in such a way that it supports the bed when it comes down. Then during the day, it can be returned to the wall. Super handy!

Wilderness Lodge is located in the Magic Kingdom area with resort boat service direct to the park. Bus service is available to the other three parks and Disney Springs. The Lodge does share buses with the Contemporary and Fort Wilderness resorts from certain parks, but I think that’s fun because you get to see other resorts that you might not ever visit. The boat service is very peaceful and a nice breezy ride; we were even fortunate to see Magic Kingdom fireworks from the dock and on the boat as we were leaving one night (in the pouring rain!) We spent a good bit of time in the villa pool at the resort which was a welcome respite from the heat. Plenty of chairs and tables are available here as well as free cabanas available on a first-come, first-served basis. It’s also super easy to mobile order lunch from Geyser Point Bar and Grill or Roaring Fork at the hotel and walk over to grab it in minutes. There is a second, larger pool at the resort and it features a water slide, daily activities, and a water play area for children. We chose the quieter option and spent our pool time floating and relaxing. The lobby of the Lodge is truly stunning with gigantic totem poles and a creek that flows from the lobby to the outside. Since Wilderness Lodge often comes in at a lower price point than some of the other deluxe resort options, this is a favorite of mine and my clients.

As far as the parks, we skipped Animal Kingdom this time as a last-minute decision. We had a longer trip planned but had to cut it a bit short due to a sick kitty at home so Animal Kingdom got booted. Hollywood Studios was a highlight this time as we returned to Savi’s Workshop and the kid built another of their custom lightsabers. I tell you, those get cooler every time! Savi’s has updated their pieces available for the builds so, if you’ve built one before, you might need to go check out the new pieces and build another! If you do build a lightsaber, or purchase a legacy lightsaber from Dok Ondar’s, be sure to get plenty of pictures in the daylight and after it gets dark. The PhotoPass photographers are great at helping you pose just the right way to show off the blade in the dark and come away with some nice shots. We were in Star Wars Launch Bay (great place to go inside to beat the heat) and a PhotoPass photographer came in with some of the legacy sabers and was offering to take pictures of guests with those. That was a lot of fun to see and the kid took advantage of that as well. Watching how the photographers pose the guests with the sabers also gave me tips when it came time to take my own pictures. This is great if you want lightsaber shots but don’t want to shell out the cash to buy your own.

While in Hollywood Studios, we were able to try the new Roundup Rodeo BBQ restaurant. There was a bit of a wait before we were seated and the holding area for the restaurant is in the sun, very hot. I hope they put some umbrellas and more fans out in the future. Once inside the restaurant though, we had so much fun. The food was great and it is all-you-care-to-eat. I will say, vegetarians should just skip the plant-based platter, unless you’re really into the meat substitutes. I’m not and that essentially all went to waste. However, the sides, biscuits, and desserts were divine. I’ve already got reservations to go back on our next trip. The macaroni and cheese there is the best! Disney macaroni and cheese normally leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion but this was perfection. There are no characters here but the theme is super fun and we had great service.

Epcot was also in our plan, as it always is being one of our favorite parks. We had lunch at Space 220, which we’ve done before, and find the restaurant to be constantly evolving. In the past, when you ordered a kid’s mocktail, you were given fun trading cards based on parts of the restaurant. Those are no longer available, which is a bummer. However, the mocktails and cocktails are really good so I wouldn’t skip those. I just would’ve liked the cards as we have been collecting them. The menu changes from time to time too and I enjoy the food and theme but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I liked Roundup Rodeo better. The fam would likely disagree with me on that but that’s my take. I also feel like Space 220 is a long experience and you can easily spend two hours in there without realizing it, which hampers getting other things done in the park if you’re short on time. We watched the Epcot Forever nighttime show, which returned recently, and enjoyed that much more than Harmonious, the show that just ended.

The ahi tuna appetizer at Space 220 — Neptuna Tartare

One of our main to-dos on this trip was the Keys to the Kingdom tour in Magic Kingdom. This tour is a separately priced add-on and takes about 5.5 hours of walking in the park. Lunch is provided, as are plenty of breaks, and guests have to be age 16+ to participate. We went on the tour years ago before the kid was born and we had been waiting for her to turn 16 so we could go again. Then COVID happened, tours were stopped, and now that she’s almost 19, we finally got it scheduled. Life. (And maybe I should stop referring to her as ‘the kid’ since she’s an adult now… hmm…) The tour takes you around the park, both on-stage in guest areas and backstage where only Cast Members are allowed. We were able to ride Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion during the tour and also see various backstage areas including the famed underground utilidors. I won’t include any spoilers other than to say that if you’re a Disney fan and have been to Magic Kingdom more than a few times, this tour is superb. We had dinner one evening in Magic at Crystal Palace, known for the Pooh and friends characters that come around during the meal. While we no longer need character dining, we still find ourselves at character meals from time to time and quite enjoy Crystal Palace. I will say that it often seems to run behind schedule so that can be a pain. One of the biggest thunderstorms blew in while we were eating at Crystal Palace though and our delayed start to the meal was quite welcomed.

I got the hubs, who is prone to extreme motion sickness, on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind while in Epcot which was no small miracle. Alas, I think that was his last time on the ride and I’ll be a single rider from now on. Guardians is my most favorite ride of all and really revolutionized the concept of the roller coaster, but it also makes the hubs and the kid turn green. Phooey. We all rode Tron in Magic Kingdom again and I swear, one day I’ll ride it in the dark. All of the times we’ve been on it so far have been in the daytime and I totally forget about riding it in the dark until after we’re back home. The ride is a lot of fun for all but looks extra special in the dark with the lighting on the lightcycles when they come out of the ride building at the start of the experience.

Oh yeah, torrential downpours. You’re going to have those in Florida most of the year, especially in the afternoon in the warmer months. That triggers lots of people to leave the parks but you’re better off to hunker down somewhere and wait for the storm to pass. If it is an extended rainstorm, and we’ve hit tons of those, get an umbrella and keep going. Outdoor rides will close but anything indoor will remain open as will the shops and shows. People really tend to panic when it rains but just tough it out and you’ll be fine. We bought one of the best umbrellas in Epcot in China at the House of Good Fortune shop during one such rainstorm. It is a very large golf umbrella with a padded handle and no logos or anything on it. From what I recall, it was only like $20 and $20 very well spent. We still use it at home now. I saw lots of other guests putting on ponchos when the rain hit but there was no amount of rain that was going to make me put on a poncho this time. I already felt like a piece of bacon in the sun and certainly didn’t need to add to that by wrapping myself in plastic. Getting rained on felt pretty darn nice and, as long as I don’t get soaked completely through, I’m good to go. Shoes can be an issue in the rain, which is why I recommend to my clients that they pack two pairs of shoes in case one gets soaked and needs time to dry out.

Another fabulous Disney trip in the books and looking forward to the next one this fall!

xoxo,

Amber

Spring break time!

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

When spring break rolls around each year, the fam and I take to the open road to recharge and reconnect. This year’s adventure took us to Disney World followed by a Bahamian cruise on the beautiful Disney Wish. Our 12.5 hour drive from Virginia to Florida has been steadily improving over the years as we’ve embraced the backroads and smaller highways instead of opting for traditional Interstate routes. While we do end up on I-95 and I-4 for about half of our trip overall, the other half is spent pleasantly traveling along US-29 and a variety of other smaller roads before we end up on the beast that is I-95. This doesn’t really add any time to our journey and most definitely makes it more interesting. I love driving through the small towns and seeing things you simple can’t as you fly by on the Interstate. Take a look at your route the next time you have a long driving trip. Maybe there are some smaller roads you can venture out on to give you a new perspective!

We arrived in Florida and spent the time before our cruise at the Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge resort. We haven’t stayed at Boulder Ridge in a good while but I opted to return since the rooms there were recently renovated. They’re super nice now and I love the change of bedding (good riddance sofa bed and hello Murphy bed!) and the carpet-less floors. The murphy bed pulls down to reveal that cute Donald Duck tent picture and Chip and Dale are hiding in the pull-down single bed that is also available in the room.

Our main to-do before the cruise was to ride the new TRON Lightcycle / Run roller coaster at Magic Kingdom. This ride opens to the public on April 4th but we had booked a special preview ride for this trip, two previews actually with one before the cruise and one the day we debarked the ship. The coaster was amazing! The ride vehicles look like lightcycles from the movie (Tron came out in 1982) and you ride on them like a motorcycle. There are also accessible ride vehicles at the back of some of the trains that remind me of a convertible VW Beetle. These are called lightrovers and are great for guests with any accessibility or mobility concerns, guests of size, smaller children who might be afraid of the lightcycle positioning, etc. The required height for the attraction is 48″ but it does take off and go very quickly during the experience. The lightrovers seat two guests and have individual lap bars that pull down for each guest, sort of like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Coaster but WAY more comfortable. I rode the lightrover both times we enjoyed the ride but the hubs and kid took the lightcycles. We all had a great time and I wouldn’t hesitate to go either route, depending on which you were more comfortable with. Note that you likely will have a bit of a wait if you want to go with the lightrover option, but it was worth it to me. The ride time is fairly quick but the experience was worth it. I will say that both times we rode were earlier in the day and I would love to ride at night when all of the lighting is noticeable. I think that will add a lot to the overall enjoyment factor.

The Flower and Garden Festival in Epcot kicked off right before we arrived in Orlando so that was also a stop we had on our list. During the festival, various musical acts perform in the America Gardens Theatre in the evenings. The concerts are free but you can add a dining reservation at a participating restaurant and receive entrance into a reserved seating area for one of that night’s shows. These shows are called Garden Rocks and we saw Daughtry during our visit. The show was fantastic, despite having endless rain for a few hours before the show’s start. I love these concerts and it is such a treat when a performer we like happens to line up with a trip we have scheduled. The other Epcot festivals have performances too (Broadway starts at the Festival of the Arts, the Food & Wine Festival has the Eat to the Beat concerts which have bands similar to Garden Rocks, and then the Festival of the Holidays has the Candlelight Processional with celebrity narrators). All of these are free and all also have the dining package that can be added on for reserved seating for the show.

Before we went to Port Canaveral to board the Wish, we started off with a hearty breakfast at the ever-popular Whispering Canyon Cafe at Wilderness Lodge. This breakfast was delish and our waitress was a total hoot! Sometimes the shenanigans at Whispering Canyon are hit-or-miss but we loved her. There was an unplanned stop afterward on the way to the Port to buy some new shoes for the kid and me… remember that rain at Epcot? Well, our shoes were soaked and attempts to get them dry enough to wear had failed. Always pack two pairs of tennis shoes!

At the Port, we boarded the Wish, had some lunch at Marceline Market and wandered a bit until our stateroom was ready. Then it was time to get settled and do the Muster Drill (back in person again, bummer!!) and start enjoying the ship. We always go with late dinner on our cruises and were fortunate to have our favorite server onboard to help us in the main dining room for dinner each evening. Unfortunately for us, he is being promoted to Assistant Head Server and we won’t be able to request him for our regular server any more. Boo! We’re so happy for him though, he is our absolute fave. We also had brunch in Palo Steakhouse on this cruise and got our fave Palo waitress again so that was a double-treat. When you make those kinds of connections, it really makes each subsequent cruise that much more special when you are able to spend time feeling like old friends. There was quite a bit of snacking at Donald’s Cantina for burritos and bowls for lunch and I’m sure gallons of ice cream was consumed by the hubs. I really like the quick service style food options and set up on the Wish better than the other four ships but I wish they would get rid of the Impossible food and go back to actual veggie burgers. This vegetarian does not eat fake meat!

We really enjoy spending time on the pool deck, watching movies on the funnel, reading, and just relaxing. After a long day, it is always nice to come back to the stateroom to find a cool towel/blanket animal too. I loved this wiener dog!

Since we sailed on the Wish in September, we skipped all of the nighttime shows and spent more time enjoying the other activities onboard. Drawing classes have always been a hit with us but this time we spent most of our time in various trivia events. We’ve always been trivia fans but I think we went to more trivia on this one cruise than we’ve ever done on all of our prior sailings combined! The kid is a Star Wars expert and we won Star Wars trivia plus Disney villains trivia and Disney food trivia. We almost won a couple of others, losing a tie-breaker on one and just coming in close to the top at a few more. Oddly enough, our favorite trivia was 90s music trivia. We didn’t win but we were very close. There was some guy who knew everything (isn’t there always!) and we hit a song none of us had ever heard of. But the best part was the packed room and everyone singing along when we were going through the answers. So much fun and definitely on our list for next cruise!

Our cruise was a 4-night Bahamian so it had one day at sea, one in Nassau, and one at Disney’s island, Castaway Cay. Nassau is probably my least favorite port I’ve ever been to so we never get off there. Our sea day was packed on the ship but that let up some when people adventured into Nassau. The Wish is a very large ship but with our cruise being over a spring break period, it was very, very full. Much more full than it was in September and reported to be a little more full even over what we had for the rest of the month. I will say it is very nice to have an adult child now so we can spend our time in the 18+ areas to help break up the crowds. The hubs and the kid rode the Aqua Mouse water rollercoaster and really liked it. I did not — major fear of getting stuck in/on a waterslide keeps me from most of those ‘adventures’. See the lifeguard walking in the tube in the picture below? That was to retrieve someone who got stuck. Fear unlocked!

Speaking of adult-only areas, Serenity Bay on Castaway Cay was at the top of our to-dos for this cruise. We have never been over to the adult section of the island since we have always sailed with a child. However, it was time to get over there since the kid is now 18! I was very happy to see that there were plenty of chairs and umbrellas there and the beach is a nice long walking beach. The water was pleasant and bar service was great! There is also a smaller version of the lunch restaurants there and it had some other food options that Cookies and Cookies Too don’t have! I loved it there and can’t wait to spend more time at Serenity Bay in the future. Castaway Cay as a whole never disappoints!

After the cruise, we drove back to Disney to do our second Tron preview. I was very quickly reminded why we do not stay at off-site hotels and do not drive ourselves to Magic Kingdom. Parking in the world’s biggest parking lot, having to take the tram to the Transportation and Ticket Center, boarding the ferry and waiting for it to fill (the monorail was mobbed), then going across the lake to Magic Kingdom… No way. If I had to do that every time I wanted to go to Magic Kingdom, I would lose my mind. I remember that from years ago when I visited as a child but I have stayed on-site for every trip since and will NEVER go back. We’ve parked in the Hollywood Studios and Epcot lots in the last couple of years for random reasons and that too is definitely not my cup of tea. Doing that every day of a trip, what a nightmare.

Our drive home was filled with so very much traffic until we finally were back to our backroads. This trip coincided with Bike Week in Daytona Beach so both legs of the trip were filled with motorcycles and guests headed to/from Daytona. That plus all of the regular I-95 and spring break traffic meant backups, delays, and accidents galore. But once we were back on our little roads, it was smooth sailing once again.

Until next time!

xoxo, Amber

Epcot’s Festival of the Arts — a true delight!

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

The fam and I were back at the World last week and we had a blast! We were visiting for the Epcot International Festival of the Arts and decided to stay at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground. This was our first time staying at the Fort, although we have visited the resort a handful of times over the years. Campers can rent a campsite but those without RVs (or tents) can rent a cute wilderness cabin. With the Fort being spread out over about 750 acres, renting a golf cart is basically a must-do, so we arranged for that beforehand. Parking right at the cabin was so handy, as was driving to/from the main bus stop as needed. It really added to the fun!

These cabins sleep up to six but I personally would keep that to 2 or 3 adults and 2 to 3 kids. There is a queen bed and set of bunks in the bedroom (so that sleeps four) and a pull-out sofa in the living room (for two more guests) but just one bathroom. We are a party of three adults and were cozy but fine, although I can’t imagine having another adult or multiple kids in the space. Having a small kitchen was also a plus and allowed us to have some groceries in the room for breakfast and snacks at the end of the day. I even saw deer at the resort twice on our trip, once right out of our bedroom window!

Like the other three annual Epcot festivals, the Festival of the Arts offers food booths throughout the park with small, tapas-sized food and drinks for purchase. The big difference is that the food at this festival is much more inventive and purposefully ‘pretty’ when served. We love to snack and some of our faves are pictured below and yes, that is a sushi donut! It is so funny to see guests coming in, grabbing their festival booklet, choosing their ‘roadmap’ of food for the day, and eating their way from location to location. Some guests come in with printouts from various websites with lists of the food options and checklists to make sure they don’t miss anything! We do something similar, albeit much less intense, by going through Disney’s list of offerings before the festival and making some rough notes on things we want to try. Being a vegetarian, my options automatically get cut way down (boo!) but there were some great fruit options this year. I only missed a really fun looking mozzarella dish from Italy this time but the line was INSANE so I passed (also boo!)

Since it is the Festival of the ARTS, you can’t miss all of the art being offered and created throughout the park. A variety of artists come in and showcase their work, including originals for the festival, and autograph pieces purchased during the event. This is a big highlight for us as we have followed some of the artists for years and love to see what they bring to the festival each January. There are also ways to create your own art, including the super fun paint-by-number mural before you enter World Showcase. This is a gigantic canvas, painted by guests and completed about every two days. Then the canvases are removed and stored and a new scene is set up for the next day. There are four scenes to paint throughout the festival. The picture below shows the four murals happening this year. I love the Starry Night one but it won’t come up until later in February. The one we were working on was the first one shown below with Figment in a pop art style. Each guest gets a paint brush and cup of paint, then is directed to the mural and paints a certain number of squares in an assigned section for their numbered color. Everyone really gets into it!

Our other favorite part of the festival is the chalk art that is created on the bridge into World Showcase. Chalk artists come in every day to create masterpieces for guests to enjoy. If it rains, the artists have a backup location to chalk and use canvases instead. This year, my daughter was invited to come to Epcot to chalk for the festival, which was such an amazing opportunity! She is in college and is majoring in art so this was a dream come true for her. There are about 15 people on the chalk art team this year, some chalking every other day and others coming in for a piece or two. Her piece was a recreation of Wassily Kandinsky’s Circles, so fun and colorful. They generally do recreations of masters but Leigh, Hailey’s art teacher and the main chalk artist for the festival, is allowed to chalk Disney characters (with some restrictions). Each piece generally takes about three to four hours to complete and is done with soft pastels. If you want to see some incredible work come to life during your festival visit, do not miss stopping by and watching these artists create some true magic!

We also visited Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios during this trip and had a fun thing happen for us while in line for Tower of Terror! We were in the Lightning Lane line for Tower, making our way around the outside of the Hollywood Tower Hotel to enter the building. We ran across Goofy, who was entertaining guests in the regular queue line. He looked at Hailey and then led her off with him around the corner. We were all a bit confused, until we saw where he was heading. His son, Max, was right around the corner and Goofy took Hailey to him! It was so incredibly cute and such a memorable moment. You see, Hailey has loved the Max character since she was little. Max’s love interest in The Goofy Movie (which we watched so many times) was Roxanne, who does resemble Hailey with the red hair. He has always been a hard character to find in the parks so this was super cool! Truly magical!

This trip was so much fun and really reminded me why I love all things Disney. The Cast Member interactions were incredible, we loved our little cabin, ate some delicious food, and enjoyed all of our favorite attractions and shows. Even as our daughter gets older and we visit more and more, our passion for Disney doesn’t change and we continue to make new memories to treasure forever. It is so nice to have an 18-year-old who still likes hanging out with her parents. Although, I think we’re pretty fun…

Until next time,

Amber

Land, sea, and stars… an 18th birthday to remember!

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

At the Benson house, we like to travel to celebrate milestones. When the kid’s 18th birthday rolled around, we knew we had to go big. To celebrate, we did a whirlwind trip to visit Walt Disney World, a brief stopover at Universal Orlando, a 3-night cruise on the Disney Wish, and a 2-night stay on the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser. It was an incredible week away and the memories we made will definitely stay with us forever. Since we’ve been to Disney so many times before, I’ll touch on that but my big focus will be our time on the Wish followed by the Starcruiser adventure.

We started our trip at the Grand Floridian resort, kicking off with time at Magic Kingdom and Epcot. I finally got to ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, the newest coaster in Epcot. Let me say, not for those who suffer from motion sickness, but I absolutely loved every second of it! This coaster is so innovative with the way the ride vehicles move throughout the experience and how the soundtrack really brings it all together. I ended up riding it three times in this super short trip to the parks and cannot wait to ride it again! I love how fun it is to celebrate at Disney, the little unexpected surprises and terrific Cast Members make it even more memorable. We were chatting with a Starbucks Cast Member and noticed that my daughter had a Haunted Mansion shirt on. They shared how they both love that attraction and she made a special surprise just for Hailey!

Starbucks with a Haunted Mansion bride added on!

Popping over to Universal Orlando for a night at Sapphire Falls resort, we were so fortunate (LOL) to enjoy an evening at CityWalk during the worst thunderstorm I’ve seen in a long time. The hardest and heaviest rain, ponding everywhere, and getting stuck in a small store while trying to wait out the storm… so much fun! We did come home with new shoes, a beach towel, and umbrella I wasn’t expecting to add to my collection. The hubs braved the same storm while enjoying Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Studios but man, hours of a major downpour were not in the plan!

Moving right along, we drove over to Port Canaveral and boarded the newest ship in the Disney Cruise Line fleet, the Disney Wish. This is the 5th ship in the fleet and very different in layout and offerings from the first four. Since we were celebrating, we opted to go with a Concierge level room, which took the cruise to a whole new level of pampering! It took a bit to get used to the new flow of the ship, but once we got the hang of it, we were smooth sailing.

Our stateroom
Loved this shower!

We had some friends staying in the Wish Tower Suite (aka the funnel), so we were able to go there and check out the palace that was their room (thanks Kelley!!). Talk about incredible! That room was huge and the bathroom… OMG!!

The living room area of the funnel
The Wish Tower suite is in the front funnel

Concierge was great with the private lounge and pool, sundeck (perfect for an afternoon nap!), early entry to the nightly shows plus free popcorn, upgraded bath amenities, in-room sodas and waters, the best table locations each night in the main dining rooms for dinner, and so much more! Loved it!! Ten out of ten, would do concierge again. We were able to get a family cabana at Castaway Cay too (super hard since there are a very limited number available) and enjoyed soaking up the sun in our own private hideaway for the day.

The new restaurants onboard are great with tasty food and fun show experiences. My favorite, surprisingly, was Arendelle. This is the Frozen themed restaurant and the show for that meal is incredible. I really liked the show in the Worlds of Marvel restaurant as well but the food there was my least favorite. 1923, the third main dining room for dinner, didn’t have a show but was beautifully decorated and we really enjoyed the atmosphere and food there. The Little Mermaid is a fantastic evening show in the Walt Disney Theatre, the level of talent there was incredible! We never made it to the AquaMouse, the first Disney water attraction at sea. A three-night cruise is just so short, some things have to get tossed to the side to experience next time! Something we did experience a good bit, the laundry room onboard. Who does laundry on a cruise? This girl. I’m so happy to report that there is just one laundry room on the Wish and it is huge, with so many machines. For someone who has done laundry on all four ships and been frustrated time and time again, this was the best!! Look folks, it’s the little things…

Now we’re on to my most favorite part, our voyage on the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser! This is the ‘Star Wars hotel’ at Disney and is unlike any hotel experience in the world. The voyages on the Starcruiser are only for two nights and are an all-inclusive experience. The only things you pay extra for are souvenirs and alcohol. These two nights are not cheap by any means. If you read about the voyages online, you’ll find plenty of people grousing about the cost, it not being ‘Star Wars enough’, etc. As a family of three huge Star Wars fans (movies, books, animated shows, live-action shows, video games), I’m here to tell you that that is all noise. This was one of the best things we have ever done, and we enjoyed every single second.

The voyage starts by arriving at the Starcruiser, which is located behind Batuu (Star Wars Land) in Hollywood Studios. The hotel looks pretty non-descript from the outside. When you arrive at the entrance, you’re greeted, and a team helps unload your bags. If you have a car, it is valet parked during the trip. You’re given your Starcruiser databand (a Starcruiser-exclusive MagicBand) and the arrival team will help you set up the Disney PlayParks app, if you haven’t already set that up, for each guest. If you’ve ever used the datapad function in Batuu during a visit to Hollywood Studios, this is a gigantic extension of how that works. You’re using the datapad to do missions and get messages throughout your voyage.

You’re escorted in to watch a brief video about safety during your voyage and then you’re taken to a launch pod to send you up to the Starcruiser itself. This Starcruiser is known as the Halcyon from the Chandrila Star Line and it has been taking guests around the galaxy from Core Worlds to the Outer Rim. When you exit the launch pod, you enter the enormous atrium of the Halcyon. This is the hub of the action throughout your journey. The bridge of the ship is off the atrium, there’s a bar (the Sublight Lounge), a retail spot for your Halcyon memorabilia purchases, and so much to explore! You are taken to your cabin (there are 100 cabins onboard) and shown the highlights of the room as well as how to operate your in-room droid D3-09. Your luggage is delivered straight to your cabin, so no need to fuss with the heavy lifting! Most of the rooms are standard cabins but there are a few suites onboard as well. For the three of us, a standard cabin was more than sufficient. We had a queen bed, two in-wall bunks (twins), and a pull-down twin bed for a 5th adult. You have a viewport that shows the view out into space during your travels (you can close it at night) and some other creature comforts like a pull-out desk and a TV if you need to keep up with what is going on back on your home planet. The bunk beds were really cool and more spacious than they look. They had a neat blanket like a sleeping bag without the zipper that was super comfy. The panel on the right below is where you tap your databand to contact D3-09.

What doesn’t the ship or rooms have? Windows! Remember, you’re in space so your viewport is your window to what is going on outside. I’ve heard some people say that would make them insane but you really don’t notice the lack of a window. There is a climate simulator that you can go into to simulate what the climate is like on Batuu (i.e. somewhere for you to go outside if you get claustrophobic) but it is just open air and you still can’t see the horizon, just some of the sky.

The hallway to cabins
Our cabin door
Climate Simulator

Speaking of Batuu, you do get a day (8am-4pm) to spend on an excursion to Batuu. Now, I’m guessing if you’re traveling on the Starcruiser that you’ve spent a good bit of time in Batuu already, so you’d likely do like we did and just visit long enough to do your missions and come back to the ship. You’re paying that higher price point to be able to enjoy the ship, so enjoy the ship! Guests to Batuu are given a special pin to wear so they’re easily identifiable to the Batuu crew. Your MyDisneyExperience app is preloaded with an anytime pass to ride Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run while you’re in Batuu. There are missions surrounding each of these but you don’t actually have to ride them if you don’t have time, the ride goes down, etc. You can still complete the missions regardless. We stopped for a drink in Oga’s Cantina (reservations still required but Starcruiser can help you book that) as there was also a mission related to Oga’s. Ultimately, we spent very little time on Batuu and hurried back to the ship for lunch and more fun! Oh! To get back and forth between Batuu and the Starcruiser, you traveled in a launch pod. I’ve heard the stories on the interwebs about how these don’t look like much from the outside but they are super fun on the inside. Very authentic looking and definitely part of the whole experience of heading to the planet for a visit.

I keep talking about missions and you’re probably wondering what that means. So, if you’ve ever used the datapad in Batuu before, you’ll know what I mean (kind of). What happens is that you board the ship and you’re sent various messages during the voyage about places you need to go, things you need to do, people you need to talk to. Even D3-09 is part of the action! Do you have to play along? Nope. Should you? YES!! You can also stay in costume for the entire experience if you’d like, just wear your favorite Star Wars t-shirt, or wear regular clothes. Nobody will judge you! The group of folks sailing with you are most likely huge Star Wars fans (or wet blankets, but they will become obvious pretty quickly and stay out of the fun) and be just as into the action as you are. After you choose your alliances, you’ll soon find yourself running around the ship trying to help your chosen side succeed. I’m not going to spoil any of the storyline, but you’ll find familiar faces (old and new) and some new friends onboard during your journey.

Don’t mind us, just hacking a few things…

Besides the missions, you also get to participate in lightsaber training and bridge operations training. If you’ve bought a lightsaber in Batuu at Savi’s or Dok Ondar’s, you know how cool those are. Imagine using one and actually deflecting hits! So. Much. Fun! Bridge Ops is super, and you get to work at every station in the bridge, maybe with more action than you were bargaining for! There is ALWAYS something going on aboard the ship and the more you explore, the more fun you’ll have. Think of it sort of like an Escape Room, except you’re not trying to get out! There is even a game like Bingo you can play that is based on the planets of Star Wars as well as separate activities for the Loth Cat Crew (the younger children onboard). The Sublight Lounge has an electronic Sabaac game table if you want to see if you’d have been able to beat Lando to win the Millennium Falcon like Han did.

Drinks in the Sublight Lounge
Sabaac table
Lightsaber training
One of the areas for bridge training, the infamous systems panel

While you’re doing all of the missions and gathering intel, you definitely work up an appetite! Meals and snacks are provided and were delish! All types of foods were available for a variety of dietary needs. I am a vegetarian and had no issues finding something to eat. Oh yeah, blue and green milk are both on tap! Breakfast and lunch are buffet-style and dinner is served plated with a show/entertainment. We scored a reservation at the Captain’s Table for our second night, which allowed us to be even more in the action and also get a few extra courses with our meal. The first night, our table was front-and-center of the stage so we could take in the performance that night with a fantastic view. Each evening, there were also snacks available in the atrium and we had a big dessert party the last night.

Breakfast!
Fireworks from the bridge
The atrium

The crew of the Halcyon was incredible. They go out of their way to help you and make you come away with the best experience possible. I was blown away by how well everyone follows the storyline and comes together to end the voyage with a bang! The other guests onboard our sailing were largely adults of all ages (late teens up to probably late 60s-early 70s) and a handful of kids probably under age 10. We often say that we’re huge nerds, especially when it comes to Star Wars, and we were in heaven! We found our people!

If you’re only “kind of” into Star Wars or know nothing about Star Wars, save your money and stay elsewhere. Honestly, that’s for no other reason than to not drag down everyone who enjoys it. If some of your family is really into Star Wars but others aren’t, have the others stay somewhere else and meet up with them after your two-night stay on the Starcruiser is finished. This is the place to geek out and get into the action (or watch from the sidelines but you’ll want to understand what you’re watching) and live your Star Wars dreams!

Enjoy the bridge!

That’s it for now! Gotta rest up from this one!

xoxo,

Amber

SoCal and Oahu, here we come!

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

Hello there! Hailey here, and I’m back to write again about our most recent trip to the Happiest Place on Earth and the Aloha State. All ready for some fun in the sun, my parents and I hopped on a plane headed to California with my aunt and two cousins. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, my grandparents who were also supposed to travel with us unfortunately had to stay home, which was a huge bummer. After a quick layover in Dallas, we boarded on another plane and soon landed in Santa Ana. We then took a short ride over to the Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel, our home base for the next couple of days. After checking in and making a quick stop at our rooms, we headed out to visit Disneyland, a first time visit for both of my cousins, and first time in years for my aunt. We were all very famished from our early flight and many hours spent on the plane, but not to worry, corn dogs, grilled cheese, and tomato soup to the rescue! My dad always talks about how the Little Red Wagon in Disneyland has the best corn dogs, but since I’m vegetarian I can’t speak to this, so you will just have to take his word for it.

We then used the Genie+ service to ride all sorts of rides throughout the park, including Star Tours, Matterhorn, it’s a small world, Haunted Mansion, and Smuggler’s Run. On Smuggler’s Run we ended the mission with Hondo taking a large sum of our credits for “damages.” It turns out that the flight controls of the Millennium Falcon are quite sensitive, who knew! Shoutout to our gunners and engineers for capturing and securing the cargo, the Resistance is grateful for your efforts! My parents and I are huge Star Wars fans, and we ended up being at Disneyland while Star Wars Celebration was happening right down the road at a convention center in Anaheim. We were sadly not able to attend the event, which we were all a bit sad about, knowing that people like Ewan McGregor, Temuera Morrison, Dee Bradley Baker, Dave Filoni, and Hayden Christensen were all right there and we couldn’t meet them. We still hoped to run across some of the personalities from Celebration in the parks after the events for the day had finished but didn’t end up seeing any. If we had, I have to say I would’ve been fangirling very hard, and my parents would have been really excited too. After spending the first day in Disneyland, the next day was spent mostly in California Adventure. We had a great time riding rides like Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!, Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, The Incredicoaster, and Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure. After riding Web Slingers, we all had sore arms due to very enthusiastically slinging webs at the Spider-Bots. While in Avengers Campus, we saw Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch, and we had lunch at the Pym Test Kitchen. My cousin and I are both huge Cars fans, so we also spent a good amount of time in Cars Land. Sadly, Radiator Springs Racers was closed, so we didn’t get the chance to ride it. She loved seeing Radiator Springs in real life for the first time, and we all had a great time there!

We had a great time visiting the parks on the west coast, but even though we didn’t get a chance to see and do everything, it was time to hop on the plane again. We soon landed in Honolulu, grabbed our luggage, picked up our rental car, and drove out to Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa. Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we went over to a little shopping center just across the road from the resort. We had lunch and visited several shops located there, but then went back to the resort and room was ready. Our room was a two-bedroom villa located on the fourth floor, and we had a great view of the resort and the lazy river. We decided to get some groceries for our stay, so we drove out to a store to pick up some essentials, and it ended up working out great having breakfast, snacks, and drinks in the room. We spent the next day rotating through the lazy river, the ocean, the infinity pool, and the waterslides. We all enjoyed having some relaxing pool time, especially after the past few days had been so busy. We all tried shaved ice, a popular Hawaiian treat, and we were able to choose three flavors, mine were green tea, haupia (coconut), and li hing mui, which I really enjoyed. I personally do not recommend the lychee flavor, unless you happen to really like the flavor of rose, which was very unexpected and not very pleasing.  

On the next day we went out to visit Pearl Harbor National Memorial and Waikiki. My parents and I traveled to Hawaii nearly 8 years ago, and we also visited Pearl Harbor on that trip. I enjoyed being able to see the memorial again, since I am older now and was able to understand and appreciate it more. While we were in Waikiki, we went to one of the Honolulu Cookie Company’s stores, which has excellent macadamia nut shortbread cookies in a variety of flavors. We also went to the Paradise Cove Luau, located right down the road from Aulani, which was a lot of fun! There was a wonderful show with hula dancers, fire dancers, and live vocalists. You could also make your own flower bracelet and compete in several games with other guests. The Paradise Cove Luau is also known for having a great view of the Hawaiian sunset, with both ocean waves and beautiful mountains in view. Dinner was served buffet style with several types of meat, as well as rice, vegetables, salad, and bread. For dessert, one of the choices was haupia, a traditional Hawaiian coconut pudding, which we enjoyed!

We also rented a cabana at Aulani to use during one of the days that we spent a lot of time in the pool. This was very helpful because it can sometimes be difficult to find even a single chair to leave your belongings in while you are in the pool. It had a safe, a mini fridge, a fan, two sun lounge chairs, a huge sofa, a fruit tray, a dessert tray, and a snack bowl. There were several attendants who we could contact if we wanted to have more towels or to order food and beverages. We also spent a lot of time in the pool and ocean on this day, and one of my cousins and my aunt both snorkeled, which they had a lot of fun doing. Aulani has both snorkeling and stand-up paddleboarding, which you can participate in for a fee, but they also have boogie boards which do not have a fee. You just have to sign up to take them, so they can keep track of who has taken the boards out for the day. We used the boogie boards in the ocean, and all had a great time with them. We all were really interested in trying out the acai bowls from the Ulu Café at Aulani, and they were so good! My mom and I tried the tropical one, which had mango, pineapple, papaya, and banana on it as well as granola and honey. We both really liked it, but the portion size was huge, so I think next time we would end up sharing. We had a wonderful time at Aulani, but it was soon time to head back to the mainland.

We flew on Hawaiian Airlines both to and from Hawaii, which was a nice experience. The plane was very large compared to the others we flew on with a row of four seats down the middle of the plane as well as two rows of two down either side. Before we landed they gave us little treats, such as a pineapple flavored Honolulu Cookie Company cookie, or a small pack of chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Once we landed at LAX, we took a transfer to get to our hotel for the next few nights, The Garland, which is located in North Hollywood. The hotel was a very retro and boutique property. The hotel includes a shuttle service to Universal CityWalk Hollywood, which is just a short ride down the road. During this last part of our trip, we went on the A Day in LA City Tour and saw many different sights and scenes all across the city. Once we were picked up by the bus, we had to stop at a few more hotels to pick up other guests, but the last stop was on Hollywood Boulevard, and it was very interesting to see it early in the morning with basically no one there. We came back later in the day, but it was not anywhere near as peaceful. While on the tour we saw the Beverly Hills sign, Rodeo Drive, Venice Beach, the Santa Monica Pier, The Grove, The Original Farmers Market, Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood Sign, and Hollywood Boulevard. My parents and I have been on one of these tours before, and we did not stop at Venice Beach or Rodeo Drive, and I have to say that we preferred that experience. No one on the tour was going to be buying things on Rodeo Drive, otherwise they wouldn’t be on this tour, would they! And Venice Beach just didn’t have the greatest environment, in our opinion, but it was cool to watch all of the skateboarders there. Other than that, we all had a great time seeing all that the city had to offer.

And so, our trip came to an end. We were all ready to head back home after being out of town for so long and were looking forward to sleeping on the plane rides home. We were all very confused about what time and day it was due to going from the three hour time difference in California, then the six hour difference in Hawaii, and then back to the three hour difference in California. And then the one-hour difference in Texas for our connections each way. So yeah, we were a mess! By the time we got home, it was around 3am and we were still running on Hawaii time, but we were all glad to run inside and see the cats, who had a lot to say about us being gone for so long. They will be stuck with us at home for a while now, because our next trip planned at the moment isn’t until September for my 18th birthday! Super excited for that, but for now I think I will stick to some much needed pool time. Until next time!

Hailey

Springtime fun with the Mouse

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

My last visit to Disney World was in January for the International Festival of the Arts in Epcot so I knew a return trip to celebrate spring was a must-do. The fam and I plus one of my nieces hopped on a plane in late March to enjoy the changing of the seasons at the Most Magical Place on Earth. This trip was my niece’s first time back at the Disney parks in quite some time, so it was great to share the magic with her and introduce her to the wonder that is Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Despite not going in as a Star Wars fan, I think we might be converting her, little by little!

On each trip, I try to make sure I do at least one new thing, whether that be staying somewhere I’ve not stayed before (a different resort or type of room), trying a new restaurant, or experiencing a new attraction or event. One would think that we would run out of ‘new’ things after visiting as much as we do during the year but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Even if it is something as simple as a new snack or activity, there are always things to try that you’ve not experienced before. For us on this trip, that meant a new resort and room type (Disney’s All-Star Music resort in a family suite) and returning to a restaurant that changed its format (Crystal Palace going from a menu restaurant back to buffet style.)

Staying at All-Star Music resort was a first for us, we have never stayed at any of the All-Star Resort hotels before. While we have stayed at Art of Animation and Pop Century, which are also value level resorts at Disney like the All-Stars, the All-Star resorts never felt like the right fit for us. They are often bombarded with school and sports groups and that isn’t my cup of tea. This trip was no exception as far as that was concerned, there were tons of school groups staying at All-Star Music for spring break when we were there. I have to admit, that was the big downside to this resort because I just do not like getting stuck in a herd of teenagers that are largely unsupervised and they really do a number on lines for the park buses in the morning. That being said, I felt like the resort really compensated for that because we didn’t spend a long time in bus lines and were frequently shuttled to and from the parks on large coaches instead of regular Disney buses. Those seem to hold a significantly greater number of guests (and felt far more comfortable since everyone gets a seat) so that really improved the transportation experience. It definitely felt like a longer ride from this resort to the parks and that’s probably because of its location coupled with only having bus transportation options to the parks whereas Art of Animation and Pop Century also have Skyliner access to two of the four parks.

Panchito Pistoles!

I really liked hanging out by the pool in the late evenings after returning from the parks and that made for a great way to wind down before bed. I am a huge fan of the Three Caballeros movie and the main pool at All-Star Music has a water feature of Donald, Jose, and Panchito. Loved it! Traveling with my niece and my daughter, both teenagers, we wanted to have a second bathroom. The family suites at All-Star Music have two full bathrooms and a kitchenette as well as three separate beds, so it was the perfect setup for what we were looking for on this trip. These rooms have a living room that has a sofa plus a dining room table with four chairs and the first bathroom with a tub/shower combo. Both the sofa and table pull down from the wall to convert to queen-sized beds. In the master bedroom, there is another regular queen bed and the second bathroom with walk-in shower. The storage in this room really blew my mind too, I couldn’t believe how many drawers and shelves were available. I have stayed in many resorts where storage is so lacking that we practically live out of our suitcases and this was such a welcome change. The kitchenette was a great amenity when it came to breakfast in the room and a pizza delivery night. Just being able to store our drinks for the parks and leftovers was a huge help as was the microwave when the idea of a late-night pizza snack hit. There are family suites at Art of Animation too and we have enjoyed those but I actually came away liking the layout and features of this room better. If only All-Star Music could be paired with the Skyliner access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios like Art has though…

Master bedroom
Kitchenette
Living room

There is almost always a festival happening in Epcot and we were fortunate to be visiting during the Flower and Garden Festival. I love Epcot and think it is always so beautiful but the topiaries and floral displays that are found during the Flower and Garden Festival are truly a sight to behold. I am always amazed at what the horticulture team at Disney is able to produce and keep looking beautiful day after day in the hot Florida sun. It is also such a treat to be able to take part in the Spike’s Pollination Exploration scavenger hunt (small fee but you also receive a prize upon completion) because it helps make sure that your park day has a little non-attraction based fun added in.

Bambi and friends and, if you look super close, you’ll spy Winnie the Pooh in the background!

We scored a cancellation at Space 220 in Epcot, the newest restaurant and one that comes at a steep price tag but with a great dining experience. The service here is top-notch and I love watching the astronauts and ships fly by the space station while you’re eating. The theme of this restaurant is that you travel up from Epcot to the Centauri Space Station to dine. So many things to look at while you are enjoying your meal!

A spaceship going by the space station while you dine

I don’t always take the time to visit Animal Kingdom but I wanted to make sure we did so on this trip. I absolutely love the Pandora section of the park and riding Avatar: Flight of Passage but also can’t get enough of Kilimanjaro Safaris. We were pleased to see so many animals up close on our safari including these elephants and white rhinos! It is such an incredible experience to have these majestic animals come so close to the ride vehicle and to watch them interact with each other.

No trip of ours to Disney would be complete without time at Hollywood Studios and at least a walk through Batuu. Usually, we make a stop at Oga’s Cantina for a drink, take a few passes through Dok Ondar’s and Droid Depot to check for any new merchandise, and somehow never miss being interrogated by the First Order on Rise of the Resistance. There are some fun mystery droid blind boxes in Droid Depot right now that run about $18/each but include a little BB or R unit and a display case. Unfortunately, we have bought six and have gotten two sets of duplicates. Bummer!

Next up, interrogation time!

Our Hollywood Studios day was freakishly rainy so we ran for cover a few times and luckily didn’t get too drenched. Ponchos to the rescue! I will say, Florida and rain go together like the sky and clouds. You just need to accept that you won’t have one without the other and prepare for any showers that pop up. Rain is no reason to leave the park but you had better believe that people do! Just hang in there and the shower will pass by soon enough. And if it doesn’t, the crowds will likely go way down so enjoy shorter lines!

Howdy partner! Why yes, I did bring my poncho!

Magic Kingdom was as magical as ever and never disappoints. We took the time to watch the return of the Festival of Fantasy parade and I was so happy to see the Maleficent fire-breathing dragon back in action. There were so many characters dancing down the parade route too! So happy to see normalcy returning!

Belle leads the way for the Festival of Fantasy parade in Magic Kingdom

As all good trips do, it came to an end far too soon, but we were happy to have the memories. My next trip is out to the West Coast to Disneyland so stay tuned for the recap on that this summer!

xoxo,

Amber

Sailing away to Castaway Cay!

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

Last weekend, I spent my Saturday soaking up the sunshine at Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island in the Bahamas. The fam and I had sailed away a couple of days prior from Miami aboard the Disney Magic on a four-night Bahamian cruise. While the ship made a stop in Nassau, we stayed aboard the ship, a much more pleasant option than venturing into town. We also had a day at sea, which was a pretty rainy one for the bulk of the morning but our Captain took us a little off course to find some sunshine later in the day. That was Super Bowl Sunday and many guests were parked in front of a screen watching the event, while our family found ourselves able to explore an even less crowded ship that we had been enjoying. The Disney Magic’s normal guest capacity is just over 2,700 passengers. Our sailing had 1,035 passengers and 1,037 crew!

The Magic docked at Castaway Cay

Sailing right now, while modified to support COVID safety protocols, is a blast with fewer guests. While I selfishly love the low crowds, I know that isn’t sustainable for any cruise line long term, so I hope that the sailings come back closer to regular capacity in the coming months. I believe Disney is still restricting their sailings to a maximum of 70% of guests but that information isn’t published anywhere to confirm. With the newest ship in the fleet, the Disney Wish, taking its inaugural voyage in July, I think the goal will be to get back to as close to 100% as possible before then.

I last sailed with Disney in September, on the Disney Dream. The COVID protocols are pretty similar now to what they were then but some of the processes feel more streamlined. While you still do have to wear a face covering indoors at all times (unless in your own stateroom or actively eating/drinking), it does feel like we are sliding into what will become the ‘new normal’ for a while. With all guests age 5 and up required to be fully vaccinated to sail and all guests required to take a COVID test prior to being allowed to board, the comfort level felt good while sailing.

Our dinner server also let us know that they are tested ever other day, which seems insane, and also are required to wear face coverings. The overall feeling from the crew is that they can’t wait for the ships to be back at capacity and they wish the CDC didn’t push the negative stance they seem to hold with regarding to cruising. While the CDC finally announced that they lowered their warning level from ‘very high’ to ‘high’ for cruising a few days ago, it really should be lowered further in my opinion. The cruise lines are doing so much more to keep guests safe than is even being done in your own hometown. Disney’s cleaning processes had always been stellar but you can tell that they have stepped those up even further now. Social distancing in theaters is strictly enforced (and great for the guest!) and tables in the restaurants have been spread farther apart to allow for more distancing there as well. The buffet at Cabanas is no longer self-serve, which is amazing as far as keeping other guests’ grubby paws out of the food and the serving utensils from getting sticky and dirty. Even the ice cream is served by a crew member and that’s just fantastic! No more spills around the ice cream machines, long lines while you wait for the guest in front of you to figure out how to work the machine, etc. Love it! The one thing I do really miss though is pin trading with the crew. However, we made a pin ribbon and hung our trading pins outside of our stateroom door so other guests could come by our stateroom and trade with us! That was fun and gave us a little taste of the trading that we were missing.

We spent a lot of time enjoying the variety of entertainment offerings onboard during this cruise. We watched movies on the funnel, participated in several animation classes, made origami, tried our hand at trivia many times, took photos with characters, and watched as other guests took part in some of the family game shows. We won Marvel Trivia and did well on some of the other trivia games but man, competition is fierce!

One of my favorite things about sailing with Disney is seeing the Broadway-style shows that are performed most evenings. On our sailing, we enjoyed Tangled and Believe. Both were excellent and gave us back the live entertainment that we have missed during the pandemic. During dinner each evening, shows are performed in the main dining rooms as well. On our last evening, we dined at Rapunzel’s Royal Table and were treated to a show with Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. This restaurant is beautiful to begin with but with the lanterns in the ceiling mimicking the lantern festival from the Tangled movie, it becomes truly a magical experience.

Rapunzel and Flynn celebrating her birthday and the lantern festival

Oh! Another unique form of entertainment aboard Disney’s Bahamian and Caribbean cruises are the fireworks at sea! It is always a blast to head up to the top deck in the evening to watch the fireworks explode overhead while adrift in the ocean.

Disney Ever After fireworks show

Our day at Castaway Cay was incredible, as always. Even though it started off on the dark and stormy looking side, the end of the day brought beautiful blue skies and a rainbow as we sailed away from our island paradise. On Castaway Cay, guests have free access to plenty of beach chairs, loungers, and umbrellas to use during the day on a variety of different beach areas. A treat that you can purchase is a rental of a private cabana for the day. These cabanas are extremely hard to book and typically booked up by guests staying in concierge staterooms on the sailing or guests who have sailed with Disney many times before (called Castaway Club members.) Castaway Club members are divided into three levels: Silver (cruised at least once with Disney but less than 5 times), Gold (cruised more than 5 times but less than 10), and Platinum (cruised more than 10 times.) We are Platinum members but I actually just lucked into a cancellation of a cabana about four days before our sailing. I wasn’t planning on getting a cabana since they are fairly pricey (generally in the $600-$800 range) but saw that the weather was looking iffy for our island day. When a cancellation popped up, I grabbed it. While these are a splurge, they are truly worth it for the experience. Your own cabana with comfortable furniture, a changing curtain, freshwater shower, hammock, sand toys, sunscreen, safe, upgraded towels (that you don’t have to carry from the ship!), free sodas/waters, cool washcloths, floats and tubes, and the private beach area make this upgrade worth every single penny. For those of us who can get sunburned in the rain, this is such a dream come true.

Each evening, we ended the day with a fun towel/blanket animal and some delicious Dove chocolates on our stateroom bed. Funny how when you get home, there are no more towel animals or chocolates. Hmmm… Those stateroom hosts truly do help make your vacation all the more special!

You know the saying though, all good things must come to an end. We flew back home to Virginia, where we had narrowly missed yet another snowfall, and started dreaming of our next adventure.

xoxo,

Amber