About a month ago, I was still holding in a big secret… we were taking the kid to Disney World for her birthday! It is so hard to surprise her and I almost slipped up a few different times. Luckily, I was able to keep it in until I picked her up from school early, fed her lunch, and told her to pack her bags! My perfect little plans were thwarted by Hurricane Florence, causing me to have to rearrange flights at the last minute and decide to fly out a day earlier than scheduled. It all worked out ok though and I definitely wasn’t going to complain about more time at the World!

A flight delay and super late arrival meant we rolled into Disney’s Saratoga Springs resort right at midnight. We were just there for the night so we crashed pretty quickly. The next morning, a Lyft took us to our home for the rest of the stay, Disney’s Yacht Club resort and we got settled in. Yacht Club is a beautiful resort and in such a convenient spot to travel to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. The walk over to Epcot only takes a few minutes and is such a nice little stroll. Currently, with the construction at the bus stops and gondola station at Hollywood Studios, walking there is a really, really bad option but taking the boat is a breeze. I had some delicious dark chocolate waffles for a late breakfast at Ale & Compass (formerly the Captain’s Grille restaurant) at the resort and then wandered to our room to unpack.

Why yes, it was dessert for breakfast!

The resort was recently remodeled and features the standard white linens on the bed but the room didn’t lose all of those signature Disney touches. The curtains were so cute, it truly is a wonder I didn’t try to snatch one.

Disney constellations!

First up was Magic Kingdom. We had a few hours to play in the park before the Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween party started up so we made the most of it. We practically walked on to so many rides! We had our standard three FastPasses but we rode something like ten other rides in just a couple of hours! Dinner at Tony’s Town Square, a new favorite of the kid, and then it was party time. The party sold out, again a Hurricane Florence impact as so many people evacuated to Disney, so it was pretty crowded. We had our highlights to hit — Space Mountain with the lights off, Mad Tea Party with disco lighting and pop music, and Pirates of the Caribbean with live actors plus a little trick-or-treating, Magic Shots, and the Boo to You parade. We crammed as much as we could in the 7pm-midnight time and then hit the hay.

The next morning was an early one. I had registered for an Annual Passholder event at Hollywood Studios for an early opening of Toy Story Land. This event sold out lightning fast back when it opened up so I was super stoked to have been able to participate. This was the first visit to Toy Story Land for the hubs so that made it even more exciting. We had to be at the park at 7am and we rolled in just after that. I would’ve been there before that but the universe was against us that morning and what I thought would be a quick walk from the resort to the park turned out to be a super awful winding adventure through the Hollywood Studios parking lot. Definitely not how I wanted to spend my pre-7am time and before breakfast no less. We made it though and rode Alien Swirling Saucers twice, Toy Story Mania three times, and Slinky Dog Dash FIVE times! The hubs rode with us on Slinky the first two times but then the kid and I just kept getting back in the line and riding by ourselves until the droves of guests came in at 9am. Again, again, again!!

That wait time does indeed say 10 minutes!

That night, the kid and I went to Epcot while the hubs ventured off to Universal Orlando to go to Halloween Horror Nights. You wouldn’t catch me anywhere near that but he had a blast on his own, especially in the Stranger Things house. Express Pass for the houses was a must that night as the lines were huge since it was the opening weekend of the event for 2018.

Epcot was filled with guests enjoying the Food & Wine Festival, some enjoying a little (lot) too much in the alcohol department. I’m not sure I’d choose Epcot as the place to get drunk since the alcohol is pretty expensive, the park crowded, and the temperature pretty hot. Not the best recipe for fun. Great teaching moment for the kid though.

Before we knew it, we were packing our bags and the long weekend was coming to an end. These trips are often way too short but so very much fun. Reconnecting with the fam and making new memories is worth every dollar and minute.

Until next time…

Amber

Time to get back on the bus…