Over Thanksgiving, the fam and I went to Disney’s Hilton Head Island resort to relax and recharge. My sister and nieces came along to share the fun. As always, we had a blast and found some shark teeth to bring home!
Last week, we headed down to Disney World for the daughter’s BF’s first trip! We stayed at Coronado Springs resort at Disney and had a comfy room in the Casitas section of the resort. Most of our time was spent in the parks, trying to cram in as much as we could for his first WDW adventure! We hit all four parks plus the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in Magic Kingdom. Let’s hit the highlights!
There were several new things on this trip for us… lunch at Rix Sports Bar and Grill and dinner at Three Bridges Bar & Grill, both at Coronado Springs. Three Bridges is located in the center of the lake at the resort and dinner there was lovely being on the water and having a great view of the Gran Destino tower part of the resort. Rix was surprisingly good, can’t believe we had never tried that before! We also met the Mandalorian and Grogu at Hollywood Studios — so much fun! Grogu was super cute and very realistic plus Mando stayed perfectly in character.
Also new to us was the Zootopia: Better Zoogether show at Animal Kingdom. This show replaced the It’s Tough to be a Bug show that closed earlier this year. I loved it! Still great effects and the queue to wait for the show has lots of fun things to look at including this cute “Pawdora” jewelry display featuring some of the friends from Zootopia! Here’s a tip, watch Zootopia 2 before this show so you don’t have any spoilers.
Zootopia show posterPawdora display at the Zootopia show queue
In Epcot, there was a Scentsy display of a handful of larger than life snowglobes that featured fun holiday scenes with accompanying scents that you could experience by getting close to the displays. My fave was Christmas Cottage, scented like oranges, raspberries, cloves, and spice. So nice! These were new this year as well. We also got to see the Living with the Land ride transformed into its holiday version, Glimmering Greenhouses. This attraction gets super busy at night when the lights are really showing off all of the displays inside.
Glimmering GreenhousesScentsy snowglobe in Epcot
While in Animal Kingdom, we were lucky enough to see the Merry Menagerie of puppets in Discovery Island. I’ve seen these before but they get better every year! And the interaction with guests is fun to experience and watch!
Merry Menagerie animal puppets in Animal Kingdom
We took a very early ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris and were rewarded with some of the best animal sighting we’ve had in awhile. I don’t think there were any animals that we didn’t get to see! Everyone was out and even frolicking in some cases! The giraffes were super close to the safari trucks too and that’s always such a treat! And the baby elephant, eek!
Rhinos at Kilimanjaro SafarisElephants at Kilimanjaro SafarisA giraffe at Kilimanjaro Safaris
At the Very Merry Christmas Party, we collected all of the free cookies and drinks that were available for party guests plus the fun collectible ornament. We brought most of them home to enjoy later but this chocolate and mint covered marshmallow didn’t make it to the end of the party for me! Delish! The parade was better than I remember and the fireworks — incredible! I have always been a huge fan of the Not So Scary Halloween Party but the Christmas party gave it a run for its money this year!
Toy soldiers during the Very Merry Christmas PartyCinderella Castle projections during the party fireworksChocolate and mint covered marshmallow Mickey
All-in-all, we had a great time. And despite being exhausted from all the walking (over thirty miles in the four days!), lots of wonderful memories were made. Happy Holidays!
In late June, the fam and I hit the road to Orlando to enjoy a week at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando. Our plan was two nights at Disney’s Boardwalk resort, two nights at Disney’s Polynesian Village resort, and two nights at Helios Grand at Universal. Adding those three hotels to the hotel for the drive to Florida and the hotel for the drive back home to Virginia, five hotels in a week was A LOT. We’re experts at switching hotels and keeping things moving though, so we managed the transitions with relative ease. It’s funny though, our challenge became finding laundry facilities at the different stops to keep our clothes clean and fresh. Florida in June is no joke when it comes to heat and humidity and, as a result of those two fun things, sweat. Lots of sweat. We also had pool time and went to Volcano Bay at Universal, so wet bathing suits needed attention as well. I’m happy to report that we succeeded in finding laundry rooms at each spot and did the needful. Adulting is hard!
The hotels… all three were exactly what we needed for that portion of the trip! Boardwalk was the perfect location to start our trip, since our first Disney day was at Epcot and the second was at Hollywood Studios. Both of these are right near Boardwalk, with Epcot being a super short walk to the park and Hollywood Studios being a quick boat ride over. Our third Disney day was Animal Kingdom, then the move to the Polynesian Village resort, and the evening at Magic Kingdom. The last Disney day was spent oh so happily in the pool at the Polynesian and exploring the resort.
We stayed in the new Island Tower at the Polynesian resort, which is to the far left of the resort and very close to the Wedding Pavilion and the Grand Floridian resort. This resort was built in the area that the Spirit of Aloha luau show used to occupy. We’ve stayed at the Polynesian several times but staying in the Tower was **chef’s kiss**. LOVED the room, the Tower, the vibe of the building and the area, and the new Cove pool beside the tower. The original Polynesian resort features rooms in several longhouses but the tower has all of the rooms in the one big, you guessed it, tower. You can’t access any of the rooms or floors of the tower without staying there, which is HUGE for guests. There are four incredible terraces (two on the front and two on the back) that are large open air spaces for guests to relax and enjoy spectacular views. The two on the front of the tower face Magic Kingdom and the Seven Seas Lagoon area and the two on the back face — well construction right now. They face Disney’s Palm golf course and some road construction. The highlight is that you can also see the monorail track and watch those go by quite frequently. Terrace pics are below. Definitely a highlight of staying in the tower!
Boardwalk is always so fun and being that close to Epcot is an absolute treat for us since we tend to spent a decent amount of time there. The headboard of the Murphy bed had Max and Goofy, our favorite father/son duo! Our room had a boardwalk view so we were able to sit out and watch the fireworks from Luminous at Epcot one evening. It was the first time we had a boardwalk view there (we have been there many times but with other views from our room) and it was neat to watch all the folks enjoying the boardwalk activities at night. There are street performers, surrey bikes for rent, carnival games, musical acts, etc. and lots of guests come over to experience something a little different on their trips. Epcot was fantabulous as always and dinner at Via Napoli was as delicious as we come to expect. We hit all of our favorite rides and attractions plus grabbed dessert to go from Karamell Kuche in Germany (oh that caramel…) before heading back for the evening.
Hollywood Studios always means Star Wars fun for us but we also wanted to see the updated Little Mermaid musical show and the new Villains show. I have to say that the Little Mermaid show has always been a fave of mine but it is so well done now… majorly impressed with the updates. I wasn’t sure what to expect on the Villains show and ended up enjoying it quite a bit. The storyline isn’t the strongest but the effects and stars of the show did a great job. I’m excited to see how it evolves. We also stopped by the Frozen Sing Along show and the Arendelle historians were super funny, more funny than usual I think. Lots of laughs from us for sure! Dinner was at Hollywood & Vine with Minnie and friends and quite yummy. They were offering a discount for annual passholders that we had to take advantage of, us an seemingly everyone else in there! I heard all of the other tables around us saying they were AP holders as well. Too much savings to resist for us I guess!
We didn’t spent a ton of time in Animal Kingdom but had a great spot to watch Festival of the Lion King and a blast on Flight of Passage. We split up for lunch with the fam having Satu’li Canteen and me heading over for some classic American goodness at Pizzafari. It was nice to take a walk around the park and see some old faves since we don’t typically spend a lot of time there. Animal Kingdom is a beautiful place to spend the day! Our room was ready over at the Polynesian, so we left the park and got set up in our new room. The hubs had a concert at House of Blues at Disney Springs to attend, so the daughter and I headed out to Magic Kingdom for dinner and a little more fun. Crystal Palace hit the spot with their delish buffet plus Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore. We took one last ride on the Rivers of America on the Liberty Belle Riverboat (it closed permanently on July 7th) and hopped on Haunted Mansion (our fave ride!) for a journey through the darkness. It was almost time for Happily Ever After fireworks after that and the mob scene had plugged up all of the Castle hub area, the side bridges, and all the way down Main Street USA, so we hopped on the boat back to our resort. While onboard, the fireworks started and we were able to watch them (with the music piped in while we were parked at the Grand Floridian resort boat dock) from the water. What a lovely way to end the night!
The next day was our pool day. No parks, just chlorine and sunscreen. The new Cove pool beside the Island Tower was a great way to relax and refresh. Pretty basic pool but with a cute little Moana themed waterplay area for the littles. We got a lunch snack from the Wailulu Bar and Grill at the tower and then ordered in dinner from Giordano’s pizza delivery. I LOVE Giordano’s and try to get it on most of our trips. Always so good! We ended the night with drinks from the main pool bar and our tower terrace exploration.
It was moving time again the next morning so we packed up and headed to Helios Grand to check in. The room wasn’t ready so we hopped on a bus to Volcano Bay for some waterpark fun. The wave pool occupied a good bit of the day before we switched to the lazy river and then the pool. Unfortunately, the Fearless river was closed when we made our way around to it but there was a vicious thunderstorm on the way anyway, so we ended up leaving the park shortly thereafter. Back to Helios, the rain was going crazy and we got soaked trying to get our bags from our van to the hotel. Since we were still in our bathing suits, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been if we were fully dressed.
Dinner that night was at Flora Taverna, a restaurant in Helios. This restaurant was SO good. I’ve been kind of meh about food in Orlando in general lately but Flora Taverna turned that right around! The service and the food was incredible, so much so that we had breakfast there the morning we left to go home. Expensive but worth every penny!
Helios was such a cool hotel! It even had a tablet in the room that you could control the curtains and lights with! Tablets are becoming more the norm for room service, looking at room charges, etc. but this one controlled the tv, the lights and lamps in all the rooms, the curtains, and you could even make requests for more amenities with it!
Helios is located right at the rear of Epic Universe park and has its own private guest entrance into the park near Dark Universe. For us, that was perfection! Resort guests also get an hour early entry so we headed into the park and spent time in Dark Universe before heading to Super Mario World before the crowds. It was neat to see the park again so soon after our last visit and to see how many things had changed. There were new food stands, new merch, other stores that hadn’t opened yet, better processes for getting on attractions (no more virtual queue for Battle of the Ministry in Harry Potter!), and more. We spent a very full day in the park and ended with the fountain show at closing. Everything was perfect (except the huge thunderstorm but weather is what weather is) even though we didn’t get everything done that we were trying to. Lunch was at The Atlantic restaurant, another one that was new and incredibly good. Reservations required and worth the park time to enjoy the food there. It is hard to be a vegetarian when you don’t eat fake meat or mushrooms, dining options have just migrated to basically those two things as the vegetarian menu ‘option’ but The Atlantic had the most amazing romanesco dish… still thinking about that thing. Back to Epic though, I think the best there is two days but at least a day and a half. It is so hard to try to cram everything into one day. We go back again this fall but will have Express Passes this time, hopefully helping us get a little done for our day at Epic.
The drive back home was definitely interesting for us. So much traffic on I-95, which isn’t unusual but never welcome, and then the hubs got hit with apparently food poisoning so I ended up driving the last five hours or so home the next day. At least we take backroads and more local routes for that portion! Next time, we’re flying to Orlando so they won’t be subjected to my driving and musical accompaniment!
Here we are again, two trips down and still no blog post. Geez. I have been quite the slacker lately. I guess this will be another ‘hit the highlights’ post and I’ll try to do better next time. 🤞🏻
In January, the fam and I returned to Disney for the International Festival of the Arts at Epcot. The daughter had two days scheduled to work during the festival as a chalk artist on the bridge between World Celebration and World Showcase. This year, she was tasked with working on a reproduction of a Master with a Disney twist each day. She chose two August Macke paintings, Promenadeand Walking in the Park, with some color brightening and the addition of Hidden Mickeys. Each piece takes about three hours to complete and are about 3 feet by 4 feet in size. She works so hard on these pieces, as do all of the chalk artists, with hours of prep time and work on the ground to make these pieces come to life for park guests. Kudos to the entire chalk team! 🏆
Our weather this year was wacky with a capital ‘W’! It was so very cold initially with gloves, heavy coats, and hats each day. Then we were quickly approaching shorts weather not three days later. January is definitely a bizarre month for Orlando weather, each year stranger than the one before. We stayed at Caribbean Beach resort for a couple of nights and then moved over to the Boardwalk Inn resort for the rest of the trip. The HVAC system in our room at Caribbean Beach didn’t know what to do with the cold weather… it was super hot in the room when we got there and we had to have maintenance come in to get it down to something tolerable. Then, of course, it was too cold in the room. I’m not sure which I liked less but being cold is just no bueno! The Boardwalk room didn’t have any issues like that, it was lovely and a nice, spacious corner room! 😍
Oh yeah, the temperatures! Guess who got lucky with a Lightning Lane MultiPass for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in Magic Kingdom on the first trip day? Yep, me! Well… not all lucky because that day might have hit 50 degrees for a high and we all had our winter coats on. When we rode the ride, of course we got completely soaked and were freezing for a good while afterward. I’m not sure that the hubs has forgiven me for that yet. You had to laugh though! I’ve never gotten that wet on the ride but we ended up in the front of the log and it was like the water was just coming straight for us every time. Yep, that’s me in the front! 😂
Other than the weather, it was a great trip! Fast forward to March… the fam plus a niece headed to Hilton Head for a few days at Disney’s Hilton Head Island resort. We’ve been there many times before and it is a great place for a spring break getaway. The weather here was much more cooperative, after a major storm the day we arrived. We had a great couple of days looking for shark teeth on the beach, trying out some local restaurants, and relaxing at the resort. Al’s Aloha Kitchen and their incredible acai bowls never disappoints!
I always feel like I could stay longer there but this year I was a little bit grateful that we didn’t have a longer trip. The pollen was atrocious for some reason! I guess all of the beautiful Live Oak trees decided it was time to spread their neon yellow cheer all over the island because, holy cow, was it everywhere! I had a runny nose and super itchy, red and goopy eyes the whole time we were gone. Not my idea of a fun time! At first I thought it was the sand that blew in my eyes when I might or might not have been crawling around on the beach looking for shark teeth. 🫣🤭But nope, pollen. So.much.pollen! You know who didn’t care about the pollen? This guy. He was eating the little flowery bits causing the pollen! 🤧
Our next journey will be back to Florida this summer to enjoy more time at Disney and stop over at Universal for a day at Epic Universe! I cannot wait to see this new theme park and live out my How to Train Your Dragon dreams!
xoxo, Amber
PS- This post is dedicated to the Oleman. We lost a beloved member of our family in February and will forever miss taking him along on our journeys and spending our days surrounded by his love. 💔
Since my last post, I have been back to Disney twice but have neglected to recap my adventures for my loyal readers! Alas, it is time to get the stories told!
The first trip was in late August. This one consisted of just the hubs and I and we took to the road to begin the adventure. When we arrived in Orlando, we spent two nights at one of my favorite places, the Cabins at Fort Wilderness. You’ll remember those from my last post. It was first time that the hubs enjoyed one of the new cabins and he liked it as much as the daughter and I did back in July. Those things are the best! 10 out of 10. After those two nights, we moved over to Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando to spend two more nights. On our last night, we drove up to Jekyll Island in Georgia for a little beach fun before heading home the next day. We were on the move for the whole trip but had a blast!
OK. So Disney first. We did all of the usual Disney things (and saw the renovated Country Bears Jamboree Show) but were also able to enjoy a special after hours event for Disney Vacation Club Members called Moonlight Magic. This one took place at Hollywood Studios from 9:30pm to 12:30am. All of the attractions were open, we got free snacks, there were special dance parties and characters, and even our own special showing of Fantasmic! So cool. These events are super hard to get signed up for nowadays but I’m so glad I secured a spot for us for this one.
Universal was a blast! Once we hopped over there, we really had a great time in the parks and at Hard Rock. We spent a decent amount of time in the pool there mid-afternoon each day until the rain kicked us out. Our room was as far away from the lobby as it could possibly be, literally at a stairwell, but that was PERFECT! We could go right down that stairwell and pop out at the pool entrance and at a sidewalk that connected directly to the walking path to the parks. Woot! I love it when we get those types of rooms.
We enjoyed a lot of time in the parks, riding the attractions, checking out the new Dreamworks Land, and giving me time to capture some great shots for future marketing. I had a training event at Universal while there so I was able to pick up some new knowledge and talk one-on-one with some of our sales staff in person which is always so valuable! We were also able to get amped up for Halloween Horror Nights by seeing some of the props that were out and ready for the event to officially start — right after we left, of course.
Up at Jekyll Island, we drove in just for the night to see what we could enjoy on our brief stopover. This island is super unique with Driftwood Beach at the north end and has been home to many TV shows and film productions. No shark teeth for me (darn it!) but this was an interesting place to visit and a new type of beach environment for me with the funky water color and driftwood.
The second trip was in mid-September. The hubs, the daughter, and I flew down to Orlando to visit Disney and Universal again for her annual birthday trip. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge at Disney and Sapphire Falls resort at Universal for this trip. The Front Desk at Animal Kingdom Lodge was able to snag us a partial savanna view for our ‘resort view’ room, which was super and unexpected. Nice birthday bonus!
We enjoyed some time at all four parks during our two nights there plus hit Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom on our last night. It was fantastic, as always! Maybe even better than our last one because we scored a super spot for the Boo to You parade on Main Street right across from Casey’s Corner. We had to grab it EARLY but it was worth it. That is our most favorite parade of all of them in the parks. I love seeing the Headless Horseman go by and the Haunted Mansion ghosts!
When we went over to Universal, our room took a while to be ready (because it was a huge Sapphire Suite!) so we spent the afternoon at the pool there. I really liked this pool as it had a neat raised up area across the middle of the pool to act like a bridge/path to get from one side of the pool to the other. The water across is very shallow so you can walk across the pool to find more seating, the restaurant, get to the water slide entrance, etc. Since our room wasn’t ready, we used the Fitness Center showers and changing areas which were very convenient for this purpose.
Once the room was ready, we got settled in. The daughter, being in college, had some school work to do so she got a big room service order for dinner and got to work. The hubs and I packed up and headed to Universal Studios for Halloween Horror Nights. Truth be told, work or no, the daughter didn’t want anything to do with Halloween Horror Nights anyway. This was my first time at HHN so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I decided to splurge and get a RIP Tour for us so we could skip all the lines for the houses and get up close seating for the Nightmare Fuel Nocturnal Circus show. This was EXCELLENT! I will be going to HHN next year and we will be doing a RIP Tour again for sure. There are two types, private and non-private. Non-private was what we did, with like 8-10 other people. Our guide was Jason from NJ and he was the best! We finished five of the ten houses in the first hour! We started at 6pm and were totally done by 9pm with all houses and Scare Zones done plus two decent breaks. Then Jason led us over to the show location and put us right in the second and third rows, super close to the stage. After the show was over, we were on our own to continue exploring and had the use of Express Pass for the attractions. Normally, the hubs goes alone and gets the Express Pass for the houses, gets started around 6pm, but doesn’t get finished until like 1am and doesn’t get to see the show (you need to line up early to get a spot). We were done and on the way back to the hotel by like 10:30pm. Amazing!
Let’s dip into the details on HHN. So ten houses and five Scare Zones. Food stands featuring event-themed items for purchase. Merchandise throughout the parks including the famous Tribute Store inside of Universal Studios. Most attractions remain open for the event. The Scare Zones are located in different places in the parks. They had a big one when you first entered the park where some Scare Actors ‘greeted’ the guests with chainsaws and some chasing. There was another themed like a medieval torture faire and one with characters from the Blumhouse films like M3GAN, Black Phone, The Purge, etc. I also enjoyed the zombies in the Swamp of the Undead and probably should’ve gone through it a second time. (Huge Walking Dead fan here.) The Scare Actors have the best costumes and makeup, really movie quality. I don’t know how they pull it off in the Orlando heat. The houses are either based on recent horror movies like A Quiet Place, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Insidious: The Further, etc. or original content like Triplets of Terror, Slaughterhouse Cinema 2, and Goblin’s Fest. The houses are like big mazes with Scare Actors that come out at you when you going through, props, excellent sets, fog, sounds (or no sound, in the case of A Quiet Place), etc. You get very immersed in each house as you go through it. Movie quality for sure! Then we have Nightmare Fuel Nocturnal Circus. This is best described as Cirque du Soleil meets a burlesque show. There is fire, acrobatics, aerials, stunts, dancing, and more. Definitely a must see for any HHN guest. By the way, guests are recommended to be 14 and up for this event by Universal. I did see smaller kids there, including the poor little boy crying his eyes out after going into the first Scare Zone, so keep that in mind. I also know of some younger teenagers who love scary movies that didn’t do so when the scary movie on the screen was now in person and in your face holding a chainsaw. The Scare Actors aren’t allowed to touch you, and you are forbidden from touching them, but they do get close.
Phew! That was a lot of recap! Two trips in the span of a couple of weeks might leave you thinking, how do you have enough to do each time? In reality though, we did completely different things on each trip and still left with a few things we didn’t get around to (here’s looking at you, Dead Coconut Club).
We’ll be back in Florida in January (that seems like forever!) but have some fun planned between now and then. Stay tuned!
The daughter and I packed up and headed south to Florida shortly after the 4th of July. This wasn’t our first trip to the “Most Hot and Humid Place on Earth in the summer” and it won’t be our last! This stay was split between time at the brand new Disney Vacation Club (DVC) Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and a beautiful one-bedroom villa at Disney’s Riviera resort. We flew down to Florida on Breeze Airways, our first time on that airline, nonstop from Richmond to Tampa. And yes, I am familiar with the geography of Florida and realize that Tampa is a solid hour to an hour and a half from Disney. I wanted to try this airline out and had some time to spare so Breeze and Tampa it was! I did discover that while Breeze was fine, flying into Tampa wasn’t really for me, especially after a pile of delays getting to Tampa (and an arrival that was well after midnight) then a rainy drive in the dark for an hour+ in a rental car. Ah, things sound so much better in my head sometimes…
We finally arrived at Fort Wilderness in the wee hours of the morning (like 2:30-3am I think) and checked into our incredible cabin. There have been wilderness cabins at Fort Wilderness for years and I have stayed in one of the original ones, but these new DVC cabins are replacing the original ones. During our trip, only one loop of the new cabins was open and we were so very lucky to get one of those. Let me tell you, these things are stunning. They fit so well into the vibe of the Fort and the outdoors from the look of the cabins, the incredible amount of windows, and all the furnishings and fixtures inside. The new cabins still have a queen bed and set of bunks in the bedroom but the old pull-out sofa has been replaced by a new queen-size Murphy bed that is a sofa by day and pull-down bed by night. So much more comfortable than the original pull-outs with the bars (anyone who has slept on a sofa bed knows exactly what I’m talking about!) The bathroom was relocated to the opposite end of the cabin and expanded for so much more room when getting ready in the morning. I LOVED the floor to ceiling windows in the living room/kitchen area and the high windows in the bedroom that could let the light in each day. I don’t think I would change a thing about these (except to add a washer/dryer) and can’t wait for all of the original cabins to be replaced!
One of our favorite things about staying at the Fort is renting a golf cart and just riding around. It’s fun to look at the campsites that others have decorated for their stays, to be able to head to Trail’s End and grab Mickey waffles in the morning, and to have our own private transport from the main bus stop back to our cabin each evening. At about $70/night after tax, these are well-worth the convenience and fun they provide!
Our park day was a bit limited on this trip, in part because of the heat/humidity and in part because the daughter was knee-deep in two summer college courses. We spent a good bit of the time in the cabin working (a travel agent’s work is never done!) and relaxing. It was simply divine! We did go to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios though during the trip and enjoyed our time in each, as always. Epcot provided delicious dinner at Via Napoli and Magic Kingdom offered up tasty delights at Crystal Palace. We ordered pizza in one evening from Giordano’s (our fave!) while at the cabin too and that was scrumptious as always.
We were able to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in Magic Kingdom and loved it! I was never a big fan of Splash Mountain but love the refreshed storyline and new audio-animatronics in this version. We didn’t even get that wet (bonus!)
Once we moved over to the Riviera resort (no more golf cart, boo!), it was a nice upgrade to be in a one-bedroom villa. I decided to split my stay because the one thing missing from the cabin was a washer and dryer and we really needed clean clothes with the heat. I am a laundry nut while on vacation and I really miss it when I don’t have that available. Once we moved over to Riviera, we really went into relax mode. We still hit the parks, as mentioned, but also enjoyed our time together and at Primo Piatto, the super quick service location at Riviera. That little spot puts out some amazing food on the go.
After a couple of days at Riviera, it was time to make the drive back to Tampa to fly home. Knowing that I-4W gets very congested, we decided to leave super early and make a pit stop at the Lakeland Antique Mall in Lakeland (imagine that). This was about 35-minutes or so from Disney (depending on traffic). I tell you, we almost needed pulled out of there. Everything under the sun can be found in that place, especially if you’re a gigantic Disney fan. So much memorabilia (for sale and just for show) plus your usual antiques are packed into every corner. If you’ve ever been to Roundup Rodeo BBQ in Hollywood Studios, you’ll remember the “paper” plates you’re given to eat on. These look like your typical paper plate but they’re actually ceramic. I LOVE those plates and they actually had a stack of them available to purchase. Of course, I came home with two, LOL.
After the antique mall, we hopped back in the car to Tampa. And of course, congestion had set in by then and we were in for a very long ride back to the airport. So much for just another 45 minutes or so! When we finally got back to Tampa, it was again pouring rain but luckily cleared in time for our flight to leave with only an hour or so delay.
Always a glutton for punishment, I’m headed back to Orlando later this month and again in September, so heat and humidity… here I come (again!)
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!
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!
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!
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.
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…
Type A Travel Mom 