Our Trip: Epcot

We all slept really well in our townhouse.  Because Epcot has a slightly later opening time than the other parks, we were able to sleep in a bit, eat breakfast, and still make it to the park for park opening.

After our two cooler days, our Epcot day started in the 50's, but was sunny and low 70s by the afternoon.  It was perfect!

Epcot is one of our very favorite parks for its great mix of things to do.  We enjoy the rides, but also love walking around the various countries, seeing the shows and outdoor performers, enjoying the good food and fun snacks, and just appreciating the atmosphere.

The Festival of the Arts was going on at Epcot while we were there.  We enjoyed watching the acrobats (we told Adelie this is something she could do with her incredible flexibility), checking out the chalk drawings and art tents, and listening to a Broadway series concert with a woman who played Ursela on Broadway and a man who played Timon, Chef Louie, and the Duke of Weselton on Broadway.  They were fabulous!  Watching the concert was one of Staley's top requests for the day.

And although Adelie was being shy about it, we enjoyed talking to the acrobats after their performance to find out how they were able to turn their skills with strength and flexibility into a career.

There were 50 of these gold statues throughout all the Disney parks as part of Disney's 50th anniversary celebration.  My kids loved trying to find all the statues in the parks...and then asking to get their pictures taken with them.

While wandering around World Showcase, we enjoyed watching the drummers in Japan, eating gelato and shaved ice in Italy and Japan, checking out the American Adventure show and eating lunch at Regal Eagle (one of our new favorite meals) in the America pavilion, meeting Anna and Elsa in Norway, and, of course, spending lots of time checking out the miniature trains in Germany.  We always have to make sure to schedule ample time into our day for these trains.  One member of our group could literally spend all day watching them.

I loved watching his excitement as he chased the trains around, pointed out all his favorites, took in all the details, and made friends with other train enthusiasts.

Traditional meet and greets with hugs and autograph books are not back yet, but the kids still enjoyed the modified meet and greets that we did.  Staley was our child who was most adamant about doing some of these meet and greets.  I love that she still enjoys them!

Zach had a quick virtual meeting that he slipped away for during our Epcot day.  Right after his meeting, he happened to see this friend out and about.

We fit in all our favorite rides throughout the day with minimal wait times.  We all rode Soarin' (one of my very favorites) right when the park opened, Nemo (twice), Journey into Imagination, Living with the Land, and Spaceship Earth.  The kids were not interested in riding the new Ratatoullie ride, which would have been a long wait had we chosen to ride it.

We fit in some shows that we had never done before, like The American Adventure (which was very well done and also educational, making me feel less bad about taking my kids out of school for a week) and Awesome Planet (which we also really enjoyed).  We also did Turtle Talk with Crush, which is one of our family favorites.  And to make it even more fun, Briggs was singled out to answer some questions and talk with Crush.  And we also enjoyed checking out the aquarium in the building with Nemo and Crush.  Unfortunately, the manatee tank was being cleaned so we did not get to see the manatees.

We had dinner at Sunshine Seasons and enjoyed eating a little healthier with salmon and fresh veggies from Epcot's own gardens and fishery.  (Well, Briggs chose the mac and cheese and Adelie just wanted PB & J, so I guess we were 3/5 on the healthier front.)

The girls really wanted to do the Frozen ride and Briggs really wanted to do Test Track, two of the more popular rides that have long wait times throughout the day.  We waited until the last hour of the day and then split up to get in our last rides.  Zach took the girls on Frozen while Briggs and I did Test Track together.  We were able to do both rides twice, finishing the ride and getting right back into line a few minutes before the park closed.  

Zach and the girls finished their rides in time to catch the end of the nighttime fireworks and projection show while they were waiting for Briggs and I to finish up.

Another successful park opening to park closing day in the books.  Although we walked over 13 miles, we had a great day with beautiful weather and the opportunity to just enjoy the day and the park that we all love.  With each subsequent trip, Epcot makes its case for being our favorite park.  It's hard to supplant Magic Kingdom, but Epcot is a very close second.

Our Trip: Universal

Although we had cancelled our previous two Disney trips, the kids were never aware of our plans.  In the same way, in this time of uncertainty, we never told the kids about this trip either.  Instead, on the day we left, we woke them up at 5:00 a.m. and informed them we were planning to have an epic family day.  We then set out a Harry Potter shirt and a pair of mouse ears, letting them know we had already chosen their outfits for the day.  At first confused and then incredulous, they became really excited when they finally realized what we were doing.

Such a fun surprise!

The kids got up and ready quickly and we were on our way to the airport by 5:30, eating breakfast in the car on the way.  After arriving in Orlando, we got our rental car and went straight to our Universal hotel.  We had decided to add one Universal day to our trip since all 3 kids really like Harry Potter so we could experience the Harry Potter areas in the Universal parks.

Since my initial plan of swimming after arrival to our hotel was thwarted by the cold weather, we instead headed over to the Universal CityWalk to find something to eat for an early dinner (since we hadn't actually had a meal since our car breakfast and airplane snacks.)  The CityWalk is just a shopping and dining area directly adjacent to the Universal parks.

Although it was a short walk from our hotel to the CityWalk, Briggs really wanted to take the boat instead.

We walked around the CityWalk area, realized that wait times for all the restaurants were elevated even though it was only mid-afternoon, put our name in for a restaurant, ate some soft pretzels and popcorn to curb our hunger until we could get seated at a restaurant, and looked in a few different stores to pass the time.

We then ate at the Chocolate Emporium, where the food was good and the milkshakes were HUGE!  We were split as a family; some of us preferred the mint shake and others preferred the cookies and cream.  I was team mint.

After dinner, we grabbed the Voodoo Donuts we had mobile ordered for breakfast the next day, walked back to our hotel (since the boat line was really long), settled into our hotel room, showered, and went to bed early to get ready for our big Universal day the next day.

We started our early morning with donuts in our hotel room.

I had bought us fun, matching Universal shirts to wear.  Unfortunately, the weather was in the 30's (come on, Florida!) when we left our hotel for the day and only got into the low 50's throughout the day, so our fun shirts were hidden under sweatshirts and jackets for most of the day.

After packing up and loading our luggage in our car, we walked over to Islands of Adventure to start our day with Early Entry to the Hogsmead area of the Harry Potter land.

It felt like we walked right into a Harry Potter book.  We had so much fun just walking around and looking at all the amazing details throughout the land.

All the shops, restaurants, and details were right out of the books and we loved pointing out little things to each other and finding fun things to look at...like quills writing by themselves in store windows or broomsticks floating in mid-air up by the ceiling of the store or the Monster Book of Monsters that growled and snapped and moved around it's cage.

Staley used her special money from Grammie and Grandpa to purchase an interactive wand.  All 3 kids enjoyed finding spots throughout Hogsmead and Diagon Alley where they could do spells that did things like make lights turn on, balls float, water turn on, flowers grow, or invisible ink appear.

We also rode the Harry Potter rides at Islands of Adventure.  Since the rides were all simulators or roller coasters, Zach wasn't able to ride any...although he did get to walk through the lines and enjoy the immersive experience of going into Hogwarts castle for the Forbidden Journey ride and seeing Hagrid's hut in the line for Flight of the Hippogriff.

The rest of us rode Flight of the Hippogriff, a little roller coaster that Briggs deemed his favorite ride at Universal and chose to ride again at the end of the night.  We also all rode Forbidden Journey, which was a much more intense ride with simulators and animatronic figures of some of the scarier points in Harry Potter, like dementors, giant spiders, fire breathing dragons, the whomping willow... Briggs cried his way through the ride and Adelie just closed her eyes the whole time.  I couldn't really enjoy it because I was feeling guilty for bringing my two littles on the scary ride.  Not my best mom moment.

After the trauma of Forbidden Journey, we stopped to recover with a mid-morning Butterbeer treat.

After we thoroughly explored Hogsmead, we wandered around the rest of the park.  We checked out Seuss Landing, where we rode the trolley, the Cat and the Hat ride, and the One Fish, Two Fish spinner ride (twice.)

Adelie loved the spinner and chose to do it again at the end of the night as her last fun thing.

We got lunch at the Circus McGurkus Cafe Stoopendous and ate our cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, and pizza outside in the sun while watching a Dr. Seuss show.  We then played at a little play area in Seuss Landing and walked around exploring other areas of the park, like the Jurassic Park area and the Marvel Universe area, where the girls rode Storm Force Acceleration.

Because of the cold weather, most of the bigger roller coasters were closed earlier in the day.  Staley had really wanted to ride Hagrids Motorbike roller coaster, which is the more intense of the Harry Potter roller coasters at Universal.  When it reopened for the day in the early afternoon, we got in line with a posted wait of 60 minutes.  We ended up waiting 2 hours.  Much of the line was in these small indoor cave-like corridors with no indication of how close you were getting to the end.  I began to feel claustrophobic and almost bailed at a few points, but we FINALLY made it and the coaster was fun and definitely a highlight for Staley.  While we were waiting and riding, Zach took the littles and explored some more, did all the rides in Seuss Landing again, and spent a little time playing in the Jurassic Park play area.

We then decided it was time to take the Hogwart's Express to Universal Studios to see the other Harry Potter land, Diagon Alley.

Obviously, riding the Hogwart's Express was top on Briggs' list of things to do.

Diagon Alley was another amazing elaborately detailed Harry Potter land.  Unfortunately, there was a large dragon on top of Gringott's bank that made a loud sound and breathed fire every 15 minutes.  Briggs was very scared of the dragon and just wanted to leave.  So Zach and the girls took their time exploring Diagon Alley and doing spells with Staley's wand while Briggs and I explored other areas of the park.

Briggs and I had fun meeting Kuwalski and riding a Simpson's alien spinner ride, the ET ride, and the Woody Woodpecker roller coaster.  (We discovered on this trip that Briggs really enjoys roller coasters.)

When Zach and the girls were done exploring, Staley and I stayed in Diagon Alley to ride the Gringott's ride while Zach and the littles did Men in Black Alien Attack and the Simpson's spinner again.

We then rode the Hogwarts Express again back to Islands of Adventure, did our final rides of the night (Hippogriff for me, Staley, and Briggs and One fish, two fish for Adelie and Zach), watched the projection light show on Hogwart's castle, and then left the park at closing time to check in to our townhouse, eat a late dinner of cereal, and get to bed after our long, fun day.

Although we enjoyed our Universal day, did some fun rides, and LOVED exploring the Harry Potter lands, we did realize that Universal is more geared towards those looking for thrill rides and excitement.  The Harry Potter rides were more intense than we were expecting, there were several other big roller coasters that Staley wasn't quite sure she wanted to try, and most of the other rides were simulators for things that my kids weren't interested in.  Apart from Seuss Land, most of the rides were ones Zach couldn't do with his motion sickness.  I'm glad we had our day at Universal and we definitely enjoyed it, but we were all ready to get to some more family friendly fun at Disney.

Our Trip: Traveling and Accommodations

Although our first 3 Disney trips were spent staying on Disney property and relying on Disney transportation, we decided to do things a little differently this time.  As Disney has raised its prices, decreased discounts, and simultaneously eliminated many of the onsite perks (like luggage delivery, airport shuttle to the hotels, airline check-in at the resorts, free Magicbands, early access to the Fast Pass window,...), we discovered we could save money while simultaneously having more space and freedom by staying off-site and renting a car.  In retrospect, this was one of our best decisions of the trip and something we will definitely do for any future Disney trip we might take.

Thumbs up for lots of space and our own transportation.  We loved not having to wait for buses to get to and from the parks each day.

Like all our previous trips, we drove up to Chicago and flew on Southwest to Orlando.  We got a good deal on our plane tickets, but our flight times we initially booked were not ideal.  Luckily, Southwest had to make a slight change to one of our flight times, opening the door for us to rebook on any flights we wanted within a 14 day window of our original flights without having to pay the difference.  So we were able to take advantage of our cheap flights AND choose the most ideal flight times for our trip.  What a fun surprise blessing!!

Killing time at the airport.

Our drives to and from the airport, our airport experiences, and our flights were all smooth and on time.  With each trip we take, the kids just get easier and easier to travel with.  We listened to 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' and ate snacks in the car on the way to and from the airport.  The kids enjoyed the moving walkways, escalators, shuttle buses, and trams at the airports.  

Moving walkways are one of the airport highlights for my kids.

Briggs also loves the airport train in Orlando that takes you from one terminal to another.

All three kids were enthused about their backpacks full of fun airplane activities, gum, and snacks that I packed for them.  It's our tradition now that I pack their backpacks full of surprise airplane activities and they can't open them until we get on the plane.

There was music to listen to and books to read...

magnetic paper dolls, sticker books, notebooks, and figurines to play with...

and movies to watch.  Briggs watched the Paw Patrol Movie on the way to Orlando and 'Puppy Dog Pals' on the way home.  The girls watched 'Encanto' on the way and 'Beauty and the Beast' on the way home.

We spent our first day and night at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal.  I chose this hotel for a variety of reasons.  It is the closest hotel to Universal, making it only a 5-10 minute walk from the hotel to the parks.  It also came with Express Pass, which is a line skipping service for most of the rides at both Universal parks.  And it had a cool swimming pool with fun water slide that I thought the kids would enjoy.  

Unfortunately the weather was so cold on our arrival day (in the low 50's) that the pool was closed.  We had deliberately switched to an early flight to allow for swimming time at the hotel on our first day.  That didn't work out quite as planned.

The Hard Rock Hotel was fine.  The people were all very nice and helpful, but the hotel itself didn't seem to be anything special.  However, the walking distance to Universal and the Express Pass made the choice well worth it.  And since we were really only there for one night, it didn't have to be anything more than a clean and comfortable place to sleep...and it was.

I did really like the lush landscaping around the grounds and along the walking path to Universal.

For the remainder of our trip, we stayed in an Airbnb townhouse in the Windsor Hills resort area about 5 miles from the main gate to Disney.  We loved it!!  We loved having lots of space to spread out in.  We loved the full kitchen where we could cook meals, eat breakfast, and have post-park snacks.  We loved the washer and dryer so we didn't have to haul home mountains of laundry.  We loved having 3 bathrooms so all the kids could shower at the same time.  We loved having multiple bedrooms so we could stay up after putting the kids to bed.  We loved the theming, the privacy, the space, and the entire resort area.

Zach also LOVED the killer deal we got through State Farm to spend the week driving around in a Cadillac crossover.  And we loved driving ourselves to and from the parks each day.  It made getting to and from the parks less time-consuming and stressful...except when we couldn't quite remember where we parked our car in the massive Disney parking lots.  Thank goodness for the panic button.

Our very favorite thing about our townhouse was our private heated splash pool.  We had 2 rest days from the parks and the kids (especially the girls) spent ALL their free time in this little pool.  They had the best time!  On our first rest day, the kids got in the pool around 9:15 in the morning.  They got out to eat brunch and again for a mid-afternoon snack.  After spending at least a full 8 hours in the pool, I finally made them get out so we could eat dinner.

I thought the kids would enjoy the pool, but I had no idea they would get that much use out of it.

Our townhouse had more than enough space for our little family.  We had an open concept living room, dining area, and kitchen with a bedroom and bathroom on the main floor.  (We never even used the main floor bedroom.)

On our two rest days, we spent time playing, reading, swimming, eating in, and snuggling on the couch after dinner to watch a few episodes of 'Magic of Disney's Animal Kingdom' and 'Bluey' before bed.

The kids really enjoyed their Mickey Mouse themed bedroom and bathroom.  And they were extra excited that nobody had to share a bed.

Our townhouse had other cute little Disney touches throughout.  And the resort area that the townhouse was in was very nice.  It had a secure gated entrance and a large clubhouse, pool area, and water park with splash pads and water slides.  We offered to take the kids to the main pool area on our rest day, but they all preferred to just stay and swim in our own little pool.  We did check out a castle themed playground in the resort that was just a few blocks from our townhouse and the kids enjoyed that.

Our travels and accommodations couldn't have been better.  Our flights were great.  Our townhouse was great.  And the perk of having more space and our own vehicle was truly a game-changer in making the trip more relaxed and enjoyable.  It was the perfect background for a week of fun!

She Says...

The other day Staley and my dad were talking about the fact that middle school and high school boys wear shorts in the middle of winter.  When he asked why boys wear shorts in the winter and not girls, Staley replied, "We're too smart for that."

He Says...

While on vacation, Staley and I were doing a ride together while Zach waited with Adelie and Briggs.  We had some fast passes for a ride that Briggs was excited about with our return time coming up soon.  Briggs and Zach had this conversation:

Briggs:  "Let's walk over there now and Mom and Sissy can just catch up."
Zach:  "We'll just wait for them and go over there together."
Briggs: (Looking at his watch and figuring out the time until our fast passes started, then stating matter of factly) "Well, you've got 6 minutes until I freak out."

Another conversation with Briggs:

Briggs:  "I'm going to finish my dream tonight.  I was dreaming when you woke me up and it was just at the exciting part."
Me:  "You can't just finish a dream."
Briggs:  "Yeah I can.  I know right where I was when I left off."

Stay Tuned...

After two cancelled trips over the past year and half, much deliberation, and many prayers... 

...we finally made it!

Comprehensive blog posts and picture overload to follow.

Elf, Jr.

Staley's middle school drama club performed Elf, Jr. at the end of January.  Although Staley loves her NTA group, she enjoyed performing with a different set of kids.  (Of course, some of her NTA friends were in this group as well.)

The cast of Elf, Jr.

Staley's official role for the production was Elf #2, giving her one line and one short solo within a song.  However she was also part of the ensemble, and Staley had a variety of fun parts within the show.  She got to cartwheel across the stage during the opening number, play one of two sisters who were fighting with each other while waiting in line for Santa, and roller blade to simulate ice skating during one of the scenes.

She was also given two more lines (plus a scream) as part of the ensemble and got to dance as part of a small group during 'Sparkle, Jolly, Twinkle, Jingly.'  It helped that her NTA director was also the director of the middle school drama production, so she trusted Staley to be involved in a number of different ways throughout the production.

Staley enjoyed sharing the stage with some of her NTA friends.  

Because of the smaller venue, we limited our invitation to grandparents only, but Staley was pleased that both sets of grandparents got to come see her perform.  There were also some of her school friends who came to see the show as well.

It's always so fun having the support of Uma and Papa...

and Grammie and Grandpa.

Staley also LOVED staying after the show the final night with a small group of the cast, crew, and parents to help strike the set.  That may have been almost as exciting to her as the play itself.  Being a part of all aspects of the theater life is something Staley loves.  And Elf, Jr. was just another chance to immerse herself in that theater life.