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!
