With John traveling and William off school for an in service and President's Day, he and I snuck off to Orlando for a Mother-Son trip to Disney World. Since we booked it last minute, we couldn't use our DVC points (or find a reasonably priced Disney hotel), so we stayed at The Swan, a Sheraton resort inside the resort. It was a good room for just the two of us to share, and the location was fantastic for walking to Hollywood Studios, the Boardwalk and Epcot! We were a little off our game since our Magic Bands weren't linked to our hotel bill, so I had to get out my credit card for every Mickey Bar and bottle of water. But that's not much to complain about!
Since it was Valentine's Day, even the early morning at Midway was fun! William, a savvy traveler, spotted the very short line at the first Dunkin in the food court and jumped in line for his heart shaped breakfast. He looked brilliant as we entered the concourse, donut bag in hand, and saw the dozens of people queued at the second Dunkin!
Our afternoon stop was Epcot where the Festival of the Arts was on display. We've never been in February so this was a real treat! We loved seeing all of the displays - even in an under construction Epcot - and since we weren't in a rush at any point during this trip, we had time to enjoy and participate!
The aquarium, which we had visited at Christmas after a long hiatus, was a hit once again. The dolphins weren't out, but we had so much fun watching the fish swim and interact.
It's pretty hard to say no to William since he rarely asks for much. When he wanted a cookie to "paint," I said yes, even though I assumed it would taste gross. It was actually pretty decent and another fun activity! Plus, once he had that in his system he could humor me on my search for nachos! We had to walk across half the world to get there!
When we'd had our fill of the treats and art at Epcot, we went to Hollywood Studios for the evening. We chatted with some nice families in line while we waited for Smuggler's Run. And William scoped out his souvenir game of Sabaac.
We ended the night on Slinky Dog during the fireworks and then grabbed dessert from the Boardwalk Bakery for bedtime treats. Or did we eat them for breakfast? I don't remember, but they were definitely eaten in bed!
The day was fully redeemed after naps and a trip to mini golf! We played both the Winter and Summer courses at the Blizzard Beach course. We each won one and had a lot of fun!
Sunday we got up early to rope drop Flight of Passage. John and I had done that one time, but I wasn't sure if William would feel motivated to do it. Luckily even though the line looked really long, it wasn't a long wait. We also had time for the pool that day. The water was a little too cold for my liking, but we enjoyed a late lunch and some sun before the rain washed us out. We had a late dinner planned for the new Topolino Terrace restaurant. The meal was a bit of a bust - apparently a mom and kid don't look like the kind of diners that want a signature dining experience. Or maybe our waiter just wasn't very good. But I got the wrong drink and wasn't offered the right one. The food was only ok. And the seating was too close and too loud. Interestingly though we "ran into" a family of travel bloggers that I follow: The Bucket List Family. They were checking into the hotel. I learned their carefully curated content on Instagram is a few days delayed from actual.....because according to posts I had seen just hours before, they were in some other country still. That's probably smart!
Monday was our Magic Kingdom day. Crowds the entire weekend were busy, so we tried to slow down and enjoy some off the path stuff like this geyser! We're big geyser fans after Yellowstone! And William had one treat planned in advance of the trip: a Mickey cake pop from the Main Street candy shop. He had scoped that out on YouTube before we went! Between that and our afternoon brunch at Chef Mickey's he had more than enough to eat!
But what I wanted was a Baby Yoda t-shirt! I regretted not getting one in December, and thankfully the Space Mountain gift shop still had the "design your own" kiosk. This is the only way I know to get the picture without "The Child" or "The Mandalorian" text on it. William and I both got one and he wore his on the flight home!
Since it was Valentine's Day, even the early morning at Midway was fun! William, a savvy traveler, spotted the very short line at the first Dunkin in the food court and jumped in line for his heart shaped breakfast. He looked brilliant as we entered the concourse, donut bag in hand, and saw the dozens of people queued at the second Dunkin!
Saturday we were up early and in perfect position to score some early Rise of the Resistance boarding passes, but alas, even though I read all the blogs, I made a tactical error in relying on in park Wifi instead of my cell signal. In the 30 seconds while my phone froze, all of the boarding passes were snatched up and our backup boarding group was never called. A big bummer but we made the best of the day with our Plan B.
Sunday we got up early to rope drop Flight of Passage. John and I had done that one time, but I wasn't sure if William would feel motivated to do it. Luckily even though the line looked really long, it wasn't a long wait. We also had time for the pool that day. The water was a little too cold for my liking, but we enjoyed a late lunch and some sun before the rain washed us out. We had a late dinner planned for the new Topolino Terrace restaurant. The meal was a bit of a bust - apparently a mom and kid don't look like the kind of diners that want a signature dining experience. Or maybe our waiter just wasn't very good. But I got the wrong drink and wasn't offered the right one. The food was only ok. And the seating was too close and too loud. Interestingly though we "ran into" a family of travel bloggers that I follow: The Bucket List Family. They were checking into the hotel. I learned their carefully curated content on Instagram is a few days delayed from actual.....because according to posts I had seen just hours before, they were in some other country still. That's probably smart!
Monday was our Magic Kingdom day. Crowds the entire weekend were busy, so we tried to slow down and enjoy some off the path stuff like this geyser! We're big geyser fans after Yellowstone! And William had one treat planned in advance of the trip: a Mickey cake pop from the Main Street candy shop. He had scoped that out on YouTube before we went! Between that and our afternoon brunch at Chef Mickey's he had more than enough to eat!
