Leaving Disney World is always one of the hardest parts. We really had such a fun time this trip, and we loved almost everything about it. (I will speak to the negatives in a future post. All were in regards to changes (such as Genie+.))
All tagged Travel
Lunchbox Notes for Daddy
Whenever Brad travels for a long a time, we try to do something special for him each day on those longer trips. This year Melody has been big into lunchbox notes. Brad even pre-wrote a few for me to put in her lunch box on Fridays. So we made him his own set for each day he was gone plus a week extra. I wrote some and Melody wrote others. It was a neat way to have him something special each day, and it was something to look forward to while gone.
Travel Happy for Brad
Brad travels often for work. Sometimes the trips last 4-5 days, sometimes 4-5 weeks. When he takes short trips, we try to include a small happy. This is usually something like a small lego set or keychain. For longer trips, I try to do something bigger. Now this doesn’t always happen, but if I know about a trip long enough, I try to plan something to give him some encouragement while away for so long.
Traveling to Disney World - October 2021
Not much fun is involved on travel days to Disney World. Especially when you are driving 10-12 hours. We got up as early as we could and headed down. We had to make the trip in one day, and we needed to get down to Orlando early enough that we could go to Shades of Green to get our park tickets before the ticket office closed.
Garden Grill during COVID
I have to admit, this was the hardest reservation for us to get at Disney World during our trip in May 2021. We really wanted this our first day for lunch, but we never got it. So we kept the reservation we happened to find before our trip for one of our evenings at Epcot.
Traveling Home from Disney World
No one ever wants to see their trip come to an end. We had some bigger plans for the day, but we opted to take it easy instead. Brad feeling super sick also didn’t help…
Disney World May 2021 - Day Three
Our last park day started with a pressured filled morning. Today was our Hollywood Studios morning. This meant getting up to get a Rise of the Resistance boarding group at 7 am. We also had breakfast reservations at 9 am at Hollywood and Vine. While the breakfast was good, I do kind of wished I had not booked it. Then we would not have been in as much of a rush to get to the park. But such is life I suppose.
Disney World May 2021 - Day Two
Our second day at Disney World was a jam-packed day that started way too early, to be honest. And honestly, we should have started even earlier, but breakfast was too much of a priority for us.
Disney World May 2021 - Day One
So our first day at Disney was meant to be a slower starting day since we arrived so late the night before. But that wasn’t entirely the case. We met my parents for breakfast that morning before heading to Epcot. I want to say it was round 8:30 that morning if not earlier. I am having trouble remembering entirely. But either way, it wasn’t quite sleeping in, but compared to other days, I suppose it was!
Traveling to Disney World May 2021
So we headed to our first Disney World trip post-COVID back in May. It was a Sunday evening. We opted to fly due to my dad’s work schedule and the cheap flights. But we were also forced to take whatever time was available. So we flew in late Sunday night. Melody was completely clueless. I was hoping for a fun reveal, but unfortunately it didn’t quite happen the way I had hoped.
Crabs on the Beach
One of my favorites spots that we had dinner while in Pensacola in February was Crabs on the Beach. It was literally right next door to our hotel so we walked over (perfect when you have been in the car over 5 hours with a 3 year old!). It late and dark, but I saw a sign for a play area but we didn't get to see it. But I am sure that is great during the busier times when you are waiting to be seated. The atmosphere was nice and they offered both inside and outside seating which is great.
Beach Happy
As you may have read by now, I love to do small “happys” whenever we take trips or for other special occasions. Well we recently went to the beach and I did a happy for all of the girls. Check them out below.
Summer Break 2019
This summer seriously flew by! It didn’t help we spent the first part staging our home to sell. Then the middle selling and buying a home. And at the end we spent it packing and moving. I really had big hopes for our summer, but we didn’t accomplish half of what I thought we would. However, after looking through all these pictures below, I realized we sure did have a lot of fun even during the chaos!
Chinese Lantern Festival at Huntsville Botanical Garden
We have been members at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens for a little over a year now. We have visited every season so far, and we have no attended two paid events there. One of those was this spring, and it was unique. We visited during the day using our normal membership, and then we paid to go again at night. It is the Chinese Lantern Festival. It is a traveling festival that has numerous lanterns that are lit up at night and throughout the Garden. I believe the path is a little over a mile long. Follow along for both of my experiences.
Silver Airways
On our Disney trip back in March, we tried Silver Airways for the first time. They recently started having direct daily flight from Huntsville to Orlando. The prices are not always cheaper than Delta (especially since my mom gets free bags on Delta), and it is not cheaper than Southwest, but the direct flight with little travel time to our local airport is hard to beat. We also have a cheaper airline, Frontier, but you have to be willing to fly on their specific days. That didn’t work with our trip, the Delta times didn’t make sense, and the drive to Birmingham to take Southwest wasn’t ideal. So we decide to give Silver a try.
February 2019 Disney Trip Report Day One
We just returned from another trip to Disney World. Over the next seven days, I will be sharing our trip report day by day. You can find my planning post here. So let’s get started!
September 2018 Disney World Planning and Packing
So I am not going to make this post quite like my Disney World planning post from the past. This trip was completely different than all of my previous trips. We traveled with my mom on a business trip, so we didn’t do as much planning ahead of time. So instead of going through our dining reservations (we only made one or two prior) or our Fastpasses (we made very few of these too), I am going to go through some of the other things we had to plan and pack.
Biloxi with Nana
My mom (Melody's Nana) travels for her job every week. She is able to bring family along with her on trips when it works out. Brad was out of town for work in early April. I knew far enough in advance that my mom was able to plan to be somewhere we could go. This is only our second trip with my mom. It is hard to travel with her with Melody because she doesn't have the best work hours for Melody's schedule. It is also best to travel places with driving distances too. We wanted to go somewhere on the coast, and with the options my mom had, Biloxi made the most sense. I really like going to Biloxi, but I hadn't been in about 5 years. So it was fun to revisit.
Baby Travel Checklist
Before having Melody, we traveled all the time. Whether it was a visit to simply see family or small trips to the beach or even large trips to New York, traveling is a part of us. After having Melody, traveling did slow down, but we still traveled quite a bit. In the last six months we have tried to make an effort to slow down on traveling. But traveling cannot be avoided. So I decided to try and make it easier.
Hotel Stay with an Infant
Recently, Melody and I went on a trip with my mom to South Carolina. We wanted to stay at a Hilton to get points, so we investigated different options. I knew staying in a hotel room with an infant was going to be different and possibly a struggle. We narrowed it down to Home2 Suites and Hampton Inn. Because we knew we would be spending a lot of time at the hotel during the day, we opted for the Hampton Inn because it had an indoor pool (which we never ended up using sadly). The Home2 Suites did have a full kitchen, but the room itself was going to be smaller than the Queen Suite at the Hampton Inn. The Hampton Inn was also fairly new, and it had the necessities. Below are some tips and tricks I discovered helped us while staying in small quarters with a baby!