Last weekend was so fun at Disney World. Honestly it felt like 2019 – and I mean that in the best way possible. We hadn’t been since our trip in April, so it was extra special to spend a day at the park.
We kicked off the birthday weekend with lunch at school, then after school drove to Medieval times in Orlando. It is absolutely hysterical. It’s tacky for sure – but the boys were enthralled. They have been talking about it non-stop since then. JB and I just kept watching them the whole time and their faces, and cracking up.
We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is one of our favorite resorts. We’ve stayed there around 5 times – once for my MIL’s 70th birthday. We always get a Savannah view so you can wake up to the animals. But honestly, there are plenty of spots located in the lobby so you can wake up, grab coffee, and watch too.
I should probably tell y’all that we planned this on Wednesday of last week. So you can totally plan a last minute Disney trip, as most of ours usually are. But I totally get wanting a planner – and definitely recommend Mary Helen. We just realized that Johns soccer tournament was closer to Orlando than to Home, so we went ahead and booked a last minute stay.
We booked a club level room which comes with the Kilimanjaro Club. We loved getting snacks here, treats, mickey bars, uncrustables, breakfast, coffee throughout the day. I love an easy breakfast spread. I don’t want to sit down for an hour for breakfast at Disney, but I usually don’t love the quick options. We also are doing WHOLE30 this January like always, so it was nice to have some fresh items we could eat with not much thought throughout the day. People usually wonder if club level is worth it. I didn’t think this was an outrageous spread – like I’ve found at Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes in Orlando. But I thought it was delicious, and worked just perfectly for us. You also get it all day of your arrival, and all day of your departure. I know some cut off when you check out, but this one doesn’t.
Anyway, on Saturday morning John turned 10! We opened presents in the room, grabbed breakfast, and got ready for his soccer game. We picked up cupcakes for his team, and he had a little celebration afterward. We grabbed a quick lunch then went on to Animal Kingdom. We had the best time! We rode the safari, kali river rapids, expedition Everest, played some games at dinosaur world, then went on Avatar Flight of Passage. It was our first time on that avatar ride, and we really enjoyed it. We did do Genie + / LL for all of these. I feel like the kinks are worked out of it, and it felt easy to navigate for me this time. We thought about doing a special dinner somewhere, but figured that would be more for JB and I than the boys. So we just did Flame Tree BBQ, and headed back to the Lodge. We went up to the club, got a few more snacks, rested up a bit. And hit the ground running! It was 7:45pm by this time, and Hollywood Studios was closing at 9. But John really wanted to go to Star Wars land. We hopped on the bus to Hollywood Studios. It only took us 15 minutes of waiting at the time of night, to do Millennium Falcon. Then only took 20 minutes of waiting to do Rise of the Resistance. It was our first time on that one, and wow – it’s just sooo good! I didn’t expect it to be that good! But y’all know I’m a Star Wars nerd (: We hopped on the bus back to the hotel and passed out.
The next morning we took advantage of a pool day with some of our best friends, The Perez’s. It was chilly to me, so I stuck to the hot tub but the boys were going up and down the slide the whole time. They have a great pool for kids. I especially love the Kidani pool which is perfect for toddlers to older kids. We left just after lunch because I needed to get ready for our family party we were hosting that night. Anyway, thank you for letting me recount our impromptu Disney vacation. We enjoyed it so much, and John felt celebrated!
ps: The temps ranged from 40s to 70s during this trip – so it can get confusing on what to wear/pack. I do have a post about just that right here!
