Category: Travel

Disney doesn’t have to suck!

003AF025-4F4B-41F4-91AB-2A910F9F748CWe all either dread it or dream of it. A Disney vacation with your family! Without a doubt, my family and I are HUGE Disney fans and I’m here to tell you how to rid of your Disney anxiety and just enjoy it, because Disney doesn’t have to suck.

1. First things first, you have to just swallow the fact that you will NOT get everything done in one day and not even one vacation. My family and I have been to the parks more than two dozen times and there are a bunch of things we haven’t touched the surface of yet. Not to mention, Disney is always ten steps ahead of us, evolving, innovating, ever-changing, brainstorming…New ideas, new rides, new restaurants, new experiences and that’s what makes Disney SO awesome! If you accept that you will only experience what you can, then you will in fact enjoy every glittering moment and you’ll have the best time ever, doing it! If you’re torn on what to do, start with the classics and work your way out.
2. That brings us to reservations and fast passes. So, I sort of have a love, hate relationship with this concept, because I can totally empathize with a go with the flow attitude, but sometimes in Disney we don’t have that choice. For peace of mind, I would say it doesn’t hurt to have the fast passes in line to reserve the attractions you want to do and if you make it, you make it. Don’t forget to get the MyDisneyExperience App. Fast passes can be made up to 30 days prior to your arrival. 60, if you’re staying on property, (makes it a benefit to do so). You get 3 fast passes per park per day, once you complete those, you can add additional ones, one at a time. Also, when it comes to the restaurant reservations, they’re usually pretty easygoing if you need to cancel. Although there is a 24-hour cancellation policy, most times you can call or show up and say it just can’t happen today, because my kids are a mess. They’ll let it slide, because…Hey! It’s Disney!
3. Try to avoid public transportation at all costs! Not only does the complimentary bus add more time to your travel to and from the park, but when you’re strapped with kids, strollers diaper bags and snacks things can get really tricky, not to mention cumbersome. “The Magical Express,” isn’t so magical when you’ve got a couple screaming, hungry kids at the end of day and no place to sit, not to mention being stuck in a hot box with everyone and their germs. If you can avoid buses and the tram (if you can splurge an extra $10- $15 to park at the entrance of the park, then by all means do it!)
4. It’s ok to splurge! You’re on vacation! Think about how much lifting, walking, rushing, running you are doing all day. You have to realize that Disney is all about the experience and not so much about the food, (unless you head over to Epcot or get the opportunity to enjoy the Food & Wine Festival). So you “foodies,” may have to have a pizza and some chicken fingers and that’s OK! My favorite splurge is in Adventureland, just outside of the Swiss Family tree house, it’s called “The Sunshine Tree Terrace,” and they serve up the perfect swirl of vanilla ice cream and an orange ice…the perfect Florida treat!

5. Try to have FUN, because that’s what Disney is all about! Walt Disney himself never got the chance to see the grand opening of Walt Disney World, Orlando. So, consider yourself lucky to be able to do so. Additionally, there are tons of people who only dream of getting to experience the happiest place on earth and are never afforded the chance. So go on…bask in the glory of letting go of your worries and letting your imagination soar. Hakuna Matata!

-Briana D’Andrea

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Traveling With Kids

The sheer idea makes me completely anxiety ridden. From the laundry to the packing, to making sure my kids don’t get sick before we leave. Food shopping…who food shops before they go on vacation, right? It’s supposed to be a vacation! Well all you mommas know that if you don’t have a copious amount of snacks, activities and possible bribe toys, you may as well just stay at home, because traveling with two kids is NO JOKE. I pray for those who have more than two!

As much as I don’t want to do this, I have to rewind to the beginning of September, I know all of my Florida people will understand…IRMA. She totally killed my vibe and everyone else I was in contact with. Whether it was to get prepared, to stay or to go, or receiving message after message from your distant aunt urging you to flee the state, the stress level was sky high! So my husband and I made the call. We were going to take our 4-year-old and 1-year-old (on her first flight) to New York City, to get out of dodge, 2 days shy of what was said to be the storm of century. A catastrophic category-5 hurricane, coming right for us! After spending several hours not getting kicked out of travel sites and tons of prayers, I managed to get a flight out of Orlando (that’s about a 2 and a half hour drive from us). Enter “Mama Prep Mode.”

Laundry, laundry, laundry, who knew the next time we would be back, (although we had a flight out five days later…that never happened! Ha!), running to the store to stock up on food for travel and upon arrival, packing up clothes and toys, getting the dog to our moms (because they stayed put and did us an enormous solid). Oh and heaven forbid, I forget our babies that we sleep with at night! (Enter rolling eye emoji here).

Ok, we were all packed up and ready to rock. After not sleeping for 2 straight nights, eating half of the snacks we were supposed to take with us and being stood up by our shutter guy (Honey, you’re super cute on a ladder trying to put up a shutter with one hand. LOL). We were off! What was supposed to be 2 and a half hour drive turned into 4 (from what I hear we got lucky), we spent the night at our best bachelor friend’s house…Love you Uncle Tom! We happened to get the last bit of gas from a random gas station and parked illegally at the airport, because at that point who cared, the apocalypse was coming and we would be darned if we were going to miss that flight! Right?

Phew! We were on the plane! Of course the four of us had to split up. Baby with me, big boy with dad. As the boys had their feet up, headphones on and snacks in hand, the girls walked up to a 97-year-old lady with a breathing mask and a freaking cat underneath her seat, who made it very apparent she really shouldn’t be sitting next to any babies, because she was very old and had an oxygen mask. (NOT MAKING THIS UP!) After a two hour delay, thanks to thunderstorm and rain, tons of awkward complaints from the crazy cat lady (who thank goodness had enough oxygen in her tank and was assured several times we were on a full flight) and a baby who was most definitely a rock star for the most part, but had a few major meltdowns (thanks for the free cookies steward lady), we finally made it to the Big Apple. We had a welcome committee (thanks cousin Stevie) and an incredible family who took us into their home and did everything in their power to make us feel comfortable. To whom we owe an enormous debt and an incredible Florida family vacation to.

Although we forfeited our 7-year anniversary trip to Cali, it ended up being the best “mistake vacation” we ever had. It was a chance to see old friends and family, bring our kids to the very place we were engaged at, on my birthday 8-years ago, make some incredible memories and come back with one heck of a story to tell. Yes, flights were delayed and we ended up overstaying our welcome an extra two nights. We had a downed fence and a broken roof upon return, (flight was way better on the way back), but deep down we were saying our prayers about how very lucky we made out.

So, at the end of the day, I know it takes what seems like moving mountains to make those vacations that seem so daunting happen, but the moral of the story is to put your big girl panties on, put things into perspective and consider yourself lucky you have the option to do so!

-Briana D.

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