-
3/19/2024 • Reviews, Walt Disney World •
As a Travel Specialist, I am often asked where I “like” to stay when I visit Walt Disney World? One of my most preferred locations is Disney’s Boardwalk Resort. The atmosphere is very whimsical and intended to be reminiscent of visiting Atlantic city! It opened in 1996, the year of my first Disney vacation!! It is located on Crescent Lake, directly across from Disney’s Beach and Yacht Club. Boardwalk offers entertainment, dining, and is a short walk to the world showcase in Epcot. It is a bit of a longer walk to Hollywood studios or you have the option of taking a brief boat ride to both parks. Disney Springs, Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom transportation is via bus. The Boardwalk resort is a deluxe property and brings many additional amenities. Deluxe resorts offer larger rooms (compared to a value or moderate resort), valet parking, outdoor nighttime movies, a club […]
Read More
-
3/20/2018 • Reviews, Walt Disney World •
If you LOVE Magic Kingdom and plan to spend a lot of your time there, Disney's Contemporary Resort may be the perfect place to call "home" on your next Disney vacation. Disney’s Contemporary Resort is one of the original Disney resorts that opened in 1971 along with Magic Kingdom and is located on the Resort Monorail system. The monorail runs directly through this resort and makes a stop inside to load and unload passengers. In fact, it is so close to Magic Kingdom you can actually walk to the park. This allows you to spend more of your vacation time at Magic Kingdom versus waiting for transportation to take you there. It is also an excellent choice if you want a time-saving option to bring tired children back to take a nap or a swim in the middle of a hot Orlando afternoon. The Contemporary Resort has two sections of […]
Read More
-
3/16/2018 • Reviews, Tips, Walt Disney World •
Disney Club Level rooms are available “exclusively” at Deluxe Disney Resorts. The following resorts offer the opportunity to stay in a Club Level room, those include Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, Disney’s Beach Club Resort, Disney’s Boardwalk Inn, Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, Disney’sWilderness Lodge, and Disney’s Yacht Club Resort. When staying in a room on Club Level, you will be pampered with additional amenities that you would not have access to when staying in a regular room. Many of the Club Level rooms are located to offer guests amazing views. Lounges also tend to have awesome views. My family loved the Club Level lounge at the Contemporary Resort. We were able to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks on the balcony of the Club Level lounge, while enjoying desserts and beverages. This was such a magical experience. Each night you will receive turn-down […]
Read More
-
3/13/2024 • Reviews, Walt Disney World •
If you are looking for a delicious steak while vacationing at Walt Disney World, please be sure to head north to the Canadian Pavilion for a visit to Le Cellier Steakhouse located in the World Showcase at Epcot. Lunch and dinner are served in this quaint wine cellar modeled after a Canadian chateau-style hotel. My experience when dining here is you will be able to sit back, relax and feel pampered by your server. I have always found my servers to be polite, friendly and ready to make dining here an experience to remember for me and my family. The servers are natives of Canada and love to discuss their native country. During each visit, I have been fortunate to engage in interesting conversations with the servers who enjoy sharing fascinating facts on what it is like to live in Canada. Baskets of rolls are served upon arrival. I cannot […]
Read More
-
3/9/2018 • Tips, Walt Disney World •
As I have mentioned in previous entries, my oldest son, is living with Fragile X Syndrome. A genetic condition that causes intellectual disability, behavioral and learning challenges. Even my “typically” developing children have struggled with some behavioral challenges while visiting Walt Disney World. Although the parks are amazing, there are so many amazing dining options throughout the property. Character and/or themed dining is often as exciting as visiting the parks! Character dining offers an opportunity to have a meet and greet with characters without the long lines, nor the pressure of someone waiting in line behind you! In many locations, the characters circulate table to table to ensure you have 1 on 1 time with them! In our many trips, although we love the different locations and themes, often times we found the locations didn’t work for my family. I won’t go into all of the various challenges we have […]
Read More
-
1/15/2018 • Disneyland, Reviews •
Continuing the success of the Marvel films (and my personal favorite), Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout! is a fantastic thrill ride that has been re-imagined in the former Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction. The Guardians of the Galaxy have been kidnapped and it’s up to you to save them! Enter the fortress of Taneleer Tivan (otherwise known as the Collector) where he is currently exhibiting some of his finest pieces. Take some time to explore the cases and discover amazing relics – a warlock’s eye, Atlantis artifacts, Loki’s shackles, Figment (from Epcot’s Journey’s Into Imagination with Figment), and Cosmo the Spacedog. The newest possessions on display are none other than the Guardians of the Galaxy: Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket, and Drax. You will find yourself in the Collector’s office where Rocket has escaped his cage and is now requiring your assistance to break the remaining Guardians out of […]
Read More
-
12/26/2017 • Tips, Walt Disney World •
It’s finally here! You’ve been waiting in line for the last 50 minutes to meet the man himself, Mickey Mouse! Your 4-year-old has been talking about this moment since the trip countdown started. You have your phone ready to video the reaction on her face and then you realize…you only have 3% left of battery life. Now what? Hopefully you at least purchased the Memory Maker package to capture the still shots of the moment, but you really were looking forward to watching her videoed reaction with her grandparents when you returned home. What went wrong? You had the phone fully charged before leaving your room, you took a few pictures walking into the park, took a short video of the morning show and afternoon parade, posted pictures to Facebook while waiting in line and reorganized some of your FastPasses on the My Disney Experience app. All of these things […]
Read More
-
12/20/2017 • Reviews •
Visiting Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort is the perfect destination for a relaxing vacation. But on the days you want a little more than just relaxing by the pool or on the beach, there are plenty of scheduled activities happening around the resort, but venturing off the property is a fun addition to a great trip. Savannah, GA - Taking a drive to Savannah, Georgia is a fabulous full day activity. We opted to do the Hop On Hop Off Trolley tour through Old Town Trolley Tours. It was a great way to get around the city. The drivers gave us a brief description of what you could explore at each stop. If the trolley tour isn’t for you, there are plenty of other tours available, such as a historic homes tour, a riverboat cruise, ghost tours and so much more. Bike Rentals – You can rent bikes at Disney […]
Read More
-
3/19/2024 • Reviews, Walt Disney World •
On a recent visit to the Magic Kingdom, we encountered the Main Street Philharmonic. I will be honest, we have seen countless parades that include them and have often seen them playing along Main Stweet USA, but this was the first time we stopped to enjoy their performance. In fact, we were trying to head to Tomorrowland for our expiring Fastpass. The kids were very engaged listening and watching them perform. They quickly sat down and asked to stay for their performance. We almost even missed our Fastpass, but no one seemed to mind. The Main Street Philharmonic is a 12-piece brass and percussion band. As we were approaching them, they were playing traditional Christmas songs. There were even a couple of small children that were dancing in front of them as they played. In between songs, members of the group would step forward and speak. They would explain what […]
Read More
-
12/13/2017 • Reviews, Walt Disney World •
Walt Disney World is a very magical and the happiest place on earth. Everyone is happy and eager to help. There is a hidden gem of a restaurant that things just aren’t what they appear. The restaurant is Whispering Canyon Café located in Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Resort. Walking up to the podium, you’re surrounded by headdresses of past Native American chiefs and other relics from past times. The restaurant’s theme has the same motif. It’s an Old Western eatery that has bottomless platters and chuck wagon favorites will please the whole gang. Breakfast starts with an all you care to enjoy family platter that’s loaded with breakfast meats, eggs, potatoes and buttermilk biscuits. Lunch and dinner also have some finger licking delicious food. For lunch, there’s a very expansive menu to order from and come dinner time, the family platter isn’t to be beat. It has an all you care […]
Read More