2022 Disney/Universal Trip; Days #1&2 (Travel/ Hotel & Magic Kingdom)

The first day of our family vacation found us waking up from a hotel near the airport at 2:30 in the morning to make our early morning flight.  We watched the sunrise from the sky and landed in Florida around 8 am. 


After getting our rental we headed to Disney where we were staying at Saratoga Springs for a few nights. With no dining plan available we elected to stay in a 2 bedroom condo unit with full kitchen and washer/dryer.  


Since we were a few hours early for check in, we hung out by one of our hotel pools until our room was ready.   Once in our room we went to get groceries and then walked around the complex.




I love all the wildlife we got to see around the resort! 

I ended my night with a yummy Bullseye cupcake-- all peanut butter and chocolate!



Our second day of vacation was Sunday and we headed to magic kingdom.  We had family at Disney and we tried to coordinate days so we could at least be in the same parks to hopefully run into one another.  We got there for rope drop and rode 7 Dwarves Mine Train, Jungle Cruise,  Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and sat through the Monsters Inc. comedy show before heading back to the hotel to escape the heat of the day.

My favorite and most comfortable park outfit of the week!







 We had lunch and then walked around our hotel and up to the Artist's Palette to get Mickey bars and do some shopping (sunscreen and batteries). It's such a pretty resort.

We headed back into the park at 4.  Rode Thunder Mountain,  Splash Mountain,  had dinner at a Harbor House (my husband, Evan, and I) and at Pinocchio Village Haus (Alec and my mother in law).  We visited with our family for a few minutes at Pinocchio and then split up for the night. We rode small world. 

We skipped the fireworks show (with plans to watch last in the week) and rode buzz lightyear, people mover, and space mountain.   We decided to head back to the hotel for showers and bed and save haunted mansion for when we went back for the fireworks--- only we never ended up making it back to the Magic Kingdom with severe thunderstorms most evenings lasting several hours. 


Evan got the highest score on Buzz Lightyear!





Linking up with: Spread the Kindness,











Comments

  1. So fun! I love your park outfit! Those desserts look amazing!

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    1. Thank you. I think I ate a Mickey Bar every single day and have been craving them since we got home. They are the best. Luckily, with all the walking I somehow managed to lose weight on vacation!

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  2. Love that sunrise picture! Looking forward to the following updates!

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    1. Thanks! I love snapping photos out the plane window when I can.

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  3. Magic Kingdom is my favorite! I don't think there is any place more magical- thank you for sharing-love following along :)

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    1. I don't think my boys were that impressed ride-wise but I explained that to me Disney IS the Magic Kingdom.

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  4. I love all of the photos! It looks like you have had a fantastic time.

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  5. Fun traveling through Disney with you!

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  6. I love the Mine Train. I like how you split up your day.

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    1. It was so brutally hot and muggy that we had plans to spend 3 or 4 hours each day at the hotel... but the weather had other plans for us. By the end of the week with storms predicted all afternoon and evening we managed to push through but still spent most of the middle of the day indoors in A/C.

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  7. I felt like I took the trip with you - great fun! #MMBC

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  8. I always love following along on Disney trips!! I'm so glad y'all got to go! It looks like you had a lot of fun. Can't wait to see more!

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    1. I love following along on other's people's trips too. We had a great time and it was a relief to finally put all those tickets to use.

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  9. Wonderful photos and I can feel you excitement to be there. I can't believe it is Disneyworld's 50th Anniversary! We brought our children twice when they were growing up and we've been there once with a grandchild. That same grandchild said she wanted to go back again so we see another trip in our future.

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    1. We loved all the 50th anniversary celebration extras and designs on their souvenirs (though we refrained from buying any).

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  10. What a fun vacation!! I'm glad you all had a great time building memories!

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  11. You stayed at a beautiful place and love the photos.

    -Soma

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    1. Thank you! Disney does have some really lovely properties.

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  12. It's my dream to do an extended Disney stay! The lady in the tank top does not seem to be having a good time.

    Is the Mickey bar ice cream???

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    1. The Mickey bar is vanilla ice cream with a thick chocolate coating. The lady in the tank top is my mother in law and believe it or not she kept joking all week that she'd be perfectly happy if we left her there.

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  13. Great pictures of your fun day! You indicated something about the Disney dining plan not being available. Can you not purchase them anymore? We have only been to Disney once as a family and we loved the dining plan.

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    1. The dining plan was taken away when Covid hit and has not been brought back yet though Disney does keep promising to bring it back "in the future" it's anticipated to have some major changes made and they really need to double their staff (at least!) before they could do it. Dining reservations are incredibly hard to get too.

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  14. What a great trip! The 2:30am wakeup/departure was worth it for your early arrival at Disney.

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    1. We figured we'd have less trouble with early morning flights too! It was well worth it.

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  15. Hi Joanne - it sounds like a fantastic time away and plenty to keep you busy. I like that you can come and go from Disneyland so that you get a break and a rest without being completely overwhelmed by it all. The hotel looks really good too.

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    1. Oh yes, I love that we can re-enter parks without having to worry. It's so hot in Florida that some sort of a break is almost always a must.

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  16. That's a bummer that the thunderstorms interrupted your plans. Funny story, the time we went, I couldn't stay up to see the fireworks because I was too tired at that time of night!! Goes to show that vacation really wears you out,
    What a fun time Joanne,
    XOXO
    Jodie
    www.jtouchofstyle.com

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    1. They sure do! We were joking that we needed another vacation after this one to recover. All that heat, humidity, and walking really wears you out fast.

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  17. Glad you had a fabulous time.
    Love, love, love the photos.
    Happy Tuesday, Joanne.

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  18. Oh wow, how impressive and huge is that park! Looking forward to read more!

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    1. Yeah all 4 of Disney's parks are quite large with so much to see and do.

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  19. I've been trying to plan a trip for the 4 of us, it's been too long! I miss it so! Love your outfit!!

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    1. Aw, thank you! I was surprised at how comfy and cool it was. This was our first trip in almost 9 years.

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    2. Well, first trip to DISNEY in 9 years anyway. We travel quite often.

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  20. Looks like two wonderful days and well worth getting up so early! I've never been to Disney World and really enjoyed the photos!

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    1. It was definitely worth getting up early for; I was just relieved that we had zero issues with our flight.

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  21. Fab pics Joanne! It looks like you all had an amazing time. This is definitely on our bucket list! Just need to get planning. :)

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