Going to Walt Disney World

Hello all! This is a long overdue post on my trip to Walt Disney World.

I first noticed the great prices for Walt Disney World sometime around this time last year. They do a great deal of 30% off hotel during the summer months, as it is not their busy season. It goes without saying that Florida is warm year round, and the summer exceptionally so.

Being the person I am, I always love to save money, especially on a trip. So I booked for the Caribbean beach resort for the month of July! It was surprisingly affordable and included a meal plan for a great price. I planned for 6 full days spent in the parks with one travel day on each side of that.

If you're going in the summer, I highly recommend getting some comfortable sandals. Don't take the cheap old navy ones, because by the first day I could tell they weren't cutting it for me. I actually purchased some in the park (Roxy brand) and I loved those flip flops. extremely comfortable, and when it rains you don't find yourself wearing wet sneakers for hours.

I'm going to say right off the bat that if you have a weak stomach or body that is affected by weather changes, I don't recommend going in the summer. The weather is highly unpredictable (which we knew, what we didn't know is that dealing with that would leave me feeling ill at least half the time we spent there.) It rains AT LEAST once a day. There was not a single day we were there that it didn't rain. So make sure you bring raincoats that will keep you somewhat dry once the sky opens up and begins to pour, as it will.

So, when we arrived to the airport, we were escorted to a bus that would take us to our resort. They try to put people on a bus who are going to resorts somewhat close to one another. We were one of the first stops and it was a very short drive. Despite travelling all day, we were still very excited at it was both our first time at Disney World. We checked in at the front desk, and then were told it was best to wait for a bus to get to our room.

Disney's Caribbean beach resort is one of the biggest hotels on Walt Disney World property. It has several clusters of buildings all named after places in the Caribbean. We ended up in the Aruba section, which was located right across the lake from the food court and main pool. It was actually close enough to walk to and from the front desk in my opinion, but others might prefer a bus. However, someone spotted us waiting and said we had just missed a bus, so one of the maintenance van drivers kindly took us directly to the Aruba area. This unexpected hospitality definitely lifted our spirits after a long day of travel.

I love that the rooms in Caribbean beach open right up into a walkway. It was nice to not have to take an elevator or navigate hotel hallways and walk straight into our door. Shortly after we arrived, someone delivered the package I had picked out for my Husband's anniversary gift. They had him sign for it, since I had included some Bailey's for the coffee and hot chocolate he would surely be having during mornings spent there.

Here's a photo of what his gift contained- pictured on the lovely Finding Nemo bedspread!

Once we got that all sorted, we headed for the parks right away. Even though I had not slept in quite some time, I was much to excited to spend the rest of the night in the hotel room. It started to get very stormy once we arrived, but we still took some photos and were too excited to be concerned. It did drizzle a little that evening, but no heavy rain and no lightning!

                  This is me attempting to look awake after not sleeping for 23 hours!
                           (I was too excited to sleep the night before our flight!)
This night was by far the latest we stayed at the park on our entire trip, and I have to say the best part of the night was watching the fireworks while riding Big Thunder Mountain! Seriously guys, it's one of the best views for the fireworks!

Cinderella castle as viewed from somewhere around Tomorrowland- by far the most peaceful place to view the castle. I'm sorry- my iPhone photos definitely don't do the castle justice!

We then returned to our hotel and had a little rest on a hammock on the beach at our resort- which was a beyond perfect way to end the day! Then I had a wonderful sleep- we didn't worry about what time we had to be up as we were returning to the magic kingdom- going there the night before helped us have our bearings and I wasn't concerned about missing out on time spent there!

I had done some sluething and found a way to make lunch reservations at Be Our Guest Restaurant, which I had heard was pretty busy most days! It was magical and I really loved the re-creation of Beasts castle and being able to eat there was nothing short of amazing. I hear that soon they are opening up fast pass reservations for lunch and they will be much easier to get, so keep your eyes peeled for that when booking your own trip.

While the main ballroom was beautiful, it was very crowded and noisy, so we took a look at the other rooms. The study was by far my favorite, but there was nowhere to sit, so we came to the music box room. This room was the emptiest and the quiestest, but oh so beautiful!

They slowly rotate to a quiet music box song!

There were cute little canvases all around the room depicting Belle and Beast's adventures, it was a really lovely touch. 

What happens next is truly amazing. You keep a rose token on your table, and your food finds you! Someone brought the food we had ordered on a cart, while there is soft drink machines in each room so you can get drinks at your leisure. My husband had the pot roast- which was positively divine. I'm not a vegetarian, but I had the vegetarian quiche. It wasn't my favorite, but I really loved my desserT, A strawberry cream cheese cupcake! Not too sweet, it was perfect for me.

cute little photo of my perfect cupcake!

I have to say, that while I love Disneyland more, Walt Disney World really has perfected their fastpass system. Booking three fast passes for the day really made getting onto the busier rides much smoother and much more enjoyable! It was a very hot day, and of course it did rain that day, but it wasn't for long and didn't invade on our fast passes. This by far was probably our best day in the parks.

Dole Whip floats are required on hot days!

We once again finished our day with a swim in our 'island's' private pool and a lay in a hammock complete with yummy adult drink. Having a pool in each area of the hotel was great for us- we were able to take a swim no matter what time of night it was, and the pool was never full of kids like the main pool was! So if you like to swim but don't enjoy crowded swimming pools, this hotel is for you.

This post is getting quite long, so keep an eye out for the post on the remainder of our days in the parks!

Going to Vegas!

We have another trip on our Itinerary! This time, we will be going to Las Vegas in September to see Katy Perry live in concert!

In our home city, Katy Perry's tickets sold out before we could even get a glance at a ticket. Feeling defeated, my best friend and I weren't sure we would be able to see her in concert. A few hours later, however, she sent me an email from her work.

"I know this is a stretch, but how about we make the trip to Vegas to see Katy Perry in September? They still have decent tickets and it would be cheaper than going to B.C. or Toronto." I thought about it for a minute. I had never been to Vegas before, so this was a great way to kill two birds with one stone. Without another moment's hesitation, I agreed. So we decided to purchase the ridiculously expensive tickets that get us into the preshow party (was worth it for how close to the stage we are!) You can't take money with you when you die and I am a firm believer that experiences are worth infinitely more than material possessions. Plus we get a bunch of cool tour exclusive stuff!

Now we have the task of booking our hotel and flight. We have it narrowed down to two hotels, one that's a more expensive but beautiful hotel, and one almost equally beautiful hotel. Of course I am talking about the Aria (more expensive hotel) and the Tropicana. I'm leaning towards the Tropicana mostly because of it's reasonable prices and the fact that it's right across the street from the MGM Grand Garden Arena (where the concert is being held) Which might be handy when we wander over there after a drink or two ;)

My friend often books through expedia, but I noticed that a common thing for Vegas hotels to do is to offer a cheaper rate than any other travel site if you book directly through the hotel's website. Some even offer up to 30% off just for booking directly with them and pre-paying for the hotel. Coupled with going to a cheap flight website for our flight, this might be the best way for saving money when going to Vegas.

It's always important to explore both and more options when booking vacations if you're searching for the cheapest deal. Vegas is busy 365 days of the year so prices don't often fluctuate too much (except for long weekends, spring break, etc) but this is commonplace for any travel destination. Going in an off season like September is a great time for any travel, as lots of children and even adults have just gone back to school and not nearly as many people will be looking at vacationing at this time.

More info on our booking method will be posted this coming weekend, when my best friend comes home from Mexico!

-Sarah