from somewhere in my imagination

Planning a Trip to Disneyworld

When I am telling people about the 6 week USA adventure we enjoyed last year they are often perplexed by the fact we spent as many nights at Disneyworld as we did. Disneyland in Anaheim is generally the place Australians are more familiar with and I think it is safe to say that if you spent as many nights ay Disneyland as we did at Disneyworld you would definitely have done everything.

Eight nights at Disneyworld is not enough time to do everything.

Disneyworld is made up of 4 parks plus 2 water parks and the downtown Disney area that is open to the public. We did not include the waterparks in our magic your way package, and that was a good thing. We barely had time to swim in the pool at our resort, we would not have had time to spend in the water parks.

There are many many resorts to choose from at Disneyworld. We stayed at the Beachclub and I would choose to stay there or the Yachtclub or at one of the boardwalk resorts if we went back. They are central to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios meaning that you are less reliant on buses for the whole time you are there. Getting between parks during busy times around opening and closing can be a bit of a slow process.

The Animal Kingdom resort looks fabulous but it puts you far away from the rest of the parks and there are no night time shows inside the Animal Kingdom so you would end up finding yourself travelling much more than by staying there than at one of the more central resorts.

The budget all-star resorts have been given thumbs up by both a friend who stayed at one and an old school friend who was lucky enough to work there for a year.

Include food in your package. You are highly unlikely to be going anywhere else to eat and it is cheaper and infinitely more convenient to have it prepaid and included. Make sure you book some of your meals before you go.

I still dream about this mexican meal!

There are some really nice restaurants (especially at Epcot and at Downtown Disney where you food package is still valid) and it's easier if character meals are prebooked. That said if you arrive at the start of a meal session it isn't all that difficult to get a table at a character meal.



Don't expect to get too many early nights. With the exception of The Animal Kingdom the parks are alternately open until quite late. Guests staying in the park also get extra hours, I'm talking 3am close in the Magic Kingdom some nights.

Make good use of the fast pass system and plan your days.

Once you are at Disneyworld it is hard to get out. We wanted to spend a day at Universal studios. That involved hiring a car, just getting to the car hire place to pick it up was tricky. It is also expensive. Between car hire and the park tickets for Universal and paying for the days' food it cost us the best part of an extra $1000 which would have paid for another couple of days park entry, accommodation and food at Disneyworld.

It's sliding scale, the longer you stay the cheaper it is per day.

If you are planning on doing some shopping for clothes do that first so you don't need to pack more than you need. Stay outside the park near the outlets if you are going to be shopping in Orlando.

It's a 4-5 hour flight from LA to Orlando. We left Sydney around lunchtime which got us in to LA mid-morning. We then had a red eye flight from LA to Orlando. We checked ourselves in to the Holiday Inn express and tucked ourselves into bed for the afternoon before heading back to the airport. That was a sensible move, next time I would prebook the accommodation so we knew where we were going.  You do actually pay for the room overnight even though you are just there during the day.  The airport hotels don't seem to do day rates.

April and October seem to be the cheapest times to stay at Disneyworld. I'm told you are best to avoid it at Christmas when it is crowded and during summer when it is really hot and crowded. Ideally it's best to visit before the American school year finishes but after Spring Break or after school has gone back in August but before Thanksgiving. We were there at the beginning of May and the heat some days even managed to affect us, seasoned hot weather dwellers that we are :)

I can't tell you how highly I rate a family trip to Disneyworld and I would take us all back there in a heartbeat if I could.

Tatum xx

NYC Highlights

Two weeks in New York, It was such a long time and not enough time.  I don't think there will ever be enough time spent in New York as far as we are concerned.

We missed our babies dreadfully.  We are eternally grateful to the people in our lives that gave Steven and I the opportunity to have some much needed time together.  I am pretty sure that our next big holiday will be a family one.

BlogHer was fantastic, I must thank Kelloggs again for their support.  I learned an enormous amount and I am really looking forward to putting some of it into practice in the months ahead as I get stuck into new projects and a new phase of learning.

For now I will share my top ten things from our trip.

Walking the Chelsea Highline.  I loved it so much during the day that I dragged Steven back to do it again at dusk.

Eating at Buddakan.  Probably the single best meal I have ever eaten.

Meeting new friends.  As I get older I'm learning to just say hello, to put myself out there, say yes and embrace what I want to do.  Seredipity rewarded me with new relationships this past week.

Flying around Manhattan in a helicopter.  On some level I was terrified but it was amazing, and I got to sit in the front.

Sitting in Section 203 at Yankee Stadium.  Being in and amongst the roll call, soaking up the atmosphere of a Yankees win.  Nice.

Spending a whole day shopping for new clothes in SoHo.  Nothing fit me any more, it needed to be done.  Goodbye old jeans with too much room for my bum.

Running in Central Park.  Every morning run is like a fun run in Central Park.

Wandering down to the hotel gym one morning when I couldn't sleep and completely shaming a guy in there with my weights and reps.

Browsing Dean & Deluca.  Foodie heaven.  I wish I could have justified $20 for vanilla scented maple syrup but I just couldn't for fear of it breaking on the way home.

Seeing Manhattan on foot.  Over the course of two weeks we walked an incredible amount.  We caught the subway plenty too but without the kiddies in tow we were allowed the luxury of walking as much as we wanted, and it is worth it for the amount that you see.

However, we still have plenty more that we want to see and do and share with the kids.  There is no doubt in my mind that we will be back again.

Looking forward to sharing more with you in the coming weeks.

Tatum xx

 

Hello Again New York #BlogHer12

We have been here in New York for a whole week now.  I am missing the kiddos terribly and there is a part of me that is counting down the days until I see them again.  However, I’m not about to let the fact I am missing them stop me from soaking up all the wonderful stuff this city has to offer.

We have been busy experiencing life in the city.  Soaking up the atmosphere and keeping the odd hours that the city keeps.  Going to bed late and sleeping in.

We have eaten at some fantastic restaurants.  I have shopped.  We have walked and seen lots of   parts of the Island we didn’t see last time.  We drove to New Jersey and shopped.  We have been to two Yankees games, Steven is going to two more, just one more for me.  I ran along the westside of Manhattan.  I have a couple more runs planned, Central Park and the Riverside Walk.  We saw Wicked.  We have walked across the Brooklyn Bridge twice, once during the day and once at night.  We walked around Brooklyn Heights and then caught the subway to Coney Island.  Did I mention that I shopped?  I found a place with good coffee, but unfortunately it’s in SoHo so I suspect I’ll just have to deal with Starbucks now we are right in the middle of midtown.

I think it is fair to say we’ve been busy.

I’ll spend the time filling in the blanks and detail when we get home.  If you want to follow my going ons for the time being Instagram and Facebook are the best places to find me.

I’ll be spending the next three days at BlogHer’12.  I am excited and terrified in equal measure.  I’m excited for the things I’m going to learn and people I’ll meet and completely overwhelmed by the size of the event and fact I don’t really know anyone.  Good thing I’m tough.

Tatum xx

PS I have to add a big thankyou to Kelloggs for helping me to be here at BlogHer’12