the most magical place on earth

happy summer!

i hope you all have been enjoying the past few months as much as i have.. yes, it's been a few months since my last post.. whoops. remember i told you i'd probably change my mind a million times before i decided whether i wanted to keep blogging or change how i blog or stop all together? welp.. that's exactly what has been happening over here. but ultimately, i've missed blogging and decided to get back into it. i honestly probably read my own blog over and over again more than the rest of you.. i love reminiscing and enjoy writing.

of course a lot has happened over the past few months.. spring turned into summer, i've adjusted to my new job (which i LOVE), we've been doing a lot of traveling, i've changed my workout routines a lot.. so much.. so i'll probably do some catch up posts.. but, today, i want to share our recent trip to disney world!

ben and i have always said we wanted to experience the magic of disney together before we had kids so, despite being deep in the middle of planning our wedding, off we went. we went for 5 days/4 nights which was more than enough time. i hadn't been to disney for at least 7 or 8 years and, my goodness, a lot has changed. like you have to plan your entire trip, including which rides you want to go on, months before even leaving your house! this seemed a little overwhelming at first but manageable.. just takes a little thought.

since we were staying on a disney resort, we had access to magic hours so we started by writing down which day each park had magic hours and planned around those. most days we ended up at two parks and never felt rushed. we managed to ride everything we wanted (except the new frozen ride at epcot) and almost never had to wait in a line.. so before you go, think things out and plan! so much better than waiting for 2 hours!

i am by no means a disney expert but from this trip here are a few things i recommend to everyone before going.

• plan, plan, plan. plan which parks your want to go to each day, research restaurants you want to try and book them.. download the disney app, it'll make your life so easy. 
• if possible, try to plan your trip during a slowish time of year. we went at the beginning of may which was perfect.. there will always be crowds but it wasn't overwhelmingly busy and the weather wasn't scorching hot (i actually was cold at night). 
• buy a poncho at the dollar store at home and bring it with you.. if you don't, it will inevitably rain at some point during your trip and you'll end up spending $10 each on cheap plastic disney ponchos like we did. rookie mistake. 
• bring a small backpack with water and some snacks (especially with kids). disney water and snacks can get pricey.

we were so fortunate to get the opportunity to travel to disney before kids and had so much fun, ate way too much food and are content to wait another 5 years before returning. 

time for picture overload! 

we stayed at port orleans french quarter which i was extremely happy with. not a fancy resort, affordable and on the river so we could take the water taxi to and from disney springs.. much nicer ride than the buses! 

our hotel even had a night where we could grill marshmallows.. you can bet we were all over that! but, we couldn't get our skewers until the lady explained to us that "we are not peter pan and our feet need to stay on the ground while we roast our marshmallows." thanks lady, we're not 4. 

epcot used to be my least favorite park when i was younger.. now it's definitely my favorite! so much yummy food and the most delicious pineapple sparkling wine, blueberry moscato and honey wine i've ever tasted.. i drank multiple.. of each.

 we lucked out and visited during their garden festival. i probably took pictures of every character made from plants i could find.. i'll only bore you with my favorites. 

 

 dessert sushi! 

the fireworks show at magic kingdom really was magical, complete with tinker bell flying across the sky. we stood mesmerized for the entire show

here are the grossly overpriced ponchos we bought... don't be like us. 

tower of terror and the rockin' roller coaster will always be my favorite rides at disney.. but i was disappointed with hollywood studios this time. there wasn't much to do unless you're into star wars (we are not).. half a day and then onto the next park!

animal kingdom was my second favorite park.. so many fun rides, including avatar flight of passage (which was totally worth the wait and i'm so glad ben made me stand in the never ending line) and the safari

 and you can find the most magical treat of all time.. the dole whip. 

disney springs (previously known as downtown disney) is so much bigger than the last time i visited. endless restaurants, shops and live entertainment.

 

we decided to splurge on two dinners while we were there. the first was at the california grill which is a restaurant at the top of the contemporary resort. the food was amazing and they have a patio overlooking magic kingdom where you can watch the fireworks. i'm so glad our waitress told us to watch the fireworks in the park because that was so much better than far away but definitely worth checking out. the food is delicious but make sure you make reservations months in advance! 

we started with a charcuterie plate and a pizza (because we had to try it and we were on vacation) 

 for dinner i had a lobster ramen bowl.. YUM.. and ben had tuna

the second place we splurged for dinner was at "highway in the sky" which we also had to sign up for way in advance. the group of us met at the contemporary resort where we started with a soup and drink, then hopped on the monorail and stopped at the polynesian and grand floridian for additional food courses and a drink. we finished the trip back at the contemporary resort on a private deck also overlooking the castle where they served us coffee and desserts while we watched the fireworks show. it was a lot of fun to check out different hotels but i don't really think it was worth the price... especially if you are a picky eater since the menu is set! 

okay.. so after reliving our trip through these pictures.. i think i probably wouldn't mind visiting disney sooner than 5 years from now!