I have wanted to do a Trip Report for years, and darn it, I am finally going to start living my dreams! This will be a trip report covering our family’s recent visit to Orlando from Wednesday the 16th until the 25th. We are the Rice family and we are from rural Missouri. We have beautiful (I am biased) twin girls and we tend to visit Disney 2-3 times per year. This will be our 4th trip since the re-opening after the pandemic, though this is the longest trip we have taken in quite some time. I will try and come back each day to add more until I am done. I apologize if I am away for a bit, as I am doing 90 loads of laundry.
Our journey begins with:
DAY ONE: Tuesday the 16th. With all the recent pandemonium in the airline industry, we decided to drive to Florida. I know what you are thinking - these people are not intelligent - and you would be 100% correct. To be honest, getting down to Disney was not that bad. We ended up driving 10 hours straight and staying at a lovely Holiday Inn Express in Locust Grove, Georgia. We crashed, slept 5.5 hours (we are not smart, I know) and got up early to eat our free breakfast and hit the road.
DAY TWO - Wednesday the 17th. We arrived at the Four Seasons - our home for the next week - around 2pm. This was our second time at this resort. Both times have been for a conference. I cannot put into words how nice this resort is, but it is like staying in a movie. The resort is in Golden Oaks, Disney’s private community, and when we pulled up we were warmly greeted by the valet. The bellman took our bags with a huge smile and the front doorman stopped to talk to our girls about all the things the resort has for kids. They also gave them free cinch/drawstring bags with scavenger hunts inside. I did not encounter one person who worked at this resort the entire time we were there that was anything less than stellar. They went out of their way to make us feel welcome at every opportunity. They had daily thorough housekeeping and turn-down services and were very approachable if we needed anything at all like towels/coffee, etc. It is a ridiculously beautiful resort, but it is not stuffy and they are always so kind to our kids. I would stay here every trip if it did not mean putting us into bankruptcy.
We got a 12th floor room with a giant balcony and view of Epcot and DHS. I was not expecting this and some tears were shed. It was beyond amazing. We unpacked and then headed to the pool. This report has a pool dedicated to adults only (21+), and then a family pool, lazy river, splashpad with these huge Roman/Spanish columns made to look like ancient ruins, and two giant slides that are off to the side. I like it b/c I never have to worry if the kids are bothering the adults in the pool with splashing or anything. They also have a kids “camp” that you can take your kids to each day from 10-5 that is included in your resort stay. They watch your children and take them to activities throughout the resort. We did not use this service this trip. The counselors were all young and full of energy and I honestly thought if I took my kids there they would not want to leave. The resort also has a playground, rock climbing wall, pool tables, and other outdoor games.
We swam for a brief hour, then headed to our first ADR at Kona Cafe. I tried to do ADRs for places we had never gone and this was a waonderful way to start the trip. It is pretty casual and located in the Polynesian, which is my favorite Disney resort. We had the tuna roll, wings, and the braised short ribs. My kids had their faves - macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets - true connoisseurs of fine cuisine. Everyone was happy and the service was great. We left via Uber and headed back to the room. The resort had robes for the kids and the adults, so of course we all took showers (individually - don’t make it weird) and put those babies on over our jammies. We then sipped our complimentary bottled water and just chilled, living our best life ever.
True story - when we got back from dinner, my kids opened the curtains and saw Spaceship Earth in all her glowing glory and they FREAKED OUT. Seriously, they lost it. They just kept screaming “MOM - THE SPACESHIP IS GLOWING!!!” And guys, it really is one beautiful sight. We slept soundly, filled with eager anticipation of a magical trip. END DAY TWO
I will add more later - but as a teaser - we are talking pre-fireworks dessert party; Steakhouse 71; the point of buying Genie+ on CL10 days at DHS (spoiler: there is no point); the 50th Anniversary dessert pyramid of chocolate at La Hacienda; we meet our favorite vlogger; AND MORE!!! I am bad with tech, so I am also going to try and add pictures, but please be patient, I don’t computer well.
but this choice? Girl don’t mess around! Nice!!! I was there just for dinner in April and in just that short bit of time they blew me away with their level of service and attention to detail.
