We did the math, scrambled, quarantined him, but in the end knew it would be best to cancel and avoid any issues or further spread while traveling. Luckily, we got most of our money back. As we all felt sad about the cancellation, I started looking for other alternative options. DIsneyworld came to mind because we’ve had a ton of expenses lately which = Disney dollars!

On July 17th, we will head out for Orlando for summer vacation 2022, take 2, making lemonade out of stinky Covid lemons!

Plans so far include a stay at the Disney beach club resort, two days of park tickets (we will go to Hollywood and Epcot only) and a beach stop on the way home. I’m trying to score some dining reservations, but so far it’s proving difficult this last minute.

Negative test July 11th.

Today has been a day full of prep. Finishing packing, printing, organizing, even banana muffin baking. Matt woke up around 1am this morning,, picked up our Kroger food supplies, and stayed up until a little after lunch before he crashed. Once he wakes up (after the kids bedtime) we will pack up and head out. We are hoping to get as much sleep time driving complete since we now have two boys that get car sick 🤕 Speaking of, I found a new concoction to try called motioneaze that goes behind the ears. Hoping between minion glasses, dramimine and motioneaze we can keep our vehicle vomit free!

Mason has spent the day freshening up on Disney junior and Disney shows in general. He has a new love for doc mcstuffins who we will meet in Hollywood studios. Ethan is getting electronic time in that he will sorely miss for a week 😂

A trip couldn’t be complete without a spreadsheet- even a last minute one. I managed to snag some decent dining reservations, including the sought after Topolinos Terrace character breakfast.

More to come from the car…over and out.

8:30am- I just finished driving for a little over an hour to give Matt a break, and now he’s back at it. Beautiful driving weather so far. Sunrise was pretty. Mason is content and Ethan is a great co-pilot. Nothing too exciting to report. Stopped at a bucees and got a new hot coffee- the one I made last night didn’t keep in the arctic 😞Will check in later. Matt is singing, maybe I can get a clip on video soon 😂

Sunrise

Bridge in Florida

ROAD-TRIPPING!

2:00pm- We arrived to Ocala. That was truly a fast ride! After we had an early sub and chip lunch in the car we played a new road-trip game called shotgun. Basically a series of questions or quick road trivia. Matt won 😔 Like by a lot. I lost, by a lot, in fact I was in the negative at some points. 😭 I demand a redo.

We were literally ten minutes from our destination when mason called out “I gotta pee” which included the universal sign of I have to go pee. We stopped at the first gas station we could and he made it just in time.

We checked into our overnight destination, the residence inn. Matt and I were out like a light as soon as we unpacked and the boys were on their own. Ethan woke us up to tell us he was hungry for dinner 🤣🤣 We ended up getting some cheddars takeout next to the Wawa.

I’ve always wanted to see a Wawa. We will get to bed early tonight so that we can start the REAL first day of our trip tomorrow.

On the agenda for Monday:

1. Topolino’s terrace character breakfast

2. Check into our resort

3. Mini golf at Fantasia Gardens

4. Swimming and exploring

Goodnight from Ocala

Weather forecast for the week:

We got ready and packed up to head to Disneyworld! We dressed in our matching shirts. I think we bought these for the 2020 Disney trip that we ended up having to cancel. Good thing I sized up for Mason.

First stop- Topolino’s Terrace Character Breakfast

We left Ocala around 8:30 and arrived to the Riviera Resort at 10am for our reservation

Riviera Resort

I was so excited about this stop! It was so difficult to find these reservations. I ended up setting up a “mouse alert” and finally in the 11th hour I was quick enough to snag the reservations once I got the alert text. There are only a few character meals at Disney since Covid, and this one is brand new.

We took the elevator up to the top floor and checked in. Super cool restaurant.

Elevator selfie

So much pasta

We were seated pretty quickly and the characters started making their way around. I loved their artsy outfits.

And the food….🤤🤤🤤

We also had an unexpected surprise running into my cousin, Ashley, and her family who I haven’t seen in years.

Next stop- Check in

We headed to our hotel to check in afterwards. We are staying at the Beach Club resort. We raced Matt- he took the car and we took the skyliner.

We broke down a few times 😬😬 Just temporarily but it was a little unnerving and mason said to Ethan “hold me bro”

Matt won!

See Matt on the balcony!

Third Stop- Fantasia Gardens Mini Golf

We got settled in and then walked over to fantasia gardens for some mini golf.

It was HOT 🥵That is NOT WATER!

Guess who won mini golf?! ME by one whole point…

Ethan taking a rest

Fourth Stop- Pool and Exploring time

The pool at the Beach Club is amazing! It’s a 3 acre sand bottom pool that is sprawled out around the hotel. There is a super cool water slide. No photos of all that unfortunately, but Ethan and Mason both agreed that it was the highlight of the day. I did get this video on the way back to the room. 😂

Matt picked up dinner takeout on the way back. We ate and relaxed, then had dessert at the beach club lounge.

We ended the night with some fireworks!

It was definitely a magical first day at Disney!

Memorable Moments-

-Me calling Daisy “Daffy” duck. Oopsie, wrong duck.

-Skyliner ride and our stall out over a main road 😳

-Finishing mini golf RIGHT before an afternoon storm rolled in. We jogged back in the rain, but it was a nice cool off.

-Pool time and especially water slide time. Coolest water slide ever!

-Fireworks from the lounge.

Mason being a goofball cracking up because he saw two faces in the faucet reflection.

Tomorrow’s plans:

-HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS! We will try out genie plus for the first time, have a Disney junior breakfast, make droids in Star Wars land, and check out all the rides. I am most excited about the new Star Wars rides and mickey’s runaway railroad. Mason can’t wait to see “some storm troopers” and Ethan is excited about riding his favorite roller coaster, slinky dog dash.

Tomorrow is also my and Matt’s 14th anniversary ❤️

More to come tomorrow!

As soon as we were finished we ran over to droid depot in Star Wars galaxy edge. Oh my goodness this was such a cool experience. The boys picked the type of droid they wanted, got to hunt for the pieces on the conveyer belt, and then put it all together including adding a personality chip. Mason chose dark side moody and Ethan picked light side hyper. 😂

We headed on over to see lightening McQueen next.

Then had a Star Wars photo opp.

Saw some members of the first order looking for rebel spies.

Saw some really awesome ships.

We got to ride slinky dog dash roller coaster. This was Mason’s s first roller coaster ever. When we asked him what he thought he said thumbs down, and that he will “NEVER” do that again.

As soon as we were off the coaster the skies opened up.

Our feet were tired and we were soaked, so we walked back to rest.

We watched a movie, hung out, and played with photo filters 😂

Tomorrow is a fulll day of rest!

Everyone, including Matt, went down the slide today!

The big boat includes the stairs up to the slide

Ethan was too fast to catch coming out

Then Matt

Mason

We headed to Beaches and Cream for lunch and it was delicious. They have a dessert called the kitchen sink which is a scoop of every ice cream and every tipping in a big sink. We did NOT get that, but we did each get a dessert.

We went back to the room afterwards to digest. We took a walk on the boardwalk, but it looked like it was about to pour down rain again. We had a low key dinner at the hotel and now we are back in the room. If the rain stops we may head over to the boardwalk area where they have little carnival games.

Tomorrow is Epcot, so another packed and exhausting day. Our feet definitely needed the rest today to recover and to also let our shoes dry 😂

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We ended our night with boardwalk games and fireworks!