If you've been keeping up with us on Facebook you will have seen that we had 3 graduations this year: Gavin from Pre-K/preschool, James from 5th grade/elementary school, and Liam from 8th/Jr High. And that is cause for celebration!
What better way to celebrate than with a trip to...
Disney World!
We actually made the decision to do Disney right around the same time we bought our camper so of course we knew we'd be staying at a campground, and there's no better place to stay than Fort Wilderness, the Disney resort campground! We booked a site way back in Jan 2022 and then converted it to a package with park tickets in June 2022. So yes, we have been planning this trip (and saving/paying for it) for some time.
The first 2 weeks of June worked out to be a really great time to visit. The crowds were not unbearable and the weather was cooperative (hot but manageable). Here's a little recap of our trip, and the actual itinerary I kept taped up on the camper wall so everyone would know what was going on each day!
We left on Saturday morning and drove thru Louisville where we stayed at Cave County RV Resort. We headed past Atlanta on Sunday, and of course had to make a stop at Buc-ee's(if ya know, ya know), then on to stay at High Falls State Park before pulling into Orlando on Monday afternoon.
After we arrived and set up camp, we enjoyed a late afternoon swim in the awesome campground pool.
We got to bed early because the next morning was going to be an early one, headed to Magic Kingdom!
For Magic Kingdom we purchased the Genie+passes and we were able to arrive 30 minutes prior to "rope drop" since we were staying at a Disney Resort. I think this made a big difference. We were able to take a boat directly from the campground to Magic Kingdom due to its proximity, which was pretty cool. We arrived and headed straight for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. The line gets long immediately (but the boys were able to sneak away and ride Dumbo while I waited).
After that we just took the day as we could, with rides like It's a Small World, Pirates of Carribean, Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan's Flight-all of which we used Genie+ to book. We had a great view of the parade, which was one of the highlights of the day. 
We brought snacks, lunch and water in a couple cooler bags with us, which saved on time and money. We had the stroller for Gavin which was critical to minimizing his whining about walking, and doubled nicely as a place to carry all our bags! At 1:00 I was able to join the afternoon virtual queue for Tron-our group number was extremely high-so we knew it would be a late callback and so we headed back to the campground, via the boat, to relax and have dinner (and Gavin took a catnap). When we got back we did Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear and Jungle Cruise. Thanks to Aunt Karen we also sampled some Mickey Mouse ice cream bars!
As 8:00 approached Liam and I went to Tron, where the queue was about an hour wait. Alex, James and Gavin did the Aladdin Magic Carpets and scouted out a place on Main St to watch the fireworks. Liam and I got off Tron-which was an amazing ride-just in time for fireworks to begin. However, because they block off all around the castle, we could not join up with Alex and the other boys, so we watched from the back of the castle-which turned out to be a decent spot. The fireworks show was probably my second favorite thing at Magic Kingdom, after the parade!
Around 10:30 we made our way back to the campground, exhausted!
The following day, Wednesday, we headed to Animal Kingdom. We immediately went to Avatar area, and had an easy wait in line for Flight of Passage. Given how much we like the movies I thought this would be a family favorite, but alas the ride, which puts you flying on the back of a banshee, was TOO realistic for Gavin and I had to calm him down the entire ride. But Alex and the other boys said it was really cool!
We enjoyed other areas and rides of Avatar, then went to Dinosaur land, rode Expedition Everest, saw the bird show and had lunch. The afternoon we did the Safarai ride, which was cool, but a lot like being at the zoo. We knew we wouldn't be staying long at AK, but I am glad we went to this park.
The next day we had originally planned to go to the Disney Waterpark, but in checking the weather it looked like rain (and not just afternoon shower that is typical of summer in Florida) so instead we flipped flopped plans and drove out to Kennedy Space Center. Just as we boarded the bus to return from the Apollo area, the rain came pouring down so hard that the parking lot was flooded when we left!
On Friday morning we woke early again to take advantage of early entry at Epcot.
We immediately got in line for Ratatouille, which was such a cute ride...but once again, on the rides where you are immersed in the movie were kind of hard on Gavin. Just a little over-stimulating for him. He was more comfortable on open air rides. Which is interesting b/c many of the rides at the Disney parks are created indoors to keep the guests cool and the rides running during any poor weather. Our family enjoyed walking thru the various country areas in Epcot. We also got virtual queue tickets for Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind and utilized rider-swap since Gavin was too little. This was probably the best coaster in the Disney Parks.
This park was also the best place for getting up close and personal with characters!
My moment with Minnie Mouse will stay in my heart forever!
We enjoyed the Frozen Ride, Nemo aquarium ride, and Mission Space, and I especially enjoyed all the flower topiaries, then we left for a break back at the campground. When we returned we had dinner in the park, survived a late evening rain shower and enjoyed the fireworks display. Epcot at night is pretty fantastic!
Saturday and Sunday were "resort" days for us. The boys spent most of the day Saturday at the pool with Alex, while I spent a couple hours visiting with my friend who lives in Orlando. On Saturday night we had tickets for dinner at the Hoop-de-Doo revue at Fort Wilderness. This dinner show comes highly recommended, and for good reason. It is a hard reservation to get and it was worth it. The food was yummy, the show was so cute, it was perfect for the entire family!
Sunday we went to Gatorland, did some resort hopping, taking the boats and monorail to check out the various Disney hotels.
Even though all the resorts throughout Disney looked AMAZING, I am so glad we stayed at the campground, which I feel was a great value for our 11 night stay.
On Monday we spent the day at Typhoon Lagoon, which is the Disney waterpark (they have 2 but the other is closed for renovation). I always enjoy a good waterpark, and this one did not disappoint, with a crazy huge wave pool and relaxing lazy river. But since the park is not Disney-themed, I felt like we could have been at it anywhere. In retrospect, the Universal waterpark, Volcano Bay, looked like it probably had better slides/options. In the evening we went to Disney Springs, the shopping area, and had a lovely dinner at an Italian place on the water called Terralina to celebrate my birthday.
On Tuesday we bought Genie+ again for our day at Hollywood Studios. We took advantage of early entry to get in line for Rise of the Resistance. The entire Galaxy's Edge area of the park is fantastic. Even if you aren't a huge fan of Star Wars, the design and details transport you to another world. But... we are huge fans of Star Wars, so it was even better! We enjoyed walking thru Batuu, drinking blue/green milk, talking to the Storm Troopers, Rey and Mando (with Grogu) while walking around AT-ATs, starfighters and the Millenium Falcon. Our Genie+ pass for Smuggler's Run was delayed due to a ride delay, so we rode Star Tours, then Liam and I rode Tower of Terror, while Alex, James and Gavin explored the park. We met back up and did Mickey Mouse's Runaway Railway, then headed back to Smuggler's Run, just before James had his reservation to build his own custom Astro Mech unit at the Droid Depot. Afterwards we bought lightsabers for Liam and Gavin and everyone had their fill of Star Wars, so we headed back to the campground. The campground had food trucks so that's what we had for dinner!
On Wednesday we had a relaxing day at Cocoa Beach planned, and it turned out so did our good friends who were visiting Orlando at the same time! What fun to experience the ocean for the first time for our kiddos! What fun to share those moments with our friends! Great memories made, and purchases at Ron Jon's Surf shop also made to keep those memories alive!
When we got back to Orlando for the evening, and got all (ok, most) of the sand off us, we headed over to the Polynesian Resort for dinner at Ohana. This family style Hawaiian themed dinner hit the spot for our family.
On Thursday, what would be our last full day at Disney, we had tickets to Universal Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. We arrived early and went directly to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Islands of Adventure. We immersed ourselves in Hogsmeade, utilized rider-swap for Hagrid's Motorbike coaster, rode Flight of the Griffendorf, drank butter beer at the pub, rode the Hogwart's Castle ride and just generally enjoyed how amazing it was to feel like you were in that world (similar to Galaxy's Edge). Liam and I rode the Velocicoaster, while Gavin played in the Jurassic Park playground. We worked our way around the park, Liam and I also riding the Hulk coaster and Rip Ride Rockit coaster. We then hopped on the Hogsmeade Express train over to Universal Studios where Liam, James & I went on the Simpson's ride and Alex & Gavin went on ET. We met back up for dinner, which we had at Mel's Diner (as a throw-back to when Alex and I went to the Mel's in LA on our first roadtrip together). We finished up on Fast & Furious and found our way into Diagon Alley, went on the Escape from Gringotts ride, purchased our souvenirs and grabbed the last train (if fact, we were the last passengers boarded) for the ride back to Islands of Adventure. After the looooooong day, we had a little trouble finding our truck in the parking garage (it was bound to happen at some point on the trip) and fell into our beds back at the camper.
Friday we packed up, said "so-long, Mickey" and got back on the road, where we stayed just south of Atlanta at Indian Springs State Park.
The next day we arrived at Singing Hills RV Campground just south of Louisville. This was the hardest travel day, b/c there was no "reward" except to be inching toward home. But essentially just a long travel day in the truck. Finally on Sunday afternoon we got home. It simultaneously felt like we were gone all summer and no time at all!
Now that I've recapped our trip, I can confidently say this was one of the best trips I've ever taken. I hope we created memories that will last the boys their whole lives. And if they ever want to take their kids to Disney World in the future, then you better believe this Grandma will be more than ready to reunite with Minnie!
