We ended the week at Disney World.
After Universal, we stayed at the campground on Wednesday to do laundry, swim, and take naps. We knew the next two days were going to be full so taking a day off to recover felt necessary. (Another sign of a family of introverts: we have to take fun breaks or we don’t survive.)
We woke up Thursday morning energized and ready to go. This was going to be our longest day all week because we were doing the Magic Kingdom from 9 AM to 6 PM then Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party from 7 PM to midnight.
We travel with our dog, Blue, and because this day was going to be too long for him to stay inside, we booked him a reservation at Disney’s doggie daycare, Best Friends Pet Care. He spent the day playing with friends and going on long walks on the beach…just kidding, no beach. I just felt that sentence had to end that way. So we played at Disney for fifteen hours on Thursday and Blue lounged at the dog spa.
Not popular confession: I liked Disney, but I don’t really have the desire to go back anytime soon.
I KNOW.
Please sit down and breathe into a paper bag.
Don’t get me wrong, it was fun. We loved the two days we were there and there were lots of things we didn’t get to see or do. But it just seems like so much hype and money and chaos–it’s not the way I like to vacation. I don’t regret the trip at all, but we’ve been lots of really great places (a ski resort in Michigan, Yellowstone National Park, the Florida coast) and I don’t think Disney was any more special or exciting than any of those.
Plus, our goal of all fifty states by the time the girls graduate won’t happen if we do the same trips again and again.
Was Disney a bummer? Absolutely not. We loved it. We loved the old school rides and the brand new Toy Story section. We loved the crew members and the live shows. I’m so glad we went. The girls were the perfect ages (seven and nine) so they didn’t tire easily and they’ll remember this forever.
I’m glad we’re home. I’m glad we can mark it off the list. I’m glad next time we can go explore some other new place. And you can bet I started planning our next trip on the way home from Florida.
*To see how we prepared for the trip, check out this post.
*To see the first part of our week at Universal, go here.
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Disney is A LOT for an introvert haha. I took Sophia for her 5th birthday, just the two of us, and we walked over eight miles that day. (She was a trooper and didn’t complain once; I’m still recovering…) She also picked the sword from Brave as her one souvenir which made for a fun carry-on item on the plane when it was too big for our suitcase.
I can’t imagine how many miles we walked that week–it’s fun, but exhausting! Also, good pick on the sword, Sophia. hahahaha