All in Vacations
One of Brad’s most favorite restaurants at Disney World that we do almost every single trip is Chefs de France. On our last few visits, I finally found food I really loved there. My favorite has always been the lobster bisque, but on our trip in 2019, I found a new favorite - flat iron steak with pomp frites. It was amazing. But with COVID, they have limited their menu dramatically. So I wanted to do another review with the current menu. Below are review from previous trips:
No one ever wants to see their trip come to an end. We had some bigger plans for the day, but we opted to take it easy instead. Brad feeling super sick also didn’t help…
Our last park day started with a pressured filled morning. Today was our Hollywood Studios morning. This meant getting up to get a Rise of the Resistance boarding group at 7 am. We also had breakfast reservations at 9 am at Hollywood and Vine. While the breakfast was good, I do kind of wished I had not booked it. Then we would not have been in as much of a rush to get to the park. But such is life I suppose.
Our second day at Disney World was a jam-packed day that started way too early, to be honest. And honestly, we should have started even earlier, but breakfast was too much of a priority for us.
So our first day at Disney was meant to be a slower starting day since we arrived so late the night before. But that wasn’t entirely the case. We met my parents for breakfast that morning before heading to Epcot. I want to say it was round 8:30 that morning if not earlier. I am having trouble remembering entirely. But either way, it wasn’t quite sleeping in, but compared to other days, I suppose it was!
So we headed to our first Disney World trip post-COVID back in May. It was a Sunday evening. We opted to fly due to my dad’s work schedule and the cheap flights. But we were also forced to take whatever time was available. So we flew in late Sunday night. Melody was completely clueless. I was hoping for a fun reveal, but unfortunately it didn’t quite happen the way I had hoped.
So we had a Disney trip planned with my parents back in August 2020, but then COVID happened and wrecked havoc on all of the plans. We postponed it many times, and we eventually stopped planning it. But we finally found a week that did work for everyone in May. The problem we encountered is that we literally decided about 3 weeks out. In the COVID world, it is ideal to wait until closer to your trip now just because you never know, but I am a planner. When we finally decided we would go, there was not any park passes available for the parks except EPCOT. And while that is our favorite park, with the late start every day, it just did not seem ideal. So we backed out. But then Disney fixed a glitch in their system and many passes were released, so we booked our trip!
So it has been a week since I lasted posted. We had Spring Break last week, and I have been getting back in to routines this week. So now I finally have time to tell you all about our Spring Break trip to Opryland. It was semi last minute. So Brad was supposed to be out of town that week. So Emily and I planned to go somewhere for a few days during Spring Break with the kids. Well Brad’s trip was cancelled so he and Emily’s husband, Justin, tagged along. We opted to go to Opryland to be an easier drive, and there was plenty of availability the couple of days before when I booked it.
I thought it might be fun to take a look back on last year through some pictures. Sure, it was one heck of a year, but we made the best of it. We spent a LOT of time together as a family, and we did come out with a lot of great memories, even if they were not the memories we expected to make! Follow along below!
One of our hopes this year was to go to Opryland. Of course COVID kind of threw a kink into that. But we did find a time that we thought would work with both our schedule and even safety. I really wanted to participate in the Christmas stuff, but I knew that would be busy and it was possible we would get there and not feel safe. Instead we went the week right before Christmas started (November 10-13). This allowed us to see all of the Christmas decor without all the crowds.
During all of our trips to Disney, we have mainly taken one stroller. It is our everyday stroller (or at least it was when we went out places, ha!). We have taken an umbrella stroller on another trip too. So I wanted to compare our experiences with both strollers because I always debate which one will be easier on our trips, and I figured there are other people wondering the same thing.
The pandemic has messed with a lot of plans for a whole lot of people. One of those things for us was our vacations. We had a Disney vacation planned with my parents in late August which we cancelled because we were not entirely comfortable getting to Disney safely during the pandemic. In January, we were planning to do a BIG Disney trip just us 3. We had planned to stay around 10+ days at two resorts. This would be our last during the school year trip since Melody starts Kindergarten next year. But it is hard for us to justify that kind of money for a visit that doesn’t include park hopping. I mean we love to start at one park and end at Epcot for dinner. Instead we are hoping to take a smaller trip with my parents in January. However we did keep a trip we were hoping for, the beach. This trip wasn’t something planned out far in advance. We just knew we wanted to take a trip to the beach just us 3. COVID did really mess with how we do the beach, but we made it work the best we could.
As you can likely tell from a lot of my previous blog posts, we have been to Disney World quite a bit. I have been an Annual Passholder for two years, and I hope to be one again once we feel comfortable enough to travel back to Orlando. Over the last four years, we have been taking Melody to Disney and still eating at nice sit down restaurants at Disney World. We also do quick service, but we have made sure we still continue to eat at our favorite places even though we have a baby or toddler in tow. Today I wanted to share how we handle this and some advice I have.
foosackly’s is a fast-food chicken restaurant that my dad and I tried while in Pensacola. We wanted to try another new restaurant while visiting, and we passed it on the way to Pensacola Play Zone. Their focus is chicken, so it makes ordering fairly easy. There wasn’t an overwhelming amount of indoor seating, but they did have a lot of outdoor seating. Their chicken was really good. Much like Zaxby’s. Their ranch and foosackly sauce were both really, really good. If you like good chicken tenders, I highly recommend it if you come across one.
While in Pensacola back in February, it was pretty cold. While it did get in the 50s and was sunny, the wind didn’t make you warm for sure! So we researched indoor play places to take Melody during the day while my mom worked. One place we found was called Pensacola Play Place. Based on pictures online, it reminded me a lot of Let’s Play, so we gave it a try!
The last sit down restaurant we tried while in Pensacola back in February was Flounder’s Chowder House. It too was located across from our hotel and would be easy walking distance if it were not so cold! My mom had eaten here before, but it was new to me. It was dark when we arrived, so I couldn’t get any great pictures, but is really large and was even crowded on this night.
So I must be honest, I made this a LONG LONG time ago. So long ago, we were at our other house, and I am most positive Melody wasn’t even a thought yet, ha! But I found all the pictures, and I wanted to share with you this countdown idea. This does involve quite a bit of work, but you can use it beyond a countdown!
One of the restaurants we tried while in Pensacola in February was Red Fish Blue Fish. It was located directly across the street from our hotel, although we drove due to how cold it was. If it was warmer and lighter, they do offer a lot of play areas for kids which is nice if you are having to wait. Generally the restaurant seemed fairly big, but it was really hard to tell since there was no one there. I truly think we were one of two customers.
So with all of our vacations being cancelled for the near future to Disney World, we now have much longer countdowns to make. This is a really easy countdown and can be adjusted for any length of time really. However, the shorter the better when it comes to coming up with ideas to put on each stick.
Back in February before all of shutdown of all things due to the corona virus, we visited Pensacola. While there, my mom worked during the days and into the evening. So we had to find things to do from around 11 am until 7 pm. Well we visited two different indoor play areas. Neither place was too hard to find and within about 20-30 minute drive from our hotel. You likely aren’t looking for these places when you go to the beach because you are there to enjoy the warmth and sunshine. But if you find yourself there during the colder months or while it’s raining. Both places are great to visit with little ones. Today I will share about Bounce House.
