All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel
The St. John Town Center Sheraton Hotel, located in Jacksonville, FL, is a beautiful hotel that has everything you need for an overnight or a week long stay.
Jacksonville Florida is a wonderful city to visit year round with fun activities that the whole family can enjoy. The Sheraton Jacksonville Hotel is a great option for your stay.
…Beware! The Dinosaur Invasion is going to get you at Leu Gardens! Roam the gardens to check out cool prehistoric creatures.
Leu Gardens, located in Orlando, Florida, is a great garden that features the “Dinosaur Invasion” every spring. From Jan to April, you can enjoy strolling the gardens and seeing dinosaurs among the lush Florida foliage.
…10 reasons to visit the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. It’s a great place to visit with your family. You’ll have fun exploring and learning!
During a recent hosted trip to Jacksonville, Florida, we visited the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. My whole family had a wonderful time visiting since there are fun things to see and do throughout the day.
…Westgate Town Center in Kissimmee, Florida is a great resort that will keep the whole family busy with activities all day on a beautiful property.
While my 2-night stay at Westgate Resort was complimentary, all feedback is honest. I always strive to provide everyone with an accurate and complete recap and review so they can consider enjoying the places I visit, restaurants I dine at, and activities I do.
My family enjoyed a hosted 2-night midweek staycation at Westgate Town Center Resort in Kissimmee Florida in August 2020. I was thrilled to be invited to check out a wonderful resort and take a fun break from the normal routine for some fun.
I am thankful for any chance I get to take a trip with my family so I was thrilled to visit one of their Kissimmee hotels.
…My family’s staycation in Westgate Town Center Resort in Central Florida was the perfect local escape for us!
Thank you to Westgate Tower Center Resort and Vacation Villas for hosting my family and doggies for a great staycation.
As we all know 2020, has been a doozy of a year for us all. We took on e-learning for our kids, my husband is now fully working from home, mask wearing is the new must have accessory. Plus, we have had to basically avoid all our friends and family and have had to cancel all our plans for the year.
When the opportunity to visit Westgate’s Kissimmee Hotels came up, I jumped at it because I wanted to get out of my house and to give the kids a chance of some normalcy.
…Taking your family and friends for a round of miniature golf at Pirates Cove in Orlando is a fun activity that everyone of all ages will enjoy. Fun for all!
There is more to Central Florida than theme parks- so much more. You can find fun around every turn. We had a blast at Pirates Cove playing miniature golf.
…The Disney Springs Reopening on May 20th, 2020 was subdued, safe, and fun. It was a great way to spend the day enjoy some Disney after the shut down began.
I brought my kids to the Disney Springs Reopening so we could have a fun day doing something that we used to do all the time before the Covid 19 shut down. This was a great way to enjoy a day and support businesses we really enjoy,
…The Drive Thru Safari Park at Wild Florida is a fun experience for everyone to enjoy in Central Florida. Enjoy the wild animals as they graze and play.
Driving through Wild Safari’s Drive Thru Safari Park truly is an unforgettable experience. You’ll feel that you are transported half way around the world as you watch animals relax, graze, and run around. It’s a blast.
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Visiting Dinosaur World in Plant City, FL is a great activity for kids to do with their families. There are so many dinosaurs to see and learn about.
I love living in Central Florida because there are so many great things to do, just a short drive away. One day, after school, my friend and I took our kids to Dinosaur World. We had so much fun!
…Celebrating our birthdays with family in Florida means there’s fun everywhere. My Mom’s 60th birthday celebration was a blast in Orlando. So much food, sun, & fun!
Last month, I had a wonderful weekend celebrating my mom’s 60th Birthday. A weekend full of fun and food. And it was just us girls!
We enjoyed a scrumptious lunch at The Polite Pig in Disney Springs, a fun afternoon hanging in the pool at the Wyndham on I-drive, and then dinner at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville at Universal’s City Walk. We then spent our Sunday enjoying a soulful brunch at Homecomin’ Kitchen in Disney Springs. It was a fantastic way to enjoy this big birthday celebration.
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When you bring friends, you’ll be sure to have a Spooktacular Night at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. There is fun around every corner for everyone.
Thank you to Disney for inviting me to spend a a wonderful night at the Magic Kingdom enjoying the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party!
It seems like Mickey always has something fun up his sleeve. Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party had so many new things this year. It was our 4th time, but felt like my first since every visit is so different. (Check out my recaps from my September 2017, August 2018, and September 2018 visits)
I greatly appreciate when I receive media invites for Disney events, because they are so much fun. I love going to the parties or getting to see new attractions. But what I love the most is getting to invite our friends to the events, I always try to spread some happiness so I always take a different friend with us. This time, it was our awesome neighbors, Danielle and Raegan.
As usual, things run awry when I am trying to plan something out. In this case, I couldn’t find the Bo Peep costume that Autumn wanted to wear in her size. Multiple trips to various stores!! Eventually, I decided that we just would just run into Target on the way to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. So, the 4 of us loaded up in the car after getting the girls from school, and we were on our way. With some Lizzo blasting, of course!
But, luck would have it, we missed the exit for the Target. Like, for real, can we please have a giant billboard like 2 miles away like “Target welcomes you in 2 miles. Don’t miss it!” ha! Anyway, the point is, we didn’t have costumes, but we still had a magical time.
As soon as we walked into the Magic Kingdom (just before 5pm), we headed with the crowd to the Market Street Welcome Trick-or-Treating.
To enjoy this great trick or treating and photo op spot, stick to the right side of the Main Street area, walking towards Tony’s Restaurant. We walked through snapping pictures and kicking off the trick or treating. The cast members handed out bags of candy. As well as supplied trick or treating bags.
It was dinner time and the girls were hungry so we headed over to Casey’s Corner. It’s an easy stand by that my family loves going to. Big hot dogs and fries- perfect for hungry kids.
I really treated myself to the Loaded Corn Dog Nuggets ($10.99). I dug into a bed of Corn Dog Nuggets that were topped with Cheese Sauce, Chile-Lime Seasoning, Sliced Jalapeños, Diced Tomatoes, Garlic Ranch, Corn Chips, and Green Onion. It was messy and utterly delicious. I added more jalapenos from the toppings bar too.
I would 110% get this again. It had great flavors and textures. It was like ordering a cross between corn dogs, walking tacos, and nachos. So so good! The Chile-Lime Seasoning was great finishing touch on the whole mess of goodness. Plus, I love anything with spice, so those pickled jalapenos were perfect for me.
After dinner we went to Splash Mountain for our first ride of the night. The girls certainly know how to kick things off with a bang! Plus, it was great that the line was so short. We only had to wait a few minutes, and even then it felt like the line was always moving. (We were walking on at 6.03 and seated on the ride at 6.13!)
Oh man, I got soaked! I was a bit worried at first with my light shirt (whoops!) but it was okay. I love the ride and getting splash was so fun and ended up being refreshing for the hot night.
A short walk and short wait later, we were ready to ride the Haunted Mansion ride.
This was a new ride for Autumn to enjoy. I felt she might have been too scared from it last year, but I thought she might like the spooky fun this year. She really enjoyed it and wasn’t scared in the least bit. She asked some questions about the crazy room before the ride, but just went with the flow and liked the hitch hiking ghosts.
Bonus, I left inspired to add on our to Haunted Mansion themed graveyard decorations. I saw some great things that we can add to the spooky decor next year.
As we we walked from Liberty Square over to Tomorrowland, we hit up some great Trick or Treating spots. Compared my my past visits, the cast members were generous with the candy. The girls typically got 2 handfuls of candy at each stop. (Now, I’ve see pictures of people going back to their hotel rooms, and practically covering their beds with candy. We didn’t have that much candy! But we certainly got more per trick or treating location than we ever did in the past.)
In all, we did 6 trick or treating spots and get a nice amount of candy. It was great for the night.
The girls LOVED the Descendance Party at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe. It was a fun dance party that had everyone on their feet dancing to songs from the Descendants movies and fun pop songs. The cast (minus Cameron- RIP) recorded fun messages, that were displayed on monitors on the stage. So much fun!
Autumn is finally tall enough to ride Space Mountain!!! I was so trilled! I love the ride so I was really excited that she could go on it as well.
She loves Slinky Dog Dash so I was hoping she would love this coaster as well. However, I was a but nervous about her riding in a solo seat. My friend Danielle suggested the I ride behind her, so I could grab hold of her shoulders. Then I could reassure her that I was there.
For Halloween, they turn the lights off and play a new Halloween-inspired soundtrack. Because it’s one of the few rides that has a spooky Halloween spin to it, it can have some ‘long’ wait times. We waited about 20 minutes to ride Space Mountain.
I really needed a pick me up at this point, so we decided to stop by the Starbucks on Main Street. The timing was perfect got as the parade was just winding down, so we ended up getting in line just before the crush of people came in. Had we been about 5 minutes later, we would have been swept up in a crazy busy line. Instead we got our treats quickly and were able to get back outside to grab spots for the fireworks without any problems.
Loving all things related to Hocus Pocus, we tried the party exclusive Amuck Amuck Amuck Cupcake. It was described as a ‘Trick-or-Treat Candy Cupcake with Peanut Butter Chips, Chocolate Candy Bits, and Toffee filled with Caramel Sauce, iced with Chocolate Buttercream and topped with a Chocolate Cauldron’. In summary, it had a lot going on, but not in a good way. The biggset disappointment was the amount of frosting on the cupcake. It just felt like it was overpowering the cake.
Give the Amuck Amuck Amuck Cupcake a try to see what you think at the Main Street Bakery (Starbucks). Don’t forget to also try a Cinderella Latte. (A Pumpkin Spice Latte with White Chocolate Syrup added. Yum!)
Disney always does a wonderful job with their fireworks displays. They are really magical. Of course, I love the fireworks but my favorite part is the laser show on the castle. It’s basically spellbinding with how intricate it all is as it is illuminated on the castle. I love it!
Disney’s Not So Spooky Spectacular was NEW this year, as it replaces Happy Hallowishes. It was so fun to see the new fireworks show and compare it to the show I had previously seen at past parties. The show kicks off with “This is Halloween” from “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. Then Jack Skellington and his dog, Zero, flies off carrying everyone along on a trick-or-treat adventure. You’ll get to join Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy in a mysterious haunted house. It’s 20 minutes of fun!!!
Somehow Autumn slept through the Not So Spooky Spectacular firework s show and Raegan was barely awake when the show ended. We asked Raegan if she wanted to stick around for the next Unfortunately, while on the ferry ride back to parking, that we should have stayed. We could have just moved over from our spot, allowed the girls to sleep (in stroller/lap), and watched the show. Ah, shoot! Next time, we will just take pop a squat and let the girls catch some ZZZZ’s
We had a blast the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party! I hope you get to enjoy it too!
Park hopping at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom is a fun way to spend the day soaking in loads of Disney Parks magic. We enjoyed our day at Animal Kingdom, and then Magic Kingdom.
It’s been a week, and I’m still decompression from an awesome past few weeks. I went to Atlanta with my friend and her daughters for a few days. Then I got back, had a day to ‘decompress’, and then headed over to Disney for their Social Media Conference on Friday. From there I went directly to St. Pete for a wonderful, much needed, Momcation! We had a blast hanging out together, having 2 kid free nights, and a relaxing day on the beach.
I woke up up crazy early on Sunday, left by 6am, and grabbed the family to head to Disney for a fun day there. We figured we would spend the day Park Hopping because we always try to maximize the fun!
And, a few days later, I attended a Disney Villains After Hours party with a few friends. Lots of late nights and tons of driving around, but it has all worth been it!
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