Disney World Orlando FL- Musts and Busts
- Dustin Matthew Spicer
- May 14, 2024
- 6 min read
Updated: May 14, 2024
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Welcome:
Hello everyone! Welcome to Spicer Journeys this is our first travel blog ever!! What! That is so crazy to say. First off thank you for being here and joining us on this adventure! Since this is our first-ever travel blog, I figured why not start at the beginning!
Our Story:
For those of you that are just joining our journey hello and we are so glad you are here! I am JoAnna Spicer owner and creator of this blog and combined business! I embarked on this journey first as a young high school kid with some crazy dreams of being a photographer. I continued my passion throughout high school and my beginning years of college. Until I met my husband there was no way that I thought I would ever be doing this as a form of business to share with others until I started crafting and taking photos once again with the incredible help of the best husband I could have dreamed of. At first, this was a way to cope with losing my best friend. I lost my mother unexpectedly and rather quickly in January of 2023. Her 2 months of being sick and not being able to be with her every day was a hard task, especially knowing that your time was soon to be cut short. So, I found something I could do to escape from this world and enter a new one- so I poured my heart into this company and built Spicer Family Creations LLC allowing me to bring back some joy into my ever-dimming world at the time. Being able to photograph not only people, places, or things I was able to capture moments that will live in time forever. A memory that would never be lost. In addition, I added my crafting business- something I could do to bring her a smile even in her darkest days. We are Christmas fiends and Christmas is something we always shared I was able to make a shirt that she loved and wore often in her last days. This brings us too today. Adding one more passion of not only mine but my husband's as well. Travel.
Travel has been something in the center of our relationship since day one. I think we started planning our first trip together on day 2 of talking ha-ha. So here we embarked on our first journey. Disney World in Orlando FL.
Embarked on in this Blog:
This initial blog will be talking about our short itinerary and the things we enjoyed during this time! Although our first trip did not go as planned at all it was still a vacation that we look back on and share many laughs about. I am not sure if this was more of a learning curve or a vacation! lol, nonetheless it was a trip for the books that sparked our love for one another and the beauty of traveling.
Traveling to and Arriving in Orlando Florida:
We then arrived at Orlando Stanford Airport, an important note here makes sure to check and ensure the airport you are flying into is the SAME airport that you are picking up your rental car from! We did not. We then found ourselves facing an hour car ride from a taxi driver that was a bit wild driving for our taste... can you see where this is heading already?? We are at Orlando International to secure our rental car with few problems. We rented a Dodge Challenger from the company SIXT Rental. This would be the second sign of caution here. We booked our car online weeks before our trip and paid for it in full. When we arrived at the airport (after a $100 scary taxi drive) we were surprised once again that to be able to get our already paid-for car we had to pay additional fees that their company required at pick up.
Airbnb Stay:
Finally, off to our destination of our Condo that was rented through Airbnb in Kissimmee, this condo was everything that the Airbnb had shown. However, there were small things that did not work or were not cleaned properly. I.E.- The dishwasher would not drain, and a pair of underwear stuck to the bottom of the mattress. This was found during our bed bug check that is performed in each condo, home, or hotel we book. Yes, I may be a bit of a clean freak. lol, we can thank my wonderful mother for instilling the room check into me! Other than this Stefanie was very compliant and easy to work with! This condo was still an amazing stay, some amenities were well-used during our stay. We spent much more time at the condo due to an allergic reaction I had while at the park. Therefore, we were able to enjoy the amenities at the Condo like the pool and hot tub. They were rather busy especially as the night went on but that is to be expected in Florida in July. A link to the listing will be below if you would like to book your next stay in Kissimmee!
**Note that the property does have a few rules to keep in mind
One-week stays are mandatory, and all stays begin on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. The room must be under someone 21 or older. Select rooms in buildings #5 & #6 are pet-friendly for a fee. Dogs must be less than 35 pounds and approval must be given before arrival.
Cute Stop to Play Mini-golf:
We did stop on the way to the condo at Winter Summerland Mini Golf and we would recommend it for anyone!! Address Bellow!
1548 W Buena Vista Dr, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
Now onto what everyone is looking to hear about. Disney!!
Disney Day One- July 3rd, 2022-
First stop Magic Kingdom-
Now here is when everything went haywire!
The day started well excited to be going with a fun-filled day packed into as much as we can during operating hours. however, that is not quite how it went. With it being July 3rd around the July 4th holiday, the park was packed! The Disney Genie+ was worth the investment. This helps to get you to the front of the line and be able to book your spot! There was no room to walk around nor have any room to yourself. It was a constant pushing and pulling walk to walk through the park and not get split up. We were able to explore some of the shops on the main strip. We walked and did shops on main street USA, then went for lunch at Tonys Town Square. This was where it all went, Arie... I ordered a salad, cheese sticks, and a Coke. Before ordering I went through the menu extensively with the waitress and shared our food allergies. She said she would check with the chef and that there was a note on our online reservations that also stated I had a cherry allergy. However, despite all my efforts I was still served Cherry Vinaigrette dressing on my salad. From there I had an allergic reaction that was treated with lots of Benadryl. Dustin was practically carrying me back to the car! If you have food allergies, I will not recommend this location due to the fact of my misfortune. This ended up cutting our day and we went back to sleep off the reaction in the condo.
We did try and go back later that night because I was bound to not let that ruin our vacation. however, there was no way I could keep going. The effects of the reaction had carried over and continued for roughly a day. We did however make it to see the fireworks at the end of the night!
Day 2- Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge- Disney's Hollywood Studios:
"Complete immersive accurate depiction of the Star Wars world" - Dustin Spicer
"Mind-blowing Details" - Dustin Spicer
This part of the park was more for my husband than for myself. I do not know much about Star Wars, He however loved it. there was not a single thing in this part of the park that did not blow his mind, the attention to detail, the life-like animation of the story plays out in front of your eyes. This is a MUST for any Star Wars fan!
Dustin was able to build his own R2 unit that completed his hands-on experience. This is an extra charge and you must book a time due to them filling up so fast and frankly not having much room in the area where this is done. Yet this experience was an unforgettable one!
Toy Story was also on our agenda that day! This brought the inner child in both Dustin and me out. We love the attention to detail that was given to every character
We ended this day eating at 50's Prime Time Cafe and this is a MUST. Best dinner we had all trip long!! The diner was themed in a 50-style home/business!
Day 3- EPCOT-
Day 3 was short... While we were there they were having the Flower Festival which added an impressive touch to all the landscapes however we also attended during one of their hottest weeks of the year I am pretty sure temperatures were reaching 115 in the middle of the day with a UV index of 10 or greater. We did walk around the world however we did not drink around the world the heat was too much to bear let alone drink alcohol in addition to it!
We did try and complete Animal Kingdom as well however, due to the heat of the day we were not able to complete this part of the park.
This is a wrap on our somewhat of a disaster Disney trip, it was a perfect recipe- allergic reaction, heat, and silly errors. But in the end, we lived and we learned. It only prepared us to be prepared wherever we go and do our research!!
Thank you for joining in this read. We hope you enjoyed it. We sure enjoyed reliving and laughing through it now. Stay tuned to part 2 of this trip in Clearwater FL where much more will be reviewed and musts or busts shared!
See you soon!
Dustin and JoAnna!
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