After supper we hit Stormalong Bay (the wonderful sand bottomed pool shared by the Beach and Yacht Club resorts) and were basically the only people in the pool. We had the whole big kids’ area to ourselves and the kids had a blast. After a rough drive from Winnipeg to Minneapolis through a wicked winter storm and lots of snow to be dealt with in Minneapolis before the trip the massive pool was all the more fantastic.
When I think of this night I think about feeling relaxed and happy to be there while the kids were having such a great time. We had been on Disney property for less than 6 hours at this point and were already in full on vacation mode. It was the start of probably our best ever family trip and when I look at this picture I get a whole wave of fun memories from this trip.
Like the title says – sometimes you just have to run on the beach like a maniac. There is so much to do at Disney World and it is all so easily accessible if you are staying that the Beach Club Resort like we were on this trip. But even with Epcot being 5 minutes walk away and Hollywood Studios less that 20 minutes sometimes you just have to ignore that and go with the simple pleasures.
Like running up and down a beach, yelling at the top of your lungs and trying to catch seagulls – ahh to be 5 again like my son is in this picture.
That is one of the beautiful things about Disney World – there are these opportunities to get away from the crowds and do your own thing and just be a kid. Awesome.
Port Orleans Resort – as a family we have stayed there once and I stayed there once with my brother for the 2012 Disney World Marathon weekend. Both times it was at the French Quarter portion of the resort. It is just an absolutely beautiful place with lovely New Orleans influences.
We enjoy so many aspects of the resort from the cafeteria with its Mardi Gras float decorations to the tree lined walkways to the themed pool area. But really the most important thing to us with this resort is how peaceful it is. The French Quarter portion is the smallest of the Disney World resorts (at least by room numbers) and from what we have seen one of the least crowded. The reduced crowds have allowed us lots of opportunities to just wander around and see the sights, take pictures and just really relax.
This picture this week was taken one of the mornings at the French Quarter – our son (who was about 2 and a half at the time) and I were up well before my wife and 3 month daughter so we grabbed the trusty camera to go for a walk. It was a sunny morning with no wind and just a touch of a chill – it made everything crisp and clear. We wandered around a bit at the French Quarter and then wandered the walking path to the Riverside resort and got some lovely pics of the southern mansions.
On our way back I snapped the picture below as we wandered beside the lake – you can see the little fellow is pretty happy and I remember very well the peacefulness of the moment. That is definitely one of the big draws for us with Disney World – those moments of peace seem to be so easy to grab.
This one comes from our last family trip to Disney World – Hollywood Studios specifically. The Jedi Training Academy – once our son heard about it we knew we were going to have to do it. Over the course of the 9 day trip we tried twice and on the second go we got him in and while we were at it we signed up our daughter who had just turned 4 a couple months previously.
She was excited at first and then got scared once she realized she was going to have to fight Darth Vader and started saying she didn’t want to do it. We knew she would be disappointed if she didn’t do it in the end so we cajoled her (and think a bribe was involved too) to follow through with it.
She definitely had fun doing it (as did our son of course) even though she was maybe a bit young and had a few issues doing exactly what she was told – she tried but got a little overwhelmed. The Disney Cast Member who was teaching the Padawans that day was very good and when it came to be her turn he really helped her out and kept chuckling through the whole thing. In the end I think her total was 1 hit on the Jedi Master and 2 on Darth (she was swinging pretty wild) but everyone had a good time.
But I guess the big thing I took out of this was that she was a bit scared and intimidated by Darth but with the help of someone who genuinely wanted to be there and help out she was able to fight past being scared and enjoy herself. With a little help – you can take on anything.
The pic was near the end of the encounter – she has already gotten Darth a couple times at this point and if you look closely I think you can see that Darth looks a bit frightened.
K versus Darth Vader – Hollywood Studios – Jedi Training Academy
Going to try something new here – in addition to the Magic Memory Monday posts I have been trying on this BigGoofyRunner.com subsite I am going to add Thinking Disney Thursdays – these will be picture posts too but while Magic Memory Monday posts will be more about specific memories or feelings the Thinking Disney Thursdays will be more about certain ideas or thoughts about life that you get from trips to Disney World / Walt Disney World.
This picture comes from our last family trip to Disney World in Jan/Feb 2013 – on our first day going to park this trip we wandered the 5 minutes from the Beach Club to Epcot. It was still early in the day and the World Showcase Portion of the park was not open yet so there weren’t many people around. This allowed us to capture this pic of our daughter stopping to smell the flowers in a big flower garden. There were rides we wanted to get to and things we were excited to get done our first real day at Disney and she decided that could all wait. There were flowers to be smelled and that is what she was going to do!
Awesome message really – the flowers are great and they add to the overall atmosphere there but it is so easy to just let them slip into the background – this picture reminds how important the details can be sometimes and how much enjoyment you can get from the little things.
Disney’s Beach Club Resort at Walt Disney World – the folks there have been very good to us. We had stayed at the Yacht Club once as the second half of a split vacation – spent 4 nights at Caribbean Beach and 5 nights at Yacht Club. We ended up picking the Beach Club for our next family vacation after that (just because it was closer to the quick serve meal locations which is important with the kids). That trip we ended up getting a lovely surprise of a bump up to Club Level which was awesome and helped make the trip.
That helped us decide to go back to the Beach Club Resort again on our next family trip in Jan/Feb 2013. My wife and I had stayed at the Boardwalk Inn for the Disney World Marathon weekend earlier in January and with the cost of that trip there was no way we could splurge on Club Level but if we really scrimped we could do Beach Club with the family (plus a good deal as Annual Passholders). So we told the kids that we weren’t going to be able to use the Club Level snack room / lounge (the Stone Harbour Club) but we would have the pool and be super close to Epcot. They were very happy that we were going to be able to use the big pool at Storm Along Bay and weren’t concerned about the snack room.
When we arrived though we were escorted up to the Club Level for check in – we had apparently been upgraded up to Club Level again! We were extremely surprised and very grateful as we knew the snack room would actually let us save some money on breakfasts and the ambience on the Club Level is just fantastic. We were told our room was on the 2nd level (which was a surprise as the Club Level is on the 5th floor but we figured we just given a normal room and access to the Club Level – we were fine with that) so we grabbed the kids and wandered over. After walking what seemed like miles we got to our room – very far from the snack room but extremely close to the walk way to Epcot – we were happy with the trade off.
We walked into the room and were stunned to find that we had actually been upgraded to a 2 bedroom suite – there was a room with 2 queen beds for the kids, a living room and wet bar area and a separate bathroom for the “master” king bedroom. The kids’ room had views of the quiet pool as did a balcony off of the living room and although the king bedroom did not have a balcony it had many windows facing south to catch the sun and provide a view of the Boardwalk area. It was a fantastic view both during the day and at night. You can see here for a complete trip report for that trip and more pictures for the room specifically here and here.
This picture reminds me of how great the room felt and how magical Disney made the trip this time – we had such a good time being able to walk to Epcot in under 5 minutes and it is hard to put a dollar value on how much more time we had in the parks just from that.
Beach Club 2 bedroom suite view to BoardwalkBeach Club 2 bedroom suite view of path to Epcot
This one comes from our latest trip to Disney World in late January / early February 2013. (trip report for that family trip to Disney World is here)
The little Jedis in training had just finished defeating Darth Vader and were having a frozen treat as their reward.
Even with all the hustle at Hollywood Studios that day we were able to find this quiet spot to sit and relax for a few minutes and let the kids unwind and just relax. You can see happy and relaxed they are.
Combine the happy mood of the kids with the peaceful area and lovely flowers this whole picture really captures what we were trying to get out of that trip. We wanted these moments when everyone was just happy and peaceful altogether as a family. It is hard sometimes to get that when you are at home and are running around trying to get everything done that needs doing – this picture helps remind me of why we go to Disney World and how important it is to find times where we can connect with the kids like this.
Hollywood Studios – frozen treat after defeating Darth Vader
There are so many cool things about Disney World to see and do even without the signature fireworks displays in the parks. The picture in this post was taken from the beach at the Beach Club Resort looking across the bay to The Boardwalk. The gorgeous lighting and the atmosphere are fantastic – grab a pizza and sit and watch some street performers or just wander catching the sights and sounds of the evening.
Too often I think people do the fireworks at the parks and then head straight back to the hotels and crash and don’t take the opportunity to really explore and appreciate all the detail and atmosphere that Disney puts into the various areas at night. These are things like the light up walk way tiles in Epcot, the lit fountains at the French pavilion in World Showcase or the lights on the buildings on Main Street in Magic Kingdom.
If you can find the time to slow down a bit you can see some very wonderful things.
This one comes from our late January 2012 trip to Disney World. Here our daughter (3 at the time) is very excited and happy to see the Muppets fountain in Hollywood Studios.
She is wearing her Minnie Mouse dress and a pair of sunglasses fit for a star – definitely fitting for Hollywood Studios.
She was so excited by the fountain splashing water all over that she was running around all smiles and high pitched squeals of joy. And I managed to grab this shot in the flurry of excitement.
The picture just seems to capture the joy and excitement kids have at Disney World, when I see this picture I can’t help but smile.
Ok time for Magic Memory Monday #2 – This one was from our first family trip to Disney World as well – same day in fact as the first Magic Memory Monday post (link).
We were on Main Street waiting for the fireworks show Wishes to start. I was holding my son up so he could see around and my wife grabbed the camera and took a shot as he leaned his head into my chin.
This is definitely a nice picture of the 2 of us with Cinderella’s Castle clear and lit up in the background – definitely no mistaking the location or that we were both quite happy at that moment.
The closeness with my son at that moment is something I still carry with me – in fact I keep a copy of this picture on my wall at work as a reminder. These are the kinds of moments that can happen anywhere but Disney just seems to excel at finding ways for them to happen more often.
Fun side story here was that as the fireworks began we were worried that as he was only 17 months old at the time he might get scared by the lights and the noise. We needn’t have worried though. He jumped as the first set of fireworks blew into the sky but then he started clapping and yelling boom!! and yay!! I think we went to various fireworks shows around Disney World 5 or 6 times on that trip and he would do the same thing each time. It was awesome to see him enjoying the show and really getting into it. There is another of those memories that will stick with me for many years to come.
