November Disney Trip Review: Cheers

Gentle readers, there's A LOT that went into our most recent Walt Disney World vacation. Planning. Dollars. More planning. 16 hours of driving. Early mornings, late nights, blistered feet. But in an effort to keep things light - yet informative - I bring you a brief review of the best parts of this trip, AKA 'Cheers'.

1. Ronan was a rock star - minus a few isolated incidents that I'll outline in my next post (Jeers), our just-turned-3 year old was a model Mouseketeer. Waited patiently for rides, smiled for photos and showed NO FEAR on roller coasters.

2. I managed to get my family to eat a few meals in our Villa - granted it was grilled cheese for lunch one day, BBQ chicken and french fries another and finally macaroni and cheese with peas on the last. But it meant we didn't have to wait in line or pay a lot of money.

3.We had FUN, kid and grown ups - Thanks to a lovely friend who babysat, hubby and I enjoyed not one but TWO Disney date nights. The first was to ride Test Track and have dinner at Tutto Italia and the second was for dinner at California Grill to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Also, one very crowded day, I took kiddo back to the resort for a swim while hubby explored Epcot on his own.

4. We did some new stuff - And this included heading to Disney Springs for dinner at Blaze...we ate some of the most delicious pizza I've ever had. It was also the most affordable meal we had all week. I'm adding this one to our must-do list. Other new things included taking kiddo on Star Tours and yours truly leaving hubby in bed one morning to hit Rope Drop with the kiddo in an effort to see our good friend Mayor Weaver and rush to Fantasyland to ride Seven Dwarves Mine Train. And how could I forget riding Frozen Ever After? It was SO COOL! Really, really well done. Can't wait to go again!

5. We revisited old favorites - Multiple rides on the Walt Disney World Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean; a long visit with our fishie friends at the Seas and a much-needed reunion with our dear friend Mayor Weaver of Main Street, U.S.A.

Although I'm terrified to open my credit card bill, I will say that it was a VERY fun vacation and it was wonderful to be far removed from the 'real world' during the Presidential election.

In case you were wondering, we go back in 51 days.