Arrival day!
We barely made our flight from Albany.. Closest call I think I have ever had for a flight. We had a super early flight so when we arrived to Orlando, got through the airport, and got our rental car we still had several hours before we could check into our hotel. So, we made a pitstop at Starbucks and then headed to The Pointe Orlando. The Pointe is an outdoor shopping center. Being that it was early, not everything there was open but Teddy enjoyed running around outside until the Monkey Joe’s play place opened up. Teddy had a blast here. It was $10 or $15 dollars for him and then the adults were free. So well worth it to get some energy out and kill some time. We then headed over to a restaurant in the same shopping area called The Pub for some lunch. By this time it was getting close to check in time, so we ran to the grocery store to get some food for the week!
We headed over to our hotel to check in. We stayed at Sheraton Vistana Villages. Our room was great. We had a one bedroom but the bathroom had two separate areas so we were able to put the pack in play in one of them and close that off at night to act as “Teddy’s room”. Though I will admit, he slept in bed with us most nights and that worked out fine too.
We then headed over to the pool to check it out. It was just barely warm enough to swim but we were determined to make it happen. The family pool has this great Pirate Ship and a water slide.
We ate a quick dinner back at our hotel room and then headed to bed after a long day!
Day 2
The forecast predicted rain most of the day so we slept in and let Teddy play in the hotel room before we headed over to the hotel clubhouse. They were having a build your own stuffed animal activity. Teddy picked out a sloth to build. We did most of the work and Teddy ran around hah!
We headed back to the hotel room for Lunch and nap time. We decided to head over to Disney Springs to check it out. We didn’t have advanced dinner reservations so we took a peak and booked one that was available at Maria and Enzo’s. This is an Italian restaurant. It was comparable to Olive Garden. So I wouldn’t say it was anything special. I wouldn’t choose to go back here unless I didn’t have another option probably. Afterwards, we walked around Disney Springs a little bit and went into the Cocoa Cola Store. At the rooftop they have a seating area where you can do Soda tastings from around the world. We did the combo tray which included the float tray and the around the world tastings. We did not realize how big each sample was going to be. It was like 24 different sodas/floats to sample and each one was quite the pour! This was fun though and I would definitely recommend this if you are looking for something to do at Disney Springs. We went back down stairs to where you could get your picture taken with the Cocoa Cola Polar Bear. Teddy was a little bit hesitant about this. I think he enjoyed the interactive floors more.
We headed home after this to relax and get to sleep!
Day 3
Once again the forecast called for rain most of the day, boohoo! On this day we had a Character breakfast planned at Cape May Cafe. We drove over and parked at the Beach Club Hotel (where the restaurant is housed). As long as you have reservations you are able to park at the hotel. I have heard its a 3 hour limit, but I think we were probably over that time and we did not have any trouble. Teddy loved seeing the characters! I was really unsure if he would be scared but I think because he recognized these characters he wasn’t as hesitant as he was with the Cocoa Cola Bear. The characters rotate around the restaurant, they each came twice white we were there. You have a couple of minutes to interact with them and take photos. They also do a brief “dance party” with Goofy. The food is buffet style, everything was great but the flow of the buffet confused me a little bit. I didn’t even realize they had an omelet station, so I would make sure to take advantage of that next time!
After breakfast we walked from the Beach Club Hotel over to the Skyliner. We rode the Skyliner all the way to the end and got off at the Art of Animation resort. We were able to walk around and look at the giant character statues. Teddy loved the Lion King statues. We rode back to the Beach Club Hotel and then headed home! This took us about half a day. Our breakfast reservation time was 9:45 and we were driving back to the hotel around 12:30. This was a great way to still feel all the Disney excitement without actually going to the park for the day. See part 2 for days 4-7 and our Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom days!
