Trip Fantastic Vacations with Debbie

07/03/2026

Day 11 is the day we drive home. I wanted to be on the road by 7 but that didn’t happen. I finally got the van loaded and we ordered breakfast for one more meal at the room. We finally got out and on the road by 10am. It was a long drive home Wednesday. We made our usual bathroom and fuel stops but got caught in traffic for construction, heavy rain and some accidents. We finally rolled in our driveway back home at 4:15 am Friday morning. I’m always sad when our trips end but it’s nice to sleep in my own bed after such a long drive.

Till next time Mickey and friends! See ya real soon!

07/03/2026

Day 10 was our last full day at Walt Disney world. Hard to believe it’s winding down. We slept in some then got up and made one last trip to Disney springs. Of course on our way there in the bus another severe storm was moving in. We got through security and then found cover to get ponchos on then made our way in the downpour to World of Disney to look for a few things. We rode out the worst of the storm in there then made our way to one of our favorite restaurants Earl of Sandwich for lunch. When the rain slowed down I ran across to the Left handers kiosk store that had closed during the storm to grab a pair of scissors for my niece. We ate then went to the gift shop at rainforest cafe. We found a few good deals In there then we went back to the bus stop in the pouring rain. The girls wanted to swim one last time but due to the storm the pools were closed till around 7pm. They went to the pool till it closed at 11 while I started packing. I’d hoped to get the van loaded before bed but I only got it partly done at 1am. Then headed to bed.

06/30/2026

I’m going to give my honest opinions on the resort we stayed at this trip. So this may be long.

We typically choose the suites at all star music due to the separate bedroom, two full bathrooms and the full size refrigerator with freezer in the kitchenette. It’s a value resort so although the suite costs more, i usually find a discount on the room and it’s affordable for our trip. I had it booked this trip but no discounts ever came out for it so I looked to move us resorts. I found a great discount for the deluxe resort Saratoga Springs in a 1 bedroom villa with a FULL kitchen plus in room laundry. We arrived and immediately fell in love. The only issue with the room (for my family) is the bathroom setup. Off the bedroom is a soaking tub and sink. No toilet. Off the main part of the room (plus accessible from the bedroom) is a bathroom with walk in shower and sink then in a separate room off that bathroom is the only toilet. If anyone’s taking a shower or getting dressed in there you really have no access to the only toilet. We made it work but it wasn’t ideal with three of us girls and 1 guy. The in room laundry was amazing to have. We’d just throw our dirty clothes in and wash while doing other things then throw them in to dry. We won’t have any dirty clothes to unpack and wash at home. Having the full kitchen was great. The freezer was used to freeze water bottles for the parks in this crazy heat. I had our Tupperware big T tumblers with us that I’d fill with ice in the mornings then throw 5-6 frozen water bottles in a bag and we could have ice all day and just refill water from the bottles as needed. And it kept Jalen’s milk and other food cold. I had Jalen’s sippy cups and bowls and spoons so I could easily wash dishes in the large kitchen sink. We had a stove/oven but didn’t use it this time but we did use the microwave. We didn’t use the dishwasher either. The location of our room was right next to one bus stop and one pool but we had a long walk to the main building to get to the restaurant, front desk and shopping. That walk felt even longer when I had to do it in the pouring rain to grab dinner one night. We do travel with a wheelchair for Lexie. She can walk fine on regular days but being in the parks 10-12 hours a day she can’t do. She walks on her tip toes due to a sensory disorder and she’s done some damage to her feet and ankles. So that means loading and unloading a wheelchair on the park busses. Since this resort has multiple bus stops, that can be a challenge when the busses are full early morning or at park close. We decided to walk to Disney springs our first full day here. We couldn’t find the path so we asked a cm. She was new and tried but she sent us way out of our way to get to it. Had to ask another cm. She’d never used the path so she wasn’t sure but she walked with us and helped us find it. It was in the upper 90’s and after walking the wrong direction then all the way there I was getting way overheated. Overall we loved it here and would love to stay again.

06/30/2026

Day 9. Our last park day. 😢. Epcot. Lexie couldn’t get up and moving so we didn’t even get to Epcot till after noon. We had extended hours after park closing for deluxe resort guests so we hoped to get everything done. We stopped at the restaurant in Mexico that Lex loves so she could eat then we all rode the three cabelleros ride. We walked world showcase and stopped in the American pavilion to watch the show. Then we stopped in Morocco so I could take Jalen in the passholder lounge for a snack and photos. We continued on around world showcase and stopped to look in the Winnie the Pooh store then headed to creations restaurant for the rest of us to eat. As we were leaving there we got hit by yet another huge storm so we rode it out under cover between connections and creations. Then we headed over to the Disney visa photo spot and did photos there then I took Jalen in to see chip and dale in the passholder photo spot. We all rode figment and living with the land and Nemo then headed over to get a spot for fireworks. Once fireworks were over it was extended hours for deluxe resort guests so we headed straight to soarin to see the new soarin across America. Wait time said 15 minutes but from getting in line till we were off the ride took more like 45 minutes so we only had less than an hour till park closing. The bigger rides were still at 1-2 hour long wait times so we just headed to spaceship earth to ride it. After that Lexie ran in the one gift shop to look a minute then we headed back to the room.

06/30/2026

Day 8 was a “sleep in till you wake up day” since we’d had two days in a row of parks. Then we went to the other character warehouse store in the premium outlet over on international drive. We only found one thing there for Jalen. Then the girls had to go to the Victoria secret outlet there. From there we stopped at Popeyes over near Vineland on international drive (never again!) you have no choice but to use the screen to order on so it’s harder to get special requests and they took 35 minutes to get our food ready and they had no ketchup for the fries. Multiple people that went through the drive through were having to come inside to get wrong orders corrected. Then we stopped at Publix and I went in to grab some groceries and diapers then back to the room. I love having a full kitchen at this resort. I made hot dogs for my dinner. Day 9 will be our last park day so we tried to head to bed early.

06/30/2026

Day 7 was Hollywood studios day
We ate at our favorite place there, Woodys lunchbox, we watched the little mermaid show, the Mickey Mouse clubhouse show, the beauty and the best show, we all rode runaway railway, the girls rode tower of terror and the new muppets rock n roller coaster. Me and the girls rode star tours and rise of the resistance. Jalen got to interact with stitch twice. We grabbed some yummy ice cream. A huge storm came in as the girls were headed to muppets and they tried to stay under cover and dry in the line till they got inside the building. Me George and Jalen took cover over by Rosie’s restaurant. After that we hoped to watch Fantasmic but the weather caused it to be cancelled. So we headed back to the room then grabbed some food from the food court.

06/30/2026

Day 6 was animal kingdom day

We arrived and did a few pictures at the entrance. Me and the girls rode kali river rapids, the girls rode expedition Everest, we saw the lion king show and the nemo show, we took the train out to conservation station to see bluey, we ate at pizzaFari, me, the girls and Jalen rode Navi river, we all saw the zootopia show . They close at 6 so there were a lot of things we didn’t get to do. We then took the bus over to magic kingdom to catch a few things there that we missed before. We all rode the Winnie the Pooh ride, little mermaid ride, the girls rode 7 dwarves mine train and barnstormer, I went on the carousel of progress one last time before it closes next week to be completely redone 😢😢😢. The girls rode big thunder mountain. Lexie got a waffle from sleepy hollow. Then we took a few pictures on Main Street and headed back to the room.

06/30/2026

I got really behind on my posts for each day.

Day 5 was a very chill day after such a long day on day 4. We slept in then went to one of the character warehouse stores over on Vineland in the premium outlet and found a few good deals. Besides that we just hung out at our room.

06/30/2026

06/25/2026

Day 4 was going to be a very long day. We packed lots of snacks and food for Jalen, lots of ice and water for all of us. Ponchos, neck fans and phone chargers. We arrived at magic kingdom around 10:30 am. We did a few things then we took the monorail over to Epcot for me to grab my passholder magnet and go to the travel advisor appreciation lounge. As we got off the monorail a huge storm rolled in and we were stuck waiting it out on the monorail platform for about an hour till we could safely get to the gate. All in all we did a lot on day 4

Rides we did (some we all did and some just the girls did)
Carousel of progress
People mover
Jungle cruise
Pirates of the Caribbean
Buzz light year
Tea cups
Haunted mansion
Peter Pan
Small world
Space mountain
Ratatouille
Astro orbitor

Characters
Stitch
Goofy

Shows/parades/fireworks
Country bears
Starlight parade
Happily ever after

Ate the kitchen sink ice cream from plaza ice cream
Ate at pinnichio haus

Did photos with stitch, goofy, the tangled lantern photos and photos on Main Street.

Some evenings they have extended hours for deluxe resort guests so magic kingdom closed at 11 and from 11-1am only deluxe resort guests were in the park. We left the park at 1:30 and was on the next bus to head back to the room. It was after 2am when we got back.

We got back to the room and mousekeeping had done some cute things when they made the beds.