I've lost count on how many times we tried to make this trip happen. With covid, passport issues etc. we finally got to take our family vacation to Turks & Caicos just in time for Christmas. It did not disappoint! We relaxed, we explored and adventured! Loved spending time with my family making memories. We stayed at the Alexandria Resort and it was perfect for us. It was a smaller resort that had just reopened because of covid.
It is so crazy to think that Campbell is already in 4th grade. I can't mention 4th grade without mentioning how much Campbell excelled at 3rd grade. The expectation in 3rd grade is a lot more studying and a lot more independence. It was a tough transition to start with but I'm proud to say that Campbell finished the year not only with all A's but at the top of her class. This was such a strange year in general but I'm proud of Campbell's resilience. She is a true rock star!
I was not sure that this trip wasn't going to happen this year due to #covid but the more and more I saw pictures of other friends going I knew we just couldn't skip out on our yearly tradition. I cherish this time with my girl and we both look forward to it. Austin and I literally decided on Sunday that we would leave on Tuesday. Campbell had her first days of school Monday and Tuesday and then started full time after Labor Day so I saw this as our last chance to get away before we got back into the swing of things. We had originally talked about doing something as a family but Austin had a couple meetings he couldn't get out of so we made the best of it. I picked Campbell up for school with our bags packed and ready to go. This video is one of my favorites of Campbell, I love her enthusiasm about our trip.
So we drove down to Palm Coast and stayed Tuesday night. Wednesday we were up bright and early ready to finish our drive to Orlando. We ended up staying at the Contemporary this time and Campbell is a HUGE fan. I asked her if she wanted to stay at the Polynesian on our next trip and she declared she ONLY wants to stay at the Contemporary.
We were able to get into our room upon our arrival and we were in Hollywood Studios by 10:00. First order of business was Rock n Roller Coaster which is Campbell's favorite ride at Disney. The lines were short and we probably rode it 5 times before we moved onto something else. The crowds were minimal and we were able to ride, and ride, and ride. It was perfect for us. We were able to do Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway which is new and was super cute. It uses magnets so there are no tracks for it. We were also able to do Galaxy of the Edge. On our last trip it had just opened and the wait time was hours so that was our first experience.
Thursday we were up and ready to hit up Animal Kingdom home of my favorite ride (Everest). We were able to do Flight of Passage with a 15 minute wait time and honestly I think that's the amount of time it took to walk through the line. I don't think we were ever see lines this low again. We rode and rode and rode some more.
Dining options inside the parks were pretty limited. All of our favorite restaurants were closed. So we ended up hitting up Disney Springs for dinner. With Animal Kingdom closing at 6:00 and no park hopping allowed we decided to try out Frontera Cocina. It was good and we had some great views of the sunset as well as the hot balloon taking off.
 |
| Not bad with a self timer It was so nice being able to leave Chef Mickey's and head straight to Magic Kingdom. The security line and temperature check was a breeze. Upon entering I was pleasantly surprised to find a few of our favorite characters waiting for us. First order of business was riding Space Mountain probably ten times before moving on to something else. Interesting enough the longest we waited at Magic Kingdom or any park was for Splash Mountain and that was when it felt like 113 degrees out! |
