An Orlando Vacation

In January of 2022, I went on a group vacation with friends*- there were four couples on the trip, so 8 people in total. And it was AWESOME.

I've been to Disney twice before - once with family when I was very young (5-7 age range?) and then once again when I was 22.

Planning Planning a trip of any kind can be daunting, but especially when it involves more than your immediate family.

I have come up with a system that works really well for planning trips, regardless of the length of time or number of people, and here's a little insight on it...

When I plan a vacation, I create a Google Slide Deck to contain all the information. Then I include all tickets and scheduling information, and separate the days into their own pages. Creating the plan for this one was especially fun because there were so many of us on the trip, and we could plan it together, AND a few of us were running the RunDisney events. Here's the itinerary we had planned, a day at each park:

Once we had the days figured out, we planned and booked the flights and hotels, as well as booked the reservations at different restaurants within the parks. We were fortunate to work with a travel agent, AND travel with a couple of Disney Park pros in our group. The planning phase was about 6 months long, and required registration for our races as soon as it was possible to do so. (again, luckily we had a pro Disney-goer guiding us along the way)

The Trip

Once we got to Disney, it was surreal. 1.) Beautiful weather in January 2.) Still being in a pandemic

3.) Actually getting to see and hanging out without our friends after so much isolation The trip was SO FUN, and it felt like a time warp, almost like an entire month crammed into a week.

Traveling during a pandemic, was stressful, but we all felt incredibly safe at the Disney Parks. The crew members did a great job of enforcing mask restrictions. Universal Parks weren't as strict/safe about that, but those were at the end of our trip, so it didn't feel as scary. I can't pick a favorite moment or park, but here's a couple highlights from each one. (I'll be writing a separate post about the RunDisney 10K experience, so I'm not including that here) Animal Kingdom: Favorite experience this day: The Avatar/Pandora area of the park was so incredibly well done, it was beautiful to walk through both morning and night. (I also got to see a baby Gorilla this day, but I didn't get a great photo of it :) )

Hollywood Studios: Favorite experience this day: Hanging out in Oga's Cantina/ The Star Wars area. I am definitely NOT a big Star Wars fan, but this area was so well designed. Everything was on theme, and thoughtfully planned. It felt like I was in a completely different place/space. It was almost jarring when we walked back into the other areas of the park.

Magic Kingdom: Favorite experience this day: Eating in the Beast's castle. I've always loved The Beauty and The Beast and I felt like a giddy child again. Also, the food was fantastic, and they had plenty of Gluten-Free food options available.

Rest Day/Disney Springs: Favorite experience this day: We bought tickets for the Cirque Du Soleil show "Drawn to Life" and it was so impressive to see the athleticism and the design throughout the entire show.

Epcot: Favorite experience this day: Getting to see marathoners finish their races and also The foooooood. I tried to "Snack around the world" but a few areas were closed by the time we got to them. However, I want to go back eventually and do the whole dang thing.

Both Universal days: Favorite experience this day: We went back and forth between both parks on the last two days, so my two favorite things from these day were: 1) seeing how happy my husband is on rollercoasters 2) Getting to shop around in the Wizarding World's Diagon Alley. I got pretty emotional sitting in front of the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes store.

After The Trip We ended up getting sick at the end, but fortunately, our symptoms were extremely mild. I did have a lingering cough for awhile. However, we were mentally prepared for that - we knew it was a risk we were taking in traveling. (Doesn't mean it wasn't extremely stressful, regardless)

Despite being sick, and very ready for rest, (we walked over 65 miles in a week!) the trip was incredible. I would recommend traveling with friends one-on-one to anyone, but now that we've done a group trip, I can recommend that as well. Having a wonderfully respectful, and fun group of friends made this trip unforgettable. It was such a fantastic way to kick-off the year.

*Important to note: I've been extremely cautious throughout the COVD-19 pandemic and was wary of going to Florida Amusement parks during this time. However, our group was vaccinated, cautious, and wearing masks during the trip. (This is a group of friends that has also been extremely cautious throughout the pandemic - majority did NOT get sick) Also, we planned and booked the trip during the summer prior to the omni-cron wave that we'd end up traveling in...