Cooling off at a Disney Water Park

Back in June (I know, I know this blog post is way late!) my hubby and I got to take a baby free weekend down to the Happiest Place on Earth!

Let me take this a different direction for one minute and say if you haven't traveled to Disney without your kiddos it's a must do. We adore our daughter and she is an experienced travel at this point (18 months old and she's traveled down to Disney over 10 times). And while trips with her are truly priceless there is just something about visiting Disney without the strollers, diapers, and endless bags to hold everything in that will make you feel 20 pounds lighter and carefree! Something every parent (especially Mommas) need from time to time!

Now back to the real purpose of this blog post ;) We took a short Friday-Sunday trip (because let's be real we can't be away from our Princess for TOO long) and on this trip we planned ZERO days/hours/minutes in any of the four main parks! I know right? Crazy! But let me tell you why. It was HOT. We live in Alabama so we are used to summer temps and all the humidity you can bear, but that doesn't mean we enjoy it. I prefer to avoid moments where I sweat while breathing. So avoid we did!

The trip started off with a DVC Event at Typhoon Lagoon. The water park stayed open late for DVC Members and their guests. We enjoyed the park from 8:30 - 11:30pm which I LOVED! I've always loved a night swim. Anyone remember when the Disney Water Parks used to offer Extra Magic Hours? I can remember playing in Magic Kingdom all day, and then hitting the water park at night for Extra Magic Hours. This event took me right back to all those childhood memories! In short we enjoyed a semi empty Typhoon Lagoon, special characters, free snack and ice creams, and of course the wave pool.

Saturday we slept in (duh! - baby free weekend) grabbed some late breakfast and headed to Blizzard Beach! Blizzard Beach is my favorite of the two water parks. I adore the theme- a ski resort in Florida - how cute! We rode all of our favorite slides, snacked more than we should have, and went around the lazy river more times than I can count.

I feel that I would be selling you guys short if I did not highlight our food choices :) Good to note we are firm believers in sharing snacks so that we can try more throughout the day!

We started out the day with the Chicken Gyro wrap. This yummy wrap can be found at the Arctic Expeditions stand. I was pleasantly surprised with this one! The gyro was topped with chicken, lettuce, tomato, onions, and taziki sauce (praise!) it ran us right at $10 but also came with chips!

Next we opted for the Sand Pail! For those that don't know ice cream is a daily occurrence in my life, so the Sand Pail is a no brainer every time we visit Blizzard Beach. It can be found at I.C. Expeditions and is filled with all the yummy goodness you could want. This pail is filled with vanilla and chocolate soft serve, waffle and cookies pieces, hot fudge and caramel, sprinkles, whipped cream, and naturally it's all topped with a cherry. Sand Pails run $14 but trust me when I tell you that they are worth EVERY penny!

Lastly we ended our day as any grown adults would- with mini donuts! The mini donuts can be found at their very own mini donut stand (which also serves Joffrey's coffee), and they are offered by the dozen or half dozen. I'll let you guess which size we ordered (DOZEN!). Dipping sauces of chocolate, white chocolate, and raspberry are available for dipping. Our dozen ran us $10.

We ended our weekend trip with a Saturday night date night at Disney Springs, but we will save that blog post for another day!

We had no problems staying cool and avoiding the heat! My favorite thing about this trip? The price! Our short weekend getaway was the perfect way to rejuvenate without breaking the bank! We stayed at Disney's Art of Animation Resort in the standard Little Mermaid rooms which ran us $480. Our DVC event was free for members, and our annual passes covered our Blizzard Beach day. Because of that our total trip cost was under $650.

Water park tickets run $62 a day (before any discounts) which would be $248 for two adults to visit the water parks for two days. I say all of that to say even with purchasing tickets this trip could easily stay under $1000. You can go without breaking the bank! And let's face it sometimes we need that weekend to take a break from reality :) If you need help planning your weekend getaway contact me today for your free quote!

XOXO & Pixie Dust,

Ashton