June 20th, 2021
For my sons birthday this year my wife and I planned a surprise trip for him. Without even an 24 hour notice we had new plans from Pigeonforge to Orlando. Eli has been to Orlando before to Disney when he was 3 or 4 years old but he doesn’t remember it. This year we are switching up Disney plans for other activities in Orlando. There is so much to explore that are more affordable and just as fun!
Side Note: I stopped doing birthday parties long ago when I realized how much money I was spending. Party decorations, cake, presents and food and no one showed up except for a few family members. We always travel on his birthday every since and he enjoys being a summer baby!
The fun begins now!
Here we come Sea World, Legoland, Universal Studios (Island of Adventure ), and Blizzard Beach Resort! Here’s how our trip went and what to pack.
Monday morning when I picked up Eli I was so excited to take him on his first flight! We only had one connecting flight in Atlanta and we’d be in Orlando! The best way to travel with your children is to be prepared for everything! Flying can be scary for your little ones and the best thing to do is to distract them. For me snacks were my best friend on this flight! Delta had tv screens to watch movies and play games it helped a lot with Elis anxiety. I did end up purchasing $2 headphones but it was so worth it!
Eli is 11 years old and that was something that kept him entertained for our short flight. I thought it would be the perfect time to introduce him to flying since we genuinely enjoy traveling and flying. A roadtrip just takes a whole day for an 8+ hour trip, so why not fly?! Unless you just love a roadtrip! There are pros and cons for both!
What to pack?
This trip I packed 5 workout sets for myself from Old Navy. I wanted to be comfortable especially since we would be outside and doing a lot of walking. Hoka’s are also very important especially being on your feet all day! This has helped my feet so much! Best tennis shoes around.
Styling Eli
With it being 100 degrees outside, I saved my dressy outfits for dinner. Styling Eli’s clothes this trip was easy for me since I wanted him to be comfortable too! Not what I wanted him to wear but for an amusement park week I had to “pick my battles”. Sometimes you just have to keep the peace.
He is not into that stage yet where he cares about his appearance but trust me it’ll come! I’m very simple now with Elijah’s clothing for this trip. Workout clothing also applied for Elijahs wardrobe concluding Adidas, Nike , Under Armor everything from shorts ,shirts, and shoes. He was happy to just go after the nerves wore off!
flying delta
We fly with Delta and we flew economy. My bags were $30 each and we were both allowed a carry on bag and of course I brought my purse! Not knowing how he would react on his first flight ,I put Elijah in the outside seat and I sat next to the window keeping the shades down.
That way he could not see out of the plane or know that we were above the clouds. He did amazing and once we reached Atlanta we only had 30 minutes before our next flight.
Eli wanted to sit inside and look out of the window to Orlando. On our flight to Atlanta our plane was smaller and you could feel more than on the 747 we took going to Orlando!
When we stopped in Atlanta we had to take a tram to our next flight and we had 2 hours remaining so we quickly got in the Chick-fil-a line and hurried to our next flight . We sat and ate our food but if we didn’t have enough time we would’ve grabbed and gone straight to our gate! I make sure when we land one of the first things I do is use the restroom.
As of June 2021 they are still making everyone wear a mask so yes Elijah did have to wear a mask on the aircraft and inside the airport unless he was actively eating or drinking. Our second flight did offer complimentary goldfish, water and biscoff cookies! Since our flight was a little over an hour.
Car rental
Once we arrived I raced to the car rental section of the airport. I wanted to get the most cost effective car HOWEVER I was not aware that this car would not be at the airport (SIGH)! If you’ve ever flown you know how frustrating this is! I rented a small economy car for $38 a day which seemed reasonable to me. So once I got free transportation to Easirent we waited FOREVER but after 45 minutes we got our car , it did cost me more than intended (not happy about it) but so ready to be at our hotel.
Hotel
We stayed at Wyndham Grand hotel near Disney and it was absolutely beautiful! Top tier hotel with Starbucks/ice cream shop, restaurants , spa, pools, gym and everything you need! I had never stayed there before but I would advise to bring extra money because it did cost an additional $27 a night for parking and $34 for valet . I’ve stayed at some pretty luxury hotels but never adding an additional $700 on top of the rooms already being paid for! Blew my mind! As far as the service it was superior! Our rooms were nice and cleaned no complaints every time I needed fresh towels or bedsheets they came right up no delays! Was an amazing experience overall.
Sea world
Our first day was at SeaWorld. I took Elijah in March of 2020 I ended up being extremely ill landing me in the hospital having to cancel the rest of our trip so he only got to do that one thing for his spring break! But now we actually got the entire day to really soak up all the fun! We did everything there and we got there from open to close! I will link the pictures 👇 below!
Universal studios
The next day we went to Universal Studios! This is one of my favorite parks! It is catered to older children/teens! But also has areas for younger children. There is something in it for everyone.
Eli’s birthday being Wednesday, we got fast passes to Universal Studios and Island Of Adventure !
Eli had never been to Universal Studios or Island of Adventure before. He was scared to ride rides but as the day went on he really enjoyed every moment of this trip! His favorite ride is Hulk.
Thank you to my wonderful wife for buying us fast passes because he got to fully experience the fun!
We are also huge Harry Potter fans and loved getting to experience both sides of Universal. If I could only go to one it would be Island of Adventure! We had more fun on that side. But enjoyed both overall.
Legoland
LEGOLAND was on our list of places to visit while in town. I assumed Legoland was only for smaller children but I was wrong. They did have plenty of things for smaller children but they also had a waterpark! I paid a separate admission to enter the waterpark and it was a huge hit for Eli. I cannot begin to tell you how hot it was this day! We lived on snacks and the waterpark. You won’t believe all the things that were created from Legos! Cities, cars and so much more! If you’ve never gotten a chance to go it is so cool! Eli did get to ride a few rides
Blizzard beach
Blizzard Beach was technically the only ”Disney” park we got to experience on this trip. Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios were completely FULL the week we went. Typhoon Lagoon was closed for COVID and the restrictions that they have so we settled for next best!
Every park we went to was so FUN ! I know he had such a blast! Eli had so many firsts on this trip! I will bottle these memories forever!
I love you Eli! Happy Birthday!
xoxo – Mom😘
