Category: Walt Disney World Travel Tips

Our Family’s Experience at The Treehouse Villas at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa

TreehouseLooks inviting, doesn’t it?

Disney’s newly designed Treehouse Villas opened at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa in 2009. The Treehouse Villa’s floor plan is fantastic.  There are three bedrooms, two beautiful bathrooms and a large open-plan living/dining/kitchen area.  The living room area has a full size pull out bed sofa and chair that pulls out into a twin size bed.  The dining area has a large dining room table that seats at least six and a bar off of the kitchen area, which seats three.  Knowing how gorgeous these spaces are, why you might ask, did it take us four years to finally stay an evening in a treehouse?   The reason is that we LOVE to stay at Disney’s Bay Lake Tower at The Contemporary Resort, which coincidently also opened in 2009.  It was hard parting ways with our beloved BLT to stay in another resort, even if it was only for one night.  However, being a family of rebels, we were ready for this adventure and of course, extremely curious about sleeping in a tree!  The Treehouse Villas sleep nine people, so my brother, sister-in-law and niece shared this journey with us.  This “review” of the Treehouse Villas is totally and completely my opinion of our experience during our short stay.

Disney World September October 2013 366The common area inside and outside of the Treehouse Villa is abundant.

The number one benefit of the villa is that it’s an awesome place to entertain.  The layout of the floor plan optimizes the space to allow a large area for families to gather and enjoy each other’s company.  Although we had 8 people checked into our villa, my parents, other sibling with his family of four and a close family friend with her daughter spent time together socializing together that evening.  That’s a total 15 people using the inside of the villa and outside deck space to have a wonderful time and we didn’t feel cramped at all.

Cosmetics

Before staying in the treehouse I googled images of the units.  I can honestly tell you that the photos that I saw, and the ones you’re seeing in this post, do not do the place justice.  They simply can not capture the rustic, but yet contemporary feel of the space.

Master Bedroom’s Bathroom

Bathroom in Master Bedroom

Second Bathroom, separate from the second and third bedrooms

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There is a total of two bathrooms and three bedrooms.  If we had nine adults staying in this villa, we would have needed three bathrooms to feel comfortable, but since we only had four adults in our party, the two bathrooms suited our needs.

Master Bedroom

What you can’t see in the below photos is that each room has a flat screen TV, making a total of four flat screen TVs in one treehouse.  The ceiling is also vaulted in the Master Bedroom and the bathroom is behind the door directly to the left side of the bed .  It’s an amazing room!

Disney World September October 2013 360

The Second and Third Bedrooms

Each room sleeps two people.  One room is equip with a queen size bed and the other room has bunk beds.  These rooms are smaller than the master bedroom but acceptable for our family.

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Overall Review of the Villa

Sleeping “with the birds” was a peaceful experience.  Waking up in the morning, there were no sounds of buses going by or other families running around above or outside of our room.  We couldn’t even hear my brother and his family, and they stayed in the same treehouse villa!  If you’re family would like to stay in a somewhat secluded getaway, the Treehouse Villas is a beautiful option.

Would I recommend this resort for a family’s first trip to Walt Disney World?

Absolutely not.  Disney’s transportation system for the Villas is horrible.  There’s one bus route that travels throughout the Villa section of Saratoga Springs.  You have to take this bus to the main building at Saratoga Springs to then get another bus to take to any park.  Plan on waiting ALOT.  Getting to any of Disney’s four theme parks will take close to an hour of your precious vacation time.  If you rent a car while on vacation, your travel time will be better, but do you really want to take your car everywhere you go?

Location, Location, Location

Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa is located in the Downtown Disney District.  There’s a walking path that leads you to downtown Disney and also a water ferry that can take you there.  It’s a pretty walk or boat ride, but again it takes time.  It took us about twenty minutes to walk to the Downtown Disney West Side.  Of course, your walking time will depend on where your Treehouse Villa is located in the treehouse section of the resort.

In addition to the travel time, we experienced a bit of a bug problem outside as soon as the sun went down.  The treehouses are located in a wetland area, so of course it should be expected.  Unfortunately, we weren’t prepared. So although our little boat ride to Downtown Disney was beautiful, the boat’s passengers were actually part of a buffet for mosquitoes.  Our poor children’s legs were a mess with bites.  The inside of the villa wasn’t full of bugs, but I did see an extra-large bug scurry out of the sink drain.

 Would My Family Ever Stay in a Treehouse Villa Again?

Possibly.  As I mentioned earlier, the villas are a perfect choice to have a large group of people gather.  If multiple families or friends decided to meet at Walt Disney World for a family reunion, I’d chose this resort option.  Honestly, that’s the only reason we’d return there.  As you may have guessed by this point, our next stay at the Walt Disney Resort will be back in our home away from home, Bay Lake Tower.  We miss it already!

Does your family have a favorite Disney Resort?   I’d love for you to share why it’s your favorite resort in the comments below.

If you’d like more information on Disney’s Treehouse Villa’s, stop by Disney’s site.  Here’s a link that will take you straight to Saratoga Spring Resort’s page.  https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/saratoga-springs-resort-and-spa/rates-rooms/

Magic Kingdom’s Sweetly Hidden Gem

Mickey MacaroonCan you say “YUM”?

If you’ve read my blog before, than you probably know I’m a HUGE fan of Disney-Inspired treats.  Well I just have to share with you my latest discovery while walking around The Magic Kingdom last week, the strawberry Mickey Mouse Macaroon!  You’re probably wondering where I found this “Minnie”-ature treat.  It was tucked away in the heart of a gift shop I had visited before and simply never noticed the creative station right in the middle of the store.  This little gem was just one of MANY themed treats ready for guests to enjoy.  From cake pops, to apples, to brownies and cookies, every one was sprinkled with Disney magic for eating.

Today I’m blogging about this special location over at “The Disney Moms” blog.  I’d love for you to stop by, read all about my discovery and see photos of what treats this spot has to offer.

Here’s a glimpse!

Mickey Cake Pops

If you’d like to see more, you can read my article here:  http://networkedblogs.com/SNTjn

I hope you have a Magical Day!

Walt Disney World Party with Free Printables

Disney PartyDuring this first week of November I give THANKS for being able to share my love of Disney with others.

From the age of six I fell in love with The Walt Disney Company.  Everything the company stands for whispers, “Dream.  Create.  Explore”.  Being a dreamer, I made it my goal in first grade to one day “live” at Disney.  Thirty years later, I’m so incredibly thankful for my time that I worked in Disney’s parks and stores. I’m thankful for the time that I was allowed to live out my dream and for the time I was able to create magical memories for others.  I’m thankful for my little Disney-Inspired blog and for meeting others as passionate about Disney as my family and I.  Most importantly, I’m thankful that I am able to share my passion with those that matter most, my family.

About three years ago I applied to be a member of The Disney Moms Panel.  Unfortunately I wasn’t selected, but was sent an awesome Walt Disney World party packet in the mail.  Excited to share all my new goodies, I threw an impromptu WDW party.  I invited my cousins and their young children, in addition to my best friend with her two little Mouseketeers.  What fun we had!  The kids played Walt Disney World Bingo, had a Mickey Vinylmation coloring contest, made a Disney wish maker and played Disney trivia.  If you LOVE Walt Disney World or are planning a soon to be vacation to the Mouse’s house, check out this site.  You can print out the same Disney trivia questions, Disney wish makers, and Walt Disney World Bingo that I used in my party and throw an impromptu party yourself!

Click on the link below to find the “Everyday Celebration” printable items:

  http://www.momselect.com/mickeymomsclub/

Here are some photos from the party.  They were taken with my old camera, so I apologize for the poor quality.Disney Easter Disney Birthday 267Wish Makers- talk about bringing me back to my childhood!

Disney Easter Disney Birthday 263Everyone wore a set of Mouse Ears, even our littlest Mouseketeer!

Disney Easter Disney Birthday 277The Mickey Mouse Vinylmation coloring sheet was given to my son at Downtown Disney’s West Side in the store D StreetWe took it home and made a bunch of copies.  Aren’t they such creative little guys?

The kids had a great time.  Walt Disney World Bingo was everyone’s favorite part of the party and surprisingly some kids even watched a Walt Disney World Vacation Planning video!  Can you imagine them sitting there with their little Mouse ears on?  It was super cute.

Are you thankful for the way The Walt Disney Company has touched your life?  I’d love to hear about it!

 

 

 

 

Top Five Tips For Planning a Walt Disney World Family Gathering

img015Can you believe November is here?

Although I feel at home when at Walt Disney World, I actually live in Pennsylvania.  Here the beginning of the month offers the lovely smell of fallen leaves crunching beneath your feet and breathtaking views of landscapes purely saturated in deep hues of orange, brown and yellow.  For how much I love being at Disney, this is a time in Pennsylvania that I enjoy the beauty of my home state and can truly reflect on how blessed my family is to live the life we have been given.  One thing that I’m extremely grateful for is that each year my family is able to go on a Walt Disney World vacation with my parents, my brothers and their wonderful families.  This year we had two additional princesses join our family, so this Disney-loving group has grown to 13 Mousketeers!

As with many families, my brothers did not grow up and purchase a home in the same town that they grew up in.  Our yearly vacation to Disney is a way for us to bond again and to have our children develop friendships.  To put it simply, vacationing at Walt Disney World with family is a lot of fun.  With a little bit of planning before the trip,  your entire family can leave Florida with memories that can be treasured for generations.  Today I’d like to share with you five things that I have learned over the last ten years of participating in the planning of our Walt Disney World family gatherings.

1. Book the same flight or flight times.  Obviously if you live in different states, booking the same flight is impossible.  However, if you can coordinate arriving in Florida at approximately the same time, you minimize the amount of time you’ll lose waiting for others to “catch up”.  On a side note, it’s a good idea to plan this day as a “free” unstructured day.  Don’t schedule any big events or special meals.  This way, if flights are delayed, no one misses out on anything tagged as important.

2. There are Pros and Cons to having the entire party stay in the same resort. If your group wants to experience the parks together for the duration of each day, book the same resort. If you, your husband and your kids have a favorite resort or value some quiet time on your own, by all means book your “Home away from Home” even if it’s at a different resort than the rest of the gang.  The down side of this is you’ll miss out on some of the fun of having the rest of your group next door. Splashing in the pool is always more fun with more family around!  Another negative aspect of booking a different resort is that you will almost NEVER arrive at the park at the same time as the rest of the group.

3.  Plan your park days before leaving home.  This will minimize a bunch of stress if your entire group is on the same page before you even leave home.  You don’t have to plan each day down to the minute, as that will drive everyone crazy.  Simply decide which days you will all visit the parks together and which parks you will visit on those days.

4. Book special meal times together.  Some families start their day early and also go to bed early.  Some families like to sleep in and are night owls.  Your family gathering is for everyone to enjoy, so “go with the flow” as long as you’re all headed in the same direction.  Before you leave home, discuss with everyone what dining experiences they would like to complete on vacation.  For example, my siblings and I have enjoyed booking Chef Mickey’s for breakfast one morning with our kids.  We all have small children with crazy schedules.  Eating at Chef Mickey’s is a special treat for us that creates funny little memories and also forces us on that day to be exactly in the same spot at the same time.

5. Set Expectations.  This is the most important tip I can give you.  Discuss what you want to achieve on this vacation.  Is it time spent with family?  Is it seeing every parade on property?  Is it lounging at the pool and reading a book?  It’s important to know what each family wants out of their vacation and then set expectations that are reasonable.  For example, it’s very unlikely that a party of 13 will be able to experience all of the Magic Kingdom Park in one day.  A party of 13 moves a lot slower than a family of four.  There will be numerous potty breaks if you have small children and almost everyone seems to get hungry at a different time.

I’m a planner. My kids and husband expect for me to tell them what our outline of the day looks like each and every morning.  They’re comfortable with this.  My youngest brother and wife are very laid back and would prefer to see where the day takes them.  What works for our family gathering is a very loose schedule.  We don’t plan on seeing everything together, but we schedule what is most important to us.  This way no one feels left out and we leave our vacation with the special memories of the times that we did spend together…no matter how silly!photo[1] (7)

If you haven’t experienced a Walt Disney World Resort family gathering, why not?  Believe me, you won’t forget it.

It’s a magical time where Papas spin in tea cups, aunts climb mountains with nephews and Daddies fly on elephants.  And for that, I am truly Thankful.

A Mom’s Review of Disney’s MagicBands

magic bands1On September 13, 2013 my family was invited to test Walt Disney World’s magical tool called MyMagic+.

Before I start my review, I want you to remind you that I am in no way affiliated with The Walt Disney Company and all opinions in this post are just that, my opinions.  In this review I will tell you about my family’s experience being part of Disney’s “test”.  Now on with the review!

We received our first invitation to test MyMagic+ in an email and then another email.  Soon to follow was an overnighted invitation by way of FedEx and then another overnighted invitation.  Needless to say, we were invited.  Talk about feeling needed!  Why, you might ask, did we receive so many invites?  The answer is my family vacations at Walt Disney World by using our Disney Vacation Club membership.  I don’t want to dive deep into a review of Disney Vacation Club, but I do want you to know that while using my membership I had four different reservations during our one week vacation.    Three of the reservations were for the same resort, same room and for consecutive days.  The reason that I received two different emails and two different letters (each with different codes) was because we were invited to test MyMagic+ for two out of four of our reservations.  We curiously accepted our two invitations.

As instructed, I began our experience by going on-line to mydisneyexperience.com and attempted to complete the steps on the email I received.  The first step was to sign on or register on mydisneyexperience.com.  From there I was told I could request Magic Bands and select FastPass+ times.  For each reservation I had no problem requesting and personalizing the bands.  Since we had two different invites, I accepted both and ordered two sets of MagicBands.  Having the two different sets, I was concerned that we would confuse the bands, so I chose different colors for each reservation.  I later found out after receiving them that we only needed one band per person and it would work for all linked reservations.

Selecting FastPass+ times was a little more complicated.  I learned from this experience and I’ll pass the knowledge I gained on to you!  First, you must have tickets linked to your reservations.  We have annual passes, so we had to link the passes to our reservations before we were allowed to select our FastPass+ times.  Second, you are only allowed to select FastPass+ times for those members in your resort reservation party.  At this time (September 28th through October 5th) not all resorts were participating in this test. Since I had already registered my family on mydisneyexperience.com before the test invitation, I had included all 13 people in my family, including family staying at a different resort. For this test, I could only select FastPass+ times for our family of four.  I’ll elaborate more on our FastPass+ experience later in this post.

After completing the steps on my invitations my family received two special packages!

magic bands 2

I can not express in words how excited my children were upon opening these boxes.  Victoria, our two-year old wanted to wear her band instantly.  All of the MagicBands in the box are the same size.  To reduce the size of the band to fit a toddler or small child, you peel the outside grey lining off of the solid color band.

magic bandsOnce the grey part of the band was removed, the MagicBand fit our toddler perfectly.

Now that we had our MagicBands we were ready to go! or at least pack to go to Disney.  Here’s some additional information that I learned through this process that I’d like to pass along with you.  Yes, the initial thought that ran through my mind upon getting this shiny Incredible box was “Wow, this is cool.”  However, taking that box on vacation with you takes up precious packing space.  You don’t have to take the box with you.  I packed them in a quartz size Ziploc bag and put them in my purse.  When we arrived in the airport, we put them on.  Do not pack them in your check in bag.  You’ll need them for your Magical Express Bus ride to your resort.

Magical Express was our first experience in how COOL MagicBands really are.  As I mentioned earlier, our “test” was only for 2 out of 4 reservations.  I did not expect our bands to work until our “test” reservation dates, which were in the middle of our seven-day trip, not the first day, but we tried them anyways.  To my surprise, we approached our first MagicBand Mickey spot and lined up our band’s Mickey icon to the icon at the Magical Express location and my family was greeted and told where to wait for our bus.

After checking into the resort, the kids and my husband headed over to the Magic Kingdom Park.  Since we had linked our annual passes to the bands, they were allowed access into the park without any problems.  Since our “test” had not started yet, so their paper passes were still needed at the FastPass distribution areas.

A few days into our vacation our participation in Disney’s test began.  In the lobby, I checked back in and this time they linked my credit card with the band and I was told to enter a pin into their system.  We were then allowed to use the band for purchases, FastPass+ times and could also gain access into our room without using our plastic room keys. Our keyless entry did not work, but I never made Disney aware of this issue.  The kids liked playing with the cards to get into the room anyways.  I used the Disney Visa Reward points for most of our purchases during the test time period, so we didn’t use the band for purchases either.  We did use the FastPass+ feature.

Disney World September October 2013 179

FastPass+ is great for those families that are very good at keeping a schedule.  We struggled a tiny bit with using FastPass+.  However, when it’s fully operational to all Disney resort guests, we will most likely love it.  Here’s why I feel this way.  In regards to keeping a schedule: if you’re a parent you already know this, it’s not easy to keep a schedule with young children at Disney.  Between potty breaks, diaper changes, feeding times, and nap times sometimes making it to a dining reservation on time is hard.  When I selected my FastPass+ times on-line before arriving at Walt Disney World, I was offered three different time frames to schedule each park’s three FastPass+ experiences.  The times were lumped together. For example, the first FastPass would begin at 9:30 and the third would be done by 1pm.  The second and third options would usually be lumped together in the afternoon or evening time frames.  Often only the morning times would work for us, due to what we thought would be our daughter’s nap schedule.  Once we were on vacation, the My Disney Experience App was wonderful in helping us with FastPass+.  I would recommend using it if you can find the time to adjust your plans while your taking care of the kids.  I found out quickly while on vacation that if you’re not going to make your time frame you can go into the My Disney Experience App on your Iphone and change those times.  For example we got out of Chef Mickey’s late the day we had scheduled to be at Epcot.  We would have missed our Soarin’ Over California ride time if I kept our original time.  I was able to reschedule just this FastPass+ experience time easily using the App.  As long as your phone is working well, it’s great!  There was one time when I couldn’t get the App to load my dining reservation times and I began to panic.  Make sure you have a hard copy of your reservation number with you.  I also recommend asking the front desk for a print out of your FastPass+ times, just in case there is a problem with your phone.  I used my copy a bunch of times.  There’s already enough potential for stress on vacation.  This is one that you can avoid by having a hard copy with you.  Also, as I mentioned earlier, we vacationed with a total of 13 family members.  This is common with our family.  We do our best on vacation to spend as much time as possible with all 13 people, especially when it comes to riding our favorite rides.  My son announced that his favorite part about this years vacation was “spending time with Billy”, his cousin.  During the days that we chose to participate in the test Billy and Gavin were unable to ride their favorite rides together, because our FastPass times did not match.  Gavin was using his band and Billy did not have a band because he stayed in a different Disney Resort.  Now, I’m not complaining.  It was AWESOME to have a reservation time in the morning for us to bypass the standby line and walk on Toy Story Mania in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

In addition, MagicBands can be used to collect all of your PhotoPass photos too.  It’s really nice to watch your little pirate get his picture taken with Jake and not have to find your plastic PhotoPass card.  We took advantage of this and it was a nice bonus to having the bands.

You might be wondering about the physical aspects of the MagicBands. They were very comfortable, regardless of the 90+ degree weather.  Not one of us complained at any time that they were bothering us.  They’re waterproof, so no need to worry about the kids getting them wet in Dumbo’s Splash “N” Soak area or in the pools.  And if you have little Mousketeers that want to have the same band color, no problem.  The back side of the band has the owner’s first name on it. My family loved the bands.  Our six-year old suited up each morning as if it was part of a Super Hero costume.  Victoria, our toddler, always made sure everyone had them on before we left the resort each morning.  The only negative side about wearing the bands was that any toddler like mine, can take the band off with ease.  Usually within the first half of our day my husband or I would take the band away from her because she was playing with it and we didn’t want her to lose it.  She didn’t really need one anyways, so this didn’t cause any issues.

When we returned home at the end of our week, Gavin’s MagicBands were tucked away in his pirate treasure box.  Along with those shiny white boxes, I have my husband and my MagicBands packed away for safe keeping.  But Victoria, she saw the photos in this post, yelled “Disney” and wants to wear her MagicBand again!

Are you planning a trip to The Walt Disney World Resort soon?  Do you plan on using Disney’s MagicBands?  I hope my review has helped answer some of your questions.  Feel free to ask me any other questions you may have.  I’ll do my best to answer your questions or if I don’t know the answer, I’ll point you in the correct direction to receive your answer.