October2017

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." Walt Disney For the past two years, my kids have been asking to go to Walt Disney World. You would think with our frequent visits to Disneyland that they Disney bucket would be full, but nope! Plus Walt Disney World features many other parks like the Wild Animal Kingdom and Epcot, so it really is worth a trip even for us lucky mamas who live in So Cal. So I decided to surprise my family with a trip to Orlando. We stumbled on Encore Resort, a gorgeous, brand-new luxury home rental community located less than 10 minutes from the Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Epcot and Universal Studios Parks. Most of the homes have their own pools in the backyard, between 4 and 13 bedrooms, 4-12 bathrooms, large over-sized common rooms and a gourmet kitchen. The Resort features a beautiful central area with a beautiful, Southern-Style clubhouse, restaurant, gym, kid's club and incredible water park that rivals the one found at Great Wolf Lodge. Excited doesn't quite explain how I felt about the trip, but with such a large house, we needed some friends to come join us! So I invited my girls Abigail from The Chic Mamas (her daughter is Harper's bestie) and Kami from Hello Drifter who has three incredible kids. Abby found out she was pregnant, with twins, a few weeks before our trip, and sadly couldn't make it with a higher-risk pregnancy. We missed her, but we had 8 bedrooms to 2 families, and the house alone was one of the best parts of the trip! Each bedroom has a bathroom attached, is themed like a girl's Frozen room, a nautical theme room with twin beds, an adorable bunk-bed room and three over-sized masters with king-size beds. We had plenty of space for the kids to run around and be kids without having to worry about making too much noise. But the best part of renting a house if having a kitchen. You know how I feel about eating out with kids (paying $8 for Kraft mac-and-cheese that is only half-eaten) and kids get restless in restaurants. Especially eating out 3-4x a day for several days in a row. Several grocery stores are located nearby and I found all of our favorite snacks and a large selection of gluten-free foods as well! We also had a private chef come and make us dinner two nights, which was so nice and relaxing. You get the benefit of restaurant-quality food in your own home, which is SO nice after long days spent in the Disney Parks. The kids swam in the pool every single day. In Florida, homes must come equipped with a loud alarm if the back doors or windows are opened for more than a few seconds, so we never had to worry about the kids being around a pool unsupervised. And the pools at the resort were absolutely amazing! Encore Resort is an amazing house rental community for family reunions, retreats, trips to Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando and more. My kids were so sad to leave and started to cry as we were packing up, this was such a special and memorable vacation. *This post is sponsored by Encore Resort. All views reflected are my own and based on my individual experiences.

October2017

FujiFilm Instax US Tour: Dallas Mamacita Trip

An Orlando Luxury Retreat Down the Street From Walt Disney World: Encore Resort

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