Experiencing the Trials and Tribulations of being a Single Father One Day at a Time
On our last full day at Walt Disney World this year, based on hours and expected crowd sizes, we chose to spend it at EPCOT. We were not expecting thrill rides on our way out, but a relaxed setting which to enjoy each other’s company, and some great food along the way. After an amazing day at Universal Studios Orlando, including a great dinner and full night’s sleep, we were more than ready for the last park on this year’s vacation.
After an amazing first day at Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios, we were set to spend day two at Magic Kingdom, which thankfully was right across from our resort. This park has usually been the highlight of our trips, but with Universal Studios Orlando coming up on day three, we were under much less pressure to make our visit to this park perfect. It did not matter in the end, as this park never seems to disappoint. So join us on our stress-free, relaxing, and extremely eventful trip through Magic Kingdom.
We are finally here. After safely arriving at the Shades of Green Resort the previous day, we were well-rested and ready to get the main event of our vacation underway by visiting Walt Disney World and Universal Studios theme parks. Based on multiple factors, Hollywood Studios was the first park in the chute, which included Toy Story Land, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and several other areas we were set to enjoy. Grab your ears, themed t-shirts, and Republic credits, because we were excited to jump to lightspeed for the next level in our vacation!
It has been far too long since we have made this series of posts. Yep, the Calkins Family is headed back to Walt Disney World, but this time we are taking a day to head over to Universal Studios and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. After years of hype, months of planning, and a week of packing, we were so ready to enjoy the next Calkins Family Vacation!
With our days at the parks over, it was unfortunately time to leave Walt Disney World and head back West. The plan for our final day was to relax, get some last-minute shopping and activities in, and maybe sample a few more sweets before we left. With the day’s events already planned out and our transportation to the airport secured, it was time to have a carefree day before we said goodbye to our Disney vacation.
After the slight letdown that was our Day Three at Animal Kingdom, it was time to ramp the intensity back up at the final park of our trip: Hollywood Studios. Last time we were here, most of our day was spent on character experiences, which really was not an option this time around due to COVID protocols. This year, the girls were all about the thrill rides, so it was going to be less of a stroll through the park and more of using our time efficiently. But with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land ahead of us, we were all anticipating having a good time. Remember when I said that Magic Kingdom was going to be our best day? For once, I was happy to be wrong.
After coming off of our best day so far on our vacation, we were headed into our third day at the parks and would be visiting Animal Kingdom. It was bound to be a little bit of a drop in excitement compared to the Magic Kingdom, but none of us were prepared at how far that drop would be. But we kept our heads held high and tried to make the best out of it.
After taking a warm-up lap in EPCOT, it was time to set the pace for the entire vacation by heading to the Magic Kingdom (I swear, this whole post is not going to be full of running metaphors, as writing this is going to be a marathon, not a sprint). This was the main event during our last trip to Walt Disney World (WDW) and we were anticipating it was going to be the same this time around. The girls, the grandparents, and I were all pretty pumped and nothing was going to stop us from getting our vacation back on track and enjoying the heck out of the park. Magic Kingdom and the best day of our entire vacation? Yeah, this is going to be a long post…
After our terrible travel day and a half day enjoying the resort, we tried to right the ship during the first park visit of our vacation. After a full night’s sleep and a morning of going over the day’s initial plan, we were ready to go to EPCOT to get our Walt Disney World (WDW) Christmas vacation back on track.
For our vacation this year, we decided on going to Walt Disney World (WDW) for Christmas. The girls have been very excited about the prospect of going back for a while now, but last year was just a little too hectic for everyone to try to squeeze it in. Since we were not going to visit any of my family for Christmas and my Mom is a Disney fanatic, Grandma and Papa decided to join us on our vacation. At the time we planned and booked the trip, the Delta variant was subsiding and the WDW parks were still limited to around 70% capacity, so it seemed like the perfect time to try to get in a family Christmas Vacation in with Mickey and Minnie Mouse in Florida.
Adventures in Single Dadding 