Disney | family | Family Fun | fun | kids activities | motherhood | parenting | Travel

10 Reasons We Love Disney’s Bay Lake Tower

By on April 11, 2019
10 Reasons We Love Disney's Bay Lake Tower | sunshineandholly.com | Disney World | family vacation | trip | Disney Vacation Club | where to stay at Disney | best Disney hotels

10 Reasons We Love Disney's Bay Lake Tower | sunshineandholly.com | Disney World | family vacation | trip | Disney Vacation Club | where to stay at Disney | best Disney hotels

When booking accommodations for Disney, there are lots of things to take into consideration. Price, location to the parks, and amenities for example, but there are other things that can make an otherwise average hotel stay at Disney into an exceptional one. We’ve stayed at several different hotels over the years, both on-property and off, and our favorite so far has been the Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary Resort.

Bay Lake Tower is part of the Disney Vacation Club, a timeshare program run by Disney. However, there are ways to book Bay Lake Tower rooms without being part of the club. We booked a trip through DVCrentals.com and had a great experience! (And saved $$$ too! Find out more about DVC Rentals below.)

Bay Lake Tower offers studios, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom villas. There’s a pool with a water slide, access to the monorail, and (by far the best part in my opinion) the resort is WALKING DISTANCE to the Magic Kingdom. You heard that right! No need to wait in the long monorail or bus lines. It’s wonderful to be able to walk back to your hotel after a long day at the parks, and not waiting in the long lines for transportation.

10 Reasons We Love Disney's Bay Lake Tower | sunshineandholly.com | Disney World | family vacation | trip | Disney Vacation Club | where to stay at Disney | best Disney hotels

Continue Reading

Disney | Family Fun | fun | kids activities | motherhood | parenting | Travel | vacation

Disney Cruise Fish Extender Gift Idea for Adults – Coffee and Donuts

By on March 28, 2019
Fish Extender Gift Idea for Adults - Coffee and Donuts | sunshineandholly.com | tips for disney cruise | disney dream | disney wonder

Looking for a cute fish extender gift idea for adults? Check this out!

We’re leaving in 5 days for our first cruise ever – and it’s a Disney cruise! You know how obsessed we are with Disney and we can’t wait to experience all of the fun. We’ll be sailing for 5 days/4 nights in the Bahamas with a stop in Nassau and a stop at Disney’s private island – Castaway Cay. This is a dream vacation for us – something that’s been on our bucket list for a long time and I feel so blessed that we’re at a point in our lives where we can swing this financially. (I guess all that solo parenting while my husband travels has finally paid off! Seriously though – Josh works so hard to provide for us and I’m so grateful for him.)

Continue Reading

family | Family Fun | fun | kids activities | parenting | Travel | vacation

5 Reasons Your Kids Will Love LEGOLAND Florida Resort

By on March 4, 2019

Disclosure: LEGOLAND Florida provided my family with complimentary admission for our visit. But all thoughts and opinions are my own!

My son, Graham, is a creator at heart. Ever since he was small, he has loved to build and make things. Don’t give him a coloring book – he’d much rather have a blank piece of paper to create what he sees in his imagination! Needless to say, Legos are his favorite toy. There really isn’t a better toy out there for creating and building. Over the years, Graham has built so many imaginative and inventive things with legos. He even had his own hashtag on Instagram for a while – #grahambuilds!

5 Reasons Your Kids Will Love LEGOLAND Florida Resort | sunshineandholly.com | tips for legoland | rides | attractions | shows | Legos

5 Reasons Your Kids Will Love LEGOLAND Florida Resort | sunshineandholly.com | tips for legoland | rides | attractions | shows | Legos

5 Reasons Your Kids Will Love LEGOLAND Florida Resort | sunshineandholly.com | tips for legoland | rides | attractions | shows | Legos

5 Reasons Your Kids Will Love LEGOLAND Florida Resort | sunshineandholly.com | tips for legoland | rides | attractions | shows | Legos
(That’s a fading temporary tattoo on Maddie’s arm – in case you were wondering!)

I’ve always wanted to take Graham to LEGOLAND in Florida. We decided to take advantage of the small break from school the kids had for President’s Day to take a quick trip down to visit. We had a blast! There was so much to see and do. We rode lots of fun rides, saw a really cool show, checked out tons of Lego structures, and spent some time building our own Lego creations!

5 Reasons Your Kids Will Love LEGOLAND Florida Resort | sunshineandholly.com | tips for legoland | rides | attractions | shows | Legos

5 Reasons Your Kids Will Love LEGOLAND Florida Resort | sunshineandholly.com | tips for legoland | rides | attractions | shows | Legos

5 Reasons Your Kids Will Love LEGOLAND Florida Resort | sunshineandholly.com | tips for legoland | rides | attractions | shows | Legos

5 Reasons Your Kids Will Love LEGOLAND Florida Resort | sunshineandholly.com | tips for legoland | rides | attractions | shows | Legos

 

Thinking about taking a trip down to LEGOLAND? Here are 5 reasons your kids will love LEGOLAND Florida Resort:

Continue Reading

Disney | family | Family Fun | fun | motherhood | parenting | Travel

10 Tips for Staying in a Hotel with Kids

By on February 21, 2019
10 Tips for Staying in a Hotel with Kids | sunshineandholly.com | travel with children | traveling with kids

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website. 

We’ve stayed in lots of hotels over the years with our kids. These days, we’ve got our routines down to a science, and our kids (mostly) understand the rules and what’s expected of them when we’re away from home. I’ll admit though, we stopped traveling for a while after Maddie was born. She just didn’t like to sleep in general, much less when we were in a hotel room. And toddler Graham was just too wild to keep calm and quiet! But now that the kids are older, we love taking trips together. I’ve got a few tips and tricks that make staying in a small hotel room easier with kids.

Check out these 10 tips for staying in a hotel with kids:

Luggage Carts Are Your Friend

Before kids, the hubs and I packed pretty light and would just carry our bags with us to our hotel room. But traveling with kids requires a TON of more stuff. We quickly learned to grab a luggage cart after we check into the hotel to make it easier to get all the luggage to the room. The kids love taking a ride too!

10 Tips for Staying in a Hotel with Kids | sunshineandholly.com | travel with children | traveling with kids

Unplug the Phone

The first thing we do when we get into the hotel room is to unplug the phone. TRUST ME on this one. Kids these days are fascinated by a phone that plugs into the wall. (Or basically, any phone that’s not a cell phone.) My kids always want to play with the hotel phone, which is fine with me, as long as it’s unplugged!

Continue Reading

Disney | family | food | Travel | vacation

Disney’s Sanaa Restaurant at the Animal Kingdom Lodge

By on January 22, 2019

Disney’s Sanaa Restaurant at the Animal Kingdom Lodge

I’m always looking for yummy new foods to try at Disney World each time we go. I love scrolling through Instagram hashtags and checking out Disney food blogs to see what looks yummy. Disney has some amazing food! Before our last trip, I saw an Instagram post about the bread service at the Sanaa Restaurant at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and I knew I had to try it! I’ve always been a big fan of anything that comes with lots of different sauces, so this was right up my alley.

Bread Service

Disney's Sanaa Restaurant at the Animal Kingdom Lodge | sunshineandholly.com |Disney World | dinning plan | best places to eat at Disney | best food at Disney World

Traditional Naan, Garlic-Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kucha, and Paneer Paratha. Served with the following sauces – Cucumber Riata, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Tamarind Chutney, Coriander Chuntey, Garlic Pickle, Red Chile Sambal, or Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle. They were all super tasty and everyone in our family had fun trying each one and deciding what they liked best!

Continue Reading