- M. Jennings
Travel Guide: Orlando – Grown Up Edition!
Updated: Jul 6
Most people are familiar with Orlando as the place where the MAGIC happens at Walt Disney World! Soooo, what would 18 female adults in their 30s do while in Orlando? Well let me give you a quick guide or run down on what we did there. We all arrived on a Thursday to celebrate our girl Luneta’s last fling before the ring for her #lubachshitcrazyweekend! The weekend was filled with a lot of fun, bonding, food, and most importantly celebration. Here is a guide of what the weekend entailed (special shout out to Shannon and the bridesmaids for planning this action packed weekend).
Things to Do
Disney Springs - Here you can take a Hot Air Balloon Ride, shop, eat at various restaurants and experience different entertainment. It is free to enter but the things you do may cost.
Epcot - Experience different thrill rides such as Frozen, eat in different countries such as Japan or Norway, or take pictures with Disney characters. Entry prices for Epcot can vary on time of year, ticket packages and discount programs. We paid around $100 each with a military discount.
Personal Chef from Kingdom Eats - Darnell came to our home to cook us 18 girls four different meals. Two breakfast meals and two dinner meals. Each one of them were delicious!!!
Aerial Yoga at Elevate Yoga Center - This was the first time I had ever did aerial yoga and I greatly enjoyed it. With the help of a rope, you are able to work on your flexibility and "acrobatic" skills.
ONO Nightclub - They play a variety of music and holds a mixed crowd on Friday nights. You are able to rent a private area for your party or navigate the crowd below. The crowd also seemed a bit young....so glad we had table service.
Accommodations
We stayed at the Encore Resort at Reunion. This resort had beautiful homes of different styles and sizes which was only about a 15 minute drive to Epcot. Here is a picture of the outside of our home:
Our home was big enough to fit 18 girls with a few of us doubling up in the bedrooms but each room had its own bathroom. The house also had a large kitchen with almost double of everything (i.e. 2 sinks, 2 refrigerators, etc.), spacious sitting areas, a theater, and a pool with a hot tub (too bad that was not working). The resort itself had a clubhouse in which I don't what was going on in there but it was a pickup spot for a Disney Shuttle. The resort would pick you up from your home and take you to the clubhouse which was convenient. Then, Disney would pick you up in their shuttle and take you to the entrance of Magic Kingdom. From there you would hop on the monorail to Epcot. This all took at minimum an hour. You were also given passes to enter in and out of the resort at your convenience by car. But upon arrival to the clubhouse or whenever you would take an Uber, you had to check in with a guard which was always an interesting process. But overall, this was a wonderful stay! See photos and a video walk through of the house below:
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Money Spent
Flights: $141 USD - I flew JetBlue from Atlanta to Orlando which apparently was their inaugural flight. JetBlue is pretty decent with nice planes and DirecTV onboard. They also had some nice baked chips for the onboard snack. JetBlue also has a policy if you find a cheaper fare within seven days of booking, you can get the change from what you paid in excess of the cheaper fare!
House: $154 per person or $2,623 for the entire house (I'm assuming we paid for the bride's portion). This is for the house as described in the previous section.
Food: $130 - This included a personal chef for four meals, snacks and meals at Disney World.
Activities: $215 - This included activities at the house, entrance to Epcot, a Hot Air Balloon Ride and Aerial Yoga.
Rental Car: $46 per person for four people in a car. This was for the total car price and gas for the entire trip.
Souvenirs: $59 which included supplies for the house (I.e. wine), a photo of us on the hot air balloon ride and the outfit required for the day at Epcot.
Lessons Learned
Transit to Epcot: On the way to Epcot we took the free option (shuttle to clubhouse from house; shuttle from clubhouse to Magic Kingdom; monorail from Magic Kingdom to Epcot) and I would say it isn't worth it. I love something FREE but I also love my time. It took over an hour to get to Epcot from the house and I much rather had taken an Uber to get there in 15 minutes and with a group of four/five girls, the Uber would've been only $5 a piece, if that. P.S. that is what a few of us did on the way back from Epcot.
Food at Epcot: Food wasn't horribly expensive as I was under the impression it was. Obviously tacos at Disney are going to cost way more than at a restaurant but that is with any theme park. Expect to pay more for food while inside the theme parks.
Epcot Ball: The ride inside the Epcot Ball is Spaceship Earth and to me it was very boring and left out a lot of history. Oh and it asks a lot of questions at the end. At least it is good for a nap.
Entry into Disney: No one had told me this previously but Disney now takes your fingerprint upon entry into the theme parks. Just an FYI.
Orlando Traffic: We were there when spring breaks were beginning and thus the traffic was extremely heavy. Keep this in consideration when booking your resorts/hotels during high volume times for Disney.
I hope this guide helps you in planning your grown up trip to Orlando! Thank you for reading!
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