aventuras de alyssa

Hola de nuevo (hello again)! It’s been three years since my last post from the end of my sabbatical in Spain… a global pandemic may or may not have halted my travels and desire to write, but now I’m back! I have some exciting trips I’ve recently taken (Disney and Western Canada – posts to come soon!) and some upcoming trips (Finger Lakes, NY & moving to London in Sept!). I’ll also be documenting my NYC bucket list as I close this chapter of my life (for now!). This is to mainly document my adventures, but to also provide recommendations on places that I’ve been, in case you are planning on traveling to the same place. I hope you enjoy the journey!

To kick us off, trip #1 is my trip to Disney with one of my very best friends, Katie. We went from May 7th to May 14th to celebrate our birthdays and it was our third time going to Disney together. This time was so wonderful because we had a full week to explore the parks and Universal and we weren’t rushed to see everything because we had been before. Here’s what our overall itinerary included:

• Hotel: Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista – Disney Springs Area
  • We chose to stay at Disney Springs and it was hands down the best decision we made. The hotel has a walking bridge that connects to Disney Springs and it was so easy to get back and forth. The hotel also includes a shuttle to the Parks – the shuttle schedule wasn’t very clear cut when you got picked up from the Parks, but we managed.
• Flights: Katie and I both flew Spirit down to Orlando. The flight was smooth sailing, but friendly reminder to check the weight limit before you bring your bag to the airport 🙂
• Tickets: We bought 4-day passes with the Park Hopper and a 1 day ticket for both parks at Universal. We also purchased the Lightning Lane passes for each day so that we were able to go quickly through the lines.

Saturday + Sunday

We both got in on Saturday and headed straight for Disney Springs! We walked around and ate dinner at City Works Eatery & Pour House. We had a table outside and it was a fantastic evening! On Sunday, we had reservations at Raglan Road for brunch – I got the Hipsters Lament (avocado toast… very Irish of me) and we celebrated vacation with some drinks! We shopped around Disney Springs and spent time at the pool. It was great starting off on a relaxing foot because we were about to hit the ground running on Monday!

Monday

Monday’s main park was Magic Kingdom. Disney is celebrating their 50th anniversary, so the whole park is decked out in celebration. We went on the classics – Space Mountain, It’s a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan’s Flight, and more. We even watched some of the parade, which was so fun to see all of the unique floats! To celebrate Katie’s birthday, we went to Enzo’s Hideaway for dinner. We each got the sparkling wine flight (I would recommend if you like sweet wines, if not, I’d say to try something else!) and delicious pasta for dinner. After dinner, we headed over to Epcot – thankful for the Park Hopper passes! – and SPRINTED to see the Epcot Harmonious firework & water show! We watched the show from the Japan Pavilion and it was perfect. It was less crowded than America and had a great view of the show.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, we took an Uber to Universal, where we went to both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We started in Islands of Adventure and went on so many fun rides, but the highlights were the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, the Jurassic World VelociCoaster (hands down one of the best roller coasters I’ve ever been on), and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. We took the Hogwarts Express from Hogsmeade to Kings Cross station in Universal Studios. We walked all through Diagon Alley, picked up some chocolate frogs (a must), and stopped for a snack at the Leaky Cauldron. We enjoyed some more of the park and on our way out, we had Bend the Bao for lunch! After our busy Universal day, we hung out at the pool before heading to Wine Bar George for dinner. This was 100% my favorite restaurant we went to all week – the food was delicious (highly recommend the Crispy Mac & Cheese Bites – they’re coated in Cheez-its!) and of course, the wine was divine 🙂

Stay tuned for the next post and Disney Part 2!