Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Disney, however all opinions are my own.
In case you missed part 7, go back and read that first! We woke up in our beautiful villa at Saratoga Springs, pumped for reopening day at Blizzard Beach Waterpark! Not gonna lie, I was a little concerned as I stepped onto the balcony to a balmy 56 degrees. Yikes! It was supposed to get up to 68 or so, and we weren’t going to the waterpark until noon, so I had my fingers and toes crossed that it would be warm enough. I was, however, pumped to see this on the TV. Yay!
We hung out at the hotel until lunchtime and decided to eat at Saratoga Springs and then head over to the waterpark. I had a ham and cheese sandwich that was really good. I love this quick service spot.
We got to the park, did our temp screening, and headed in. There were MAYBE 40 cars in the parking lot, it was SO empty, so we picked a spot to sit right by the wave pool. It was windy and cool in the shade, but the water was heated to 80+ degrees so it was fine IN the water…the problem was it was freezing when you got OUT of the water! So I stayed dry as long as possible.
We went over to the kids area, it was new to us because last time we were here, EK was 3 and still in the kiddie area. She had a BLAST! She loved the zip line and the obstacle course and did it over and over along with the slides.
Bobby and I sat on a bench in the sun and watched her like this. Heh.
It started warming up and we decided to do the family raft ride. We rode the ski lift to the top and Emma Kate was FREAKING OUT about the ride. This is the same kid that rides roller coasters mind you. I kept telling her this ride was a piece of cake, that she did it when she was THREE, that her GRAMMY does it and grammy hates fast rides, but she didn’t believe me and was so upset until we started the slide, then she said…. “I wish it would go faster.” Facepalm.
Since I was already wet, we hit up the lazy river and rode it over to my favorite tube slides and went down those several times. It was warming up and was a great temperature! Bobby somehow lost his phone clip at the bottom of the slide after I TOLD HIM NOT TO RISK BRINGING HIS PHONE. They had to wait to send someone to fish it out, and I told him I wasn’t waiting so EK and I got on the lazy river and rode it back around to our chairs and met Bobby there.
We ended up back at the kids area and stayed for an hour. We were just going to order a pizza because we were so hungry but after looking at the maps and travel times we decided to just go back to the room and change and walk to Disney Springs. Mind you we didn’t have reservations, but it was a Sunday Night so I figured we could find somewhere….I was wrong.
We bundled up EK and walked over. I LOVE walking over from Saratoga, but it was chilly after the sun went down and we were so tired and miserable. We checked with 3 places and all had a 1.5-2 hours wait. We finally made it over to Planet Hollywood, and they only had a 15-20 minutes wait. Yes! So we sat out in the cold and waited. We were pretty pathetic!
Yes EK has on two jackets and a blanket. Bless it. We ate basically in silence we were so tired. The burgers were amazing, and we definitely enjoyed ourselves but it was time for bed! But we had to make one more stop. We ALWAYS get ice cream at the end of our trip. But it was cold. and there was nowhere to sit inside. I told Bobby if we were getting expensive ice cream I wanted to enjoy it, so let’s get it and walk back to the room and eat it. It was cold enough outside for it to not melt. Ended up being the best decision of the day! We sat at our table and savored every bite of that ice cream in the warmth of our room. It was the perfect way to end the day.
We had a long drive the next day, so we went to bed early. I had already done some packing and laundry that morning so we wouldn’t have much to do the next morning. It was so sad to leave, but we were also tired and it had been a long trip, so it was time to go home.
My love for Saratoga Springs was rekindled though, it’s such a hidden gem in my opinion, especially if you love Disney Springs!
We drove home all day, it took us 12.5 hours and I was super happy to be our of the car and to see our baby girls when we got back! another amazingly fun trip in the books, and a huge thanks to all of our sponsors. We had a blast!
