Disney guide

Hi Darlings,

Our family relocated to Orlando August 2018, to get our kids excited about our move we went all out and took advantage of the Florida Resident Annual Disney Pass. We have had so many visitors so through trial & error we have our Disneyworld highlights:

I highly recommend you download My Disney Experience app You can purchase tickets and book your fast passes (to avoid queues) through the app. Once you purchase your tickets you can book 3 fast passes per park a month advance, which I highly recommend during the school vacation dates & weekends. Queue times without a fast pass can be approx 90 minutes + queue time! All the rides my kids enjoy I book a fast pass for!

Magic Kingdom - Your Dreams Come True. You can’t beat the walk up to famous Princess Castle. This park brings back childhood memories, while creating new ones with your kids! We had a cute character dinner with Winnie Pooh & Friends at The Crystal Palace. My kids favorite rides are: Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road & Speedway

Animal Kingdom - My favorite park with my kids, so easy. My kids love Boneyard - Open-air Dinosaur play space. There is shade and no queue or fast pass needed. Boneyard is a great place for parents to take a rest while kids roam & play! Reserve Tusker House Restaurant for lunch, enjoy dining with Donald Duck & his friends. My kids favorite rides at Animal Kingdom are: Kali River Rapids, Kilimanjaro Safari & Festival of the Lion King (Stage Show).

Epcot - Love this park. There is a whole loop of different countries, each serving their traditional food & drink. There are street entertainers in each country and we always visit England (my Motherland) Fish & Chips and Wine…..best combo! Each country has restaurant which will need a reservation but they all have a take-out option too. My kids favorite Epcot Rides are: Mission Space, Soarin Around the World & Test Track.

Hollywood Studios Jedi Training, my kids & their friends loved! You must register before the show, there are times all day but pre-registration early on in the day is highly recommended. My kids enjoy: Stage Indiana Jones (stage show), Slinky Dog Dash, Twilight Zone House of Terror. Highly recommend Fantasmic, night performance with Mickey.

I highly recommend to eat out of the parks, click here for our Orlando Restaurant Guide

Disney Guide - Dave Drumheller 

If you do not feel like booking fast passes, many of my good friends highly recommend Disney Guide Dave Drumheller. Dave can take you & your family to age-appropriate attractions with minimal waiting in line. Has Disney Trivia, takes family photos. He will start at park opening time, and the tours typically end between 3:30 and 4:30. His rate is $850 per day or $950 during peak season! Friends call him Disney Heaven! info@wdwguidedtours.com

We will continue to add to this post when we discover something new.

We hope you found our guide useful.

Genny xo

Clearly - Our favorite stadium bags

The Daily Darlings love the Clearly Collection. The bags are so useful & chic.

Perfect for game day, concert, night out, day purse but truly perfect for trip to Disney or Universal Studios. Whizz through security lines with these cute bags.

Clearly also have a collection of handbag straps which can give your current cross-body and other bags a renaissance!

We think all the bags are stylish on their own but also can personalized with embroidery or cool patches!

Free shipping when you enter: DARLINGS

Bee straps $54

Relocation, relocation, relocation

Two days before we saw in 2018, my husband got offered an amazing job opportunity. A bit of background, he has been a Sell Side Analyst for the past 20yrs, he has done this job through the glory days mainly at Goldman Sachs then the past 8yrs at a smaller firm based in Stamford, CT. The past year he has not been happy at work but lucky for him he is leaving Wall Street and moving to the client side as VP of Investor Relations at Wyndham. Several of his Goldman Sachs colleagues also switched to Investor Relations and are so happy!

So where is job, natural relocation is back to our motherland England but NO, we are relocating to ORLANDO, FL! They want him to start ASAP! We let the kids know that Daddy got an amazing job based in Orlando, FL. We let them know that Daddy is going to move down first. We PR’d DisneyWorld and assured them we are going to visit and do homework on schools and homes in Orlando, FL. Our 8yr old, Olivia instantly broke down about leaving the school she loves and her friends and never wants to move! This was so tough for me to watch, my heart broke for her.

I knew he was interviewing for the job based in Orlando but I never think about it until it is real!

Now I crank to 5th gear as really don’t know Orlando, but determined to deal with this relocation with an open heart and leave no stone unturned, making sure I pick what is best for our family.

Jan 19 I put our home on market with my incredible realtor Susan Vanech of William Pitt Sotherby. We received an offer 3 days later (fingers crossed it all goes through). We kept the house sale secret from the kids - which in hindsight was a big mistake. Max found out and was absolutely devasted, he did not want anyone in his house or going in his room and was determined that he would convince us not to move. Olivia was breaking down about the potential move and would open up to me with all her worries, I assured them both that we are going to do this as team and your Mommy has got you, Mommy will never let you down. I have picked everything for you and you love everything so trust me.

That week I am introduced to the relocation company who will help me co-ordinate our move, I learned that there is lots of help but also lots of rules to abide by many conference calls & emails later this move is on.

I decided to do a 2day trip Orlando to tour schools and get a lifestyle tour. I touched down in Orlando and went to my first school tour, then on to the next! It was intense, overwhelming couple of days where the evenings I was found drinking many cocktails. Good news is I found 2 amazing private schools and fell in love with an area called Winter Park.

I am now a single Mom dealing with the house sale, relocation and the emotions of our kids. There are times I hear a song and break down in tears but then I remind myself how lucky we are. My husband got to change his career, he absolutely loves his job and company. The saying is not Happy Wife, Happy Life it is actually Happy Husband, HAPPY LIFE!

We are going through is a good stress which will make us stronger, we get a new chapter in our lives……how lucky are we.

Thank you for reading

Genny xo