our stay at the Grand Floridian

 

 

day one 

we spontaneously planned this staycation the monday of that week! daniel randomly asked me if we wanted to get away for the weekend (and if you know daniel, he's usually not this spontaneous), so i had to say yes immediately. because we're disney annual pass holders, they released an email a few weeks prior allowing pass holders to get 40% off on resort stays. we originally planned our stay to be at the Coronado Springs Resort because it was super affordable and still a really nice resort! hopefully we'll be able to get another deal for that resort because the day of our stay, daniel received a call from disney that offered us a a complimentary upgrade to Old Key West Resort or the Grand Floridian. because I was at work at the time, daniel asked the rep if he can get back with them after asking with me on which option to choose from for the complimentary upgrade. by the time I read his messages, apparently it was too late for the upgrade.

daniel kept reassuring me that we were still going to have fun even if we did miss out on the upgrade, but i was still bummed out about it. little did i know, he was just trying to crush my hopes and dreams just to surprise me when we drove up to the Grand Floridian entrance. it was so magical. it was a nice and chilly evening when we got there! the exterior of the resort was softly lit by warm lighting, pink flowers greeted us on our way in, and it was completely empty! it was almost like we were having the resort all to ourselves. 

 not sure when we would ever have this opportunity to stay at one of disney's most popular resorts again, we made sure we made the best of it! we stayed there for two nights and tried to live up to Home Alone 2s' Kevin when he stayed at the Plaza Hotel. we jumped on the beds, ordered room service, went to the jacuzzi, took the resort ferry on the way to Magic Kingdom early in the morning, roamed around the resort, star gazed under the beach cabana, played a quick hopscotch on the tennis court, ate breakfast in front of the castle, and actually rode the resort monorail not just to go back to the MK parking lot but to go back to the resort (we typically take the resort monorail as a hack to skip out on the long express monorail line)!

 i love some alone time with the husband. because we live with family temporarily for this season of our marriage, it was so nice to get away for the weekend and go on this mini adventure. so grateful he followed his gut and asked the question of getting away for the weekend. now ask me again next weekend huh? ;)