Travel for the HOlidays

When my husband died I started a new tradition with the kids…travel for the holidays. I no longer want to do the traditional dinners or be around folks I truly don’t want to be around. My kids are older they don’t need anything because they already have what they need. When my hubs died they always talked about the trips we took not the things we bought so I decided that from now on during the holidays we would travel somewhere. I don’t know if we will do it every Christmas but right now we are going to embrace the new tradition and spend some time in other cities for the holiday. It’s expensive as hell to go somewhere for the holidays so here are my tips to save on cost and money.

• try to book early. As early as possible
• Stay at a busy hotel (if you are a single mom try not to do a Airbnb
• Find out what you can do for free around the town you are planning to visit
• Stay with someone else in the town you are going to (we did this last year and saved on hthe otel)
• Flights are expensive try to find places within driving distance. I have my son who can help drive so I can go farther but if you don’t want to drive get your tickets early or do the train.

For 2024 we decided to tackle Disney. It was expensive as hell but I had help from my travel agent who helped put everything together. Here is a breakdown of what we did so if you decide to tackle Dinsey during the holidays you can use this info to help you.

1. We stayed at the Kidani Lodge. The customer service was excellent but the walk from the elevator to the room…it was a half mile and baby that did me in. I was tired as hell. If we left the room it was for a purpose. What I did love was that it had a washroom laundry at the bottom so you can wash your clothes while on vacation. That was a nice plus! They also had a community room where you can join in with others to play games and stuff.
2. Plan your days out. We only did 3 days (right before Christmas we didn’t go on Christmas day) One day we planned for Animal Kingdom, another day we did Disney Springs (which was hella packed), and then another day we did Hollywood Studios. Plan ahead of time we didn’t get the lighting passes because we waited too late to buy and they were sold out. I was able to get one but the timing was off so we ended up standing in line. No line was over an hr so that was good.
3. Food wise…we ate at the Sanaa spot on the property and then ordered Doordash most of the days. It was easy to just do that instead of park hopping for Breakfast. That way we could rest in our room before taking long walks to where we needed to go. We also ate at Morimoto Asia at Disney Springs. Make sure you book a reservation before you go. It was the best food spot we ate at in a while. Orlando is not known for it’s food so be aware of that.
4. We did shop at the Orlando Mall. Millennial something…best mall I’ve seen in a while. The rich side had the pretty tree (side eye) the poor side was more crowded. We bought a few things I did a purse from Kate Spade and some perfume because I had some points from Sephora. My daughter bought some shoes in pink of course.
5. The Christmas parade was decent but we stood for over an hr for only like 20 min of a parade. I was like nope but get there early to get a good spot to see the parade. The fake snow was a nice touch though.

Whatever you do for the holidays make it a special one and bump tradition and do your own thing. Make a plan, save your money, find a friend, and go. I promise you these kids will remember the trips more than the gifts.

What did you do for Christmas? If you have any questions about Disney ask away on here or on my Instagram (I shared more photos and videos on there)

Photos below of our trip.

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