We did some quick online research and found a great room at Hilton Bonnet Creek which is right in the middle of Disney's properties, literally across the street from epcot and we ended up with an amazing Amex upgraded giant suite room with a full theme park view of several of the parks complete with several parks firework viewing at night. Friday afternoon we picked the kids up from school at noon and were checking into the hotel by 2. We relaxed in the room for a bit, and then went for a swim in their amazing pool with a giant lazy river and then it was time to get ready for the Not So Scary Halloween party. You have to buy a separate pass to get into these more private special events but it is worth it as they only sell a certain number of the tickets and you can ride things easier plus who does not want to trick or treat all around Magic Kingdom??!! It is a really fun event and I think this is probably the 3rd of 4th time we have done this over the years. It is definitely of all of the special holiday events our favorite one and the one most worth the insane cost of the passes (4 people cost about 350)!!!
We were out late Friday night and so we all slept well that night and into the next morning. Saturday once we got rolling we went to our favorite all around park for the day which is Animal Kingdom. We had fast passes to ride the Yeti rollercoaster, we did some pin trading, saw some animals along the way and even rode the train back to see the petting zoo and walked back in the Asia themed area to see the tiger. The kids have been her MANY times but you can never hit all of the areas and on this day it was super crowded so we tried to do some of the less visible things and asked the kids if they wanted to ride the train to the petting zoo...honest to God we have done this before but I guess Jack was probably 3 or under...he had no memory of it (which is sad and also fascinating to us) as we remember it like it was yesterday and he also had no memory of the tiger in the asia area and the animals at the petting zoo...omg. When we got home I showed him the photo albums I have of him in these areas as a toddler and he could not believe it!!!
Saturday afternoon we went back to the hotel with hopes of swimming but everyone was so tired we just lounged around the crazily large room we had received and rested. Saturday night we hit our third park in less than 24 hours...epcot! This was fun as we got to see the knew Skyliner (Disney's version of like what you would see at a ski resort with gondolas to transport people) It was not open the weekend we were there but they were testing it so we got to see it moving and in action. One of the stopping points is at the back entrance to epcot off the boardwalk which is pretty cool. I think it also goes between a few resorts and also maybe Disney Springs. Epcot was crazy busy when we were there as it happened to be one of the opening weekends of the food and wine festival. This is a fun event but not necessarily with kids so we only had a few tastes here and there and then the crowds were just too much and we high tailed it back to the hotel where the kids enjoyed the Arcade (Jackson pretty much clean sweeped the place with winning an insane number of tickets on some jackpot and got huge prizes) and we had dinner at a sushi restaurant in the hotel and then headed back up to the room in time to catch our resort view fireworks...what a treat! I would highly recommend Hilton's Bonnet Creek resort for any family wanting a hotel near Disney (you can almost walk its so close) but not the ridiculous in your face Disney prices. Sunday it was time to head home but not before a quick stop to walk around and have brunch at a fun restaurant at Disney Springs. Disney Springs is really coming along and a great replacement for the old Downtown Disney. There are more and more restaurants and shops open every single time we go and the most AMAZING jaw dropping massive store called the World of Disney was open this time...this is something just to walk through even for adults. Even Jon who does not like to shop AT ALL was amazed I mean you can find ANYTHING Disney in there. I walked around and gave Sarabeth a limit (hard to do this store is just amazing and massive) like 100 Disney stores or something! I took photos of things that were extra cool to remind Santa of some good ideas for Christmas. We had a great weekend and were so glad to get to use our annual passes once more before they expire. We have had such a busy and crazy year we have not been to Disney since we went last December for the week when Jon had the conference trip that he won!!!
