walt disney world: disney's pop century resort, disney's boardwalk, and disney springs

oh my goodness, where do i even start?!  our last-minute easter weekend getaway trip to walt disney world in orlando, florida was an absolute dream.  it truly was magical, and it was the perfect way for us to escape reality for a few days.  a long weekend getaway like that was exactly what both of us needed.

we took so very many photos over the weekend (of course), so get ready for a whole bunch of photos over the next few days!  before i get into sharing the plethora of photos from our days at the disney parks, i wanted to share a little bit about our first day in florida.

since we planned this trip only a few days before we left, we made all of our plans right through disney.  it was so nice to have a one-stop shop for everything.  it was an easy decision to stay on disney property because staying at a disney resort means complementary airport transportation aboard the disney magical express and free bus/monorail/boat transportation between the all of the disney parks/resorts/attractions.  our friend/neighbor is a disney expert, so based on her recommendation we stayed at disney's pop century resort.  the resort is so cute because it is decades themed from the 1950s through the 1990s with larger-than-life icons from each era.  we absolutely loved the resort, and it was perfect for this trip.

we arrived in florida mid-day on thursday and we didn't want to waste one of our full-day park admission tickets on a partial day in the parks.  so, we took the time on thursday to enjoy the resort grounds, take a dip in two of the three pools, explore disney's boardwalk, and explore disney springs.  here are several photos from our first day at disney . . .

^everything at the resort was humongous!  we loved the decorations.  all of the staircases were cleverly hidden behind things like the rubik's cube, the yo-yo, etc.  look at the scale of the yo-yo compared to ryan standing in front of it!  (by the way ryan is 6'1''.)

^the pretty foot bridge connecting our resort to disney's art of animation resort^

^spring was definitely in full bloom in orlando, florida this past weekend!  all of the flowers were gorgeous.  the weather was perfect too.  it was 85 degrees and sunny every single day!^

^as soon as we got to the resort and checked in, we grabbed lunch because we were starving after traveling all morning since 3:30am when we left our house.  all of the food we had on this trip was amazing (i'll be sure to dedicate an entire post to just the food we ate at disney) and the portions were gigantic!^

^disney's boardwalk was so peaceful to walk around.  it's fashioned after a turn-of-the-century coastal boardwalk and it was so cute and quaint.^

^the last time i was at disney, disney springs was downtown disney.  i can't believe how much this area has grown!  we walked around and grabbed dinner while we were there.  we didn't take many photos at disney springs, but we did have to snap a few shots of these impressive lego sculptures outside of the lego store.  ryan's inner 5 year old self was totally geeking out over them.^

^to really get in the disney spirit, i painted my mickey-themed nails the night before we left.  i got a lot of compliments on them while we were there.  also, our friend/neighbor who helped us plan this last-minute trip is such a sweetheart because right before we left she made us each vinyl decals on her cricut machine for our magic bands.  the magic bands were genius because they acted as your room key, park admission, fast passes, photo passes, and payment methods.  they come in a variety of colors (of course we both wanted orange) so the vinyl decals were a great way to personalize them.  people really go all out when it comes to personalizing their bands!^

get ready for a lot more photos from our disney trip!
love, laurie