Living full-time in our RV, we take our home with us everywhere. Still, we like to take actual hotel vacations just like the brick-and-mortar house owners. Recently we did back to back trips to Disney World.

The first round was six days with our Penn State tailgating friends from PA. This is an annual trip of four couples. We stay in two 2-bedroom villas, two couples in each. This year we were at the Boardwalk. It is a favorite location of ours as we love being ale to walk to both EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. In addition, there are lots of great restaurants and lounges on the boardwalk. We had breakfast (twice) at Trattoria al Forno. The food was delicious, and if you're a bacon lover, this was the biggest side of bacon I’ve ever seen. Late afternoons, a couple of the guys could be found at AbracadaBar. It’s a magician themed lounge serving wonderfully tasty creative cocktails, wine, beer and a nice selection of bourbon (the guys go for the bourbon, my favorite is the Pepper’s Ghost cocktail). It is a small space and can become crowded in the evening. Also Disney allows children into the lounge, and quite often there can be several strollers and kids eating pizza. This does take away from the great vibe of the lounge.

Since this is an annual trip, we’ve started trying to do something new and different each year. This year we decided to go to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue. It is a dinner show at Pioneer Hall in the Fort Wilderness campground. The dinner starts with salad followed by an all you can eat meal served family style: fried chicken and BBQ pork ribs with sides of mac-n-cheese, beans, mash potatoes, and cornbread. Of course there is dessert, strawberry short cake. In between courses, there is a show with dancing, singing, and comedy. The food is good and the show is very entertaining. It is a family oriented event and most of the groups present do have children. Even so, us eight adults enjoyed ourselves and had a great time.

We of course spend our days going to the four different parks. Our trip usually coincides with the Festival of the Arts at EPCOT. It is fun to see all the art and to visit the various food and beverage booths. The girls discovered an amazing Espresso Martini at Deco Delights booth (we may have had more than one).

A day after our PA friends left, we picked up our son, Austin, from the airport and started round 2 of five days. This time we stayed in a 1-bedroom villa at the Kidani Village of Animal Kingdom lodge. We had a savannah view. We did see a few animals and a couple of times giraffes were nearby. For the most part, the animals were a distance from our balcony, closer to the lobby area. Also, we were on the fifth floor, and because of the trees, we could only see animals in our area if they were on the edge closest to us. If you book a savannah view, I’d recommend asking for a lower floor and/or a room closer to the lobby. Still, it is a beautiful resort.

We had lunch at the Sanaa Lounge the day we arrived. It serves appetizers and a few entrees inspired by spices of India & Africa. And of course some great cocktails, beer, & wine. If you go, I highly recommend the Indian-Style bread service they are known for. It comes with five different breads and nine accompaniments. It is my favorite appetizer at the lounge. ( you can also get it at the restaurant of the same name)

We did go off Disney property one day. As a family we love escape rooms and putt-putt golf. We decided the day the weather prediction was rain (which it didn’t rain), to go do these two activities. we went to Escape Effect and tested our escape abilities in the room At Odds with the Gods. We managed to escape. For mini golf, we hit the indoor Putting Edge in Orlando. It’s a glow in the dark course located in a mall. We had a good time and Steve was the big winner.

Now that our time in Florida has ended, we are headed west. We have a few stops in east Texas to visit several friends and then we are headed to west Texas to start our summer exploring the great National Parks from Big Bend Texas to Glacier National Park.