Disney. Without the kids.

As I mentioned during my 1st half of January photo challenge, Mike and I just returned from a long weekend in Florida. In Orlando. At a Disney resort.

Insert dramatic pause

Without the children.

I know.

After all thee job craziness during the second half of 2011, I was desperate for a getaway. We had airline vouchers that were set to expire from a couples trip that we planned in February of last year that got cancelled at the last minute due to a family crisis of sorts. I wanted to go somewhere EASY, and Disney fits that definition: no car is needed, excellent food options (I love to eat!) and excellent customer service.

The kids were not thrilled. ("Well, that doesn't seem very fair!" said K.) However, once we explained that we weren't going to any of the parks and would not be riding Splash Mountain or Soarin' they decided they'd have almost as much fun at Grandpa and Grandma's anyway.

On our previous Disney trips (OK, there have only been two...) we've always stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Kidani Village. I love it there! Nothing beats waking up and being able to see giraffes grazing right outside your window. I was tempted to stay there again since we know we love the rooms and the food options are excellent. However, I recognized that this was a perfect time to try out another location.

We ended up staying at Saratoga Springs resort, which had a cute horse theme that my daughter would have loved.

I found myself taking lots of pictures of the horse statues and other details. This photo is from the pool closest to our room, which was definitely all about the racing theme. Note the little horse head water cannons.

Our room looked over the golf course. We weren't there to play golf, but we did enjoy all the nice trails that wandered throughout the resort along the golf course and wooded areas. This was a big selling point for me on this particular resort. I could better justify all the unhealthy eating if I was regularly walking!

Aside from the walking trails, the location was especially handy because it was close to Downtown Disney. To get the Downtown Disney, we could take a bus, a boat ride or walk. Most of the time, we walked because of my already mentioned need to burn some calories, but we did enjoy the boat ride once.

We could also walk to the Key West resort from Saratoga Springs, which we checked out as a possible future vacation stay location.

We ate several meals at The Artist's Palette, which was a counter-service restaurant at Saratoga Springs. It is suppose to have the feel of an artist's loft, and I loved some of those touches. (K would have adored drawing as she waited for her meal.)


What I really loved, though, was their brownies. We discovered these during one of our first meals at The Artist's Palette, and I think Mike got the chocolate cupcake while I got the brownie at every future trip there. (And no, I was not doing nearly enough walking to cancel that out...but it was so good!)

I have no idea how to make it happen, given their popularity, but I'd love to stay in the treehouses at Saratoga Springs on a future trip. Perhaps with extended family? Everything about them (well, I could only see it from the outside, obviously) looked like fun. Nestled in a heavily treed area, they felt more secluded, and I'd love to enjoy coffee or breakfast on the deck of one of these.

I'm participating in Sunday Snapshot over at Ni Hao Y'all. Come join in the fun!