Laughing Lindsay

Travel Reviews, Giveaways, & More!

Andy Griffith Homeplace Review

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During the pandemic I learned that you could spend the night at the Andy Griffith homeplace or his childhood home in Mt. Airy, North Carolina. Being from an Andy-loving family and seeing as how it’s not that far from southwestern Virginia, I knew I had to stay there. Thankfully, I was able to snag a two night stay there recently and I thought I would provide a review for anyone considering staying here.

Andy Griffith Homeplace

Andy Griffith Homeplace

I’m not sure if “The Andy Griffith Show” is as popular nationwide as it is in the Appalachian Mountains or not. However, both my husband and I grew up watching the show with our parents/grandparents. If you happen to be unaware of this show, I highly recommend checking it out. You can currently stream episodes for free on PlutoTV. I think my favorite episode is “Mountain Wedding”, in case you were wondering.

People in Appalachia love the show and Andy for depicting small town life in a positive way. Lots of people like the show for the nostalgia of a simpler world, that never really existed. Nonetheless, it is awesome that you can book a stay in this man’s childhood home!

The House

My mom and I stayed here for two nights earlier this month. She slept in the bigger main bedroom and I was in the smaller back bedroom. We enjoyed the older styling of the home that displayed how it may have felt to live here years ago. It was also great to see some of the memorabilia displayed in the house. I loved watching an episode of the show in the living room!

My mom was surprised by how small the entire house was. In fact, the bathroom is downright tiny and might be difficult for some larger folks to use. However, it was sufficient for a two night stay.

One thing I have to comment on is the disturbing state of the floors. I’m not an expert, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were foundation issues with the house. There’s a soft spot in the floor between the bed and wall in the front bedroom. While the floor in the bathroom is newer, it’s already gotten some water damage from the shower and is loose/unstable. Also, different rooms are at different heights. Some are intentional and easy to spot. Some are less so. My advice is to watch where you step.

I appreciate the nostalgia of the house. However, I definitely think it could use some upgrades or maintenance work.

Tips

The house tends to stay booked up. Even with a two night minimum stay during peak times of the year, it can be difficult to book the house. Since I live relatively close, I had been checking the site periodically for months now. I finally spotted a free Friday and Saturday night about two weeks out. The house has a one week cancellation policy. So, if you can’t get it on a date further out, keep checking to see if something opens up!

Also, the house is owned by the local Hampton Inn and staying here gives you access to their amenities, including their free breakfast! I enjoyed strawberry waffles one morning from their buffet! Also, it was a nice touch that someone called me beforehand to confirm our reservation. The only other place I’ve received a phone call from prior to a stay was at The Inn at Christmas Place. So, that was a neat surprise.

This house is a very popular sightseeing destination. So, be prepared for people to be parked outside constantly during the day. I know I’m in some strangers photos!

Final Thoughts

While staying at Andy Griffith’s homeplace was a fun thing to do, I don’t know that I would stay here again without some updates. It’s a neat thing to do once as an Andy fan. I’ll probably visit Mt. Airy again, but it will probably be a daytrip for this Virginia girl.

Tips for Visiting Colonial Williamsburg Virginia

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Since it’s been a few months since my trip, I thought I would do a tips for visiting Colonial Williamsburg post. As a reminder, I visited during a slower time of the year (March). So, my experience may be different than yours.

Visiting Colonial Williamsburg

Tips for Visiting Colonial Williamsburg

My husband and I spent the better part of a weekend exploring this living history museum. So, here are the things I think you should know before visiting.

  • Visit for at least one full day. My husband and I visited Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday. Even then, we didn’t see everything. Of course, we are two childfree adults who enjoy history. Nonetheless, I think you can plan a full day here or more, depending on your group’s interests.
  • Stay close by. I can’t stress how nice it was to stay in a Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Room where we could come and go as we pleased during our stay. It was so convenient to just walk to breakfast or dinner!
  • Make dinner reservations in advance. Even though it was a less busy time, the dinner reservations were booked up. Thankfully, there were reservations the week of our arrival. However, I’m not sure if that’s normal or not. So, I would recommend booking dinner reservations as soon as you know where you want to eat and when. You can see my Colonial Williamsburg Food Guide for help in choosing where to eat! You couldn’t make breakfast or lunch reservations when we went, fyi.
  • Wear comfortable shoes. There’s a fair bit of walking here as you walk everywhere. Also, check the weather before you go. It was colder than I thought it would be. I ended up packing warmer clothes at the last minute and was very happy that I did so.
  • Stop and ask questions. There are tons of people practicing various skills around the town. Stop and watch them work. You are also free to ask questions. My husband really enjoyed watching the craftsmen and hearing about their work during the colonial times.
  • Have a rough idea of what you want to see. We consulted the events calendar in advance and had a list of things we wanted to see when we arrived. We managed to see the things most important to us. Then, we spent the rest of the time just walking around and entering buildings with a flag outside (which signals you can enter). Note: not every place is open every day.

Other Trip Ideas

I wish we had planned a longer trip to the area to explore Jamestown or Yorktown. Beyond that, I think visiting Colonial Williamsburg is a fun, interesting, and unique experience! Do you have any tips for visiting?

Tusker House Breakfast Review

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During my February 2023 trip to Walt Disney World with my mom, I booked a 10:10 AM reservation for the Tusker House breakfast at Animal Kingdom. Today, I’d like to share my experience with you.

Tusker House Breakfast

Tusker House Breakfast

For those who don’t know, the Tusker House Breakfast is a buffet meal wherein characters dressed up in their safari outfits come around to tables to visit! It’s the only character dining experience at the Animal Kingdom theme park and an advanced dining reservation is required to dine here. Breakfast costs $45/adult and $29/child, plus tax and gratuity.

The Food

If you have visited a breakfast buffet at Disney World previously, then you can probably guess what kinds of food you will encounter here. If not, think typical American breakfast foods: eggs, sausage, bacon, waffles, fresh fruit and yogurt, etc. However, they also have Simba waffles in addition to the typical Mickey waffles! Plus, they have Zebra coffee cake as well as a special sunset picture bread. The Zebra coffee cake was tasty but not anything groundbreaking. The sunset bread tasted like regular bread dyed to look pretty. However, I love that they have added these fun themed foods to the buffet to make it unique!

Technically, breakfast is served from 8:00 AM until 10:30 AM, with lunch beginning at 11:00 AM. However, if you get a late enough breakfast reservation, you can actually enjoy two different selections here! Our 10:10 AM reservation allowed us to eat breakfast foods as well as some lunch items while paying the breakfast price! Lunch (and dinner) is typically $59/adult and $38/child. So, it saved us some money. I liked the chicken legs, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and dessert spread from the early lunch options! While that is pretty basic food, keep in mind that I didn’t get to try everything from lunch. I suppose I need to go back for another review. Haha!

You can view pictures of the food and characters in my Instagram post below.

Characters

While dining here, you can meet several characters in their safari attire! Donald Duck is one of my favorite characters, so I love that he’s considered the host of this shindig! He’s the only one you are guaranteed to meet. However, you will meet others as well. On our visit, we got to meet Donald, Mickey Mouse, Daisy, and Goofy! We were able to snap pictures with each one. We were also given an adorable signature card souvenir! If you are looking to meet characters, I highly recommend booking at least one character meal during your trip as it’s a great way to meet characters without sacrificing a long time in line. Plus, you get to eat!

Tusker House Tips

  • Arrive hungry. There’s a full buffet to choose from, with something for every palate. It’s a great time to try something new to you!
  • Book an advance dining reservation. Currently, you can begin booking the Tusker House breakfast 60 days in advance. If you can’t find one, don’t give up! Keep checking back and set up monitoring alerts to notify you when a reservation opens up.
  • Interact with the characters. Don’t be afraid to engage with the characters a little bit. Maybe even have some prepared things to say, if you have a nervous one in the group.
  • Be prepared. As with almost any other character dining experience, it can be a loud or over-stimulating meal for some folks. Also, the dining room here is a little dark. So, go in knowing these things and you’ll have a good time.
  • Try the POG Juice. It’s a passionfruit, orange, guava juice mix and it’s really good. Unfortunately, on this particular visit, our drinks were watered down. However, it’s definitely worth trying.

Is it worth it?

As with anything else I’ve reviewed, I think the value of an experience is based heavily on the individual. The Tusker House Breakfast is an expensive breakfast. However, it is a nice way to see some characters while enjoying a buffet meal. If you have the means and enjoy seeing characters, it’s worth it. If you are in a hurry or on a tight budget, maybe consider grabbing a pastry at the Starbucks instead.

You can view more of my posts for reviews and tips for visiting Walt Disney World here!

Summer in Orlando Theme Parks

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Now that school is out in most places, lots of people are going to be spending the summer in Orlando theme parks. Since I did my spring in the theme parks post three months ago, I thought I would do another one for this season! Here’s a look at what you can expect to experience during the hottest months of the year in the Florida theme parks!

Summer in Orlando

Summer in Orlando

Summer in Orlando is hot. So, be sure to plan breaks indoors and stay hydrated if you are heading there during this season. It may also be crowded during your visit, so pack lots of patience and understanding! Aside from those things, it can also be a fun time to visit with lots of special activities to participate in!

Walt Disney World

For the past couple of yeas, Epcot was pretty much a year round festival theme park. However, the Flower and Garden Festival ends on May 27, 2024 and the Food and Wine Festival doesn’t begin until August 29th (goes to November 23, 2024). So, for the first time in several years, there will be a regular festival less Epcot to enjoy this summer.

There will be several After Hours events to enjoy when the sun goes down. You can read my review of the Magic Kingdom After Hours event here. Additionally, there’s a new drone show at Disney Springs this summer! Plus, the newly re-themed Tiana ride will open in June at Magic Kingdom. So, there’s still plenty to do here.

SeaWorld Summer Spectacular

SeaWorld Orlando seems to have cancelled their regular summer event this year. They are celebrating their 60th Anniversary for the rest of the year. Additionally, they will have some special weekend events this summer including Viva la Musica in June and Bands, Brew & BBQ in July and August. So, it should be a good place for food and music this summer.

Universal Orlando Tribute Store

Universal Orlando has announced several special things coming this summer. First up, DreamWorks Land will open on June 14th! Then, a new nighttime spectacular begins the same day. It’s called Cinesational and it should be awesome! Next, there will be a new Hogwarts castle light show premiering on the same night! Then, on July 3rd, a new parade called the Universal Mega Movie Parade will begin!

Lastly, there will be a special seasonal tribute store this summer. If you don’t know, a tribute store is a highly themed limited time pop up merch store that is typically a can’t miss experience. This year’s store has an 80’s mall theme! You can see a preview of last year’s store in UO’s Instagram post below.

Water Parks

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that each of these three parks also has a water park that you can visit to cool off at! Disney actually has two water parks. However, one of them, Blizzard Beach, is currently closed. Disney’s open water park is Typhoon Lagoon. I visited it for a special night time event at Disney’s Social Media Moms event way back in 2016 and it seemed like a nice place. I think the special ticketed nighttime event, H20 Glow After Hours at Typhoon Lagoon looks fun!

Universal has a water park that is highly regarded online. Volcano Bay can be seen from the Cabana Bay and Aventura resorts. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet visited this park. However, I hope to someday.

SeaWorld’s water park is called Aquatica. They will have special daytime entertainment and food for summer. Plus, they are having a new after hours event called AquaGlow that looks fun. Once again, I’ve never visited this one, but I’m sure it’s fun. Technically, SeaWorld also owns Discovery Cove as well. That is an all-inclusive day resort where you can swim with dolphins! I was lucky enough to visit it last year and wrote a Discovery Cove review.

Summer in Orlando Theme Parks

As you can see, there are lots of fun things to do during a summer in Orlando vacation! Did I miss anything your family likes doing?

You can view my other seasonal theme park guides here:

Sheraton Park Hotel Review

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On my most recent visit to Disneyland, I stayed off-site to save some money since I was traveling solo. However, I didn’t want to stay somewhere shabby. So, I stayed at the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort. This is my review of my four night stay there!

Sheraton Park Hotel

Sheraton Park Hotel

Unlike Walt Disney World, Disneyland has only three on-site resorts and they are all considered deluxe resorts. Seeing as how this was a last minute solo trip, I didn’t feel right spending that much money on this trip. So, I opted to stay somewhere that was nice and within walking distance to the parks without paying a fortune. I ended up going with the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim resort. Here are the pros and cons of staying here.

Pros

The majority of these bullet points are the exact reasons why I chose to stay here.

  • Location. It’s technically near the convention center, so it would make a great conference/event hotel. It’s also a 15-ish minute walk to the theme parks. I loved being able to just walk to the parks. That’s a huge perk over visiting WDW and dealing with the buses.
  • Restaurant. Unfortunately, I never was hungry enough to enjoy dinner here, but it sounds amazing! Nonetheless, I was very thankful for the 6 AM breakfast of french toast. I always prefer to stay somewhere with a restaurant so I don’t have to wander far if I get hungry. So, this was a nice perk.
  • Newly refurbished. The rooms were recently refurbished and are really nice. Everything still looks shiny and new, so you don’t have to worry about something falling apart or being overly dirty.
  • Comfortable. The beds are very comfortable. Also, I had a very quiet stay here, which is more than I can say for some other theme park stays.
  • Balconies. Every room has a balcony to look out over California. Some rooms even have a theme park view. I had a city view and was happy with that.
  • Disney Good Neighbor Hotel. I booked a Disneyland Good Neighbor package, which was super convenient for booking the hotel and park tickets together. Plus, I was able to log-on and make payments. I intend to make a future post about the pros of staying at a Good Neighbor Hotel in the future.

Cons

Now, admittedly some of these are minor or even petty complaints. However, they are things that I didn’t like and want to share for complete honesty.

  • Walk by homeless. Remember that short walk I mentioned as a pro? Well, it seems a lot longer when you are dodging the homeless. This certainly wasn’t the hotel’s fault as it wasn’t on their property. Although, a free shuttle to/from the park would be a nice amenity to have at night here. I probably won’t stay here again for a strictly theme park visit again unless I’m with my husband simply due to the night time walk.
  • No free in-room Wi-Fi. This was a complete surprise as I assumed every hotel with business guests would offer free Wi-Fi. However, there was only free Wi-Fi in the lobby here and that was a nuisance.
  • Dark bathroom. This probably wouldn’t bother most people. However, there isn’t a light over the shower. So, it was a darker bathroom than I’m used to. Also, I could see how people with limited vision could have trouble with this room.
  • Air conditioner is finicky. It seems like it shuts off after there’s no movement in the room for a period of time. I can’t guarantee that’s what was happening, but the room was certainly warmer when I slept or left it. I can see this being a bigger problem in the heat of summer.
  • No early access to room. I attempted to check in a little early, however my room wasn’t ready. In fact, my room wasn’t ready at check-in time either. They did store my luggage for me while I waited, but it was a bit of an annoyance to start the trip this way.

Is the Sheraton Park Hotel worth it?

If you are considering a stay at this hotel for a conference at the convention center, it’s probably a good option. If you are comfortable walking past the homeless population, then it’s a terrific option for a Disneyland stay as well. As I said above, I will probably look at spending a good bit more money to stay on-site next time just to feel safer on the walk as a female traveler.

Have you stayed here before? What was your experience like?