Laughing Lindsay

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Summer in the Great Smoky Mountains

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Memorial Day is typically seen as the end of spring. So, if you are planning to spend summer in the Great Smoky Mountains, then here are some fun things you can add to your to-do list!

Summer in the Great Smoky Mountains

Summer in the Great Smoky Mountains

Some people prefer to spend the warmer months outdoors. Some of us prefer to cool off in the water or indoors. Ha! So, I will try to highlight a few options to suit everyone for their summer in the Great Smoky Mountains vacation in this post.

Summer at Dollywood

My return to blogging last year was all about summer at Dollywood. While that’s a review of last year’s event, I fully expect this year’s event to be roughly the same. This year, the festival kicks-off on June 17th and ends on August 6th. So, you have about 2 months to experience it this year! You can check out the event page on Dollywood’s website for the latest info. However, suffice it to say that my husband and I really enjoyed this festival, particularly the drone show! Plus, this year you can ride the new Big Bear Mountain ride!

Visit a Smoky Mountain Waterpark

What better way to cool off on a hot day then with a water park? Technically, you have two options for a waterpark in the Smokies. First up, you have Dollywood’s Splash Country. I’ve never been there, but I know people on social media seem to like it. If you are staying at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort, it’s especially convenient to visit (although, the resort has its own pool too).

Additionally, there is the Soaky Mountain Waterpark in Sevierville. I haven’t been there in years, but I did visit their indoor slides when I stayed at the Wilderness at the Smokies for a review about a decade ago. If you stay at Wilderness at the Smokies, then admission to the waterpark is included. However, I add caution because I haven’t visited in 10 years and some recent online reviews claim the rooms need some updating. This does look like an economical vacation though.

Head to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Summer

I have to admit, I’m not much of an outdoor activity type of girl. However, I know that the National Park draws lots of visitors every year, particularly during the warmer months. That link will take you to a page listing various things you can do in the park, including fishing, hiking, looking at flowers, and camping!

Be a Pirate

Technically, you can act like a pirate anytime of the year when you visit the Pirates Voyage dinner show. However, I think it’s more fun to act like a pirate during the warmer months! You can read my review of the Pirates dinner show to see what to expect.

Celebrate the 4th of July

If you are looking to spend the holiday weekend in the Smokies, you should know that the area has some exciting annual events. Gatlinburg has the first Independence Day Parade in the country, with it starting at midnight every year! Not to be outdone, Pigeon Forge hosts the Patriot Festival every year with music and fireworks!

Celebrate Christmas in July

If, like me, you prefer the chill of Christmas to the heat of summer, might I suggest celebrating Christmas in July with a stay at the Inn at Christmas Place? They have special activities all month long to celebrate Christmas in July! You can read my The Inn at Christmas Place Review to see what it’s like to stay here. I’ve been fortunate enough to stay here twice and loved it both times! According to their social media, they did some updating at the beginning of 2023, so it should be even nicer there now!

So Much to See and Do in the Great Smoky Mountains

As you can see, there’s lots to do during summer in the Great Smoky Mountains. Did I miss your favorite thing? This concludes my seasonal look at the area series. You can view my other posts with seasonal suggestions here:

Disney100 at Disneyland Resort Review

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Just last week I was lucky enough to experience the Disney100 at Disneyland Resort. That’s the limited time celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company taking place at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California! Take a look at all of the things I was able to experience during this celebration!

Disney100 at Disneyland

Disney100 at Disneyland

If you have plans to visit the Disneyland Resort anytime soon, you can witness a few special limited time entertainment and food options celebrating 100 years of the Walt Disney Company. Here’s a look at what I experienced and my thoughts on the offerings.

Special Decor

Around the resort, you can find several platinum medallions, statues, and banners celebrating Disney100 at Disneyland. The medallions and statues interact with a MagicBand+! The beautiful banners make for unique photos in front of the castle. I also enjoyed seeing the Fab Five in their special outfits with the Disneyland Band on Main Street, U.S.A. Personally, I could have gone for more decor around the parks, but maybe that’s me. I loved seeing the special decor at the Disneyland Hotel and Grand Californian.

Disney100 Fireworks

At the Disneyland park, you can catch the special Disney100 fireworks show on weekends or the special projection show during the week! It’s called Wondrous Journeys and it showcases the past 100 years of films from the Walt Disney Company. I knew I had to see this show when I learned (spoiler alert!) that it featured Baymax flying through the air! He’s faster than you think! My pictures of him are a little blurry, but you can tell what’s happening. I really enjoyed this show. Seeing Baymax along with the blue fairy was the highlight of this day.

World of Color – One

World of Color – One is the special nighttime entertainment at Disney California Adventure park for the 100th. The park’s standard show is World of Color and this has a special twist to celebrate. I booked the World of Color – One dessert party and posted my review of the pricey ($89) experience last week. Click that link to see if I think it’s worth it.

Magic Happens Parade

Technically, the Magic Happens parade premiered right before the pandemic. However, they brought it back to celebrate! I loved this parade! There are so many amazing small details on the floats and on the characters’ costumes! If you have a trip planned, you must catch the parade!

Special Food

A good amount of restaurants have a special dessert or treat just for the celebration. The only one I had the time and stomach space to sample was the lemon chiffon pie from Plaza Inn. I really enjoyed it and would eat it again! It was tart and tasty! It was great for a warm day dessert after the somewhat heavy chicken they serve.

Is It Worth Visiting?

I think it’s a great time to visit the Disneyland Resort. The addition of the decor, entertainment, and food makes for a memorable trip. Plus, you will always know how you celebrated 100 years of the company!

Colonial Williamsburg Food Guide

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One of my favorite parts of a trip is eating! So, here’s my guide to Colonial Williamsburg food! I will provide you with a look at where you should dine and what you should order!

Colonial Williamsburg Food

Colonial Williamsburg Food

Having visited Williamsburg twice now, I’ve been able to enjoy some tasty meals. So, I thought I would share them here as a guide and I will update this post after any future trips. I have to say, I was very impressed with Colonial Williamsburg food and I would go back just to eat there again. Without further ado, here’s my list of places you should eat when you visit!

King’s Arms Tavern

My husband and I had an amazing dinner at King’s Arms Tavern the first night of our trip. We ate by candlelight near a window. It was romantic and had great ambiance. There was even live colonial music being played. Then, we received our delicious food!

The meal starts with some bread and relishes. The ham relish reminded me of a ham salad and was tasty. The corn relish was pretty much just corn. However, they were all a unique way to begin our meal. I had heard many good things about the peanut soup here, so I had to try it. I’m happy to report that it lived up to the hype! It was so good! It was almost like drinking peanuts, but in the best way possible!

For our entrees, I ordered the hunter’s game pie and was pleasantly surprised by how good it tasted. The crust was perfection! The jam added a bit of sweetness to the dish. The different meats went together well. My husband got the smoked golden yard bird, which had a tasty raspberry mustard sauce. My husband really liked it, but he’s a huge fan of mustard sauces. I thought the chicken was juicy and the mustard was tart but not too tart.

We finished dinner with desserts! I got the Jefferson bread pudding with a bourbon custard sauce. It was a really dense piece of bread covered in a creamy sauce! My husband got a slice of the southern pecan pie. I imagine it was more akin to what they had back in colonial times as it wasn’t overly sweet, like most pecan pies. It was more of a spicy pecan pie with a bit of a cinnamon like flavor. It was neat.

Overall, this was a delightful meal and a great way to begin our trip.

Chowning’s Tavern

Technically, we ate this meal at King’s Arms Tavern. However, during the slower season, lunch at King’s Arms is from Chowning’s. This was an equally good meal, albeit a little cheaper with a little less colonial ambiance due to the lack of candle light and music. However, the meal was just as good!

I ordered the onion pie as my entrée here. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it, but I was very pleasantly surprised as it was tasty! The combination of onions, potatoes, and apples made for a slightly sweet meal. The addition of the egg and flaky crust kept it from getting boring.

My husband got the Virginia pork BBQ. Being from southwestern Virginia, we’ve had lots of pork BBQ. This was similar to others we’ve had, but it was still really good. He was happy with his decision and I would consider getting it next time.

Thankfully, after all of that we still had room for dessert! My husband ordered the American Heritage Chocolate Cobbler and it was fantastic! It was sort of like an underbaked brownie. Very chocolatey yet not overly sweet. It was a real treat. However, the main star of this meal for me was the peanut butter pie! I loved the addition of a chocolate ganache and berries on top! I sometimes find myself thinking about this pie and wanting it again. That’s how good it is! I highly recommend trying a piece if you get the chance.

Obviously, this was a fantastic meal. You can see pictures of our food in my Instagram post below.

Christiana Campbell’s Tavern

On a return visit in 2024, my husband and I enjoyed a dinner at Christiana Campbell’s Tavern. Similar to King’s Arms, there’s live colonial music here as well. You also eat by candlelight and it’s very nice. Here, we splurged and started the meal with a bowl of fruit punch. It was tasty. They also brought us a basket of mini sweet potato muffins that were warm and soft. We also got to try spoon bread, which was ok.

Continuing with my pie theme at CW, I ordered more pie here! For my entree, I selected the seafood pie. I was a touch disappointed to discover that they are now taking the shortcut of simply placing a circle of puff pastry on top of things and calling it pie! While it was tasty, I don’t think it qualifies as pie. My husband selected the fried fish and was surprised to discover that it was not de-boned. So, be careful if you pick this one.

For dessert, I got the apple pie. Again, a puff pastry is simply placed on top of the filling. It was an interesting pie as they added something tart to the mix and it’s not a typical apple pie. I preferred and ended up swapping with my husband for his dessert – the trifle of the season.

Overall, this was a very expensive meal. The history and ambiance of the meal made it special. I don’t think I would order the same items again if I were to return. In fact, I think we preferred King’s Arms to this one. That’s not to say it’s bad, the other one just suits our tastes better.

Breakfast

The taverns aren’t open for breakfast. However, if you stay in the area, I recommend walking over to the Williamsburg Inn for a fancy meal at the Terrace and Goodwin’s Rooms. They serve a three course breakfast as well as a Sunday brunch. On the day we dined here in 2023, they had a divine banana smoothie for the amuse-bouche. On a return visit in 2024, they served mini bread puddings for the amuse-bouche.

For the starter course, I selected the bacon and corn griddle cakes. It was a sweet and savory start to the meal. It was unlike any other griddle cakes I’ve ever had. My husband went with the seasonal fruit and was served a variety of berries, grapes, and apple slices.

For the main course, we both ordered the special of the day: biscuits and gravy! The gravy was made with an amazing sausage that provided a unique flavor to the gravy. Again, this was unlike any other breakfast I’ve eaten, but in a good way. Everything was fresh and tasted great!

This was an amazing way to start the day and I wish we had eaten here both mornings of our trip! We tried the breakfast buffet at Traditions at Williamsburg Lodge the other morning of our trip. While it was a more grown-up or classy breakfast buffet, it was still a pretty typical spread of breakfast fare. I don’t even have pictures to share of it. If you are staying at the Lodge, it’s a really convenient option. Otherwise, I recommend going over to the Inn for a much better and unique meal.

Colonial Williamsburg Snacks

We stopped at the Raleigh Tavern Bakery one day to see what kind of food the colonists ate. It’s a very quaint, dimly-lit place with plenty of muffins and some grab and go options. We tried the queen’s cake as we had seen it being made at the palace. It was a very dense, dry bread with some currants. We also tried two muffins. They were tasty but not overly sweet or exciting. It was a neat way to feel old-fashioned but not necessarily the best thing we ate there.

Conclusion

Most of the Colonial Williamsburg food we had was amazing! If you are curious about where to stay when visiting, I recommend staying in a colonial house or tavern room to be as close to the good food as possible!

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Tips

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Now that I’ve been back from this trip for a few months, I thought I would give some Busch Gardens Tampa Bay tips in case anyone else is planning a trip here.

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Tips

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Tips

I previously posted about the Busch Gardens Tampa Animal Tours. So, I won’t go in to as much detail about those tours in this post. This is a general visiting and planning tips post.

  • Choose your hotel wisely. I had initially planned on staying near the park. However, some folks on Reddit made me change my mind. Once my mom and I visited the park, we realized what those people were saying was true. It’s in a safe area, but we much preferred the area near the airport. We ended up staying at the Hyatt House Tampa Airport Hotel and were pleased with that decision. The hotels near the airport were much nicer and it wasn’t too long of a drive/ride over to the park. Understand that it can be quite the drive from Orlando as well.
  • Download the park app and get acquainted with the map. The park no longer gives out maps of the park or a list of entertainment options. So, you will have to use the app to navigate the park. I didn’t realize that a portion of the park was closed and we had to backtrack at one point to get where we wanted to go. I might have known that if I had studied the app’s map a little closer.
  • Ride the train. While you will see lots of beautiful animals on the ride, it will also help you get acquainted with the layout of the park. We wished we had ridden the train earlier in the trip to get a better understanding of the park sooner.
  • Look at the park calendar. You can view the park hours on the website ahead of time. Be sure to look for any special events happening.
  • Book tours ahead of time. Some tours are popular and fill up quickly. Also, be on the lookout for specials to save money!
  • Arrive early. The park gets more crowded as the day goes on.

So, these are my Busch Gardens Tampa Bay tips. Do you have any others?

How to Save Money on a Disney World Trip

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I’ve been lucky enough to travel to Disney theme parks multiple times. So, here are my tips to save money on a Disney World trip!

Save Money on a Walt Disney World Trip

How to Save Money on a Disney World Trip

Most people know how expensive and complicated it can be to plan a Walt Disney World trip. However, not everyone knows these tips to save money on a Disney World trip! This post will be similar to my general theme park saving tips post, but it’s filled with more specific info on WDW. Some of these are super easy to implement, while others may require a few steps. It just depends on your needs and time/money available.

Save on Disney World Rooms

My first piece of advice to someone looking to save is to consult the special offers page on the WDW website. On that page, you can see the official specials Disney is currently offering to entice people to visit during certain times of the year. Years ago, you could count on certain promos running like clockwork. However, since the pandemic, those offers are fewer and far between. Still, it’s best to consult that page as it’s easy to book the promo and save money by just looking at dates in the listed range.

Another way to save on lodging is to rent DVC. DVC is Disney’s timeshare program. So, you are essentially renting someone’s timeshare at a deluxe resort. You can rent from an individual DVC owner directly, which can be cheaper but has more risks involved. Personally, I’ve used the DVC rental program linked above twice without any issues. I stayed at the Polynesian Resort in 2018 and at Old Key West (as seen in my Instagram post below) in 2019 thru them. I also recommend taking a look at their confirmed reservations for an even bigger discount.

You can also save on a room by booking thru a third party website. I used Orbitz back in 2013 to book a room at Pop Century around the busy Christmas holidays because Disney’s site showed no availability.

Both of these options (DVC rental and third party sites) comes with some tradeoffs. For instance, their cancellation policy is typically stricter than Disney. Also, you may not have the option to make payments prior to the trip. You will also have to link your reservation to your Disney account in order to book other things, it won’t automatically link like it does when you book direct.

Lastly, you don’t have to stay on Disney property when you visit. Personally, I enjoy the included free bus transportation to the parks and have never stayed off property. However, I know that there are loads of good neighbor hotels that are usually a good bit cheaper. Some include breakfast and/or a free shuttle. However, word of advice on the free shuttle: most of those are pre-scheduled times, not whenever you want like Disney’s transportation is. Also, taking an Uber/Lyft to/from the parks can eat up savings real quick. You can also rent a house nearby from individuals. There again, consider the transportation costs.

Save on Tickets

I hesitated to include a section on tickets because I don’t have a lot of experience with it. However, I want this to be a complete post. I’ve heard (never used) good things about purchasing discounted tickets from Undercover Tourist. I always just purchase my tickets directly as I tend to book packages and prefer the ease that comes with booking directly.

You may also save on tickets with an annual pass, if they are available. However, passes have gotten so expensive, that it takes more days/trips to make them worth it now. I had one from 2018 to 2020, but then let it go during the pandemic. It was nice to be able to go whenever I wanted and always have a room discount (as well as food/merch discounts).

Save on Food

There are a couple of ways to save money on food. You can save money by cooking meals in the room/house. Generally speaking, quick service restaurants are cheaper than table service. The BBQ pictured below is from a quick service restaurant in Epcot and didn’t require an advanced dining reservation! You can also share some meals (particularly flatbreads) at quick service restaurants. Additionally, Walt Disney World is one of the very few theme parks that allows you to bring in outside food, as long as it’s not in glass containers or requires microwaving/refrigeration.

Save on Souvenirs

While the ShopDisney website does not offer everything you can find in the parks, it does sell quite a few items you may want for your trip. Plus, they offer sales from time to time. Additionally, if you (or your child) won’t know the difference from a Disney plush/shirt/ears to a WDW branded one, you can find Disney branded items at Walmart, Target, and Amazon. Those items are typically much cheaper than what you would find in the parks. However, they won’t say the parks on them.

Save on Gift Cards

This one is a bit more complicated and sometimes not worth it. If you have a Target RedCard, you can save 5% on gift cards, including Disney ones. Then, you can use those gift cards to make payments towards your trip or to buy food/merch in the parks. Personally, I buy my gift cards at Kroger to get Fuel Points and save on gas. You can also earn gift cards on various websites online.

Conclusion

Shew. This is a long post. However, I wanted to provide readers with a detailed list of ways you can save money on a Disney World trip. So, have I missed any tips/tricks you like to use to save?