Thinking Of Florida

Hey Guys!


I pray this new week find's you all well in body and spirit, and I thank you for taking the time to join me today on the Preppy Book Princess.


I wanted to step away from bookish content for this post, and instead focus on a place that's come to mean the world to me in the last seven years, and that of course is Florida!


I've been so devastated to see the toll that Hurricane Irma has had all over the Caribbean, and I've definitely been keeping all the victims of this horrible tragedy in my thoughts and prayers.


Normally, September/October would be the time that Neil and I would be journeying down to Orlando, Florida for that year's Disney World vacation, but we had decided at the beginning of this year that we wanted to try a "living below our means" year to pay off some debt, and as such, there would be no Florida vacay this year.


Now, I'm not going to lie and say that I'm not thankful we're not there in the midst of all the heartache and tragedy that's occurring, but I am going to say that my heart is breaking for everyone who's been affected by Hurricane Irma, including my beloved second home of Florida.


For today's post, I wanted to share a few of my favorite pictures from our previous Disney World vacations as I keep everyone down there in my thoughts and prayers!


I grew up going to Disneyland, but had never seen Disney World. After finding out that not only had Neil never seen Disney when we started dating, but that he'd never been anywhere, it was decided that Disney World would be our very first trip together, and that trip happened in August of 2010!

We flew down for 12 nights, and we had such an amazing time :)

I was blown away by the size of the castle, and just how beautiful it was. 

We stayed at Disney's Pop Century Resort, and I completely loved the giant icons that were all around the hotel grounds. 

We also received a discount code for a private photo session, and we were able to get these amazing photos done at Disney's Polynesian resort. I even ended up using some of these in our guest book for our wedding!

We loved our first trip so much, and it was official that Neil had also caught the Disney bug. We headed back in September of 2011 for fourteen nights. This was definitely a fun trip, but was a little different experience for me since I was working on getting my degree through distance education at the time, and actually spent a lot of time catching up on online assignments and homework.

We still made time for plenty of fun though, including discovering a new favorite restaurant at The Garden Grill.

2011 was also the year that I fell completely in love with Hollywood Studios, especially with the Chinese Theatre and the Great Movie Ride. I really hope they opt to keep the theatre and footprints intact, now that the ride has officially closed. 

Lastly, 2011 was our first experience with Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, and this has honestly become our favorite thing to do at Disney World. I love this picture :)

When I look back on previous trips, it's honestly hard for any to measure up to our 2012 trip! After all, that was the year Neil proposed at Cinderella's Royal Table, it was the year I got to stay a couple of nights in the royal guest rooms at Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Resort, and it was the year that our vacation was seventeen days!!!

In 2013 we returned for our honeymoon, and we spent a blissfully amazing fifteen days at Disney's French Quarter Resort~

I loved how this was another trip of firsts for us, and included my first time meeting Mary Poppins, my first time experiencing high tea at the Grand Floridian, and my first time seeing New Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom. 

2014 was unfortunately not the greatest trip experience as I ended up getting rushed in an ambulance to the Florida emergency room, but it was still a trip full of many amazing memories including our first cruise, and getting to meet some amazing characters. 

Lastly, we got to return to our favorite place last year for nine nights, and got to make many new memories in our favorite favorite place.

I hope you guys all enjoyed this trip down memory lane with me today, and I hope you'll all keep the Hurricane Irma victims in your thoughts and prayers!

Stay Safe Everyone who's in one of the states on Hurricane Irma's current path-you'll all be in my prayers!

Thanks so much for joining me today guys, and I'll see you all again on Wednesday!

This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photos were taken by me and/or Disney's Photopass.