choosing disney over other vacations

 I get that its a money commitment and thats BIG. We all know theme parks are pricey but the best ones are always going to be even more. So having a plan and sticking to a budget helped us make our Disney dreams come true. 

 For all those non Disney enthusiasts out there (whyyyyy) I'm going to tell you why it's not that bad. First off, its by far the cleanest park I've ever been to. I'm all about clean bathrooms and restaurants too. Secondly, the lines aren't that awful-- if you plan ahead with fast passes and have the app you won't wait in line but 15 minutes for rides. And I have some good ideas for things for the kids to do in those in-between times: like play-doh works wonders, or the Heads Up! App is awesome. You can def pack small things for them to focus on instead of the wait. And always plan ahead for restaurants. That really made our trip. I had it mapped out where we would stop for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and could tell my husband up front what to expect for the wait and menu. Be a true wizard and know it all ;)

I also think the thing I didn't like of everything was the buses. Yes they weren't awful and the wait times varied ALOT but I would choose a resort with a monorail. It's worth it in my opinion. As far as hacks by park I'll leave that to another post. But seriously think of giving Disney a chance-- the staff is helpful and the rides are worth the money. What are some other things you want to know about Disney to make your trip even better??

when in disney

I honestly don't know where to start with Disney. It was everything I thought it would be and I feel like all my planning paid off ten fold. I had a wonderful travel agent named Lori Beachley from Hi Ho Travel and she somehow never got sick of my endless questions and changes. We spent 3 days at Magic Kingdom, 2 days at Epcot, 1 day at Hollywood Studios, 1 day at Animal Kingdom, and 1 day at [Universal] which is a whole different thing together (can we all scream HARRY POTTER!). We stayed at Art of Animation because how could we not stay in a little mermaid room with the biggest little mermaid fan kid on the planet. But we did visit lots of other resorts for dinners. I especially loved the Grand Floridian (which we would def stay at if we went again, wink wink husband) and we did plenty of character meals. I will probably just post 35658 posts about disney since I have SO MANY PHOTOS TO SHARE! This was literally just the first two days. I don't know how to choose favorites so I overshare y'all. 

the fairytale ball columbus

If you haven't met my two girls, they are Disney obsessed. I think meeting princesses is high on the list of awesome for them. It's so much magic to be able to create moments like that in their childhood too. When I was asked to photograph the princess fairytale ball in Columbus I was obviously so excited! Pretty Princess Parties visited from Minnesota and they rocked Columbus:

Doing event photography is a lot of mixed lighting situations and emotions are high usually. It's comparable to a wedding reception. I love capturing all these lifestyle photos full of joy. The expressions of all the girls was so delightful. How could you not scroll through and love every single one? Try it, you can't. I want to add that you can even spot me in one of the photos with Ariel and my own daughter (we got to attend the last session & she's our absolute favorite). We enjoyed getting to meet all the energetic girls and LOVED all the singing (those girls can sing y'all!)! And if you missed it in COLUMBUS, later in the winter they are doing another fairytale ball in CLEVELAND!