The Whitakers' February Adventure


We’ve been back from our epic adventure for just over a week and to say that we had a great time would be an understatement! We started our trip with a road trip from San Angelo, Texas to Orlando, Florida! With two little ones we didn’t drive as far as we would have if they were older, but was a good thing! We were able to stop along the way and check out what the local areas had to offer.

We stayed in Beaumont, Texas the first night where we played at a local park and then took in some nature at the Cattail Marsh!


The next day we explore the Pensacola Lighthouse Museum and both Howard and I took on the 177 steps and made it to the top of the lighthouse! It is still a working lighthouse!


We also indulged in our love for history at the Naval Aviation Museum. The museum is full of old planes and if you love history, especially military history, you should check this place out!


Both the lighthouse and museum are located on Naval Air Station Pensacola, but they are open to the general public! (You do not need a military ID to visit.) The museum is also FREE! Who doesn’t love free stuff?!

We also spent a little time at the beach and Bella got to play in the sand for the first time and Christian got to burn off some energy in the sand and the water. We spent the night on base at a cabin with a view of the beach. If you are a military family and want to stay in this area we highly recommend staying at the cabins.


The next morning we finished our drive to Orlando where we met up with family for our Walt Disney World portion of the trip! We had a great time seeing family that we don’t get to see very often and taking in the magic of the Disney World parks! We spent one day at each of the parks as well as our first evening at Disney Springs.

Christian had a great time getting to ride a whole lot of new rides since he had grown A LOT since our last trip! He was able to ride Soarin’, Test Track, Mission Space, Star Tours, Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain for the first time. Bella also had a great time enjoying rides and Disney food.

On the last morning we said goodbye to family and Disney World and made the hour drive to Port Canaveral! 

We spent the next week making memories aboard the Disney Fantasy! It was the first time on the Fantasy for all of us and it has made its way into second place for my favorite Disney ship. (The Wonder will always be number one.)

Our sailing was a Star Wars Day at Sea sailing and Star Wars day was definitely the highlight of the trip. We met a ton of characters, Christian participated in Jedi Training, we all ate way too much food, and watched the Star Wars fireworks at sea.

We also spent a lot of time at the pool throughout the cruise, one day we spent three hours on the pool deck. Bella loved the splash area, Christian LOVED the AquaDuck and the Mickey slide. He also LOVED spending time in the Oceaneer Club and Lab. We all enjoyed a ton of delicious food and family time.

We ship made port in Tortola, B.V.I., St. Thomas, U.S.V.I, and Disney’s Castaway Cay.



As seems to be the case with all good vacations our time on the Fantasy quickly came to an end and it was time to make the trip back home. On the first day we met up with some more family and then spent the night in Tallahassee, Florida.

Our next stop was in Lafayette, Louisiana where we checked out Lake Martin!


We made the trip home take one more day than the trip out and spent a relaxing night a few hours from home
in Texas where we didn’t really do much since most of us were sick.

Now we’re home and can’t wait to share with you all about our trip! We also can’t wait until our next trip next winter.

Are you ready to have your own adventure? I’d be happy to help! Contact me at miriyawhitaker@worldofmagictravel.com for a FREE quote and to get started planning! For more travel information feel free to follow me on Facebook.

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