HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! I am writing to you today from my moms comfy couch and hope you are all enjoying a wonderful day with family and friends!
So what is there to do around the holidays in Central Florida?!
TONS!!!! We have had the best time doing all the fun things here so far. There is always something to do, whether it be at Disney or Universal or just in our little city. Only problem is that you can’t do it all!
4th Of July
Our first holiday here was fourth of July. It was so much fun! The city of Winter Garden had so much to do and the whole downtown area had patriotic decorations up. Felt like the quintessential small town America fourth of July experience!
We started with a free pancake breakfast for the kids at the American Legion on Plant St. They had all kinds of fun things for the kids outside, a band playing and lots of pancakes! The American Legion also hosted the All American Kids Parade that morning. This was really cool! They had booths set up outside with all kinds of patriotic things for the kids to decorate their bikes and scooters with, crazy sunglasses and accessories they could wear and even the police department giving the kids new bike helmets.
The parade started at the American Legion and went down Plant St on one side and up the other. It was so cool to see all the kids in red, white and blue and having fun. People were giving out fans and banners and even some cute patriotic earrings!
Later on there was a huge community festival at Newton Park on Lake Apopka. Live band playing, games and crafts for the kids, food trucks and a really amazing fireworks show! To say a cities firework show could hold a candle to Disney fireworks is saying a lot and these were awesome! They were shot off over the lake and set to music and everyone was just laying on their blankets in the grass watching the showing cheering. A really cool experience!
Halloween
Next up was Halloween and fall in Winter Garden. Of course there is the Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party in Magic Kingdom but we enjoyed all the free things to do in Winter Garden this year! Our downtown area really went all out on decorating.
They have a small green space as your driving into downtown that they made into a jumbo spider infested graveyard! Spooky lights all down the West Orange Trail, Giant talking skeletons outside city hall and even a hay maze with dragons and spiders and skeletons, oh my! Hahaha! All of that culminated with the Halloween Experience downtown where they do a light and projection show on the City Hall building with music, themed bands playing at the gazebo and even a trick or treat for the kids in the local businesses!
On top of that, Thatchers school had a trunk or treat that was “epic” as he said! They had a DJ, food trucks, photo booth and some pretty amazing decorated trunks! The boys had a bast!
There were fall festivals every weekend to one degree or another with food trucks and games and candy and fun! We also visited the Lights on Jeater Bend in Celebration. This is an entire street that goes ALL OUT and allows the public to come walk through and enjoy. They had a foam party going and some of the most amazing decorations I’ve ever seen! Houses had pyrotechnics in the yard and movies playing on the side of the houses, it was crazy! I can’t wait to see it for Christmas. And finally, trick or treating in our neighborhood was pretty spectacular too. There were tons of kids everywhere and lots of great decorations. One house had a full out DJ set up outside, games and a fog machine going!
Thanksgiving & Christmas
And now here we are at Thanksgiving and Christmas! Magic Kingdom has the Very Merry Christmas Party going on and who knows if we will end up getting to go to that but it’s ok if we don’t because there is soooo much to do!
Every one of the parks is beautifully decorated for Christmas, including Disney Springs, Festival of the Holidays starts tomorrow at EPCOT and once again there are tons of things going on in our community! Two weeks ago there was a Health and Harvest festival at the Winter Garden Farmers Market, there is a huge event going on downtown Saturday for small business Saturday and lots of things coming up for Christmas!
We have tickets to the Christmas Spectacular that We Are Winter Garden is putting on in a couple weeks, downtown has Light Up Winter Garden next weekend with a light show on City Hall, beautiful photo spots and decorations, Dickens Carolers, a parade and even a community golf cart parade that we’ve been told is not too miss! The light show and carolers will be downtown every weekend until Christmas.
We can’t wait to enjoy all of this! We have already done the Christmas Tree Stroll in Disney Springs and met Santa there too. Don’t sleep on Disney Springs when you are here over the holidays, especially at night! It’s magical! You can even go over to the Photo Pass Studio and get some family Christmas photos taken. Not to mention all the tasty and beautiful seasonal treats and drinks they have to offer.
Conclusion
Well I guess that’s it for now! I’m going to go enjoy my sweet family and this incredible dinner my mom is cooking that smells soooo good. I am so thankful for all of you reading this and following along on this journey and thankful that when I leave my mamas house I get to go back to my happy place. I hope you are all having the most magical day and THANK YOU!!!