Hey all! Welcome to Cook’s Magical Adventures! We are a Navy family currently stationed in southern Georgia. We became annual passholders within three weeks of moving here. Around ten months into being passholders I (Ashley) decided to try my hand at doing some social media type work based on our adventures (I’ll be starting with blogging, Instagram, Facebook, and vlogging).
I came up with the idea for our name after multiple times of not wanting to tell our kids we were heading to Disney, but instead saying we were having “Adventure Day!” I’m the person most of my friends come to for all things Disney. While I am full of Walt Disney World knowledge, all other Disney things I keep track of a bit, but may not have all the answers. I’m not a travel agent, however I have gone through the same training as many agents do called Disney College of Knowledge because I was an agent for a small time period.
Let’s meet the people you will see or hear from most often!
Ashley
*Mom* MOPS Coordinator *The reason we are stuck being a Disney obsessed family.
My first trip to Walt Disney World I was five years old. My grandparents took myself, parents, two cousins, and their parents on this trip flying out of Chicago. We stayed at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort (which is present day Port Orleans French Quarter). I can say there isn’t a whole lot I remember of that trip, but it was the first of many! We went to Walt Disney World almost every year after that. My more “recent” trips that are still quite fresh in memory (pre-kids) were my 21st birthday in 2010. We stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter (seeing a theme here?). In 2011 my husband and I went on our honeymoon. This particular trip we did not stay on Disney property, but instead were gifted a timeshare from family, so we stayed at Orange Lake (more accurately Holiday Inn Club Vacations Orange Lake Resort Hotel). It wasn’t my husband’s first trip, however it was the first within memory time frame. That was our first and last trip without kids! We went around Easter, had Easter dinner at Via Napoli! It was great!
A bit not so Disney getting to know Ashley time! I’m a stay at home mom of two kids. One is heading to first grade in the fall and the other still has a few more years until he will start school (thanks November birthday!). I am the coordinator of a MOPS (Mother’s of PreschoolerS) group that meets at the amazing church our family attends. I enjoy NASCAR. I’ve been out of the work force for seven years now, but prior to leaving (due to my husband’s first military duty station move) I had worked at JCPenney for six and a half years and The Lego Store for only six months, but it was the best job ever! I miss working there!!! I can’t say I have a whole lot of personal interests. Most of my time is taken up by children, my MOPS group, and our magical adventures (considering it’s a 6+ hour round trip to Disney).
Favorite Park: Hollywood Studios
Favorite Ride: Rockin Rollercoaster
Favorite Restaurant: Narcoossee’s
Favorite Snack: Rice Krispy Treat
Andrew
*Dad* Navy Petty Officer *Goes along with Ashley’s Disney based shenanigans.
Andrew went to Disney once as a small child with basically no memory of the trip. His first real trip was on our honeymoon in 2011, but as stated above, he didn’t stay on Disney property, so it wasn’t as immersive as other trips would be. His first trip staying on property was in 2015 for Belle’s second birthday. We stayed nine days split between All Star Movies and Port Orleans French Quarter (see, Ashley really likes French Quarter). We can’t say he is as obsessed as Ashley and the kids are, but he doesn’t complain. He understands how happy and excited all things Disney makes us, so he goes along with it.
Andrew grew up in Indiana. Ashley and Andrew met at their college in Illinois. Prior to joining the Navy Andrew worked at the college and a gas station. He joined the Navy in 2012. Since joining the navy his service has moved the family to three states, one of those states we’ve been to twice now. He’s currently planning on staying in until retirement. He is fully aware that part of the push for him to stay in revolves around the amazing military discounts Disney offers.
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Ride: Space Mountain
Favorite Restaurant: Yachtsman Steakhouse
Favorite Snack: Cheeseburger Springrolls
Belle
*Daughter* ADHD Princess *Loves that her name is the same as a princess.
Belle is obviously named after Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Her name is not short for anything, it says Belle on her birth certificate. Her first trip was for her first birthday. Unfortunately the navy said Andrew could not go on that trip, so we went with her grandparents (Ashley’s parents). We ended up staying off property (except for the one night Ashley and Belle stayed at Pop Century because they arrived before the grandparents), but it worked out since she was still young we needed lots of mid day breaks and it was nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of Disney property. She has been almost every year, multiple times a year, ever since. The second birthday trip as mentioned above happened and then we went again for a little weekend getaway a few months later for what would end up being the last ever Star Wars weekend! We didn’t enter a park in 2016, but we did make a couple trips to Disney Springs (ultimately how we ended up announcing Belle was going to be a big sister). 2017 we had one trip (that will be explained with Callen). 2018 we became passholders and haven’t looked back!
Belle will be headed to first grade in fall 2019. She was diagnosed with ADHD before her 5th birthday, but as she’s getting a little older we may need to reevaluate that diagnosis and see if there could be a little more to it. This is part of why *most* pictures you see of her or video she’s in she won’t be looking directly at the camera. She loves school. She would love to be friends with EVERYONE! She’s an animal lover. She loves her little brother. Dancing is her favorite. Her first year she did a combination class of ballet, tap, and tumble. We’re not sure what she will decide to do in the fall. If we could go to Disney everyday she would be happy, even if Disney does cause sensory overload for her and kind of sends her into an emotional spiral. Disney is her special place and she’s already scoping out jobs she’d love to have there!
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Ride: Tower of Terror
Favorite Restaurant: Crystal Palace
Favorite Snack: Dole Whip
Callen
*Son* Known as “Mommy’s Wishes Baby” *Disney helps him talk more!
Callen’s first trip was in 2017 at five months old. Andrew said go ahead of book The Grand Floridian (did I mention the military discounts, they’re fantastic and I’ve been spoiled), so I did. We drove 12 hours through the night from Virginia. We arrived around 5am, obviously our room was not ready, but I really just needed to have our dining plan activated for our breakfast at Hollywood Studios. I was told by the front desk Cast Member that she would attempt to find an empty room so we could get a little sleep before heading out for the day. She involved her manager and they magically upgraded us to a theme park view room!!! Now, other than the obvious (THEME PARK VIEW ROOM) why is this so significant and why in the world did you bring a five month old? You see, this trip was 100% because they were getting rid of the nighttime fireworks show Wishes at Magic Kingdom. This trip was my last chance to see them. Ok, but why are they so important? We tried for 18 months to get pregnant with Callen (I know that is so little time to compared to many, and believe me, my heart breaks for you!). Andrew had already moved to Virginia for the Navy while Belle and I had to stay in Georgia just due to our house situation, so she and I spent a lot of random days in Disney. I wished to get pregnant every single time I watched Wishes. Now, am I saying wishing during Wishes made it happen? Absolutely not. But was it nice to have a tangible feeling of Hey I wished for this and now it’s true? YES! Needless to say I watched Wishes every night except for one from our room balcony (yes I know in the park is better, but again five month old, wasn’t feeling it). That is why Callen is known as Mommy’s Wishes Baby.
Callen is two and a half. He hangs out with mommy and our two dogs all day everyday. He has been terrified of water since birth (yep bath time has been a nightmare for over two years) and is occupational therapy in an attempt to get over this issue. It seems to be working. Within the last two weeks we got him to play on the water playground at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, swim in both pools at Poly, enjoy H2O Glow Nites at Typhoon Lagoon, take a bath with laughter, and enjoy our backyard water slide! These are HUGE leaps compared to where we were with him even compared to a month ago. He is also quite speech delayed, so he goes to speech therapy as well (this is why Ashley says her time is taken up by the kids, so many appointments!). It’s funny, once we increased our trips to Disney he started talking more and better! Callen loves animals and his big sister.
Favorite Park: EPCOT
Favorite Ride: The Seas with Nemo & Friends
Favorite Restaurant: ‘Ohana
Favorite Snack: Popcorn
Now you’ve learned a little about us! I can’t wait to start sharing our magical adventures with you all through this blog, vlogging (Youtube channel will be connected once we are set with that), Instagram, and Facebook!
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