HAMILTON! Yes, I Am Totally Obsessed and I want to Help You Plan to See It!

Even though I ended up going the direction of math and science in my education, I pretty much grew up on musical theater. My parents bought us season tickets to the Fox Theater in Atlanta, and we saw the Broadway tour companies come through with all of the big shows. My first ever tape was the cast album of Oklahoma. I practically wore out my Phantom of the Opera two tape set! And I was in every play I could get into put on by my wonderful local director David Beck. It was very much a part of my entire upbringing.

Fast forward to the massive hit to redefine Broadway hits--Hamilton! (I added the !, because that's how I say it!). The original cast was performing in New York before was ready and able to leave the boys. But this May, when the owner of my travel agency asked me if I wanted to do a one day training on Adventures by Disney in NYC, I said yes immediately. And since the Disney folks highly recommended that you get to New York the day before the training, that left me with an entire evening all by myself in the Big Apple. It didn't take too much discussion for me to grab up a ticket to Hamilton. 

This was me packing for NYC--but really, I wasn't checking that beauty. Carry on all the way for that precious piece of paper!

So, first, before I tell you how incredibly mind-blowing/incredible/amazing the show actually was, I'll fill you how I got my tickets. Because it was pretty last minute, I bought it resale on Ticketmaster. It was a mark up, but not a terrible one, really. I have bought other shows on StubHub too, but I was just too nervous about this "investment" to do anything except a direct resale ticket. If you can plan far enough in advance, you can get your hands on them at face value. You can also enter the lottery, which is front row for $10 each. We do have New York friends who enter literally every day, and they haven't won yet. I wasn't willing to put my faith in anything other than having a ticket in my hands when I went. You can also wait in the cancellation line before the show to buy tickets, and that certainly can work! If you have the time and not the cash for a last minute ticket, that's totally a good option too! 

The show itself is at the Richard Rodgers Theater, and for that trip I was staying just a few blocks away, so it was an easy walk (or really skip) over into the theater. A few people asked me if I went alone--you bet I did!

 And it totally didn't matter. I was sitting at the edge of my seat and everyone in the audience was FIRED up! There was a ton of cheering, yelling, laughing, and generally just being totally into the show. My only complaint is that it goes TOO FAST. It was probably the fastest three hours of my life. I mean for real--how do other hours go by so slowly compared to those hours?! It's hard for me to actually review something this great. People with much better words than me have done it. All I can honestly and truly say is that it lives up to all the hype. It is smart, funny, emotional, creative, fun, thoughtful, and fascinating. I don't have the adjectives to describe it....

So all that leads to saying that I had to see it again! It went to fast. I couldn't take it all in! My wonderful mom offered to keep our boys for a long weekend for George and I to celebrate our 10th anniversary. It was the first time we have both left them overnight. We tossed around a bunch of ideas of places we wanted to go. I "casually" threw out that it would be fun to go to New York to go see Hamilton. George loves history and hip hop. It was pretty much a no-brainer ;-). Every other idea seemed pretty lame after that idea. So, then the obsessing over hotel, plane tickets, and theater tickets began, because that's how I roll (and why I am a travel agent now!). 

I had read most of the book Hamilton by Ron Chernow before my first trip to see the show. The play is based on this book, so I had to buy one for George too--this was our only twinning this weekend!

For this trip, we decided to stay in Soho to be farther south closer to the action from the time period of Hamilton (and to be closer to Ansel Dominique bakery!).

One of the main lessons I have learned as a travel agent is that it is my job to design the vacation that works for YOU and not the one that works for me. For me, we like to GO. Our vacations are exhausting. We have always crammed in as much as possible. I plan lots of different styles of travel for people, but this trip was a reminder of what I really love--going and doing tons! 

One of the things we did was a walking tour about Hamilton and Burr. We went with Patriot Tours, and she was just fantastic. She was informative, and interesting, and I would reccomend these tours to anyone!

 On the the show! It was so fun to see it again--live theater is always different, and that is exciting to watch. I also felt like I could actually relax a little and just take it in this time. George on the other hand kept saying "I wish it would slow down!" during intermission! I know how you feel, man.

We got "Rise up Rye" which actually benefits the foundation started by Eliza Hamilton and The Federalist red to drink! We just couldn't resist--it's like the adult version of getting light up toys at Disney World for the fireworks!

 At dinner at Balthazar after the show, George kept saying..."I just feel like I need to say it again." And because I can't keep a secret, or because he is persistent, I spilled the beans that I already have tickets for us to go when we are in Chicago for him to run the marathon in October! I can't wait to see a different cast perform. And you KNOW we are going to get our little hands on some tickets when it comes to Atlanta next year!

So, if you are looking for a Hamilton fix and can't go yet, you can totally listen to the cast album (it's playing pretty much on loop at our house), or read the show book too! I know that people probably feel differently about this, but I would really reccomend doing your reading/listening before you go see the show. It is so dense with words and meaning, that I really felt like knowing the history and being comfortable with the lyrics ahead of time helped me get more from the show itself. I'm sure some people would rather be surprised by it all, but I didn't want to feel like I didn't know what was going on. Lin Manuel Miranda crammed in SO much meaning into each of the lines of the show, that I didn't want to miss it!

Is this a travel agent post--probably not. Did I just want to write about Hamilton, and I have a blog going right now? Pretty much!

But really, if you have questions about Hamilton, or if you want help picking a hotel in New York or Chicago to see it, you know I would enthusiastically help you! My help is totally free to you! Just shoot me an email at kacietravelplanner@gmail.com and I would be happy to help you plan a trip that fits you! I'll be waiting to hear from you :-)

Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa

I was lucky enough to stay at the Grand Floridian in Disney World for our spring break trip in March. It quickly became my very favorite Disney World Resort. I have since had clients visit and really enjoy this property as well, so I thought I would share some pictures and reasons why I love it!


The Grand Floridian is the flagship resort in Disney World. It is located on the monorail across the Seven Seas Lagoon from the Magic Kingdom.

Transportation is one of the main reasons that people stay here. You can take the monorail or a boat to the Magic Kingdom. If you want to go to Epcot, you take two monorail rides. To get to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood studios, you take a bus.

It is a fairly small resort, so any building is a good location!

Our room had two queen beds, and a beautiful porch overlooking the pool. The boys always like when mousekeeping does fun things with their blankets and toys! Our room was technically a "standard view" room. The above picture was from our porch though! There are no parking lot views at the GF, and we could actually watch the fireworks from our room! It doesn't get much better than that!

One of my favorite parts of the Grand Floridian are the flowers! There are flower arrangements inside that are just spectacular. I know this is a strange thing to list as my favorite part of the resort, but it just made me so happy to see these flowers everywhere we went!

The flowers outside are simply gorgeous too! They are everywhere, and they are dense. They just put a little skip in my step every time I see them!

The pools at the GF are fantastic.  There is a 24 hour pool with these fun splashy things (that's a real word for sure).

I didn't take a picture of the main pool, but it does have a great slide. We also enjoyed the awesome splash playground! Note the monorail going by in the back! So fun!

Dining at the GF is absolutely amazing. Starting from the quick service all the way up! The quick service is called the Gasparilla Grill. This is where you go to grab an easy meal and fill your refillable mugs. I loved the mahi mahi rueben and at it many times on the trip! There is also a pool bar by the 24 hour pool, and a walk up counter (with lobster sliders!) at the main pool.

There is character dining at 1900 Park Fare. For breakfast, they have Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Alice, Mad Hatter, and Mary Poppins. At dinner they have Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Stepsisters, and Lady Tremaine. I honestly thing the food at this character meal is one of the best. I mean, they have red velvet pancakes. What else could a person want or need?

There is another table service dining location called the Grand Floridian Cafe. We meant to make it here on this trip, but, well, we weren't hungry!

There are two lounges where you can grab a quick drink and some great light fare--the Citricos Lounge and Mizner's.  There is live music playing outside of the Mizner's loung in the afternoon and evening that just makes the lobby of the GF magical.

Moving up from there, there are two signature restaurants and one that isn't on the dining plan. Narcoossees is situated alone on top of the Seven Seas Lagoon. That means you can overlook the Magic Kingdom, the monorail, and all of the ferries going by. It is a gorgeous location. They also have a Sunday brunch, which we tried out with the boys. The food was spectacular! Also, George got this hilarious bloody mary that was probably enough food for breakfast just with the add ons!

Citricos is inside the main building, and the fare there is lovely. The final dining location inside GF is Victoria and Alberts. This is the only dining location on property with a true dress code and age limit. It is absolutely fine dining, and you should expect to spend a lot of time (and even more money) on the experience. We honestly feel that we can bring our (crazy) little boys to any location for dining on Disney property, but this is the one exception. If you did want to have this experience, and your children are with you on vacation, you can always take them to one of the kids clubs (the closest would be Lilo's Playhouse) or if they are under three, you can call the in-room babysitting line too!

There are other really fun extras inside the GF! On most days in the afternoon, Cinderella and Prince Charming coming out and walk with the children to the lobby.

They have a dance and take a few pictures. At christmas time, they build a life-sized gingerbread house in the lobby. At Easter, the lobby is decorated with Easter Eggs made by the pastry chefs on property. The extra touches just make it even better! I love the sweet Disney nods on the floor!

I hope that this helps folks considering a stay at the Grand Floridian. We loved it, and honestly can't wait until we plan our next trip! If you want any help (and free help!) planning your next vacation, send me an email at kacietravelplanner@gmail.com :-)