As a mom, the closer the time came for Halloween, the more worried I was about taking trick or treating away from my kids. I wasn’t sure what it was going to look like. What houses we would go to, or if anyone would even have their lights on. Anyone else know the feeling?

I knew the best way to distract the boys from not trick-or-treating was to hit the road and find a fun place to stay.

Did I find a new place to explore? Yup!

Did I distract the boys from Covid Halloween? Yup!

Super close to all of our favorite Disney properties, is Fantasy World Resort, in Kissimmee. Think more along the lines of town homes than hotel rooms. Each villa has two bedrooms, two full baths and a kitchen. Everything a family would need for a weekend getaway or an extended stay. Let me highlight the fact there is a washer and dryer, which after our third time to the pool (in one day) came in very handy.

Let me also point out the fact that the boys loved having stairs in their hotel. Isn’t it amazing the things that stick out to little ones.

What we really loved about this property is not only the amenities that go on for days, I’ll get to that in a minute… but that our newest family member ZERO was welcome to stay with us. Remember – he’s our 8 pound mini German Shepard.

Water slides, a walk in pool, kiddie splash pad and last but not least, lazy river. We were very fortunate that the Florida weather played nice and it was a beautiful weekend away.

We spent hours here – most of it in the lazy river. Why don’t more hotels have lazy rivers?

Traveling hint: during the day the water areas were super busy, so we explored the town a bit and Disney Springs (which is free). Both Friday and Saturday night we had the lazy river and pool almost completely to ourselves – it was amazing. For a little more privacy they do have cabanas available for half day and full day rental if you want to make a day of it.

Of course after seeing the map of the property I wanted to go out and explore to see everything there. There were so many activities posted at the pool deck, but make sure to plan out time for all of the other goodies too!

On property there are batting cages, tennis and basketball courts, shuffle board, bocce as well as a mini golf course. Most of the amenities are included with your stay, but double check at check in. Also take a look around for the absolute longest foosball table I have ever seen. No matter what your family is into – they have it there. Or try something new!

Like other properties Fantasy World Resort has a rewards program that is completely free to join. But unlike others, there are no points that need to be accumulated to use. It doesn’t matter if you just joined or if you’ve been a member for a while… everyone gets the perks.

Some of the perks are:

• Arrival Gift – (this changes month to month) Key shaped 16GB Flash Drive
• Two complimentary welcome drinks at Oreo’s Poolside Cafe
• Grab’n Go Complimentary daily Continental Breakfast
• Discounts for local restaurants and entertainment venues

They have also recently installed a dog park. If you are headed out for the day to the pool or possibly Disney, you can take your pup to the park to work out some of their energy. I have to say this is the most animal friendly property we have ever stayed in, and if you are an animal lover there are countless families out walking their dogs along the brick paths.

Zero was just as excited as we were to be there.

They even have two real life animal mascots. I got so excited when I saw Oreo (the cat) walking around property. Almost like a celebrity sighting. I didn’t have my phone with me to snap a picture. I won’t make that mistake again.

So for any of y’all not from Florida… please make sure to watch the water as you are walking to the dog park. There are posted signs about alligators, but I know not everyone fully understands that if there is water, there is a great chance there is a gator there. We saw quite a few bubbles coming to the top of the water, but that could have easily been from turtles too.

While the whole trip was a cover to distract the boys from missing trick-or-treating, Fantasy World resort staff came up with the brilliant idea of creating not one, but two different haunted houses on site.

They say one is a little more tame than the other, but they both scared me. (I scare easily though). The boys went through both of them and honestly it was one of the best parts of Halloween. Forgetting all of the events that have been canceled and just enjoying the scares and screams.

The family haunted house (1st floor) has only animatronic scares – so no one is jumping out at you. They also only allow one family in at a time. Which is great for social distancing, as well as making it a little more creepy because you know you’re the only family in there getting all of the scares.

Let’s just say the haunted house upstairs… well, here’s who greets you – so yeah… good luck with that.

Both haunted houses were awesome… and if you hide behind your 4-year-old, it’s not so bad.

No? Just me? 🙂

They have the haunted houses open until Nov. 14th – so if you aren’t ready for all of the Christmas that’s about to come your way, you can still make a reservation and enjoy the last few frights of the season.

Something else special the resort did (which I wasn’t expecting at all) was to host their very own trick or treating around property. While we didn’t have costumes to wear, the boys though this was even better than trick-or-treating at home because it was almost like a scavenger hunt too.

There was also a pumpkin carving contest in the lobby the weekend we were there, and with so much going on celebrating Halloween… it didn’t feel like we were missing out on anything at all.

If I didn’t point out the amazing staff, I would be missing one of the highlights of our trip. Everyone we saw or talked to was amazing. The staff was friendly, courteous and always had a smile on their face (even under their masks). They made us laugh, scream a little – in the haunted house- and gave out a little extra candy to make sure our Halloween was super special.

We can’t wait to go back — and as my 4-year-old calls it – to the hotel with the stairs and the lazy river.

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