Christmas at the Princess in Scottsdale!

 

For the last few years, I've wanted to visit the Christmas event they host at the Princess hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona. This year we were finally able to make it over to the event & sadly I have a bit of mixed feelings about the event. Everyone will have a different experience at events like this, and this is just our own personal experience. Christmas at the Princess is hosted at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess hotel. Tickets for the event for general admission are $35 per person, plus you'll need to pay $35 for parking. 

I always like to include as much helpful information in my posts as I can so that anyone looking to attend & have questions know what they are getting themselves into. This experience just like others have positives & negatives, unfortunately for what was included in this experience I felt like it was overpriced. For example, several other Christmas destinations in Arizona include a meet & greet with Santa along with one photo. At the Princess it is an additional $50 to take a photo with Santa, or if you really want to go all out you can purchase a personal experience with Santa for $500. 

So, let's start off on the positives of our visit to Christmas at the Princess. I really loved the light display that is in the back over the water. They did a fantastic job with the set up both with the lights and the music that played during each show. I also enjoyed the giant Christmas tree when you first walk into the main center area. They did a great job over all with the light displays throughout the property. They had fun characters walking around & taking photos with guests like the Snow Princess or a giant penguin, plus there were lots of cute photo opportunity spots around the property. Smaller children were able to write a letter to Santa & drop it into the mailbox to the North Pole. Thankfully the Ferris wheel & train ride are included in the admission cost however be prepared for a long wait. There is also a small carnival style area with a few rides for small children, I'd say ages 2-6 would be the best for the rides.

Now we have to dive into the negatives. The train ride is included with admission as mentioned above, but it was a big ole let down. On their website it states the train goes through a "17-foot-long infinity tunnel", I am not sure what they consider an "infinity tunnel" but we went through no such thing during the ride. Unless they consider the bit behind the water light display the tunnel then there is no tunnel & when we went behind the display out in the water it was all off because it was during a countdown for one of the shows. On the way back the show was going on, but we were on the back side of the displays, so everything was still off in that section. It didn't offer a look at anything different than you could see on foot. We stood in line for over an HOUR just to find out we had already seen everything on foot. Plus, the whole train ride only lasted 5 minutes. You may also run the possibility of all being smashed onto one seat on the train per group. We didn't bother getting on the Ferris wheel even though we wanted to because the line was huge, other people were talking about having to wait in line for one to two hours to get on it. It is still early in the season & from what someone in the train ride mentioned is that it gets even busier the closer you get to Christmas which means the lines will be even longer.

The ice den area is an additional $20 per person to see. It was also kind of difficult to navigate to some of the areas as there wasn't a ton of signage and even with a map things were set up kind of oddly. All in all, it felt like you spent $35 per person mostly just to look at lights. There were a lot of unhappy people in the line for the train talking about the experience, so I know we weren't the only ones who weren't completely satisfied with our experience. For some reason they only have a few google reviews up for this event even though it has been happening for years, they eight reviews that are currently up are a mixture of people who enjoyed it plus 1 & 2 stars from people who didn't like it at all.

There is room for improvement though so hopefully moving forward they change a few things to make it a little more guest friendly! 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. (Click on the name or locate it on the right-hand side of my page).

★ This is not a sponsored post, we paid for this on our own. I enjoy sharing new places we explore with my followers.

Game Show Battle Rooms - Scottsdale!

Game Show Battle Rooms now has a second location in Arizona located over in Scottsdale near the 101 & Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. The new location is located at 15040 N. Northsight Blvd Suite 102 Scottsdale,AZ 85260. You'll experience a brand new location, but the same games you know and love. If you love game shows & have thought to yourself "I wonder what it's like to be on a game show" or "Wow! I'd really love to be on a game show one day", then this is the spot for you! Game Show Battle room puts you into the action and makes you feel like you are on a live game show minus a bunch of cameras in your face or studio audience. You can of course be filming your own session here if you want to have every moment captured! I know we always catch some great moments to remember when we are here. 

The last time we visited the Chandler location we did the Classic Show down challenge, so this time around we decided to go with the Prime Time Show down.   The Prime Time Show down features survey battles, match up wars & Time rush games. The Survey Battles is just like on Family Feud, you'll be presented with a question & will need to guess the top four answers. You can work together as a team to determine what might be on the board & I can tell you that the answers aren't always what you think they will be. There was a question or two that left everyone a bit stumped just because there were so many things that could fill in the blank. 

During Match up wars, one person from each team will go up & sit in chairs in the middle of the room. They will be given a word or phrase which contains a blank spot they will need to fill in, they will do so by writing their answer down on a white board. While they are writing their own answers down, the rest of their teams will be writing down what they think that person will put. Then after the answers are revealed each team will win a point for everyone who matched the answer. This spot is great for a adventure with just the adults or if can be kid friendly as well! Every game played will have different quiz answers and puzzles so it is easy to ask for a more child friendly game vs some of the more adult themed questions. Every parent has a different level of comfort so whether you ask for that or not is completely up to you! My kids are eleven and fifteen, they've both heard cursing plenty of times so we don't mind them hearing them. Our game show hosts did ask before hand if it was alright to have questions that could get naughty, for example one of the questions was "Holy ___" which depending on who was up could have been Holy Cow, Holy Moley, and even Holy Shit which of course was what everyone put aside from our friend who put "Holy Diver" after the Dio song. Each time a team wins a round of Match up wars you get to place either a "X" or "O" on a giant Tic-Tac-Toe board & the team who completes three in a row first wins. 

Last but not least you'll compete in the Time Rush Games. If you've ever watched Minute to Win It, the games played during this are similar & based of skills rather than knowing the answer to a question. There will be games such as tossing bean bags, shooting darts, or flipping buckets to gain points and take your team to victory. We stayed on the same teams we had the first time around so that we could keep the rivalry going, this time around team X Force won! The Iron Maidens came in a close second though. 

Each game show slot last for one hour & is $39.95 per person. Before you start your show time, there are non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks available for purchase at the front. As soon as your game show session is over, you'll be ready to come back for another! It is a complete blast, you'll be sure to laugh so hard you might cry, and your group will be talking about it for weeks afterward. Our game show hosts have been amazing at both locations, I think they all do a fantastic job at making sure you & your group are not only comfortable, but having a great time as well. 

If you pop over to my Instagram page, you can find a reel with some footage from our game together! 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. (Click on the name or locate it on the right-hand side of my page).

Disclaimer-  Game Show Battle Rooms provided this experience to us for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Pinners Conference AZ 2024!

 

I recently had the chance to attend my first ever Pinners Conference here in AZ & It was a lot of fun! This conference is a two day event that is perfect for anyone who loves DIY and learning new hobbies/crafts. Between the 100+ classes available and dozens of shops selling take home do it yourself kits, you are sure to find something to keep your hands busy and happy. They sell different ticket levels that range from just visiting the vendor alley to tickets that include classes with prices ranging from $12 all the way up to $199 for a VIP pass. 

The classes they offer cover so many different topics & hobbies ranging from how to do your makeup or creating bath bombs from scratch to baking bread, sewing a bag or creating a handmade cutting board. You can choose to just sit in on the class or many of the classes offer kits you can purchase to follow along with & complete or take home and create at your own pace. I think they did a fabulous job setting up all of the different class room areas & crafting sections like the sewing room or the painting area. Everything was separated & organized well, that way no one was left trying to find the right area. 

Vendor wise, there were over three hundred booths set up! So you could shop till you dropped. The vendor area was a great spot to not only shop for DIY kits & goodies for yourself, but it was also a great spot to look for a few early holiday gifts. We loved that they had just about everything including clothing, pet treats, food/drinks, tools, jewelry & home goods. Even if you visit just to check out the shops, you will have a great time interacting with everyone while shopping & are still likely to spend at least two hours at the event. 

While browsing the shops many of the food & drink booths had samples they were giving out. So you were able to try out some caramels, some pretzel/chip dips, hummus, energy drinks, teas and more. Beauty wise there were samples of vitamins, lotions you could smell or try on your hands and some booths have mini samples you could take home. If you were hungry & wanted a bigger meal than the samples offered at the booths the event had two food trucks outside plus there were actual food vendors inside offering things like coffee & chocolate covered strawberries on a stick. 

I also liked that many of the booths who offered DIY take home kits also had small tables set up in the middle of the vendors area where you could work on your kit if you wished. For example one of the booths had unpainted wood kits to make your own signs, ornaments, etc that just needed to be glued together and painted. So you would find a few round tables just a few feet away from their booth that included the glue needed to connect everything plus a large assortment of paints and brushes for you to use. 

The event was family friendly! We went on a Friday & I honestly didn't think it would be as busy as Saturday would have been, but I heard a lot of people at the event talking about how they took the day off to attend. Even though there were a ton of people, the flow of traffic in the building went smoothly & quickly with no issues due to how everything was laid out. The Pinners Conference is hosted in Arizona, California, Utah, Texas, Kansas & Georgia. Keep an eye out for the event again next year! 

What kind of classes would you want to take?

Disclaimer- Thickets to the event mentioned above were provided by The Pinners Conference for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Enchant Christmas a family friendly holiday event!

 

One of my favorite parts about the holidays, has always been going to see holiday lights. Every year we go to see the houses in our city that go all out & we also like visiting family friendly Christmas events that offer large light displays. This year was the first year we were able to visit Enchant Christmas & it was lovely. What does Enchant have to offer? Enchant Christmas sets up a large light maze that you & your family can wander through while looking for a number of large light sculptures that are part of a scavenger hunt along with other festive offerings. Keep reading to find out what else you will find at Enchant Christmas. I enjoyed walking around the maze with my family and it was nice that the weather is finally starting to actually be chilly during the day/night so it is finally feeling like winter. Viewing all of the shops was fun as well, everything felt very festive, cozy, inviting & family friendly. Food wise it ranged from tacos, to waffles and desserts like cheese cake on a stick and freshly made donuts. The Christmas tree located in the middle of the maze is massive! You can see it lit up from outside of the venue for a mile or two.

Along with the light maze you will find holiday lights all around the venue & pathways leading up to the venue. Next to the light maze is a ice skating rink that is also lit up! All of the staff members have festive outfits on & are all very friendly. Along with the normal staff positioned around the venue you will also find some performers such as stilt walkers which are fun for all ages to see. The maze was actually pretty large, we enjoyed exploring the area and finding the sculptures along with all of the cute photo opportunity spots they had available. We went later in the evening & were lucky enough that it wasn't completely packed, they have time slots available for tickets & only sell a certain amount per time slot to help prevent it from becoming over-crowded. Before entering the maze you will be handed a scratcher card so you can scratch off the lighted sculptures as you find them, it is a great activity for kids & is even fun for adults. On your way out there is a helper passing out chocolate & there are mail boxes you can place your finished scratcher cards in. 

The Scottsdale Enchant location is located at the Salt River Fields & the way they have it set up is that the maze + ice rink are located in the lower field. There are ramps available for strollers & wheelchairs to make it easier to get down to the lights. Along the upper level of the stadium you'll find "The Village" which is an assortment of shopping vendors along with drink booths, food & of course candy. If you want an extra souvenir to take home they have cocktails + mocktails in cute light up lightbulb shaped bottles, or you can opt for a regular souvenir and buy a magnet, shirt, etc. with the Enchant logo on it. There are also other holiday gifts available from the small shops that have set up including ornaments, hats, jewelry & more.  There is even a small pop-up Build-a-bear station! 

There are also two areas for families with small children. One is called Santa's Landing where you will find Santa for your children to visit, you can take photos yourself or a professional photographer will be on site to snap some photos. The second area is the Little elves play place, where children ages 0-7 can sit down & enjoy Mrs. Clause reading them a story + other activities. Between browsing shops, getting hot chocolate and exploring the light maze we were there for just over an hour. 

How much are tickets? Tickets are $35 per adult & $25.50 for children, infants 0-2 get in for free. If you look at their ticket bundle section they have a family four pack of tickets for $95.20 which will help you save some money if you are buying four or more tickets. They have two parking options when you are checking out they have a Valet service or regular parking, we didn't pre-purchase parking online but when we arrived the staff told us that parking was already included in our tickets so they just had to scan our ticket code & we were set. Ice Skating is an additional cost & needs to be purchased prior to arriving to ensure you can get a spot. 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" (Click or locate it on the right-hand side of my page) section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. 

Disclaimer- Enchant Christmas provided passes for the event for this review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Az Staycation at SpringHills Suites.

 

Recently my mom, my daughter & I decided to have a girl's staycation to have a day where just the three of us could spend together. We wanted to find a hotel that was near some of the spots we wanted to visit, didn't break the budget, had a pool & possibly had breakfast included. I ended up finding a great deal on a room that was perfect for the three of us at a hotel called SpringHill Suites Scottsdale North. This post is not sponsored, we paid for this ourselves, I just wanted to share this great hotel with others in our area or even anyone traveling to Scottsdale/Phoenix that is looking for an affordable hotel. It is located in North Scottsdale just south of Scottsdale Road & the 101 freeway.

The room included two queen sized beds along with a sleeper sofa. The hotel room had quite a bit of space; it was essentially two rooms along with a bathroom & vanity space. The first half of the room contained a small office space + kitchen nook which had a desk, desk chair, mini fridge, microwave and coffee pot, it also had the 'living room' area where the sleeper sofa was located plus a ottoman & big screen TV. The back half of the room contained both the queen-sized beds, a closet area to hang up clothing + a safe and another big screen TV. In addition, there was the vanity area plus the bathroom that was spacious with a large step in shower. 

The shower was nice, it had a multifunction shower head. This hotel aims to be more eco-friendly so instead of having small travel sized toiletries in the bathroom they have shampoo, conditioner & body wash secured to the shower wall which get refilled after guests have visited. I really liked the scent of the body wash it was a mixture of lavender and eucalyptus. The only thing I didn't like about the shower was the weird metal bar they had as a drain, it made such an odd sound when the water hit it and you could hear it in the room itself when someone was in the shower. The beds were comfortable as was the sofa and sofa bed, the room in general was very relaxing & no one felt cramped. We even had a friend of mine stop by and when she was there everyone had plenty of space and somewhere to sit. 

I also liked that the pool was open late (until 11pm) as we were able to relax for a little while after having dinner before getting in the pool. The pool was quiet, when we went down there was only one other family who was in the hot tub at the time. The other family left after a little while, so we had the pool and hot tub to ourselves. The pool area was nice, it was well kept & had plenty of chairs and tables for everyone. I wouldn't consider their pool towels actual pool towels though, they didn't have any out at the pool so we asked the front desk for three pool towels. We were provided with two towels that were smaller than the towels in the bathroom of our room & one hand towel. 

The breakfast they offered was great, they had a wide selection to choose from which included an oatmeal bar, build your own waffle, cereal, bagels and more. It was filling & everything was fantastic. Both our check in & check out went quickly and smooth. So how much did a night run? I found a deal to get the room for $98 per night, with taxes along with a parking pass (they require you to buy one to park on the property) the room came to about $120. Considering you save a decent amount of $$ by not buying breakfast for everyone in the room, that isn't a bad deal. We also liked that it was close to shopping plus a variety of restaurants along with fun things to do. 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. 

Odysea Aquarium in Scottsdale!

 

If you are looking for a fun family activity to do that will keep you in doors and out of the bad weather outside, an aquarium is always a great option to visit together. My family & I recently paid a visit to the Odysea Aquarium located at the Arizona Boardwalk in Scottsdale to explore & watch the fish. What sets this aquarium apart from others I've visited? This located is two stories tall, it has a room that rotates 360 degrees stopping at different tanks along the way, they have a downstairs bathroom that has Sharks on display & more. I have a video up over on my IG of their shark bathroom if you want to check it out for yourself. To make the day even more of an adventure they have several experiences you can purchase in addition to your aquarium entry ticket such as a penguin experience or scuba diving into one of their tanks. 

Depending on how much time you spend at each tank or if you stop to do one of the add ons they have available you should expect to spend about one and a half to three hours at the aquarium. This time around we didn't do any of the extras & we spent about an hour and a half here before making our way to our next adventure. Everything is set up to make the aquarium easy to navigate on your own, it was structured to create a nice flow in visitors from start to finish while still being able to see everything they have to offer. It is very wheelchair friendly & also stroller friendly so don't be afraid to bring them with you if you need to. 

I like the assortment of animals they have at the aquarium; it isn't just fish you'll be seeing. They also have a sloth, birds, otters, and penguins to see on your trip through the aquarium. My personal favorite spot aside from seeing the adorable otters and the sloth, is the touching pool. They have a small assortment of creatures you are able to touch after washing your hands. It is fun feeling the differences between them all & being able to touch SeaLife you may not have an opportunity to otherwise such as starfish. They also have a sting ray touching area, however in that section we generally find they mostly like to swim around as they aren't being fed there isn't a huge reason for them to want to come up to be touched. If they added in a feeding option, I would 100% pay to feed them as an additional cost. 

There are a lot of fantastic fish & tanks to see when you are visiting. It is crazy just how large some of the tanks are, it is astounding to see all of the fish & the size of some of the sharks and other marine life that lives at this aquarium. All of the fish & animals we seen while on our trip looked healthy & well taken care of and the tanks were quite clean. We had a great time on our visit, it was a nice stroll looking at all of the fish. Some of the spots you could sit & watch for hours, such as the clown fish tank shown below. I love the assortment of colors the clown fish come in & there are dozens of them in this tank together swimming around. 

What do you think would be your favorite part of visiting this aquarium?

Tickets for the aquarium are $44.95 per adult & $34.95 for children, they have an option where you can save 30% if you visit after 4:30pm. There are also bundle options with the other attractions at the boardwalk which can help you save on your tickets. The experiences all range in price. Food wise they have a Starbucks near the touching pools which is usually a pretty popular spot for visitors to stop and take a break. 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. 

Disclaimer- Tickets to the center + exhibit mentioned above were provided by The Arizona Boardwalk + Odysea Aquarium for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.