Chelsea Zmudzinski, CTA
Interests & Specialties
Chelsea is new to Central Travel but comes with 3 years of industry experience and many years of fun travel adventures. Her interests and specialties include; Active & Adventure Travel, All-Inclusive Resorts, Beach/Sun, Couples only, Cruises (Ocean), Cruises (River), Cruises (Small Ships), Custom Vacations, Disney, Family, Guided Vacations, Art & History, Honeymoon/Romance, Hotel & Resort Getaways and Luxury Travel.
Chelsea is located in the Monroe St. office in Sylvania, OH. Her direct line is 567 218-1287 and email is chelsea@centraltravel.com.
Expert Bio
Chelsea is very interested in art & history. Her two favorite places are Florence and Barcelona. She enjoys finding off the beaten path thangs to do as well as visiting the main attractions. Chelsea has completed the Signature Travel Expert course and has the following industry credentials; Royal Caribbean Master of Adventure Certificate, AmaWaterways Specialist, Disney College of Knowledge, Universal Orlando Specialist, Universal Hollywood Specialist, Princess Cruises Commodore, Sandals Specialist, NCL University Master's Degree, Viking Academy, Blobus Family of Brands and Rocky Mountaineer Specialist. Her product expertise includes; Adventures by Disney®, Disney Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line®, Princess Cruises®, Rocky Mountaineer , Royal Caribbean International®, Walt Disney Travel Co. - California and Walt Disney Travel Co., Inc - Florida.
MY ADVENTURES
I traveled with my husband, four kids ages 6,8,10, and 10. My family of five stayed at Art of Animation in the Finding Nemo family suite. The size with the little kids was nice there was a master suite with its own private bathroom with a walk in shower. The main area had a dining table that folded down to a bed and the couch also was a bed. The main bathroom had a sink/vanity area separate from the bathing/toilet are which was nice for us when so many people are trying to get ready at one time. I will say this room is great for families with little kids like ours but for teenagers or adults it could become cramped.
We did all four parks in four days with no hopper and we added the Disney Dining Plan with Memory Maker. While the crowd calendars have been pretty accurate years past this was not the case for our trip. We specifically chose to go this week because it was supposed to be one of the slowest weeks of the year. Not only was it busy but at Hollywood Studios it was one of the busiest days they have had so far this year.
Day one at Hollywood Studios we went in a little after gates open and went right to Star Wars Rise of the Resistance and waited an hour and I am glad we did because that line only got longer the further in to the day upwards of two hours. We also waited an hour and a half for Slinky Dog and an hour for Rock n Roller Coaster that ended up breaking down while my husband and I were on it and they had to evacuate us off of it halfway through the ride. Even though this was not ideal I was very excited to get to see this side of Disney. The one thing we did that was my favorite part of this day was we ate at Roundup Rodeo - it is a Toy Story themed family style barbecue. Throughout the meal everyone freezes when you hear Andy walking in to the room and it was so much fun and our kids just loved it.
Magic Kingdom was our day two and we got a Lightning Lane Multi Pass for this day so we were guaranteed to ride the new Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Now I did our Lightning Lane seven days in advance we still got a ride time of 9:55pm for this ride. With the lightning lane I highly recommend to strategically make your reservations in a specific route or you will be going from one side of the park to the other all day and it can be exhausting
On day three we went to Animal Kingdom. Due to rain we did inside things. We ended up going in to It’s Tough to Be a Bug. The show is fun and really cool for anyone that can handle all the sights and sounds.
Our last day we went to Epcot - there is so much to see and do! The new Moana area Journey of Water is such an incredible interactive area for everyone. The whole exhibit is different ways to interact with water and how water has different appearances like mist, ice, waterfalls, etc.
Places we ate were O’Hana, Roundup Rodeo, Chef Mickey’s, T-Rex Café, and several quick service restaurants. Aside from Roundup Rodeo being awesome, O’hana I think was my favorite. We requested a window table and we got placed in a corner and were told the characters will get to us last. Our table was overlooking the pool and lagoon with a direct view of the castle.
My final thoughts are Lightning Lane passes can be worth it IF done right. Dining plan was totally worth if for our family we ended up having so many extra snack credits that we got snacks for our plane ride home. The Memory Maker was nice in the sense that I did not have to have my camera out for every single thing we saw and to get all of your ride photos. Not all of the photos came out great or flattering but the idea was nice and I will purchase it again and again.
If traveling with an autistic person. I recommend skipping Hollywood Studios and at Magic Kingdom doing the shows and characters and try not to focus on going on rides. My daughter’s favorite park was Epcot and Animal Kingdom but her favorite thing we did was watch the new Country Bear Jamboree. It was the one thing she wanted to do at Animal Kingdom and it was a lot of fun with the updates. We did end up purchasing a set of noise cancelling head phones while at Magic Kingdom since we did not bring ours and she wore them the rest of the trip. The baby station and first aid have them for a steep price.
We also flew Frontier roundtrip and this is the second time this year I have flown with them and I have nothing negative to say about it. With a family as large as ours we need something more affordable and this is the way to go.
More Adventures from Chelsea Zmudzinski, CTA ...
I thoroughly enjoyed my Windstar cruise onboard the Star Legend! The itinerary was Legendary Winter Mediterranean sailing from Civitavecchia, Rome to Barcelona. We stayed in a category S2 room which is an ocean view with picture window. All the rooms on this ship are suites with a sitting area and walk in closet. Our bathroom had a full size tub which was amazing after walking 20k steps in one day in Rome.
This ship had only 214 guests on board so the experience was incredibly personal and intimate. The staff was always quick to greet you when you walk by and remember your name.
This particular sailing was cold so there were no deck activities everything took place in either the lounge or theater which are both gorgeous and the ship band was great with multiple shows starting at 5pm until midnight. There was a café area called The Yacht Club which provided snacks, pastries, and drinks until 7:30pm. This area also offered panoramic views off the front of the ship, board games, puzzles, verandah, and library. We spent a lot of time here while at sea.
The specialty restaurants which are all included on this ship were Cuadro 44 and Candles. Candles is typically a candlelight atmosphere steakhouse that is outside under a canopy and just beautiful but due to the cold weather they brought it inside to the breakfast buffet area which was not so special but they did what they could to make it just as nice.
This itinerary was incredible with the overnights in port. It gave us time to explore Rome, Nice, and Barcelona. We did one excursion and that was Florence on your own and then we did the hop on hop off bus in Barcelona which I highly recommend over and over. This was an amazing audio guided ride through the entire city and well worth it.
In Nice we participated in Carnaval De Nice and attended the Battle of the Flowers parade. Words cannot describe the amazing atmosphere during this, it was just beautiful and every French woman over 40 was ready to fight a child to catch as many flowers as they could. We took a 30 minute train ride up to Menton from Nice on our second day there to see their Carnaval which is a Citrus Festival where all the floats are made of full lemons and oranges. This town was beautiful with so many colors on the buildings and a lot of shopping and dining but locals did not seem too friendly (at least from our experience).
I did notice they changed the itinerary for next winter and are overnighting in Florence and added Genoa, Italy to the itinerary instead of overnight in Rome. I think that is incredible because my favorite stop on this whole trip was Florence.
I would recommend this experience if you are looking to get luxury while wanting a more immersive experience in the destinations and not just days at sea.