For five years Brian and I have been planning to taking a Disney World trip to celebrate our ten-year anniversary. We spent two weeks on vacation, child-free, and it was blissful.
My fabulous friend Shayla gave us a lift to the airport on Wednesday, October 1st. Brian and I got to sit in the front row of the plane, which meant no trays but lots of leg room. About halfway through our non-stop flight, the flight steward asked if there were any doctors, nurses, or EMTs on board and if they could help. A woman was having lower back pain and shortness of breath. She was given oxygen, and as soon as we landed, some paramedics came on to assist her.
It took a while for us to get our bags after we landed because some suitcases jammed up the conveyor belt, setting off the alarm. It was a rainy day (but only one of two rainy days on our whole trip!). After getting a rental car, we shopped at Publix before checking in to the hotel. My parents let us use their timeshare at Wyndham Bonnet Creek, and the Presidential suite is gorgeous!
The next day we took a shuttle to Universal Studios. We waited in line for a long time at Escape from Gringott's before being told that the ride was being repaired; we were issued express passes to use later. We admired the ambiance and shops of Diagon Alley, shared a delicious Butterbeer (it takes like butterscotch cream soda), then watched a fun puppet show called The Fountain of Fair Fortune.
Then we rode a bunch of rides at Universal (the lines were so short!), Revenge of the Mummy being my favorite.
Next we rode the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade, where we rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which was really cool but made me very nauseous.
Finally, we ate a delicious dinner at Emeril's before heading back to the hotel.
Friday was our second and final day at Universal.
One of the rides we rode that morning was a river rapids one called Bilge Rat Barges. The only other folks on our boat was a couple from the Netherlands, and it was fun talking with them. We all ended up getting completely soaked, and for some reason it was really funny.
We rode several other rides, including the Jurassic Park River Adventure, which had some neat animatronic dinosaurs.
Then we rode Forbidden Journey again, I got sick again (I'll never learn!), then we rode Flight of the Hippogriff (very short but cute and fun). Next we bought some peppermint toads at Honeydukes.
That afternoon we used our Gringott's passes to skip the long line, but it broke down again! We waited in the non-moving line for fifteen minutes before it picked back up again (and that was long when we were used to ten-minutes-or-less wait times!). It was a cool ride.
Next we went into Ollivander's, where Ollivander actually chose Brian and me to come forward and try out some wands! It was really fun.
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| puppet show |
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| Butterbeer! |
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| the brick wall into Diagon Alley |
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| the owlery |
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| Brian's checking out wands at Ollivander's |
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| shrunken heads (they talked and sang!) |
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| our wands that "chose" us |
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| Hogwarts Express |
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| Hedwig (animated) on Harry's luggage |
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| the sorting hat inside Hogwarts |
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| Hogwarts School |
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| Hogwarts |
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| Hogsmeade entrance to train platform |
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| photo-bombed at Bilge Rat Barges |
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| Honeyduke's |
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| goblin teller inside Gringott's bank |
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| dragon (that periodically blew fire!) atop the bank |
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| London, King's Cross Station, Knight Bus |
Saturday we had fun at Magic Kingdom, then we took the monorail to Epcot, where we rode more rides and checked out a few countries. The highlight of the day was riding Maelstrom: we used our fastpasses to bypass a long line, took pictures, and rode the ride. The next day was to be Maelstrom's last day of operation. It is currently under construction, being replaced by a Frozen attraction.
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| riding the ferry boat to MK |
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bathroom stalls near Rapunzel's tower in MK
I just love Disney's attention to detail! |
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| the Liberty Belle |
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| classic photo op |
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| finding Nemo |
Sunday we slept in, relaxed at the hotel, and put together a puzzle whilst listening to General Conference.
Monday was our only day spent at Animal Kingdom. We rode Kilimanjaro Safaris twice, rode all the rides, and watched all the shows. Dinner was at Boma; yum!
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| The two rhinos on the right were having a power struggle! Our driver stopped the vehicle and we waited (since the animals always have the right-of-way). The loser eventually walked away, and the road was clear again. |
Tuesday we spent at Magic Kingdom and Epcot.
That morning we ran to the Seven Dwarves' Mine Train and only had to wait for fifteen minutes. I loved how smooth this coaster was.
In the afternoon we enjoyed a Dole pineapple float; it was yummy.
That evening we staked out a sweet spot for the Main Street Electrical Parade about an hour before it began. We were entertained by the cast members herding the crowds and preventing people from sneaking into the fastpass viewing area. They're good!
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| in the fast-moving line for the mine train |
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| these barrels made music when spun |
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Spaceship Earth at Epcot
The kid in the row behind us took pictures of EVERYTHING, so basically all we saw on this ride was flashes of light. |
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| a singing/dancing performance at the castle |
Hollywood Studios was the park we visited on Wednesday. My all-time favorite ride is Tower of Terror! Toy Story Midway Mania did not have a standby line; they were only letting people in with fastpasses.
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| Indiana Jones stunt show |
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| Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage (I loved this!) |
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| in line for Star Tours |
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| cool backdrop |
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| outside Toy Story Midway Mania |
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| The decorations were fun in this line. |
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| after riding Tower of Terror the second time that day |
We spent Thursday at Epcot. Test Track and Soarin' were favorite rides. World Showcase was awesome. I loved how each country has its own attraction, dining, and shopping. That evening we watched the amazing fireworks show IllumiNations.
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| My Neighbor Totoro puzzles in a Japanese shop |
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| miniature railway and model buildings in Germany |
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| Germany |
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| Canada |
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| Canada |
Friday we did Hollywood Studios again. We played with snow at Wandering Oaken's Frozen Snowground, enjoyed lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe, and watched an awesome car stunt show.
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| snow! |
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| Mike and Sully |
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| Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground |
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| 50's Prime Time Cafe |
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| Tower of Terror...again |
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| Lights! Motors! Action! stunt show |
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| Fantasmic! fireworks show |
Saturday we braved the crowds at Magic Kingdom. That evening we watched the fireworks show from the ferryboat dock so that we could catch our shuttle in time.
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| the Beast's castle |
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| passing the time while waiting in line for lunch at Be Our Guest restaurant |
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| There were lots of paintings in the three dining areas. |
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| Festival of Fantasy parade |
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| entrance to Be Our Guest |
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| Jungle Cruise |
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| Brian's first funnel cake |
Monday was Columbus Day, and we visited Epcot and watched some street shows.
Later that afternoon I realized that I'd left my purchase souvenirs in China! We hiked back over there (three hours later) to find it in a nearby lost-and-found. Hooray for honest people!
That evening we went back to the hotel after dinner to float the lazy rivers and relax in the hot tub.
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| Italian mime |
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| Chinese Jeweled Dragons acrobats |
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| Canadian lumberjacks |
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Tuesday morning we missed our shuttle! We were there on time; we were early. And they left without us! So the shuttle service got us a cab.
Meandering through the shops on Main Street at Magic Kingdom, we happened upon a glass-blowing demonstration. It was so cool! The guy made a pumpkin, telling the audience what he was doing at each step and answering our questions. In the same store there was also another man manipulating glass and using a gas torch.
We noticed that Disney caters to little girls and went in search of boys' costumes. One would think that a place called Sir Mickey's might stock them, but NO! The place was overrun with Frozen-themed merchandise (and nothing for boys!). The only "Sir Mickey" anything was a giant peeking in and Mickey on the beanstalk. That was it. Everything else in there was Frozen. UGH! We met a cast member in Sir Mickey's (who was from San Antonio!) who bemoaned with us. Hahaha!
We checked out Downtown Disney (particularly the Lego Store) before heading to Boma again for our last night of vacation. At a table nearby a man had a seizure on the floor; it was sad. He was escorted out in a wheelchair after recovering.
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| glass-blowing demo |
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| glass-crafting |
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| Nutella fruit waffles for lunch at Sleepy Hollow |
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| the giant peeking into the poor, sad, Frozen-overridden shop |
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| Jack on the beanstalk |
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| Rapunzel's tower |
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| I love the Carousel of Progress! |
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| Cinderella's castle all bedecked with Christmas lights |
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| Space Mountain joy |
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| kugel ball |
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| Lego awesomeness |
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| cool Lego sculpture in the water |
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| Lego dwarves |
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| more Lego perfection |
Florida bid us farewell with some more rain, and we flew home on Wednesday. We were happy to hug our kids again.
Thanks to all who helped us: Shayla for the ride to the airport; Mom and Dad for the timeshare usage; Brian's Mom and Dad for watching/spoiling the kids; Yvonne for shuttling Brian's parents from the airport; and Alecia, Brooksie, Valarie, and Yvonne for watching the kids as well. Y'all are amazing.
