Disney Vacation – Day 5 (last day)
Well, day 5 was our final day at Disney World, and only a half day. We had surprisingly gotten pretty much everything done that we considered “must-dos”, so we took this day pretty slow. Our last day has always been at the Magic Kingdom, because that just is Disney to me, so we headed over there with the intention of possibly hopping on a ride or 2, grabbing lunch, and doing a little shopping. Unfortunately, we did things a little backwards and did the shopping first (well, “unfortunately” may be the wrong word. I love shopping. I love Disney stuff.). Most of it was fairly small, but we also picked up an interactive R2-D2 for Chris’s dad for his birthday, which was really cool, but quite large. So, we decided to skip rides, since we’d already done everything we wanted to anyway and it was already almost noon. We did get offered a set of fast passes for Thunder Mountain from a Dad and son (yay, fairy dust!), but we ended up giving them to another couple once we decided R2 probably wouldn’t fit on the ride with us. For lunch, we went over to El Pirata y El Perico in Adventureland for Mexican. We both got tacos and chocolate cakes.
That was the last of our CS credits, but we still had 6 snack credits we hadn’t used, so we knew exactly where to go to spend those. Goofy’s Candy Co. in Downtown Disney! I’d heard they have amazing customizable snacks that you can get for a credit each, so we knew we wanted to try those. Instead of taking a bus back to our hotel and then waiting for a bus to Downtown Disney (and I wasn’t sure if there were buses straight from MK to DD), we decided this would be a great time to use the express monorail over to the Ticket and Transportation Center! Yay, we got to ride the monorail at last! After our quick ride, we got out at the TTC and started looking for a bus to DD. Apparently there isn’t one. Luckily, we found out that we could make the short walk over to the Polynesian and get a bus there. That gave us a chance to gage the walk between the Polynesian and the TTC for February (if we still go). It wasn’t bad. Quite a nice walk, only about 5 minutes. We just made the bus – it was there as we ran up – and we were finally off to Downtown Disney.
We don’t typically go to Downtown Disney often, since we’re usually busy with the parks and tired at night, not to mention most guys don’t like shopping much. I really like it, though! I hope we get to go again next time. There’s so many shops and restaurants! We were on a mission, but I did manage to stop in the Christmas store and the big World of Disney store to pick up a few things (like a Disney YA fantasy book!! <cheesy grin>) and a few more pressed pennies. Goofy’s Candy Co. was also a great success. We both put in our custom orders (mine a Mickey Crispy Rice Treat dipped in white chocolate and topped with chopped peanuts and milk chocolate drizzle and Chris’s a Mickey Crispy Rice Treat dipped in dark chocolate and topped with chopped pecans) and looked at all the goodies in the glass display counter. We came out of the shop with our custom orders, a set of 3 dipped and topping-ed pretzel rods, a set of 4 dipped and topping-ed marshmallows, a huge toffee brick, and a large chocolate covered smore.<drool> We didn’t get to try any of them till after the trip, but they were amazing and they lasted us a while. I highly recommend saving the snack credits for a huge candy blowout like this for everyone. We didn’t really feel we needed the snacks most days and the Goofy’s candy, particularly the custom orders, are a great deal for the snack credits. You could even go there early in the trip and buy snacks for the duration of your trip (to eat during your daily breaks or something!).
After using up our snack credits, we decided to take the boat back to the hotel, since it was getting kinda late and we still had a long drive home. We had a bit of trouble figuring out where to go to get the boat, but we found a really nice cast member named Nancy who stopped what she was doing just to lead us to the dock. She even gave us a personalized button to give to Chris’s dad for his birthday, with a cute little Mickey head instead of an “o”! We were at the wrong end of Downtown Disney, so we ended up taking the ferry to the other end and then transferring to the boat that goes back to Port Orleans. The boat ride was cute and peaceful, but a bit hot. Lots of green to look at on the way. Once back, we took a few more pictures and then it was time to say goodbye to Disney World.
Downtown Disney from the boat
POFQ from the boat
I always hate leaving. I get really sad. But I knew we’d be back in less than a year (maybe), so it wasn’t too bad. Our trip was great. We had a lot of fun and quite a few romantic moments. A great way to spend our second anniversary!
Also, for anyone who hasn’t already discovered it, the full album is here.
Disney vacation – day 4
We decided on day 4 to get up an hour later than normal and skip rope drop for EPCOT. We were both pretty tired, but luckily my ankle was doing a bit better. EPCOT does have 2 rides that are very popular, but we figured we had all day to get a fast pass for one and wait in line for the other, so our tiredness won out. Our ride to EPCOT was pretty nice thanks to our driver, Hector, who really liked to chat with people. When we got on the bus, he noticed our buttons and asked me how long we’d been married and then on the bus ride, he proceeded to congratulate us (with everyone else on the bus), joke around about how 2 years isn’t a lot (though we’ve technically been together almost 9 years now, but he didn’t ask that!), and give us advice on marriage (just say, “Yes, dear”).
When we got there, there was a pretty big line to get through the bag check at the entrance, but soon we were in and headed off towards Soarin’, Chris’s favorite ride at Disney World. The line wasn’t too bad, so we just got in the standby line. I really like this ride, too. I love the feeling of flying and the scents they pump in for certain scenes. And the music is really pretty. After Soarin’, we went over to Test Track, the other popular ride, which also didn’t have too long of a line, so again, we got in the standby line. It was a bit longer than it looked, but the wait wasn’t too bad. Next, we were off to the Figment ride, which I don’t remember at all, if I’ve been on it. It was kinda cute, though I almost lost my sunglasses near the end in the jet of air. That wouldn’t have been good. After a quick walk through Innoventions, just to see that it’s still not geared towards us at all, we had lunch at Seasons, which is in the Land. This was the best counter service lunch option we found at all of Disney World. There are so many choices from salads and sandwiches to Asian food and grilled salmon. And the desserts! Oh, the desserts. There’s so many. Great use of our CS credits for this lunch. We both had plates of Asian food (different types of chicken, beef, vegetables, rice, and noodles) and Chris had pan au chocolat for desert and I had a rice crispy brick (it was huge). Yes, I know, a rice crispy treat probably sounds pretty dull, and if you’d seen the dessert selection, you’d probably think I was crazy for choosing it over all the other delicious choices, but Disney rice crispy treats are really good and I just had to have it. I’ll try something else next time I go.
For a break, we had originally (like, before the trip) talked about going and hanging out at the Beach Club where Chris has stayed in the past. It’s within walking distance of the World Showcase and would allow us to not have to waste time on taking the bus home and back, but we seemed to forget about that once we were at Disney World. I’m not sure it would’ve been enough anyway, since we both ended up taking a nap back at the hotel.
After the break, we were back at EPCOT, ready to finish perusing the countries in the World Showcase. We had an early (4:45 pm) dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco, which is one of the furthest places from the EPCOT entrance, but we got there on time. It was really pretty inside and the entertainment was cool – there were 2 guys who sang and played drum/bongo things and a belly dancer. We both had couscous (his with lamb shanks that just fell of the bone, it was so tender and mine with really tasty vegetables) for dinner and for dessert, I had Moroccan baklava while Chris had bastilla. My baklava was pretty good; tasted like baklava, only with pistachios in it, but Chris’s bastilla was amazingly good. It’s layers of crispy filo covered with vanilla cream sauce and toasted almonds that is just so tasty. So, all in all, another restaurant we’d never tried before that we’d definitely go back to.
Kind of a dark picture of the inside of Restaurant Marrakesh
Both of us in Restaurant Marrakesh
Chris in a telephone booth in England. He said it was really hot inside.
Us waiting for the fireworks. I look a bit quasi-modoish in this picture.
After dinner, we went back to Norway to ride Maelstrom, which Chris hates, but I think is kinda cute. So, in reward for his sacrifice, he got a Grey Goose Lemon Citron Slush in France (and I got a Grand Marnier Orange Slush). They were both really good and quite refreshing. After finishing up Canada and England, we decided to stake out a spot for the Illuminations fireworks. An hour and a half ahead of time. Ugh, it was a long wait. We watched a bunch of spiders make webs in the bushes. Gross. Finally, we got to see the fireworks though. As I might have said before, I’m not quite as big a fan of the EPCOT fireworks as I am of the Magic Kingdom fireworks, but it was still a good show. I could just do without the middle bit with the music, fountains, and pictures on the globe that takes forever to get to the center of the lake and open up. The finale is pretty good though, really bright and explodey!
After a quick stop in MouseGears, the big EPCOT shop, we headed back to the hotel to call it a night. I was pretty sad that it was our last full day at the parks. Up next, day 5: a bit of this and that to end the trip.
Ok, so we’re nuts
So, as I mentioned before, we’re going to Disney World in Feb 2010 for our “last blowout vacation before kids”. That’s still very much on and I’m really looking forward to staying at the Polynesian. However, what the title of this post is referring to is that we’ve…um…added another Disney trip. 
Next week. Tee hee. (If you could only see the huge grin on my face as I type this. I’m such a dweeb.)
So, yeah, we’re going to Disney World in a week for our 2nd wedding anniversary! We were originally thinking of staying in a bed and breakfast in Savannah or Charleston, but upon pricing everything out and comparing Disney on a whim, doing Disney in a somewhat cheap style is actually about the same as what we were looking to spend at the other options. Plus I was having trouble finding stuff to do for 4-5 days in either city (the amount of time Chris wanted to take off) and I just wasn’t that excited about either, so we think we’ll just take a day trip or maybe stay one night in each of those places sometime. We both love Disney World, so we thought why not go someplace we know we love?
Now, we’re doing Disney a bit different than we’ve done it before. In the past we’ve stayed at mainly deluxe hotels, for about a week at a time (though his family has had shorter trips), flying from wherever we lived, eating at the best restaurants there regardless of price (and usually the same group of restaurants every time), etc. But this time, we wanted to keep the cost down, so we’re staying at a moderate hotel, Port Orleans French Quarter, which looks really cute and I’ve read a lot of good stuff about on the DISBoards (I’ve been spending a lot of time there in the past few weeks – if you love Disney World, check it out! It’s helpful and funny and overall, a great community.). I got a great deal on the rooms – some sort of spring room deal – $104/ night, which is great for Disney (and quite a bit cheaper than what we were looking at in Savannah). We’re also only going for 4 nights, driving down (all 8.5 hours! eek!), and trying out the Disney Dining Plan, which seems to be a pretty good deal. We chose the mid-level option, which gives us one counter-service meal (fast, typical lunches), one table-service meal (our typical dinners – accepted at most places except the few most expensive, which take 2 table-service meal credits), and one snack per day. The next option up was a good deal more expensive and gave you 3 table-service meals and 2 snacks per day, which is kind of too much for us and table service is a bit time consuming for lunch there on a shorter trip, so I think the mid-range will be good. We’ll probably just pick up some breakfasty items on the drive down to last us the 4 mornings. Also, even though we could technically eat at some of our favorite restaurants that we go to every time (with the exception of Cinderella’s Royal Table since that’s one of the expensive places), we’re trying out some new places this time on all but one night, so I’ll let you know how those go!
As always, I’m really excited. We’ve already got our dinners reserved and days somewhat planned out (in terms of where we’re going which day). I’ve also printed out a list of pressed penny locations, which I collect! So far, the weather looks pretty good for our trip – high 80’s and typical Florida scattered showers (short afternoon showers usually), but it was supposedly rainy all day recently, so it’s an improvement. Only downfall so far is that Space Mountain and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority are closed for refurbishment for a good chunk of the year, so we won’t get to go on those . At least Haunted Mansion isn’t planned to be closed. I’d have to throw a tantrum if it were.
Ah, one other thing. Though I claimed I’d never wear Crocs, I’ve gone and purchased 2 pairs – a Disney pair (in pearl/pink with Mickey head holes) and some flip flops in black. I must say, I’ve been converted. I love them. I’ve been wearing them the past 2 weeks or so and they’re so comfortable. They’re still not stylish at all (the flip flops aren’t too bad though), but they’re super lightweight and cushiony. I always thought it looked like the backs of the regular Crocs would totally rub, but they don’t. We’ll see how they do in Disney World. Lots of people on the DISBoards recommend them for walking around the parks, so I hope they work out well. If not, I’ll have a pair of sneakers just in case. If it goes well, I may even get that black and red Disney pair for the Feb trip.
Squeee!! So excited!
Naples
Chris and I just got back from our trip to Naples. We went for 5 days and it was a lot of fun. It was nice to see my family again.
While we were there, we did a few fun activities I thought I’d blog about. On the second day, we rented a boat and my dad gave us a ride all around the canals and bay (bay? just ocean? I’m not sure what it was). We saw a bunch of pelicans, seagulls, a dog beach, and even a manatee (I think – all I saw was a big brownish blob near our boat, presumably going back into the water after coming up for air. I did hear a poof of air before I saw it, which is what made me turn my head towards it.)! We stopped shortly at a beach, but couldn’t stay long because we couldn’t really figure out how to anchor our boat. The ride was really nice – there was a good breeze, it wasn’t too hot, and the area was really pretty. I did end up getting burnt though. I made sure Chris put on his sunblock, but I foolishly thought I’d be fine. I got pretty red. I’m starting to peel now.
My family - my dad and mom in the back, my sister and Chris in the front.
On the third day, we went on an airboat ride. My parents take everyone who visits on an airboat ride and it’s a lot of fun. This time, Chris and I got to sit up front (last time, I sat in the back row, I think) and it was so much fun. When the driver goes fast, it feels like you’re flying – even more so if birds take off in front of you. I think that’s my favorite part. Turns are a bit weird because you feel like you might fall off and you get sprayed with water, but that’s all part of the fun. Also, I was wearing a windbreaker during the ride, which I had to hold shut because if I let go, it blew up like a balloon and made me feel like I might just be carried off. It was pretty funny. Anyway, the water is really low this time of year, so we didn’t see very many alligators, but the scenery is beautiful and it’s pretty cool to see any alligators up close. Once we got back to the starting area, we got to see some baby alligators. Very cute.
They were suprisingly soft, actually. We did have to be careful though. Even though they're small, they could still bite you.
We also went to a lot of really good restaurants in the area. On one night in downtown Naples, we walked around, window shopping, and we saw 2 Ferraris! One was gray and one red. Mmmm. I wanted to steal the gray one. Also, one afternoon we drove around and looked at all the huge houses on the shore area. Some of them are ridiculous. I wonder what it’s like to live in them.
Anyway, it was a nice little vacation. We had a lot of fun, from the boat rides to playing Cranium. If my parents are reading, thanks for having us down to visit!! 
Also, come visit us soon!
Disney World again!
You may have noticed I’ve added 2 small tickers to my sidebar (I couldn’t decide which I liked, so I put them both up, lol). Chris and I finally decided on our “last vacation before kids”! That’s not necessarily to say that I’ll come back from that vacation pregnant (though, part of me kinda wants that…). We’ll have kids when we’re ready, whether that’s sooner or later. It’s mostly just that we realize we can’t afford to save for kids and take big vacations every year, but we decided to take one last big one to celebrate our relationship. In the meantime, and afterwards, we’re tightening our budget and really going into savings mode for our future family. We’re already doing pretty well – we don’t have any debt (just normal monthly bills like the mortgage) and we’re saving a good amount of money each month, while spending very little (Chris totally de-princessed me).
So, our last vacation is another Disney World vacation, since we both love it there so much. We debated a bit on where to stay. At first we thought we might try to go really low-budget and stay in a hotel off-site, but then we’d need to rent a car and that really affects the ease of getting places around Disney. You just can’t beat the monorail and bus system. Then we looked into the hotels near Downtown Disney, which we thought would be cheaper than the main resort hotels, but they weren’t. There’s no reason to spend lots of money on a Hilton or something when you can spend a similar amount and get cute theming and better transportation. So, upon deciding to stay in a real Disney hotel, we narrowed it down to the Contemporary (cheapest, while being on the monorail line), the Beach Club/Yacht Club (walking distance to EPCOT, perhaps more geared to adults), and the Polynesian (a tad more expensive than Contemporary, but really cute AND on the monorail line). In the end, Chris didn’t really care where we stayed and I decided that the Contemporary might have a bit of a cold, sterile feeling and while I would still like to possibly stay at the BC/YC at some point, I’ve never stayed off the monorail line and really enjoy being able to see Cinderella Castle from the hotel and I’ve always wanted to try the Polynesian, so the Polynesian was our final choice (boy, total run-on sentence there..oh well). I’m really looking forward to staying there.
It’ll also be interesting to visit in February. I’ve always gone in the middle of the summer, which is really hot and pretty crowded. It’s always a blast and the heat means a trip to a water park while we’re there, but I think it’ll be nice to go when it’s cooler and hopefully not as crowded, too. The hours, I believe are slightly shorter (maybe an hour or 2), but I think that’ll be fine. I think Downtown Disney is still open fairly late if we need something to do. We’re usually pretty happy to just go back to the hotel at the end of the day, though.
Anyway, it’s nice to have Disney World to look forward to. In the meantime, we probably won’t be doing much travelling. Chris’s parents are coming here for Easter (egads, that means I have to cook… 
I get very nervous cooking for others. I’m always sure they’ll think it’s terrible) and we’re probably staying home for Christmas this year (I’m not sure about Thanksgiving yet). We do have a few small trips coming up though. Next weekend we have our annual ski trip – we’re meeting some friends and family at Elk Mountain in PA where there will hopefully be some snow – and the week after that, we’re going to visit my parents in Florida for a few days. We might do a short trip to Atlanta with some local friends at the end of March and we may go to Savannah for our 2-year anniversary in June, but all in all, these upcomping trips are short and fairly inexpensive. We also just learned of 2 upcoming weddings in the family, and we’re pretty sure we can make it to one of them, since it’ll be in the Atlanta area, which we can drive to, but we’ll have to see about the other one. We’d like to go, but we would need to fly and Chris would have to take a day or 2 off work since the wedding is on a Friday.
Well, that’s all for now.
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
Whew, and we’re back. The hubby and I are both exhausted after our vacation (aren’t they supposed to rest you??), but we had loads of fun. I was a bit nervous early on that it would be hard to keep everyone happy – everyone likes different rides, hates different rides, has different tastes in food, etc. Luckily, the hubby and I put a lot of time into planning. As I mentioned before, I reserved all our dinners (and one lunch) way ahead of time and then mapped out a tentative schedule of park trips. Also, while we were there, pretty much everyone looked to the two of us to decide where to go next, hence the worry that we’d end up making someone unhappy by leaving out their favorite ride or something. But really, I know everyone had a blast and I can’t wait to go back!
Highlights:
-Getting my mother-in-law on It’s a Small World. She hates the ride. <evil laugh>
-The fourth of July fireworks were, seriously, the most amazing I’ve ever seen. The finale was ginormous – it may as well have been daytime with all the light it produced. It took my breath away. Here are two videos I found on YouTube that show it pretty well.
-All of our ride photos. These are always really funny to me. The hubby always makes a really silly face, somewhere in between bored and not-all-there. This time around, we added hand goggles (you know, when you make circles with your fingers and put it up to your eyes). I laughed so hard I cried.
-Dream Fast-passes. This year at Disney World was the Year of a Million Dreams, so they have a few give-aways, such as a night’s stay in the Castle, a shopping spree, free mouse ears, and the Dream Fast-passes. Not many are given out each day, but we were lucky enough to get some. It’s basically a pass that lets you cut a large portion of the line on the 8 most popular rides in the park you where get the pass. 5 minutes wait instead of 100 is really helpful! We felt special all day with those around our necks!
-Mission: Space. Ok, this was not a good highlight. I went the less intense route (without the 2.4 G’s of centrifuge-induced gravity feeling). I thoroughly enjoyed most of it, and then the ride broke. With us stuck inside. For those of you who may not know this ride, it fits 4 people, quite snugly. You sit in it, pull down a shoulder harness, the small doors close, and then the wall with the screens and control buttons comes about a foot or 2 away from your body. After the malfunction, we entertained ourselves for about a minute pushing all the buttons we could find before panic set in. The hubby was perfectly fine, but my sister and I were not happy campers. We practically ran from the ride when the doors finally opened 10 minutes later.
Anyway, here’s some pictures from the trip.
The view from our room
The hubby and me in front of the castle
The crew at MGM
Free Mickey ears!
My sister and I in big hats at Mexico in EPCOT
So, we had a great time! The hubby and I are hoping to possibly go back in February, since we’ve never been there during a cooler, less busy month. We’d probably stay in a cheaper hotel though, since this vacation was only possibly thanks to our very generous parents (thanks, guys!). Anyone know of a decent hotel in that area that makes it easy to get to the parks?
Blog overload and vacations
Ack. I think I’ve gotten in over my head with the whole Google Reader thing! I’ve got 50ish blogs on there that I’m currently reading, which is ridiculous. I do really enjoy reading them, though. Most of them only post once a day, so those are easy enough to keep up with, but things like Perez Hilton and Jezebel have like 50 posts a day! That can add up and sometimes I get to the point where I <gasp> “Mark all as read”. In two weeks, my hubby and I are going on a big family vacation with both sets of parents and siblings to Disney World (yippee!!) for a week. I don’t want to think about how many there’ll be when I return.
Speaking of Disney, though, I’m super excited. I really love going to Disney World. Honestly, I’d take Disney World over the Caribbean any day. My hubby and I even went there for our honeymoon:
Anyway, my combination of excitedness and dorkiness has led to my typical vacation planning. This involves making lists of what I’m packing (down to the jewelry for each outfit and all the toiletries I could ever conceive of using) and tables (yes, the Excel kind, I told you I’m a dork) of potential activities and dining options (which have been reserved for 120 days, the maximum time out you can call to make dining reservations). And the cat’s kennel stay has been booked since September of last year.
I should, perhaps, also point out that the cat’s kennel is not just any kennel, but practically a hotel in itself – a small private room for each kitty (very small, it’s not too ridiculous), each with its own theme (Buffy will be staying in the Cat-in-the-Hat room, though she prefers the Oceanview room, which was sadly booked already). It’s probably over the top, but the owner and employees are very nice and it just makes me feel calmer to know she’s there. And as this post pointed out, the one word to describe me best is “worrier” so anything to make me feel calmer is good.
Well, this was a kind of random post. Odd how I got from blog overload to talking about posh kitty hotels.
