Tiffany and I just got back from a wonderful vacation to Orlando, Florida. Tiffany has been a couple times, but this was my first time going. I was very excited to "be a kid again" and visit Universal Studio's and Disney World. At the end of each day, we spent a few minutes writing down thoughts from the day so we could blog about it and also for our own memory sake. Tiffany is sorting through the pictures presently and we hope to get some up on Flickr shortly (We took nearly 3,000 pictures - Tiffany took most of them on this trip). Below is a day by day breakdown of what we remember most!
Saturday, November 3
Today, we began our journey to Orlando, Florida. We left Phoenix early in the morning and arrived in Florida in the late afternoon. Our rental car was a 2008 Pontiac G6 and we stayed at the Orlando Sunshine Resort. Today, we just relaxed at the resort and tried to get a good night sleep. We were very thankful for the time change being this weekend so we would only have to adjust 2 hours instead of 3 (Arizona doesn't change time).
Sunday, November 4
Today, we visited Disney's Animal Kingdom! Since this year is the "Year of a Million Dreams," Tiffany and I won front row parking at the Animal Kingdom. A small prize to win, but a prize nonetheless. The weather was beautiful and we had time to make our way around the park to everything we wanted to ride and see. They had a new "Finding Nemo" show and we loved it! We went on a Safari in the park and saw animals up close. For dinner, we ate at the Rainforest Cafe. I received a "First Visit" pin today that I plan to wear at each park.
Monday, November 5
Disney's Epcot Center was the park of the day. By far, the best ride of all was "Test Track." By the end of the day, we had been on it 4 times. We also road on Soarin'. Not only did you feel like you were flying, but they even added scent to the experience. The countries of Epcot are very well done. Everything feels very authentic and fun. There was a food tasting festival while we were there and we took advantage of that. We also took advantage of the Fast Pass program that Disney offers. It was great getting an assigned time to be on a ride instead of standing in line! The rides are amazing at Disney. They go out of there way to add incredible detail to each ride and line. The atmosphere was very energetic and fun at this park. At the end of the day, we enjoyed a spectacular fireworks show. Of all the parks, Epcot had the best fireworks.
Tuesday, November 6
Day 4 of our adventure took us to Universal's Islands of Adventures. The park seemed like a ghost town most of the day. Consequently, we practically walked on and off every ride with little to no wait. We ate lunch at the famous Mythos restaurant at Islands of Adventures. This was the first time either of us had been to this park, so it was new for both of us. We conquered Islands so fast that we went next door to Universal Studio's for a few hours. It was nice to have an early evening and attempt to get some rest.
Wednesday, November 7
This morning, we decided to grab breakfast at Ponderosa. It wasn't too bad for a low priced buffet. After breakfast, we headed to Universal Studio's to enjoy more short lines and fun rides. Today, we actually purchased Dippin Dots (They are terribly high priced, so we never buy them). We enjoyed all of the rides at Universal. They had free lockers to place our belongings in so we didn't have to sit our stuff on the other side of the ride (Great idea Universal!). After we were done enjoying the park, we took pictures at the worlds largest Hard Rock cafe and then went to Downtown Disney for dinner. We ate at Planet Hollywood. Our feet were dead at the end of the day.
Thursday, November 8
Today was spent at Disney's MGM Studio's. Like we did most days, we arrived just as the park opened and rushed over the the Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster. It was a pretty good ride. We took a "backlot" tour also and were able sit in on a special effects demonstration- WOW! For lunch, we ate at a 50's restaurant. Everything was authentic inlcuding the wait staff ("No elbows on the tables," "Take off your hat inside mister."). We saw two amazing stunt shows and "learned" how they do some of the effects and stunts. The first show was Indiana Jones and the second one was a car stunt show. We also went to a "learn how to draw" session and both drew Goofy- It was a lot of fun. At the end of the night we watch the fireworks show called Fantasmic- It was pretty good too.
Friday, November 9
Today was all about Disney's Magic Kingdom. We were finally able to ride in on the famous monorail (Only because the parking lot is so far away from the Magic Kingdom). Our first ride was Space Mountain closely followed by the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor (A very funny show!). During the day, we made it around to all of the major rides and attractions at Magic Kingdom. The lines were not too bad, even though there were a lot of people at the park. The first time we rode Splash Mountain, we did not get wet. Somebody gave us a Fast Pass, so we decided to ride it a second time. On the second trip through, we got soaked. Thankfully, the weather was warm and we were able to dry off comfortably. Speaking of the Fast Pass, for some reason, the Peter Pan ride had 60 minute wait times while we were there. We grabbed a Fast Pass and came back later in the day. When we returned, our Fast Pass got us in and out of the ride in 8 minutes, but the line was still 60 minutes long. The Fast Pass is a must at Disney! For lunch, we had a delicious Philly Cheese Steak (Yummmm!). In the evening, I went back out to the car to get our sweatshirts and Mickey Mouse ears (Yeah- I got the lightup ones so I could be a big kid). On the way back from the car, I rode the ferry instead of the monorail, it was pretty nice. We had our names sewn into the back of our Mickey Mouse ears. We also bought a pair for our niece and nephew back in Arizona. The fireworks show was pretty good this evening. I still think that Epcot has the better show. After fireworks, we watched the Spectromagic evening parade with electric lights - It was pretty neat. Today was a very long day and we took a ton of pictures. We also took advantage of short lines in the evening and had our pictures taken with a bunch of characters (Mikey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Princesses).
Saturday, November 10
Today was the longest day of our vacation. We arrived at Magic Kingdom around 8:30am and did not leave until 12:15am the next morning. We did not make it back to the hotel until 1:00am on Sunday. When we arrived at the park, we rode in a horse drawn carriage up to Cinderella's Castle. It was a lot of fun. We even had some guys singing on the back of the carriage. We were also able to ride on the large show boat. We went to the Monster's show again and I had to dance while on screen (I am sure my dancing was enough to make people laugh to death). We watched a different parade today and saw the fireworks again. During the President's show, one of the projectors melted the film, so we had to leave and come back later. At midnight, Tiffany and I kissed in front of the castle while having our picture taken, it was fun. We had a fantasic day and a wonderful vacation!
Sunday, November 11
Today started well and ended well, unfortunately, the middle of the day wasn't the greatest. We made great time getting the the airport and taking care of the car and security. When we got on the airplane though, we had to sit for about 2 hours waiting for a maintenance issue to be fixed. Unfortunately, that made us miss our connecting flight. Forunately, we were able to catch a later flight back to Phoenix. As a special treat, we actually received a sandwich on the airplane! It was a nice little touch from Continental (I guess they actually server food on some flights still- It felt like winning the lottery). We made it home safely with all of our belongings and memories. We had a fantastic time on this vacation and thank the Lord for providing time and money to take the vacation.
Final facts
Miles walked: 40 (Estimate using Google Earth)
Pictures taken: 2,733
Memories created: Thousands
