The week: A rundown
*squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee* Bestest weekend ever, esp. as it began on a Thursday. Let's see if I can sum up all the cool things that happened on The Trip. All behind lj cuts, 'cause there's a lot to tell
Thursday:
After leaving the apt at approximately midnight and with a stop at a not-half-bad Denny's, we get to the Orlando area around 9 or 10. We got fantastically lost on the Disney property, trying to find Fort Wilderness. After stopping in at both Pop Century and (I think it was the) Grand Floridian to say "we're sooooo lost, where's our campground?" we finally manage to pull into our parking lot. Glory of glories, they have an open partial hook-up campsite. We'd made reservations a couple months ago, but the site they had open was more than we needed (a tent has no need for sewer or cable hook-ups, thank you). That saved us about $50 (yay!). Checked in early, set up camp, and off to Animal Kingom!
Animal Kingdom was pretty fun. First purchase of the trip: sparkly sequined Minnie Mouse ears. Seemed like the thing to do. The new Finding Nemo musical was *awesome*! Puppeteering, wirework, good acting. I was impressed with the fact that the emphasis was on the actors rather than the puppets. It was just really really well done. Expedition: Everest was all kinds of fun. Really fast, pretty dark, and and going uphill backwards. V.v. cool. Dinosaur, fun as usual. Pretty animals, pretty guys working with pretty animals. Big ol' thumbs up to Animal Kingdom and Thursday.
Friday:
Okay, so the air mattress, while in theory a good idea, failed miserably. There was a leak somewhere, so by morning we were more or less on the ground. Suckage, but that's why we brought the cots too. Got dressed, made breakfast, and headed for The Kennel where I was introduced to Romeo. Romeo was a quite lovely, v. sweet horse. He seemed a little restless at first, but once we got onto the trail, he was almost perfectly well-behaved. (I say almost. He tried to snack on the bushes once, but only once.) Nice long horseback ride. V. cool. Not bad at all for my first time on a horse. I think I should find someplace in Atlanta that would let me do this more often.
After the trail ride, we freshened up and headed to Epcot for lunch and parkage. I highly recommend the Yakitori House in the Japan Pavilion, btw. Less expensive than Teppanyaki, and still v.v. yummy. Hit all the major rides that we wanted to get to. They've redone The Living Seas to make it more Finding Nemo-themed. I was skeptical, but it's really much much better than the cheesy elevator that they used to have. We tried to rush to Magic Kingdom for Wishes, but we missed it by *this* much. Alas. We did managed to ride up front with the monorail pilot on the way back to Epcot, though (bless whoever thought of "Extra Magic Hours" for resort guests. V. cool). He was all cute and geeky. Gave us several ride recommendations, as well as "Monorail Co-pilot Licenses" We hit Soarin' and met up with these two adorable little blonde girls who wanted to tell us everything about that particular ride (which was evidently their favorite). We chattered with them in line, on the ride itself, and getting off the ride. So cute!
So it turns out that the Weather Channel lies. "Oh no," they said. "It'll never get below 50 while you're at Disney," they said. Lies lies lies. It was absolutely freezing Friday evening. I ducked into a gift shop for a Mickey Mouse hoodie. Made things much much warmer. I swear that thing was worth it's weight in gold by the end of the weekend (then again, I more or less paid for it's weight in gold, seeing as how it came from a Disney gift shop. Oh well.) Tent-sleeping could have been miserable, but Ariel had an artic-rated sleeping bag, and I had about six blankets, including one electric one, so we both slept more comfortably than the night before. Most likely the Godiva-liquer/Disarrono-laced hot chocolate didn't hurt there, either. I crashed earlier than planned, since I managed to acquire a lovely little migraine, but all in all, a good day.
More on the trip later, including the awesometastic-ness that was Saturday!
Thursday:
After leaving the apt at approximately midnight and with a stop at a not-half-bad Denny's, we get to the Orlando area around 9 or 10. We got fantastically lost on the Disney property, trying to find Fort Wilderness. After stopping in at both Pop Century and (I think it was the) Grand Floridian to say "we're sooooo lost, where's our campground?" we finally manage to pull into our parking lot. Glory of glories, they have an open partial hook-up campsite. We'd made reservations a couple months ago, but the site they had open was more than we needed (a tent has no need for sewer or cable hook-ups, thank you). That saved us about $50 (yay!). Checked in early, set up camp, and off to Animal Kingom!
Animal Kingdom was pretty fun. First purchase of the trip: sparkly sequined Minnie Mouse ears. Seemed like the thing to do. The new Finding Nemo musical was *awesome*! Puppeteering, wirework, good acting. I was impressed with the fact that the emphasis was on the actors rather than the puppets. It was just really really well done. Expedition: Everest was all kinds of fun. Really fast, pretty dark, and and going uphill backwards. V.v. cool. Dinosaur, fun as usual. Pretty animals, pretty guys working with pretty animals. Big ol' thumbs up to Animal Kingdom and Thursday.
Friday:
Okay, so the air mattress, while in theory a good idea, failed miserably. There was a leak somewhere, so by morning we were more or less on the ground. Suckage, but that's why we brought the cots too. Got dressed, made breakfast, and headed for The Kennel where I was introduced to Romeo. Romeo was a quite lovely, v. sweet horse. He seemed a little restless at first, but once we got onto the trail, he was almost perfectly well-behaved. (I say almost. He tried to snack on the bushes once, but only once.) Nice long horseback ride. V. cool. Not bad at all for my first time on a horse. I think I should find someplace in Atlanta that would let me do this more often.
After the trail ride, we freshened up and headed to Epcot for lunch and parkage. I highly recommend the Yakitori House in the Japan Pavilion, btw. Less expensive than Teppanyaki, and still v.v. yummy. Hit all the major rides that we wanted to get to. They've redone The Living Seas to make it more Finding Nemo-themed. I was skeptical, but it's really much much better than the cheesy elevator that they used to have. We tried to rush to Magic Kingdom for Wishes, but we missed it by *this* much. Alas. We did managed to ride up front with the monorail pilot on the way back to Epcot, though (bless whoever thought of "Extra Magic Hours" for resort guests. V. cool). He was all cute and geeky. Gave us several ride recommendations, as well as "Monorail Co-pilot Licenses" We hit Soarin' and met up with these two adorable little blonde girls who wanted to tell us everything about that particular ride (which was evidently their favorite). We chattered with them in line, on the ride itself, and getting off the ride. So cute!
So it turns out that the Weather Channel lies. "Oh no," they said. "It'll never get below 50 while you're at Disney," they said. Lies lies lies. It was absolutely freezing Friday evening. I ducked into a gift shop for a Mickey Mouse hoodie. Made things much much warmer. I swear that thing was worth it's weight in gold by the end of the weekend (then again, I more or less paid for it's weight in gold, seeing as how it came from a Disney gift shop. Oh well.) Tent-sleeping could have been miserable, but Ariel had an artic-rated sleeping bag, and I had about six blankets, including one electric one, so we both slept more comfortably than the night before. Most likely the Godiva-liquer/Disarrono-laced hot chocolate didn't hurt there, either. I crashed earlier than planned, since I managed to acquire a lovely little migraine, but all in all, a good day.
More on the trip later, including the awesometastic-ness that was Saturday!