We arrived late in the evening on the day of our drive from Alabama. As a special treat, the three of us were staying in the Animation Hotel for THREE nights thanks to the generosity of my parents. While we were checking in the person helping us left the desk briefly then started making phone calls. We could not figure out what was going on! Oblivious to the excitement ahead, we shared about the road trip journey we were on and how much we were looking forward to our time in the parks. Finally after waiting, they informed us that they were giving us a free upgrade from a regular room (Little Mermaid themed) to a Cars themed suite as they thought it would perfectly fit with our story. What an incredible blessing and surprise this was!!
Right as we arrived the fireworks were going off in one of the parks...and we could see it from the hotel parking lot. Welcome to DisneyWorld!
Upon waking up, my mom, Alyssa, and I set out to explore what we could of Epcot. Of course food was central to our trip "around the world." Throughout the day we enjoyed sorbet, Moroccan food, goat milk caramel, and Chinese cuisine. I'm pretty sure I missed something too. At each country's location we took a selfie; we got some pretty epic pictures doing this! In between pictures and food, we rode a few rides, wandered through the different buildings, and enjoyed our time together.
The next day, January 27, was a very special day...Alyssa's birthday! We opted to take a day off from the parks. Instead we drove out to Cape Canaveral to a wildlife refuge with one goal in mind: see wild alligators. Mom and I planned it as a surprise for Alyssa, and she loved it. :) At first we wondered if it would be a success. While talking with one of the people in the visitor center, we were told that there was a small one right outside in the water. Quickly we headed out to see this "small" 4 foot gator. Sweet! We at least would see one. Annnnnd we didn't have to worry about that being our last one as the drive we took at the volunteer's recommendation had many opportunities to see gators in the swamp next to the car.
After completing the drive and seeing 7+ alligators, we went to a restaurant to try *eating* gator. While at the restaurant we decided to try turtle too. Eh. We enjoyed seeing the wildlife more than eating the exotic food. Haha.
We then rushed over to Disney Springs to meet up with Mom's friend. It was a little crazy because it started to rain, but nothing we couldn't handle. ;) They had fun catching up after years apart.
How did we finish up the day? By taking the ferries to different Disney hotels and exploring them! We couldn't decide what to eat for dinner, but after enjoying the New Orleans hotels, we decided to try out the cajun cookie. It was incredible!!! Alyssa LOVED her birthday dinner! I think I'd really love to stay at that hotel too... ;) Alyssa's birthday was a success!!!! :D
My mom left early the following morning, ending the incredible 10 days we had together. :( :)
Alyssa and I stayed in Florida for another few days to finish seeing the DisneyWorld parks.
The day after my mom left we went to Hollywood Studios. And it poured rain! The park layout wasn't our favorite either, and we knew going into it that it wouldn't be our favorite. However, we wanted to see it before they began changing things around to have a comparison for the before and after. We did enjoy the ToyStory Mania ride (which I love in California!) and watching the parts of the Indiana Jones stunt show that they could do with the rain (since it was our last chance to see it before Disney got rid of it). Other than that the day was quite miserable and wet. Since we were switching hotels we had to take the bus back to the Animation Hotel. We almost got on the wrong one after wait for awhile, soaked, in line. After finally making it to the hotel, we needed to drive 45 minutes to our next hotel. Did I mention that we were soaked?! We intended to stop and change our clothes somewhere along the drive, but ended up gutting it out until we reached our room. Then we changed, aired our stuff out, and did laundry... We were up way past when we wanted to be, but it all got done. Not my favorite day of our time in Florida. ;)
One thing we did enjoy indoors was a museum about Walt Disney's life and dream. It was neat to see, especially after going to Marceline, Missouri where he spent some of his growing up years.
The day after my mom left we went to Hollywood Studios. And it poured rain! The park layout wasn't our favorite either, and we knew going into it that it wouldn't be our favorite. However, we wanted to see it before they began changing things around to have a comparison for the before and after. We did enjoy the ToyStory Mania ride (which I love in California!) and watching the parts of the Indiana Jones stunt show that they could do with the rain (since it was our last chance to see it before Disney got rid of it). Other than that the day was quite miserable and wet. Since we were switching hotels we had to take the bus back to the Animation Hotel. We almost got on the wrong one after wait for awhile, soaked, in line. After finally making it to the hotel, we needed to drive 45 minutes to our next hotel. Did I mention that we were soaked?! We intended to stop and change our clothes somewhere along the drive, but ended up gutting it out until we reached our room. Then we changed, aired our stuff out, and did laundry... We were up way past when we wanted to be, but it all got done. Not my favorite day of our time in Florida. ;)
Next up was Magic Kingdom. It was amazing! However, we were also quite disoriented because we kept thinking we knew where we were going because it was similar to Disneyland. Thus, we got lost more often than in the other parks. ;) The evening performances were incredible!!! They had a show where they used lights and video on the castle as well as a fireworks performances. I'm pretty sure that was the highlights for both of us. I also loved seeing some of the things that people talked about from Disneyland that had been removed before I could see them, like the people mover and the Electrical Main Street Parade. We definitely did the people mover twice because I loved it so much. There are oh so many more memories I could share from this day, but I think this blog post is already long enough with a few more things to say! ;)
Our fourth and final day in the DisneyWorld parks was spent at Animal Kingdom. What fun! We absolutely loved the safari ride there because we got to see a wide variety of animals in a natural environment plus the "tour guide" was hilarious. We did many character meet and greets during this day too because I was finally deciding that I enjoyed them. ;) Yup, I was that kid who was scared of the giant dressed up people...and it's taken me a few years to decide they aren't totally freaky. Haha. We even had Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, who were dressed up in safari outfits, sign quilt squares for us. *That* was funny!!! We talked and dreamed about "next time" as we sadly concluded our final day in the parks.
And with that, our incredible time in Florida was finished with more memories than I could ever share all at once. <3
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