florida trip - day seven

Today's parks: Downtown Disney, Magic Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios

We decided to drive to the parks today because we wanted to first go to the Downtown Disney shopping area and not have a repeat of yesterday when we were stuck waiting for the shuttle back to the hotel for two hours!  So, we slept in a little and then got up and got ready for the day.  There is a Lego store there that has some awesome Disney displays made all out of Legos.  So cool!

There was a vegan bakery there that I knew was there and I wanted to try.  We got a slice of pumpkin bread and lemon poppy seed.  I liked the pumpkin best and Julia liked the lemon poppy seed.

Then we drove to Hollywood Studios and parked the car.  But we didn't go to that park right then.  First, we got on the bus to go over to Magic Kingdom for a few things that Julia wanted to buy at a specific store there, get one more Dole Whip, and to ride Pirates of the Caribbean one more time!

Delicious Reese's pieces covered Mickey shaped rice krispy treat.  Yes, I know it's not vegan.  STOP JUDGING ME! :)

After we got in our last kicks at Magic Kingdom we headed back over to Hollywood Studios.  We did the couple rides we wanted to there: Tower of Terror, Toy Story (which was awesome!), and the Aerosmith roller coaster (which was insane).  

e had purchased a dinner and ticket package for the nightly show they do at this park.  Unknowingly, I booked us dinner at THE FANCIEST RESTAURANT I'VE EVER EATEN AT!

In Julia's words: "This is the fanciest and most expensive restaurant I've ever been to where all the patrons are in theme park attire."

 Rolls and butter seasoned with Hawaiian salt and thyme.  

 Julia's appetizer: famous Cobb salad

 Cheryl's appetizer: marinated mushrooms and crispy phyllo with bleu cheese and a fig reduction sauce.  OMG!  SO GOOD!

 Julia's main dish: some fancy-named chicken dish.   

"This chicken is my friend." -Julia

 Cheryl's main dish: noodle bowl with coconut fried tofu.  Amazing!

Julia: "I was expecting our meals to be as big as their titles but I forget that people who do three course meals do them small.  Except yours (pointing to my noodle bowl).  Yours is huge."

Julia: "Every day the food has gotten better and better, until we're now in a place I've never been before!"

 Dessert choices

 $135 1 oz shot of cognac on the menu!  Seriously?!?  People pay that?!?!

Our host looked like Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid.  

 I know these pictures are a little blurry.  

This is what he looked like...

Julia: "Oh.  I'm not fancy.  I hope Prince Eric doesn't seem me eating."

After dinner we went to the Fantasmic! show.  It was cool.  Fire, water, fireworks, Mickey and Disney songs.  What else do you need?  Before the show started they had a couple people down in front trying to entertian the crowd and keep people pumped up.  They played a name that tune game.  Julia and I knew all the songs and sang them out.  There was a little girl (probably about 8 or 9) sitting in front of us with her parents.  She kept turning around and looking at us in complete awe and amazement that we knew all the words.  "You know that song?!"  We laughed.  Yep.  We do.

And, sadly, the end of our last day came to a close.  We had to say good-by and didn't want to!

Steps walked: 15757

florida trip - day six

Today's parks: Animal Kingdom and Epcot

The rain yesterday brought cold and windy weather today.  We were both freezing for most of the day!

We took the shuttle again from the hotel to the parks.  This morning we took the shuttle to Epcot (since that was were we were planning on ending our day).  From there, we took a bus from Epcot to Animal Kingdom.  The great thing about the Disney World parks is that they have free transportation between the parks.  Awesome!

We started our day at Animal Kingdom by getting hot chocolate because we were so cold!  Then we went and did the safari experience that they have.  It was so cool!  There are no cages or fences.  The animals are free to roam and you get pretty close to them.

 No zoom.  That's how close we were to this gorgeous guy!

 Hard to see, but there's a lion sleeping on top of that rock!

After the safari we walked around the park.  We saw the big "Tree of Life" that they've created and carved with all the animals on it.  It's incredible!

 The Dinosaur ride (which is supposedly the same track as Indiana Jones...not sure if I believe it...)

 And our reactions when the T-Rex jumped out at us!

There is no Matterhorn at Disney World.  Instead, they have a ride called Expedition Everest, which is like the Matterhorn on crack!  It goes way up high, then you go forwards AND BACKWARDS through dark mountain tunnels and are flipping, and turning all over the place.  It's awesome!  We did it twice.

 The first time, however, the ride stopped and we were stuck right at the entrance to the mountain in a freaking wind tunnel.  It was SO COLD!

We ate lunch at a sit-down restaurant that was delicious!  We got their wok-fried green beans with sweet chili sauce, which were the best thing I've ever put in my mouth, and I got another Asian noodle/veggie bowl with tofu that was so yummy!  

After lunch we went on a jungle trek that they had.  The sign said we'd meet "tigers, bats, and lovely birds."

 Ginormous bats.  Wingspans were probably at least 5' across.

 Tigers!  Gorgeous!

 And lovely birds!  (That attacked Julia...two flew right at her face!)

After our jungle trek we hopped back on the bus to go back to Epcot.  Out of all the parks, this was the one I was least excited about visiting, because I knew there weren't that many rides.  We first went and did "Spaceship Earth" which was kind of cool.  It takes place inside the big, iconic, silver ball and takes you through the evolution of communication.  Then at the end it gives you a glimpse of what your future will look like based on some questions you answer and a picture it takes of you at the very beginning.  It was funny!  This was one of the pictures of mine and Julia's future:

We then walked around and through the different countries.  The first one we did was United Kingdom.  Because the Flower and Garden Expo was going on, they had different character topiaries throughout the park that were really cool.  Of course, in England, they had Peter Pan.

We walked down to a gift shop that was kind of out of the way, just because, and literally ran into Peter Pan!  I thought Julia was going to have a panic attack.  She was like a teeny-bopper finally meeting her boyband crush!  However, by the time we got there he was talking to his last person and was on his way back to Neverland.  I was sure Julia was going to start crying.  But I told her, "You're getting closer and closer each time!  Next time you'll actually be able to touch him!"

We tried the frushi (fruit sushi) in Japan.  It was amazing!  It was mango, pineapple, and strawberries wrapped in coconut rice with whip cream and a raspberry sauce.  Yum!!

In America, there was a colonial drum and fife group.  They had everyone say the pledge of allegiance.  It was awesome!

In Germany there was a cool model train village set up outside, and a pretty Christmas shop and a delicious caramel store!

 Pickle tree

 Caramel and chocolate covered pineapple!  So good!  (not pictured: I also got an apple pie caramel apple)

The best ride was the one in Norway.  It was a log ride similar to Pirates of the Caribbean, but with trolls.

By the end of the day we were both tired and freezing to death, so we decided to head back.  Unfortunately we missed one shuttle and had to wait for the next one.  We had to wait for TWO HOURS!

I was mostly bored with Epcot.  I'm glad I went because I think everyone should do it once in their lives, but I don't think I'll ever go back.  There just wasn't enough there that caught my attention.  Julia liked it, though.  She had fun walking through and seeing the different architecture of the different countries.

Steps walked: 21197