I'm back -- at least for a few days...before I head off to LaLa Land.
As you may recall -- I added on a quick trip to WDW while my wife was on a business trip.
My goal for the trip was to attempt the WDW46 challenge again, check out Disney Springs, golf, hit up the water parks, and do the Star Wars VR thing.
Unfortunately I strained my hamstring playing softball two days before departure, so getting around was quite the chore, but I'm happy to say that I was still able to have a great time.
On Saturday, I hit up Disney Springs on arrival day and got to experience Blaze pizza. If you haven't been -- it's basically chipotle for pizza. So you get to choose your toppings and crust, and then they make it right there in front of you. Pretty good stuff and reasonably priced for Disney. I was staying at Port Orleans Riverside, and really enjoyed the boat ride to/from DS. Unfortunately, Disney misplaced my luggage from DME, and it wasn't delivered until 10 hours after my flight landed. On a positive note, they loaded my account with anytime FPs -- which was a good thing for my WDW challenge.
On Sunday, I took it relatively easy and bounced around DHS, Epcot and MK trying to time how long it took to go from one park to the next in preparation for the challenge the next day. I also swung by the Grand and hung out in the hotel lobby for about an hour or so -- I absolutely love listening to the piano player there in the afternoon. Pro-tip -- if you're cheap like me with respect to alcohol purchasing -- you can buy a small bottle of liquor and a 20 oz bottle in the gift shop, and then mix your own drinks in the lobby while listening to the music. Cheapest drinks on property! Poured the remaining crown royal into the 20 oz bottle for safe keeping and proceeded to the MK for a couple rides and HEA. I also think I ate like 4 buckets of popcorn throughout the day. Not the smartest idea for the upcoming challenge day.
Monday was WDW challenge day (i.e., ride all rides in one day)
Sadly -- unlike my previous attempt, I was not successful in finishing the challenge. I developed some seriously bad blisters on the balls of both feet by 3 pm (never had that issue before), and that, combined with some slow loading lines (damn MK trains!!!) and 7DMT not being open right at 9 am, I fell behind about 25 minutes. I just needed POC, BTMRR, and SPLASH to finish it out...all in all, it was still fun to attempt. It is not easy to do in 14 hours -- not much can go wrong...and I had two too many things go wrong. Total walking for that day was around 17 miles.
On Tuesday, I took it easy and slept in until 10 am (never get to do that anymore with the kids) before heading down to the hotel pool around 11 am. Hung out there with some drinks until 12:30 pm, before grabbing a quick lunch and hitting up the golf course at the property (Hawk's Landing at Marriott World Center). Despite crazy winds, playing with rented clubs, a bum hammy and two blown out feet, I still managed to break 80 (albeit with one mulligan) -- so that was nice! That evening, DW and I went to Artist's Point for dinner since we hadn't been there before. Great food and service -- although, I wasn't all that fond of the ambiance. Probably should have stuck with Cali Grill -- but we wanted to try something new and DW hadn't yet been to the Wilderness lodge.
On Wednesday (last full day), I made the trek to BOTH waterparks...blistered feet be damned! enjoyed both parks -- and I honestly can't say which I enjoyed more. They both have their pros and cons. Finished the day with a late dinner at O'hanna's and practically had to be rolled out of there.
Thursday was early flight home -- fairly uneventful and we got home pretty early (before noon). Always nice to be home, especially with the little ones waiting on the front porch! Extra snuggle time all day that day.
And then we found out the kids had lice.
Actually, thank you to everyone who is contributing recipes. I love to read recipes. I don't love to cook but we need to eat so..,
