Snowmageddon 2011? No thanks, we'd rather go to Disney World

[schoen]

Brief Introduction

I am a little new to this trip writing board, but I love the idea of having a written document of my trip. My Husband Matt and myself are in our EARLY 30’s (31 and 30 respectively). We go to Disney a lot, generally two or three times a year. We are blessed in that Matt’s parents bought into DVC in the early 90’s when it just started, and they bought a ton of points. They never use them though, so they allow us to use them basically as often as we like.

For this trip we booked pretty late, about two months out. We didn’t make a ton of plans and ADRs. We just wanted to wing it. We were lucky enough to get a 1 bedroom at Beach Club. Our trip was scheduled for Thursday February 3rd through Monday February 7th.


Matt and I love to travel, and we like to try new places, but any time we try a new place we generally agree that WDW is more fun. We live in Michigan in the capital area. We both went to Michigan State University, and stuck around the area. Matt works in government relations at the state level, and I am a corporate trainer. We have been together for 14 years, and married for six years. We don’t have kids yet, but maybe some day  I keep putting it off for travel!

 

[schoen]

I promise there WILL be photos... I just didn't take any yet...

Tuesday February 1, 2011

I know this is two whole days before our trip, but I REALLY feel like this is the day the trip started for us, because this is the day that we left our home. Matt and I live in Michigan, and when you live in Michigan you accept that there will be a certain amount of snow. Days before our trip the weather people on TV started to get REALLY excited for the biggest snow storm to hit MI since 1978. We were all calling it Snowmageddon.
The storm was scheduled to hit MI starting Tuesday evening, and the snowing and blowing was supposed to continue through Wednesday evening. Our flight was scheduled for Thursday AM. We had booked a room at the Westin at DTW for Wednesday night, this is a tradition for us.

Tuesday at work was somewhat distracted for me. Okay… I was freaking out! I was worried about every possible terrible travel scenario. I was teaching a class, and all I was thinking about was this snow storm, although, to be fair, all of my students were pretty distracted too. I was in Grand Rapids, and they were supposed to get twice as much snow as us.

We booked our trip on Thursday because Matt had A LOT of meetings and work to do on Wednesday. I was so worried that the snow was going to prevent us from getting out of our driveway, and I was also concerned about our flight being canceled.

Matt was sending me updates all day about the flights. He was watching to see what flights were canceled, etc. He has a friend who works for Delta, and she felt pretty confident that our flight would not be canceled, but I wasn’t! Plus, I wasn’t sure we would be able to even make it to the airport if this snow lived up to what they were saying it could be.

Around noon my stress level was somewhat reduced when I learned that all of the people that Matt had meetings with were going to have snow days on both Wednesday and Thursday. BUT then we had all these new plans to make. We went through a thousand options. Should we try to get a flight out of Detroit on Tuesday night? Maybe… But I was working in Grand Rapids (probably 3 hrs from Detroit in good weather/traffic) until six, wasn’t packed, and we had to stop in Ann Arbor (45 min detour in good weather) to drop off our dog, AND the snow was supposed to start around four… so that didn’t seem like a great plan.
Then we considered checking into the Westin on Tuesday and spending two nights. We would get there REALLY late at night, and it would be boring to stay at the hotel for two nights, BUT the roads would be passable at the start of the storm, and this would at least guarantee we would GET to the airport. There was no guarantee that the flight wouldn’t be canceled though. Also, the last minute hotel room was close to 400 dollars, which seemed like a lot.

The other option I could see was that we could drive to my parent’s house in Ann Arbor, where we were dropping off our dog. That is about halfway to the airport, and we had to go there anyway to drop off the dog. Their roads tend to get cleared pretty early, and this would put us closer to the airport.
The final option was just sticking to our original plan of staying in Lansing, and going to the airport Wednesday evening. I was just NOT convinced that if we REALLY got 18-20 inches of snow that was going to be blowing that we would be able to get our car out of our subdivision. It is a city sub, and we live on a teeny-tiny road. Even for small storms we don’t get plowed for two or three days usually.

We thought about it all day, and in any event, I had to get from Grand Rapids to Lansing so I could at least pack. I teach a class from 8-3:30 and then administer a test. The wind started howling at around 2:30, and by 3:30 it was snowing, lightly-but it was snowing. My students all wanted to get going, and I think it was the fastest I have EVER had a group take that test! They were all concerned about their plans too! I was on the road by 5:10 or so, which is a good 30-40 minutes earlier than is usual for me.

We decided to drive to Ann Arbor, spend the night, and drive to the airport on Wednesday. My drive from Grand Rapids (60 min usually) was actually fine, I lost a little time, but it was fine. It was during the drive that people came out of the woodwork needing us for stuff. My BIL called and asked if we wouldn’t like to stop by his house. Matt explained that we were trying to leave asap, because we knew the roads would just get worse and worse. My BIL did not accept this, he asked if we couldn’t please just stop by really quickly. This was SO irritating to me, because I knew that he just wanted to tell us that his wife was pregnant again. Don’t get me wrong, I was super excited and happy about this, but he could have told us over the phone!!!!!! Then two or three people called and asked us to go out, because everyone had been called off work the next day so they were all going out. THEN Matt decided that we needed to stop at our friend’s house to drop off our key.

So… I went home and packed-that took longer than I expected, but amazingly I forgot nothing. THEN we went to my BIL’s house so he could tell us about his new baby. THEN we stopped at our friend’s house to drop off our key. Finally but 8:00 pm we were on our way to my parent’s house.

Sadly-the storm was also well on it’s way too. It was a HORRIBLE drive-but we made it by 10:00 and were still unsure about whether or not our flight would leave on Thursday.

 

[schoen]

Tuesday February 2nd

I just couldn’t sleep. The bed we have at my parent’s is softer than I like. We didn’t have a tv in the room, so Matt’s snoring kept me up. Plus, my mind was still completely occupied by the storm, and whether or not our flight would even leave.


We had breakfast, and just kind of sat around for a little while. We debated what we should do-if we should go to the airport, or wait. Around noon or so I started to get a little antsy. I was a little bored and wanted to get the ball moving. Although, the good news was that the snow in Ann Arbor was not nearly as bad as they said it would be. It actually only snowed about four or five inches overnight. It did continue to snow, and they got a couple more inches of snow through the morning.


I was able to watch the Lansing news too, and we got about a foot overnight. I called our friend Andy and asked if we made a smart choice, and he said that we did. He told us about all the cars in the neighborhood that were stuck. That made me happy; because the drive the night before had been dangerous, and I was glad the risk was worthwhile.

Around 1:15 I decided that I needed to put some clothes on and get ready to head to the airport. I didn’t want to take a shower, because it takes so long, and I wanted to take one at the hotel, because I like the Westin’s shower BUT I didn’t want to put on any of my clean clothes, because I felt too grimy! SO I decided to take a shower. I took the opportunity to cute myself up! I did my hair and even put on some makeup! Around 2:00 we were headed out the door.


The highway was actually pretty clear. It took us a little longer to get to the airport than normal, but only by about five minutes. Our flight had not been canceled, the snow had stopped, and by this time the sun was actually shining. Things were looking up!



When we got to the hotel we decided to go into the terminal. So, we dropped our bags off in the room and headed to the terminal. Some of the airlines had canceled all flights, but not Delta. The airport was DEAD though. It was literally like a ghost town.

At some point Matt said, wouldn’t it be great if we could get out today. I thought it was an insane but awesome idea. We didn’t think it would pan out-but we decided to give it a try.

So we went to ticketing, and asked if we could switch. The Delta lady said that both remaining flights for the day f were wide open. We asked if we could switch and how much it would cost. She put a bunch of info into the computer, and after what seemed like a decade she said that we could switch flights, and that it would not cost us anything.

What???? This sort of thing never happens to us! We asked if she thought we had time to make the 5:45 flight, and she told us that as long as we got our bags checked by 4:45 we would be fine. By this time it was like 4:15. We were in super high speed mode at this point. We rushed to our room to get our bags.

This was VERY out of sorts for us. We are not spontaneous people! Especially me. I like to plan out every single detail, and we were not prepared to go to Florida tonight! We didn’t have a hotel room in FL, and it could cost us a fortune to get one. Our rental car was a great rate, but it was a weekend rate that was only valid from Thursday to Monday. Also, we had already paid for the hotel room in Detroit, which was NOT cheap, so we would be wasting that money.

Matt convinced me that the hotel room wasn’t that much of a loss, because our rate included valet parking. So, I was able to reconcile that, and I was pretty sure we could get a decent rate at a hotel in Florida, and I was pretty sure we could get one more day of our car.


We got to ticketing, and we had a different agent this time. When we explained to her what she wanted to do she made it seem like we were nuts, and this would cost us a fortune. My heart sank. This wasn’t going to work out after all.

Matt came to the rescue though. He explained to her that the other lady had said it wouldn’t cost us anything. The new agent went and got the first one, and they worked on it together, and sure enough we were all set.

As they took our bags I realized how unprepared we REALLY were for this (in minor ways) I was wearing a sweater and my UGG boots, not great for FL when we arrived. I was also wearing jeans, which I don’t usually travel in, because I find them uncomfortable. Neither of us had eaten since breakfast, so we were hungry. but oh well!!

Despite all that, we were just elated! Even though it was just 12 or so hours this was going to make a huge difference. We would wake up in Disney World! It would give us a whole day. I never count the travel day as a part of my actual vacation, so I was just REALLY excited by this. So was Matt. I kept exclaiming that it was the most fun thing we have EVER done.

The first thing we did was call his mom, and she hung up with Matt instantly and called DVC. She called us back and before we knew it we were booked in a one-bedroom savanna view for LATER THAT DAY!


Then we went through security, and we made our way down the airport to our gate. We were ever so slightly concerned about our seats. Matt is REALLY tall, and so he likes to sit in an exit row, so he can stretch his legs a little, but we had given up our exit row when we switched flights. At this point we had about 30 min until boarding and I wanted to go to the bathroom, and get a quick drink and stuff. He went ahead to the gate, and I went to a store and got some snacks and drinks and met Matt at the gate.


By the time I got there Matt had already spoken with the gate agent about our seats. He told me that they didn’t have exit row available, but we could upgrade to first class for $75.00, or they could put us in a row behind the bathroom with extended leg room, and guarantee that we would be the only two people in the row. That sounded fine to him so he took the free option, I thought he made a wise decision. Although, I would not have been mad at him for upgrading, it would have been extra nice on our extra awesome flight.



We had about 20 minutes until boarding, and since it was right near our gate we went to the Delta Sky Club to use to restrooms, and relax for just a few minutes. This was when I knew FOR SURE the airport was dead, the Delta Sky Club was empty. Usually on a Wednesday at 5:00 that place would be lousy with business people catching a flight somewhere, but not today, we practically had the place to ourselves! I went to the bathroom, and got myself a pop and Matt a beer, and settled in to just relax for a few minutes.

We stayed in the lounge for a few minutes and then went to board the plane. I COULD NOT believe we were doing this. In the span of three hours we went from talking about what time we would have to wake up to get to the gate for our 7:00 am flight to actually being on a plane ready to head to WDW. Wow!

Matt and I boarded the flight early, so while everyone was boarding he got on his ipad and adjusted our car rental reservation. We had been booked in a premium full size. It would cost us $50 more to get another day in that car class, OR for $10 we could get a regular full-size. That seemed like the smarter option, so we did that. I was a little bummed to lose my fancy car, but all the rental cars are nice and clean and feel new. We were mostly concerned about size anyway.

The flight was a little boring for me. Another downside of not being ready to fly was that my ipad wasn’t charged. It only had 20% power. I had my kindle, and tried to read. I had downloaded a book that I knew I would like, but I wasn’t far enough into it to keep me interested. I watched 30 Rock when it came on the tv on the plane, and just thought about how awesome it was to be saying adios to cold and snowy MI!

The timing of the storm was REALLY actually too bad. I usually LOVE snow storms. I love going to the grocery store and buying stuff to make pot roast and snacks. I always clean the house and wash my favorite pajamas so that when the storm comes we can just veg out and watch movies with a yummy dinner cooking in the oven. I even like shoveling the snow! Usually when it snows like that I will go out every two hours or so, so that I can keep up with it. I just like snow storms. They kind of make the world stop, and everything feels cozy and warm inside, and I like that.

For this storm though I was NOT looking forward to it because I had to travel, I wasn’t even going to be home. We had to hire a service to shovel our walks and driveway. It just didn’t feel right. So I did feel somewhat like I had been cheated out of a pretty fun tradition for us. BUT I was glad to be going to Disney World.

When our plane landed at around 8:45 we were still in a brief state of disbelief. We were just SO thrilled to be there. At this point though, we were also VERY tired and VERY hungry. We got our baggage and called our parents and went to the bathroom and all that good stuff, and then we made our way to the Alamo desk. We were only there for a few minutes, so that was painless. Then we made our way over to the garage.

When we got there they said we could have anything in the full-size lane. Well, there were a ton of great upgrades in the lane. We also got there at the same time as two other families, so it felt a little like a mad dash to get the best car. There was an awesome red SUV (A Chevy Equinox) in the first spot. We sorta walked down the row since there were lots of other cars, but I know that I felt somewhat pressured by all these other families, so we went back to the red SUV pretty quick. SO we got an upgrade from even the premium full size! I declared that everything was coming up roses for us.

Then we were on our way! We stopped at Fast food (it was late and I was in survival mode, I just needed food, and didn;t want to waste a lot of time or money)


At Check in there was only one person working. This was annoying too I was fine with this, it seemed like it couldn’t take that long right?

When the woman in front of me got to the Check-In person it was clear to me that this WOULD take a long time. She was exceptionally chatty. When she was asked if she had stayed there before, she didn’t reply with a simple no. Nope, not this lady. She said “well we come down fairly often since we live up north and are DVC members”
…she then proceeded to tell the CM every other resort that she had stayed in. So, this simple, polite question turned into a four minute long explanation. Her husband refused to stay put during check in, so she would ask a question, and her husband would wander away to look at the animals and then he would come back, and she would make the CM re-explain everything he had just said. She also had a million questions. Then she wanted to pin trade, and just when I was about to scream ENOUGH! Another CM appeared and took care of us.

Luckily our Check-in was MUCH more rapid. He gave us our room number, and it looked to me like it was right near the lobby. He showed us where to park, and we were on our way. Parking the car was easy, but I was shocked. The parking lot for AKV is under the hotel, so it was essentially a parking structure. It didn’t feel very Disney to me.

We made it to our room a little after 11:00. I was thrilled to be there. I LOVED the room. I thought it was beautiful. I liked that it had two bathrooms, and I informed Matt that his bathroom would be the one off the kitchen. More than anything, I just wanted to get in bed. I hurried through getting ready and plugging in all my gadgets that needed to charge etc., put the tv on our fav WESH 2 news, and went to sleep. We decided that since we could not check in to BCV until 4:00 the next day, and we were EXHAUSTED, we would just sleep in, go to breakfast at Boma (a fav of mine) and relax in the morning; so, no alarm for us! Ahhhhh I LOVE vacation.

 

[schoen]

Thursday February 3rd

I woke up early after an EXCELLENT night of sleep. I was still just SO excited to be there, as opposed to in MI trying to make an early flight. It felt great. I wanted to go out to our balcony and check out the animals, but I was also afraid that if I got up it would wake Matt up. I crept out though. I was thrilled to see zebra, cows, and ostrich outside of the window.

I called my mom and described the scenery to her, and just enjoyed being outside with no coat and not seeing any snow or slush. Then I took the world’s most leisurely bath and shower, and I did my hair and makeup. By the time I was done Matt was up. He needed to shower, so I decided to walk to the store to pick up a few things.

I was under the impression that our room was right next to the lobby. I called Matt’s mom to thank her again for the room. I was walking pretty fast and it was just seeming like the hallway never ended. It just kept going and going. I was obviously WRONG about being close to the lobby.

We were only staying there one night, but it would have been annoying to stay there for an entire trip, especially if you had to rely on bus transportation. It took almost ten FULL minutes f walking fast to get there. That was my only slight complaint about the hotel stay.

By the time I got back to the room it was actually nearly 10:00. Our usual first day tradition is to fly in early and have lunch at Beaches and Cream, but we decided to have a big breakfast and head to Epcot for the afternoon instead.

Boma is MY favorite place to eat breakfast on property; that I have tried any way. I love the sauce that they have with the ham. I also enjoy that they carve corned beef. I USED to LOVE that they had corn bread muffins, and I have be VERY unhappy to see that they don’t seem to have these anymore.

Matt and I didn’t have a reservation, but that wasn’t going to be a problem, the place was pretty empty. We both just went up to the buffet once. I wanted to be careful about eating too much because I hate feeling yucky and full all afternoon. Plus, I figured if I was a little hungry than I could get some yummy snacks later at Epcot!

So finally we were on our way to our Disney home!

We are in love with the Beach Club. It is where we spent our honeymoon, and I think it will always have a very special place in our hearts. We liked the size of the room, and the updated aesthetic of the AKV better, but there will never be a better resort in my book than the Beach Club.

Our room wasn’t ready, so we decided to just head over to Epcot. We stopped at guest relations though and picked up our tickets. Then we were on our way!

I love nothing more than the walk from the Beach Club to Epcot, especially the first of the trip. I always feel like I am in on some secret. I love to look at the water, and the flowers, and I love that they pipe the World Showcase music in. Ahhh It is relaxing just thinking about it!

When we got inside Epcot the first thing that I wanted to do was head to MY favorite country, France, so we could get my favorite snack at WDW-Champagne!

Matt was fine with that, but he made t clear that the also wanted to stop in Canada for HIS favorite snack, a Labatt Blue.

We got our drink and headed towards future world, and I noticed that the gates to the millennium village were open. I wanted to see what the area looked like, so we walked back there. We found EVERY major character. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Chip, Dale…. And there were even more than that. I am not a huge character person, but if I was… this would have been heaven on earth! I asked how often this happens, and they said it is really random, but they do it every once in a while. There was no one back there. A tip for anyone who likes the characters.

Then we made our way over to Canada for Matt’s beer. Unfortunately for him, her keg wasn’t working. I considered getting a cosmo… but decided against it. I would have been drunk if I did that, and no one thought that was a good idea!

Then wed headed to the Land Pavilion, just to see what the wait was like, and what the fastpass situation looked like.

We learned that the fastpasses for Soarin were an hour out. We got one and decided to get on Livin with the Land. That is a favorite of mine.

While we were on Livin with the Land, Matt got a text that our room was ready. We debated a few options. Should we just stay in the park and check in later? Should we go now and come back? Should we walk over to Test Track and get a fastpass for that and then come back and do all the rides?

We decided to exit the park and get in our room and go to the grocery store, and come back to the park around 4:00.

So we walked ALL the way back to the Beach Club. I DO love staying there, but you do walk A LOT when you do. We also walk to MGM when we stay there, so we get good exercise for sure.

We found our room, and were happy with the location because it was near the elevator and closer to the parking lot. Here are a few room shots:

The kitchen

The bedroom

The Bathroom

The Tub!!!!!!!!

All in all we were pretty happy with our room!

 

[schoen]

Once we dropped off all of our luggage we made our obligatory trip to this place:

This is always a favorite part of the rip for me. I love this grocery store. They have such nice meats and prepared foods. The produce section is also really nice. The grocery stores around here pale in comparison.

We always get the same stuff, mostly drinks. Bottled water, diet coke, Matt gets Labatt Blue if they happen to have it (they have it about 50% of the time. Orlando seems to love Blue Light and it is on most menus-not so much for Labatt proper). We also get milk, chocolate milk (vacation!) and bottled water. We also got some English muffins and peanut butter as well as some cookies.

It was a pretty quick, and very successful trip.

Then we went back to what we call the bubble. We both feel a little weird when we leave Disney Property, and it feels much better to be in the bubble!

Before we knew it, we were back at our lovely home. I took a short nap, and Matt enjoyed one of his favorite vacation traditions; watching courtroom tv shows.
We headed back to Epcot around 4:00

We rode Soarin, and had an interesting conversation with an attendant there. He was commenting on how slow the park was, and it was just interesting to hear it from his perspective.

The park WAS really slow though.

Soarin was only okay for me on this ride. We were sitting next to this woman who was VERY excited about everything. She was squealing and talking the WHOLE time. I figured it would stop at some point, but no such luck for me 

After the ride I made Matt promise to take me back for a more relaxing ride later. We still had an hour or so before dinner so we decided to check out the wait for test track. The wait was posted at 30 min-but the fastpasses were 30 min out too. We decided to get a fastpass and ride Mission to Mars in the meantime.

I am not a huge fan of this ride, but Matt is. He seems to like it a lot. It might have just been in my head, but I have felt yucky after this ride. I think what bothers me more than anything else is all of the warnings that are posted.

I went on it though, I always say that I will go every other trip, and it was time for that. I just find it an uncomfortable feeling, and that isn’t fun for me. There was NO wait though, and Matt enjoys it. I felt fine when we got off, so it was no big deal.

Then we went back over to Test Track. The wait was now 25 minutes. We used fastpass and it was clear there wasn’t really any sort of stand-by line once you got inside. In fact, there were so few people they let us in without seeing the preshow, which has never happened to me before, although I was happy to not watch it for the ten thousandth time.

By this time it was about six o’clock and it was therefore time to head to dinner. We had a 6:20 ADR at Via Napoli. On our way I begged Matt to stop and go on the Mexico boat ride with me. He was slightly reluctant, because he thought it would make us late to dinner. I convinced him though that it wouldn’t be too big of a deal if we were ten minutes late since the park was so slow.

So we were off to find that pesky Donald Duck. I don’t know why, but I LOVE this ride. I find it SO relaxing and fun. I like the music in it too. We didn’t have time to dawdle though, we had a yummy dinner in Italy to get to!

 

[Jazzabelle508]

I'm in! I can't wait to hear about disney from a couples perspective. My brother and his fiancee are coming to disney for there honeymoon in december and are staying at the swan and dolphin resorts. I'm also jealous that you got to escape the snow for the most part. I'm from chicago and traveling here or really trying to have any kind of life here for the first couple of days after the storm was pretty much impossible. It took a week for everything to get back to functioning at all.

 

[schoen]

I'm in! I can't wait to hear about disney from a couples perspective. My brother and his fiancee are coming to disney for there honeymoon in december and are staying at the swan and dolphin resorts. I'm also jealous that you got to escape the snow for the most part. I'm from chicago and traveling here or really trying to have any kind of life here for the first couple of days after the storm was pretty much impossible. It took a week for everything to get back to functioning at all.

Yay! Someone is actually reading this! I was worried!!!! I can't explain how AMAZING it felt to get out of Detroit early. I was convinced we were going to miss our trip all together.

Chicago got that storm WAY worse than we did in MI. I couldn't believe some of the Facebook pictures I was seeing!


The Boardwalk area is a GREAT place for couples, they will have a fun honeymoon. Ours was literally the best time I have every had in my whole life.

 

[schoen]

As we walked around the World Showcase it was becoming more and more clear to me just how DEAD this park really was. The walkways were nearly clear. All anxiety I had about getting to Via Napoli on time was melting. I was pretty certain they would seat us, even if we were late. At last we arrived in Italy!

I didn’t take any photo’s at dnner, I think we were too hungry, and excited to be in a new restaurant.
We LOVED this place. We had the arancini and mozzarella salad to start. We liked them both, however the salad could use more flavor. I ended up dipping it in the oil and balsamic that was provided for the bread.

The arancini was good too, but what I REALLY enjoyed was the sauce. I can be a little picky about tomato sauces, but this was delicious. It was JUST the right amount of acid and sweet, and it was just delicious.

For our entrée we ordered a ham and mushroom pizza and a pasta. I forget what it was called, but it was baked with cheese and sausage. Both of these were INSANELY good. I was VERY pleased with this meal.

The dessert list was tempting, but we didn’t indulge. I figured that we could get something in the park if we wanted something sweet.

After dinner we shopped around the Italy Pavillion for awhile. In order to do this properly I figured that I should probably get myself a drink! I chose a Rose Regale from the kiosk, and it was delicious!

We shopped there for a little bit. I didn’t find too much. It was our first day and I usually don’t buy much at the start of the trip.

Then we headed over to Japan.

We just shopped for a while. I love to look at the Mikimoto store here, and one day I WILL get a strand of pearls from this store. We got me a pair of earrings here the year we got married. I will get something else here someday…. A girl can dream right?
Then we looked at all the fun dishes and plates. We played with zen gardens, and contemplated getting a bonsai. I also considered getting some sake, but decided against all of those things. We decided to just move on.

So it was off to the America Pavillion.

We looked around the VERY small store there. We saw some books that might appeal to friends of ours, and considered getting them, but ultimately decided to come back. This was a poor choice, because despite being in Epcot almost every day, we never came back to this store. Oh well!
Then it was time to start thinking about Illuminations.

It was so dead that we were pretty sure there was no need to get a spot early. I am so used to this though, that I have started to really enjoy the music they play for the half hour or so before Illuminations. So we found a spot on the bridge between France and the UK and staked our spot. At 8:30 we were the only ones there. It didn’t fill in until about 8:55.

When the show started I was so happy. I just love this show. The music is captivating to me. I just love it. I always take a little moment to appreciate that Matt and I are fortunate enough to be there. I also consider how lucky I am to have a happy and healthy family at home, so I can enjoy being away. It is just a sentimental show for me.

After Illuminations we made our way back to the resort. We were not exhausted! It was our first day there and we were well rested from not having traveled all day. We had also accomplished quite a lot in Epcot for spending not so much time there.

We went back to our room and hit the hay; satisfied with a successful first day