irisesareblue
irisesareblue
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2008
- Messages
- 428
I wanted to share with you all how my trip with my step-daughter went - thanks so much for all your input over the last few months. It was a great time of bonding and I THINK I've got another Disney addict hooked!
My step-daughter and I (both of us adults) arrived in Orlando on January 2nd.
We arrived half hour late on our flight from Ontario (around 9 pm rather than 8:30 pm) but then got delayed going through TSA security checkpoints (no complaints here - better safe than sorry I say!), then spent a while waiting for our luggage at the baggage carousel (maybe an hour and a half here) and renting our car, so didn't leave the airport until about 11 pm. We then went to Walmart to pick up groceries and went to our hotel. We stayed at the Regal Sun Resort and we were very pleased with the hotel after our security latch was fixed upon check in. Regal Sun Resort turned out to be great - shuttles were good and the hotel staff were very nice. Housekeeping was great as well - we never lacked for towels or cleaning. They even brought us extra blankets as we were there during the cold snap.
We basically only DID Disney and a bit of shopping in between. This was more of a "get-to-know-ya" trip for my step-daughter and myself and we both really needed to get away from the stresses of day-to-day work life. Disney always fits that bill for me. I honestly tried to branch out - I even pre-paid for a ticket to Blue Man at Universal and a Universal ticket (neither of which I used - more on that later, though!)
ON Sunday, January 3rd, we went to Hollywood Studios. We got a FastPass for Toy Story Mania for the afternoon then started our tour of the park. Toy Story Mania was great! And even better is that I finally won a game at Disney - I usually suck so this game I loved because I could do it and have a good score (well, relatively anyway)! We finished out the day by watching the Osbourne Spectacle of Lights and then taking a jog through the park to get to Fantasmic, where we got standing room only viewing. Osbourne Spectacle of Lights was the highlight of the day - the collective gasp of onlookers as the lights came in was pure Disney awe. Fantasmic - not so much - but I think the 6 foot 2 fellow who stood in front of us in the standing room only section who then proceeded to put his daughter on his shoulders skewed my opinion of the show.....(I'm only 5'2") BUT the jacket the kiddo was wearing was fun - some type of tye-dyed raincoat....
On Monday, January 4th, we went to Animal Kingdom. Highlight of the day was the Safari and the 3-D It's a Bugs Life show. Great fun! That evening, we shopped at the outlet mall on Vineland and had pizza at Ci-Ci's, which was the best pizza I've had in a long time.
On Tuesday, January 5th, we attended a character breakfast at Cape May Cafe. Very fun, even for two adults. The french toast pudding with maple syrup was great and we asked for the recipe - if anyone has it, I would appreciate it as Disney hasn't emailed it yet. Then we hustled over to Magic Kingdom and spent the afternoon wandering about and trying to get a full ride on Pirates without it malfunctioning. The highlight of the visit to Magic Kingdom was Wishes that night - even though we were freezing our tootsies off, we had a great view.
On Wednesday, we went to Epcot. Now, Epcot is not my favorite park, however, we enjoyed Soarin' and Spaceship Earth immensely. We also saw the Chinese movie and went on the Mexican boat attraction (3 Caballeros - very funny!)
On Thursday, we went back to the Magic Kingdom and spent the morning riding Buzz Lightyear - seriously - 3 times!!! We otherwise had a great time seeing the 3 pm parade and shopping Main Street - basically soaked up the atmosphere. That night, we went to the Boardwalk and had a walk about and ate some great ice cream. Note to self - ice cream on a night when the mercury is near freezing is crazy.....Maybe all the shivering did us good, though, because I didn't gain any weight this vacation and I ate like crazy.
On Friday, we went back to MK (I know - again!!!) later in the day and had lunch at Tony's. I had the chicken parmagiana which was very tasty. Later, we watched Wishes again, although the cloud cover was low and we only saw the fireworks let off near the castle clearly - the high fireworks were obscured by the clouds but cast lovely colors through the cloud cover. Oh, well....can't help the weather. The highlight of that day was the Celebration Street Party where we danced on the street with the characters like we were kids again. Loved this part! Need to feed my inner child more and more these days as business gets more hectic and stressful!
On Saturday, we checked out of the Regal Sun without any problems. I checked in early at the Marriott near the Airport and then took step-daughter to the airport where I tried gamely not to cry (we live 2000 miles apart) and then I sniffed my way back to the parking lot and back to (where else??? oh you guessed!) Disney for the afternoon at Hollywood Studios - I waited in the queue for Toy Story Midway Mania, had a great discussion with a couple who live near Disneyland and discussed the differences between the two parks. The I went to see the Little Mermaid show and caught the Block Party Bash. I then took myself off to Citywalk at Universal Studios (very quiet at Universal there compared to Disney) where I decided I wasn't dressed warm enough to be doing coasters outside, which would have been my main intention of using my park ticket that day. I had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe - very fun place, although very strange to be sitting by myself while everyone else was in groups and looking at me with pity in their eyes - even the staff came over and sat down. I'm used to travelling alone but this time eating dinner alone felt a little weird, I must admit. I did have a ticket for the Blue Man Group for that evening but decided not to go - I did my duty, however, and passed my ticket along to a group of ladies to use rather than having it go to waste. AT least it saved them an admission fee for one of them, hopefully they had a good time.
Sunday morning, I checked out of the Marriott airport and headed home via Northwest Airlines through Minneapolis to Winnipeg - very quick check in at the airport and allover a good flight and on-time!
Now, I just have to start planning my Disney trip for June with my 2 college-aged daughters as I bought my Annual Pass this trip!
THAT should get me through the PDD (Post-Disney-Depression) I can feel coming on.
My step-daughter and I (both of us adults) arrived in Orlando on January 2nd.
We arrived half hour late on our flight from Ontario (around 9 pm rather than 8:30 pm) but then got delayed going through TSA security checkpoints (no complaints here - better safe than sorry I say!), then spent a while waiting for our luggage at the baggage carousel (maybe an hour and a half here) and renting our car, so didn't leave the airport until about 11 pm. We then went to Walmart to pick up groceries and went to our hotel. We stayed at the Regal Sun Resort and we were very pleased with the hotel after our security latch was fixed upon check in. Regal Sun Resort turned out to be great - shuttles were good and the hotel staff were very nice. Housekeeping was great as well - we never lacked for towels or cleaning. They even brought us extra blankets as we were there during the cold snap.
We basically only DID Disney and a bit of shopping in between. This was more of a "get-to-know-ya" trip for my step-daughter and myself and we both really needed to get away from the stresses of day-to-day work life. Disney always fits that bill for me. I honestly tried to branch out - I even pre-paid for a ticket to Blue Man at Universal and a Universal ticket (neither of which I used - more on that later, though!)
ON Sunday, January 3rd, we went to Hollywood Studios. We got a FastPass for Toy Story Mania for the afternoon then started our tour of the park. Toy Story Mania was great! And even better is that I finally won a game at Disney - I usually suck so this game I loved because I could do it and have a good score (well, relatively anyway)! We finished out the day by watching the Osbourne Spectacle of Lights and then taking a jog through the park to get to Fantasmic, where we got standing room only viewing. Osbourne Spectacle of Lights was the highlight of the day - the collective gasp of onlookers as the lights came in was pure Disney awe. Fantasmic - not so much - but I think the 6 foot 2 fellow who stood in front of us in the standing room only section who then proceeded to put his daughter on his shoulders skewed my opinion of the show.....(I'm only 5'2") BUT the jacket the kiddo was wearing was fun - some type of tye-dyed raincoat....
On Monday, January 4th, we went to Animal Kingdom. Highlight of the day was the Safari and the 3-D It's a Bugs Life show. Great fun! That evening, we shopped at the outlet mall on Vineland and had pizza at Ci-Ci's, which was the best pizza I've had in a long time.
On Tuesday, January 5th, we attended a character breakfast at Cape May Cafe. Very fun, even for two adults. The french toast pudding with maple syrup was great and we asked for the recipe - if anyone has it, I would appreciate it as Disney hasn't emailed it yet. Then we hustled over to Magic Kingdom and spent the afternoon wandering about and trying to get a full ride on Pirates without it malfunctioning. The highlight of the visit to Magic Kingdom was Wishes that night - even though we were freezing our tootsies off, we had a great view.
On Wednesday, we went to Epcot. Now, Epcot is not my favorite park, however, we enjoyed Soarin' and Spaceship Earth immensely. We also saw the Chinese movie and went on the Mexican boat attraction (3 Caballeros - very funny!)
On Thursday, we went back to the Magic Kingdom and spent the morning riding Buzz Lightyear - seriously - 3 times!!! We otherwise had a great time seeing the 3 pm parade and shopping Main Street - basically soaked up the atmosphere. That night, we went to the Boardwalk and had a walk about and ate some great ice cream. Note to self - ice cream on a night when the mercury is near freezing is crazy.....Maybe all the shivering did us good, though, because I didn't gain any weight this vacation and I ate like crazy.
On Friday, we went back to MK (I know - again!!!) later in the day and had lunch at Tony's. I had the chicken parmagiana which was very tasty. Later, we watched Wishes again, although the cloud cover was low and we only saw the fireworks let off near the castle clearly - the high fireworks were obscured by the clouds but cast lovely colors through the cloud cover. Oh, well....can't help the weather. The highlight of that day was the Celebration Street Party where we danced on the street with the characters like we were kids again. Loved this part! Need to feed my inner child more and more these days as business gets more hectic and stressful!
On Saturday, we checked out of the Regal Sun without any problems. I checked in early at the Marriott near the Airport and then took step-daughter to the airport where I tried gamely not to cry (we live 2000 miles apart) and then I sniffed my way back to the parking lot and back to (where else??? oh you guessed!) Disney for the afternoon at Hollywood Studios - I waited in the queue for Toy Story Midway Mania, had a great discussion with a couple who live near Disneyland and discussed the differences between the two parks. The I went to see the Little Mermaid show and caught the Block Party Bash. I then took myself off to Citywalk at Universal Studios (very quiet at Universal there compared to Disney) where I decided I wasn't dressed warm enough to be doing coasters outside, which would have been my main intention of using my park ticket that day. I had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe - very fun place, although very strange to be sitting by myself while everyone else was in groups and looking at me with pity in their eyes - even the staff came over and sat down. I'm used to travelling alone but this time eating dinner alone felt a little weird, I must admit. I did have a ticket for the Blue Man Group for that evening but decided not to go - I did my duty, however, and passed my ticket along to a group of ladies to use rather than having it go to waste. AT least it saved them an admission fee for one of them, hopefully they had a good time.
Sunday morning, I checked out of the Marriott airport and headed home via Northwest Airlines through Minneapolis to Winnipeg - very quick check in at the airport and allover a good flight and on-time!
Now, I just have to start planning my Disney trip for June with my 2 college-aged daughters as I bought my Annual Pass this trip!
THAT should get me through the PDD (Post-Disney-Depression) I can feel coming on.
