Scott and I went to Orlando for a week for a little vacation. My parents stayed with the kids. John got sick on the day we left and stayed sick the whole time and Emma and Anna also got the flu while we were gone. I had a lot of guilt about my parents taking care of my sick kids but everyone survived. And my parents are still speaking to us. Scott and I don't go away much. We went to Chicago for a few days in October and before that we had gone to Florida in January 2016.
Here we are at Hollywood Studios on our first day in the new-ish Toy Story land. Our flight had got in the night before around 11:30 or so and it was 1am before were at the hotel and ready to sleep. Then we got up at 4:30 so we could get our tickets and be in the park well before it opened so we could ride the newish Star Wars rides. One ride - Rise of the Resistance - only has a virtual queue. You must be in the park when the park opens (at 7am) and then try to enter the queue virtually through the app. We were in the park at opening and got a spot in line but the spots were sold out within 2 minutes. We stood in line for the Millennium Falcon ride twice and that was also fun.
Here we are lining up in the park sometime around 6am
We only got a couple hours of sleep that day and were super tired later on. It was worth it to get to ride Rise of the Resistance though.
Somewhere in Galaxy's Edge (the Star Wars land in Hollywood Studios)
With the virtual queue you get a text when your group is ready and then we were able to go stand in a short line for the ride.
This was in the middle of the Rise of the Resistance ride when our ship was captured by the Empire
The ride was really cool and worth all the fuss
Maybe we'll get to ride the one in Disneyland some day with the kids
On board the Millennium Falcon just before riding
We rode the first time as engineers and the second time as pilots. Another fun ride.
We did a lot of other things in Hollywood Studios, but that was the highlight.
Our second day we went to Animal Kingdom and headed straight to the Avatar land. I thought that movie was just ok, but the land they created there was very pretty.
In the line for the flying Avatar ride
We had a lot of fun and did a lot of other things, like the safari ride where you get to see real animals. And the dinosaur ride which is a lot like Indiana Jones but with Dinosaurs. And of course, Expedition Everest. It was all very fun!
Our third day we went to Magic Kingdom - the park that's most like Disneyland. It was in the 30s that morning. Brr!! We had fast passes for most everything we wanted to do but rushed to Peter Pan as soon as the park opened since that line gets long. The lines at Magic Kingdom were longer than we had hoped and we had to wait in some longer lines but we still did everything we wanted to.
We got Dole Whips at Magic Kingdom (pineapple soft serve). It was very cold that day which made it a little less enjoyable, but still yummy.
On the Buzz Lightyear ride. Scott usually outscores me by a factor of 10 on these kinds of rides.
Having dinner at Magic Kingdom
My stomach was bothering me the whole time we were on vacation. I had strep in December and had to take antibiotics and it took my stomach a long time to get back to normal. It was hard to find things that sounded appetizing.
Magic Kingdom at night
EPCOT was not too crowded. I always like going there. We got to go on the new Frozen ride in Norway. Here we are enjoying ice cream in the France pavilion. We had dinner at the Canada steak house which was nice.
Another day
At Universal Islands of Adventure
That's Hogwarts castle in the background
By the Dudley Do-Right ride
It's a log ride and we got very wet
Here we are after
We wore ponchos which helped a little
At the Gringott's bank ride at Universal Studios
Diagon Alley with some butter beer
One day we went to England in EPCOT for tea. We learned how to properly prepare tea and got to try a few different kinds. And we got to have some traditional English tea sandwiches and scones with clotted cream and jam. It was fun.
We spent seven days in amusement parks and a day traveling on each end. I wish I hadn't been sick on the trip and that the kids hadn't been sick but those things can't be foreseen I guess. Thanks Mom and Dad for watching our kids so we could go.
When we got back the kids had prepared a play for us.
Grant in the play as "Lord Deathbringer" the villain
They did a good job with the play
BONUS PHOTO!!
Here are Scott and I in January 2005 at EPCOT. This was before we were married. We lived 5 hours away and got annual passes so we ended up going a lot. Good times!
Here is Scott's beard just after our trip and just before shaving it off again.
