Sunday, July 17, 2011

Orlando Anniversary Trip!



We landed in Orlando on Tuesday and a best friend of Chris' picked us up and took us straight to Amway Arena where he works and the Orlando Magic play. We got the royal treatment and were taken on a full tour. It is an amazing arena, just built last year.

















We then had dinner with his family and it was off to our hotel in the heart of Disney World.




Wednesday, we went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and experienced the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (completely unreal and we are not harry potter fanatics) and all the amazing rides there. The first picture is the Harry Potter World, and somehow it got moved to the top of this post....sorry. We did it ALL and most things twice.





Thursday, we got up and headed to Animal Kingdom for the Morning. We experienced The African Safari Ride for 10 minutes and it seemed like we were there! It was awesome.














This would be Expedition Everest...maybe my favorite roller coaster of all the parks.




And all around Animal Kingdom, you would just see animals like the monkeys below! They were all over the park. So fun!



For a late lunch and the afternoon, we headed over to Hollywood Studios. Again, we did it ALL! We ran to each and every ride to fit it all in (and beat the 80,000 plus folks to all the rides). We have secrets for all of you who go in the future.





Around 6, we rushed over to The Contemporary Hotel, tried to freshen up and change clothes, and then went to the California Grill for dinner. A MUST! This was our view from our dinner table...



Notice the anniversary pins they made us wear! It got us the pure royal treatment along with champagne and dessert...so we wore them! Please look how tired we are! ha!




Here was our yummy dessert!




Sorry...couldn't get this one to go vertical (somehow blogger changed and i can't get my vertical pics to work) Friday we went to Epcot. Probably our favorite park overall. And you guessed it...we did it ALL




Finding Nemo...totally a kid ride, but with an aquarium at the end with a manatee, so we did it!




This was my favorite simulated ride (besides the harry potter forbidden journey ride), called soarin. You flew over California and it even blew the scents at you while you dangled in the air. So cool.



Here we are in the China part of Epcot.







We were supposed to go to dinner with Chris' friend Phil again, but his little boy got sick. So what did we do? Go to the Magic Kingdom for the night! It was open until 3 a.m.!!! Trust me, we left at 10 and we DIDN'T do it all! 4 rides in and we felt 31. It was time to go!! Again, sorry for the sideways pic.






We ended our night and our time at Disney on the oldie, but goodie...Space Mountain!






Our ferryboat ride back...I'm surprised we could even stand. We truly sprinted for 3 straight days.






We are back from a GREAT week! We forgot that we weren't 16 anymore and we did all 4 Disney Parks plus Universal Islands of Adventure in 3 days! Needless to say, we are exhausted!! We knew that in about 5 years when we take the kids, it will be all about the shows, the characters, etc. so we made it all about the rides this time! We definitely missed the kiddos, but we needed this BAD! It's been three years since we got away by ourselves on a trip and this was just what we needed! Tons of laughter and just plain old fun! :)



on a side note...please pray for claire tomorrow as she is having eye surgery (to probe her tear ducts) in the morning at 5:45





5 comments:

Deanna said...

praying. And I'd love to know your "secrets". we're going with Dad and Kathy and the kids in Oct. Your right that it'll be about the characters, dinners, etc. but Josh and I want to get away by ourselves some too. HP is a must for us! Would love to know any secrets and/or advice!

Carrie Barrow said...

Glad you have a GREAT trip...but I'm also glad you are back...missed you friend!!! Looks like lots of fun:)

Kimmie said...

like i said before...JEALOUS! and i definitely would have been one of those harry potter geeks loving every second of hogwarts world. :) i'm dying to go. yes i know, my geekiness is coming out more and more.
it looks like ya'll had a blast! i'm so happy for you that you were able to get away for a bit. enjoyed the pics!

Alicia said...

Pray that Claire's surgery went well. What an amazingly fun anniversary trip. Who doesn't love a good rollercoaster?:)

Totally Thompson said...

I love, love, love that you "did it all." I would expect no less. I'm glad that y'all had a blast, because you did indeed deserve it. One of my fav pics is with the magic hat on your head (did you plan that?!). You 2 look great! A little vacation goes a long way. Love you and happy anniversary!

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