When Mouse first mentioned going to Disney for our 50th birthday, I agreed, mostly assuming this little adventure would never actually happen. Not because I didn’t want to spend a glorious week with my very best friend in the whole wide world, but because I absolutely could not imagine myself spending a week in a place I never, not once, had a desire to go. I’m also not a traveler - I’ve pretty much perfected my routine and don’t care to vary, not even a little bit. I also don’t care for children - at all. (I figured Disney would be thick with them (and I was right), but aside from being goosed by a small child while waiting in line for Peter Pan, it was mostly hilarious watching them throw MAJOR hissy fits when things weren’t working out for them and watching their exasperated parents).
One of the things Mouse sent me before our trip that I really appreciated was a spreadsheet with our itinerary. I am not a “fly by the seat of my pants” kind of person, so this was much appreciated.
Day 1 - Travel Day + Universal Studios
One thing Mouse and I agree on is FIRST FLIGHT OUT. We do not agree on last flight back, and we can visit that later on in this post – turns out I was right about this one. 😊 Anywho, all went off without a hitch traveling to Orlando. All went great getting to Hard Rock Hotel, except as predicted, we couldn’t check into our room yet. This left me in the hotel lobby digging for my magic wand in my packed suitcase and trying to arrange my backpack “just right” all while Mouse was standing there in a huff and tapping her foot (not really, but she may as well have been) because we were *delayed by 3 minutes and it was a catastrophe*. Oh, and it’s at this time that I realize it’s hotter than hades and I am already dehydrated. All was right with the world about 45 minutes later, though, because I was at Platform 9 ¾ and on my way to HOGWARTS!
We spent day 1 and 2 at Universal. Most of our time was spent at Hogwarts, casting spells and trying like mad to forget we were born Muggles. For those of you who don’t know, Mouse has quite a sweet-tooth. I do not. Seriously, if my mom didn’t swear she had both of us on the same day 6 minutes apart, I really might question this whole twin business because we are so very different. But Mouse had to have the Butterbeer, in fact, she had to be monitored in order to not make herself sick. As you can see by my photo above, Butterbeer sounds much more appealing than it tastes.
Day 3 – Epcot, Boo Bash, Magic Kingdom: I LOVED Epcot. SPACE! NATURE! This place was super, super cool. I should back up and note that we checked out of Hard Rock on this morning and moved over to POP Century for the remainder of the trip. This day is where my feet really started to turn against me and I wondered how sympathetic you know who was going to be. Had motherhood changed her? Had she grown kinder in her advanced age? Spoiler alert: NOPE.
While at Epcot, we changed into our Halloween costumes for the Boo Bash at Magic Kingdom. The Boo Bash was just like regular Magic Kingdom, except that you get free candy, free popcorn, free sodas and free ice cream. By the time we left there, we each had 4 or 5 bottles of diet coke in our backpacks, bags of free candy and had eaten two or three ice cream bars each. Mouse, however, also cashed in on the popcorn – stashing several bags of it in her backpack which I assume she took home to her boys (haha, she did not share). By this time, we had walked around 30,000 steps and I was questioning why I had agreed to the Boo Bash when I knew that my bedtime is 9PM and we wouldn’t be leaving Magic Kingdom until much later. When we arrived back to Pop Century after midnight, we got off the bus and started walking toward our room – which was roughly a mile from the entry – when I saw a poor woman in front of me who I could tell was miserable. I mean, her feet HURT. I could tell with every step that she wanted to cry. About that time, Mouse turned around and looked at me and, apparently, I was walking exactly the same as that poor soul.
We locked eyes and started crying we were laughing so hard.
Day 4 – Magic Kingdom: Good times, but I think this park would have been loads more fun if you had small children with you. OR, if you had seen alllllllllllll of the Disney movies, which I hadn’t. I didn’t have a clue what was happening most of the time and I was on serious overload at this point. We did ride Space Mountain 5 or 6 times, and I will say that Disney indeed puts the “Magic” in Magic Kingdom when it comes to special effects, details, little “extras”. Oh, and fireworks. I was mighty impressed with the fireworks at Magic Kingdom – I cannot imagine the amount of cash they spend each night. (Epcot fireworks are AMAZING, too, by the way).
Day 5 – Hollywood Studios: Holy cow, people. Star Wars. That’s it. I am not a Star Wars nerd – no offense to those of you who are. But this place was magnificent. Magnificent! It’s absolutely incredible. You must see it for yourself especially if you’re a Star Wars nerd. And don’t forget Toy Story! So fun!
Day 6 – Animal Kingdom + Travel Day Home: This place was super cool, too. The Safari was awesome, the Everest roller coaster was fun, Avatar was amazing! We stayed here until about noon when it was time to leave for the airport. Ms. Mouse was a sad little mouse, but it turns out we were going to get a whole extra night to spend together!
There was a tropical storm in the area so our flight was delayed out of Orlando. We arrived in Atlanta waayyyy after our flight to OKC had departed. We hopped a flight in Atlanta to Houston, stayed in a very sketchy hotel near the airport and flew home the next morning.
All in all, I had the BEST time. We have been home for 7 weeks and my blisters healed (3 days ago). Was it worth it? YES. I think the only way I enjoyed Disney is by going with someone who knew what to do and where to go, etc. We were very lucky it wasn’t crowded at all while we were there, but I can’t imagine just heading off to Disney with no direction because there’s just not enough time in the day to see everything and do everything because that would have been a cluster and a half.
Do yourself a favor and talk to Mouse before you take a trip. She can make all the reservations, get you discounts if available, tell you which transportation to take from which hotel to which park (because you do not want to get on the bus to go to Epcot when you can just get on the air tram thingy – trust me on this one), etc etc. AND, it doesn’t cost you a dime.
With any luck, she will be sympathetic to you if you get blisters. Heck, she can probably even recommend which kind of shoes to wear.
