Jan 7 - The Day We {sadly} Came Home

One golf cart, one charter bus, one monorail, two planes, one taxi and a 3 hour car ride later, we're home. Since we were running on about 3 hours of sleep, it was one of those days when time seemed to stretch on endlessly. By the time we walked in our front door, it felt as if we had started our return on the previous day. We decided to unwind by watching a little tele, and what did we watch? A documentary on Disneyworld, naturally. :)

Highlights:
1) We also watched Pirates of the Caribbean and it was fun to see the film's nods to the DW ride. Next up: Haunted Mansion
2) Ah, the marvels of modern travel. We booked our flight within ten minutes of my parents and we ended up with 2 different routes. We both left Orlando within 30 minutes of each other, we stopped over in Memphis, they took a short break in Atlanta, and we met back in Austin within about 10 minutes of each other.
3) We slept a glorious 11+ hours. I had great intentions of writing this post yesterday, but thanks to crashing on the couch somewhere in the middle of Pirates, it's coming to you today.

Love & Planes, Trains and Automobiles,
K

Jan 6 - The Day We Said Goodbye to the Mouse

In Disney, they say "it all started with a mouse", and for us, our last day did just that. A few in our group took the Keys to the Kingdom tour and filled our heads and hearts with magical morsels of Disney history and factoids. It was a seriously great time that had all participants contemplating retirement at Disney by the end of the tour. From there it was a mad dash to Hollywood Studios for a couple trips on Toy Story with all 15 members of my (present) family, as well as one actually successful group portrait (this can only be Disney magic, y'all). Though it began with a mouse, it ended with Thriller...
Highlights:
1) we managed to coordinate an "elevator" full of strangers to do the thriller pose for our ride picture on Tower of Terror. It was fabulous, and the perfect ending!
2) Did I mention there are 15 of us? We all made it through 7 days of vaca, we still like each other, and we left smiling. Disney Magic or awesome genes? The world may never know...
3) our family is so fun, strangers want to join it :) we met some great people in random lines who even wanted to sit with us on rides. It just proves that crazy is in fact, charming!

Love & a final bit of Disney Magic,
K

Jan 5 - The Day We Said Goodbye to the World

Yesterday was likely our final visit to the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT!), and we finished like any good globe trotters: with food! Crepes, beef udon and lamb wraps, oh my! Before our 2nd international food fest, we spent the morning watching a lot of shows in Hollywood - our rattled heads needed a little break after our day of g-forces. We were soon joined by the thousands of marathoners descending upon Disney. A little jealous I'm not joining in the fun!! Next year...? :)
Highlights:
1) I got to chat with two British kids, and I've subsequently decided my children should have accents.
2) I was walking through a crowd and got distracted by the sparkling Castle, and unfortunately turned my head at just the wrong time and walked smack into a small Russian lady. She yelled at me in Russian, though I'm sure it was something like "oh I know, I love that sparkly castle, too!"
3) We got to see Space Mountain with the lights on! Granted, we had to ride the People Mover instead of Space Mountain (broken!), but that peak behind the curtain was kinda worth it.

Love & Small Russians,
K

Jan 4 - The Day I Died and Went to Hogwarts

We departed the land of Disney & caught the Hogwarts Express for a one-way trip to nerd heaven (Potter shirts on, of course). Made it in early thanks to my Potter-Nazi husband, which is good, because I think the entire state of FL joined us. I walked through those streets with my mouth gaping like a cod fish, and I didn't care one bit. Besides the RIDICULOUS crowds, it was wonderful. We also spent a lot of time on some intense coasters, which brought on a headache I happily endured. It was our shortest day yet, and I am passing out. Before I crash, here's the highlights:
1) Nerding out - the castle, the Owlery, Zonkos. Honeydukes,...sigh. Can we move there?
2) I got to witness the conversion of a (now former) roller coaster virgin. Autumn, welcome to your new life, so glad you crossed over to the fun side. :)
3) Butterbeer & Pumpkin Fizz, Cornish Pasties & Fish and Chips - dinner at the Three Broomsticks!!

Love, Potter & Mischief Managed,
K

Jan 3 - The Day I Wore My Whole Suitcase

Today's 40 degree "Sunny Florida" weather lent itself to interesting wardrobes for most of us tourists. For me, it meant 3 shirts, a fleece pullover, jacket, scarf, jeans, hat, gloves and ski socks. I kinda felt like Joey from friends (you know that episode? Good.)

Today we ate African food, which was pretty good, though I can't say how much of it was authentic. We sang "Happy Birthday" to my cousin 3 times within a 5 minute stretch (various family members kept missing it, thus the repeat). We spent all day at Animal Kingdom, rode Everest 4 times in a row, and topped it off with Downtown Disney. I can't decide whether Walt would love or hate the latter...
Highlights:
1) a "monkey" in the Lion King Show pretended to eat a bug from my hair. How should one take that?
2) my husband, Jon Smith, got his picture with Pocahontas. You're welcome, world.
3) akin to #2, my spouse deserves a cookie for coming up with the most creative roller coaster photo faces. Pics to come!
Love & African Warthogs,
K

Jan 2 - The Day We Ate 'Round the World

If yesterday was Space Mountain, today was It's a Small World. Nice & easy does it, with a little animatronics & international flair thrown in. Took our sweet time touring Epcot, a significant amount of which was designated for food evaluation and consumption. Ate pastries in France, fish and chips in the UK, coffee in Italy, dinner in Morocco, and we passed a million other things I would like to have eaten, but alas, my wallet and stomach couldn't endure the stretching.
Highlights:
1) watched a lady in the Japanese pavilion make candy art, while repeating the phrase "I show you how to make" close to 30 times. It's my new catchphrase, accent included.
2) renewed vigor for trotting the globe. The only question is, where first?
3) I found a crepe stand. This. Is. Happening.

Love & ethnic food,
K

Jan 1 - The Day We Started Earth's Last Year

Well, we rang in the new year like any good red-blooded Americans: in a theme park, surrounded by drunks dancing to various techno-fied pop songs. :) I crawled into bed at an hour much closer to dawn than dusk, and with sleepy eyes, crawled out a few hours later to hit the parks again. Luckily, after the new year's eve mob scene, we rediscovered a bit of that Disney magic, and spent the entire day watching the children (and the man-children) taking in the wonder. Highlights:
1) man, my family is nuts. Great entertainment.
2) after experiencing several animatronic kitties, I feel I can safely say the bf's ancient-looking cat is in fact, a fake. Knew it. Crazy robot kitty!
3) just got off The Winnie the Pooh ride with a train full of adults. No shame, guys.


Love & pixie dust,

K