So Spring Break came a few weeks ago and we decided that we desperately needed to get out of gloomy and ever-gray Cleveland. At first we thought it would be nice to go to NYC. But after some discussion with co-workers and family, we knew that it would be in our best interest and sanity to go to a sunnier/warmer clime. With that, we booked our tickets to Orlando and got really excited to say, "We're going to Disney World!!"
We flew out on St. Patrick's Day, which is a story in and of itself... You see, we usually take public transit to the airport so we don't have to bum a 40+ minute drive out of someone. And to those of you living in Utah that have never experienced a real St. Patty's Day, let's just say that riding around on Cleveland's RTA system on March 17th means meeting some (read "lots") really inebriated bar-crawlers. You'd think that the whole point of the day is to take work off to get really wasted. Who knew St. Patrick was the patron saint of beer? Anywho, back to the point: One guy in particular was unstable enough that he had to lie on the floor of the train and had to be quickly led off when some of the day's festivities started to come back up.
We arrived in Orlando late Tuesday night and checked the forecast for the week so as to plan which days to go where. Since it was clear skies and sunshine the whole way, we decided that it would be best to hit Disney World first. We decided we wanted to go two days: first to Magic Kingdom (which is Disney Land plus a bigger castle and minus Indiana Jones) and the next day go to Epcot.
Magic Kingdom was great! Before going on our trip, Dave was asked by one of his preceptors at school what our plans for spring break were and when Dave replied Disney World, she said, "Ugh, I hated Disney World. Wait, do you have kids?"
"No." Dave replied.
"Oh, then you'll probably have a great time then."
And a great time we had, indeed! We were able to hit all the rides we wanted and take lots of pictures. We left the park before dinner because there was a great little Indian restaurant Mindy wanted to try out, and it was wonderful.
Thursday we went to Epcot. It has all these attractions about future technologies and what not, but what we were really excited about was the World Showcase. It is an area with mini versions of several countries, each decked out in that particular country's architecture and restaurants. Some have rides, others have videos. Since we both have the travel bug...bad, this was a great pseudo-trip to all these great places. Epcot has mini versions of: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan, Morocco, France, England, and Canada. We spent the day taking in each place's cool buildings and workers/performers, all from the country they represented. And best of all was all the food! We were eating all day and the ended the day with dinner at Germany's Biergarten Restaurant, an all you can eat beer hall experience complete with live German polka! It was incredible!
Friday we went to Cocoa Beach. It was great to go and relax on the sand. We brought our books and just bummed around on the beach and did a little shopping the huge Ron Jon surf shop there. Later that night, we went to Universal Studios to catch a movie and get some great dessert at Bubba Gump's.
Saturday we first went to the Orlando Temple, which was very beautiful. Took lots of pictures after doing a session. Saturday afternoon we decided to check out the outlets that we'd heard about. It was incredible what stores they had, and considering how full the parking lots were, we keep wondering, "What recession??"
We finished off Saturday by going to Downtown Disney. We did some more shopping for souvenirs, had dinner, and caught another movie.
Sunday we woke up REALLY early to catch our flight back to Cleveland. The trip was great and we especially loved being able to be outside and catch so much sunshine! And we really realized how great of a time it was the closer we got to home. We went from sunny warm happiness and slowly got gloomier and more depressing with each mile on the return flight to Ohio. Oh well. At least the trip was a hit and we had a great time!
4 comments:
Yay for DisneyWorld! Sure makes you wish winter were only about 3 weeks long!
That is fabulous! I am so glad you guys had fun. Good to hear from you. -Diedre
Sounds fun. I agree with you about needing sunshine. We've really enjoyed the sun and fun here in Cali. I'm afraid to go home and have to wear winter jackets again!!!
Dave and Mindy, That trip looked like such a good time! I hope the memories and sun-shiny photos make gray old Cleveland a little less gloomy.
Sure love ya!
Rob
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