Monday, April 4, 2011

The Honeymoon!

Well, we are back from our honeymoon/vacation/spring break! I am sorry I wasn't able to update about Week 11… But we were out of town on Saturday, and honestly, at this point, I don't even remember what we did that week! I remember watching Baylor basketball and spending plenty of time with friends… but that's about it.

And now, for Week 12! Oh boy, I could write forever and ever about this past week.  Just as an introduction, since Nick started school the Monday after our wedding, we weren't able to go on a honeymoon right away.  So, for Spring Break, we planned a trip to Disney World and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

We were blessed by Nick's parents to get to stay at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, which was SO beautiful.  There were plenty of white beaches and awesome pools.  The atmosphere was amazing.  There are definitely some perks to staying on Disney property, and we took advantage of all of them. 
- First, there was free shuttle service to and from the airport.  Disney even took our bags early yesterday morning so we didn't have to worry about them once we got to the airport.
- Second, the free Disney shuttles every 15 minutes meant we could hop on a bus whenever we wanted and have it take us anywhere in Disney! It was so nice not to have to worry about traffic or parking
- Third, Extra Magic Hours… Disney resort guests get extra hours at the parks.  It was so nice to walk around Magic Kingdom two hours after close and actually enjoy the atmosphere.
- Fourth, the Disney Dining Plan was GENIUS.  We got the cheapest one, which meant 2 quick-service meals each plus two snacks each a day.  Let me tell you, SO much food.  The meals included entrees, sides, and desserts, plus a drink.  We would have spent around $30 a meal on food if we hadn't have bought the meal plan.  It definitely saved us money and we were never hungry. The snacks were anything from ice cream to rice crispy treats to strawberry crepes…

Because we had 7 Day, Park Hopper passes, we were able to go to any park whenever we wanted… we didn't have to wake up early or stay at the park all day until close… We were definitely well rested!

Some favorites/highlights from each park:

Magic Kingdom
- Dole Whip Pineapple soft serve!
- The classics like Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, and Pirates
- Walking around at night, after hours, and getting to enjoy rides with low wait times
- I think my favorite ride was Peter Pan.  I love that story and it was so fun to fly over the perfect scenes.



Epcot
- Yummy meals in Japan, Mexico, France, and China
- Enjoying a Moroccan dinner on our first night in the Moroccan outdoor marketplace.
- One of my favorite rides for years has been Soarin, and I was so glad that Nick got to experience it with me too! We rode it 3 times!
- Nick really liked the Test Track, but I wasn't as big of a fan.
- Living with the Land was a really cool tour.
- The Disney Flower and Garden Festival is going on now, so all over the park, they had characters made entirely out of flowers.  It was really cool.
- We also loved watching all of the films about the different countries.  Hopefully we will be able to visit some of them someday!



Animal Kingdom
- Festival of the Lion King was my favorite show that we saw. Such a cool experience.
- Finding Nemo, the Musical
- Expedition Everest-- Probably the best ride at Disney! So awesome!
- Going on a safari that seemed so real!





Hollywood Studios
- I rode Tower of Terror for the first time... and while it is one of my worst nightmares coming true, I still enjoyed it.
- Toy Story Mania was one of our favorite rides... so cool!
- Unfortunately, it was raining on our first day there, and the second time we went, the Rock n Roller Coaster was closed... We never got to ride it or see Fantasmic.  Oh well.
- I love the whole "classic Hollywood" feel of this park!
- We escaped the rain and watched Beauty and the Beast, the musical. It was great!



And of course... The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!
- It was WAY more crowded than any Disney park we went to... and MUCH smaller. This was definitely a bummer.
- BUT the Forbidden Journey is probably my favorite ride from the entire trip. It was amazing! And the line went all the way through Hogwarts, which was awesome.
- Butterbeer is DELICIOUS!
- We ate fish and chips in the Three Broomsticks. So cool!




Well that's about it. Check out my facebook for more pics.  Now we are back in Rolla, where it is windy and 44 degrees. Yeah...

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