So as you may or may not know, myself, Pie and my mother spent 9 days in Orlando over Halloween and it was fabulous! Sun, fun, friends, good times, no boys- it was amazing! One of the perks with my job is that you get 3 nights free in a timeshare accommodation, so with that and 2 nights at a friends house, we had it made. Here's how the trip went:
Wednesday (10/29): Leave SLC at 9am and arrive in Orlando at 8pm- don't ask. Get the car rental and head to the resort. Check in, drop stuff off at room, go grocery shopping, come back, watch mindless tv, and ate shrimp spaghetti stuff. Go to bed at midnight EST to be up early in the morning for a tour of the property.
Thursday: Get up, call front desk, no one is available to give me a tour, get ready for a day at DisneyWorld. Get to the park at 11am, ride rides, convince Pie to go on Splash Mountain, and she had a blast! Went to Haunted Mansion- it sucked because it was not Nightmare Before Christmas themed like Disneyland, and Pie hated it. Bought some gifts, drank lots of water and got ripped off on lunch. Went back to resort, toured with a former associate, Pie swam, ate dinner at the resort restaurant. Came back, packed, and off to bed.
Friday: It's Halloween! We get up, dress Pie in her costume, load up the car and head to DisneyWorld. For the last 3 years, we have spent Halloween at Disney, and we love it! Pie has been to both Disney parks twice now, and by far Disneyland is our favorite. Arrive at the park, take more pictures, ride more rides, see the Princesses, and head to Clermont to stay with friends and for Pie's first trick or treating in a neighborhood. Get to Clermont, which is 30-45 minutes from Orlando, meet Michelle in person for the first time, and two of her beautiful kids. Michelle works in our Corporate offices and over the last year, we have become good friends, and she offered her house to us while we were there. It was great to spend time with her, and she is an amazing hostess! I took her daughter Heather and Pie trick or treating, and it was so much fun! I have never seen so many kids and their parents out and all dressed up- it was awesome! Go to bed late, up early next morning to meet with another friend Patty from Corporate, and go to Gatorland.
Saturday: Head to Gatorland in Orlando for the day to hang out with Patty. I haven't seen Patty since the last time we were in Orlando 2 years ago, and she immediately recognized Pie from all the pictures I've sent. I was in heaven! I absolutely love gators, and we spent a few hours there, and Patty was wonderful to treat us to everything! We then at at Logan's Steak House, which had the best rolls! Carbs are my favorite! We then departed for the day and headed back to Clermont. Hung out with Michelle, heard crazy stories about her husband's job, good conversations, and packed. She has a 5 month old son Dylan who is the best baby in the world! So much better then my niece and I was eating him up!
Sunday: Said goodbye to Michelle, Heather and Dylan and headed off to Epcot. I haven't been to Epcot in 12 years, so I was really excited to see everything. We rode rides, had a little something to eat or snack at each of the countries, and this is where Jen spent the most of her money. I got a cool duck white out thingy, penguin paper clips, GREY GOOSE vodka (my favorite), soared above California and dodged a rainstorm. It was late, our feet were killing us and so we left and headed to another resort- thankfully close to the parks- like 5 min away close. Arrive at resort, soak feet, watch some tv, check email, eat and bed!
Monday: Our first day off and we spent it at the pool next door. It was fabulous! Had lunch at the pavilion, walked back to our room and found a bottle of wine on the table. It was from antoher friend Calvin at Corporate and his wife Ami, whom I'd be touring the resort with in the morning. I have yet to open it up, but it looks quite tasty! Watched One Tree Hill, had dinner (cereal) and went to bed.
Tuesday: Ahhh.... another day off! This is awesome! I get up, and meet Ami in the lobby and we tour the three resort in an hour. She is really nice and I thank her and Calvin for the wine. Go back to the room, get Pie ready and head to Corporate to meet everyone and have lunch with Michelle and Patty. Oh Corporate people are so much different in person then what you think they are over the phone. I've talked to a lot of these people for over a year now, and it was good to finally meet them in person. They also love me and I felt like a celebrity when I walked in and they were all standing waiting for me. Had lunch and went shopping with Michelle and Dylan for a few hours. Michelle bought Pie some Christmas pancake molds that are soooo freaking cute! Michelle left us, and soon after we did too. But not until after we went to M & M's World. Go home, pack and went to the grocery store for who knows what- all I remember is buying flip flops for Pie, and watching the election results.
Wednesday: Get up and pack the car, head to Animal Kingdom. We go first thing in the morning and our first ride is the Safari- a must do! Utah needs to do something like Animal Kingdom instead of our lame zoo. It was so amazing to see animals running wild and not caged up, various birds, anteaters, fish, great rides and very informative. This is one of my favorite places- it is a really great addition to the Disney park family. After there we head to our final resort for the next two nights. We check in, get to the room and read their activities for the night. Ahhh.... kids night out in a couple hours you say? For $25 you drop your kids off and they get fed, play games, make t-shirts, do whatever else and it for 3 and a half hours. Sold! So Pie went and did that and absolutely had a blast! When I picked her up she asked if she could do it again tomorrow. She told me everything she did and was so excited about it all- it was great to hear the excitement in her voice and hear about all the friends she made.
Thursday: Toured the property in 20 minutes and by far this is my favorite resort in Orlando. There was nothing on the agenda for today, so we head back to DisneyWorld for one last go around. We hit all the rides we didn't go on the first 2 days, and hit our favorite ones one last time. Splash Mountain is now Pie's favorite ride. The resort was decorated with some Christmas items, but not many. Very different from a few days ago when everything was Halloween and fall colors. We rode the Teacups enough to have a different color each time. Those are Pie's favorite too. Head back to pack to come home. Not excited about the 4 hour layover in JFK.....
Friday: I am sad that we are leaving but glad that we had such a great time, and got to spend so much time with friends and family before I start my new job. Get to JFK, eat, drink, and surf the internet for hours while Pie plays in an empty gate section and Nana naps. Board plane and get home at midnight.
For pictures, head to my facebook page or I can send you a link.
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