Christine's Trip to Orlando Part 1

I had so much fun visiting Emily this past weekend!

February 20, Friday

I'm so grateful I get to be here with Emily and Dad. Michael drove me to the airport this morning. The flight was fine and pretty uneventful. Dad picked me up at the airport and we came to the Residence Inn and got checked in. At the hotel, they gave me a room on the first floor which is nice. I'm right next door to Dad. He's only staying for one night. 

Then we went over to Bonefish Grill to meet Emily and Brandon. We had a nice meal together. I had the butterfish and it was delicious. 

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Emily at Bonefish Grill

February 21, Saturday

I've had a wonderful day at Epcot and Magic Kingdom! At Epcot, we got in the big crowd that was trying to rope drop Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm so glad we did that because that's the only way we could ride it today. Last night at dinner, Emily had the idea that instead of starting our day at Magic Kingdom, we should start our day at Epcot so that worked out perfectly because then we got a little extra sleep since Epcot opens an hour later and we were able to rope drop Guardians of the Galaxy. We were able to get a lightning lane for Tron but they were sold out for Guardians of the Galaxy so that worked out well. We waited in the line for about 80 minutes, I think. 

Emily asked us all what song we thought we would get and then whoever got their song was the winner and she was the winner. I wanted September, Dad wanted One Way or Another, and Brandon wanted Conga. Emily wanted Everybody Wants to Rule the World and that's the one we got.

We stopped into Club Cool. Emily thought she might get me to try Beverly cola but I knew better. We thought this sign with 67 was funny so we took a picture for Jonny but he was unimpressed. 

After that, we headed over to The Land. We passed by this cool Aladdin lamp on the way. 

It looked like the lines for both Soarin' and Living with the Land were only 10 minutes but it turns out Soarin' was 45 minutes and Living with the Land was 30 minutes so we chose Living with the Land. I really love Soarin' but with the schedule we had today we chose Living with the Land because I don't get to ride that one very often and we have Soarin' at Disneyland. Plus we were going to eat lunch in the World Showcase and then go to Magic Kingdom. 

So, we rode Living with the Land and that was fun and then we ordered food at the Yorkshire fish and chips place. Dad really wanted to try that but the fish and chips were a little disappointing. The fish was really greasy and had a ton of batter, more batter than fish, but I liked it. 

After we were done eating, we started walking around the World Showcase. I really wanted to go to Germany and get the pretzel bread pudding and go to the caramel shop to get a caramel butter bar so that's what we did. Emily was able to use her discount at the caramel shop. She can use it for souvenir shops but not for meals.

I also wanted to go to Norway and get the school bread. There's two different places where you can get the school bread and neither one of them had mobile order and they both had long lines outside in the hot sun so we gave up on that idea. We walked into a gift shop for a few minutes, then we looked at our watches and realized it was almost 1 PM and and our lightning lane for Pirates was going to end, even with the grace period, at 1:45 PM. So we booked it out of there. Dad really wanted to move his car from Epcot to Magic Kingdom since he is driving home tonight, so he did that and the rest of us took the monorail from Epcot to the Transportation and Ticketing Center. By the time we got there, Dad was almost there so we waited for him once we got off the first monorail and then we all rode the monorail together into Magic Kingdom. 

I thought it would be fun to take the train but it turns out it only goes between Main Street and Fantasyland right now so that was a bummer. While we were on the monorail, Emily changed our lightning lane for Pirates because we were afraid we were going to miss it and we would've. I think it was 1:45 PM by the time we walked into Magic Kingdom so we would've been too late. Anyway, our next lightning lane was for Haunted Mansion so we went straight to that. But, of course, we had to stop for a photo op with the castle in the background. 

The standby line was super long so we were so glad we had a lightning lane. Brandon told us while we were on the Monorail that he'd never been on Haunted Mansion before and Emily and I were pretty shocked about that. He says he never goes to Magic Kingdom. A lot of the stuff we did with him today was a first, like Monsters Inc. and we never did it but he's never been on Jungle Cruise either. Anyway, we had fun on Haunted Mansion. Next we headed over to Peter Pan for our lightning lane. It wasn't time for our next lightning lane yet so we went to Mickey's Philharmagic and watched that. Then we decided to get a snack at Gaston's but when we were passing the carousel Dad suggested we ride it and Emily seemed to like that idea so we did. That was another first for Brandon. 

Then we went to Gaston's Tavern and got a cinnamon roll, a grey stuff cupcake, and a crème brûlée croissant. Emily ate almost the entire cinnamon roll herself. I didn't even ask for a bite because she was so happy eating it. I ate a little bit of the crème brûlée croissant and shared the rest. 

When we were done there, we rode it's a small world with our lightning lane. 

After that, we walked over to Pirates and rode that with our lightning lane. We all needed a break and there were plenty of tables outside the ride so we sat there and relaxed for a while and chatted. After we had our rest, we headed over to Tomorrowland. First, we stopped at the spring roll cart and everybody got some spring rolls. Dad and Brandon each had one of each and Emily and I had one of each and she ate the pizza one and I ate the cheeseburger one. Everybody agreed that the cheeseburger one was better. 

Then we headed over to Tomorrowland to get on the People Mover. I wanted to ride it before the sun went down and we were surprised that the line was so long. But it wasn't too bad and the line kept moving and we enjoyed our ride. It stopped about three different times and a couple of times we were in a tunnel so when we stopped they turned the lights on for us so that was nice. 

After that, Dad said he couldn't stay any longer and he needed to go home. He still had to walk all the way to his truck and drive two hours home so we totally understood. We gave him hugs and he gave Emily his card so we could use his Tron lightning lane and he headed out. Emily, Brandon, and I all went to Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. I really love that show. It was so funny. I love how they get the audience involved. 

After that, we headed over to the Lunching Pad. It was my suggestion because I wanted to try the sticky bubble bread, which was pretty good, and we all got some water. We had our little break and then Emily went to ride Space Mountain. 

We headed over to Tron to use our lightning lanes at 8:55 PM. Since Dad wasn't going to use his, we decided that I should use it but I felt bad having them wait for me but they insisted so I rode it a second time. Fun fact, the second time I rode it, I was in the exact same spot as the first time. 

I love to watch this ride, especially at night!

When I was done, I went to find them by the Tron sign and the line was all the way past the Tron sign almost to the store which was crazy. They told me everybody rushed over there after the fireworks. So after that, we headed out. 

Another photo op on Main Street

Emily drove home and I took an Uber to save her on all that driving. It was a wonderful day!

Valentine's at Vito's

Michael and I had a nice lunch at Vito's for Valentine's Day. I always prefer to go out for lunch instead of dinner, and there are no crowds. I enjoyed the seafood special at Vito's. 

Our 30th Anniversary Cruise to Cabo Part 2

January 18

I'm so grateful I got to sleep in and have a relaxing morning! We were able to make it to breakfast at the Windjammer at about 10:40 AM. It was going to end at 11 AM so we had to gather all our food quickly. Then we spent the next little while finishing getting ready and packing our backpacks for the excursion. I took way more stuff than I needed but that's OK. Michael went up to the pool deck to get us a couple of towels. We had to meet at the Royal Theatre at 1 PM. We waited around for quite a while until they took us to our tender boat. 

Our excursion was called "luxury catamaran two-bay snorkeling adventure." It was really fun! They made us take our shoes off before we could get on the boat and they didn't want us to spray sunscreen because it would make the deck slippery so Michael and I sprayed it on ourselves as quickly as we could and got on the boat. All the spaces up front were full so we had to go up to the top but that worked out great for me because it was shaded and gave us a great view. They took us to Land's End, which are the rocks that are where the two bodies of water meet, the Pacific Ocean and the bay of Cabo San Lucas, also where the arch of Cabo San Lucas is. 

Michael stepped on my foot and the lady taking our picture just kept taking them, lol! That's her little girl in all of our pictures. 

Our first stop was Chileno Bay. I was pretty nervous about snorkeling but I got all the equipment on and got in the water. It was pretty cold. The guide was going to lead everybody out exploring and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up. Michael hesitated but I assured him he should just go on ahead. He did and he had a great time! He said there were quite a few kids and older ladies in the group that had a hard time keeping up so I'm glad I didn't try to follow them. As they started heading out, I heard the guy call out that there's a shark. So, there was no way I was going to join them anyway. I snorkeled around the boat for a little while and then I got back in the boat. I sat there and enjoyed being on the water and waited for Michael to get back. 

Snorkeling 

Look for Michael at 12 o'clock

Then we moved onto another spot by a beach. Michael went out snorkeling again and I stayed on the boat. 

They offered us drinks multiple times, but we just got water a couple times. They also gave us a tray of fruit on the way to Chileno Bay and a lunch plate on the way back. It was sandwiches and chips and guacamole and stuff like that. It was so fun to watch for whales. We saw quite a few on the way back. We would see them spray water and then we would see their backs come out of the water and then their tails flip up as they went back into the water. It was so cool! 

Whale sighting, great view of fin and tail

Whales in the distance

Another whale sighting

Another great view of a whale's fin and tail

Beautiful sunset on the way back to port

Then they took us back to where we started and we got off and left them a tip and put our shoes back on and headed over to the tender line. We came back to the ship and got changed and went to dinner at the Windjammer. We considered going to the dining room but Michael didn't want to and the menu didn't look that great to me so we decided to go to the Windjammer buffet. That was a great choice because they had a lot of the foods that were going to be offered in the dining room, including the desserts that I wanted to try. I ate so much food! They had some churros with toppings but they were actually disappointing as were the desserts. So, we went to the La Patisserie and we each got a piece of cheesecake. Michael got the Oreo kind and I got the strawberry kind. We had also grabbed some cookies from the Windjammer as we left. 

We came back up to our room and sat on the balcony and ate our treats. It was so cool because there were some fireworks going off on the shore so we watched that. 

We had our own family home evening lesson. It has been a wonderful day! I'm sorry that we missed out on the phone call with Andrew but he understood.

 

January 19, Monday

We've had another great day on the cruise! I got over nine hours of sleep and was able to sleep in and wake up naturally, which was great. Michael went to the gym and I got ready for the day. I headed over to roller skating in the Sea Plex. I didn't have a reservation but I made one on my phone right at that time because they said it was required and I got right in. Michael met me there and took some pictures and videos of me. 

He went and got changed. I walked around the top deck and got some pictures of the Lands' End rock formations before it was time for us to sail away. Then we went to the Windjammer for lunch. We've had our favorite spot where we normally sit at a table for two over by the windows on the port side. 

I really wanted to see Two70 so we went in there for a few minutes. It's amazing!

After that, we headed over to the Solarium and found me a nice chair to sit in while Michael went into the hot tub for about half an hour. I intended to read my book but I spent all the time on my phone. We headed back to the room and relaxed for a while. I sat out on the balcony and got caught up on my phone. It got a little chilly so I came inside to lay on the bed with the balcony door open and read my book. Then it was time to get ready for dinner. I wore my red dress finally. I had to wear it at least once since I spent so much time ironing it. 

Beautiful view from our balcony

We had a nice dinner and I loved the shrimp. 

We went to the Voom counter and the guy wasn't very helpful and just said it's normal to get kicked off of the ship's Wi-Fi. Mine has been working fine but Michael is having a problem. There's not much else we can do. We went back to the room and got changed and relaxed. We turned on the national college championship football game that was Miami versus Indiana and we sat on the couch and played Phase 10. We stayed tied on every phase and I barely won at the end. 

By then, it was almost 8 PM and I wanted to go to the game show that was called, If You Know It, Sing It. That was pretty fun but I never went up and guessed even though I knew a lot of the answers. Michael's game ended shortly after that. Indiana won. He came down and we went to dancing with a live band in the Music Hall. No one was dancing and we danced by ourselves with everybody staring at us for one song. Then the next slow song they played was Faithfully so other people finally joined us on the dance floor. The band took a break at 9:45 PM so we walked over to Two70 because there was going to be music over there. I thought that it said there would be dancing but it was just half an hour of them playing 80s music. We found one of those weird chairs that's a circle with pillows in it and laid in there and talked and hung out and relaxed. 

The party started at 10:30 PM. At first, we were confused why people weren't going down to the dance floor to dance. So when people finally started getting on the dance floor we went down and joined them but it quickly got very, very crowded. In hindsight, it would've been better if we had just stayed where we were and danced in that area because on the dance floor we couldn't move very well because there were too many people. But it was super fun and the cruise director was awesome and she was singing and dancing with all the other dancers. They had three different parts: the 70s, the 80s, and the 90s. The dancers danced the whole time and they played great music. It was so fun! The only problem is that we couldn't really follow along with their dancing because there wasn't enough room but we still had a blast. I'm so glad we went and did that instead of just being bums in our room. That would've been fun, too, but I'm glad we went. I don't know what they're paying that cruise director, but she's amazing and they should probably pay her more. 

We came back to our room and got ready for bed.

January 20, Tuesday

Well, our trip started out rough and ended rough but I'm so grateful we got to go. I'm writing this on Thursday the 22nd because I was too sick to write it on Tuesday night. Our Tuesday was similar to Monday. We got a good night’s rest. Michael went to the gym while I got ready for the day. We went to the Windjammer for lunch. We sat in our favorite area. I ate too much food, as usual. After lunch, we went to the Solarium and I sat in a chair while Michael went to the hot tub. There weren't really any activities I wanted to do today. We went back to the room and relaxed and I read my book. 

It was time to go to dinner at 5 PM but I wasn't even hungry. I was so excited to have the salmon but I couldn't even finish it. I ate the shrimp cocktail, half the salmon and a few of the potatoes, and the blueberry cobbler, which was small, for dessert. I got one more picture by the dining room and then we went back to our room.

I laid in bed some more and read. We called Dad and Jonny. Then I just got ready for bed because we needed to get up early to pack so I think it was about 9 PM when I started getting ready for bed. I was feeling so sick. Michael offered me a blessing a couple times and I finally took him up on it. It was a rough night but I was able to get quite a bit of sleep, thankfully. 

January 21, Wednesday

I'm so grateful we made it home! I somehow conjured up the energy to get showered and packed. I didn't even do my hair or put on makeup. I wanted nothing to do with food, but Michael asked if he should go get some and I encouraged him to and he did. I think we were out of the room by 7:45 AM. The deadline was 8 AM. I woke up at 5:30 AM so that gave me plenty of time because I had to take a break a couple of times. Getting off the ship took forever but we made it. My arms were so tired from pushing my suitcases. Michael helped me as much as he could but we had four suitcases so it wasn't easy. We went straight to the car and he made it so I could lie down in the backseat and that's what I did the whole way home. I was so weak and tired. I'm so grateful I was able to rest and get some sleep on the trip. I think it was about 4:30 PM by the time we got home. I took a nap and had a little something to eat. I went to bed at about 9 PM and had a good night’s rest.

I asked Michael what his favorite part of the trip was, and he said it was spending time with me. I agree! Spending time with him was my favorite part, too!