Christine's Trip to Orlando, Part 2

February 22, Sunday

I'm very grateful I was able to go to church with Emily today and have a fun day with her and also get some rest! I got all ready for church and she picked me up at 8:15 AM. It was just her and who went to church. I was impressed with how many people were there. The talks were excellent! They were all about testimony. The first guy said he had been on a mission to Japan and he was in flight school. He referred to a talk by President Uchtdorf and Elder Brown's talk from the last Conference. He said something in his talk and I wish I could remember exactly what it was but it was something like if you are having trouble with a branch of the gospel, look to the trunk of truth that it comes from. That's not exactly what he said but it was something along those lines and I thought it was really good. The next girl that spoke talked about how people their age need to have their own testimony and can't rely on their parents testimonies any longer. Boy, that's so true! She also said you can't rely on a spiritual high and expect that to carry you through. For instance, if you go to girls camp or EFY and you have a great experience, that's not enough to strengthen your testimony for the rest of your life, you have to keep doing the important things like praying and reading your scriptures regularly. She referred to Elder Uchtdorf's talk from October 2024. The last guy to talk was Ethan Meyer. Emily said, I know that guy. They were talking about how they had a hoedown activity last night and how he is a good dancer, that's what the bishop said when he announced him, and Emily realized she recognized him from ballroom dance at BYU. He referred to President Oaks's talk called Testimony from 2008. Ethan said we share our testimony because we love others. The girl who gave the Relief Society lesson did a great job. The topic of the lesson was: the Lord looks on the heart. She gave everyone a piece of paper and a pencil and asked us to write down on one side how other people see us and on the other side how the Lord sees us. They ended the lesson early and said they wanted to do some ministering so they asked everyone on one side to go to the other side and introduce themselves to somebody. We met Erin, who gave the lesson, and Maddie, who works at Cosmic Rays and she jus just started at BYU because she said she still has 3 1/2 years left. She doesn't like her position at Cosmic Rays and is trying to get an accommodation for it but so far they haven't accepted it but she really hates working in the kitchen there. I felt so bad for her. 

After church, we had a nice brunch at Olivia's Café.

While we waited for our table, I gave Emily her Tangled birthday card and she loved it! 

Emily and I both got the chicken and Dad got an omelette and Brandon got the breakfast meal. They had some banana bread French toast so I asked for that for an appetizer because I just wanted to try a taste of it. I ate all of my food and it was so good. 

They brought out a cupcake with a candle for Emily and we sang Happy Birthday to her.

Brandon had to go to work after brunch so I said goodbye to him and told him it was very nice to meet him and I gave him a hug. Then the rest of us drove over to the Residence Inn. We were annoyed that Emily and Dad had to pay parking just to be in the parking lot during the day. Apparently, it's really strict and the camera would give them a ticket if they didn't pay the money. We saw another car with a ticket on it. Anyway, Emily and Dad came to my hotel room and we played cards for a little while. By about 2:30 PM, Dad said he was going to hit the road and drive back.

Michael sent me this picture of what he made for Jonny at home. 

Emily and I took a nap. Andrew had a different p-day this week so we didn't have a call with him today. Once we got up, I suggested we go to the big McDonald's. Apparently, this one in Orlando that's not too far from our hotel is the biggest one in the US. It's on Sandlake Road. So we got ready and went over there. It was fun because it was an enormous McDonald's and they had other foods besides regular McDonald's foods.

They had pizza and pasta and a Philly cheesesteak and of course we ordered every one of those. It was pretty fun. The food was actually really good. We were impressed with the pizza that Emily got. It was like it was woodfired or something and it tasted great. 

We had fun eating our food and then we went exploring upstairs to see what was up there and there was a big play place, more seating, and a big arcade area. Then Emily drove me back to my hotel. 

February 23, Monday

I'm so grateful I got to go to Universal with Emily today! We had so much fun! I'm especially grateful that multiple times this weekend she has turned to me and said, "I'm so glad you're here Mom!" She picked me up a little bit after 8 AM at my hotel and we drove to Universal Studios. I bought my entrance ticket on the drive over. It takes a while to walk from the parking garage into the park. We were especially bummed this morning because we found out that there's no Hogwarts Express from one park to the other so we had to walk like peasants. Oh well. 

We got into the park, figured out where we needed to stand for the rope drop and went to Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. I was pretty sure the wait time said 110 minutes which sounded close to what Emily thought it was going to be. It took us a little bit to get a locker because it was a chaotic mess in there. But we got right into the line and started weaving through. It was pretty slow moving and there were multiple times that it was fully stopped so that was frustrating. When we were outside, we were so cold it was hard for me to focus on things to talk to her about. I think it was around 50 degrees. It was so cold outside I was shivering like crazy, and even once we were inside it wasn't exactly warm and we stopped many times. 

All in all, we spent three hours between waiting in line and being on the ride. However, I'm so glad we did it! It was super fun! It was so fast! There's a part where you go all the way up to the top and then back down again backwards, and there's also a drop. On a roller coaster. That was crazy. It was also super cool because we were in the front row! Anyway, we loved it and we're so glad we got to do it. 

Performers near Hogsmeade

After that, it was already lunchtime when we were kind of hungry so we decided to see if we could go to the Comic Strip Café. On the way, we saw that Spider-Man had a wait of only 45 minutes so we figured we may as well do that. It was more like 20 minutes by the time we were in and out of there. We walked to the Comic Strip Café and it was freezing cold in there. They had every single door open and we just wanted to sit down and in the warmth for a little while and enjoy a meal but that wasn't going to happen there. So we decided to try the Captain America diner and that was much better. Emily got a hot honey chicken without the hot honey and she really liked it. I got a burger with pulled pork on it. The pulled pork was really weird looking, like a yellow color. It tasted good though, just mustardy. I ate the pulled pork and took the burger out of the bun and put it on my tortilla. 

The wait times for the rides we wanted were pretty long so we decided to go to the Cat in the Hat and that was super cute. 

Then we walked over to Jurassic Park just so we could walk around. The VelociCoaster line was like 90 minutes but by the time we got over there it was only 60 minutes so we hopped in the line. The wait was more like 40 minutes so that was great. 

The queue inside was very cool!

That roller coaster was super fast and goes upside down a couple of times. I had a headache after that one with my head banging against the headrest. I'm glad Emily said to put your head back because I didn't even realize I needed to do that but it was written on the back of the seat in front of me I just wasn't paying attention so I'm glad I did that. Anyway, it was super fun. 

Once we got off I had to record it because it was hard to figure out exactly where you were while you were on the roller coaster.

After that, we decided to get some butterbeer and drink it as we walked over to Universal Studios. I loved walking through "Toon Lagoon."  

We also stopped at the Croissant Moon Bakery which I wanted to try. That was my reward for surviving the VelociCoaster. I got an almond croissant that was delicious but I tried a piece of cookie butter cake and it was disgusting. It was more like just a plain old spice cake and Emily ate a few bites of it and then we left. 

We walked past the Chocolate Emporium and stopped in there. I decided I wanted to get a little something to make up for the cookie butter cake so I got two macarons and I ate them as we walked over to Universal Studios. Emily was too full.

Emily was surprised that the wait times were longer than usual but we headed over to The Mummy. 

That wait wasn't very long either. I didn't even realize it was a roller coaster; I thought it was some kind of simulator but it was pretty fun. After that, we walked over to the Men in Black ride. That was a cute one. I got like 20,000 points and Emily got over 100,000 so she kicked my butt. I didn't really get it and I wasn't doing very well with my shooting to try and get the points but it was still fun.

Men in Black queue scene 

After that we headed over to Diagon Alley to see all the cool Harry Potter stuff. 

We tried to watch for the dragon to breathe fire but it never did it for us so we got onto Escape from Gringotts and that was amazing. 

The queue was fantastic! It looked like you were walking onto the movie set with the animatronic bankers in the cool chandeliers and all the marble. It was really cool. 

We really enjoyed the ride, as well. I think that's the first roller coaster I've ever been on where you wear 3-D glasses on the roller coaster. It was very cool. After that we were pretty tired and decided we wanted a break but we walked around Diagon Alley for a bit and walked in the sweet shop. Then we happened upon a cute little restaurant called The Leaky Cauldron. I saw on the menu that they had meat pies and Emily liked the idea of trying that. We had originally considered just going to the City Walk but this looked way more fun. It's one of those restaurants where you can sit down at a table and do your mobile order from the table and then they bring it to you. It's really nice! The Leaky Cauldron is huge with tons of tables and plenty of space for everyone so we did the mobile order and it was super handy. 

I got two pies; one was a cottage pie and one was a fisherman's pie and it came with a salad. I also got a sticky toffee pudding. Emily got the shepherd's pie which looked like a meat hand pie and she enjoyed that and she especially enjoyed her butterbeer ice cream. She let me have a little bit and it was amazing!

The Leaky Cauldron

Once we were done, we headed back out and went to the Jimmy Fallon New York Experience ride. Emily had heard that it was kind of lame but I actually liked it. It was kind of like Star Tours, only going through the city of New York. After that, it was 8 PM and the park was going to close at 9 PM. We both agreed that we had done all we wanted to do so we headed out. It took us a while to walk back to the car but we were relieved to get warm. Emily dropped me off at the hotel and we had a prayer and said good night. 

February 24, Tuesday

I'm grateful I made it home safely and that my flight was uneventful! Emily picked me up from the hotel at 8:30 AM. I had her go through my pictures and pick some favorites and send them to herself. I asked her to have a prayer with me and she said it. She drove me to the airport and dropped me off. I got through security and sat in that big waiting area, then I got some food and went to my gate.

Trying out my "airplane pocket." It was very helpful! 

Michael was right there to pick me up and he drove me home. It was so good to see him and Jonny, but I am so glad I was able to go on this wonderful trip!

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.