Orlando 2007

O.K. I am back again after a long hiatus. I would have posted sooner but you know things happen. I stayed in many hotels while in New York and the internet access was either sketchy or I was too tired to bother. I have some wonderful photos I will post later for Niagara Falls. But for now I will talk about my Orlando trip.

To sum up the entire trip I will say one word! EXHAUSTING! I will try to pace myself better the next time I go and try not to do everything in one day. It isn't going to happen and if you try you will push your body to its limits as well as your sanity! I did have a wonderful time but I ended up with swollen feet every evening.

On Monday we went to MGM Studios. I had a good time but I definitely think this park is my least favorite. I liked them all so don't get me wrong but I think I expected more. One of the rides I would have enjoyed called the "Rockin Rollercoaster" featuring Aerosmith was closed. But I was able to do the Tower of Terror and several shows. I spent the day taking pictures of myself in different hats around the park. I had scrapbook pages on my mind the entire time. It was a good time but I was ready to go around 5pm. My friend had to stay to see this show they do at the end. I stayed with her and enjoyed the show. It was worth the wait. Here is my favorite photo of the day.

I know it's one of the monsters from Monster's Inc but I am not sure which one. I just love the expression on my face! LOL!

On Tuesday I went to the Animal Kingdom. My friend really wanted to get there early. She read this was the best time to see the animals on the safari. Early morning is when they are most active. It was kind of funny to see them all laying there sleeping. I couldn't help but chuckle because they were anything BUT active. Overall it was a fun experience. I saw some wonderful shows which included "It's tough being a bug" and "Finding Nemo". Both shows were very good. I thought "Dinosaur"and "Expedition Everest" were the best rides in the park. But everything was great. The park closed at 5pm (thank goodness) and I was able to return to the resort and relax that evening. This is my favorite photo of the day

I met one of the "villagers" from Africa. He was playing this instrument and walking around. Kinda cool! I have some photos from the rides I did but I have yet to scan those. I will do them later!

On Wednesday we went to Typhoon Lagoon. I think this was the best day of all. It had been hot all week and very close to unbearable. It was nice to run around all day and play like a kid! I had so much fun on the slides and other water rides. I could go back to Florida and just do water parks all week. It's actually a serious thought! LOL! I did everything they had for adults to do and enjoyed the wave pook immensely. If you ever go to Orlando you must do the waterparks. It's too much fun. Here is my favorite picture.

This is me carrying the raft for the Crush n Gusher. It's for two people and me and my friend Becky really enjoyed this ride. It was the first one we did! We did it twice and the last time it threw us from the raft at the end and she landed on top of me. Too funny! LOL! I don't look so bad in my swimsuit either on this picture. In person you wouldn't want me to stand sideways! LOL! I like this swimsuit but the girls had a tendency to pop out at inconvenient moments. I really had to watch it! LOL!

On Thursday we went to the Magic Kingdom. It was wonderful of course! I took many photos and rode everything I could find. We saw a couple of parades and took some really cool photos. I wanted to take pictures with the characters but I always found them too late. I was disappointed. I did buy myself a Minnie Mouse hat and ran around like a big kid all day. It was funny but I got a lot of attention with that hat from kids and talking garage recepticles!

I also got to see something I really wanted to see the last time I was there in 1997. I missed it and I wasn't too happy. It was Tinkerbell flying from Cinderella's castle. I finally saw it! I was so happy about that I didn't care about the crowd or my aching feet! LOL. Here is my favorite picture from this day.

Yes! It's Tinkerbell in my hand! I couldn't resist this photo opportunity with the park photographers! I definitely got a CD before I left Orlando. I love this photo. I can't wait for my Mom to see!

On Friday I went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. That was a lot of fun. We rode all the water rides, I rode the roller coasters (my friend only rode one mild roller coaster) and saw the shows. It was a blast! I think my favorite ride of the day was Ripshaw falls. I really like way the boat goes down the chute. It's fun! We took lots of pictures and I got several shots with characters like Woody Woodpecker, Two of the X-Men (actually the girls Storm and I didn't know the other one's name) and Spiderman! It was a great day. We ended the day at the City walk at Margaritaville with drinks (I had a midori sour) and appetizers. The park closes at 7pm but the City Walk is open late. It had started to rain so we left. I got plenty of fun pictures ( I kept thinking of scrapbook pages I wanted to do) and I cannot wait to work on them. Here is my favorite picture of the day.

This is my favorite ride called Ripshaw Falls. It's a ride with Dudley Do-right as the theme. You remember that cartoon right? I like this ride because some unexpected things happened. I think that makes the ride more exciting.

On Saturday we went to Epcot. I was able to ride "Soarin" (highly recommended), Journey Into Imagination with Figament and we saw Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. I also rode the boat rides in Mexico and Norway. All were well worth the time.

We saved Epcot to the last day because they were havin a Food and Wine Festival. It's like a Taste of all the countries. We have these festivals here in Chicago to showcase the different restaurants in the area. It's was really fun. There was a seminar on Himalyan Salt I was able to attend and I got to try different salts to see the differences and got some really great tips on how to prepare dishes using it. After the seminar I left to go try some of the dishes. I got to try Boxty with Bacon Chips and Kerrygold Garlic and Fresh Herb Butter from Ireland, Coconut Indian Rice Pudding from India, Bobotie with Mango Chutney from South Africa, Seared Buffalo with Scalloped Wild Onions from Oklahoma, Escargot Persillade en Brioche with Sparkling Pomegrante Kir from France and last but not least Mofungo from Dominican Republic. I didn't hit a bad note on any of my selections. It was all good! It started to poor raining after I got my Mofongo and I was drenched. Here is my favorite picture of the day.

The photographer took many pictures of me at Epcot. I think he had a bit of a crush on me! LOL! I like this one but I have several. I have more with Tinkerbell in my hands again.

Overall this trip was a successful and exhausting trip. I of course want to go back and do more things I didn't get a chance to do. But for now I will relive the fun moments and start working on my scrapbook pages. I was imagining them while I was taking photos and coming up with really cool titles.

Ta Ta for now!