Matt and I tried to be strategic about which days we spent at which park. We decided to head to Magic Kingdom on Thursday to avoid a weekend crowd. It was a gorgeous day! It finally started warming up, which ended up being a good thing!
We finally figured out how to use our Fast Passes, so we were more strategic about those too! We got on Splash Mountain and ended up being on the FIRST ROW. Totally by chance. Yes, we got soaked. Then we had a Fast Pass right after for Splash Mountain, and again, got put on the FIRST ROW. Good thing it was sunny! We dried off in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad after that!
It has been almost 10 years since I have been to Disneyworld. In that time, there were a lot of changes! It was so fun to go through all the new stuff with Matt. We were super sad that we didn't get reservations to "Be Our Guest" restaurant, but loved walking through the new Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid themed section. I also loved the new Circus version of Toontown! We stuck around until the light parade and fireworks. We picked a great spot for the parade. We were right next to the usher person and right on the edge of the guest section, so every time someone tried to stand next to us or in front of us the usher would make them move. It was so funny seeing all the people who thought they found prime spots get told they had to move! Matt was so impressed with everything at Disney. It was fun going with someone who hasn't seen everything and seeing it through their eyes!
While in Magic Kingdom, we had to get Mickey ice cream bars! It's tradition!
On Friday we went to Animal Kingdom! We got there early so we could see all the animals on the safari and it did not disappoint! Most of the animals were eating, or had just been fed, so they were all out and roaming around! The giraffes were walking along right next to our truck!
The best part of Animal Kingdom was Everest. It was SO FUN! Matt and I kept hopping back in line to ride it again because it's one of the only real roller coasters in Disney. Matt did a way funny GoPro video on the ride, but I don't think I can post it because the guy next to Matt was swearing the whole time!
After we finished up at Animal Kingdom, we had dinner at The Rainforest Cafe and then headed over to Downtown Disney for some walking and shopping. Mostly walking. And people watching. It was fun to be somewhere that had so much activity at night. Our little town of Richmond, and even Logan, gets very quiet at night and we weren't used to being somewhere with so much going on! We left when we could barely keep our eyes open and there were people still walking in!
On Saturday we went over to Epcot. Epcot is a hard park to go to for just one day because there is so much to do if you want to see everything! We spent time doing the tour of the countries, with extra time spent in Great Britain picking out candy that Matt loved from his mission in Scotland. We also spent a bunch time looking through the art stores at all the amazing Disney art. Someday I'm going to have the coolest play room full of Disney stuff!
Matt and I couldn't decide which country to eat dinner at so we headed out of Epcot and over the the Boardwalk for a reservation at a fancy Italian place. We got there a little early so we took a romantic (if Matt saying, "Take a picture of me, I look so good" is romantic) walk around the Boardwalk and checked out all the shops and hotels.
After dinner we walked back over to Epcot and got yummy ice cream in France before the fireworks over the water! It was another late night, but worth it for the Disney fireworks!
Sunday was our last day in Florida. We had barely seen Aunt Dianna at all, even though we were staying at her house, because we were out early in the morning and back pretty late every night. We decided on Sunday that we wanted to spend some time with her and go see the Kennedy Space Center. I didn't really know what to expect at the space center, I thought it would be more like a museum that we could see in a couple hours, but it was HUGE! We had to take a bus through the property to different parts of the museum, and because we were headed back to Utah we had to rush through most of the exhibits. Next time we go, I'm definitely planning a whole day there!
Aunt Dianna bought Ben some Kennedy Space Center shirts! They were a little big when we got home, but so cute!
We caught up to Cassie at the airport who had come down to Florida with one of her friends for a long weekend. We missed out on a romantic Valentine's Day but had an amazing trip just the two of us. We hadn't done anything like this in our marriage so it was extra special to go on this trip after having Ben and Matt building his parents' house! Hopefully we can go again when Ben is old enough to appreciate it!
