For Christmas last year, I got my boyfriend a trip to Disney, which was really a backdoor gift for myself, because I really wanted to go. He and I had discussed that it would be nice to go, but neither of us expected to completely love Disney. We weren't Disney fanatics. He has still never seen most of the staple movies. We had absolutely no expectation of becoming obsessed, but that's exactly what happened.
We ended up staying off park grounds, mostly because I thought we would want a breather from all the Disney. I was wrong. We definitely enjoyed our hotel, and the location was perfect, but next time we won't pass up any opportunity to make it a fuller experience. We stayed at a Holiday Inn on International Drive.
We could only fit our trip in from August 7-14, so we expected the crowds to really impede being able to do whatever we wanted. We must have really lucked out, because I can't think of anything we wanted to do that we missed. Fast passes were super efficient.
I posted about being afraid of any ride that moved, but I ended up going on everything except Expedition Everest. I am a little bummed I didn't go on it, just because I can't say I went on *everything*. But, when I look at the ascent that ride makes, I know I probably would have been overly terrified. We went on Splash Mountain, and we ended up in the front of our cart/log/seat thing. I literally shook the entire way up, and I can't say a single thing about the ride, because I never opened my eyes once. The same could be said for the first ride on Tower of Terror. I actually jammed myself so hard into the wall, my shoulder was bruised for the entire trip. The second time we went on it, I kept my eyes open, but I still did not enjoy it, haha. By the second time we went on the Rockin' Rollercoaster, I kept my eyes open! It was a major accomplishment. I also survived two rounds of Space Mountain (actually really enjoyed it, eyes open!), and my favorite ride ended up being the Seven Dwarves Mine Train. We both really enjoyed Toy Story Mania, and my boyfriend did go on Expedition Everest by himself. Our two seats were the only two seats to get soaked on Kali River Rapids. I was the pilot on the Astro Orbiter, and I tried raising us up once, but that was the end of it. When my boyfriend tried to reach over me for the lever, I threatened his life.
As for rides we weren't totally thrilled with, there were also a few. Our most surprising let down was Test Track, which was something I was really looking forward to. We waited out the line for over an hour. When we got inside to design our vehicle, no one stayed in their groups, and we ended up not being able to get a monitor to use. Then the ride itself broke down while we were on it. We only sat for a few minutes, but since it's something so popular, I was expecting to love it.
One of our favorite parts of the trip (if not the favorite) was seeing the Finding Nemo show. It was recommended by someone here that we see it, but I hadn't really committed to doing so, mostly because we both think Finding Nemo is sad. I am so glad it was recommended and that we made it, because the show was really amazing. The Lion King show was also good, but Finding Nemo was great. As for food, our favorite was Be Our Guest. Beaty and the Beast is probably my favorite, and the dining area was beautiful to look at. I had the fanciest of grilled cheeses paired with an even fancier wine and diet soda, haha.
Here are some photos of the surprise-gift giving, which I now see looks a bit creepy. I also have a video of the trip from some of the photos we took. I could probably make an hour long video with all of the pictures and video we have, but I cut it down to a still-too-long 9 minutes. Photos were all either taken with iPhones or a GoPro.
We cannot wait to go back!
For the game, each of the Muppet boxes had question cards inside of them about the Oscars (he is an Oscars fiend). The letters spelled out, "We're going to." After opening five of the boxes, the sixth tin had the "open the mailbox" letter. In the mailbox was the actual invite and his park ticket. Since I didn't get him much else, I wanted this to take up some time. (It did.)
Video link is here (it is otherwise not listed).
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We ended up staying off park grounds, mostly because I thought we would want a breather from all the Disney. I was wrong. We definitely enjoyed our hotel, and the location was perfect, but next time we won't pass up any opportunity to make it a fuller experience. We stayed at a Holiday Inn on International Drive.
We could only fit our trip in from August 7-14, so we expected the crowds to really impede being able to do whatever we wanted. We must have really lucked out, because I can't think of anything we wanted to do that we missed. Fast passes were super efficient.
I posted about being afraid of any ride that moved, but I ended up going on everything except Expedition Everest. I am a little bummed I didn't go on it, just because I can't say I went on *everything*. But, when I look at the ascent that ride makes, I know I probably would have been overly terrified. We went on Splash Mountain, and we ended up in the front of our cart/log/seat thing. I literally shook the entire way up, and I can't say a single thing about the ride, because I never opened my eyes once. The same could be said for the first ride on Tower of Terror. I actually jammed myself so hard into the wall, my shoulder was bruised for the entire trip. The second time we went on it, I kept my eyes open, but I still did not enjoy it, haha. By the second time we went on the Rockin' Rollercoaster, I kept my eyes open! It was a major accomplishment. I also survived two rounds of Space Mountain (actually really enjoyed it, eyes open!), and my favorite ride ended up being the Seven Dwarves Mine Train. We both really enjoyed Toy Story Mania, and my boyfriend did go on Expedition Everest by himself. Our two seats were the only two seats to get soaked on Kali River Rapids. I was the pilot on the Astro Orbiter, and I tried raising us up once, but that was the end of it. When my boyfriend tried to reach over me for the lever, I threatened his life.
As for rides we weren't totally thrilled with, there were also a few. Our most surprising let down was Test Track, which was something I was really looking forward to. We waited out the line for over an hour. When we got inside to design our vehicle, no one stayed in their groups, and we ended up not being able to get a monitor to use. Then the ride itself broke down while we were on it. We only sat for a few minutes, but since it's something so popular, I was expecting to love it.
One of our favorite parts of the trip (if not the favorite) was seeing the Finding Nemo show. It was recommended by someone here that we see it, but I hadn't really committed to doing so, mostly because we both think Finding Nemo is sad. I am so glad it was recommended and that we made it, because the show was really amazing. The Lion King show was also good, but Finding Nemo was great. As for food, our favorite was Be Our Guest. Beaty and the Beast is probably my favorite, and the dining area was beautiful to look at. I had the fanciest of grilled cheeses paired with an even fancier wine and diet soda, haha.
Here are some photos of the surprise-gift giving, which I now see looks a bit creepy. I also have a video of the trip from some of the photos we took. I could probably make an hour long video with all of the pictures and video we have, but I cut it down to a still-too-long 9 minutes. Photos were all either taken with iPhones or a GoPro.
We cannot wait to go back!
For the game, each of the Muppet boxes had question cards inside of them about the Oscars (he is an Oscars fiend). The letters spelled out, "We're going to." After opening five of the boxes, the sixth tin had the "open the mailbox" letter. In the mailbox was the actual invite and his park ticket. Since I didn't get him much else, I wanted this to take up some time. (It did.)
Video link is here (it is otherwise not listed).
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Love how you presented the trip in gift form!