For anyone who cares to read...
Since my wife's schedule at work get's pretty crazy from March to May, I decided I'd treat her to a simple but relaxing weekend at Epcot. Little did I know that it would be anything but simple and relaxing until we actually got to Epcot.
Booked a hotel for Friday night, because I know she loves the feeling of getting away from Orlando, even if it is just for a day or two. We pack our bags on Thursday night for our night at the hotel on Friday night, and the plan is for me to pick her up after work and head straight to the hotel.
After I get off work, I run home (north of Altamonte Springs FL) to get our bags and meet her at her work (close to Winter Park FL). Here's where it gets a little... well this guy says it best and you'll be seeing alot of him: :hammer:
Genius here (me) forgets his wallet at home. :hammer:So instead of picking up the wife and going to the hotel, she now follows me back home so I can get my wallet and leave her car in our driveway instead of her parking lot at work. Needless to say, and as she said it, she was "not ammused" with me. :hammer:
By the time we get to downtown Disney area, we're both hungry, we planned on eating alot sooner. So we go to Chevy's in Crossroads and split a meal, had some chips and salsa and a couple Pepsi's, and watched the Orlando Magic beat the Bobcats on the tv's. (Go Magic!)
Finally, like 10:00pm finally, we check into the hotel. The Palms Hotel and Villas, just past the Radisson in Celebration. Not bad for $59, we got the suite so we had a whole living room/dining room area. We normally stay at the Radisson, so we know that immediate area well. There were a few ants crawling next to the tub in the bathroom, which was gross but thankfully there weren't any anywhere else in the room. Still... :hammer:
Our room was right next to I-4 so it was a little louder than we would have liked, but we could see ourselves staying there again... but we'll bring ant spray and a noise machine. Is it a bad sign when you have to bring ant spray to a hotel? :hammer
robably.
Saturday a.m. we wake up and get ready. Hit the free breakfast in the lobby, which was fine. I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
My wife and I met my parents at the entrance of Epcot promptly at 9:00am and gave hugs and talked about how wonderful the day was going to be. It was GORGEOUS Saturday. Those are the days that remind me why I live in Florida. Sunny, cool, breezy, perfect Epcot weather.
We walk over to Soarin and get fastpasses because the 20 minute standby was more like 45. We then walked across Future World to Test Track. It was only the 2nd time my dad rode it and the very 1st time my mom road it. They LOVED it!! And they are the not "thrill ride" types. In fact I got an email from mom this morning saying how much she like "the testing track." :lol:
Walked back over to The Land to grab coffee, muffins, juice etc... before Soarin. Out fastpass time was up and we were on Soarin 5 minutes after breakfast. Perfect timing of everything so far! Mom's fav ride is Soarin, she giggles like she's 12 everytime she rides it! Dad pointed out all the places in Soarin he's been over the years.
After Soarin we look at our watches... 11am sharp, the countries are now open!
We walk to Mexico and ride El Rio de Donald and then we enjoyed the Maelstrom. (The trolls for the Flower and Garden Festival are hiding all over Norway again! lol) Next up is the China movie... always very enjoyable!
It's still the most beautiful day out and would remain that way all day.
My wife and I have done all 8 Kim Possible missions and have found Germany to be our favorite. So yes, we made my parents, who are in their 60's do a Kim Possible mission! :lol: They had a blast! They thought it was very well designed, very clever, and very entertaining. They loved all the things the phone activated!
By now it's 1:15 and we're getting very hungry. Did I mention we had 1:30 reservations at Le Cellier?! They have always wanted to eat there, my wife and I love that place, and we had the most wonderful lunch! Steaks, appetizers, desserts and a nice cozy corner table along the back wall. It couldn't have been more perfect for them! The food was excellent as usual! We caught O Canada right after lunch, always beautiful.
So we had to walk back to France because mom wanted French perfume and dad wanted French pastries. But she didn't get any perfume because she preferred the stuff in Norway and he didn't get any pastries because he just wanted some chocolate ice cream. All was not lost since we got great seats for Impressions de France. We love it each time, isn't the music simply amazing??
We decide to head towards the exit, it's around 3 and it's starting to get pretty crowded. And when I saw "pretty crowded" I mean "I'm a local and can come back anytime, there are too many people here for my liking so I'm going to call it a day" crowded. But seriously, it was getting very busy.
My wife and my dad decide to pass on Spaceship Earth and they sit on a bench and wait for mom and I to do the last ride of the day. She got the biggest kick out of telling the touch screen were from Brazil! We're both blond hair and blue eyes, fair skinned, my face was red from the sun, and we're from Brazil? Really? LOL :lol: She enjoyed the enhancements, this might have been only her 2nd time since the most recent refurb, so she liked it. She thought the end could use a few more things to look at other than the cartoon about our future. LOL
During the ride, she gazed up at the Sistene Chapel scene in awe. Once we passed that she rubbed it in that she'll seeing the real Sistine Chapel this summer. I can only imagine how cool that would be!
But our ride ended (without stopping once) and we exited.
We had a wonderful day! I always enjoy going to the parks with my parents, my wife and I had such a fun day with them. This was the 3rd or 4th time my wife and I have been to Epcot with my parents, I am so lucky I have been able to make these wonderful memories with them. Speaking of great memories, my wife's parents live in Michigan and are flying down in March, her dad told us he wants to go to Epcot with us! Now my wife will be able to have a day there with her parents! She is so excited!
Anyways... thanks for reading! Thanks for laughing at me and my missing wallet! :hammer:
Since my wife's schedule at work get's pretty crazy from March to May, I decided I'd treat her to a simple but relaxing weekend at Epcot. Little did I know that it would be anything but simple and relaxing until we actually got to Epcot.
Booked a hotel for Friday night, because I know she loves the feeling of getting away from Orlando, even if it is just for a day or two. We pack our bags on Thursday night for our night at the hotel on Friday night, and the plan is for me to pick her up after work and head straight to the hotel.
After I get off work, I run home (north of Altamonte Springs FL) to get our bags and meet her at her work (close to Winter Park FL). Here's where it gets a little... well this guy says it best and you'll be seeing alot of him: :hammer:
Genius here (me) forgets his wallet at home. :hammer:So instead of picking up the wife and going to the hotel, she now follows me back home so I can get my wallet and leave her car in our driveway instead of her parking lot at work. Needless to say, and as she said it, she was "not ammused" with me. :hammer:
By the time we get to downtown Disney area, we're both hungry, we planned on eating alot sooner. So we go to Chevy's in Crossroads and split a meal, had some chips and salsa and a couple Pepsi's, and watched the Orlando Magic beat the Bobcats on the tv's. (Go Magic!)
Finally, like 10:00pm finally, we check into the hotel. The Palms Hotel and Villas, just past the Radisson in Celebration. Not bad for $59, we got the suite so we had a whole living room/dining room area. We normally stay at the Radisson, so we know that immediate area well. There were a few ants crawling next to the tub in the bathroom, which was gross but thankfully there weren't any anywhere else in the room. Still... :hammer:
Our room was right next to I-4 so it was a little louder than we would have liked, but we could see ourselves staying there again... but we'll bring ant spray and a noise machine. Is it a bad sign when you have to bring ant spray to a hotel? :hammer
robably.Saturday a.m. we wake up and get ready. Hit the free breakfast in the lobby, which was fine. I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
My wife and I met my parents at the entrance of Epcot promptly at 9:00am and gave hugs and talked about how wonderful the day was going to be. It was GORGEOUS Saturday. Those are the days that remind me why I live in Florida. Sunny, cool, breezy, perfect Epcot weather.
We walk over to Soarin and get fastpasses because the 20 minute standby was more like 45. We then walked across Future World to Test Track. It was only the 2nd time my dad rode it and the very 1st time my mom road it. They LOVED it!! And they are the not "thrill ride" types. In fact I got an email from mom this morning saying how much she like "the testing track." :lol:
Walked back over to The Land to grab coffee, muffins, juice etc... before Soarin. Out fastpass time was up and we were on Soarin 5 minutes after breakfast. Perfect timing of everything so far! Mom's fav ride is Soarin, she giggles like she's 12 everytime she rides it! Dad pointed out all the places in Soarin he's been over the years.
After Soarin we look at our watches... 11am sharp, the countries are now open!
We walk to Mexico and ride El Rio de Donald and then we enjoyed the Maelstrom. (The trolls for the Flower and Garden Festival are hiding all over Norway again! lol) Next up is the China movie... always very enjoyable!
It's still the most beautiful day out and would remain that way all day.
My wife and I have done all 8 Kim Possible missions and have found Germany to be our favorite. So yes, we made my parents, who are in their 60's do a Kim Possible mission! :lol: They had a blast! They thought it was very well designed, very clever, and very entertaining. They loved all the things the phone activated!
By now it's 1:15 and we're getting very hungry. Did I mention we had 1:30 reservations at Le Cellier?!
They have always wanted to eat there, my wife and I love that place, and we had the most wonderful lunch! Steaks, appetizers, desserts and a nice cozy corner table along the back wall. It couldn't have been more perfect for them! The food was excellent as usual! We caught O Canada right after lunch, always beautiful.So we had to walk back to France because mom wanted French perfume and dad wanted French pastries. But she didn't get any perfume because she preferred the stuff in Norway and he didn't get any pastries because he just wanted some chocolate ice cream. All was not lost since we got great seats for Impressions de France. We love it each time, isn't the music simply amazing??
We decide to head towards the exit, it's around 3 and it's starting to get pretty crowded. And when I saw "pretty crowded" I mean "I'm a local and can come back anytime, there are too many people here for my liking so I'm going to call it a day" crowded. But seriously, it was getting very busy.
My wife and my dad decide to pass on Spaceship Earth and they sit on a bench and wait for mom and I to do the last ride of the day. She got the biggest kick out of telling the touch screen were from Brazil! We're both blond hair and blue eyes, fair skinned, my face was red from the sun, and we're from Brazil? Really? LOL :lol: She enjoyed the enhancements, this might have been only her 2nd time since the most recent refurb, so she liked it. She thought the end could use a few more things to look at other than the cartoon about our future. LOL
During the ride, she gazed up at the Sistene Chapel scene in awe. Once we passed that she rubbed it in that she'll seeing the real Sistine Chapel this summer. I can only imagine how cool that would be!
But our ride ended (without stopping once) and we exited.
We had a wonderful day! I always enjoy going to the parks with my parents, my wife and I had such a fun day with them. This was the 3rd or 4th time my wife and I have been to Epcot with my parents, I am so lucky I have been able to make these wonderful memories with them. Speaking of great memories, my wife's parents live in Michigan and are flying down in March, her dad told us he wants to go to Epcot with us! Now my wife will be able to have a day there with her parents! She is so excited!
Anyways... thanks for reading! Thanks for laughing at me and my missing wallet! :hammer:
