I've been a busy lady the last few weeks! We went on vacation. Yep, you heard that right. I left my company in somebody else's hands, and I ran away. It was much needed, and very special. I am really glad we got a chance to get away

We woke up early on July 26, and got ready to go to the airport. Our wonderful neighbor, David, offered to take us to the airport, so he was at our door by 5:00 am. We still can't believe he did that. He drove us so that we wouldn't have to pay for a week's worth of parking. It's so rare to have anybody do something like that for us. We were pretty amazed at his generosity.

The first part of our Florida Adventure was to Disney World.  We are veteran Disney-ites. This was our third visit. We knew what we wanted to see, and where we wanted to stay. We had a park plan that we hoped to follow. We realized that it was July, traditionally the busiest month in Disney time. We knew it would be difficult to do everything. So we chose what we really wanted to do, and stuck with that.  It ended up working really well.  I ended up using a scooter this trip, because I didn't want to wear myself out so soon after surgery. It was a good idea for the most part, and a bit of a hassle at times. I'm glad I did it, though.

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside. It was very quaint. Charming. What I always imagined New Orleans to be. There was a gentle river winding through the grounds. The rooms were tiny, but very cute! Wood post beds. Ceiling fans. Charming decor. I loved that the bath was separated from the rest of the room. It was just cute.

We did two parks our first day!  First to Disney MGM, where we just wanted to ride 2 rides. Tower of Terror was wonderful, as always. We completely left our seats!  Mikey and Matthew enjoyed it, too, for the first time.   We also rode Rockin Roller Coaster. I love that coaster! It's really fast.  Next, we went to Animal Kingdom. We wanted to try the new Expedition Everst. What a NEAT coaster! Seriously! It's freakywhen the tracks come to an and. The effects of the Yedi swooping down on us were amazing. Best coaster ever, bar none.  We also got soaked on Kali River Rapids, and rode Dinosaur. The kids love Triceratop Twirl, so there were a couple of rides on that, as well as on the Octopos-like ride. Then we went to bed.

Next day was EPCOT, but we decided to enjoy the hot tub and pool first. It was a neat pool, but the water slide wasn't working, so that took away some of the aura of the experience. We went back to the room and gor ready for our traditional brunch at Chef Mickey's after that. Chef Mickey's was a blast, as always. Lots of one on one character interaction, too. We had  lovely waitress, Diane, who treated us very well. Lots of pictures, lots of fun together. And frankly, I love the breakfast food at Chef Mickeys (it's much better than the dinner buffet, as we've learned).  We always take the last possible reservation time so that we basically knock out two meals in one seating.  After brunch, we headed over to EPCOT. We had decided to JUST do Future World. We saw Soarin, which was a favorite last trip. It was just as amazing this time. They had interactive video games to play in the waiting line. THAT was new, and very neat.  After Soarin, we visited Ice Cool. It was under renovation last trip, so we were anxious to see how much better it was. It lacked the cuteness it had before, but the drink stations were more organized, and the floor wasn't as sticky...a BIG plus!  Beverly is still there, and still just as delicious as ever. NOT.  After Ice Cool, we rode Nemo while Darren got the fast pass to Mission Space. It was a cute ride! We're very glad we rode it.   After all of that, we had plenty of time to do World Showcase, so that's what we did!  We didn't do any World Showcase last trip, so it was pretty cool to go back. We let Emily and Matt run off by themselves, with the walkie talkie. We loved that they stayed a pavilion behind us the whole time. We saw them the whole time! We were (somewhat) entertained by 52nd Street, a Billy Joel concert wannabe. Honestly? It wasn't very good. But we enjoyed the music, anyway!  We also heard the fake Beatles band. They're still very good!  We enjoyed it. My favorite area was Morocco. I loved that pavilion, and would love to actually visit Morocco sometime.  We were exhausted by the end of the day, but it was a lot of fun.

Our final day at Disney was spent at Magic Kingdom. We got there very early, and there were very few people there. We actually walked righ on to Pirates. It was amazing to see ::::::::;sigh:::::::::: the new addition of Johnny Depp. He was magnificently lifelike. NICE!  We Fast Passed Splash Mountain, and rode Thunder Mountain while waiting. Again, we rarely waited for any rides. I don't know how that happened, to be honest. The new thing we did this time was Hall of Presidents. We also found a new area that we had always seen on the map, but had never actually come across. It was a very cool area! Emily got one of themagical moments. A cast member saw her pin lanyard full of Tinkerbell pins, and gave her a specially wrapped special edition collector's pin set. It was magical, and she and I both got teary eyed!  Earlier in the day, a man was sweeping the walk, just after the rain, and from the rain puddle, drew a very cool picture of Mickey on the ground. It was a very neat day. By the time it ended, the parade was beginning. We got to see a good part of it as we were leaving the park. We went back to the hotel, and started the next section of our trip...COCOA BEACH!