Girls Trip

 While Daniel took over packing and parental duties, I flew to FL to attend my friend's birthday at Walt Disney World. This was my first time in FL and I was so excited. We were staying at Bay Lake Towers, a Disney resort so we had some perks. My drive was in the rain of course, but it was beautiful. 

On the plane, I was seated between two tiny ladies wearing black and I felt like a double-stuffed Oreo!

  It was a long flight, nearly 5 hours, but it was nonstop so that was nice. When I arrived I waited for a bit and then one of my friends joined me. We caught my first-ever Uber and drove to our hotel. Here's our view from the balcony:

We caught the fireworks as we had dinner. We had our lounge fly bags put on display in my room. Mine are the Aurora with the castle and the Maid Marion one at the end.

   Valinda (the birthday girl) had made us all goody bags, the white bag on the bottom there is mine. They had a survival kit for Disney and a custom-made bag! I was so excited to own my first Valinda Original! After meeting the other members of our party, we settled in and I found out that my first taste of Disney would be a trial by fire! We are going to visit all four parks in one day. To successfully accomplish this task, you must ride a ride and eat a snack in each park. I was game, but unsure how it would work, but I was with experienced Disney fans, so I trusted that I was in good hands.

   The morning was far too early in coming. We were to rope drop, (this means we get there as soon as the park opens) We got up at 5:30 which was 2:30 my time. We boarded the bus and headed to Animal Kingdom and after a few of our number were stopped by security, we proceeded to Pandora. Disney tries very hard to make the experience as immersive as possible and so as you venture from place to place the sights, sounds, and even the smells change to enhance your feeling of entering a new world. 

  The Flight of Passage ride is amazing! The simulator you ride lets you feel like you are really flying. Here's a video of the ride from YouTube:

  It was magical and I would gladly ride it many more times. The line winds you around but the view is amazing. There is eye candy everywhere so you don't mind the 45 min wait. Next, we headed on Safari and since it was early yet, so many animals were out. 

    After the safari we had lunch, I had the pork wrap from an eatery in Africa, it was amazing! There was this artisan carving and I had to take a pic.

Kevin!

After a ride down the Pandora River we stopped to eat a snack!

It was amazing!

Mt Everest was my first proper rollercoaster. I loved it!

Next on to Epcot!

In France, we scurried with Remy through the kitchen.

Then we had the most amazing food from the French bakery.

Then we met Crush and went on the ride there. 

Then it was on to the Magic Kingdom!

We had a dinner reservation at the Beast's Castle. Our server was amazing. The grey stuff was delicious. We witnessed a proposal. It was a magical night.

The Beast came out several times.

    We had to catch a ride in a Minne Van to Hollywood Studios, our final park. We got there with 6 minutes to spare. We ran to Mickey's runaway railroad and on the way Tiona snapped this epic photo with the popcorn she bout so we could complete our challenge. I must admit I was dragging and not sure I would make it but with my friend's encouragement and some fortitude, we made it!

    

     I was so tired, but elated as we walked to the busses to head in for the evening. Of course, we didn't go to sleep, we stayed up talking for hours. I think I finally got to sleep around 1:30 only to wake up at 5:30 to rope drop Hollywood Studio's the next morning.