I was able to leave work in good hands for the first time in a long time, knowing I could enjoy my birthday vacation completely! on the Friday before we flew out, Janet, Joyce and I joined Nana for her birthday dinner - steak and lobster, her favorite! - and had a very enjoyable time.
day 1
at 3:00 in the morning the shuttle van picked Joyce and I up and took us to San Francisco for our 7:00a.m. flights, first thru LAX, then on to Orlando. We landed in early evening, and had a fun shuttle driver take us to the hotel. We were so tired - I'd been up for 37 hours with very little dozing-off happening on the plane - so we just had an early dinner and turned in. We knew we would have a very full week of activities!
(all of the pictures are click-able, to see a larger image)
day 2
slept in a little, then got brunch, and headed off to Downtown Disney. we wandered around taking in all the sights, doing a little shopping, and stopped for drinks and to watch a game at the House of Blues. I tried the moonshine drink called Dolly, which had maraschino cherries embalmed in more moonshine - WOW! It was good, but powerful! The weather was nice - for Florida in October. It was in the 80's and luckily the humidity was low. We wandered the entire length of DD then caught an uber ride home. One of my co-workers recommended using them, since taxis are usually more pricey. Since tomorrow would be an early day, we had dinner early again, and turned in early.day 3
caught a gray line bus tour at 8:00a.m. that drove us out to the Atlantic coast of Florida. or the Atlantis coast, since that is the shuttle that we would tour! three bus-loads of folks just like us made the hour-plus drive, listening to interesting facts brought to us by our fascinating and fun tour guide and driver. Once at the Center we wore ourselves out going through all the exhibits, riding the tour inside the Center grounds around all the launch pads and viewing areas. We even got to touch a moon rock!
day 4
this was the day we would finally go to a Disney property! we chose EPCOT first, and of course the one ride we really wanted to go on was already FastPass'd-out, and every time we looked at the app to see what the wait was like, it never got below 40 minutes. but we got to watch Captain Eo (Joyce has never seen it!), we road the boat ride thru the Mexico pavilion (very restful), and we designed a sports car for the Test Track. the Food & Wine Festival was in full swing, so as we wandered around the various countries, we got to sample amazing food, and fine beers and wines. we stumbled upon a Sugar Ray concert too, which started moments after we got there - - we were even able to get good seating even though we hadn't camped out like many of the tweens had done. When the concert was done we were just walking when we saw Aurora, Sleeping Beauty, in an alcove posing for selfies and signing autographs! And her line only had a couple people in it!! It was meant to be, so we posed with our Princess. the hotel shuttle bus picked us up at 10:00p.m. and we finally got to bed close to 11:00, completely wiped out. But happy.
day 5
between the heat, the activities and our need to still catch up on missed sleep, we took this day off to sleep in, have leisurely meals, and sit/tan by the pool.
day 6
we went to our second Disney property today, our Birthday! and we chose Animal Kingdom!! we started out by watching a 40 minute musical version of one of our favorite movies, Finding Nemo. we were not two feet away from some of the performers as they entered the stage! then we wended our way over to Mt. Everest, and rode that coaster - which much to our surprise goes backward for part of it (not good!) On our safari ride, we came up behind an obstreperous rhinoceros who would not yield the roadway to us for about 7 minutes. there were quite a few vehicles behind us waiting also when he finally moved along. We then got an uber ride over to Universal Citywalk where we shopped in a few of the shops before our birthday dinner reservation at Hard Rock Orlando. Our waiter was wonderfully attentive, and had the whole restaurant wish us happy birthday. We then had margaritas at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, and Joyce found this wave outside a surf shop. Another uber ride home after a very full day.
day 7
the hotel shuttle bus dropped us off at Sea World just before the park was to open. as we waited in line before 9:00a.m., the flamingos all had their heads tucked under their wings. when the chain jangled and opened up the park to us, that was the signal to the flamingos that they should also wake up! We went over to the manta ray and dolphin enclosures where we got to see them all getting fed. We caught the dolphin show, watched the orcas practice their behaviors, and shopped. A lot. I refrained from buying the giant house slippers shaped like flamingo feet - - I don't think they would have fit in my luggage! After walking through the shark tank, we had lunch at the Shark Grill, with a wall of aquarium to watch the many sea creatures watch us. Eat.
day 8
I picked up a rental car for 24 hours, so that Joyce and I could take a longer drive, northeast, up to Daytona. all this weekend they have an airshow called Wings & Waves, and the star attractions are the USAF Thunderbirds! it was very crowded, so I dropped Joyce at the beach's entrance, and went to find parking. on my way back to her, I found a young man who was renting beach lounges and umbrellas, so I had him deliver one to Joyce (whom he had already noticed on one of his deliveries - of course!) while I went to get us something to drink at the (very crowded) bar on the beach. after the 4 hour air show, we didn't jump right into traffic; we grabbed dinner and watched college football at Neptune's Grill - - yummy! We were so sunburned and tired! The traffic had thinned a little, so we headed home, and Joyce took a few pictures of the Daytona Speedway as we drove past. And because we have picked up so many souvenirs, on the way back after filling up the gas-tank, I had to stop at the luggage discount center and get a new suitcase (for 70% off at least!) so that we could bring home all our treasures.
day 9
time to head home. I dropped the rental car off and got an uber back to the hotel. the airport shuttle picked us up at 2:00, for our 5:00p.m. flight (we got in a little more shopping at the airport shops, the things we forgot to get in the parks). We landed in San Francisco around 11:30, and finally got home around 1:00 ... just in time to go to work in 7 hours! But it was all worth it!!
What a Happy 25th & 54th Birthday!
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