Just the two of us...

The second week of January, Russ and I had the opportunity to take a weekend trip to Disney World... just the two of us! 

Russ began his stay in Orlando on Monday for a meeting, and I flew down to join him on Thursday night, leaving our boys with our family... terrible, aren't we?!  Don't worry... they were in great hands and were well taken care of!

Although our time was short, we had a BLAST!  I arrived around 8:30 Thursday night and Russ was at the airport waiting for me.  We headed to our hotel, the Loews Royal Pacific Resort, which was located in Universal Studios, and the fun began early the next morning! 

We only had two full days of "park time", and we purchased hopper passes meaning we could "hop" from park to park and we wanted to be sure we got our money's worth.

Day 1:  Epcot and MGM Studios

So, Russ had never been to Disney World and I must admit that he was skeptical; I have been twice with my family.  He envisioned a County Fair.  Ha!  If you've ever been to DW, you know good and well that it is 180 degrees different from a County Fair.  And by the way, I totally LOVE Disney World!! I have great memories with my family, and now with Russ.  

Our first stop was The Tower of Terror at MGM.  We waited in line approximately 20 minutes which is fairly short, all things considered... Russ still wasn't so sure. :)

As we approached the building to go inside, he began to sheepishly smile... I still wasn't saying anything as I knew that nothing I would say would yet convince him.  As we got closer and closer to the ride, the "thematical" part of the ride was really cool and he began to say things like, "wow"... "I didn't expect this"... and I was thinking YES... I think he's liking it!  And at the same time, I was scared... I'd ridden this ride twice before and I knew what to expect... I mean, my 70 year old Mama B had also done this the last time we were there, but my palms were still a little sweaty and my heart rate a little higher than normal.  This was a moment of truth regarding the saying "ignorance is bliss".

We got closer and closer... and he was just laughing... nervously, I believe.  So, we got on and the ride began, it was darker than dark, we moved through some flashing lights with loud sounds, and we suddenly dropped 13 stories... bottoms off the seats, loud screams accompanied with belly-laughter!  I loved it and so did he!!!  His thoughts about Disney World had immediately changed... I was so excited!

-Here are a few pics from our time at MGM Studios-

This picture may seem kind of cheesy to most, but it is currently a big deal in the life of our 2 year old.  He loves to see his shadow and we notice it much more than ever at the moment.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of our shadow as we walked through MGM, it was so sunny!

In addition to The Tower of Terror and Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster, we also went to a Stunt Show.  It was awesome!  It lasted about 45 minutes and was well worth our time.  We couldn't believe the stunts.  It is designed to share some of the "tricks" seen on T.V.  We were quite impressed, to say the least.  It was very fast and action packed with loud and exciting music, even causing me to cover my eyes a time or two.  They are brave individuals, and I hope they are paid well.

A few pictures from the show...

Here is Herbie the Love Bug.  He blew his little horn, shook his body, and was really cute.

This stunt was cool.  The music was fast as in a suspenseful movie... do you see the man dressed in black on top of the second building from the right?  Look closely... He is attempting to escape the bad guys...

...and there he goes!  His only way out was to jump!  You can imagine the "gasps" from the audience; it was intense.

-A stunt car-

An attempted barricade to trap the fast motorcyclists, but no luck... they were too fast and too tricky!

Yet another attempted escape on the wave runner.  Typically, in a movie the camera would be low to the ground and all you would see is the wave runner and the waves... and believe it or not they would probably be in a very small amount of water.

The wave runner came to a stop just in time for the gas pumps to catch on fire... he just barely made it!  Ha!

The gas pump fire led to a bigger fire causing a motorcycle to come to a screeching halt, throwing the driver into the fire...

And there he is!!  Running around on fire!!  The heat from the fire was intense - he HAD to be hot, fire-proof clothing or not.  In the midst of July and August... I can't imagine.  I'm tellin' ya, I hope they are paid well.

This was the closure of the show.  Do you see the red car coming out of the second level of the building in the center of the picture?  It flew out of that building and hit the ramp, bringing it safely to the ground... so when you see a car plunge off of a "cliff", there is probably something there to catch it or it is empty and containing no passengers. :)  We don't typically see the ramp in the movies.

The other cars followed shortly behind it.  Do you see the black stunt car at the bottom of the ramp here in this picture?  It was the final car to jump, and was also the end of the show!  It was worth our time and was very enjoyable... in case you're wondering, there were people of all ages including children the age of ours.  I, however, would discourage young children as it is loud and the heat from the final stunts was intense.  Just my opinion. 

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed MGM and look forward to taking our boys back in years to come!

-Epcot-

Epcot was our final stop on day 1.  It was nice and warm when we got there and was cool when we left.  It was a nice leisurely stroll as we stopped in and out of shops.  We ate a late lunch in Mexico and enjoyed caramel chocolate strawberries in Germany.

These pretty girls were performing a beautiful dance from their country... they were spinning beautifully decorated fabrics, and through all of their dancing, the fabric never stopping spinning nor did it touch the ground.  It was impressive.

You can click on the picture to see it enlarged.

And once again... and yes, her bottom is resting on her head... impressive, right?!

And then Mary Poppins... I loved Mary Poppins as a little girl and can recite most of the movie as we wore that tape OUT!  I was sincerely excited to see her AND have my picture taken with her, and Russ was humored. :)  He's never even seen Mary Poppins... poor guy.

If you know us very well then you know that we enjoy eating out.  Our "entertainment" money each month is spent on eating out.  We find value in good food and good restaurants.  When we travel, we always do a little research to scope out the restaurants and possibilities for eating.  We were excited to learn that Emeril Lagasse had a restaurant located at Universal Studios.  We called and made reservations a few days in advance.  The earliest they had was 8:00.  So, we had a snack and waited for a later dinner... which was a major disappointment.  We couldn't believe it.  Service was unfriendly... he seemed to be very offended that we weren't ordering an alcoholic beverage, and then the food was so unusual that we struggled ordering something off of the menu that sounded good.  Simply getting up and leaving entered my mind, but I didn't want to disappoint Russ, only to find out once we left that he was thinking the same thing.  Lesson learned... if you don't think the restaurant is a good idea, more than likely the other one is thinking the same thing.  Oh, well... don't eat at Emeril's if you go to Universal, there is surely something better.

This is far from a pretty picture, but is a memory none-the-less.

This picture was taken in the courtyard at the hotel.  It was beautiful!

Day 2:  Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom

-Animal Kingdom-

Our second day began at the Animal Kingdom.  It was great!  This was probably Russ' favorite park, and I enjoyed it, too.  We arrived early and it was very busy... thank goodness that there were only a few rides that we wanted to ride there. 

Our first destination was the Safari.  We took a fast pass and visited the animal display while waiting.  It was very enjoyable.  We saw many neat animals, fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and the such.  A few pics are posted below.

Here is one of the gorillas.  I must admit how shocked I was at the use of their hands.  I suppose I knew that they worked like ours, but I just couldn't believe that this big guy could pick up one specific weed amongst a large patch of grass.  And secondly, Russ and I kept discussing the fact that these large mammals were also on the ark... can you believe that?!  They are huge, and there were two of them on there!! Wow.

Here is a mama with her baby... it was so sweet.

And we liked this big guy.  He was very solemn and it appeared that he was deep in thought... or maybe shy... or maybe pouting... who knows.

He finally looked our way!

We did go on the safari, but took few pics as it was so "busy" with animals.  We were more interested in seeing them than taking pics and missing them.

Our last stop was the show, "It's Tough to be a Bug".  It was in 3D and was really neat!  I had seen it the two trips before and once again, Russ was not so sure about it.  He, of course, liked it! : )

: ) Our 3D glasses

-The Magic Kingdom-

Our final stop was The Magic Kingdom.  It was sooo busy; small children were everywhere!!!  This was probably Russ' least favorite, but he was glad we went.  You're not going to believe this, but all we rode was the famous, "It's a Small World" ride.  I know, pathetic, isn't?  We didn't get there until 2:00 in the afternoon, and the lines were just sooo long.  There were no fast passes left on many of them, and the final rides on the fast passes were 8:00 or later.  So, we floated through the small world, ate cotton candy, took lots of pretty pictures, walked around and did some shopping before heading back towards the entrance.

Here we are in the small world... is that song in your head yet? : )  It's in mine.

Here is Cinderella's castle, both lit-up in pink...

... and then at night.

We stayed for the light parade and it was so pretty. 

And our final picture in Disney World!

Following the light parade, we ended our stay at Charley's Steakhouse.  It was delicious!!  180 degrees from Emeril's... if you are ever in Orlando and want a great meal, I would recommend Charley's.  Click here to find other locations and to view their website. 

I think that covers our magical trip in Disney World! 

We had a great time together...  we talked, laughed, and made great memories... just the two of us! 

Many thanks to our families for keeping Lawson and Emmitt.  We appreciate you!