Orlando Part One

I can't believe that I haven't made any posts at all in almost two months. Things have been hectic though. I was very sick almost the whole month of July, sinus infection, throwing up (doctor thought it was some type of stomach virus), migraines daily (which are now being treated), and I also had two weeks of jury duty in the midst of that hell. That was an interesting experience, I learned all about manufacturing methamphetamines and finger printing. After serving my civic duty, I returned to work for one week, and then went on a much needed vacation to the hot, humid, and incredibly sweaty Florida. Maybe it's just me, but I'm fully convinced that there is absolutely no looking sexy in Florida in August. That being said I had a fabulous 8 days there (and can't wait for my next expedition).

While in Florida we stayed at the Movieland Monumental Hotel. I only paid $350 for the whole trip and was actually pretty impressed with the hotel. The walls of the hotel are covered in framed movie posters (hence the name) and we just had a very pleasant stay. I LOVED the pool, they had an arcade room, and it was connected to a Black Angus that was great after one long night at the theme park that we missed eating dinner  and were too tired to really venture around Orlando to look for someplace to eat at 1:00 am. I'm always paranoid that hotels will have cockroaches or bed bugs, but fortunately none of that here. Although I did find a little lizard in my room one night and it took me well over 30 minutes to catch the little bugger and release him outside. That's okay though, these little critters are EVERYWHERE in Orlando, and they are cute so he didn't really bother me.

Basically our first day we explored around International Drive in Orlando, did the Eye of Orlando, Sea Life, and Madame Tussauds, and later on drove down to Kissimmee and had dinner at Medieval Times. Despite the fact that we had done a red eye flight going all the way across the US (Washington to Texas and Texas to Florida) and my daughter being exhausted, she powered through enough to stay awake for Medieval Times and loved the dinner and show. She wasn't too pleased about having to "eat like a savage" with her bare hands however. Ha ha, her terminology. It also poured down rain when we had been walking outside around the International Drive area and she wasn't especially fond of that either, telling me "I didn't come on vacation for it to rain" (along with thunder and lightening. 

Eye of Orlando (400 feet in the air)

Madame Tussauds

 Medieval Times (at the medieval village before our dinner and show). Kimono, Shirt, Leggings: Kmart. Flip Flops: Walmart. The Kimono isn't quite hanging right since I have a backpack on. 

Sea Life and a creepy little eel. All I could think was Ursula. 

Our second day we went to Disney World's Animal Kingdom. This day it seriously rained, for hours on end. I had to purchase ponchos and even the ponchos didn't keep us dry! Every restaurant, gift shop, and nook that someone could hide under was pretty much packed with people because it was raining so heavily. My daughter and I kept venturing through and finally came across the Boneyard archeology dig that was actually covered for the most part with very few people hiding out (I don't think many realized it was there since you had to climb up and threw a huge kids climbing structure to even get to that part) , and just chilled there for quite a while. She was able to dig around in the dirt and play, giving us a chance to escape the rain and dry off some. Even though the day had started off hot, there was so much rain that we both ended up being a little bit cold. I took the opportunity to grab my daughter a hot chocolate and get myself an adult drink (a cappuccino with chocolate and Captain Morgans Spiced Rum, and my only adult drink the whole trip). Unfortunately, the rain made us miss quite a bit at Animal Kingdom, but we did get to go on the Pagani Forest Trail exploration, the Kilimanjaro Safari drive, the TriceraTop Spin, and watch the Lion King show. I wish the day had gone a bit different as Animal Kingdom was only open to 6, and I feel like the first half of the day was a waste. After Animal Kingdom we drove over to the Magic Kingdom and ended our night off there with a few rides, some princess meet and greets, and watching the fireworks show. 

Cute hippo

That's a woman hiding in those grape vines. 

Very cool Tree of Life

Braving the rain

At the dig

Giraffes that are actually out in the open of the safari ride 

 At Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom

I plan on doing 3 more parts most likely about this trip, so stay tuned.