#as long as my flights are find i should get to anaheim way before downtown disney closes soooooOOOOOOO MAYBE

[labwebs]

🕸the spidey ears drop on the website the day before my trip that better mean they'll have them in stock in the parks too dang it 🙃

[jay-scenarios]

Progressing to Chapter Two…

~~~

Now that all is said and done, everyone back home safe, I’m going to have to make an ending post to the saga. The vacation may be over, but I’ll never forget the memories we made the past few days. All the chaos, the rollercoaster of emotions, all the interactions we shared.

From the very beginning of the first day, before even going to pick up my best friend from the airport, I felt such a sense of belonging - I just knew it would be a good trip. And with my baby brother by my side, we stood at the bottom of those stairs waiting for them. The first hug felt like seeing someone you haven’t seen in a couple months - not like meeting someone you’ve been super close to for a couple years. It was like everything was falling back into place again. Now, I don’t typically share my emotions aloud, so Ness might not know how absolutely giddy it was for me seeing them walk down those stairs, but I was pointing at them and telling my brother to look and making him feel the excitement too. It wasn’t a crying moment for me - nowhere close - but the absolute happiness that warmed my chest was something I haven’t felt in a long time. The first day was mostly a recovery and prep day. Recovery from Ness’ flight. Recovery from my long extensive work schedule. Preparing for the action-packed days ahead. Catching up on drama in both of our lives in real-time. Just chatting and eating and coexisting. And some people may find that boring, but I think it was exactly what we needed. It was exciting, but not adrenaline-pumping excitement. We were able to relax and bond together and it really truly felt like we belonged in that space of comfort. Even during our trip to the mall with my loud baby sister and her equally-loud husband, we were able to just exist together and experience everything, which made it all work really well.

Day 2 may have started hectic with the trains being cancelled and the waking up later than we should’ve and having to figure everything out, but that also gave us another opportunity at Union Station to relax and talk. It was so nice that, even in an unfamiliar space with strangers around, we were able to seem mostly at peace. And the rest of that day was a rollercoaster. The long walk to the hotel for a bit of relaxing before another walk, then missing the street and walking all the way past Disney to get to downtown and feeling poor af walking by that amazing hotel across the street. And while everything was so fun with the escape room that night, I felt super bad choosing the horror theme and making Ness go through all those jump scares. I love them so much and it made me feel terrible that I put them in that position. And Ness, the fact that you cared about the money I spent before worrying about your own sanity made me so upset. I want you to value yourself more. You are so much more important than some money babe. I hope that I can help you realize that, no matter how long it takes.

Day 3 was the concert, and despite the terrible handling, stadium prices, and the sun burn, all the interactions with the group and teasing each other over things and the concert itself made everything worth it. This was the thing that made everything possible. A concert selling tickets that I made an impulsive decision to buy for us. Fate allowed everything to line up: no money for LA? I was handed a well-paying job with loads of overtime shortly after and Anaheim concerts were added at the same time. Ness was given a promotion just in time to save a bit more money and buy the plane tickets out to Cali. Everything was aligned. The universe wanted this to happen, so it did.

And we aren’t nearly finished with explorations and adventures together yet. We may all be apart once again, but let’s hope to do something next year. Korea together should be next. Our online friend over there has promised us a meal, so let’s go claim it. Oi, bro, let’s all meet up this time, okay? I’m sure you’ll probably see this soon, so no going back on that meal, got it? I’ve got a lot to tell you in person too, so be prepared! I can’t always express everything well online, it’s hard sometimes. Ness was able to witness what I’m like in person now, so you’ll see next. The full group of friends meeting up sounds like a dream that’s out of reach for now, but it felt the same way for meeting up with Ness or getting seats that close at the concert or even just the idea of doing any of it.

I can’t wait to return to the place I felt at home at. And to be there with my best friend will be even better. So it’ll happen. Here’s to starting chapter two of the adventures. It all begins in about a week, when I begin the preparations to hopefully move there in six months. Luck has been on my side this far, so we’ll glide into this next part all the same.

See you all in a year.

[mcsanders278]

Travel Series : Disneyworld (days 1 & 2)

I’m a bit behind on my travel blogs. Incidentally, I went to Disneyland in October with my youngest son but I figured it would be best to write about my Disneyworld trip a few weeks ago with my eldest.

For some reason I never really gave much thought to visiting Disneyworld until recently and when I had enough American Airlines points to essentially get 2 round trip flights anywhere within the US it was thrown out more as a “what if” to my sons. As my youngest voiced no desire to fly to Florida / visit Disneyworld it made the choice somewhat easy as my eldest son’s winter break started much sooner (one luxury of a college schedule).

We took a non-stop flight from Phoenix to MCO on a Saturday (nowadays I try to avoid layovers like the plague unless they are necessary). Between the 4 hour flight and 2 hour time difference I wisely did not pay to visit the parks the day we flew into Orlando. For those flying from Phoenix / the West Coast I highly recommend the same thing as not only is it about 30 minutes from the airports to the area with the parks / hotels, you also then have to drive to whichever park you plan on visiting. I also suggest using a share-driving service versus car rental as the parking fees alone seemed to average about $25 at the parks and hotels. I think in all we spent about $200 for the ride-shares, which undoubtedly is less than we would have spent on a 4 day car rental and parking.

One thing to keep in mind about Disneyworld is that unless you are staying at a Disney hotel specific to the park there is no option to walk to any of the parks. As it was my first trip to Florida one of the first things I noticed was the nice green surrounds with intermittent ponds / lakes. This is one way that Orlando is far superior to Anaheim...let’s face it, aside from Disneyland Anaheim is the pits. That being said, I have heard that Florida summers are brutal (compared to California summers) so you will definitely want to choose a time with decent weather. We luckily were there during colder weather (more on this later).

Other options which Disneyland does not have (but should adopt) are the Magicbands and setting up Fastpasses 30 days in advance (60 days if you stay at a Disney hotel). The Magicbands link anything you need for the parks - since we did not use a dining plan we only used it as our ticket and for the Fastpasses. Having the Fastpasses 30 days beforehand it a great tool as it will allow you to properly structure your days. One thing I learned; however, is that you can only choose the passes at one park each day (ie, you can’t have one pass at the Animal Kingdom in the morning and one later that day for Epcot) but you are allowed to get 3 passes each day. I highly recommend selecting the passes as soon as the option opens / at the 30 day mark as even in doing this there were rides which were already out of passes (likely grabbed by the Disney hotel people) or had very late entry times / were almost out. The hot ticket rides seemed to be both rides in the Avatar Pandora land at Animal Kingdom and the Test Track and Frozen rides at Epcot.    

I didn’t choose to look at a map of Orlando prior to the trip but when I finally did I noticed that downtown is north of the airport while the theme park areas are southwest. This is a plus for travelers as there was pretty light traffic heading to and from Disneyworld.

Taking advantage of having a Saturday evening without park tickets we decided to go to the Disney Springs area. For those of you familiar with Downtown Disney at Disneyland this is essentially a souped of version of that. It was much larger than I was expecting and should fulfill any and all consumerism needs. One thing to note is that getting into the Disney Springs area was probably the most traffic we dealt with on the entire trip (being Saturday evening was likely the main factor).

Sunday was our first day at a park and we chose to visit the Animal Kingdom. Another item to note is that none of the parks are within walking distance of each other; however, there are transportation options between each one. The Animal Kingdom only has the option of buses to the other parks but the other parks are either connected by bus, monorail, and even boat. Aesthetically, the Animal Kingdom is quite stunning. It is essentially a wildlife zoo intermixed with rides. At the center of the park is the Tree of Life - it really is a sight to behold with pictures not doing it justice.

The park’s lands are structured by the countries Africa and Asia and also has a Dinoland and the Avatar Pandora land. Since we only had 3 days at the parks and had been to Disneyland so many times we chose to only use our time there as wisely as possible by only focusing on attractions which were specific to Disneyworld / not at the California parks. I was expecting rain on our day at Animal Kingdom but wasn’t really expecting the slight drizzles to turn into a relatively heavy on-pour for about 2.5 hours. Although this hindered things it also played in our favor later on in the day.

During the initial light rains we started at Dinoland, which is mainly for younger children and was probably the most unimpressive section of the park / could use an update. The Dinosaur ride is the main ride in this area, which is essentially Disneyworld’s version of Indiana Jones. Needless to say, it is nowhere near as good as Indiana Jones - it is a passable ride but I wouldn’t recommend spending over 20 minutes in line and would also recommend getting Fastpasses for other rides.      

It was then that the heavy rains began. We ran between any overhead coverings we could find and made our way to the Nomad Lounge. We luckily made it there right when it opened as other visitors had the same idea in mind of finding refuge from the storm. The atmosphere of the lounge was fantastic. At Disneyland we always make a point of going to the Carthay Circle Lounge for a break amidst the walking / crowd insanity and Nomad is the perfect place for such at Disneyworld. It also has a much better selection of food than the Carthay Circle lounge. We ordered more than we would have under other circumstances, essentially to stake our claim on the table until the rain let-up as people continued to file into the lounge trying to find non-existent seats and even gave us an eye like they wanted us to share our table. In their defense, we did have a pretty large area in the indoor/outdoor area which consistent of two end chairs, a sofa and a coffee table but our anti-social tendencies prevailed. To be fair, I did raise the idea of sharing the table  to my son but he only scoffed and continued to watch patrons sit on wet chairs at wet tables. It probably didn’t make us look any better when the people it a similar seating area next to us were kind enough to allow another couple sit with them.

For $1 you have an option to fill out the small banners which are hung from the ceiling and on the walls. There are numerous questions posted throughout the lounge pertaining to travel - you simply choose your favorite question and write your answer. It is a nice option for those who want to become a part of a Disney park in some way. If you go to the lounge I recommend trying the bread board, which is different breads from around the world with different spreads.

The best thing about the heavy rain was that the lines drastically diminished the rest of the day, which in turn allowed us to ride the Flight of Passage in the Avatar land (as noted previously, the Fastpasses were gone even 30 days before our trip). I am by no means an Avatar fan but I have to admit that the detail in the Pandora land was quite impressive. I highly recommend going there during the night / when all of the surroundings are lit-up. We did have Fastpasses for the Na’vi River Journey, which is a boat ride in the vein of Pirates of the Carribean. My son and I both agreed that it was alright - there were a few cool visuals but not worth an extremely long wait (the line can usually run over 2 hours). 

I was a bit reluctant to ride Flight of Passage as my initial read-up on it gave the impression like it was similar to the Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios Hollywood (which was probably the most nauseating ride experience of my life). When I asked the attendant about the ride and noted the Harry ride as comparison she quickly pointed out that she usually gets sick on rides and didn’t have the issue with Flight of Passage. It is usually against my better judgment to stand in line for 85 minutes for any ride by my son really wanted to experience the ride and this undoubtedly was the shortest the line was going to get during our trip (as I am writing this the wait time noted on the app is 285 minutes...that’s right, over 4 hours...). There are enough things to look at during the 85 minute wait / in the queue but I cannot in any way justify recommend waiting in line over 2 hours for a ride, let alone 4 hours. That being said, the ride experience was pretty cool. Think Soaring Over the World crossed with an Avatar theme in which you get your individual seat...the idea is that you’re riding one of the banshees from the film.

The two other rides we experienced were Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris. Both of these rides were very impressive. Expedition Everest has the same Yeti theme as the Matterhorn but be forewarned, it is a bit more intense. My son was not too keen initially on riding the Safari but with the rains diminishing the line to a 5 minute wait we choose to check it out. Neither of us were disappointed - it seriously is a straight-up safari in which the animals have free roam of the land and you are actually riding in a jeep which isn’t on rails - there is a path for cast members to follow but he/she can stop and go as they please if there is something interesting going on.

Overall thoughts : Although it is not a park heavy on rides, there is more than enough to see / do between the live animal exhibits, rides, and restaurants. Definitely check out Nomad for lunch or dinner and the 3 rides I recommend for Fast Passes are Flight of Passage, Expedition Everest, and Kilimanjaro Safaris.