disney world 2011

we came.  we saw.  we rode.  we ate.  we wore flip flops.  we took photos with princesses.  we conquered.  disney world 2011 to celebrate the birth of netter was successful and a ton of fun.

first day in florida was spent within harry, hermoine and ron's stomping grounds of hogsmeade and hogwarts.  we sampled highly enjoyable butterbeer, saw the spectacle of olivander's wand shop, rode the dueling dragons and embraced the universal.  ended the universal day with a great diner meal at mel's. our day wasn't done yet though...had to hit the outlet stores to know how much room would be left in the luggage for disney souvenirs.  netter and i highly enjoyed our time in the coach outlet store.  went back to the condo and crashed.

next morning was all about magic kingdom and netter's birthday celebration.  arrived at the beginning of the day and left a half an hour after the rides closed down at 12:30am.  ate dinner with cinderella, aurora, belle, snow white and ariel.  wore fake tiaras to embrace our "princess-ness".  we know how to get our money's worth and party it up.

sunday was all about epcot center.  rode test track three times and soarin' twice.  ate some excellent food and enjoyed the sunshine.  best part for me was purchasing mikimoto pearl stud earrings and pearl pendant.  joyful, joyful experience.  one of the best purchases of my adult life.  headed back to condo for an early evening.  going to bed early was truly a wonderful moment.

then the rains came on monday.  we headed to hollywood studios where our first stop was fast pass at the toy story mania ride.  decided to enjoy the aerosmith ride and learned it was pouring rain upon our ride completion.  literally pouring.  stayed at hollywood to enjoy the tower of terror, muppets, eat pasta, aerosmith roller coaster and then netter became brilliant.  she suggested we go to animal kingdom to ride the two rides we wanted.  drove to animal kingdom and rode expedition everest twice in a row then saw the beautiful animals on the safari ride.  finally ended the day with DINOSAUR and triceratop spin.  final stop of monday was to enjoy the fireworks of magic kingdom.  it was an added bonus that we rode almost every ride in fantasyland whilst all the little kiddies were being tucked into bed.

then came tuesday...decided to buck our trend of arrival at park opening.  instead decided to sleep in another thirty minutes.  we are rebels.  spent morning and afternoon at magic kingdom.  must say the best part of that day was the spending two consecutive rides upon the people mover.  it was literally joyful, restful, relaxing, encouraging, floating, peaceful, crowdless, wind ruffling in our hair, eyes closed bliss.

on the way to the airport received the phone call that our flight was delayed an hour.  hmmm, what to do?  chosen path was a leisurely meal with plastic cutlery at the outback steakhouse in orlando international airport.  landed at la guardia, walked to luggage pick up and waited only 5 minutes before our luggage was out.  that was the fastest i've ever experienced luggage retrieval.  the cab line was even better.  no line just cabs anxiously awaiting passenger arrival.  great ending to a happy and wonderful vacation.  happy birthday netter!  can't wait until next year!