Tuesday, October 26, 2021

An Unexpected Adventure

Over the weekend we went on a spontaneous trip to Disney World without kids

Typing that sentence makes me feel like a spoiled brat. Spontaneous trip. Disney World. No kids. Dare I even mention the part where we got to go with some of our best friends in the whole wide world?

It sounds too good to be true! But it happened!

Carlie, Chad, Scotty, and me at Magic Kingdom last Friday

Carlie's brother-in-law is a pilot, and he offered the four of us some buddy passes to fly to Orlando. Carlie asked me if I wanted to go (with nine days notice), and at first, I was like, "Oh man, I wish we could, but bla bla bla..." but then the more I thought about it, the more possible it started to feel. As I started looking at our calendar and getting info from Carlie, everything just fell into place. Within a few hours, we were set, and there was no reason to say no!

It was a quick trip. We flew to Orlando on Thursday evening. Then we hit Magic Kingdom all day Friday and Hollywood Studios all day Saturday. 

Scotty and Chad had both been to Disney World before as teenagers, but it was the first time for Carlie and me. It was so fun to get to see it in real life (more on that in a future post). 

We were able to do everything we hoped to do. We used the new Genie Pass (which just launched in Disney World October 18th).

Do I think Genie Pass is a horrible, dirty scheme? Yes. Do I sort of hate Disney for it? Yes, I do. But am I still willing to pay for it? Begrudgingly, yes. 

Jerks.

We also paid to ride Rise of the Resistance. 

Jerks.

Florida was warm and humid, and I had horrible hair the whole time. My saving grace was a neck fan that my friend Lynsie bought me this summer. I took it with me and had it running constantly (except during rides when I would charge it in my bag). 

The neck fan was everything! Highly recommend! 

Some of the highlights were:

Riding the ferry across the lake to and from Magic Kingdom (I didn't know this, but you have to take a ferry, a monorail, or a shuttle from the parking area to the park, so we opted for the ferry because it seemed the most fun).

Seeing this elderly couple dressed as Donald and Daisy. They were the center of attention! Everyone loved it!

Watching a squirrel dig for treats while waiting in line for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train.

Getting to go on Tower of Terror again (the one in DCA is now Guardians of the Galaxy, which I love, too, but it was so great to go on Tower again - Scotty and I went three times).

Seeing an entirely different side of Chad - who is scared to death of Tower of Terror.

Getting to eat in a nearly empty restaurant in Galaxy's Edge because they weren't letting people in unless they used mobile ordering and had confirmation that their food was ready.


The employee in the restaurant telling Scotty she's never left the planet of Batuu, and Scotty thinking that meant that as a Disney employee, she wasn't allowed to go anywhere else in the park. She had to explain to him that she was just being "in character." 

Seeing an old man in a jazzy chair with ziploc bags full of candy clipped all over the front basket (hopefully he just really loved candy and wasn't trying to lure children). 

Waiting in line behind a man with one leg who, when prompted to move up to make room for more people said, "There's extra room right here!" and pointed under his stump. 

Walking straight on to Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway (a ride we waited 90 minutes for earlier that day) during a time when even the cast members were confused about the lack of crowds. 

Grinning at Carlie every time a ride announced, "And parents, please watch your children!"

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Everything went really well during our travels other than we had to do some shuffling to get home on Sunday because the flight we originally booked ended up not having room for us. We rented a car at 4:00 a.m. and drove three hours to Fort Lauderdale for a flight. 

We had a great time on the trip. It was quite the surprise to get to go, and such a cool thing to get to go with Chad and Carlie. With 34 years of marriage between us without any anniversary trips, the four of us felt justified in ditching our kids for a weekend of fun. 

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