The delayed report on my vacation

So I finally got around to writing this whole vacation up. It's taken me about an hour, and I've left out a lot of details.

Wednesday, Feb. 16: After a delayed flight from Syracuse and very nearly missing our flight from Atlanta, we arrived in Orlando around 10:00PM. It was awfully nice to go from snow/slush/below freezing temperatures in Syracuse to 72° at night. I was also very struck by the palm trees outside, because I'd never seen any before, outside of the mini versions sold in pots at florists. After a quick cab ride to our house, we hopped in the awesome SUV with police lights and had a very, very late dinner at Flipper's Pizza. That was just the first of many times we ate there during the course of the trip. Then we all got to bed.

Thursday, Feb. 17: Epcot day. We arrived shortly after the park opened, and immediately made reservations for lunch and dinner. While there we overheard something about a segway tour. Andy's dad jumped at the guy behind the desk, and soon we had reservations to take the tour at 8:30 the next morning.

Our next stop was Test Track. I had been lead to believe that I couldn't handle it, so I was pleasantly surprised when it didn't bother me at all. We wandered around Imagination, and then visited The Living Seas. Then it was time for lunch at Coral Reef.

I do believe that was the best food I'd ever had in my life up until that point. (And it's only since been overtaken by dinner at Emeril's, which I will cover later.) The creamy lobster soup was incredible, and the mahi-mahi was so tender and perfect that even Andy, a lifetime fish hater, loved it!

After lunch we got stuck on Universe of Energy when it broke, and then wandered around World Showcase for hours. In Japan Andy's father bought me the chance to pick two pearls (which I intended to give to Marielle and Yili for taking care of my fish). I picked them, and the first one was smaller than average, so the woman let me pick another one for free. Then the next two were huge! One was easily twice the size of the first one, and the other was large and a rare blue/grey. I ended up having the tiny one set in a silver ring for myself, and took the larger two home to give to the girls.

Dinner at Restaurant Akershus in Norway was another wonderful experience. I tried a few types of fish and cheese for the first time, and we all tormented Andy with goat cheese. Our day ended fairly late, after several more rides and exhibits.

Friday, Feb. 18: We were up extremely early to make it to the Around the World at Epcot segway tour. For about an hour we were taught how to safely use a segway, including going over hills and making tight turns. I was absolutely terrified of the damn thing for the entire training session. I couldn't find the correct place to put my feet, so it seemed like the sensor was too sensitive and I couldn't get the machine to hold still. After the training we were taken to the world showcase, which hadn't opened yet. The guides took us through a few obstacles in the country exhibits, and then pretty much set us free. By that time, I'd become a lot more comfortable with the segway. Unfortunately, one of the guys on the tour took out an entire bush in the American exhibit because he apparently forgot that the handles of the segway aren't meant for steering. =/

The rest of the day was spent at MGM. We did the backlot tour, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, a few other rides... None of which I found interesting at all. I found MGM very boring. Star Tours wasn't bad, and I liked Muppet Vision 3-D, but other than that I was very disappointed with MGM. Even dinner at 50s Prime Time Café was sad. It probably didn't help that I had a headache for most of the day. Fantasmic actually was pretty nice, and ended the day on a good note.

Saturday, Feb. 19: Tragedy struck: Missy became very ill in the night. Andy and I woke up to find a note in the hall saying that his dad had taken her to an urgent care clinic. A few hours later they came back and Missy was quarantined and medicated. As far as we know, she had the flu, but it was hard to tell what exactly it was.

We spent most of the day in the house. After dark Andy and I made a trip to the Florida Mall, and had some fun looking at the ridiculously expensive stores we don't have at home (e.g. Saks Fifth Avenue). We thought this would be our relaxation day, but Missy wasn't any better the next morning.

Sunday, Feb. 20: Another day at home. Again, after dark Andy and I went out. We visited Downtown Disney and had dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. I found a nice white gold necklace for my mom, we browsed the shops, and then we spent the rest of the night at the house again.

Monday, Feb. 21: Missy was still sick, so Andy and I went to Universal by ourselves. Andy spent a long time fondling his precious Delorean, and then made me ride Back to the Future despite my protests that I wouldn't be able to handle it. Sure enough, I was sick when the ride was over. =P Some time later we did Twister, Animal Planet Live, and Terminator 2: 3-D. After some wandering around the park, we decided to call it a day because it was fairly hot and it didn't seem like anything else would be worth sticking around for. A few hours after we came back to the house Missy felt well enough to come out, so we took her to Downtown Disney and had dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express once again.

Tuesday, Feb. 22: Magic Kingdom day. This was without a doubt the best day we had. We had lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, and did a good number of the rides (Buzz Lightyear, PhilharMagic, Peter Pan's Flight, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Carousel of Progress, Stitch's Great Escape, and the Timekeeper), even doing Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion twice. We had a perfect view of the fireworks after dark, and a great view of the castle for dinner. I think we spent about 14 hours total in the Magic Kingdom.

Wednesday, Feb. 23: This was our last full day in Florida, so we stopped by Downtown Disney again to buy gifts for family members. For dinner we went back to Universal to Emeril's. As I already said, this knocked Coral Reef out of the #1 best food ever spot. Everything was perfect: Creole shrimp appetizers, lobster bisque, "pan seared North Atlantic salmon with olive oil and lemon poached Yukon Gold potatoes, fresh yellow pea shoot red pepper salad and a shrimp scampi butter sauce," and banana cream pie for dessert. Missy and Andy's dad had baked lobsters, the kind that still have faces. Andy had a filet of beef that he's still raving about. Unfortunately, it wasn't until after I finished eating that I realized that I'd eaten probably 4x the amount my stomach can actually hold. Shortly after that I got very ill.

Thursday, Feb. 24: We were at the airport by 6:15AM, so this day hardly even counts as part of the vacation. We flew from Orlando to Newark, and then from Newark to Syracuse. We were back in the tundra by 4:00PM.

While the exhibits, rides, shopping, shows, and food were all very enjoyable, the best part of the trip was just the interaction among us. There was the night Andy was so tired he acted drunk in the car ("Do you have enough money to go to the bank?"), segway jousting, fighting with the light sabers in the big Disney store, "Pick it up, Jesus!", and so many other things that have become in-joke fodder. Honestly, I don't think I've ever had such a great time in my life.