October 3 -5, 2008

We're home! What a fun weekend!

Friday we went to the outlet mall and found some great deals at the Bass outlet. We both got a couple of pairs of shoes and some clothes. I also found a few things for Jamie in the Gymboree outlet. After that we relaxed by the pool at the hotel for a while. We didn't get in because the water was way too cold. Plus, the weather was very pleasant with a nice breeze, which made it a perfect afternoon for sitting beside the pool.

Later we headed off to Universal City Walk to see Joel McHale at the Hard Rock Live. We stopped at Margaritaville for dinner before heading off to the HRL. That is a pretty cool place, but my mango margarita was surprisingly mediocre. Joel McHale was great! He is even funnier in person than he is on TV. He was on stage over an hour, too. It was so worth the money to see him!

After we left the HRL, we decided to hang out in City Walk for a while, since we had to pay $12 to park there before dinner we figured we should take advantage. Halloween Horror Nights was going on at Universal, so there was lots of scary stuff around, and I mean very scary. Universal does not mess around with special effects. There were also lots of partying people. We didn't go into the Halloween Horror Nights because I enjoy sleeping at night and because it would have cost another $120. So, we decided on a tamer end to the evening and stopped by TCBY. I got a waffle cone with rainbow sprinkles and chocolate on it. It was so yummy for about 1 minute before I tried to trade it to my other hand because we were about to get on an escalator. When I made the trade it came flying out of the paper wrapper it was in, flew past Vic and crashed on the pavement. I was bummed. Vic asked if I wanted another one, and I said no. But I really did, so after we left he ended up driving all over the place to find a McDonald's that was open so I could get a Sundae there. That was quite an adventure because one thing we learned about Orlando is that it freaks out the GPS for some reason. The GPS lady kept taking us in circles and all over creation. She even directed us into the back of some theme park that was closed. We had to get directions from a guard to get out of there. How embarrassing. I lost a little faith in GPS lady this weekend, but I still love her. We should really give her a name.

Saturday we headed off to Epcot. What a cool place! That was a fun day. The crowds were fairly light at the beginning of the day, so we were able to ride Crash Test and Mission:Space with very little wait. Crash test was so much fun! We got a fast pass and rode it again later.

Mission Space was quite an experience. When we reached the queue area, a lady asked us if we wanted the more intense or less intense experience. So, of course we said, "what?" She replied, "spinning or no spinning?" To which we both replied, "We want to spin!". Yeah, we were picturing some sort of glorified tilt a whirl. So, she handed us orange cards and directed us to the orange team queue. While in the line, we were warned repeatedly that anyone with heart conditions, fears of small dark spaces, or anyone prone to motion sickness should not get on the ride. I've never been on a ride with so many repeated warnings. By the time we loaded into our capsule, I was pretty nervous. I noticed that there were barf bags in front of each seat and became even more nervous since we had just had lunch. Soon, our shuttle was taking off. Holy freaking cow. That was intense. The g-force was amazing and a little scary. We were warned before hand to focus on the screen and not close our eyes or look away, so I did that and I actually did enjoy the ride for the most part. Not sure I would do it again, though. It was crazy.

We rode Soarin later in the afternoon, and that was very cool. It simulates a flying experience, kind of like you're in a hang glider, but you're sitting up. It was a lot of fun. They even have a breeze blowing on you and change the scent in the room according to the landscape you are flying over.

We rode every ride in the whole park and we must have walked 10 miles. We were there from 10AM until 9:45 PM. We stayed to see the fireworks and laser light show over the World Showcase pavilion. It was awesome.

This morning we headed out about 11AM and got home close to 5:00. We picked up the kids, who also had a very fun weekend with Grammy and Grampy, and headed home.

They are all sleeping now and I have lots of unpacking to do. It's good to be home, and although I was beginning to get used to being on the 21st floor, I will be glad to be sleeping on just the 2nd floor tonight!

We only took a few pictures, but I will try to get them posted tomorrow. :)