Travel is sometimes no fun
So getting back on the road after a month-long holiday break has been a bit of a challenge. But we did it! After an awesome break back home in Michigan seeing family and friends the time had come to head back out on the road. January was looking to be a busy month of travel for us. From Atlanta to Key West to Disney/Universal and finally to my folks rental on the Atlantic coast of Florida. Our first stop was my friend’s house outside of Atlanta for New Years. Mother nature had other plans and tried to throw a wrench in ours. 10″ of snow in 5 hours and a closed airport in Traverse City threatened to stop us before we started.
Delay after delay forced us to miss our connection in Chicago. We had to adjust on the fly and find a new destination to fly to get back to our car in Atlanta. It all hinged on us getting to Chicago, and finally, after 8 hours at the airport, a pinhole in the storm opened and we escaped. We were off on the second leg of the journey.
To the Keys or Bust
We finally got to Atlanta day late and got our stuff ready to head back out on the road. It was great to see our friends Randy and Betsy and hang at their beautiful home for a few more days, even greater to be out of the white fluff. On the second of January, we headed off for Key West. It was a very quick visit to the Keys as we had to be back for a wedding in Miami on the 6th. We stayed with Katie’s Aunt Jan and Uncle Bill at their home in the city. We had a great, albeit quick visit.
Welcome to Miami
Saying goodbye, we headed out of the keys for an overnight in Miami. We got to see some family and enjoying a fun wedding of our friends with lots of dancing and laughter.
The next day we headed out to Disney and Universal. The week would be spent with Katie’s Parents, sister and our nieces and nephew.
We’ve been to Disney a few times and we really enjoy our time there. Even though it’s crazy expensive we feel it’s worth the effort for the memories. We had three days at Disney and planned to hit the Magical Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood studios. One thing we’ve realized in our visits is that Disney does not cater well to the off the cuff, spur of the moment traveler. With that in mind, we had carefully set our dinner and ride plans many months in advance. Now I’m not saying you can’t go and just wing it, you can, but you may spend a large portion of your time waiting for the popular rides and not get the most out of the parks. Since we only had three days, the more scheduled approach allowed us to see and ride a ton of stuff.
Animal Kingdom
The Animal Kingdom was up first and the new Avatar area of Pandora was open to explore. Colette was sick and Katie decided a day off was in order, so Sienna, Lennox and I headed off for a day in the park with Katie’s sister and husband (Suzi and Clif) their kids (Piper, Scarlett, and Quinn) and her Parents (Fred and Barb). We got to the park before the others and entered right when it opened. I witnessed something I’d never seen at the parks to this day….a mad scramble of people running, hobbling and darting to get to the new Pandora area. They were running to get to one of the new rides which had you fly on the back of a Banshee. In less than a half hour, the wait time for that ride was over three hours. We passed on that one and walked around the new area instead. It’s awesome and the attention to detail is pretty cool. We finally met up with the others and spent the rest of the day taking a safari, watching shows and riding Expedition Everest. The weather was beautiful and a great time was had. Colette was feeling better by the end of the day so she was able to join us the rest of the trip.
The Magic Kingdom
Day two was at the Magic Kingdom and the whole family was up and ready to go. I think this park is my favorite as there is a great mix of classic and new rides. We started with Big Thunder Mountain where we learned Lennox was not yet a fan of roller coasters. Sienna and Colette, on the other hand, could not get enough. We saw a few of the musical shows which most of our group enjoyed. The kids love the animatronics. (even the more dated ones) The kids saw a ton of their favorite characters and got photos. I selfishly tried to get Lennox to like coasters by taking him on the 7 Dwarfs Mine Ride. ( he was not happy with papa) What’s weird is that later in the day he wanted to go again. /shrug We spent the remainder of the day hitting the rides, enjoying the weather and the magic that is Disney.
Magic Kingdom Memories
Polynesian Playtime
Disney has some awesome dining options, but one of our favorites is the Spirit of Aloha Dinner. It’s a family style experience with everyone sharing large heaping plates of Polynesian delicacies. While you eat you’re treated to traditional music and dancing from many of the islands of the South Pacific. They all culminate in an incredible fire spinning dance. This time the guy spinning fire absolutely blew our minds. Colette also got some early Birthday love from her extended family. I highly recommend this show. I even did the hula much to my families horror.
Holywood…What’s your Dream
We ended our Disney visit at my least favorite park Hollywood Studios. Now when I say that you must understand that I love all the parks, just this one least of the three. There are some cool rides at this park and a ton of good shows. In the near future, this may become my favorite park when the new Star Wars area opens. They have up’ed the ante on Star Wars activities at this park with a number of shows and demonstrations. We also went to the Indiana Jones Stunt show which was totally awesome. This park seemed a bit less packed the day we went so we had a more chill day exploring. Alas, the time had come for us to leave our family and Disney for our next adventure. An adventure involving a birthday, a wand and a trip to platform 9 3/4.
Colette and Katie snuck to Epcot for the morning before we left.