On the Road Again....

I can't believe it's been a month since we went to Disney World to celebrate our five-year wedding anniversary, and I'm just now getting around to posting about it.

Sheesh.

So, we left RDU flying Southwest Airlines on Tuesday, May 26, 2009, at the ridiculously early hour of 7:00 in the morning. The only upside to this departure time was arriving in Orlando before 10:00 and having the entire day to enjoy.

Once there, we checked into our room at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, where we had this lovely view from our balcony.

After unpacking, we boarded a bus and headed over to Epcot for lunch at Teppan Edo, which was delicious! Afterwards, we took in some of the attractions, such as Spaceship Earth, Maelstrom, Gran Fiesta Tour, and The American Adventure before heading to the Whispering Canyon Cafe for dinner. Here's Daniel with his "beverage refill"....

We had every intention of enjoying the outdoor pool and hot tub after dinner, but the rain put an end to that...as it did every night we were there. If I had one complaint about the entire trip it would be that: the rain.

On Wednesday, we had breakfast at the Whispering Canyon Cafe and then boarded a boat and headed over to Magic Kingdom. Even though Space Mountain and Hall of Presidents was shut down while we were there, we still had a blast, taking in attractions such as Pirates of the Caribbean (three times), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (also three times), Country Bear Jamboree, The Haunted Mansion, "it's a small world", Peter Pan's Flight, Carousel of Progress, and Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. In the midst of all that fun, we paused to have lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern and ended the day by going over to the Downtown Disney Area and having dinner at Planet Hollywood.

Whew.

On Thursday, we once again had breakfast at the Whispering Canyon Cafe and then boarded a bus and went to Hollywood Studios where we took in such attractions as The Great Movie Ride (three times), Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (also three times), Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show, Journey Into Narnia: Prince Caspian, and Beauty and the Beast Stage Show. While there, we had lunch at the 50's Prime Time Café, which is one of my favorite restaurants on the Disney property. Here's me browsing the dessert menu through a View-Master.

Later that evening, we had dinner at The Wave Restaurant, located in Disney's Contemporary Resort.

On Friday, we had breakfast at.....yes, the Whispering Canyon Cafe and then boarded a bus and went to Animal Kingdom. Although there weren't as many attractions at this park as there were at the others, we still enjoyed Kilimanjaro Safaris and Expedition Everest, which is not for the faint-of-heart due to its speed and its tendency to simultaneously go upside and backwards. You've been warned. In fact, Expedition Everest shook Daniel up so much that he sat out DINOSAUR, which was his loss 'cause it was really cool, and I highly recommend it...even though it's also a little rough. If you don't like being jerked around (quite literally), then you're probably better off waiting in the gift shop like Daniel.

After all of that fun, we headed back to Disney's Wilderness Lodge for a quick lunch at the Roaring Fork before going back to our room for Daniel to relax and for me to write all 32 postcards (see below) to send to friends and family all over the U.S. (Yes, you read that correctly; and yes...I'm crazy.)

Once my hand was sufficiently cramped and Daniel was sufficiently rested, we boarded a boat and headed back to Magic Kingdom to have dinner at Tony's Town Square Restaurant before going back to the room to pack, which is always the sad part of any trip.

On Saturday, we had breakfast at the Roaring Fork and then checked out of our room and headed to the airport to wait for our 2:20 flight back to RDU that afternoon.

Once we arrived home, we unpacked, had pizza for dinner, and settled back into the routine of our daily lives, which always makes me restless to hit the road again!