Old Key West

EPCOT's Germany...
see all photos »

We headed out of Smithfield at 5am for my home away from home. My family is a member of Disney's Vacation Club with our main resort being Old Key West- Sam and my's road trip destination.

After 9 hours in the car and a few rest stops we finally start seeing the signs for Orlando. We take the exit for I-50 and it this point it should only be about an hour left. We pass through downtown Orlando (the actual city) and make our way past Universal Studios and Sea World- we are so close. There it is, exit 67- Downtown Disney- the exit that will lead us to our home away from home for the week. We see the symbolic light tower on the corner on the intersection marking where we will turn into our resort. We get to the gate and give our name and here it is- my favorite part of each journey I have taken to Disney's Old Key West- the security guard tells us, "Welcome home." Disney always keeps their theme, at least from my experiences.

Home away from home...

I'm the next driver...
see all photos »

We check in and will be staying in room 3621- back near the Turtle Bay Pond area, this is the pool area where much of our time resides this week. We decide that day one will involve lying by the pool and playing tennis- we need to relax after the end of last semester. The hard part is that we have to get online every morning and take a class- as class that is pretty much a repitition of things we learned in all of our classes last semester. Oh well, our schedule is decided for us- we need to just get to it and do it.

We made it to Orlando...
see all photos »

Day one was great- relaxing just as we had wanted and needed. Day two didn't go much differently- a little bit of studying and school work anext to the pool prior to meeting Sam's parents for dinner. We went to Mulino New York Trattoria in The Swan resort in Orlando. I don't think I have ever gone to a fancy restaurant like this before where we have multiple waitors for just one sitting. However it was really great. Anything we mentioned possibly wanting- such as wondering about the types of cheeses, next thing we knew they were at our table to try. Sam's parents ordered a great wine, or maybe champagne, maybe sparkling wine- I'm not sure, it just tasted really good. I ordered penne with a white wine and truffle sauce that was out of this world. IT was as close to the food in Italy as I have come to since- still not as good, but that's probably just because I wasn't in Italy- the whole experience, but still amazing. Even the bread and dips they put on the table before hand were mouth watering. We ended the meal with a cup of coffee, another glass of wine/champagne and a dessert. Sam and I had some sort of gelato which was covered with a chocolate hard topping- really good and finished off with a glass of limoncello- I couldn't finish it. I tried, I really did- but I didn't necessarily want to get rid of the taste of this great meal!

Reading magazines anext to the pool...
see all photos »

So Sam and I go back and curl in with an early night after a pretty intense food coma. The next morning we were going to try to do the parks, but sadly our passes did not come in the mail at this point. My mom mailed them and they never actually made it there- so we had to have them reissued at the front desk. Good thing she wrote down the pass numbers and Disney is so willing to help customers.

So we spend the next day anext to the pool and feel like we should be a little more active. I normally would have been much more of a tourist, however this is approximately my 60th trip to Disney World and I have seen 99% of what it has to offer. This trip is to relax from school. However, we decide to get off our butts and be active- we swim a little and then venture over to Hank's Rent and Return to rent a paddle boat to go down the river towards Downtown Disney. It was a lot easier than I was expecting it to, and being on the water actually allowed both of us to get some color even though it's January (so happy that we are not in Maryland in the freezing...this is much more relaxing).

Dinner with Sam's parents...
see all photos »

The next morning we get up extra early so that we can complete our online class module prior to heading to the parks. We decide to start off at the Magic Kingdom since it's the original and has the most ride rides. We get to the park and I lead us straight towards Space Mountain. It's Disney's classic roller coaster made I believe in the 1970's and has the longest line of the rides- so considering the park is just opening we head there immediately and walked straight on. From there we dart to the other side of the park for Big Thunder Rail Road, Pirates of the Carribean and the Haunted Mansion. Those four are some of my favorites and I wanted to be able to get Sam on them without a huge wait. Now that we had completed those we could take our time and enjoy some of the side skits in the streets and grab some snacks. We ran into one street performance of Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribean who looked so much like Johnny Depp that he easily could be a double for him- he also nailed the voice, and obviously Disney had the costume down. We went for a few more attractions including the new Laugh Factory which is so cute and then settled down for a veggie burger and salad for lunch (so expensive- but that's the Disney Experience).

On Space Mountain...
see all photos »

After the Magic Kindgom we had originally planned on going to MGM for some more thrill rides, but decided that we would rather go to the World Showcase at EPCOT. Before walking the countries of the "world," we decided to go on the new Living Seas with a Nemo theme and the only ride I hadn't been on before at Disney- Soarin. It's a ride and a show and other senses all thrown into one experience while you are "soaring" over all of California.

Now it's time for the Showcase, one of my favorites at Disney World. It definitely does not compare to really traveling and seeing the world, but when you can't it's a good substitute. I love that they employ people from the countries around the world to work in their country at the showcase to make it a more realistic experience. Sam and I started on the Great Britain side and started with a dark British beer to relax for the coming night. We searched the shops and it made me reminisce my recent Europe journey and reminded me of how much I want to go back and how much more there is for me to see. Next stop was Paris where Sam convinced me we should also do a wine tasting- not nearly as good as the wines actually in Paris, but again I think it may be part of the experience of being there. Although I really do love the World Showcase and it's efforts to bring a little bit of other cultures to our side of the world- I think they did a poor job in country choosing. Yes, these ones are great- but also not as diverce as it could be. The only South American (central to be exact) country is Mexico, there are many European countries but they chose the touristy ones rather than spots that are less seen by the outside world. I think they could have taken it to another level, but instead kept it touristy, which again I guess is Disney. We finished off the showcase with some snacks from the stands at each and actually headed out prior to the fireworks. We were capable of seeing them from our room and were going to be driving at 5am, so bed was more important for our safety at this point.

Into the ride we go...
see all photos »

This week was just as we needed. A little bit of nicer weather, a lot less stresses than school had been offering in Baltimore and now Sam would get to catch up with her undergraduate friends as we head to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington for the weekend.