A few weeks ago Nathan and a few coworkers went to the Microsoft Partner Convention in Orlando. Any time you say the word Orlando my brain immediately goes to Disney World, and I had been majorly feeling the itch since my sister is currently planning her Fall trip. But Nathan and I both knew that 4 kids, the July heat in Orlando, plus an extra crowded park would be a bit of a disaster. They've only gone in the very early Spring or late winter when it's cool and empty, so he would be going alone. But a couple of weeks before he left he started talking about maybe flying me down mid-week and both of us staying through the weekend. He ended up having enough airline points to fly me down and my mom and sister agreed to keep the kids for a couple of nights - it was a go!
I admit I was nervous flying down alone and getting a taxi and all that, just because I hadn't done it in years. But I told myself that if I could get around Spain by myself I could certainly get around Florida! I got to the airport over an hour early to be safe, and then my flight was delayed by another hour and a half. Luckily within 20 minutes they announced it was no longer delayed, and we flew out at our regular time. I knew once we got going it would be relaxing and sure enough I was able to read almost
this entire book in just a few hours (read it!! Her chapter on fashion made me choke on my in flight drink). Once I got there I went up to the condo alone because Nathan and his friends were still at the conference. I had about an hour to just sit on the balcony and read a magazine, and I seriously didn't realize how much I needed time like that until that moment. I knew I would be able to relax once the travel part was over, and I literally giggled with excitement when I sat down out there. Then I took a picture of my feet. :)
That night was the end of the conference celebration at Hollywood Studios. There were thousands of people there because this was for the world wide partners, and there were certainly people from all over the world in attendance. You can't tell from this picture, but those tables and chairs were glowing. Ooooo..... The band kept yelling out things like, "Microsooooooft!!!!! Microsoft Partners, let me hear you scream!". I couldn't stop laughing.
The park was closed to the public and only open to Microsoft people. When we walked in there was a red carpet that we had to walk down while random people cheered, took photos, and asked for autographs. We knew what they were going for there, but it really just took a long time to get in, ha! We also saw table after table of alcohol and drinks and food, all free. All of the snack booths and everything in the park was free too, and we cracked up watching people run around with popcorn in one hand and a churro in the other. We joked that tomorrow we would have to pay for that stuff, so we had to eat it all that night!
Remember, it was just the two of us so lots of selfies. Just after we took this Nathan photobombed a group in line ahead of us, and they all gave him high fives once they spotted him in their photo.
When we came out of the Toy Story ride the characters were right there with only a few people in line, so we jumped in. After that one we decided to get photos with any character we saw, which was fun and awkward at the same time. Costumes - you hug. Real people - just stand close-ish? We made lots of jokes about Noah's run in with the
wet fur.
Just to give you an idea of how many people were there. See Nathan waiting for his free ice cream?
The next morning we left the condo and went to our Disney hotel. Our room wasn't ready yet so we stored our bags and hopped over to our favorite park, Epcot.
We tried to eat in some places that we hadn't been before (which is getting harder and harder the more we go!) so we had lunch in England. Pretty sure the kids wouldn't have liked the food there anyway.
Look at my cute husband.
We spent a good amount of time looking at the plants and thinking about our own shady yard. Everything there is so pretty, and it was nice to take our time on stuff like that.
We walked around all of the countries and I had a small breakdown in the China gift shop. I'll spare you the details, but basically it's completely unfair that in order for Kate to gain a family she had to lose her country. It's unfair and I hate it. But Nathan wasn't embarrassed by me crying in the gift shop. :)
After the countries we rode that awful Spaceship Earth, the big golf ball. I had ridden it before, but I remembered it making me claustrophobic, so I've skipped it in years past. But I gave it one more try. It was still not my favorite, although adding the little computer screen to the cars really helped me not focus on how slow we were going and gah! When can we get out?! The way it chopped Nathan on the screen cracked us up.
We had dinner in Mexico, the one where the little boats go by. It was fun, but that was probably a one time deal too.
The next day was Magic Kingdom. Woo hoo, Dumbo ride! We are so cool.
We ran all around the park riding rides and having fun. Disney is a totally different thing without kids. We missed them, but we couldn't feel too guilty since they had been twice in the last year!
It rained off and on for a few hours, but we weren't too sad. We had already gotten wet on Splash Mountain first thing that morning. See how awesome it made my hair?
But like Florida does, it was gorgeous again within a short time and we had a blast. We thought we would want to stay for the fireworks and close it down like we have in the past, but after dinner and another round of rides we were ready to leave. Nothing sounded better than going back to hotel and swimming before bed. So we did, and maybe we also went down the water slide over and over like maniacs. Hee hee hee.
The next day our flight was scheduled to leave at around 4pm. We declined the Disney transportation to the airport because they want to take you 3 hours before your flight leaves. Instead we took the ferry boat over to Downtown Disney and bought a few souvenirs for the kids and some little thank you gifts for my mom and sister.
It was such a fun four days! We couldn't remember the last time we had that much time that far away from the kids and we certainly hadn't done anything like that since Kate came home. Things at home are so much calmer this summer than they were last summer, but with 4 kiddos and work and home demands, it was still a very appreciated break. We've promised the kids they will get to go with us the next time we head to Disney, though our gears are already turning on the Microsoft conference 2016 in Canada.... :)
