Finally I’m just getting around to posting some pictures of our honeymoon. We got to go to sunny (and very hot & humid) Florida to Disney World! So awesome!!!! Just thinking back on all the fantastic memories brings a smile to my face.
We stayed right on Disney property at the Boardwalk Hotel. Gorgeous! We had a suite and it looked right out at the boardwalk and we could see the Epcot spaceship earth in the distance. It was a great location for us too cause we were about halfway between Hollywood Studios and Epcot center which were both in walking distance. Oh and we could see the Epcot fireworks from our patio which was a nice treat on those night that we were in our suite at 9:30pm.
Quick trip re-cap. We left Los Angeles Friday night for our night flight at 9:30pm. After some delays, of course, we finally got underway and I planned to sleep the entire trip, but yeah, that didn’t happen. It was the most boring flight ever. I had a magazine that I read cover to cover in the first hour, then all I had to read was the Skymall magazine that I found in the pocket of the seat in front of me. (however, I did find a very cool gadget in there to get dogs to stop barking in the house). So basically I was awake the entire night, but Steve managed to get a bit of sleep so that was nice for him. We arrived in Orlando at 6:30am. Our luggage was set to meet us at the hotel – a great service by Disney! So we didn’t have to worry about that, so we just found our way to the Disney’s Magical Express and got on the bus to our resort. We arrived at the resort by 7:30 am and we couldn’t get our room until later but they said they’d text us when our room was ready. Text us. How great is technology? So off we go to Hollywood Studios. 2 reasons for this. 1. it was already open and some of the parks didn’t open until later, plus we could just walk right over there. 2. It was Star Wars Weekend. That’s right, STAR WARS weekend. Steve is the biggest Star Wars freak FAN that I know. So of course we had to go there, and the brand new Star Tours ride had just opened the previous day. The park was crazy busy of course but we bolted to Star Tours to get fast passes. It wasn’t even 8am yet and our fast passes weren’t good until 1pm. It was super hot too so we just walked around, went in and out of stores to take advantage of air conditioning, and had an early lunch. I was so tired from not having had any sleep yet. We managed to go on a few rides like the backlot tour (which was not as good as I remembered it from years ago) and the Great Movie Ride. Then right as we were in the line for Star Tours, I got the text that our room was ready! yay! I do have to say that the new Star Tours ride is pretty awesome, it’s a HUGE improvement from the old one! During our week there, we ended up going on it about 8 times. For the special weekend they had another Star Wars store set up with exclusive merchandise and character interactions/ autographs, that sort of thing. There were Storm Troopers everywhere, lol. Steve did get a new light saber, and a Jedi robe – which I might add, that he wore when we went back to Hollywood studios a couple nights later.
So we spent the week going from one park to another, usually starting our day very early, coming back to the hotel in the afternoon to get out of the extreme heat, then going out again at night. It was tons of fun, we had a blast! First time we got to spend time away together – ALONE! Imagine that?
We spent one day at Blizzard Beach Water Park and that was awesome! We both loved the lazy river and spent most of our time floating around the park in that.
The Magic Kingdom itself was pretty much how I remembered it from the last time I was there, when I was 12. Not a whole lot of changes, same with Epcot.
Animal Kingdom wasn’t around then so that was all new for me and I loved it. We got there super early and they let Resort guests in an hour before the park actually opens. So we got to go on all the rides before there were lineups! The Dinosaur ride and Everest were so much fun! Then we got to go on a 3 hour VIP Safari tour that Steve’s mom had heard about and booked for us. That was really cool, and they gave us an awesome lunch too – in this private hut in the middle of their Safari. Rhinos running close by, giraffes grazing at the trees a little ways away, so cool! There was only 9 of us in the group and we got to go over neat suspension bridges with crocodiles underneath, cool stuff like that.
Let’s see, what else? Oh we ate at the top of the Contemporary Hotel one night in the California Grill. Absolutely amazing! We had one of the best tables in the house with an incredible view of the Magic Kingdom and we watched their firework show from our table.
One night we went to see the Dinner show: The Hoop Dee Doo at Fort Wilderness Resort. My parents took us there when I was little and I vaguely remember it. We went and I was a bit worried Steve wouldn’t like it all that much but he LOVED it! All the corny jokes they told and everything! They made us get up and dance in front of everyone cause we were the only couple that admitted we were on our honeymoon. HAHA! Steve was so embarrassed when I put my hand up when they asked if anyone was celebrating. It was great, so I recommend it for anyone who is going to Disney World.
We also spent a day at Universal Studios. The Harry Potter exhibit was amazing, they really did an outstanding job on that! I hadn’t even read any of the books or seen the movies when we went and I still loved it! The ride that they had in the Hogwarts castle was incredible. Definitely the best ride I’ve EVER gone on, anywhere! It’s so hard to describe it too, it was thrilling, scary, just awesome all around! As soon as we got off I begged Steve to go get in line with me again! The funny thing is ever since I got to go on that ride and see the little village and everything from the movie, I have been interested in it. Now Steve and I are watching the movies and we want to start reading the books!
So our honeymoon was amazing. Being able to spend time with my best friend all alone for an entire week made me fall even more in love with him.
Once we returned to LA, the real craziness began. We had a day and a half to pack up all our stuff, clean the house and leave for our long drive across the country to Chicago. We rented a big U-Haul truck and we just managed to get all our stuff into it. Steve drove that and I drove the SUV that contained our suitcases and most of the pets. Steve actually had to take one of the rats, and all the reptiles in the cab of the truck with him. I had the 3 dogs, 4 guinea pigs and 5 rats with me. Oh and the cockroach colony, can’t forget them. What a drive it was. I don’t think I’ve ever been so bored. I burned 6 new mixed CD’s and had listened to them all before we even got to Arizona! I had the GPS with me so I had to lead the way and Steve drove the truck behind me. We stopped in Arizona at a Best Western (they allow pets!) to sleep for 6 hours, then continued on our way. Our next stop for the night was just over the New Mexico border in Texas after a terrifying detour through the middle of nowhere in New Mexico. Seriously, I thought some weird kid with a banjo was going to jump out in the road in front of us and we’d be in the middle of “Deliverance.” It was the freakiest road and of course no lights so it was pitch black except for the headlights. And there was a giant cemetery beside the road for a ways too. That was reassuring.
Our third night was in Springfield, Missouri where I found my new favorite ice cream place of all time. Andy’s. I have been craving it ever since! There are some in Illinois but the closest is almost an hour away from us 🙁 boo
We finally made it to Chicago, hot, tired, dying to get out of the vehicles. It was around dinner time and we arrived at our new apartment complex only an hour before the office closed for the night. We got our keys and went over to our new apartment….to find it was not at all like the photos we had seen. Of course not, the photos we had seen were from the MODEL unit. Silly us. Our unit looked like a dungeon. No joke. The walls were made of cinderblock! One of the closet door was painted shut and we couldn’t open it. The bathroom door wasn’t even a full size door – width wise I mean. It was so narrow, that if I was any larger than what I am, I would not be able to walk through it without my hips touching the door frame! And you had to go into the bathroom, close the door completely before you could even get to the sink and toilet – it was the tiniest bathroom I’ve ever seen to have a toilet, sink and tub in it! The mirror was like 6 inches by 6 inches, haha! Oh nightmare. There were a ton of other problems too with it that I won’t go into detail but it was all just so awful that it was everything I could do not to burst into tears. Steve was livid, so livid that he could barely talk to the people in the office when we marched back over there. They said we could possibly move into another unit but it wouldn’t be ready for a few days, but we could stay in the current place until then. ugh. Of course we didn’t want to unpack anything, so we slept on the hard floor for the next 2 nights until the other unit was available. We also started work the next morning so we had to find a doggy daycare for the dogs real quick. It worked out though, and we like our new place so much better then the other place, it’s bigger too which is nice. The weather is something that I’m having a hard time adjusting to though. It’s been so hot and humid and humidity is not something I’ve ever had to deal with for more than a week while on vacation. We both work outside during the day too at an animal facility so we can’t escape the heat/humidity.
But we’re here, in CHICAGO!!!! I never imagined I would ever live in Chicago but here I am! 🙂 I can’t wait to actually explore the city some more. If anyone knows of some must see places in Chicago, let me know. One day I’ll make it to Andy’s Frozen Custard, one day.
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