Ten Random Things I "Learned" On My Disneymoon

A hopeless romantic sucked into any and every 'happily ever after,' ever since I learned what a honeymoon was I've wanted a Disney one, and a few weeks ago it finally happened! Sure, it was delayed three years, but it worked out better that way for us - we had more time and money, less stress before the wedding and something to look forward to and plan after the wedding.

Neither of us had been to Disney World before, and we ended up picking the perfect time to go. The longest waits we had were for a few character greets, but nothing was more than 20 or 25 minutes. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for six nights, spent one day at each park, one day hopping around a little bit and one day at Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure. It was hot and tiring, but we were barely rained on just once, and it was SO. MUCH. FUN. :) I spent the week living in fairytale after fairytale, shutting out thoughts of anything else, and it was wonderful! Here were some of my favorite parts and 10 random things I learned while there:

Favorite rides at DW:  Tower of Terror, Test Track, Space Mountain, Expedition Everest, Toy Story Mania, Kilimanjaro Safari

Favorite rides at IOA: Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Dragon Challenge, Incredible Hulk Roller Coaster

Favorite shows/events: Wishes Nighttime Spectacular (we ended up seeing it three times), Fantasmic, Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party


Favorite food: I gave myself zero limitations for the week, so I pretty much ate everything in sight, especially when we had a lot of dining plan credits to use up toward the end. My favorite meals were the breakfast buffet at Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge) and dinner at Sanaa (Kidani Village). I also fell in love with the Butterbeer at Harry Potter World and could really go for some right now!

Favorite character greets: My social interactions aren't great in the first place, so you can imagine how it was for me meeting people in costumes who can only gesture or actors deep in character.

Aside from that,the most fun to meet were Lady Tremaine with Drizella and Anastasia, Cruella, Maleficent, Stitch, Russell & Dug, Minnie and Gaston.

Things I learned

1. Everyone needs an escape at some point. There was such a wide variety of people there - all for different reasons, but also for very similar ones.

2. I am not patient. Even with the incredibly short lines we experienced, especially considering where we were, sometimes I was a liiiittle hesitant and just a little irritable when facing one. I can't imagine being there during the busy season. Maybe I should try it, though, to work on my patience!

3. I love rides! For some this is no big deal, but for me it is huge. I am deathly afraid of heights, so theme park rides have obviously never been my thing since even county fair rides left me in tears. However, thanks to Jared pushing me to get over it by experiencing Valley Fair a few times, I can now honestly say I love roller coasters. The rides at DW are fairly tame, and I found myself almost disappointed after a lot of them and looking forward to IOA because I wasn't nearly as scared as I wanted to be.

Dragon Challenge!

4. We truly are a growing species - at least where waistlines are concerned. Stated as a fact and not in any 'mean' way, people are getting large. This is something we're all aware of and are so used to, but once you start thinking about it you really notice it. Everywhere. I admit I made this observation while gobbling down chocolate cake smothered with Jared's chocolate gelato (he'd had "enough sweets for the day" - what?), but it hit me hard sitting across from a large family of five eating fried everything. The kids were so young and already so unhealthy, and it made me sad and promise myself I will not only encourage/enforce healthy eating when we eventually have children, I will be a much better example of it for them. What better motivation is there for developing healthier habits? Healthy eating, in my opinion, does include indulgences, though, so hopefully I'm not sounding like a huge hypocrite;)

5. I really love my husband:) 

6. That being said, it's probably a good thing our whole lives don't consist of us spending every single waking second together.

7. At the risk of sounding like the crazy cat lady I am, I sure do love my cats:) I missed them so much!

8. I really need to re-read all of the Harry Potter books. I can't tell you how many times Jared asked, "Do you even know who Harry Potter is?" after referencing different characters, scenes, events, etc. to me with only a blank stare in return.

9. I will not bring my children to DW unless they can walk ..a lot.. by themselves. I couldn't believe how many people had just babies and one or two-year-olds there. Why?

10. I have perfected an awkward stance to match my awkward personality.

Happy Tuesday!