WE’RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD

That’s what Matt said to me a couple weeks ago to surprise me with a trip for our 1st wedding anniversary! Ahhh! You know how you’ve seen videos on YouTube of parents telling their kids that they’re going to Disney and they freak out or freeze? I learned that when someone tells me that we’re going to the happiest place on earth in 10 days, I am the speechless, can’t believe it, on the edge of tears reactor. Hahah!

I used to work at Disney World with the College Program and loved it. You have to be enrolled in a college course in order to apply to the program, and a lot of people take time off school to do it, but I was accepted during my last semester of school. It was a wonderful limbo for post graduation living when you’re overwhelmed by needing to find a “big girl” job. By working at Disney, I had 9 extra months of paid play, and I did so at the main gate of Epcot. That was another bonus for the role that I was put into in the program: I got to work at the park, but remain right outside the gates, so none of the magic was distorted to me. I think it’s because of that that I still have an incredible love for Disney World.

So, once I found out that Matt had bought plane tickets for us to go to Orlando for a long weekend and nothing else, the first thing I had to do was let my cousin know we were coming! It’s been many years since I’ve had a whole day at the Disney parks, so I didn’t want to miss out on anything that I would enjoy, and she’s currently working at the parks so she’s in the know. My cousin was so amazing to share a family and friends discount for the hotel as well as offer some ticketing wonderfulness. We decided on two park hopping days and one day at a water park (yes, Disney has water parks and they’re so good!).

Our flight was on time, and we got checked in to our resort earlier than I had hoped. We chose to stay at the Port Orleans French Quarter on Disney property. It’s New Orleans themed and was very cute! I thoroughly enjoyed that instead of sidewalks all around, you walked on mini streets like “Cake Walk”, “Rue D’Baga”, and “Reveler’s Row”. The room itself wasn’t anything interesting—but our view was! The few times that we were awake and in the room, it sure was nice to see the water and zero other people from our little slice.

There was just enough time to drop off our bags and head to Magic Kingdom to see the Festival of Fantasy parade, which I had never seen before. I just assumed that we weren’t going to see the parade based on timing, so we ended up having about 2 extra hours at the park! We explored Fantasyland (all new since I had been there last) including a new Little Mermaid ride called Under the Sea, It’s a Small World (classic), Splash Mountain, The Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover (happily a favorite for both Matt and I), Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean. After all that it was already 8:30 p.m. and time to get ready for the new firework show, Happily Ever After. Magic Kingdom has been performing the same firework show, Wishes, for the last 13 years, so seeing this new show was on the top of my list, and it did not disappoint! Amazing! But the night didn’t end for us there—we rushed out of the park after the fireworks and over to Animal Kingdom’s new Pandora – The World of Avatar. They were doing Extra Magic Hours for resort guests from 10 p.m. to midnight during August to showcase the new bioluminescent world. We explored and waited for the Na’vi River Journey ride. Then we called it a night.

Saturday morning was a relatively early one because Animal Kingdom was having Extra Magic Hours in the morning as well. They opened the gates one hour before the park normally opens and I thought it would be a good opportunity to get on the new thrill ride, Avatar Flight of Passage, which usually had at least a 150 minute wait. Well, apparently that was a popular idea! We got in line at 8:05 a.m. but still had to wait about 100 minutes. Luckily, we were behind a great group of colorful New Yorkers so it made the morning fun! I’m so glad we were able to get on the ride—it’s always fun to get to do something new. We went to the other side of the park to do Expedition Everest, another favorite with a great queue that’s all about a Yeti hiding in the mountain.

Next up, we traveled to my former home, Epcot. Spaceship Earth (inside the ball) is another ride that Matt and I both love so we stopped at that first. We promptly found some Starbucks after the ride, as well as tried some sodas from around the world as we made our way to the back of the park—The World Showcase. There’s a little boat ride inside Mexico that we did, as we walked around most of the countries before our lunch reservation at Via Napoli in Italy. Over lunch, I learned that Matt had never gotten an alcoholic beverage at Disney! So after food, we each picked our drink of choice as dessert, Matt got a grapefruit beer from Germany and I got my longtime favorite Citron Grey Goose slushy from France.

Onward to Hollywood Studios! There’s a way to walk from the back exit of Epcot to Hollywood Studios, so that’s what we did. We had Fastpass+ service for Star Tours (surprisingly Matt’s first time riding), Toy Story Mania (I can’t believe I lost by 7,000 points!), and Hollywood’s Tower of Terror (my favorite ride). We met up with my cousin somewhere in there and all enjoyed the Fantasmic show and fireworks (the best) before catching some of the Star Wars fireworks on our way out. Surely, you’ve got to be tired of me saying that things are the best, but I prioritized all my favorite things for this trip with Matt’s wonderful support. So, next up, we three went to Jellyrolls, a dueling piano bar, and my favorite place to end an evening at Disney. Honestly, I could shut that place down every night. The guys who play and sing there have been doing it for years which just adds another level of familiarity for me. SO GOOD!

Sunday was our day to leave, but not before some more fun. First, we took advantage of the later opening of the water parks to enjoy some beignets and chicory coffee from out New Orleans themed resort. Then, there was one thing left on Matt’s wish list—ride the monorail. I can’t believe the whole visit, we used buses, so we really had to plan to ride the monorail, but we did it! Then, after some confusion, finally made it to Typhoon Lagoon around 11 a.m. Apparently, Matt had never been to a water park like this before, so I was really excited to spend the day there with him. We got around most of the rides and had just decided to get some lunch when the park announced a rain delay. Don’t get me wrong, we got soaked each day at the parks, so this wasn’t too surprising. Unfortunately, it ended up being the worst downpour during our visit, complete with lightening and thunder. It was about 3 o’clock, so we decided to just head back to the resort, change, and get ready for our flight. Once we did that, we got some drinks by the resort’s pool bar and planned to relax until our airport bus departure. But it was right about that time that they opened the pool and I couldn’t stop thinking about how that meant that Typhoon Lagoon would be open again as well, and there was sure to be less people there after the rain. Long story short, Matt’s a saint and agreed to get back into our swimsuits and over to the water park again. We squeezed in about another hour and half, got on all the rides, and even did a lap on the lazy river before getting dressed again and taking an Uber to the airport. Even after all that, we were through security with an hour to spare—I’m so glad we went back to the water park because I know I would have just been bummed about missing out on it had we been at the airport even earlier! #NoRegrets

It was the. best. weekend. ever. Second might go to my Bachelorette weekend at Disney’s Blizzard Beach water park one year ago. Hahah! Notice a trend? Or maybe I should say that our wedding weekend was the best ever. Can I bundle all things wedding? Because every bit of it fills me with such joy and love. I’m honestly so lucky that Matt embraces the things that I enjoy enough to make a whole trip about them. It was the most fun way to celebrate our one year anniversary! Can’t wait for year two! Love, Shauna