Laced with Love: The Happiest Place on Earth

The day after our wedding, Mr. Lace and I got up at 6 am, got ready, went back to our place to drop off stuff and pick stuff up and headed out to the airport to catch our 10 am flight to Florida.  We left Orange County, California and 2 sausage and egg McMuffins and 6 hours later, we landed in Orange County, Florida!  We found the Disney Magical Express which would magically transport us over to Disneyworld.

Those magical sandwiches are our favorites. Unfortunately, we lacked the foresight to buy some extra food to bring on the plane.

This is not just a bus, it is a BUS. The seats reclined, had a foot rest and room for feet. It was nice to stretch out after the flight.

We didn't do much that first night, but it was so much fun. We walked around Downtown Disney and ate at Planet Hollywood.  We crashed through after that because we were so exhausted from the day before.

We woke up bright and early. Okay, no, we didn't. We slept in till 11 am everyday. I felt like we were wasting precious Disney World time, but couldn't figure out why it was so hard for us to wake up at 7 or 8 am in the morning so we could head out the parks.  Seriously, it wasn't until day 2 when we remembered the time change. We were so unaware of time while we were there... it was so awesome.

Anyone, on Day 1, we headed out to the parks and figured out what it takes about 30 minutes to get from one place on the DW resort to another. So, here's us, kinda bored at the monorail.

I know you can't actually see the monorail. Apparently, since it was already 1 pm, everyone was at the parks so we couldn't find someone to take a photo.  Except that guy in the blue shirt in the background. I guess we could've asked him.

So, here's the rundown of each park:

Magic Kingdom
We went on a few rides here, but since there was a lot of overlap, we didn't really go on any rides that we had back at home at Disneyland. This park was about three times the size of Disneyland, but had just about the same attractions and rides. We really enjoyed our time here and the castle is amazing, but to be honest, we think Disneyland is a bit more charming.

This castle is a lot bigger than our castle!

Animal Kingdom
The best ride by far here was the Safari ride. It was like jungle cruise, on land, but with real animals! It was STANK hot though. I'm not sure why this park felt extra hot. It was probably the weather, but we attributed it to the animals.  We got to see rhinos, hippos, pelicans, flamingos, ostriches, a lion and giraffes!

There are no fences at all. You just drive through in a truck and the animals are chillin' on the side, all docile and calm!  I'm sure a safari in Africa would be better, but this has to be the next best thing.

Epcot
This was our FAVORITE park by far. We went there 4 out of 5 days. We loved the food, attractions and the food!  Here's the view from Italy.

Chris was a little unimpressed with the Epcot ball because he felt like it looked bigger when he first saw them on Full House and Family Matters.

Look who came to visit us when we ate at Les Chefs de France! He talked...or squeaked!

It was also opening day Captain EO which brought us back to the good ole days. They made some updates to the show that surprised us. There's a whip that whips out from under the chair and a water spray when Hooter sneezes.

Hollywood Studios
Because I never go to California Adventure, I'd never been on Toy Story Mania which, I'll admit, I love more than Astroblasters now! At the beginning of the game, I was beating Mr. Lace, but then I stopped watching the counter, thinking I was ahead, and by the end, I was far, far, far below.

We went boating on our last day before we needed to head over to the airport.

And the view of our hotel from the boat!

Food
The food was terrific. Our favorites turned out to be Narcoosee's at the Grand Floridian, Teppan Edo at Epcot, Les Chefs de France at Epcot and Boulangerie at Epcot. Can you see why we spent so much time at Epcot?

At Wolfgang Puck after a long day. Macadamia nut crusted chicken on mashed potatoes.

Free champagne toast at Narcoosee's.

Here's my dessert - chocolate mousse!

We reluctantly flew home to LA.  I wish we could've stayed for another week, but alas, it was time to go home. I was so bummed and to make matters worse, our flight was delayed, we taxi'd at LAX for an hour before we could deplane, our shuttle ride left because of our delay, we waited for 30 minutes for a Super Shuttle and then had to circle LAX for 30 minutes before the driver could drive us out to Orange County.  Sigh. We should've never left. :(

Next up, I, happily, and Mr. Lace, semi-reluctantly, made a half day trip out of Disneyworld (don't worry, it was for a really magical reason) and I'll share all the details in my next post.