2020 has been anything but normal, but I'm not here to talk about that. Aside from a little Indiana resort retreat in July (before state mask mandates even became a thing), we have been staying put right here at home. Its been hard for us, but obviously we want to do everything we can to slow the spread. It wasn't until about a month ago that the travel bug bit us. We weren't sure where we wanted to go, and what attractions were even open. But we knew we wanted a change of scenery. Robbie was awarded an extra day of PTO as a job well done throughout the pandemic, and he had to either take it on November 13th or some Friday in December. With the 13th being the Friday before my birthday, it was a perfect way to bake it into a birthday celebration. Now we just needed a destination. I got onto Southwest.com to see if they had any good deals on flights. There were 2 reasons for looking at Southwest first: bags fly free, and they are blocking middle seats until at least the end of the year. I literally checked every destination that Southwest flies from Cincinnati, and Orlando intrigued us most. It was in our same time zone, a fairly short flight, and a new destination for me!
Orlando's big draw, obviously, is Disney World, so it was a given that we were going there, but we didn't want to make the whole weekend Disney-centric. So we decided to do 2 Disney days, and a beach day in the middle. Things were coming together and eventually we had everything booked!
We left on Friday November 13th (it didn't dawn on me until closer to departure day that we were flying for the first time in 1.5 years on that date, during a pandemic). It was such a 2020 thing to do! Our flight was non-stop and didn't leave until 1:40pm. This meant we could sleep in that morning and see our dogs off to the sitter properly. A few days before our departure, one of the bridges crossing into Kentucky (the Cincinnati Airport is actually in Northern Kentucky) caught fire after a semi-truck accident, so we had to go around downtown, but it didn't slow us down too badly. When we got to the airport, all things were normal, but employees were swarming us, making sure everyone was wearing a mask, properly covering our chin, mouth, and nose. I was surprised that they didn't have a temperature station set up somewhere throughout security, but i did get an email the day before our flight urging all travelers to take their own temp and not fly if their temp was high. I felt safe throughout the whole airport experience, however. They had hand sanitizer stations every 5 feet it seemed, and the overhead announcements included reminders to wash our hands frequently and keep them away from our faces. It was easy to social distance at our gate, as our flight was only 40% full. When boarding the plane, they had us keep seated until our Boarding Zone was called, and only 10 positions were called at a time. The flight attendants were diligent on the plane, making sure our masks were in place during the entire flight, and the only time we could take them off was when we were eating. It really didn't bother or impede my goings on at all.
This was our first time flying south from Cincinnati, so the terrain below was totally new to me! There was a point where I was sure we were over TN, as there were mountains running east to west, and there were homes dotting the valleys between. It was a nice change from desert flying from CA to anywhere. It also made me realize there is so much of this country that I want to see, and we are within driving distance to a lot of new and different areas of America. Im excited to get to them at some point in my life!
In just under 2 hours, around 3:30pm, we landed in Orlando! We were towards the front of the plane, and by the the time we got to baggage claim, our suitcase was right there on the carousel! We rented a car with Alamo, and even that was super simple because the car rentals were right there at the airport! Most car rentals require a shuttle to an off-site location. We were on the road within a half hour of landing!
When it came to booking our hotel, we initially looked at a Disney property hotel. There were a few that looked fun and close to the parks we were going to, but simply because of the Disney name attached to them, they were so expensive! We found our tried-and-true Embassy Suites in Lake Buena Vista for under half the cost of a Disney property, and it still was very close to the parks! And, we knew what we were getting as far as amenities and comfort! Before arriving, I downloaded the Hilton Honors app and was able to check in using the app, and they sent me a virtual key once our room was ready. When we arrived at the hotel, we were able to go right up to our room! Super easy, and it made me wonder why I hadn't downloaded this app before! I never went to the front desk once during our stay! It kind of makes me wonder what the hospitality world will look like post-pandemic. Time will tell. I requested a pool view room when I initially booked the hotel, and it was granted! Our room was on the 4th floor, and it was considered the Linai Suite! It looked like a typical Embassy Suites room, but when we went out the door, we were outside with a clear view of the pool, hot tub, and the children's pool area, complete with water features and a slide! It looked so fun! In addition to the pool area, the property had a tennis court, putting green, basketball court, shuffleboard, and a nightly outdoor movie being projected poolside! It was very inviting!
We didn't have much time to relax poolside that night because our fun was already starting! We initially booked a dinner and show consisting of a Michael Jackson tribute concert, but the week before, it canceled due to water damage in the buiding. When looking into other options to replace the concert, I came across the Orlando Improv, and they had a show that evening! We quickly booked it and we were excited to go! Robbie and I love Improv, so we were ready to laugh! We drove to the improv theater, and they sat us in order of booking. Even though we booked just a week before, we got a great table just 2 rows back! This theater also had a menu, so we allowed extra time for a great dinner just before the show started! The headliner comedian was Aries Spears, but he had an opener, who was really funny! Then Aries's manager took the stage, and even HE was funny! Then the big laughs started with Aries! Before booking the show, I went to YouTube to see a snippet of his comedy just to be sure he wasn't some corny comic. We had been to plenty of those B-level comic shows in Vegas, but Aries was funny from the start. I didn't want to watch too much of his routine on YouTube, and im glad I didn't! His stuff was FUN-NY! He was a bit rated-R, but it was a 21 and over club, so we expected it. If you want to check out his stuff, look him up on YouTube, but put the kids to bed first! This was a great way to kick off our vacation!
Saturday, November 14th was Epcot day! Both Robbie and I chose a park we wanted to go to that weekend. He chose Epcot, and I wanted to be at Universal Studios on my actual birthday! Epcot is the park where geography rules all! Robbie is VERY into geography, and some of his knowledge on the subject has trickled down to me even. We were both excited for this park! Our ticket advised us to enter the park between 11am and 5pm, so we were there at 11am sharp! Obviously Disneyworld took Covid seriously. While waiting in line to enter, we had to stay 6 feet apart, they took everyone's temperature, and much like the airport, they had employees reminding us to mask up, and they had sanitizer available all over the place! One also could not miss the giant "golf ball" that greeted us upon entry!!
Epcot is not known for rides, but there is a popular area called "The Land" featuring the Soarin' ride, which is a motion simulator that takes you around the world from a birds eye view. We did this ride just as we entered. We had to wait a while in line, a total of about 50 minutes (but it felt longer because everytime we turned a corner and thought that was the end of the line, we couldn't have been more wrong). We finally got to the front of the line, and it was totally worth the wait! Soarin' took us through the Alps, over the castle that inspired Cinderella's, down Angel Falls, to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and more! The ride was backed with beautiful orchestra music, and the whole experience went on for about 5 minutes. It reminded me of the Soaring Over California ride at Disneyland in CA when I was there in college! But this was better because it covered the whole world! Well done! Before we left The Land, we went on a boat ride that took us to different stations where they talked about various aspects of plants and vegetation around the globe!
Now it was time to see the rest of the world for ourselves! Walking further into Epcot, the back of the park is made up of the World Showcase consisting of 14 or so countries, with a big lake in the middle. Each country has its own menu of native dishes, gift shops, attractions and exhibits.
Although the Caribbean is not a country, there were a few food trucks interspersed amongst the countries, and we started eating our way through the world there, with dessert! We shared dishes from several countries, and we started with Flancocho! It was this delicious and moist flan desert with coconut flavoring, and I could live off that! It was so light, and the perfect way to start our tour!
Robbie was anticipating going to Norway, but we were disappointed that it didn't have a food vendor. I would've liked to try their food. However, no one makes Lefse like a Minnesotan, right?! Maybe next time??
Next, we went to China where we had the chicken dumpling dish. If I closed my eyes, I would've thought I was in China. The 2 dumplings were topped with authentic soy sauce and julienne carrots. We stayed in China for a little longer to check out the beautiful architecture and to watch a short movie on the history and culture of the land! It was a wonderful visit!
From China, we headed to Africa! Africa didn't have so much of an expansive area to it, but it had 2 of the most exotic dishes we had all day! Both dishes were extremely flavorful, and we both went out of our comfort zone to try them, and Im glad we did!
The next country was absolutely smack dab in the middle of my comfort zone: Germany! I am of German descent, so I was excited to see what it had to offer! This area was just what I thought Germany to be like, with the scalloped rooftops, colorful buildings, and the unmistakable sound of German music! Polka, anyone?? The line to this food vendor was extra long, as im sure many people were there for the beer. But me, I was in line for the brats!! Robbie had the apple strudel, and neither dish disappointed! Germany was fun!
Italy was the next country we saw! Italy was huge! This country had a whole promenade to see, and it was very authentic. Italy had several food vendors, a line of shops, gondolas, and it was flanked by the iconic tower in St. Mark's Square! We opted for a lighter dessert of a tiramisu popcicle, and they were wonderfully refreshing on a warm day!
The next country was Japan, and this marked the halfway point of the World Showcase. Across the lake was the iconic golf ball, which seemed bigger than when I saw it up close, if thats even possible??!! Japan was absolutely beautiful, and I wanted to go there in real life! We chose not to have any dishes from this country, but we did take in the incredible architecture and temples!
Morocco was next, and even though it was small and we may have missed it if we didn't know what we were looking for, it was very distinct to us! Its crazy how they did up these different countries in such a small area! We passed on the food here as well!
After Morocco was France, and this I can speak on from personal experience! The cafes and bistros were almost identical to the ones across the pond in real life. Walking through France and Paris, with the French music playing, transported me back almost 20 years to those cobblestone streets. We really wanted to sit and have crepes, but the lines were so long! Continuing around the corner was the Eiffel Tower! France did it right!
The United Kingdom was next, but it wasn't an immediate realization. Other than the fish n' chips vendors and iconic red telephone booths, there wasn't anything else standing out about it, like Big Ben, or the London Bridge, or Stonehenge. We walked right through it as it was probably the most underwhelming country of them all.
The last country in the World Showcase was Canada! We were excited to finish Epcot by eating at Canada's steakhouse, but by that time, we were just anxious to get on with it, as we had been on our feet for the better part of 5 hours. We did take in Canada's beauty before we left, though! I enjoyed their attention to detail in their Maple Leaf stencil on the fence posts!
The World Showcase was amazing, and it was awesome to see all those different countries and cultures in one day! And the food...what a treat (no pun intended)! Im glad Robbie chose Epcot so we could submerge ourselves in the world! One thing we would do differently next time is to go to Epcot on a weekday. In different countries, the lines for food were so long that it turned us off. If there were less people in the lines, we would've sampled more food from more countries! The whole day was so fun anyway, and we were excited to head back to the hotel and soak out feet in the hot tub and relax in the pool!
Sunday was our "in between parks" beach day! Being we rented a car, we had more freedom to go wherever we wanted, and the beach was a perfect idea to relax and recharge! Cocoa Beach is an hour just east of Orlando, and we couldn't get there fast enough! The beach, as we found out when we got there, had a pier with restaurants and shops. It was the perfect place to start our day with a great breakfast! I had a wonderful crab cake eggs benedict, but I think the most surprising part about breakfast was that Robbie ordered a Mimosa...and drank it! If you don't know, Robbie is not at all a drinker, and aside from a few sips of champagne at our wedding, he has not had a drop in his entire life! My jaw went straight to the floor when he asked the waitress what kind of alcohol was in a Mimosa!
We found out, also from our waitress, that we could rent a beach umbrella and chairs for the day, so we did that next! It was so nice to just relax and let the ocean breeze sweep over us! It was also a perfect day for the beach, overcast and just the right temperature so we wouldn't be uncomfortable! Robbie caught some zzzzz's while I caught up on some reading. We then took a walk under the pier, and then gathered some sand and seashells to bring home with us!
We got back from the beach around midday, and when looking for a place to eat, we found that Orlando had a Giordano's! Ummm, yes please! And a bonus, it was not even a mile from our hotel!
When we got to the beach, there was a sign advising there was going to be a rocket launch that evening. Cape Canaveral is about 5 miles north of Cocoa Beach, and this beach was a good spot to view the launch. When we were researching things to do on our off-park day, we did consider touring Cape Canaveral, but we only wanted to go if there was a rocket launch. Their calendar didn't have a launch that day, so we decided to do the beach instead. Had we actually known about the rocket launch, we would've arrived at the beach much later in the day, rather than 10:30 in the morning. We left before the crowds gathered and decided to watch it on TV from our hotel instead. So, evening rolled around and the countdown to take-off began. When lift-off happened, we realized that our hotel window was facing east, and we actually saw the shuttle take off with our own two eyes! It was the next best thing to being there, and a once in a lifetime opportunity, born out of happenstance! The launch took place without a hitch, and before we knew it, our eyes were glued to the tv watching the rocket enter orbit! The 4 astronauts will be at the International Space Station for 6 months! What a cool experience!
Monday was a big day for me, my 36th birthday, and Universal Studios day! My birthday has always been a big deal for me, and my friends and family always made a big deal out of it growing up. Im not afraid to admit that I would always be so excited anticipating the day that I wouldnt be able to get to sleep the night before! Lol! The last few years, that feeling has waned a little bit; i guess it comes with age! Ha! I actually got a good night's sleep the night before, and was ready to go on my birthday! We got to Universal right around 9am when it opened. Being we went on a Monday, we practically had the whole park to ourselves!
Universal is more adult-centric, like Epcot (in comparison with the Magic Kingdom). Universal also has more rides to go with their "experiences." Universal was set up in little "cities" and attractions, and almost every attraction had a ride which was majority motion simulators.
The first ride I went on was the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. It was a full blown Rollercoaster (and I believe it was the only standalone ride in the park). On this ride, we could pick our own music to jam out to the entire way. The ride shot out and before I knew it, I was climbing at a full 90° angle! Then down, around, and upside down we went, and we went fast! This ride set the bar for the rest of the day! So fun!
The next attraction we went to was in the New York section of the park. It reminded me of when we were actually IN New York for my birthday 2 years ago! This was a good 2nd best though! New York had a ride called The Race Through New York City with Jimmy Fallon. I was super excited for this ride because I watch Jimmy Fallon on the regular! I actually watched his show when he taped from Orlando when they opened his ride! He and The Rock went on it, and ever since, ive wanted to go too! This ride is a big reason I chose to go to Universal! After passing through The Tonight Show memory lane and waiting in line for zero minutes, we were being greeted by Jimmy Fallon himself (virtually, of course)!
We were given 3D glasses as we entered, and we were seated in what closely resembled his studio! It was like we were there in 30 Rock! The experience started with Steve Higgins introducing Jimmy like he normally does during a taping. Jimmy came out and explained that he was going to be racing us through New York City! I was pumped to get the ride going! Soon enough, our seats rose, and we were off! We started by weaving through the halls of 30 Rock, out to Times Square, through Central Park, and so much more! The race changed hands several times, but at the very end we came out the victor, leaving Jimmy in our dust! This ride was amazing, and I wanted to get right back in line to do it again!
After seeing the rest of New York, we walked through San Francisco. There was a ride there called Fast and Furuous Supercharged, but it was closed sadly.
Rounding the corner we came to the Men In Black Alien Attack attraction! This ride was a bumper car type ride, where it took us through New York City and we had to shoot at as many aliens as we could! Robbie won that game by a long shot! We both had fun with this ride!
Walking further through the park we arrived in Springfield, home of The Simpson's! Im not a huge fan of the show, but its been on for so long that i feel like its part of the American culture, so we couldn't pass up the Simpsons Ride! We had to wait about 10 minutes in this line, but it went quick. Before getting on the ride, we waited in this Simpsons Funhouse with a contorted mirror, which we had fun with. The ride was a motion simulator, and it was probably the most "herky-jerky" of them all, but it was still fun! Robbie said that the ride even cracked his back! Lol! Coming outside after the ride was the Krustyland arcade. We thought about playing the games, but ultimately decided against it. Springfield was worth it!
It was about that time to think about lunch. We decided on an old diner restaurant called Mel's Diner. It was really cute, and had sock hop music going from the jukebox. We ordered simple diner food and it was brought out super fast. We were highly disappointed with the taste of it though! It tasted like burger day in our elementary cafeteria! The manager was nice enough to give us back our money, but we were still hungry. It was also at this time that we found out that our Monday night activity got canceled due to lack of bookings that night (more on that later).
We went to one more show, the Bourne Stuntacular, which was a live action stunt show! The show had actors do stunts like what you would see in the Bourne movie series. It was much like a play, taking place on stage with moving sets. The show actually had technical difficulties in the middle of it, which was kind of cool because the host of the show came on stage and gave us some behind-the-scenes tidbits which we found very interesting! All in all, the show was great! We left wondering how long it took to choreograph all the moving stunts, and how all the stunt actors got their jobs!
After the Bourne experience, we called it a day at Universal! We saw and did everything we set out to do, and we were very satisfied with this park!
On the way back to our hotel, we ate lunch at a place called Ford's Garage that advertised "premium burgers!" And yes, the burgers were much better than the one's at Mel's Diner in Universal! This restaurant had a car shop theme, and the bathroom sink faucets and door handles were gas pumps! Clever!
After lunch we found a mini golf course that we played! We ended up tying at the end, and had visitors along the course, in the form of salamanders! Cute little buggers!
We had time to relax poolside before our altered evening plans, and we actually planned it that way to have time to get off our feet for a little while.
So, going back to what was supposed to be our Monday night event that was ultimately canceled, we were supposed to be going to a Luau to end our trip. That was one thing I was looking forward to the most, so I was pretty bummed when it canceled. But, we made other plans to have dinner in Disney Springs at a restaurant called The Boathouse! We parked and walked to the restaurant, through a whole mall that felt like an entire city! There was a prominent bustle to Disney Springs with all the people out dining and shopping, and the music (albeit Christmas) as an undertone. For a brief minute, we were transported back to what normal felt like pre-Covid. Hopefully we can get that feeling back soon! We sat inside, but still had a view of the lake just outside beyond the patio. We both had wonderful dinners of New York strip and the filet mignon, and all the sides to go with it! I finished my birthday dinner with one of my favorite desserts, a creme brulee! The restaurant even gave me a complimentary cupcake (even though the plate said "happy anniversary!" Haha). During it all, we reminisced about the fun we had this past weekend. We took our time and soaked in the last little bit of Orlando that we could! It was a perfect ending to my birthday, and to our trip, and I'm sure we will be back sometime to do the Luau at a later date!
Our flight took off at 9am on Tuesday morning, so we said our goodbyes to our hotel and to Disney, but only for now! We would love to do it all again soon!
On the flight back to Cincinnati via Chicago, we followed the Florida coast all the way up to the Florida Georgia line, then took a slight left up to Chicago. The Chicago skyline was standing out against the blue sky as we arrived for our layover! I could also see the southern tip of Lake Michigan where the lake curved! I thought that was really cool and something I'd never seen before!
Soon enough we were back in the air for the quick flight to CVG! When we landed, we drove straight to pick up our dogs, and they went CRAZY when they saw us! We missed them so much while we were gone!
This weekend getaway was exactly what we needed! It was definitely different traveling in the middle of a pandemic, but I have always stood by this line of thought: if an establishment/theme park/hotel, etc are open for business, that means they have taken every precaution to make it as safe as possible for guests to stay healthy all while having fun. We knew our limits and to social distance and to wear our masks, and we felt perfectly safe during the entire trip! Hopefully this time next year we will all be living like we were before the world came to a standstill, but for now, we can only hope!
"Bye Disney. See you another day!" -from the mouth of an excited little girl as we were leaving Epcot
