The Happiest Trip on Earth

I’ve lived life long enough to know that it is a gift to find a good friend, to end up with a good roommate, and to have a good travel buddy. But to have all three in one? That is an absolutely miracle of nature. But that’s just the kind of treasure E is. The happiest trip doesn’t happen because you go the happiest place on earth – it happens because you go with the best people. But the location does help. 

people kept on asking me what the numbers on my cap meant and it was hilarious because i had no clue, i just stole it from A’s closet to wear on the trip – for your information, i have since discovered that it is the zip code for aspen, colorado

there were so many crazy things about the trip to florida. instead of landing in the evening of sunday like we were supposed to, delays led us to an extra flight leg, and an overnight stay in the airport. this unfortunately meant that we would miss out on getting passes to the elusive new star wars ride (yes, we were going to be those crazy people outside waiting in line hours before the park opened), but this is us changed into our duffy/shellie mae costumes, still excited for day one disneyworld!

because we arrived so late that morning, we decided to save time by going straight to the park from the airport. i was met by an extremely crabby security guard who kept making very sarcastic and aggressive comments about having to check through every piece of my baggage. it was so hard because there was so little empathy for my situation, but i wished i could’ve done a better job of stepping into her shoes as well and responding with compassion and grace. instead i was super sassy right back. sigh, still so much to grow.

also, right after we got into the park, we almost couldn’t figure out the locker situation with our bags and that was probably the most stressful part of the trip where we almost just gave up on everything. thank goodness for not giving up and asking staff questions.

star wars land – wow. the replicas of all the ships and characters and locations, spot on!

i love how this guy accidentally photobombed us haha

edna mode was so fabulous. whoever played her character did a fabulous job of conveying her character with movement only.

one final meeting with buzz in the evening – to infinity and beyond!

day 2 – animal kingdom really took us surprise. first off, pandora was so out of this world, and they managed to make a ride that was worth an over two hour long wait, aka flights of passage. dude. so good.

they had an eight month old hippo baby in their exhibit!! watching this sweet, stumbling little guy figure out how to walk under water was so precious

but hands down, the achievement of the day was running around from one place to the next trying to collect all of our wilderness explorer badges before they closed shop at 5pm. we somehow managed to collect all 31 badges with the help of a ton of helpful guides (one even gave us one of the stickers we were missing because we were short on time!), and we are now officially senior wilderness explorers!

so thankful for disney employees who for the most part seem to really genuinely love their jobs and make the experience all the more fuller with their enthusiasm and dedication to their work. 

can you guess who we are today? the cat ears and missing third kitten might give a hint as to this classic disney film we picked our characters from.

i just wanted to post this photo even though it’s basically the same as the one before, because we asked a random girl to take some photos for us and she nailed it with the lighting and everything. i love it when you pick the perfect person to take a photo for you

day 3 – fantasyland. it’s so interesting to see how different parks have their rides differently arranged. it’s a small world was definitely tucked into a small corner at fantasyland instead of having the entire backside of the la park

so much 💕 for this one

ingenious addition to fantasyland – they added different activities in the wait lines like a replica of eeyore’s home, interactive screens, and a playground area simulating rabbit’s garden. WELL DONE! 

when the sweetest employee ever makes your day by taking photos in the best angles for you even though he’s been working all day without a chance to eat yet. thank you, michael!

day three was disney princess day for us, but if you ask A, i was dressed up as the fairy godmother (this boy does not know his disney princesses)

day 4 – disney outdid themselves with epcot! so much attention to detail in their depiction of different nations in the world showcase, and all the educational rides were phenomenal. it is decided that i will never be an astronaut though because mission space advanced level was extremely nauseating and we both died.

many of the stations had native artisans working on their craft, like this individual painting alebrijes in the Mexico showcase. just that final touch of disney detail to make each place come to life

norwegian school bread is THE BEST! cardamom bread with light and creamy pudding topped with toasted coconut flakes – why didn’t i get this in school?

china – how much time must it have taken to put this together??

getting my caramel fix in the rustic and beautiful Germany showcase (i don’t know how they got all these things to be the perfect proportions so they were delicious without being overwhelmingly sweet)

we’re missing the annual festival of the arts by a day, but took advantage of these fun “pose as a painting” frames. while waiting in line, we asked what the right one was, and the couple ahead of us said, “Mona Lisa”. we were flabbergasted that we couldn’t recognize it, but really, who ever looked at the background of the painting anyway? 

beautiful italia with its graceful arched bridges

you really cannot pick favorites here. each showcase was created with so much care and attention to detail that you just have to appreciate each one for its own distinctness

classic British telephone booths~

side note – can you tell who i’m disneybounding as?

morocco was insanely beautiful with these intricate tiles and designs. definitely going to add this stunning location to list of places to visit 

when every night ends with fireworks, it can’t be so bad, right?

day 5 – last morning at fantasyland to finish as many rides as we can. this is me going to ride the carousel by myself while E and i took turns waiting in line at the broken snow white & 7 dwarves train ride. 

getting most things done means more time waiting in lines to meet characters and get their signatures. buying an autograph book each time i go to a new park is probably the most extravagant purchase i make all year long

we forgot to take castle photos during day 3, so here is our make up session!

also, i was very vaguely going for the casual belle look, not expecting anyone to realize, but one of the workers noticed and complimented my outfit! disney, as expected.

tomorrowland had some of my favorite rides – the peoplemover, the carousel of progress, the monsters inc stand up comedy show. my choices of favorites seem to indicate that i’m quite the old fogey these days

disney travel tip – prepare your outfits beforehand! i got my minnie ears from mercari at a fraction of the cost, and they were lightly used so they’re friendly to the earth too!

my one qualm about this trip is the fact that disneyworld was pretty lazy about the quality of their foods. the churro was ridiculously stale, and the turkey leg was oversalted and stringy from being roasted too long. 😦

always ready for an adventure

thank you, E, for making this trip happen, and making it the best time ever!

i love this snap with the adorable two girls dressed up in the perfect elsa & anna costumes, lollygagging and having the time of their lives

it would’ve been nice to do some other things outside of disney world in orlando, but our days were so full that we were always too exhausted to do anything other than eat at mcdonald’s right outside the hotel (which was also glorious). on our last night, we did get a chance to stop by the world food trucks a few blocks down from the hotel and it was amazing! wish we could’ve had the energy to check it out earlier, but thankful that we did get to try this delicious food truck paella

until next time~