Disney Recap

Can’t believe I’m finally sitting down to do a recap on our vacation at the happiest place on Earth! Its been almost two weeks since we returned home and what a crazy two weeks it has been. We arrived home last Sunday night and I started classes back up Monday morning. I was anxiously anticipating Spring Semester because that finally meant GRADES! Law School exam grading apparently takes a lot longer than undergrad ever did, so we had to wait until the middle of the first week of classes to finally hear how we did Fall Semester. I was ecstatic to find out that my hard work paid off and I earned my spot on the Dean’s List. My excitement quickly faded when I realized looking at my freshly filled out planner, how busy I was going to be the next couple weeks. This week alone I had about 100 pages of reading (when you’re reading case after case this feels like 1,000), a practice essay due on Nuisance Law, a career development project and an argument structure due for my Legal Writing Class. Whew! Needless to say this week was jam-packed, and I am finally getting a chance to write about our awesome vacation!

Eager to get our on way, we arrived at the airport to find out that our first flight out of Columbus had been delayed and we would miss our connecting flight in Charlotte. After speaking with an attendant, we made arrangements to fly on a separate flight from my parents and arrive 6 hours later than planned. Within minutes of rescheduling all our flights, we were called back to the podium to hear the good news that our connecting flight had also been delayed and we could return to our original flights. Yay! A huge shout-out to American Airlines and their support for the military. They allowed us to check our bags for free, waived our bag weight overage (Nicolette may have brought the biggest suitcase I’ve ever seen 😉 and immediately upgraded Zach and I to first-class when we began to board early with his military ID.

When we arrived in Orlando, we got settled at our rental home and went out for a nice dinner to get some fuel for Disney Day 1! When we finally arrived at the park we had to stop at Guest Services to get our tickets activated. Zach had used his military discount to buy our tickets through his job so we had to link them to our magic bands at the park. After doing this, we were stopped by a Guest Relations worker who had overheard that Zach was military. He asked Zach if he would be willing to participate in the flag retreat ceremony that takes place everyday at Magic Kingdom. Before heading to Disney, I had read a couple articles about things to do at Disney and this was on the list. I couldn’t believe I was going to get to watch my Fiance be apart of such a touching ceremony. Not only did he get to be apart of the ceremony, they gave us three additional fast passes to use on any ride at any time in the park.

At the Flag Retreat Ceremony, they recited the Pledge of Allegiance and the band played the National Anthem while the flag was brought down. It was an amazing and all around moving ceremony. After the flag was brought down and fold they handed it to Zach and he got to march down Main Street with the band as my family and I got to follow. It was so awesome to not only witness but be apart of such a special ceremony. I was such a proud fiance seeing my man carry our Nation’s colors at Disney.

Day 1 was definitely a hard one to beat. Day two we traveled the world at Epcot. We started off with “Soarin”- probably one of my favorites, even though I thought Shane was going to get sick the moment we took off “in flight” and ended the day visiting all the awesome countries. We started in Canada, ate crepes in France, tried Violet Sake and Sushi in Japan, sipped on a Bellini in Italy, looked at Stein’s in Germany, tasted curry pockets in China, sampled “Viking Coffee” and a creme puff the size of my head in Norway and ended the day with some much needed Mexican Cuisine.

After Epcot, we made our way to Hollywood Studios to conquer a fear Zach and I both had as kids- Rock’n Rollercoaster. When we decided on Disney, both of us told similar stories about waiting in line with our parents and chickening out at the last minute. We overcame our fear together and agreed it was our favorite ride so far. We survived the Tower of Terror, explored some Star Wars history and ended the night at Minnie’s Diner. At the Diner we met Mickey and Minnie, got pictures with Goofy and even had Donald and Daisy come to our table.

Day 3 we went out for a big brunch, saw pitch perfect 3 (5 stars from me) and visited Animal Kingdom for a short day followed by a 3 hour dinner. Zach and Dad shared a 50oz steak and 1.5 lb lobster, we munched on some alligator and tasted crab claws. At Animal Kingdom we rode Expedition Everest and that was a fun one full of twists, turns and the Yeti chasing us a long the way.

Shout out to Shane and Nic for our awesome new pins!

On our last day, we went to Universal Studios and opted for the unlimited fast pass. We visited Harry Potter World, tried Butterbeer (sorry but it was a letdown, definitely go for the hot) and rode the rides both at Diagon Alley and Hogwarts. Harry Potter world as a whole was awesome! Some of our favorite rides were the Hulk, Transformers, both of the Harry Potter rides and the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. A lot of the rides at Universal are simulations and they were awesome! You wear 3D glasses and really feel like you’re in the movie or set.

Overall, our vacation was amazing and jam-packed! Returning to Disney as an adult was everything I could’ve asked for.

Thanks for reading,

A & Z