Disney Trip Day 1

Emma excited about flying but wasn’t too impressed with the experience.

Didn’t have to pick up bags, went straight to Disney bus from plane.

Bags delivered to room. Got our first quick service meal for lunch at hotel. I got pizza, emma got a hot dog. Checked into room which overlooks the lake, right across from the contemporary, and can see space mountain from our back porch. Headed to Epcot.

First ride was a Nemo themed ride, not too exciting, then another Nemo themed theater experience with a talking turtle. Emma was not impressed. Had to eat an early dinner due to timing of reservations, and due to our late lunch, we weren't really feeling it. I got steak but passed on the "free" dessert. Emma got Mac and cheese. Linz some fish. Restaurant was interesting because the whole wall was looking into a giant fish tank. Ate with Pawpaw and Grandma Cheryl. After dinner, we walked around and saw the different countries.

Went to Norway where the new Frozen ride is. Waited for over an hour, ride was short, but Emma really loved it.

Her first true Disney experience. Finished walking around the countries, stopped at America for funnel cake and listened to a little bit of a Singing Christmas tree concert. Pawpaw got emma a bubble blower and Christmas light necklace. On our way out there were some light up bricks you could walk on, and Emma seemed to have her best experience of the night running around on those. Got back to the hotel around 9 and watched the fireworks from Magic Kingdom on the back patio of the hotel.

Disney Day 2

We took the monorail to magic kingdom and got there around 10am, and got Emma some Minnie ears first.

Then we went to Tomorrowland for a scheduled ride on the Buzz Lightyear ride. It was temporarily broken down so we got free fast passes for any ride of our choice. Me Chad and Jennifer went to space mountain and skipped the 30 minute line, and Linz and emma went to see and take pictures with princess Elena and Cinderella.

The gift shops are conveniently located at the exits so I got her a Cinderella doll to make her forget about the $60 Elena dress she wanted.

Me and Emma got on the teacups, then went to the Winnie the Pooh ride, then took a picture with Ariel. Ariel said she loved emma’s dress and asked her what her favorite colors of her dress were.

Since we were in the area, we hopped on the Little mermaid ride and dumbo ride.

Then we got some food at one of the quick service lunch places. Emma and I both got hotdogs. Linz got a grilled chicken sandwich. Then we did some classic disney rides: it’s a small world, Peter Pan, and the haunted mansion.

We thought twice about the haunted mansion, but told her she could close her eyes if she was scared. She thought it was funny. She liked the dancing ghosts and moving pictures. We met back up with Jen and Chad, got some ice cream, and took emma on her first rollercoaster.

It was the thunder mountain coaster in Frontierland. I was a little worried at first that she wouldn’t like the speed, but she was laughing the whole way down, she wanted to stay on and go again. Linz broke off and went to the Polynesian hotel to get emma a bathing suit. We met up with Pawpaw and Grandma Cheryl again and went on splash mountain.

Emma was excited for most of the ride but wasn’t ready for the weightlessness of the 50ft drop. She kinda looked at me with a frowny face for a split second, but then snapped out of it and said she wanted to ride it again. On our way out of the park there was a musical show going on in front of Cinderella’s castle, it was Minnie and Mickey with frozen, tangled and princess and frog characters. Emma loved it. We hopped on the boat back to the hotel instead of the monorail.

We got our bathing suits on and went out to the pool. It was awesome, there was a water slide that went pretty fast, first time down I went with emma in my lap, but as soon as we hit the pool the lifeguards were yelling that you had to go one at a time. I was a little bummed cause I didn’t think there was a chance she’d go by herself. I took her back up and this time went down first to catch her. She got cold feet cause the next kid down wasn’t emma, or the next... Eventually she came walking back down the stairs. After a little more swimming she said she wanted to try again, there were some twin girls up at the top that said they would help her. Sure enough, I went down, and emma came right after me. Emma played with those two girls for the next hour, going down the slide over and over. We had a dinner reservation at the Rainforest Cafe in Disney Springs. The bus ride was longer than anticipated, so we were late, but luckily we didn’t lose our spot. The restaurant was good, I got a really good Cajun spicy chicken and shrimp pasta dish and Linz got some shrimp tacos. We got a huge volcano dessert as well. Me and emma stopped in a Goofy co. Candy store and got her a lollipop before we got back on the bus.

We didn’t get back to the hotel room until almost 10:45! Emma was asleep within seconds of the light turning off.

Disney Day 3

Today was our day at Hollywood studios.

We didn’t leave for the park til around 10 after sleeping in. We started off with the Star Wars ride, star tours. Only me and Emma went. It was a 3d ride where the chairs moved to make you feel like you were flying in a spaceship.

Next we headed to the toy story ride, but the lines were really long due to a malfunction, so we got the to swap it out for another fast pass. We decided to do the little mermaid show, but first we stopped by and met Sofia the first.

The little mermaid show was a live action, light show that re-enacted scenes from the little mermaid. Then we decided we needed to start using our snacks so we got some popcorn, cotton candy and coke, which we all shared.

Next up was the Frozen sing along show. it was a live action mixed with scenes from the movie that had the lyrics. Some kids were singing, but I expected to hear more. Emma sat quietly and watched. At the end, Elsa Anna Olaf and Christoph all come on stage and sang a few more new songs.

With Emma seeming to be fearless, I decided to test out Tower of Terror.

We waited in line with an unsupervised boy and girl sibling duo estimated 5&7 and Emma made friends with them. The boy was telling the sister and emma all about it and emma said she had been on the haunted mansion and splash mountain. When we got up near the ride, they asked if they could ride with us, so we all sat on the same row. Everything was going ok until the drops. Emma didn’t cry but she wasn’t liking it. When it was over she laughed about it with her new friends, but then told me it made her stomach feel weird and she didn’t want to ride it again.

Next was our scheduled lunch at Hollywood and Vine. It was a nice little buffet diner where Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy all came around the tables to take pictures with you while you eat. Emma wasn’t too shy, but she wasn’t as eager as some of the other kids.

After our late lunch, we decided to split up. Emma really wanted to get back to the pool, but there were still a few rides on my list. First up was the live action Star Wars show. We had seen glimpses of it throughout the day, but I wanted to watch the whole thing. All of the characters came out with an introduction followed by clips from their scenes in the movies. Pretty nerdy, but it was fun to see. Then I had to go on the Aerosmith themed rockin rollercoaster. It was about an hour wait, but pretty fun. As I was about to leave, I noticed the Indiana Jones show was about to start, so I figured I’d check it out since it was a classic. They pull volunteers from the crowd, and funny enough, Emma’s two friends from the Tower of Terror were the two kids they picked to introduce the show. Emma was still in the pool when I got back, so I got on my bathing suit and joined her. Went on the water slide again and again until the pool closed. Linz ate dinner with Jen at the nice restaurant at the hotel, and me and Emma went and got another hot dog at the quick service restaurant at the hotel. After dinner it was 9pm, but emma wanted to get back in the pool.

So we went to the adult pool and swam until 9:30. Then we showered off and met Linz and Jen at the patio for fireworks at 10pm.

Disney Day 4

Our last day of Disney was in magic kingdom and it was a full day.

With the meal plan we started the day with about 8 snacks left so we went ahead and used 3 right off the bat by getting a soft Mickey pretzel a churro and a coke. Emma loved the churro. Our first scheduled ride of the day was the jungle cruise so we headed over to Adventureland. The Aladdin magic carpet ride had a short line so me and Emma jumped on. It was just a typical fair ride that goes around in circles and you control if it goes up or down. I got the sense that the tower of terror had made her a little jittery because she grabbed on to me as soon as it started, even though it was pretty tame.

Then we jumped on the jungle cruise. It was a slow boat ride through different jungles of the world. The lady running our boat was telling some pretty lame jokes, but emma liked seeing the elephants. The Swiss Family Robinson treehouse was right next to where we got off, so we walked through that. Emma loved it and wants me to build her one. The only stipulation being, the “doors need to open on mine.”

We had an early lunch and on our way there we saw the frozen/tangled show was going on again at Cinderella’s castle so we stopped and watched. It was sunny and mid 80s so we were glad to take a lunch break. We had a reservation at the Liberty Tree Tavern in Liberty Square. The food was ok, but the dessert was really good. It was vanilla cake with toffee and caramel with ice cream on top. We weren’t that hungry going in to lunch but I did my best to finish that dessert. After lunch, we had fast passes for splash mountain. I asked Emma if she wanted to go again and she said yes, but I sensed a little hesitation. As soon as we went down the first little hill she grabbed me and said she wanted to get off. Uh oh. She was fine but had a pitiful little whimper going the rest of the ride. I held her tight for the big drop and as soon as we got splashed she let out a little smile. We decided to take a break from the park and head back to the hotel so we hopped on the ferry.

We went to the pool for a few hours, grabbed a few snacks, then headed back to the park. We had one more rollercoaster left, the seven dwarves mine train. I thought it was a kids ride, but once we got close I realized it went pretty fast and had a pretty big drop. The line was a two hour wait so I figured it had to be good. We had fast passes so we jumped right to the front. Emma did good, in line she said she wanted to put her hands up in the air. She did around the first turn, but once we started climbing The Hill she grabbed on. The first drop got her whimpering again, but she got over it quick. She liked it and wanted to go again after it was over. There was only one rollercoaster left in the park, the goofy themed barnstormer, so I figured it would be safe to go on that one as well. On our way over we stopped at Gaston’s Tavern to grab a cinnamon roll. It was the size of Emma’s head. At the ride, we had to wait a little bit but Emma loved that one as well. At the end of the trip she said that was her favorite ride. For dinner we stopped at Pecos Bill Cafe and got some Mexican food. Me and Emma got the Beef nachos and Linz got the fajitas. For park food, it was actually pretty good. Me and Emma ate all of ours.

After dinner we decided to walk back down Main Street to the big shop at the entrance to find Emma the Elsa doll we promised her.

Of course we had to get Anna as well. In what later proved to be a critical mistake, we tried to get closer to the castle for the fireworks. As we got closer and closer to the castle we slowly realized we’d missed our chance for a good view. We found the first available spot to camp out, which unfortunately had a large tree blocking most of the castle.

The fireworks were great and right over our heads, but we couldn’t really see the light show they were projecting on the castle.

Emma was tired and as soon as the last firework went off she was asleep. Our critical mistake was now clear as we slowly shuffled towards the exit. It probably took an hour to get back to the hotel. We had to be at the bus at 7:30 the next morning so we packed our bags and then quickly fell asleep.

New Zealand, Final Day

We woke up early for our Safari of the Rings tour! It was quite cold and cloudy out, but it still was an amazing tour. Joe and I were the only two travelers in our Land Rover (named Bilbo), so it was nice because we got to ask as many questions as we wanted! 

Our driver actually had worked on the LOTR movie set, so we got to hear all of his stories about having drinks with the cast, where he is hiding behind trees in particular scenes, and his work with the stunt doubles. He said working on that movie was so exhausting that he actually retired afterwards. He thought about going back to work on the Hobbit to see everyone again, but decided he couldn't do the demanding hours all over again. 

We couldn't see as much with rain and clouds, but what we could see was still completely worth it! 

After the tour, I decided I wanted to do the Shotover Jet. It came highly recommended from our EF tour director. Joe opted to walk through the gardens. 

The jet goes about 50 mph down shallow parts of a river (he said 10cm deep)! You could feel the boat bouncing off of the rocks beneath. They would drive you through really narrow canyons and scare you by driving super close to the rock walls! 

I met back up with Joe for dinner. We decided to eat at a local Mexican restaurant and do a little more shopping before calling it a night. 

This morning, we wanted to see The Remarkables, a group of mountains that have hidden behind clouds almost the whole time we've been here. We took a gondola up a mountain to see them, but the clouds had risen too high. We joked that we would finally be able to see them as we were flying out of Queenstown--it ended up being true! 

Now we are on our long journey back home: Queenstown - Auckland - Los Angeles - San Francisco - Raleigh! 

See you on the 4th :) 

New Zealand, Day 15

Joe and I left at 4 AM to make our way back to New Zealand. We spent most of the day going from Cairns to Brisbane and then to Queenstown. We got here about 4 PM.  

We could tell from the plane that Queenstown was going to be an amazing place! The mountains are snow capped and it's about 44 degrees. 

Our hotel is called the Brown Boutique Hotel, and it seems to be a small local find. It is the cutest place! Mom, you would love it. Dad, it has the views that our Switzerland hotel had!

Joe and I immediately wanted to explore the town. It reminds us a lot of Boone (so you know from that how excited Joe is to be here haha). 

Our EF tour director, Erica, text me and told me some of her favorite places to eat and things to do here. We decided to check out the tapas place she recommended. It had a lake front view. Even with the mountains hidden by clouds, the views are still breathtaking. 

After tapas, we decided to go to the Italian restaurant she also recommended. We got garlic bread, similar to a Great Harvest loaf, and bolognese spaghetti. It was delicious!  

After our short evening here, Joe and I are already plotting on how to come back. This is definitely one of my favorite places of the trip! 

Australia, Day 13-14

Joe and I traveled to Cairns yesterday. Unfortunately, it was raining when we got here. We walked around to a couple of stores and ate dinner at a burger place. We called it an early night and went to sleep. 

Today's weather was cloudy, but at least it wasn't rainy! We got up early and walked around the marina some before checking into our Great Barrier Reef cruise. It was a 2 hour boat ride out to the Moore Reef. We got to witness many people get sea sick!

When we got there, we were hoping for some sun, but it never came. Joe and I decided to snorkel first. We rented wet suits because it was kinda cold out on the water! I discovered that it is very difficult to take photos underwater, so I switched to video. 

The reef was not as colorful as I had hoped. Though it's not quite completely bleached, you can see that it is dying. One of the ladies near us said that she came a couple of years ago and that this is dramatically different from what she saw. One of the cool things was how close you were to it! I could reach out and touch it (but they warn you against this) so I just looked. You can apparently be fined a pretty penny (or 2,000) for touching the reef intentionally. 

When we were tired of snorkeling, we came inside and ate some of the lunch buffet (mainly the fruit). After that, we went on the glass bottom boat tour. We got the same type of views that we did snorkeling. 

You can see the reef areas from the boat because of the discoloration of the water. I really wanted to do the helicopter view, but it cost $300 so we opted not to!

We got back around 5:30 and decided to eat at a restaurant that our tour director had suggested. We will be flying back to New Zealand tomorrow!