On Wednesday, July 27th, Josh and Theo took me to the Midway airport so I could catch my direct flight to Orlando. On the way to the airport I was complaining that Midway wasn't as good as O'Hare because it didn't have a Garrett Popcorn, but look what I saw when I arrived in my terminal:
[Coming soon!]
There was no line at the TSA pre-check, so I got to my gate a couple of hours before take off. I read for a while and then paced around the airport looking for snacks. My flight was uneventful and we landed in HOT Orlando a little ahead of schedule.
I headed out to the garage and was told by the Hertz board that I could pick any car I wanted in the "Gold" aisle. I decided this Rogue was the best of the bunch and headed to the gate to get checked out. I told the gate attendant that I had an I-Pass from Illinois and that it works in FL, so I didn't need to prepay for tolls. He told me that sometimes they work and sometimes they don't and if it didn't work then Hertz would send me a big bill. I called Josh and asked him to add my rental car to our account and then I headed to the condo.
After I arrived, I did an inspection of the condo and made of list of things we needed from the store. I also threw out some old beat-up kitchen utensils and made a mental note that we should paint the floorboards in the near future.
I then went to Target to buy a few things for the condo and myself. After putting everything away I recalibrated the door lock and hung up a few more "No smoking" signs.
[Hopefully this will help people from smoking right outside our condo]
I then got a text from Luke saying they were heading back to their hotel. We had plans to meet up for dinner at Wolfgang Puck at 8:45 PM, but I told him I could pick him up early and we could go walk around Disney Springs before dinner.
*Side note: I bought a few apple AirTags during Prime Day. I set one up as "Josh" and put it on Josh's keychain, so I could see how they work. When I left on my trip I put "Josh" in my luggage. Every time I left the condo (and my luggage with the "Josh" air tag), I got a reminder on my watch that I left Josh behind. It was sad đ˘
I headed to Disney's Contemporary Resort to pick up Luke and then we went to Disney Springs. It started POURING rain right after we arrive (super typical for Orlando in the summer), so we took cover and just hung out while we waited for the storm to pass.
After it stopped raining we walked around a bit more and then went to check in at Wolfgang Puck.
For dinner we got bruschetta, creamy Mac-n-cheese, and a fennel sausage pizza to share. Everything was delicious! I knew they next few days were going to be busy, so it was nice just to sit and catch up with Luke one-on-one for a few hours.
The next morning (July 28th) I got up bright and early and headed to Hollywood Studios! "Early Entry" for the hotel guest is at 8:00 AM, so I planned on meeting everyone outside the Park at 7:30 AM. Of course, I don't know much about traffic in Orlando AND I'm always early, so I arrived at 6:58 AM.
I was the first car to the gate and I had to wait for 2 minutes (they let cars in at 7:00 AM) before they moved the cones and I could go park.
Even though I was the first one in the parking lot, there were already hotel guest that we lining up before I arrived. That's dedication right there!
Within a few minutes of arriving I was already sweating. The humidity down here is no joke!
Not too long after I arrived Luke, Andie, Porter, Kenna, Alysse (Andie's sister), Chasten, Wyatt, and Laila showed up. We paid extra for "Genie Plus," but that didn't work on all the rides. So our first stop was Rise of the Resistance. We were all so excited because all of the kids were tall enough to ride!
[Luke, Kenna, Porter, and Andie]
We then went on Star Tours (we went to Jakku and Exegol!) and then three of the kids built lightsabers!
[Alysse, Chasten, Wyatt, Kenna, Laila, Luke, and Porter]
It was very cute to see Luke and Chasten helping their boys make lightsabers!
Alysse then helped Laila make her very own PURPLE lightsaber! She seemed very excited!
Over the course of the next few hours we went on a bunch of rides and saw the Beauty and Beast show, The Indiana Jones Stunt Show (Andie and Alysse's cousin is a stunt performer in it), and the Frozen singalong show.
[In line for one of my favorite rides: Tower of Terror!]
[Love it!]
[Their cousin is in the green jacket]
[The stunt man for Indiana Jones was super nice and answered all of the questions from the kids]
[Slinky Dog Dash]
Later that night we went to Galaxy's Edge for dinner (Ronto wrap and Moof Juice?! Yes, please!) and then we did a taste test of the blue and green milk. Blue is the best, right?!
We ended the day by riding Smugglers Run and shopping at Dok-Ondar's! I bought Ahsoka's Clone Wars lightsabers, a blue kyber crystal, and a Jedi holocron. Luke bought Luke's lightsaber, a blue kyber crystal, and a Jedi holocron. It's always fun to go shopping with a fellow Star Wars fan!
Besides the HEAT, I had a blast running around my favorite Disney World Park with some of my favorite people!
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