my first time

ok, now that i've got your attention... not THAT first time!

almost 2 weeks ago (i know, it's been almost 2 weeks since the event, but i've been so busy since then), zak and i went to disney world. yes, i am 25 years old and it was my first time ever going to disney. we weren't going to go just yet, but we had received park hopper passes from my cousin as a wedding gift. zak and i decided we were going to do the animal kingdom and epcot.

we arrived at the animal kingdom at about 10:30 or 11am... later than what we had wanted, but getting up in the morning isn't really our forte and of course there was an accident on our way there that slowed traffic down so bad it set us back about another half hour to 45 minutes! so anyways, we finally made it and of course we're overwhelmed by all to do and see... thankfully i'd been given the scoop and an itinerary by a friend who's a frequent goer of amusement parks. we wandered all over the animal kingdom, seeing amazing animals, shops and even did a couple attractions. zak isn't really much of a ride goer, so we did a lot of walking by things that i wanted to do, but that's ok, mom and i plan to go sometime and we'll hit the shows and rides that zak didn't want to. the one thing at the animal kingdom i REALLY wanted to see was the lion king show. i've heard it was amazing, but since we'd been delayed in our arrival, we couldn't fit it in if we wanted to get over to epcot to explore too. i decided it was more important to me for this trip to make it to the other park and i'll see the show another visit.

so around 4pm we headed over to epcot. zak had been to epcot before when he was young, but much had changed since his visit. new attractions and changed exhibits. it was neat and discouraging for him all at the same time because he had wanted to show me things that he remembered doing when he was young. we saw a few neat attractions and went to the finding nemo/aquarium exhibit. the part we didn't like was that you HAD to ride the ride in order to get to the aquarium, and the ride was rather dumb. after we did a few of the exhibits/attractions up front we headed "around the world" in search of dinner. now, my friend had advised me that we should make reservations as early as possible b/c most of the restaurants would be booked by the evening. i tried to get zak to pick something early on, but he didn't listen b/c he just wanted to see what he'd be in the mood for as we went along. well, it didn't matter what menu hit our fancy b/c they were all booked, there were 2 restaurants that were seating on a 1st come 1st serve basis and the one had about an hour+ wait! after making it completely around the world, going through shops and seeing little shows and performances at each, we went back to the UK for dinner. it was pretty good, but not what i'd been in the mood for, i had my heart set on mexican.

we finished dinner and there were only minutes until the fireworks. zak decided he wanted to head back to the car so he could get pictures from farther away and he also wanted/needed his tripod. we heard a few going off as we walked away. when we got to the car they went off like crazy and i told zak, hurry this is probably it! he was like, no, this can't be it (it has only been about 10 minutes into the show). by the time he got his tripod set up, it was all over... by far the most disappointing fireworks display i'd ever seen.

other than the pitiful fireworks and my sore and blistered feet (my own fault for wearing brand new sandals for the day)... it was a great day and we had a lot of fun. there was so much to see and do... it really DOES take a whole day just to do ONE park!

if you ever get the chance to go, i recommend it. the animal kingdom was so cool and had more stuff for us to take pictures of, but epcot was really interesting and explorative. if you need help planning a day there, i'd be more than happy to pass on my friend's advice, as it helped us get to see most of what we wanted in the time we had.

well, i do have other things to say, but i'll save them for another post. i'll try to do one tomorrow! i know... 2 days in a row, she'll never do it! but who knows, i just might and that would be another first! hehe.