| Friday I took the day off of work and spent my day Christmas shopping with my brother, then frantically wrapping presents, cleaning house, and packing. Alex and I hit the road at about 6 and drove the 3 hours to Houston uneventfully. At his parents house we opened presents. We then watched Bruce Almighty and went to sleep. Saturday we got up and drove to the airport to fly out at 10. We flew to Tampa, which was about a 2 hour flight. In Tampa, we rented a van, and drove to Orlando where we stayed in a Clarion for that night. IWe went out to eat somewhere, but I can't remember where, now. Then we watched Office Space in the hotel room and went to bed. Sunday we got up, checked out of the hotel, and drove to Universal Studios. Of all the parks, I liked this one the best. That's because I LOVE roller coasters and this park has the very best ones. We rode the dueling dragons, which is 2 coasters that run simultaneously and at parts it looks like you are heading straight for each other then miss by a foot. We also rode the incredible hulk. They had a really cool Dr. Suess land there that was all decorated for Chirstmas. After our trip to Universal Studios, we drove to our hotel at the Old Key West vacation villas. Alex's parents have a Disney timeshare, so they save up their points and get to stay in the really cool places. Our suite was awesome, with a master bedroom, a bedroom for us kids, and a living room and kitchen with fold out couch. It even had a porch! Alex and I went with his parents to the grocery store to get food for the week, and we brought pizza home for dinner. We ate and played spades till bed time. Monday we got up and went to the MGM park. It had some cool rides, like the rockin roller coaster. We saw the muppet 3D show, rode the tower of terror, saw the Indiana Jones show, and watched this huge show they had called the Fantasmic. It was this water/laser/light/firework/live action show. When we were done with that Alex's mom and I went back to the room and the rest rode a few more rides then came back. Tuesday we went to Epcot. We rode the mission in space ride, the crash test car ride, and saw a couple of shows.Then we started around the countries that go around the lake. We stopped in Germany to rest, and watched this living statue chick at Italy. When that was over we had 2 hours before we had dinner reservations at the really nice restaurant in Italy. So Alex, Chelsea, and I took off to explore on our own. We took a lot of fun pictures, and went all the way around the lake and stopped to look around at each country. Then we went to Italy to the restaurant. MMMMMMMMM it was awesome! And our waitress, who was really from Italy, was really cool. After that, the family wanted to stay for the firework show but Alex and I were just about showed out so we left. We had to wait for the bus to load 3 wheelchairs onto it and didn't even leave the park till the show was actually over, but at least we beat the crowd leaving. I don't have any more pictures after Epcot, because we decided not to bring the camera after Epcot. (Alex had it in his pocket and slightly scratched the viewing screen, so he was paranoid) But his dad took pictures, so hopefully they'll send us theirs and I can post later. I liked this park a lot! I really loved seeing the real animals. We did the safari and saw 2 giraffes, 2 elephants, 2 lions, gorillas, monkeys, wildebeasts, crocodiles, rhinos, hippos, and tons of other animals. It was so cool. We also rode this rapids ride and got soaked. I managed to lean forward during the big splashes and only got my back wet, but Alex's brother was head to toe soaked! Remember, it was slightly chili too. About 60 degrees, which is nice in the sun, but wet in the shade is miserable. Christmas Day, Alex and I woke up early and went to the Christmas Mass at Magic Kingdom by oursleves while the family slept. Then he called his mom and we agreed to meet them at Downtown Disney to go to the arcade they have. Well, the bus sysem won't let you go from a park to downtown, you have to go back to the resort first. Alex wanted to ride the monorail, so we took that from Magic Kingdom to Epcot, then the bus to the resort, then another bus to Downtown Disney. It was still fun because it was just me and Alex with no one else to boss us around. Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day was a nightmare. The park was full, and they had it closed to anyone except people with the passes like we had. There was a televised parade earlier that day, but we missed it. (good thing, though. I hate crowds like that). We literally pushed through masses of people to get to 1 ride with no line - the carosel of progress. I still have the song from that ride stuck in my head... "it's a great big beautiful tomorrow...." Then, we pushed our way to the Peter Pan ride, which had been Alex's favorite ride when he was 4 years old. We stood in line for an hour to ride it! For those of you who don't know, this is a ride from the original park, so it is short, and kind of low-tech. Fun, anyway, but not worth an hour wait. After that we were sick of the crowd, so Alex's mom and I did a little shopping and left. I bought Alex a picture frame shaped like the Castle so I could give him something on Christmas Day. She and I went back to the room and relaxed, and the rest showed up shortly after. I was so tired, and was going to just hang out, but everyone wanted to go back to the arcade, and that sounded fun to me, so I went too. It was pretty fun. At midnight, we still hadn't eaten, so we stopped at a Quiznos on the way home since it was the only place open on Christmas night. Friday we got up and packed up and left the resort. We drove 2 hours back to Tampa. Alex's mom got his dad this little mini DVD player thing for traveling for Christmas, so we watched Waynes World during the trip. In Tampa, we had to turn the van in to the rental place, the shuttle to the airport. We had 2 hours to kill in the airport, so Alex, his brother, and I just hung out. Then we flew 2 hours back to Houston. We watched Waynes World 2 on the little DVD thing on the way home. At 10 we got in the car and drove the 3 hours home, with the help of coffee, of course. During the drive, our friends called and said they were out, and wanted us to come out. We ended up drinking at Jace's house till 5 am. Josh kept making me take shots, so after 5 or 6 I couldn't walk Alex and I slept on Jace's futon till about 10 am, then we finally got to go home! |
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