We're on vacation!

Hello everyone! For those who are not aware, we are currently on Holiday in Walt Disney World. Since we both know you can’t get along without us, we decided to be “that annoying couple” that gives regular updates about their trip away. This is not an obvious attempt to rub in the fact that we are enjoying a nice warm summer holiday, while many of you (not in the US) are currently working and freezing your butts off.

In any case, we took a late flight out of Wellington to Auckland, walked to the international terminal, then hopped on our AirNZ flight to LA. Twelve hours later, we ‘de-planed’ and spent a few hours in the Delta Lounge. Then it was flight number three – a red-eye to Orlando - dropping us here just after 6:00am. One quick bus ride and we arrived at our amazing hotel. Sadly, our room was not ready as it was so very early and the hotel had been at 100% capacity the night before. We had a quick breakfast (these sandwiches we have been dreaming about for 2 years - yes really!) and went over to the Villas area of the hotel.

We found a nice little nook with a couch, where Dawn passed out and I stood sentry duty until our room was ready.

The room is a cute little ground floor studio apartment with a couch, a small patio and a kitchenette.

After trying to rest a little, we decided to get up and meet some friends for the night. A few friends (Stacey, Katie and Barbara) met us in our room and we chatted a bit. After giving them a brief tour of our new home, we hopped a boat to Magic kingdom then got on the Monorail where we rode up front with the pilot and got co-pilot licenses.

We rode it through the Contemporary resort and on to the Ticket and Transportation center where we parted company.

I (Darren) left them and hopped a Monorail to EPCOT where I met our friends Kevin and Tracie. We actually met at the Rose and Crown Restaurant and Pub at the World Showcase in Epcot. We ate, drank and had a great time! When it was over, they stayed to watch the EPCOT fireworks show, while I walked to the Beach Club to meet Dawn and the girls.

Now for my (Dawn) part! Darren forgot to mention above that we completely unpacked and stored our luggage away so that we don’t have to be reminded that we will eventually go home. It’s a tradition of sorts…
Anyway, the girls and I decided to eat dinner at one of the restaurants on the Boardwalk, which is outside of Epcot (i.e. no park admission needed). Turns out we should have taken a bus from Magic Kingdom instead of riding the monorail. Ah, well – we had a little Tiki Tour via the Contemporary (monorail), TTC, Disney Hollywood Studios (bus) and Swan and Dolphin Hotels (boat), finally walking to the Boardwalk. We ate at a brewery called The Big River Grille. I had the Golden Lager, which was ok, but no match for Monteiths Golden! The food came in American portions, of course, and was pretty good. We then went to meet up with Darren -

After chatting a bit in the Beach Club lobby, we parted ways again. This time, the girls took a cab to their hotels while we hopped a couple busses to come home again.