Florida 2016: The Last Installment of the Walker Family Vacation Blog

Blog Part 3

Day 4, Day 5, End of Vacation (for sure!)

Here's to hoping I can fit 3 days in 1 blog post, for all our sakes. Haha. This is going to be a long post. Afterall, we crammed so much in a week of vacation. xD

Day 4: Cacao Beach

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I wasn't really able to take a lot of pictures at the Cacao Beach. It was really pretty outside, and it was a little windy but still warm -- but the water... the water was ice cold!!! Nonetheless, I was really excited about swimming, I thought everyone would swim, but only Cortney, Travis, Kyle, and I braved the waters! Well, Zach jumped into the water too, and Llyr did play a bit. But no one actually swam. I'm a little disappointed. I really thought since it was Florida -- it'd be warm water? Haha. The pictures above are the three photos I stole from my mother-in-law, because those were my favorite shots. Also, be it known, I was the one who made my husband dig a hole -- so we can be the same height, haha. I just imagine, we're not the sweet-sweet couple, we're the funny-weird-sweet couple. :D

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That evening, after the beach, we went to a nice restaurant to eat at. It was had a lakeside view, which was so nice. We met with Dad-o (my husband's grandfather), his brother Ted, and Carol. We all sat down to have a nice dinner. It was funny that on the way there though we kept getting lost. Not on purpose, might I point out. We had to pay for 2 tolls that we didn't need, because the GPS was acting so awful it kept jumping and freezing, so yes, we got lost, and we were a bit late for the dinner. But all in all, I think it was good.

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We thought we were ordering something light, and we ended up with MASSIVE food in front of us! Haha. It's safe to say, NO ONE finished whatever they ordered. That's Mom-o Judy in the picture, I'm sure I'll get pinched when she sees this post. Haha.

This was also the day we found out Llyr likes girl with Strawberry-blonde hair! xD

Day 5: Old Town, Fun Spot and Putt Putt Golf

Old town, I was told it was made to look like an old western town.

I loved this place! It was a really fun place to just walk around. I love the buildings, the signs, the colors, and the food! Of course, because we are in Florida a.k.a Disney World, the souvenir shops are still all Disney, and well some old 80s-90s stuff. It was pretty cool being there. 

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In the middle of the town was this clock. I loved it! I couldn't make up my mind which direction to capture, so I just stood from one side, took a photo, and moved to the other side, and took another one. It was so much to stare at and take photos of! I wish we could have strolled there longer really. Also there were other neat stuff in the area.

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If you click the photo above, and look at the first photo on the left, you'd notice the sign on the right window it says "free smells" haha, I thought that was hilarious. The 2nd photo, is a bench! A chevy bench! I thought that was neat. The bottom left photo is a mining thing. You buy a bag of what seems like dirt, wash in the flowing water thing, and then you might just find gems! It's like a fukobukuro (lucky bag in Japan). The last photo -- well, you know I like taking photos of people walking.

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My baby who LOVES cars actually got scared of this Monster Truck! Haha

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But Llyr LOVES these cars!

Fun Spot, it was like a funfair. It had games, rides, candied apples, cotton candy, and the all american corn dog! Haha.

This is the website of the Fun Spot. I didn't ride roller coasters because I'm scared. But I did ride a sky coaster. I thought it was going to be like zipline but no, it was insane!

You can skip ahead to 2:50minutes to see how the ride went.

We were 300feet above the ground! And just went woosh!!
This is the craziest ride of my life, yet.

So that was Fun Spot, and now we can go to the Mini Golf part of the day!

Florida is actually known as the putt putt golf capital of the world! So, we definitely had to play it while we were there! I was HORRIBLE at it, but it was fun because I could play with people who are fun! 

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As you can see, if you click the photo, the Mini Golf park also had a Flamingo ride for those family or friends who wanted to not play golf, haha. On the right hand picture there is a wheel that tells you what to do or how to play the game, it was pretty fun. Sometime you have to putt with your eyes closed, or doing it backwards.

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My father-in-law said I did really well for my first time, meh. xD I thought I was just awful, but it was a lot of fun! I would like to try it again, especially if there would be a roulette again. 

The vacation is coming to a quick end, was what I felt when we went for dinner. So, I told them we definitely had to eat at that grill pit restaurant we saw the first day. (Remember the restaurant owner pointed us to a still open Ale House, he was nice, he gave us discount coupons!) So, we went there and ate steak and ribs, and just awesome food.

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Here my baby's acting really sweet and just plain silly in a few frame shots :) Love my boy! And the perfect way to end this trip was to eat what Florida is known for! 

keylime pie!

I have always wanted to try one! It was so tart! Just it would WOW your mouth! I loved every bit of it!

Here's a last photo of my baby as he eats strawberries! ^_^

I had so much fun in this vacation! We were up and going everywhere everyday, which was why it was hard for Llyr to become accustomed to being inside the house again, when we came back to Kentucky. I feel so blessed to be able to even have a vacation like this, never in my dreams have I thought of being in Florida or Disney, or the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, or playing mini golf, or falling to my doom! Haha!

Thank you to you who is reading this. Thank you for taking this journey of my vacation with me! Thank you for not being tired of hearing what's new and up about. I know this blog does not have a GREAT amount of readers, but YOU who's reading right now, you count. You make my blogging experience worth it.

The plane ride home was calm, my baby and father-in-law slept so my mother-in-law and I just relaxed, the flight seemed so long though, because it was quiet. And so, we had to go back to Winter in Kentucky.

Here's a photo of a flower bouquet vending machine for you! This was at the airport xD 

I have never seen one before this.

Do you have this sort of thing near you?

Lastly, I leave you with this:

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The happy smiles of the Walker Family

during the Florida 2016 vacation!

Florida 2016: Part 2

Blog Part 2

Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, End of Vacation

So this is the long awaited part 2 of my blog. Haha. I don't even know if people really read my blog. Anyway, let's start with an early morning rise to ---

Day 3: Disney Princess Run and EPCOT

Disney Princess 5K

The Disney Princess 5K Run! We woke up at 4am (okay, they woke up at 4:00, and I woke up at 4:20 -- in my defense, Llyr kept me up ^^;) and we got ready to leave at about 5:20am or so. We arrived in EPCOT Cast parking (Employees in Disney are all called "casts".) My mother-in-law, and her bestie had to go through a different area which was for the runners, so my father-in-law and I have to look for a parking spot and then look for the starting line.

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We took pictures before the race while everyone was fresh and not injured, haha. No one was injured in this 5K. Moving on, we watched a lot of the runners pass by, I was on the look-out for fancy costumes, but I took no pictures really, because I wanted to just my mom-in-law and her bff as they go through the race. So we headed to the finish line and waited. They finished beautifully in 50 minutes! It was awesome!

Look at that 5k buddies' hug~

After the race and sun was fully up in the morning sky, we went back to the hotel to the surprise of everyone who did not come to see it. Haha. Well, no one expected that we would be back that early, I guess. So we had time to freshen up, and eat before going to EPCOT!! Here we go Disney!

Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow

We arrived at a good time, even though we had a lot of walking and confusion on how to go there, that was funny. I thought everyone I'm with already knew where to go and how to get there, so it was fun seeing them get lost too. xD

We rode a shuttle bus, and a boat to go there! Fun!

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The boat was so pretty and it was a nice ride to see the sights around. I also have this thing about taking photos of people walking. I have no clue why. Don't judge me. Haha. So I knew we were going to EPCOT and I knew it was going to be the less thrilling of all the parks, because that's what people say, and that's awesome! Because I am afraid of loop the loops of roller coasters! I was so shocked though because right as we entered, I saw my favorite fairy ever!! TINKERBELL was there!! I had to run and have my picture taken with her of course!

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Of course, the one robot I was so looking forward to meeting was Baymax! This is why I'm so glad we went to EPCOT for my first Disney experience ever. If not here, then I would not be able to hug Baymax ^^. Funny story, in the last photo on the right, my husband was already on his way to exit the photo area, but Baymax had a tight grip on my arm, and was not letting me go! xD It was so cute because he also chased after me! I have a video proof -- but you really have to watch the end closely, you'll see him pop up right behind me. Watch it here <-- click (fast forward to 0:54seconds if you do not want to watch the entire meet and hug video, but it's sooooo cute)

Llyr on the other hand, was not so happy with the Disney people he's been seeing. It's so sad that he dislikes Tinkerbell (I mean she's basically me! With blonde hair!) xD He was not so sure about Pinocchio either, look at that frown. Be sure to click the photos to see it better.

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But we did find one who he really likes! Around Christmas, we watched Lilo & Stitch, so he must have remember him from that! (I may be biased - totally - but that's just impressive)

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With Stitch, he was ever so willing to interact! He even got out of his stroller and kept waving at him. Adorable!

So the day went on, and we went to the Spaceship Earth, Journey into Imagination with Figment, Mission: Space, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, Living with the Land, Colortopia, Gran Fiesta Tour starring the Three Caballeros, The Sum of all Thrills. To know more about these rides please click here.

I would say the best one would be the Mission:Space it made me dizzy, but it was so fun! We get to have a simulation of being astronauts, you would really feel the g-force. Then there's that ride my husband took me to: The Sum of all Thrills, it was pretty interesting.

not mine (got this from Google)

You actually get to make your roller coaster / jet coaster the way you want it to, from levels 1-4. My husband of course made it crazy. I got really scared because I raised about 3inches from my seat when it had me upside down! Thank goodness it could not actually do a loop d' loop!

EPCOT is about the world, so there are different countries featured in it, and of course I had a ton of fun in Japan! I took few pictures because it was already night time when we were able to go to the countries, but hey, it's pretty cool.

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That concludes Day 3, everything ended with a bang! Here's a video clip I edited if you'd like to see.

Click here <--- watch it! ^^

I probably should end it here.

I was thinking of having my blog about the vacation in just 2 parts, but it's too much to fit in here. Haha so please look forward to the 3rd and hopefully last installment of this vacation blog!

Florida 2016: A Walker family vacation and adventure

Blog Part 1

Arrival, Day 1, Day 2
I have no idea how to put such a big vacation into one blog post, so I thought I would do it in parts. I probably will do it into 2 parts. I would do one per day, but I feel like that should have been blogged as the day ended which was not possible for me then.

Arrival

This was my 2nd time travelling with my baby by plane, thank goodness I had my mother-in-law with me. She is just an angel of a big help! I don't think the journey to Florida would have been fun if it was me and husband only with our baby. xD Llyr was so good on the plane! He just played and watched the clouds and he was a really good boy all in all. We couldn't have asked for a much better time with him. We got to the hotel to meet my husband and my mom-o-in-law who drove all the way to Florida from Kentucky. It was a 14 hour drive, crazy, right? After we settled in we decided to have our supper, and it was weird because most of the fast foods and restaurants were closed! Unless you were at the drive-thru. So we had to look for another place to eat at. Luckily, the owner of the restaurant we were standing in front of, told us there is a place called Ale House which was still open and will be open until 2AM. So we went there! The food was REALLY good, and we had a fun meal. *wink wink*

Day 1: Disney Springs
a.k.a Downtown Disney

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This place was so much bigger than I thought it would be. There was a not-so-hidden area that I didn't see until my brother-in-law pointed it out. Okay, my husband pointed it out too, but *cough* ^_^ So, we went way inside of the downtown area to find a glorious Lego place! If I had known sooner, we would have been there faster. The best part of this area, for me, is the Ganachery -- they have awesome chocolate!

Day 2: Universal Studios Orlando and Island of Adventures

a.k.a the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

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THIS WAS THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED TO ME YET!

Florida has been awesome so far. The weather was awesome, I was getting tired of the dry air, haha. The food has been so good, seafood is love. The sights, wow, I never thought I would palm trees until I stopped seeing them. Then my mind was blown by the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! It was a DREAM COME TRUE. I can picture myself going there everyday and still finding new things everyday.

I had a long talk about getting these tickets that was a park-to-park for 1 day, because only if you get these tickets would you be able to go on the Hogwarts Express which was also an attraction. 

We arrived there with a problem. We had no tickets yet, and we needed the person with the credit card so it can be printed. Well, rain on my parade, why don't ya. But it was fixed because of the positive people around me, the Walker family is really a 'we'll-fix-it!' bunch. Gotta love that. Also, I have to mention that this day, my baby was with his lola and lolo (grandparents) and they went to Animal Kingdom.

So we were able to get in around 9:10AM instead of my wish to be inside before 8AM, haha. Anyway, I'm so glad we were able to go in. I was such a drama kid while waiting for my ticket. I thought I would not be able to go in, I was silently breaking into pieces on the inside. Anyway, we got in! We made a rush to go to Diagon Alley! Of course, the main purpose was Harry Potter.

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We got to the King's Cross Station where you can ride from Diagon Alley (London Underground) to Hogsmeade (a little beyond Hogwarts). Right in front of it was the Knight Bus with Stan and Ernie. ^_^ Loved Stan, he was so in character! Loved the bus too, I wish we could enter it xD

The moment you pass through the brick wall, you'd see how glorious Diagon Alley is, with the Gringotts Dragon in the middle which breathes fire every 20 minutes (give or take). 

There are a lot of shops in Diagon Alley, and it's pretty much on point. It was unbelievable how you would just forget about the Florida or wherever you're from because you cannot see anything else but Diagon Alley. Be immersed in this magical place! It is breathtaking to be there, surrounded by your magical-kin and muggle-born witches and wizards alike. If you have some $$$ to spare (more like saved-up) you can buy your wizard's robe, wand, and everything! My husband bought us wands, and they are interactive, so we just performed charms, and hexes and jinxes everywhere!

After you've had your fill of Diagon Alley head to the train station where you can find Platform 9 3/4.

It's beautiful.

You get to go through the Platform like Harry did, I have a video of it here. <-- click

The Hogwarts Express was a big attraction, since both your window and door actually shows you scenes from the movie, it was magical. Taking videos inside was not really allowed, but you get to enjoy it, it's really good. Spoiler Alert: I high-fived a Dementor. xD

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Hogsmeade was amazing! It was not as big as what Diagon Alley seemed to be, but the everything would just make a Harry Potter fan feel at home. It's a good thing we didn't eat lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, because the food at the Three Broomsticks was awesome! We had ribs, and chicken, mashed potatoes and corn. Oh it was the biggest most expensive meal I've paid for so far, but it was so good. Also, the butterbeer was fantastic! If you're willing to fork off some $$$ then you can have a souvenir mug.

Sorry for the crappy photo of the Hogwarts Castle, I was too short to have a great photo. T^T but this was the BEST RIDE ever!! It was supposed to be a simulation of riding a broom, it was so fun! There is also a Hogwarts Castle tour. At the Escape to Gringotts ride which I forgot to mention, there were moving paintings of goblins, which looked like a screen, sorry, it just did. The moving paintings in the Hogwarts castle though was so unbelievably good! It looked just like paintings. It was everything I imagined and dreamed of seeing. I just wish that they had the Black Lake like in USJ (I really wanna go there). The Journey to the Forbidden Forest is the best ride there by far!

Anyway, I have to end this post now, or I will spoil too much. I just had the best time there. 2.18.16 will forever be remembered. My trip "home".