ORLANDO! (sung as in Book of Mormon)

In August 2022, Kate traveled to Orlando for a Junior League conference. Since she was so close to her friends Eiki and Bryan (and Disney!) she spent some time with both!

I landed on a Thursday with three Junior League of Lincoln members and headed to Disney Springs for shopping and dinner. It was HUGE! I honestly do not know what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting that. We found a Christmas store and I found the cutest ornament for the newest member of our family. This will be her first Christmas so I felt it would be special to have her first ornament from Disney World. In between shopping, we had dinner at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. Bobbi, another member of JLL, and I split the DELICIOUS salmon pizza.

The next morning was the first day of the conference. The conference was at our hotel. It was nice to be able to walk downstairs to the conference and pop upstairs to my room during breaks to use the restroom. Have you seen a line to women's bathrooms?

Once the conference was adjourned for the day, Erica (another JLL member) and I went to the Magic Kingdom for a special event called Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. My first time at Disney World and I get to go to a special event! When we got to the park we were ushered to a separate entrance just for those attending the event and given a trick-or-treat bag and there was a treat station just ahead with our first treat! Once inside the park, we wanted to take a photo in front of the castle. As we were doing this, I noticed how humid it was. I know, it's Florida. But it was humid AND the sky was looking very dark. Yup, you guessed it. A storm was coming! We ducked into another Christmas store right as the downpour started and stayed in that store for about 30 minutes. I decided to buy a poncho and brave the rain as Erica already had a poncho in her bag. It was kinda funny, the Halloween party was to begin at 7 pm (we got in early) and that is when the rains stopped!

The rain was gone and we had some rides to get on. We thought we had to ride the Haunted Mansion since it was a Halloween party. This did not disappoint! They had some extra features like smoke and actors outside of the ride to entertain just for the event. The ride was everything I had hoped for and more. After the Haunted Mansion, we were right by It's a Small World and the line was nothing. We were able to walk on it. That was a first and a last during my Disney experience. We decided we should head over to the Halloween parade which was going to take place by the castle and then we would be ready for the fireworks show that would also take place at the castle. Due to the lightning, we had to wait about 30 minutes for the parade to start, but it worked in our favor as people kept leaving and we were able to get close to the parade route to see better. We also didn't have to wait as long after the parade for the fireworks show and we were able to get a great view of the castle. After the fireworks, we scooted our way closer to the castle for the Hocus Pocus show. Now, I love the show. But it was super short for as long as you stand and wait. My favorite part of the night was the fireworks show that had such a fun story and not only were there fireworks there was a laser and projection show on the castle. You feel like a kid even at 44.

I won't go into a lot of detail for the other days at the parks. Here are some highlights for you!

Hollywood Studios

My favorite ride was Tower of Terror which gave me all sorts of emotions in one ride. I don't usually feel like I might die and also laugh during that feeling, but during this ride, I did just that. I did also enjoy the Star Wars ride which was honestly super cool. I think all Star Wars fans need to experience this ride and also everything that surrounds the ride. We ate at 50's Prime Time Cafe and wow was this an absolute fun experience! The decor looks like you walked into a 50's kitchen and all of the wait staff act as if you are a relative. Oh and did I mention this was Mama's kitchen? Our waiter would tell us how Mama was going to be disappointed because we had our elbows on the table or how she was going to be so happy that we ate our veggies. The food was excellent! I am always a little hesitant when eating at an amusement park. But every place we ate at Disney was delicious.

Magic Kingdom

I had to go back to the Magic Kingdom because we were not able to explore that much during the special event. My friends Eiki and Bryan enjoyed 11 hours at the park with me. Boy did my feet hate me! We rode on many rides, but wow that wait time was no joke. If I would ever go back to Disney World, I would invest in the Genie+ so that we could take advantage of the lightning lines. My favorite ride at the Magic Kingdom was Peter Pan, which was a fun experience even while you waited in line. I also loved Splash Mountain, which of course has that fun roller coaster drop, but there is a story throughout the ride that was happily surprising to me. I honestly thought we were going to drop once and be done. I made reservations for a sit-down Linner at Liberty Tree Tavern. This was an all-you-can-eat family-style Thanksgiving dinner. If you are looking for a place with incredible food (even Mac and cheese for the kids) and the most bang for your buck, I would suggest Liberty Tree Tavern. Remember that Mac and cheese? Fun fact about it. All three of us were raving about how creamy and delicious it was. Eiki did some research and figured out that this famous Mac and cheese was from Stouffers! We couldn't stop laughing at how we couldn't get over this Mac and cheese and we can get it in our freezer section of any grocery store. But hey, we didn't make it at Disney and they brought out as much as we wanted.

Epcot

We were there during the Food and Wine Festival which just means you are going to eat a lot. It was super fun to go from country to country and see what they had on the menu. I wanted to check out the new Ratatouille ride with everyone else at the park. After a 75-minute wait, we enjoyed this fun and interactive ride. I don't want to give away much, but your perspective is being a mouse in the kitchen while riding in your little car.

Going to Disney as an adult is pretty darn fun. I recommend it! I would love to go back and experience the parks while staying in a resort hotel. I loved that you could use the tram to go from hotel to hotel and the park!



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