Days 21 & 22, Orlando

Weather
Partly Sunny, low 80s then rain

Map

First Impressions

What we did

We woke up and disembarked the Celebrity Apex. We decided to bring our luggage ourselves which ended up being a good decision. The terminal was under construction and very chaotic. We made our way to the Alamo, to pick up our car which took just a short shuttle ride to get there. We then drove to Orlando and dropped our luggage off at the Dolphin Hotel where we’ll be staying for two nights. We made good time this morning and were walking into Epcot by 11:15am.

Originally, we had planned to go to Epcot on Sunday, but the forecast for Sunday was heavy rain, so we went on Saturday instead. It was Halloween and the park was very busy. We still did were able to ride some favorites like Soaring and Ratatouille plus sample foods around the world. EPCOT’s Food & Wine Festival is all about sampling your way around the world, with little food stands offering everything from tasty bites to wines and cocktails. We shared a lot of small plates and each enjoyed a frozen margarita as it was getting quite warm. This was our first and only “hot” day of this trip. We went back to the hotel to finish check in later in the afternoon and then popped back over to Epcot in the early evening. We really liked the Dolphin hotel. It’s not actually a Disney property, but it is treated like one in many aspects and friendship boats stop at their dock so we didn’t have to walk to Epcot. As it is, Amy logged 23,000 steps for the day! We left before the fireworks but watched them from the Dolphin hotel before heading to bed.

The next day after breakfast, we decided to take the friendship boat to Hollywood Studios and then took the gondola back over to Orlando. It was free and a good way to spend an hour and see Epcot and the surrounding area. After, we drove to Disney Springs and did a bit of shopping before having an amazing meal at Frontera Cocina. Frontera Cocina is a lively Mexican restaurant created by celebrity chef Rick Bayless. For dessert we splurged on the “white sugar skull” which came with a small wooden mallet. You then had to crack open the (chocolate) skull to see the filling which was a mix of sponge cake and key lime filling. As the afternoon was forecasted for 100% rain, we went to the movies to see Wicker. It's a quirky romantic comedy about a lonely fisherwoman who has a husband made for her out of wicker. We managed to avoid most of the rain and headed back to our hotel for a quiet evening as tomorrow is a travel day back home.

The next day (although not in the title), was fairly smooth. We returned our rental car at the airport, hung out at a lounge for a bit before taking Jetblue home. Our flight was smooth and on time. Aleksey picked us up at the airport and we then had pizza over at Scott and Lynn’s who were taking wonderful care of our dog, Murphy. A very nice trip.

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