Babieemelly's travel blogs:
- Orlando, Florida: Three Weeks of a Million... 2007
- New York City: "There's no need to... 2007
- Rocky Point, New York: Beaches, Ports and... 2006
- Orlando, Florida: The Three-Week Disney Resort Report 2006
- Rocky Point, New York: A Weekend Threatened... 2006
- New York, New York: Life in the... 2005
- Orlando, Florida: A Month-Long Dream Come True 2005
- Rocky Point, New York: A Snowy Weekend... 2005
- Lancaster, Pennsylvania: A Return to a Childhood... 2004
- Rocky Point, New York: Midnight Beach Parties... 2004
- Long Beach Island, New Jersey: A Weekend... 2002
- Rocky Point, New York: Restoring My Love... 2001
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Day 2: Arriving in Orlando and Our Gorgeous Condo
Entry 15 of 42 | show all | print this entry |
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I woke up early this morning, having no idea what time it was. Mom was already up and pretty much done getting dressed. I saw light shining in between the cracks of the curtains and I figured it was around 8:00. I turned over to look at the clock and was surprised to see that it was only 5:30. I looked outside and realized that it was still completely dark out, and the light I saw was only the street lights set up around the parking lot. I was really tired, but surprised that I had even gotten any sleep at all.
I dragged myself out of bed to get dressed, and dad and Mike got ready and then packed up the car while I did my hair and makeup. We saw another family packing up their car, as well, and they also had a dog with them. They must have also been driving down to Florida since I saw a few Disney guidebooks in their back seat. We decided to skip breakfast and just get on the road so we could get to Orlando as early as possible. At 6:30 the car was packed and we all loaded inside to drive over to the lobby, where mom and dad checked out before we were on our way. Later that day we would be in Orlando!
We drove for two hours without stopping, and it started raining at 8:20 in Ridgewood, South Carolina. I thought it might be remnants of Hurricane Dennis, but it only rained for two minutes. Now, thinking back, it couldn't realistically have been remnants of Dennis, but that stupid storm was making me nervous and the fact that it was on its way to Florida was always in the back of my mind. Ten minutes later we finally reached Georgia and caught our first glimpse of palm trees for this trip! I'm obsessed with palm trees, they always remind me of far-off tropical places and I can't get enough of them. My room at home is all island themed and I have huge posters of palm trees on deserted islands during sunset. I love those palm trees and they were a VERY welcomed sight!
By 8:45 we were in Savannah. I get excited over little things and I was so excited to be in Savannah! "Gone With the Wind" is one of my favorite books, and a lot of it takes place in Savannah. We stopped at a gas station to get gas and mom and I walkeded Oreo. Then we drove over to the other side of the rest area where there were a few restaurants and a Super Walmart. We wanted to get some quick fast food for breakfast so we drove over to Arby's but it didn't open until 9:00 and it was only 8:55. Even though it was supposed to open in five minutes, there were no employees in the restaurant or any signs of life anywhere, really. We didn't feel like waiting around, it didn't look like it was actually going to open anytime soon, so we drove over to Walmart.
Dad put Oreo in her little sling-carrier (yes, besides the car seat we have a little sling for her to lay in that you wear over your shoulder) and tried to bring her in. I knew they weren't going to let pets in, but mom and dad tried only to be stopped at the entrance. This made mom so mad, like I can't even tell you! She was fuming that they wouldn't let the dog in, even though she was contained, and she refused to buy anything in there to have for breakfast. Her excuse was, "If they let dogs into expensive boutiques in the city they should let them in Walmart!" So mom and I just ran to the bathroom and Oreo would have been a very clean addition to the entire store. It was filthy! Mom said so, and two girls in the bathroom said, "Well, this is the South!" So I guess it really is the "Dirty South." We left soon after and were back on the road within five minutes.
At 10:00 we stopped at a McDonald's for breakfast. They had a small outdoor seating area which was what we were looking for, so we didn't have to eat in the car. Mike and I waited with Oreo at a table while mom and dad ran in to get the food. As we were sitting there waiting, a lady came up to us and said Oreo was really cute and asked what kind of dog she was. We told her that she was a Shih-Tzu, and then the lady's husband came out of McDonald's and yelled to the her, "That there dog will go right for your ankles!" As soon as they left Mike and I cracked up! This guy had the strongest southern accent ever and he sounded so scared! Mike and I also got a kick out of a barbecue restaurant located across the street. It was nothing but a trailer home, and the place was already packed at 10:00 in the morning. I guess a lot of people like some good barbecue for breakfast!
Mike was carsick and not feeling great so he only wanted one of those long hash browns McDonald's sells, but mom and dad wound up getting him a bacon, egg and cheese croissant with it. Mom and I also got one, and dad got ham, egg and cheese on a bagel. Mike wound up eating everything they got him and then blamed them for him feeling sick. The last time I checked no one forced him to eat! When we were done eating, dad and Mike ran into the bathroom, and then mom and I did. These bathrooms were gross, too, and I was so sick of gross bathrooms. Also, the people in there weren't too considerate, I'm sorry to say. The bathroom was really small and crowded, and as we were trying to get out a bunch of people pushed right past us and squeezed their way in. When the bathroom's that crowded shouldn't you let people OUT first?
We were back on the road by 10:25 and continued driving. I can't tell you how many Confederate flags we saw! It was a bit shocking. Things were definitely different than we were used to.
We continued driving, and at 11:00 we finally saw the Florida welcome sign! We were finally there! And almost as soon as the sign came into view it started raining. How ironic. We were reading, "Welcome to Florida, the Sunshine State" as it was pouring. Since it was raining it was hard for me to take pictures through the windshield wipers, so I asked Mike to take a picture of the sign from his window as we drove by. Yea, my picture-through-the-windshield-wipers would have been a lot better than what he did. I now had a good picture of the welcome sign from each state except Florida, the one that I had really wanted. Oh well.
It was so surreal driving through Florida. After years of begging to go back, we were now driving through the state with Oreo and a ton of luggage in tow, and a whole month ahead of us to look forward to! We passed through Jacksonville at 11:30, and with each city we passed I got a little more excited. I decided to listen to all the Disney songs I had on my MP3 player, including songs from different movies and the soundtracks and recordings from different rides and attractions in the parks. I couldn't believe that we were so close!
We reached the Palm Coast at 12:00 and it was absolutely gorgeous! There were tons and tons of palm trees all in clusters along I-95. It was definitely the nicest and most fun part of the drive. I have to admit I felt like crying just because it was all so beautiful and really reminded me of where we were!
We reached Daytona Beach at 12:45 and decided to make a stop. We first went to a Dairy Queen right off of I-95. We had never been to Dairy Queen before (there aren't any around here) so we decided to see what they had. Mike waited in the car with Oreo while mom, dad, and I ran in. We all used the bathroom and then got on line where I decided to get a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard while mom and dad shared a Vanilla Coolata. While they ordered I went back to the car to wait with Mike and Oreo. They came out five minutes later and my Blizzard was so good! For those of you who aren't familiar with Dairy Queen, a Blizzard is ice cream with different toppings. It's not regular ice cream, though, they mix it up so it's all soupy, like when you mix up your ice cream a lot to make it melt and then you can drink it. Then they have different concoctions of toppings and stuff. It was really good.
We then went next door to a Burger King that also had a gas station and convenience store. Dad got out and got gas while mom ran in to the store to buy some instant lotteries. She always buys them at home so I guess she had to start off our vacation on the right foot., haha! When she got back I got out of the car quickly to go throw something out and it was actually pretty chilly out. I was expecting to get out of the car and melt but it wasn't bad at all, hardly even humid. It was great but I hoped it wasn't a sign that a certain hurricane was nearby.
We left the gas station and continued driving. This time, though, we didn't get back on I-95. At 1:05 we officially got on I4 and saw the sign I had been looking for.. "Orlando - 41 Miles." Less than an hour away! We continued driving and entered Orlando at 2:00. I couldn't have been more excited! As soon as we got there, though, the sky completely opened up and it was POURING. I don't mean just raining but it was pouring buckets. We literally couldn't see two feet in front of us, it was ridiculous. It stopped within five minutes, though, and we figured we'd have to get used to really heavy storms like that, which would come and go within a short amount of time. A small price to pay for spending a month in Florida!
Our first Orlando attraction billboard was for Sea World and it was so cute! There was a little boy leaning up against Shamu's tank and they were looking at each other. Under the picture it said, "Made any new friends lately?" Although I'm not a big fan of Sea World (more on that later), their billboards and advertisements were too cute. We passed Downtown Orlando and I took some pictures of the small city. We then finally passed Universal Studios at 2:15 and saw the welcome signs and all the big rides and roller coasters at Island's of Adventure. I couldn't believe we were there!
Fifteen minutes later we were in Kissimmee. We drove past Disney property and I could see everything! We passed Pop Century, the Casting Center, the Wide World of Sports and more. As we passed the Magic Kingdom exit I was even able to look over and see the Disney gates. We were finally in one of my favorite places in the World! Five minutes after passing the Magic Kingdom entrance we were on Formosa Gardens Drive, the street that our resort was on. It was down a long, winding road behind a swamp and just past another resort which we had at first thought was ours. Just like the website said, it was only about a half a mile away from the main road of Highway 192, but it was a completely secluded area that really made us feel as if we were away from it all.
We reached the resort and were blown away by the entrance, it was gorgeous! There was a big white arch with columns on the right side. In front of it were three dolphin fountains and it was surrounded by Palm trees. No wonder it has been said that the Emerald Island Resort has the most impressive entrance of all the Orlando-area resorts! We drove down the main road to a special gated entrance and told the guard that we were checking in. He crossed our name off of his list while Oreo barked like CRAZY and flipped out from seeing someone she didn't know. Great, now we were going to be the family with the crazy dog!
We entered the gates and pulled right up to the clubhouse. There were a few cars in the parking lot, but not many. Mom, dad and I went in while Mike waited in the car with Oreo. The clubhouse was absolutely GORGEOUS! For some reason I didn't think to take a picture, but you just have to trust me on this one! The clubhouse was a big, round room with separate rooms connected to it in all directions. Going clockwise, the front desk was on the immediate left as we entered, then was the lounge, then the exit to the pool, then the gym, then a hallway leading to the bathroom and vending machines, and then the computer room was on the immediate right.
Mom and dad went to check in while I ran to the bathroom. The floor was spotless and shiny, and the entire bathroom was just gorgeous. It was a very welcome change from the bathroom's on I-95. I decided to go wait in the car with Mike, and while mom and dad finished checking in I took a few pictures of the area from the car. There was a huge expanse of grass surrounding a fountain in a big lake. Very nice.
When mom and dad were done checking in they came back to the car and we drove back out of the gated entrance. The area that the clubhouse was in was where the houses were, as well as a few select condos. The newer, larger, all-condo complex was right next door. We used the same main entrance with the dolphin fountains but instead of going straight we made the first left turn, and there was a different gated entrance there. This one wasn't staffed but there was a code box that we had to punch our code into and then the gate would open and let us in. Every single time those gates started to open, whether we were entering or leaving, it always reminded me of Jurassic Park! You know the part in the movie when they go on the actual ride in the jeeps, and the huge gates slowly open as the soundtrack says "Welcome... to Jurassic Park" and the music starts playing? We actually said, "Welcome... to Jurassic Park" every time, too, haha!
We drove through a few winding streets and finally got to our condo, 8400 Blue Lagoon Drive. How pretty of a street name is that? We had the last condo on the left, right on the corner, so it was slightly larger than the rest on the block and we had a little more land. Definitely a nice touch. We got out of the car, got the dog and some of the bags we had kept in the back seat, and held our breath as we opened the door...
And we were so happy with what we saw! The condo was absolutely gorgeous. After the hotels we had experienced on the drive down, the condo far exceeded our expectations. We put everything down and took a quick look around. I remember dad and I running upstairs like maniacs, trying to get the first glimpse of the bedrooms. We picked our bedrooms - mom and dad had a king-sized bed, and I gave Mike the queen-sized bed while and I took the two twins since I knew I'd use the other bed to put my souvenirs on. Then we went back downstairs to start unloading everything in the car. Once we got it all in, I brought my stuff up to my room and unpacked. I was getting really dizzy again and it was making me nervous. I just hoped that it was again because of the fact that I hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in a while. As we were unpacking, all dad kept saying was, "I'm buying one! We'll buy a condo here, come down when we can, and rent it out when we're not here!" Yea, he loved it. And I was ready to permanently move in.
When we were done unpacking, mom and dad decided to go food shopping. They weren't sure where they were going to go but they were going to just drive around and see what they could find. Mike was watching a movie and didn't want to go and I wasn't feeling well so I decided to just lay in bed for a while. After fifteen minutes I started feeling a little better so I went downstairs and decided to start, "Melissa's Orlando Documentary" on our video camera. Throughout the trip I would take the camera and just tape and comment on different things. I also took pictures of the condo.
Mom and dad were back by 5:45, while Mike and I were watching "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and I was taking notes for my trip report. They had wound up going to Publix. I helped mom put everything away and we tried to decide on where we wanted to go for dinner. I wanted to go to one of the Downtown Disney restaurants but mom and dad wanted to stay in the immediate area since we were all pretty tired. They had seen a China Buffet, Red Lobster, Ruby Tuesday's and Outback Steakhouse right near the resort, and we decided to go to the Outback. The only other time we had been to the Outback was when my Uncle David's surprise party was held at the one in Westchester a few years ago. The food was great but the service had been horrible so we wanted to try it again. We left at 6:30 and hoped the food would be good.
The Outback Steakhouse was in a shopping center right up the road. When we got there the place was crowded but not packed, and we got a table right away. Our waiter had a strong Southern accent and looked exactly like Leo (the Scorpion's leader, who Danny races at the end) from Grease. He was really nice and always brought us refills of our drinks without us having to ask. Mom and I wound up sharing a Caesar salad, and then I got coconut shrimp and she got salmon and a baked potato. Dad got pork chops and Mike got chicken with bacon and melted cheese on top with vegetables. We also shared an Onion Blossom as an appetizer. The food was delicious! Definitely one of the best food experiences we had on the entire trip. The bill came to $74.95 with a $15 tip. By the time we left the restaurant was completely packed. You couldn't get in without at least an hour wait. We had made it just in time.
When we were done eating we decided to walk around the shopping center for a while. We started talking about whether or not we would get a discount on the Express Passes at Universal Studios since NBC now owns Universal Studios and dad gets an employee discount. He kept joking, "They better give it to us, I own them!" We passed a Sony store at the shopping center and dad said they have the tapes we use in our video camera. Our camera is tiny and the tapes are even smaller and hard to find. I was glad there was somewhere to get them around here in case we recorded a lot of stuff and ran out of tapes (we had brought four hour-long tapes). As we were walking around I really started feeling the humidity. It still wasn't that hot but it was so humid that everything just felt sticky and gross.
I went into a Disney souvenir shop and had to buy something. My first Orlando shopping spree! They had a lot of nice stuff and I didn't know what to get. I hadn't been to any of the other millions of gift shops in the area so I didn't know how the prices were compared to the others, but I couldn't leave without buying something Disney-related on our first night in Orlando. I wound up buying an Ariel Keychain ($2), a Mickey key chain ($2), a Florida key chain that had a picture of palm trees on a beach in the center that swivels ($2), a Mickey pen ($2), and a t-shirt with the main Disney characters and fireworks in the shape of a Mickey head that says, "Disney Dreams, Florida" ($12.99). All nice stuff.
We were back at the house by 8:00 and I took a picture of one of the dolphin fountains at the entrance to the resort. The sun was setting right behind it and it truly became one of my favorite picture of the entire trip. I hope to get it blown up so I can hang it in my room.
We hung out in the house for a few minutes before mom, dad and I decided to take a walk around the complex. There were two pools in the resort and one was right by us in the newer condo complex. The other one was in the other section of the resort by the clubhouse. We ended up by the pool near us and it was pretty crowded. On the way back to the condo I almost stepped on a Gecko, those things were everywhere!
When we got back to the resort, mom, dad and I moved the two chairs that were on the back patio up to the balcony and mom and I sat out there with Oreo for a while. I had read that you could hear Illuminations, the Epcot fireworks show, from the complex, but it was 9:05 and I didn't hear anything so I figured it wasn't true. I made a note to go back out at 10:00 to see if maybe it was Wishes, the Magic Kingdom fireworks show, that you could hear, but I forgot to go back out. Mom and I sat out there for ten minutes before the heat got to us and we went back in.
The four of us sat in the living room and watched "Family Guy" on Fox. I love that show, it's ridiculously funny! At 9:30 mom and dad went back out to Publix to get a new coffee machine. They were going to use the one provided in the kitchen, but mom said it didn't look that clean and she'd rather just get a new cheap one which we could leave in the condo when we left. While they were gone Mike and I decided to have a snack as we watched Viva La Bam. I had Wheat Thins and Mike had a chocolate donut. Mom and dad were back by 9:50, when dad and I watched Entourage on HBO.
We all started talking about what we wanted to do the next day. Our original plan was to just hang out and do little things in the area, but after getting to Orlando way earlier than planned and having time to relax, we wanted to hit an amusement park! So we decided to go to Universal Studios. We talked about when we would get up and leave, and I of course wanted to get there at opening. No one else agreed with me, though, so I decided I shouldn't stress over it. We would just get up and go whenever we felt like it, and whatever happened, happened. This was going to be a relaxing vacation.
I took a shower at 11:00 and braided my hair. I then shut off the lights in my room and tried to watch "The Wedding Date" on the portable DVD player. I made it through the first twenty-five minutes before the DVD started skipping and wouldn't play. I decided to just shut it off and watch the end another day. I heard people talking and laughing outside, and I thought about how weird it was to be going to sleep so early on vacation. We usually stay up all night on vacation, but we were going to be there for a while so I knew we would need to be on a semi-normal schedule.
It was really hot in my room and it was making it hard to fall asleep. We all like different temperatures when we sleep so it was a pain to have central air. I like it freezing but mom likes it on the warmer side. This was the only night we had a problem, though. I wish we had central air at home! I finally fell asleep at 12:30 but I was up on and off all night. I didn't mind, though... we were finally officially on vacation!
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