I went to Disneyworld!

I've been quite a bit behind with my posts, so here are a few (late) photos of my trip to Disneyworld with Sam and his friends, Justin and Kate. Justin and Kate had a timeshare down in sunny Orlando and they were looking for places to have their wedding (Tampa 2008) so they invited us to join them. I haven't been back to Disney since I was a kid in elementary school and it was me, my cousin Jiyoung, my mom, my aunt from Japan and her youngest daughter. It's gotten a lot bigger since then.

We went for four days about a month ago. Here are some highlights:



First day (and only day) at Epcot Center.















Is that somewhere in Mexico? That temple sure looks small. No....that's just the Mexican pavilion in Epcot. I got some awesome Day of the Dead figurines. It's funny that these were the only countries exhibited in the "World Showcase":

Mexico
Norway
China
Germany
Italy
American Adventure
Japan
Morocco
France
United Kingdom
Canada





An entire exhibit in the Japanese pavilion about these cool old tin robot toys. Sam was like a kid in a candy store. They were pretty neato (sorry Rachel Ray moment).












Here we are at the Seas (it's like a mini aquarium). Next we rode the Seas with Nemo & Friends and rode a "clamobile" through elaborate sets and screens to help Nemo's friends find Nemo.

















End of day 1. We had dinner at Friday's because we were starving and didn't want to look around too long. It's your typical Friday's, but they had an awesome balloon sculptor come around the tables. From left to right: a silver chopper, red teddy bear, yellow monkey, and a blue kitten. End of day one








Day 2.....MAGIC KINGDOM! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was ridiculously crowded and all of the baby strollers created so much traffic. Some of the kids sleeping on the Disney strollers were all sprawled out in weird ways that the parents looked like they were carting around dead carcasses. It makes sense though. Who wants to carry their kids around all day long in 90 degree heat? Not I.





We got to speed around a track with cars that couldn't get off a track. It was still fun. Although somebody kept tailgating me and tried to bump me from behind! Sam!












The updated Pirates of the Carribean ride. More PC and now with new animatronic Johnny Depp. He looked and moved very realistically, more so than the older robots. After seeing the movie you can definately see scenes taken from the ride. After every ride you're always dumped into the ride's giftshop. I wonder if you can buy the Johnny Depp robot? what?






Day 3 at Universal Studio. We only had time to do one and not the other half of Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure. That one had more thrill rides but this one was still pretty fun. It had all of the 3D movies, and rides that made you feel like you were in the movies. I recommend Shrek 4D, that was funny. Don't ride Jimmy Neutron, that made me a bit queasy.












I couldn't believe that they shut down the Back to the Future ride and were replacing it with something else! They still kept the Delorean out front, but now it's out of place sitting by its lonesome self. *sniff*











Me about to be chomped on by Jaws. Do I look like chum? After we took pictures we rode the ride which was a bit cheezy, but still it was fun. I found it fascinated when stuff got blown up and destroyed, after our boat passed the set, stuff would just jump back into position for the next boat. I liked that part the best.














The best ride of Universal Studios had to be Revenge of the Mummy! It was an enclosed roller coaster but there was a lot of variety in the ride. They had an amazing sequence where the ceiling lit up on fire and the effect was unbelievably cool. And then there were parts where you were speeding along a track in the dark. If I remember correctly your car also turned sideways and went backwards. It was too short of a ride, but if there are no rides I'd recommend riding this one several times!



Ah, the Mummy giftshop. Ridiculous? Or regal?
















I thought this was a funny scene so I had to take the picture. That's Kate and future hubby, Justin. We decided to rest on this fake grass amphitheater at Citywalk which is like the entertainment hub at Universal Studios. It has a bunch of restaurants, stores, and the parks surrounding this artificial waterway where guests from certain resorts can take ferries straight to Citywalk. After this we headed to Emeril's restaurant. It was pricey and the food was good, but it could have been better for that price.