10 Year Anniversary

Some people say that the most important thing you can do for your children is love your spouse. I think that makes us super parents for going to Disney World . . . without the kids.
It was wonderful.

Stephanie in Epcot's Morocco pavilion at sunset.

It was cheaper to visit Epcot than to visit to Morocco, France, Japan and Mexico. We ate dinner at the expensive Bistro de Paris near the Eiffel Tower--turns out escargot tastes great with ravioli. As a souvenir, we found a matted painting of the France pavilion.

As if that didn't make Disney World a romantic enough place to play, Epcot began its annual Flower and Garden Festival while we were there. The topiaries all over the park (mostly Disney characters) were amazing. We almost bought a Mickey Mouse lawn gnome, just for kicks.

Cory in front of the Expedition
Everest roller coaster.

To our surprise, we enjoyed the Animal Kingdom best of all the parks. It is definitely not just a zoo. Finding Nemo the musical and the Festival of the Lion King were the best shows we saw all week. The Expedition Everest roller coaster tied with Space Mountain as our favorite thrill ride. We got lucky (not too wet) on Kali River Rapids.

Stephanie in front of the huge
"tree of life."

Hollywood Studios was nice, although I found the "roads" hard to navigate, even with their map (it's an angled view, not a simple overhead view). The best parts there were the Toy Story Mania (we went straight there at opening to get our fast pass tickets--glad we did!) and Fantasmic. The other shows were okay, but Animal Kingdom had a lot more musical and dancing talent.

Cory poses for"Singing in the Rain"
at Disney's Hollywood Studios

Oh, the Magic Kingdom? Well, except for walking on Space Mountain at opening, and the Wishes light show, it was just okay. I think the problem was how much of Fantasyland is closed down/torn down for their big expansion. All the people who would normally have diffused back there with their little kids were clogging all the other rides.  The only picture we got from the Magic Kingdom was a map of the Fantasyland expansion.

New Fantasyland: coming Fall 2012

It includes Snow White's cottage, a ride through the dwarfs mines, Ariel's castle by the sea, the double Dumbo, and more. I look forward to taking the kids there. Maybe next year.