We got to go to the most magical place on earth this past week: Disney World in Orlando, Florida. We stayed at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, which is fashioned after a famous park in New York. The trip was a whirlwind of outstanding cuisine and entertainment, tons of walking and definitely lots of sunshine. We left on Sunday morning, October 9, for FL. The 3.5 hour flight was pretty uneventful, but it sure felt long. After arriving at the airport, we didn’t have to worry about much since Disney does such an awesome job to keep their patrons happy. We took the “Magical Express” right to our hotel, didn’t have to worry about anything, and checked in to our luxurious one-bedroom suite with a huge double bath, large kitchen and amazing views of the fountains around the grounds. We were also right next to a pool, so we pretty much went straight there as soon as we got into our room.

Our first night, we decided to lay low and didn’t go anywhere other than the village for some margaritas. We ate at the “T-Rex” restaurant, which is similar to a rainforest cafe, but obviously dino-themed. Food was good, environment was pretty awesome, but probably overly stimulating for us since we were already really tired from travel. We were pretty wiped out after that, and crashed as soon as we got back to our room, sleeping for over 12 hours into the next day.

I forgot to mention that our entire trip was situated around food. One of the best things about Disney is the unbelievable food and booze that you can consume, and we spared no expense to try a bit of everything. The infamous food and wine festival was underway during the entire month of October, so we were fortunate to experience cuisine from over 25 different countries. I’m pretty sure I gained about 10 lbs but it was well worth it.

I woke up about 11am the next day (Monday), and quickly had to head out since we had reservations at “Germany” for 1pm. It seems like 2 hours is a lot of time, but between bussing to the parks and navigating through all the people, you can guarantee you will need at least an hour to get where you want to go. It wasn’t super crowded yet, so we went straight to our eating destination for the day. The food is always so freaking great, but the best part about this morning was that I got me a liter of delicious German-crafted brew all to meself. Our “Serving wench” said that it was “a man’s beer” and of course I was like, well i can drink like a man, so I did. Jake got the beer sampler including 4 different brews and also a shot of some yummy and strong peppermint (jager-type) drink. It was much smoother and apparently gives one the strength to keep drinking without feeling full…which Jake could attest to.

The rest of our time was spent playing around the parks and eating as much as we could. We even saw Billy Ocean in concert that night….that’s right BILLY OCEAN…you know the “get out of my dreams….get into my car” hit of the 80’s….I could actually quote lyrics to just about every song that he performed. It was hilarious and pretty sweet.

Let me give you a rundown of our favorites, no particular order:

• Belgium: Belgium waffle with fruit compote and whipped cream
• Poland: Kilbasa, Pirogie, Caramelized Onions…AMAZING!
• New Zealand: Lamburger Slider
• Germany: Chicken Schnitzel, Spatzel & Hunter Sauce
• Germany: BEER
• France: Chocolate E’clare
• Australia: Lambchop & Shrimp on Barbie
• Greece: Lamb w. Tzaziki

The second day was the businest, by far. We started out going to Animal Kingdom which was surprisingly not crowded. We did everything we wanted to do in under 3 hours, which is almost unheard of at Disney. It was probably the best Safari we have ever seen…we practically got to touch the Giraffs, saw tons of elephants doing things that you never see…and even saw the Lion get up, walk around, growl a bunch and eat something or other…probably some dead meat of some kind…pretty sweet if you ask me.

We ate lunch at the Sanaa which is basically like a private reserve for safari animals. It was also fantastic. I love Indian/African food, and this was definitely a highlight for us. The place was really quiet and pretty and we saw lots of safari wildlife from our table. Delish. The rest of the day we went to Hollywood studios to try out some new things, and some old things….drawing some disney characters and denying Jake the “Jedi Training” since he is too old (you have to be 8 to 12). After all that, we still have all afternoon, and we SHOULD have just gone back to our hotel to chill out, since we were so full and tired by this point, but we thought we wanted to go to the Boardwalk to hit up the corn dog stand and then maybe go into epcot for dinner. But, we aren’t accustomed to eating so much food, so we shared one corn dog and then were so full we couldn’t bear to eat more real food…so we hit up France for their amazing Pastry. it was just the pick-me-up we needed…but we were really tired so we pretty much left the park after that (which took about an hour since it was so packed and we had about a mile and a half to walk to our bus). That was a tough day since we tried to do so much in so little time.

Our last day was probably the best, since we figured out our flow, and we had done almost everything we wanted to do. We went to the Magic Kingdom in the morning, which worked out because it was also not very crowded. We did everything we wanted and finished just in time for the huge crowds to emerge. We didn’t have anywhere to be until evening, so we went back to our room and took a nap before we went to dinner at the Living Seas “Coral Reef” restaurant, which is basically underneath their 220 million gallon tank of sea-animals. We had VIP seating right in front of the ginormous tank, and enjoyed super yummy fish for dinner. It was nice to take time and relax since we were really zonked from the day before.

That night we were going to stay and watch fireworks, but decided to bail right before, since we had an early flight home the next morning, and didn’t want to deal with being tired….although that didn’t work out since I had to wash everything before we left, and didn’t finish until midnight.
All-in-all it was a super fantastik trip full of great memories and lots of eating. We love Disney, and it was fun to go on our own, but I think its more fun going with a bigger group of family and friends.