Disneyworld Day One: Epcot

Epcot was a good park to start at because there is a two hour time change to Florida and Epcot doesn't open until 11 AM, so we got to "sleep in" until 7:00 Denver time.

We took the Skyliner from Art of Animation over to Epcot. They are opening each park early, so we were there by 10 AM and got into the park around 10:15. We went straight to Frozen Ever After, then to Test Track, and onto the rest of the park.

Before we left, Claire had to make sure Piggy was comfortable:

Here we are at the transfer station for the Skyliner:

Test Track:

It was the Flower and Garden Festival, so we saw a lot of really cook topiaries all over the park:

We had to get a picture of Camille with Freya (her cousin's name):

Already Claire is sick of pictures. Too bad for her there are a million more waiting to be taken!

We ate lunch and dinner at the French pavilion- it was so yummy!

Can you see Alice in Wonderland? Due to physical distancing, there were characters, but they were kept away from people- we could talk to them and wave at them, but we couldn't get up close.

Here's Kermit:

And Piggy:

I can't even remember where all these pictures were taken- but the park was so picturesque. 

And, there's Goofy:

On this ride, Figment, we got a little bit of Pixie Dust. I was chatting with the cast member about what a great day we were having, and she let us through the Fast Pass lane for having such a positive attitude. It was a happy start to our trip!

Here you can see how they helped socially distanced the shows. Only every other row was seated, and then only in groups of 4- so we always divided up into two groups, of 2 and 3, for shows.

Audra is really big into the environment right now, so she liked this ride about saving the earth and the que that had all these inspirational quotes:

Here you can see how the lines are marked for distancing. I was super impressed with how much Disney did to keep everyone Covid safe. That's a main reason we chose WDW- because we heard from several accounts that they were doing everything they could to follow CDC guidelines. I would say most everyone wore masks and followed protocols. Of course there were some rule breakers, but they were few and far between. 

Soarin! One of our favorite rides!

Yummy crepes!

Disneyworld: Travel Day

Back in March when the vaccine started to become more widely available, I started to get a hankering to travel. Well, I ALWAYS have a hankering to travel, but it has been so long since we have been able to plan anything, I really got a yearning to go somewhere.

We started to look at cruises, and almost booked one for 2022. In the end, we decided against it, and Ben casually said, "I would rather go to Disneyland than a cruise anyway." 

So, since Disneyland was closed, I started looking into Disneyworld- a place only Ben had been to once when he was a kid. On a whim, I booked a trip at a Disney resort because they were running a special where it was 100% refundable up to 30 days in advance, and you got 5 days of tickets for the price of 3. I went ahead and booked because I knew by 30 days out we would know whether or not we would be fully vaccinated or not. That was the deal- Ben and I had to be fully vaccinated to even consider going.

Then, I started doing a ton of research- I started listening to multiple Podcasts about WDW, I joined several FB groups, I bought The Unofficial Guide to Disneyworld and researched all the various parks/rides/restaurants/everything about each park.

Honestly, it has been an escape for me. An escape from all the craziness of the world. I am so sick of the news, of all the horrible things happening, and the heaviness of it all. Devoting my attention to the frivolity of WDW was a welcome release.

And, today was the day we finally left!

It was an easy flight. We landed in Orlando and took The Magical Express to The Art of Animation Resort. We stayed in a Finding Nemo Suite- it is really nice because it has two bathrooms, and Ben and I have a separate bedroom.

We are so excited for our week!!!!!

Mother's Day

 Since we are leaving on our trip on Mother's Day, we had a very low key Mother's Day this year. We celebrated early.

We went out to breakfast at The Urban Egg. We sat outside because of Covid and it was a bit chilly, but it was delicious.

And, the girls made me sweet cards. Audra and Claire made me these flower pots (Claire made the blue one, Audra the white), and Camille made me this picture:

Ducktectives!

The Denver Ripper has been out murdering throughout our city, but thankfully the Ducktectives (along with a couple hundred teams, including Scooby-Doo) were on the case!

It was hot and we needed a lunch break, but after questioning witnesses and interrogating suspects (all done via an app), our amazing sleuth skills paid off and we solved the case!

We had a ton of fun, even if it was HOT. Camille pooped out after only about 20 minutes, but she still kept going. It was really, really fun to see all the different teams and to be outside and downtown.

A much needed refueling at Mad Greens!

In Person Church

 For the first time in 13 months, we went to in-person church today. We were nervous, but it went really well.

On Thursday, I took the girls shopping for new church dresses and dress shoes. I wanted them to have something to look forward to- it totally worked! Camille kept saying, "I'm so excited to go to church on Sunday!"

For shopping, we had that and the bee thing at Hudson Gardens. When I told Camille our plans for the day, she ran to Claire and said, "Today is the BEST day! We are GOING SOMEWHERE!" Thank you, Covid, for lowering the bar of excitement so low! Can we keep that bar so low?

Anyway, I had to get pictures of our first day back:

We went and very purposely sat in the very back row. We didn't want people singing on our backs, even with masks on.

We didn't know what to expect. And we were both pleasantly surprised.

There was one family who didn't wear masks, so we know we will avoid them. But, the young men all wore gloves passing the sacrament, they each had two trays- one to get your water, the other to put your dirty cup in. We don't touch the sacrament handle, the young men hold it the entire time and take it to each person. They take their responsibility to keep us safe seriously. Our Bishop takes it seriously. I felt totally safe the whole time. I expected to be angry, honestly. And, while I was upset about this one family, I was overall very impressed. So much so that next week we are transitioning to two hour church, but we are doing it in such a way that I'm not worried. It's a very smart, socially distanced, way- and after seeing how well they did today, I am confident they will keep being responsible in how the second hour is implemented.