August 2011 Trip Report, Days 1 and 2

My sister, me, and my cousin - about to leave for the airport and very excited!

As you may or may not remember, seven months ago, I went on an amazing Disney vacation... on the Disney Dream and to Walt Disney World!  Although this trip report is a little late, and as a result, may not be as detailed as one may desire, is it really ever too late to talk Disney?  I didn't think so either...  Just a note:  I'm going to combine days 1 and 2 of the trip into one blog post because they aren't super eventful, and then I'll most likely give each subsequent day its own post.

Day 1:
This journey starts on August 14, 2011.  We left my house late morning - my parents, my sister (Samantha), my cousin (Jessie), my at-the-time boyfriend (James), and me - and headed to the airport!  After a nondescript flight, we were in Orlando International Airport before we knew it!  We grabbed Starbucks in the airport and headed to rent a minivan (the most comfortable type of rental car that would fit all six of us).  Soon we were in the minivan, listening to the Disney music CD my sister burned for us, pulling up to our hotel for the night: the Four Points Orlando Studio City.

The resort was fine, nothing special, and after checking in, we didn't stay for long.  We left to head to my grandma's house for a short visit before we headed to the Beach Club for dinner!  (Now we're getting to the good stuff!)

Since we were a party of eight (we were joined by two family friends), we had to wait an hour for two tables to seat us all at Beaches and Cream.  But we (at least the Disney-obsessed ones of us) declared that this was worth it, so we sat around and chatted, watched a little bit of Gnomeo and Juliet on the Beach Club beach, and we were even able to see some of IllumiNations from where we were sitting on the beach!  After an hour, our tables were ready, and we got down to eating.  I had a cheeseburger, and it was good as usual.  And since we were celebrating my sister's birthday, we decided that there was no other acceptable way to end the meal besides a Kitchen Sink.

Samantha and the Kitchen Sink!  They even put a candle on top for her birthday!

Yes that's right, the Kitchen Sink.  Eight scoops of ice cream, all the toppings in the house, and a whooooole can of whipped cream!  Between the four of us that were at the table with her, we scarfed the thing down.  It was so good!  At that point, it was getting late, so we headed back to the hotel and got some rest.  Although not all of us would be back to Walt Disney World at the end of the trip, James and I would!

Day 2:
Day two of the trip was relatively boring.  We woke up from the Four Points Orlando, and after breakfast, we packed up all our belongings, got back in the minivan, and headed for another family visit. After an hour or two visiting my other grandma, uncle, and aunt, we were on our way to the shore!  That night, we stayed at the Four Points Cocoa Beach, near the port.  We were to be getting on the Dream the following day, so we wanted to stay in a hotel nearby.

At Cocoa Beach!

We ate a late lunch at the restaurant in the hotel, and it was pretty good!  We also visited the Ron Jon store that was next to our hotel.  Then, after a rainstorm passed over us, we walked to the beach.  Cocoa Beach was only a few blocks from the Four Points, and it was about a five minute walk.  Since it had been raining earlier, the beach was virtually empty.  The weather was warm, and even though we didn't bring our bathing suits, we waded in the water up to our thighs.  We took some pictures, generally messed around on the beach, and soon we were ready to head back to the hotel.

Being silly on the beach.

That night, we were joined by two of my parents' friends that they had met on a previous Disney cruise.  They lived in the area and came by our hotel to catch up.  Since we had eaten a late lunch earlier, we hadn't eaten dinner, so we ordered some food to-go from the hotel restaurant and brought it up to the room.  We enjoyed our late night snack, chatted, and soon it was time for bed.  We had a very eventful day coming up...  Soon we would be getting on the Disney Dream!

To see all the photos from this trip on Picasa, click here!