A Very Magical Honeymoon

Just last night we got home from Disney World in Orlando, Florida. I am so excited to share about our exhaustingly fun time. 4 parks. 3 days. Over 84,000 steps. I got a fun Polaroid camera to help document the vacation along the way.

 

Flight out- Wednesday

We had a red-eye flight to Orlando at 10:45 at night and we got into orlando around 5 in the morning. We didn’t get too much sleep on the plane but when we landed the “Magic Express” was there to pick us up and take us to check in at the hotel. We stayed at the All-Star Movie Resort.

 

EPCOT- Thursday

We quickly freshened up and then took the bus to “Epcot” the innovation and multicultural park of Disney. Though we were running on no sleep we were ready to take on the day! Thank goodness for fast passes, we were able to cut through some lines and did a few rides multiple times! One of our favorites of the day was Test Track, it was also our first ride. The premise is that you design your own car then become the crash dummy to test it out… however it happened to break down and we sat there for a little while mid ride while they fixed it. oops. We also really enjoyed Soarin’ which simulates being in a hang glider as you fly over different world icons like the Eiffel Tower, Brazilian waterfalls, Sydney Opera House, and The Pyramids, etc. I think Sheldon’s favorite part of Epcot was this place called Club Cool,  it is a place you can sample different Coca-cola drinks form around the world; we decided the Italian “Beverly” was gross, but we quite liked the “Melon Frosty” from Thailand. We played so hard on so little sleep we decided to take a mid day nap- which was the best decision we had made. Once we returned from the power nap we decided to get dinner in “Germany” there are about 12 countries represented in the World Showcase. So in honor of my sister Mckinsey- who is serving her mission in Germany we decided to try out their food. We got brats in a bun with potato salad and paprika chips. It wasn’t too bad actually. We walked to “Italy” and found a seat to watch the evening’s laser light and firework show, Illuminations. It was a great ending to a great day, packed full of fun!20160818_155216

Rides and Activities of the day:

  • Test Track (3X)
  • Mission Space
  • Soarin’ (2X)
  • Club Cool
  • World Showcase- Dinner in Germany
  • Ellen’s Energy Adventure
  • Figment’s Imagination
  • Living with the Land
  • Spaceship Earth
  • Turtle Talk with Crush
  • Aquarium
  • Illuminations light show- in “Italy”

 

ANIMAL KINGDOM- Friday am

We got a good night sleep and woke up ready for another day of play. We took the bus to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. In this park we didn’t have any fast passes but the lines weren’t too bad, in fact we learned a trick, you can skip hour long+ waits by walking on to the “single rider line” so sheldon and I couldn’t always sit together for those, but we always sat in the same car. That is how we were able to ride Expedition Everest 3 times! Its a fun one. In this ride you are a mountain climber, but a mean yeti stops you along the way… but guess what. We also got stuck on this ride once haha. Poor Sheldon was feeling claustrophobic in there. So, the last two times I have been to Disney I bought myself a leather bracelet with my name on it, so I bought myself another this trip. This time in blue. We were able to do something kinda cool, we took an African Safari. We had to wait for a while, but saw lots of different animals. It was almost like a drive through zoo! 20160819_131101

Rides and Activities:

  • Expedition Everest (3X)
  • African Safari
  • “Its Tough to be a Bug”
  • Primeval Whirl
  • Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail

 

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS– Friday pm

Around 2:00 we left Animal Kingdom and took a quick lunch break before heading to Hollywood Studios for the rest of the day. It totally looked like we were walking down the streets of Hollywood. We started with the Great Movie Ride which is just a walk through old classic movies which was fun. After we used our fast pass for the Rockin’ Roller Coaster which was probably both of our favorite from the whole trip. It is Aerosmith themed and you have to race to the concert. SO fun, and FAST! Then….. Sheldon took me to “the twilight zone” aka The Tower of Terror. The ride is a haunted hotel that just drops the elevator you are riding in. Free fall. Needless to say I didn’t like this ride, yikes. I let Sheldon ride once more while I looked through the gift shops, he loved the ride though. Another fun part was that we were able to watch the Indiana Jones Stunt Show, we had a fast pass for this- so we had front row seats! In this show they share the behind the scenes ways of how to pull off stunts in the movie making industry. It was another great day!20160819_192655

Rides and Activities:

  • The Great Movie Ride
  • Rockin’ Roller Coaster (2X)
  • Tower of Terror (2X)
  • Indiana Jones Stunt Show
  • Toy Story Mania
  • Star Tours

 

MAGIC KINGDOM– Saturday

The most magical day yet we spent in Magic Kingdom! This day we had the longest lines and the hottest heat! That humidity really drags you down, but we played hard like big kids. We were able to use several fast passes and really packed in the fun! We started the day with Space Mountain which is almost all in the dark so you can’t anticipate what the ride will do. Of course we had to do the classic Splash Mountain ride and we were thrown into the brier patch to escape brier rabbit. The best part is that it didn’t get us too wet, just enough to feel nice. Another really fun one was the 7 Dwarf Mine Train, which I have never done before. That was probably the longest line we waited in, but they did a good job at keeping you entertained along the way. I think my favorite part of the whole day is that we took a mid-day (and much needed) ice cream break! That evening we were able to watch the Electrical Light Parade and then the Wishes Firework Show in front of Cinderella’s Castle. Both were truly magical. That night once we returned to the hotel we treated ourselves to a pizza party in our pjs. So good! 20160820_183753

Rides and Activities:

  • Space Mountain (2X)
  • Carousel of Progress
  • Tomorrowland Speedway
  • Splash Mountain (2X)
  • Monster’s Inc- Laugh Floor
  • Haunted Mansion
  • Its a Small World
  • Pirates of the Caribbean
  • Buzz Lightyear- Space Ranger Spin
  • Stitch’s Great Escape
  • 7-Dwarf Mine Train
  • Winnie The Pooh
  • Electric Light Parade
  • Wishes Firework Show

 

DISNEY SPRINGS– Sunday

After packing in SO much into the previous days that we decided to sleep in and take it easy this day. We had dinner reservations at 4:00 at the Rain Forest Cafe so we walked around disney springs until then. As we wondered we saw some cool stuff: like giant lego statues at the Lego store, an everything Coca-cola Store, a crocodile and a volcano in front of the rainforest cafe. Its quite the place. Sheldon was a happy guy because he got a steak and I got a meal of appetizer samplers. Delish! After dinner we walked around for a little while and stumbled into the Ghirardelli Chocolate store, we couldn’t resist we just HAD to get some ice cream to celebrate the end of a great honeymoon and 4 months of marriage.

 

Flight back– Monday

As much fun as we had, we were SO ready to get back home and back to life. Our trip home began early morning. As soon as we got back to idaho we took a long nap to catch up. Overall we had a wonderful vacation! We made many memories that will last forever!

 

Scrapbook pages

Along the way I made a small scrapbook with the free maps, the polaroid pictures I took, those souvenir squished pennies, and made sure to write things down. Heres a slideshow of those pages:

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I’ve heard Disney called “a human trap set by a mouse” and that sure seems about right. We had a blast though! This trip will go down in the books. 🙂

#SanFran2k15

Koch Family California Vacation

Since the three sistas will be all headed in different directions this fall (and who knows if we will get the chance to all get together again for awhile) we took a family vacay. This time to Cali. It was a nice mix of three settings; Mountains, Beach, and City. These are the things we did, I’ll show you through iphone photography….

Fresh off the plane we went to the Oakland LDS temple,

Great place to start the trip to remind us that we are a forever family. It was kinda a cloudy day but still a very pretty building and beautiful landscaping.

We grabbed a late lunch at Fenton’s and headed for….

Yosemite!

This was the first destination on our trip. We had like 3 days to enjoy this beautiful national park.

We got up early to hike to vernal falls. Great hike, but so many stairs.

#GlamourGirlsGoHiking

Also this pretty place

We did several hikes but I really enjoyed the view at Mirror Lake, we took the unconventional route on accident… the horse trail.

We also did a stargazing program at night with a funny ranger guy who was wayyy too enthusiastic to talk about the stars that we couldn’t see on a cloudy night, but it was enjoyable to hear his stories nonetheless.

While on the hunt for a “beach” we ran into a friendly fox and later on I spotted a bear on the roadside on our way to Glacier Point. This beautiful sight: 

Then we hiked to see the giant Sequoia Trees. It’s hard to photograph perspective here.

The pinecones bigger than my foot, there’s some perspective for you.

We headed back through farm land and passed several fresh fruit stands. Mom got us some peaches to enjoy on our way to….

Monterey!

So many boats.

Fisherman’s Wharf (in Monterey) We walked around and enjoyed the little shops, but I have to say we quite enjoyed the sea lion entertainment.

Too many candy Shops to count on Cannery Rowe. #GiantIcecreamSelfie

Pacific Coast

Crepes for dinner? Yes we did…. twice!

Painted Waves

 

Really soft/fine sand at the beach.

Probably the coolest thing we did was the whale watching three hour tour… We didn’t see many whales, but we were not disappointed. Mother and calf did over 40 breeches (cool jump out of the water) for us. We got quite the show! Memorable and very cold.

We also had a conveniently placed yummy cafe that we ate at like 3 times. Plus we got free cookies from the hotel desk.

On Sunday, we went to the closest LDS church building and Elder Cook just happened to be there. What? Bonus! So after we went for a family drive- “The 17 mile drive”! Beautiful views around pebble beach.

#FamilyYoga #SundayActivity

California Carmel Misisson- (It’s a catholic place, nice for pictures!)

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Lets talk landscaping, like seriously though, props to them. Stunning.

Then shortly after we left for our final destination….

San Francisco!

Here it is. You can tell it is real by the terrible quality of the photo. Golden Gate Bridge.

We did a stop at Muir Woods first though to see a Red Wood Forrest.

After hiking and being the hungry family that we are, we searched out the best pizza in San Fran which is the famous Tony’s Pizza and later topped it off with Ice Cream from no other place but… Ghirardelli Square!

Here’s the San Francisco city skyline, take it in.

And the check of the ol’ bucketlist; family SEGWAY tour around the city.

My segway’s name: Owsley Stanley…?

Dome thingy at the art museum.

Fisherman’s Wharf (at SanFan) second only to Disneyland as California’s Tourist top Attraction. We ate at Boudin, famous for their sourdough bread.

…and watched the entertaining sea lions that know how to cuddle.

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That sailboat pic I’ve always wanted to take. Headed out to Sausalito.

Better view of the Golden Gate without fog, on the Blue and Gold Ferry.

Waiting to return. Best little cafe, and cute shops.

Those bay windows though. So cliché of San Fran. Love it. Random cool part of San Francisco was our hotel Pier 2620 it was like secret agent/ spy themed. Seriously, how cool?

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No stop would be complete without a trip to China Town. 欢迎到中国城 (welcome to china town)

These fresh strawberries from a fresh fruit stand on Pier 39. But I got a mango.

This is where i make a quick remark about not wanting to leave and about our funny/loud/talkative taxi driver. But everything after was smooth sailing. Defiantly a memorable vacation. Thanks dad. Thumbs up.