Mickey, Minnie and Princesses!

Last Friday night, we boarded the red-eye headed for Atlanta in San Francisco. Atlanta was our layover on the way to Orlando, Florida, home of Walt Disney World. I was headed to Orlando for a conference my company was hosting. Lauren and Lars were tagging along to go see the mouse (or at least in Lauren's case, Disney Princesses). We had planned on going to Orlando a few years ago, when my cousins had planned a family reunion there. But my mom got sick, and we had to cancel our trip back then, so never got to Orlando. This was an opportunity to make up for that trip.

We arrived in Florida bright and early on Saturday morning, hailed a taxi and went to our hotel, the Hilton Bonnet Creek in Orlando, Florida. It's a brand new hotel, attached to a conference center (which the Waldorf Astoria is also connected to). The hotel has the most amazing pool which Lauren absolutely loved.

After checking into the hotel on Saturday, we got the bus schedule and hopped on the bus to Epcot. We spent a leisurely, hot day at Epcot. Lauren insisted on buying a spray mist fan as soon as we walked in the theme park, and it turned out to be one our best purchases of the day, with the heat and humidity that was prevalent during our stay. Epcot was nice, but Lauren complained there weren't many rides; something we were already expecting based on reading "The Unofficial Guide to Disney World". Towards the end of the day we just passed China at Epcot and were headed towards Norway. Lars wanted to do some shopping in the Norway gift shop, and I wanted a rest so I stayed outside the gift shop with the stroller. It took a few minutes, but I realized quickly that I was sitting outside the Akershus Royal Dining Hall, one of two places at Disney World that does Character Dining with Disney Princesses. A few weeks ago I had tried make reservations here to have dinner or lunch with the Princesses for Lauren, but had no success (apparently you have to reserve like 180 days in advance to get a table).

Since it was still early (for dinner), I walked over and asked them if there was any chance they could squeeze 3 people in on standby, and I got on the waiting list. Within minutes they told me we could have a table, and I had to go hunt Lars and Lauren down. So Lauren got to enjoy her dinner with royalty. She got a picture with Sleeping Beauty (Princess Aurora), and had Cinderella, Belle, Snow White and Ariel visit our table while she ate.

After Epcot we went back to the hotel and enjoyed the pool which had a zero entry lagoon section as well as complete river running around the pool area that you could ride in an inner tube (which we got for Lauren). On Sunday we went to the Magic Kingdom and Lauren was much happier with all the rides she got to go on and parade she got to see. Surprisingly enough her favorite ride turned out to be the Toy Story ride, which is one that is set up as a shooting game. You have laser guns in front of you and you try to score as many points against Zurg as you go through the ride. She like it so much we had to go on it twice.

Lars left us at the Magic Kingdom early to get some quiet time, so Lauren and I enjoyed the rest of the day together. We had dinner at the park, and since Lauren was hungry and we didn't find an abundance of places to eat, she agreed to share a turkey leg (yes a turkey leg) from the refreshment stand (that also sold popcorn and pretzels). We sat outside, and it was a pleasant early evening that was beginning to cool off. As I peeled turkey meat off for Lauren to eat (as she sat in her stroller), a tall, skinny bird approached us. I figured it wasn't afraid, since it was used to humans, so I pointed it out to Lauren. I wasn't too concerned and continued to feed Lauren.

Then, out of nowhere the bird ran past me so fast I didn't know what happened. As it ran past it grabbed a piece of turkey meat I had just peeled to feed Lauren and took it. A few feet away I watched astonished as it finished gobbling the small piece of turkey meat I was about to feed Lauren. She was completely flabbergasted as well and beginning to get scared of the bird. So anytime it tried to get close I shooed it off, and we were able to finish our dinner. Afterwards we went on a few more rides before heading back to the hotel for more pool time while I went to attend the opening welcome reception of my company's sales conference.

On Monday, I went to work, while Lars and Lauren went to Hollywood Studios. For dinner we went to Downtown Disney and ate at Planet Hollywood. On Tuesday I continued my work agenda, while Lars and Lauren went to Animal Kingdom. For dinner Tuesday we went back to Downtown Disney, this time taking the water taxi to the other end and having dinner at the Rainforest Cafe (Lauren's choice).

On Wednesday Lars and Lauren flew back to California (nearly missing their connection in Atlanta due to a flight delay). In the process they lost the stroller we brought with us, since they told them to just get to the gate and not worry about it. On Thursday evening I flew back to California, and was able to locate the stroller at SFO. But Delta managed to lose our luggage (it was one bag, with all our clothes and souvenirs in it that I had checked in). As of this moment, it's still missing (according to Delta's website).