So where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we'd just arrived at the hotel. I won't be relaying this chronologically, but I'll hit some of the highlights.

First of all, we really loved the perks that come from staying in a Disney resort. Being able to send purchases back to your hotel? Awesome. Being allowed to enter certain parks early and stay late? Fabulous! We got some great rides in during the extra three hours in the Magic Kingdom. Proximity and transportation to the parks? Can't beat it.

Like I said, we'll never stay off property again. And I've already started hinting to my husband (actually, I started hinting while we were still there) that I'd like to stay in the Grand Floridian next time. Don't worry. I was subtle. As we rode past on the monorail, I said, "Honey, I want to stay there next time."

See? Subtle. *snort* Since that level of subtlety is what my husband expects of me, it's all good.

As for the rides, we hit everything we really wanted to...except for the Aerosmith roller coaster at Disney/MGM Studios. My youngest wasn't tall enough for that one. But three times on the Tower of Terror made up for it. Matter of fact, we hit all the thrill rides multiple times.

Test Track at Epcot? Very cool, although we all agreed on a wish for the straight, high speed portion being longer. This was the first time on that ride for us. I should add that at 10am, we picked up our Fast Passes for that ride. And what time did it tell us to go back? 3! Damn! Talk about a popular ride!

We rode the Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom twice during the Extra Magic Hours. And I got soaked to the skin both times. And I mean soaked. Like somebody had dumped a few hundred gallons of water over my head. Which is essentially what happened. Twice. Ain't I lucky?

And now I have to take a minute to talk about the food. OMG, the food. We purchased a vacation package which included our hotel stay, our park passes, and most of our food. We got one snack, one counter-service meal, and one table-service meal per day. I'm so glad we did, because otherwise we'd never have experienced the wonderful Disney table-service food. Of all the places we ate, my number one recommendation is the Concourse Steakhouse at the Contemporary Hotel. I'm still humming with pleasure from that meal.

We also did two character meals, a dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom and a breakfast at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary. Both were absolutely wonderful, and having the characters come right to your table beats waiting in line in the heat to meet them any day, hands down.

One night, we actually went off property for the evening, and took in the show at Medieval Times. What fun! My husband and I had done this last time we went to Disney, but this time we took the kids. And they had a blast. My son was really into it--standing on his chair, whooping and hollering for our knight and booing the others. My daughter was into the whole thing until she was singled out by our knight. She received a carnation from him, and a scarf that signified it was she he would be jousting for. I think she was really embarrassed. My daughter is an athlete, and used to being recognized for that. Being recognized for any other reason is foreign to her, and she just didn't know how to handle it. She did really like the food, though.

The night before we left, we received our shopping bill (they allow resort guests to use their resort ID as a kind of credit card). My husband's comment to me when he saw the bill? "I'm proud of you. You spent less than half of what I thought you would!" My response? "Get up off your ass. I've got shopping to do!"

And that, in a very large nutshell, was our Disney vacation. I absolutely did not want to leave, and would happily live at Disney (as long as the meals are paid for). I can't wait for the next one!

Any questions?

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MOOD: Hungry
MUSIC: None now. Watching "Mr. Romance".
PROGRESS: Got my crits done! Still trying to get caught up after vacation
WHAT I'M READING: The Bane Affair by Alison Kent