Hey heyyy!! Oh man, am I ever excited to share this trip with you all! I have taken a few days to even get this post out because I wanted to get my final exam done before any blogging. I finished up my semester yesterday & all went very well 🙂 One step closer to that Doctorate degree!! So let’s jump right in because we have got a lot of ground to cover (I mean quite literally, these parks are MASSIVE!! So glad I brought my walking shoes ;)). This will take several parts, no doubt. This vacation was with DJ’s side of the fam to celebrate many birthdays (including Mickey’s 90th, of course) and to just all be together in one place. We rarely can get everyone together for a few hours, nonetheless a few days! This was such a treat and truly a vacation of a lifetime. And before I start I have to shoutout my Mom-in-law for planning this absolutely spectacular vacation & making it all possible!
Back to the beginning…in the evening of December 3rd I meal prepped a bit for the plane. I can’t go a few hours without having a snack, but buying snacks at the airport is pricy. So I made overnight pumpkin oats with cranberries and yogurt and a salad with protein crumbles & hummus. I also had grapes and apples and protein bars to munch on.
I put everything in my Pack It lunch box in my carry on. It keeps it nice and cool the whole flight since there are built in ice packs!
After getting through security, you know the first place I went (even though it was in the opposite direction of our gate, hehe)…
Breakfast & study time!
On the plane I studied a majority of the plane ride, enjoyed my salad & protein bar, and sipped on some seltzer water.
We arrived in Orlando in the evening around 5:30 pm, and headed directly to the Walt Disney Dolphin Resort to meet up with the family. This hotel lobby is just breath-takingly stunning, but also fun & exotic!
After getting the family all together we headed to The Boathouse.
If you are going to the Boathouse for dinner a reservation is a must!! This is a popular spot and rightfully so. The decor from the moment you step in is exactly what you would anticipate- fish, boats, netting.. it is a sundry of all things nautical!
They have some awesome unique drinks too- even their lemon drop martini is served with a rock candy stick.
They started us with some melt in your mouth rolls- so good!
For the table we shared a couple rounds of oysters- some Rockefeller and some regular.
I had never had Rockefeller oysters before- and although they had bacon in them I tried a little nibble of just the creamed spinach and oyster, and it was an explosion of flavor. The regular oysters were the definition of “fresh”.. mmm mmm!
I ordered the cedar plank salmon for my main dish & DJ had the Maine Lobster and pasta skillet- holy maloly it was all so scrumptious! I would recommend the pasta skillet over the salmon though!
^^ Perfection.
& The decadently delicious desserts all around…
Key lime pie in a Mason Jar
Macadamia Turtle Pie
Double Chocolate Bundt Cake
I probably don’t need to explain how good those are, huh?
Walking back to the hotel we passed some beautiful Christmas decor lit up in the evening. It was wonderful catching up with everyone & just chatting the night away. I kept feeling like I needed to squeeze everything into one conversation, but then remembered we still had several days ahead of us to chat and hang out!
Despite getting up so early, I was not tired one bit. It was technically only about 7 pm Pacific time once we returned, so I decided to go run to wind down from the traveling day. I actually was able to get my studying done that I had planned for the next day, so that felt productive!
I loved the workout room- they had a separate smaller room where you could choose HITT routine programs, and they even had a punching bag.
Time to hit the hay! I actually couldn’t fall asleep until about 5 or 6 am, and we woke up around 7.. hence, the sleep was very minimal that evening. Jet lag always throws me off no matter how tired I am. When I went to India I couldn’t sleep for over 48 hours straight (and melatonin does nuthin’ for it for some reason!).
Anywho- this was a gorgeous view to wake up to!
I grabbed my protein bar and headed downstairs with DJ to get some coffee before heading out for the day’s festivities!
There was a little place in the lobby called “fuel” that had just anything and everything you could want food/drink wise. Their coffee shop was SO good. I loved the cafe au lait I had there.
I paired it with my No Cow bar in the morning to get a protein boost before getting the day started.
Time to head to Universal Studios!
We rode a bunch of rides to start out the day- the Minion Ride (such an insanely fun virtual reality ride!), Rock It Hollywood Rollercoaster, & the Shrek Virtual Reality ride. I was blown away by the detail, high technology, and deep immersion of it all.
For a little pick me up, I grabbed a cup of jo at Boulangerie.
This place was super cute, but their coffee was awfully bitter!
We continued along in the park and passed another mammoth Christmas tree.
We were so taken aback when we saw this sign below. There is actually a faux “San Francisco” in Universal Studios. We laughed saying we traveled across the country just to end back up in San Francisco.
They recreated notable spots in SF pretty darn well!
I mean there was even a “Ghirardelli Square”.. too funny
And it was located right on the water- how perfect.
I’ll end here. In the next post we head to Harry Potter World (eeeek!!!!!!). It was a day to remember, I’ll tell ya that much! Can’t wait to share. But for now I will leave us in San Francisco… And you thought you were getting a travelin’ post, eh? 😉
Question for you:
- Highlight of your week so far?
xo <3
