UNPLANNED FLORIDA VACATION...

A couple of months ago my husband mentioned that he would be attending a conference in Orlando, Florida.  As it happens it was our Spring Break, so we (myself and the boys) were fortunate to join him.  I realized it might be one of the last times we would spend a school vacation with the boys since my oldest son is graduating from college.  I didn't do a bit of planning this time, even though it's been 13 years since we'd been to Disney World as a family.  I've just been so busy with other things!  I think I also knew you can't make an 18 and 22 year old do hardly anything - turned out just fine.

Another reason the boys wanted to go:  both of the boys have friends living in/near Orlando!  Of course they wanted to see them!  One is a character at DW and another a student at Rollins College in Winter Park.  They got to see both of them, and in fact our DW friend has a lot of benefits let's say...and we enjoyed them while Dad went to his meetings.

Since we were getting in free, we weren't able to get Fast passes, but it was still fun!  (I had to keep reminding myself that as the Fastpass people ran by us as we waited and waited in lines) We also ate pretty well, which is something we never would do otherwise!  In the past we would eat cheap after paying so much for the tickets.  So we just basically enjoyed the parks slowly, waited a while on some of the more popular rides, and had a great time.  Our friend was really into the parades and shows, while we probably would've concentrated on rides.  Funny how letting someone else show you around changes your perspective.  But we loved it, and just enjoyed the parks with no real agenda other than riding a few rides and seeing the new parade.

 The boys and their goofy friend!

The hubs got to join us for a little bit!  We loved Toy Story Mania!

New parade!

 Our friend had to "work" in the afternoon, so we went by and visited him!  

At Epcot the Flower & Garden Festival was going on and the topiaries were gorgeous!

The boys were so much fun and I was glad they let me hang around with them!

One night the hubs took us to Celebration, FL to eat and look around.  It's a Disney planned community that is gorgeous but the neighborhoods feel a little "stepfordish."  Personally I never saw but a little of that creepy movie, but the neighborhoods do seem a little too clean and unreal...

The last day we visited the boys' friend who goes to Rollins College in nearby Winter Park, FL.  It just happened to be his birthday so we treated him and ate on Park Ave. - a great area with shops and restaurants near campus.  It was a gorgeous campus with palm trees and Italian architecture.  I'm not sure how anybody gets studying done in such a cool atmosphere...