Disney Vacation Recap!

Happy Back-to-school Monday!

This has to be one of the most hectic Monday of all Mondays! 

Fortunately, I don't start until next Monday and I could not be more nervous excited!

I know I am getting this recap up a bit later than I would have liked to. This is partly because I've been so incredibly busy finishing up my room renovations, working, and enjoying the too few days left of my summer and partly because I knew that reliving the memories of this trip was going to make me go into major Disney Withdrawals. (Yes, they are very real)

Though going to Disney World never needs a real reason, CM and I made the trip in honor of our anniversary. We have been together since high school and are totally wanting to start traveling together! This was our first official road trip together, if you exclude our few day trips to Miami, so we were so excited! 

Our trip was originally consisting of 2 days at Disney and 2 days with his family at their beach condo about an hour from Disney property. Due to multiple changes we ended up doing one day at Downtown Disney and one day, our actual anniversary day, at Disney, more specifically Epcot.  The last day was spent relaxing on the beach. 

I never get tired of seeing this sight!

The iconic Downtown Disney is always a must-stop for me whenever I visit. I especially wanted to go this trip as I've read of all the new additions and soon-to-be additions to the area. I love the direction it is going in!

 I had 3 missions that day: 

1. Have my first Disney Starbucks Drink

2. Disney Quest

3. Find the Disney Alex and Ani bangle collection

And I am happy to report that I was successful in all 3 missions!

Disney Starbucks is so much more magical than regular Starbucks. 

 A DD store that was new to me was the Spice and Tea Exchange located near the corner of Mickey's Pantry. A fun little stop with a wide variety of spices and teas (well, duh) and salts and sugars and other fun Disney culinary tools.  

You best believe we smelled pretty much all of them! 

I had to contain my excitement when I came across this specific tea though. Hazelnut Cookie Tea?! Yes please! 

We ate lunch at a restaurant I've always wanted to dine at, the T-Rex. CM loves dinosaurs so choosing this restaurant was fairly easy. I loved the atmosphere and experience. We ate in the Ice Cavern that went from blue to red whenever there was a "meteor shower". So cool and so yummy!

Since CM and I were both not feeling too great from the start we pretty much took it easy the rest of the day, which included a trip to Disney Quest which was both of our's first time going there. 

After a good night's sleep we felt much better and ready to take on Epcot! 

Epcot is my second favorite park, behind Magic Kingdom of course, mainly because of the countries. They are my favorite and that is where we spent the entire day. 

It's funny how the pictures you snap the quickest end up being some of your favorites!

We ate "brunch" I guess you can call it in France at Les Halles Bakery. I was really craving a chocolate croissant which we split along with the Jambon Buerre sandwhich and the cappucino glacé. It hit the spot! 

We then spent the rest of the day exploring each country which was so much fun! If you can, I highly recommend you take a day to spend in just the countries. It'll allow you to take your time in each country exploring all that there is to see...and eat and drink xD. 

After a long day we decided to have dinner in China at the Nine Dragons restaurant. Something we said we would do for this anniversary for a long time now. 

I ordered the Honey Sesame chicken with an iced chai tea and it was the best way to end the long day!

And last but not least: souvenirs! 

Since we did not want to do traditional anniversary "gifts" this time around we treated Disney as our gift for each other and bought each other souvenirs along the way. Since neither of us had a pair of Mickey/Minnie ears that was first on the list. (I know I am totally ashamed to admit this) I love these sparkly Minnie ears and I will probably be wearing these a little more than I should! A Disney tradition I have is to buy a trading pin that symbolizes the overall trip. I started this when I was a kid and have now continued this with CM. We bought each other this Epcot World Showcase countries pin that spins! Another little unique purchase we made for each other was for a pair of chopsticks from Japan. This past year we have been all about sushi (shoutout to CM for getting me on this bandwagon!) so to symbolize this we bought real (and really beautiful) chopsticks! We cannot wait to use them! And finally we bought matching little Minnie/ Mickey picture frames to hold a picture from our little trip so we can remember it all year round! 

Oh! And I can't forget these adorable little Minnie bow sticky tabs so I can have Disney magic as my study inspiration!

I am absolutely head over heels over my new Disney Alex and Ani bangles. I have been dying to start a collection and I am so happy I did. These are so cute and create a beautiful, yet not annoying, jingle. Needless to say I have been stalking the website in search of my next addition. 

Disney couples are the happiest couples.

And that's all she wrote! It was an amazing little weekend getaway that was the perfect way to end a long summer of hard work and to start off a new year of long distance.