I’m taking the long way around with A to Z this year. My plan is to post every couple of weeks, so I will have time to visit other blogs in between and still have time to write.

Next up in the A to Z Challenge:

D is for – DisneyWorld!

One thing I had always wanted to do was take my kids to DisneyWorld. I grew up on Disney movies, both the live action and the animated classics. Even as an adult, I still love them. One of my all-time favorite movies is Disney’s animated Beauty and the Beast.

In April 2012, we took an extended school spring break vacation and hit the road to DisneyWorld. We drove from our home in Vermont to Orlando, FL, over the course of four days. On the way down, we stopped at Grounds for Sculpture, an amazing outdoor sculpture park, museum, and arboretum in Hamilton, New Jersey. Some of the sculptures scattered over the 42 acre park were incredibly detailed and lifelike.

Others were more abstract, but just as interesting.

At DisneyWorld, we stayed at the Coronado Springs resort. It had a lovely swimming pool, which we enjoyed very much.

My daughter was a huge fan of the Disney princesses, so we visited as many as we could find.

The rides were a blast. Well, all but one. No one will ever get me on Everest again. After zipping around at high speed forward and backward, and over stomach-lurching drops in the pitch dark, it was all I could do not to lose my lunch. The kids liked it, though.

One of my favorite spots at Disneyworld was the Lego Store in the Marketplace. Right in front of the store stands a towering, jaw-dropping, Lego-brick version of the black dragon Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty blasting fire at Lego Prince Phillip. I have always loved building with Legos and I love dragons, particularly that one. All I could do was stand there and say, “Wow, that is so cool!”

After we left DisneyWorld, we went to the real LegoLand in Winter Haven, FL, about 45 minutes south of Disney. Talk about mind-boggling creations! I can’t imagine how much fun it must have been to build all those skyscrapers and landmarks and animals and dinosaurs and people — a fantastic collection of Lego masterpieces, though I have to say that, to me, none was as awe-inspiring as that dragon.

On the way home, we stopped at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, NC. My son’s dream is to be a NASCAR driver, so this was the highlight of the trip for him. He got to see the racecars of some of his favorite drivers and actually sit in a racecar and “drive” in simulated races. He would have kept on driving until the cows came home, as they say, if I’d have let him. But unfortunately, we did have to get back on the road.

We all had so much fun on the trip. It was by far the Best. Family. Vacation. Ever!

 

And now for the Writing Update:

The last couple of weeks have been a little crazy, so I didn’t get much writing time, but I did add another 600 words to my WIP, Trouble Times Three. I’m happy to still be moving forward despite everything. And there’s a three-day weekend coming up. Can’t wait to get back at it!

Anyone else have any bucket list items beginning with D?

 

 

 

 

 

© Lori L. MacLaughlin and Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams, 2020. All rights reserved.