The excitement grew as we flew ever closer to Orlando where my husband, Tony, and I planned a glorious week in the sunshine away from any kind of adulting back home. No, this week we were 9 years old again, full of energy and wonderment, ready to experience all that time allowed.

Before venturing out on Day One, we needed some kind of breakfast to power us up for the trip to Disney Springs. As we sat in IHOP scarfing avocado toast, pancakes and fruit, we searched the website for the things we wanted to see. Disney Springs sits along Lake Buena Vista and offers shopping, restaurants to suit any craving, and entertainment where you can catch a Cirque du Soleil show, among other venues.

We strolled into the huge Disney store and lost ourselves in the hat section where we finally settled on a headband with Maleficent’s horns for me and Mickey’s Fantasia magic hat for Tony. Several souvenirs later, we came out of the store skipping — ok, not really, but now you have the image in your head.  It was HOT that day, so naturally the little boy and little girl wanted ice cream. Luckily there is a Ghirardelli’s Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop next to the Disney store where we had the most incredible sundaes that can only be described as “Oh. My. Gawd. So GOOD!”

As we walked off the ice cream, we came upon the Lego store featuring my BFF Maleficent as the enormous dragon standing majestically above the crowd outside, made entirely of Legos. She was beautiful. I wanted to bring her home, but I didn’t know how to get all of those Legos into my suitcase.

We finished the day at Ripley’s Believe It or Not Odditorium where we marveled at the incredible, impossible, and unbelievable collection of oddities and relics. It’s amazing that a man, thought to be an eccentric nut during his lifetime, left a legacy of fantastical objects we never knew existed. Way to go, dude.

Day Two took us to Animal Kingdom, where we boarded a safari train that took us through the park showing animals in the “wild” as they should be. Did you know the elephant uses his mighty ears to fan himself or to show himself as an awesome specimen to be acknowledged? You’ll never look at Dumbo the same way again.

Our train stopped a couple of times to allow giraffes to cross the road to — you guessed it — get to other side. The giraffes walked around like they owned the place, paying little attention to the humans pointing at them. The giraffes probably thought we were funny looking, too.

The rest of the afternoon had us searching International Boulevard for those cheesy gift shops that MUST be frequented, especially on this trip. The mission: Find the cheesiest, most ridiculous souvenir to bring home. To the winner, it is a trophy. To the loser, a reminder that it’s okay to be silly on occasion. That’s a lie; the loser vows to come up with something just as stupid next time.

Sleeping was just a suggestion going into Day Three because we had tickets to Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights. Of course, it had to be the hottest day of our trip; but even as the sweat dripped down our backs, we enjoyed walking down the streets of yesteryear dodging the Blues Brothers car that split the crowd.

Narrowly escaping the jaws of a great white (Get it? Jaws?) through the Amity fishing wharf, we ended up in the Simpson’s area between Lord Lad Donuts, Duff Bear and Krusty Burgers. As the sun beat on our heads, we wandered into the City Walk area, smack in the middle of Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Looking up at the neon signs for somewhere to cool off and get a snack, we spotted a Voodoo Doughnut! We couldn’t believe our sweaty eyes; we were actually going to be able to eat a Voodoo Doughnut doughnut. There were dozens of choices of glorious cake doughnuts on display begging to jump from the counter into our mouths, but we collected ourselves to try one jelly doughnut and one frosted sprinkled doughnut. Just like the ice cream, they were SO GOOD! Tony even saved a little of the jelly in the folds of his t-shirt for later.

Finally, night fell upon us and the haunted attractions opened just as the skies opened to release the downpour of all downpours as a reward for spending the day in a million degree heat. Despite the rain we enjoyed the Chucky haunted house and the Classic Monsters haunted house before the lightning drove us into the Simpson’s Kwik-E-Mart for a rain poncho. Though the night ended earlier than planned, we did walk away with some very nice items from the Halloween Horror Night gift shop. We reverted to our adult forms and headed back to the hotel to kick off our squishy shoes and relax. Yes, I would do it all over again.

On Day Four we found a little café called Egg-Celente off International Drive. Best. Breakfast. Ever. Back to Disney Springs, where we happened upon a bakery that made special cakes in Disney character designs. I had a Maleficent cake that was too pretty to eat, but I cut into it anyway. Not only was the cake pretty, but it was delicious. We did not go hungry on this trip, let me tell you.

Finally, we visited Old Town in Kissimmee, an amusement park/entertainment district that offers old-fashioned fun, carnival-type rides and games of all kinds, unique shopping and street vendors, car shows and live music. We had a great time playing miniature golf at the Pirate’s Cove, and everyone got a trophy for participating. Kidding. The competition was fierce as we heckled each other on each hole, “accidentally” kicking the opponent’s ball further away from the hole. All in good fun, of course.

Sometimes it’s good to come back home to a normal, daily routine. This was not one of those times. We purposely did not go to the Disney parks (except Animal Kingdom but only for a few hours) so that we could experience Orlando itself. I would give this trip five stars and look forward to another experience navigating all Orlando has to offer.

— JoAnne Feddeler, guest blogger