Road Trip!

M&M store in the Florida Mall

Since I only live about four hours away from Orlando, my parents and I took a trip down to explore the area and get a feel for what's around the area OTHER than Disney World. This was also a good chance to go shopping for clothes and such, because it's difficult to find clothes that actually fit correctly where I live. So Saturday morning we got up early and made the drive down.

The Florida Hotel

When we finally got there we stayed at the Florida Hotel. For those of you that don't know the Florida Hotel is a hotel, connected to the Florida Mall. That's right, readers, CONNECTED to the mall. It was a REALLY fancy hotel, which honestly surprised me and then to find out that I could walk into the GIANT mall through the lobby? Let's say I was impressed. We spent the rest of that Saturday walking the mall, going into the M&M World store, the Apple Store, the Disney Store (I had to. lol) and a lot of other stores that I've never heard of before. This trip to the mall also blew my mind with prices, the stores were...SWANKY. Nordstom, Saks Fifth Avenue, H&M, all stores I had never heard of and that were kinda expensive.

Anyway, after a day of shopping, I came away with four new dresses and the ability to power through large groups of people without dying. (There were SO MANY people there, it was ridiculous.) All things essential to my Disney College Program. The next day we drove to Chatham Square.

Chatham bus stop

Can I just say that it wasn't like anything I was expecting? I guess I honestly had low-ish expectations since it was for primarily CPs but when I got there, my mind was BLOWN at how pretty everything looked. The buildings were pretty, the lawns were well-kept, and I was freaking out a bit about the stone work on the signs and along the roads. (Cause I'm a dork who appreciates such things.) Our GPS took us to the wrong side of Chatham at first, and I got a good look at Patterson Court as well. Patterson did indeed look newer and very pretty, but I'm already kinda in love with Chatham. When we finally got around to the entrance of Chatham, we saw the bus stop, which is nice and shaded and there's a porch. (I'm guessing that's the "main office" of the complex.)

I obviously couldn't get in because of security nor did I expect to be able to get in, so we were stuck being creepy and taking pictures from our car. Haha. Anyway, as we were finally leaving, we had to turn around at the end of the street where I saw the enterance to Mickey's Retreat, it is quite literally across the street from the Chatham bus stop. That made me happy, and I got a brief look at some of the things they had there. I saw some CPers playing soccer, so that was kinda cool.

We then drove to Vista Way, which wasn't far, but it's definitely not a walk. It's not even on the same side of the highway as Patterson and Chatham. (Unless we took the long way, which is entirely possible because we don't know our way around Orlando very well.) So, we looked at hotels close to Vista for check-in and finally decided on the Holiday Inn with the Applebees attached to it. I figured my roommates and I could eat there the night before check-in. :)

All-in-all it was an eye-opening trip that made me even more excited for the internship than I already was. I didn't think it was possible, but it sure is. While I was there it started to sink in, but we left too soon for it to have any positive or negative effects. So while my brain is still sort-of in denial about this whole thing, my heart is freaking out about everything.

Yesterday was 50 days until check-in, today is 49, and now that my parents and I have reserved the hotel room, it's only 47 days until I'm in Orlando. I remember when it was over 200 days. It's honestly going by so quickly and I'm getting more and more excited. AHH!