Emily is Smiling

We had to wake up very early this morning, as we had to get off the ship by 8:30. I woke up at about 6:30 and got ready for the day before packing the rest of my things in my carry-on bag. By seven-thirty, we went downstairs and had our final breakfast at the Windjammer, which is the buffet for when you don't feel like going to the fancier diner, Galileo's.

We said farewell to Antonio, our very friendly housekeeper. He's done such a great job all week. It's going to be strange going back to average hotels with housekeepers who don't learn our names and greet us personally each day.

When we arrived back in Orlando, we left our things at the front desk and took off for Downtown Disney. For those of you who don't know, Downtown Disney is kind of like Disney World, but it's composed of city streets with restaurants and stores and shows, all Disney themed. We rented Nawnie a wheelchair and began to explore.

We ate at a sandwich joint called the Earl of Sandwich. I personally can't stand sandwiches, but according to my family, it was very good.

We were delighted to find that Downtown Disney wasn't very crowded. In fact, we were able to make our way around the area with little difficulty.

We stopped in World of Disney, a store full of absolutely everything you could imagine (with a pair of Mickey ears somewhere on each item). I bought a shirt with Mickey Mouse on it, of course. Everywhere we went was blasting a Disney song. Since I love the music from my childhood, I was very excited (and sang along... a lot).

We also dropped into a little magic parlor, where a magician showed us all sorts of card tricks. The one that shocked me the most was when he had me place my hand on a nine of spades and then I picked a king out of the deck without him seeing. In a few moments, he pulled a nine of spades out of the deck and flipped the card that had never left my palm... and it was a king! For any of you who know a bit about illusions, you probably aren't impressed at all, but I was amazed.

Lego World (or is it Lego Land?) was amazing too. Outside, there were all sorts of intricate sculptures and statues made up entirely of legos. Inside the building, there were scenes from movies and real life, such as railway stations and a garden. I'm not much of a lego person, but I was very impressed with how much you can do with a few legos.

For a few hours, we went to Disney Quest, which is a five story arcade. Once you buy the tickets, you get unlimited access to all of the games for as long as you want. We are staying at the Hilton and they gave us all free tickets to Disney Quest. Luke was obviously very excited.

My favorite game was Pirates of the Caribbean. It was 3-D and took place in a pretend ship with fake cannons and everything. You'd shoot at and try to sink sea monsters and other ships until you won treasure. It was great! Some other cool games were Aladdin's Magic Carpet, a raft ride through the jungle, and Mighty Ducks pinball.

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted. We had planned to eat somewhere nice for dinner, but we barely managed to get back to our hotel rooms and crash into bed. We ordered pizza, which tasted good.

We've been watching the Casey Anthony trial like crazy every night. It's kind of funny that we happen to be in Orlando at the same time as all of this is going on.

I cannot wait to get some rest tonight.