RunDisney Vacation: Downtown Disney and Exploring

Monday morning I set off for Downtown Disney to do some shopping, walking around, and eating. I took my time getting ready that morning, since I had all day long to myself (or so I thought.). Laurie and Matt headed to Universal for the day, so I assumed I wouldn't see them until later that evening.

I ate a big breakfast, so by the time I actually got hungry again, I decided that it was perfectly acceptable to have a sea salt caramel Ghirardelli sundae for lunch. No one was with me to disagree, so that's what I did.

I meandered through all the shops, mentally making a list of all the things I wished I could buy. They have Vera Bradley Disney purses now, and I love them oh-so-much....but because they're Disney, they're pricier than the already somewhat pricey regular Vera purses. I couldn't bring myself to drop $95 for a purse. Well that and Nick would kill me. Pandora also makes Disney charms now too, and although I rewarded myself with one to commemorate my first RunDisney event, I could have easily purchase 3 or 4 more of them. They're not so cheap either. I have expensive taste I guess!

As I shopped, I also made note of all the things I'm predicting Kate will have a fit over when we are there next week. We could very easily take care of her Christmas and birthday gifts for this year if we wanted. They have a ton of stuff she will want.

I got bored around 1, and I still had over half the day to go! So I decided to hop on the ferry that runs to some of the Disney Resorts and check them out. It was about a 20 minute boat ride from Downtown Disney to Port Orleans Riverside Resort, which is absolutely beautiful! If I ever get to come back to Disney (please say that I do) I wouldn't mind staying there. The grounds were awesome. I checked out their lobby and gift shop before hopping a bus back to Magic Kingdom so that I could hop a bus back to my resort. (There is no resort to resort transportation at Disney - if you want to go resort to resort, you have to go to a park and then transfer from there.)

While I was on the bus back to the hotel, Laurie sent me a message that they were on the way back too. They did everything they wanted to do in 6.5 hours. So we met up and decided to book a dinner reservation for that evening. We ended up at Kona Cafe over at the Polynesian. I had a delicious New York strip steak with roasted garlic, fingerling potatoes, and broccoli and they split some sushi and tuna. After, we went downstairs and had a Dole Whip while we watched the fireworks across the lake at Magic Kingdom.

From there, we hopped the monorail to get back to Magic Kingdom so we could hop a bus back to our resort. Laurie and Matt had a really early flight on Tuesday.