first up North Carolina: Topsail Island! i have been trying to plan an OBX beach house rental trip for years, i was pleasantly surprised by Topsail Island (we stayed with family and daytripped to the beach but i could imagine first hand how a future trip will play out). our family lives in Sneads Ferry, just a mile or so away from the beach, so jealous!
and miles and miles of wetlands!
yep, we finally did it. disneyworld. hmmmm. where to start? having grown up down the street from disneyland, i have to say that disneyworld was always some kind of dreamy far far away type place i would never ever see, too far and too expensive, not worth it. as a kid though, EVERYONE wanted to go to disneyworld, it was epic!! such a mystery though, even when i researched it online, i couldnt really grasp what it was going to be like? when we went to eurodisney (in paris) i remember it feeling like a tinier, edited disneyland. very cool, but not as big and just slightly "off" like you were in a dream or twilight episode. for some reason i had a hard time with the disneyworld website, it confused me and i didnt know if it was one big campus linked by, i dont know, trains or trolleys? why did people say to "stay on site" what did that mean? lucky for me, my sister in law is in the military and she booked us rooms at "shades of green" a resort hotel "on campus" so to speak. once we arrived there and drove into what is the "disneyworld campus" i could see how it was organized. basically it is four parks with roads and large patches of green space between each. there is epcot, the animal park, hollywood disney studios and magic kingdom. for those of you familiar with disneyland here is the comparison: magic kingdom is everything you have seen in disneyland (pirates of the carribean, small world, space mountain etc), the animal park is like a wild animal park with a few roller coasters and areas for little kids to ride smaller rides (it is dinosaur themed), epcot is like a tour of the world and future (similar to california adventure with some of the same rides) and the disney studios is like the hollywood studio area of california adventure. ok, so this is what my opinion is: it is nice to be able to tackle each park one day on a 4 day hopper pass BUT in about 5 hours you basically have seen all the major rides and attractions, leaving you with hours and hours of shopping time. no thanks. all four parks have massive areas of shopping which annoyed me to death. oh and downtown disney? yep, another HUGE shopping area to waste more money. Magic Kingdom was laid out much like disneyland but edited and smaller, just like the euro disney. no matterhorn and things like the small world ride were not housed in the elaborate building with facade you expect to see. it was similar (and adjacent to) the peter pan ride. ok, so yes we had a blast and yes we managed those fast passes to reduce our wait times, but i could have done with a little less shopping. i am sure really hardcore disney fans want to buy everything mickey mouse they can get, but i just wasnt into it. during our disney week we spent one day at the kennedy space center, worth every penny. it was so well done and we saw lots of foreigners from all over the world enjoying themselves. i was so proud of how well it was organized and how they shuttled you around to different displays all over the center. the information was presented in a very creative and innovative way that inspired me to think about the space past and future in a way i havent in a long time if ever. if you are doing a whole week in orlando, by all means break up the disneyworld time with a tour of the kennedy space center, you wont be disappointed!! 
i was expecting heat but i'll tell you, in august it was hot hot hot! our trip started in north carolina (flying into raleigh) with a few days at the beach. we then took a drive down to "middleton place" in south carolina and another quick stop in savannah before landing in orlando for a week at disneyworld. middleton place was a wonderful surprise as it is a working plantation/farm which showcases local fresh food in it's restaurant. just walking the grounds was amazing and we spent most of our time there just walking around. i first read about the place in a sue monk kidd book (love it when something i read about finds it's way into a trip).
middleton place, south carolina: big thumbs up!!
i'll post some more pictures soon.
