On Friday, March 30, we had no school. I was able to sleep in a bit before leaving on the three-hour trek to their home in Indiana.

From there, we packed up my cousins’, aunt’s, and uncle’s things and then hit the road.

The journey to Orlando was hard.

On the way to our destination, we drove through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.

We stayed the night in Chattanooga, Tenn., at Embassy Suites.

Here we were able to relax after our eight-hour drive by consuming refreshments and swimming in the hotel’s saltwater swimming pool.

In the morning, we checked out and began the next eight-hour drive.

When we finally arrived in Florida, we went to our hotel room in Walt Disney’s Art of Animation resort.

As we went to check in, the walls were covered in sketches and the early ideas of many Disney characters.

We stayed in the Finding Nemo suite, which was exciting. We had two large beds and a pull-out couch, two bathrooms, and were blessed with a coffee pot for once in our lives.

Each of the beds had their own TVs, making it easy for me to watch what I wanted to watch while my younger cousins watched what they wanted.

The day we arrived we just enjoyed the resort by visiting the gift shop and Landscape of Flavors, the resort’s cafeteria.

When we woke up the next morning, Monday, April 2, we were off to our first park of the week: Epcot.

While it wasn’t the largest of the parks, it was tiring for sure.

We arrived at Epcot before the park opened. We had to go through a bag check and scan our wristbands to gain entry into the park.

As soon as we got in line, the park’s opening performance started. In order to keep hundreds of people waiting without starting a riot, you must entertain them.

With this thinking, Epcot was successful. The JAMMitors gave a lovely opening performance to tide the crowd over.

Upon entering Epcot, the first thing we did was charge to the Spaceship Earth ride, which is inside the iconic Epcot ball.

As my first ride at Disney World, I was hoping for something spectacular.

My wish was granted.

While it was a bit intimidating, the ride offered insight on how our world and technology came to be. The robots inside the ride looked so realistic that I thought they were actors at first. It wasn’t until after the ride that I realized they were all run by artificial intelligence.

After the ride, passengers are delivered to an arcade-like room that has many entertaining activities for the whole family.

While our first journey took place in a spaceship, our second journey took place in a seashell.

We had a FastPass+ for the Finding Nemo ride and aquarium. On the ride, you follow Marlin as he and Dory chase after Nemo, who has wandered off again. At the end, you exit into a large aquarium with a variety of playsets and animals such as manatees, fish, sharks, and rays.

We also went on the GM Test Track ride. This ride is one of the nicer rides as it is interactive.

Since my uncle works for GM, we were able to visit the conference floor in the building. There we were able to enjoy refreshments and a beautiful view of the park. My cousins and I spent our time there creating different vehicles on the design stations and watching the ride go by below us.

Before you go on the ride, you design your own vehicle to “ride” in. Before getting into the car, you scan your card or band and your car is uploaded to the system. On the ride, the computer performs a series of tests and then ranks the passengers’ cars in four categories.

At one point, the ride reaches a top speed of about 60 mph, which you are able to enjoy due to the topless design of the car.

For lunch we had reservations at the San Angel Inn Restaurante in the Mexico section of Epcot.

Inside, the decor followed that of Disney’s “Coco,” a movie set in Mexico during the Día de los Muertos celebration.

A ride featuring the Three Caballeros runs through the restaurant.

If this wasn’t enough, there is a Mexican-style marketplace in the front of the restaurant.

The food was excellent. I ordered the pollo a las rajas, which consists of a chicken breast laid over roasted garlic potato slices. On the side is a mix of onion, red peppers, poblano pepper cream, and corn with queso drizzled over the top.

I would definitely recommend making reservations for San Angel.

Later we had reserved a spot at the Frozen Ever After Dessert Party.

On our way over to Norway, it began to pour. We had to stop in two separate gift shops to get out of the rain.

When we arrived, we checked in and got our wristbands. To our dismay, they asked that we stand outside in the rain for another hour while they finished preparing the room.

We were already soaked head-to-toe, so what more could it hurt?

By the time they let us in, we discovered that there was a giant lobby that we could have been standing in. We went up two flights of stairs to our room full of desserts.

While they were all delicious, the room’s temperature seemed to be around freezing.

After all, it was a Frozen dessert party.

Despite the dessert party being the lowest point of our day, we were still able to enjoy VIP seating for the fireworks on the World Showcase Lagoon.

On Tuesday, April 3, we visited Magic Kingdom. This was by far my favorite of the parks.

We ate at Gaston’s Tavern where the food was delicious, rode the Mad Tea Party, Astro Orbiter, and Barnstormer rides, and met several characters.

I was able to meet my childhood favorites Aladdin and Princess Jasmine while we were there, and it made my day.

The fireworks took place behind Cinderella’s castle. We sat on the ground in front of the castle to get the best view possible.

They projected images onto the castle and buildings around it and filled the trees with “pixie dust.”

All of my favorite Disney characters made an appearance on the castle, and I got choked up a few times. After all, I will never be too old for Disney.

While we didn’t get to do too much there as it was hot and the wait times were ridiculously long, it was still as magical as I had imagined.

Hollywood Studios was our destination for Wednesday, April 4, and we had plans galore.

We had reservations at Hollywood and Vine for lunch where we enjoyed character dining and an all-you-can-eat buffet.

As guests, we were able to meet Goofy, Donald, Minnie, and Mickey while dining. After our meals we were able to have a photo taken with Daisy.

My cousins and I were overjoyed to meet Mickey Mouse and all of his friends.

While in Hollywood Studios, we also waited two hours to ride the Tower of Terror.

My aunt and I weren’t sure that my 5- and 7-year-old cousins could handle it, but they insisted and, before long, we found ourselves in the Twilight Zone.

I am happy to say that the adrenaline rush that came with this ride made it my favorite ride in all of Walt Disney World, and my cousins’ too.

We also waited to meet Olaf the snowman before using our FastPass+ at the Frozen Sing-Along Celebration with Queen Elsa and Princess Anna.

While I am almost 18 years old, I can honestly say that this was still enjoyable and somewhat comical.

To end our visit to Hollywood Studios, we watched the fireworks show “Fantasmic” in VIP seats provided by our friends at Hollywood and Vine.

This was the best fireworks show out of all of the Disney parks we visited.

It is centered around Mickey’s role in the Sorceror’s Apprentice from Fantasia.

Mickey’s dream is magical but then goes bad when Maleficent, Ursula, Scar, Jafar, and all of the other popular villains turn his dream around into a nightmare.

Mickey has to fight with magic to turn his nightmare back into a dream, which proves successful and dazzles the audience, young and old people alike.

Thursday, April 5, was our last day at the resort, so we didn’t bother going to another park.

While I would have enjoyed going to Animal Kingdom, there aren’t many things for young children to do.

Instead, we lounged by the pool in the resort.

The Big Blue Pool in the Art of Animation resort is also “Finding Nemo” themed. Large sculptures of Nemo and all of his friends from his journey cover the pool deck.

There is a splash pad for young children and the pool only goes to about four-and-a-half feet deep. While it is shallow, it is extremely fun.

For the children’s entertainment, there is a Big Blue Pool Party where they play a variety of fun games and many Disney songs. My cousins only participated for a short time, but, in the end, all the children earned prizes.

We were able to enjoy the cool pool water while the hot sun beat down on us. Even with 50 SPF sunscreen on, I still burned on both shoulders and the tip of my nose.

Before bed, the resort played Brother Bear on an inflatable screen by the pool, proving to be another fun activity for guests of all ages. The resort also provided free bags of flavored popcorn for each family, which was an appropriate snack for a cool movie night by the pool.

Despite my sunburn, being cramped in the back of a car for two days there and back, and getting wet a few times, I loved this trip more than any other.

I can’t wait to go back to Florida for another trip to Disney World and a nice long visit to the beach.

While you can’t do everything there, it leaves plenty of things for you to enjoy the next time you go.

While to some people it is overrated, to me it is magical; it keeps you living young at heart, looking to the future, and wanting more.

If you haven’t been to Florida, let alone Walt Disney World, I absolutely recommend trying it out.

It may just grow on you.