A Lazy Day

After one day of traveling and four days at theme parks we decided to take today off. We wanted to relax and just not do much of anything. So we ended up sleeping in and laid in bed reading until about 10:00am. Then once we were dressed we decided to drive in to Orlando.

Orlando Statue

We decided to go to the downtown area and see what was going on. So we parked and walked around the area - first down Church St. and then down Orange Ave. - where we stopped into Paninio's Pizza and Grill for a little lunch. After eating we walked down Central Blvd. to Lake Eola and walked around part of the lake and rested on a bench for a while. We then returned to our car and decided to head back to the hotel. Once there I went and sat by the pool and read while Thomas decided to stay in the room and take a nap. We rested and then showered and went out for a nice dinner. It was perfect day to just relax and do nothing. Oh, and the temperatures were in the mid to high 70's - a big difference from the cold in Santa Fe. Our friend who is watching the house and taking care of the dogs told us that it was suppose to get down to -2°F tonight. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Anyway, we had a great day today and really relaxed. Tomorrow we are going to Universal's Islands of Adventure.

Lights! Camera! Action!

Well we spent the day at Disney's Hollywood Studios and had a great time. We managed to get up early and we arrived at the park by 9:30am. I think we were able to get an early start because last night we got back to the hotel at a decent hour and had a great night's sleep. The parking area was already filling up by the time we arrived and I hoped the park wouldn't be to crowded but we were here and so we entered the park. Here is how we spent our day . . .

Hollywood Studios Entrance

Walked down Hollywood Boulevard and over to Echo Lake.
Rode Star Tours - The Adventure Continues.
Made our way to Streets of America.
Saw Muppet Vision 3-D.
Walked through Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure.
Entered Pixar Place.
Rode Toy Story Midway Mania!
Walked over to Sunset Boulevard.
Rode the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
Rode the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith.
Had a light lunch at Rosie's All American Cafe.
Saw Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage.
Made our way to Animation Courtyard.
Watched the Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun! Parade.
Saw Voyage of the Little Mermaid.
Went back to Streets of America.
Took the Studio Backlot Tour.
Walked back to Echo Lake.
Saw the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Adventure.
Now back to Streets of America.
Walked through The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.
Ended up back on Hollywood Boulevard.
Rode the Great Movie Ride.
Attended Fantasmic.

Rock 'n Roller Coaster

It was a great day although the lines were longer today than at any of the other parks. We actually waited in line an hour for Toy Story Midway Mania and an hour for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Not bad though and it seemed shorter. I loved the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster - 0 to 58 in 2.8 seconds right at the start, part of the ride is in the dark and there are three inversions. All the while you have Aerosmith music playing in your ear - a great ride - my favorite of the day. We had some traffic to deal with when exiting the park but we still managed to get back to the hotel before 10:00pm. Not sure what we will be doing tomorrow but it probably won't have anything to do with a theme park.

A Fun and 'Wild' Day

We had a very full and long day yesterday and it was after midnight when we got to bed. So we slept in this morning and by the time we showered, dressed, had breakfast and coffee we didn't arrive at Disney's Animal Kingdom until almost 11:00am. Very unusual for us - we typically get up early and get started on our day, so it seemed like we had lost most of our day before we even got started. Animal Kingdom closes early compared to the other parks in the Disney system, so we only had until 7:00pm to get things done. Here is how our day turned out . . .

Tree of Life

Entered Animal Kingdom park and walked through Oasis.
Made our way to Discovery Island.
Viewed and photographed the Tree of Life.
Watched It's Tough to be a Bug!
Headed over to Camp Minnie-Mickey.
Attended Festival of the Lion King.
Made our way into Africa.
Rode the Kilimanjaro Safaris.
Walked the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail.
Rode the Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki's Planet Watch.
Walked the Habitat Habit! Trail.
Walked through Conservation Station.
Visited the Affection Section.
Rode the Wildlife Express Train back to Africa.
Watched the last half of Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade.
Had a late lunch at Tusker House Restaurant.
Strolled over to Asia.
Rode Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain.
Wandered into DinoLand U.S.A.
Rode Primeval Whirl.

Epedition Everest

We had a great day at Animal Kingdom. I really liked this park. It has more shows and exhibits than it does attractions (rides in the Disney world). Don't get me wrong I have been enjoying the rides at all the parks but I just liked the feel of this park better. It was a shorter day today and we are back at the hotel at a decent hour and hopefully we will get to bed earlier tonight. Tomorrow Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Today We Traveled the World

We arrived at Epcot at about 10:00am. Parking and getting into the park was a little easier than at the Magic Kingdom. We didn't have to take a tram or anything - the parking area was in walking distance to the main gate. Our intention when we entered the park was to go to Spaceship Earth but the line was long and we decided to start elsewhere. So this is how the day unfolded . . .

Spaceship Earth

Made our way to Future World West.
Rode Soarin'! - Loved it!
Took the boat voyage for Living With the Land.
Saw The Circle of Life film.
Rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends.
Saw Turtle Talk with Crush.
Rode Journey Into Imagination with Figment.
Saw "Captain EO" - the original 3D film with Michael Jackson that played at Epcot from 1986 - 1994.
Made our way to the World Showcase.
Entered through Canada and walked to England.
Late lunch at Yorkshire County Fish Shop.
Visited gardens in Canada - modeled after Butchart Gardens in Victoria.
Listened to Off Kilter (Canadian and Celtic Rock Band).
Back to England.
Listened to British Revolution (British Rock Band).
Listened to Father Christmas tell holiday stories.
Walked over to France.
Dessert at Boulangerie Pâtisserie (Chocolate Mousse and Napoleon).
Listened to Père Noël tel holiday Stories.
Into Morocco - walked around and went into a few shops.
Entered Japan - more walking around and shopping.
Crossed over into the United States.
Attended the Candlelight Processional with celebrity narrator - Geena Davis.
Saw the American Adventure.
Walked over to Italy.
Watched the Ziti Sisters (Interactive Comedy Troupe).
Into Germany.
Stopped in at karamell-kuche for milk chocolate covered carmel topped with sea salt.
Over to China.
Watched The Jeweled Dragon Acrobats.
Now into Norway.
Rode Maelstrom.
Ended in Mexico.
A little more shopping and walking around.
Watched Illuminations.

Illuminations

Today there seemed to be more people than at the Magic Kingdom yesterday. But since there weren't as many rides waiting in line wasn't that bad even though it was longer wait times than yesterday. Everything else we did was timed things and we just showed up. After Illuminations we made our way back to the car and then to the hotel. Even with the crowds getting out of the park and the parking lot went smoothly. Another great day at Disney World. Tomorrow the plan is to visit Disney's Animal Kingdom.

A Day of Magic

We spent today at Disney World's Magic Kingdom and had a great time. It has been since the 90's since Thomas and I have been to Disney World and we have been talking about for a while now and we finally made the trip. We arrived at the parking area at 9:30am, boarded the 'Heroes' tram then took the Monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. Once in the park this is how our day went . . .








Rode the Walt Disney World Railroad around the park.
Walked down Main Street to Cinderella Castle.
Made our way to Tomorrowland.
Saw Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor.
Went to Stitch's Great Escape!
Rode Space Mountain.
Sat in on Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress.
Headed to Fantasyland.
Had a small lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus.
Rode "it's a small world".
Walked over to Liberty Square.
Went in to the Haunted Mansion through the cemetery.
Attended the Hall of Presidents.
Made our way to Adventureland.
Got Fast Pass for Jungle Cruise.
Watched the show at Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room.
Rode Pirates of the Caribbean.
Rode the Jungle Cruise.
Walked over to Frontierland.
Got Fast Pass for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Went over to Tom Sawyer Island.
Rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Rode Splash Mountain. Got soaking wet! - Thankfully it was the end of the day.
Ate a light dinner at Columbia Harbour House.
Watched the Main Street Electrical Parade.
Made our way to Cinderella Castle.
Watched The Magic, The Memories, and You! projected onto the Castle.
Watched the Wishes! Fireworks show.












When we first arrived at the park there weren't very many people and it was easy and fast getting around and getting on rides. By noon the park was a little busier but still not bad. A couple of the rides had 45 minute waits but those are the ones we got Fast Passes for and went do other things then returned at our appointed time and 'viola' - no waiting. I think the longest we waited in line for any ride was 20 minutes. Not bad! Leaving the park took a lot longer than arriving. There were tons more people tonight than this morning and there was a mass exodus after the fireworks. From the park we took the Ferry back over to the parking area and we got an impromptu concert from the Gardner High School Marching Band (from Gardner, MA). They participated in the Main Street Electrical Parade tonight. They didn't play instruments on the Ferry - they sang. I guess a few of them are in the choir as well and they will be participating in the Candlelight Processional at Epcot tomorrow night and they just started singing while the Ferry took us back to the parking area. It was nice and they were very good. It was a long day but we had a blast. Tomorrow we are going to Epcot.

A Day of Travel

Thomas and I wanted to get away and do something fun and relaxing so we planned a trip to Orlando. Today we left Santa Fe and spent most of the day in airports and airplanes. The traveling part went pretty well and we didn't have any problems - it was just long. Thankfully we had a non-stop flight from Albuquerque to Orlando so we didn't have to change planes or wait around in an extra airport. The flight itself was three and a half hours, but we left the house at 7:30 this morning and arrived at the hotel at 5:00 this afternoon (that is 3:00 Santa Fe time).

Like I said the flight and the airport stuff wasn't bad but once we had our luggage and arrived at the rental car place things were not as smooth. When we travel I usually make all the arrangements, Thomas doesn't want to get involved with all that (he will make suggestions and stuff but he doesn't want to actually book anything). So when we checked in at the Avis desk the guy asked to see my ID and credit card which I felt made sense because I had made the reservations. Then Thomas gave him his ID because he is the one that usually drives. Well, since I made the reservations Thomas was going to be added as an additional driver (and this added about $100 to the bill). So I told the guy I wasn't going to be driving and that Thomas does all the driving but he said that since I made the reservations I was the first driver and anyone else was additional. Everytime we travel I make the reservations and Thomas does the driving - we have never had this problem - Thomas gives his ID and he is the driver and we don't pay anything additional. So lesson learned, will not be using Avis ever again. Anyway we got the car (and I drove) and we headed for the hotel. While planning this trip I learned about SunPass and I ordered a mini transponder so that we wouldn't have to stop for any toll booths. I was glad we did because as soon as we left the airport we got on a toll road headed to the hotel. The Garmin worked well and got us to the hotel in no time. We followed the signs for parking to check in to the hotel - Monumental Hotel. We entered the hotel and had to walk through the whole building to find the reservation desk. They asked for my credit card and I told the guy checking us in that I had already prepaid for the room. He said they had additional fees ($6.75/day) for "other" things. When I asked he said that it covered parking, internet, a safe in the room and other things. You pay this even if you don't use them. This is also what I consider hidden fees. Not once when I was researching this property or booking the room was this fee mentioned. So what do you do - we were already here - I actually thought about calling around for another hotel but then realized that since I had prepaid I couldn't cancel. So they had me - they could have charged me $100/day and there would be nothing I could do about it. We got our keys and brought our things to the room and relaxed for a little while and thought about where we could go to dinner. We didn't really find anything so we stopped at the desk on the way out and asked the guy that checked us in where we could go. His response - just drive up and down International Drive and you will find something. So far in Orlando the customer service gets a big fat zero.

We got in the car and drove up and down International Drive and found a place called Pointe Orlando. This is a shopping area with stores and restaurants near the Convention Center. We walked around for a bit trying to decide on a place to eat. Our first choice was Fat Fish Blue. When we tried to enter the door was locked and some woman came and opened it only to inform us that they opened at 6:00 and that we would have to wait outside until then. She didn't even invite us to come in and sit in the waiting area so we decided since there were a lot of other places to eat we moved on. We finally decided to eat at Johnny Rockets. A good hamburger and french fries was just what I needed. We had our food and were eating by 6:10 - that other restaurant probably lost a few other customers by not letting people in a little early. After we ate and relaxed we decided to walk around the shopping area for a while and then stopped in at a Ben and Jerry's for a little dessert. I had Late Night Snack. This ice cream was really good - it has a salty and a sweet taste. Thomas had a brownie sundae with mint chocolate chip ice cream. By the time we finished this snack we were more relaxed and ready to have a nice vacation. So with all this nonsense with the rental car and the hotel behind us we are ready for some fun. Tomorrow we visit the Magic Kingdom.

A Walk in Santa Fe

Today I had to be in town running errands and attending meetings. In the middle of all this I had about and hour and a half to kill. I decided to take a walk in and around the Plaza area. Instead of the big picture I decided to crop things into little vignettes and give a little interest to things I see pretty often. Here is a slide show of some of those things and I hope you enjoy.