Monday, May 12:
We were up early again, wanted to go to Art of Disney to see if David Doss was there with a print we bought earlier. He wasn't going to be there until 1:00, so we decided to come back later. We are in the closing days of the Flower and Garden show so we rode the monorail to Epcot and took some pictures from above of the flowers on the lake. We have lunch reservations at Restaurant Marrakech in the Moroccan pavilion at Epcot,but first we wanted to go through the butterfly house before it was gone. There were some real pretty butterflies and flowers. The butterfly house will also be gone when the Flower and Garden show is over this weekend.
Epcot parking lot - now where didI leave the car?
Our lunch reservations are at 2:00 so we started for Morocco. We have never eaten there so we were a little apprehensive about what kind of food we would find. Hilda and Stephanie joined us for lunch and we met at the restaurant. Actually, the food was pretty good, we may have to go back sometime. They also have live entertainment, a couple musicians and...........a belly dancer. After we watched the whole show, we had to stop by France for a Napoleon for dessert. Then we headed back to MouseGear for some pin trading. Disney has released a set of pins of the seven dwarfs to commemorate the opening of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride. The catch is they are only available from cast members! So you go to s store like MouseGear and ask all the cast members to see their pins (cast members all have a dozen or so "trading pins" with them). Jane managed to get three pins she didn't have, only missing two now. The last cast member we met on the way out told her to come back Tuesday at 2:00 and she would have more and would be sure to have at least one of the ones she needs. We love cast members! We took the monorail back to TTC and then the ferry to MK and a cruiser back to the Fort. The kids were very happy to see us, it has been a long day for them too. They really needed to go out! We were glad to be back in the A/C, it is HOT out there! We watched a little TV (I am figuring out work arounds for this TV matrix system - I think). Then it was to bed. Must be a full moon - the kids seem really restless tonight.
Live (lively) entertainment
Tuesday, May 13:
A couple of days ago I discovered a few pin holes my sewer hose, this morning I was off to Camping World to get a new one. While I was gone, Jane was getting up and getting ready for some off property shopping. We needed to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond for a couple of rugs for the kids. They have trouble jumping up on the sofas from the slick tile floor, so rugs it is. We found a couple that work great, the color is even a close match. We also returned some steps to Petsmart that we had purchased to help the kids get up on the bed. Unfortunately, the rise and run didn't match the kids stride so they we jumping over the steps. After off-site shopping Jane had to go to Epcot to get her Seven Dwarfs pin so I just dropped her off and came back to the coach to be with the kids. We have dinner reservations at the Plaza restaurant at MK at 4:30 so Jane is going to shop a little more at Epcot, take the monorail to MK, do some shopping there and I will meet her at the restaurant for dinner. We each had a great cheese steak sandwich followed by ice cream. Then we were off to our FastPass at It's A Small World (you have to do this ride at least once each trip). Then we had about an hour to kill before our FastPass at Haunted Mansion. The stand-by line was only 25 minutes so we did the stand-by thing. Our plan was to be in the park about night fall to ride the Jungle Cruise at night (a recommended ride time). Well, it wasn't even close to dark when we got out of the Mansion, we elected to try it later (maybe Friday). It has been a long day and we were both tired (and the kids have been alone most of the day). On the way out I noticed that the light was great for castle pictures. You could spend days taking pictures of the castle from different angles and at different times of day.
As they say in It's A Small World...................
These were taken about an hour apart - notice the change in the weather
No slipping now, and Boo still has cool tile to sleep on!
Wednesday, May 14:
The weather forecast is calling for rain today, so I changed the sewer hose before the rains came so I wouldn't have to do it in the rain. We went with Hilda to Polk City to look at some possible sites in Mount Olive Shores RV community. She has a couple of sites there and is building a house on one of them. This is an RV community where you purchase a lot, with a paved site for your RV and can pretty much do anything on that lot. Some folks don't do any more, it is just a place to park your RV and live in it. Others build large houses on their lot. There is allot of variety here. It is a really nice place with security and it is very well maintained. It is worth considering as a place to live in the future. One the way down we saw the familiar Mickey icon along the highway. It just shows how much a part of this area Disney is. When we got back to WDW we went to Downtown to pick up a picture from David Doss at the Art of Disney store. David had neglected to pack our picture on his latest trip, but he will be back on the 27th and promised to bring it with him then. While at Downtown, It started to pour, just as promised. Jane made a stop at Earl's for some sandwiches to take back to the coach for dinner. When we got home we had dinner and mad a grocery list for a trip to Publix tomorrow. We had our dinner, watched some TV and went to bed.
There is even a Mickey icon power pole!!
Thursday, May 15:
It is supposed to rain all day so we did a little more off property shopping, mostly groceries. The kids are about out of food, too, so we went to PetSmart for them. Then had lunch at Panera's. It had started raining hard so we ran to the car and weent down the road a bit to Publix for our groceries. By the time we were done shopping the rain had almost stopped. We put perishables in the back seat and everything else in the trunk so if it was pouring when we got home we could grab the perishables and make a run for the coach, everything else could wait. The sky cleared up which meant that it could be drink time! We rode our bikes down to Trail's End and did just that. While we were there I noticed some "prop" boxes stacked up and in true Disney fashion they had the contents stenciled on them. It took me a minute (I was in a Rum Runner induced haze) to figure out what was in them..................can you? We rode home to watch the season finale of Big Bang Theory and then just watched whatever was on, then to bed.
What might be in this box?
Friday, May 16:
The most important thing we have to do today is check in for our 2nd month here. We rode down to the main Outpost and had the new check in done in just a couple of minutes. We expected a little hassle, we had heard that they were going to do some construction work in our loop (700) and that we may not be allowed to stay here. No mention of any work was made and we didn't bring it up. We stopped at the Meadow Trading Post for some stickers for a friend in England and then rode home. By now it was about lunch time so we rode up to Trail's End for lunch and one of the cast members was making something out of hula hoops for the kids. Just had a burger for lunch (excellent burger!) and came back to the kids. I had to take a letter to the post office, Jane waited with the kids. While I was gone she got a knock on the door and a cast member was there and told her we had to move sites, they were going to start construction. This put Jane in a panic, she called Hilda and the two of them rode around looking at potential sites to move to. Along the way they crossed paths with "David" the head site guy. Hilda talked to him for a while and it turns out that they are going to do work in 700, but first they are doing 1500 and 1400 and they are behind schedule on them. It turns out that IF they should get back on schedule they wouldn't start work on 700 until June 10 (we are scheduled to leave June 14). So this saga will unfold as time goes on. We may just leave early. We have FastPasses for fireworks and parades tonight so we may take in a nap this afternoon. We did take that nap, and got up about 6:00 ready for the MK at night. We took the boat over to MK and were surprised when we got there that there were allot of people leaving. We thought this will be great. that only lasted until we got to the far end of Main Street. Everyone in central Florida was gathered around the central plaza! People were sitting in the street, on the grass, you could literally not walk through the mob. We made our way to the Jungle Cruise for our FastPass time. The cruise at night is interesting, everyone should do it once. The best part was our "guide", Tyrell, he had non-stop horrible jokes. After the Jungle Cruise we made our way through the throng to our FastPass fire works viewing area, the Rose Garden. We could see the Electrical Parade from the Rose and just stayed put. The parade hasn't changed much, except for the addition of some Seven Dwarfs floats. The light show projected on the castle is awesome! We kept looking around for where the show is projected from.
This is very clever, and Josephine just did it in a couple of minutes.
Rocket launch from Cape Canaveral
This charming couple is about to enjoy the fireworks show
Part of the show projected on the castle
Our Jungle Cruise guide - Tyrell
I read somewhere that Disney spends about $50,000 per night, per park on fireworks and it looks like it. Their fireworks are not only spectacular, but they are also choreographed to music. After the fireworks we made our way to the boat and home. Tomorrow is a at home day and some relaxation, maybe a trip to the pool.
Saturday, May 17:
This is planned as a stay at home day and for the most part it worked out that way. Jane slept in for a while. We took the kids for a long walk and decided to go to the front office to see if we can get the straight scoop on what is going on with work in loop 700. We rode our bikes to the front and talked to Kristin Schnell the overall manager at Fort Wilderness. She told us that yes we would have to move, but not until June 8th at the earliest. She told us to give her a couple of choices as to where we would like to move to and she would do her best to get us in there for our remaining time. It is kind of a pain in the rear, but they are going to do some much needed drainage work. We came back to the coach, got the golf cart and some loop plans and rode around and looked at sites and made notes and narrowed the choices down to a couple. We have also considered just moving to one of Hilda's sites in Polk City, about 35 miles from here. We decided to go for a bike ride and went down and asked Stephanie if she wanted to go with us. The three of us rode over to the Lodge and back. After we got back we were hungry so we made a little lunch and sat outside to enjoy the beautiful day. We spent some time online looking for RV communities in Central Florida. Surprisingly, there really isn't much that isn't just nasty trailer parks. We thought about cooking out for dinner, decided instead to go up to Trail's End. After dinner it was just relaxing outside and a little TV.
Sunday, May 18:
This being the 7th day, we decided to rest. We took the kids for a long walk, went for a bike ride, looked at possible sites and groomed dogs a little. Cooked on the grill and watched the Amazing Race final - yea the father and son team won.
Monday, May 19:
After breakfast I went to run some errands, AAA to pick up some maps, Office Depot for a "can-o-air", and Walgreen's for a prescription. The pharmacist greeted me by name, my pharmacist at home doesn't do that! When I got home we took kids for a long walk. Then it was off to MK for lunch (FastPass) at Be Our Guest at 1:30. On the way to the restaurant we took some photos of the new Mine Ride now that the walls are down. At the appointed hour we were ready to eat. The technology here is incredible. When you go in you place your order at a podium, then you go find a table, and pretty soon your meal is delivered. Somehow they home in on your Magic Band location. After a very good lunch we left and it was about time for the 3:00 parade. We got to our favorite parade spot, the trash cans by the Emporium. It takes the parade about 25 minutes to get to us, so Jane had time to do a little shopping before it got to us.
Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride - 8 days 'til it opens
The dwarf's mine (are those real trees?)
Just before the parade got to us, a street artist did some water painting of Mickey and Donald. He was really good!
Mickey street art
Donald - using only water
Finally, it was time for the parade led by the Main Street Philharmonic Band!
This is an entirely new parade. The floats are bigger, more colorful than the previous parade. The costumes are more colorful, too. We really wanted to see the fire breathing dragon, but by the time he got around to where we were it was too close to flammable things (buildings). Disney is so safety conscious that they couldn't let the dragon do his thing. This new parade is spectacular, pictures just don't do it justice. After the parade we headed to the boat and home. when we got back to the dock it was just about time for drinks, so we stopped by Trail's End and got a couple to go. Then it was time to feed the dogs and settle in for the night.
This "dragon" actually breathes fire, but not for us, too close to buildings!
Tuesday, May 20:
We got up early to go over to Epcot for our FastPass at Soarin',we also have Passes at Under The Seas With Nemo and Turtle Talk with Crush. We took a boat to MK, then a ferry to TTC (Ticket and Transportation Center) then a monorail to Epcot. In the early morning there are three ferries running between TTC and MK. Each ferry has a stated capacity of 600 guests. You can imagine the crowd at the entrance when two of these boats arrive at the same time. Disney just completed adding a ferry dock at both locations (TTC and MK) so that the 3rd ferry doesn't have to wait for a dock to unload. We have never seen the amount of construction going on at WDw as there is now. In addition to the ferry docks and the work at Downtown, there is the addition of Villas at the Polynesian, and behind the scenes there is allot of large piping being placed all over the World. We think it is storm water drainage piping - finally. Many areas of the World do not drain well in heavy rain. This may be connected to the constriction work starting at the Fort. When we got to Epcot the first thing we noticed was that the topiaries were gone! Flower and Garden show ended Sunday.
Brace yourselves - 1200+ guests arriving
We went straight to Soarin', this is the first time we have ridden it this trip. It is probably one of the top two most popular rides in the parks (the other is Toy Story at the Studio). We got the first row of the middle "car", the best place to ride. After Soarin' we had time for a quick bite at Starbuck's then over to see Nemo and then Crush. Well, the wait time for Crush was only 10 minutes so we decided to do it first. The crowd was so big that we didn't make the first show, so we had to wait for a second show, about 15 minutes. In the mean time our FastPasses for Nemo expired! After seeing Turtle Talk (probably the best one we have seen yet) we went over to MouseGear to look for pins (Seven Dwarfs pins, only available from cast members) and a toy a friend of ours (Jennifer) asked us to get for her. No luck on either of them. We went home empty handed. It was starting to get HOT so when we got home, we let the kids out for a little and then cooled in the air conditioning. At 4:00 we decided to go over to Downtown to get some dinner at Earl's and then do some shopping. We did find the toy we were looking for, Jane did get one of the Dwarfs pins she was missing and I got a shirt. After shopping, our meals had settled enough for dessert - so off to Ghirardelli we went. Construction at Downtown is progressing, but has parking a real mess. We thought that if we went around 4:00 people would be going home or the evening rush hadn't arrived yet. Wrong, parking was terrible. Next time we will take the bus or try taking a boat. We did hear that they are going to be working on the Downtown bus stop and no buses from midnight to noon. We wonder how that is going to work. We need to go by loop 1500 to see if they have started anything over there yet. the last we had heard was there was some delay getting the permits in place to do the work on the loops. Hopefully, the delay will be long enough that we don't have to move, but we are ready for the move when and if it happens. The evening was spent either reading or watching Dancing With The Stars finals then off to bed.
No topiaries until next year - kind of sad
Wednesday, May 21:
No plans for today, just going to take it easy. We took the kids for a long walk. When we got back Jane decided to give Boo her first RV bath. Into the shower they both went. Now the shower in the RV is about 2'x3' so it is a little cramped for just one person. With a human and a dog it is very tight. the good thing is Boo couldn't move around too much. Today, drying was a piece of cake - it is 95 degrees out and she loves to sit in the sun. At lunch time we decided to try to get into Whispering Canyon, so we drove over. No problem, It is fairly quiet here now so there was no crowd and we got right in. Chad and Bridgett were both there so we had a good time. Talked to Chad a little about places to live in the area, he recommended Clermont (where he lives). We may do the snowbird thing the correct way and spend a couple of months here in the winter. After lunch we went back to the coach and stayed cool. We got some news from home, the coach of our hockey team, Missouri Mavericks, has resigned! This set social media all a twitter (no pun intended). News and stories have been coming from all sources, from players, fans, and newspapers. Now what do we do for a coach and did the former coach really resign or was he urged to leave?
We had planned to have steak on the grill for dinner, but we forgot to take them out of the freezer, so while we pondered what to do for dinner we rode down to Trail's End for a drink. While there we decided to get fried chicken take out. They have the best fried chicken meals! We got our meals and rode home to settle in for the night. We came across a photo Jane had taken at our last visit to Beaches and Cream. You have to realize that at Disney things are done for a reason - everything! We can't think of an explanation for the misspelling on this Coke jar.
We watched the finale of Survivor (disappointed in the winner - maybe next time Spencer). Then it was time to let the kids out and go to bed.
"Trink" Coca-Cola?
Thursday, May 22:
Hmmmm, Friday Eve, must be Thursday. This morning we got up early to take the kids for a long walk before it gets too hot. Then we drive over to the Studio for a Toy Story FastPass. You might be detecting a theme here, if we are at the studio we must have FastPasses for Toy Story. You are right, anything else at the Studio is incidental.
This weekend and every weekend in June is Star Wars weekend at the Studio - a good time to NOT be in the Studio! Today the crowd was surprisingly light - good for us. After I got beat at Toy Story, again, we went looking for the missing Seven Dwarf's pin. Jane has all of them except Dopey so the hunt continues.
This is Toy Story Mania!
This weekend this street will be wall-to-wall people, many in Star Wars costume
One of the Studio prop cars, actually a modified golf cart - I want one of these
On our way out we must have checked with every Cast Member to look at their pins, looking for that elusive seventh Miner. No luck, have to keep looking. One nice thing about the Disney parks is that most of them have an icon that you can orient yourself with. MK has the Castle, Epcot has the Sphere and the Studio has Tower of Terror. If you can locate any of these you pretty much can figure out where you are.
The Tower rises above the Studio
After we were done at the Studio, I took Jane home to feed the kids and I went to pick up some dog food we had ordered. I also picked up some Disney collars and leashes we had ordered. When I got back to the coach, it was time for our drink, so off we went to Trail's End, then back to the coach for our dinner. After dinner we did a couple of loads of laundry. Is sure is nice having separate washer & dryer in the coach. Just pop laundry in and sit back and relax. This dryer seems to do a better job than the one in Alf I. After a while it was time to hit the sack. Tomorrow we have FastPasses at Animal Kingdom and the Kilimanjaro Safari ride.
Friday, May 23:
Up early again, today we are off to Animal Kingdom. The idea of going early is to see the animals on Kilimanjaro Safari While it is still relatively cool and the animals might be more active. We drove over and the parking lot is packed. We thought that since today is a 24 hour day at MK and Star Wars weekend at the Studio, Animal Kingdom might be fairly empty. I guess everyone thought the same thing!
We went straight back to the Safari ride and got right on - thanks Disney for FastPasses. We hardly had to wait for a truck at all. Our "Guide" was "Uncle Steve". He was probably the best we have ever had. Great radio voice and very knowledgeable. We were a little disappointed though, no lions and only one elephant. So much for going early. We did see allot of animals though.
We hardly ever see the Chetah up and around
On our way out we saw a CM and asked her where we could get a "compliment" card to fill out for Uncle Steve. We noticed her name tag (Sophie)and she is from Blue Springs, MO. what a small world. She went to high school about two blocks from us and has been with Disney for about 3 years. She doesn' miss Missouri winters at all. she directed us to Chuck, the supervisor to get cards to fill out. He told us to go to Guest Relations on the way out. We
asked him about the lions and elephants. He said the lions are like house cats, they do what they want, when they want. The female lion is about 18 years old. In the wild they normally live to be 10 and in captivity about 15, so she is getting to be an old lady. The elephants are released from their night time quarters by sex, bachelors first by age. the old bull we saw is kind of slow and they have to get him across the road before they release the females. Today was a slow day. When we got home I went out to pick up a few groceries for the weekend and Jane fed the dogs. When I got back we threw a couple of steaks on the grill, had a beer and were ready for the weekend. It is supposed to get hot (100 deg heat index) tomorrow so we have no plans to go anywhere.
Sophie from Blue Springs
"Uncle Steve" our guide
Saturday, May 24:
Got a late start today since nothing is planned. Went fro a bike ride over to the Lodge and back. When we got back we had a little lunch and started more laundry. There is a hockey game tonight, Blackhawks vs Kings. It doesn't start until 8:00 so we had time to go up to Trail's End for our drink. We were a little late and with it being a holiday weekend the place was mobbed. We decided to get sandwiches to take back to the coach. They have great pulled pork sandwiches. When we got back it was about time for the hockey game, so we settled in to watch it. Hawks lost again! They better get their act together if they are going to win the cup. After the game it was time for bed.
To all of our service men and women past, present and future - THANK YOU for your service.
Sunday, May 25:
No plans again today and Jane isn't feeling well so we will just stay in.
It is going to be hot, humid with a chance of rain. The plan today includes watching the Formula 1 race from Monaco this morning and then maybe the Indy 500 (oval racing is kind of boring, especially 200 laps of it). We did watch part of the 500 on our exterior TV, the first time we have used it. We did talk about doing the snowbird thing correctly next year. We have been dyslectic snowbird, coming down south in the summer and going home in the winter. After last winter in Kansas City we decided we have to get it right. We will have to look at schedules,etc, but the plan sounds good. We had reservations at Yachtsman's Steakhouse for this evening, but I rescheduled them for next Sunday. The loop has filled up nicely today and will probably will empty out tomorrow and Tuesday.
Monday, May 26 (Memorial Day):
Slept in today, no plans again. Jane is still not feeling well, so we will take it easy today.
I went up to Trail's End and got breakfast to bring back. their Bounty Breakfast includes scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage, french toast, and a biscuit. It is allot of food for less than $9.00. We watched a few folks come in and a few leave (more left than came in. One guest came in Sunday afternoon and left this morning by 6:00 am - strange.
The "wet season" has started here. That is when the chances for rain are about 30% everyday. Most rains here are very sporadic. It can rain hard in Magic Kingdom and not a drop falls in the Fort (about 2-3 miles away). It did cloud up with some thunder late in the day. The kids are all having issues with cabin fever so I took them all, one at a time, for the long walk. Boo was first since she was the most wound up, then Smudge, he was a little worried that Nico and Mom weren't coming, then Nico, also worried that Smudge and Mom weren't coming. It sprinkled a few drops on us, but no rain. By evening, Loop 700 was about empty again. Nelson, the guy that takes care of the sites, said that more were scheduled to come in the next few days. Blackhawks play tonight in LA, I think we will record that and watch it in the morning. Time for bed.
Thank you!
Tuesday, May 27:
Jane is still under the weather so we won't be doing much today. She just can't get rid of that cough. She did manage to sleep allot during the day. About 4:00 she decided she needed to get out for a bit, so we took a quick golf cart ride around the Fort to see what was going on in some of the loops. Doesn't look like they have done much except add to the sand around some of the site. When we got back I took the kids for a walk and discovered a long lost friend crawling out of the canal.
Same gator, with my iphone
He is only about 4' long
There are hundreds of these little guys around - see him, in the center
This is our Dog Walk Path, very serene
On our walk, the kids all got a chance to see the big guy, Boo constantly thinks she can catch the little guys. I think she stepped on one once, and then didn't know what to do with it. Great hunter! After a light dinner of mostly left overs Jane asked if I thought I could get an appointment with the Walgreen's Care Clinic in the morning. I tried and got an appointment for 9:00 in the morning. So I filled her up with OTC drugs and she slept until about 2:00 am. I slept all night, well most of the night.
Wednesday, May 28:
Our day started out bright and early at 8:50 at Walgreen's Care Clinic. After an hour and one nebulizer treatment the NP decided that Jane should go see the folks at Celebration Hospital for further treatment. Fortunately, we know the way to Celebration and we were quickly there. They gave Jane an IV steroid injection, a chest x-ray, and a battery of blood tests in addition to another nebulizer treatment. After all that, they said all the tests looked normal, and sent us home. Celebration is a very nice hospital originally built by Disney as part of its town of Celebration. While there Jane took a picture of one of the walls in the ER of a pair of Manatees.
The staff there is very nice and they even have valet parking for the ER! So if you are ever in need
of medical care in the Orlando area - Celebration Hospital is the place to go. On the way home we
made a stop for lunch at...................................McDonald's, yes we ate fast food off property. We
were also disappointed in the experience, we have been spoiled!
Manatees in the ER
Jane with breathing device
While we were gone, some work started in Loop 700. A big, nasty, rusted culvert was taken out and a huge trench was left in it's place. they are supposed to be doing allot of culvert work to alleviate some of the flooding of low areas of the loop. We also are having some minor work done at home, replacing some fence and adding a deck to the back of my shed.
New fence - note giant garage for Alf 2 in background
Shed deck - now if I can get some grass to grow in that area
After lunch, I went to Walgreen's to get some prescriptions filled. When I got back, I had to fill the freshwater tank (we had inadvertently been using the water pump for a day or so and had drained the tank) while doing that, I checked tire pressures - they were all good.
We had hot dogs on the grill for dinner after the afternoon rain (it is the wet season).
After dinner we got a call from the NP at Walgreen's to ask how Jane was doing. Great Walgreen's staff down here. Have to get up early tomorrow - breakfast at Crystal
Palace at 8:45.
Thursday, May 29:
Jane feeling better this morning so we are off to MK for breakfast at Crystal Palace. this is a character breakfast with Eore, Pooh, Tigger and Piglet. It is a typical Disney breakfast buffet, eggs, fruit, pancakes, potato's, biscuits, and all the juice you want.
We didn't make the first cruiser to MK so we took the launch to Contemporary and then a short walk to MK. We didn't take into account the HIGH humidity this morning. Jane had some trouble with her asthma on the way over, but as soon as we got seated in the A/C she perked up. After breakfast we went through the Emporium partly for the A/C and partly (mostly) to look for that elusive Mine Train pin (Dopey). While she was in the Emporium the Disney Transportation double deck bus went by.
Eore is sad, he didn't get his picture with Jane, don't know why
Center atrium at Crystal Palace
We took the boat back to the Fort and let the kids out, rested for a bit and planned what do do the rest of the day. We decided to go the Winter Garden to return a couple of bike covers that we had ordered earlier then to Jo-Ann's for some craft supplies for Jane. We stopped at Publix on the way home for Publix sweet tea and some deviled eggs then on to home. We are taking Hilda and Stephanie to Ohana's tonight and Hilda said "lets go early, I think we can get in about 5:30". So we did, went early and got in about 5:30, much better than waiting until 9:15 when our original reservation was for. When we got done eating, the sky was looking stormy so we headed home. By the time we got there, the sky was clearing so we took a golf cart ride to look for deer. Found them! We saw several groups of from 2 deer to 6 deer. Then we came home, gave Jane her meds and went to bed.
Friday, May 30:
Slept in a little this morning. Nothing planned today except going to the opening of Maleficent at the
"dine in" theater in Downtown Disney - West End. We went to the 11:00 show and weren't very hungry
so we ate light. I had a fresh fruit salad and Jane had the Mac & Cheese. The Mac and Cheese was great, I will get that next time. Maleficent is a great movie, we agreed we could see it again. The special effects were great. The movie puts a new spin on Snow White! After the movie we came home and Hilda wanted to take us over to Property Control. Her nephew is a CM and can get us in. Property control is a place where Disney merchandise ends up when it is discontinued, or overstocked. The merchandise changes all the time, so CM's go often to get the good stuff. Jane bought a few things (Surprised?), I didn't. When we finished at Property Control, the girls wanted to go over to the Character Outlet store, we didn't get anything there! We came back home and rested a little, fed the dogs and watched some news. The Blackhawks play the Kings again tonight in a must win game 6 for the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks eventually won and go on to game 7 in Chicago. Winner plays the Rangers Wednesday.
Saturday, May 31:
Another uneventful day planned. I have to make a quick run to Publix to meet Robyn Doss to pick up a picture that we bought from David earlier in the trip. they had to take it back to their "home" in South Carolina for framing. We took the kids for what turned out to be a long walk. We were going to make it a half-walk for Jane's sake, but the kids insisted on the long walk. No gator today. When we got back we thought about what to do for dinner (we seem to do that allot here). We had "discovered" the Maya Grill at the Coronado Springs Resort a few weeks ago, so Maya Grill it was for tonight. We usually try to go to a new restaurant each trip, but we are running out of new places to try. Maya Grill was good, we will probably go back some time, at least put it on the places to go list. Disney Hint #1: when picking restaurants do not go by what the online menus say, menus are always changing here. When we went in for dinner at 5:00 it looked like it was going to storm tonight, when we came out about 6:30 it had cleared up. Someone got a storm, but not us. When we got home we took a quick run through the back road to see if the deer were out yet, they weren't. We watched some TV and went to bed. However, it wasn't to be a good night. The folks next to us had a fire in their grill and the smoke infiltrated our coach, not good for Jane. I think she eventually got to sleep, but it took a while. She had read that Starbuck's at Downtown West End opened today so we might go over there for a light breakfast tomorrow.
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Sunday, June 1:
Yes, June is the beginning of hurricane season. This week is a tax-free week for hurricane supplies (batteries, flashlights, etc) Boo has been crazy lately, we think it is cabin fever, so we decided to wait on Starbuck's in favor of taking her to the dog park. Fort Wilderness has a nice, big dog park. It is fenced to keep dogs in (and gator's out, seriously) and fairly well maintained. We put her in the golf cart and went over. I think she had as much fun in the cart as she did running. We did some running and some training while we were there - she had a ball. She hasn't been able to run like that for 6 weeks and she has been really bugging the boys.
We gave her about 30 minutes and then she was starting to get hot and tired, the humidity was pretty high all ready. when we got home she just crashed, after a big drink. I think the boys missed her, despite all the harassment she has been giving them. We all rested and maybe even napped in the afternoon. When we got up we noticed that most of loop 700 was occupied. This is unusual for people to be coming in on a Sunday. We have decided to check out a new place to stop near Disney on the way home. We like to stop at a place an hour or so out from Disney on the way down. It makes it nicer getting in and setting up earlier in the day rather than getting in late (better choice of sites early in the day). We have dinner reservations at the Yachtsman's Steakhouse in the Yacht Club Resort. We haven't been there for a long time and our favorite server there was Oscar. We were seated and our server was Oscar! We had our picture taken with him and the girl that took it is from Cape Girardeau, MO, just graduated from college and is going to try to get on at Disney full time. We had a great meal an met another couple that come to Disney for two days every month. They stay at cheap (value) places and eat at the best restaurants - good plan. After dinner, we came home just in time to see game 7 of the Blackhawks vs Kings series. It was a tight game, went into overtime with the Kings winning it in sudden death. Hawks are done. Stanley Cup will be the L.A.Kings vs the N.Y. Rangers with the first game on Wednesday. After the game we went to bed, a little sad.
The dog park
Al, Oscar (just celebrated 35 yrs at disney), Jane
Run Boo, Run!!
I'm Free!!
Monday, June 2:
This morning we got up and Jane's cough isn't much better so instead of going to ride the Seven Dwarf's MineTrain we went to Celebration Hospital. We were there about 4 hours. In that time they did another chest x-ray (clear), did another breathing treatment, and prescribed a new med - hydrocodone, When she was finally released it was about 3:00 so we went home and fed the kids. After the kids ate, I went to the drug store to get her prescription. I went up to Trail's End for dinner, fried chicken (white meat only), Cole slaw and mac & cheese. We also got 4 pieces of red velvet cake. After dinner, we watched a little TV and went off to bed.
Tuesday, June 3:
Jane feeling a little better this morning, but not 100%. She even suggested not going to Toy Story this morning. We do have FastPasses for other days so we are still good. I went out and got some OTC drugs, a few groceries and a couple of AAA maps for trip home. The loop only has about 3 vacant sites right now and they are doing a ton of work in Loop 500, so maybe we won't have to move. We have moved up our check out date so we can stop at Grand Lakes RV Resort on the way home. We want to check out a possible final rest stop for the trip down. Lake City is okay, but it is on grass and when we came down they had had allot of rain so the campground squished when you walked across it. Mostly read and watched TV today. Tomorrow, hopefully we can get out and go to 1900 ParkFare at the Grand Floridian Resort for breakfast.
Wednesday, June 4: (Hump Day!)
Up early again today, we have reservations at 1900 Park Fare for breakfast. This is another character breakfast at the Grand Floridian Resort. And grand it is. This hotel lobby is really spectacular.
Design in restaurant lobby floor
Grand Floridian lobby ceiling - pretty grand!
Even the pagers are pretty special. Before you go into the dining room, you have your picture taken and then you are taken to your table.
As I said this is a character meal and characters were there. We had Pooh, Tigger, Alice, Mary Poppins, and The Mad Hatter.
This character breakfast includes things like smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, crepes, an omlet station. fresh fruit and eggs benedict. A very good buffet, probably the best one on property. We will definitely do this one again. Outside the lobby they have a couple of fitting antiques
Wouldn't you love to have one of these?
After breakfast we drove up to Winter Garden to get some dog food for the kids and then back home. Perhaps a nap is in order. We may need to be up late tonight, Stanley Cup game in LA so it won't start here until about 8:00. Even though the Blackhawks aren't in it, we will watch and root for the Rangers (even though we both think that the Kings will win). We decided that we would go out for dinner before the game so we hoped in the car and drove over to the ESPN Club on the Boardwalk.
Part of the Boardwalk
Part of the Boardwalk hotel
We decided to split an order of nachos and a Philly steak sandwich. Good decision, we finished the nachos and took the Philly home. There was lots of food. After dinner we had to walk off our meal, so we toured a couple of the Boardwalk shops before going home. We got home just in time for the game to start and settled in. Rangers got off to a great start, but the Kings eventually won. Next game is Saturday so we will have to record it since we will be at Animal Kingdom for a special night in the park (if it doesn't rain). After the game was over, we hit the hay, it has been a long day.
Thursday, June 5:
Up early this morning to get to Downtown for a new pin release. On the 9th Donald Duck turns 80 years old, so a special pin was created to celebrate the event. We were there early in case there was a line at the Pin Traders, there wasn't. We did have breakfast at Earl's while we waited so it was okay that we were there early. The store opened and Jane was right there to get two pins (the limit per person) and I got two, also. It is a kind of cute pin, I am sure we can find a homefor a couple of extra pins.
Front and back of Donald pin
After getting our pins we walked around to see the construction progress. There are goingto be allot of changes here in the next year or so. Many new stores........
The first of the new stores, inside are a collection of little shops (opens tomorrow)
While walking around we did make a purchase or two, mostly for folks at home. We did see allot of the continuing construction.
Going to work in a boat?
A new bridge & boat dock?
Five cranes in this photo!
Wondering what happens to the topiaries sat Epcot after Flower and Garden show? They get relocated to other areas.
After we left Downtown we came back to the campsite for a little rest and lunch. The kids decided that they wanted to go for a long walk, so naturally we did. Our Loop 700 only has 1 empty site, and this is supposed to be the slow season! When we got back it was time to shave
miss Boo's back legs and her pits. Black dogs have very thick coats and her pits seem to mat very quickly. After a little rest we went for a short golf cart ride around the Fort to see what was going on construction wise. Still allot of work going on in Loop 500 across the road from us, By now it was about time for dinner. We tried to get reservations in a couple of places, but couldn't so we stayed in and did burgers on the grill. It was getting late so we turned in early.
Lady and Tramp moved from Italy to Downtown
Sorcerer Mickey and friends also moved to Downtown
Friday, June 6:
No plans today until this evening when we go over to the Studio for yet another go at Toy Story Mania. Jane found a set of "tips" for getting high scores so we are going try to remember what some of them are. The first "tip" was play 2 or 3 times a day! We tried to get dinner reservations somewhere, but since it is a Star Wars weekend we can't get anything until late. We will just try a walk up place. Jane is still looking for that elusive Dopey Mine Train pin. One CM said she had one early this morning, but it was gone as soon as she came "on stage". When we got to the Studio Jane went up one side of the street looking for CM's that had pins on them. I stayed out and took some pictures of the Studio stores.
Star Wars poster
We were early for our FastPass so we went and got something to eat. Most Disney parks have some sort of themed souvenir mug, the mugs at the Studio are the best.
24ozs of drinking fun
Since it is Star Wars weekend there are allot of Star Wars "characters" roaming the park. Some of them are guests in costume and some are CM's in costume, but they are all incredible.
Crazy Star Wars weekend
Upcoming movies are advertised here, guess where I will be July 18
On the way out I noticed that you can see the Tower of Terror from just about anywhere in the park. We caught the bus back to the Fort and got to talking to a couple from Topeka, KS that were staying at the Fort, too. When we got back to the Fort bus stop, we offered them a ride to their site since we had driven the car to the bus stop in case it rained. They are leaving in the morning, heading into some stormy weather I think. After dropping them off we went home, let the dogs out and called it a day.
The T of T towering over the trees
Saturday, June 7 (D-Day anniversary):
Well, this morning started off great, we got THE CALL from the front desk telling us that we are to vacate Site 705 by Monday. We were hoping that it would be delayed just a couple of days. They said that work would start in Loop 700 Tuesday morning. We will see if that happens. We decided to start taking lights down and getting little things put away and finish up Sunday morning. It was 98 degrees by 2:00 so we quit early, we will start early in the morning. We have tickets to Harambe Nights tonight. It is a special celebration of the 20th anniversary of The Lion King. It will be in the new Lion King theater and will be proceeded by a big party with appetizers, adult drinks and fun.
Lion Chow container
Before the show wehad time to look around the new addition to the Harambe Village. All of the buildings in these pictures are new in the last year. Incredible Disney magic at work!
Awesome appetizers!
The new Lion King Theater
Before going into the theater, we were all given little tubes of snacks, Lion Chow. Pretty good stuff.
Tonights "narrator", Viola Davis
The show is allot like the Candlelight Processional at Christmas, except now it is the Lion King story. Clips from the Lion King movie were shown on the big screen as Viola Davis read a abbreviated story and stage actors acted out different parts. It was very interesting. The show lasted about 55 minutes and after the show the street party started. There were dozens of tables of different food and drink (the Jungle Juice w/Rum was excellent).
There was street dancing, and many areas of entertainment. A special 20th anniversary pin was issued and there was anniversary T-shirts were available.
All in All the event was spectacular! There were Lion King characters in the streets and special figures from the Animal Kingdom parade were scattered around the Hrambe Village. We gave up about 9:30, it was starting to rain anyway. On the way out a CM told us to turn and face the Tree of Life, It was covered with little twinkling lights, very pretty. We got home in time to see the Kings-Rangers hockey game at the beginning of overtime. Still tied at the end of the first OT period. Kings finally scored in the 2nd OT period to win the game. Then we were off to bed, have to finish moving tomorrow.
