Finishing the Parks

Thursday we started out with a few hours in Animal Kingdom, then went over to the Studios. 

We finished up the day with dinner at Germany in Epcot, and watching Illuminations.

Friday we checked out of the Beach Club Villas and headed to the Magic Kingdom to complete our collections of transportation and sorcerer cards. We then took the monorail back to Epcot and walked to back to the Beach Club, where we caught a Magical Express bus back to the airport for the long flight home.

Disney Transportation

We spent a fair amount of time Tuesday traveling on different modes of Disney Transportation in order to collect trading cards. First the Friendship boats to Epcot, then the monorails between Epcot and the Magic Kingdom and resorts. We walked around the Grand Floridian Resort, where a new DVC wing is under construction.

From the MK, we took a bus to Port Orleans, where we had lunch, then a boat to Downtown Disney for a little shopping. Another bus took us back to the Beach Club. We capped off the day by going back into Epcot.

Yesterday we went back to the Magic kingdom. New Tangled themed restrooms are being constructed where the old Fantasyland Skyway Station was. We spent most of our time playing the new interactive game and trying to trade for a complete set of cards.

Vero Beach

Saturday morning we checked out of Bay Lake Tower and, after Jennifer boarded a Magical Express bus to MCO, Susan and I drove to Vero Beach. We wanted to get away from WDW during marathon weekend. Vero is a nice resort, a bit smaller and more laid back than the DVC resorts at Disney World.

We stayed two nights there, enjoying the pool and walking on the beach, and eating at the restaurant onsite. Meanwhile, Bryan attended a DeMolay retreat in Washington DC.

Today, while the kids started their classes at the University of Portland, we checked out of Vero Beach and headed back to Disney World. We checked into a studio at the Beach Club Villas.

We loved the easy walk into Epcot.

Storybook Circus

Wednesday morning we spent a couple of hours at Typhoon Lagoon, then went into the Magic Kingdom. We spent some time exploring the new Storybook Circus area, and rode the revised Dumbo.

We finished up the night by checking out the new Belle attraction at New Fantasyland. The photo above is what the attraction looked like earlier in the day.

We spent much of Thursday meeting characters. We started the morning in the Magic Kingdom, where we rode Space Mountain and took some pictures. Bryan left around noon to fly to a DeMolay International Conference in Washington DC, so we headed to Epcot. For dinner we ate at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Hotel. We finished the night back at the Magic Kingdom.

 

Yesterday we went to Hollywood Studios, then Magic Kingdom.

Be Our Guest

The highlight of today was eating at the new Be Our Guest restaurant in the Magic Kingdom for Susan's Birthday. We ate in the main ballroom, next to the windows.

The food was pretty good, and the dessert was delicious.

After dinner I finished my Sorcerers of the Kingdom quest, and we rode the Jungle Cruise and watched some shows. We spent the morning in Animal Kingdom.

Bay Lake Tower

Sunday we checked out of Art of Animation and into Bay Lake Tower, the new DVC villas next to the Contemporary Resort. Our room wasn't ready so we headed into the Magic Kingdom for lunch and took in a few attractions. Bryan played the new Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game, which uses video screens and cameras to interact with playing cards in windows spread around the park, helping Merlin defeat various villains.

Once our room was done we unpacked then drove into town for more food. We had a one room villa. I didn't care much for the decor, but the location was nice.

Susan made dinner in the room, and we watched the fireworks from our balcony.

We spent this morning at Epcot, mostly doing the Future World attractions. We got fastpasses for the revised Test Track then headed to China to eat lunch at the Nine Dragons. The updates to Test Track were nice, but not a huge improvement. We took our picture at the Visa photo spot, rode Spaceship Earth, and headed back to our room, where we relaxed then ate dinner. We then headed back into the Magic Kingdom and played more Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

New Fantasyland

 

We headed into Epcot on Friday morning. Despite the weather being drizzly, the park was packed, so we spent most of our time wandering around the World Showcase, looking through the shops and taking pictures.

We left in the afternoon and headed up to Casselberry, where we attended the South Seminole Chapter of DeMolay.

Yesterday morning we went to the Magic Kingdom, walked around the Fantasyland expansion and enjoyed the Christmas decorations before they were taken down. It was pretty crowded, so we did a couple of the show attractions where the waits weren't too bad. We headed back to the hotel in the afternoon for a swim and a walk around. 

After dinner we went to the Studios to see the Osborne Lights. We then went back to the Magic Kingdom for a late night.

Art of Animation

We headed back to Disneyworld, and checked into the Art of Animation Resort. We had a family suite in the Lion King area. 

The room was nice. It was almost as big as a one bedroom DVC unit, except it only has a kitchenette, rather than a small kitchen. The dinner table is a murphy bed, and it also had a sleeper sofa.

We walked around to the other areas and went swimming. The three other areas are Finding Nemo, which is nearest to the food court and has the main pool, Carsland, which has a small pool, and the Little Mermaid, which has standard value rooms and external corridors, as well as a fairly big pool.

We then drove up to Orlando to visit Bahia DeMolay. It was a casual meeting, and they discussed plans for their upcoming mini-Conclave.

Universal Studios

We didn't get much done our last day at Universal We went into the Studios after checking out of our room and tried to ride E.T., but it was down. We wanted to watch the Make up show but it was a few hours away. 

We waited around for a half hour but E.T. never opened so we headed over to Disaster. After that it was lunch time, but we weren't interested in any of the restaurants, so left to eat at CityWalk.

We tried going into Islands of Adventure after lunch but it was too crowded to ride anything. There was a wait just to get into the Harry Potter area.

Harry Potter World

We got up early and headed into Islands of Adventure, where we rode the new Harry Potter ride, and looked around the shops. Because we were staying at a hotel onsite, we got to go in before regular guests. Once the park fully opened, we went to Universal Studios for a few hours. 

We then headed out to CityWalk and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch, then went back to the hotel so the kids could swim.

In the evening Bryan and I went back into the Studios to ride the Simpsons and Men in Black rides, and watch the Terminator show.

Royal Pacific at Universal Orlando

 

Today we checked out of All Star Music and spent a little time at Downtown Disney. We ate at the new T-Rex restaurant. It is like a Rainforest Cafe, only with Dinosaurs instead of jungle animals. It also seemed a bit more expensive, unless Rainforest has increased their menu prices recently. 

We then headed to Universal Orlando where we checked into the Royal Pacific Hotel. The theme and quality of the Royal Pacific is okay, but I didn't like that it came with a mini-bar rather than a mini-fridge. We had to request one, and the wi-fi was spotty, plus they charge a large extra fee for parking.

 

Still, it was nice to be right next to the theme parks, and we really enjoyed using the Express pass to skip most of the lines. Universal has two theme parks in Orlando, the Studios and Islands of Adventure. In between the parks is CityWalk, which has shops and restaurants. There are also three hotels, linked by water.

We took the boat to Islands of Adventure, where we rode a handful of rides and ate dinner at the Three Broomsticks in the Harry Potter area.

NYE at MK

On New Year's Eve, we drove down to Disney World and checked into the Allstar Music Resort. It is a value resort, so we weren't expecting too much, but the resort was fairly nice and well laid out, although the beds are only doubles and not real comfortable. We were pleasantly surprised to find they had added wi-fi throughout the Allstar Resorts, and the room came with a mini-fridge. 

We headed into the Magic Kingdom to pick up our passes. It was too crowded for Susan and I, so we left after dinner and a picture with Mickey.

The kids walked around the Fantasyland expansion then camped out in front of the castle for hours to watch all the fireworks. They were pretty spectacular.