Disney Springs

 

Thursday morning we went to Animal Kingdom, where we checked out the new Harambe Market food area, rode the safari ride and watched the bird show.

We had lunch at Rainforest Cafe, where I tried to see into the new Pandora area which is taking the place of Camp Minnie-Mickey. I also checked out the work being done for a lake show in Asia from the patio at Flame Tree BBQ.

In the afternoon we spent some time seeing what was new at Disney Springs, which replaced the old Downtown Disney area. 

Our studio at Saratoga Springs was in the Congress Park section, so we could see the Disney Springs work across the lake. Friday we returned to Magic Kingdom. Yesterday we flew home.

Magic Kingdom and Epcot

Tuesday morning we took a launch to Magic Kingdom, did a couple of rides and ate lunch at Be Our Guest. I also played a couple rounds of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. 

In the afternoon we went to Epcot. Work continued on the new Frozen attraction, which is replacing the Maelstrom ride in the Norway pavilion.  

That night we watched the Electric Water Parade from the balcony of our Wilderness Lodge Villa.

Yesterday we checked out of our room at the Wilderness Lodge and returned to Epcot. After a couple of rides, we had lunch at the San Angel Inn inside the Mexico pavilion. The food is just okay, but the atmosphere is great. 

In the afternoon we checked into a DVC villa at Saratoga Springs, then returned to Epcot for dinner at Chefs de France and a viewing of Illuminations.

Wilderness Lodge

 

On Monday we drove from Vero Beach to WDW, where we checked into a studio at the Wilderness Lodge's DVC wing. The Wilderness Lodge is one of my favorite resorts at WDW. It similar to the Grand Californian at Disneyland, but slightly more rustic. 

Once we were checked in, we headed to Hollywood Studios to check out the new Star Wars Launch Bay. This area replaced the old Animation Building, and includes a gift shop, a theater, some meet and greets, and displays of Star Wars props.  

That night, we enjoyed the Star Wars fireworks dessert viewing. It was pretty expensive, but included all you could eat desserts and adult beverages, and a great view of the fireworks.  

We had stayed at the Wilderness Lodge back in 2003, but this was our first time staying in the DVC wing. We enjoyed walking around the resort and the details in the common areas. From our balcony we could see them working on a DVC expansion which would add cabins by the lakeshore.

Anniversary Trip: Vero Beach

From the Florida Keys we headed up to Boca Raton, where we had dinner with friends Friday night. On Saturday we checked into Disney's Vero Beach Resort for two nights.

We had a room in the main building with views of both the ocean and the pool. 

We enjoyed the pool and walking on the beach, as well as eating in the restaurants.

Anniversary Trip: Florida Keys

To celebrate our Anniversary, Susan and I took a trip to Florida. We left Tuesday night and arrived in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday morning. We picked up a car and headed south. It took almost four hours to reach Key West.

Our hotel was on the west side of the island and a nearby rooster crowed for most of the night, but it had a free shuttle downtown. We looked around Duval Street a bit and had dinner at the Hard Rock. This was the seventh Hard Rock Cafe at which we had eaten.  

We were hoping to take a seaplane down to Dry Tortugas National Park Thursday morning, but it was cancelled due to weather. Instead we spent some time in the visitor center inside the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center, then headed north.

We stopped in Key Largo for the night, and enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner of fish tacos on the patio of a restaurant on a marina near our hotel.