Mexican Riviera Cruise

Last week, while I worked and looked after the dogs, Susan and Jenn drove down to Los Angeles and boarded a four night Princess cruise down to Mexico. They went with some of the women my wife had met through scrapbooking.

Their first stop was in Solvang in California where they took a tour of the Swedish buildings downtown.

The second port of call was Ensenada Mexico. After a day at sea they returned to Los Angeles. 

More Disney World

Thursday we visited the Magic Kindom. Amongst other things, we rode the Peoplemover and were able to see inside Space Mountain with the lights on, as it was undergoing refurbishment.

Friday we spent some time in Hollywood Studios, including checking out the entrance to the future Star Wars Land.

We also enjoyed seeing the models for the new Toy Story Land currently under construction.

As well as the upcoming Star Wars land. We had lunch at Hollywood and Dine, a character buffet. Jenn enjoyed meeting Mickey and friends in their spring outfits. 

That afternoon we checked into a one bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs, and finished giving away the last of Bryan’s furniture. Saturday we returned to Epcot to enjoy some more attractions and the Flower and Garden festival. Yesterday we flew home. 

Diagon Alley

Yesterday we visited the Universal Orlando Resort. We spent most of our time in the new Harry Potter area at the Studios, Diagon Alley. The shops were well themed, and the restaurant, the Leaky Cauldron, was pretty good. 

 

We really enjoyed the train between the Harry Potter areas in the two parks, as well as the Escape from Gringott's attraction. It's a cross between an indoor roller coaster and an omnimover, shifting you between large 3D screens that tell the story of a tour of Gringott's that goes wrong.  

Over in Islands of Adventure, they had closed the Dragon Challenge coaster (the former Dueling Dragons) and started work on a new Harry Potter attraction.

Last night we checked into a DVC villa at the Grand Floridian.

Disney World and Tampa

Sunday night Susan, Jenn, and I flew out to Florida again. The main purpose of our visit was to empty the storage locker of stuff Bryan left behind when he moved back to Oregon, but we also planned to spend a few days in the parks. We arrived Monday morning and took the Magic Express to Disney World.

The first two nights we stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort, where there was lots of construction going on. The lobby area is being expanded, a new DVC resort is being built north of the resort, and work on a gondola system to connect several resorts and parks had just begun. 

After a nice breakfast buffet in a temporary tent near the pool, we headed into Epcot to check out the Flower and Garden Festival. A friend of Jenn’s from the college program joined us. We did a few rides, the girls met characters, and we had some snacks at the festival booths. 

Tuesday we picked up a rental SUV and drove into Tampa to empty Bryan’s storage locker. Jennifer posted the items on Facebook and we gave most of them away. Wednesday morning we checked out of our room.