Winter at WDW

After Thanksgiving, the Christmas decorations went up, and Epcot switched to the Festival of Holidays. Like other Epcot festivals, there were booths around the World Showcase selling “holiday” food and drinks, as well as special holiday entertainment.

We also spent some time in the Magic Kingdom, checking out the holiday decorations and special entertainment.

This week, we checked out the new Epcot Experience, which gives a glimpse of what is coming soon to Epcot.

And the progress on the France expansion.

Sea World Christmas Celebration

 

Earlier this year, Sea World had reopened its kid area up with a new Seasame Street theme. In the fall, they announced an all Season Dining Plan, so we renewed our passes and purchased the plan.

We visited Sea World several times in November and December to check out their Christmas Celebration, including once with Bryan when he came out for Thanksgiving.

 

We enjoyed seeing their decorations and sampling Christmas snacks. We also walked the Rudolph the Red - Nosed Raindeer trail and checked out some of the live entertainment. Sea World is definitely not as nice as a Disney park or even one of the Universal ones, but it can be a good time, and is definitely less expensive. 

Across the South

We stopped in El Paso Texas and spent a few hours at the Chamizal National Memorial on the border with Mexico, learning the history of the border there. When we reached the junction with I-20, we turned northeast and drove to Fort Worth, where we spent a few hours visiting Bryan. 

We then continued across Texas to Louisiana, and stopped at the Cane River Creole National Historic Park, where we learned about plantation life in central Louisiana.

Yesterday we made our way across Mississippi and Alabama and eventually home to Florida. After these two trips I had driven across the U.S. fifteen times.

Moving trailers

In early November, we decided to take our cargo trailer back to Oregon. We couldn't figure out how to change the title on it to Florida, and we were paying every month to store it and not using it.

 

Susan and I drove to Bend in only four days. We left Susan's car in Oregon and flew home.

Last week Jennifer and Susan flew out to Portland to take care of a few things and visit the University of Portland. I came out a couple days later, then we drove to Bend and loaded up a U-Haul trailer with stuff. We drove down through California to I-10, then turned east.

Fall at WDW

In the fall, we checked out the Halloween decorations at the Magic Kingdom, and enjoyed the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot.

I also continued taking photos of construction areas, like the new Tron building.  

And the demolition of the old Communicore/Innoventions West building.

 

Today, we got up early and did another Cast 5K, again at Animal Kingdom.

Skyliner

Earlier this month we attended another DVC Moonlight Magic event, this time at Typhoon Lagoon. We didn't spend a lot of time doing slides, but we did enjoy the free good and the lazy river.

This week we attended a special cast preview for the new Skyliner. This gondola system connects Epcot and Hollywood Studios to several resorts. 

The new Riviera Resort, which will open later in the year, is also on the Skyliner.

We also got to spend more time in Galaxy's Edge. We weren't able to experience the Star Wars attractions, but I enjoyed using the Disney Play App to explore Batuu.

Galaxy's Edge

  

Last week we attended a cast preview of Galaxy's Edge, the new Star Wars area in Hollywood Studios.

The Rise of the Resistance attraction wasn't open yet, but we rode Millenium Falcon: Smuggler's Run twice. It was fun, a cross between Star Tours and Mission:Space, but a little tamer than either. We weren't able to experience the cantina or the lightsaber building, but enjoyed walking around the land.

Last night we attended the Annual Passholder Appreciation Night at Universal Studios. This summer Universal opened another Harry Potter attraction, Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. It is a lot of fun, especially at night.

Memphis

Earlier this month we flew back to Bend and drove our camping trailer out. My truck wasn't doing a good job towing it across Wyoming so we stopped in Fort Collins Colorado and traded it in for a heavier one with a bigger engine. 

We also brought the cats out with us, so we weren't able to make too many stops.  

We did stop in Memphis, and enjoyed a meal at the Hard Rock there. This was my 26th HRC.

We walked a bit on Beale Street after dinner, and spent some time driving around downtown, then headed back to our campground outside the city. The next day we drove back to Florida, completing my thirteenth trip across the country.

Summer Summary

Earlier this month we attended a DVC Moonlight Magic event in Animal Kingdom. We stayed one night at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

We rode several rides, ate snacks, and met characters. It was a nice event.

I continue to enjoy going into the parks when I'm not working and checking out the construction sites, such as the new Tron roller coaster.

Epcot has had a lot of work going on. In the front of the park work continued on the Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster and the tram stop. Work also continued on the expansion of the France pavilion, and around the gondola system at the International Gateway.

June in the Parks

At the beginning of the month I left Adventureland and began working at the Friendship Boats, mostly driving between Epcot and Hollywood Studios.  

We continued to enjoy the parks on our days off, and were able to attend special cast events such as a special access to Toy Story Land before Hollywood Studios opened for the day. We had wandered through Toy Story Land before during the Moonlight Magic event in March, and even ridden Slinky Dog Dash, but it was nice to experience it without a long wait. It's a nice family coaster, pretty fast but without too many crazy curves.

This morning we enjoyed a similar event at Pandora in Animal Kingdom.

More Moonlight Magic

Last night we attended another DVC Moonlight Magic event, this time at Epcot. We again enjoyed free snacks and short waits to ride several attractions.

Earlier this month Susan, Jenn, and I attended a Cast Appreciation Event at Magic Kingdom. It was held in a big tent between Main Street and Tomorrowland. There was food and photo opportunities as well as free Mickey Bars.

A few days ago I was hanging out in the park waiting for Susan to get off work so I rode the Peoplemover to check on the Tron roller coaster site. 

I also checked on the progress of the path widening between the castle and Liberty Square.

Cast Life

On the first Friday of the month Susan and I did our first RunDisney event, a "Star Wars" 5K through Epcot. Jenn joined us, but she had done other event during her College Program. The race was delayed by a lightning storm, and there was a fair amount of rain, but we had a good time.

Two weeks later we got up early again for a Cast 5K, also through Epcot.

Last week, Bryan transferred to a job in Fort Worth Texas, so I flew out to Portland and we loaded up his apartment and headed south east. We stopped in Bend to grab some of the stuff in storage there. After getting his apartment in Fort Worth set up, we continued on to Florida. This was my twelfth time driving across the U.S.

While Bryan and I were on the road, Susan and Jenn enjoyed Easter in the parks. Susan also transferred to full time merchandise in Frontierland.

Moonlight Magic

While Susan and Jenn were on their cruise, I started working as a Cast Member. I was assigned to work in Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom. I also often did crowd control for the fireworks at Magic Kingdom.

Last week we enjoyed attending the Disney Vacation Club Moonlight Magic event at Hollywood Studios. We stayed the night in a studio at Old Key West, and enjoyed free snacks and short waits for rides. 

We checked out Toy Story Land, and rode the new coaster, Slinky Dog Dash.

Yesterday we checked out the Flower & Garden Festival at Epcot.

Majesty Cruise

This weekend, Susan and Jenn did another four night cruise, this time on Norwegian's Majesty of the Seas from Fort Lauderdale.

Their first port of call was Havana, Cuba, where they did a tour of the downtown.  As expected, they found the city kind of sad and run down. 

After a day at sea, they stopped in Nassau, where they spent a couple hours checking out the port shops.  Susan said she preferred the Disney Cruise we did in 2017 to either Princess or Norwegian.