Christmas in the Parks

After Thanksgiving I was called back to work, but not at Friendship Boats. Instead I was assigned to deckhand on the ferries and cruisers at Magic Kingdom. We spent a few days in the parks, checking out the holiday decorations. We returned to Epcot to enjoy the Festival of the Holidays. 

Living with the Land was decorated for Christmas.

Last week, my mom came out for a visit, and while I worked, Susan and Jenn took her to Epcot and to Lake Louisa State Park. On my day off, Susan and I drove her up to South Carolina to meet my brother.

Last night, we checked out Sea World's Christmas offerings again. We enjoyed getting hot chocolate and walking the Rudolph trail, as well as seeing all the trees light up in the lake.

Fall in the parks

We visited the WDW a few times in the fall. At Epcot, we checked out the Food & Wine offerings, and the progress on the Guardians of the Galaxy coaster. We also ate dinner at Garden Grill in the Land for the first time.

 

After Halloween the Holiday decorations went up at the Magic Kingdom.

Over at the Tron site in the Magic Kingdom, they started work on the canopy.  

We also went to Sea World in November. Like Disney, they put out their Christmas decorations after Halloween.  

Sea World is building a new roller coaster between the Orca and Water Skiing amphitheaters. When it opens it will be their fourth large roller coaster.

Universal

 

This week some friends from Oregon were staying at the Royal Pacific resort, so we joined them at the Universal parks for a couple of days, and enjoyed going on some attractions with them. This was my first time riding Despicable Me Minion Mayhem. 

The first night we went to the new Chocolate Emporium. It was interesting and the food was good. While our service wasn't great, this was probably due to the pandemic and staffing.

The next day we ate at Margaritaville. It was fun, but nothing special. Even though they had to wear masks most of the time, our friends enjoyed that the pandemic rules in Florida were much more reasonable than what they had been going through in Oregon.

South Carolina

 

At the beginning of the month, Bryan and I flew back to Bend and loaded up another big moving truck, then drove it back to Florida. It was my 17th drive across the U.S. Last week Susan and I made another trip to South Carolina. Although the southern states have started to lift masking and other requirements, traveling during the pandemic is often difficult. We encountered some closed dining rooms and other problems.

Our first stop was in Charleston to visit our friends at the Air Force Base. While there we drove around downtown Charleston and checked out the visitor center for Fort Sumter. I wanted to go out to the Fort, but Susan wasn't up to a ferry ride, so we put it off for a later visit.

My brother had recently moved to Hilton Head and my mother was out visiting him, so we stopped there on the way home and had lunch at the Salty Dog near Harbour Town.

Summer in the parks

  

We continued to visit the parks occasionally in August, and, with the reservation system, the crowds remained light.  

Susan's sister and niece came for a visit, so we took them to the parks for a couple of days. Epcot started its Food and Wine Festival early, and work continued in the middle of Future World.

  

We also spent a day at Universal. Work continued on the new Jurassic Park coaster at Islands of Adventure.

At the end of July, we spent a day at Sea World. We were given a backstage tour of the arctic area, which we enjoyed.

Reopening Disney World

  

Three weeks ago, Disney began reopening their parks, starting with Magic Kingdom, and as cast members we were allowed to visit before the general public. Bryan joined us, as he had recently left Fort Worth and moved to Winter Garden. Susan and Jennifer were called back to work, but I remained on furlough. 

Epcot opened a week later and we again got to enjoy cast previews on Monday and Tuesday. It was great having the parks mostly to ourselves. We ate lunch at Le Cellier in Canada Monday and at Coral Reef on Tuesday. Both were really good.  

The center of Future World was still torn up by construction.

Last night we took Jenn and some friends to the Boathouse in Disney Springs to celebrate her birthday.

Reopening the Universal Parks

Earlier this month, Universal reopened, and as annual passholders we were among the first to attend. While wearing masks to the parks was annoying, it was nice being there with so few people.

Work was progressing on a new roller coaster in the Jurassic Park area of Islands of Adventure.  

Today we spent another day at Universal. I rode Rip Ride Rocket for first time. Don’t need to ride it again, as it was pretty rough.

One ride I could do every time I go to Universal is Hagrid's Motorbike. The low crowds were great for getting on the coaster without too long of a wait.

Pandemic

I had just passed my first Anniversary of working for Disney when the pandemic happened, and Disney announced they would be shutting down the parks and placing everyone on furlough. I wandered over to Magic Kingdom after my last shift to visit Susan and Jennifer and watch Happily Ever After.

As the days dragged into weeks and the weeks into months, we spent time walking the dogs and doing puzzles and catching up on television shows.

 

We also spent some time looking for a house to buy. We eventually found one that worked for us, and last week Susan and I flew back to Oregon. We loaded up another truck with more stuff and headed out on another long drive to Florida, my 16th time across the country. We then moved out of the rental house and into our new house.

Bend

Last week, Susan and flew back to Bend. We didn’t get to do much fun stuff, other than meet friends for some meals. We spent a little time checking out our rental properties.

But mostly we spent time rearranging stuff in our pole barn so we could empty the storage lockers we’ve been renting since we moved to Florida.

5K's and Cast Previews

At the beginning of the month, we did our first Running Universal 5K. We walked through both Universal parks before they opened. It was fun, although a bit cold and damp.

 

Last week we did another RunDisney event, this time the Princess 5K. The course was similar to the Star Wars 5K we did last year, winding through Epcot.

This morning we got a special cast preview of the new ride in Hollywood Studios. I think it's the third best trackless ride I've done, behind Mystic Manor in Hong Kong and Pooh in Tokyo.

San Francisco

 

Last week Susan I flew out to the San Francisco Bay Area for a few days to visit family. 

We spent one day visiting San Francisco. We explored Pier 39 and ate at my 27th Hard Rock Cafe. 

After lunch we walked along Fisherman's Wharf and visited the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, including the old ships on Hyde Pier and the Maritime Museum. It was a very nice day.

More park stuff

In addition to the Disney Parks, we continued to visit Sea World and Universal with our annual passes. Since we bought the Season Dining Pass at Sea World, we often go in for just a couple of hours. We have a meal, usually at the Smokehouse, then we make a lap around the park, checking out some animal exhibits. Sometimes Jenn and I ride a coaster. 

Last week we went to Universal on one of our days off. I finally rode the Kong ride (by myself, as neither Susan or Jenn cared to go with me), and we checked out the Harry Potter areas and rode the train between, and ate at the Leaky Cauldron. Universal has started some construction in the Jurassic Park area of IOA, but haven’t announced what it is. 

This week my mom came out for a visit. One day Susan and Jenn took her to Epcot and to ride my boat while I worked. Then I took her to ride the boats at MK and see some shows while Susan and Jenn worked. Yesterday on her last day here we all went to Animal Kingdom and to Boma for dinner.

WDW Parks Update

We also continue to visit the WDW parks when we have time. Earlier this month, Susan and Jenn were working late in the Magic Kingdom so I went over after my shift was over to visit them and to enjoy the Holiday decorations before they were gone.

I always try to take some photos of the construction projects when visiting the parks as a guest. Above is work on the entrance to Epcot, as well as the building that will house the Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster.

I also like to take a photo of the Tron site when I ride the Peoplemover in the Magic Kingdom. 

Later in the month, we checked out the Festival of the Arts at Epcot.

Anniversary Trip

 

This year for our anniversary we spent a few days at Disney's Hilton Head resort.

 

We spent most of our time relaxing. We went out to the Beach House in the mornings to swim and walk along the beach.

One of the days we drove up to Charleston to visit friends at the Air Base there.

Busch Gardens

Yesterday we visited Busch Gardens for the first time since 2007. Since the Sea World and Busch Gardens park keep their Christmas Celebrations going until the Epiphany, most decorations were still up. We camped in our trailer nearby, and had free admission with our Sea World annual passes.

The old "Land of Dragons" kiddie area has been converted into a Sesame Street area, and "Timbuktu" is now "Pantopia", but most of the rest of the park is still themed to Africa.

The park hasn't aged well. A lot of the family attractions we enjoyed on previous visits have been replaced by roller coasters. Still we had fun riding the skyway and seeing the animal exhibits, as well as trying out all the restaurants with the All-Day Dining Deal. And Jenn and I did a couple of the coasters.