San Francisco

 

On Friday, Susan I flew out to the San Francisco Bay Area for a few days to visit family. We spent Saturday in Pacific Grove and Monterey.

On Sunday we visited 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. We flew home that night.

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.

Princess 5k

Last Thursday my mom flew home, and Susan and Jenn attended the annual Magic Kingdom Cast Celebration, held in a big tent between Main Street and Tomorrowland. They enjoyed a free meal and photo opportunities. Since it was Cinderella themed, Jenn wore her Cinderella outfit.

Yesterday we went to the RunDisney Princess Half Marathon expo. It was held at the arena at ESPN Wide World of Sports. There were photo opportunities and race gear vendors.

 

This morning we did the Princess 5K. The course was similar to the RunDisney Star Wars 5K we did last year, winding through Epcot.

Bay Lake

Yesterday Jenn and I took mom to brunch at the Grand Floridian Cafe. We then rode the monorail to the Contemporary and looked around, then took the boat to the Wilderness Lodge.

I showed my mom around the resort. Disney renamed the old DVC villas the Boulder Ridge Villas, and the new cabins are called Copper Creek. The new bar and grill is called Geyser Point.

A couple years ago, Disney demolished the old River Country water park and started building a new resort on the site. Located between the Fort Wilderness campgrounds and the Wilderness Lodge, it will be known as Reflections. 

Today we took my mom to Animal Kingdom, where she enjoyed the safari ride and the Lion King. show. We went to Boma for dinner.

More park stuff

This week my mom came out for her first visit to WDW. On Sunday while I worked Susan and Jenn took her to Epcot. They watched some of the shows and went on a few of the slower moving rides.

They also rode my boat to Hollywood Studios and back. 

Yesterday I took my mom to Magic Kingdom to see some shows while Susan and Jenn worked. Work continues on the path between MK and the Grand Floridian.

We also rode the peoplemover and the train and the Epcot monorail loop. Disney has started working on the center of Future World, so it’s surrounded by walls.

Running Universal & Sea World

On Saturday, 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. Afterward Jennifer went to the parks with friends in a Harry Potter outfit.

On Tuesday Jenn and I went to Sea World. We had lunch at the Smokehouse and rode Mako and Kraken. Riding them back to back made me a little woozy. 

In the evening we went to Universal and waited in line for Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, the new roller coaster at Islands of Adventure. It's a great coaster with a well themed queue.

Yesterday afternoon Jenn and I went into the Magic Kingdom. I talked her into riding the Astro-Orbitor so I could take some photos of the Tron site. We did not fit into a rocket as well as we did when we were younger.