Reopening Epcot

A week after the Magic Kingdom opened the rest of the Disney World parks opened as well. We got to enjoy cast previews of Epcot on Monday and Tuesday. It was great having the park mostly to ourselves. 

Epcot started its Food and Wine Festival early, but some booths were not yet open, and there was no festival center with displays and cooking demonstrations like previous years. We ate lunch at Le Cellier in Canada Monday and at Coral Reef on Tuesday. Both were really good. We had eaten at Le Cellier before, but this was our first time at Coral Reef. It’s in the Seas pavilion and looks into the large aquarium there.

The center of Future World was still torn up by construction, and the old Innoventions buildings were being gutted or demolished.

As at Magic Kingdom, there were no meet and greets open, but there were character cavalcades and characters that would come out and wave from behind barriers.

Jenn also visited Hollywood Studios in July. She made a droid at Droid Depot.

Reopening the Magic Kingdom

Last week, 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.

 

As with Universal and Sea World, I thought the Covid protocols were a bit overboard, but it was great having so few people in the park. We had a nice lunch at Tony's Town Tavern. It rained pretty hard in the afternoon, but afterward the park looked pretty nice. 

 

There was hardly any wait for the major rides, and none for the minor ones, although some stores and restaurants were closed. 

There was no parade or fireworks, and all the meet n' greets were closed. As a kind of substitute they had character cavalcades as well as characters occasionally waving from balconies. 

Critters of Florida

 

We see lots of interesting critters when we walk around our neighborhood. Anhingas, or snake birds, are very common near any body of water in Florida. We first learned about them when we visited the Everglades in 2006.

I've seen more hawks around than I remember seeing on the west coast. I've also seen Ospreys and Bald Eagles while at work. There are also herons and cranes.

These bunnies live in the park near us. They have smaller ears than the ones on the west coast. Sometimes I see them in the landscaping at Disney Parks.

Sometimes I see armadillos by the side of the road. I haven't been able to get a photo of one, but last month I saw this turtle by our house.

Last night we noticed a small alligator swimming in the pond near our house.