Christmas at Magic Kingdom

Thursday morning Susan and I went to Magic Kingdom to check out the decorations there. Christmas decorations go up as soon as Halloween is over, and Very Merry Christmas parties begin. The parties at Hollywood Studios, called Jollywood Nights, also returned.

We made a loop around the park, rode the peoplemover, ate some lunch, and watched the new Country Bear show. We also looked through some shops and Susan visited with some of her former coworkers. I would have liked to ride the Jingle Cruise, but the park was fairly busy for early December, so we headed out.

On the way into the park, we stopped at the Grand Floridian to see the decorations there and the gingerbread house.

Over at the Polynesian Resort, crews were putting the final touches on the Island Tower. It opened today.

Last evening Susan, Jenn, and I returned to Amalie Arena to watch the Lightning defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-3.

Festival of Holidays

Yesterday afternoon Susan and I went into Epcot to check out the Festival of Holiday booths as well as the holiday decorations. We parked at Hollywood Studios and took the Friendship Boat up so I could visit some of my old co-workers, then made a lap around the World Showcase. We took the Skyliner back to the Studios.

We didn’t try a lot of snacks from the festival booths because we knew we were going to Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary for dinner. The kids joined us. Chef Mickey’s is an all you can eat character buffet. The food and decor aren’t great but we hadn’t been there in over a decade. 

After dinner we wandered through the shops at the Contemporary and admired their gingerbread house.

Universal Christmas

I've been wanting to get into the parks to see the Christmas decorations since the start of November, but we've been too busy. This week we finally had some time. Yesterday Susan and I went to Universal for a few hours. On our way through CitiWalk, we stopped at Margaritaville for a late lunch/early dinner. 

We started in Islands of Adventure. The entry area had decorations up, but Marvel Superhero Island, Toon Lagoon, and Jurassic Park didn’t. I stopped for a ride on Spider-Man, my favorite ride in the park, and would have like to try Velociocoaster but the line was too long. The parks were pretty crowded for a weekday in early December. 

The Harry Potter area had lots of decorations and I’m sure Seuss Landing did as well, but we took the train from Hogsmeade over to the Studio park. 

We walked through the New York area to see the decorations there, then watched the Christmas parade in front of Mel’s Diner. The balloons were fairly impressive. 

On our way out we looked through several stores, including the new Wicked store. Besides merchandise it had some props and costumes from the new movie. I'm hoping Universal will add a family style Wicked ride some day.

Magic Kingdom Cruisers

Last week, I started training to drive cruisers at Magic Kingdom Watercraft. I finished my training on Sunday. Monday night Jenn and Bryan attended a concert at Kia Center in Orlando.

Tuesday night we went to see ICE! at the Gaylord Palms. Gaylord’s are large resorts with big convention centers. There are a handful of the, around the country, and each one holds an ICE! event each year, which displays ice sculptures with a Christmas or winter theme. 

This year at the Gaylord Palms the sculptures were themed to the movie Elf. Besides the ice sculptures, there were several other Christmas themed events. After checking them out we had dinner at the steakhouse there. It was good, but pretty expensive. Yesterday morning we all went to see Wicked Part 1.

Food & Wine

Jenn continues to attend Tampa Bay Lightning matches. Two weeks ago she went to Amalie Arena to watch them play the Philadelphia Flyers. Last week she watched their matches against the Winnipeg Jets and the New Jersey Devils. She also released her ninth book, a Christmas romance. 

The Food & Wine Festival at Epcot started at the end of August, but Susan and I have been too busy to make it into the park to check it until yesterday afternoon.

But we didn’t see much of the Festival. My plan was to stop at some of the booths for dinner, but after riding Listen to the Land we saw that Garden Grill was practically empty and decided to have dinner there. We enjoyed the food and seeing Mickey and friends, but by the time we were done it was fairly late and we were too full to want to sample anything from the booths.

Reflections

While everyone else were at conventions, I rode a cruiser from the Magic Kingdom to the Fort Wilderness campgrounds. Recently there’s been construction activity on the old River Country site. 

At one point Disney announced that it was building a DVC hotel on the site called Reflections, but it was stopped when the pandemic hit. 

Yesterday afternoon Susan, Jenn, and I went to the Studios to meet a friend from Bend, who was visiting WDW for the first time. We did a few rides and grabbed some lunch at the ABC Commissary. 

Today while I worked, Susan and Jenn had breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe then met him in Magic Kingdom. They rode the train and the Peoplemover, and bought a Halloween popcorn bucket.

More Conventions

While Susan and I were on our cruise, Jennifer drove to Tampa for another Lightning game. She and her friend had just bought new jerseys to wear.

The Lightning defeated the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1.

This weekend, Susan and Jenn flew out to Las Vegas for another book convention. It was held at the Paris Las Vegas. They flew out Thursday morning and back Sunday night. 

Meanwhile, Bryan flew out to Anaheim to visit friends and attend a convention there. He also spent a day at the Disneyland resort. The train station was being refurbished.

Celebrity Cruise

Monday morning Susan and I drove down to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, where we boarded the Celebrity Reflection for a four night cruise to the Bahamas. We had an Aqua-class room, which gave us a midship veranda room, plus some other perks. 

On Tuesday we stopped at Nassau. This was a disappointment because we were supposed to spend Tuesday at sea and stop at Bimini on Thursday, but a storm was approaching so it got changed. We got off and walked around the shops a bit, but then headed back. We were going to go to the Pirate Museum, but they didn’t take American Express and neither of us had another credit card on us. 

On Wednesday we stopped at Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean’s private island. It’s more developed than Disney’s island but most of the extra things also cost extra. 

Thursday was spent at sea. The Celebrity Reflection is a nice ship but we definitely prefer sailing on a Disney ship. We prefer the way Disney has guests rotate between three dining room rather than the way Celebrity has one and then more that cost extra. The entertainment is also better on Disney, and the quality of the food. Still it was nice to relax. This morning we came back into Port Everglades, and drove home. 

Hurricane Milton

Last weekend, Jennifer and Susan attended a book convention at a hotel near Disney Springs. Jenn signed books and visited with fans, and Susan helped her sell books. Jennifer also took part in a panel discussion. 

This week Hurricane Milton tore through central Florida. We spent Tuesday getting ready, Wednesday waiting it out, and Thursday cleaning up. Disney closed its parks early Wednesday and all day Thursday. 

Sunday morning Susan and I drove out to Vero Beach and checked into the Disney resort there. Since it we were only there for one night we just got a deluxe studio room. 

In the afternoon we walked on the beach and took a dip in the pool. Usually we eat at the restaurant but this time we just had dinner in the room. Afterward we had dessert in the Green Cabin Lounge. 

Disney Dining

Every October, Disney gives its cast members coupons to save money at Disney restaurants and snack kiosks and every September we realize we need to use a bunch before they expire. So Tuesday evening we stopped at Port Orleans French Quarter and had dinner at the food court, and ordered some beignets to take home.

Wednesday night we went to another Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game. This time it was at the Kia Center in downtown Orlando. It was a preseason game so tickets were cheaper and we were closer to the ice. The Lightning defeated the Florida Panthers, 8 to 7.

Yesterday afternoon Susan and I went to Hollywood Studios and ate lunch at Prime Time Cafe. A hurricane was coming up the gulf so it was pretty windy, but the park was still fairly crowded. After lunch we used our snack coupons to pick up some ice cream sandwiches, which we took home and put in the freezer.

More Book Signings

 

Susan and Jenn didn’t stop much on their way to Milwaukee except for several Buc-ee’s, including a new one in Smith Grove, Kentucky. 

 

On their way back, they visited friends in a suburb of Milwaukee, and stopped at a bookstore outside Louisville Kentucky, where Jenn signed some of her books.

Last week Bryan attended a Haunted Horror Night event at Universal Studios with some friends. They went several times last year too, but he never took any photos. 

 

Meanwhile, Jennifer released her eighth book, a sequel to the Halloween themed book she released last year. Yesterday she met some fellow authors at her Barnes & Noble, then went up to Sanford to do a signing at a book store there.

Magic Kingdom Launches

Last Thursday I completed training on my first of the three boats at Magic Kingdom, the small launches. That night, we went to Steakhouse 71 to celebrate Bryan’s birthday. 

On Tuesday Susan and Jenn left for a book convention in Milwaukee, so yesterday morning I decided to head into the Magic Kingdom. I got there before the park opened, so I decided to a cruiser to the Polynesian to take a photo of the progress on the new island tower. 

Once in the park, I made a circuit and rode the Astro-Orbitor. When it was over my virtual que boarding group for the Tron coaster had been called, so I headed to it. A little over a half hour later, I was off, and a grabbed a pretzel and rode the riverboat, then headed home. 

This morning I got to Hollywood Studios early so I could ride the Friendship Boats and catch up with some of the captains there. Friendship Four was out with its new paint job. 

Over at the Boardwalk, the Cake Bake Shop is getting closer to being completed, but not open yet. After visiting the International Gateway of Epcot, I took the boat back to the Studios, where I rode Star Tours and ate at Ronto Roasters, then headed home. 

Universal Passholder Night

Yesterday evening while Jenn attended a book signing in Chicago, Susan, Bryan, and I visited Universal Studios for one of their Annual Passholder Appreciation Nights. We arrived around 4:30 in the afternoon and headed for the main gate. Then realized we needed to walk back into the area between the exit gate and the Hard Rock to check into the event and get wristbands. A sign would have been nice. 

Once in we used our express pass to ride Gringotts, ET, and Mummy, and grab some discounted drinks.  After the park closed to regular guests we did the Villian Con, Minion Mayhem, and the Jimmy Fallon ride. This was my first time on the latter. It’s okay, a lot like the Minion attraction, as it’s a theater with moving seats. Universal won’t start their Halloween parties for a couple more weeks, but they had started putting out booths for it. 

 

We then had some snacks and went to watch the new CineSational show, which happens on the lake in the middle of the park. We were too late to get a good viewing spot, but a Universal team member suggested watching it on the lower level near Duff’s Brewery. We found an open table, but once the show started we realized we couldn’t hear the music over the music of the brewery, so ended up moving about halfway through. The show uses fountains, lights, mist screens, projections, fireworks, and drones to highlight various Universal properties. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again from a better spot.

On our way back to our car, we stopped in CityWalk to see the new Epic Universe Preview Center. Besides merchandise to buy and videos of what the park’s areas will look like, there was a great model of the park.