Star Tours

Last month Disney added new scenes from the Ahsoka, Mandalorian, and Andor shows to Star Tours, so I’ve been wanting to get back to Hollywood Studios to ride it. Today Susan and Jenn went to a book signing in Gainesville, so I headed over after work. I rode it twice. I love the way Star Tours rotates through multiple scenes because it makes it so repeatable, although this time I had the newest end scene twice. 

Wednesday evening we spent a few hours at Universal. We walked through Islands of Adventure and then took the Harry Potter train to the Studios. 

We then found out the park was closing early for a preview of the new Dreamworks area for employees. We walked over to do ET but it was closed for refurbishment, so we looked around a bit and did the new VillainCon attraction before heading home. 

Last Wednesday we also went to Hollywood Studios, but only for a special sale for cast members in the store next to Muppets. Disney gave us great deals on some Star Wars and Marvel merchandise.

Book Conventions

 

Since becoming a writer, Jennifer has been attending a fair amount of book conventions and signings, and enjoying meeting with authors she admires.

This year she has done several signings locally, and last week she attended her first convention as an author, in Denver. Susan went with her to help her sell her books. This weekend she attended a convention in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile in WDW, work has continued on the new Cake Bake Shop at the Boardwalk. 

Other renovations are also ongoing. On Friday they removed the plaster from one section of the villas.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

I wanted to visit the Magic Kingdom last month to see the Easter Parade and the decorations at the monorail resorts, but we never made it. While Susan and Jenn attended a book convention this weekend, I decided to head in after work and check out the progress on the conversion of Splash Mountain to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. 

I went around the park on the train, but it was too crowded and hot to want to do anything else. I took a cruiser over to Fort Wilderness and had dinner at Trail’s End. 

I rode the ferry over and back and visited with the MK Watercraft cast members. While on the ferry, I took photos of the new DVC tower at the Polynesian Resort. 

I also rode the monorail to Epcot to see how the Communicore Hall was progressing. Throughout my time I asked the cast members I encountered for transportation cards, and was able to collect a few.

Tampa Bay Lightning

 

Last night we attended our first National League Hockey game. We arrived at Amalie Arena a couple hours before game began and enjoyed drinks and appetizers at the Cigar City brewpub nearby. Then we went in, grabbed some more food and drinks, and watched the warmups and game. The Lightning won, 5-2 over the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was a fun night.

This afternoon we met some friends from Oregon at Universal. It was their first time out to Florida. We walked through the Studio park to Diagon Alley, then took the train to Hogsmede. Then we walked through Islands of Adventure, stopping in Jurassic Park for a late lunch. 

Last week we spent some time chilling at Typhoon Lagoon, and shopping at Disney Springs.

After Hours

Last night we attended an “After Hours” event at Hollywood Studios with friends from Oregon. It was the first time we had been to one. For three hours after the park closed, we enjoyed several rides with limited waits and complementary sodas, ice cream, and popcorn. As a cast member, I was able to buy discounted tickets.

Our tickets let us into the park two hours before it closed, so we were able to catch Fantasmic! 

On Tuesday, we met them for lunch at Animal Kingdom, and for a ride on Flight of Passage. Then we took them to Cast Connection.

Earlier this month we spent some time shopping at Disney Springs, and met some friends for dinner at Ragland Road.

Epcot Festivals

 

Yesterday after work, Susan and I went into Epcot to check out the Flower and Garden festival. As usual the festival had some new topiaries and some returning, although some in different places. Susan also checked out some of the merchandise booths.

We also caught a set by Rick Springfield at the Garden Rocks concert series.

Last month Jennifer had a friend visiting, so Susan went with them to Epcot to check out the Festival of the Arts. I met them after work to enjoy some attractions and check the progress on the Communicore Hall.

That night, we enjoyed a ride on Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, then headed out. The new Celebration gardens look really nice at night.

Gatorland

Since shortly after we moved to Florida, we’ve been saying we need to go to Gatorland. We finally went last week. It’s a pretty fun place, relatively small but relatively cheap too. Admission is pretty low because much of what’s there is not included in admission.

Gatorland has two large ponds filled with gators surrounded by several enclosure with other animals, gift shops, places to eat, and a couple of stages for animal shows. On one side of the property is a swamp walk which took us 10 to 15 minutes to complete. The backside has a small train which we paid $3 each to ride as well a monster truck trail. We had some lunch and looked at most of the animal enclosures, which took a little over two hours. We plan to go back another day to see the rest of the animals and watch some shows.

We decided to let our Sea World passes expire and get Universal passes this year. Last Wednesday we spent some time at the Studios. Bryan and I did the new Villian-Con attraction. It was pretty fun and the queue was well done. We stood on a moving conveyor and shot at stuff on surrounding video screens. Afterward we went to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. 

Last night we went to Epcot and checked out the art booths at the Festival of Arts. I was hoping to stay for the new fireworks show but it was too cold.

Ohana

Since Susan got back from the cruise, we’ve been going out to dinner a fair amount, both to use the birthday coupons she got from several places and to celebrate her birthday and our anniversary. Last week we went with the kids to Ohana at the Polynesian Resort.  It had been over ten years since we ate there, and while it wasn’t quite as good as I remembered, we still left very full.

Before dinner we looked at the stores in the resort, and I checked out the progress on the new DVC tower.  After we tried to have a drink at Trader Sam’s, but the wait was too long, so we just went to the Tiki Terrace outside. The drinks were the same, and the atmosphere was pretty good.

 

A few nights later we went to the Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom for dinner to use the birthday coupon she got from Landry’s.

Carnival Cruise

Susan and Jenn got back from their five night cruise on Carnival today. They went with a couple dozen people they knew through scrapbooking.

The cruise was out of Fort Lauderdale and had stops in Nassau and Cozumel, with two days at sea. 

Since they had been to both before a few times, they stayed on the ship and scrapbbooked and wrote, which is also how they spent much of the two sea days.

Park Hopping

Early yesterday morning Susan and Jenn headed to Fort Lauderdale for a cruise, so I decided to spend some time in the parks. I couldn’t get a reservation for the Magic Kingdom, so I started at the TTC and took the monorail to Epcot. The Festival of Holidays had ended before New Year’s Eve, and the Festival of Arts was over a week away. I walked around Epcot a bit, then hopped back on the monorail.

Once I got to the Magic Kingdom, I took a cruiser to the Fort Wilderness campground, and had lunch at Trail’s End, which had recently changed from a table serve to counter serve restaurant. 

After two o’clock, I entered the Magic Kingdom, where I admired the Christmas decorations and rode the train to Frontierland.

Once there, I checked out progress on the conversion of Space Mountain to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. The park was pretty crowded, so I decided call it a day and headed home.