Florida Residents

When not working, Jenn enjoys visiting the parks. She usually wears outfits inspired by Disney characters. For Valentines Day, she went into Magic Kingdom to meet some of the Princesses with their Princes. 

She also spent time at Epcot checking out the Festival of the Arts, and hung out in the DVC lounge in the Imagination pavilion. 

Last week we closed on the house and last Friday was my last day at ODOT. I drove my truck to the barn and got a ride to the airport, then flew out to Florida. 

Yesterday we spent another day at Sea World. We checked out the new Penguin Ride, a trackless dark ride. It's cute, but nowhere near a Disney ride, or even most of Universal's.

Moonlight Magic at Magic Kingdom

Near the beginning of this month, we got an offer on the house, so I began packing what was left in the house, put it in storage, and gave notice at work. While I was working and emptying the house, Susan and Jenn attended two DVC Moonlight Magic events at Magic Kingdom. 

They got a free dinner compliments of the Disney Vacation Club, then got to stay in the park for three hours after the park closed to most guests. They enjoyed free snacks, short waits for rides, and meeting unusual characters.

Finally they watched a special fireworks show from the train station.

Last night they attended a second event, but this time they spent much of their time waiting to meet Megara from Hercules, as well as Pain and Panic.

Epcot and Hollywood Studios

Friday morning, Jennifer and I checked out the Festival of Arts at Epcot. This is a relatively new Festival. In addition to the food and merchandise booths like at the Flower & Garden and Food & Wine festivals, there are tents with artwork to view and purchase, and a few other offerings.

Disney has built a “gravity building” behind the old Universe of Energy building that will eventually hold the new Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster. 

In the evening we headed down to Hollywood Studios to enjoy the new Toy Story Land. At the end of the night we tried out the new roller coaster, Slinky Dog Dash. It's fun, pretty fast but not too crazy.

We returned on Saturday and checked out the construction on the Studios' version of Star Wars Land, as well as spending more time in Epcot.

We also checked out the progress on the new Skyliner system, and capped off the night by watching Fantasmic! Yesterday we had breakfast at Trail's End, a restaurant at the Fort Wilderness campgrounds, then I flew home.

Animal Kingdom

Monday I spent another day at Animal Kingdom, wandering around by myself while Susan worked. I went on several attractions, including waiting around two hours to ride Flight of Passage, and walked the animal trails. 

I again ate at Flame Tree for dinner, then watched Rivers of Light from there while waiting for Susan to finish her shift.

 

Tuesday night we celebrated our anniversary with dinner at the Benihana near Disney Springs. 

Yesterday Susan and I spent some time in the Magic Kingdom, and visited Jenn while she worked. We rode Pirates to see how they had changed it with the newest revision. Disney has tweaked the scenes several times over the years, making the pirates a bit more tame for family audiences. Most recently they changed the auction scene to make the redhead into a pirate. It wasn't necessary, but it also doesn't ruin the ride.

Magic Kingdom

I spent the next few days doing things around the house, or running errands, but yesterday, I visited the Magic Kingdom. While Jenn was at work, I rode the Peoplemover and took a photo of the site of the upcoming Tron roller coaster.  

Once Jenn was done with work, she joined me for a ride on the riverboat.

 

They hadn't taken down the Christmas decorations yet. We watched the fireworks before heading home.

Sea World

Susan and Jenn were off on yesterday, and since the passes we bought in San Antonio and San Diego last year worked in Orlando, we decided to spend it visiting Sea World.

I enjoyed going up in the Sky Tower and we all enjoyed the dolphin show and the animal exhibits.

Jennifer and I rode one of the roller coasters, Manta, in which the riders are suspended upside down. There were several more, but we decided to try them another day.

Return to Florida

With Susan and Jenn living and working in Florida, Friday after work I took a redeye out to celebrate Susan's birthday and our anniversary. Susan and I stayed Saturday night at All-Star Movies so I could take the Magical Express bus from the airport to Disney World.

All-Star Movies is like the other All-Stars we have stayed at. The rooms and beds are a bit smaller (doubles instead of queens) and the theming consists mostly of large icons on the sides of the buildings. But they aren’t bad and aren’t as expensive as moderates and deluxes, especially if you can get a cast discount.

After checking in and cleaning up, we headed to Animal Kingdom. While Susan worked, I walked the trails and looked at the animals. I watched the Rivers of Light show from Flame Tree BBQ while she finished her shift. Sunday morning we checked out of the All-Stars and headed to our rental house. I worked on stuff while Susan worked another shift.