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. 

On Saturday Jenn celebrated the release of her sixth book with breakfast with a friend at Steakhouse 71 at the Contemporary resort and a visit to the Magic Kingdom. Since her novel was a contemporary take on the Cinderella tale, she wore a Cinderella inspired outfit to take photos in front of the castle. 

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.

Yesterday Jenn drove out to Tampa for a book signing.

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.

Disney World Christmas

On the Wednesday before Christmas, we spent some time enjoying the holiday decorations in Disney World. We did some shopping at Disney Springs with friends, then met our DVC guide at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

He gave us a tour of a grand villa at Kidani Village, as well as showing us the concierge area at Jambo House.

Yesterday Susan and I toured the Epcot resorts to see the Christmas decorations and the gingerbread houses. At the Yacht Club a lighthouse and train set was on display. 

The Beach Club had a carousel, and there was a smaller gingerbread house at the Boardwalk. We ran out of time to see the houses at the Monorail resorts.

Sea World’s Christmas Celebration

We visited Sea World’s Christmas Celebration a couple of times in December. The first time was on the first of the month. I met Susan and the kids there after work so we could pick up free ornaments for being passholders. 

We then made a circuit around the park, grabbing some drinks and snacks at the Christmas booths around the park. With the passholder discount, the sampler lanyard makes Sea World’s booths a much better deal than Epcot’s. Only drawback is they are only open in the evenings on Friday to Monday. I also rode Ice Breaker, the coaster they opened in 2022. It’s fairly intense. 

We returned tonight to finish our lanyard and to watch the Sea of Trees.

World Celebration

While we were in Hawaii, most of the construction walls had been removed in Epcot’s World Celebration. On Sunday I met Susan at Epcot after work. She had already walked around the World Showcase with friends so I joined them for a few rides in World Nature and World Discovery.

A new statue of Walt had also been installed, called “Dreamer’s Point”.

There were still walls around the new Communicore Hall. It’s now not opening until 2024. Disney also debuted a new fireworks show in early December, but we didn’t stay for that.

Friday after work I met Bryan and some friends for a couple of rides at Hollywood Studios, and to enjoy the Christmas decorations there. This year Disney started doing after hours Christmas parties at the Studios, which they called Jollywood Nights. We didn't attend any.

Earlier today Susan and I ran errands and stopped for lunch at the new Portillo’s in Clermont. Susan had been invited to a special pre-opening event. It was pretty good.