Sea World Christmas

Last week, Susan, Jenn, and I checked visited Sea World to pick up our Annual Passholder Christmas Ornaments and check out their Christmas offerings.

We enjoyed getting hot chocolate and walking the Rudolph trail, as well as seeing all the trees light up in the lake. We went again last night.

Jennifer also visited Universal with friends several times in December to enjoy the holiday decorations. They usually dressed in Harry Potter outfits and spent most of their time in the Harry Potter areas.

Festival of the Holidays

 

This week friends from Oregon came out, so we spent some time in the parks with them, as well as doing some shopping at Disney Springs. Yesterday we spent the day at to Epcot to enjoy the Festival of the Holidays. 

In Future World, work continues on the removal of the Innoventions West building.

We mostly checked out the Holiday Kitchen booths, but we did a few rides as well. Living with the Land was decorated for Christmas.

We also enjoyed the gingerbread displays in the World Showplace Pavilion, which was being used as a festival center.

Disney continues to do "Character Cavalcades" instead of Meet and Greets due to the pandemic. Other characters sometimes come out to wave to people from behind barriers.

Christmas at WDW

After Thanksgiving I was called back to work, but not at Friendship Boats. Instead I was assigned to deckhand on the ferries and cruisers at Magic Kingdom.

Due to the pandemic, there were no Holiday parties at Magic Kingdom this year, so like they did at Halloween, the Emporium cast members wore the Christmas party outfits in December.

This week my mom came out for a visit, and while I worked on Monday and Tuesday, Susan and Jenn took her to Epcot and to Lake Louisa State Park. On Wednesday Susan and I drove her up to South Carolina to meet my brother.

This morning we went to the Cast Appreciation Marketplace at ESPN. Disney had a lot of overstocked merchandise available for cast members to buy at a big discount. They also gave us gift bags with several smaller items. 

November in the parks, part 2

 

I also visited the Magic Kingdom while Susan and Jenn worked. Like Sea World, the Holiday decorations went up right after Halloween. 

Over at the Tron site in the Magic Kingdom, they started work on the canopy. I rode the people mover and the Astro orbiter so I could take some photos. 

Over on the west side, the Liberty Bell and Tom Sawyer Island were closed for refurbishment, and the Rivers of America were drained. 

Yesterday Jennifer and some friends went to the Universal parks to enjoy some rides, check out the holiday decorations, and take photos of their Harry Potter gear.

November in the parks, part 1

Last week, we went into Epcot to enjoy the Food & Wine Festival before it ends later this month. 

We had dinner at the Coral Reef restaurant. We had eaten there in July and enjoyed it, plus we received a pretty good cast discount. 

I continued to visit Sea World in the fall. Sometimes I stopped by in the evening when Susan was working and grabbed a meal with my All Season Dining Pass, then walked around and looked at the animal exhibits. Like Disney, Sea World put out their Christmas decorations after Halloween. 

Sea World is building a new roller coaster between the Orca and Water Skiing amphitheaters. When it opens it will be their fourth large roller coaster..

Yesterday I decided to ride their raft ride, Infinity Falls, on one of my solo visits. It's pretty good, fairly long but not a lot of theming

Fall at WDW

We visited the WDW a few times in the late September and October. At Epcot, we checked out the Food & Wine offerings, and the progress on the Guardians of the Galaxy coaster.

At the end of September we had dinner at the Garden Grill in the Land in Epcot. Garden Grill is a rotating, family style restaurant. As you dine, you overlook the different habitats of the Living with the Land ride. Mickey and friends usually come by your table for photos, but due to the pandemic, they were staying six feet away.

There were no Halloween parties at Magic Kingdom this year, so Disney had the Emporium cast members wear the costumes during October. 

Yesterday Jenn and some of her friends went to the park dressed as princesses.

Universal

 

This week some friends from Oregon were staying at the Royal Pacific resort, so we joined them at the Universal parks for a couple of days, and enjoyed going on some attractions with them. This was my first time riding Despicable Me Minion Mayhem in Production Central. It’s okay, but it's not really a ride, as it’s a theater with moving seats.When Susan and I first went to Universal it had a Hanna-Barbera film, and when we first took the kids it was a Jimmy Neutron one.

The first night we went to the new Chocolate Emporium, which is located in CityWalk next to the Hard Rock. It was interesting and the food was good. While our service wasn't great, this was probably due to the pandemic and staffing.

The next day we ate at Margaritaville, located near the entrance to Islands of Adventure. It was fun, but nothing special. Even though they had to wear masks most of the time, our friends enjoyed that the pandemic rules in Florida were much more reasonable than what they had been going through in Oregon.

Last week, Universal announced that the new roller coaster in Jurassic Park will be called the VelociCoaster.

South Carolina

At the beginning of the month, Bryan and I flew back to Bend and loaded up another big moving truck, then drove it back to Florida. It was my 17th drive across the U.S. 

 

Last week Susan and I made another trip to South Carolina. Although the southern states have started to lift masking and other requirements, traveling during the pandemic is often difficult. We encountered some closed dining rooms and other problems.

Our first stop was in Charleston to visit our friends at the Air Force Base. While there we drove around downtown Charleston and checked out the visitor center for Fort Sumter. I wanted to go out to the Fort, but Susan wasn't up to a ferry ride, so we put it off for a later visit.

My brother had recently moved to Hilton Head and my mother was out visiting him, so we stopped there on the way home and had lunch at the Salty Dog near Harbour Town.

Summer in the parks Part 2

  

Last week Susan's sister and niece came for a visit, so we took them to the parks for a couple of days. With the reservation system, the crowds remained light. On Thursday we went to Magic Kingdom, and had lunch at Be Our Guest.

 

We took them to Universal on Friday. Work continued on the new Jurassic Park coaster at Islands of Adventure. They really enjoyed the Harry Potter areas.

Saturday we went for a ride on the Skyliner.

Summer in the parks

We visited Sea World again last Saturday. We were given a backstage tour of the arctic area, which we enjoyed. These exhibits feature beluga whales, walruses, and seals, and are pretty well themed. There is also a simulated helicopter ride, but it was closed due to the pandemic.

We also went to see the penguins, although the Penguin ride was also closed. 

Last Sunday night we took Jenn and some friends to the Boathouse in Disney Springs to celebrate her birthday. Last night we celebrated hers and Bryan's birthdays with dinner at Benihana.

This afternoon we visited Universal for a few hours, and rode Hagrid's and had butterbeer.

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 remain 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. The castle had been given a new coat of paint while the park was closed, making the upper towers pink and the roofs a deeper blue.

 

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.

These small lizards are all over the place. I often see a half dozen or more around the yard, and sometimes they get inside the house. 

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