Anniversary Trip - Day 7&8 - Animal Kingdom and back home

 So last day on the Disney pass and of course it's raining.  We wake up to overcast skies and drizzily 'up north rain' as I call it.  Reminds me of Pennsylvania in the winter.   Gray, cold, and dreary.   The Animal park opens early as the animals don't sleep in.  8-6 as it's Saturday.

The campground filled up a bit, but I would call it between half and two thirds full.  Usually in January you can't get a spot at all.    As it's raining I decide on shorts and a plastic raincoat as I know the coat will retain heat and my legs will dry faster if not in damp jeans.  It's a bit warmer with highs in the mid 60s, but cool enough to not be comfortable.

Anyway, we are up and at the transportation center (bus stop) around 8:30.  Our bus is the first arrive minutes later and off we go.  It's only about 10-15 min ride and we are there and walking in.

I forgot to mention the routine at the parks.   First they take your temperature, then the bag check, and then your tickets.   This is only the second time I've been to Animal Kingdom..  The last time was in the late 90s right after it opened.  Back then they didn't have alot of rides yet, so it was kinda lame with a zoo.

Even today there aren't alot of rides compared to the other parks, but I was happy as this was almost like a brand new park for me as it'd been over 20 years.

Unlike the other parks I didn't have the lay of the land so to speak.   The first attraction was the Bug's Life which was pretty good.  I got a surprise and jumped out of my seat toward the end, which amused Naya greatly.  If you have been on it you'll know lol.

From there we were less than scientific as when you come off the ride it's the entrance to Asia.  So we walked that way and went to the Yeti ride.  about a 25 min wait, but it's a fun coaster.  Next we made our way to the dinosaur land and went back to the Cretaceous and narrowly avoided a comet impact.  

Then in our haphazard trip through the park went to Africa and discovered alcoholic Dole Whips.  I passed instead for a Coffee with Amarula  as it was wet and cold out.  We did the safari ride (one of the only rides open the last time I was there).

I learned a long time ago that a rainy day is a good day at the zoo, as the animals tend to come out more.  This was the case today as well (although we skipped a lot of animal exhibits).

We then rode a train over to a petting zoo and research center.  This llama had a security detail as it likes to spit at people so it's handler is just out of the photo and we were warned not to try and pet it. 

The pigs were funny as they were napping outside where they could be petted.  Most of the other animals cringed away from the noisy kids trying to molest them and would hide behind the ropes where the kids couldn't go.  The pigs didn't care.

The African train.   It was a fun little ride to the research center and ran every 5 minutes.

After Africa, we headed down to Pandora land.  Lucy marveled at how they could build a land off of one movie.  Naya has never seen the film, so some of it was lost on her.  There were two rides there.  The first one is similar to Soaring, but you ride one of the flying dragon animals.   It was a pretty good ride.  I was impressed.

They did a good job getting you into the vibe of Pandora.   The other ride was the Pandora Jungle Cruise basically.   It was alright, but I recommend doing that first as the Banshee ride was alot more intense.

With time waning, we headed back across the park (again!) to Asia to hit the Yeti ride again.  Boy did we.   Lucy rode it 5 more times, me 6 and Naya 7.   It was pretty much as fast as you could go around you were on it.    I was done after 5 but then on the way back from the restrooms said why not and grabbed another.  This last time, I took time to stop and read the newspaper articles that were on the walls in the buildings.  It was pretty good copy giving you back story to the ride and the yeti.

Got to try a variety of seating positions and you get whipped the hardest on the right side toward the front.   

At one point I said to Naya it reminded me a bit of the bobsled run we did in Utah.  On the Olympic bobsled run you pull 4Gs.   Came to find out the Yeti ride pulls 3 and is the highest G-force ride in all of Disney.

I had planned on cooking a steak on the grille as it was the last night and we'd be back early.  As I was leaving the park, I was tired, cold, and wet.  I wanted nothing to do with grilling in cold rain.   Lucy and Naya wanted to go back to the Polynesian so they got on that bus.  I went straight back to the campground.

I looked at the radar and saw that the rain was done.  I seasoned the steak and took a hot shower.  Feeling a lot better, texted the girls to tell me when they were on the boat back to the Magic Kingdom to transfer to the other boat, knowing that would be the time to light the coals.

Enjoyed a couple of cocktails while I waited and the timing worked out perfectly.  I had mini taters in garlic and butter in the fire in foil packs and as i pulled the steak off the grille they rolled into the campsite on their bikes.  We could see stars as the clouds pulled out and we turned in fairly early as we were wiped out from 20K steps a day.

Sunday morning, breakfast, pack up, dump the tanks (the Fort doesn't have a dump station and we were on a pop up site ($30 cheaper per night) so we minimized the onboard water/toilet use as the bath house was about 75 feet away. Then one last visit to the trading post in the Fort and we were on the way home.  Took secondary roads the whole way home.  This is a section of Canoe Creek Road.

I found out awhile ago, that since I can't go 80 (well I can, but the coach is a handful and it's not fun) taking the lesser traveled path is more relaxing and only adds 5-10 min on the trip from Orlando area.

I had taken this path once before in the coach on the way home from Disney.  There are better ways to get out of WDW, but there was a miscommunication with the navigator and we wound up back tracking a bit on the WDW property but found our way out to 192.   As it was Sunday AM, the traffic was light and we made decent progress on US192.   We headed to Old Canoe Creek road and then Canoe Creek road which shadows the turnpike south from western St. Cloud all the way to Kenansville about 8 or so miles north of Yehaw Junction.   From that point we rolled 441 to Okeechobee, right  past Sirum's GMC and down the Beeline for home.

Once back on I-95, we were spotted by my wagon buddies in West Palm.

At first I didn't recognize their vehicle, but then after they pulled away I realized that it was David and Danny.  Good stuff.   Got home around 4 and offloaded everything.....  Another one in the books and back to work the next day.

Anniversary trip - Day 6 - EPCOT

 Today was a relaxed start as EPCOT didn't open until 10AM.  The monorail to EPCOT is not running, so it's bus only.  One thing, if you are staying in a WDW resort and have a car they will allow you free parking at the park you are going to.  We rode the bus as we didn't bring a car.

This heron was hunting in the bushes on the walk in to the park.  I watched him nab a lizard and choke it down.  Then he got two more while we were watching!

Right around opening time and look how empty it is!

We headed in and Startship Earth was closed, so we went right (most people where going left) and went to Nemo's Undersea world.  The manatees were pretty big ones.  I watched them for a good bit and then we looked at all the other fish and told Naya about the time we went SCUBA diving in the exhibit (late 90s).

We started clocking around counter clockwise, so it was off to The Land next and the soaring ride and the boat ride through the veggie gardens.  We stopped out front for a snack then off the Imagination thing with Figment.   After that we went to the theater and they were showing 3 3D Pixar Titles.

The first one was done in B&W with old Mickey and Minnie and Peg Leg Pete.  It starts off slow,  but then Mickey gets thrown out of the screen and into the room with you.  The 3D is awesome and engineered for the stage at the front, so it really looks like he is in the room with you moving around.  I was impressed.

Piper won an Oscar and was pretty good.  Surprised to find it on YouTube but there you go.  I can't recall the third one, but they were all pretty good.

Naya got a little Pooh on her, but she didn't mind.

So the characters are social distancing as well.  None walk around through the crowd like they used to.

From there we crossed to the other side at Mexico and started our way around the world.

I bought a margarita in Mexico and then got in line for the Frozen ride in Norway but the end of the line was in China which seemed funny to me.  Standing in China, drinking a margarita, waiting to go to Norway.  Not what I imagined doing that morning when I woke up.

Tommy liked China, everything was Red.  We checked out the circle vision movie and headed on through Europe.  I stopped in Germany for a bier and a pretzel.   

The ibis were not shy and this one took pretzel right from Naya's hand.  Then the ducks saw what happened and started swarming us, so time to press on.

The was an art and food festival which was cool as there were pop up food stands so we snacked around the world.  Some of the art was amazing, but we didn't buy any.   We finished out the day going to Mission Space and the Test Track.  The test track was about a 50 minute wait and the longest of the day.   When we were leaving, we saw the Startship ride was open, but it was after 8PM so we couldn't get in line.

Back to the Fort and Pasta for dinner.  Quick to boil the noodles and mix the meat in with sauce and nuke it.   Perfect after a big day of walking as it was about 9:30 when we got back.

We also had new neighbors across the way.  I figured it would get busier on the weekend.  People across the street were from South Florida too.

Anniversary Trip - Day 5

 Today was the day for the Magic Kingdom.  Still had the whole campground to ourselves (well half of the loop we were on anyway).  It was a little warmer, but still was in the high 40s first thing.

We got a little bit of a slow start (park opened at 9, we got there at 10).  We pedaled over to the boat dock and got the boat over to the Magic Kingdom.

The boat ride is point to point, now that they aren't going between resorts (there always was an express option, now it's the only option).    They kept everyone pretty spread out.   We had the whole stern to ourselves.

We started out in Tomorrowland as the app said Space Mountain was a 10 min wait.   It was really about 5.  So we rode it again right away and were able to ride both sides, so that was fun.   We walked over to Carousel of Progress and literally walked on, no wait.   Then about 10 min wait for the Buzz Light year shooting gallery.   

About once a decade I'll get on the Grand Prix.  Just to recall what a crappy ride it is.  When I was 9, I waited 1.5 hours to get on this thing thinking how great it would be to be able to drive a real car.   Even then I thought it sucked.   Well it didn't disappoint, but I let Lucy drive and made fun of her and Naya the whole time as the cars are terrible and it was funny.  We were laughing pretty hard the whole time. The old 'it's so bad it's good' routine.  You could see them building the TRON roller coaster next to Space Mountain.  It looks pretty crazy.

From there it was on to the Tea Cups, then Dumbo (my elephant wouldn't go up and down and I hate the ride ever since I got rained on (soaked) while on it).  Goofy's coaster next, then on to The Little Mermaid ride.

After that, we waited for the Snow White Mine Train coaster.  One of the new ones, it was the longest wait of the day at around 45-50 minutes.   While in line, we ordered food from Pecos Bill's in Frontierland so it would be ready when we got over there.
 

On the way over a couple of the bears were out on the balcony waving at people.  I wanted to come back later but it never happened.

After lunch, it was off to Splash Mountain (one boat per party) and Big Thunder Mountain (two empty rows between people).   From up on the 'mountain' you got a good view of the waterway around Tom Sawyer's Island, or actually lack there of.

The local Orlando paper had a good story about the being moved while the work was done.  It noted that 4000 cubic feet of sediment was removed from the waterway.   I heard it was mostly Turkey Leg bones and other garbage.  The rail is for the paddlewheel boat as I found out it has no rudder so they needed a tug boat to move it around, but it does have an engine.  Seeing how shallow the water is, I can see why.

After a second trip on Thunder Mountain (or was it 3?)  We headed off to Adventureland.  We just missed the Tiki Bird Show, so we went on the Jungle Cruise.  Was surprised they updated the routine a little, and I actually laughed at a couple of the jokes.  Then back to my favorite, The Enchanted Tiki Room.  It has really grown on me over the years and love it.

Love the roofline on this building!

Five minute wait, time for a rest!

The pre-show is about to start!  There were about 20 people that went in for the show.  Room was under 50% capacity with rows and seats blocked off.  I found this 4K video of the whole ride.   It's good quality

This song gets stuck in my head pretty often and I'm okay with it.

Conveniently located just outside is the Dole Whip stand.  How can you say no?

Pretty sure this is actually Disneyland, but that's where Shag (the artist) lives so that makes sense.

After eating the snack and it was cold out, so it went slower than usual, we rode the Pirates of the Caribbean.   I had never noticed it before that when you start the ride and pirates are dead on the beach, the rocks form a skull just for a moment as you pass them.  I couldn't believe I never saw it before so I researched it and found this article.  While not brand new, it's been there for a little while.

It was getting later, so we headed back to the Haunted Mansion as it's a must ride on every visit.  The fact the stretching room is deactivated and you just walk through it, takes away from the ride, but understandable due to Covid.   Lucy stopped to look at some things on the walk over, so Naya and I rode it once and then Lucy caught up and we went again.

With a half an hour of park time left, I was amazed that Peter Pan had virtually no wait.  It's a classic, one of the original rides and not changed much since it opened.  Basically it was walk on, so we rode it.  

Just to get one more under our belt with 5 minutes left we ran across the way and got on the Small World ride.   When Naya was little she had the same haircut as the dolls and she LOVED it.   As a teen she's kinda meh about it anymore.   Tommy liked it and I guess got a few snaps for his portfolio.

Park closed, so back to the campsite where we cooked up dinner and cooked meat for tomorrow as EPCOT is open later and we can make a quick dinner.   

Anniversary Trip - Day 4 - 20 years today!

Happy 20th Anniversary to my sweetheart!  What a crazy trip it has been, wouldn't trade a minute of it.

Disney has changed with the times to accommodate travelers during these Covid times.  My manager at work is a season pass holder, so I had some good intel about what to expect (and actually pull the trigger and go in the first place).

We had noticed a lot on our arrival.  Rule #1 is mask up.   No mask, they throw you off the property.   Only time in public you are allowed to remove is when stationary and eating.  So no walking around munching on that smoked Turkey Leg.  You are allowed to be maskless on your campsite.

The second part is you have to buy your tickets in advance and reserve your spot in a park.  As we bought a 4 day resident pass we had to tell them in advance which park on which day.    Also this 4 day pass was more restrictive as you had to use it within 7 days.  Previous times we had a few months, but I get it with the pandemic and anyway we planned on 4 days in a row anyway.

We strategized as we would be hitting the parks Wed-Sat, then leaving Sunday AM.  We figured our best bet was Hollywood Studios on Wed as it's the middle of the week, so less locals.  As it's the new hot thing with the Star Wars Galaxy Edge land, it seemed like the right call.   

First thing I learned from those that came before me was you have to reserve in advance your spot on the Rise of the Resistance experience.   So day of, you have to be on your Disney app at 7AM and hit the button.   We were both on our phones and neither of us got in!   This was a little disappointing, but nothing we could do.  It sold out in about 20 seconds.  There is a second chance at 1PM but you have to be in the park to get it (GPS and Disney app).  We got in at 1PM no problem.  Phew.

Lucy found out that people dress up, so of course Cosplay had to happen.  She made an outfit for me too, but my 10 year old black shoes blew out when I put them on, so it was sneakers and jeans for me.

Naya stole part of my outfit (the gear bag on her leg) and off we went.  It was pretty cold in the low 50s, but warmer than Lake Griffin.   Here we are waiting for the bus from Ft. Wilderness to Hollywood Studios.

Tommy decided that he wanted to be baby Yoda, so he came along for the day.  Here is my desert junk collector roaming the galaxy.   Before going to Star Wars land, we went to the Tower of Terror as the line was a lot shorter for that ride.  We hoped the Aerosmith roller coaster would open, but it was down for the whole day.   There was the new Mickey and Minnie ride, but it was over an hour wait, so we figured we'd come back later (it broke later and we never got to go on it).

After making our way across the park from the Twilight Zone,  we went on Star Tours and was happy that they updated the ride.  We then made our way to Batu spaceport and went on the Millennium Falcon ride.

Tommy Yoda posing by the back of the Falcon in line. This was the first ride that broke the age old Disney tradition as we went out a gate behind a building and back to the reality of Florida with stairs and trucks parked etc.  This was done for social distancing reasons and understandable.

Needed a wider angle lens, but that's the Falcon back there....  The ride was pretty cool as you get to sit in the cockpit of the Falcon and each person has a job to do.  It actually matters as we rode it twice and the results were different when the girls said they could fly it better than I did (they didn't lol).

When 1PM came it seemed everyone around us was poised to smash the reserve button on their phone..  Lucy beat me by a microsecond as it told me I was already in the boarding party.   Days later Lucy found out the day we were there,  the afternoon reservations stayed open for almost 2 hours.

View of the Falcon from where we ate lunch.  You can see people doing a good job of distancing, although there were some who where not paying attention.

We had lunch and looked in some of the shops and did the 2nd trip on the Falcon.  We then headed over to Toy Story land and rode the sorta tea cups (you can't spin them yourself :( ), and the 3D shooting gallery (pretty fun ride).  The Slinky Dog coaster was too long of a wait.  We headed back but were ahead of our boarding call, so we went on the Muppet Vision ride as it was close by just out of the Star Wars area.

We got in line it snaked around and just when we thought we would go inside (well we actually did but 20ft later it was out a side door and around the building on the outside.

Interesting how framing a photo makes a big difference.  One looks like she's waiting in line for a ride, the other looks like she might actually be somewhere else.  Naya had completed her look by taking my leather jacket  and buying a drink jug with a fake frog in it.  She looked pretty good, especially next to my nomadic junk collector.   This line snaked through another set of doors and we were actually outside the muppet theater before coming back around and going into the building.

   

We were about 80% of the way through the line when the ride stopped for 30 minutes.  We waited in this underground rebel armory and it was cold with the wind blowing through it.   I had to put my jacket back on (and Naya got her sweatshirt back out).   Finally it started moving again and off we went.

I won't put any spoiler about the ride, but I found this video on youtube and it's pretty good if you want to see the whole ride.   A couple of things about the ride that added to the experience for me.  The half hour wait made the ride better as there is a part where you go outside in a space hanger to launch.  It was dusk and the sky was orange and purple and it was about 60 degrees out.  Not typical FL weather, so it 'felt' like you were on another planet.  Similarly when it was over I looked up through a gap in the roof and moon was positioned perfectly as a waxing quarter and the sky wasn't black yet, so again added to the experience.

Walking to the transport.  I'm sad the sky is washed out, but we were in a hurry, the First Order was after us!

Docking bay on a Star Destroyer when we got captured

Star Destroyer Hallway.  The dots are for your party to stand on to maintain distance from the other prisoners (The guard told me that us rebel scum were infectious and needed to be separated lol)

Safely away from the evil clutches of Kylo Ren.  You can see the evening sky above the roof.  The moon was directly overhead.

We had about half an hour of park time left and the Mickey Ride was broken, so we stopped at Star Tours again as they have 16 different variations on the ride.  We rode it twice more and got something different each time, so we saw 3 of the 16 rides.   I liked the Naboo one.

The park was closed and we headed out.  Instead of taking the bus back to the Fort, we rode the Starliner over to EPCOT and then walked 10 min to the Yacht Club hotel.   There was a waypoint on the Starliner where you have to switch to a new run, and I asked a girl working where a good dinner spot was.  She suggest the Ale and Compass at the Yacht Club, so off we went.   

We got a table in the bar and were able to get the full menu.  I had the Seafood Pot Pie and it was delicious.  We were hoping to walk back to EPCOT and get a bus direct to the campsite, but the concierge said that unless we had been in EPCOT we couldn't get to the busses as you had to walk through the park.  Instead, we would have to ride to Disney Springs and transfer.

We went out front and there was a bus out of service (refilling its Pixie Dust it said).  The driver came out and asked where we were going.  I told him and he said the Disney Springs bus would be there in a minute.  Sure enough it was.  As it was pulling up, he called us over and said he would take us directly to the Fort!   Amazing customer service!  Super nice guy and I thanked him profusely as he probably saved us close to an hour.   

We got back and pedaled back to the coach (no neighbors yet!) and called it a night....

Anniversary Trip - Part 2 WDW arrival

 After our boat ride on Tuesday morning, we packed out of Lake Griffin for the leisurely ride down US 27 to Kissimmee.  It's about an hour to an hour fifteen.   Easy drive but between Clermont and Kissimmee it is getting really built up.   The old Florida is disappearing sadly.

The trip was uneventful and a stop off at the Grocery Store to stock up on a few things as we would be in Fort Wilderness for 5 nights.  Sure they have a store, but Disney prices so made sure we had enough of everything.

Usually the Fort is booked out a year in advance, but we made our reservation only a month out.  I wasn't surprised with Covid going on.  I was worried about going to the park, but I had two different friends tell me that they did an excellent job with keeping everyone distanced and were keeping everything really sanitized, so we went for it.

 Check in was quick and off to our site.  Boy were we surprised!   Sure it was Wednesday, but the campground was a ghost town.

We had half of the loop to ourselves!  At least for the first two nights, then people started showing up for the weekend.  There were a couple sites that never got used the whole 5 nights we were there.

Getting ready to take two boats to get to the Polynesian.  Usually they have a boat that loops around between the resorts, but it wasn't running, so either a bus or take the boat to the Magic Kingdom and then a boat to the Polynesian.   

Trader Sam's is a tiny but extremely cool tiki bar, but it was closed for Covid so....

So we had to settle for the Tambu lounge upstairs.  It too was mostly blocked off, except for a couple tables.  We were the only ones in the bar for the first 20 minutes and then another couple came in.  Lucy got a mug from Trader Sam's.   As you can see her drink is not in the mug.  Usually it would be and they give you a new mug in a box and they wash the mug.  Well, she got the drink in a glass and mug separately.  Kinda takes the fun out of it a little, but understandable.  I could have kept my mug, but it wouldn't last too long 😅.

We finished our drinks and hit the gift shop.  I saw a few things I liked, but didn't get anything.  We rode the boats back and had dinner in the coach as boats stopped running around 8PM.

Anniversary Trip - Part 1

 Twenty years ago when I married my best friend and lover on Jan 20th, no one could have predicted what January 2021 would be like.  I won't delve into politics, but suffice to say two decades ago, no one could have foreseen what has transpired in just the last 12 months.  A country poised on the brink of war after the assignation of a general (most US citizens have no idea how close it was), then a world wide pandemic,  a country trying to come to grips with racial inequality, and finally political unrest, climaxing with the events of January 6th.   Almost seems closer to the late 1960s than the 2020s, but here we are.

I only bring all of this up as our 20th wedding anniversary and 'second' honeymoon plans were drastically altered.  Instead of re-living our first and going to Utah to snowboard for a week, we ended up in the Space Pineapple rolling around Florida for a week, as I had zero desire to use an airport or spend hours on a flight with others.

In order to mitigate exposure, we discussed a number of options and ultimately decided on a 4 day FL resident pass to Walt Disney World with a couple of days tacked on the front end at a state park we had never been too before.

As Lucy's busy work day is Saturday, I planned a Sunday morning departure.  This gave me all day Saturday to prep and load the beast for the run.   I changed the oil, performed a full PM on the mechanicals and finished up the waxing I had started a week before (see previous post) as I had gotten it about 80% done. Our daughter helped with the loading and by the end of the day we were fairly ready to go.  A trip to the store for some supplies and a run by work to fill my cooler with ice and it was just loading the fridge and some other stuff in the morning.

Sunday AM, we actually got out of the driveway on time for a change!!!!  Good thing too as it was about a 4.5 hour ride to the campground.  Two stops, one for gas and potty break, and the second for a potty break and picking up some last minute stuff at a Publix just a few miles from our destination.

Sure Google says 3.75, but that's in a car doing the speed limit.  Warp Speed in the Pineapple is 65, but I was pushing on 70 for a good bit and the MPG showed it  (7.9 lol).  The next tank I got over 10 as it was all 65 or less.  Honestly straight drive time was about 4hrs on the way up taking out the two stops.

We arrived at the campground around 3:30PM or so and set up.  It was already cold and we knew it would be chilly the whole stay with predicted lows in the high 30s.   We were smart this time and brought an electric heater.  I like the heater as it is an electric radiator and not a red element heater with a fan to dry out the air in a hurry.  We didn't even use it the first night.  It was around 50 in the coach when we woke up and I plugged it in while I made coffee.

We had set up a ranger pontoon boat ride for 11 AM so it was an easy start to the day.  We waited until almost 10 so it would warm up a bit, and pedaled over to the old oak tree.

As you can see it's a BIG oak.  Second biggest one in the state and estimated between 300-500 years old!  Pictures don't do it justice.  The canopy is over 100' across.

We did a little geocaching here, and Lucy found it.  We signed the book and went to go on our boat ride.

Turns out there was a miscommunication and the boat captain didn't come that day, so we pushed it back to the following morning.  We then hiked all the trails in the park at a whopping 1.5 miles total.

The park isn't really that big and while nice, it's right off of the highway, so lots of noise and ambulances going by.  It quieted down in the evenings though.

Tommy had to have a photo shoot for his Instagram account so I supervised from the lounge chair.

Dinner was tasty with shrimp and grilled veggies.  As it was still really cold, once the fire started dying we were inside.  Pretty early too, about 8PM both nights!

The next morning, the boat ride was a little earlier and we were up and at them pretty early as we were packing out after the boat.  Got a jump and got everything inside packed up and the dinette put back in the table set up before we went.  The ranger was nice and it was just us on the trip.  We left a little early and came back a little late, so that was nice.  They lake is pretty big and we only saw a part of it.  The ranger said it was 12th largest in the state at 9500 acres and part of the Harris Chain of Lakes.  I took a lot of video on the trip so need to get that edited and put up.

We got back and put the bikes up, took a quick shower and were on the road around noon.