Thursday

I (bill) stole megs iphone so i can do todays blog post for a change. We have now done all the parks and all of the premium attractions. But we still have a few days left here so we are just doing the best rides again. It gets really crowded after about 1 so we have been going early and then returning to the hotel to chill out. Last night we watched a piano show at our hotel that was a lot of fun. We are all still a little hoarse from singing and screaming with the show.Tonight we are going to see a jazz show in the "French quarter". The picture today is jess practicing for his drivers test on the Disney speedway. Tomorrow is new years and we will probably spend it at downtown Disney after going to an Irish restaurant.

Everest, Disney style

Spent a great day in park #4, Animal Kingdom. Think Northwest Trek meets San Diego zoo, then taken to Disney heights.

There was a great safari ride, and many animal exhibits (all real animals, not anamatronics). Then throw in some killer rides, such as a Dino thriller and Expedition Everest (kick ass roller coaster, pictured). Makes for a fun park.

We were there early - it was very cold in the morning, but we managed to go on all the headliner rides once or twice. By 2pm it was absolutely jammed, so we left. Luckily, it warmed up a bunch by then, so we spent time by the pool at our resort.

For dinner, we "left the property" and took a cab to Joes Crab Shack, where we chowed on seafood. DisneyWorld is freaky: when you stay on the property, it's like being on a cruise ship- you are totally isolated from anything outside...in fact, you forget there *is* anything outside. But just about 2 miles away is regular old strip malls, with food and sundries for a third the price of resort-land.

Brrrrrr

It's been cccccooooolllld in Orlando! Highs around 35-40. Yesterday we spent the day at Hollywood studios. Highlights were the Tower of Terror and Rockin Rollercoaster, and 3D Toy Story. A fun ride, but probably not worth the *3* hour wait time!!! We had fast passes, which made it perfect - just 5-10 min to get in.

Later in the evening we met Bill's aunt Sandy and Cousin Meghan in downtown Disney for dinner. It was great to see them and catch up.

Today we hit Magic Kingdom fairly early, when the crowds were lighter. We let the kids run around on their own, then met back in the early afternoon. By then the park was jam packed, so we hopped the monorail to Epcot, where we are now hanging out.

It's slowly warming up, it's up to about 50. Tomorrow is supposed to be near 60, yippee!

Arctic Blast!!

Freakish cold snap in orlando - 43, feels like 34 with windchill. Seriously.

We spent the day at Epcot, rode all the rides (test track, mission space were stand outs). But holy cow, we were cold. Had to buy extra sweatshirts (Disney branded, 40% markup) for everyone. Finally turned into Popsicles (nylandsicles??), and headed back to the resort. After a thoroughly mediocre meal in the cafeteria, we're hanging in the room, watching Disney movies (duh).

Christmas in the Magic Kingdom

We got a bit of a late start yesterday.... After a late flight we needed some sleep before hitting the parks. We planned to start with Epcot, but after waiting endlessly (ok, 15 minutes) for the right shuttle bus, we just decided to do the Magic Kingdom. The bus was packed, and slow. The park was equally packed, and slow.

Despite not getting there til noon, we managed to hit the haunted mansion, splash mountain, pirates, and space mountain. We also saw a Christmas show in front if the castle before we called it a day. Main street was festively decorated.

After a brief rest in our room, we took the boat down the river from our resort to downtown Disney for dinner.

Tolo

Another Dance for Jess and again it was a huge group. I helped drive to California Pizza Kitchen and then the dance.