More Disney World

Feb 28, 29 & March 1

I loved walking down Hollywood and Sunset Blvds as we entered Disney Hollywood Studios. We headed for the exciting rides first. The Rock N Roller Coaster ride was a thriller featuring Aerosmith complete with rock concert music! Fabulous! The Tower of Terror and the Twilight Zone kept my heart racing. The Star Tours ride is based on Star Wars with great new 3D effects. We did these without even needing to use the fast pass. It wasn’t crowded enough to need to use it until later in the day. This is a great time of the year for Disneyworld! Disney Hollywood also has two great shows. The Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show was my favorite. Tire Squealing cars, high flying motorcycles with a little pyrotechnics mixed in made for a good show with insider info on stunts. The Indiana Jones Stunt Show is a good one also. The museum, One Man’s Dream, is the story of Walt Disney’s Life. What an amazing man with amazing dreams. Just walking along the streets is fun with all the familiar Hollywood sights. In the evening we went over to Epcot to walk around the World Showcase before finding a good spot for the night show, Illumination: Reflections of Earth. The show features fireworks, music, lasers and magic! Everyone was enthralled with it all!
We walked 23,812 steps or 9.02 miles today and used 1055 calories! WOW!!!!

Aerosmith Rock N Roller Coaster

Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show

Christy Drink of Choice

Grauman's Chinese Theater

Resort Pool

A new day and all revived we went back to the Animal Kingdom. With 88 degrees forecasted we figured the Kali River Rapids ride would cool us down. We all got wet on our first time down the rapids but on our second ride I got soaked to the bone! A big wall of water got me from behind. I was plenty cool for the rest of our visit. We had to do a couple of repeat rides on Expedition Everest roller coaster. Again no fast pass needed. We finished off with the Jeep Ride to see animals in their natural habitat. Then it was back to the resort to cool off at the pool. Yes, we put on our bathing suits. We drove over to Downtown Disney for dinner at Wolfgang Pucks and went to the movies to see “The Artist.”

Soaked to the Bone After Riding the Rapids

Close and Personal on Safari

Today we left the park for the first time to go to Gatorland. One of Rachel’s clients had thought it was great so we had put it on our list months ago. It was great! It opened in 1949 and is the longest running amusement park in Florida and still family owned. It surprisingly well done. They had three shows: Up Close Encounters, Gator Wrestlin, and the Gator Jumperoo show. Lots of humor, audience participation and information along the way made them all fun. As well as raising gators and crocodiles, they are a refuge for reptiles and birds. They had a nice walk through a swamp and areas for alligators and crocodiles of all sizes. Florida birds like the stork, ibis, herons etc were right in there with the gators. They have one of the few white alligators ever found. They weren’t even discovered until 1987. We were glad we put this little gem on our list! Back to the pool for a swim, 88 degrees again, before going to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner at the Sanaa restaurant. We loved the atmosphere, the food and the view. Right out our windows we could see zebras, giraffes, and ostrich enjoying their natural surroundings. It has been a wild ride this week! From there we took a Disney bus over to the Magic Kingdom for the night show. It might have been even more spectacular than Epcot’s. They did a wonderful light show on the castle with scenes and an array of lights that were somehow projected onto the castle. It was beautiful to be followed by Tinkerbell flying down from high atop the castle beginning an amazingly fabulous fireworks show. Another full day!

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Gators Jumping Up for a Bite of Lunch