November must mean it’s time for another vacation! Susan and I just returned from a handful of days in the children’s capital of the world, Walt Disney World in Florida. This is a vacation that has been in planning by Susan’s family since before the time of the vacation down under last November as a full family vacation and a chance to take all the nieces and nephews for the first time (there are 7). Since we have no kids, we decided to go along for the ride in a sense and left most of the planning to the rest of Susan’s family. Here’s how the week went…
Saturday marked our arrival in Orlando and was basically an evening of rest at the house we had rented. It was the calm before the storm, so to speak. The travel day had taken its toll, leading to an early bedtime (especially for us considering the time change).
Sunday morning I was able to catch a quick and early run, and then it was off to open the gates at EPCOT. Our pre-planning had us make a bee-line for the newest attraction, Soarin’, which is a hang-glider simulator with scenery from the state of California. It was a very cool experience and a new twist on the motion simulation ride.
EPCOT icon pic
After getting our glide on, we checked out a couple other rides in the Land and the Sea sections of the park with a highlight being the “Turtle-talk with Crush (from Finding Nemo)” interactive show. The way they seamlessly had the on-screen turtle interact with audience members was impressive.
The early rides took time (and their toll on the kids) so after a stop for character autographs, the family returned to the house for lunch and rest. Susan and I hung around EPCOT and made our way to my favorite section, the World Showcase, where they were having an international food and wine festival. This provided ample grazing opportunity for a light lunch, which we took advantage of while wandering through some of the country displays. Before the family returned, we also rode the classic Spaceship Earth (the golf ball) where we were given a glimpse into our future and played around in Innoventions for a bit.
World Showcase 
Us in Morocco 
Our future according to Spaceship Earth
The return of the family meant (early) character dinner with Chip n’ Dale, Mickey, and Pluto. Much of the food at the Garden Grill was grown on site and sustainable adding a nice touch to the way too much food provided. In the evening after dinner, we took a Journey through Imagination (with Figment), rode the cheesy throwback 3D Michael Jackson film Captain EO, and then rode the theme rides in Mexico (3 Caballeros) and Norway (Viking ship Maelstrom) before calling it a day. With no break, Susan and I were beat after a long day 1.
Character Dinner 
Journey into Imagination 
Waiting for Captain EO
Monday brought another early start as we tackled the Animal Kingdom. The early focus was getting fast passes for the Everest rollercoaster (for the old kids like us) and riding the African Safari. Both of these rides were worth the effort, the safari is a fun family ride offering lots of animal photo ops and Expedition Everest had some unique twists on a standard rollercoaster that made it fun. The kids passed time in the dinosaur playground during the rollercoaster riding, and before long we were making our way to another character meal for lunch.
The wait for this lunch was a little longer than expected, but finally we were seated for our buffet meal. This restaurant offered a ton of variety, particularly in vegetarian options. I took ample opportunity to stuff myself and left lunch ready for a long nap. First though, we split into groups and Susan and I tagged along to the Lion King musical show. The show was live in the center of a circular theatre and had crowd interaction, well sung renditions of Lion King music, acrobatics and other stunts, and character effects…it was much more than I anticipated. A short ice-cream break took place after the show, and then it was back to the house for rest (Yay!).
Safari Character Lunch 
Lion King performance 
Happy Eva Mouse 
Susan and her dad at Animal Kingdom
A refreshing nap and run later, and it was time to return to WDW for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas at Magic Kingdom for the evening. Going in, I wasn’t terribly enthused about this thinking it would be mainly a parade and lots of crowd. There was a parade, which we had to wait for soon after we entered the park and it was pleasant, although a little long. Then we made our way up Main Street USA which was fully decked out in Christmas lights with fake snow (shaved soap) falling. We enjoyed complimentary cookies and hot cocoa as we attempted to move toward the Castle for a light show. After getting hung up in the crowd, we decided we’d moved far enough and setup camp for the next show (only about 15 minutes after the parade).
Christmas Parade 
Main Street USA
The castle show was spectacular! It was amazing how clearly they are able to project images and facades on the castle and everything was timed to the theme music being piped through the entire park. The castle transformed through a variety of décor and also showed movie clips featuring some of the favorite Disney stars (with plenty of Tinkerbell magic thrown in). As we sat in awe for a moment after the show, we realized it was only 5 minutes to the firework show, so we remained in our spots and watched that as well. For a snippet of the show, see the bottom of this post. It was also well done and used the castle throughout, though the castle display stole the evening for me. Once the major shows were complete, we checked out a couple other areas of the park (including a character dance party) before calling it a late night.
Castle Show 
Fireworks Show 
Us with the castle & Santa Max 
Character dance party
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