Yesterday was our last full day in Florida, so we jammed it full with 12 hours of theme park goodness. We started in EPCOT, with a visit to the robot-construction exhibit in Innoventions, followed by another trip on Test Track. Hopped a bus to Animal Kingdom for two more rides on Everest (six total for the trip), another ride on the Safari, then a walk on the Pangani Nature Trail to see the gorillas.

Another bus ride took us back to Disney-MGM Studios for rides on Tower of Terror, Rock and Roller Coaster and a visit to the Little Mermaid stage show. One last bus ride back to EPCOT, where we visited Mexico and Norway before heading to dinner at the Biergarten in Germany. The girls danced the night away to the German band, while I loved the pork schnitzel and spatzel. The night was capped with the light and fireworks show Illuminations, held in the middle of World Showcase lagoon.

Today we head back to the tundra. Thanks again to my brother and his wife for hosting us–we really had a great time this week.

On a cloudy, cold and rainy day, we visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom today with my brother and his wife. The weather was, of course, still very warm to us (although I did add a jacket to my shorts and shirt).

We headed straight to Expedition Everest and rode it three times back to back to back. It’s really a well-done attraction, with lots of great Nepalese/Tibetan detailing (I’ve uploaded some pictures in the Walt Disney World photo section).

The rest of the day in a nutshell: lunch at Restaurantosaurus (the fancy Animal Kingdom McDonald’s), a ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris, back to Asia to watch Finding Nemo - The Musical, a fourth ride on Expedition Everest and two rides on Primeval Whirl. Half of the group skipped those last two, opting to see the Festival of the Lion King instead. My brother knew some of the people there, so they got to sit in the front row and my youngest got to be an assistant in front of the whole crowd.

We stopped at Super Target on the way home, picked up some food for dinner (and Super Bowl snacks) and watched the movie Cars for a nightcap. I listened to some of the Wild game online and can’t wait to see them later this week (against Florida no less).

Tomorrow: sleep in, then football all night. Go Bears! Go Tony!

Yesterday was the day we picked to stay out of the parks and visit some of the resort hotels (along with Downtown Disney). I slept in until almost 11:30am and woke up to my cell phone ringing. My mother-in-law called to make sure we were OK–tornadoes had ripped through central Florida overnight and killed at least 15 people. The storm was about 50 miles north of us, so we were not impacted. Our thoughts go out to those affected by the devastation.

We met my brother at the Polynesian Hotel for lunch. Many of my childhood trips to Walt Disney World were spent at the Polynesian and it remains one of my favorite hotels. The Kona Cafe is a newer addition to the hotel, but we ate there last time we visited as well. I had a chicken in peanut sauce dish with sticky rice and macaroni salad that had too many peppers for my liking, but tasted very good. (more…)

Today we met my brother at EPCOT Center and caught a monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. Once inside the gates, we went straight to Adventureland to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and check out the new Jack Sparrow enhancements. My wife really liked seeing her boyfriend, while I was left wondering why there were no Elizabeth figures added. The Davy-Jones-in-the-mist effect was really cool, but I was a little sad to see some of the music from the movie replacing the original attraction score. (more…)

Thanks to my brother and his wife for the great gift.