WALT DISNEY WORLD - in Orlando

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 Last night Judy and I returned from five days, four nights at WDW in Orlando, Florida. The weather was mostly nice though we experienced a little light rain. Worse than the rain was when the sun was out and beating down on us but a good share of the time it was overcast and nice. We got there by flying to Phoenix having a 2 ½ hour layover, taking the red eye to Atlanta, having a 2 ½ hour layover and then flying into Orlando. At the Orlando airport we took the Disney Magical Express to the Saratoga Springs Resort where we checked into room 8236. It is next to a staircase leading to the pool which we could see much of from our room and was a short walk to the main building, it’s pool and Animator’s Palate, it’s restaurant or rather fast food outlet. Even better, our room was only steps away from Saratoga Springs first shuttle bus stop so when we came back on the bus from wherever we had been, it was off the bus, step into the elevator and boom we were “home.” We were also not far from the boat to Downtown Disney. The first day we spent at Hollywood Studios where we ended the evening at Fantasmic, their laser light show. It was very good. I’m kind of lost as to what we did when but while we were there we went to Epcot twice, Animal Kingdom once and of course the Magic Kingdom. Other than a bleeding toe from too much walking while wearing socks it was a lot of fun. We went to our little pool twice and the main pool once. That on the last day while we killed several hours from when we had to be out of our room at 11:00 and catching our Magical Express but back to the airport at 2:30. We only ate one sit-down meal. That was at the Morocco Pavilion. The rest of the time we did fast food at the Animator’s Palate and of course a lot of places in the parks including Mexico, Japan, Great Brittan and others in the Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom. I don’t remember eating at Hollywood Studios. We did a ton of rides. Judy is really into the fast scary rides and I enjoy them too. You’ll have to ask her for a breakdown on all the rides though we did the Tower of Terror, the back lot ride, Kilimanjaro Safari, the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, the train around the Magic Kingdom, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Country Bear Jamboree, Swiss Family Tree House, The Haunted Mansion, Impressions de France, the movie at the France Pavilion, Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros at the Mexico pavilion, Sorin’, Spaceship Earth, The American Adventure, Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids. At Epcot we saw IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth. I’m sure I missed something including seeing several of the Resort Hotels including The Grand Floridian and the new Bay Tower Resort. For more detail, talk to Judy. Coming home we were able to take a non-stop and even got to sit together in seats 16 E & F. The next adventure is in a couple of weeks when we take a three night cruise out of Miami to Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay, NCL's private island. All this to get us a better rate when we sail on them next winter/spring in the Mediterranean.