In early October, a friend texted me and asked if I could use their time share. Their week was going to expire at Thanksgiving and they couldn’t use it. I said yes and the planning began…
Pre-Trip Planning
For me the fun always begins way before the actual vacation. First I had to decide where to go. My first choice was Key West. I was thinking about warm, sandy beaches. Unfortunately the closest resort I could get to Key West was in Fort Lauderdale. The flight to Ft. Lauderdale wasn’t expensive, but wasn’t cheap on such short notice, either. I tried planning a trip around Election Day to get good rates and allow Kendra to go with me, but she said she had to work and couldn’t miss classes. Her loss. Over time, I asked my aunt if she’d like to go with me since she is now retired and doesn’t have to worry about taking vacation days. She said yes. We decided to go to Orlando because Allegiant Air offers a direct flight from Lexington to Orlando for $150. Unfortunately, they charge for your carryon luggage, so the final total was $175. It was a very reasonable price and my aunt said she knew someone that takes that particular flight all the time.
I booked the resort and paid the slight transfer fee. I chose a resort with good RCI ratings, a good Trip Advisor rating, and a great location in Kissimee off of Irlo Bronson Highway. It was only a few miles from Disney World. I was familiar with the area. I emailed the resort about wifi and learned more about the amenities.
I spent days looking for the best deal on a rental car and eventually found a coupon code for a price better than I could get through Priceline. We got a full-size car for less that $170 for a week. That included all the taxes and fees. We ended up with a nice Camry and were pleased.
Through email and phone calls with my aunt, we planned some of our meals and activities. I gathered a list and we mentioned things we did or did not want to do. I found out the busiest times at the theme park we were going to. I planned restaurant reservations and excursions. I planned days between to rest and relax. I shared a packing list that more than covered our every need while still fitting into the required carryons (barely).
I planned our entire itinerary and printed Google Maps for every trip. Then the vacation began.
Warning: There are around 180 photos on this page that include captions. Clicking on a photo will enlarge it and open it in a slideshow. Hover your mouse over the photos to read the captions.
Travel Day 1:
At 3:45 PM, Sam, Aiden, and Evelyn arrived at my house. I was completely packed and ready to go, having eaten a breakfast sandwich to hold me over. I had just remembered the clothes in the dryer and was folding them so they wouldn’t be wrinkled when I got home.
I showed Evelyn and Sam a few things in my home until Chigo arrived to escort us to the airport. We were soon on our way and excited to be leaving, but had a little trepidation about the possible cool weather in the Orlando area. We were also worried about our fight being delayed or having troubles because of wind gusts due to Hurricane Sandy.
Chigo dropped us off at the curb right outside the security entrance at the Lexington Bluegrass Airport. We walked in and only waited about 5 minutes to get through security. We dutifully put our belongings and shoes in the gray bins and assumed the position to flash whomever was watching the TSA screen, then continued to gather our things and put on our shoes. We ascended the escalator and looked for our gate number. Our flight was shown on the screen as “On Time”, but there was no gate listed. We decided to sit near the screens to wait and as we settled in, and purchased 2 bottled waters. Both cost less than $5, which was high but not outrageous. We had an hour until our flight and waited, chatting.
After 20 minutes had passed, I became concerned that we still had no assigned gate and went on a little excursion. I found the gate by following someone with an Allegiant printed boarding pass and went back for Evelyn. We went to gate B3 and didn’t have long to wait before our flight was announced. As we were boarding the plane, I switched assigned seats with her since I was in an F (window) seat and was closer to the front of the plane. When we reached row 22 I hefted Evelyn’s suitcase into the overhead bin and let her get settled. I then trudged my heavy tote and rolling suitcase back to row 26 where one of my seat companions was already comfortably ensconced.
I shoved my bag into the center of 26’s overhead bin and the gentleman that would be seated to my left got up to allow me to take my space. Shortly after getting settled, my second row mate arrived. The excessively tall and not small man was seated next to the window: the spot with the least amount of head and shoulder room, naturally. I was squished between 2 men and was glad for Evelyn’s sake that we had switched. Throughout the flight I sat next to a very chatty and politically interested gentleman. Despite my attempts to read he wanted to talk about politics, his 30-year history with IBM, and his attempt to run for mayor of his Florida town. I didn’t get much reading done.
The flight ran into a lot of turbulence north of Jacksonville and the pilot dropped our altitude between layers of clouds to make the flight smoother. Due to the high winds in Orlando, we had a bumpy landing, though it wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated. Upon landing, we went to the rental car desk where my excellent shopping skills had landed us a nice Camry for $163 a week after taxes. We walked out into the light rain and got settled into the car. I photographed the few light scratches and dings on the car to document them and pulled out the pre-printed map to Wal-Mart. When we arrived at Wal-Mart we shopped for sunscreen, shaving cream, breakfast foods, sandwiches, chips, drinks, and more. We used the public restroom before we left then followed the pre-printed directions to the Silver Lake resort.
We got checked in and requested a quiet room. Our room was on the 3rd floor, but since there was an elevator it wasn’t a problem. On the drive around the buildings from the office to our room, a big guy tried to flag us down to stop. We saw another guy off to the side a little. We did NOT stop. There was nothing that we could do to assist them and I wasn’t taking any chances.
The room was very nice. There was a big glass dining room table, sofa and 2 armchairs in the living room.
The kitchen had a full-size fridge, stove/oven, dishwasher, and microwave. We put away our groceries and put our things down. Hungry, since we had left for the airport at 4pm, we made some sandwiches to eat.
We unpacked and got to bed around midnight. We decided to share the king bed in the bedroom so that neither of our backs had to endure the sofa bed.
Relaxing Day 2:
We tossed and turned a lot and I had trouble sleeping. But the kicker was the phone call at 8:45 that woke us. It was the front desk reminding us to go to guest services and pick up our parking pass. We relaxed in the room for a while then around lunchtime we went for a quick walk around the property. We saw the multiple pools, the game room, the exercise room and the little convenience store. We picked up the parking pass and had to listen to the sales push to attend a free breakfast where we could get discount dinner passes for listening to the property’s presentation. No thanks.
We then headed about 10 miles away to pick up our Cirque and IOA (Universal Studios Islands of Adventure) tickets at the UPS store. While there we used Urban Spoon to find somewhere to eat lunch. We found a highly-rated Greek restaurant called Zorba’s.
We ordered water and Gyro (pronounced Yee-ro) platters. Evelyn got the gyro meat and I got chicken.
They came with fries sprinkled with feta cheese, a salad, tsiziki sauce, and pita bread triangles.
They were both delicious, but if I went back I would get the gyro meat – beef and lamb. We got a baklava dessert that wasn’t impressive. This was Evelyn’s first taste of Greek food and she was happy with it.
After lunch we drove around a bit on the Irlo Bronson Highway to see some things around our area and went to Target to pick up a couple of items, including some decongestant. Back at our room by early afternoon, we relaxed. Evelyn napped and played on her iPad. I worked on my phone or read my Kindle. By work I mean responding to emails, writing my novel, or drafting blogs. I have a Bluetooth keyboard for my phone. We were so stuffed from lunch that we had a late dinner and decided to stay in and have leftovers. We reheated the Greek food from lunch and it was still delicious. We relaxed a little more and were in bed by 10.
Harry Potter Day 3:
We were up bright and early at 6:30 AM on Sunday. I took my meds, we got dressed and fully sunscreened, and had our breakfasts. We left just after 7:30 as planned and arrived at Universal Studios Islands of Adenture before 8. I dropped Evelyn off at the passenger drop-off area and went to park. As I pulled up to the parking attendant booth to pay, I realized that Evelyn was carrying all of our money and cards. I had to exit the parking area, go back to the drop-off area and find her. A little while later I had the car parked in an excellent space and we were on our way into the park.
We walked through the Universal City Walk and toward the IOA gate, where lines were forming. As we approached the gate that had about a dozen entrance turnstyles we noticed that there were 3 lines. Being the non-sheep that I am I lined us up at an empty turnstyle and when the gate opened about 20 minutes later we were among the first into the park. Well, besides the hordes of people getting in early because they were staying in Universal hotels.
As soon as we cleared the gate, we went to the wheelchair rental place and got our reserved ECV (Electronic Convenience Vehicle). Think the Rascal!! Regardless, Evelyn drove and I walked to the back of the park to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Once there, we began our day by riding first the red then the blue dragon on the HP Dragon Challenge.
The dueling dragons are 2 different rides.
Unfortunately, these roller coasters upset Evelyn’s stomach and we decided to get in line for Olivander’s Wand Shop.
When Kendra and I went to IOA in 2010, the line was hours long to get into Olivander’s and I was really looking forward to it. This time, Evelyn and I waited about 30 minutes – our longest wait of the day. Once inside the wandmaker’s shop, the effects were very cool. The room held a maximum of 30 people as posted by the Fire Marshall. It was a very tall space with thousands of wand boxes and wand displays. The staff chose a young girl in wizard robes and she got to try and fail with a few wands until the right wand chose her. The scene was right out of the movie. It was interesting, but not worth a significant wait. It was over in a few minutes and we were ushered into the shop where we could buy wands or other goods.
Tip: Poke your head into a shop or two, but if you want to purchase Harry Potter goods, wait and go into the main store by the exit to IOA. The same and possibly even more goods are there. There is a lot more elbow room to look at items and smaller lines to check out. You can get all the wands there as well.
We then went over to the Castle to check out HP and the Forbidden Journey.
As instructed by the book I had purchased – The Unofficial Guide to Disney World, I knew to do a walking tour of the castle first. There we saw the Hall of Portraits, Dumbledore’s office, and the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom where Harry, Ron, and Hermione told us to skip class and they would sneak us onto the Quiddich field. The Sorting Hat even talked to us mere Muggles.
From there, I got in the single rider line and was off the ride in less than 10 minutes. It was amazing. For those that don’t know, it is a simulated ride that also moves along a path. You get the simulation of flying, being chased by a dragon, getting lost in the forbidden woods with Aragon and the spiders, and being chased around the quiddich field by dementors. It’s the one must-do thing in IOA in my opinion. And if you go in October, the lines are quite short. There was a 10-minute wait in the regular line at 10am on a Sunday.
After that we purchased our Butterbeer. Regular Butterbeer is like Butterscotch root beer, but with a rich, creamy, and foamy head. They also sell frozen Butterbeer which is not carbonated and has the same foamy head. It is DELICIOUS and there are recipes and lauds all over the internet.
Our Butterbeers in hand, we looked around a few shops in Hogsmeade Village.
The village is set in wintertime since the Hogwarts students don’t exactly go there in the summer.
After glancing in the shops quickly, we went to the Lost Continent, which is another area in IOA. We looked in a pearl shop and went to the 11:00 showing of Posiedon’s Fury. From there we went across the walkway for lunch. We has lunch reservations at Mythos at 11:30.
We got bread and water as we looked at the menu.
Evelyn ordered a spicy Panini with steak, pepperoni, cheese and roasted red peppers. She got a tasty side of Parmesan fries.
I got the risotto of the day. It was a spinach risotto with beef tips, shrimp, asparagus, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms and a crab sauce.
The decor was fun. It was much like the Poseidon’s Fury attraction we had just gone to.
For dessert we ordered all 4 of the assorted dessert shots: chocolate Sabayon, caramel apple, pumpkin mousse, and chocolate dirt.
After lunch we lined up for the 12:30 showing of The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad Stunt Show. While waiting for the show we sat in the very back of the seating in the Handicap parking so we could bring the ECV.
The show wasn’t that good, but the stunts and effects were pretty cool. 
More importantly, it was a beautiful sunny day and we were comfortable in our jeans and capris.
After watching it we went back through the Wizarding World where we did a little shopping and I bought my trip ornament – a time-turner. We also got to see some “students” from Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons.
It was then time to leave the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and we got one last look at Hogwarts Castle.
We continued through Jurassic Park, Toon Lagoon, and into Marvel Super Hero Island. There we looked in a shop here and there and rode Spiderman. There was a posted 30 minute wait, but we took the single rider line and got right on. We decided not to ride Hulk and walked over to Seuss Landing.
There we looked around in shops and watched the Caro-Suess-el, which was pretty cool. From there we left the park to come back to the room. In the room we relaxed, took showers, and got ready for dinner.
We had dinner reservations at the Yachtsman Steakhouse located in the Yacht Club Disney resort.
Neither of us had been there before so it was a fresh experience for us both. We arrived a half hour early and sat in the bar.
The Giants were whipping on my poor Cowboys on the TV and I got a vodka cocktail called Forever Young. It was way too expensive and quite strong.
At 5:45 our pager went off and we were escorted to our small table near a rotunda. We had an excellent server. She chatted with us about where we were from and it turns out she has family in Ky. We also discussed the weather and Hurricane Sandy and how they were affecting travel. We soon ordered our food and received a bread basket. There were 2 of each: sourdough rolls and onion rolls. There was a pat of softened butter seasoned with Australian sea salt and roasted garlic cloves.
We relaxed for a while until our food came. We had decided to split an 8 oz filet so that we could try lots of sides and dessert. We both got mashed potatoes, though we think that was a mistake. The filet comes with them and I requested them while Evelyn ordered potatoes au gratin. She ordered the sauteed mushrooms and I got the green beans with goat cheese. Our least favorite thing was the mushrooms. They had heavy gravy that tasted wine-based. Both potatoes were delicious and I really enjoyed my green beans. Unfortunately, I was so excited about the food that I forgot to take a picture! For dessert I got the creme brulee while Evelyn got lemon pudding cake. They were both outstanding.
After dinner we walked outside to check out the view. There was a fun pirate ship that I presume is for the kids to play on. It looked spooky in the moonlight.
We walked down the dock/pier from the Yacht Club and checked out the Boardwalk across the lake.
We also had a nice night view of the Yacht Club where we had eaten dinner.
We took the scenic tour of some of the Disney properties – though unintentionally when I missed the turn to Orlo Bronson. Back in our room we relaxed and went to bed relatively early.
Relaxing Day 4:
On Monday, we spent the entire day in the room. We slept in, we watched TV, we read, Evelyn played on her iPad, and we ate things we had bought at the grocery store. We also did laundry and each took long, relaxing baths in the jetted tub.
Cirque Day 5:
Tuesday we slept in and spent the morning relaxing. I had a massage appointment at 11 at Vivian’s Day Spa – a place recommended by the front desk and highly rated on Yelp. My masseuse was fabulous. She worked on the spots I instructed, since the knots in my shoulders and neck were causing trouble. Right next to the spa was a popcorn shop that smelled delicious. They had 30 flavors of popcorn and I sampled many of them before buying a bag of English toffee popcorn. I then headed back to the room to get Evelyn and we went to Giordano’s for lunch. We shared some garlic cheese bread and each got pizza. I got a deep-dish Chicago-style pizza with meats.
She got thin crust Chicago Original – pepperoni, mushroom, onion, and green pepper. It wasn’t as good as I remember from previous trips and I was disappointed. Evelyn said that she’s had better pizza at local places at home.
After lunch we came back and took a small nap before driving over to Downtown Disney. Once again, poor directions from Google Maps meant that I had to pull over and use the GPS on my Android phone. When we arrived we got a great parking place near our restaurant and walked over the the World of Disney to shop.
The World of Disney is a HUGE store where you can buy any of the merchandise that is available in the parks. We looked at the clothes, jewelry, stuffed animals, and kitchenware. We saw iPad and iPhone cases, magnets, ornaments, and pens. I was supposed to look for a mug to replace one that we had purchased for Kendra’s friend 2 years past, but there was nothing resembling it in the store. We left without purchasing anything. Next we walked over to the Ghiradelli store. They were handing out samples of the Pumpkin Spice chocolates, which were delicious. I looked for my favorite Holiday chocolate – Pecan Pie, but it wasn’t there.
We walked around to the pier to catch the water taxi across the lake to where Cirque du Soliel and our dinner reservations were, but the boat was closed due to high winds. This threw a wrench into my plans. We were forced to walk all the way around. We went to Planet Hollywood for dinner.
I had a Cheeseburger and fries. The burger was pretty standard, but the fries were wonderful. They were extremely crisp on the outside and tender inside. Evelyn had a Philly Cheesesteak. It too, was standard and she enjoyed her fries. We clearly paid for the atmosphere. It was interesting but not worth the money and I wouldn’t go back.
After dinner, we went to the car and moved it closer to Cirque to save some walking. We picked up our reserved tickets and spent a few minutes in the mostly empty gift shop. The items in the shop made Disney prices look cheap. Assume park prices and double it. We left the shop and took the elevator up to our seats. We were shown to our seats for Cirque du Soliel La Nouba. We were in section 202 row BB seats 18 and 19. We were about 30 degrees from center. The lower section had 8 rows in it and we were the second row in the upper section.
The stadium was surprisingly nice. The seats were comfortable and the upper areas had a great view. The ceiling was even decorated!
There was preshow entertainment in the form of clowns and then the star performers came around the audience in front of us.
The show itself was amazing with clowns, trapeze artists, young Chinese acrobats, bike stunts, high-wire acts, an amazing juggler, and some fun trampoline antics. The show was well worth the money and much like a circus, there was often several things going on at once. The costumes were amazing and the performances were top-notch.
After La Nouba we came back to our room to relax before bed.
Manatees Day 6:
On Wednesday, we woke early and were on the road by 6:30 AM. We spent the 2 hour drive to Crystal River listening to the radio and talking.
We arrived at the River Ventures location before 9 for our 9:15 appointment.
We were going to Snorkel with the Manatees!
We looked through the store and bought a few things. We sat and relaxed while waiting for the other tourists to arrive. There were 2 other parties on our tour – 2 famillies of 4 from the UK and Germany. The UK family had great names. Dad was Ron, the son was Harry, and the daughter was Molly. The mom’s name wasn’t related to Harry Potter in any way. The German family had interesting names. It was a mother, father, and a teenage son. I think the other teenage boy was the son’s friend traveling with them. The kids from the UK were also teenagers.
After everyone had arrived we were seated in a classroom with a television where we were educated on the dos and don’ts of the Manatee Swim. The basic takeaway is to let the Manatees approach you and to only pet them with one hand. We were then given our wetsuits and shown to the changing rooms. Wetsuits are not fun to put on and are even less fun to take off. But they do the job of keeping you warm. After suiting up we were loaded on the bus and taken about a half mile to the docks. There we met Captain Mike and took a group photo, then loaded on the boat.
While baking in a black wetsuit in the hot sun we were given the Coast Guard emergency information presentation and we were on our way. As we pulled away from the docks, Captain Mike got on the CB and asked some of the other Captains about good locations. One Captain told us that she had 3 people in the water and there were over 70 Manatees there. So we headed to King’s Spring. Mike chatted with us on the way over about how to think of the Manatees. He said they’re like cats. They’ll come to you when they want and they’ll run away from you if you chase them. When we stopped he showed us how to use the scuba gear and went to the back of the boat.
There waiting for us was a baby manatee. He was playing with the ropes. We got in and played with him right away. Here are several shots of my interaction.
He even chased me a little and Evelyn got to play with him.
We moved to the swimming area and throughout the hours we got to pet and play with well over a dozen different manatees. We saw a momma nursing her baby. There was a bull that loved to get his belly rubbed and would roll over. I got kissed and nuzzled in the face by a bull. Several of the Manatees liked Evelyn’s sparkly toes. I swam over a huge resting area, careful to stay over a spot where no manatee was sleeping. As they sleep on the bottom, they occasionally rise slowly to the surface to breathe. I didn’t want to startle or wake any of the sleeping manatees.
Here are some examples of Evelyn’s photos.
Here are some more photos of Evelyn.
Here are some photos of me.
There are more photos of me since I *might* have been following around Captain Mike who had the camera.
And here are more pictures of me.
We had a wonderful time until we had to get out of the water. As we climbed into the boat the layer of water between the wetsuit and our bodies ran out and the cold air hit us. It was 72 degrees in the water, but the air was a little cooler and very windy. We quickly stripped our wetsuits, dried off, put on shirts, and drank hot cocoa provided for us.
On the way back to the dock we saw 2 bald eagles and John Travolta’s house. The van was nice and warm and once we were at the shop there was more hot cocoa waiting for us. We dried off and changed back into dry clothes. We spent some time chatting with the British family as we waited for the photos to be burned to the disk.
Mike had taken over 400 photos and a few videos – including my Manatee kiss. Here are some of the best Manatee photos:
And more Manatees:
And for your viewing pleasure, we have a sweet manatee face:
And a nursing cow and calf. (mom and baby)
Here is the video of my Manatee Kiss.
We put our wet suits and towels in a plastic trash bag we had brought and put it in the trunk. While outside we took some fun photos in the cutout board.
We then drove down the coast on US 19 from Crystal River to the Tampa area, heading for Clearwater.
I had done some research and planned where we would watch the sunset and had found a pay parking lot using Google Maps Street View. We pulled into a spot right by the restaurant and only had to pay $1 an hour!!! It costs way more than than to park in downtown Lexington just to run to the courthouse. Check out the view from the car!
We checked Urban Spoon and found a little cafe less than a block away to have a late lunch. It was called Clear Sky Cafe.
At the Clear Sky Cafe, we split an entree of Grilled Chicken with goat cheese and a tasty, cheesy, wine sauce. We had mashed potatoes and fries with it and the portion was just right. For dessert, the waiter said that the bread pudding of the day was blueberry, and we were both excited about that. Unfortunately, he came back and said that it had been changed to bourbon chocolate chip – not appetizing to us. We had a flan/creme brulee dessert that was tasty. The bathrooms had been recently renovated and were amazing.
The ceiling was probably the best part. The bathroom reminded me of the restrooms on our Disney Cruise. Big thumbs up!
Afterwards, we headed out the door and straight to the beach. I posed at the entrance.
The sky was clear and blue, the waves were crashing, and the sand was a soft blanket of white sand. We went back toward the parking lot and found a display of beach lounge chairs. They were probably for hotel guests but most of them weren’t being used so we helped ourselves. We arranged our chairs and relaxed for a bit.
We really enjoyed the view!
After a while I got bored and walked to Pier 60. There were lots of vendors and birds. I took a few photos and went back to Evelyn. I was exhausted from the walk on the sand.
Since Evelyn wasn’t with me I took a lot of photos. Reminder – click on the photos to read the captions and flip through the slideshow. Hover your mouse over the photos to read the captions.
Did I mention that I took a lot of photos?
Speaking of the sand, did I mention how beautiful and white the sand was?
I thought this was a fun sign posted on the sand between the hotels and the ocean. It was conveniently located between lifeguard stand 4 and 5.
When I returned to our seats, we sat there enjoying the warm sun and the moderate sea breeze for a little while longer then decided to get our seats at the restaurant I had chosen. It was Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill.
It was 5:30 and sunset was supposed to be at 6:45. I hurried in with Evelyn trailing behind and got us a great table on the patio with a fabulous view of the impending sunset.
There were some crazy drunk guys seated next to us and we bantered a few fun times before they left. You can see them behind me.
I ordered the famous Grouper sandwich and fries.
Evelyn got a sausage hoagie with fries.
My Grouper was so good that I stopped eating the bun and ordered another piece of fish. Isn’t it gorgeous without its bun?
We talked and ate. Here’s a picture of Evelyn in the fading sunlight.
We enjoyed and photographed the setting sun.
We shared a fabulous piece of key lime pie.
After our delicious Key Lime break, we finished watching the sun set.
Here’s a great shot of 2 biplanes flying overhead.
Then we watched the end of another great vacation day.
Here’s a great panoramic shot of the sunset.
And here’s a closeup of the sun behind the clouds.
We stopped at the shop on the way out and I bought a tank top. We got in the car and followed 2 crazy monkeys out of town. It was Halloween and there were two guys in a convertible and monkey masks in front of us. My favorite part of the drive was a long causeway between Clearwater and Tampa. We crossed it at night and it was beautiful. We spent the drive back to Orlando listening to an audiobook. Back in the room we started some laundry and went to bed.
Revisit Day 7:
Thursday was our final full day in Orlando. Evelyn woke early and watched the sun rise from our screened-in balcony.
We relaxed in the room during the morning then went back to the Greek restaurant for lunch.
We shared a gyro platter. The gyro (Yee-ro) meat is beef and lamb formed onto a giant spit where it is constantly rotated and roasted. They then shave off the meat for each order.
We also had the delicious Feta Fries again.
In our room we changed into our swimsuits so we could go down and relax by the pool. The pool area wasn’t very crowded but there was a singer and guitar player performing very loudly and we tried to avoid them. We found a smaller pool over to the left and relaxed on lounge chairs there.
We found a nice spot where I could be in the sun and Evelyn could be in the shade.
The weather was beautiful, though a little cloudy. I was still able to get a little tan.
After a while the sprinklers came on. Though they didn’t spray us directly, it was windy enough to blow it on us a little so we relocated to the other side of the large pool.
Unfortunately, the music was much louder over there, though it wasn’t terrible. I just would have preferred the radio or silence to relax in the sun. After a short amount of time, the singing stopped and they announced that there was ice cream for sale out on the sidewalk. Evelyn and I got a HUGE caramel sundae to split for $3. A short time later, clouds moved in, effectively ending our time outdoors.
Inside we got cleaned up and dressed for dinner. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling well and got progressively worse so we had to cancel our dinner reservations. Our plan had been to go back to the Yachtsman Steakhouse which we had enjoyed very much. Evelyn ate reheated pizza and I had a nice, bland turkey sandwich. We relaxed the rest of the evening. Well, Evelyn packed most of her things while I lay huddled on the sofa working on my phone or reading.
Travel Day 8:
Friday morning we woke and Evelyn relaxed a little while I did my packing. Still not up to par, I packed in spurts, resting between. We gathered trash, checked and double-checked drawers and made sure that everything we had packed would fit in our 2 travel bags. I went to the computer room and printed out our flight boarding passes and we checked out before 9:00.
We went straight to the Disney Polynesian Resort where we parked, looked around the lobby, and went to the Monorail platform.
It took a few minutes for the Monorail to arrive. One had to wait on another.
When our ride finally arrived we had to walk way down to find some available seats.
We went completely around the Magic Kingdom loop from the Polynesian Resort, the Grand Floridian Resort, Magic Kingdom theme park, the Contemporary Resort and back around until we exited at the Grand Floridian. We got to see the new construction on the Disney Vacation Club addition to the Grand Floridian.
We had a nice view of the Grand Floridian from the platform at the Magic Kingdom park.
We went right past Space Mountain. It reminded me of the last time I was in Walt Disney World with Evelyn. It was around 1990 and I was a teenager. Dad and Gail took Grandma and Evelyn with us on vacation.
We continued around the lake, looking at all of the resorts, then got off the Monorail at the Grand Victorian.
Once inside the resort, we looked around the shops and lobby area, rode the birdcage elevator, then walked through the lobby and across the property to the dock. At the dock we took a few pictures. Of the Magic Kingdom.
We shot the Contemporary Resort. (Don’t take that out of context.)
I took Evelyn’s photo in front of the Polynesian Resort where we would be heading.
Then she took my picture.
Then I took a picture of her taking a picture of the gazebo. (Just seeing if you’re still paying attention)
Like this:
We then got in the water taxi boat and rode back to the Polynesian Resort. On the way, Evelyn took pictures of the sights. The Grand Floridian Resort:
The Wedding Gazebo up close:
And from afar:
And a Paddleboat:
I just kicked back and relaxed.
Once we docked, I took a moment to take a picture of the Grand Floridian from the Polynesian dock before we went inside.
There we looked around the fun art shop then went upstairs to check in for our Ohana brunch (11:15) reservation. We got our picture taken and were walking around the second floor when our pager went off to indicate that we were about to be seated.
Our hostess was friendly and grabbed us a delicious-smelling basket of bread. It contained Ohana’s signature pineapple coconut bread and some cinnamon raisin bread.
Once seated, our server immediately brought us some tasty juice that included guava. Moments later, we had a plate of fruit and a HUGE platter of breakfast foods. There were sausage links, bacon strips, fluffy biscuits, savory potato wedges, and the most delicious scrambled eggs I’ve ever had. I suspect that they contained heavy cream and garlic salt or perhaps some butter or cream cheese. They were fabulous, though.
We had the waiter bring us some Mickey waffles and some ketchup as well and he brought another huge platter out. We felt horrible wasting all of that food.
Throughout our meal we had visits from Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Lilo, and Stitch. The breakfast was a character breakfast. We got some fun photos. Here we are with Lilo and Stitch.
Evelyn took a picture of some pretty flowers outside our window at Ohana while we waited.
Then we took each other’s photos with Mickey and Pluto.
On the way out of Ohana, Evelyn couldn’t resist. She had to touch the butt. (Yes, another Nemo reference!)
After brunch, we went downstairs to the shop and bought a few souvenirs, including some Mickey watches. We went to the restroom then left the Disney property and went to the airport. We arrived an hour and a half before our flight and I sent Evelyn to go ahead and go through security while I turned in the rental car.
When I saw the line at Hertz, I freaked. They are slow as Christmas and the line was 10 people deep. After stressing for a few minutes, I stepped to the side of the counter and asked if I was in the right line to return a car. He said all I had to do was hand him the keys and tell him the mileage. I did so and happily trudged my suitcases to security… where the line was atrocious. Happily, I spotted Evelyn in line and joined her has she met a spot at the end of a rope. Yup. I totally skipped line.
When we got to the front, I asked if the line was usually that long and they said they were short-staffed. Great – understaffed TSA. I blame my concern over the single line and the overworked TSA for my next faux pas. After walking through the metal detector, the TSA agent gestured slightly to the side, closer to the belt and x-ray machine where my bags were undergoing scrutiny. I stepped to the side and dutifully raised my arms at an angle over my head, ready for my opportunity to flash whoever was viewing the screen. It was then that I realized that Orlando Sanford Airport doesn’t have those machines. I blushed and grabbed my things, rushing to the benches to put on my shoes.
After security, we bought 2 bottled waters and went to our boarding gate. We didn’t have to wait long for our flight to be called and we boarded with no trouble. Well, little trouble. The aisles were VERY narrow on the plane and rolling carryons just BARELY fit down the aisle. If you weren’t precise, you would not only hit the passengers as you passed, you knocked and banged the seats as well.
Evelyn and I were seated together this time – there must have been a glitch in the seating algorithm. I gave her the window seat and was once again in the middle with a tall but not overly large gentleman beside me. We took off exactly on time at 3:00 PM and I happily sat back, swallowing often to pop my ears. I assumed that my excessive ear-popping was due to the moisture not having fully drained after my snorkel trip. As we were flying over Jacksonville (I recognized the St. Johns River basin) the Captain came on the loudspeaker and told us that due to pressurization problems, we had to turn around. That explained the ear problem. We were about a half hour into our flight. We turned around and flew back to Orlando. The Captain told us they were going to have a plane ready for us at gate 9 and we slowly disembarked. It took a while for the 150 people seated in front of us to gather their things and exit. When we got off the plane we saw a new Allegiant plane getting fueled and checked over by airport employees. We were soon told that the plane was being prepped and that we would start boarding in 15 minutes.
30 minutes later we were told that we were waiting on a new flight crew. We heard announcements for two other planes with trouble being delayed. One delay was due to missing parts!?! This did not inspire confidence in the airline. For our troubles and during our long wait, Allegiant Air graciously provided us with free soda, juice, and water. I say this with sarcasm, but in actuality, since they don’t even offer free drinks on their flights it was quite a concession. Regardless, we had many announcements and continual delays. We even had to wait quite a while on the tarmac. We eventually took off around 6:45 PM. This was 3 hours and 45 minutes after our first take off. We did get to see a nice sunset over to our left.
I had been harassing my friend repeatedly throughout the process. One of my friends was going to pick us up at the airport at 5:00 in my car. We were then planning to hop over to the kennel and pick up my dog. When we landed back in Orlando, I texted her and she went to the kennel to get my dog and took him home. When we eventually landed at 8:30, she was there in my car and we were finally able to get to my house. We never got a real dinner. I ate a protein bar in the airport.
At home, Evelyn got to meet my extremely excited dog and we relaxed a bit before going to bed.
Travel Day 9:
On Saturday morning, I met with my personal trainer as usual from 8:30-9:30. Afterwards, I ate breakfast, got ready, and drove Evelyn to her sister’s house. She is another aunt – sister of my dad. She had driven Evelyn the 2 1/2 hour trip to Lexington before our trip. I took Evelyn back to Eastern Kentucky and we listened to music and chatted for the over two hour drive. I said hello and gave hugs and left pretty quickly. I ate a protein bar while driving and listened to an audiobook. After that, the typing, image sorting, and image editing work began…