Five years ago we brought our granddaughter, Kendalyn, her mother, Laura and our son, Uncle Randy to Florida to visit Disney World in Orlando for Kendalyn's 5th birthday. At 5, she was awed by the spectacle and totally surprised to realized where we were headed as we drove toward the park entrance from the airport. At the conclusion of that visit, her Nanny promised we would bring her back when she was ten. Last week was the realization of that promise and all three returned for 5 days at Disney World where we parked the RV in the Fort Wilderness Campground within the Disney complex.
Over 660 photos as well as several short video sequences were taken on three different cameras during the stay! Rest assured I have selected only a small sample representative of the many activities we enjoyed including meal time. We were a little smarter this time and opted for a meal plan for the 5 of us which really worked out well. Each of us was able to enjoy more food than necessary for sustenance with a sit down meal, as well as lunches, snacks and soft drinks daily.
Laura did a great job making reservations for the sit down meals having arranged them as long ago as last August! It is unthinkable that dinner reservations must be made that far in advance but Disney is so popular that is reality.
So, sit back and enjoy a sample of our trip.
At Epcot, there was a flower and garden show ongoing and there were topiaries of, what else, Disney characters! Above is the Lion King and you can just see Laura behind and to the right.
Part of the beautiful flower displays throughout Epcot can be seen here.
And a topiary of Cinderella and Prince Charming. I believe these figures are all grown on wire forms pre-shaped to the desired shape.
Of course you cannot see a blog post of mine without at least one bird picture, so here is a White ibis just settling into a roost position while a gull looks on in wonder.
One of the benefits of making dinner reservations and announcing the birthday girl's presence during the planning stages of the trip ensures frequent visits to the table by various Disney characters making the rounds! Above Chip (of Chip & Dale) gives the birthday girl a hug after signing an autograph. Below is, of course, Pluto having completed the same. These were taken at dinner at the Garden Grill in an exhibit called "The Land".
After dinner we "toured" a facility demonstrating sustainable farming techniques including hydroponics for fruits and vegetables and aquaculture for seafood. In fact waste from the fish tanks is recycled into fertilizer for some hydroponic farms. It was quite interesting and much of the produce grown in the facility is used in the various restaurants in the complex. Only Disney could do it!
Laura took the picture below of the two of them at Epcot with the famous Spaceship Earth Sphere in the background.
We now switch to the Magic Kingdom and Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride. Laura, Kendalyn and Randy waited in line for their ride while the photog was assigned the task of catching them in flight. Below is the best attempt.
We had a special breakfast at Ohana, a restaurant at the Polynesian Resort. The meal was served family style and consisted of mini waffles shaped like Mickey Mouse, some sticky bread with pineapple chunks, scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon, biscuits, fried potatoes and a wonderful juice called POG a combination of Passion Fruit, Orange and Guava juices.
Mickey Mouse himself visited our table (and all the others, too) and Kendalyn posed with him and also collected an autograph.
Below Grandpa got tricked by Stitch who is a known trickster while Kendie collected another autograph for her book.
And here is the gang waiting to be called into the Ohana Restaurant.
Below we have just stuffed ourselves again at the Coral Reef Restaurant in the Living Seas attraction at Epcot during our second day there. Kendalyn tried the Seared Rainbow Trout. It was her first time to eat trout and she cleared her plate. A couple of us had Coral Reef Lobster Orecchiette Pasta, a dish our waiter described as "mac & cheese with lobster meat" and it did not disappoint with lots of chunks of lobster. And a couple of us enjoyed Orange Ginger Glazed Scottish Salmon which also resulted in clean plates. Desserts of Creme Brulee and Orange Cheesecake completed the meal and caused the stuffed look on our faces!
Another autograph from Daisy Duck in front of the Iconic Epcot sphere and a souvenir photo of Laura and Kendalyn together with Goofy complete the character photos.
Oops! There is one other character who was along with the group. Here is Nanny sampling various soft drinks from around the world at an exhibit sponsored by Coca-Cola. She decided her favorite was ginger ale from Mozambique!
Randy got a flight back to Harrisburg on Wednesday, April 3rd and we moved the rig 17 miles to Thousand Trails Orlando. At no cost per night with our Thousand Trails membership, there is quite a difference in nightly rates compared to Fort Wilderness where we enjoyed the proximity to the parks for only $117 per night. Only Disney can do it!!
Laura and Kendalyn came with us and stayed until Sunday, April 7, when I drove them to the airport for an 8:00 am flight to Harrisburg. On Friday she and Kendie went back to Downtown Disney, roughly that same 17 miles, to do some shopping and on the way back they encountered some traffic delays caused by a large truck hitting an overpass that scattered debris on the road she would be taking. Two and a half hours later they got back to the RV.
We will be here until the 17th when we will begin our travels back to PA generally via I-95 and will arrive at the Thousand Trails Hershey Preserve on May 2 for the summer. Several doctor visits are planned for regular checkups and to see if Larry's back pains can be better managed with improved chemistry to delay surgery. Cathy will have cataract surgery in one eye soon after we get settled and some dental work is needed by us both.
That's all for this time. Hope to hear from you.
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