Animal Kingdom At Christmas

Posted on January 3, 2016January 3, 2016 by Dusty Roads

With the Orlando Eye down for the count Joe and I put our heads together to come up with a plan B. Now when you are in Orlando and your BFF works for Disney World, what is the most logical conclusion for a Plan B? Why, go to one of the parks , of course!

DSC_1816 copy

My very favorite park is Animal Kingdom because of the animals. We figured we could get The Kilimanjaro Safari ride in and maybe the Lion King Show before the park closed for the day.

DSC_1817 copy

I love the bridge where we can see the Mountain. I always have to stop and take a picture there. Usually there’s a park photographer too because its such a popular vista.

DSC_1824 copy

The park was pretty slow so we were able to get on the safari ride pretty quickly.

DSC_1834 copy

A lot of the animals were out of sight waiting for the evening feeding but that meant that I got to see some that I’ve missed in the past.

DSC_1829 copy

There was a lovely bright colored bird. The driver told us its name but I don’t remember it now.

DSC_1827a_edited-1

Of course the elephants can’t hide

DSC_1843 copy

and there were giraffes.

DSC_1831 copy

The best were the big cats and of the big cats, the lions.

DSC_1855 copy

We even got a roar out of the male before he laid down for his nap!

DSC_1859 copy

Too soon it was time to move on if we wanted to see the Lion King Show.

The Eye has it or Not!

Posted on December 31, 2015December 31, 2015 by Dusty Roads

Remember when I started this series I said “Now remember, no trip is without its pitfalls. If you keep that in mind you will be able to handle the little trials that come out of no where.”

Well Our lovely day was about to hit one of those little trials. Up until this point the Orlando Eye had been slowly turning above our heads but as we finished with the SeaLife Aquarium they announced that it was temporarily down. Trying to get any information out of the desk attendants was an exercise in futility.

DSC_1815a_edited-1

We sat for a bit in the food court but pretty soon even a dedicated people watcher gets bored so we took a walk outside to see what restaurants were nearby. We might as well grab some lunch while we waited.

There wasn’t much in the “Eye” complex but we settled on the “Tin Roof”, a typical bar/pub. I can’t say it was a quiet lunch because there was construction going on and the whole side of the building was open so no sound buffering at all. The waiter was pleasant and the food plentiful. But I caught an “ear worm”. I kept hearing the B52’s sing Love Shack in my head….Tin Roof – Rusted!

DSC_1814 copy

After lunch we headed back to the desk and were told the Eye was still offline and they didn’t know when it would be back online. It seems the “Eye” is down more than it’s running. From what I gathered it is something of a joke in Orlando because it is either offline or they are rescuing guests who are stuck on it.

Joe tried hard to get our money back but since we’d done 2 attractions and we’d only had to pay for 1 ticket there wasn’t much to refund. The best he could get was a promise to honor the tickets for 1 year. Of course I don’t know where we put the tickets now. I guess we’ll both have to search for them if I can get back to Orlando before the year is up.

It was time for plan B.

Orlando Sealife Aquarium

Posted on December 29, 2015December 29, 2015 by Dusty Roads

DSC_1786 copy

Sea World it’s not. There are no killer whale shows or chances to swim with dolphins but as little aquariums go this is a fine educational experience.

Sealife

As an aquarium aficionado I am really glad we went to this but if you are looking for the big WOW factor I don’t think you will find it here. This is great for youngsters. I saw many with their noses pressed to the glass.

DSC_1787 copy

There is no Great Ocean Tank like in Boston but they do have a 360 degree Underwater tunnel. Those are always fun. You get to walk through the clear tunnel while fish and rays swim over and under and around you. Pretty cool.

DSC_1799 copy

They didn’t have a mermaid tank like they did in new Orleans but they did have a pretty spectacular jelly fish display.

DSC_1793 copy

Thus was really my favorite. The lights in all aquariums are dim so the animals are not bothered but the lights are very dim in the jelly fish section. Glowing models suspended from the ceiling light the way to the wall of the tank which is filled with floating jelly fish.

DSC_1790 copy

The ray tank was fun. It’s really hard to get a good shot of these guys. They are fast! No flash photography allowed. The light bothers the animals.

DSC_1807_edited-1

There’s a scavenger hunt for the kids. Joe, of course, had to participate. In each gallery there was something the kids needed to find. Once they spotted it there was a place to stamp your card. If you found all of the items there was a little prize at the end.

DSC_1800 copy

The emphasis here is on education and I have to say they did a great job at that. This is the perfect size aquarium to introduce the next generation to the beauty and importance of the oceans of the world.

Coral Seas

Welcome to Madam Tussaud’s, Orlando

Posted on December 27, 2015December 27, 2015 by Dusty Roads

Getting to the Orlando Eye was easy enough. They even had free parking! Once in the entertainment complex there were three attractions, Madam Tussaud’s, Sealife and The EYE.

I can’t remember the last time I went to a “Wax museum”. I think it was the House of Frankenstein in Lake George, NY when I was just a teenager. I suggested we do the attractions in the order of interest topping off the day with the ride on the EYE.

Turns out Madam Tussaud’s was the best! It was lots of fun.

The displays were all interactive so you could take pictures with everyone from Marilyn Monroe to ET.

DSC_1785 copy

I got to dance with Michael Jackson

MJ and me

and see how it felt to be a white house secretary while Joe and Obama looked on.

oval office

There are photographers sprinkled about but they don’t bother you and since Joe and I both had cameras we hardly saw them at all. Of course when we first entered we had the “airboat” ride with attacking alligators. Act scared they said!

Madam Tussaud

The categories were things like “I will call it La Florida” with Juan Ponce de Leon.

Or People Change the World….Neil Armstrong…Martin Luther King

DSC_1781 copy

DSC_1782 copy

Arts and Culture and Play Time

Music …Elvis and Michael

DSC_1784 copy

Big Screen to Big Time…Oprah. Joe Loved Oprah.

A night at the Movies…We couldn’t get near John Travolta as Danny Zuko. All the “Pink Ladies” were lined up for their photo op.

Finally there was the A list with celebs like Will Smith, Leonardo Di Caprio, Brad and Angelina and more.

Tons of fun!

Epcot 2015

Posted on December 20, 2015December 20, 2015 by Dusty Roads

Please understand that my plan for Disney was to spend one day at the Magic Kingdom to photograph decorations and hopefully get some shots I can use for Christmas cards.

Hidden Mickey

That was it. The rest of the time I planned to check out other venues like botanical gardens that I hadn’t been to before. I am not now and never have been a Mickey fanatic.

DSC_1705 copy

Those plans got side tracked very quickly when I told my friend Joe that I was coming to Orlando in December. I booked the dates in March and that led to a continuous series of emails and phone calls with everything Joe wanted to do while I was in town. It pretty much revolved around the Disney parks.

DSC_1707 copy

After much suggesting, pleading, assuming and just charging forward, Joe finally convinced me to book the Candlelight Processional with dinner. The two possible narrators while I was in Orlando were Neil Patrick Harris or Whoopie Goldberg . I enjoy both so it came down to when we could get a reservation. Dinner/show spots were all sold out so we settled on lunch/5 pm show. I booked Thursday because, I confess, I was doing this more to appease Joe than because I wanted to go so I wanted to get it over with. Thursday was the last night Neil Patrick Harris was the narrator. By having a 1:15 lunch reservation at Les Chefs de France it pretty much guaranteed we’d be spending the day at Epcot.

DSC_1692 copy

Joe met me for breakfast at Kenzie’s and then we headed for the park. Epcot was beautiful as are all of the parks at Christmas. We enjoyed a few rides/shows before scrambling to make our reservation for lunch.

DSC_1696 copy

We had a small two top (that’s restaurant speak for a table for 2) right next to the window so we could watch Father Christmas and other characters pass by. Lunch was acceptable. I’m just a plain and simple person when it comes to food so french cuisine is just “over the top”. Sometimes a grilled cheese should just be a grilled cheese.

I chose Les Chef de France because I wanted escargot but I’d just had that in New Orleans and it’s not an item I can eat every day. My favorite part was the dessert, puff pastry with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

my-dessert

Joe had the mousse.

Chefs

Then with several hours to kill we went Soaring. This is a really popular ride and usually has long lines so I had never been on it before. All I can say is that it’s terrific. I hated to have it end. I guess it’s as close to flying as you’ll get unless you are one of those glider suit people.

DSC_1698 copy