Blogs from Orlando, Florida, United States, North America - page 6

Let me start off by saying, this wasn't a typical half day at Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom was set to close at 4:30pm on Thursday for a private event. This rarely happens. I wondered if the park would be a lot less crowded because most people wouldn't want to waste a ticket on a day the park closed so early. On the other hand, I wondered if thousands of other people would have the same idea, and so maybe there wouldn't be a big drop in crowds. We decided to take the gamble, and it paid off! We got to do so much during our Magic Kingdom half day. We arrived just before the 8am opening, and it took a bit of time to get through the main gates. Once we did, we booked it ... read more

We're on a most magical adventure. Today, we went to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. This is a special event that requires a party ticket. Party-goers can arrive at the park at 4pm, and non-party visitors leave the park at 7pm. We arrived at 3:30pm, and we were let in shortly before 4pm. That worked out for us because we had dinner reservations at Beast's castle at 4:25. The restaurant is called "Be Our Guest," and it's a difficult reservation to get. Up until a few days before our trip, we only had a reservation for 2 because it was all we could find. Thankfully, one opened up for 4 people this week, and Andrew managed to snag it for us! Before we went to the castle, we stopped to use our ... read more

Geo: 28.5377, -81.3774I awoke before the sun came up and finished editing my photos from the night before. I headed outside before breakfast to take sunny shots of the Grand Floridian property, including the place where the poor child was killed this summer. The "Beware of Alligator" signs are abundant.Before parting, I had decided it was high time my husband experience a character meal. We had paid a significant amount of money for a buffet breakfast at the Marriott Orlando when we were here in May. At the time, I remarked that for just $2 more, we could be having a meal with some classic Disney characters.So at 8:05, we headed into 1900 Park Fare off the GF lobby (that's the address where Mary Poppins was a nanny). We scooped up our breakfast items, including Mickey-shaped ... read more

In early 2015 I won a contest on a Tallahassee radio station. The prize was two tickets to Universal Orlando during the "Mardi Gras" event. The radio commercial about this event insisted that there would be a fabulous parade rivaling the "real" ones (which any traveler knows are along the Gulf Coast between Mobile and New Orleans); and the parade would be followed by a concert. Now I am a rather "fluffy" woman in my 50's and with a touch of arthritis. I take a folding chair everywhere, just in case I need it. The chair was not allowed into the park under any circumstances. That was the first red flag indicating that this might not be my best experience. Less than five minutes after getting back from putting the chair in the car, I was ... read more

Geo: 28.5377, -81.3774Great day out.The most amazing thing is the Saturn V its extraordinary.So much facts and figures and stories about the individual astronauts which was very interesting. By far the bravest, were the ones that offered to go on the next mission after 3 failed attempts.Sadly the take off pads were unavailable as they had been damaged by the storm.Saw 2 aliigators and 2 bald eagles:) ... read more