meinen Reisen MY TRAVELS mijn reizen mes voyages meus cursos mis viajes minhas viagens mo taisteal mine rejser mina resor i miei viaggi

I went to Epcot again. I got pins for a Canadian delegation I hosted on Monday and Tuesday. The pins celebrate 150 years of Canada’s confederation. I also went to Sweet Tomatoes and I saw another performance of some Broadway singers.

I hosted a delegation from the province of Quebec on Monday and Tuesday, the 30th and 31st.

Here is the end video:

I am working on creating an animated educational trade series with a colleague of mine.

A federal organization wants to take him over (which I have worked on a lot) which is a compliment, but it is not right, so I am still in negotiations. I can’t show the entire video here yet.

But I just wanted to show you what I am working on……..

On Thursday, we volunteered for the 5k. We woke up around 2:45 a.m. and volunteered until 8  a.m. We were right near China in Epcot passing out water near the half-way point.

We ate lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. Later, we went to the Expo as the line was too long the day before. Then, we went to Epcot and rode Soarin’, saw the Pixar short movies, and went on Spaceship Earth. We ate at the French quick service before returning back to Pop Century to sleep for our next shift.

On Friday (yesterday), we woke up early again and volunteered for the 10k. We were near the Dueling Pianos area near Boardwalk. I was cold and tired throughout the morning. It wasn’t overly fun.

We went to Caribbean Beach hotel and I had planned on eating at Old Port Royale, but we decided to go to French Quarter instead. It was fun to be at Caribbean Beach as we stayed there first in 1989.

French Quarter was really fun. It has just been refurbished. I knew most of the full-time people AND they still remembered me. It has been 4 years, so I didn’t know if they would. I really had fun talking to them.

Afterwards, we went to Hollywood Studios. We went to the Frozen Sing-A-Long, rode Start Tours, and rode Toy Story Mid-Way Mania one last time.

As we were waiting for the Star Wars fireworks, we found out the half-marathon was cancelled due to potential lightning. We have various options including two park hoppers, race deferral, or a gift card with the cost of the race on it. We probably will just defer it to next year. The good news is that we were able to sleep in this morning and we can go pick up our medal this afternoon.

We are going volunteer for the marathon tomorrow where the temperature is going to be around 30 to 40 degrees.

We woke up to the sound of cheering this morning. Runners decided to run the path between Pop Century and Art of Animation, so people were cheering for them. People donated water, powerade, and other items for the runners to have at the finish line. I would say about 100 people were running and running all 13.1 miles. A little kid was dressed as Stitch and became a character stop. It was slightly ridiculous, but slightly dedicated and disciplined. Andrea donated actual snack pack cheese (which is a prized item).

We decided to go eat breakfast at Art of Animation. I had the vegetarian sandwich. I don’t know what was in it, but it was really good. Afterwards, we went to Epcot and rode Soarin’, saw the movie in the United States, and got some pictures with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy.

Afterwards, we went to ESPN and picked up our medals which we did not earn. We decided to get two park hoppers good until 2030, so after this weekend, we will have 10 tickets between the two of us. We work hard for them as we are volunteering tomorrow when the temperature will hit 40 which is extremely cold for Florida.

Later, we went to Disney Springs and ate at Earl of Sandwich. We wanted to watch the drone show, but it was also cancelled due to weather. I think due to wind.

On Monday, we drove over to Tampa for the Outback Bowl between the University of Iowa and the University of Florida.

I somewhat know Tampa as I go to the Port sometimes, so I knew IKEA was nearby. We ate breakfast there and shopped around.

We made it to stadium parking around 11 a.m. Coincidentally, we ran into The Villages Iowa Club and the Orlando Iowa Club. Upon entering, we were given Team Coconut Shrimp from the Outback as IOWA was Team Coconut Shrimp. Had they won, we would have received a free coconut shrimp on Tuesday. Since Florida won, everyone in the nation could get a free blooming onion.

Anyways, it was really fun. It was neat to be there and to see the band, etc. The first half was really fun. We had a great view and were able to see all the Florida interceptions and run backs really well. The atmosphere was fun even though they lost by 27 (they are improving as they lost by 29 last year).

Afterwards, we went to Jackson’s Bistro on the waterfront. I thought we would be the only Iowa fans there, but there were a lot staying down there.

Upon returning to Orlando, Andrea and I went to Magic Kingdom. Andrea got into time lapse photography, so we had fun filming different rides (checkout the carousel and teacups).

All in all, it was a really fun day.

Yesterday, we went to Animal Kingdom. We met Dad there and rode the safari and Dinosaur. We ate at Flame Tree BBQ.

Later, we went to Lac Viet Bistro near my house which is supposed to be the best Vietnamese restaurant in Orlando. It really was good. It is about 2 miles from my house, so I will definitely go back. I rarely eat beef, but I knew their beef would be special as I had the equivalent meal at a Vietnamese restaurant in Beijing a few times.

Afterwards, we went to the Amway and watched a Solar Bears hockey game. It was really fun. The game went to sudden death and then, a shootout. After 6 or 7 attempts, the Solar Bears eventually lost, but it was still fun. They had so many shots on goal that we were given a free burrito at Qdoba. I am glad that Dad and Andrea were able to see the stadium and Shaq’s shoe.

New Year’s Day was quite fun at the parks. Lines were short. Toy Story Midway Mania (typically like a 60 to 90 minute wait) had a line between 10 and 20 minutes. We rode it 4 times. We also rode Star Tours. Later, we went to Magic Kingdom. Dad rode the Jingle Cruise (Jungle Cruise at Christmas) and Andrea and I went on Big Thunder. We ate at Pecos Bill’s which is becoming a great deal with our 20% discount. We rode Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and went home.

During the day, we also ate at Pollo Tropical and I had Worms ‘n Dirt at the hotel.

Yesterday, we went to Disney Springs in the morning. Then, we ate lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. Andrea and I went to the outlets. We heard that Magic Kingdom hit capacity early on in the day, so I was slightly worried that we wouldn’t be able to enter Epcot, but we did around 6 p.m. Disney has a special entrance for Annual Passholders which is so nice especially on nights like last night. Epcot is the best on New Year’s Eve. Japan, China, and Italy have special events. One lady on the elevator said that those pavilions were “poppin’” last night. Ha. We rode Soarin’ around 10 p.m. and watched the fireworks in Germany. It is pretty neat to celebrate with the rest of the world and then, celebrate it with Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Make sure to watch the 2 minutes video. It is pretty impressive. (It was quite busy this year, so I don’t know if we had the best view, but it was nice still.) Every exit was blocked returning to the hotel. We were blocked on three different exits. I think driving would be quite hard if it were your first visit here as GPS wouldn’t help. We made it back to our hotel around 1:30 a.m., but I had to take back roads by where I used to live and come in a different entrance.

I really had a good 2016. I don’t know if it can be beat, but I will try.

Happy 2017!!