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 up to Andrea’s the Friday before my birthday and she suggested I fly to Orlando on Monday to celebrate my birthday. We looked it up and the flight was a good price and at a good time.

I arrived later on Monday night. I visited Yanbin’s family and then, I spent the night with Mireya. Both are friends from the MBA program. During my visit, I visited many friends and used my birthday rewards. On Tuesday, I ate at Einstein Bagels and Sweet Tomatoes for free. I met my former boss and a former colleague for lunch at Sweet Tomatoes.

On night, Bev received free Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Tickets. Bev, Rusty (her son), and I arrived at Magic Kingdom around 5 p.m. and ate at Casey’s Corner. I had a plant based hot dog. We rode Big Thunder and Splash Mountain as the wait times were less than 10 minutes. Then, we walked around collecting candy until the parade. We probably received about half a bag’s worth of candy.

The parade and the fireworks were the highlight of the night. The grave diggers shovels spark when they hit the cement in the parade. It is pretty cool. The fireworks are as good at the Fourth of July fireworks. There is also a villain show, but I haven’t seen too many villain-related Disney movies. It was a fun night. When I first went, it was around $35. Today, the early parties start at $80 and are as high as $130.

On Wednesday, I went shopping. I received my free birthday meal at IKEA and IKEA also gave me $15 towards a purchase. I bought this great raccoon night light. His heart beats red. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/luriga-led-night-light-white-raccoon-70424270/

I went to Disney Springs. I can’t remember, but I am sure I got a drink at Coke World. I love that place. I think I had a Cherry Zero Float maybe. For a late lunch, I met Bev and Rusty at another favorite place, Wolfgang Puck Express. And finally, I met Robert at Geyser Springs at Wilderness Lodge, another favorite spot. Wilderness Lodge is my favorite. We saw the water parade and the Magic Kingdom fireworks. I spent the night at Carol’s, a former colleague.

On Thursday, I met a friend for breakfast. Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival opened, but I no longer have a pass and spending $116 to get in alone didn’t seem worth it. I did walk around and I walked over to Hollywood Studios to see if I could see any Star Wars Fans. I didn’t see much. I saw Disney testing the Skyliner which opens in late September. I stopped by Jason’s Deli for a free strawberry shortcake and then, I met Mireya at Hawkers, another favorite place.

Friday morning, I met an old friend at First Watch. Then, I left for the airport. When I arrived back in Cedar Rapids, Andrea and I went to Blackstone for my birthday.

Wow. I saw a lot of friends and I ate too much food. I gained close to 5 to 7 pounds. It was a nice birthday though.

Pete Butteojlsdjfsdigiedg came into town in August. I went to take some pictures. It is always interesting to hear other people’s perspectives. Sometimes you look around and think, “Where did these people come from.” I think they actually come from other political rallies. I see many of the same people (obviously the press) at each of the different events I have attended. I think I probably need to get Warren’s picture still.

Amy came into town for her birthday. She had a party at Pinned It Creations. It was very fun. I would recommend it for a group party. Of course, you probably can find generic signs at Hobby Lobby. I would encourage you to create something personalized that you couldn’t find at a store. Anyway, I had fun.

In late July, we saw Ragbrai go through Burlington. It was slightly anti-climatic, but it was fun while it lasted. They came in and left so quickly and efficiently. It was impressive. We cheered as they came around the hospital.

On the 5th, we decided to take it easy. After sleeping in, we went to Saratoga Springs where we found Worms in Dirt which is my favorite! The rest of the day we just explored Disney Springs (we ate at Wolfgang Puck Express) and other resorts. We ate dinner at the Polynesian and discovered lime dole whip!

On Saturday, we went to all four parks. We started at Magic Kingdom where we rode a few rides including Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Then, we hopped over to Toy Story Mania! at Hollywood Studios. We took the boat to Swan and Dolphin for lunch and walked to Epcot to ride Soarin’ again. For dinner, we went to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and ate falafel at the Mara and had Zebra Domes!! We rode Dinosaur to end the day/ trip.

Although we tried to take it easy and only entered the park on two days, we ended up walking over 37 miles!! It was also pretty hot.

My personal recommendations:

Either stay off-property or stay at a Moderate or Deluxe resort. My dream would be to stay at the Wilderness Lodge, but I am happy off-property with a car. Also, I would visit either during a festival or a race. The Food and Wine Festival has been my favorite, but with the addition of all the food booths to the Flower and Garden Festival, Spring is becoming my favorite time to visit.

On Thursday, we woke up early and went to Animal Kingdom. Last Monday, we found out that our tickets were park hoppers, we were fortunate that we were able to ride Flight of Passage in Pandora. Here is a POV of the ride:

We also went on the safari and the animals were out. We saw all 5 baby giraffes and so many other animals including two elephant brothers playing/ fighting.

We hopped over to Beach Club to refill our mugs before entering Epcot. We saw Chip and Dale and took a picture with them. In Epcot, we saw Mickey, Goofy, and Pluto in Colonial outfits. It was too hot to be out too long, so we took a bus back to the resort.

We came back out for the Voices of Liberty and timed it perfectly to hear the Armed Forces song where previous and current military members stand for their division. It is always cool. We ate salmon bagels at Norway before meeting Bev and her son at Soarin’. Then, we watched the Fourth of July fireworks at Epcot. I would say Magic Kingdom has an overall better show in terms of music and choreography, but Epcot has a bigger blast.

It is sad to see the end of IllumiNations coming on September 30th. I have so many memories of “and in just 30 minutes…” 🙁

Andrea and I decided last week to celebrate the Fourth at Disney World. We found inexpensive flights on Frontier and we found an inexpensive room on property at All-Star Sports Resort. We had two park hoppers remaining from a canceled marathon.

On Tuesday, I met Andrea in Bloomington and we arrived in Orlando around 9:30 p.m. It was bittersweet to be back at an airport with so many memories. I remember delegation lunches there to other meetings, etc.

We boarded the Magical Express. It didn’t take very long and we were at All-Star Sports. We denied opted out of housekeeping and were given a $40 gift card. When we arrived to our room in the tennis section, it was neat that we were able to open our door by holding our phone to the sensor.

On Wednesday, we didn’t have passes or a car, so we went to Disney Springs and walked over to Sweet Tomatoes. Ahhhh…. I love Sweet Tomatoes. It is definitely in the top 10 things I miss. We took an Uber over to the outlets and back to Disney Springs. At night we went to Geyser Point at Wilderness Lodge where we both had bison burgers. Magic Kingdom held their Fourth of July fireworks on the 3rd and 4th, so we were able to hear and see them outside the restaurant. Wednesday was probably my favorite day.

Here are some pictures from my phone (some of my long lens camera already were uploaded onto my phone like the bears):

Here are some pictures from my camera:

Bears:

Photo Grids:

We made it to Grand Teton National Park around 1:30 p.m. We went to Jackson Lake Lodge, Colter Bay, and Jackson. We made it to Victor around 6:00 p.m. The Airbnb is really nice. We went looking for animals and spotted a baby moose. The only car on the road came by right at that moment and scared the baby moose away. I didn’t get a great picture.

Here are just a few pictures from the day:

It probably would be best if we stayed here inside the entire week, but Colter Bay is closer to everything. We went by the tent cabins and no one was there. We saw a lot of snow around today, but in the parks, it isn’t too bad. We saw a low of 42 degrees and a high of 68 degrees today.

I will not post much, if at all, again until June.