BigBadBob's Blog

This blog is coming to you live from Epcot, where we are awaiting the nightly fireworks display. Its pretty crowded but we found a nice grassy hill to lie on and wait for the show to start.

So today was a fun day at Sea World. We got there pretty early before it opened, so we were the first ones in. I rushed to this new coaster they have called “Manta” which you ride in while technically lying down. Its similar to the Superman ride at Six Flags. Shell chickened out but got a picture of me as I was going up the first ramp.

There were plenty of shows to see. We saw the big Shamu show, a dolphin show, a cat and dog show, and a sea lion show. There were also other fun things to do. I paid $10 so Shell could get eight fish heads and feed them to some stingrays. I originally bought four, but had to get another four when she wasted them by trying to shove them down the rays gills instead of their mouths (which are on their stomachs). There was also a neat ride kind of like Splash Mountain except you get a lot more wet…including your feet. For some reason the boats take in pools of water so all of a sudden your socks and shoes are sunk and soaking.

There were also plenty of animals to see including manateees, belugas, crocodiles, penguins, a polar bear, and more. The food was a lot cheesier than Disney, but we survived. The worst part was at the end of the day, when our shuttle back to the resort didn’t come and it took them almost an hour to get one there.

After Sea World we stopped at the hotel to change out of our salty wet clothes since they were covered in splashes from sting rays and dolphins. We then hopped the bus to Epcot for dinner at Tokyo Dining, an obviously Japanese restaurant. Shell had a sushi platter with some new things to try like squid and salmon roe. I had a grilled swordfish filet. Both dinners were excellent.

So we are now 15 minutes away from the fireworks display. We are sad that tonight is our last night, as we return tomorrow night to New York. However, I think we are both ready to come home and see our kitties. While it is our last night, I think the fireworks display will be a great way to end it.

I hope to have pics ready by this weekend.

Today was a pretty good day. We got up a little later and headed to the Magic Kingdom around 10. Unfortunately it was nothing like Sunday, and there were a ton of people and a ton of lines. We ended up going back to our favorites like the Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and Splash Mountain. We had lunch at a basic Mexican restaurant in the park.

After lunch we went and did some more rides we enjoyed most. We didn’t get to do as much since the lines were so much longer, and we had to Fast Pass a couple of rides.Despite the crowds and heat (a rainless, hot day) we still had a great time. We both really enjoy the Magic Kingdom and were glad to hit it up twice while we were here.

For dinner we took to the monorail to the Polynesian Resort to have dinner at Ohana. Ohana is an interesting restaurant in that there is no menu and everything is served family style. They started us off with a loaf of coconut-lime bread, and then a salad with a honey-lime dressing. They then brought out wings, pork dumplings, broccoli, and noodles (kind of like lo mein). Then they came around with skewers of steak, chicken, shrimp, and pork. They also give you a trio of sauces to dunk the meat in. For dessert they bring out a bread pudding topped with vanilla bean ice cream and a banana fosters icing. To top it all off, the cook brought us out a special “celebration” dessert which was a chocolate lava cake smoothered with whipped cream. There was so much food and we didn’t finish anything! So yeah Mom, there was no ham and pineapple to be found!

Along with the food, the servers also get the kids into fun little dances and games. They had the kids do a race where they pushed a coconut across the floor with a broom and also a limbo contest. They also had a maraca parade which they stopped in front of our table so the kids could cheer us, and then they made us kiss in front of the kids, one who mockingly said “oooohhhh!” It was a really fun dinner with a great environment and delicious (and plentiful) food.

After dinner we hopped the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom, and then the bus back to the resort. Tomorrow will be a slow morning, and after lunch we will be going to Downtown Disney for dinner.

We had a very busy day today at the Magic Kingdom. We jumped on the bus and got there a little after nine. For some reason, the park was empty, so from 9 til about 12ish we had less than 10 minute waits for rides, some of them in under 5 minutes or with no waits at all. So by the time we ate lunch at 11:30 we had breezed through Adventure Land, Frontier Land,and Liberty Square. We had almost no lines for a lot of the bigger rides like Splash Mountain, Runaway Train, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion.

I think today was the first day we’ve been here that it didn’t rain. But you better believe it was a pretty hot day, even before noon. We just grabbed a burger for lunch, since the Magic Kingdom is kind of lame with lunches, and then jumped back into the rides. It was from here on out that the lines started, but they weren’t so bad. Our longest wait was probably about 40minutes for Peter Pan. All of the other rides the rest of the day were probably under 20 minutes. In fact, we didn’t need to Fast Pass anything today, something we did a lot of at Hollywood Studios. So we were able to hit Space Mountain and all the other rides in no time.

We had dinner reservations at Tonys for 6pm.Tony’s is an Italian restaurant that is based around the big Italian guy from “Lady & the Tramp.” Anywho, by 5ish we had gotten on all the rides we wanted to at the park, so we just shopped around until dinner time.Dinner was good, but fast. We both had pasta diavola…I have no idea if I’m spelling it right. It is an Italian dish I love which is pasta and seafood in a spicy tomato sauce. This one was not as spicy, but there was a lot of seafood, including salmon, calamari, shrimp, clams, and mussels. For dessert Shell got a pistachio creme bruelle which was good. I went for spumoni which was very excellent, and probably the best I ever had.

After dinner we went back into the park for an hour and hung out, and around 8 we started heading back to the center of the Magic Kingdom since there was an “electric parade” starting at 9. The place was packed with people and it got extremely uncomfortable, but it was totally worth it. They shut off most of the park’s lights and then a parade starts with all the characters and floats decked put in lights, making them easy to see and very colorful.They were based on Disney movies, so they had floats for Peter Pan, Snow White, Cinderella, Pete’s Dragon, and more. After the parade we grabbed some ice cream and then headed back, because at 10 there was a huge fireworks display. The fireworks were huge and beautiful, and it was a great way to end the night.

After the fireworks we headed back to the hotel. It didn’t take long to catch a bus, but it was still cramped, and once again the bus driver made our stop the last one. After we got to the room Shell passed out and I took a quick dip in the pool to soak my feet and get some of the dirt and grime of the day off. Tomorrow, our biggest concern is doing some laundry, and that’s about it that we have planned til dinner. We need a nice, slow day to recover from almost 14 hours of Magic Kingdom madness.

Today started out as a easy day, but we did end up going out to the parks. We started with a semi-late morning (going out for breakfast by 8). After that we spent about an hour relaxing in the pool. After getting showered and hanging out, we ate lunch(I had a huge cold cut sandwich that looked like a Dagwood and Shell had an impressive meatball sub) and then headed down to the docks.
There were some boat rentals available to take out on the resorts three interconnected lakes. We were going to take a small speedboat, but we both couldn’t fit in it. Instead we took out a giant 10-man party boat…with just the two of us. We took turns driving the boat and had a lot of fun. Neither of us ever imagined that we would be piloting a boat ourselves! We also stopped at the shops and picked up postcards, so be expecting them soon.

After the boat ride we came back to the room and then headed over to Epcot. We got most of the park done today actually (at least the stuff that interested us.) There was a huge aquarium there too which had some bigger animals like manatees, dolphins, sea turtles and sharks.While we were there we experienced a huge thunderstorm, but we got inside quick enough, and by the time we were finshed in the building the storm had passed. We also spent time walking through the little country sections in Epcot. I succeeded in stopping Shell from buying too much Italian stuff, but she did buy a Mickey Mouse Italian car antenna topper.

For dinner we went to Les Chefs de France, which is obviously a French restaurant. It was definitely French, from the French servers to the snooty hostess. The food was ridiculously tasty though. We shared a bowl of lobster bisque which we dipped our baguette in. For dinner Shell had beef shortribs and pasta, which was very tender and tasty. I went for the duck which came with potato gratin and greenbeans. For dessert Shell had a delicious creme brulle and had an apple caramel crepe.

After dinner we headed out of the park and went back to the hotel. We jumped in the pool for a bit before retiring for the night. Tomorrow we are going to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios) and I’m looking forward to finally experiencing the Tower of Terror.

First off, I know I swore I wouldn’t do this. However, we will be doing so much that I don’t want to forget everything. Thus each day, I will be writing a quick blog to share what we did. I won’t be sharing this via Facebook or Twitter, so its only for those who really care (mainly family and friends).

Our first day was a late one. Due to thunderstorms, our plane was delayed. By the time we got to Orlando, hopped a bus to the Caribbean Beach Resort, and checked into our room, it was almost 8. We ventured out to the food court for dinner which was awesome. I got a mojo pork roast with mashed potato and plantains and Shell got a roasted chicken with mac & cheese and plantains.Our dinner consisted of the dinner, any drink, and any dessert we each wanted, so we got an order of fruit and one of cheesecake.However, by the time I finished writing this, Shell had finished the entire carrot cake by herself. But that didn’t stop her from stealing a grape and cantalope too.

By the time we got back from dinner our bags had arrived from the airport. We changed into our bathing suits and hit the pool which was deserted and warm. As we started enjoying a fireworks display from Epcot, it started to thunder and lightning so we left.

The resort is beautiful with a Caribbean-jungle/beach atmosphere. Our room is located in the “Jamacia” area and the staff are ridiculously funny. When we first got to our room we had a voicemail from Mickey and Minnie congratulating us on our marriage and wishing us to live “happily ever after.”