There are many different reasons that made this year’s Disney Marathon trip a lot of fun.
First of all my mom accompanied me this year. I had never traveled with just her before and we had a great time together.
When planning this years trip I found that airfares into Orlando International where very high. The alternative I found was that we could fly into Tampa and even get a rental car for less that flying into MCO.
Being that we were flying into Tampa, I made plans to have dinner with Bill, a former classmate of mine. After a little confusion getting out of TPA we arrived over at Bill’s After a short visit with his family, he and his wife Julie treated us to dinner at Bonefish Grill. The food was great and Bill and Julie where great hosts during our brief visit.
After dinner we dropped my friends off and we headed off for Orlando. After a wrong turn that took us back into Tampa airport I finally got my bearings and we headed north. The drive was about an hour and a half long and we arrived at Old Key West resort at midnight. We immediately went to sleep. The next day we were up and heading to Animal Kingdom. I never really had time to explore OKW but I can say that unless I could be guaranteed a first floor room, being that they do not have elevators.
First of all my mom accompanied me this year. I had never traveled with just her before and we had a great time together.
When planning this years trip I found that airfares into Orlando International where very high. The alternative I found was that we could fly into Tampa and even get a rental car for less that flying into MCO.
Being that we were flying into Tampa, I made plans to have dinner with Bill, a former classmate of mine. After a little confusion getting out of TPA we arrived over at Bill’s After a short visit with his family, he and his wife Julie treated us to dinner at Bonefish Grill. The food was great and Bill and Julie where great hosts during our brief visit.
After dinner we dropped my friends off and we headed off for Orlando. After a wrong turn that took us back into Tampa airport I finally got my bearings and we headed north. The drive was about an hour and a half long and we arrived at Old Key West resort at midnight. We immediately went to sleep. The next day we were up and heading to Animal Kingdom. I never really had time to explore OKW but I can say that unless I could be guaranteed a first floor room, being that they do not have elevators.
Right from the start mom was getting into the rides as we rode Expedition Everest. In the queue line I sent a text to Matt and discovered that he was right behind us. On this day we hung out with Matt, met up with Deb for awhile and after a great meal at Yak & Yeti met back up with Matt who was now accompanied by Mike F. The four of us rode Kilimanjaro Safari. On the trails after the safari Matt really enjoyed seeing the “Spicy Mice” (actually Spiny Mice but when he said spicy it was LOL funny)
Spiny Mouse Photo found on Google
We left AK around 4:30 to visit the Expo. That went very smooth and after that we drove over to Publix for some groceries. Next we drove over and checked into Bay Lake Tower.
We discovered that check in was over at the Contemporary. Check in was quick, thanks to online check in. We had a twelfth floor lake view studio. The chilly temps (30s) did not seem to bother the three people in the pool or the six people in the whirlpool.
Plans that night had been to see Yeeha Bob over at Port Orleans Riverside but when I noticed that Cinderella’s castle was still in Christmas lights we jumped on the Monorail and arrived at MK just as Wishes began. After that we walked back toward the resort and caught a bus for downtown Disney.
To be continued…
Training:
I think I am getting back in the swing of things when it comes to exercise. Food is just OK. Breakfast and lunch choices are generally good. I did have two mornings this week that found me rushing to work. This resulted in missing breakfast at home. This week I stopped twice to buy a fast food breakfast sandwich with orange juice. I skipped the hash browns. My reasoning (which may be flawed) was that it’s best to have something to eat rather than nothing. Evenings continue to be a challenge because some nights I have trouble fighting the urge to snack.
Still undecided as to if I will be back in October or January. If January I am now seriously thinking about Mickey over Donald. Goofy? No I don’t think so. Mentally (at least at this point) I just can’t see myself doing the two races back to back.
