Orlando Vacation

Well, I’ve been home from vacation for two weeks now.  I’m just getting around to posting photos and short movie clips of my vacation.  I am carving time out of my crazy life to share the 5 days of relaxation Rich and I took to get us through the next 365 days! LOL! ;)

First let me start by saying that I totally rocked in planning this trip!  It started with the daily e-mails I get from www.spiritair.com.  Check your local airport to see if they fly to your city.  They have a $9 Fare Club that really makes travelling economical. (That is, if you know how to work it!)  Yes, you DO have to pay to check luggage.  Yes, you DO have to pay to pick your seat.  The trick is to bring a carry on and don’t forget the rules of 3 oz. liquid bottles for carry on bags.  We decided to each bring a carry on with clothes, a personal item like my purse and Rich’s camera bag.  And we checked one bag with all of our liquids.  One of our carry on bags was almost empty so we could bring home lots of goodies! 

I joined a “Discovery” Time Share last year so the hotel was covered.  My niece works at Disney and Sea World so there were our “Theme Park” entries.  The most expensive thing we paid for was the rental car.  So the airline tickets were $90.00, taxes & insurance included for the two of us.  $0.00 for lodging and theme parks.  My niece came through with all sorts of discounts for food, merchandise and such.  We could not have done as much as we did without her!  Now, here’s how the trip went:

Day 1: Getting There

Date: Sunday, October 25, 2009

An afternoon flight made getting to the airport a breeze.  Mom and Dad drove us and we decided to get there two 1/2 hours before the flight to see if we could get seats closer to the front due to the fact that my ankle was still in a cast.  This detail worked to our advantage many times during the trip!

We were moved to the front of the plane, got on first AND they asked for volunteers to check their carry on luggage since so many people had some.  Score!

Beautiful Skies!

Great day for flying!  Did I mention that Rich bought me a new camera so that I’d have it for this trip?  Up till now, I’ve been taking pictures with my Blackberry Curve!  FYI, if you are looking for a great pocket camera that takes great Macro pictures and captures color vividly, here’s what I have: 

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS15  12 mega pixels

Driving to the Resort

BTW – Most of my pictures of Rich are usually from this angle!  I love snapping his picture when he’s driving!

Great condo at the Bonnet Creek Resort

The right on Disney Property!  But more on that later… the first thing we did was meet up with old friends!  (at least MY old friends)

Susan kjoniksen chancey

 

I can’t even remember how old we were when we met.  I know that we were really young.  And you know how people come in and out of your life in different stages for some odd reason or another, but in 1977 Susan came back into mine in a big way.

Photo above:  Susan shooting her “air gun” at me from behind the couch in my parents basement in Belford, NJ.   Circa: 1978

Photo below:  Susan and I playing with our “Star Wars Junk” and listening to music in my room in Belford, NJ.    Circa: October 1978

Susan had just spent a bunch of time in Norway with family that lived there.  Mom and Jean (Susan’s Mom) were good friends and it seemed that as soon as Susan got home from Norway, I had an instant friend!

Star Wars was my passion.   I immediately took Susan to the movies to let her in on the phenomenon.  Little did I know the monster that was created that day!  I think she is probably a bigger Star Wars fan than me…which was pretty hard to beat especially then…what can I say, we were 11 years old! 

I guess you could describe our relationship as “inseparable”.  We even told people we were cousins because both of our families are related to the King of Norway.  That’s just a small amount of background to our connection.

We took this photo at her Moving Away Party in my parents basement in Belford, NJ.  circa: December (?) 1981.               (See my Facebook Albums for the entire collection of photos from this party.)

So Susan’s daughter Katrina e-mailed me to see if we would pull off a “surprise” visit while I was in Orlando.  I figured the first night, since it was a Sunday, would be the best night to pull it off.  Well, Susan guessed what was happening about half way to Orlando but it was a great surprise and a nice reunion just the same! 

Here we are 28 years later…

Susan. me, my niece Cynthia and Susan’s daughter Katrina @ Raglan Road, Downtown Disney.  OK, how can it be 28 years later when I’m only 29? ;)

Cynthia and her Uncle Richard 

@ Raglan Road, Downtown Disney.  Dinner was great!  Dessert even better! Bread pudding! The price was great too thanks to Cynthia’s Cast Member Discount! (and so the savings begin! Thanks Cynch!)

It was great seeing Susan and meeting her daughter Katrina.  What a lovely young woman she is.  Getting older, I realize how many friends I’ve lost touch with over the years.  But when you can just pick right back up where you left off, that’s a sign of  true friendship!  I’ve missed out on so much though!

Susan and I plan to stay in each others lives now.  I’ll be back in FL next year and a visit to her in her new home is on the agenda!

Long day! Long, fun night!  We have a big day tomorrow!

 

Day 2: Discovery Cove!              (and a visit with another old friend)      

Date: Monday, October 26, 2009

Cynthia came through again!  I was going to pay full price to SURPRISE Richard with a day at Discovery Cove. (without the dolphin swim)

But when I booked this trip, Cynthia was working at Sea World and we were able to get admission for $39.00 each! Score! (Thank you again Cynch!)

This photo was complimentary with your admission.  They have photographers (and I use that term loosely) all over the park ready to snap a photo of you but the prices they charge is highway robbery!  We bought a refillable diving camera with us..those photos I will post when we get them developed.  So the following pictures are one’s we took OUT of the water!

Rich at the Entrance

It’s a beautiful Paradise!  They only let 1,000 visitors in per day so it beats the hustle and bustle of theme park crowds!  I wanted to start out with a nice, slow, relaxing day with lots of sun and water! Mission Accomplished!

“Fred Flintstone” map!

The only map of the park is this one made from ceramic tiles! 

There are dozens of employees to direct you.  And did I mention that all of your food and beverage is included? Including Beer!

That’s the pavilion for the steel drum band that plays all day long.  It’s in the court yard where you eat breakfast and lunch.  You heard me: breakfast AND lunch…

Beautiful scenery all around! Including all of the flowers!

And of course the people running around in wetsuits! (yes there is a picture of me in my wet suit, and NO you will not be seeing it anytime soon! LOL!

After breakfast, we decided to head to the Aviary before the heat set in.

The Aviary

Discovery Cove has a FANTASTIC aviary!  What’s really cool is that the lazy river that surrounds the whole park goes through the aviary too.

Here are some of my favorite photos:

Some of the most exotic birds I’ve ever seen!  Most came from Asia.

This guy on the right looks like an alien from Star Wars!  Can you hear the Cantina music?

 

Why do birds with such beautiful plumage have such ugly heads? 

Such beautiful coloring! And I love the punk rock hairdos!  We humans are such copy cats.  Check out the “attitude” on this guy!

Most everyone was willing to take food from us.  But this guy below was the exception.

This little guy, who I found out later is in the “tern” family, kept cheeping at me but would not take any food.  Later I learned he wanted to play AND only eats fish!

Video #1:  Playful Tern

One of the lifeguards had three of these guys lined up on his “float” and they were dancing and fetching sticks! Soooo cute!

“Diva”

This little girl was posing for us like crazy.  That’s why they call her Diva!

She matches my house! Brown and Blue!

 

The Coral Reef…

The Coral Reef was AMAZING!!!

I played with a school of fish for 45 minutes.  We swam with sharks and barracuda (with glass separating us

of course!) And the colors and different variety of fish were probably more plentiful than if you went snorkeling in the ocean.

 

(underwater photos to be added later)

 

Swimming with the “Rays”…

Yes, they are Sting Rays. No they do not have barbs!  You are completely safe with these “birds of the sea”.  Feeding them is a lot of fun but don’t forget to tuck your thumb or you will probably 

lose it!  The disappointing part was how shallow the tank was.  I’ve seen footage of people swimming with rays and it looked like they were flying!  In the wild that is very dangerous because they could feel threatened and sting you in the chest.  This is what happened to Steve Irwin (The Crocodile Hunter) and it proved fatal.  Someday we’ll be able to share the ocean with these graceful creatures and not fear them as they fear us.

The rest of our day…

Lunch was good.  We managed to get a piece of real key lime pie for dessert.  We floated around the lazy river for much of the afternoon.  And we even had some interaction with some British Tourists.  It was a lovely day.  But it was not quite over yet…

Rosemary Saunders Morrison a.k.a to me: “Rosie”

Dinner at Wolfgang Puck Cafe’ with an old friend!

It was exactly 30 years ago this Christmas that I met what would become one of my oldest and dearest friends.  She was always a little grown up and I was the forever child, but in our case opposites attracted and out of that came the kind of friendship that time doesn’t change. 

Rosemary came from St. Petersburg not just to see us, but to pick up her son that was going to a concert at the “House of Blues” in Downtown Disney.  It was a coincidence that was great due to the fact that we will celebrate our 30 year friendship this December and probably would not have seen each other.  It was great to reconnect and I’m looking forward to renewing our relationship and making plans to see each other more often.

In 1989 we met on Christmas Day,  like I mentioned, during a visit my mother and I made to some friends who had moved to St. Petersburg, FL from NJ.  Quite by coincidence, we ended up going to Walt Disney World on New Years Eve and I asked “Rosemary” to come with us.  We were 14 so silliness ensued.  Someone had bought one of those colorful lollipops with Mickey on it and we blamed our “silliness” on what was from then on called “Brandy Candy”.  One year later, I returned to FL and once again we went to WDW and of course bought some “brandy candy”.  Below is the photo we took in 1980 in the “Magic Kingdom”.

Brandy Candy in 1980…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rosemary and I @ WDW with Brandy Candy  Circa: December 1980

Brandy Candy in 2009…

Rosemary and I @ WDW w/ Brandy Candy    Circa: October 2009

 

Downtown Disney @ Night…

Shopping for pins…

The Architecture of the Restaurant “Bongos”.

Great first day!  Day two coming next!