In another change from our usual Labor Day Weekend modus operandi, we decided not to go immediately to one of the theme parks this morning. Instead, we walked over the Swan hotel across the waterway from the Boardwalk to grab a light breakfast and from there continued walking to the Fantasia Gardens and Fairways mini-golf course. The Fantasia side is beautifully designed and fun to play, but difficult! The Fairways side looks like a real golf course (and is supposedly even more difficult). The shaded areas of the course were cool, but by the 18th hold the late-summer Florida sun was beating down and we were sufficiently hot and sweaty for the walk back to the Boardwalk.
leisure
Disney Labor Day weekend 2013, Day 1
We got up early this morning and walked (it’s so cool being within walking distance of two parks!) over to Hollywood Studios for the early opening Extra Magic Hour. I’m sensing a pattern with our Saturday morning Disney visits on Labor Day Weekend (laziness? or efficiency? 😉 ) as we immediately got FastPasses for Toy Story Mania, then rode the Aerosmith Rockin’ Roller Coaster (twice!) while the lines were short, and I hit the Tower of Terror by myself (unable to convince my daughter to go on it again).
Heading back to WDW for Labor Day Weekend
It’s been three years since our last Labor Day Weekend trip to Disney so we were excited to hit the road this evening after work and school and get over to Orlando to start our vacation.
We weren’t as lucky as in years past, however, and were delayed on I-4 due to an accident. Our attempt to take the back/side roads to circumvent the jam ended up in just more traffic so even with our early (before 5pm start) we weren’t checked into our hotel (Disney’s Boardwalk Villas) until around 7pm.
After getting settled, we walked over to Epcot and grabbed a light dinner in France. It was raining when we were done, so we fast-walked back to the Boardwalk, avoiding the raindrops as best we could. The weather eventually tapered off so we grabbed some warm drinks from the bakery and a funnel cake and watched what we could see of the Epcot (and Hollywood Studios) fireworks from the Boardwalk before turning in for the night. Extra Magic early morning hours at Hollywood Studios tomorrow morning!
Return to the Animal Kingdom
We spent this past weekend over at Disney as we continue to take full advantage of our annual passes this year. In our continued attempt to check out as many of the resorts as possible, this time we stayed at the Carribean Beach. It was a very nice hotel but due to our short stay and the bad weather we really didn’t get to take advantage of the various amenities (like the pools).
Independence Day Weekend in Cleveland (again!)
The summer vacations continue: although we just saw the Ohio family two weeks ago in Naples this past July 4th weekend we were back in Cleveland (like last year) for my niece’s baptism.
We flew up on the 4th and spent the afternoon picnicking with family before the evening’s fireworks festivities.
We spent Friday at Cedar Point, the best roller coaster amusement park in the world (in my opinion). I hadn’t been there in about 10 years and was looking forward to riding every coaster in the park with my daughter. It rained on and off most of the day, which put a damper (no pun intended) on most of our plans, but eventually the weather cleared up and we managed to hit every ride we wanted to. I had spent the extra cash on a FastLane pass to make sure my daughter and I could get on every coaster (expecting long lines due to the holiday weekend) but I really only had to use it for GateKeeper (the newest coaster at the park) and Top Thrill Dragster (which I went on by myself, and it was fantastic!).
On Saturday, we grabbed lunch at the West Side Market (great falafel from Maha’s) downtown before heading over to Progressive Jacob’s Field to watch the Indians lose (unfortunately) to the Detroit Tigers.
Sunday morning started with mass, followed by my niece’s baptism, and then a barbecue/picnic at a local park to celebrate. After bidding farewell to the family in the late afternoon, we had dinner and “play time” at Dave & Buster’s, someplace else we hadn’t been to in a long time. We had an early flight Monday morning and were back home in time for lunch, another fun holiday weekend in the books.
Family vacation in Naples
It’s summer, and that means summer vacation! We just spent the last week with my immediate family in beautiful Naples, FL.
Everyone started flying in on Tuesday and we drove down from the Tampa Bay Area to Naples that evening. My brother had procured a four bedroom vacation home on a golf course (a perk of his company) where we were all staying together. We spent the first day relaxing around the house, bike riding, barbecuing, swimming in the pool, and we also got to meet my new niece for the first time.
We didn’t spend the entire vacation in the house (although we could have!). We spent one morning at Barefoot Beach, played Safari Mini Golf in Bonita Springs, had dinner at Cafe Luna in downtown Naples and checked out Thursdays on Third, went shopping for souvenirs at Tin City, drove to Miami for a day, and even saw dolphins at the Naples Pier (although sunset was a bust).
Overall, it was a nice, relaxing vacation week with family … and we’re going to see everyone again up in Ohio in two weeks.
Star Wars Weekend at Disney 2013
The last time we went over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekends it was the 30th anniversary of “The Empire Strikes Back.” How appropriate, then, that we were back among the Star Wars faithful this Saturday (also Geek Pride Day and Towel Day) celebrating the 30th anniversary of “Return of the Jedi” (which was released on May 25, 1983).
The park was packed, which we expected, but it’s always fun to see all the Star Wars t-shirts and costumes people wear for the festival weekends. With the acquisition of LucasFilm by Disney last year (and the planned new movies), I expected a lot more “Disneyfication” of the franchise and thus wasn’t surprised at the sheer amount of merchandise and Disney/Star Wars swag available at Darth’s Mall and around the entire park.
The parade/motorcade was pretty much exactly the same: a long phalanx of characters from all of the movies with a health sprinkling of their Disney counterparts (Jedi Mickey, Darth Goofy, Chip & Dale as “chipwoks,” etc.). The special guests were Warwick Davis (Wicket the Ewok), Ray Park (Darth Maul), James Arnold Taylor (the voice of Obi Wan in Clone Wars), Ashley Eckstein (the voice of Ahsoka Tano in Clone Wars), and Jim Cummings (voice of Hondo Ohnaka in Clone Wars). We didn’t see nearly as many wandering characters as last time but my daughter did get to give a Wookie a high-five after the motorcade.
Of course we rode the new Star Tours, which had a relatively short standby line (we got through in 15 minutes!). We missed out on a photo opportunity with R2D2 and C3PO again (they were hidden in Darth’s Mall and by the time we got there we had little time before we had to leave and the line was very long) but did wait in line for a photo opp with a clone trooper and Darth Goofy with storm trooper Donald. In Darth’s Mall they had a LEGO-by-numbers exhibit where you could put together a tiny square of colored LEGOs and then add it to the larger mosaic creating the different “Return of the Jedi” movie posters … pretty cool.
Miami and the Everglades
In what is shaping up to be an annual trip, my daughter and I spent a free weekend in Miami, tagging along with my wife who had business in the area.
Ringing in the New Year … Disney style
We celebrated the arrival of 2013 a little differently this year … with friends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios! It was crazy crowded but definitely a unique experience.
Miniature mania at LEGOLAND Florida
We had friends from Ohio visiting after Christmas who wanted to hit some of the Orlando theme parks during their stay. Their primary target was Disney World, but having younger children they also wanted to scope out LEGOLAND. We had always meant to go check it out, and I had recently received a flyer in the mail about the new Star Wars Miniland grand opening, so we were (I was) more than happy to spend a day at the (relatively) new theme park.