Friday, January 4, 2013

Disney Adventure 2

My first night here -- not very restful. Woke up around 4:30 am and just gave up. I wrote the blog below and made some coffee in my room - discovering it wasn't very good coffee.

When the daylight appeared I discovered it was a very foggy morning.

With daylight, I took the time to get my bearings better. My landmark is the kiddy pool area.

I turn here and walk to the bird house and turn left and I'm almost to my room. To get the bus stop for the Grandstand area in which my room is located I walk behind the area. Hey! not lost anymore.

I went to the restaurant area and had a wonderful omelet for breakfast.

I was walking into the Magic Kingdom a bit past 8 AM.

Main Street is still showing some Christmas garland, but decorations are definitely disappearing around Disney. Yesterday there was a tree in the lobby of my resort, this morning it was gone.

I wandered to my favorite ride, Buzz Lightyear. I got a Fast Pass.

Then I had time to enjoy the People Mover ride.

My next stop was the Carousel of Progress show. The show opened originally at the New York World Fair in 1964. Then it was brought to Disney World where it has been playing every since, but has received an update on the end. It presents the same family showing the technology changes over the 20th century.

Here's the opening, right at the turn of the century -- the turn of the 20th century that is. (Note: Preview shows that none of the videos are exactly hi-def, but I hope you enjoy anyway.)

Each scene is based around a holiday. The final scene is modern Christmas.

Even by 21st century standards, the animations in this show are outstanding.

Back to Buzz, where I got another Fast Past and then did a ride.

 In this ride, one shoots the X icon on batteries to earn points.

While on the People Mover I noticed the line for the Speedway was rather short. I have not tried that for years.

Fun by myself -- and maybe this is the first time I've done it alone without a little one who wants to drive.

Back to Buzz again.

My score wasn't very good-- only enough to make me a Ranger 1st Class.

After this ride, I walked over to Fantasyland, by the Mad Tea Cups.

Coffee or maybe lunch was on my mind but the new Fantasyland is just that -- new. I decided to hop on the train and eventually take myself for the Fort Wilderness area to search for some groceries for my room -- the shop at Saratoga is actually not very helpful for this.

The train is real. Walt Disney loved trains and that was one thing he was determined to have at Disney World. If I remember the story right, the old locomotives were found somewhere in South America and excellently  restored. 


Did a whole loop on the train and then got off at Main Street and walked over to the boat area. Took a boat to Wilderness Lodge.

There I found some instant coffee and had lunch in Roaring Forks cafe.

My lack of sleep was bothering me, so I took a bus to Hollywood Studios and from there got a bus back to my resort hotel. Took a nap and felt like a new person! Back then again to Hollywood Studios, but that's a story for another blog post.

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