On to the Disney Parks...

7 February 2022

Ft. Wilderness Campground, Disney World, FL

Marc-  Early start today to pack in the most for our day in the Disney theme parks. Our friends Donna and Frank are here and helped us plan our day using the new digital wizardry created by the Disney people.  There are several tools that allow you fast entry into the Parks and fast entry into the exhibits / rides.  The only slow part was taking three buses to reach our first Park, Hollywood Studios.  We joined up with Donna and Frank who helped guide us to the best Star Wars themed rides and even a Buzz Lightyear ride.  The Star Wars rides were excellent with incredible props.  We went over to the Beach Club Hotel for a relaxing lunch.  Sue and I then headed over to our favorite Park, 

Magic Kingdom, where we had many fun times with Sara and Stephanie.  It was packed with people.  We did a second Buzz Lightyear ride and the Disney History of Progress show before doing the Hall of Presidents.  We saw a parade and stopped at the Main Street Ice Cream Parlor.  Our search for Minnie's "makeover" that we heard about on the news came to an end.  We learned that it has not been rolled out yet.  (What we heard on the news is that Minnie would be wearing a navy pantsuit that was designed by Stella McCartney.)  We did succeed in finding some postcards.  It seems postcards are no longed a big seller at Disney, and they only sell them in pre packed packs of 10.  We saw characters out and about at both parks.  Our next stop was over to the Epcot theme park by bus.  We arrived just as the sun went down in the France section and we watched the Visions of France movie.  We had a wonderful dinner at a French restaurant, Chefs de France,  with Donna & Frank and then topped off the day with the music, water and fireworks show in the Epcot lake.  See our video:  https://youtu.be/cpjhRvPjzwo

Anhinga!

Nasty Evil Empire

Chubacca

Rae

Beach Club Hotel flowers

Beauty and the Beast Castle

Belle

Cinderella's Castle

Princess flower

A study in architecture

Donna and Frank

Who are these out of control kids?

Ft. Wilderness continues...

6 February 2022

Ft. Wilderness Campground, Disney World, FL

Marc-  Our first full day here.  I started out with a three mile jog.  Sue and I then went off to explore the bike trails (highly recommended by Mindy Donnelly) through the village and surrounding forest at nearby Celebration, FL.  Celebration is a Disney created town at the end of World Drive 10 miles away from our campground.  The Town was busy this Sunday due to church services and a street fair / farmer's market in the center.  No problem finding on street parking.  We took to the trails around a few ponds and then into the forest.  The forest trails were elevated on boardwalks some 6 feet above the forest floor.  The tropical vegetation here is dense and included tall pines and wild orange trees.  The architecture here is remarkable for most businesses in art deco style buildings, and much of the single family housing in town seems more New England than Florida.  A few of the larger homes had back yard pools with rather large water slides.

We returned to the camper for a Zoom New York Times Crossword puzzle with the Gilmartin family (great fun).  We wandered in the afternoon visiting the Wilderness Lodge and Disney Springs.

Celebration bike paths.

Wild oranges.

Farmer's Market

Movie Theatre

Celebration Centre

Mickey was here again.

Baths for the hard working Disney horses.

Wilderness Lodge 

Moving North: Journey to Ft. Wilderness / Disney World, Florida

 5 February 2022

Ft. Wilderness Campground, Disney World, FL.

Marc-  We left Pine Island at 08:30 and headed North to Orlando.  All was well until we reached Route 4 after Tampa when a combination of accidents and highway construction caused delays.  We were able to stop at a Costco near the highway to pick up some supplies.  The roads were great once we exited onto the Disney World highways.  We were welcomed at the Ft. Wilderness Campground and assisted with getting our Park passes.  This is one large campground where you never feel crowded.  All sites are well spaced in the tall trees here (Pine and Palm).  Our site is near the swimming pool and activities area.  Sue and I enjoyed playing some ping pong and pool.  We cooked outside and ate at our picnic table.  After dinner we walked over to the village and docks.  The store was closed for the day but a ferry was at the pier to take us over to the Magic Kingdom.  Then we took the Monorail train over to the Grand Floridian Resort to find a few open shops.  I enjoyed the architecture (modeled after the Del Coronado hotel in SanDiego, California.  We tool the walking path back to the Magic Kingdom Docks for our return ferry to Ft. Wilderness.

our campsite

some art in the neighboring campsites

I love cooking on this griddle.

the bird tree

gateway to the Magic Kingdom

the Grand Floridian Hotel

Inside the Grand Floridian Hotel

Excursion to Venice, FL

1 February 2022

Ft. Myers / Pine Island KOA, St. James City, FL

Marc-  Our last morning with 40 degree weather (we hope).  Today we ventured North in Blue, our Silverado truck, to visit our friends Ann and George who live in Venice.  The name inspires thoughts of canals in Italy so we stopped and picked up some Italian food for lunch.  Our friends own a beautiful Florida style home in a really nice neighborhood.  We enjoyed getting a tour of the town including seeing the Inlet from the Gulf of Mexico, port facilities, parts of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, the Venice Beach Pier and the historic downtown.  The whole area is alive and well with many shops and restaurants.

Our visit to the Venice Pier.

Sunset over cattle ranch in the outskirts of Venice.

The view behind our campsite (palm tree nursery).

Campground turtles.

A campground wood stork takes flight.

A local anhinga showing off his plumage.

Campground Palm tree showing off.