Panama Canal Cruise,
Walt Disney World And Universal Studios
"My impression about the Panama Canal is that the great revolution it is going to introduce in the trade of the world is in the trade between the east and the west coast of the United States."
William Howard Taft
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| Sailing away from San Diego on the Celebrity Infinity |
Sunday, 9 September
Well here we go again. This adventure is a cruise from San Diego to Ft. Lauderdale through the Panama Calal. We left home at noon to be driven to the Cruise Ship. Thanks, Shem and Janice. They dropped us off; an individual took our two suitcases from us and carted them off to join an ever growing stack of luggage. We joined the queue to begin embarkation for the Celebrity cruise ship – Infinity. We Disney lined our way through passport check, security check and finally to check in. We surrendered our credit card and they gave us a magic card that paid for everything on the ship and also was our room key. Then they took a picture of the happy cruisers.
Well here we go again. This adventure is a cruise from San Diego to Ft. Lauderdale through the Panama Calal. We left home at noon to be driven to the Cruise Ship. Thanks, Shem and Janice. They dropped us off; an individual took our two suitcases from us and carted them off to join an ever growing stack of luggage. We joined the queue to begin embarkation for the Celebrity cruise ship – Infinity. We Disney lined our way through passport check, security check and finally to check in. We surrendered our credit card and they gave us a magic card that paid for everything on the ship and also was our room key. Then they took a picture of the happy cruisers.
We bordered the ship, were met at the gangway with a glass
of champagne and then waited for about 45 minutes until the staterooms were
ready. I sat and guarded the carry-on
luggage while Laura wandered about the ship to get a feel for where everything
was located.
When we were cleared to go to the staterooms, I took the
carry-on luggage there and then went to see if I could find Laura. We did find each other in just a short
time. There are 11 decks on the ship but
only 5 of them which have anything of interest.
We returned to the room to see if the rest of our luggage had been
delivered. It had not been delivered. After a while of waiting, we started to think
maybe the guy who took our bags was really a homeless person and now he was
sorting through our belongings to see what would fit him.
Everyone was supposed to be checked in by 3:30 pm and on
board by 4:00 pm. I could see from our
cabin them trying to get the entire luggage loaded in time for the 5:00
sailing. The first shipboard event was
an evacuation drill which was scheduled for 4:30 pm. We dutifully trekked forward and up one deck
to the theater where we were supposed to muster. They scanned our room keys to record that we
had attended since it was mandatory for everyone to attend. Then they called out about 7 cabins that had
not been checked off.
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| San Diego as we sailed away |
Once we had left the end of Point Loma, the marine layer had
set in and it was a bit cool to be outside so we returned to our
stateroom. We are on the third deck,
forward on the starboard side. So we have
pretty convenient access to everything – pool, food and the theatre. Our bags were delivered to our cabin during
our absence, so Laura started hanging up her clothing and getting organized for
our next 14 days on board ship. Then it
was time for dinner. We went up to the
restaurant and shared a table with two couples who were travelling together
from Ohio. It was interesting spending
the evening sharing stories with them.
After dinner, we headed back to the theatre to attend the
evening performance of a comedian, Derrick Cameron. He was pretty entertaining. His main focus was on the difference between
how children are raised today compared to how we were raised. He said we coddle and protect our children so
much that they will not have any stories to tell when they get older. “I was riding my bike, I had my helmet on,
shin pads, elbow pads, long pants and long sleeved shirt and I crashed my bike
but I didn’t get hurt”. Whereas, someone
asks us about a scar, “We were playing catch with a hatchet and I missed”.
Afterwards, we went to the shopping arcade where they were
having a drawing. I went back to the
room to unpack my suitcase while Laura stayed to see if we could win anything
in this drawing.
Then it was time to retire for the evening. We had to set the clocks forward an hour
because ship time was going to change during the night.
Monday, 10 September
It was a good night sleep, gently rocking as the ship
cruised south towards our first destination of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Today is an at-sea day so it will be fairly
relaxing, although there are many things which we can participate in throughout
the day.
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| One of 3 pools onboard |
Laura had plans for the day, first she headed for the pool
for a dip and then to bask in the sun for a while. Then she decided to expand her appreciation
of the arts, so while she was up getting her free glass of champagne and
viewing the art auction, I was reading in our stateroom. She came back and reported that another
passenger had just bid $38K for a Peter Max painting.
At 3pm they had Bingo so we decided to go give that a
chance. It was expensive to play and we
were disappointed when they said that they were only playing 3 games. Our luck was pretty good, two of the three
games we were down to needing only one number to win the game but alas someone
else got the number they needed before ours came up.
Afterwards we returned to our cabin to prepare for the
evenings dinner. This was one of three
dinners that they wished you to dress up to attend. There were men in tuxedos and women in long
gowns but most were dressed a little less formal. The staff was supposed to be watching to see
that everyone was dressed appropriately but I saw a least one man wearing a
polo shirt and shorts.
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| Formal night onboard |
Dinner was good, we were seated at the same table as the
night before but we had different table mates.
It was an enjoyable evening.
After dinner we headed to the theatre to watch Star Factory
which was a musical tribute performed by members of the crew. Besides the singing and dancing, they had a
couple of aerialists who flew through the air performing acrobatics.
In an attempt to get more people into the casino, the ship
had given everyone a $5 credit towards slot play so after the show, we went to
try Laura’s luck. She found a slot
machine that she had played on a previous cruise and had good luck with, so we
staked out our territory. Laura quickly
ran through her $5 credit so I gave her my card and she had a little better
luck in fact at one time she had quadrupled my stake. But alas, when the run was over, I had a
profit of $.30.
The comedian that we had watched last night was having a
late night “for adults only” show at 10:45pm so we decided to attend. It was funny but I did not find anything that
was “for adults only” in the show. The
funniest thing might have been trying to find a non-adult on board the ship, I
would hazard that the median age of the passengers is in the high 60’s.
Afterwards, it was back to the stateroom and to bed before
we turned into pumpkins.
Tuesday, 11 September
Good morning, cruisers. A leisurely breakfast because we did not have to muster until 12pm to leave the ship for our catamaran cruise and snorkeling trip.
Good morning, cruisers. A leisurely breakfast because we did not have to muster until 12pm to leave the ship for our catamaran cruise and snorkeling trip.
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| Us on the boat |
I chose not to go snorkeling, but Laura dove in like the champion she is. She said she saw lots of fish but it did not live up to the snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. After the snorkeling, the crew mixed drinks for us and we ate some fruit, chips and other snacks. We had 45 minutes at the snorkeling site and a 3 hour round trip to get there and back to the ship. It was nice to be out on the water with a warm breeze and a sunny sky. We both used sunscreen but still ended up a little pink.
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After dinner, we went to the 9pm show. It was a Frankie Valle tribute. We questioned how the one guy could hit such high notes. It was a toss-up between underwear that was too tight or he was sucking helium. It was a very lively show and we enjoyed it a lot.
Then it was off to bed to rest up for the next day’s
adventure.
Wednesday, 12 September
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| Ziva Beach Resort, Puerto Vallarta |
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| George enjoying a pina colada |
We boarded the ship right before it was time to leave the
port; we got cleaned up and went off to dinner, once again being assigned to
the same table. Good old Table 161. Tonight we had a couple from San Francisco
and a couple from Vancouver, B.C. as our table mates.
The entertainment tonight was a juggler. We decided to skip that and return to the
room for an early night of it.
Thursday, 13 September
Today is a day at sea so it is very low key. After breakfast, we went up to soak in the
therapy pool and then to lie out and work on developing our skin cancers. One of the challenges on board the ship is to
find two lounge chairs next to each other in the area that you wish to lie. We had a relaxing time laying out basking in
the sun and reading of books.
We went and played Bingo once again. We did not even get close to winning this
time. The up side was that we got two $5
slot credits so it was off to the casino to try our luck there. I let Laura play my $5 credit which she burnt
through in 3 pulls. She had hit the
wrong button and did the maximum bet and of course lost the money just like
that. She had better luck with her $5
credit. She amassed $30 in winnings and
then let them take back $8 of it. So she
cashed out ahead of the game.
We hosted Table 161 at dinner once again. Our table mates were a mother and adult son
from Georgia and an elderly couple from Sonora, CA. After dinner, we went back to the casino to
see if Laura could do any better on the slots.
She managed to play for about a half an hours and only lost $10 more but
on the up side she is still playing with their money.
We went to the 9pm show which was a singer/dancer called
Soloman Jaye. He did a tribute to
Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, John Legend and well as others. He was very entertaining. Since it was still early and tomorrow was
another at sea day so we had no reason to get up early, we went up to the
Constellation Lounge to possibly participate in the “Wedding Games”. We were not one of the three couples chosen
to play which as it turned out was a good thing. It was fun to watch. One of the questions the host asked the wife
was “Your husband has just gotten out of the shower and is standing there in
all his glory. What animal does he
remind you of and why?” One of the
ladies replied, “An elephant”. I told
Laura it was because he was all grey and wrinkled.
Then it was off to bed to rest up for another grueling day
at sea.
Friday, 14 September
So far this trip has not been that exciting. We have visited both places before that the
ship stopped at and frankly, a day at sea is a pretty laid back time. Today was our 2nd sea day, so we spent time
soaking up the sunshine or reading in the shade. That took up most of our day, and then it was
off to dinner. After dinner, we stopped
in one of the lounges and watched “The Battle of the Genders”. They were playing like it was on Wheel of
Fortune and gave points for correct answer.
Most of the questions were names of either songs or movie titles. They then did some charades. The ladies won.
We called it a night since we had to get up early for
breakfast because our tour was leaving the ship at 7:30 in the morning.
Saturday, 15 September
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| vendor |
We were docked at the port city of Puerto Quetzal and then
loaded on buses to take our tour. Our bus ride was scheduled to be a 2.5 hour trip to the
lake. It turned out to be a bit longer
because today was Independence Day for Guatemala. They were celebrating 197 years of
independence from Spain. This meant that
every little town we passed through was having a parade. That and road construction slowed us down.
Our drive took us through sugar cane fields, banana groves,
corn fields, rubber tree plantations and finally to the coffee
plantations. It was very interesting and
Hugo, our tour guide, kept us informed of what we were seeing. When we finally reached the town that was on Lake Atitlan, the parade had the entire highway blocked so we got off the buses and marched in the opposite direction of the parade to reach the boat. It did allow an up close view of the people which was enjoyable.
Once we made our way through the parade and started down to the boat landing, we were under seige by the vendors trying to sell us their wares. At the top of the hill the going price was $5 for the smallest item and by the time we reached the boat, it had been reduced to $1.
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| Lake Atitlan |
The boat ride was an hour long. The lake itself was interesting as it is surrounded by three presently dormant volcanos. In fact the lake itself is the mouth of the volcano which was active then the lava plugged the opening and the resulting hollow was filled with rain water until there was a lake. There are 12 towns around the lake with many Americans living there. Many of them were hippies from the 60’s who left the US because of the Vietnam War.
When we reached the other end of the lake and the town of Panajachel,
we were again accosted by the vendors as we wound our way up to a resort hotel
where we were provided with a very enjoyable buffet lunch. We then had 30 minutes to explore before we
had to reboard the boat for our return trip.
I was disappointed in that I could not find a beer mug to add to my
collection but that is life.
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| girl in the village of Panajachel |
Once on board we got cleaned up for dinner. We had the same table but new table mates;
this time they were a couple from Orlando and another from Delaware. After dinner, we went to the 9pm show which
featured an Illusionist, Ryan Joyce. He
was very entertaining and his tricks were done up close to the audience so you
had an opportunity to see what he was doing.
Although I doubt if anybody figured out how he did them.
After the show, we went to the Casino as they had given
everyone a $5 credit for the slot machines.
Laura has been playing a machine just like the one she played on her
cruise to Cuba. While my $5 credits
evaporated rapidly, she has had good luck and has played for extended periods
of time on their money. She might come
out ahead eventually but at least she has not lost anything yet.
Then it was off to bed to prepare for another day. Like the past few nights we have been
entertained by thunder and lightning.
But it has not prevented us from sleeping.
Sunday, 16 September
Another day at sea, Laura went up to the spa after breakfast
to have a massage. I headed out to the
whirlpool tubs to soak and then lay out on the lounges. At 2pm, there was a matinee where the
illusionist from last night did a show where he hypnotized volunteers from the
audience. Laura and I sat right up front
but did not volunteer. It was fun, we
thought that maybe 3/4ths of the volunteers were really under but the others
were just faking it. Anyway, it was a
hoot.
After the show, there was a lecture on the building of the
Panama Canal which was very interesting.
Then it was down to the stateroom to prepare for the 2nd formal
dinner. While we were dressing the
Captain came on over the speakers and informed us that because of civil unrest
in Costa Rica, we would not be making a port call there. We were a little disappointed but it would
not have been another pin in the map so we could live with it. Instead tomorrow would be another at sea day
and we would have an additional port call in Panama.
When we got up to the restaurant, we were disappointed that
we did not have our usual table and were disappointed that the menu was a
repeat of one that we had just a few days previously. Laura was hoping for Lobster. But she ended up with a steak and I had roast
turkey. Since we were not at our regular
table there was some confusion on getting our bottle of wine for dinner. Twice they brought us the wrong bottles. That was a little annoying. They did bring us a little cake to celebrate
our 51st anniversary but they goofed that up also. The cake said “Happy Birthday”. They also brought the cake after we had
dessert so we were already full. If they
had brought it out instead of asking us what dessert we wanted, it would have
been better. We shared the cake with
several people at our table and everyone seemed to enjoy it. After all, what could be wrong with chocolate
cake?
After dinner, we went down to the theater for the evening
performance of the crew cast. It was a
very fast paced song and dance show.
Then it was back to our nest for a good night’s rest.
Monday, 17 September
Today is our actual anniversary. It doesn’t seem like 51 years have passed
since I stood in front of the altar in the church in White Salmon. They say “Time flies, when you are having
fun.” It must be true.
Since today is another at sea day, we are busy trying to
find different things to do. Laura went
up to learn “How to cook the Perfect Steak”.
I don’t know if that is not a waste of time because she does a pretty
good job already. I think I will head up
to the solarium and find a place to sit and read. After the cooking class, Laura is planning on
attending a lecture on hypnotism. I am a
little afraid that she may learn to totally control me and bend me to her will.
I spent part of the day in our stateroom and then up around
the pool. It was very relaxing; so much
so that I found it hard to keep my eyes open.
Laura also attended a presentation on Oscar’s Men. She also visited the slot machines for a
while. This time her luck turned on her
and the machine retrieved all the ship’s money except 13 cents. Then it was time to head off to dinner. We were able to be seated at our regular
table tonight and two couples whom had been at the table previously joined us
again for dinner. It was a night of
lively conversation.
After dinner, Laura heard the siren call of the slots, she
went to the casino and made a $20 donation to the ship’s coffers. We then attended the evening show which was a
pianist named Antonio Salci. He was
backed up by members of the ship’s orchestra.
The show was entitled “A Concert of Unity”. It was enjoyable and whereas most of the
shows are 45 minutes in length, he gave us an entire hour. He was quite a showman. Then it was time to head for bed to get ready
for our day in port in Panama.
Tuesday, 18 September |
| Having lunch after the cooking class |
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| Modern Skyline - Panama City |
In the Old Town
there were many buildings which were just empty shells but it looked like there
was an active movement of restoring some of them. Another thing of interest was that Panama has
no paper money, they use US bills. They
do have coins for $1, $.50 and $.25.
We stopped in several bars in search for a beer mug/glass
for a local beer but with no luck. So I
have had two strikes so far on advancing my collection. We finally stopped to have a cool Balboa beer
because we were both getting tired and overheated. It was refreshing.  |
| Bar in Panama City |
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| George's new Panama Hat |
It was now getting towards 5pm so we decided to head back to where we were dropped off as they said there would be a 5pm pick up there. About ten minutes before the hour, it started to rain. We took shelter under several umbrellas. The shuttle did not return as scheduled so we hailed a taxi and shared it with another couple. It turned out to be cheaper that the shuttle. It only cost us $15 for the two of us. We were tickled pink. We got back to the port and onto a shuttle for the ship.
We showered and changed clothes then went off to
dinner. After dinner, we attended the
9pm show which was a comedian, Rodney Johnson.
He was pretty funny but Laura saw a couple of women near the front that
were tight jawed over his jokes about how to raise children. Then it was off to sleep to prepare for
another day.
Wednesday, 19 September
Wednesday, 19 September
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| Sailing away from Panama City |
A row boat brings out a set of lines to attach to the boat as it approaches the lock. The lines are attached to the ship and to locomotives called mules. While it looks like the locomotives pull the ship, the ship actually uses its own propulsion. The mules are just to position the ship within the lock.
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The locomotives (or mules) are attached
to the lines on the ship to position it
within the locks
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row boat is going out to attach the lines
to the ship.
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| Our ship entering one of the canals |
Laura entered some of her photos in an onboard photo contest. We will have to see how she does in it. Then it was off to dinner, a stop at the slot machines. Laura almost made up for your losses the other night. We went to the evening show which was a young lady named Tetiana Maria. She sang songs made famous by the likes of Celine Dion, Barbara Streisand and Tina Turner. Then it was off to be to rest for another early morning adventure in Colon, Panama.
Thursday, 20 September
Today, we were in the city of Colon, Panama on the Caribbean
coast. It was founded in 1850 by the
Americans as the Atlantic terminus of the Panama Railroad which was under
construction to meet the demand for a speedy route to California and the gold
rush.
The areas around a shipping port are never prime real estate
at least for people living there. In
Colon it was definitely a slum.
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| Igu |
The first animal we spotted was an iguana resting on a palm
branch. We then spotted in different
locations the three kinds of monkeys that live along the canal. The first one that we saw was a black howler
monkey but it was too far away to get a picture of it. The other two species of monkey were lured
right down to the boat by our guide with bits of banana. No problems like what happened in Brazil
where the monkeys crapped all over the young lady in front of us. These were very polite monkeys.
It was a short tour when we got back to the resort we were
greeted by two turkey vultures who were hoping for a meal. We boarded the bus for our return trip to the
ship. We were handed a sack lunch containing a very dry turkey sandwich, a
banana muffin and a bottle of water. We
were delayed for a short time on our return drive while the local police
cleared an accident where a car had gone off the road on the downhill side of
the road and was sitting there in the jungle.
Our scheduled sailing time was 3:30 pm from Colon, we had a
late start, perhaps because some of the tours did not return on time, who
knows.
We had dinner at our usual table and then went to the evening show. It was a comedian/impressionist. He was alright but it was not the best show we had watched onboard the ship. On our way to the show, we stopped in the casino and Laura added a few more pennies to her winnings. She is almost back to breaking even. We then stopped at the photo display to vote for her pictures in the contest. I did a little lobbying last night but tonight I just pointed out that they should vote and that I thought that pictures 53, 54 & 57 were simply the best of the lot. Then it was off to bed to prepare for our last port call, the pirate city of Cartagena, Columbia. We should have been there on “Talk like a Pirate Day”.
We had dinner at our usual table and then went to the evening show. It was a comedian/impressionist. He was alright but it was not the best show we had watched onboard the ship. On our way to the show, we stopped in the casino and Laura added a few more pennies to her winnings. She is almost back to breaking even. We then stopped at the photo display to vote for her pictures in the contest. I did a little lobbying last night but tonight I just pointed out that they should vote and that I thought that pictures 53, 54 & 57 were simply the best of the lot. Then it was off to bed to prepare for our last port call, the pirate city of Cartagena, Columbia. We should have been there on “Talk like a Pirate Day”.
Friday, 21 September
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| Cartagena, Columbia in the Old Town sectin |
The street vendors were everywhere. They were selling hats, sunglasses,
tablecloths and other items like magnets, bracelets, and fans. There were women dressed in colorful dresses
selling fruit or just offering to pose with you for pictures for a price.
It was very hot inside the city. The streets were narrow; the white buildings
reflected the heat and the walls kept out any breeze. Within a little while both Laura and I had
soaked our shirts and Laura was flushed a bright red. The neatest thing we saw, I thought, was the
home of Sir Francis Drake.
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| Interesting statue in Old Town Cartagena |
During the 30 minutes of “free” time that we had before we
had to meetup for our return to the boat, Laura did some speed shopping to find
something to work as a xmas ornament, she also bought a pair of flip-flops
because the deck up around the pool is really hot. We also found an air-conditioned bar and she
had an ice-cold coke. I had thought
about buying a bottle of coke and putting it in our suitcase so I could
honestly say that I had smuggled coke from Columbia into the US. But at $4.50 a bottle, it didn’t seem like
such a great idea.
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| Old Town Cartagena from our boat |
We got back to the stateroom, showered and washed out our
sweaty shirts before we lay down for a little rest. The combination of heat and rum punch made
that seem like a great idea.
Laura went back up to the casino before dinner and managed
to lose all but $10 of her money. She
had been on the plus side of the equation but the gambling gods chose not to
smile upon her. We went off to dinner
and were seated at our regular table but after 20 minutes with no other guests
coming who wished to share a table, we were moved to a table for two. We had almost finished our dinner when they
finally seated people at our table.
Maybe we will be luckier tomorrow night.
We went back to the room via the casino where Laura lost all
but $.18 of her stake. We skipped the
show tonight and returned to our rooms to read.
The seas are a little rougher this evening, several times the ship had
been shaken by a high wave. People are
walking down the halls bouncing from one side of the hall to the other. I think it will just rock me to sleep.
Saturday, 22 September
Another day at sea, we are cruising north through 9 foot
waves and a 35 mph wind. So we are still
rocking and rolling. I think the pool
has about 4 foot waves as it is splashing out onto the deck. Days at sea are pretty laid back. We basked at the pool reading until it was
time to go play Bingo. The prizes were a
little better this time but we did not even come close. Laura did get a $5 credit for the slot
machine which she changed in to zero credit in a very short time. The upside was that we got a free drink.
I wandered about the ship taking some photos before I
collapsed into a chair to soak up the sun.
Tonight was the final dress up night for dinner and they had
lobster as one of the dinner choices.
Laura was in heaven. After
dinner, we stopped in the casino to play the $5 credits that they had placed on
our pass cards. The slot gods turned
their backs on us. So we went to the 9pm
show. It was a medley of Broadway songs
and dances by the ship’s cast. It was
pretty darn good. We did enjoy it very
much.
Sunday, 23 September
Our last day at sea, Laura is about ready to jump overboard
and swim to shore. But I talked her out
of it. We ate breakfast then she went up
to read by the pool. I returned to the
cabin to write on the trip report and then I too went to the pool to bask in
the sun.
Our major excitement for the day was when Laura won at Bingo
this afternoon. She had to split the
prize with another lady but she still got $130.
That made up for two bingo games and her slot machine losses.
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Last night of dinner at table 161
with our waiters
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Now we are off for one last dinner and then to the 9pm
show.
On our way to dinner, we stopped and took a picture of
Derrick who was our stateroom attendant.
We also took a picture of Benjamin and his assistant who served our
dinners for all but one night of the cruise.
Table 161 rules. We then headed
to the theater to watch the last show which featured a comedian. He was alright, not the best we have seen on
the cruise but he kept us laughing.
Now it is off to bed, tomorrow we have to be out of the room
by 8am. So the morning will come early.
Monday, 24 September
Today started off in a rush, we had packed the night before
so it was just to go up for breakfast and then get back to the room, grab our
bags and go to the location where we were supposed to go to depart the
ship. Service in the dining room was a
little slow, but we did vacate our room on time. We departed the ship and caught a shuttle to
Hertz to get our rental. It took a while
because the office was small and only had two agents dealing with
customers. We did get a car and asked
for the GPS so we could get around with a minimum of trouble. That was a joke because as we pulled out of
the Hertz lot, we found that the GPS was programmed in Spanish. So we had to pull over and try to figure out
how to get her to talk in English. There
was no button #1 for English.
Finally we were headed north to Orlando. It was smooth running except that we were on
a toll road so we racked up about $20 in tolls.
The insult to the injury was when the GPS had us get off the toll road
which cost $.50 then told to get back on the toll road going the opposite
direction which cost another $.50. We
went about 5 miles back the way we had come before we had to exit once
again. That exit cost another
$1.50.
We did find the resort and from there found a Hertz drop off
location. After a quick unpacking, we
caught the bus over to Epcot. It is
about 92 degrees and cloudy. During our
visit there were several short episodes of rain but we were lucky and did not
get caught in any of them. The upside of
it raining is that it cooled the area for a short time but it also increased
the humidity.
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| Epcot, and symbols of the Wine and Food Festival |
We wandered into Epcot, stopping to ride “Spaceship Earth”,
after that we went to dinner. It seems
funny to me that we had come all the way to Florida and chose to go to a
Mexican restaurant for dinner. Afterwards
we rode a boat ride through the Mexican scenery.
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| Viking carving |
We then walked around the lake visiting various countries exhibits. I liked the carvings for the Vikings. Then to exit we had to go through the gift shop, naturally. Laura would not buy me a Viking helmet, shirt, sword and shield. I was so depressed for the next 5 minutes. We also went on the "Frozen" ride.
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| Illuminations show |
The show was nice but nothing really great. It was certainly smoky from all the
fireworks. The show started at 9pm and
when it was over we join the exodus for the exit from the park. By 9pm most everything seemed to be closed
up. We hiked for quite a distance to get
to our bus back to the Riverside resort.
It was about a 20 minute ride to the resort. We got off the bus at the wrong stop and
wandered around trying to find our building.
It was dark and signage was lacking.
We finally found our building and got to our room. It was time for a quick shower to rinse the
sweat from our bodies and then to bed.
Tuesday, 25 September
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| Inside the Pandora - River Journey ride |
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| Wall decoration in Tiffins Restaurant |
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| River of Lights show in Animal Kingdom |
After dinner we wandered some more before heading over to
find our priority seating for the show “Rivers of Light”. It was a combination
of projections against water spray, colored lights, laser beams and music. It was fantastic. Again once the show was over we joined the
march to the park exit. I must say that
bigger is not necessarily better. There
is a long walk between everything and it is magnified by the heat.
This time we got off at the main stop at the main building
and stopped in the Country Store for some donuts and OJ for breakfast. Then it was off to the showers once again and
to bed. This time we set an alarm.
Wednesday, 26 September
Off earlier this morning, we headed back to Epcot. We had visited some of the areas Monday night
but wanted to see the closer areas today.
We first went “Soaring”.
It was nice but a little confusing because we jumped all over the
globe. We saw some of the things that we
had seen for real which was exciting.
We took two very exciting rides today. One was the “Mission - Space”. It was very disorienting. When we got off both Laura and I were a little
unsteady on our legs. I think the
shuttle crashing on Mars was my fault because I failed to extend the wings for
landing.
The other ride which we enjoyed was the Test Track. We designed a car and then raced it. It was very exciting particularly when it
left the building and we were really ripping down the track.
We also viewed a showing of Disney short films. Laura really liked “Piper” which was about a
baby sand piper. It was very cute.
Laura stopped for lunch in the Food Fair at a New Zealand
stand. She had some mussels; we had
chocolate desserts at another booth.
We called it an early day and returned to the resort and
took a little nap before going out for dinner at the resorts restaurant. We had a huge BBQ rib dinner with corn on the
cob, fries, cold slaw and corn bread. It
was too much for either of us to eat.
Thursday, 27 September
Today we headed for a land with which we are a little more familiar; we went to the Magic Kingdom. Our first ride was the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We went to the Monster, Inc. show where I was part of the show; we rode the rides through the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. Laura snacked on a frozen banana while I had a pretzel. The park was jumping. So many strollers and people in mobility scooters made you stay really alert as you tried to walk around. We went to Space Mountain which is always fun because Laura forgets how to scream. Everything comes out as an "Eeek". Afterwards we went to Thunder Mountain. That was enough excitement for the day. The heat and humidity were finally catching up with us. We stopped for dinner at Columbia Harbor House for dinner. Laura had a lobster roll and I had the shrimp, fish and chicken nugget dinner. It was alright but not a dining experience like "Tiffins"
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| The castle at the Magic Kingdom |
Today we headed for a land with which we are a little more familiar; we went to the Magic Kingdom. Our first ride was the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We went to the Monster, Inc. show where I was part of the show; we rode the rides through the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. Laura snacked on a frozen banana while I had a pretzel. The park was jumping. So many strollers and people in mobility scooters made you stay really alert as you tried to walk around. We went to Space Mountain which is always fun because Laura forgets how to scream. Everything comes out as an "Eeek". Afterwards we went to Thunder Mountain. That was enough excitement for the day. The heat and humidity were finally catching up with us. We stopped for dinner at Columbia Harbor House for dinner. Laura had a lobster roll and I had the shrimp, fish and chicken nugget dinner. It was alright but not a dining experience like "Tiffins"
We then returned to the resort. While Laura watched the Kavanaugh Hearings, I
went to do some laundry so I would have something to wear the next few days
that was not presoaked in sweat. Then we
repacked as tomorrow morning we move to a hotel connected with Universal
Studios.
Friday, 28 September
We made the transfer to our new hotel by Universal Studios
with no difficulty. We were early so of
course our room was not ready for us. We
waited in the lobby for about 30 minutes when Laura got a text that the room
was now ready. We took our bags up to
the room; we did not even take time to unpack before we headed back down to the
lobby to catch the shuttle bus to the park.
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| Universal Studios |
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A float in a street parade
at Universal Studios
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One half of the park was closing at 5pm for a Halloween event so we hurried over and rode through the Men in Black ride. I outscored Laura on shooting the aliens but we were a pitiful group so they mind wiped us. I’m surprised that I remember that we even went on the ride.
We ventured into Diagon Alley which is “The Wizarding World
of Harry Potter”. We stuck our heads
into many of the shops and then came out and caught the Hogwarts Express which
took us to Hogsmeade which is located in the Island of Adventure. We took the “Harry Potter and the Forbidden
Journey” ride which was exciting. We
were flying with Harry and the gang on our brooms. We also rode the “Flight of the Hippogriff”
which was a roller coaster ride that was not too wild.
We stopped for dinner at The Three Broomsticks. It was alright but the chairs were really
low. I almost felt like I was sitting at
the kid’s table.
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| Me in front of Hogwarts Castle and the Dragon on top of Gringotts Bank |
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| Diagon Alley |
When the ceremony was over, we trekked out of the park. Hogsmeade is at the far back corner of the
Islands of Adventure so it was a very long, slow walk back to catch the bus to
return to the hotel for the night.
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| Hogwarts Castle lit up |
Saturday, 29 September
as opening early and which park had the ride which we wanted to go on first before the crowds got to large. We finally figured it out and got back to Diagon Alley to go on the “Escape from Gringotts. It was a really good ride, so good that Laura went back to ride it again. We went on the “Adventures of Spiderman” which was exciting. There were lots of twists and turns. We took the “Cat in the Hat” ride which was fun but silly.
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We wandered around
through Jurassic Park before we stopped to go to “Poseidon’s Fury” in the Lost
Continent. It was the first show that we
thought was pretty lame but part of that was because our feet were tired and we
had to stand through the entire show behind 6 foot individuals so our viewing
was limited. We did high speed runs through quite a few of the various
gift shops but I could not find anything that I wanted to bring home.
We came back to the hotel about 1:30 to rest. 6 days in the parks had taken its toll on
us. I am sneezing, have a sore throat
and generally feeling a little under the weather. So I medicated myself and took a nap. When we came back to the room, we noticed
that our room had not been serviced yet.
They came at 4pm, we told them to go away that we were fine.
We left the hotel at 6pm to go back to the park for dinner.
We chose to eat at the Chocolate Emporium.
With a name like that how could you go wrong? Since we did not have reservation, we had to
wait about an hour to be seated. The
restaurant is a Steampunk inspired chocolate factory. Dinner was excellent and
we split a chocolate bread pudding for dessert.
We waddled back to catch the bus to return to the hotel. We have to pack up for our return home as the
driver will pick us up at 6:45 am.
So with the exception of our flight home, the trip is
over. We hope you enjoyed accompanying
us on the trip.
George & Laura
From Laura - George wrote this on letters home to family and friends. I would like to make a few comments about the trip. While I did enjoy the trip and am glad we did it, there are some things I would like to mention, for anyone thinking of doing any part of this trip. The cruise was enjoyable, but be prepared for VERY hot humid weather. And if, like me, you need things to do to not be bored, then 8 sea days on a ship are going to be a bit boring for you. I was going stir-crazy about half way through. As for Disney World, I could have skipped that completely. It was hot, humid and all the strollers and electric carts made for crowded walkways. And there was a lot of walking. Also - what is it with taking babies to an amusement park? They are not going to enjoy it. And the adult who has to babysit them while others ride, is also not going to enjoy it. They would both be happier at home. No child under the age of 5, possibly 6, should be taken to any amusement park - in my opinion. The only ride that was really worth going on was the Avatar, Flight of Passage - it was awesome!!! There are other good rides, but they are mostly the same as at Disneyland, and I would rather go there to ride them, as the weather is usually better and things are a little closer together. As for Universal Studios, the rides were very good, some better than others. Loved the Minions. Most of the rides are 3D and inside a building, so you wait in line inside, where it is air conditioned. That alone made it so much better. And if you are a Harry Potter fan, which we are, then Hogwarts is fantastic. The shops, the scenery and yes, the rides are good too. That was worth going to. Laura
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