Disney World

We enjoyed our 2 weeks in the Orlando Thousand Trails RV Park and the 4 days we spent at Disney World.  The weather was sunny and warm - almost too warm for us Northwesterners.  The parks were busy with holiday visitors from around the world.  Quite a few families from Australia and New Zealand and families on Christmas vacation.  There is so much to see and do that there is no way to do it all in 4 days.  We enjoyed the Christmas decorations, shows, parades, and food. Every place we ate the food was good.  We ate at the British Rose & Crown Pub, the German Biergarten Restaurant, Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe and the Crystal Palace. The Crystal Palace was A Buffet with Characters.  So I got hugs from my favorite Disney Characters- Pooh, Eyeore, Piglet and Tigger.  We enjoyed the different holiday parades and shows, especially the Candlelight Processional at Epcot.  It is held nightly at the American Gardens Theatre.  The Christmas story is retold by a celebrity narrator accompanied by a 50-piece orchestra and a mass choir.  Country music singer Trace Adkins was the narrator the night we attended.  Really wonderful performance.  We didn't do too many rides, most were 90+ minutes waiting time.  We did go to Monster, Inc show, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Carribean, Jungle Cruise, road the Disney Train, Paddle boat, People Mover and a few others.  We didn't make it to Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios.....so I guess that means we'll need to come back!  We left this morning and are in Monticello, Florida for the night.  We are on our way to Texas and will be in Schertz, Texas on New Years Eve.  Looking forward to seeing Jeffrey, Gennie, Isabella, Jaime & Gabriel.  I have posted just a few of the hundreds of photos Ray & I took.

 Arriving at the Magic Kingdom on the ferry

 There are so many beautiful Christmas decorations

 Cinderella's Castle

 Lots of Hugs

 Just a couple of the shows

 The Orchestra and mass choirs at the Candlelight Processional

 Trace Adkins

 Holiday fireworks at the Castle

Goodnight Magic Kingdom

Kennedy Space Center

On Sunday we drove over to Kennedy Space Center.  The last time we toured Kennedy Space Center was in 1976.  Lots of changes since then.  We boarded a bus for a tour of the Kennedy Space Center getting off the bus at the Launch Complex 39 Observation Gantry and the Apollo/Saturn V Center.  From the Observation Gantry you get a view of the Launch Pads, Assembly Building, Launch Control Center and Cape Canaveral AFB.  We then went to the Apollo/Saturn V Center.  The tour begins in the Firing Room Theater.  The theater is an authentic representation of the original 1960s, containing the actual consoles NASA used during Apollo.  They took us through a re-creation of the first manned lunar landing mission, Apollo 11.  The centerpiece of the Center is a fully restored Saturn V rocket.  The Apollo center has many interesting displays including samples of moon rock, space suits and Apollo 14 Command module.  Riding the bus back to the visitors center we saw lots of birds, turtle, small alligator and some wild pigs.  At the visitors center we went to the IMAX theatre for a 3-D film on the International Space Station.  Then we walked around the Rocket Garden and the Astronauts Memorial.   Lots to do and see.  A full day of fun.

 Vehicle Assembly Building

 Just a couple of the many wild pigs that live in the area

 Complex 39 Observation Gantry - 60 feet tall.

 View of Launch pad originally constructed for Apollo 

Program Saturn V rockets.  They were modified for 

Space Shuttle launches

 Space Shuttle Explorer, a full scale replica, waiting to be 

put on a barge and taken to Houston, Texas 

Inside the Apollo/Saturn V Center

 Apollo 14 Command Module

 Rocket Garden

 T-38 was used for astronaut training

 Rocket Garden all lit up

All the Christmas lights were turned on as we were leaving

EPCOT

On Friday we spent the day at Epcot.  This is our first visit to Epcot and we had a wonderful day.  We arrived at 10:00 am and left at 7:00 pm.  Didn't get busy until early evening so we didn't have to wait in any long lines.  We did a lot of walking, saw some beautiful sights, had a delicious lunch at the Rose & Crown Pub in United Kingdom, listened to music, took a couple rides and still didn't see everything.  We will be going back to Epcot on Tuesday to have dinner at the Biergarten Restaurant in Germany and go to the Candlelight Processional and stay for the fireworks.

 Mickey & Minnie ready for Christmas

 Beautiful Gardens in Canada

 This is where we had lunch

 Poinsetta Tree

 Ray in Morocco

 American Adventure

Christmas tree at the American Adventure 

 Marie kitten waiting to greet the children

 Spaceship Earth all lit up