Animal Kingdom...here we come!!!

Monday Mom headed to Daytona Beach and we moved to the Sheraton and then to visit with Jeanette and Clancy. We visited all day, walked the grounds around the condo where they were staying and then ended our day with dinner at Fishbones...one of our faves. It was so nice to go slow and get caught up on family and what's going on in each others lives. Thanks for spending your day with us, we truly enjoyed it. We got a good nites rest and headed to Animal Kingdom Tues morning.

The weather was perfect...I had snagged us some fast passes, first one was for the Lion King Show.

Always a great show.....

Our next stop ...Safari Ride..not Africa, but still nice.

She was sitting on an egg...they are huge

Next we strolled through the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail and saw all kinds of cool things

 The Okapi and the yellow Backed Duikar

This is an Okapi...very cool

Interesting facts....

So many fish...he wished he had a pole...

Saw cool birds  as we walked through their area..

Cool...got to see a hippo underwater..he moved quickly, they are great swimmers

More monkeys...

Then it was time to go into the new area ...Pandora the world of Avatar...

The reality of the landscaping was awesome...true Disney style...

We waited to have lunch in the new area at Satu'li Canteen...this was delish and very different. You picked your meat, veggies, and flavor...then it all came in a bowl..YUM!!

We had a fast pass to the new Na'vi River Journey, very similar to "it's a small world" in the Magic Kingdom...but all about Avatar...pretty cool. I did not get fast passes to the new ride Avatar Flight of Passage..the wait was 2-3hrs...not worth it to us, will come back another day. We have been told it's a lot like Soarin' in EPCOT...something for next time.

We spent some time around the Tree of Life...never done that and it's so cool to really see all the carvings.

We took it slow, stopping to see things we'd not seen before or not in a long time...the pop up entertainment is always fun

Before we knew it, it was time for the River of Light show. This is new and they only have one a night. We got in line way ahead of time and then got lucky with a family giving away their VIP passes...their kids thought it was too cold to stay. It was chilly, but we weren't giving up. It was amazing... 

It all started with this woman dancing

In the distance, across the lake, you could see the Tree of Life changing colors as it was showing The Tree of Life Awakenings...

  This was just gorgeous..these floating flowers were awesome..

It was an awesome show...

It was a show like no other....we really enjoyed it...

It ended with a lots of water..

It was just lovely...as we left we stopped at The Tree of Life to watch...Awakenings..

It had been a great day...back the hotel to sleep...tomorrow Hollywood Studios...has been years since we've been there!!

Pro Bowl Day....rainy!!!

So the big day finally came and the rain held off for a while, but it did come...they still had fun.
Starting with a nice brunch..then to the game...including VIP room and transportation to and from

I decided to run errands and watch movies in the hotel room...
Even thee hotel was telling folks not to bother coming out...too funny

They did have fun before the game....and the rain

It was a long but fun day for them. They took showers, we got room service dinner.

The next day, cousin Debbie comes to get Mom, her next vacation is on Daytona Beach and we go visit with Jeanette and Clancy...then head to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.

What a fun weekend...thanks NFL!!!

Disney here we come....

Disney and The Pro Bowl...what a great way to start 2018!!

January started out with a bang, we got started on some fun decorating we'd been holding off on. Brian hung our boat oars, then he and Elaine came back for dinner. Then the next 2 weekends were dinner with different friends and my sister Shea came down to celebrate her birthday and take some pictures for us that we might use as canvases to hang on the walls. We wanted pictures of local places and wildlife....we also went to see the The 3 Redneck Tenors show...they were amazing.

Then the Disney trip came...always a good time

Every year should start out with a trip to Disney....we had a trip planned and Denny got a call from his beloved Falcons offering him (and my Mom, that shares his acct), a 3 day all expense paid trip to The Pro Bowl. They would be the representatives for The Falcons....wow...so he said ..YES and we started planning. As luck would have it, this trip was the same w/e we had planned to go anyway. So we had to get Mom down here and rearrange a few things and we were ready to go. We knew this was for real when this arrived in the mail...he was like a kid at Christmas....

After finalizing a few more things, the big day came...we picked up Mom at the Sarasota airport and headed to Orlando. After a stop at Cracker Barrel we were Pro Bowl Bound.

We were staying in a lovely Hilton. I was along for the ride. While the NFL provided their fun I headed to Disney Springs for some fun of my own....everyone was happy.

Fri evening they had a lovely happy hour that was enough food for dinner...while I happily found a Sushi Bar in the hotel...after they let me have a bit more dinner we all headed to bed, they had to be up early the next day. They were going to ESPN to meet players and then to watch some practice.

No many folks get to this...too cool

Out our window...it was lovely...but a little cloudy

Meanwhile, I headed to Disney Springs and Pro Bowl stuff was everywhere.

I took myself to one of the new restaurants for brunch... The Edison, it was decorated with all things Thomas Edison...was so cool

This was Clothes Hanger Bacon and Deviled Eggs....talk about good.

As the waiter said I was having bacon and eggs for breakfast...YUM

This cool guy came around and did science tricks ....

These short films played on the walls...

 A look at the bar from above..

Right inside the front door

Outside signs...a cool place...will come back for dinner. At night they have entertainment...

After brunch I enjoyed just strolling around..people watching, wandering in and out of shops...so much has and is still changing at Disney Springs it's just fun to wander. I heard this guy playing so I sat and enjoyed for a while. He played several things, even the Conch shell!!

He was good...so fun to just go slow and enjoy.

When Mom and Denny were done with there day doing NFL things they

rode the hotel bus over just in time to see the Pro Bowl NFC Cheerleaders show...

Then we walked around a little and headed to The Boathouse to join Denny's cousins for dinner.

What a great day...tomorrow is the big game and maybe some errands for me, it's supposed to rain..so we'll see what I do.