Greetings from central Florida!

[JESW]

Hello CBers! And greetings from the 14th floor of the Contemporary Resort! It's a beautiful sunny day here and we are off to Blizzard Beach for the first time in a short bit.

We flew in from Boston yesterday on a very bumpy flight! We flew Song and we like the new screens on the back of the seats - you can listen to music or watch tv or play a musical trivia game. I really liked the feature called My Flight where you could get info aboutyour flight such as altitude, speed, miles traveled, etc. So when you are flying over something you can look on the screen and get an idea of where you are.

We are in a room over-looking the pool and the water. We were told by our ta that we would have a MK view but that is not always guaranteed. I was disappointed for about....one minute! We like the view we have and there is lots of activity on the water. Last night we could see the high fireworks from EPCOT.

Last night we checked out the resort a bit and then did the monorail loop - always a favorite. We had 6:00 ps for Chef Mickey's. It was busy but not packed. We were able to see the characters (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Chip & Dale) 2x. Launchpad (from Ducktales) was in the front area but we didn't go near him - I actually had to ask a cm who it was!

Afterwards we headed over to the MK a bit. The first thing we did was ride the train. We just missed one so we had to wait 7 minutes for the next. I got to talk with the cm named Lisa and she was very nice - say hi next time you're there! Wegot off at ToonTown and walked through Minnie's house - we love her "palm" tree. Lines were a bit long for rides so we walked by. We did go on Carousel of Progress - DS9's favorite show. Then off to the TTA! Love that thing! It was real nice at night and we got to see the castle in many different colors. It is not often we see the castle at night so that was a special treat.

BY that time it was close to 9:00 and we were all tired from the very long day. We walked back to the CR and sat in the lounge for a while. We also sat on the balcony and watched all the activity below - lots of buses, cars, lights, the monorail, etc. Back in our room we sat on the balcony to watch the EPCOT fireworks.

The rooms at the CR ARE bigger and the extra space is nice! The balcony is so big we could have a mini DIS meet out there!

Hard to get a feel on the crowds since we weren't in the park for very long. I do know that the MK was open until 11 last night and will also be that late tonight. On monday it goes down to 9:30. Lisa (at the train) said the crowds dropped down after friday. FIngers crossed that we'll be able to get a lot done

My turn for a shower so I am off. Not sure when I will get on again. It's real nice being back among the magic again - feels like "coming home"!

Have a great day everyone....wish you were here!

 

[Towncrier]

If you happen to be in your room around sunset, take a look towards the former Discovery Island. When we stayed in the Contemporary Towers a couple years ago, we saw a dark cloud rise from the island just before sunset. That cloud was a flock of thousands of birds. They fly straight toward the CT and then perch for a moment on the roof before flying off to parts unknown. It was an amazing sight.

We also watched the MK fireworks from the fire escape on the side of the building that faces the MK. I cannot imagine how great Wishes would look from that vantage point.

Have a great time and enjoy the view(s).

 

[Dan Murphy]

Thanks for the update and mental picture making report, Jill. Sounds glorious, sure wish I was there. Ahhhhh, WDW, the magic of it all. Enjoy your day.

 

[grinningghost]

I am SO living vicariously through you right now.

 

[TeresaNJ]

So glad to hear you're having a wonderful time! My daughter is there right now for her Senior Trip, and she called me at 8:55pm last evening as they were getting ready to watch Illuminations. She sounded so happy too! Thanks for letting us vicariously enjoy your trip for a few moments.

 

[JESW]

Back in the room for a bit.. Blizzard Beach was fun and we got there before the lines were too long. That family raft ride is GREAT!! Kids did what they wanted to and we had fun floating around the river at the end ...very relaxing.

Still very sunny and blue skies...it's 1:49 and someone is parasailing out over the lake. This morning we saw a couple different groups of birds gliding in the currents over the tower - looked like fun! At BB we saw severaL groups of teenagers - they weren't acting up or anything, but more groups than we usually see. Buses are running ok - no complaints. We haven't been run over by any strollers and we haven't seen anyone abusing the refillable mugs. Even after a couple of hours at BB the kids want to go to the pool so that is where we are going next. We will keep our eyes out for pool hoppers and run them off if we see any.

The kids are giving us grief about leaving them at the Neverland Club tonight...they can't understand why we would to spend time without them...

We are NOT doing this vacation the commando route, instead, we just want to hang out a lot and take it slow. The kids are driving us crazy in the room now so we are off to the pool. From the balcony we can see some available seats - if they end up with towels on them by the time we get there we will just remove them

Jill

 

[CamColt]

Sounds great! Wish we were all there with you.
Thanks for that tip about "My Flight" on Song. We flew them in Dec and while we had the tvs and music on 1 flight, I didnt realize they had that too. Thats neat! Ill check it out next time.