Before we plunge right into the "Downtown and Downtown Disney" trip report, I think that it would be best to start with a little background. First of all, unlike the other three trip reports you may have read here (if you havent, check out the first 15 pages of this thread) the main reason for the day in Orlando was not to go to Disney and go to the parks, instead this was a museum trip. As I may have mentioned before, Buzz is a big fan of Jim Henson and the Muppets, so when he heard that there would be a traveling Smithsonian exhibit all about Henson and the Muppets in Orlando, he knew we had to check it out. Somehow it all merged into a combination of seeing the museum and a day at Downtown Disney, a part of the World we always mean to go to but with the length of our trips over the past few years, we rarely seem to manage it. Most of the report will be photos from Downtown Disney, but before we get there, here are Buzz and my experiences at Downtown Orlando.
First stop- the Orange County Regional History Center, where the Jim Hensons Fantastic World exhibit was being housed while in Orlando.
There was a number of interesting sculptures of sculptures outside of the museum including this one of what I assume was an alligator wrestler. Once we were inside the museum, we discovered that we had picked a great day to visit. Apparently, as part of an Orlando Art Festival, the museum was free of charge to all visitors. Not only was admission free, but the museum still validated our parking giving us two hours of free parking. And you thought nothing was free in Orlando.
We followed Kermits green flipper prints on the museums floor upstairs to the main exhibit. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside so I dont have any photos to accompany the report, so hopefully this portion wont be too dry. The exhibit itself was set up starting with Hensons early work including cartoons, commercials and TV pilots and continuing through his more well-known projects including The Muppet Show, Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock. Being an exhibit focused around the Muppets, the highlights were, not surprisingly over a dozen puppets, the most famous of which were Bert and Erinie, Rowlf the Dog, the muppets from the Mahna Mahna sketch (pictured on the banner above), Gobo Fraggle and, of course, Kermit the Frog. Along with the Muppets, the exhibit also included a number of sketches by Jim Henson and video of various commercials, films and interviews. It was really interesting to learn more about Jim Henson and it was cool to be able to see puppets that I had grown up watching (and they were bigger than I had imagined). Buzz was pretty much on cloud nine. Hes an armature puppeteer too so seeing the Muppets so up close was a real thrill for him. I enjoyed it too. I have to say, if you even have a casual interest in Henson and the Muppets and will be in Orlando before May 3 and have some extra time, Id definitely recommend checking it out. After it leaves Orlando, it will be continuing its tour to a number of other museums across the country, so who know, it might just be coming to you.
After going through the exhibit, we checked out some of the other exhibits in the museum before heading to Downtown Disney. There was a film being screened about Henson and the Muppets so we saw some of that, and we also checked out a small exhibit on Abraham Lincoln which had a few fascinating artifacts including a letter hand-written by Lincoln to General Grant. Before we were about to leave, Buzz wanted to take a quick look through the Henson exhibit one last time, so while he was doing that, I went outside to take some more photos of the sculptures outside.
Another gator. There were a bunch of them outside. Very Floridian.
This sculpture made to look like vintage postcards was probably my favorite sculpture outside. They give a glimpse at what Orlando was like before Disney came.
A giant guitar sculpture decorated by the Blue Man Group.
A closer look at some of the detail.
After a free morning at the museum, we headed off towards Downtown Disney.
Next chapter: Lunch at the Marketplace and many more photos
I'm just insanely jealous of anyone who stays so near to my happiest place on earth! 
