Vacation

Day 5 – Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney Word, Florida

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We head back for our second day at the Magic Kingdom. We arrive at 8:45 in 38-degree weather, rather cold today as it had been in the high 70’s and low 80’s for the first part of our visit.

Main Street Station

No problem with the security line today and we waltz right into the park. Heading down Main Street we finally come to a stop at the hub. Until the park officially opens at 9:00 we can not proceed any farther into the lands. We are heading to FrontierLand so we stay out in the main hub where there is nice warm sunshine instead of waiting with all the others in the cold shade.

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Day 4 – Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney Word, Florida

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Animal KingdomThis is the farthest park from Saratoga Springs so even though we left earlier today we did not arrive at the park until right at 9:00 AM. This means we were able walked right into the park, until I was randomly singled out to go through the metal detector. Well there was no line and all I had to take out of my pocket was the phone.

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Day 3 Hollywood Studio’s at Walt Disney Word, Florida 

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Well rested we actually get to the park about 8:30 this morning. The gates were open and you could enter the park to explore Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards.

We could not go on the exciting drive thru the streets of LA on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster this trip but this is usually our must see first attraction in this park. Our grandson and granddaughter have just loved this roller coaster ever since they were tall enough to ride it, and this is an attraction that we come back to several times during the day when they are with us. This indoor coaster launches you at 57mph and 4.5g’s in 2.8 seconds as you twist, turn and invert with Aerosmith playing through the speakers. “ROCK ON!!”

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Day 2 Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney Word, Florida

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We are up at 6am to eat breakfast and start our morning routine prior to leaving for the Magic Kingdom. Leaving our room at about 8:30 we walk to the transportation stop and arrived at 9:10 on our Disney Transportation bus to a massive line at security that handles the bus and ferry passengers. We notice the center security line, which services only the monorail passengers, is almost empty so we hightail it over to the center of the park entry and get right into the park.

Entry walkway

Entry walkway

Passing through a crowded Main Street we head straight for the wildest ride in the wilderness “Thunder Mountain”. We have found that if we get to Thunder and Splash Mountains early they are basically a walk on rides and 2 of the high wait time rides are crossed off our list (there was one time we got to stay on Thunder Mountain for another trip as there was nobody else in line, always ask if possible).

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Day 1 EPCOT at Walt Disney Word, Florida

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Day 1 EPCOT at Walt Disney Word, Florida

Spaceship Earth and Monorail

The symbol of EPCOT

DIsney World Bus Transportation

DIsney World Bus Transportation

We arrived right around 9am on the Disney Transportation bus from our 1-bedroom villa at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort to a crowded security checkpoint we had to negotiate before entering the park (bag check and random body metal detector checks).

After passing security we scanned our Magic Bands and head straight for Test Track, a ride that lets you design your vehicle at a computer station and then input into your ride vehicles computer to put it through it’s paces as you hit speeds of up to 65 miles per hour on hills, hairpin turns and straightaways of the ride circuit.

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Grand Canyon Ride 2012

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2008 Honda XR650L

2008 Honda XR650L

Wow this turned out to be a great ride. I want to thank Scott and Tom for getting me off my duff to get out on this adventure. Our inmates for this trip were Tom, from Prescott, who is riding a Honda XR650L, Bill on a Honda 650 XRR, Kim who is riding a Kawasaki 250, Scott on a Yamaha 250WRX, and myself on a Honda XR650L. All of us are moderate to excellent riders (2 of us, Tom and I, raced AMA District 37 desert series), the youngest is pushing 56 (Scott), & Tom broke 70 some time back.

I rode from Orange County, CA, yes on the XRL, to Vidal Junction, CA where I was to meet Tom and continue off road as much as possible to Prescott, AZ.  My ride started early at 4:30 AM and headed over the mountains on Ortega Highway between San Juan Capistrano and Lake Elsinore. It was a cold foggy ride over Ortega with visibility probably at about 50 feet at times. Soaking wet I arrived in Elsinore and stopped at the first place I could get something to eat and go inside to get warm, OH BOY Mac D’s. After breakfast it was still foggy as I followed 2 lane roads to Beaumont where I had to jump on Interstate 10 and slab it till I reached 2 lane Highway 62 thru Joshua Tree 25 miles later.

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France Adventure, Part 20

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10-7-08 Paris, by Jodi

Rue Cler

Rue Cler

A full day to explore Paris, we start with our pastries and milk that we bought at a local patisserie and start our planned walks. On and off the metro all day, going to the specific neighborhoods we wanted to see. Even though the metro saves tons of time getting around, my butt cheeks are sore from all the stairs and walking, he he!

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France Adventure, Part 19

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10-6-08 Disneyland Paris, by Jodi

Picture heavy.

Disney Paris-10Up early, get ready, and go down to Rue Cler to buy patisseries and milk, mmmmm. 3 metro changes to the RER A train and almost an hour later, we are at Disneyland gates right at opening time of 10am.

 

Walt Disney Studios Park

Walt Disney Studios Park

We decide to go into the Walt Disney Studios Park first since we had never been. We ride Tower of Terror, Rock n’ Roller Coaster, see Animagic puppet show, and then walk around and take photos. There is really nothing else to do there that we haven’t done elsewhere, it is such a small park. We have lunch in the food court on their Main Street type movie studio, just burgers and fries but decent.

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France Adventure, Part 18

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10-5-08 – Paris, by Jodi

Today we make sure we are in the dining room at 8:30 to get a jump on our drive into Paris. Kristen once again provides an elegant breakfast, same as yesterday except a different selection of meats and cheeses and she treated us with a small tray with Belgium chocolate bars and nougats. All our being spoiled, piggy breakfasts, come to an end today. We know we buy breakfast on our own from patisseries in Paris.

We check out and profusely thank Kristin for the wonderful stay; she truly made it perfect. So far, we both count Bruges as our favorite town to visit. Today is a bittersweet day. After the 3-½ hour highway/toll drive into Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, we say goodbye to our little car. We enjoyed everything about it – how it drove great, got 55 miles to the gallon, roomy, held all our luggage and other stuff like food and water we stored in the back seat. Drove up to the car return, signed some papers, and got a courtesy ride into the RER train station in the airport.

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