So we packed up the van on Friday morning, the day after Christmas, and headed down the road to Florida. We stopped overnight in South Carolina. On Saturday, we swung into St Augustine for lunch at a local fish restaurant. Tom is not a fan of beach towns(too many people). It was certainly crowded with tourists. Imagine that!
We arrived in Orlando in the late afternoon and headed to Sea World. They are celebrating their 50th anniversary. We have season tickets, so we usually stop in for the shows and a few rides. I had fun feeding the sting rays. We also enjoyed the Holiday Shamu show, although we are slowly losing our perks as Platinum members. No premium seating anymore. It is no longer a Busch property and the new management is definitely all about making money. We especially miss the free beer! But we enjoyed our stop over.
On Sunday we headed into DisneyWorld. We especially wanted to ride the new Snow White Mine Ride. We picked up a few Fast Passes via a cell phone app. We knew it was going to be a busy day since our Fast Passes weren't available until 11pm! And we did not get a Fast Pass for the Mine Ride. We stood in line about 1.5 hrs for that ride. But it was fun and we enjoyed it together. And it was new. Other new things we tried-A Park Hopper Ticket. We had never done this before. There is plenty to do in one park, but Tom really wanted to stop into Epcot Center to try the new Test Track ride and have dinner in Germany. We also wanted to see the Christmas Candlelight concert hosted by Steven Chapman Curtis(a religious pop singer that Allison especially enjoyed). So we spent a few hours at Disney, then hopped the monorail to the parking lot, the monorail to Epcot's parking lot, and enjoyed a few rides before attending the concert. The new Test Track ride sponsored by Chevrolet has some new concept cars(look like Segways with covers). Also, before the ride, you design your own car on touch screen computers. Allison came up with a high performance vehicle, Scott went for power with a plasma engine. Our test car hit 68mph on the outdoor track. Very wild in a small, open car! Then we enjoyed the beautiful rendition of the Nativity with the Disney Orchestra and choir, along with guest High School choirs from all over the US. They sang lots of church songs like "O Little Town of Bethlehem" with Steven narrating the birth of Christ. Very well done. I guess Walt Disney always had a Candlelight procession in his park at Christmas time, so we caught another Disney tradition. Meanwhile, the restuarants were all packed, so we settled on Chinese rice bowls since we were so hungry. But we did get a taste of German Holiday with Gingerbread cookies. And Tom was excited to see Starbucks has partnered with Disney and has a huge coffee shop in each of its parks. We could have used a Fast Pass there too! We then headed back to The Magic Kingdom to ride all our favorites-Pirates, Haunted House, and use our Fast Passes. Our timing was off though and Allison and I missed the Christmas parade and Electrical parade. I had enough walking, standing and riding by midnite! While Tom and the kids rode Space Mountain, I watched the incredible laser light Disney cartoon show displayed on the castle. We all met up and headed out of the park around 1230am. It was open until 1am, but we did not want to get caught up in the crowds leaving the park. We had stayed at a Hampton Inn hotel south of the park, so no Disney bus ride back. I noticed the park stayed open until 2am on New Year's Eve. I think Disney should go 24hrs!
On Sunday, we headed down to the Gulf coast and Venice. We stopped into Downtown Disney first for some Ghiradelli hot chocolate and souvenir shopping. Disney has decided to revamp that area and are busy building new housing, shops and restaurants. We parked in a recently opened parking garage. The place looks like Las Vegas! Unfortunately, Disney downsized their souvenir shops, so we did not have as much to look at this time. The kids were busy trying to spend their Disney gift cards and found some cute tshirts, hats and pins for Allison's collection. Plus she swapped a Disney pin with a salesperson(the thing to do with pins). We arrived in the afternoon in Venice in time for dinner with Tom's parents and a walk around their park to look at the Christmas lights.
On Tuesday I had an appointment to visit my parent's house in nearby Nokomis. I brought along a realtor to get an idea of the value of the lot and house. I met with the property manager, and the current renter and his son. Very interesting. The house needs a lot of work, but was bigger than I remembered. We have not been in the house in about 30 yrs. As it was getting quite warm, I then took the kids down to the Nokomis beach while Tom and his Dad made a trip to Costco. This was the first time I have seen it so foggy at the beach. You could barely see the ocean. But it felt much cooler to be down near the water. A break from the muggy heat. We enjoyed looking for sharks teeth and shells, taking a quick dip in the waves(a bit chilly), and playing frisbee. We then met back at the Seitz house for chinese food.
On Weds, New Year's Eve, we awoke to mist and rain. We had lunch with Susan and John, Tom's sister and her husband at their house around the corner from Tom's parents. They have been busy working on remodeling all year. The house is beautiful and lunch was terrific with the addition of chocolate cheesecake baked by Susan using Mom Seitz's recipe. We had hoped to take a bike ride on the newly opened bike trail along the old train tracks across the several bays in the area, but the weather was not cooperating. Instead we all took Susan and John's dog, Gus, to the dog beach. Always an interesting experience. The kids also enjoyed playing with their new cat.
That evening, we all enjoyed dinner out at Rib City. Wonderful BBQ. Thanks Dad! Afterwards, Tom and I joined Tom's parents, along with Allison to attend the community's New Year's Eve dance. Allison was not quite as interested in the old songs(lots of Elvis, ballroom dancing). Grandma and I did get her out on the floor for one dance with Tom, and she did join me for a few line dances. We enjoyed the New Year's moment back at the house with Scott. He was busy finishing up some homework he had over break-a book report and spanish. Plus trying out a few of his new video games. Happy New Year!
We spent New Year's day at Busch Gardens in Tampa. It was much warmer this year than last year and the park was a lot less crowded. We had a great day looking at all the animals in the park, and riding the coasters. We also enjoyed their Christmas show and a new animal act. We spent the night in Tampa at the Embassy suites. Fortunately Tom saves up all his travel points during the year to cover our hotel stays during the trip.
Venice Dog Beach with Susan, John and Gus the dog
On Friday we headed back to Maryland. We arrived home on Saturday evening. Just in time to pick up Cookie from our friends, and for Allison to do her laundry and repack. She was heading back to school on Sunday to take a class during Winter term.
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