Since we were already on the east coast, we decided to go down to Florida and visit Disneyworld. It’s been a while since we’ve been there, so there were some new attractions we haven’t seen or been on, such as Mission: Space at Epcot, Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show at Disney-MGM Studios, and Expedition Everest in the Animal Kingdom.
The first night we were there, it was pouring rain, much like the first night in Manhattan. It rained heavily from the time we arrived at the hotel around 7pm till about 11pm. Normally the weather pattern is it rains during the late afternoon and clears up by dinnertime. No such luck that day.
We stayed at the Grand Floridian Resort, which is a really nice hotel resort. We could easily have stayed on the resort property all day and night, not go to any of the parks, and we still would have enjoyed ourselves. There were 2 swimming pools; one was a big simple pool to swim or to cool off in, while the other pool was more for kids as it had a waterslide and lifeguards. The white sand beach and the volleyball court setup is nice, but because of the hot and humid weather, nobody was there. Maybe people play at night? I guess I’ll have to find out the next time I go there. Our room faced the marina, so we had a great view of the water. The hotel resort is on the monorail line, so it was really convenient to get to the Magic Kingdom. Even nicer was the boat dock right outside our building that had boats going back and forth from the Magic Kingdom!
Our Disney Silver Passes allowed us to get into any of the four parks free, so of course we took advantage of it. The first night, after dinner, we went to the Disney-MGM Studios. We got there around 11pm, but since they were open until 1am that night, we still had plenty of time to ride the Tower of Terror and the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. At least it wasn’t pouring rain when we were there. The other days we went back and forth between the parks. We did take it easy though, as we’d visit the pool back at the hotel during the day to relax a little before walking through the parks again. We generally stayed until the park closed, which was 2am on some days for the Magic Kingdom.
Going back to the weather, on the last full day we were there, we went to the Animal Kingdom to ride Expedition Everest one more time. When we got there, the ride appeared to have broken down. We decided to wait, but then the dark clouds started rolling in. Then we saw lightning and heard thunder, and we knew it was headed our way. The thundar got louder and louder, until the thunderstorm literally passed over us. The lightning was very bright, followed by thunder so loud everyone jumped at the sound of it. The park basically closed every attraction, and almost everyone took shelter from the heavy downpour. The lightning and thundar lasted about an hour, but the rain continued for another 2 hours.
We enjoyed our stay at Disneyworld, and we definitely want to visit the place again in the future. And we’ll most likely stay at, if not the Grand Floridian again, any of the resorts on the monorail line. It made it really convenient to get to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot (buses were available to the other Disney parks and destinations). I should also mention that if you’re going there, and don’t want to spend too much on lodging, go for the resorts classified as moderate by Disney instead of the All-Star value resorts. The reason I say this is because everytime we hopped onto a bus to go between the various Disneyworld destinations, there was always a huge long line for the bus that goes back to the All-Star resorts, with more people waiting in line than could fit into a single bus. I overheard someone mention they had waited almost an hour for the bus to show up to take them back to their hotel room. There’s already long enough lines inside the park for attractions, and the last thing I want to wait for is a ride back to my hotel room!