Orlando - October 2014

Doug's MSPA conference was in Orlando this year so we added on a few days to extend our time in the nice weather.

We arrived in Orlando Saturday evening about 5pm, got our car at the airport and drove to the Hilton Grand Vacation Club SeaWorld Resort.  It is in a beautiful setting, with the main building housing the big pool, restaurant, store, and movie theater.  Additionally, there are 10 separate buildings, each with three floors of units.  We were in the Smith House which happened to be the farthest building from the main building.  There was also a pool close to that building. 

Our unit was a one bedroom with a full kitchen and washer/dryer.  It had a screened in patio with a small table and chairs.  The décor was nice and it included a king size bed, Jacuzzi tub, and 2 flat screen TVs.

Once we checked in and got settled we drove out to check out the area.  We ended up at Tony Roma’s for dinner which was a nice treat since they had closed all the WA locations.

Sunday we had breakfast at Waffle House – Doug’s favorite “down south” location.   Our friends Harold and Patti happened to be in town also so we made arrangements to watch the Seahawks game with them at our condo.  After the game (we lost L) we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner, and made plans to go to Epcot the following day.

Epcot was having their annual Food and Wine Festival.  We got to the park at 10:30 after picking up Harold and Patti at their condo.  We tried to get a “fast pass” for a few of the rides that are in the front of the park; however most of the rides we wanted were not available for the “fast pass”.  After seeing the 80-90 minute waits, we decided instead to head to the back of the park where the different “countries” are located.  Each “country” had a booth located at the front of their location and had small bites of different foods and tastes of wine for sale.  Each of us tried different things as we meandered through the countries.  Once we completed that we went back to the rides and were able to go on Soarin' and Mission Space, both of them were fun.  Since Doug tends to have motion sickness he opted out.  It was in the upper 80s so we were all tired and ready to leave about 630 after a full day. 

On our way back to the condo we decided to stop for dinner at TIGF rather than go back out again. 

Tuesday morning we decided to drive over to Cocoa Beach and have lunch on the pier.  The weather was a little overcast but it was a nice one hour drive. There were quite a few people at the beach and it was warm and nice weather.  We ate lunch on the pier at Pelican's Bar and Grill.  After lunch we went to Ron Jon’s Surf Shop – always a fun place with lots of souvenirs for us and the kids.  When we came back to the condo, Doug worked for a while, I went to the pool, and then we decided to just eat dinner at the hotel restaurant which was good.

Wednesday morning Doug had to head to his conference which was in a different hotel, the Sheraton Lake Buena Vista, so I took our things over, got settled then headed over to the little town of Celebration which is a little village built by Disney Development Company in the style of downtown Disney. It no longer belongs to the Disney Corporation.  It's a fun town to visit.  The  Bohemian Hotel would be a fun place to stay if we ever go back.

On Thursday I met up with my cousin Lori Miranda who lives in Fernando Beach on Amelia Island which is in northernmost Florida.  We made arrangements to meet in the nearby town of Winter Park.   What a quaint little town.  We both like museums so we he a great time exploring the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of Modern Art. Among other things the museum had a lot of Tiffany Glass which was amazing to see.  There was even a chapel in the museum with beautiful Tiffany stained glass windows.

We had lunch at Paris Bistro, then stopped in for pastry next door at Le Macaron French Pastries.  It was so fun to meet up with Lori and catch up in person!  We have a lot of shared interests, including genealogy.  We are both working on learning more about our grandparents.  Her father Frank Bryson Smith and my mother Charlotte Roe Smith (Reimer) were siblings.

Thursday evening we attended the Medieval Times Dinner Theatre and Tournament with several others from the conference.  I had never been although there are several others, some in towns we have been to.  Basically it's a dinner theatre with a jousting tournament.  Live action with horses and several jousting "matches" until a final winner is declared. Upon entry we were given a specific place to sit so we knew which knight we were rooting for.    Dinner was a piece of chicken and a rib, corn, roll, potato and some soup.  All served without utensils (but handi-wipes).   It was a fun experience but I can say I've done it and don't need to do it again.

Friday we moved over to yet another hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn Lake Buena Vista where was another small conference Doug was attending.  While we were at that hotel Doug was busy during the day so I spent a little time at the pool and checking out the nearby Orlando Premium Outlet Mall.  They had a Neiman Marcus Last Call store which had a lot of great bargains, especially in the baby department so I was able to pick up a few things for our Grandbaby Hudson.

I spend the day by myself Saturday, then in the evening we went to the Disney Outlet store then back to Tony Roma's for dinner.  Sunday Doug's conference was over around 2pm.  We spent the rest of the day at Downtown Disney.  We had dinner at Splitsville then stopped at the Ghirardelli Shop for a cone.

We had to leave Monday so we packed and headed to the airport.I wouldn't mind going back to Orlando, however it was too hot to do much sight seeing.  I would rather go at a different time of year when it's not so hot.