It might only be the start of November but Christmas comes early to the Walt Disney World Resort. As soon as Food and Wine finished on the 12th the marketplaces were magically removed overnight and replaced with the Christmas decorations and only days later all the music changed to all your favourite Christmas tunes. It feels a bit weird having trees and Christmas music when most days it is 20+ degrees but it all looks very pretty so I can’t really complain.
This week G and I finally got our 1 bedroom apartment and are now residents of Patterson Court. This has its pros and cons. We have a lovely apartment and the walk to the bus stop is shorter than the old walk from 28 but we are a long way from the Commons. So far it hasn’t really been a problem though and it is definitely nicer here than in our old apartment.
With Food & Wine over I finally got 2 days off. The first started with a dash to Disney University to get a replacement debit card from Partners after I somehow managed to lost mine in the move to Patterson. The rest of the day was spent with Kristen, Stacey, Dave and Kieran at Hollywood Studios where we spent the day doing all the rides and the evening seeing the Osborne lights. Unfortunately I forgot my camera but trust me they are beautiful – I will definitely be going back a few more times to enjoy them.
The next day Rich, Stacey and I took Kristen to Universal Studios for the first time. It was really quiet with nothing more than a 20 minute wait. We covered most of the major attractions and I got a lot of photos of Kristen looking super-excited as we took her around the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the rest of the 2 parks. I had to leave fairly early as Dave had bought me a ticket for Mickey’s Verry Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom. I was going to get a cab by myself but the others decided to call it a day early and head back to the Commons which made my cab a little bit cheaper – yay!
Very Merry was amazing, I actually preferred it to Not So Scary. There are less characters but the decoration and the snow on Main Street is unbelievable and the fireworks are pretty spectacular We also got to see the new ‘Celebrate the Magic’ projection show which replaced ‘The Magic, the Memories and You’ – it has some really cool new effects including a holiday section which is just around until January. We spent a good hour or so in one of the dance parties with Woody and Jessie which was a great laugh, by the end of the night there were only about 10 other people in there!
The last few nights I have really just chilled out. I went to ESPN at the boardwalk for Dinner one night and the cinema to see Wreck It Ralph (it’s awesome) the next. I know I have my Food Running coming up next week so I am trying not to tire myself out too much as I know it is going to be a very intense training period ahead and I want to make the most of it.
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On Tuesday and Wednesday I got to spend time with the Disney family. The day was spent at Universal with Geraint, my sister and Debra where we spent all of the time in Harry Potter and the night was spent at Wilderness Lodge with the rest of the gang. We arrived in the late afternoon along with the rain, the evening was basically spent inside the cabin chatting, drinking and listening to Craig on his guitar. It was a fantastic night with some great friends and it really reminded me just how good we have it out here.
Wednesday was Craig’s birthday, everyone who was working left pretty early so Bailey, Craig and I went to Trail’s End for their buffet breakfast where Craig, the Irishman, discovered there is actually such thing as Irish Breakfast Tea. We then took the boat over to the Magic Kingdom to pay there for a few hours. In the evening Craig had booked Narcoosee’s at the Grand Floridian which was another delicious meal where I got to use my Tables in Wonderland discount. It was nice to get all dressed up and go out, we don’t really do that very much out here so it felt pretty special.
On Friday the cold that has been chasing me for a week finally caught up with me and I spent most of the day sleeping in my parents apartment trying to get over the fever I was having. At least it was a week when I didn’t have to work so I guess it happened at the best time. Sam had booked tickets for the Tampa Bay Rays vs Oakland Athletics Baseball on the Saturday. Sam, Lindsay, Amanda and I set out fairly early in the morning to drive to Tropicana Stadium. This was my first baseball game and I really enjoyed it. Lindsay had to explain quite a few of the rules as we went along but this is definitely a sport I could get in to – you get to sit down in an air conditioned stadium and food and drink is easily available plus you don’t have to pay too much attention as they recap everything on the scoreboard- what is not to love?