The Big Enough Umbrella: Last Week In Florida!

Dan's busy week at Microsoft TechEd began. My lazy week doing absolutely nothing began as well! I spent my days reading, surfing the very slow internet, trying to get in touch with my kids in Atlanta and lounging by the pool. The days were hot and sunny, but every afternoon a storm rolled in (usually while I was at the pool), rained for an hour or so, and then rolled out, leaving the air cooler and less humid. In those evenings Dan and I enjoyed the convertible very much!

On one of those evenings we decided spur-of-the-moment to go over to Downtown Disney. I had avoided going there because I figured it was basically just another way for Disney to take my money, but hey -- there was free parking, and we had already eaten dinner, so I thought it would be interesting just to see the place. Turned out I really enjoyed myself.

Dan on the bridge between Pleasure Island and West Side

On calmer evenings this balloon apparently takes people on rides. Tonight, the winds were too high, so
it remained safely on the ground.

Do people who live in Florida still notice the sunsets?

A service dog trying on apparel in the Harley Davidson store.

Sunset and palm trees

We sat for a while and watched a dance party going on beside the water. My girls would have loved it --
and if they had been there, I would have had a good excuse to join in!

We splurged and had a brownie sundae at the Ghirardelli chocolate shop. The staff was working furiously churning out tasty treats.

On Thursday evening we went to the TechEd closing party. They rented out Universal Islands of Adventure for us, so basically they kicked the regular public out of the park at 6:00 pm and bused us in at 7:30. :) Of course it began to rain in the afternoon and was still raining when we walked down to the bus.

Saw this guy on the way to the bus.

Here's me on the bus laughing at the people who had to wait in the rain for the next bus. This was after WE had to wait in the rain for the bus, so you can see I'm a little bedraggled.

When we arrived at the park (a little late because our bus driver took "the scenic route") the rain had stopped. We got free ponchos in case it started up again (it didn't). All the food and drink in the park was free, too. Pretty cool!

After grabbing dinner we decided to ride this Jurassic Park prehistoric ride of some sort, but only after we had waited in line for like 40 minutes did we find out the ride was having mechanical difficulties. D'oh, way to waste time.

So we left Jurassic Park and went to Hogsmeade. Where we waited in line again for like 45 minutes to get into the main Harry Potter ride. Here we are in line, looking up at the towers of Hogwarts.

The Sorting Hat

The ride was fun, but by the time we got out, it was already like 10 pm. I thought having the park to ourselves for four and a half hours would mean we just sailed through all the rides, but nope.

However we got free food and drinks, did I mention that?? Here we are enjoying Butterbeer. (No real beer involved.)

Frozen Butterbeer, Butterbeer on the rocks, and pumpkin juice. We brought the pumpkin juice home for the kids so I cannot speak yet as to how it tastes. :)

After we wandered through the rest of the park, we rode one more ride (and we had to wait in line for 20-30 minutes for that one too). It was the Hulk roller coaster, and it was pretty awesome. By the time we were done, the party was nearly over, so we listened to the band that was playing, and then we caught the bus back to the hotel.

Friday it was time to leave. :(