Disney - Day 7

THROWBACK THURSDAY JAN 22, 2026

December 2013

Links to some other Disney posts:

Day 6

Day 5

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

Birthday Cocktails

Birthday Dinner

Coronado Springs Resort

Animal Kingdom - Festival of the Lion King

Animal Kingdom

Epcot - Canada

Epcot - Germany

Scavenger Hunt

Hollywood Studios - Christmas Lights

Epcot - England

Polynesian Resort

Sadly, all good things must come to and end... Tomorrow we pack up and move our separate ways.
I haven't mentioned that my husband was fighting a valiant battle with a cold that week and was a trouper.

The guys had decided that since it was American Thanksgiving and there was lots of football that they should go over to ESPN Sports (owned by Disney) and we could do what ever we liked. We took the bus over to Epcot where they were told they could pick up a bus to ESPN.
Anyone we asked had varying answers as to how to get there, but clearly no one really knew until someone said it was easy to walk there from Epcot near France.

 

We decided to see if we could get Fastpasses for Soaring as it had been "sold out" all week.

The guys left for ESPN after we made arrangements to meet back for Soarin'.

We headed for some more country hopping beginning in Mexico.

 Then to Norway!

 Time for some fortification in China. It's hard work travelling like this!

WOW Temple of Heaven looked just like the real one!

 And we have to hurry to get back for Soarin'! Where we soar over California, yes, some of us ducked when the golf ball came flying!

Here's a Youtube video of the ride.

Then we visited Living With the Land, a slow moving ride through the Disney greenhouses where they grow much of the food they use. I will write a longer post on this.

Since we've met up with the guys we head back around by Mexico, Norway and China with a stop in China for a snack for the guys.

Dinner time so we have to head over to Downtown Disney and decided to take a water launch there from Epcot. It takes us by Boardwalk where the guys were earlier, then a couple of resorts before we get off at The Swan and Dolphin, another upscale Disney resort where we can pick up a bus to Downtown Disney. I personally wouldn't stay here as it is off the beaten path and the bus makes a few stops at the other resorts in the area. 

However, going around this way makes you realize the multiple transportation choices you have to get around.

Dinner reservations were at Portobello's, Italian and not part of our meal plan. But reservations still recommended.

Throwback Thursday

December 2013 - Las Vegas Nevada

Decorations at Bellagio. Click here for last year's display.

The centerpiece of the display is Las Vegas' largest indoor holiday tree standing at 45-feet tall and weighing 8,000 pounds, hand-picked in Mt. Shasta, Calif. and flown in for the display.

A holiday favorite returns with a family of topiary polar bears adorned with 18,000 snow white carnations. Momma bear will watch over her two cubs as they frolic through the poinsettias and float on an icy pond. In an effort to build awareness about protecting the polar bear’s home, Bellagio will partner with Coca-Cola to promote the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) during this year’s exhibit. Coca-Cola’s goal, in partnership with WWF, is to raise awareness and funds to help create places where polar bears and people can thrive in the Arctic.

Foto Tunes

Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

December 2012 - Arizona

Best Day of my Life - American Authors

I had fun matching up the lyrics. I used photos we took December 2012 in Sedona and Cottonwood.


I had a dream so big and loud

I jumped so high I touched the clouds

Wo-o-o-o-o-oh [x2]




I stretched my hands out to the sky



We danced with monsters through the night

Wo-o-o-o-o-oh [x2]



I'm never gonna look back

Woah, never gonna give it up

No, please don't wake me now







Oo-o-o-o-oo

This is gonna be the best day of my li-ife

My li-i-i-i-i-ife

Oo-o-o-o-oo

This is gonna be the best day of my li-ife

My li-i-i-i-i-ife


I howled at the moon with friends










And then the sun came crashing in

Wo-o-o-o-o-oh [x2]

But all the possibilities

No limits just epiphanies

Wo-o-o-o-o-oh [x2]







I'm never gonna look back

Woah, never gonna give it up

No, just don't wake me now

Oo-o-o-o-oo

This is gonna be the best day of my li-ife

My li-i-i-i-i-ife

Oo-o-o-o-oo

This is gonna be the best day of my li-ife

My li-i-i-i-i-ife

I hear it calling outside my window





I feel it in my soul (soul)

The stars were burning so bright

The sun was out 'til midnight

I say we lose control (control)

This is gonna be the best day of my li-ife

My li-i-i-i-i-ife

Oo-o-o-o-o

This is gonna be the best day of my li-ife

My li-i-i-i-i-ife

This is gonna be, this is gonna be, this is gonna be

The best day of my life

Everything is looking up, everybody up now

This is gonna be the best day of my li-ife

My li-i-i-i-i-ife

Tuesday Treasures

Pictorial Tuesday Tom hosts Tuesday's Treasures.
A repost from March 2013 with additional comments and photos.

March 2013 - Montezuma AZ

We had been here in the pre-digital days of our travels in 2000. This is a photo we took at the time that was framed on our wall for a long time in our house.

Us, on that same trip in Sedona when we woke to a snowstorm and had to shop for some clothes.

Anyway, back to 2013.


Montezuma Castle National Monument, located near Camp Verde, Arizona and features well-preserved cliff-dwellings.

They were built and used by the Pre-Columbian Sinagua people, northern cousins of the Hohokam, around 700 AD. It was occupied from approximately 1125-1400 AD, and occupation peaked around 1300 AD.] Several Hopi clans trace their roots to immigrants from the Montezuma Castle/Beaver Creek area. Clan members periodically return to their former homes for religious ceremonies. When European Americans discovered them in the 1860s, they named them for the Aztec emperor (of Mexico) Montezuma II, due to mistaken beliefs that the emperor had been connected to their construction. The Sinaqua dwelling was abandoned 100 years before Montezuma was born and the Dwellings were not a castle. It was more like a "prehistoric high rise apartment complex.

2000 was the first time that I became aware of these amazing cliff dwellers and have gone on to visit others in the southwest.

This gives a perspective on the size and location that this was built.

They also have a display depicting how they would have lived their daily lives.

About 50 feet west of the main ruin is a much less well preserved complex named Castle B, consisting of a few rudimentary rooms also on several levels.

I love fry bread which we first had in 2000 at the Grand Canyon. Click here for a recipe from the Smithsonian Museum.