Journal: Sunday 16th May

Thursday 13th (ctd):

We went to the emerald show on the boat and I won a pendant set :)

It was awesome, they drew my name out of the bag after the first few people pulled out were not present. It's a set of 7 resin hearts in different colours and 2 silver chains.

We went to the Bingo and didn't win anything except $2 cash! It was still really fun though!

In the evening I got thoroughly spoilt because we bought a tanzanite ring for me. I was kind of wanting an emerald ring since we found out the Bahamas/Cruise Ship being duty free has cheap, good quality gemstones. But the decent emeralds were still out of our price range so we decided we would wait. However, tanzanite was introduced to us - it's a cross between sapphire, amethyst and aquamarine in colour, and apparently quite rare. Adrian has me paranoid because he pointed out that all we'd heard about the rarity and exclusivity of this jewel was on NCL or NCL-backed jewellery stores! So now I'm worried it's not even that special! We'll have to check out internet when we get home. [Do not fear, Wikipedia has saved the day!] Anyway, it's pretty - 3 oval cut tanzanite and 4 tiny diamonds on a gold band.
Here's a pic next to Nanna's ruby ring:

  We also went to a 'animal towel-folding' demonstration, which was very fun. There were 3 of the housekeeping staff and they demonstrated how they make the towel animals they leave on your cabin beds. We made some of our own later on:

We went to the farewell show in the evening which was entertaining, some broadway-style singing and dancing, a comedian, some magic and a skit at the end with the cruise staff.

Friday 14th May:
Today we disembarked the ship :( But we were still pretty excited because we were on our way to Disneyworld! So we picked up our rental car and started off.

We started heading to Cape Canaveral because of the shuttle take-off. It was scheduled for 2.20pm and we took the off ramp from the motorway at about 2 I think. However, we hit lots of traffic - I didn't think it would be that busy, because I thought they'd be kind of used to stuff like that over here. Anyway, we came up to a part where people had started parking on the side of the road, so we did so too since it was 2.17pm or so. Adrian ran ahead with the camera and lucky he did, because just as he got to a good viewing spot the shuttle went up. We were quite a way away [I looked on Google maps and we were apparently 17km away] but the view was great and we saw the initial take-off cloud of smoke and the 'wake' through the sky.

It was shuttle "Atlantis"'s last voyage, going to the international space station [later I saw an awesome photo of the shuttle about to dock on the ISS in the Herald]. Anyway it was awesome to see it - the flames were a lot brighter than I expected and the noise was loud too - very rumbly like sustained, heavy thunder.

The video is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_9zfIkMPKY.

So after making our way through the traffic we started toward Orlando and Disneyworld. The traffic was really bad on one of the highways and we kind of got lost because our GPS didn't know where our resort was and we didn't think to write down the address!

But we got here eventually at about 5 or 5.30. We still had some time to spend at Epcot since it wasn't closing till 12 midnight!
(Adrian, once arrived, with Pop Century in the background) :

Here I need to mention our resort, "Pop Century". It was themed on Pop Culture from the 1950s to the 1990s. We were in the '1980s' block - fitting! So we had walkmans, laptops, Pacman and computer stuff. 90s has cellphones and CDs, 70s has yo-yos and foozball and disco stuff, 50s and 60s have bowling pins. It was so awesome! Here are some of the pics we took:

 
The Epcot "ball":

We got there at about 7.30pm and managed to fit in all the rides we wanted to do :) Including Test Track, Mission:Space (awesome simulator - our favourite), Spaceship Earth, Finding Nemo, Soarin' and others. Also we saw a fireworks show.
Scary photo inside the Clam-mobile on the Nemo ride:

Saturday 15th May: Hollywood Studios
Opened early at 8am (with our tickets we got extra "Magic Hours' where the park is only open to people staying at Disney Resorts - means you get through rides much more easily and faster!)

Hollywood Studios was pretty cool - except the Rockin' Rollercoaster was closed for maintenance :( But again, we managed to do everything - Tower of Terror (pretty scary!), Backlot Tram ride, car and motorbike stunt show, Indiana Jones stunt show, Muppet 3D movie (awesome!).

After that we went back to Epcot for a booked dinner at "Coral Reef" near the Nemo ride. It was really good; I had swordfish and Adrian had a steak. Best meal in the US so far!
Dessert at Coral Reef; mmm so good:

Sunday 16th (today): Magic Kingdom
Today was a big one! We had breakfast booked at the renowned "Crystal Palace" at Magic Kingdom so we headed there first. Got there before opening so we got to see the "Welcome Show" above the main gate which was a nice surprise and got me in the mood!

 The breakfast was a buffet and quite nice, but the best thing was we got photos with Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet (we missed Pooh because we wanted to get out into the park!) as they came around the tables.

  Today was awesome:
Frontierland: Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Railroad - the queues were tiny since we were so early!

Adventureland: Pirates of the Caribbean
Tomorrowland (via the Mickey Railroad): Astro-Orbiter (Adrian's knees got rather squished contending with my hips), Space Mountain (yay! I was in the front), Buzz Lightyear (mini spinning coaster), lunch.

Liberty Square: Haunted Mansion, Hall of Presidents with very impressive animatronic presidents show, parade with lots of characters.

Fantasyland: PhilharMagic 3D show (featuring multiple classic Disney theme songs), It's a Small World, Teacups - awesome!, Peter Pan's Flight.

Teacup video is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29i25bc3Y8w

in the line for small world:

By that time it was 4.30ish and the park was closing [later we found out that some 'corporation' had BOOKED OUT the entire park for the remaining 5 hours until normal closing time. Nuts a!] But Animal Kingdom was open until 7 so we took a bus over there. We got to Expedition Everest (coaster) and right up to the front, but then they stopped the ride - there was a storm overhead :( So basically we went to AK for not much! Except to get rather wet on the way back to the bus.
Scenery at AK (with "Everest" in the background):

Tonight we had dinner at Pop Century (our resort).

So I think today has been my favourite so far, because seeing all the characters and doing classic rides like Splash Mountain and the Tea Cups is lots of fun.

Tomorrow the plan is: early breakfast at Pop Century, get to Animal Kingdom for Magic Hour opening at 8am. Lunch reserved at Animal Kingdom. Dinner reserved at Epcot. Back to Magic Kingdom for Magic Hours until 2am!