A Quick Trip to Orlando

On Friday, January 23rd Dave and I headed to Orlando to visit the Orlando Temple and visit with J and Debbie who were headed to Walt Disney World for a few days with their friends the Wrights. It was a quick trip--we got to Orlando late Friday afternoon, went to Animal Kingdom in WDW on Saturday where we met up with J and Debbie in the early afternoon (we spent the entire day in AK--they met up with us as soon as they got in town) and then spent about 1/2 the day with them on Sunday wandering around our hotel complex, playing miniature golf at Fantasia Garden, and visiting the shops of the Disney Marketplace.

Here are a few pictures of our adventures:

The Orlando Temple is so beautiful and peaceful!

It's as pretty at night as it is during the day.

Dave loved the old car parked out front.

Saturday morning Dave and I headed for WDW. J and Debbie were flying in in the late morning and would meet up with us in the early afternoon--thank goodness for cell phones!
We checked into our hotel at Port Orleans-Riverside

The hotel has lots of walkways and waterways
Then we got on the bus and headed to AK

This woman was dressed like a tree and moved fluidly across the walkway to hug the trees she approached. She was absolutely amazing. By the time I had caught on to her, it was too late to video her. Here she is "hugging" a tree--can you see her?

After being completely covered, she slowly "opened"

A close-up--these pictures do no justice to how neat she really was. You could not see her hands or feet. She just looked like a moving vine tree.

The Tree of Life - in true Disney form, it has carvings of animals all around it and on every surface. There is a theatre inside the tree--it's the theatre for "A Bug's Life".

The new Mt Everest--it has a roller coaster ride that meets the abominable snowman
J & Debbie -ready to start playing!

Of course, AK has a safari ride and exhibits of all the animals. Here are a few animal shots just for Caitlin!

The gorillas - it was hard getting a good picture of them as they wouldn't stop moving!

The pond--don't you just love seeing the fish below the ducks?
The elephants were having a late lunch

The giraffes - there is a baby in the distance just right of the middle tree

This bird was wandering around among everyone in the aviary

A komodo dragon--he was very active, actually most of the animals were (for a change)

The bat area - fruit bats just "hanging around"

Here was our one sleepy critter

Wandering the dinosaur area - Dave met a friend

Sunday morning: Getting ready to adventure.J and Debbie in the hotel lobby just after breakfast

We headed to Fantasia Gardens to play a little miniature golf

It was a beautiful day and the golfing park was a fun adventure. Everything was based on the movie "Fantasia"
After golfing, we stopped at the Marketplace and checked out the shops and then had lunch.
Our day soon ended and it was time to head home. We left at about 3:30pm. Although it was just a short visit, it was very fun!!

Thanks J & Debbie for letting us meet up with you and have some much-needed fun!