It's Ashlee's birthday month...let the presents start raining down!!
So this was kinda fun....thru the website: Cameo.com, you can get celebrities (major and minor) to record something personal for you or someone you know for a variety of prices depending on their notoriety. Since Ashlee is a huge fan of the reality show: "Little Women LA", I thought it would be fun to have one of its stars wish Ashlee a happy birthday. I chose Jasmine Sorge and she did a great job! Check it out below:
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Friday, September 4 - We both took a half-day off today and spent a little time in West Nashville checking out the cool L and L Market complex including a stop at Bold Patriot Brewing. We had a late lunch at the nearby and new-to-Nashville location of Hugh-Baby's BBQ and Burgers. It kind of looks like an In-and-Out burger joint from out west but with some great southern touches including a thick-cut fried baloney sandwich! Yum!! |
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Sunday, September 5 - We celebrated Labor Day in the pool for the most part this weekend and Ashlee's twin sister, Paige, and her family joined us today and we also had an early birthday celebration for the ladies since we were going to be gone next Saturday on their actual birthday. Ashlee gave me a pretty solid hint that she would like a fancy birthday cake from Baked on 8th in Nashville, so I obliged with the moo-lah and they obliged with this awesome one-of-a-kind creation based on our suggestion of half a cake with a cat on it (for Ashlee - kinda looks like Dudley!) and half with a horse for Paige (their horse, Hope, doesn't have a white nose, but it's still pretty cute!). It was a delicious and dense strawberry cake with butter-cream icing, and, man, it went fast! |
With our fantasy football league heading into it's 21st year of existence, I used Cameo.com again to give a pretty cool greeting to all the team owners before our draft next week. Take it away former long-time Cincinnati Bengal wide-receiver and fantasy football stalwart, TJ Houshmandzedah:
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Well, Dudley, got out there and got himself a job in a taco truck. Maybe you other free-loading cats should follow his example! Great pic snapped by Ashlee. |
Wednesday, September 9 - We got up very early today and headed to the airport to catch a Southwest Airlines flight to Orlando for our Covid-19 Disney trip, Wearing masks are still the rule of the day, and the plane's center rows are still empty for social distancing (we love this!), but the flight went smooth and easy, as did our Disney-scheduled transportation from the airport to our hotel on the Disney property.
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We haven't been to Disney World together since way back in 1998 (very PB - "Pre-Blog" and even PAK - "Pre-Animal Kingdom"), so it was definitely time for a revisit with tons of new attractions (and a whole new park) since then. Ashlee's actually been a couple times since then with her family, but I have stayed away since the big crowds and long lines are not usually my idea of fun. The ticketing system sure has changed with big paper tickets back in '98 and now fancy electronic wrist bands with your name (and credit card info, of course) on them. Check out my sweet Mandalorian band below. |
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The Pop Century Hotel is considered a "budget" Disney place to stay, but we thought it was pretty nice, convenient and kind of fun with all the giant pop-culture nostalgia adorning the buildings and set up all over the property. |
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After dropping our bags, we headed to the kind-of-new Sky Pods for a quick ride over to Epcot for our first visit into the Disney array of parks. The weather cooperated with us for the most part throughout our stay, but it did rain some every day including a few soaking downpours. Umbrellas in hand and a new waterproof purse of Ashlee's were good calls. |
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We planned to visit this park twice during our stay mostly because the 2020 Taste of Epcot International Food and Wine Festival was going on. The numerous craft beers available throughout the festival were one of the factors that sold me on going... plus all the new Star Wars stuff...plus less crowds due to Covid-19...plus it's where my baby wanted to go for her birthday! |
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With Ashlee's more recent visits, she was the perfect planner for our trip and guide to the parks for me. One of her favorite "secret" places to visit (and now one of mine) is Living with the Land, a ride/tour of some of the most unique farming techniques going on right now including here at Disney. For example in the photo above, we were amazed you could grow such large, hardy plants in such small containers of soil. |
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Next up is hands-down our favorite ride at Disney (sorry Star Wars). Soarin' (Around the World) is a virtual flight over some of the most iconic places in the world. As avid travelers, it's easy to see why this one is simply our favorite. The lines so far have been short and fast to the attractions thanks to it being a weekday, kids back in school and this tiny little global pandemic we have going on. |
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After a stop at the Hawaii station of the Food and Wine Festival for a snack and a beer, we stood in a little longer line, but still nothing like usual, to experience Frozen Ever After in the Norway section of Epcot. It was cute and fun as was the Gran Fiesta Tour in the Mexico area. Next up was Reflections of China, a cool 360-degree film about the amazing country that we've been lucky enough to visit, and of course, after seeing this film realized we only saw a fraction of what is there. |
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The rain started coming down pretty heavily in the late afternoon so we took refuge inside the Via Napoli Ristorante and Pizzeria in the Italy section. We again were taking "flights" at Epcot, but this time it was a flight of Italian beers for me and a flight of sangria for Ashlee. We split a delicious pizza as well. A perfect place to wait out the rain. |
With a 4 AM wake-up and travel to Orlando and 8.6 miles of walking behind us, and a fantasy football draft ahead of us, we headed back to the room and relaxed the evening away in our comfy bed. With Covid-19 protocols, all the parks have earlier closing times than normal right now, so we weren't missing anything there (plus we were too darn tired to move anymore that day!). A great Day 1 at Disney was in the books!
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Thursday, September 10 - Day 2 was slated for Disney's Hollywood Studios (i.e. Star "Freakin'" Wars!!). The purchase of the Star Wars franchise by Disney a few years ago was a genius move on their part as their new attractions at this park have been met with huge crowds of adoring fans who have given the Disney touch to their beloved universe glowing reviews. I honestly thought it would be years before the crowds died down (yikes! unintentional bad pun) enough for me to want to go and check it out, but lemonade from lemons gave me a great chance thanks to Ashlee's great idea to visit now. |
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Ashlee admits to not being much of a Star Wars fan, but even she is impressed with the detail and sheer size of Galaxy's Edge - the Star Wars section of the park. I mean, come one, they have a full-size Millennium Falcon for Pete's sake! |
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We walked right in and enjoyed an interactive ride on Smuggler's Run with very light crowds this morning. Ashlee snapped this fun pic during our "flight" in the Millennium Falcon. |
 The massive size and tiny details of Galaxy's Edge are just jaw-dropping. We had a tasty breakfast at Ronto Roasters and I had my first Star Wars-inspired morning beer. We also checked out Star Tours - The Adventure Continues: a cool motion simulator. |
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We left the Star Wars galaxy and headed over to the Rock-n-Roller Coaster featuring Aerosmith. This was maybe one of the fastest (and smoothest) roller coasters we've ever been on. We also enjoyed the silly and fun Muppetvision 3D film. |
 I was just resting my eyes!!  We ambled back over to the Galaxy's Edge again and while we couldn't get a reservation inside the ultra-popular Oga's Cantina (the park wasn't THAT uncrowded), I was still able to have their official beer, The Gold Squadron Lager, right outside the front door. Cheers!  |
Did I mention the detail at the Galaxy's Edge is amazing? Note the live storm-troopers to the top right (and the sparse crowds!). We also saw Chewbacca and Rey in character. |
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Ashlee had made us dinner reservations at the awesome and fun Sci-Fi Dine In Theater Restaurant where you sit and eat in a 50's convertible car watching cheesy and hilarious old science-fiction movie clips with your meal. The burgers and fries were fantastic! |
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Despite the diminished crowds, we felt very lucky to get in the second and last-of-the-day online queue to experience the new and extremely popular Rise of the Resistance ride back in Galaxy's Edge. Wow, what a way to end a great day! This ride is unbelievably fun and exciting. This blurry pic is evidence to how fast you are moving during it. The only reason it's not our favorite ride in all the parks is that's it's so hard to get a chance to experience. Thanks so much to Ashlee for planning such a great day with mostly nerdy me in mind while it was HER birthday trip. Over 6 miles walked today - easy, peasy. |
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Friday, September 11 - Day 3 belonged to Animal Kingdom which I have never been to even on our last visit so many years ago. It had only opened that same year we visited. The weather to start the day was the best of the trip so far although the humidity was still there in force. Sweat on!! |
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Well, here's where Galaxy's Edge got it's inspiration for detail. Wow! While older, the Pandora area based on the sci-fi masterpiece, Avatar, is incredibly realistic and awe-inspiring. Time to go and watch Avatar again!! We got on the mind-bending (and stomach-flipping) Avatar Flight of Passage ride relatively easily thanks to sparse crowds again (the weekend's coming, so enjoy it while it lasts...) this morning.
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Next up was a safari ride through the Harambe Wildlife Reserve. We got a great view of tons of animals in large, beautiful areas for them to roam. We saw grazing antelope, submerged hippos, huge sleepy crocodiles, gentle zebras, elegant giraffes (photo above), large-horned African cattle, huge elephants, giant rhinos from a distance, snoozing cheetahs and lions, and the beautiful, but shy okapi (some of the same markings of a zebra, but related to giraffes actually). |
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After our ride, we set out on foot to see a few cute meerkats and a large family of lowland gorillas along the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail. This was my favorite pic from the trek seeing the big male silverback deep in thought (or just ignoring us). We also enjoyed an impressive exotic bird show at UP! A Great Bird Adventure. |
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We summoned our courage next to take on the Expedition Everest roller coaster. Not as smooth as the Rock And Rollercoaster, but still a hoot to ride. The Kali River Rapids water ride was next and despite getting a little wet the first time, we rode it immediately again thanks to not many people in line. |
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Speaking of second rides, we also did the safari again with added bonuses of seeing the majestic rhinos much closer this time. Plus good views of muscular African wild dogs, curious ostriches, huge mandrills (not baboons!), delicate flamingos and thick warthogs that we missed on the first ride. We also rode the still-thrilling Avatar ride again before calling it a day. |
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We got back to our funky Pop Century Hotel (the giant PC on our 90's building was a fun landmark for us to use to guide us to our room) ready to eat, but too tired to go back out. So, it was our first time ordering from Uber Eats. Man, that was easy, and not very expensive! We got a great pizza from The Pizza Press, a now-national chain we've never had before. Our nine-plus miles walked today was a new trip record. |
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Saturday, September 12 - Happy Birthday, Ashlee!! After breakfast in the room with some aweosme Mickey pancakes, it was back to Epcot for another day of eating, drinking and fun. |
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The other "gift" we got on Ashlee's birthday were the outer bands of what was being called tropical storm # 19. We braced for bad weather throughout the day and forged ahead. |
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We were driven over to Epcot in our Uber in the rain, but when we arrived, we seemed to be under another much larger Epcot "dome" as the rain miraculously stayed away for most of the day. Speaking of Uber, it was kind of God-send for getting to the parks and back at times when the waiting crowds for buses or aerial trams was too long, bad weather, or no buses or monorail running due to lesser Covid-19 operations. |
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We immediately jumped in line for the Spaceship: Earth interactive ride inside the iconic Epcot sphere and enjoyed seeing ourselves in "the future" as space travelers. The weekend was upon us and the lines were quite longer today in the park. We've been spoiled. |
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Remember Me? You mean the cool La Cava del Tequila Bar tucked away in the Mexico area of Epcot? Of course, we remember you from the other day and our vow to come back and try a few cocktails!! Ashlee had the La Cava Avocado and I had the Pink Popcorn . Both were superb, but I give Ashlee the slight win for best drink. Thanks to our server the other day at the pizza restaurant for the recommendation. We stopped at the China booth of the Taste of Epcot International Wine and Food Festival (yep, that's still going on!) for some tasty bao buns, and I had a beer at a few different areas including Brazil and Canada. We checked out the patriotic and interesting stage show, The American Adventure, (thank God no mention of "Adolf Tweetler"). We had to ride our favorite ride, SOAR, again, of course, and then it was time for... |
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...DINNER!!! My German mother would be so proud! Ashlee made us reservations at the Biergarten Restaurant which is usually a buffet-style meal, but with Covid going on, they brought the buffet to your table in three GIANT courses. I mean look at the plate of meat! That's pork schnitzel, grilled chicken, meatballs, two kinds of sausages and even frankfurters!! The desserts were bonkers too! It was WAY TOO MUCH FOOD, BUT DAMN IT WAS ALL GOOD! We left happy and stuffed. |
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Plus there was a show during our meal with an oom-pah band turned up to about 11. These guys were super-talented, not only playing these huge horns and somehow hitting lots of notes on them, but also tables of bells, plus your other usual suspects of instruments when it comes to kickin' it polka-style!! |
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We had to do some walking after such a meal, and we were actually ambling our way out of the park and back to the hotel to lay down (#foundered) when we saw that Mission: Space was still open and we were actually the two last riders of the day. So, we closed down this fun ride and the park tonight. We logged in just over 8 miles of walking today. |
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Sunday, September 13 - Well, the last day at Disney World has come and it's time to go old-school and get to the Magic Kingdom before we fly home from Orlando tonight. We started the day with the classic ride, Space Mountain...yep, it's still dark, and yep, it still jerks you around a lot, but yep, it's still a blast to ride it. |
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And now Tropical Storm #19 has grown big and strong enough for a name, and it's Hurricane Sally. Thankfully, it was moving west and away from us mostly, so our weather was pretty good throughout most of the day. (Editor's note: unfortunately, folks to the west including the panhandle of Florida and the coast of Alabama were not as lucky as Sally slammed them hard the following week.) |
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As I said, Disney classics like the iconic castle were the rule of the day as we knocked out almost all of them including the fun Enchanted Tiki Room, the (soon to be a major motion picture) Jungle Cruise, the (already was a bunch of major motion pictures) Pirates of the Caribbean, and the still-charming Peter Pan's Flight. |
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Old-school treats were also on the menu today as we shared a delicious coconut Dole whip (photo above), a hot and soft Mickey-shaped pretzel and had an excellent lunch at the Jungle Cruise-inspired restaurant, Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen. |
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We said goodbye to Disney Land and our funky little home for the last few days, the Pop Century Hotel, and got to the airport with plenty of time before our evening flight home that went smooth and without many bumps. Whether it's another 20+ years before we get down here again (Ashlee's already planning on coming back in November with her sister, Paige...yes, they are addicted!), this was a great trip that we won't soon forget and that went pretty well despite all the troubles that 2020 has brought to the world. |
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