Today we started hitting the Disney Theme Parks so over the next 3 days we went to Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios and Animal Kingdom. We had a park hopper pass so we could go to different parks in the one day. The first day we went to Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. Epcot had their annual food and wine festival so they had appetizer size servings of food that you could sample from different countries and states. We tried foods from Canada, Greece, China, San Francisco and Spain. From Spain we tried the cheese platter and it was awesome I will definitely be looking for that cheese when I get home. So other than the food tasting, at Epcot we went to different attractions that showcased different countries like Mexico, Canada, US, UK, Italy, Germany, China, Japan and Norway. The attractions were really interesting, each having their own displays and restaurants. So after Epcot we headed to the Magic Kingdom. We went on the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion rides, both were pretty impressive attractions. We stayed for the fireworks which again was pretty impressive. After the fireworks we stayed in the park as it was the Magic Kingdom's turn to put on extra park hours. This means that for Disney Resort guests they park stays open for an extra 3 hours, it is way less crowded and so being the big kids we are we went on the It's a small world little boat ride. About half way through it reminded me either of a Simpsons episode or a horror movie and I was waiting for the little robot/puppet people to go postal or something, they looked pretty evil…………lol

So the next day we were off to Universal Studios and then back to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween Party. The attractions at Disney's Universal were great especially the Backlot tour and the lights, motor, action stunt show which definitely beats Universal in Queensland. I did learn one thing during the stunt show and that is when there is a lot of driving in reverse (i.e. like in the Italian Job), the shell of the car is pretty much turned around so it looks like the driver is driving in reverse but the driver is actually facing the right way. During the backlot tour we were taken past the costume design factory and also got to see many machines, replicas and props used in movies, they had a small replica of the Jailbird plane that was used in ConAir which was pretty cool to see. The guide on the backlot tour sounded like a robot which I guess you would have if you commentate every day the same thing. Another good show was the Indiana Jones stunt show, probably not as intense and exciting as the motor stunt show but it was entertaining.

The crowds that are at the parks is just amazing but I think they do a good job in servicing people either for rides or food etc. They have signs up which tell you the wait time for rides and attractions, sometimes over an hour so you can get a fast pass which means you get a ticket to come back within a certain timeframe and you bypass the regular lines, that way you can go off and do something else and then come back and go on a ride, it saves so much time.

So after a pretty full day at Universal we went back to the resort, dumped off some stuff and went to Mickey's Not so scary Halloween party. We didn't have costumes but you could dress up and some of the other people's costumes were pretty cool and as you can imagine there were many little princesses and pirates. The highlight of the night would have to have been the Halloween parade and the fireworks, definitely worth the extra ticket for this event and besides it was nice to get into the spirit of Halloween, something we don't celebrate in Australia.

Another benefit of staying at a Disney Resort is that all transport too and from the parks is for free. There is not direct service from theme park to theme park so you have to hop on a bus to a resort and then get transport from a resort to the theme park you want. So a few observations about things we have noticed. When you get into taxis the drivers get out and open the doors for you and when you are in they lock all the doors except the drivers, I guess so you don't do a runner. When out eating the main courses in most places we have eaten at are called entrees instead of mains (I think this being mainly at lunchtime) and yes the serving sizes are big as you can see from some of our pics. I have taken a liking to Reese peanut butter cups (which I began eating in Adelaide anyway) and Andrew likes Cheese Danishes, yes really really bad so the girls at Fernwood better get use to seeing my face around again when I get back…………….lol

So on Wednesday was our last Disney Park on our list which was Disney's Animal Kingdom. As you could imagine we were both excited about this trip, being the animal lovers that we are we could not wait to see the animals. As soon as we got there, on good advice from all my research, we headed straight out to the Safari attraction. So there was hardly any wait time for the attraction and also it was still early in the morning and not hot yet so the chances of the animals being active was high. So you get in an open aired 4x4 truck and are driven around the park where we seen lions, cheetahs, deer, antelope, buffalo, black and white rhinos, giraffes, zebra and lots more. So it is like Monarto but instead of being enclosed in a bus you are in an open aired truck. You pretty much keep moving all the time except on our tour at one stage we had to wait for the rhinos because they would not get off the track and the same with the giraffes. It was kind of like our trip to Discovery Cove where they replicate natural habitats and it benefits the public because you get a chance to see something that can be hard to see in the wild. Andrew had said when he went snorkeling off Hamilton Island, you could not really see anything because the ocean is so deep so at Discovery Cove you could see everything in their replicated natural habitat. So after the Safari we had a look around and went on a few trails where we seen Gorillas, elephants, fish and tigers.

After the Animal Kingdom we headed off to Downtown Disney to catch a movie. It was Andrew's choice and he chose Quarantine and it was bad, the only thing I will comment about is the size of the popcorn, my god it was huge. Anyway I have the next choice of movie and I am thinking Saw V but will probably wait until Vegas.