We have spent the last two days immersed in the lands of Walt Disney World.  We have 3 week ultimate tickets which give us unlimited access to all 6 Disney parks, unlimited professional photography around the parks, a daily round of golf for Bob on one of the Disney courses and a few other bits and pieces.  Very good value on a 3 for the price of 2 offer.

We started yesterday, in the original park, The Magic Kingdom, which was looking fabulous all decorated up for Halloween and Autumn.  The gardens and the floral decorations around the streets are just remarkable.  The park was busier than we expected it to be.  We stayed in till about 1pm and then came back to the apartment for a rest through the afternoon.

I’d had some bad news while we were in line: that my ex husband, Paul, had very sadly died.  I knew he had been very ill, so in one way, it was not a surprise, and yet it was a total shock.

We were in touch although I hadn’t seen him for 30 years and I felt very sad for him and the realisation that I would now never see him again.  Its a big shock when you lose someone of your own age.  A very sad loss of a very special person.

In the evening we went into Animal Kingdom specifically to visit the new land there, Pandora, the land of Avatar.  It is best seen at night because many of the attractions and the landscaping make use of luminosity and lighting effects.  It was really spectacular and beautiful: the great pods and strange flowers from the film, brought to life, the floating islands and odd animals and reptiles.  It was wonderful just to walk around and see the landscaping.  We had a Fastpass (ticket that lets you beat the queue) for one attraction called the Na’Vi River Journey which was a gorgeous canoe voyage through caves and rivers of Pandora, which maximised the luminous effects.  Fantastic.  We’ll have to do that one again.  After that, we went to see the new big show, Rivers of Light.  It takes place on a huge lake and there are lovely floating rafts that look like water lilies, sailboats with native shaman and mist screens on which animals were “conjured”.  I thought it was spectacular although Bob was a bit less enthusiastic.

Today we went to Epcot with a break for a rest in the afternoon.  Epcot is hosting the Food and Wine festival at the moment and there are around 40 food outlets from all over the world within the park, as well as all the usual attractions.  One side of the Epcot park is a futuristic area with attractions with a roughly scientific theme.  The other side is the World Showcase, which features “pavilions” hosted by a number of countries all laid out around a large lake.  We had a few photo opportunities today with some famous Disney characters!!!!  Hugs from Mickey, Pluto and Minnie!!!

We spent the morning on the futuristic side and the evening in the World Showcase, sampling various treats from around the world.  I had a gorgeous sample plate of venison on a sweet potato mash from New Zealand, and a gorgeous lobster roll from the USA.  Bob had a beef empanada from Argentina and also a lobster roll.

There is a series of concerts running in the open air theatre alongside the festival, featuring bands of the late 80s – 90s.  Tonight it was 10,000 Maniacs and we sat and watched their second show while sipping some craft beer.  It was great.  By 8pm the park was really heaving and we decided to call it a day.  Our feet was pretty sore.  You walk a lot in these parks.  We are easily walking 5 miles a day without even trying.