The Travelin' Trio met in Orlando to make a Photobook of our Amtrak Train Trip
Dec 7-10, 2023
- Thu 7th - We all arrived and checked in to an Air BnB in Kissimmee. Side Note: "Give Kids The World Village is an 89-acre nonprofit resort in Kissimmee, Florida that provides critically ill children and their families with week-long wish vacations at no cost.” And our Airbnb was across the street from it. Their history and their mission are impressive.
- Fri 8th - After working on the photobook, a good part of the day we departed for Walt Disney World! As soon as we entered, we were given a tree ornament commemorating the occasion. We took the boat to the Magic Kingdom and got to see real zebras and a really big Christmas tree! We went to Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor for some dad jokes and Christmas humor then to Space Mountain. Then it was off to our reservations for Character Dining including a buffet, at Crystal Palace. We had quality time for autographs and photos and hugs with Winnie the Pooh characters! Then we wandered around the Magic Kingdom some more and watched some fireworks, and the light show on Cinderella’s Palace which was amazing. We rode the Tron Lightcycle/Run which was very fun, and finally The Jingle Cruise (normally the Jungle Cruise but this is Christmas at WDW!).
- Sat 9th - Helping to recover from the many miles walked around Disney the previous night, we spent most of Saturday sitting, working on the photo book, then enjoyed dinner at Cheddar's.
- Sun 10th - Rodney had to get back to work so we took him to the airport Sunday afternoon and then Theresa and Karen had dinner at Red Lobster.
- Mon 11th - More work in morning and we finished the photobook! So, we had time to tour where the Naval Training Center used to be (Karen had been stationed there in the early 1980's), and a final dinner at Miller's Ale House.
We ate dinner at the Crystal Palace to partake in the "Friendship Day Celebrashun". They had a "Buffet with Character" meaning while we ate, Winnie, Eeyore, Tigger, and Piglet wandered around so we could take pictures with them.
We then entered the Magic Kingdom at 4pm and stayed until 1am. So much to see and do!
And so many rides to ride!
More wandering around and rides after dark.
And of course there was a very special Walt Disney World Christmas parade!
A fun day as expected full of Christmas magic at Walt Disney World!
This is the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The Africa-themed lobby showed off a huge Christmas tree and other fun decorations.
On the other side of a huge window are some fun places to sit around a huge campfire. And wandering around further out back are some live animals. So Disney!
And another Travlin' Trio photobook completed! Lots of work, but fun to reminisce about the Amtrak Trip and start talk of the next adventure (which ended up being and epic double tour of Scandinavia and Central Europe!)!
The Travelin' Trio has a tradition to meet in a major US city in order to make a photo book of our recent trip.
This year, we chose Orlando in December. We bought tickets early on for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in the Magic Kingdom. We also found a nice Airbnb in Kissimmee with a big dining room table to work on. Here's a synopsis of the weekend followed by photos.