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Florida

In November 2021, after Thanksgiving, I flew to Orlando, Florida to spend 8 days at the Walt Disney World Resort. The plan was to spend the time on the Disney property, and use their transportation. I had a room in the Disney's All-Star Movies Resort, themed to the Disney movies. I spent the entire time immersed in Disney. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a good time to go since it's between the holiday breaks for school kids.
It started with a booking of the Disney bus that picked me up from the Orlando airport. It was about a 45-minute drive to the hotel from the airport. I think I waited about that long before the bus departed. I guess they get you in the 'line waiting' mode even before you get to the parks. But it was nice, they dropped me right at my hotel. I even received an email and update to the app that provided my room access code, so I didn't even need to go to the desk to check-in. Speaking of buses, from my Disney hotel I had full access to a compliment of buses to get me anywhere in the Disney World. Everything was no more than a 15-minute bus ride. In the morning and evening, I wondered how they were going to handle the crowds, but they had plenty of buses and there was usually just a few minutes wait as the buses buzzed around the property. It's a pretty slick system.
Since I was confined to Disney, I had to get all my food there too. It is a bit expensive (maybe $15 a meal average), but you do get a good quality and quantity for the price. I also used the Disney app to pre-order all my meals in the parks to avoid having to wait for my food, that was a nice feature. Of course, each of the parks has their own themed food options, but my hotel had a large food court with quite a diverse variety also. I ended up getting breakfast at my hotel every morning, and several dinners at the end of my day. That didn't stop me from having some snacks in the parks, like my Dole Whips (yes, more than one), churros, and Mickey pretzels (especially the cream cheese filled ones - yummy). Since I was there during the 50th anniversary of World Disney World opening, they had some interesting and tasty special treats I tried.
With so much time, I had lots of time to see all 4 parks - Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. I was able to go to each park multiple times and ride the rides multiple times. Quite a few rides have single rider lanes where you can get onto the rides rather quickly as a single rider. Unfortunately, I saw too many people abusing this with entire families or obvious groups of kids in the single rider lane, I wish they did more to enforce it.
Something I decided to do that I never did before was at the EPCOT World Showcase. I took a selfie at every single international pavilion - Canada, United Kingdom, France, Morocco, Japan, United States, Italy, Germany, China, Norway, and Mexico. I know I've taken lots of pictures in EPCOT but this was a one and done. I'm pretty sure all my previous trips pictures always missed several of the countries. That should hold me for a while...
Always fun at Disney...

Orlando, Florida - The Orlando airport (MCO) has convenient bus transportation to Disney World hotels, only about a 45-minute ride.

Disney World, Florida - I stayed on property at Disney's All-Star Movies Resort, only about 15 minutes to any of the nearby parks.

Disney World, Florida - It may sound goofy, but the resort hotel is almost a theme park by itself.

Disney World, Florida - Great food court at the resort offering a wide variety for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. If you're going to be here a while, don't forget to buy a refillable mug.

Disney World, Florida - Catching the bus to the parks at the resort. Let the magic begin...

Disney World, Florida - I was there during the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World opening. Wow, seems like yesterday!

Disney World, Florida - First stop is the Magic Kingdom and Cinderella Castle.

Disney World, Florida - Disney ever improving and enhancing, the new Tron ride will be coming soon.

Disney World, Florida - I loves me the Dole Whip. But for the 50th anniversary they topped that by creating the Fifi, Gigi, Mimi (orange, vanilla, and pineapple bundt cake stack filled with pineapple Dole Whip).

Disney World, Florida - The magic continues into the night with spectacular fireworks.

Disney World, Florida - Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park reminds me of being in California.

Disney World, Florida - Hollywood Boulevard without all the traffic.

Disney World, Florida - Phenomenal live shows you have to go to (insert catchy song lyrics here you'll be humming all day).

Disney World, Florida - Disney asked me to be their guest, and I couldn't refuse.

Disney World, Florida - It was near enough to Christmas, the decorations started coming out.

Disney World, Florida - Good morning Epcot.

Disney World, Florida - Me at Epcot Mexico.

Disney World, Florida - Me at Epcot Norway.

Disney World, Florida - Me at Epcot China.

Disney World, Florida - Me at Epcot Germany.

Disney World, Florida - Me at Epcot Italy.

Disney World, Florida - Me at Epcot United States.

Disney World, Florida - Me at Epcot Japan.

Disney World, Florida - Me at Epcot Morocco.

Disney World, Florida - Me at Epcot France.

Disney World, Florida - Me at Epcot United Kingdom.

Disney World, Florida - Me at Epcot Canada.

Disney World, Florida - Sick of me at Epcot? Not me at Epcot.

Disney World, Florida - Good night Epcot.

Disney World, Florida - Incredibly, Disney's Animal Kingdom is the largest theme park in the world, covering 580 acres (230 hectares).

Disney World, Florida - In case it comes up in trivia, the Tree of Life is supposed to replicate a baobab tree (native to Australia).

Disney World, Florida - Perfectly placed as only Disney could do. I still think this is fake.

Disney World, Florida - Expedition Everest, at 199.5 feet (60.8 metres), is the tallest attraction at Walt Disney World.

Disney World, Florida - A yummy Dole Whip.

Disney World, Florida - A break from Disney? Not really, but it's the farthest you can get away from the theme parks using Disney transportation.

Disney World, Florida - Disney Springs decorated for the festive holiday season.

Disney World, Florida - Even Mickey is cautious in these times.

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