We spent most of the day hanging out at the RV because 1) we were so tired from the long drive over the previous couple days, and 2) it was so blasted hot and humid! About 5:30pm we finally headed over to Epcot, where Russ got his gift card and Happy Birthday button to wear the rest of the day (this
is always fun because as you walk around the park cast members (employees) and even other guests wish you Happy Birthday!) A couple days earlier the 13th annual International Food & Wine Festival had begun at Epcot, and for those of you who don't know, this festival is held for about 6 weeks each year offering food and beverage samples at nominal fees from more than 25 diff
erent countries. However, included during this event at no additional charge is the Eat to the Beat concert series held at the American Pavilion, featuring an incredible line-up of top name entertainment. The artists change every few nights, with three 40 minute shows nightly, and on the 27th it was Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (http://www.bbvd.com/), a modern swing band. Not really knowing anything about their music, we weren’t sure what to expect, but wo
w, were we pleasantly surprised! This 9-piece group was awesome! Their latest album is a tribute to Cab Calloway, and several numbers were performed from it as well as some original songs. In spite of the heat (felt like a sauna), we watched not only the 6:30 performance but also stayed around for the 7:45 show. If you ever get the chance to see this fun, high energy group perform, don’t miss it. Of course we finished the evening by watching the fireworks spectacular, Illuminations.
The next group we saw perform a few days later was Starship Featuring Mickey Thomas (http://www.mickeythomas.com/), and it was another awesome performance! He definitely hasn’t lost his voice, and the gal doing lead vocals with him (Stephanie Calvert) is amazing…man, can this gal sing! They sang such Starship hits as Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now, Sara, Somebody to Love, and had the place rockin’ with We Built This City. Again we stayed for two shows, enjoying every minute especially since they were not exactly the same lineup of songs.
Instead of staying for the third show, we decided to walk around, seeing the sights, and checking out some of our other favorite things at Epcot. When we had arrived at 5pm, amazingly there were still Fast Passes left for Soarin’ and the timing worked out perfectly allowing us to board after 7:15, which was after the second show was over. From there we walked over to ride “Finding Nemo”, and then had time to see Turtle Talk with Crush and ride Spaceship Earth before Illuminations began. In case you’re new to our blog, you may wonder why we love going to Walt Disney World so much. To fully answer that question, click on the link and check out our blog post from 2007, So Why Disney World?
As I noted in our last post, we’re staying at Lake Magic RV Resort in Clermont, FL, just outside of Orlando and no more than 15 min. from Disney World. This is where we spent 4 months last winter, but since we are only here for a couple of weeks this time, we’re staying on the Coast to Coast plan and paying only $18/night. We’re located on the opposite side of the campground under the shade of a big, beautiful tree, one of only a few in the entire park. Even so, we’ve had to run both air conditioners 24/7 most of the time because it’s been so hot, even setting new record highs in the area.Before arriving here, we learned that our friends from New York, Susan and Chris, had purchased a vacation rental home in the area. As it turns out, the place is only 5 minutes away, and they happen to be in town this week. So Fri. night we dropped by their place with pizza and beer in hand to welcome them to the area. They’ve been busy redecorating the place and already have quite a number of rentals lined up, but saving a few weeks here and there for themselves. No pictures this time, but we’re looking forward to more visits this winter.
The rest of our time here so far has been spent mainly going to doctor appointments and getting lab work done. As I mentioned in April, surgery has been recommended to remove the scarred and narrowed section of my colon, and one of the appointments was with a surgeon. To our dismay, he is not recommending it be done laparoscopically because of the scarring but rather conventionally, meaning longer recovery time. Though I could have had the surgery in a couple of weeks, we’ve decided to wait till after the first of the year when we’ll be settled in one place for several months. We’ve got another week here before heading even further south towards the Everglades and the Keys for a few weeks. Later gator!
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