I've never been to San Antonio, and we enjoy a walk through the downtown area and have dinner at a local "burrito bar" (read: two-fisted burritos made to order) near our hotel.
San Antonio has a river through the city. The current generation has tamed it into a canal loop replete with putter-boat tours, riverside restaurants, two stories of shops, and office/condo space above. It was lovely to stroll on a sunny day. The remains of the Alamo (more story than "remains"), plus a lot of touristy attractions like a wax museum and Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum, are just a few blocks' walk from here.
San Antonio's river--same spot, the other direction.Ken and I stayed at a two-bedroom timeshare in Orlando (thank you, mom!) that was big and comfortable and only a few miles from the entrance to WDW. Mark, Lisa, and Mary got into another room in the same complex, which made logistics easy for travel.
Any week at a self-contained hotel at WDW must start with a trunkload of food for five people, care of the local Wal-Mart.
Computers remain our constant companions, even at our Orlando hotel.This was my third trip to Walt Disney World, and likely to be my last. Even in the low season of February, the place was mobbed, especially the Magic Kingdom, an aging duplicate of Disneyland that none of us enjoyed because of the screaming parents, the loose-running kids, the ever-underfoot strollers and guest carts, the horrendously crammed food courts, the sardine-like ride lines, etc. I had also forgotten that this park is so similar to Disneyland, with very little of its own unique flavor. Pirates of the Caribbean (my all time favorite ride at Disneyland) had been completely revamped for the Jack Sparrow/Johnny Depp movie hook, which left the whole thing just too dumb for words. (Our experience wasn't helped much by the half hour we spent wending through the rather nifty "Port Royale" staging area, followed by a not so nifty 35-minute wait for a ride breakdown when we were five minutes from the loading dock.) Clearly that park is only for 50- and 60-somethings who have a mess of grandkids in tow.
Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios) hadn't changed much over 25 years, either, except that it's more crowded, more overpriced (a dinner buffet at $36 a pop--and fully booked for the night!), and somehow more difficult to navigate without a lot of doubling-back and losing my bearings.
The Tower of Terror there remains one of the best rides, as does the Buzz Lightyear arcade ride, which we missed because of the crowds and conflicting FastTrack wait times. The Aerosmith coaster (enjoyable when I went with Tom and Mimi several years ago) was no fun this time with all the blasting rock music and flashing lights; I must be losing my tolerance as I get older.
The park did have a couple of engaging live special effects shows about the first Indiana Jones film and a car chase through an Italian city. Some of those movie tricks look so real on screen! We also took in the Fantasmic light show, which I enjoyed watching for the second time, except that sitting for a couple of hours on concrete slabs isn't the most comfortable way to spend a cold February night. And of course, getting in and out of the show's dead-end venue meant 45 minutes of press and shuffle at both ends of the program until the congestion let up.
My favorite WDW park is still the Animal Kingdom. It has fewer fast rides so is less of a draw for families, and is just more relaxed overall because of the zoo/botanical gardens atmosphere. The Tree of Life with all of its animal carvings still fascinates me and makes an easy landmark for getting around the park's various world "countries." Sadly, I didn't find "D'Vine" this time--a vine-entwined performing artist on stilts who wanders the park and stops, half camouflaged among foliage, for passers-by to interact with...if they notice her!
Mark and Lisa at one of the many perfect photo spots in the Animal Kingdom park...by far the WDW park we all liked best.
Our turn at the same spot.
Ken, me, Lisa, Mark in the caverns beneath the Tree of Life and ready for our 3-D "It's a Bug's Life" show (Mary behind camera). It left us all laughing and sputtering from the sensa-round smells, sprays, and startling seat action.
The fastest ride here is via bobsled on the Expedition Everest coaster. Great fun.
A rare shot of Mary, the gal usually behind the camera. This is on the Safari ride at Animal Kingdom. The antelope and rhinos were closest to the jeep on our run, but we didn't get the giraffes hanging over the top like the last time I was here.
On safari care of Disney.
We spent a lot of time just touring the WDW resorts by boat, bus, and foot. We're waiting here for our next bus after an amble through the rustically posh Fort Wilderness Lodge.
And finally, a morning at Epcot, in the British quarter. This was the last park we went to; it was moderately busy that day, but we managed to walk the whole World Circle and take in a couple of the pavilions. My favorite is the Living Earth boat ride, which floats you through a sustainable food garden that uses hydroponics, organics, special trellising, and other practices to grow crops from pumpkins to runner beans in low-water, poor-soil, small-land conditions.Mid-week, we took a day away from WDW to drive to Kennedy Space Center (AKA Cape Canaveral). The space shuttle program is ready to make its last flights, and we were lucky enough to see the launch pad in its prep stages for the final takeoff of Discovery. The fuel tanks were already loaded on the pad, which is empty most of the time.
A multi-stop bus tour loops through the complex and offers distance viewing and explanations of the shuttle launch pad, manufacturing buildings, and general shuttle prep and setup. We also enjoyed two fascinating 3-D IMAX films on the space station and Hubble, although I was maxed out on 3-D movies by the end of them.
Under the awe-inspiring rockets at Kennedy Space Center.The highlight of the center is a Shuttle Takeoff Simulator that was designed with the help of shuttle astronauts for absolute accuracy of all roars, rattles, and cheek-flapping G forces. Seats tilt vertically, rocket-thunder rumbles through your ribcage, thrust vies with Gs to pin you to the chair, and you can feel the breakaway shudder of the fuel tanks. Orbit arrives with an instant shutdown of sound and vibration, a queasy float in the belly, and viewing doors that open to display black space filled with the Earth arching across the horizon. This was one cool ride--and no extra charge.
By Friday, we had been to all four Disney parks, toured the nicest of the Disney resorts, and been to Downtown Disney and the Disney Boardwalk more times than we needed to. We were ready for a visit to something completely different--Orlando's Gatorland.
This place has been around since the 1940s and turned out to be a surprisingly good choice despite our initial expectations of an aging, podunk attraction. The park is long and narrow, with several lagoons for alligators and crocodiles. A round of family-focused animal shows (corny jokes, audience participation, cheering competitions, etc.) was still fun to watch because of the stuff you learn about gators, pythons, and tarantulas. Unfortunately, the back side of the park was closed for renovation. They're installing a zipline ride--um, right alongside the saltwater gator/croc ponds. Go figure.
Mr. (Ms.?) Gator on the planks.
Guests can buy hotdogs to feed the gators. Most looked too bloated to want more (or perhaps they deemed our bitty, rationed bites as unworthy of their attention), but the dogs were a hit with the local egrets and other birds. Warnings were up everywhere that the birds would swoop in to steal out of careless hands. One unhappy child lost half a dog to a sneaky bird, and Mark was squirting water from his bottle to keep them from poking at him for more.
On a leisurely boardwalk jaunt through a swamp (thankfully, sans mosquitoes this time of year). This time Lisa's taking the photo, so Mary's in it!
One of the many big boys that were nearly beneath our feet at the breeding lagoon boardwalk. The lagoon has a couple hundred gators.
Egrets nest on both sides of the huge gator breeding lagoon. Some were close enough to the boardwalk to almost see into the nests. 
Egret.
Hitching a ride is common.
Back home, caretaker Carol takes Patchouli on a walk. The winds at Southern Oaks RV Park were pretty brutal some days.
