We were heading home after spending a few days at Disney
and saw a sign on 192 for a Winery. We had some time so we pulled in to check it out.
This is my personal opinion / review of
Island Grove Wine Company and Formosa Gardens
3011 Formosa Gardens Blvd Formosa Gardens, Kissimmee Continue reading Review – Island Grove Wine Company at Formosa Gardens
This new ride is located in the replica of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre that had held the ‘Great Movie Ride.’ The old ride took you through the different movies and sets via tram like car ride right through the middle of the movie set.
*Spoiler Alert* The following is a description of this new ride. If you want to be surprised, stop here and go ride the ride. You won’t be disappointed!
Continue reading Disney – Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway Ride
Disney with Covid Restrictions
We visited Disney to see what it is like with the Covid Restrictions in place. This is a quick overview that we will update each time we visit.
Updated for 01/21 Visit
Masks & Hand Sanitizer
Disney is very serious about wearing your mask all the time. It must be over your nose and chin and attach behind your ears. You can take it off to eat and drink but you must be stationary to do this – so although you can walk around with a drink, you have to stop and stand still to remove your mask and take a drink. Continue reading Disney with Covid Restrictions – Overview
At one end of the park, near the swim-in snack area and the lazy river, there is an Aviary. You can walk into the area from the park or you can exit the lazy river and climb the stairs to a separate door.
As you enter the area, there is a cart to get a container of food. As you walk around the three areas, you hold out your arm and wait for a bird to fly down and get some food. You feel pretty stupid for a minute when you realize that the birds are ignoring you but it is pretty cool when a bird lands on your arm. After after a few minutes, some of the bigger birds get heavy and you want to pass them to another person — that is pretty fun as well. Continue reading Discovery Cove’s Aviary
As you know from previous posts, a private cabana was something we splurged on during our Discovery Cove trip. This is not something we normally do but our daughter convinced the entire family to chip in so it wasn’t a huge addition to our overall cost.
After breakfast, we went to guest services as directed. A very nice man escorted us through the park, giving us a more detailed description of different areas, directions around the park and stopping to 
pick up our safety vests along the way. As we arrived to our Reef Side Cabana, he pointed out all our features and let us know that our Cabana Host would be stopping by shortly.
We wandered down to our reef side Private-Like beach. We were smiling and feeling super special when we saw our name on the Reserved sign (such a little thing to bring such a huge smile). Continue reading Discovery Cove – Our Private Cabana
While enjoying our day at Discovery Cove, our entire family participated in the Sea Venture experience. My mother had a similar experience on a cruise excursion and said it was a unique experience that we shouldn’t miss. I wasn’t nervous about it at all until I saw the safety video and signed the papers – they kept saying how important it was to breath normally, made us all wonder why we wouldn’t breath normally. I kept telling myself that it is only 20 minutes and there are quite a few divers there to make sure everything is fine.
The experience is in the Grand Reef, the same waterway where you can snorkel all day long. You are required to wear a wet suit for this experience so we got our wet suits when we were passing by the area after our 1st lunch. In August these can be a bit hot so we just tried them on and then left them 1/2 way down until we checked in. Continue reading Discovery Cove’s Sea Venture
I have wanted to go to Discovery Cove since it opened and it FINALLY happened! Our family spent the day in paradise. Before purchasing our tickets, we discussed the different packages and the availability of private cabanas as a family and we decided that this is probably a once-in-a-lifetime event. We decided to splurge and purchase the Elite package (more on packages in a different post) which includes a private cabana.
A friend told me to “arrive when it opens and stay until they put you out” – she was right!. Although the waterways do not open until 8:30, breakfast is served early and the doors open at 7:15 am. We arrived in the parking lot by 7:30 am and the line to enter was very long, we must have been one of the last people to arrive since the line was not very long behind us. We stood in line for about 30 minutes but it was always moving and the foliage was beautiful. Although the park was almost full to capacity, it was the only line we stood in all day long.
An excellent variety of good food was available for breakfast. The empty coffee
The Ohana at Walt Disney World’s Polynesian Village Resort is a table service restaurant located on the second floor facing the Seven Seas Lagoon. All the food at Walt Disney World is expensive so is it worth while to splurge with table service? On our last visit (more here) we decided to celebrate a birthday with dinner at Ohana. We looked at several other restaurants but the menu and atmosphere interested us. We did make a reservation. None were available online for the dates we were on property so I called and talked to an agent. They found us a table and while the 8:30 p.m. time was later than we normally eat it worked out fine. Continue reading Walt Disney World – Ohana Dinner Feast Review
We love trying out different Disney Resorts. Staying on property is always fun and offers great benefits like free parking and Extra Magic Hours (Each day of the week, resort guests can enter a park one hour earlier or stay in a park up to two hours later than normal park operating hours.) As Florida Resident Annual Passholders we are often able to get special discounts on rooms. For this trip of three nights we chose the Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness. Continue reading Walt Disney World – the Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness
Last week I was able to go on a tour of Discovery Cove. This is a place I have always wanted to spend the day but just had a difficult time deciding to spend the money. It is not inexpensive.
I will be scheduling a family trip soon. Continue reading Discovery Cove
