The Wandering Disciple

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: Discovery Island is your gateway to the fun and adventure that awaits you at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. In the middle of the island lies the park’s icon, the Tree of Life. Radiating out from the island are the bridges that lead to each of the parks themed lands making it the park’s central hub. Originally opened as Safari Village, the island was renamed Discovery Island in 1999 when a similarly named attraction on Bay Lake closed. It is home to a few animals, a multi-sense movie, shopping and restaurants. The lands focal point is the Tree of Life. The 145 foot man-made tree is the icon of the Animal Kingdom. Using an oil rig platform as a skeleton, Imagineers constructed this fourteen story tree that contains carvings of over 325 animals. In the base of the Tree of Life is the Tree of Life Theater. Here you can watch the 4-D film called “It’s Tough to be a Bug.” The nine minute show inspired by the Disney-Pixar film “A Bug’s Life” brings the audienc...

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: We spent our last day at Walt Disney World at Animal Kingdom. I am not a big fan of Animal Kingdom, but our son loves the animals. Like always, we arrived at the park first thing. We watched the opening ceremony with Mickey, Minnie and the gang. Once the ceremony concluded we began our journey through the park. Our first stop was the popular Kilimanjaro Safari. One of the most popular attractions in the park, we hit it first thing to avoid the crowds. Because the animals are so unpredictable, no two rides are the same. This time we managed to see the Cheetah, the other times we rode the safari, he was not visible. When we concluded the safari, we headed over to the Harambi train station to board the Wildlife Express train to take us to Conservation Station. While at Conservation Station, we briefly watched them perform surgery on an animal, met with Jiminy Cricket and Rafiki and then visited the animals of the petting zoo. We then hopped back on the...

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: A stroll down the streets of the United Kingdom pavilion at Epcot’s World History is more like a stroll though the history of the country then a theme park attraction. Each building here represents a different unique style from the UK. While there are no ride attractions here, there is plenty of shopping to keep you busy. The United Kingdom pavilion was one of the original pavilions of the World Showcase when it opened to the public in 1982. The buildings of the pavilion represent each of the various architectural styles from United Kingdom history. The pavilion makes up for its lack of attractions by providing lots of shopping venues. Here you will find the following shops: Crown and Crest: Beatles merchandise. Historical Research Center: family history merchandise including family crests. Sportsman’s Shoppe: soccer and rugby merchandise. Tea Caddy: tea items. Toy Soldier: toys and other children’s merchandise. UK Card: pin trading and park souvenirs. If yo...

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: The smallest land in the Magic Kingdom, Liberty Square plays homage to the birth of America. Colonial American spirit is alive and well amongst here in the village. Liberty Square is home to all of the nation’s presidents as well as a mansion with 999 ghosts. This small land is one of the original lands of the Magic Kingdom and is the only one in the park not to have received a major renovation since opening day in 1971. The theme here is colonial America, the buildings resemble old clapboard houses found in the colonies in the 1700’s. There is even a replica of the Liberty Bell and Liberty Tree. Liberty Square is home to three attractions, the Haunted Mansion, Hall of Presidents and Liberty Square Riverboat. The main attraction here is the Haunted Mansion. Enter the creepy mansion and embark on an eight minute journey through the haunted halls and come face to face with 999 happy haunts. As you ride in you doom buggy, you will pass through many scenes with ...

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: With our passes back in service, we woke up early to hit the Magic Kingdom. We had breakfast at the Riverside Mill here at the hotel and then boarded the bus for the Magic Kingdom. When the rope dropped, we headed down Main Street USA enroute to Fantasyland. Once there we visited all of the attractions there. We rode Dumbo, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Peter Pan’s Flight and It’s a Small World all be before the crowds became unbearable. From there we headed to Liberty Square to ride the Haunted Mansion. Afterwards it was a trip to Frontierland so my wife could ride her favorite ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Then we hopped on the ferry to Tom Sawyer Island where the little guy explored the caves and bridges on the island. I love the suspension bridges, the bring out the mischievous kid in me. On the barrel bridge, I jumped down on the bridge so hard, it flung the people on the ot...

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: A mix of elegant mansions and rustic cabins dot the coastline of the Sassagoula River as it winds through the Port Orleans Riverside Resort at Walt Disney World. It is here where rural Louisiana is recreated for a unique Florida resort hotel. The resort opened in 1991 as the Dixie Landings Resort. In 2001, the hotel was renamed Port Orleans Riverside in conjunction with a merger with the neighboring Port Orleans Resort. The two hotels, Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter remain two separate facilities but join together to recreate the Old South from the French Quarter to the antebellum mansion and finally the rustic bayou cabins further up river. Port Orleans Riverside is two resorts rolled into one. The first section is the area closest to the city and thus the more elegant buildings. Magnolia Bend consists of four mansion with over 1,024 guest rooms. The buildings are built to resemble the rich southern plantations. Further up the Sassag...

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: With just over a month left before out annual passes scheduled to expire, we decided to squeeze in one last trip to Walt Disney World. We booked a short stay at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort, a moderate hotel in which we had not stayed at yet. We arrived at WDW early in the morning dropped the dog off at the Fort Wilderness kennel and then headed to Port Orleans to check in. Then we boarded the bus and headed to Epcot. When we arrived at Epcot, we were given some bad news, our passes were blacked out until tomorrow. I misread the blackout dates on the back of the pass and the passes did not come out of winter break blackout until tomorrow. Not only did that put us behind schedule on our park plan, but try taking a 2 year old to the front gates of the park and then turn around and leave…what an awful feeling. But we went back to the hotel and made the most of a bad situation. Fortunately for us, our room was ready early. We moved our stuff into th...