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We started our Disney tour from Disney's Animal Kingdom. It was about 8.00 a.m when we got there. Our first target was Expedition Everest. It is a wood roller coaster runs on an Everest prototype. It was really a thrilling ride. Luckily the queues were still shorter because we were early I guess. Then we headed to Kali River Rapids which is a raft ride along a canal. We totally got wet from the ride. The other events we enjoyed are Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl.

There were many interesting items but we had to skip them due to our time constraint. One of them was Kilimanjaro Safari, which takes a considerable amount of time but is worth watching.

We had lunch from a restaurant in Animal kingdom and left the park around 12 noon heading Epcot. There is a transportation service provided by Disney to travel from park to park and among Disney resorts. So we took the bus to Epcot from Animal Kingdom.
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This time we wanted to start the day as early as possible because we had so many things to cover up. So we got up at about 6.30 a.m and managed to reach Disney World around 8 a.m. We had 1 day park hopper tickets we bought from eBay for $100 each.

According to our plan we were supposed to visit Disney's Animal Kingdom in the morning, Epcot in the afternoon and Disney's Magic Kingdom in the evening. (We had already visited Disney's Blizzard Beach water park, day before).We had a rough idea of the events we are going to consider. We couldn't analyze the attractions beforehand because we didn't have internet access at our lodge, Towns of Legacy Park.

Finally, our plan worked. We could visit all the parks we expected to visit and didn't miss any interesting events. Happy for the day :)
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Both my husband and I really love water sports. So our intention was to reserve a day from our vacation for Disney's Typhoon Lagoon. When we check to buy tickets we got to know that Typhoon lagoon was closed for refurbishments during our vacation. No worries!! We had another option, Disney's Blizzard Beach. Price per head was $45. The park is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

It was around 9 a.m. when we get up that day. It took another two hours to make and have the breakfast and to get ready. It was about 12.00 noon when we arrive at Blizzard beach. Too bad, we could have had more fun if we arrived earlier. Anyway after getting dressed for water fun we rented a locker to keep our stuff safe. It is really a good idea to rent a locker (available at a cost around $8) if you are carrying valuable items like cameras, wallets, etc.

Then the real fun began. The very first adventure we tried was Slush Gusher, which is one of the hardest (seconds only to Summit Plummet). It was definitely a thrilling ride. We had to join another family for Team Boat Springs ride because minimum of four person required for the raft. We screamed all the way down just for fun:) Another thrilling item was Runoff Rapids.They provide three rides. Two of them are similar and for double riders. The other one is a tunnel ride for single riders. Yes, it is the best out of three. It was really scary to scroll down in the dark. There were many other fun rides to enjoy. Apart from rides there was a wavy bay to relax while floating. Actually a day is not enough for this fun.

I wish if they could do some improvements to the park. It was really tiresome to climb the mountain after each ride to get in another ride. There was this Chair Lift as a scenic transportation option but it doesn't cover all the riding areas. Some rides had automatic raft/tube lifting feature but still the riders have to climb the mountain by foot. It would have been really cool if they had provided an option like electronic stairs to reach the top for each ride. Anyway we really enjoyed the water sports in Blizzard Beach.

We bought dinner from an Indian restaurant as we had some stuffed sandwiches which were not that good for lunch from Blizzard beach. Our next day target was to cover other Disney parks as much as possible.
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Towns of Legacy park is a housing scheme in Legacy Park complex. Agents have bought number of houses from the scheme and they rent those for tourists. We reserved a town house with three bed rooms, two and half baths, garage, kitchen and washer dryer,  at a cost of $100 per day.

The house was nicely cleaned and well organized. It was a big relief to see such a pleasant environment after a 17 hrs drive and tiresome few hours we spent to find Towns of Legacy park. It was about 3.oo a.m when we get in there and we hurried to take a bath and then to get some sleep. We knew it is actually going to be a 'nap' because we were willing to visit Disney's Blizzard Beach on next morning. However we had a good long nap :). So it was our first night in Florida and I should mention we really liked the house through out our whole stay. Most importantly it is very closed to Disney world and other attractions in Orlando, FL.

However I have to mention some negative facts too. The kitchen was full of cooking utensils but there was no cutting board or a sponge to clean dishes. Anyway it is not a big deal. Next thing is "NO Internet access", which is of course a big deal. They had mentioned that there is a place called club house where we can access Internet, in the scheme. But we never found such. So we had to stay 6 days without Internet. Apart from these facts our stay was comfortable and nice. It would have been perfect if we had Internet there.

I am posting some interior pictures of the house here.

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We were dying to get a good break after a stressful three months of studies and work. So we decided to have a 6 days vacation in Florida, which would definitely be a nice sunny place for a vacation, in December 2010.

Considering the opportunity cost we preferred driving to FL over flying. So we rented a large SUV from Enterprise. The cost ($400) was reasonable for 7 days with insurance. Well it was a 17 hrs drive from Bloomington, Indiana to Orlando, Florida. 


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True, it is a really long distance to cover up in one day but my husband and brother-in-law could manage the drive. We departed from our home at 5.30 a.m. on 23rd Dec. We bought breakfast from a McDonalds on our way.We passed Indiana, Kentucky and were able to come through Tennessee by lunch time. We had lunch from a China Buffet, from where we can get a good meal for a reasonable price.

Then we started the rest of our journey and the surrounding was becoming scenic because of Smoky mountains, TN. It took a considerable time for us to pass Georgia (GA) as it is kind of a long state. We stopped at a Subway to buy dinner and arrived in Orlando, FL around 12 midnight.

Then the real nightmare began :). We were supposed to find the housing complex called Towns of Legacy Park, which is going to be our lodge for the stay. So we followed the address appended in the payment confirmation mail. Ouch!! it led us to an office called Florida Choice and it was closed. Not a sign of a housing complex. However we managed to find the housing complex, which was few miles away depending entirely on GPS. Now what? there was not any office or someone to talk to. We were so tired and disappointed by this time. Finally we found a phone number from the confirmation mail and called the number. Someone answered and asked us to open a lock box to get the key for the house. He gave us the house number and the code to open the lock box but again, he didn't know where the lock box is located. We searched around the complex but no any sign of lock box. Then we drove back to Florida Choice office and found the lock box there. Phew...finally we could get in. It was about 4.a.m when we went to bed.

This process could have been really pleasant if they had given the necessary information beforehand (about the lock box, code, etc).
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