Since our park of the day, Epcot, does not even open until noon today, you'd think I might try to sleep in, but no. I was up and watching the clouds turn from the patio.
there was this crazy silhouette out in the lake that turned out to be a crane type of bird that had speared a fish on its beak. The crazy thing is, the only other time I've ever seen this was on that very first trip, waiting at the docks of Wilderness Lodge watching the same type of bird try to figure out how to get breakfast off his beak and down his gullet.
Heading out to spend the morning looking around the other monorail resorts (plus Wilderness Lodge) to take in all the holiday decorations.
Above is at the end section of the beach that stretched out in front of the room.
Below is the garden wing we were in -- you can see there were a bunch of other buildings that don't have that amazing bay lake view, so it was a really nice spot.
I just really loved this Donald graphic. I kept taking photos of it every time I walked by.
On the monorail, our journey around the circle is not quite simple. Another giant project is a huge refurbishment of the Polynesian resort, including the monorail portion. So we'll have to ride to the Transportation and Ticket Center, then walk over to the Poly, then walk to the Grand Floridian, then get on the monorail to get to the Magic Kingdom, so we can get the ferry to Wilderness Lodge. Got all that?
looking out the monorail windows at the giant tree we were at last night and the Grand Floridian across the bay.
At the TTC, where everyone else trying to get to the Magic Kingdom
The Polynesian is currently not having guests in any of their regular hotel rooms, only the buildings that fall into the category of the timeshare Disney Vacation Club rooms, which means the main building was nearly empty. The big restaurant Ohana remains closed, as does Trader Sam's, the super popular tiki bar. Only the smaller restaurant, Kona, and the quick service place, Captain Cook's are open. (And one of the two gift shops, of course.)
the walk between the Poly (around a LOT of construction) and the Grand Floridian is only about five minutes . . . to the edge of the GF that is the DVC buildings. It's another ten to get into the main lobby. But it was a beautiful day that wasn't terribly warm yet.
There is actually a walkway that just opened, after decades of not being able to walk to the Magic Kingdom. But it's another 15 minute walk and it's already getting warm, so onto the portion of the monorail that is actually accessible.
There's the castle! We hopped off here to get on the ferry that will run over to the Wilderness Lodge. In pre-pandemic years, you could hop a sweet little ferry from near our room across the bay, but it's not running now. So you have to get the big one from the park to get there.
and HERE is that awful brown box of a train station
It was lunch time and we were aiming to not get to Epcot until later in the afternoon in order to make it to park close at 9:00, so we ferried back over and rode the monorail to the Contemporary to pick up a mobile order for lunch and take a nap.
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