The Magic Kingdom was the target of our third WDW day. We arrived at about 8:30 a.m., but the Park does not officially open until 9:00 a.m. Our first stop was the barbershop on Main Street. Ron stayed at the barbershop until it opened to be second in line. FIrst in line was a little boy who was there to have his first haircut. Meanwhile, I walked down to the castle. People were poised to move into their favorite areas for that first ride of the day or they could gather directly in front of the castle to see the Welcome to the Magic Kingdom show. I was in the group for Fantasyland so I could ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This is an attraction that was finished just after our last visit. It is a family roller coaster, so the ride is short and pretty mild with some nice visuals of what it was like to work in the Dwarfs’ jewel mine. There were a few cute mini-attractions in the waiting line for this ride as well. It was fun and over too quickly, but I was able to check THAT off of my “To Do” list.

An attraction that they do not have in our Disneyland Park is Mickey’s Philharmagic. This is a clever 3D movie that revisits songs and singers from several of the most popular Disney films (Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King, etc.) while Donald is trying to retrieve the blue wizards cap. We actually spent most of our time in the Park playing an interactive game where we were seeking out pirate treasure. Around Adventureland, there are spots where your Disney wrist band will activate an area with lights, animated objects, and sounds to give you clues to the pirate’s treasure. You must follow instructions and visit the correct sites in the correct order. If you do, you get a souvenir card. There are five different treasures. At one point, you even get a Fast Pass to the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.

We rode the Jungle Ride one more time. I don’t seem to get tired of the bad jokes and puns on that ride. Our captain was very funny this time. She really put herself into the role.



We had dinner in their version of Downtown Disney at a place called Chef Art Smith’s Homecoming. The food was very tasty, but we ordered too much. We had two starters, hush puppies with jalapeño jelly (yum) and their thigh-high chicken biscuit sandwiches (three little biscuit/chicken sliders) that were also wonderful. After eating those, we had our server make the entree to go. We were going to share one entree anyway, but we were full. We only ordered the entree because the title intrigued us… Chicken and Donuts. I kind of expected something magical about the combination, but it was just what it said, a couple of good pieces of fried chicken and two donuts! The country gravy over mashed potatoes were good, however. After dinner, we walked around the shops. I have a special iPhone case that I had made at Disneyland, but the outside band had separated while I was traveling around the world. It did not hurt the phone, but pieces kept sticking out from time to time catching on my pocket. In the Co-Op store, there was a D-Tech, the guys who made my original case. They replaced my outside band for free! How cool is that!

Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida

Our first day at Walt Disney World was spent at the Animal Kingdom. It’s iconic symbol is the Tree of Life which looks pretty small in photos, but is actually huge and the trunk is made up of interlaced sculptures of different animals. It is worth staring at for awhile. I liked the owl and iguana and I think lobster all together in one area. The big ride was Expedition Everest which included a portion of the ride where the roller coaster car travels backwards and even does a loop da loop as we traveled backwards. I think I am glad I did not remember that part of the ride. We survived it fine, however. It was a hot day, so we went on the Kali River Rapids where you get wet. I liked the decorations as you waited in line. It reminded me of our recent trip to India. They captured the look of some of the shrines and temples. We also viewed the Lion King show which had some great singing, dancing, and the characters we remember from the movie… life-sized. Well, Timon was much larger than life-sized.



EPCOT Center was our target for the second day. The Flower and Garden Festival was taking place so there were some very impressive topiary sculptures and plantings. Our first stop was the Test Track where we designed a car and then sat in a “sim car” while it went around the test track… really fast. We got the best score for our design for efficiency, but it did not have a lot of power. Fine for driving in Los Angeles. We had brunch in the Land Pavilion where several characters came by for photo ops and to sign autographs for the kids with autograph books. Ron posed with Pluto and I posed with Dale (how can you tell the difference?… the nose). There was also a cool ground painting by Glidden Paints that looked all elongated from the side, but from below, the picture looked correct.

As the day got hotter, I tired of taking photos, but we worked our way around the World Showcase and visited little mini-countries. It was cool to relate what we saw to our recent travels. We saw Morocco, and it compared favorably with our memories… tangine slow cookers, mint tea, and the clothes. China’s building was patterned after the Temple of Heaven that we visited. This is a smaller version, but it matches my photos of the site. Pretty cool. The 360-degree film of China revisited several of our stops in China (Shanghai, Hong Kong, the Great Wall, the Forbidden Palace, Tiananmen Square, and even the terra cotta warriors).

Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida

Ron and I are both fans of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter books so we could not pass up an opportunity to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We were here several years ago and saw Hogsmeade, but they had just announced that they were working on another portion of the world, that is, Diagon Alley. One of my strongest memories of the first visit, was that the incredible main ride in Hogwart’s Castle made me sick as a dog and I did not enjoy the rest of the day. However, as we were talking about this visit while still onboard, the idea came that we might put on our seasick patches before we went to the park. It worked very well. I felt a little queasy after the ride, but it went away almost immediately.

My favorite aspect of this section of the park is the great detail and attention to design that went into recreating Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. If you saw the films, the park looks very familiar. I enjoyed the books more than the films because you got so much more of the story s you read, but visually, I was always impressed with the films and now the park. We rode the Hogswart’s Express from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley. Universal Resort consists of two separate parks that require two different admission fees (or a park hopper sort of ticket), so to board the Hogwart’s Express, you had to show your ticket. That little attraction was fun (and any excuse to sit down where it was cool was welcomed). We ended up in London and you turn down an uninteresting brick alley to enter Diagon Alley. You could hear the bricks magically moving as you turned the corner.

The big attraction here was Escape from Gringotts, but seeing the shops recreated from the films and having breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron were actually my favorite parts of this park. I don’t remember much else of the parks except that it was pretty hot and humid. We returned to the hotel to rest and came back out after a shower and a nap when the heat had abated somewhat.

Day 111 of 111. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

The last morning on the ship was full of moist eyes and details with which to deal. Our “breakfast club” got a picture one last time. As we said good bye at the end of the meal, the fact that we were all going our separate ways hit home and emotions were running high. We had already packed our bags the night before and left them in the hallway where they magically disappeared. We also ran into one of the dancers from the stage shows who was nice enough to pose for a picture. I hadn’t realized he was so tall! He is Romanian and did not speak a word of English when he embarked four months ago but during one of the last shows, he actually sang a duet with one of the singers. Pretty cool.

We got off the ship and all of the luggage was organized in a huge space. Each piece of luggage was tagged with different colors and numbers. Our luggage was Green 1. We hired a porter who helped us locate and fetch our luggage and then helped us as we passed through customs. It was pretty easy since we really didn’t buy anything that had to be declared.


After getting through customs, we dropped off four suitcases and a box to a huge FedEx truck. These will be delivered home so we don’t have to worry about them! We kept a couple of small suitcases and a backpack and got on yet another bus. We were off to the Sawgrass Recreation Park, the Everglades. We boarded an airboat and drove around for about 25 minutes looking for alligators. We saw one from a distance as well as fishing birds, cormorants. The chance to visit and learn about this unique biome was really the fascinating feature of this excursion. The water in this region was only about a foot deep (it has just rained) and is actually a huge slow-moving river rather than a mass of standing water. After the boat ride, we saw some alligators a little more close up. Ron held a baby alligator for a few moments. This area in the park is a preserve where hurt or abandoned animals are kept and cared for. This is much like the Wildlife Waystation back near our home in Sylmar. After the visit, the bus dropped us off at the airport. For many, they were catching flights home. For us, we picked up a rental car and drove to Orlando.

Day 108 of 111. Atlantic Ocean

We are halfway through the seven day journey from Europe back to North America. Our Grand World Voyage is coming to an end and everyone is a little sad, a little nostalgic, and a little glad to get back home. I heard one person describe the feeling as, “It’s like we’ve been asked to give back the keys to heaven.” A lot is happening these last days. The crew onboard is largely Indonesian and Filipino. Each group put on a show on the main stage in the afternoon. The shows featured native dances, popular songs from their countries, skits, and featured soloists. The shows are at 3:00 p.m. and you have to get into the theater at least 30 minutes early to even get a seat. We staked out our seats at 1:30.

We had our final gala night. We wore our light-up bow ties (pretty classy, huh?). Everyone has medallions that we were expected to wear. Bronze, for those with 100 days at sea, Silver, for 300 total days at sea, Gold for 500 total days at sea (more than a year on ships!). There are also Platinum Level (700 days) and then President’s Club (1000 days or more)! There was a recognition event before dinner where they announced the newest inductees in each category and had them take a picture with the Captain and the officer in charge of the Hotel portion of the ship. When we first came on this amazing adventure, we considered it to be a once-in-a-lifetime event, but we soon met people who had been on 3, 7, or even 15 Grand World Voyages!

Others have been busy, too. There was a display of the 135 blankets that have been knit or crocheted during the cruise for charity. These will go to young cancer patients in hospitals as well as some sick children who are treated to a camping trip. Table after table were filled with these volunteer-made gifts. I have continued my watercolor and drawing workshops. I donated nine of my watercolors to a Silent Auction onboard that raised over $5,100 for an orphanage in our last port of call, Funchal. The fellow in the white suit is Ben Sack, our drawing teacher. He is the Artist in Residence who has been on the ship since Day 1 and has commemorated the 2017 Grand World Voyage with two huge pen-and-ink drawings showing all of the ports we have visited. If you have good internet, try searching for “Ben Sack artist” and look at some of his work. He is a very talented artist, a great teacher, and a friendly and unassuming person.

Finally, we took a group picture with our dining table buddies. We meet every night at 5:30 p.m. at Table 42 and laugh and joke and inform each other of our day’s activities. Ron and I joined this table after Hong Kong when our original table mates all disembarked. We knew Paul and Linda from a few excursions and breakfast and they invited us to their table to replace two of their table mates who also left the ship in Hong Kong. I remember back to the first day of the cruise when there was a big get together around the pool. Ron and I felt pretty awkward and alone but we saw all sorts of people greeting and hugging each other as old friends. I can certainly relate to those feelings now. If I ran into any of our table mates or some of the other special friends we have made on this trip, I would be hugging them warmly as well.

We have been setting our clocks back an hour each night lately, so we are now on East Coast time. Today we will begin our packing… clothes, a few souvenirs, and a ton of good memories.