The month of July was surprisingly busy for us considering we’re both retired and it’s one of the hottest months of the year here in Florida. We were going to drive home to Orlando from Virginia (last post), but decided against it due to the July 4th weekend traffic. We took the Amtrak Auto Train back from Lorton, Virginia to Sanford, Florida as it save us the long drive, plus it’s fun to take as well!
On this trip, as it was only an overnight train, we did a first for us: instead of getting a full “deluxe” bedroom with bath, we got two roomettes (with no in-room bath) right across the hall from each other. While the roomettes are half the size of the full bedroom, they were actually more comfortable in the daytime in the sitting position than the bedroom, which is quite uncomfortable on the sofa and roughly padded chair in that room. The roomette has the equivalent of two airline domestic Business Class seats (each facing the other one) and the seats are a larger size than the bedroom’s as well. I would NOT get a single roomette for the both of us due to the space issues, but by each of us having our own roomette, it was really very nice and quite comfortable, and we could easily converse with each other if we left the door open and spoke across the small hallway.
While the roomettes do not have an in-room bathroom, there is one on the top level per train car (where the 10 roomettes are located on each train) and 3 on the lower level, plus a full size shower as well. On the “Deluxe Bedroom” cabins which we normally get, the tiny bathroom literally takes up half the room, so it’s not really that much of an upgrade to choose the bedroom for 2 people; plus one person has to sleep on the top bunk. On a longer trip such as the California Zephyr which is 2 1/2 days, having 2 full size “deluxe bedrooms” is preferable for us, however. Amtrak can connect the two bedrooms into a suite of sorts (really just 2 connecting rooms), but you need to reserve it that way (the same for two roomettes) so the rooms are together when you board the train. Note: both the deluxe bedroom and roommate fold the seats down to accommodate one lower bed a one upper bed, so if that is a problem with accessibility; i.e. climbing a ladder to the top bunk, having 2 individual roomettes is the way to go for comfort and practicality.
The train trip back was fun and uneventful, and we had the same dinner in the Dining Car as we did on the trip up to Virginia from Lorton. (Both deluxe bedrooms and roomettes receive complimentary dinner and breakfast in the Dining Car. The Coach section has a paid snack bar only in their cars.) As we left on July 3rd and arrived back on July 4th, the train was not very crowded and even though we didn’t have priority car delivery (for the first 30 cars delivered from the train), we did not have a long wait for our Tesla to be delivered. In fact we could even watch the Tesla app to see the status of the car, from the driver side door opening, to driving it by the train attendants in “valet mode” to the stop in front of the station! Pretty cool, and we were soon on our way home, with only a 20 minute drive from the Sanford station.
On July 4th night, we stayed home and watched several firework shows on TV (via YouTube Live), the best of which were the two shows from Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and EPCOT. We both thought EPCOT’s was the best as it did a bonus mini-fireworks show highlighting each country around World Showcase, as well as their regular nightly fireworks show.
The rest of the month we had miscellaneous errands, follow-up doctor appointments, PT, etc including my 3 month follow-up Knee Replacement doctor appointment. The Doctor gave me a great report and said my next appointment wouldn’t be until next April; a full year since the surgery was done. I’m still going to Physical Therapy (PT), but now just once a week for the month of July. My walking is much better, and I’m not using a cane, walker, or wheelchair (except at Disney, see below) but my left knee still hurts a bit doing stairs, or standing up from low chairs.
I also had a follow-up with my Pulmonologist, an she gave me a couple new plastic masks to use with my CPAP machine, as I told her the one I’ve been using is not comfortable and seems to leak. The new one is much better, thank you, even if I do look like a creature from the Black Lagoon wearing it! LOL!
Later in July, we went to Disney World for a week stay-cation, and even with the extreme heat (100F +) we had a great time. We stayed at our usual hotel in the Disney area, the Hyatt Grand Cypress in the Disney Springs area. We got upgraded to an Executive Suite thanks to my Hyatt Globalist Status, and a suite upgrade, which was good for all seven nights. We had views of the Magic Kingdom fireworks, a few miles in the distance, but we only saw them 2 nights from the room as we were usually out at Disney Springs or somewhere in the evening come firework’s time.
We have the Disney World Annual Pixie Pass which is perfect for retirees like us, as it’s good from Monday thru Friday, with just a few blackout dates throughout the year, and is good for all four of Disney’s theme parks. Previously most days in summer time were blackout dates, but this has changed and Disney no longer has summer blackout dates, although I’m sure a lot of locals don’t like going in the hot summer months anyway.
We went to Magic Kingdom one day, and it was the most I had walked since before my knee surgery, as we stayed for 4 hours. Inside the park I did not use a cane at all, although I did use the wheelchair briefly going from the Uber drop-off point to the Monorail, and then reversed back to the parking lot as well to save energy for the park.
We were in the Magic Kingdom park from 3 to 7pm, and rode our favorite attractions in the Magic Kingdom: the People Mover elevated tram, and the Carosel of Progress show with its moving theater, and were going to do the Haunted Mansion, but unfortunately it was closed for the day.
Surprisingly the lines at many of the attractions were quite short, although with my knee still recovering I don’t think I could have gotten into (or out of!) Space Mountain, the Tomorrowland Speedway, or the boats on It’s a Small World, due to there low seating arrangements.
We did do quite a bit of walking thru the park, which was by design as therapy for me. We had read about and seen You Tube videos of the upcoming changes to Magic Kingdom, but was surprised at how quick these changes were done to Frontierland, and in our opinion not for the better. From the Haunted Mansion (which was closed the day we were there) and the areas adjacent to the, the right side of the street was boarded up with a wall indicating the area was under renovation. What Disney doesn’t mention, is this is a four year renovation project affecting much of Frontierland, which is being changed to accommodate a new “Cars” attraction, from the movie’s namesake.
We were really disappointed they removed the huge white Riverboats as Disney drained the Rivers of America, and leveled Tom Sawyer Island, the tree house, and the raft attraction over to the island there. In addition the WDW Train now only goes one stop: from Main Street to the old Frontierland stop, and then goes backwards back to Main Street! No more taking the train around the Magic Kingdom Park; well at least for 4 years I guess, or until Disney finishes this mammoth project.
While change is inevitable I think Disney could have found a better was to add the Cars attraction by using some of the land behind the Magic Kingdom, or even the huge parking lot perhaps, to make way for Cars, instead of destroying an attraction that was part of Walt’s original California Disneyland and Florida’s Disney World.
Anyway, we had a nice time at Magic Kingdom, and the exercise was good for both of us. We had lunch at an indoor quick service dining venue near It’s a Small World.
After going back to our hotel for a shower and quick nap, we later Uber’d over to Disney Springs and had dinner at Splitsville.
The next day there were showers and the typical summer Florida Thunderstorms, so we stayed at the hotel all day, where we had a pre-planned dinner that evening. We had reservations at the hotel’s fancy restaurant “Four Flamingos”, which is a celebrity created restaurant by Richard Blais. We were not familiar with him (no offense Mr. Blais), but he was in town for the “Blais Days”, which meant he was in town for 3 days to promote his restaurant, which he does a couple times a year, which has be open for 3 or 4 years now. This mostly seafood and Florida themed restaurant is located where the old Hemmingway’s (Key West themed) restaurant was located prior to Covid. While we had been to Hemmingway’s several times, including some memorable New Year’s Eve dinners, Steve (DOS) and I had never been to the Four Flamingos, so we figured “Blaise Days” was a good time to give it a try.
We had a great time and did indeed Mr. Blaise at the entrance to the restaurant, and he gladly posed for photo of us together. Steve (DOS) and I thought we’d be original and wear a couple flamingo shirt for our dinner, and DOS had a nicer blue based flamingo shirt, while I had a dark blackish based flamingo shirt. As you can see from the photo, Mr. Blais was not wearing a flamingo shirt, rather a colorful apron, but we were, so no big deal, he must not like to dress to impress like we do! LOL! Actually as you’ll read in the next paragraph, that fashion irony is on me!
Prior to meeting Mr. Blais, we first went to the bar for a pre-dinner drink while we waited for our 7:30pm dinner reservation. While at the bar, I noticed several of the waiters came into the bar area from the adjacent restaurant to get their customer’s drinks. A couple of the waiters actually remembered us from a few years ago when it was Hemmingways, and gave us a wave. We would later see them again in the dining room.
We we were finally called for our dinner and went into the dining room: Well wouldn’t you know, all of the waiters were wearing the same same shirt as me! Or I should say, I was wearing the same shirt as all of the waiters! A couple people in the bar area commented on that to me, and I was ready to go back to the room to change shirts! I felt like two ladies at a wedding wearing the same unique dress! LOL! While we didn’t have waiters Mike and Stephanie, they both came by our table and we got photos with them. They had been with that Hyatt since it opened over 40 years ago, and was so surprised they still remembered us. We must have made a memorable impression or two on a couple of those New Year’s Eve groups we had from year’s gone by!
Also while we were seated, a group of a dozen people or so, mostly early 30-something intoxicated women kept looking at me and laughing, until one actual pointed at me from across the restaurant an shouted, did you mean to dress like a waiter with your shirt? Ha Ha, the joke’s on me! So embarrassing, and they kept looking at me the whole meal and laughing! I did stop by the table on the way out, and said we were locals, and this wasn’t planned. Nice gals anyway, and I’m glad I could give them a few laughs.
We did have a great meal, and fun night out, and the matching shirts just added to the fun! Here are a couple photos of our meal, including an appetizer, and the huge grilled swordfish which DOS and I shared.
Here are some photos from the rest of our week at Disney, including the hotel (beautiful pool area) and landscaped grounds, plus more of Disney Springs and the House of Blues, where we ate one night (has awesome barbecue!)
Now in a blink of the eye it feels like, the month of July is over, and we’re soon off to our next adventure. Next week we are going on another week staycation, this time for my birthday to the Hyatt Coconut Point Resort, between Ft. Myers and Naples, Florida. We planned a few stay-cations closer to home while my knee recovers from surgery, yet still giving me time and room to roam around without having to fly somewhere right away. It’s been 3 months for my knee, and it’s doing so much better. As I told my doctor and PT staff, I’m so glad I had the Knee Replacement surgery! So long for now!😀 Stay sweet! ❤️
