Linda Mac's Orlando Adventures

The Magic of Disney Animation located in Disney's Hollywood Studios has a new photo opportunity with Wall-E.

While this is not a live meet and greet, you can still get your family photographs with Wall-E. This updated Wall-E "photo studio" replaces the kitchen scene from Ratatouille. Also, because this is not a live meet and greet, there are no times listed in the Park Times Guide. Just wander back to the Magic of Disney Animation attraction.

A new addition to the photo op are two video screens that show clips and information about the new film and the characters in it. The brief tutorial about the different characters peaked my interested in seeing Wall-E in the theater instead of waiting for the DVD to come out.

The AllEars Amazon.com Store is featuring Wall-E merchandise right now.

Today's Theme: Gather 'Round the Campfire

It's the last full day of our Adventure By Disney and finally time to go rafting down the Colorado River. This was one event that I was really looking forward to but also a little nervous about. We had no idea of what to expect. I had seen posters at our last hotel for river rafting that shows large groups of people sitting in a very boring looking boat going down the river. I wanted a little more excitement then that but didn't want to have to be pulled out of the river either.

As you will see from the pictures below we had what I would call regular size rafts. I should have guessed from looking at the river for the past few days from my room and from driving up and down Highway 128, that this section of the Colorado is as mellow as it gets. Each raft had a guide that spent most of their time rowing us down the river and explaining the different points of interest along the way. There were several areas of the river that had "rapids", if that's what you want to call them. Don't get me wrong, it was a great trip and the scenery was out of this world but the rapids weren't not what I expected. Now I know why Mike or Tiffany giggled at me when I asked if the ride would be rougher then Kali River Rapids.

I took a chance and carried one of my older point and shoot cameras that is pretty much on it's leg anyway. There are small metal boxes you can request for keeping your stuff dry. They are big enough to hold a t-shirt and a few miscellaneous small items. Since our raft was not in most of the water fights it was easy to keep the camera safe. I had a zip-lock bag in the pocket of my shorts just in case. Sunscreen was very, very important on this adventure.

Enjoy the photos!

Linda Lou

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Linda Lou and Deb

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Michelle and Annette from MouseFanTravel.com

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What are they doing? Sky Diving? Well, Ronia burns very easily so by the time she was all covered up and had a life jacket on it was easy to mistake her for a sky diver. And Mike couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a little fun.

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The AllEars Adventurers getting ready to river raft

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Our new friends, Bobby and Kate

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No turning back now!

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Our raft upclose

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Deb, Linda Lou and The Catania Family heading out

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Michelle taking a dare and a swim

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Our boat did not have any buckets or pails and no one would share with us. It's impossible to have a good water fight without pails. But someone on one of the other rafts said we could have a pail "if we came and got it". Their plan was to ambush our raft but Michelle just jumped in and started swimming over to them. They did keep their promise and we were in the game

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Mike never stopped working. That's him in the river taking pictures

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Let the water wars begins

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A lazy ride down the Colorado River

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Getting ready for another water fight

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More Rapids

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A beautiful view of the mesas in the background with our group rafting and swimming.

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Ann and George on the river

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Michelle takes a turn at rowing down the Colorado River

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Colorado River Rapids

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Mike has his hands full with his boat crew

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The biggest rapid we faced "Jaws"

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More "big" rapids

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The "take out' spot where our motor coach is waiting to take us back to the Red Cliffs Lodge which is just a mile or so down the river.

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Beci from MouseFanTravel.com after our rough and tumble ride down the rapids. LOL

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Howdy Everyone!!!

Finally, the day has arrived to the begin our Magical Southwest Adventure. After reading Deb's blog about the airline losing her luggage, I am glad that I decided to arrive a day early. My whole luggage thing finally came together at 12:30 am early Monday morning and I was back up at 5:00 am to get to the airport on time.

I flew in on my United "non-stop" flight to Phoenix which I booked several months ago. On Friday night when I checked the United Airlines website to get a seat assignment, I discovered a little problem with my "non-stop" ticket. I live in Orlando and the "non-stop" flight started in Denver, Colorado! LOL Apparently, United changed the flight to connect in Denver at some point but failed to let the Disney people know. Lucky me! Everything worked out OK.

I arrived at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel via a limo from the airport. The only reason I picked the limo over a taxi was the driver gave me a fixed rate and the taxi drivers who were also lined up outside the airport would not. I knew the hotel was just about 20 minutes away and did not want to end up with a $100 fare for being driven all over Phoenix. Before you think, oh fancy smancy in a limo, let me tell you that the fare was only $35 and the limo looked liked it was 25 years old.

The hotel was historic, beautifully landscaped and had a friendly, professional staff. But most of the prices were crazy. I stopped in the The Cafe which is a deli/ grab and go type of place, it cost me $4.87 for a small bottle of Diet Coke. By the way, Disney sells the same thing for only $2. Deb, Linda and I decided to have lunch at The CheeseCake Factory at the Biltmore Fashion Mall. It was my first time at a CheeseCake Factory and I loved the food. The company was pretty special too. After lunch we headed over to the Safeway supermarket to stock out on water. The same bottle of Pellagino water that cost $8 at the hotel was 3 for $3.99 at Safeway. While worth the short drive.

Since we had a late lunch, we just decided to take it easy for the night and get a good nights sleep.

Here's a few photos of the hotel.