But first we began the central Florida excursion with a stop in Daytona Beach in order to visit our favorite (and a local favorite) beach restaurant...Ocean Deck. The restaurant is located just south of the former Hilton Daytona Beach and the famous Daytona Beach pier. It's food options are far reaching from traditional bar food to Florida fish like Mahi Mahi to steaks and smothered chicken. Although the staple for us is to get the appetizer that seems to be on every table....Gator Bites. They are real Florida gator meat deep fried and DELICIOUS!!! Of course it is a bar and you are on a beach so you have to get those beach favorites for drinks...everything from bar specialties to the standbys like Hurricanes, etc. My favorite is the Rum Runner on the rocks served in a mason jar...and believe me they make them strong!!!!
Going further down the coast we made our usual stop at Kennedy Space Center in order to see how far they have gotten in completing the Space Shuttle exhibit (was almost complete when we went but not quite). They made changes to the entrance as well which looks quite exceptional.
After stopping at KSC we made a stop for the first time at the astronauts hall of fame. The place is rather small but has many relics from the past which included suits, etc from John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, etc. after we completed our tour of the facility we finished our day at a new haunt of ours, Fishlips in Port Canaveral. If you have ever taken a cruise leaving from FL a ton of them leave from this town and this restaurant is located right on the water just east of the port. If you get there on time you can usually get a good spot on the top level to watch the Disney and Carnival ships leave port on their excursions.
The restaurant itself again has a TON of fresh fish from FL and a well stocked bar with many local micro brews and beach type beers. It is a must do when we go to FL.
After spending the night in Cocoa beach we left to get to Disney. We have a tendency when going to Disney to visit a new resort each time we go and since we eat so much at Epcot we decided to stay in an Epcot resort this time which was the Yacht Club. Our view was of the lagoon (I splurged).
It was a great view and we were able to see the Epcot night show every night from our balcony.
There were two major events while we were there...as we arrived early in the week we went to the first that was ending that week, the Epcot Flower and Garden festival. If there is one thing I can say about myself it is that I like to relax and tend to a vegitable garden as well as to my lawn. This event gave me many tips and tricks to do this better. I absolutely LOVED it. This was also the first year they attached a food festival with it which is a mini version of their full Food and Wine festival that is in Epcot in the fall.
The second major event came later in the week which was the first weekend of Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios. If you are a fan of Star Wars this is one event that makes you feel like a kid! The Disney characters dress up like characters from Star Wars like Minnie as Leia and Mickey as Luke ....
There were also our timeless characters from the series like Lord Vader...
Chewbacca....
Boba Fett...
And R2D2.
Amazingly enough they also had a ridiculously expensive Rancor model there as well.
A big attraction during these weekends is the ability to meet the people who were actors in the series. The weekend I attended the ever popular Ray Park (Darth Maul) and Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett - original trilogy) were in attendance.
One of the cooler things at the event was the ability to use a 3D printer and make yourself into a Han Solo carbon freeze or a storm trooper. I did BOTH!
Also available was many other items exclusively made for Star Wars weekends at Disney. One of the items that caught my eye was a Yoda Stitch figure and it just so happened that the artist for the figure was in attendance so I had mine signed.
You could also make you name using the Aurebesh language on a badge that is used for the Star Tours ride.
It is a wonderful annual event done by Disney for the Star Wars fanatics...which I am sure will grow even larger with the purchase of the franchise by Disney. But just don't get caught doing anything foolish while there...they are serious about their security....
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