To Disney- Monday, February 16, 2026 [New version]

     Abby had fallen asleep last night between 4:30 and 5:00 and for the most part, she stayed asleep until it was time to get up this morning.  There was a point when she woke up and was hungry, since she had missed dinner, and she had a piece of the pizza that was left.  We were also playing a game like “musical beds” where she would shift from the bed she was sharing with Emma to ours, or Julie would move to Emma’s just to have more room.  You didn’t know who you were going to wake up next to.

     We had booked a hotel near the beach because we wanted to see the beach itself, but circumstances kept us from doing so last night.  We wanted to see the beach this morning after breakfast, and since our car was packed, we drove a short distance to St. Johns County Pier Park, which Julie had noticed yesterday.  As the name suggests, there is a long pier there, but we headed down to the sand and water next to it.  Abby went running down to the water.  A small flock of pelicans flew by as we arrived, which Scott loved to see, and a surfer was out catching a few of the waves.  The sun was already up but it was overcast at this point.  We didn’t stay long, but it was long enough for Abby to get quite wet and sandy.  Scott walked next door to the lobby of the Embassy Suites to get the girls Starbucks while we were wrapping up our time there.

     As we were driving towards Disney, we passed a Buc-ees in Daytona Beach.  Julie had been saying that she wanted to stop at one while we were in the South because she heard so much about it.  It is an experience certainly, and a destination.  Julie described it as “If Bass Pro was a gas station,” and that seemed to be pretty accurate.  Other people besides us were taking pictures of the store too. The inside of the store was larger than many supermarkets.  There was all kinds of food available from barbecue to tacos, sandwiches and snacks, almost all of which had the mascot, Bucky, on them.  We had to get a picture by the statue of this famous beaver as we went in.  Three high school or college aged guys were getting their pictures taken in hooded onesies of Bucky as we enter.  There was an unbelievable amount of merchandise available, including stuffed animals of Bucky and all kinds of things. Abby ended up buying a stuffed animal, but it was a small octopus, not Bucky.  Scott said that the restroom was huge and as impressive as the rest of the store, with art canvases for sale on the walls.  We left without buying much else, but we made note of it as a good place to stop for lunch sometime.  

     We drove past Disney World and went all the way to Lakeland in order to visit the Lakeland Antique Mall.  We had stopped there back in 2023 and thought it was a fascinating stop.  It has vendors that sell a lot of the usual things, but many specialize in Disney memorabilia.  Some of the most interesting items were things that were actually used in the Disney parks and resorts.  When we were here before, they had an enormous selection of items that were used in the pirate themed rooms at the Caribbean Beach Resort like the one that we had stayed in with Julie’s parents.  Back then, they had many of the beds, tables, dressers, curtains, and so forth.   We regretted not buying a barrel that was used to hold the refrigerator, and we were hoping that there might be at least one left that we could get this time, but realistically, we weren’t really expecting it to still be there after three years.  They weren’t.  In the three years since, the Antique Mall itself has moved to a new location, and while there was still a lot to look at, there didn’t seem to be as much as they had before.  The only thing from the pirate rooms that we found was an ice bucket, but it looked just like an ordinary ice bucket.   Julie found a large barrel shaped book shelf, but it wasn’t what we wanted.  We enjoyed looking around, but considering that it took us almost an hour extra to get there in the crazy I-4 traffic and construction, and than almost an hour to get back to Disney, it probably wasn’t worth it this time.

     It was after noon when we made it back to Disney World, and we headed to the “Lime Garage” at Disney Springs.  We were hoping to park there and get lunch at one of the many restaurants there, but the garage itself was pretty full.  (It is scheduled for closing for some work to be done on it, but it was still open for the crowds that were expected on “Presidents Day Weekend.”) 

     We didn’t have our hearts set on any particular food at Disney Springs, so we decided to go park at our hotel, where we knew we would have a parking space and eat at the food court there.  When we arrived at the All-Star Movies resort our room was ready for us to check in.  There's been an interesting system in place for a few years now where you don't have to check in at the front desk.  If you check the Disney app on your phone, it will tell you your room number when the room is ready.  Then you can either use your phone or your "Magic Bands" on your wrist. (The Magic Bands can also be used for admission to the theme parks and for using the Lightning Lanes in the parks.)  So we got our things out of the car and brought them in to our room.  Julie then used the phone to get us into the room and we were greeted with the "Welcome Frank Family" message on the TV.  

     Each area of the All-Star Movies resort is themed to a different Disney film.  We are in the Dalmatian section, building 4.  The area is themed to the 101 Dalmatians movie.  In the courtyard area, there are two large statues of Pongo and Perdita, the Dalmatian parents, one small statue of a pup in front of a TV, and 98 pictures of the rest of the pups on the walls and balcony of the buildings.  Scott only counted half of them, but figured they were all accounted for.  The Dalmatian section is very close to both the pool and main building with the lobby and the food court.  Julie had paid a little extra to get rooms that were close this time.  We were hungry because it was after 1:00 and we still hadn't eaten lunch, so went to get food at the World Premier food court.  Abby got a special dessert after her lunch-- a large Mickey cupcake with chocolate disks for ears.

      After lunch, the pool was right there, so Scott and Abby changed and went swimming.  Abby had a ball, of course, and she seemed so glad that Dad had joined her this time.  She was giggling almost the whole time.  This pool is in the Fantasia section, and is themed to the 1940 Disney film.  Its main feature is the statue of Mickey Mouse wearing the wizard's hat from the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment.  He continuously shoots several arching streams of water out into the pool.  Abby thought it was hysterical when Dad got underneath the streams and they fell directly on his head.

     Meanwhile, Emma had gone ahead on her own to go back to Disney Springs to do some shopping.   After drying off from our swim, we went to join her there.  We went to the World of Disney first, which is basically the largest Disney store.  We looked around for a while there, but it was very crowded and not as fun as it could be.   Abby did buy a jewelry box with the Disney Princesses on it.  It winds up and plays, "A Dream is a Wish You're Heart Makes" when it is open.  It didn't take long for us to tire of fighting the crowds here though.  

     We met up with Emma and we tried to make some dinner plans.  Once again, we didn't have our hearts set on any place in particular at Disney Springs, so we thought we'd try something.  Julie's favorite resort was the Port Orleans French Quarter where we stayed in 2022.  There is a boat that connects that resort with Disney Springs, so we thought it would be a great idea to go to go there for dinner and probably get some beignets while we were there.  Abby was a little nervous about the boat, but we eventually talked her into it.  We saw a couple of cormorants who were drying their wings and looking like they were dancing.  We got into a conversation with a nice guy who was really into pin trading.  He asked Abby who her favorite princess was, since she was holding her jewelry box.  She said it was Ariel, and he gave her a pin shaped like a set of Mickey ears but with the Little Mermaid's coloring on it to put in her box.

     We had gone to the Port Orleans French Quarter resort but there was one important bit of information that we really should have paid attention to.  It is the day before Mardi Gras.  This resort was certainly not the best place to get away from crowds.  We should have realized it was going to be crowded because we had originally tried to book this year's vacation here but they didn't have any rooms available.  Now we know why.  This resort is always Mardi Gras themed, so it's hard to say how much decoration was added specifically for the occasion now, but the purple, green and gold streamers festooning the coutryard tonight were not there before.  Certainly there were many resort guests that were wearing those Mardi Gras colors tonight. The wait to get served at the counter of the Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory was long and tables were almost impossible to get inside.  We ended up sitting outside, even though the sun had gone down and it was starting to get cooler.

    When we were finished with dinner, Julie and Abby made their way back to the hotel by first taking a bus to Hollywood Studios and then transferred to a bus to All-Star Movies resort.  Scott and Emma stayed to get Mickey-shaped beignets.  These are the fried dough treats that New Orleans is famous for.  Once again, the lines were long.  Scott and Emma waited for a while.  Eventually Emma ordered a three pack.  One was big enough to be enough for her, but you had to order them in quantities of either three or six.  Once she finally placed her order she had to wait with a crowd of other people for it to be filled.  Scott decided to go into the lobby to wait, where he could enjoy its flowery smell.  It's one of our favorite smells in Disney, even if it might be piped in artificially.  Anyway, when Emma's name was called for her to get her order, her purse got snagged on something before she could go up.  By the time she had gotten loose, a different person named Emma had come and taken her order.  All we could do is wait for this other Emma's order to come up and take hers.  We got the better bag though, because that other Emma had ordered six beignets, so we got double the amount that we had originally ordered.

     Scott and Emma made their way back to the hotel by first taking a bus to Epcot.  When they were waiting for a bus to All-Star Movies, they saw two buses come to All-Star Music.  Since that is the resort right next door, Scott suggested that they hop on one of those and walk to All-Star Movies, which they did.  Then they shared the beignets with Julie.  Abby was already asleep. 

 

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Originally, we didn't have time for the full blog entry here.  This was the original list of bullet points that we made here.

• St. Augustine Beach- on the beach in the morning
• Stop at Buc-ees in Daytona Beach- Julie called it "If Bass Pro was a gas station"
• Lakeland Antique Mall- a bit disappointing,  New location, but not as good as last time.
• Tried to find parking at Disney Springs, but couldn't
• Went to hotel (All-Star Movies) and room was available.  Had late lunch at the hotel
• Scott and Abby went swimming in the Fantasia pool
• Emma went ahead to Disney Springs
• The rest of us went to Disney Springs a little later.   Very crowded.  Did a little shopping at the World of Disney, but decided to try someplace else for dinner.
• Took the boat to Port Orleans French Quarter resort.  Seemed like a good idea at the time, but we didn't realize that it is Mardi Gras eve.   It was crowded here too.
• Emma stood in line a long time for beignets, only to have her order taken by another person named Emma.  Our Emma ended up with six instead of three though' 

Scott used the time that we are driving back to New York to try to fill in a lot of details.