1059 miles from home, 16 hours on the road, stops at every Chick-Fil-A or Starbucks along the way.  The Florida Visitor's Center offers free glasses of Florida orange or grapefruit juice.

The view from our room looks out onto Bay Lake.  Across the water is Fort Wilderness Campground.

In the lobby of the The Contemporary, Disney pastry chefs are assembling a gigantic gingerbread Christmas tree. It was a bit enlightening to see pastry chefs in the big hats and all standing on tall ladders, using pneumatic staple guns to apply the individual pieces.

Looking at our hotel from the ferry to the Fort Wilderness Campground.

As we ride the transport boat to the Wilderness Lodge.

Waterfalls leading to the pools.

Years ago, a small steam train ran through the Fort Wilderness Campground.  At spots in the campground, you can still see the old roadbed and, sometimes, a railroad tie or two.  Things change at Disney too.  The train is long gone, River Country waterpark is closed, Treasure Island has no visitors, but things get better too.

The lobby of the Boardwalk Hotel at WDW.  Very turn of the century, reminiscent of the New Jersey shore in the early twentieth century.  The elephant model above the fireplace represents "Lucy" an actualy building in Margate, New Jersey just south of Atlantic City.  "Lucy" still exists and tours are available through the once hotel office.  We went to the Boardwalk to take some photos of our son, Ron, and his fiance, Lori, at the location where he officially proposed last December.

This is the Contemporary Hotel at the Magic Kingdom.  We stayed in a new building the Bay Lake Towers which attaches directly to the Contemporary.  This picture is taken from the Bay Lake Towers.  My brother-in-law, a great photographer, is in the corner of the photo.

Decorated with thousands of LEDs for the holidays, the castle looks magnificent at night.  Again, this picture was taken from the roof of Bay Lake Towers.

Projection lights and surface lights can give the castle many,  many different appearances.

The WDW Monorail carries guests from each of the Magic Kingdom hotels to the Magic Kingdom entrance.  Separate Monorail routes run from the main parking area to the Magic Kingdom entrance and from the Magic Kingdom to EPCOT.  This picture is taken from the Contemporary Hotel as the Monorail raises to enter the hotel.

Entrance to Hollywood Studios, formerly known as MGM Studios, it's all Disney now.

The main street in Hollywood Studios leading to the Twilight Tower of Terror, the Rockin' Rollercoaster and other attractions.

Architecture in Hollywood Studios reflects the golden period of american film, from the '20's to the '50's.  While looking ornate, much of this archtecture is actually very well crafted fiberglass.

I like the intricate designs on the building facades.

One of my favorite Disney restaurants, the Brown Derby mimics a famous celebrity restaurante located at Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood.  The restaurant was famous for its cuisine but also for the sketches of famous customers that adorned the walls.  My favorite meal at the Brown Derby is the "Chop Salad" (if you're ever there, read the story of its conception) and Grapefruit Cake for dessert.

Brown Derby lamps, part of the decor.

The Tower of Terror.

Disney is famous for its productions and Beauty and the Beast is no exception.  It really seems like Broadway-quality presentation.

The finale!

The ride is behind the facade of "Grauman's Chinese Theater", one of the great theaters of Hollywood, seen in newsreels of many famous movie premiers.

Christmas is big at Disney.  In the "Streets of America", as dark falls, the snow begins to fall also.

Originally constructed by one man to entertain his family, then neighbors, the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights grew so large, eventually encompassing the houses on both sides of the Osborne's original home, that the Osbornes made arrangements with Disney to move the entire display to WDW.  Here it is, every year, in the "Streets of America".

Check out the blog section for a couple videos of the "dancing" lights.

An interesting note.  Each year, when the Osborne light show is taken down, ALL of the LED sets used in the display are destroyed and the next year, all new LED sets are used.  Wow, if I could get my hands on some of those!

As the story goes, when the Osbornes packed up the show and shipped it to Disney, by accident one Halloween decoration was included.  Ever since, the tradition has been that "The Cat" is hidden somewhere in the Spectacle of Dancing Lights.

The "blur" in the photo is my sister-in-law who did a crazy dance in front of the display to "urge" a stalling mother who was taking photos of her children to move on.  Great job, Lynne.

We also spent some time a the Animal Kingdom, waited in line for over an hour to ride the safari ride.  Still, it was pretty cool.

"Hidden Mickeys" are all over the Walt Disney properties.  There are even books written about Hidden Mickeys, how to look for them and, for cheaters, where they are.  Does this count as a Hidden Mickey?  It WILL be "hidden" soon.  BTW, there was another Hidden Mickey in this group of photos.  Did you see it?

In all of our visits to WDW, we've never experienced a problem on WDW transportation but this trip, while riding the Monorail between the hotel and Magic Kingdom, there was a flash from under the train and a loud "Pop".  The train slowed and stopped.  Power went out and we were stuck there on the rail, between the Grand Floridian and the Magic Kingdom.  Eventually, we made it into the station but the Monorail System was totally out of service for an extended period.  An empty Monorail station is a rare sight at WDW.