The hopes were grand

We hoped to see in the new year at Epcot.  Ultimately, however, we left early.  The folks at Epcot started distributing the hats and horns to people at 1800 hours (6 PM).  We got our hats and horns by about 1835, and many other people were blowing the horns.  So much so, that we decided it was better not to wait until the 1940 time when the first set of illuminations would light up the sky, much less wait until 2340 which was our initial goal.

The crowd at Disney's Epcot was unreal.  Parking was unreal.  I hope that I will someday be able to watch the fireworks.

We are old, and the notion of sitting around for an hour while many people were blowing the horns seemed to not be too attractive.

At the hotel room, I didn't even stay up to see the new year in.

Oh well, that's a little bit interesting of a story.  My wife was scolding me for not making a reservation at the hotel on Sunday when I had called.  It seemed that there were several Ramada Hotels near the intersection of 192 and World Drive (Disney road).  Anyway, that Ramada was sold out when we got there.  My wife was upset.  We drove a short way and checked Howard Johnson for availability, and HoJo said "no."  (hey that could be a jingle... nevermind)  We next checked at Holiday Inn, and they had a room at $189.  That might have been an option if it was needed, but fortunately, the next place we inquired (Super 8) had rooms available for $89.

I guess that was the place that I was reading about as being close to a grocery store and the morning deliveries at 4 AM apparently upset some lady who wrote a review.

Being a frugal traveller myself, I'd like to sing the praises of having a grocery store located near the hotel.  This morning, I went to Publix and picked up some of their diet Tea (since we can't have any drinks with bubbles anymore, Tea in a gallon milk jug from the deli fridge is a good drink choice.

To be fair, we were in an even numbered room, and the odd numbered rooms are the ones that face out onto the loading dock.  I'd suppose that there could have been some revellers who were woken up by the beeping of a truck backing up to unload supplies for the store.

As an aside, we did have a grand time walking around the Epcot resort hotels adjacent to Epcot.  I took many pictures, and several videos.  (see my pictures and my videos)

Perhaps we did well walking around the area.

Also, this morning, we finished Animal Kingdom, and I rode Expedition: Everest the ride.  It was pretty good, the train went forward and then backward, and then forward again.