These photos show the other side of the river during the return boat ride from Downtown Disney to Port Orleans. As you can see, the scenery is just gorgeous and it really makes you appreciate all of the thought that went into creating the resort.

The first thing we did while at Downtown Disney was grab lunch at T-Rex. I could not get a reservation for Christmas week, but I was advised by the reservation agent to just walk up between 11:30 and 12pm for seating. We arrived at T-Rex at 11:50 and were seated in under 5 min. We also visited most of the other shops, but I think Goofy's Candy Co. was possibly my favorite. Check out that bakery display! I left with a few of those goodies.

On Thursday we took the water taxi from the Port Orleans Riverside to Downtown Disney. The boat departs Riverside and makes stop at The French Quarter before continuing on to Downtown Disney. The trip takes about 15min and is very pleasant and enjoyable.  This boat ride is certainly one of the perks of staying at Riverside. Here are some of the photos I took of the trip Downtown to give you an idea of what you'll see along the way.

On Thursday we decided to take a break from the parks. After breakfast, we went fishing at the Port Orleans fishing dock. We had a few bites and nibbles but had no luck in landing any fish. We still had fun though as it was a beautiful morning and the fishing was quiet and relaxing.

Marlene had some special birthday surprises delivered to the restaurant for after dinner. One was a custom ordered Mickey cake, which was delicious, and the other was a solid white chocolate Mickey with hand painted gold accents. I've saved him because he looked too good to eat! My wife really went out of her way to make sure my birthday was a day to remember.

We went to the Whispering Canyon Cafe for my birthday dinner. The Whispering Canyon is a very fun place to eat, and even more so when it's your birthday. Our waitress, Sarah, made me a king's crown and had the entire restaurant sing Happy Birthday to me. She had all of the ladies sing the words and all of the men sing "Cha, cha, cha" at the end of each line.

After riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, we got on the Magic Kingdom Railroad where Madison and Justin were the Guest Conductors. They announced the "All aboard" before the train left the station.

One of goals for the day was to visit Tom Sawyer Island in order to search for one of tghe paint brushes that were "accindentally" left behind by Tom while he was painting. The boat operator told us that there were three brushes to be found. After about 35min of searching we finally found one. We gave the paint brush to a Cast Member and received Fast Passes to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was certainly a highlight of the day.

December 28th was my 40th birthday and we started the day by arriving at the Magic Kingdom for opening. We were able to take our time touring the park because the crowds had not yet arrived. Before we started our vacation, Marlene had 40th birthday shirts made for all of us to wear and they were definitely a big hit with everyone who saw them.

Club Cool, where you can sample Coke products from around the world, was a hit. The Ginger ale and the Kinley soda from Isreal were amongst the favorites, while the Beverly from Italy was judged to be the worst!

One part of Epcot we wanted to devote extra time to today was Innoventions, since we usually bypass it heading for the rides. Well, Innoventions is certainly worth giving some time to and we were glad we took the time to enjoy it. We especially enjoyed the Runtime video game maker where you yourself are the star of the video game. First the game maker computer takes a few action video clips of you and then inserts you into a game you can actually play. One of the photos is of our victory dance!