Ringing in the New Year with Tons-o-Fun

 We drove to Orlando the afternoon of New Year's Eve, arriving at our hotel at the exact same time as Megan and her family, as coincidence would have it.  We got checked in and quickly made our way to Medieval Times for a feasting and a tournament!

Luke got really into the tournament!

Then we went back to the hotel, which was very close to SeaWorld and regrouped before heading out to the park.  We were divided up most of the night, with Eliza, Luke, Courteney, and Dylan hanging out in Sesame Street Land with the adults while the teenagers were in charge of everyone else, riding on a couple of roller coasters.

It was fun to see cool Christmas decorations all over the park, a couple of DJs, and some fireworks at about 9pm.  The park wasn't super crowded, but because of the extra space and cleaning for each ride, the lines still took a while.

(before the coaster)

(after the coaster)

We got back to the hotel with literally about a minute to spare, so that we could watch the ball drop in NYC.  There were more fireworks at SeaWorld at midnight, but between the traffic leaving the park after the fireworks and the early time we needed to be up the next morning we decided to leave before then.

I had been as happy as anyone to bid 2020 farewell, but I was surprised at how emotional I felt at midnight.  The empty streets of Times Square and the touching montage during the Pentatonix's performance of Auld Lang Syne (even though they're not my favorite group) were sad reminders of Covid's continued impact on our lives.  I hope that by next New Year's, things will be different.