Hello Disboarders!
Well the last 10 days has been pretty much since getting home. I think I might have spent about 5 minutes a day checking the junk mail in my inbox. Add in working until at least 11 every night for work since I got home, makes money for the next vacation where every that might be.
So we are going to call this the wrap up post since the last post from my trip was on November 8th. Better late than never.
First off, it was really fun to mean those I did meet from the dis boards. Maybe a meet and greet in the furture? Who knows.
Sunday November 9th we did DHS. This time around we had a blast. Lunch was at the totally cool Sci Fi Dine in theater. My parents had a pretty retro time with the old B flick trailers playing. The interesting thing is how quiet the place is for a dining environment. People are literally glue to the screen. My mom said she remembered a couple of the trailers. If i ever win the lottery, I think I am going to buy the land for a drive in theater.
Other attractions were Toy story Midway mania. So freakin' fun. I was a kid in a candy shop. The theme of the ride going was something from the 60s or 70s basement with boxes of games and old toys. The actual ride just straight up rocked. I had so much fun playing the games.
The Frozen sing along was pretty much what I would have expected with singing. The whole place sings! The Little Mermaid was fun as well. My daughter was pretty entranced by the effects.
November 10th was Animal Kingdom. We did breakfast at the Tusker House. Always a good choice. My daughter wound up completing her Wilderness Explorer guide for the special scout badge at the end. She was very proud of this accomplished. My wife and I gave very little help with looking for items or the spelling of words. There was a little issue when we lost the book after rafkiki's planet watch. My DW and I somehow lost my DD's book. Not good. We got another book so my DD could complete her WE book. DD and I did Everest Expedition. So fun! We walked the entire park but were beat by 4:30. Back to the Fort some relaxation.
November 11th was another park day. We did some rides at MK but finished up early for some Fort relaxation. Later that day, my DW and I headed to Germany for our anniversary dinner. We got paired up with a family from Northeast PA. We had a good laugh since Oktoberfest just wrapped up in the area. Yet we came to Florida for the food and brew.
November 12th was "free" day in the schedule. So we did MK for a few hours. Snow medic came over and had a great conversation about different things in life.
November 13th was the Christmas party for us. Disney really does a heck of a job with Christmas. Since I am one of the few people I know who can stomach Frozen in large doses, I was probably equally enthralled with my DD when Elsa freezes the castle. When I took a few pictures for Facebook. I found out a friend of mine was on the backside of the castle. He didn't know I was down there. We tried to meet up but not in the card this night. By the time the festivities ended, we had one sleepy DD in our arms. We got back to the trailer at 1 in the morning. I had to be up at 630 for my birthday gifts.
November 14th. It's a fun day as it was the of my birthday gifts. To start off. The morning was to take place on a bass boat. I hadn't been able to go fishing all year. Doing it on a bass boat at Disney on my birthday was awesome. The 2 or so hour trip was so fun and if I was not on some form schedule, I would have bought a couple of more hours on that boat. As I put it a bad of fishing is still better than any day at work unless you are a Disney fishing guide. Weather was overcast. Air temps were in the upper 60s. My guide was using rubber worms. I worked rubber for awhile however, I got some crank bait action going. I managed to catch a couple by the old river country docks including the dock itself. After the fishing excursion, it was some breakfast at TE. Then over to Epcot.
Epcot was part of second gift. Dive Quest in the afternoon. We did a couple of the rides. I guess they finally fixed test track I guess since it was the first time I was able to ride it! In the 4 or 5 times my wife and I have been to Epcot, test track has been down, broken, or would break while I was on the ride. I have ride passes from 2002 for a freebie! While waiting to build a car, I wind up running into my friend in the queque! go figure However, his family is in front of us. So while my DD and I build a car, the announcement goes out saying there is technical issues with the ride. I said great once again just my luck. However, things start moving again. We get on the ride. We start going. The ride stops for technical troubles! I just shook my head. In the end, we actually got to ride! I thought it was pretty cool but my wife told me the ride is different from what it use to be.
We walked around to a few of the other exhibits and interactions before I had to go diving. While walking around, I run into my friend with is family again. This time we hung out and talked about our Disney vacation. At this time, it was time for me for Dive Quest.
Dive Quest is for those who do not know, a behind the scenes tour and dive of the under the seas attraction. I really don't want to give too much away but you see some really neat things that make the place run like the filtration systems, how they make fish food
and other exciting things. After about an hour tour, you get suited up for the tank.
To participate in the program you need to be certified in at least a basic open water level. However within my group, there were 2 divemasters with various levels in the middle. Since I hadn't dive since I got my cert years ago, I was thrilled to get back in the water. The tank's divemaster and I talked for a couple of minutes while waiting for the dive to start. We had a connection as we both worked for a large telecommunications company up until recently. Stranger was the fact he knew of my manager no less. However, it was enough to take some edge off and break off some dive barnacles.
Into big blue! It was totally....worth it! The tank divemaster took us on a 10 minute tour of the tank then let us loose. We swam around the Coral restaurant for awhile waving at the people. The people just watching us in the tank was pretty cool. I had a blast just chilling out in the tank watching the sharks, the loggerhead turtle, and assorted tank fish swim by. It is amazing how fun it was to dive again.
After about 45 minutes we were out of the tank and our back to the locker room for a nice hot shower. Once everyone takes a shower, the group leader gathers everyone back in the room for our video experience. It was a nice way to the end the dive. Plus every shakes hands before we went our separate ways.
At this time the whole family is beat and back to the fort we go for dinner. Well it turns out I didn't have any old dinner, I had a Trail's End dinner! My parents and wife told the staff it was my birthday. It was quite the scene. They really like using the dinner triangle. it was really an great way to end the day.
November 15th. It was a sadder day not Saturday.
To me it was a break down and get ready to go home to reality. Ugh! Before breakfast, my wife and I needed to run out to fuel the truck and get the magic band account settled. Not a fun stuff cause it just drove us closer to leaving. My DD, DW, DA and DGP went over to the park while my dad and I winterized the trailer. he helped me get things in order. It is strange how it takes a couple of days to set things up and in a matter of hours it comes down. Putting the awning is always makes me sad to do but also makes me think about how great things were on vacation.
After getting the trailer into travel mode for Sunday morning, I joined my family in Mk one more time around the park. We came back to enjoy the pool. The pool was nice to swim in. I soaked my bones in the hot tub one more time. At this point the DW and DD were ready to go back to the trailer for showers and food. Good bye pool
November 16th. Departure... for NJ. We left in 67 degree weather with sun. By the time we reached the top half of VA it was 43 degrees and cloudy. It was also 1130 at night. It was not where I wanted to be as I wanted to be above Baltimore for the Monday morning commute.
November 17th was home. It was cold, rainy and barely 40 for the 6 and a half hours on the road with traffic. I parked the trailer. Got my parents home. Then went to pick up my daughter from school as a surprise. Reality is a strange familiar land to be in.
In closing, Happy Thanksgiving to all. My wife and I are thinking about vacation planning already. We have to see what 2015 brings. One of the ideas is another trip to the Fort. The other is doing the Caribbean as I had fun Scuba diving and it would be nice to do some while on vacation. Or possible a trip out West like Yellowstone.
