That's it, moved to FL to be closer to Mickey! Update 2/4 Kidnapped at WDW 10/03/09

[tink1957]

Love the ride pics, but like irky I want to go now & I have 3 months left to go. You're lucky to be so close.

 

[JPFamilyMom]

I was thinking about taking Jack on BTMRR and Splash Mountain, I think he will be tall enough, actually I think he already is tall enough. I love all the pictures you got, so does Joey, Jack of course can't be bothered...off in his spidey world Hope you had fun at the beach.

 

[jmskinner]

I love your pictures from Splash Mountain, but it makes me want to ride it!

I know how you feel. Log flume rides have always been my favorites and Splash Mountain is probably the best!

Love the ride pics, but like irky I want to go now & I have 3 months left to go. You're lucky to be so close.

I know I'm lucky. Just hope we don't move for two years, is it wrong to secretly hope the DH doesn't get the job he really wants because it would mean moving. I'm kidding, he has worked hard and I hope he does get it, but I don't want to leave the area.

I was thinking about taking Jack on BTMRR and Splash Mountain, I think he will be tall enough, actually I think he already is tall enough. I love all the pictures you got, so does Joey, Jack of course can't be bothered...off in his spidey world Hope you had fun at the beach.

So Jack is still loving the Spidey costume. That is so cute. Jacob still doesn't like BTMRR or Splash Mountain. He has been on several wooden rollercoasters and loved them, I don't know why he has started to fear them so much now.

Beach was ok. It is just a county park within Tampa Bay, so no waves or anything, or at least not yesterday. Think next week we will head over to Ft. Desoto which has been voted best beach in previous years.

Another update coming up now!

 

[jmskinner]

We made it off of BTMRR and headed to Jacob's favorite spot:

They pile people on the rafts over to the island and I think the CM's that work them probably have one of the hardest jobs because normally from what I have seen it is just one working who drives the boat, hooks it up, lets you on the boat, unhooks it from the dock and keeps doing the same thing over and over.

First up was the fort of course. I decided that since I always walk through with Jacob it could be daddy's turn and I found a nice spot to sit:

The only way to leave the fort, per Jacob, is through the escape tunnel. I think every time we have used this someone has come back out with a little one upset that it is too dark.

I just love these vines:

Sadly, it was time to leave the fort:

Not many people were in line to go to the fort, but our raft was full. And for some reason all the weight was in one corner and we were actually taking on water.

Next up, HM of course. Sadly I didn't get any really good photos of it this time and that would be the last ride for the day.As we were heading out of the park, the Celebration Party (I'm sure it is called something else) was going on. Looked like a lot of fun, but as usual we don't stop to watch. (My plan over the summer is to see every daytime parade and event like this.)

So it was back to Epcot for the bottle of wine and the blue balls. On the way out of MK I stopped to ask where Lost and Found was. When I realized where it was I decided not to go check, we were tired and Jacob had already gone through the exit turnstile. Oh, and remember how Jonas has to walk ahead of us. Well, he doesn't know to exit to the right and we end up at the resort monorail instead of the express monorail to TTC. We stop at the Contemporary and watch as several families look for a spot to ride, but it is too full. Finally make it back to Epcot.

I don't remember taking this photo and I guess I was under some of the net cover they have between Spaceship Earth and the fountain.

I just realized, we were still on the monorail. Duh! That is the celebration design on the windows.

I probably would have taken more pics here, but there were two little boys on with us who obviously had never ridden this section of the monorail so I started pointing things out to them like M:S. They were oohing and awwwing. Really cute. Jonas didn't remember doing this either, so he was enjoying the view also.

We headed back to WS:

It really was a beautiful day.

Jonas found another set of "blue balls", not like the previous ones, but at least they were still blue. Now it was off to Germany to buy some bottles of wine.

Now, how many times had we been in Germany? We had never noticed this:

I got two bottles of wine. One for me and one for the soon-to-be DSIL. Took me awhile to find the ones from the restaurant since I didn't write them down or take a picture. As I was checking out I noticed what they had by the glass and there was a dessert wine that it said was very sweet. I think I will try that next time. $12 a glass, it had better be great! I'm a cheap wine girl!

Now on the way out of Epcot I happened to look over at the sand sculpture on display for the F&G Festival.

That is not the same one they had last time we were there:

I wonder how often they change it. Now I want to go back even more times next year to see how often it changes.

So, that was my Mothers Day. Next up, the first SWW of 2009. I think you will be surprised by the pictures I took that day, but you will have to wait.


Have a great day everyone!

 

[ScotsMinnie]

You sound like you had an amazing Mothers Day! The sand sculpture is fantastic and I really wish I was with you for the wine! That sweet wine does sound good!!!

 

[jmskinner]

You sound like you had an amazing Mothers Day! The sand sculpture is fantastic and I really wish I was with you for the wine! That sweet wine does sound good!!!

I did have a very nice Mothers Day. Not long before you will be here and you'll be able to try the wine. I need to go check out your PTR again and I'll keep an eye out for you while at WDW.

 

[Finkelstein's Hubby]

Hi Melissa

Love your pics, really make me want to get back and snap away myself....love teh German dragon pic, alwas was there at night and never got the kind of pics I wanted in the gloom....the pics of and on Splash Mountain are superb too

Gordon

 

[JPFamilyMom]

another great update Melissa

 

[cinderella73]

Hey Melissa , Im back. I love the pics of Tom Sawyers Island. I havent been there in forever. Always plan to get there but something always comes up.

I still have a few more segments to catch up on. How the heck do you know where you left on on these things? Am I missing something? I always end up reading these trip reports backwards till I end up where I left off. lol

Thats sweet your family took you to WDW for Mothers day. Didnt celebrate here much but my hubby did get me a video game I wanted. Not exactly Disney World though! lol

Thanks for joing my trip report! I am going to spend the night catching up on everyone elses and maybe get some updates in tomorrow myself.

Now to go read your TR backwards..

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Melissa!

Great updates and photos - the sand sculptures look amazing! I just love all the Disney decorations! Will need to keep in mind the wine sampler!

Di x

 

[jmskinner]

Hi Melissa

Love your pics, really make me want to get back and snap away myself....love teh German dragon pic, alwas was there at night and never got the kind of pics I wanted in the gloom....the pics of and on Splash Mountain are superb too

Gordon

Thanks, I love snapping away. I'm the complete opposite, I want some night time pics, but I'm always there in the daytime. Or, I don't have time to play around with the camera to get the right night time pic. Oh, checked out a couple of photography books at the library, so hopefully there will be some improvement soon.

another great update Melissa

Thank you!

Hey Melissa , Im back. I love the pics of Tom Sawyers Island. I havent been there in forever. Always plan to get there but something always comes up.

I still have a few more segments to catch up on. How the heck do you know where you left on on these things? Am I missing something? I always end up reading these trip reports backwards till I end up where I left off. lol

Thats sweet your family took you to WDW for Mothers day. Didnt celebrate here much but my hubby did get me a video game I wanted. Not exactly Disney World though! lol

Thanks for joing my trip report! I am going to spend the night catching up on everyone elses and maybe get some updates in tomorrow myself.

Now to go read your TR backwards..

Most of the time I have to go back and look at the last chapter to see where I am. The good thing about taking all those pictures is it helps me remember what we did and in what order. As long as Smugmug keeps them in order, sometimes it rearranges them. Then I wonder how drunk I really was.

I am trying to get caught up because I realized my memory isn't what it use to be.

Hi Melissa!

Great updates and photos - the sand sculptures look amazing! I just love all the Disney decorations! Will need to keep in mind the wine sampler!

Di x

Since I know you will be going to Biergarten you will have to have the wine sampler. Just had a thought, on top of the Indy meeting maybe we can meet at Biergarten also.

Ok, I realized I never posted pics of what Jonas purchased with his B-Day card. He let me pick out a couple of items, so I grabbed this Mickey hand to place spoons on the stove, don't know what they are called:

And also some salad tongs I have been wanting for a long time:

None of this really goes with my kitchen, but Mickey is always welcome.

Jonas grabbed this Mickey for our living room:

And this is how it looks in there, what does everyone think?:

You must include my dog, Bubblegum in that picture since that is the couch she lays on when I'm in the office working on my TR. The matching love seat is what she uses when I'm in the family room so she see me. So glad I bought a whole living room group just for her.

I've been posting on Facebook, but some of whats been happening around here is last week there was a turtle, (tortoise?) I don't know the difference, wandering around in my neighbors front yard. Have I mentioned that we have an Armadillo hanging out in our front yard? And the other day Bubblegum was barking at something. Well I go outside to stop her because she has been jumping up to bark over the fence and has hurt her hind leg. Well, I realize she is barking at something, thinking it was behind the fence I went to go check it out and thankfully before I got off the patio, Bubblegum started running along the fence, so I knew she was chasing something. Then I saw it. A 4-5 foot black snake. It was moving so fast to get away from Bubblegum it was airborne. Later Bubblegum wanted out and she was looking for her new friend. She saw something and jumped, but then realized it was nothing. I laughed because I would do the same thing.

Actually the other night Jonas was sitting at the coffee table when he was bitten by something. So I got some bug spray and was spraying all around the table and I see something and jump. Jonas sees the same thing and jumps. Then we both realized it was one of my hairclips that he thinks is fun to attach in weird places (under the edge of the coffee table). We looked like idiots jumping around screaming.

I guess that is it for Florida life at the moment. SWW TR coming up!!!!

 

[jmskinner]

We were all excited, we love SWW!!!! Storm Troopers were guarding the entrance. I was too busy getting into the park to take picstures. We were there at 9:00am waiting with the long lines to get through the turnstiles. The bad thing about going on an EMH day when you cannot use the EMH is you have to stand in line instead of getting to go through the turnstiles and wait for the rope to drop. But, just as we got in line, 9:00 am came and they opened up the gates reserved for EMH and those with early ADR's, so we jumped in one of those. Of course, Jonas' ticket doesn't work. I don't know why this keeps happening except maybe because he doesn't use it enough. He had on his Air Force shirt so the family behind us started talking to him while he was trying to get his ticket to work. They were also Air Force, actually from the base we were suppose to be at. Finally he made it in and joined us.

I know, I know, no color. I decided to give the monochrome setting on the camera a try.

Now, when I go to DHS, I have to ride TSMM. Jonas didn't really want to, but he let me go get FP's. Of course the line for FP's was incredibly long. I sent the boys on down to Wickets Warehouse. While standing in line this young man walked up dressed like Han Solo. I wish I had taken his picture because he really did look like a teenage Han. Now I was really excited.

Had my FP's in hand and rushed down to Wickets. For some reason I didn't get a pic of this either. What was wrong with me on this day? If you haven't seen it, it is down by the Backlot Tour. It's a building that always says it is under construction. HUGE store! My objective was pins. I already knew the complete set of framed pins was sold out, plus I couldn't afford that. They have a special line for all of the limited edition stuff. The man behind me starts talking to the man in front of me about his lanyard and pins. The man in front of me goes on to say how he has over 600 tink pins. WOW!!!! He had one pin he said he had sold one just like it a few years ago for $700. Things like that don't happen to me. We finally reached the spot to get what we wanted. Now in previous years, they offered two different SW pins each weekend of SWW. Sadly I didn't realize this last year and only got one set when we were there two weekends and could have gotten two. So I was prepared this year to come every weekend to get my pins. When I ask the CM for the limited edition weekend pins, he asks which ones I want. He goes on to tell me that for the first time all are being offered on the first weekend. The CM recommended that if I wanted all I had better get them right then, so of course I did. He hands them to me already in a little bag. Also grabbed the General Grievous pin, the 2009 SWW pin and the AP pin they offered. And here are the pins:

Now, anyone who has purchased pins has an idea as to how much I spent. Jonas keeps finding more stuff for me to buy, I keep telling him we will get it next weekend because I still planned on coming back . Here is the downfall to my marriage. They were offering a SWW rug for $15 if you spent over $40. Well, normally when they have these things, they have a million, so I figured we would get it the following weekend when we came back to buy t-shirts. Jonas kept telling me it was only $15 and I kept thinking I was already spending too much money. Of course they never had them again and now everytime I turn around Jonas brings up the rug.

The funny part was the CM that rang me up didn't realize the small bag I had set on the counter were pins and didn't charge me for them. She thought I had already purchased them. I could have taken off with 8 pins without paying for them, but I couldn't do that to Mickey, so I corrected her. I wonder how many people ended up not paying.

I'll continue later.

 

[Finkelstein's Hubby]

Hey Melissa

Hoping there are lots more SWW pics to come, I have never seen much of what happens on these weekends so keen to get sight of the characters. You really did spend a fortune on pins didn't you.....unfortunate about the rug though, we too suffer from the "get it next time" syndrome, actually its Di that is truly cursed, I just suffer by default. Like the impact of the monochrome shots....have you tried colour-splashing at all on your pics?

Those pins really are pretty awesome. I was kinda disappointed in the SW pins I saw last time but I guess they bring out the really good ones for the dedicated weekends

Gordon

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Melissa, these are GREAT photos!

I didn't realize this was an ongoing thread, but now I'll be following along.

Thanls so much for the fabulous updates.

 

[cinderella73]

Thats funny about the hairclips. I do that myself all the time then cant find them. One day I had clipped mine to my side pants leg and had been walking around in the store like that not realizing it. I know what you mean about them springing up as well. I clipped on on the side of my dining table and it popped off and scared the heck out of me!

Growing up in Florida I remember dealing with the snakes. I hate those things you dont even notice them most of time intil you scare them.

I love everything you bought. I hope they do SWW at MGM again. ( Still refusing to call it HS lol) My kids and I are all big Star Wars fans and every year I feel so sad when we miss out on it.

We will be down for F&W this year though. Never been before so I am looking foward to it.

Do you have a myspace? I saw you have a facebook . I have a facebook myself but I dont use it much. Was just never as user friendly to me.

 

[thecapells]

Now, how many times had we been in Germany? We had never noticed this:

That's cause it's new.
It's the finale sequence from the Germany Mission of the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure.
Germany actually has one of the more fun missions IMHO.
It is funny though as many bystanders are startled when you activate the finale!

 

[jmskinner]

Hey Melissa

Hoping there are lots more SWW pics to come, I have never seen much of what happens on these weekends so keen to get sight of the characters. You really did spend a fortune on pins didn't you.....unfortunate about the rug though, we too suffer from the "get it next time" syndrome, actually its Di that is truly cursed, I just suffer by default. Like the impact of the monochrome shots....have you tried colour-splashing at all on your pics?

Those pins really are pretty awesome. I was kinda disappointed in the SW pins I saw last time but I guess they bring out the really good ones for the dedicated weekends

Gordon

I forgot about Di's dilemna of always thinking she will go back to buy something and then it is never there. LOL! I'm still hearing about that rug. Last I checked they were $100 on Ebay. No, haven't tried colour-splashing my pics, I'll have to try that. Guessing it is something Adobe Photopshop will help me with once I figure out how to use it.

Of course there are a lot more SW pics. We had two working cameras this year, wasn't taking the chance of last years mess up when both cameras went dead. I even made sure my extra bettery was charged and ready to go.

They have a lot more Star Wars pins out this year. I figure I'll just buy one pin each trip we make. The limited edition ones they have for the SWW are a lot cooler. I don't think I mentioned that those 8 pins spin and have either the rebel or sith symbol on the back. Jacob said I should have purchased two of each. The boy has no idea about money!

Melissa, these are GREAT photos!

I didn't realize this was an ongoing thread, but now I'll be following along.

Thanls so much for the fabulous updates.

M&N, thanks for joining. It will be ongoing for about another month. I think I will start a new one after our July trip, something along our 2nd year of being close to Mickey or something. If anyone has title ideas, please send them my way. I'm not very original.

Thats funny about the hairclips. I do that myself all the time then cant find them. One day I had clipped mine to my side pants leg and had been walking around in the store like that not realizing it. I know what you mean about them springing up as well. I clipped on on the side of my dining table and it popped off and scared the heck out of me!

Growing up in Florida I remember dealing with the snakes. I hate those things you dont even notice them most of time intil you scare them.

I love everything you bought. I hope they do SWW at MGM again. ( Still refusing to call it HS lol) My kids and I are all big Star Wars fans and every year I feel so sad when we miss out on it.

We will be down for F&W this year though. Never been before so I am looking foward to it.

Do you have a myspace? I saw you have a facebook . I have a facebook myself but I dont use it much. Was just never as user friendly to me.

That so sounds like something I would do. Walk around with a hair clip attached to me.

My BFF sent me pics of a kids scooter with a snake curled up on the back of it. I double check before opening the back door. If I don't lock it Bubblegum will open it to go out, but leaves it open. I am making sure it stays locked now because I don't want anything crawling in when she does that.

You must go for SWW sometime. It really is fun seeing all the characters, the CM's and just the guests dressed up.

Don't know if you read about last years F&W adult meltdown. We got to Epcot and the lines were so short I wanted to ride and then we ended up not even eating any of the food. Did get to see Night Ranger which is what I really wanted to do. They will be here again this year, but on a weeknight. I hope you enjoy.

I am on Myspace but don't use it anymore. I got really irritated that to change my email I had to take a picture of myself holding a sign and then sending it to them with the request to change my email. It's easier to change email with banks! I stopped using it before joining Facebook.

That's cause it's new.
It's the finale sequence from the Germany Mission of the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure.
Germany actually has one of the more fun missions IMHO.
It is funny though as many bystanders are startled when you activate the finale!

Cool! Germany is one of the few missions we haven't done yet. Thanks for letting me know. I have a lot of pics from those missions but hadn't posted them before. Those of you that haven't read about the missions or done one yourself, that is the sort of thing you make happen with your transponder. It is sooooo cool!!!!

A couple of updates, my next post sadly will not be about SWW. We went to the special AP Fireworks Presentation last night and it was wonderful. So, I wanted to tell you about it.

Also, I am now trying to persuade Jonas to go to WDW in October. Hopefully can get a DMIL here to watch the kiddo and we can have a weekend with adults. I have gotten to meet a couple of Dis'ers that are meeting up Oct 3 for TSMM challenge and then on the 4th a Last Iquanadon, going on Dinosaur over and over. Might need earplugs for that last one. I am hoping Jonas will be able to do it, especially since it is F&W Festival time. No discounts being offerend yet and Jonas doesn't even want to think about October in June. I guess it is the military thing and never knowing what might pop up, so I will just have to secretly plan.

Ok, going through pics of last night and will post soon.

 

[carissanboys]

Phew! You've been busy with updates girl!

So, on Saturday Sept 5, we are eating at Kona at 5:05pm. This is due to Carissa, so I hope it is good. In Carrissa's TR, she went on her last trip and mentioned a Terriayaki (sp???) Steak and Jonas loves that stuff, so thought we would try it.

Man! The pressure!! I hope Jonas enjoys it.

What a lovely Mother's Day - besides losing Jonas' blue balls.

My boys would love those Star Wars pins - very cool!!

 

[jmskinner]

Phew! You've been busy with updates girl!



Man! The pressure!! I hope Jonas enjoys it.

What a lovely Mother's Day - besides losing Jonas' blue balls.

My boys would love those Star Wars pins - very cool!!

Oops, didn't mean to put so much pressure on ya. I forgot to mention about the General Greivous pin, we haven't taken it out of the box, but the arms extend out about 3 inches, so it is HUGE!!!! Haven't figure out a way to display it yet without taking it out of the box. I was thinking a plate holder.

 

[jmskinner]

So, a couple of months ago I checked out the Passholder page on the WDW website and saw this special event on Wishes. They also had one on Fireworks in general, but Jonas said he didn't want to spend the whole day there, he was thinking of the Army he had to paint, which he still has 11 more men to paint before July 8th. Also, I just started hearing about this new Fireworks and Desserts they are offering starting June 22 or 23. Well, I started hoping we would be a test crowd for this, turns out we weren't.

First off let me just give one word to describe the day: HOT!!! There is just no other way to describe. Even when opening the door to let my dogs out, it just hits you.

So, the local comic book shop was having a give away (another reason we had to skip the other fireworks presentation). Had to be there at 4:00pm. Don't know what happened, but we ended up leaving the house late and Jonas was driving like a maniac, yelling at people trying to get to the comic book store. We made it in time, but he didn't win. From there we were off to one of my favorite restaurants, Zaxby's. Had a good meal and we were on our way to WDW. I drove at this point. We made it to MK about 6:00pm, so we had a good hour or so before we needed to check-in for the presentation. A lot of people were arriving at this time, but with the heat I understood. I would want to be there at night and not during the day. The car showed 100 degrees, so just add the humidity factor to that. One of our fellow Dis'er had texted me to say she would love to meet up but her DH wouldn't leave the hotel it was so hot.

I was still on a Monochrome kick, so here are some more black and white photos:

I have already purchased the photopass CD for our trip in July, so I am trying to get as many Photopass pics as possible. Grabbed a pic in front of the train station. I had sweat running down my face and we hadn't been there that long. The CM taking our pic was from Dallas, TX!

I had promised Jacob some ice cream since he ate a chickent strip back at the restaurant, so we headed that way. He doesn't normally eat at that restaurant, which is funny because when he was a year old he would line up the chicken strips and have one in each hand. You couldn't pry them out of his hands.

Off to Tommorland, first I stopped in Exposition Hall to see exactly where we needed to go. Of course I find a CM who doesn't have a clue, but she did point to the theatre in the back of the hall and said it was probably occuring there. I didn't even know there was a theatre there. As I walk out I don't see my boys. As I am calling Jonas, he grabs me and yells. I am sure almost everyone in the area jumped. Turns out he was with me the whole time, I just didn't see him.

Actually, I think black and white is very fitting for the above shot. An empty, still TTA.

This was my first time to see Space Mountain closed, also very sad to see that whole area of the park empty when it is normally one of the busiest.

Jonas and Jacob got cups of ice cream and we lucked out and got a table to sit at. The pouch on my lanyard was all torn up so I went looking for a new one while the boys ate. By the time I got back, they were ready to go. Buzz had a 10 minute wait and when we went for ice cream the Laugh Comedy Floor had a 10 minute, so Jonas wanted to see the show. Of course we get there and the wait is now 20 minutes. I thought it wouldn't be that long, but of course it was. Jonas made a joke:

Knock! Knock!
Who's there?
ADHD.
ADHD who?
Squirrel!!!

We tried texting it, my first time doing this. First off, I am a horrible texter (is that what you call it?) So it takes me forever, but I finally got it done. Here is the response you get back:

Made it into the show and sadly as usual we weren't used in the show and neither was our joke. Guess Jonas isn't that funny.

It was now 7:20, we had 10 minutes to make it back to Exposition Hall. Jonas told me to run ahead, but I made sure they were always within view.

On the way I saw a family that caught my eye. First I saw the mother, bright yellow capris that looked like dress pants with a long sleeve button down shirt. Looked a little out of place, but I figured maybe she didn't want to get sunburned or anything. Remember it felt like 106 out there. She had one boy with her, but then I saw the Father and another boy. The only way to describe it was straight out of a Revenge of the Nerds movie. Button down shirts buttoned all the way up. Polyester pants. It was very odd to see. Especially as hot as it was.

We made it to Expostion Hall.

Does anyone know what the picture area in there is for? We saw a lot of family's getting their pictures taken. We checked in, were given wristbands, and walked into a very nice theatre setting. While waiting for the show one of the other guests was saying how his family attended a premier of Tinkerbell in there. That would have been really cool.

As I was reviewing pics I had already taken a CM came up to me to tell me no pics or video was allowed during the presentation, so sorry not one pic here. The show finally started.

The presentor was Steven Davison, VP of Parades and Spectaculars of WDW Inc. He was so animated and so much fun. He is in charge of creating ideas for all these wonderful parades and shows we see at the parks. He was telling us how he comes up with ideas and goes with them. He normally starts off really big, but he said his main goal is to tell a story. So, if everything went with his original plans, you would have 50 shells going off constantly during fireworks presentations. He always starts out with huge ideas and then due to budget, the story and other issues they get narrowed down, but as he said, it normally makes for a much better story and that is important.

So one of his orginal ideas for Wishes was having Jiminy slide down from the castle at the end of Wishes like Tinkerbell now does at the beginning. That's right, when they first started thinking of Wishes, there was no Tinkerbell. Can you imagine. It wasn't even called Wishes to start out with.

He also wanted to do a spectacular water show with water shooting up all around the castle, off of the castle, and over the buildings of Main Street. Now that idea has turned into World of Color at California Adventures. Not sure that it lead to that. We got to see a short video of the Incredibles section of this. AMAZING!!! I see a trip to California in our future. It is set to open in Spring 2010. You can google it, or as Steven kept telling us, check out You Tube. We were told we were doomed if we videotaped that section of the program.

We also learned a little about the new Fireworks at Disneyland and got to see a video of the Dumbo that flys around the castle. Just a preproduction video, not the actual show. I just checked out a video of it on youtube, and it is amazing. Now, Steven also told us that when you go out on youtube, don't just watch the video from the very first night because the way they do these shows is watch it the first night and then make changes. So if you watch videos for the first 5 or so nights, each is different. I'll have to do that later.

He also talked about sometimes the shells don't work like they should. Now, one thing I wished I could have videotaped was how he presents these shows to the different levels of management. He doesn't do a computer generated presentation, he gets the music, stands in front of the teams, and personally demonstrates what he wants to see. Just imagine this man standing on stage, flashing his hands around BOOM!!! BOOM!!!, "spray of light" "sparkle, sparkle, sparkle". For the grand finale with all the shells going off he did a great foot stomp. We all had tears we were laughing so hard. He did show us the original piece of paper that his team had created the story line and he had scribbled his ideas of what type of firework to use in each part. And he doesn't use the pyrotechnic terms, he uses what we would use, so we fully understood him.

One story he told was how, Gary or Greg Smith, the composer of the music has used his own son to sing the song. Well, they auditioned other kids and the one we hear brought tears to everyone's eyes, so she was chosen and the composer had to be told. As he put it, "when the BIG engineer cries, you know you have the one."

It was a very entertaining presentation, and as Jonas said "Gives you a different perspective when you watch Wishes!"

Ok, I need to do a little shopping, so I will finish this MTR later.