Day 7: Thursday--nov. 17 (74 Degrees...yahoo!)
Animal Kingdom/epcot/magic Kingdom
Small Crowd Again This Morning. The Plan Is To Hop Over To Epcot This Afernoon To See Off Kilter In Canada. They Are Not Performing Fri Or Sat. So It Has To Be Today. We Won't Be Spending As Much Time At Ak As We Had Hoped To.
We Head Over To Safari Where The Standby Line Is 20 Minutes, But It Turned Out To Be About 45. It Was Slow Moving Until They Got More Trucks Running Then The Line Went Quickly. We All Enjoyed The Safari.
We Went Back To The Tree Of Life And Saw It's Tough To Be A Bug. The Push In The Middle Of My Back Was A Feature Not Included At Dl...enjoyed The Show. We Caught A Performance By Some Acrobats. One Of The Men Did An Unreal, Back-breaking Limbo Move. Very Entertaining Show. Also Watched Part Of Performance Of African Dancers. From Where I Stood, It Looked As Though They Were Doing Some Kind Of Mating Ritual At One Point. We Didn't Stay For Very Long As The Whistle They Used Became Annoying.
We Rode Dinosaur, Which The Kids Loved, And Primevil Whirl, Which Was Ok. I Have To Agree With Others, That Ak Just Doesn't Seem To Fit In Well With The Other Parks. I Think Because There Is No Magic. Don't Get Me Wrong...ak Is A Beautifully Landscaped Park And Disney Did An Outstanding Job Reproducing Africa And Asia, But It Just Isn't Magicical...it's Reality. Maybe Expedition Everest Will Add Something Or Maybe You Just Have To Be Into Animals More Than We Are. We Can See Pretty Much See The Same In The Woodland Park Zoo In Seattle. In Fact, The Gorilla Habitat There Is Better Than Ak.
We Left Ak Around 1:00 And Headed Over To Epcot. It's Nice Not Having To Pay For Parking When Hopping. Here Is The Park That I've Waited So Long To See, And I'm Not Disappointed. The Rest Of The Family Splits Up Here. The Youngins' Explore Future World While Grandma And Grandpa Head Around The Sphere To Take A Peek At World Showcase. We Started To Head Towards Canada, But Stop Before We Get There. Off Kilter Is Already Playing And They Are Very Loud. So We Sat On A Bench And Listened To Some Of Their Excellent Celtic/rock Music, Then Decided To Hop On One Of The Boats. We Thought That The Boat Would Take Us All Around World Showcase, But It Actually Just Goes To Morocco And Back. That's Ok With Us. We Enjoyed The Quiet Time Without The Rest Of The Family. It Felt Great To Not Be Rushed.
After Departing The Boat Back At Future World, We Call The Kids On The Cell Phone And Meet Them On The Other Side Of The Sphere. They Had All Ridden Test Track And Wanted To Ride Soarin' But The Standby Line Was 90 Minutes. This Was The Only Attraction All Week Long That We Found We Had To Have A Fast Pass.
Corey And Chris Want To Hop Over To Magic Kingdom To Go On The Haunted Mansion Which Had Re-opened Wednesday. Steve's Family Decided They Wanted To Stay At Future World. Michelle Had Rented An Ev (electric Vehicle) Because Her Foot Was Killing Her, So She Was Now Ready To Take On The World. (i'm Going To Get Me One Of Those When I Come Back To Epcot Tomorrow)
Our Group Hop On The Express Monorail Outside Epcot To The Magic Kingdom. (very Nice!) The Crowds At The Park Are Pretty Much The Same As Sunday. Very Manageable. We Board The Train At The Main Street Station And Ride Over To Frontierland. First We Eat At Pecos Bill Then Head Towards Thunder Mountain. It Only Has A 10 Minute Wait, But All Of Sudden, Chris Gets A Bloody Nose....i Think It's The Humidity.
After Chris Has Recuperated, We Hop Aboard Big Thunder. I Love This Ride Both In California And Here. Splash Mt. Is Down For Refurbishment Until Saturday, So We Head Over To Liberty Square. The Haunted Mansion Is A Walk On. There Are Some Added Features At Wdw That Dl Doesn't Have, But As We Head Into The Graveyard Scene, I'm Thinking, "where's The Song?" I Had No Idea How Much The Song Added To The Attraction Until It Wasn't There.
We Found A Perfect Spot To View Spectromagic And Wishes In Liberty Square. We Planted Ourselves On Low Wall About An Hour Before The Parade. About 15 Minutes Before Spectro, 2 Families Squeeze Right In Front Of Us And We Lose Our Perfect Spot. I'm Far Too Polite Sometimes. I Utter Something Under My Breath Like... "it Does A Whole Lot Of Good To Stake Out A Spot For The Parade When Rude People Crowd You Out At The Last Minute." We Leave The Area, Head Back To Fronteirland And Hop The Train To The Entrance. No Spectromagic Or Wishes For Us Tonight.
I Finally Cooled Off By The Time We Got Off The Train. Steve's Family Left Epcot About The Same Time And We Met At The House. We Didn't Get Lost This Time Because One Of The Guards Outside Epcot Told Us How To Get To 192 East. Don't Follow The Signs To 192 West...follow The Signs To Downtown Disney, Then Hwy 536. This Took Us To 192 And Kissimmee. Perfect! We Opened The Doors For A Little While To Allow Some Cool Air In. Much More Comfortable In The House Tonight. We Swim Again, Then Hit The Sack.
Day 8: Friday--nov. 18 (71 Degrees) Epcot/mgm/epcot
Aaah! Our Kind Of Weather. 71 Is Very Comfortable For Us. With Virtually No Humidity Today, We Were Able To Breathe.
Michelle And I Rent Our Evs. What A Blessing! I Am 5'3", Michelle Is 5'0". Our Short Legs Just Cannot Keep Up With Our Guy's Long Strides. With Michelle's Heel Spur And My Bouts Of Angina Caused By A Blockage On A Tiny Vein Outside My Heart, We Felt Justified In Using The Evs. (if I Don't Consume Any Carbohydrates, I Don't Get Angina...it's A Sugar Thing With Me...but How Long Can One Live Without A Simple Piece Of Bread..i Ask You?) If There Had Been A Shortage Of Evs And A More Severely Handicapped Person Needed It, We Would Gladly Have Given Them Up. (i Never Felt A Twinge Of Angina On Any Of The Rides, But The Continuous Fast Walking Just About Did Me In)
Because Of The Ev, This Turned Out To Be My Favorite Day Of The Entire Vacation. While We Were Renting Them, We Sent Steve To Get Fast Passes For Soarin'. We Should Have Known Better. I Love My Son, But He Has Got To Be One Of The Most Absent-minded People I Know. He Has Lost His Wallet And Rental Movies By Leaving Them On Top Of His Car And Taking Off. He's Lost His Keys, And 4 Tickets To A Celine Dion Concert. When Our Fast Pass Time Arrives, He Only Has 7 Tickets Instead Of 8. Grandpa Graciously Volunteers To Sit This One Out Because He Saw It In California. We All Enjoyed Soarin', But Didn't Get The Front Row Like We Did At Disney California. Seeing Feet Dangle Above You Just Takes Something Away From The Attraction. Only Corey And I Had Experienced Soarin' In California, So The Feet Thing Didn't Bother The Rest Of Our Group...they All Loved It.
Michelle And Steve Want To Go To Kodak "what If" Center And Send An E-mail Back Home To The Other Grandma, So I Happily Volunteer To Go Get Fast Passes For Test Track. I Scoot On Over To Get The Fast Pass And The Cm Tells Me That I Can Take The Ev All The Way Up To The Cars When I Return. We Didn't Do This Because We All Wanted To Ride At The Same Time. So I Park Myself Near Test Track And Wait For My Family.
Dewayne And I Really Enjoyed Test Track. As With Most Of The Rides, We Just Wish It Had Been Longer. Only Corey Wanted To Try Mission: Space. We Figured That With Dueling Dragons Leaving Most Of Us Light-headed, That Mission: Space Might Have Really Made Some Of Us Sick. Corey Wouldn't Ride Alone, So The Poor Guy Didn't Get Experience This One.
After Test Track We Head Over To World Showcase. I've Got A Grin Plastered On My Face That Just Won't Quit. I'm So Loving This Electric Vehicle. We Stop In Mexico And Take The Boat Ride. Kind Of Lame, But Relaxing. We Then Head For Norway. The Boat Ride Here Was A Little More Exciting, But Nothing To Write Home About. I Was Expecting More, But That's My Fault. We Still Enjoyed The Ride.
When We Got To China, We Decided To Grab A Sample Of Their Food. Steve's Boys Got Some Noodle Dish That Was Outstanding. I Got Some Egg Rolls And Rice. We All Got A Small Sample Of Each Other's Food...it Was All Yummy. The China Pavillion Is Beautiful.
Germany Was Next. Kyle And Tyler Get Their Picture Taken With Snow White. Germany Is Quite Colorful.
I Think Italy Is Next. I Love The Statue Of Poseidon And Took A Photo Of The Boys Sitting In Front Of It. The Columns On The Buildings And The Tower Are Awesome. Someday, When I Get Rich, I'm Going To Visit The Real Italy And Visit The Coloseum.
Dewayne And I Rushed Past The Next Couple Of Lands Because We Wanted To See The Next Showing Of The American Adventure. Voices Of Liberty Are Awesome! We Thouroughly Enjoyed This Show. What A Beautiful Theatre!
The Kids Had Gone Ahead Of Us. They Called Us On The Cell And Said They Were Already Back At Canada. We Were Planning On Going To Mgm/disney To See The Osbourne Christmas Lights, So Dewayne And I Booked It Over To The Other Side Of The Lagoon. The Lands Went By In A Blur And I Was So Disappointed At Not Being Able To See It All. The Drummers Began Their Show As We Whizzed Past Japan And I Only Got A Glimpse Of Them. Darn It! I Really Wanted To See This Show! It Was On My List Of "must Sees."
We Found Out That We Didn't Have To Drive To Mgm/disney From Epcot...we Could Take A Boat. Michelle And I Turned In Our Evs At The Boat Launch Area And Got A Receipt. With This, We Could Rent Another Ev At Mgm/disney With No Added Charge. The Boat Ride Is About 30 Minutes Long Because We Stop At The Swan & Dolphin, Boardwalk And Yacht And Beach Club Resorts. This Was Very Cool. Both The Swan & Dolphin And Beach Club Resorts Feel A Bit Rich For Us, But The Boardwalk Looks Like A Fun Place To Stay.
We Arrive At Mgm/disney, Get Our Evs, And Steve Rents One For Corey Because His Blister Is Bothering Him. Chris Is Also Getting A Blister On His Toe, So They Take Turns On The Evs. Corey Is Not Supposed To Drive One Of These Because He's Only 15, But Corey Is Not Not Reckless And Shows Respect To Pedestrians As He Maneuvers Through The Park.
We Get To The Osbourne Light Area About 15 Minutes Before They Turn On The Lights. I Asked A Cm If It Snows For The Entire 2 Hours. He Looks Up At The Sky And Says..."well, It Snowed For About 2 Hours Last Night, And The Weather Looks About The Same, So I Reckon It Just Might Snow Tonight As Well." Cute! After Telling The Story Of The Osbourne Lights, They Flick The Switch And The Street Turns Into A Magical Christmas Wonderland. Oohs And Aahs All Around, Then Applause As It Begins To Snow. I Have Never Seen So Many Lights In One Place. Absolutely Beautiful! The Wind Kicked Up As We Made Our Way Down To The Intersection Where You Can See All 3 Streets Lit Up. The Snow Becomes A Blizzard. Nice Affect.
After Seeing Osbourne, We Book It Back To The Boat And Head For Epcot To See Illuminations. We Make Our Way To The Center, Rear Of The Epcot Sphere On The Waterfront. There's A Gift Store There And A Roped Off Area For Handicapped. A Nice Young Man Offers To Allow Us Into The Area. We Explain That We're Really Not That Severely Handicapped, But Says That There Will Be Plenty Of Room For Us As The Park Isn't Very Crowded. We Privately Decide That If The Area Does Become Crowded, We Will Move To A Different Spot So That Those Who Are Truly Handicapped Will Be Able To See, But That Didn't Happen And We Found That This Was Probably The Most Ideal Location To View Illuminations In All Of Epcot. I Felt A Kind Of Retribution After What Had Happened At Magic Kingdom The Night Before. Illuminations Was Great.
We Leave Epcot, Hop The Tram To Our Car And Hit The Sack As Soon As We Get Back To The House. This Had Been A Very Long Day.
Animal Kingdom/epcot/magic Kingdom
Small Crowd Again This Morning. The Plan Is To Hop Over To Epcot This Afernoon To See Off Kilter In Canada. They Are Not Performing Fri Or Sat. So It Has To Be Today. We Won't Be Spending As Much Time At Ak As We Had Hoped To.
We Head Over To Safari Where The Standby Line Is 20 Minutes, But It Turned Out To Be About 45. It Was Slow Moving Until They Got More Trucks Running Then The Line Went Quickly. We All Enjoyed The Safari.
We Went Back To The Tree Of Life And Saw It's Tough To Be A Bug. The Push In The Middle Of My Back Was A Feature Not Included At Dl...enjoyed The Show. We Caught A Performance By Some Acrobats. One Of The Men Did An Unreal, Back-breaking Limbo Move. Very Entertaining Show. Also Watched Part Of Performance Of African Dancers. From Where I Stood, It Looked As Though They Were Doing Some Kind Of Mating Ritual At One Point. We Didn't Stay For Very Long As The Whistle They Used Became Annoying.
We Rode Dinosaur, Which The Kids Loved, And Primevil Whirl, Which Was Ok. I Have To Agree With Others, That Ak Just Doesn't Seem To Fit In Well With The Other Parks. I Think Because There Is No Magic. Don't Get Me Wrong...ak Is A Beautifully Landscaped Park And Disney Did An Outstanding Job Reproducing Africa And Asia, But It Just Isn't Magicical...it's Reality. Maybe Expedition Everest Will Add Something Or Maybe You Just Have To Be Into Animals More Than We Are. We Can See Pretty Much See The Same In The Woodland Park Zoo In Seattle. In Fact, The Gorilla Habitat There Is Better Than Ak.
We Left Ak Around 1:00 And Headed Over To Epcot. It's Nice Not Having To Pay For Parking When Hopping. Here Is The Park That I've Waited So Long To See, And I'm Not Disappointed. The Rest Of The Family Splits Up Here. The Youngins' Explore Future World While Grandma And Grandpa Head Around The Sphere To Take A Peek At World Showcase. We Started To Head Towards Canada, But Stop Before We Get There. Off Kilter Is Already Playing And They Are Very Loud. So We Sat On A Bench And Listened To Some Of Their Excellent Celtic/rock Music, Then Decided To Hop On One Of The Boats. We Thought That The Boat Would Take Us All Around World Showcase, But It Actually Just Goes To Morocco And Back. That's Ok With Us. We Enjoyed The Quiet Time Without The Rest Of The Family. It Felt Great To Not Be Rushed.
After Departing The Boat Back At Future World, We Call The Kids On The Cell Phone And Meet Them On The Other Side Of The Sphere. They Had All Ridden Test Track And Wanted To Ride Soarin' But The Standby Line Was 90 Minutes. This Was The Only Attraction All Week Long That We Found We Had To Have A Fast Pass.
Corey And Chris Want To Hop Over To Magic Kingdom To Go On The Haunted Mansion Which Had Re-opened Wednesday. Steve's Family Decided They Wanted To Stay At Future World. Michelle Had Rented An Ev (electric Vehicle) Because Her Foot Was Killing Her, So She Was Now Ready To Take On The World. (i'm Going To Get Me One Of Those When I Come Back To Epcot Tomorrow)
Our Group Hop On The Express Monorail Outside Epcot To The Magic Kingdom. (very Nice!) The Crowds At The Park Are Pretty Much The Same As Sunday. Very Manageable. We Board The Train At The Main Street Station And Ride Over To Frontierland. First We Eat At Pecos Bill Then Head Towards Thunder Mountain. It Only Has A 10 Minute Wait, But All Of Sudden, Chris Gets A Bloody Nose....i Think It's The Humidity.
After Chris Has Recuperated, We Hop Aboard Big Thunder. I Love This Ride Both In California And Here. Splash Mt. Is Down For Refurbishment Until Saturday, So We Head Over To Liberty Square. The Haunted Mansion Is A Walk On. There Are Some Added Features At Wdw That Dl Doesn't Have, But As We Head Into The Graveyard Scene, I'm Thinking, "where's The Song?" I Had No Idea How Much The Song Added To The Attraction Until It Wasn't There.
We Found A Perfect Spot To View Spectromagic And Wishes In Liberty Square. We Planted Ourselves On Low Wall About An Hour Before The Parade. About 15 Minutes Before Spectro, 2 Families Squeeze Right In Front Of Us And We Lose Our Perfect Spot. I'm Far Too Polite Sometimes. I Utter Something Under My Breath Like... "it Does A Whole Lot Of Good To Stake Out A Spot For The Parade When Rude People Crowd You Out At The Last Minute." We Leave The Area, Head Back To Fronteirland And Hop The Train To The Entrance. No Spectromagic Or Wishes For Us Tonight.
I Finally Cooled Off By The Time We Got Off The Train. Steve's Family Left Epcot About The Same Time And We Met At The House. We Didn't Get Lost This Time Because One Of The Guards Outside Epcot Told Us How To Get To 192 East. Don't Follow The Signs To 192 West...follow The Signs To Downtown Disney, Then Hwy 536. This Took Us To 192 And Kissimmee. Perfect! We Opened The Doors For A Little While To Allow Some Cool Air In. Much More Comfortable In The House Tonight. We Swim Again, Then Hit The Sack.
Day 8: Friday--nov. 18 (71 Degrees) Epcot/mgm/epcot
Aaah! Our Kind Of Weather. 71 Is Very Comfortable For Us. With Virtually No Humidity Today, We Were Able To Breathe.
Michelle And I Rent Our Evs. What A Blessing! I Am 5'3", Michelle Is 5'0". Our Short Legs Just Cannot Keep Up With Our Guy's Long Strides. With Michelle's Heel Spur And My Bouts Of Angina Caused By A Blockage On A Tiny Vein Outside My Heart, We Felt Justified In Using The Evs. (if I Don't Consume Any Carbohydrates, I Don't Get Angina...it's A Sugar Thing With Me...but How Long Can One Live Without A Simple Piece Of Bread..i Ask You?) If There Had Been A Shortage Of Evs And A More Severely Handicapped Person Needed It, We Would Gladly Have Given Them Up. (i Never Felt A Twinge Of Angina On Any Of The Rides, But The Continuous Fast Walking Just About Did Me In)
Because Of The Ev, This Turned Out To Be My Favorite Day Of The Entire Vacation. While We Were Renting Them, We Sent Steve To Get Fast Passes For Soarin'. We Should Have Known Better. I Love My Son, But He Has Got To Be One Of The Most Absent-minded People I Know. He Has Lost His Wallet And Rental Movies By Leaving Them On Top Of His Car And Taking Off. He's Lost His Keys, And 4 Tickets To A Celine Dion Concert. When Our Fast Pass Time Arrives, He Only Has 7 Tickets Instead Of 8. Grandpa Graciously Volunteers To Sit This One Out Because He Saw It In California. We All Enjoyed Soarin', But Didn't Get The Front Row Like We Did At Disney California. Seeing Feet Dangle Above You Just Takes Something Away From The Attraction. Only Corey And I Had Experienced Soarin' In California, So The Feet Thing Didn't Bother The Rest Of Our Group...they All Loved It.
Michelle And Steve Want To Go To Kodak "what If" Center And Send An E-mail Back Home To The Other Grandma, So I Happily Volunteer To Go Get Fast Passes For Test Track. I Scoot On Over To Get The Fast Pass And The Cm Tells Me That I Can Take The Ev All The Way Up To The Cars When I Return. We Didn't Do This Because We All Wanted To Ride At The Same Time. So I Park Myself Near Test Track And Wait For My Family.
Dewayne And I Really Enjoyed Test Track. As With Most Of The Rides, We Just Wish It Had Been Longer. Only Corey Wanted To Try Mission: Space. We Figured That With Dueling Dragons Leaving Most Of Us Light-headed, That Mission: Space Might Have Really Made Some Of Us Sick. Corey Wouldn't Ride Alone, So The Poor Guy Didn't Get Experience This One.
After Test Track We Head Over To World Showcase. I've Got A Grin Plastered On My Face That Just Won't Quit. I'm So Loving This Electric Vehicle. We Stop In Mexico And Take The Boat Ride. Kind Of Lame, But Relaxing. We Then Head For Norway. The Boat Ride Here Was A Little More Exciting, But Nothing To Write Home About. I Was Expecting More, But That's My Fault. We Still Enjoyed The Ride.
When We Got To China, We Decided To Grab A Sample Of Their Food. Steve's Boys Got Some Noodle Dish That Was Outstanding. I Got Some Egg Rolls And Rice. We All Got A Small Sample Of Each Other's Food...it Was All Yummy. The China Pavillion Is Beautiful.
Germany Was Next. Kyle And Tyler Get Their Picture Taken With Snow White. Germany Is Quite Colorful.
I Think Italy Is Next. I Love The Statue Of Poseidon And Took A Photo Of The Boys Sitting In Front Of It. The Columns On The Buildings And The Tower Are Awesome. Someday, When I Get Rich, I'm Going To Visit The Real Italy And Visit The Coloseum.
Dewayne And I Rushed Past The Next Couple Of Lands Because We Wanted To See The Next Showing Of The American Adventure. Voices Of Liberty Are Awesome! We Thouroughly Enjoyed This Show. What A Beautiful Theatre!
The Kids Had Gone Ahead Of Us. They Called Us On The Cell And Said They Were Already Back At Canada. We Were Planning On Going To Mgm/disney To See The Osbourne Christmas Lights, So Dewayne And I Booked It Over To The Other Side Of The Lagoon. The Lands Went By In A Blur And I Was So Disappointed At Not Being Able To See It All. The Drummers Began Their Show As We Whizzed Past Japan And I Only Got A Glimpse Of Them. Darn It! I Really Wanted To See This Show! It Was On My List Of "must Sees."
We Found Out That We Didn't Have To Drive To Mgm/disney From Epcot...we Could Take A Boat. Michelle And I Turned In Our Evs At The Boat Launch Area And Got A Receipt. With This, We Could Rent Another Ev At Mgm/disney With No Added Charge. The Boat Ride Is About 30 Minutes Long Because We Stop At The Swan & Dolphin, Boardwalk And Yacht And Beach Club Resorts. This Was Very Cool. Both The Swan & Dolphin And Beach Club Resorts Feel A Bit Rich For Us, But The Boardwalk Looks Like A Fun Place To Stay.
We Arrive At Mgm/disney, Get Our Evs, And Steve Rents One For Corey Because His Blister Is Bothering Him. Chris Is Also Getting A Blister On His Toe, So They Take Turns On The Evs. Corey Is Not Supposed To Drive One Of These Because He's Only 15, But Corey Is Not Not Reckless And Shows Respect To Pedestrians As He Maneuvers Through The Park.
We Get To The Osbourne Light Area About 15 Minutes Before They Turn On The Lights. I Asked A Cm If It Snows For The Entire 2 Hours. He Looks Up At The Sky And Says..."well, It Snowed For About 2 Hours Last Night, And The Weather Looks About The Same, So I Reckon It Just Might Snow Tonight As Well." Cute! After Telling The Story Of The Osbourne Lights, They Flick The Switch And The Street Turns Into A Magical Christmas Wonderland. Oohs And Aahs All Around, Then Applause As It Begins To Snow. I Have Never Seen So Many Lights In One Place. Absolutely Beautiful! The Wind Kicked Up As We Made Our Way Down To The Intersection Where You Can See All 3 Streets Lit Up. The Snow Becomes A Blizzard. Nice Affect.
After Seeing Osbourne, We Book It Back To The Boat And Head For Epcot To See Illuminations. We Make Our Way To The Center, Rear Of The Epcot Sphere On The Waterfront. There's A Gift Store There And A Roped Off Area For Handicapped. A Nice Young Man Offers To Allow Us Into The Area. We Explain That We're Really Not That Severely Handicapped, But Says That There Will Be Plenty Of Room For Us As The Park Isn't Very Crowded. We Privately Decide That If The Area Does Become Crowded, We Will Move To A Different Spot So That Those Who Are Truly Handicapped Will Be Able To See, But That Didn't Happen And We Found That This Was Probably The Most Ideal Location To View Illuminations In All Of Epcot. I Felt A Kind Of Retribution After What Had Happened At Magic Kingdom The Night Before. Illuminations Was Great.
We Leave Epcot, Hop The Tram To Our Car And Hit The Sack As Soon As We Get Back To The House. This Had Been A Very Long Day.
