I got my framer’s square and checked the door framing, and sure enough, I was a little crooked. But it seemed that I was off by the same amount in opposite corners, then the other way in the other two corners. This indicated to me that I was square when I framed the door, but that something had shifted. I took some measurements with my level and found out that the front left footing had settled a little, causing the entire building to slightly warp.

I got out my hydraulic car jack (rated to lift 4,000 lbs.) and raised the front left of the building up 2.25 inches. Checking my square again, this time the door was dead-on square. I took some scrap 2×6 and cut two lengths to 2.25 inches, cranked the jack up one more notch and placed them under on the footings and under the floor joist. Click here to see. After releasing pressure on the jack, the building settled right into place and was square as could be. I checked all the joints and everything was still solid. Phew. I went ahead and nailed the left roof decking into place.

The next step was to cut and mount the sheathing under the gables. This took some measuring but went up pretty easily. Next was the facia trim, a little finish-out work where the eaves met and installation of the drip edge.

The fun part was installing the sheathing on the back side of the shed, where the vines are completely out of control and the fence is in the way. After some serious hacking like I was in the amazon rain forest, I was able to get to the back side of the shed and mount the sheathing. Tomorrow I’ll trim the back out and finish off the drip edge, and hopefully move on to the felt and shingles. I’ll finish off the roof with a ridge vent so that the shed won’t be sweltering hot in the summer.

New pictures have been added to the shed page.

Click here to see.

Wee, I’m going to have fun with this new toy!

There was lots we did this time around that we didn’t do back in February, and lots we did again. The main thing was that the entire resort and parks were dressed for the holidays, which really made things magical.

While we stayed at the Grand Floridian again this time around, we were on the lagoon side with a spectacular view. We also celebrated mom’s birthday while there, with a cake delivered right to her room.

I won’t go into all the detail as I did the last time around (that took way too long to write up), but I will paste in the highlights from the quick journal I kept while on the trip. Interesting point, I wore a pedometer all week and kept track of just how much we walked:

Day 1: (14,738 steps; 6.28 mi)
Woke up at 4:00
Left for airport at 5:10
parked in Remote North (C-40)
took shuttle to gate (C28)
Checked in – mom/dad were 2 minutes late checking in, so their bags went on the next plane
Took off 6:50
Landed at 10:00 local time
ate a light breakfast at airport
went down to bag claim B and checked in with DME
rode bus to Grand Floridian (stops at Wilderness Lodge and Contemporary first)
checked in (rooms not ready)
- we were upgraded to first floor, connecting rooms with lagoon view. In boca chica (8101/8103)
- i upgraded our park tickets to a 9th day
checked bags with bell services
rode monorail to Contemporary
ate lunch at Food & Fun _____
Went shopping at BVG and the other gift shop.
- Matthew / Madison got mickey/minnie santa hats
- all three got autograph books/pens
- Matthew found 9 cars he didn’t have from the movie Cars
- Michael bought a Jedi Mickey
- Cynthia bought Tori a necklace
- Mom bought a car decal
Rode monorail back to hotel
hotel called on the way to say our rooms were ready
checked in with front desk to get our room assignments
went to our rooms and rested
- luggage, bags, and package delivered
- unpacked and took a nap
rode boat to Magic Kingdom
walked down Main Street (very crowded) and had our picture taken twice with castle backdrop
went to tomorrowland
ate dinner at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe
- listened to Sonny Eclipse while eating
got a fastpass for Space Mountain (never used it)
rode TTA
walked to fantasyland
rode teacups
rode dumbo
- fireworks show started while on the ride
watched the rest of Wishes
walked to front of park (very very crowded)
rode monorail back to hotel
once back
- matthew/cynthia tried to find a swimsuit for matthew, no luck
- mom / dad stopped and got milk from the sundries store
- i carried madison back to room with michael
showers and bedtime

Day 2: (17,208 steps; 7.33 mi)
Breakfast in bedroom
Rode bus to Animal Kingdom
Bought hats at entrance
Got a stroller
Got a fast pass to Expedition Everest
Saw Flights of Wonder
Saw Finding Nemo show
Ate lunch at Tusker House
Got fast pass to Kilamanjaro safari
Rode Expedition Everest while Mama De sat with Madison
Rode Kilamanjaro Safari
Walked to exit
took bus to Fort Wilderness
Saw Hoop-De-Do revue and ate dinner
Rode boat to Contemporary resort
Rode Monorail to GF
Bought Matthew a new swimsuit / flipflops
Went swimming

Day 3: (23,215 steps; 9.89 mi)
Got breakfast to go at Gasparallias- ate in room/on veranda
Took monorail to TTC
switched monorails to Epcot
Went thru bag check, turnstiles
I went off to The Land to get fast passes for Soarin’
Cynthia/everyone else got a stroller, restrooms, waited at spaceship earth
I met back up with crew
Rode Spaceship Earth
Went to Imagination Pavilion
rode Journey into your Imagination
played with the Kodak Camera stuff
Went to Seas pavilion
Rode Seas with Nemo and Friends
saw Turtle Talk w/Crush
Went to the Land
Rode Living with the Land
Rode Soarin’
went to Electric Umbrella, ate chicken strips
went to Mouse Gear, bought lots of candy
Left Epcot, rode monorail back to TTC, switched and rode to GF
went back to rooms
Birthday cake had been delivered to mom’s room
sang Happy Birthday and ate cake
took naps
Rode monorail to Magic Kingdom for MVMCP
got stroller
Went to see Mickey’s twas the night….full
rode Buzz Lightyear
rode Space Mountain
went back to hub and waited on corner for show in front of castle
watched “Spirit of the Season” show in front of castle
saw Parade
went to Cosmic Ray’s to eat (burgers and chicken strips)
CD and kids and I went back to bridge to tomorrow land to watch Wishes fireworks
met mom/dad back in tomorrow land and went to see Mickey’s ’twas the night before christmas show
walked down mainstreet to exit
rode monorail back to GF
bed (11:50p)

Day 4: (20,307 steps; 8.65 mi)
slept in
rode monorail to epcot, got there around noon
got stroller, I went to get fastpasses to TestTrack
Met group back at mousegear – cynthia bought a new fannypack
went to Canada, poked around
went to UK, ate fish&chips
went to France, looked around
saw Impressions de France
went to Morocco, poked around
went to Japan
-saw Tycho drums
-saw Japanese storyteller, told story of new years in Japan
rode boat back to futureworld
rode test track
Michael got a remote-controlled test track car, had it sent to front
rode test track again (matthew & I)
walked back to boats
rode boat to Germany
saw trains
walked to American Adventure
listened to choir
poked around in the shops
got roasted pecans/almonds
went to japan
saw Miyuki (candy lady)
-matthew got dragon
-michael got eagle
-madison got horse
went back to American adventure
-got hot chocolate
-listened to choir
went to Teppanyaki for dinner
watched Illuminations from 2nd story in Japan
walked to front
picked up Michael’s car
tried to take a bus, no bus to GF from Epcot
got on Monorail
got back to hotel, bed at 11:45p

Day 5: (17,004 steps; 7.24 mi)
woke up early
monorail to polynesian
had breakfast at Ohana’s (mickey, pluto, lilo & stitch)
caught bus to MGM
got stroller
saw chip & dale
saw Ariel show
saw Beauty & the beast show
saw Indiana Jones show
saw Lightning McQueen and Mater
saw Sully and Mike from Monsters, Inc.
walked to back of park
saw Lights, Motors, Action stunt show
rode backlot tour
shopped, got pictures taken
ate dinner @ 50′s prime time cafe
rode great movie ride
got seats for fantasmic
Matthew and I went and bought tape, fudge
saw fantasmic
caught bus back to GF
saw water parade
bed

Day 6: (16,088 steps; 6.85 mi)
slept in, got up late
got breakfast from gasparillas
rode monorail to MK
tried to get ECV for mom, sold out
adventureland
-got fast pass for jungle cruise
-went to see pirates, ride closed down
walked around to frontierland
saw country bear jamboree
I went and got fastpasses for Big Thunder
saw hall of presidents
-mom,cynthia,madison went in before we caught up with them
-boys and I had churros while waiting
-saw HOP again
rode small world
got a seat for afternoon parade
Papa, michael, matthew, cynthia and I rode BTM
got hot dogs for parade
watched parade
went around to fantasyland
rode Haunted Mansion
saw Philharmagic
walked back around to liberty square
shopped in christmas store, bought stuff (sent back to hotel)
went to adventureland
rode jungle cruise
found spot for fireworks
saw mickey’s dream show in front of castle
saw wishes (fireworks)
rode monorail to GF
got a table at GF Cafe, had dinner (mom and I waited for table while everyone else went back to room for a little bit)
went back to room
saw water parade
saw MVMCP Holiday Wishes fireworks show from our back porches
bed

Day 7: (8,584 steps (partial – epcot only); 3.65 mi)
Mom, Mama De and Madison went to BBB
Matthew, Michael, Papa and I went to MK
got autographs from Fox and Cat from Pinnochio
Got fast pass for space mountain
got autograph from Buzz Lightyear
rode Astro Orbiters
rode Buzz Lightyear SRS
rode Space Mountain
went to Adventureland
rode Pirates of the Caribbean
took bus to Saratoga Springs
walked to Downtown Disney, met up with girls
went to Christmas store
went to Team Disney
went to Once upon a Toy
Ate lunch at McD’s
went to Lego store
went to World of Disney – bought a lot of stuff
rode bus to GF
dropped stuff off in room, repacked, rode monorail to TTC
rode monorail to Epcot (got stroller)
went to Norway
ate dinner at Akerhaus, princess storybook dinner
-saw Ariel, Belle, Princess Aurora, Cinderella, Jasmine
rode Maelstrom
shopped in Norway gift shop
went to Mexico
shopped around
rode El Rio De Tiempo
found spot outside mexican resturaunt for fireworks
got hot chocolate and churros
watched Illuminations
rode monorail to TTC
rode monorail to GF
washed a load of clothes

Day 8: (17,225 steps; 7.34 mi)
Commando day
got up early, breakfast in room from gasparallas
caught bus to AK
got mom a ECV, got stroller
saw festival of the lion king show
saw tough to be a bug
caught bus to Epcot
no ECVs available
went to Land pavilion
ate at Garden Grill
went to mousegear, shopped
caught bus to MGM-DS
got ECV, stroller
walked around
saw Muppets 3D
rode Star Tours
saw Osbourne Spectacle of Lights
caught bus to GF
went swimming/hot tub
packed, packed, packed
bed

Day 9: (15,508 steps; 6.60 mi)
got up early
finalized packing
called bell services to retrieve bags
checked bags with airline, got boarding passes
stored remaining bags with bell services
rode monorail to MK
got funnelcakes and milk in liberty square
went to adventureland
rode aladdin’s carpets
saw tiki room
went to liberty square, fantasyland
got fast pass for peter pan
saw philharmagic
got mom a coke,water
rode snow white
got fast pass for pooh ride
rode peter pan
rode haunted mansion
rode pooh ride
saw donald duck
went to toontown
rode barnstormer
walked thru minnie’s house
walked thru mickey’s house
rode train back to front
met up with mom
rode monorail back to GF
met up with mama de/papa
ate lunch at Gasparalla’s
took pictures in lobby
went to gift shops
got photopass cd
caught bus to airport
went thru security (snow globe incident)
sat at gate for 2 hours
boarded plane
flew back to dallas
wrangled bags to truck
drove home
arrived 9:30p
unload
bed

You may note that I’m actually posting this on April 2nd, 2007, 120 some-odd days after our trip (what can I say, I’m very slow about getting some of this stuff done). I’m backdating the posting, though, so it appears in the right calendar month in the archives.

We started the morning off with a takeout breakfast from Gasparilla’s Grill back in the room. After bacon, eggs, sausage, fruit and more, we started the process of packing. We packed. And we packed. I have no idea how we had brought that much stuff in the first place, but somehow it all had to go back on the plane.

After getting our things in order, I phoned down to the front desk to request a late checkout time, which they granted. Our plane wasn’t schedule to depart until 5:30, so we had some time to kill. We would catch the Magical Express bus back to the airport around 2:30, so we decided to go over to Downtown Disney to do a little last minute souvenir shopping.

After calling bell service to come get our bags and store them, we caught a bus to Downtown Disney. One of the primary goals was to visit the Lego store, which we located fairly quickly. They had remodeled it since we had been there last, it was larger and had some new features. One new feature was an area were they had just about every different basic lego piece you could think of individually categorized in little bins. The way things worked is you chose either a small cup for $7.99 or a large cup for $12.99 and filled it up with as many pieces as you could. Pretty cool.

The kids each picked out a Lego set and we made our purchases. Right outside of the store was a McDonald’s, so we took a break and got some fries and drinks. After that we spent a considerable amount of time wandering around in the largest Disney Store there is. Of course, we located a few souvenirs.

It was time to catch the bus back to the hotel, so we did, and made it back just in time to retrieve our bags from bell services and catch our Magical Express bus to the airport. We did have a few minutes to snap a few pictures in the garden area in front of the hotel lobby, and by the horse-drawn carriage and ’38 cadillac they had parked out front. Our bus arrived and we loaded up and made the trip to the airport.

Once there, we checked in with the airline, went through security and hunted around to find something to eat. Turns out we didn’t need to rush, though… Our plane ended up being delayed just over 3 hours. During the long wait, the kids played with their new lego sets, and made some new friends with some other kids waiting for the same plane.

Finally we were allowed to board, and the flight back was uneventful. Once we had landed (around 10:30 Central time), we retrieved our bags and rode the shuttle to the parking lot, where we located the truck and headed home. We finally arrived, very sleepily, around midnight.

In retrospect, we had a tremendously enjoyable time. The kids loved the trip, and collectively we made some memories we will have for years to come. One of the neat things about WDW is you can go back at regular intervals, and still have a great balance of classic memorable things from the past and plenty of new things to experience. And while it is expensive as far as things go, I can’t think of many places where you get quite the bang for your buck, on the whole.

So all I have now is to edit some video together…

The boys and I decided to get a jump on the day, and try to catch a ride on the sneak-preview of Expedition Everest, so we were up early and off to Animal Kingdom. We caught a bus from the hotel directly to the park and arrived about 20 minutes before park opening. The wait wasn’t log before the gates opened and we streamed in with the smallish crowd. Once over the bridge after the turnstiles and biometric readers, the crowd began to thin out as people went various directions, but we headed directly towards Asia. By the time we came around the corner to Everest, we were practically alone, which didn’t seem right since we were headed for a headliner attraction.

As we came upon the entrance for the attraction, I noticed A) no guests and B) several cast members manning ropes across the queue entrance. Not a good sign, seeing as there were approximately 1,000 people in line for the ride just a few days ago. Upon conferring with a cast member, it turns out that the ride was closed for the day for additional tweaking and tuning. ARGH!

Needless to say, the boys and I were a bit disappointed — we weren’t going to get to try out the newest attraction on this trip. Ah well, we got over it pretty quickly, and decided to head over to the dinosaur area and catch a few rides there before leaving the park.

The nice thing about being in Animal Kingdom on a Tuesday during value season is the crowd is practically non-existant. The dino area had maybe 50 people in it, so there were no lines for anything. We quickly located Primeval Whirl, a runaway mouse-type coaster with a twist (literally) — the cars spin around! We walked right on and took a spin, and had a blast. So much so, as soon as we got off, the boys wanted to go again, so we ran around to the entrance again and walked right on.

After our second ride, we wandered around a bit, trying to find the Dinosaur ride. We ended up finding it, and as expected, there was no line. The attraction is essentially a dark ride on a free roaming motion simulator. While the story line is interesting and all (go back in time to capture a baby dinosaur before the meteor hits and wipes everything out), we found the ride to be way too rough and way too loud.

After our ears stopped ringing, we had a short conference and decided that we’d make our way back to the Magic Kingdom and hit the big rides there. We headed towards the exit, stopping by a breakfast cart on the way out for pastries and juice. Afterwards, we walked out of the park and over to the bus stop. After waiting for several minutes, we determined that the bus directly to the Magic Kingdom would take entirely too long, and opted to take a bus to the Transportation and Ticket Center instead. From there, we took the Ferry across the lagoon to the Magic Kingdom.

After entering the park, we trucked it over to Tomorrowland and picked up a fastpass for Space Mountain. Then we headed across the park to Liberty Square and got in line for the Haunted Mansion. The boys were a little nervous that it would be too scary, but ended up loving it, especially the end where the ghost “hitchhikes” in your doom-buggy.

Next we took a run on Big Thunder Mountain, and then on to Splash Mountain. I got soaked. By then, it was time to cash in our fastpass on Space Mountain, so we did. All three mountains in 30 minutes. Cool.

Around the time we were coming out of Space Mountain, we heard on the radio from Cynthia that she and Madison were in the park, so we headed to Fantasyland to hook up with them. We found them on the teacups, taking another spin. After they finished their ride, we all walked over to Toon Town and toured Mickey Mouse’s house. Then we caught the train around the park to Frontierland for lunch. We had burgers at Pecos Bill’s.

After lunch, we went for a ride on the Jungle Cruise, a classic. Then a tour through the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse. We decided to head back to the hotel at that point, to relax and go swimming. We took a boat back to the hotel.
Swimming was nice, we spent some time in the big pool, and finished up with 15 minutes in the “little hot pool”, as Madison called it (the hot tub).

We planned that evening to head over to the Boardwalk and see what was up. It took a series of transportation maneuvers (monorail to the TTC, bus from the TTC to MGM Studios, ferryboat from MGM studios down the canal to the Boardwalk), but we finally arrived at the Boardwalk around sundown.

We walked up and down the Boardwalk, looking at the shops and looking for a place to eat, but everything was pretty busy. Turns out the Boardwalk at night is more geared towards adults, so we decided to hitch a bus over to Downtown Disney.

The first objective was dinner, so we found a little sub shop called the Earl of Sandwich. Afterwards, we walked by several of the shops, and then decided to visit DisneyQuest. Turns out our tickets for the theme parks included admission for DQ, which is essentially a five-story virtual theme park.

The neat thing is the admission to the building gets you into all the games and rides, just like at one of the regular theme parks. We took a ride on virtual Aladdin’s Carpets, where you wear helmets and ride around with 8 other people through a virtual Agrabah. Next, the boys and I did more traditional video games, while Madison tried her hand at a virtual paint game.

Next, Michael and I tried out Virtual Space Mountain, where you build your own roller coaster in the computer and then ride it in a simulator. We built a killer coaster, but it turns out I was too big to fit in the simulator so we didn’t get to ride it!

After that, we all strolled down a level or two and found a virtual Jungle Raft game. Cynthia and the kids did that one, where they all got on a raft and simulated rowing with a big screen showing them going down a river. It was a hoot!

We played several more traditional video games, and then took a turn at the Buzz Lightyear Astroblaster game. In this one, you get in what are essentially bumper cars and shoot dodgeballs at one another. I remembered that one being slightly more fun than it turned out to be, but maybe that’s because our dodgeball gun had problems shooting.

Everyone was getting a little tired by that point, so we went ahead and caught a bus back to the hotel and called it a night.

Cynthia took hold of it and before Madison knew what was going on, it was out. Madison was most pleased with herself.

On Wednesday, Michael had his orthodontic appointment and they put his braces on! He already looks older, which makes me feel ancient. He’s taking the change very well.

Chef Mickey’s is on the lower level of the main concourse in the huge A-frame that is the Contemporary hotel. The Contemporary was one of the first hotels constructed back in 1971 when the Magic Kingdom originally opened. One of the most interesting features of the architecture is the fact that the monorail passed directly thru the main concourse inside the hotel, allowing boarding without leaving the main concourse.

On your way into the main seating area is a photo station where they take your picture in front of a Mickey Mouse plate, and then they come by your table later to sell you the prints. It’s a typical scam, but it’s still hard to resist. The breakfast is standard Disney buffet fare, all sorts of pastries, fruit, Mickey Mouse waffles, eggs and breakfast meats, juices, milk, cereal, etc. Way too much to eat. Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Chip and Dale, and Pluto wander around the tables for photo ops and autographs. Every 20 minutes or so they play the theme song and all the kids get up and dance and twirl their napkins around over their heads. On the way out you can get your picture taken with Goofy–I guess he’s too tall to walk around the restaurant.

After our breakfast, we wondered around the main concourse of the hotel looking at the various souvenir shops, and then headed back upstairs to catch a monorail. We rode the monorail one stop to the TTC, where we switched monorail lines for the trip out to Epcot. The plan for the day was to make our way around the World Showcase at Epcot and see all the countries.

The way things are set up in Epcot, Future World opens at 9:00 and World Showcase doesn’t open until 11:00. We had arrived around 9:30, so we were a bit early to begin our tour of the world. Instead, we decided to catch a few of the attractions in Future World and then hit WS around lunch. First stop: get Madison a stroller.

After taking care of that, we headed across the front of the park to The Land Pavilion. We decided about halfway there that I should go grab a fast pass for Soarin’ while Cynthia and the kids looked at the shirt shop. I ran and did that and then came back to the shop where I found a Mickey Mouse hockey shirt and hat, the boys bought black shirts that look like Mickey had exploded on their chest, and Cynthia, being the chilly one, got a Tinkerbell jacket.

AIt was already time for our spin on Soarin’, so we walked over to the Land to ride. We all agreed that Soarin’ was one of our favorite attractions at Epcot. After that we snagged fast passes to the Living with the Land boat ride and walked over to the other side of Future World and went to the Universe of Energy attraction.

I’m not sure if I like the update this attraction has received over the years. Basically, in its current incarnation, you watch a 15 minute video starring Ellen Degeneres, Alex Trebek and Jamie Lee Curtis, along with Bill Nye the Science Guy talking about energy and fossil fuels. The presentation is pretty interesting, in that it’s actually six separate films show simultaneously, synchronized into one very wide movie screen.

After the film you’re scuttled off to a second room where six very large people movers await. Each car can hold about 60 people, and they are free moving, guided by embedded sensors and antennas in the floor. This portion of the ride moves the audience through several scenes, from the dinosaur age up to modern times, with audio-animitronics and movies all along. The entire attraction takes about 45 minutes and is informative and enjoyable, but a little dated.

Once we left the Energy pavilion, we continued on around Future World clockwise, passing the currently closed Wonders of Life pavilion (which is too bad, it had some very interesting interactive exhibits, plus Body Wars, a motion simulator like Star Tours), and then came to Mission:Space.

This is in the space previously occupied by the Horizons pavilion, and I’m not sure the replacement is a good thing. While Mission:Space is a fun attraction in and of itself, I miss some of the original pavilions of Epcot: Horizons, World of Motion, the original Journey into Imagination. When Epcot was EPCOT, it seemed much more like a permanent world’s fair, with exhibits and pavilions that showcased where we came from and where our imagination might take us in the future. Over the past several years, however, it seems to be moving more towards thrill rides and such. These are fine, but I’d rather have them in another theme park (MGM studios, for example) instead of replacing the magic that was EPCOT. We still have Spaceship Earth, but for how long?

At any rate, we hadn’t been to WDW since Mission:Space had opened, so we opted to get a fast pass and come back in 30 minutes to ride it. We then back-tracked over to The Land to use our fast pass for the Living with the Land boat ride. It’s a short ride with a cast member pointing out various ways to grow things such as rotational crops and hydroponics. We got to see how they were growing pumpkins in the shape of Mickey Mouse heads using a plastic mold that the pumpkin grew in.

After riding the boat ride, we watched the 15 minute “Living with the Land” movie, which turned out to be a conservation speech with characters from the Lion King movies as the narrators. Ah, well.

Mission:Space turned out to be pretty intense. Madison rode with me, and the boys rode with Cynthia.Basically, you ride in a claustrophobic little “capsule”, and are spun at various speeds simulating lift-off and landing on mars while watching a movie on a small screen in front of you. The lift-off pulls about 3 Gs, but unlike a roller coaster, the force on the body is constant over a minute or so. Michael and I thought it was pretty fun, but the rest of the crew thought one ride was enough.

After our little trip to Mars, Madison decided she was cold so we went back to the shirt shop to find her some sweatpants. Unfortunately, Test Track (formerly World of Motion) was closed for rennovation, so we moved on to lunch. We decided to start our trek around the World Showcase, starting in the UK. We wanted to try the authentic fish and chips, so we found the Yorkshire County Fish and Chips and loaded up, eating on the patio near the lagoon.

Continuing around counter-clockwise was France, where Cynthia wanted to get a cup of coffee and a pastry while the kids and I looked around in a shop and saw a street mime.

We didn’t find anything especially appealing to Morocco, and looking at the show schedule, we had noticed a few things happening in Japan that we were interested in, so on we went.

We were very interested in seeing Miyuki, the “Candy Lady”, and fortunately we made it to her stand just a few minutes before her scheduled appearance time. The kids were able to be on the front row. This turned out to be one of those rare treats you happen across at WDW. Miyuki spins small candy animals on a stick from sugar and food-coloring paint, by request. Michael had her make a scorpion, and Madison asked for a dolphin. She fashioned each in under a minute, with colorful banter as a part of the act. Art in action, it was very entertaining to watch.

After the candy show, we wondered through the menagerie that is souvenir shopping in Japan — most interesting items, a collision of traditional Japanese art items and ultra modern commercialism, manga and Nintendo and 50′s tin-toy robots, all at once. A few minutes later we noticed that Matsuriza, the Taiko drummers were about to begin under the giant Pagoda tower. Matthew was particularly mesmerized by the drummers.

Continuing on around the world, we walked through the American Adventure, but seeing as the Hall of Presidents the day before had gone over a bit like a lead balloon, we decided not to subject the kiddos to an hour of revolutionary history. Maybe next time, but instead we moved on to Italy. As we were admiring the tower in the simulated city square, a street mime and juggler set up “shop” and began his act, which included magic tricks, juggling and audience participation. It was entertaining and fun.

On around the corner was Germany, where we encountered a very intricate model train set, with multiple tracks and trains set up in a outside garden setting, complete with buildings and countryside. Michael found it particularly interesting.

Next country up: China. We had timed things such that we had fifteen minutes or so to explore the calm gardens and take a rest, and then enter the palace in time to see the Dragon Legend Acrobats. This troupe of Chinese acrobats, ranging in age from around 8 to late teens, were simply amazing in their flexibility, balance and agility. After their show we were ushered into the theatre for the “Reflections of China” show, exhibited in 360-vision, whereby nine separate projectors screen a film that completely surrounds the audience. Although the film is almost 20 years old, it’s still an interesting and engaging look at China and its people.

After the film and the obligatory walk through the accompanying Chinese-themed gift-shop, we were starting to get a little hungry. The next country was Norway, which we had already visited a few days earlier, so we decided to move on to Mexico and have nachos and churros with hot chocolate for dinner.

As it had been a particularly long day and we were a little tired, we decided to skip the fireworks and beat the crowd out to the monorail for the trip back to the hotel. This plan worked out great, and we were able to ride up front with the driver for the long trip back to the TTC. We switched monorails and two stops later were walking into our hotel.

About 30 minutes after we returned to our room, the Wishes fireworks show began at the Magic Kingdom, and we walked out onto the shore of the Seven Seas Lagoon, just outside the building where our hotel room was, to watch the show. Following the fireworks was the electric water parade, where several floats decorated like the Spectromagic parade made their way across the Lagoon. It was a pleasant way to cap off the evening.

After getting dressed and meandering over to the main building around mid-morning, we caught the next monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. Michael and I were lucky enough to score a ride up front with the driver.

Once we arrived and checked in through security and the biometric turnstiles, and obtained a stroller for Madison, we began to wander down Main Street. We noticed that it was getting steadily colder, and decided that today we’d need some additional “coverage.” So Cynthia and the kids found the main souvenir store, The Magic Kingdom Emporium, and bought a couple of blankets and a beanie for Matthew. I went across the street in search of a watch shop.

The evening before, after arriving back at our hotel, Madison accidentally knocked my wristwatch off of the table and one of the pins holding the band popped out, bent. I located the Mickey Mouse Watch store and found a jeweler there who was more than happy to have a look. He tried several different pins, but couldn’t find a match for the apparently specialized pin in my watch. I thanked him for his time and met the family back out on Main Street.

We wandered towards the castle, making a right and heading into Tomorrowland, with the goal of obtaining a fast pass for Space Mountain. Next, we worked our way around to Fantasyland and took a ride on Cinderella’s Carousel. Next, we went to see Mickey’s Philharmagic. Like the Muppetvision 3D show at the Studios, this is a 3D presentation with additional effects elements in the theatre (smells, wind, Donald Duck flying through the back of the theatre). It was well done and entertaining, and like most other attractions at Disney, exited into a large souvenir shop. Ah well.
After leaving the shop, we found ourselves on the West side of the castle, near Liberty Square. We found a funnel cake stand and decided to partake. We made a complete mess, but that’s sort of the point with funnel cakes. We paused after our messy snack for a snapshot with the castle as our backdrop, on the bridge over the moat back to the center of the park.

The time for our fastpass to Space Mountain was approaching, so we hightailed it over to Tomorrowland and did the kid-swap approach: Cynthia and Michael rode while Matthew and I waited with Madison, then Matthew and I took a turn. Fast and twisty as always, Space Mountain was a blast.

Although it constituted backtracking, a practice I generally try to avoid, we headed directly back to Frontierland to locate a suitable spot to watch the afternoon “Share a Dream Come True” parade. Seeing as we were about 45 minutes out, we were able to secure a front row seat just as the ropes were being deployed. The temperature seemed to be dropping (or the wind was picking up), so Cynthia and Madison bundled up, and the boys and I went looking for hot chocolate. We returned with about five minutes to spare before the parade started.

This is my favorite afternoon parade of all in the WDW parks. Floats with giant snowglobes with every Disney character you can think of. We had a great spot and enjoyed to sights and music.

Once the parade wrapped up, and the ropes were rolled up, we decided to grab a showing in the Hall of Presidents before our late lunch appointment at the Crystal Palace. A very patriotic show, inspirational and fascinating from a technical standpoint, I always enjoy the Hall of Presidents, even if it’s a little “boring” for the younger kids.
After our seating with the Presidents, it was time to make our way back towards Main Street and our appointment with the crew from the Hundred Acre Wood: Pooh and company at the Crystal Palace. We’ve done this character meal before, and really had fun with it.

The Crystal Palace is a buffet style meal, with more food than you can possibly eat, of all varieties. Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore wander around amongst the tables for pictures and autographs, and there’s even a “conga line” of sorts every half-hour or so where the kids can dance in a line behind Tigger around the restaurant. It’s one of the better character meals in the parks.

We got a cast member to snap a picture of the entire family on the way out, in front of topiaries of the characters.

After our late lunch, we walked over the bridge into Adventureland, where we found Rafiki and Timon (from The Lion King) hanging out across from the Swiss Family Treehouse.

Autographs and pictures, of course, then we took a spin on Aladdin’s Magic Carpets, which is essentially a remake of the Dumbo Ride but with giant camels that randomly “spit” on you as you fly by. I sat out and took pictures and video while Cynthia rode with the kids.

Next we did the Enchanted Tiki Room, which is running a new show that mixes in Iago, the annoying parrot voiced by Gilbert Gottfried from Aladdin. It’s a fun show, with tons of audio-animatronic characters, flowers, birds, tiki heads on the wall, etc. By the end it seems everything in the room is moving and singing along with the show.

Next was Pirates of the Caribbean. This is one of the Disney Classic dark rides, a masterpiece, especially considering that the original is over 40 years old. It still is amazing to experience, even after the release of the major motion picture based on the ride.

After our tour on PoC, and the requisite stroll through the gift shop (where we acquired some gloves for Cynthia and the kids), we moved on into Frontierland and caught one of the last showings of The Country Bear Jamboree. Again, like the Tiki room, it’s a fully audio animatronic extravaganza, but it seems a little more dated than most other attractions in the park. It’s still charming in it’s own way, but a little creaky by today’s standards.

After our visit with the Country Bears, we scoped out a spot for the Spectromagic parade, ending up at almost the exact same parade spot we had for the afternoon parade. I again went for hot chocolate and this time managed to scare up a few pretzels as well.

While a little more slick and a little less charming than the original Main Street Electrical Parade, Spectromagic is still a favorite of mine. The whole way they carry off the lit parade floats, synchronized music, staging, etc. of this Parade make it a fun way to end the day at the Magic Kingdom.
We chose to not wait around for the fireworks this evening, but instead headed out Main Street and under the train station to catch a monorail back to our hotel. Madison fell asleep on the way out and I ended up carrying her all the way back to the hotel.

As our monorail rounded the Contemporary resort on the way towards the TTC and the Polynesian, Wishes began over the Magic Kingdom. Watching the fireworks across the Seven Seas Lagoon was a fun new perspective.

The kids (and Cynthia and I) were practically walking zombies by the time we got to our room, so it wasn’t hard to get everyone in bed for the night. Tomorrow was going to be an early day, so the lights were out early.

8:00 comes early when you’ve got reservations with a bear named Pooh and a Tigger. We did manage to get dressed and be down at the 1900 Park Fair restaurant for breakfast. 1900 Park Fair is in the Grand Floridian, so we didn’t have to go far. We were seated immediately and visited the enormous buffet. While we were munching on Mickey Mouse waffles, bacon, eggs, etc. etc. etc., Winnie the Pooh and Tigger (too) came ’round for photos and autographs.

Also in attendance were Alice and the Mad Hatter (from “Alice In Wonderland”). Alice couldn’t have been more than 12 or 13 years old, or at least she played the part of an English pre-teen very well. The Mad Hatter was quite a card, big hat, big shoes and big nose.

We had a leisurely breakfast, and on our way out saw the Fairy Godmother and had another round of autographs and photos.

After leaving the restaurant, we went back by our room to pack the backpack and give everyone an opportunity for a “pit stop,” and then we made our way down to the bus stop. Today’s destination was Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We didn’t have to wait long for the next bus to arrive, but it was rather full, so most of us ended up standing on the trip.

Animal Kingdom is the newest major park on Disney’s Florida property, and while it’s larger than the other parks (with the possible exception of Epcot), it has fewer attractions overall. The size is due to the preserve area for the wildlife. It’s tempting at first blush to think of AK as a glorified zoo, but it’s more than that. True to form, it’s planned and themed in Disney style, from the centerpiece of the park, The Tree of Life, to the six lands represented around the axis.

After navigating the entrance bag checks and ticket turnstiles, we wandered through the entrance area, looking at all the animals along the way. Birds and various other small animals were on either side of the path as we walked down the Animal Kingdom equivalent of Main Street, towards the Tree of Life. The tree is pretty amazing. It looks completely real, except for the size, but is artificially constructed. As you get closer, you see that there are many, many animals “carved” into the trunk of the tree. Over 200 as I understand.

While we didn’t manage to make it to the park at opening, we weren’t too far behind the initial crowd, and lines were very short. Our first attraction was the “It’s Tough To Be A Bug” 3-D movie under the base of the giant tree.

I recall from our trip back in 2002 waiting in line for this attraction almost 30 minutes, only to have Michael and Matthew decide to bail at the last minute. This time around there was absolutely no line, and everyone had already experienced a couple of the 3-D style shows at other parks, and were on board with this one as well.

We obtained our 3-D glasses (bug opera glasses, I think they called them) and entered the theatre through an anthill cavern under the tree. The show was pretty funny, with all the same gags from other shows we’d seen. A huge stink bug came out at one point and “gassed” the audience, which was quite aromatic. Toward the end the show got a little intense, and Madison curled up next to me. For the finale, Hopper (the grasshopper from “A Bug’s Life”) called an army of beetles to spray the “invaders” (us) with acid (water). At the end the “smaller bugs” were allowed to leave first, and you could feel them running out under the seats.

After the show, we exited on the other side of the giant Tree, onto a path with more animals to see. Lemurs and Monkeys and Flamingos, oh my! As we followed the path around to the North, we saw Mt. Everest rising above the treeline. The newest attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is Expedition Everest, and although it’s not officially scheduled to open until the first weekend in April, I had heard that the ride was in soft-open mode, meaning we could probably get on it.

Well, sure enough, we found the line. All 90+ minutes of it. Well, at least we now knew where most of the guest population in the park was today.

It was at this point that I hatched my cunning plan, otherwise known as “skip it now, come back when the park opens on another day and beat the crowd.” We’ll see how well that works out in a couple of days.

After taking a few pictures and stopping for a quick snack, we backtracked and found ourselves near the Kali River Rapids. This attraction is your standard “big round boat that gets you soaked” ride that I’m sure is perfect during the heat of the Summer, with long wait times to match. But on a fairly overcast 60-degree day in early February, the wait was zippo.

We decided to take our chances and piled into a nice specimen of a boat and took off down the river. This is a fun ride. The rapids are actually rapid, you get wet but not too wet, and everyone has a good time. The other people in the boat had the foresight to wear rain ponchos, but we weren’t that on the ball. So we got wet. In my case, some more than others.

Only after exiting the ride and walking across the bridge that carries you over the river and back into the park did I notice that the people standing on that bridge had buttons they could press to spray water on the unsuspecting boat passengers below. So now I know how I got so wet. Ah well…

After a quick pitstop, we walked further around the path and found the Maharajah Jungle Trek. This is a leisurely walk through the jungles of India where you can see Tigers, bats, gazelle and many exotic birds. We took our time walking through this area, snapping pictures of the animals and trying to identify what we were seeing.

Next down the path was the Flights of Fancy bird show, which I had heard was a must see. The show wasn’t scheduled to start for another 20 minutes, but outside the theatre killing the time was a cast member with a huge owl. He had a little headset mic and speakers and was explaining to the considerable crowd that had gathered there all the interesting details of this species of owl. The owl just sat there on his glove-covered hand, looking at everyone calmly like nobody’s business.

After the owl demonstration, we filed into the open air theatre and saw the Bird Show. Wow. This is not your average birds in cages show. All the animals were free to fly around, over the audience’s head, and many did various “tricks.” There was a parrot that sang 6 complete songs, a Crane (named Fraiser, of course) that flew from the back of the seating to the stage literally inches over the crowd, and a vulture that took a dollar bill out of an audience member’s hand, and brought it back just a few minutes later. The kids really enjoyed the show as well, amazed at what all the birds could do. The interesting thing I thought was the fact that there were no nets over the theatre or any device to keep the birds from just flying away. The cast member who presented the show said that through positive reinforcement, the birds are enticed to stay. Since they live a pretty cushy life compared to their wild(er) cousins, I can see why they’d stick around.

Hunger was upon us after the bird show, as it was about 2:00 in the afternoon. We found our way around the path into the Africa section of the park, and found an eatery I had heard about called Tuskar’s House. While technically a counter service location under our meal plan, it easily the best counter service meal we had experienced so far. We had rotisserie chicken, salmon, and chicken sandwiches, again more than we could eat. Because the weather was so mild, we decided to sit outside to eat, and were glad we did. A troupe of African acrobats performed in the courtyard and were amazing. Following the acrobats was a group of percussionists playing tribal sounding rhythms. Matthew really got into that.

Next on our agenda was to ride the Kilimanjaro Safari. The wait was posted at 35 minutes, so we opted to get a fast pass and come back later. We thought we’d head down to the Dinosaur area and mess around there for an hour or so, watch the parade at 3:00, then come back and take the Safari jeep ride. As we were walking back around to the front of the park, looking at other animal exhibits along the way, the sky decided to open up a little and the rain started to come down. We ducked under the awning of a snack stand and tried to see if the rain would let up. After about 10 minutes, we heard over the loudspeakers that the parade was being cancelled.

The rain was getting harder, so we decided that we’d go ahead and head back to the hotel. We exited the park and got in line for the bus, which was covered, and tried to dry off as we waited. Apparently, many people had the same idea as we did and the buses were running a little slow and full. We managed to get on the next one that came along, but it was full.

Normally, being full, the bus would skip the next stop (Blizzard Beach water park) and drop off people at the resort stops the bus was scheduled for. However, apparently, due to the rain, some people had been waiting at Blizzard Beach for over an hour, so our bus was the lucky one dispatched to pick them up. Unfortunately, the dad of that group made an off-hand comment to the effect of “I’m going to be registering a complaint” as he boarded, and the driver decided that meant he should go get a manager right then and there. So there we sat for almost 20 minutes before he decided to go ahead and make his next stops. It took about 45 minutes, but we finally made it back to the hotel.

The plan at this point was to hang out at the hotel for a couple of hours, resting and doing some laundry, and then head to the Magic Kingdom for a little evening fun. Cynthia did 2 loads of laundry while the kids watched cartoons on TV and I updated my pictures and recharged batteries.

Around six we hopped onboard the monorail and went to the Magic Kingdom. The rain had mostly let up, and it had just gotten dark, so all the buildings were lit up. We had decided to get Madison a stroller so that she might last a little longer, especially with the prospect of rain. We made a beeline for Tomorrowland and immediately got a fast pass for the Buzz Lightyear ride. We parked the stroller at the Buzz ride and walked across the street and up the escalator to the Tomorrowland Transportation Authority, which is basically a tram ride around all of Tomorrowland. It’s a fun way to visit all aspects of this area of the park and decide what to do next. I remember this train being called the WEDway People Mover back 20 years ago, and was fairly innovative at the time. It’s magnetic propulsion system is very efficient and it utilizes the same rotating platform loading/unloading scheme that Spaceship Earth at Epcot did.

After the TTA, we visited the Carousel of Progress, an attraction I remember fondly from my first trip to the MK in 1981. The original attraction debuted at the New York World’s Fair in 1964, and chronicles the advances in technology from the turn of the century (1900, that is) to “present day” in a very unique setting, where the audience revolves around a center axis of six stages where audioanimatronic figures talk about the never ending march of progress. Once again, the ingenuity of Walt Disney shows how you can have 5 separate shows going on simultaneously, moving people onto and off of the attraction with great efficiency. It’s a little humorous, though, to see the representation of the most “modern” scene, which probably hasn’t been updated since the late 1980′s. Some things didn’t quite come to pass as predicted.

Our fastpass times for Buzz Lightyear were up, so we went across the street and to the front of the line. This “dark” ride is like others where you board one of an endless train of cars and move through various scenes, some under blacklight, but this one has an interactive component where the passengers are armed with laser blasters and can shoot back.

After exiting the ride we saw that it had started raining again, so we ducked into a gift shop and I bought a round of rain ponchos. Newly protected from the sprinklng, we grabbed a couple chicken strip baskets at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe, and then strolled over to our old standby, fantasyland. This time the destination was “It’s A Small World”, which Madison loved, followed by Peter Pan, also a hit. As we exited Peter Pan the fireworks show had started, so we watched it a bit from the back of the park. We wound our way back toward the entrance, stopping to pick up a candy selection for everybody.

We turned in Madison’s stroller and caught the monorail back to the hotel to call it a night.

Cynthia went to the Grand Floridian Spa, and had a facial and massage, which she reports was wonderful.

We took our time getting ready, and Cynthia returned mid-morning, so we didn’t make it to the bus stop until around 10:30 to head over to MGM Studios. We had lunch reservations for the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, an interesting restaurant concept whereby you sit in replica cars in a large room outfitted to resemble a 50′s-style drive-in theater, complete with the speaker hanging on the pole by the car and cheesy trailers for B movies playing on the big screen. I had the ribs, Cynthia and Michael had hamburgers, the other two had chicken. And the trailers were very very cheesy. I’m not entirely sure the kids got the whole concept of watching a movie in your car. A little before their time, I suppose.

After lunch, we decided to head on over to the Lights Motors Action! stunt show and get in line, although it turned out not to be much of a line (the stadium seats about 5,000 and while almost completely full, the crowd moved very well). This show was a blast, no pun intended. Cars, motorcycles, people on fire, what more could you want? Michael and Matthew really got into it.

After the show (and the requisite trips to the restroom), we wandered into the “Honey I Shrunk The Kids” playground, where we found ourselves in and among the likes of a 5 foot tinkertoy, a huge roll of film with a blade of grass slide coming out of it, and about a million other kids and parents running around with cameras.

The kids had a great time running around, sliding down the slides, crawling all over things. And, like the other parents watching, trying not to lose their kids, I snapped some great pictures there.

Next, the daily trip through a souvenir shop where the boys picked out a pair of Pirates of the Caribbean pistols, which I found interesting seeing as we hadn’t been to that attraction yet. We followed that up with soft drinks and gummy bears.

We worked our way toward the center of the park, near the big Sorcerer Mickey hat, to catch the midday parade. It started, and suddenly the entire population of the park materialized in front of us. So much so that it became quickly apparent that we were not going to see the parade. So we turned around and found ourselves directly in front of the Great Movie Ride.

TGMR takes place in a building made up to look just like Mann’s Chinese Theatre, which I thought of as interesting this time around since I was in LA just this past May and actually was in front of the real thing. I’ve always liked this ride; it reminds me of the Jungle Cruise at Magic Kingdom, only without the boat. You ride 20 or so to a car with a cast member up front telling you corny jokes and pointing out interesting movie trivia as you “sail” past classic scenes from great movies. Half way through a live action scene straight out of a western is acted out, with the tour guide a participant in the show. Cheesy, yes, but fun, especially for movie buffs like me.

Afterwards, we went to the Animation building and took a tour of Disney animation, which included a short film and a walking tour of artifacts from recent animated films. This culminated in a lot of Chicken Little paraphernalia, photo ops and the like.

After that, Madison wanted to take a rest, so she and Cynthia found a nice bench and sent me off looking for roasted almonds. Once I returned with the snack, the boys and I went to catch the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. We were about 20 minutes early, so we went ahead and went into the seating area, and took up a spot 3 rows back and right next to the sound booth. I like to watch the tech crew “behind the scenes” almost as much as the show, especially if I’ve seen the show a few times before. Afterwards I talked with the tech crew and asked them some questions about the gear they used. I even shook hands with the stunt guy that played Indiana Jones. I made it a point to tell him how much we enjoyed the show, and he seemed to really appreciate that. I doubt many people take the time to tell them that in person.

After the show the boys and I met back up with Madison and Cynthia and we all decided to go ahead and go get seats for the Fantasmic fireworks show. Unlike the fireworks shows at Magic Kingdom and Epcot where people gather randomly to watch, Fantasmic takes place on and around an island in a lake, with stadium seating “in the round.” We followed the crowd and found seats on the left-hand side about 10 rows back; not bad at all.

Fantasmic was great! It was more a stage presentation than a fireworks show, per se. The neat thing about the show was how they sprayed water in a large “fan” and then projected scenes from Disney movies on it. Characters acted out the basic Good versus Evil story, in the form of Mickey as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice against all of the classic Disney villains. Fireballs, boats, lasers, fireworks, music, the whole nine yards. They even set the lake on fire at one point. The neat thing is how they were able to put it out on cue.

We followed the crowd again, this time towards the busses and found the one with Grand Floridian on the marquee. Back at the hotel we grabbed some pizza and chicken strips at Gasparilla’s and took dinner back to the room. A few cartoons later and we called it a night.

Right away I noticed that the entry lines at Epcot seemed not to move as quickly as they had at the Magic Kingdom and MGM. Cynthia took the kids and went around the bag check lines and went ahead and entered the park, while I waited to have my bags searched. Once we got in, we looked at the “Leave a Legacy” monuments for a few minutes, then moved on towards Spaceship Earth (or “the big golf ball” as we came to call it). Noticing that the line was practically non-existant, we opted to go ahead and ride.

I’m continually impressed and amazed at the ingenuity in the design of various attractions and rides at Disney. One thing Disney is very good at is moving people through processes efficiently. Walt himself had a fascination with mass-transit and it lives on in the design of attractions such as Spaceship Earth. Instead of individual cars and the normal stop/start of the loading and unloading process, SE utilizes an endless train of cars that never actually stop. When you enter the attraction, you step onto a circular conveyor belt and have around 60 seconds to enter the next open car before it disappears into the void. Occasionally the ride has to be stopped to accommodate guests with special needs, but by and large the ride continually moves, increasing the effective “throughput” of people per hour. The exiting process at the end of the ride is similar, but in reverse.

The ride itself is interesting, taking the rider on a journey from pre-historic times to the future, explaining how various forms of communication developed. Along the way the car is turned left or right to show various auto-animatronic incarnations of the scenarios the narrator is explaining in the speakers embedded in the headrests of the car itself. The ride twists and winds its way up inside of the big ball until it reaches the apex, then the car turns a full 180 as it begins its descent back to ground level. All in all an interesting “dark ride”, but unfortunately it’s showing it’s age a little. It would be nice to see the later portions updated a bit to more accurately reflect the impact that the Internet has had on human communication over the past decade.

After Spaceship Earth we were exited near the entrance to Innoventions East. The main focus of this exhibit seemed to center around computer based simulations and multi-player interactions. The boys played a 4-player game of Toon Tag, where each player chooses one classic Disney character (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy or Donald) and runs around in a virtual playground trying to “tag” the other players. Michael was Goofy and Matthew played Mickey. Madison found some single-player more suitable for a 4-year-old and played those while the boys and I looked around.

The next game was called “Robot Challenge”, and was designed to teach about the different properties and uses of plastic while letting players design and race their own virtual Robots. Michael played this one, creating a robot he named “Creepy Bruiser” and came in 6th (out of 12) in the race. After exiting the game area, the kids were allowed to collect pieces and build their own robot character to take home.

At this point we needed to high-tail it to Norway in the World Showcase portion of Epcot to make our lunch reservations at Akershus castle. We were set to have lunch with all of the Disney Princesses, but the problem is we didn’t know where Akershus and Norway were. As it turns out it didn’t really matter that we were ten minutes late for our reservation, as it seemed that everyone else there had the same reservation time as we did. We ended up having to wait 15 or 20 minutes to be seated.

They called our name and led us into the banquet area, stopping for a quick visit/picture with Ariel from The Little Mermaid. The boys weren’t too interested in getting pictures take with her, but Madison was all smiles. We found our way to our table and tried to make out the Norwegian menu to find something to eat for lunch. Michael quickly found Spaghetti and Meatballs on the menu. I went with something called Kjottkaker, which turned out to basically be a traditional Norwegian meatloaf. The deserts came on a single plate for everyone to try. My favorite was the Lingonberry Tart.

During lunch we were visited by Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Prince Ali (Aladdin) and Jasmine, and Belle (from Beauty and the Beast). Autographs were obtained, pictures were taken. Madison wasn’t too sure about Ali, but warmed up when he told her a couple of jokes.

Once we finished lunch, we decided to explore the remainder of Norway as long as we were already there. We found the Maelstrom boat tour of Norway, which included an indoor ride aboard dragon-headed boats traveling among the Vikings and Trolls of 10th century Norway. After the boat portion of the ride we were presented a short film about Norway and it’s people. Of course, after exiting the attraction you’re dumped directly into the gift shop where we saw interesting things such as candy and troll dolls from Norway.

On the way out of Norway back towards Mexico, we passed a full-sized version of a Viking ship and a replica of the Gol Stave Church.

Of course, on our way into Mexico the kids immediately spied the street merchant selling various trinkets, and had to try on the giant sombreros. Each wanted one, but since we couldn’t figure out how to bring them back home on the plane, we decided to just take pictures and move along.

In Mexico we found an Aztec pyramid and wondered up the steps to explore what was inside. Just in the doors we found a Mexican marketplace, with artists practicing their art making various things from pinatas to hand carved and painted animal figurines. We got in the (short) line for “El Rio del Tiempo”, which is a “Small-world”-type boat ride through past and modern Mexico.

After the boat ride we watched a glass blower making a small glass Pluto figurine which the kids really found interesting. Cynthia bought a souvenir while we watched and then we headed back out into the bright sunlight to plot our next move.

We decided to make our way back to Futureworld to see some of the pavilions there, choosing the leave the remainder of World Showcase for another day. As we made our way back across the bridge to Futureworld, we visited a hat stand and Madison picked out a pair of Tinkerbell-styled Mickey Mouse ears and Cynthia bought a Princess visor. Michael bought a flashing necklace with some of his Mickey Dollars.

The first Futureworld pavilion we came to on the west side was the Imagination pavilion, where we were just in time to catch the next showing of “Honey I Shrunk the Audience.” This turned out to be a 3-D movie type attraction, very similar to Muppetvision 3-D. They took things a few steps further, shaking the whole audience seating area during the “shrinking” process. There was a snake sequence that was a little scary, but the thing everyone remembered was at the end when the huge dog “sneezed” on the audience. We walked out a little damp from the dog snot. Eww.

Next was the Land pavilion, where we took one look at the line for Soarin’ and immediately went and got a fast pass. As we were about to leave the building to go on to the next thing, I happened to stop by the Land Grill restaurant and checked on reservation times, and as luck would have it they had an open slot for 6:00. I put us down, since we had a great time there last trip and didn’t currently have plans for dinner.

Everyone wanted an icecream walking to the next building, so we bought a snack and sat on the freshly mowed grass to enjoy it. The day had begun to warm up and it was really nice outside. The kids ran around a little after finishing their icecream while Cynthia and I rested on the lawn.

The next building we came to was The Living Seas. This building was still being renovated, so the main entrance was closed off, but there was a temporary entrance around to the side (through the obligatory gift shop). We saw a line forming for Turtle Talk with Crush, so we decided to go ahead and queue up, knowing that it wouldn’t be getting any shorter. While we ended up having to wait about 15 minutes, it went fast and they funneled us into a small theater. The kids went to sit down front will all of the other younger viewers and Cynthia and I stood in the back.

The theatre was modeled as though you are looking into a large fish tank, although it ends up being a projector screen. When the crowd finally got settled, Crush the Turtle (from Finding Nemo, computer generated on the screen like in the movie) came out from behind some seaweed and said “yo”. There was a Disney cast member with a handheld microphone down front that ran the show and interacted with Crush, seemingly from a script, when suddenly Crush asked if anyone had any questions. He pointed out kids by the color of their “shells” (shirts) and actually answered their questions and joked with them. He taught them all how to say “dude” and told them that they should say it as much as possible for the rest of the day (ha ha). The whole show was very well done and very entertaining; the kids really enjoyed it.

After the Crush show, we spent 45 minutes or so walking around the various aquariums looking at many varieties of fish, sharks, jellyfish, sea horses, manta rays, etc. There was an interactive area for kids to explore and play around in, and an upstairs level for seeing manatees, turtles, and other sea life.

On our way back towards The Land pavilion, we wondered through Innoventions West, another interactive area with various displays. We saw exhibits on the land, played new computer games, saw displays on fire safety and played on a real fire truck.

The time for our fast pass on Soarin’ was up, so we headed quickly across the walkway to The Land and went to the head of the line. Fast pass is the way to go on the more popular attractions; while the normal queue was at 70 minutes at that point, we waited less than 5 minutes for our turn.

Soarin’ was by far one of our favorite attractions at Epcot, if not the whole trip. First you sit in seats where your feet can dangle free, then when the ride starts they swing you out in front of a giant IMAX screen that completely fills your range of vision. It simulates hang-gliding over 12 different areas of California, from a stream in a forest, to an orange grove, to skiing down the slopes of the Rockies, to sailing over the waves off the coast. As you go from environment to environment, the ride gently swings left and right, wind blows in your hair and the smells match the screen. The orange grove was my favorite.

The ride culminates in flying down Main Street USA of Disneyland and over Cinderella’s castle during the fireworks show. Absolutely exhilarating!

After our flying experience on Soarin’ it was almost our time for our reservation for Dinner, so we rode the escalator upstairs and checked in at the counter. Ten minutes later we were seated at our table. The Land Grill is a rotating restaurant that slowly revolves over the Land’s boat ride below. There are various scenes, from the fields of a farm to the desert and a jungle.

The food at the Garden Grill is almost exclusively grown right on site in the special hydroponics areas of the Land pavilion, and was some of the best we had all week. It was served family style, and included fresh catfish, chicken, corn, mashed potatoes, etc. Very, very tasty, and all you could eat. During dinner, Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Chip and Dale came around for autographs and pictures. Just as we were finishing dinner the restaurant completed its revolution bringing us back to where we started.

Leaving the Land, very full, we stopped at a souvenir stand so that Matthew and Madison could follow Michael’s earlier lead and get flashing necklaces, since it had started getting dark. We knew the fireworks show wasn’t too far off, so we wondered back to World Showcase to find a good spot before the crowds started getting big.

We went to the right this time, into Canada, and took up seats on the shore of the lake. Michael, Madison and Cynthia held our spots while Matthew and I went exploring Canada. We saw the totem poles and wondered through the gift shops (lots of hockey stuff, eh), and then walked on towards the UK. We ended up finding a slightly better spot to watch the fireworks show, so we radioed the rest of the crew to meet us there.

Illuminations, the fireworks show at Epcot, was spectacular. It included lots of music, lasers, fireworks and exploding things over the lake, dancing fountains, and a large Globe on a barge that showed images from around the world before opening up and showering the sky with fireballs and more fireworks. It was neat being around a lake and having the whole show take place in the center rather than far off like at a traditional fireworks display.

After the show the park was officially closed, and the mass of humanity made its way towards the gate. Once we exited, we hopped aboard the trusty monorail and made our way back to our hotel, where the kids promptly crashed. It was a very full, very fun day, and we were exhausted. And there was still so much in Epcot we hadn’t seen!

While we were aiming to get there when the park opened, our objective this trip was not to kill ourselves trying to do everything or cram everything into one day. Last time we went to DisneyWorld, it was a 4 day trip, and it’s just about impossible to do everything in 4 days. It’s impossible to do everything in 2 weeks, but if your objective is to do most of the major attractions and have a somewhat leisurely pace about doing it, give yourself a week. The Magic Kingdom will be two days easy (especially if you have kids under 10). EPCOT is like two parks in one, so two days there. The Disney-MGM Studios can be done in a day, and Animal kingdom can pretty much be done in a day. By the time you throw in other things like a swim or two at the resort pool, a trip over to Disney Marketplace or Disney Quest, or any of the other many attractions, you’re at a week. We were there for 9 days this go-around, and that worked really well.

We took the bus from the Grand Floridian over to MGM studios, and landed at the park around 10:00. After navigating the entry gates and bag search (and a quick restroom break), we were on our way down Sunset Boulevard. Madison found a pony in front of one of the gift shops and we had to stop for a quick “ride.”

(don’t forget to click on the thumbnails for larger versions of the pictures)

We took a right at the end of Sunset and wound up at the entrance to the Rockin Roller Coaster. Having ridden this ride before, I was fairly certain that Madison wouldn’t be interested, but I thought the boys might. So we decided to try out “Parent Swap”.

Parent swap is where everyone waits in the line for an attraction, and then when you get up to the front you tell the Disney Cast Member that you want to swap parents on this ride. One parent rides with the kids that want to ride the attraction, while the other parent waits for them with the child that isn’t big enough or doesn’t want to ride. Then, when the first group gets back they “swap” and the second parent rides while the first waits with the child that didn’t want to ride. Pretty cool system.

Well, it turned out that Matthew had second thoughts once we got into the queue, and decided not to ride when we got up to the ride. So I went with Michael, and Madison and Matthew exited with Cynthia.

Michael and I had a blast (zero to 60 in less than 3 seconds — woo!). After we exited and looked at the silly photos that they took of us on the ride, Michael decided to ride it again, this time with mom. So Matthew and Madison and I went looking around while they took their turn (the line was really short, less than 5 minutes wait). We found a popsicle stand and got a couple of ice-creams.

As we headed back across the center plaza towards Muppetvision 3-D, we ran into Chip -n- Dale, and Minnie Mouse and Goofy. Autograph books in hand, the kids got signatures from all and I snapped the pictures.

I also had a chance to find out about a new service at WDW, Disney’s Photo Pass. This is a much better way of handling pictures than the usual, obtrusive park photographers that stop you as you’re walking into the park and try to up-sell you into some ridiculously priced package.

The way it works is the first photographer you run into gives you a small card (your Photo Pass) that is barcoded. Then they take your pictures (several shots each) and scan your card. As you run into other photographers, you have them take your picture and scan your card. There are photographers in several places, usually near landmark “picture spots” and wherever characters are signing autographs.

The trick here is there’s no high-pressure sales going on. They simply shoot and scan your card. Then, when you get back home you can log into disneyphotopass.com and type in your ID from your card. Up pop all of the pictures that have been taken over the course of your trip, for you to browse and edit. You can add titles, character signatures (they’ve already been pre-categorized with the right signatures for the characters in the shot), make greeting cards, etc. Then you can pick the best and order packages to be printed and sent to you. Pretty neat.

Muppetvision 3-D was very cool, we all got a little wet when Fozzy Bear sprayed the audience with his flower boutonniere. After that, we were dumped out on a back street near Al’s Toy Barn, where Buzz Lightyear and the Green Army Men were taking pictures and signing autographs. Yes, the Green Army Man signs his name — wait for it — “Green Army Man.”

We stopped in Al’s Toy Barn (the gift shop) and the kids used some of their Mickey Dollars to buy a souvenir or two. Mickey Dollars is a great idea I got off the Internet back when we were planning our trip. Here’s how it works: Cynthia and I made up a currency-looking Dollar bill (with Mickey Mouse on it) on the computer that we called a Mickey Dollar, and then printed out several. In the weeks leading up to our trip, whenever the kids did their chores or special things around the house, they got Mickey Dollars instead of real cash (therefore, they’d save it for the trip, not try to spend it beforehand). By the time we got on the plane to go, each boy had about 37 Mickey Dollars, and Madison had about 30. Over the course of the trip we didn’t have to negotiate or deal with “I want this, I want that” at all the toy shops; the kids were in charge of their own budget. This ended up working really well. Anyway, the boys bought Buzz Lightyear cell phones and Madison bought a Ballerina Minnie Mouse.

We made our way over to the Star Tours ride and took a short interplanetary hop, Star Wars-style (and the requisite trip through the Star Wars themed shop afterwards), and then noticed that it was probably a good time to head back to the hotel for a little rest before making our dinner reservations at Cinderella’s Castle.

We caught the bus back and decided to have a dip in the pool. There are two pools at the Grand Floridian, one calm large pool in the middle of the resort, and another slightly smaller pool on the South side that has a huge waterfall, a slide (a long water park-type slide, not the little backyard kind), and a zero depth entry (that’s where one end of the pool gradually goes to zero depth and you just walk out, instead of the normal 3 foot with a ladder or steps). The boys and I played in the pool, waterfall and slide for a while, and Cynthia and Madison went and found the hot tub at the other pool. Fortunately, all the pools are heated, so even though it was in the high sixties, it was still very nice for swimming.

After about an hour of that we met back in the room, got dressed and caught a monorail back over to the Magic Kingdom. This time after clearing “customs” we went directly to Cinderella’s castle for our dinner reservations. We got pictures with the princess herself, then were seated in the main banquet room for a very nice dinner (rotisserie chicken, pork tenderloin, hot dogs, ice cream), complete with a short show featuring the Fairy Godmother and the mice from Cinderella.

We walked around a bit and explored the castle after dinner, then made our way over to Fantasyland where first on the agenda this night was the Dumbo ride. I sat that one out and took pictures while Madison flew with Cynthia, and the boys rode together.

Afterwards we rode the Winnie the Pooh ride, which consisted of a ride through the storybook in a honey pot that spun, bucked and wiggled. I managed to snap a picture of the whole crew, one of the few that has me in it. Madison had to have a Pooh Lollypop after that. Next was a little playtime in the 100 Acre Wood playground, and then another spin on the Teacups.

As we wondered out of Fantasyland back through Tomorrowland on our way to the exit, we ran across the Indy Speedway, and took a ride in the cars. Matthew actually drove one solo, and did a pretty good, if not overly careful, job of driving!

We decided not to stay for the crowds, er, fireworks this evening, and opted instead to go ahead and catch a monorail back to the hotel. Turns out we had a pretty good view of the whole show from the monorail as it made its way around the Seven Seas Lagoon. Once back at our hotel we grabbed a couple bottles of milk for breakfast the next morning (utilizing that fridge in the room) and headed back to our room. About 30 minutes of the endless-Disney-cartoon channel and it was lights out.

Our trip began rather early, 5:15 to be exact. The plan was to get up early, pack up quickly and be out of the house by 6:15 so we could be at the airport parking by 7:00. Our flight was at 8:30, and with the logistics of getting all our baggage from the shuttle parking lot to the check-in counter, I knew we’d need the time. Well, needless to say we didn’t get on the road until 6:30, but made it to the airport by 7:15. Fortunately, everything went smoothly and we were able to park, ride the shuttle to the terminal, and check-in with about 15 minutes to spare before boarding.

Here are a couple of snaps of us waiting in the new American Airlines terminal B at DFW. Click on any of the pictures to see a full resolution version.

Our plane boarded quickly and we had seats up front, so we were in the last group to board. But that meant we’d be the first off once we arrived in Orlando.

The flight was uneventful; Cynthia read, Michael listened to his iPod and watched the scenery outside, Matthew took lots of silly movies with his camera and listened to his iPod and Madison watched a movie on mine.

iPod with video, best invention ever.

Somehow I didn’t get any pictures of it, but we took Disney’s Magical Express from the Orlando International Airport to our resort. This is a really neat service offered to guests staying on property at WDW. Prior to your depature, they send you special luggage tags to put on any checked baggage before you get on the plane. Once you get to MCO, you simply go downstairs to the transportation counter and check in, then get on the bus to your resort/hotel. Later on that day, your bags “magically” arrive in your room. In our case, we spoiled a little of the magic; the bags came so quickly we were still in our room when they got there.

We arrived at Disney’s Grand Floridian around one o’clock (local time, Plano Time + 1 hour). It’s quite a site pulling up to the GF: it’s turn-of-the-century Victorian architecture is quite grand in it’s splendor. It’s a beautiful property.

I checked us in and although our room wasn’t guaranteed to be ready until 3:00, they had us all set and issued our keys immediately. Room 8324 in the Boca Chica building. A short walk across the courtyard and around the main pool and we found our room on the third floor, just around the corner from the elevator. Our hotel was situated on the east side of the property, just on the west shore of the Seven Seas Lagoon. Although our room was a “garden view” (read: slightly less expensive than “lagoon view”) the view was very nice, and we could walk out of our building to watch the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom or see the Electrical Water Pagent on the lagoon itself.

Our room was very spacious, larger than any room we’ve had at Disney to date. It had two very fluffy queen-sized beds and a daybed, which Matthew promptly claimed. The bathroom area had two sinks, and the toilet/shower was a separate room, which I like since the shower doesn’t end up fogging up the mirror over the sinks. Our room hadn’t been upgraded to include a refrigerator yet, so I called down to the front desk and they promptly delivered one.

We unpacked and decided to head out to Gasparilla’s for a bite to eat, since it had been too many hours since our pop-tart at 6:00 AM Texas-time.

One of the cool things about the way we booked our trip turned out to be the Disney Dining Plan. Basically you pay for a meal plan up front, and then you don’t have to worry about nickels and dimes at each meal. The plan is based on the number of nights of your stay, and for a set daily rate (different for adults vs. children) you receive a credit for a snack, a counter-service meal and a table-service meal. A snack is something like a box of popcorn or an ice-cream. A counter-service meal includes an entree (hamburger and fries, for example), a drink, and a desert from any of a (large) number of eateries both inside and outside of the parks. A table-service credit gets you an appetizer, an entree, drink and desert from most of the sit-down restaurants on property.

At first this sounds like “sure, pay up front and end up paying more when you’re there”… but in reality, if you know how the eating works at WDW (and we did, having been numerous times before), this is a great deal. At each meal we ended up having more food than we could eat (often taking the deserts with us for snacks later), and at each meal we never had to worry about what the cost would be. This was great at sit-down restaurants, since we never had to look at the prices of the entrees. It can throw some serious cold water on the experience to eat a great meal at Cinderella’s castle and then get a bill for over $200 at the end. Our table-service credit worked for just about anything on the menu (in fact, we never ran into a situation where something wasn’t covered). The credit also covered gratuity, so there was literally no out-of-pocket at any of our meals. I imagine the waiters and waitresses like this plan too, since they get an automatic 18% tip on the bill.

We actually ended up our trip with two table-service credits and one counter-service credits left over, and never paid for food the whole time (apart from the occasional lollipop or candy-type item). I did the math once we got home: our meal plan for the whole family (5 people, 8 days) was just over $1000. Had we paid cash for the meals we ate, it would’ve totaled over $1450. That’s not including the 3 credits we had left over. I thought it was a great value.

After snagging a lunch at Gasparilla’s at the hotel, we went back to the room to grab our jackets and backpack and head to the Magic Kingdom. When we got back, there was a My Pal Mickey sitting on one of the beds with a couple of balloons. Madison went straight to it and was so excited! Pal Mickey is a little Mickey Mouse that you carry around Disney World, and he tells you about things, sings songs and tells jokes. It’s really cool, and works a lot better than I thought he would. The only downside is he seems to eat batteries faster than he should. I changed the batteries at least three times during our trip. By the way, earlier I had the concierge send up the Pal Mickey to our room as a surprise for the family. I love the concierge service!

One of the (many many) reasons we chose to stay at the Grand Floridian was the fact that it’s a monorail resort. Meaning on the monorail. Meaning one quick ride to the Magic Kingdom. No Bus. No long walk. Way cool. If you go to WDW and plan to stay at one of the deluxe resorts, stay at either the Contemporary (only if you can stay in the tower, though, don’t stay in the garden wings, they’re too far from the main building), the Polynesian or the Grand Floridian. For getting around, the monorail is too convenient. The busses, while efficient, are always too crowded and too sparse.

One quick monorail trip and we were standing at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom! Once we managed to navigate the “let’s look in your bag to make sure you aren’t carrying anything dangerous into the park” stop and the “place your first two fingers in this biometrics reader so we aren’t getting ripped off by you giving your ticket to someone else” stop we were in the park.

On our way down Main Street we stopped in the Emporium gift shop and got Madison an autograph book and pen, since she hadn’t been before (the boys both had their autograph books from our trip back in 2002).

We saw a barbershop quartet and listened for a bit, then made our way to the end of Main Street, right in front of Cinderella’s castle, where we decided to watch the Cinderellabration show.

After the show we shot north to Fantasyland, where the first item on the agenda was the Teacup ride. Being her first ride, Madison was a little apprehensive, but once things got “spinning” she warmed up to it quickly! Matthew talks about it here.

Next we traveled over to Toon-town, which is an area of the park aimed at younger kids (i.e. Madison’s age). We saw a number of things including Minnie Mouse’s house and rode a roller coaster, the Barnstormer. Madison wasn’t too sure about that until she found out it was perfectly OK to scream your head off. Then she had a blast.

We rode the train around the park to Frontierland, and then the boys and I took a spin on Big Thunder Mountain. Awesome coaster, the boys loved it so much that I sat with Madison and Cynthia went on it with them a second time. The crowd was very low and the wait time was about 3 minutes.

After that we happened on Woody and Jessie (from Toy Story 2) and got autographs and pictures.

The day was wrapping up, so we headed over to the castle to grab a spot to watch the fireworks show “Wishes.” I think it’s the best MK fireworks show yet. Some of the shells were so bright, it looked like daytime in the park!

I snapped this really cool image of Michael in front of the Castle as it was changing colors prior to the show.

After the fireworks show, the entire population of the Magic Kingdom shuffled towards the gate, and although crowds seemed to be low earlier, whenever you pack that many people on Main street, it’s a bit crowded. We caught the monorail back to our Hotel, and since it was only 8:45 local time (7:45 to us still), we decided to grab dinner at the Grand Floridian Cafe. Steak and Shrimp, Yum!