Pages of Words

Why Write?

2012-02-11T13:02:00.000-08:00

The initial motivation behind the journalism degree I received in 1994 was the desire to be a writer - but to draw a regular paycheck. Along the way, my interest in sports journalism gave way to news, and my major changed from Newspaper to Broadcast Journalism. I worked at the campus radio station where Bob Costas, Marv Albert and Mike Tirico got their starts, and after graduation I got a job in news radio, working in that industry for almost four years before getting "a real job."

As a radio news anchor I was responsible for writing most of the news stories I read on air. This meant about 15 minutes of content per hour. I wrote four different versions to use in the 6:00 and 7:00 hours, and recycled those for the 8:00 and 9:00 hours. It was a lot of writing, and although print journalists may not consider it "real" writing, I believe I learned a lot in those years which is directly applicable to fiction writing:

The concept of showing and not telling is key for good broadcast writers.
Writing for the ear requires a constant consideration of how things will sound, which translates naturally to how dialogue will read on the page.
The requirement of producing thousands of words each day is really no different than what's required of a novelist.
I was able to see how much my writing improved over the four revisions, reinforcing the notion that "writing is re-writing is re-writing."
The ability to write clearly, concisely and conversationally (the three Cs of broadcast writing) is just as important in writing fiction.
Doing all of the above while under intense deadline pressure (new deadlines come every 10-15 minutes) encourages more rapid writing.

Most of what I learned about writing for broadcast came from two people: one of my journalism professors, Ron Graeff (his on-air name was Ron Hastings), and my first News Director, Geoff Dunn. Using the techniques they taught me I won countless awards from the New York State and New Hampshire Associations of Broadcasters, and was the News Director of an Edward R. Murrow award-winning newsroom.

I realized recently that, although I quite enjoyed writing, I hadn't done much in a long time. And that's one of the biggest reasons why I'm writing this book.

Writing Progress

2012-02-07T12:43:00.001-08:00

I've begun writing a book, a mystery/thriller that I've been working on in my mind for several months. I started outlining it, initially using The Snowflake Method, about six weeks ago. Once I had the scene list down (Step 8) I was so anxious to start actually writing the thing I went ahead and got started. I just finished the first chapter, about 2,200 words.

I had initially intended for the book to be aimed at the Young Adult (YA) market, typically 14-18 years old, but after posting the first 660 words for critique on the Absolute Write forums, the feedback seemed to indicate that the book would be better suited to an Upper Middle Grade (MG) market, 10-14 years old.

My first instinct was to increase the ages of my main characters from 14 to 17 and change some of their dialogue and scenes as appropriate, but ultimately I decided to carry on writing as I had been, and if the voice ends up putting the book in the MG area, then so be it. If and when it's finished, we'll see what, if any, feedback literary agents have to share about its proper position in the market.

The book is set primarily in my hometown of Rochester, NY. The climax takes place in Washington, DC. I've been in contact with our local Congressman's office, and one of the staff assistants has graciously agreed to take me on a tour of some of the locations where action will take place. I haven't gotten anywhere near the end of the book yet, so I'm not booking the trip just yet. Ideally I'll be close to the end of the book by the end of March. I'm thinking a late-April trip might work if I can keep to that schedule.

I intend on posting regular updates on my progress as well as reflections on the writing process. Some will be written, like this one, and others will be video entries. For that, I'll need my iMac back from the Apple Store (where I took it this week for the second time in my six weeks of ownership).

Feel free to look me up over at Absolute Write - my screen name is DoctorK.

May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 9

2011-10-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

Day 9 – 5/29 –Epcot & Departure Day

We took our time packing up and checked out right about 11am.We put our luggage in the back of the SUV and headed over to Epcot. We had latelunch reservations (2pm). We started off with some family photos in front ofSpaceship Earth, grabbed some FastPasses for Soarin’ and then headed over tosee Captain Eo.

DW and I remember seeing Captain Eo on our honeymoon. Let’sjust say, it doesn’t hold up. At all. The 3D technology was horrible, the printwas dark, the special effects looked like claymation and story was prettylaughable. Plus we had to wait about 20 minutes for the show to start.

After Captain Eo we rode Figment, and DD spent some timeplaying with the interactive exhibit at the exit.

From there we used our Soarin’ Fastpasses…

…and headed over to Coral Reef for lunch. It’s hard to get agood photo in there, so this one is super enhanced.

After lunch we still had some time to burn before we neededto leave for the airport, so DD squeezed in another KP mission in France.

She needed some help understanding what she was supposed tobe looking for here.

Right in the middle of saving the world, Serveur Amusantcame out for his balancing trick. The Chef enlisted my help to get down off thetable, which DD thought was hilarious (she accompanied me for moral support).

While DW shopped in Chinafor a thank you present for the people watching our cat while we were gone, DDand I went over to Canadato catch Off Kilter. It’s another one of those things I always wanted to do buthad never gotten around to. I managed to catch the second half of their lastsong, so I guess technically that’s done.

We took one last ride on the Friendship Boats…

…played a little bongo drums…

…and then headed for the airport. I received a text that ourflight had been delayed a couple of hours, so we decided to stop at DowntownDisney so DD could pick up a souvenir at World of Disney. The parking lots werejammed full – there was some kind of dance competition going on. It was a painto try to change shirts in the car with people blinkered hoping to take ourspace as soon as we were through.

We got to the airport with a little time to kill, and welucked out to find these chairs unoccupied – they have power and USB hookups sowe were able to charge our stuff for the flight home.

Our flight left around 10pm, already about 2 hours past DD’sbedtime, so she was wiped out and fell asleep on the plane.

It was well after 1am by the time we got home, but it was agreat trip, and we’re looking forward to getting full use of our Annual Passeswith one more trip in October before they expire!

May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 8

2011-10-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

Day 8 - 5/28 –Magic Kingdom & Yehaa Bob

This was our “Fantasyland at Rope Drop” day, also known asthe “Dumbo Dash.” We arrived at the Magic Kingdom in time for the Welcome Show,counted down with Mickey and quickly headed down Main Street U.S.A., throughCinderella’s Castle and into Fantasyland to the Flying Dumbos. They werecompleting a test run when we arrived.

We got onto the first cycle. I rode with DD while DW and DGMrode together.

I like to try to get a good picture of the castle from atopthe Dumbos. This one didn’t turn out too badly.

From Dumbo, we headed over to Pooh. The time stamp on thispicture is 8:10am (park opened at 8am today) – so you can appreciate just whatit’s like, even on a busy weekend like Memorial Day Weekend, to arrive early. Ialways tell people that we’ll ride more rides in the first hour than we willthe rest of the day. I also reassure them that after that first hour, which isa little “purposeful” (rather than “hurried”), we’ll have the whole rest of theday to amble about.

We had ridden Pooh earlier in the week with FastPasses, butgoing through the standby queue we were able to check out some of the newinteractive features.

This is the new Honey Wall that is fun to play with. I triednot to think about how many grubby hands had been touching this thing beforeme. Oooops, too late.

After Pooh we rode Peter Pan, and coming out we saw MaryPoppins all by herself, so we grabbed a quick photo.

I had never noticed the Sword in the Stone before, eventhough I knew about it and saw it in so many trip reports. After posing withMary Poppins, it was right around the corner, so we each gave it a shot. DDrooted DGM on, but alas, no magic for us.

We rode Snow White (soon to be gone to make way for theFantasyland Expansion) and then headed over to the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups. Weusually all ride together, and when DD asks to ride again, I bravely take thebullet. This time, with DGM along, all four of us squeezed into a tea cup.There’s always joy and smiling before the ride starts.

…but as we start spinning faster and faster, for people over10, that joy starts to turn into… something else…

…and as DD screams to make it go faster, all of the adultsstart to wonder how much longer this ride goes. DD laughed and laughed when Ishowed her this picture. She screamed, “Gramma looks seasick!” Gramma confirmedthat she did indeed.

From the Tea Cups, it’s on to Tomorrowland to ride Buzz. Wecan usually ride 3-4 times without any wait at this time of day. And since noneof us particularly care for Space Mountain, that’s prettymuch it for the first crucial hour. We stopped on the Tomorrowland Bridgeto get some family pictures.

For some reason, the PhotoPass photographer asked us all tomake muscle arms, so we did. I expected that there would be some sort ofenhancement that would make sense of this pose, but there wasn’t. And so 50years from now our great grandchildren will wonder why their ancestors weremaking muscle arms at Disney World, and conclude that it was because of thegreenhouse gases.

There was one enhancement which came out great. Thephotographer asked DD to jump, and this was the picture that resulted. Itreally looks like she’s being lifted up by the balloons, don’t you think?

Our next destination was BTMRR for the rootinest tootinestride this side of the Pecos, but on our waythrough the castle hub area we spotted the Dapper Dans who had a very specialsong for the birthday girl. I missed the very beginning of it…

On to BTMRR. I always try to get this shot with the castlein the background. It doesn’t seem so small in person, but in the pictures italways looks so far away.

DD and I rode a couple of times while DW and DGM waited.After that it was time for an ice cream break, so while we waited for the PirateTutorial to begin, we enjoyed Dole Whips and Mickey Bars.

Before the show, Jack Sparrow’s assistant Mac came out andentrusted DD with the important job of standing on the rope so it didn’t move.

Later DD was conscripted into Jack Sparrow’s crew.

After the Pirate Tutorial we rode Pirates of the Carribeanand, in keeping with the nautical theme, headed to Columbia Harbor House for lunch.I don’t have it in my notes, but I remember it took a really long time to getour food. It was about noon by the time we were finished so we got on board theLiberty Belle and took a ride.

Sort of like Titanic, but also, not really at all like that.

Having just finished the first three Kingdom Keepers books,we were on the lookout for this area. It figures prominently in a few differentparts. I tried to convince DD that those were real people and she almost boughtit, but really didn’t believe me.

This is kind of how we all felt about halfway through theride.

We were pretty tired by this point, so we headed back to thehotel. We bid a fond farewell to DGM, did some swimming and took a nap.

Dinner plans were at Grand Floridian Café. I don’t think I’dever want to stay there, but the lobby at the Grand Floridian is beautiful.

There was also a jazz band playing – the Grand FloridianOrchestra or something like that. While we waited for our table we listened tothe music. Dinner itself was OK. I would have been more disappointed if we hadben paying out of pocket. It wasn’t so much that anything was *wrong*, but theservice was really slow (almost indifferent) and the food was just OK.

From the Grand Floridian we drove over to the Port Orleansto catch the Yehaa Bob show. We had heard a lot about it but it had never madeour agenda before. It was a real blast! It’s a family-friendly sing-a-long. Hegets the kids up on the stage a few times, and also has the adults up there too.I believe this was “The Green Grass Grows All Around.”

We’re planning on going back again in October. After theshow Bob poses for pictures with everyone. He autographed a photo for DD.

And then posed for the family picture.

His first set starts at 8:30 and goes until 10. After theshow we headed back to the hotel for our final night. Up next, nostalgia ain’twhat it used to be.

May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 7

2011-10-05T04:00:00.000-07:00

Day 7 - 5-27 –Animal Kingdom & Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?

Our rope drop plan at Animal Kingdom is different fromanyone else we’ve heard of. DD has tried Expedition Everest a couple of times,but has firmly decided that she doesn’t like it. Any EE riding that DW and Iget to do is usually done Single Rider Line style.

So, while most of the park opening crush is to get to EE orthe Safari, we head straight to Kali River Rapids. We poncho it up, get onboard, and stay on as long as they’ll allow (or until we see people starting toqueue up). We usually ride 3-4 times, but DW and DD set a record of riding fivestraight times a couple of years ago.

After a couple of times riding, I got off and let DW and DDcontinue. My mother (DGM) was driving in from Tampa and I went over to meet her near theSafari. Shortly after she arrived, DW and DD came over excited to inform usthat they had tied their record of five straight times on Kali.

I grabbed us FastPasses for Safari, and then we boarded thetrain for Conservation Station/ Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

After the train pulls into the station, you have about afive minute walk to the building where the exhibits are. They were going to bedoing a physical on a Golden Tamarin, so while I staked out a spot by theviewing window, DD and DGM were brave enough to pet this snake.

We waited about half an hour for the medical staff to bringthe Tamarin out. When they did, there were so many people around the operatingtable that we couldn’t see anything. We ended up watching on the nearbymonitors, which was kind of like traveling to Walt Disney World to watch themost boring and poorly filmed nature documentary ever. It didn’t stop DD fromcapturing the “excitement” on video.

After the Tamarin encounter, we made our way around thebuilding, with me deftly avoiding anything with eight legs (not a spider fan).There were two characters on hand for greeting – Rafiki and Pocohontas.

There were basically no lines for either of them, so theinteraction was great. No PhotoPass photographers, though, so the pictures werenot.

There’s a petting zoo out behind the building, and eventhough I had read (in multiple places) that your local zoo probably has a betterpetting zoo, I didn’t want to believe it. I should have. There were basicallygoats. DD kept chasing this guy around.

In the history of goats, there have probably never been aswell-brushed goats as these. And goats have been around along time so that’s reallysaying something.

Seriously, don’t bother going to ConservationStation/Rafiki’s Planet Watch. Lesson learned.

After that we had lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. DW went offscript and got the fruit platter with yogurt dip. A week of eating more foodthan usual, mostly steak and ice cream, will make you do things like that. Itwas almost instantly regretted – it didn’t look anything like the picture onthe menu. DGM’s BBQ Chicken Salad, however, looked awesome.

From there we went to the Festival of the Lion King, andthen headed back to Africa to use ourFastPasses for the Safari. I realized two things as I was preparing thisreport:

1. Ialways take way too many pictures of the animals on the safari.

2. Theyare never of the lions (they’re always hiding).

We did get a really close up encounter with a hippo, so I’llshare that one.

After the Safari and wandering around the Pagani trail tolook at the Gorillas, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up before our ChefMickey’s dinner.

Since DGM was staying with us for the night, we showed heraround the place a little. As soon as we looked out onto the savanna, DD sawthat there was a bunny eating grass near the watering hole below our balcony.She declared that she needed to draw it, and she got her notebook and coloredpencils and went to work.

After a quick change, it was on to Chef Mickey’s. I’m not ahuge fan – the food is just OK, the wait to be seated is long, the prices arekind of steep – but on the Dining Plan it’s not the worst value. We arrived alittle early, hoping to get seated a little early, but we ended up waitingabout half an hour and by the time we sat down we were starving.

Building upon DD’s discovery of clams at Crystal Palace,she tried, and liked New England style ClamChowder. But she ate way too much food too fast (mac and cheese, pizza, etc.)and got a little stomach ache. We tried walking around the Contemporary to seeif she would feel better but it didn’t really help. We still managed to getpictures with the Fab Five…

…as well as twirl napkins in the air to some unintelligiblesong.

With full (overstuffed) bellies, we headed back to thehotel. DGM brought her twin-size Aerobed which we set up on the floor betweenthe sofa bed and the regular bed. DD slept on that, and was very excited aboutit, while DGM got the sofa bed. It was certainly cramped, but doable for onenight.

Tomorrow, the Dumbo Dash, and "Gramma looks seasick!"

May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 6

2011-10-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

Day 6 - 5/26 – Hollywood Studios and a Birthday Luau

She had been wearing her birthday pin religiously throughoutthe trip thus far, but today was DD’s actual birthday. When we had startedlooking at weeks in May for a trip, our initial priority was to pick a weekbefore it got ridiculously hot (we have frequently gone in August) orridiculously busy. Since most schools would still be in session in May, wethought that would be a great time to go. It dawned upon us that we couldcombine the trip with DD’s birthday – what better party could you hope for?

We packed some of DD’s birthday presents (books, Star Warsaction figures) but left her largest present (a Littlest Pet Shop set) at home.We printed a picture of it and included it with her card and a note explainingthat it would be waiting for her when we returned. Here she is pointing to thepicture we printed.

After presents and a hurried breakfast, we hustled over toHollywood Studios, arriving a little later than we usually do. We were a littlenervous when we saw how long the lines at the turnstiles were.

We implemented the DHS Rope Drop Plan. After we went throughthe turnstiles, I collected the tickets and quickly (but without running)worked my way as close to the rope as I could. DW and DD, meanwhile, made theirway up at a little more leisurely pace.

When the rope drops and we’re led over to Toy Story Mania, Istay as close to the front as possible, nimbly dodging four-year-olds beingdragged by their parents, bags falling off strollers, etc. I get right into theFastPass lane and get FastPasses for the three of us. Meanwhile DW and DD headover to the standby line.

We usually arrive at the standby line at about the sametime, and we ride together, with FastPasses in hand, and without subjecting DWand DD to most of the mayhem.

Once in the standby queue at park opening, it moves prettyfast. There’s always a holdup by the Mr. Potato Head while people takepictures.

After Toy Story we headed over to MuppetVision. Normallypeople would be heading over to Rock n’Roller Coaster, or Tower of Terror.But DD is frightened of Tower of Terror, and not tallenough for Rock n’Roller Coaster (which is one of DW’s favorites). We’re allfans of the Muppets, though.

On the way over we spotted these Star Wars shackles. Theyleave them up all week, even though they’re only used for Star Wars Weekends.Given some stuff that’s been going on at our house lately, I could have reallyused a set of these.

I like how everything at MuppetVision has a joke worked in.

After Muppets, the plan was to take DD to “The BugPlayground” while DW rides RnRC a couple of times in the Single Rider line. Wehad to stop for some more photo opportunities, though. Looking at this snowmanpicture gave me the idea of taking some Christmas Card photos at WDW during ourOctober trip. Maybe bringing Santa hats or something.

Unlike the crazy lines over the weekend, there was no waitto get onto the Speeder Bike.

We parted ways with DW, grabbed a quick trip on Star Toursriding standby, and then headed over to the Bug Playground. DD loves toorganize the kids to pretend they’re ants and whenever the sound of thegrasshopper plays, they all have to run and hide.

When she was younger I used to keep a closer eye on her, butnow I camp out in a shady spot near the exit and ask her to come by every fiveminutes or so to check in. That way, I get to watch all of the parents on handsand knees crawling through tunnels after their kids, and I reminisce, which inmy head sounds a lot like laughing.

After a couple of rides in Aerosmith’s super-stretch limo,we joined up with DW and had lunch at Pizza Planet. We had a really badexperience. The line took about 20 minutes to get through. This was at 11:30with literally four people in front of us. None of the lines were moving. Therewere about 10 CMs on the other side of the counter looking alternately at us,and then back into the kitchen. But none of them were actually serving food.

Once we were served we went upstairs to find a table. Theywere all pretty messy (again, even though this was well before the lunch rush)but at this point we weren’t being picky. We wiped it down and ate.

This was a short day at DHS, because we had a birthdaysurprise for DD. We had reservations at the early Luau at the Poly. So we wentback to the hotel for some swimming, and then got ready for dinner. DW foundthis tropical-themed dress for DD.

One of the things DD talked about a lot was how she wantedto drink out of a coconut. Since we read that they offered a tropical alcoholicpunch in a coconut, we asked if they could bring milk or just water in the samething. The waiter was more than happy to (charging us $10 for the souvenircoconut), and DD was excited.

The food was pretty good, but I thought the Spirit of Alohashow was really not very good. It was super campy. There’s a story line about acousin leaving her family to go off to college. There were some fun parts,though. At one point they invited everyone celebrating a birthday to come up todo a Birthday Hula.

They also had a fire dancer who was really great. I’m notsure if he’s the same guy who juggles fire at the Festival of the Lion Kingshow, but it was kind of like that, but a lot more intense.

After the show we made our way back through the Poly, withDD stopping for some photo opportunities. She broke into an impromptu huladance by this palm tree.

We drove back to the hotel and went to sleep, with DDproclaiming it was the best birthday ever. It was no Chuck E. Cheese, I’ll tellyou that much.

Tomorrow – Gramma in the hizzouse.

May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 5

2011-10-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

Day 5 – 5/25 - Magic Kingdom & PhotoPass Phun

After staying out late the night before watching fireworks,we slept in a little this morning, got ready in a leisurely fashion and arrivedat the Magic Kingdom around 10:00. We grabbed someFastPasses to see Mickey Mouse at the Town Hall, and headed straight forFrontierland to see what kind of waits were in store at Big Thunder MountainRailroad.

We grabbed a FastPass for Splash Mountainand hopped on BTMRR. This time DD was much better about holding the ‘big arms”a little longer…

…but not too much longer.

From here we made our way over to the Haunted Mansion.We hadn’t had a chance to check out the new interactive queue, which had justopened. We had DD pose near the busts. Apparently, by reading the inscriptionsand solving some kind of riddles, you’re supposed to be able to figure out whokilled whom. But when it’s 90-degrees and sunny, playing Encyclopedia Brownwasn’t on the agenda.

The new “hitchhiking ghosts” portion of Haunted Mansionis really cool. The way they’re able to make it appear that the ghost is removingyour head – it’s pretty cool technology.

After Haunted Mansion we walked throughto Fantasyland, grabbing FastPasses for Winnie the Pooh and riding theCarousel.

It was about lunchtime at this point, so we headed over toCosmic Ray’s. As per usual, it was a mad house. DW and DD secured a table whileI went to the different stations to get the food. I like that there’s a wideselection of menu items, but it gets so crowded in there.

After lunch I grabbed some FastPasses for Buzz, in case wecame back to MK later in the evening, and we headed over to use the Pooh FastPasseswe had collected earlier. From there we used the Splash Mountain FastPasses,and headed into Adventureland.

One of the attractions DD read about and wanted to try wasthe Swiss Family Treehouse. So while DW wisely waited in the shade below, DD andI climbed the gajillion steps and looked at what the Robinsons had built. Ihadn’t been up there before, so it was kind of neat. DD absolutely loved it.When we were just about all the way to the top, I looked back down and noticedthis:

Under that pavilion is an overflow queue. I *never* want tobe at WDW when that overflow queue is needed for Swiss Family Treehouse. It’s anice enough attraction, but really.

On our way out of the park we went in to see Mickey andMinnie at Town Hall with our FastPasses. What a great system! It’s so easy andquick to see them now. It used to be a long wait in ToonTown to get a picturewith Mickey, but this new procedure is so much better.

It was when we were going to hand our PhotoPass card to thephotographer that DW realized that she couldn’t find it. She searched througheverything but couldn’t find it. We got a new one from the photographer, andthen headed to the PhotoPass counter in Town Hall to see if they could help usout.

We had been using the card we lost for most of the trip, andit had all of DD’s Jedi Training Academyand Star Wars Weekend pictures on it. By telling the CM at the PhotoPasscounter the time and location of one of the pictures, we was able to identifyour card number and pull up all of the pictures that had been on it, transferthose over to a new card, and we were back in business.

He left us with this advice – take a picture (with a regulardigital or cell phone camera) of the number of your PhotoPass card. That way,if you lose it, you’ll still be able to load the pictures into your PhotoPassaccount when you get back home.

With this lesson well learned, we headed back to the hotelfor a quick rest, before cleaning up and heading over to the Poly for dinner.The Poly reminds us of a Las Vegasresort. It kind of smells like the Mirage or Treasure Island. The foliage inside is beautiful and they do a great jobwith the overall themeing.

Kona Café is one of our favorite restaurants. The food iswonderful – we’ve never had a bad meal there. It’s our usual “date night”place, when we drop DD off at Simba’s Cubhouse. But tonight we decided to bringher along.

After dinner it was back to the hotel. Tomorrow is DD’sbirthday, and we’ve got to get to Hollywood Studios for Rope Drop in themorning!

May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 4

2011-09-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

Day 4 – 5/24 – Magic Kingdom& Wishes

The morning started with more homework before we left forthe parks.

There’s some debate about whether its faster to drive to theMagic Kingdom, park at the Ticket & Transportation Center, then take amonorail or ferry to the turnstiles, or simply take a bus from your resortdirectly to the MK, bypassing the T&TC altogether. Whenever we’ve had arental car, we’ve driven. It’s usually 25 minutes or so from the time we getinto our car in the AKL parking lot until we get to the turnstiles.

I say, “usually,” because for some reason, we were held onthe monorail tracks just outside the MK station, for about 5 or 10 minutes. Thismade our trip about 30 minutes door-to-door.

We were afraid we’d miss the welcome show, and we could seethe Walt Disney World Railroad waiting on the tracks, full of the Disneycharacters. But we made it just in time and caught the show.

The plan for today was to hit the Tomorrowland rides at ropedrop. We’d be coming back to MK later in the week with Gramma (driving in from Tampa), so we decided tosave the Dumbo Dash for then. Our Tomorrowland morning is pretty quick, sinceDD hates Space Mountain, and neither DW or I enjoy itenough to devote the time it takes just walking into and out of it.

We start with what have to be the slowest cars in anyamusement park – the Tomorrowland Speedway. I guess technically zero mph is aspeed. DD loves it though. Hopefully she learns to keep her eyes on the roadand hands at ten-and-two by the time she has her learners permit.

Next is Astro Orbiter. Another favorite of DD’s. I don’tmind it, although I think it’s one of the scarier rides at WDW. You don’trealize until you’re all the way up just how high up you are. DW always sitsthis one out, and takes pictures from the flight deck.

Once we’ve knocked out those two, it’s over to Buzz. Eventhough it’s a generation behind rides like Toy Story Mania, we really have alot of fun with it. And at this time of day, we can usually walk back aroundand ride it 3-4 times with no wait whatsoever.

DD will trade off which parent she rides with. And since shegets to control the spinning, it usually means Mommy or Daddy’s score willsuffer.

I had to take a picture of my score – even riding with DD Imanaged to get a personal best. I think I must have hit a 100,000 point thingtwice, because it shot up really fast.

The requisite picture of kid with Zurg. I think they movedthis – I seem to remember that it was on the right side of the exit doors,which meant you held up everyone who was trying to exit the ride. Now it’s onthe left side of the doors which means people can get by a lot more easily.

After several futile attempts at besting my score we headedover to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain, BTMRR a couple of times, and grabFastPasses for Splash that we were planning on using when we came back in theevening for Wishes.

We had worked up quite an appetite, and with the weatherbeing a good 5-10 degrees hotter than normal, we were in need of somerefreshment. While DW and DD waited in the Castle Hub for the Move it! Shakeit! Celebrate it! Dance Party to begin, I got a Dole Whip Float for DW and me,and a Mickey Bar for the kid.

That was my first Dole Whip and it was really good. Notexactly refreshing – it was a little too syrupy and sweet for that. But withthe tasty treats in our bellies it was time to move, shake and celebrate.

It’s a neat little Dance Party. Kind of similar to what theyused to have at Hollywood Studios. There seemed to be a lot more encouragementof getting kids and adults to join in on the dancing than I remember at DHS’sBlock Party Bash.

After the dancing we needed to cool off (again) so we wentto Mickey’s Philharmagic. Between the really well done effects, the memorablesongs and the overall length (not too long, not too short) it’s one of ourfamily favorites. And there’s almost never a line!

We hopped on It’s a Small World with a five minute wait…

…and then grabbed lunch at Columbia Harbor House. There wasa new cashier who managed to screw up the order so badly that it took a managerto come over and spend about 15 minutes typing into her register to fix themeal plan credits that got accidentally deleted. But the food there is reallygood, and it’s one of our favorites. We like to sit in the “bridge” partupstairs, looking out the window at the people down below walking to and fromFantasyland.

After lunch, it was about 1:00, so we grabbed someFastPasses for the Princesses and Mickey and headed back to the hotel for a napand some swimming.

We returned to the MK about 6:00pm. The plan was to ridesome rides, eat dinner at Crystal Palace and watch Wishes.We had some FastPasses to burn, so we started off with the princess meet andgreet. I really like how they do this now. The FastPass system is so muchbetter than the old ToonTown rope drop experience. Today’s princesses were Aurora,Belle…

…and Cinderella.

It’s so funny to us – DD sticks her hand out in the officialPrincess pose. I don’t know if she’s even aware that she does that.

From there we took the railroad from the Main Street station up to Adventureland.

We had planned on using our Splash Mountain FastPasses, butwe were running short on time, so we just used the BTMRR ones. We always try toget DD to do “big arms,” and she’s usually good until we’re about halfway upthe first hill, and then she holds on the rest of the time. Here we are halfwayup the first hill, and what do you know? Holding on already. DW was prettybrave though.

After that we walked through Adventureland and over to Crystal Palace. We had a short wait and thenwere seated. The food there is pretty good. There’s always a huge selection.And the chef was fantastic when we explained that DD has a bad reaction toartificial food coloring – he came right out and explained that just abouteverything was all natural. In fact, all of the chefs bent over backwards toaccommodate us all week.

DD is brave when it comes to trying new things. As we walked through the buffet line, she saw the clams and mussels and she said she wanted to try a clam. I told her I didn’t think she would like it, but she insisted. This is a picture of her chewing (and chewing and chewing) the clam, but she says she liked it! She wanted more, but she had already had a lot to eat, and we didn’t want to push it.

The yellow fruit tart pastry cream was something we thoughtwould have artificial food coloring, but it was safe, so DD was very excited.She’s also a huge fruit fiend – see the bowl of pineapple? She eats and eatsbut is still a scrawny little thing.

Piglet insisted that DW join them for this picture, sincethey were both wearing pink.

After dinner we headed over to the Rose Garden path, whichis our preferred viewing area. It’s pretty close, it’s right under the areawhere Tinkerbell flies overhead, and because you can stand up against thefence, no one can step in front of you.

We stock up on cheap-o light bracelets from the dollar binat Target before each trip. I think there are 15 in a little tube. We encourageDD to hand some out to other kids nearby if they want one. It’s such a smallthing but the kids (and DD) enjoy it. It also keeps them away from theexpensive light up toys that are for sale.

This was the first time we had seen the Wishes Preshow,“Magic, Memories and You.” I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but the effectswere amazing. You can’t really appreciate it through pictures or video. Theymanage to transform the castle and make it look like it’s moving, or sketchedwith colored pencils…

Shortly after that, Wishes begins. It’s our favorite of thenighttime spectaculars. DW managed to get some pretty good pictures. I shouldpoint out that all of the photos (other than the PhotoPass ones, of course)were taken with an iPhone 4, sometimes with filters added using Camera+.

It was a great day and evening. We headed back to the hotelfor bed, with sleeping in and a return to Magic Kingdomon tomorrow’s agenda.

May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 3

2011-09-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

Day 3 – 5/23 – LeCellier

After a late night at Hyperspace Hoopla, we decided to takeit easy and sleep in a little bit. Since we had pulled DD out of school for theweek, her teacher was kind enough to prepare an assignment for her to do eachday. It was a travel journal with questions to answer about each day, and aplace for drawing a picture.

After homework was done and we were up and at ‘em, we headedover to Epcot. After grabbing some FastPasses for Soarin, we rode the Seas withNemo and Friends, and headed over to Turtle Talk with Crush. In the queue areaare a couple of tanks with some rays and fish. This puffer fish kept comingover to DD and it seemed like it was looking right at her.

We always enjoy Turtle Talk with Crush. He’s so good withthe little kids. The only thing I really don’t like about it is how they’realways telling kids to stay on the “green” part of the carpet. Except it’salmost pitch black, and the “green” carpet is more like a greenish-blue, andthe other color is blueish-green, and it seems like as soon as they clear onekid from the area-which-shall-not-be-sat-upon, someone else is sitting there.

We grabbed FastPasses to Test Track on our way to the WorldShowcase. We were going to try to meet up with some of DWs friends. The planhad been to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour, but we got there before them and found out that the ride wasoffline. So we changed up and met next door at Norway, and rode the Maelstrom.

Of course the kids had to pose by the giant troll.

After trying several times to get an in focus shot with justour kids, we gave up and went back to Mexico to see what the sitch waswith Los Tres Caballeros. They had just reopened the ride when we got there, sowe helped find Donald and learned a little about Mexican stereotypes.

We had lunch reservations at LeCellier, but we still had a littletime to kill, so DD chose to do another Kim Possible mission in Norway. Theyreally are fun, and I’m excited to see how the interactive adventure thatthey’re building in the Firehouse at Magic Kingdom compares. Ibelieve it opens in 2012, and has something to do with Merlin. Despite anobvious connection, it has got nothing to do with the Kingdom Keepers books,even though you’re trying to save the park from villains.

We arrived about a half hour early for lunch at LeCellier,and despite some serious eye rolling when we asked if we could be seated early,they actually had a table for us in just a few minutes.

There seems to be two camps on Le Cellier. The lovers andthe haters. We’re in the lovers camp. The Filet with mushroom risotto is sotasty. And because DD loves mushrooms and steak (DW “doesn’t care for fungus”)we ordered a side of mushrooms. Let me tell you that this is about 2 pounds ofmushrooms. Seriously enough for a table of four to have all of the mushroomsthey could want, and there would still be some left over. They are tasty, butit’s almost ridiculous how many they give you.

For dessert, DD asked for a fruit cup, and look how fancythey made it:

That was a nice treat. Of course we chipped the chocolateoff the plate and ate it. What did you think?

With overstuffed bellies, we made our way around the WorldShowcase a bit. When we got to Francewe stopped for pictures with Princess Aurora…

…and Marie the cat (from Aristocats).

We continued around the World Showcase, stopping in Italy for thejuggler’s show which we hadn’t seen before.

The best part of the show is where he gets the kid to walkall the way across the plaza with the net, and he throws a little soccer ballinto it. Maybe 100-150 feet. Pretty impressive. We watched twice and neithertime did he smash the kid in the face.

Continuing around the World Showcase, we stopped to use somesnack credits in the new caramel shop in Germany. Everything they sell iscovered in caramel. Caramel covered strawberries? Check. Caramel popcorn? Ofcourse. Caramel-dipped huge chocolate chip cookies? Why not. Four out of fivedentists agree, taking a cookie the size of your face and coating it liberallywith caramel will pay for their kids’ college educations. And they wonder whythe stereotypical American is overweight…

After grabbing some goodies (the caramel-dipped cookie wasawesome, by the way), we used our Test Track FastPasses. I set up an app on myiPhone (Camera+) to burst the shutter so when the car went outside and pickedup speed, I got some pretty neat shots.

We went over to check in with our favorite flight attendant,Puddy…

…And then we called it a night. We headed back to the hoteland grabbed some dinner at the counter service restaurant, Mara. But beforebed, a quick check on the ostrich…

Yep, still there. Up next, clams and Wishes.

May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 2

2011-09-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

Day 2 - 5/22 - Star Wars Weekend

About a year before our trip, DD started getting into StarWars. I don’t remember how it started, but over that period of time we watchedthe original trilogy together, she watched most of the first season of Clone Wars,as well as the Clone Wars movie, and I found some old Star Wars toys on ebaythat she enjoyed playing with. Santa even brought her a lightsaber and someStar Wars books.

When I told her that Star Wars Weekends would be happeningwhen we were at Walt Disney World, she had no idea what I was talking about.After I explained what Star Wars Weekends were, she got crazy excited. If you’re unfamiliar, here’s a fantastic sitethat will have all the details: http://sww.studioscentral.com/main/.

In preparation for our trip, we made a couple of StarWars-themed shirts for DD.

And so, appropriately dressed, we made our way to Disney’sHollywood Studios. We got there about 7:15, 45 minutes before parks werescheduled to open, anticipating huge lines. Not only was this the openingweekend for SWW, it was the opening weekend for the refurbished Star Toursride.

We were confused when they let us through the turnstiles –apparently they had made the decision to open the park early. DW took DD intothe long line for Jedi Training Academysign ups, while I got Fast Passes for Star Tours. Because of the especiallylarge demand for JTA during SWW, they do signups in the Indiana Jones theater,and run JTAs about every 30 minutes, using the normal stage, where participantsbattle Darth Vader, as well as the space in front of the stage, whereparticipants battle either Darth Maul or Ventress.

DD was really excited to do JTA, but as we got closer to thefront of the sign up line, she started to explain that she only wanted to do itif she could fight Darth Vader. She said Darth Maul would be too hard to defeatbecause he has a double-sided light saber. We explained that there wasn’t anyway to guarantee who she’d fight, and that if she didn’t want to do it, shedidn’t have to. And that even if she changed her mind at the last second anddidn’t want to do it, it would be OK and we wouldn’t be upset.

So with that anxiety behind us, we headed over to the newStar Tours. The standby line was posted as only 5 minutes long, so we got righton, and when we were done, we rode it a second time. They did a fantastic jobwith it. Not only are the effects and sound better than ever, they have arandomized experience. Each ride, there are three separate segments, separatedby two mini segments. When you calculate all of the possible combinations,there are 54 unique rides you can experience.

The loading area isbasically the same as the old one.

After a couple ofrides on Star Tours,it was time to line up for one of the most popular characters, Chewbacca. He’sDD’s favorite Star Wars character as well. We explained that we’d be waiting30-45 minutes to see him, and she said she was OK with that.

After getting inline, I noticed this banner across the sidewalk with Ahsoka and Anakin, so wegrabbed a quick picture. 30-seconds down, 29 minutes and 30 seconds to go…

The line didn’t move fast, but it was moving prettyconsistently, so soon it was our turn, and we got a family picture with Chewie.

After that we went in search of other characters. Mostappear at a specific place listed on a schedule, while others roamed thestreets.

Anakin spent a lot of time chatting…

Here is what DD thinks an “action figure pose” looks like.Reminds me of the Karate Kid…

DW made the mistake of calling this guy a Storm Trooper.“Moooooom, he’s a CLONE Trooper. Sheesh!”

You can trade with the Jawas. Offer them somethingworthless, like a bottlecap, and they’ll trade you something else useless, likea paperclip. Don’t bother trading anything good, like a pin, because they don’thave anything good to trade. Pootinee!

After that it was time to queue up for JTA. They asked us togather near the “Sounds Dangerous” stage at 10:15. While we were waiting, DDexpressed her fear about facing Darth Maul again. And we told her once morethat if she didn’t want to do it, she could back out at any time and it would be OK. It was clearly concerning her agreat deal.

Once we were all assembled, they lined the kids up andmarched them across the sidewalk to the JTA Stage. Once we got there, theyexplained that one parent could watch from the front of the stage, and anothercould watch from the side of the stage. I got the closest spot at the front ofthe stage area. I asked one of the CMs if there was any way to get DD into theDarth Vader group, and she said it’s all random.

As luck would have it, she ended up in the Darth Maul group.She realized this well before he ever came out, because we told her that Vaderwas up top, and it would be either Darth Maul or Ventress if you were in frontof the stage.

As the training started, DW and I exchanged concerned looksacross the large group of people that had gathered to watch. DD didn’t show anysigns of wanting to bolt, so we crossed our fingers and watched to see whathappened.

First the kids are instructed on the ways of the Jedi, andhow to use their lightsaber. It’s possible that there have been less enthusedJedi trainees, but I’m not positive about that.

Finally, Darths Vader and Maul came out, and still DD seemedto be holding it together quite well. There were 15 kids in her group, and shegot to see about 10 of them go before her. When it was her turn, she steppedright up, performed the moves she was taught, and fought off Darth Maul.

After JTA it was about 11am. Since we had arrived so early,we were hungry, so we grabbed lunch at Backlot Express next door. We were aboutthe only people in there, so we got seats where we could see the JTA stage. Thenext show started almost right away, and this time it was Ventress who foughtthe kids down below.

We had to hurry through lunch a little bit because the 12:00parade would be starting soon, and it is extremely popular. Lucky for us, afriend we had made through an online Disney forum had offered to save somespaces on the curb for us. Thanks Brenda!

The curb had been in the shade when we got there, but it gotprogressively sunnier. Stupid Earth!

DD cheered loudest for her favorites, Chewie…

…and Ahsoka.

It was so hot during the parade that we decided to go backto the hotel to rest and cool off before returning to the park for Dinner at50’s Prime Time Café and the Hyperspace Hoopla show.

We really like 50’s PT Café. The food is great, the PB&Jmilkshakes are awesome, and the antics can be pretty funny. It looks like Grandma’s house! Don’t worry,it doesn’t smell like Grandma.

After dinner we walked around a bit to see what characterswe could find. This cut out was kind of funny. Kind of short for a StormTrooper…

Captain Rex, from Clone Wars, did a great job of posing eachkid in a different pose, before taking the picture.

Mace Windu was heading backstage but was kind enough to stopfor another picture.

We headed out to the main stage, in front of the Sorcerer’sHat, where Hyperspace Hoopla would be held. It’s basically a 45 minute danceoff between the different groups of characters. There’s the Rebels, the Empire,the Bounty Hunters, the Ladies usually get a song of their own, and Chewie andDarth Vader each rock out separately.

It was hard for DD to see, so she spent most of the timesliding down my back…

Hyperspace Hoopla was a blast. It’s a little surprising tome that an officially licensed event like SWW is allowed to use the characterslike this. But it’s well worth the waiting and the crowds.

After the show ended, we made our way back to Animal KingdomLodge. I got this picture of the lobby all lit up at night.

Coming up next, a late morning and mushrooms, mushrooms,mushrooms.

May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 1

2011-09-24T13:35:00.000-07:00

Day 1 – 5/21 - Departure Day & Epcot

After visiting Walt Disney World in late August/earlySeptember a few times, we wanted to mix things up a little bit, so we scheduleda May trip. On our last trip we had renewed our annual passes, and since theywere running a special 15-month renewal, we figured we would be able to use ourDVC points for a value studio at Animal Kingdom Villas at Jambo House, and usethe remaining Southwest Rapid Rewards tickets that were due to expire later in2011. That would enable us to go in May and October, with the onlyout-of-pocket expenses being for food!

We woke up early and were out the door a little before6:00am. We live about an hour and 15minutes east of Buffalo,which is the closest city that Southwest flies to. It was a little foggy aroundour house, but when we hit the NYS Thruway, the fog really got thick.

Luckily there wasn’t too much traffic on the road, and eventhough we were driving more slowly than usual, we got to the airport right onschedule. We had a little time to kill, so DD and I spent it reading the 3^rdKingdom Keepers book. She really enjoys how the characters are in the Disney Parksand riding the same rides she knows.

I was a little concerned, with all the fog, that ouroutbound flight would be delayed. As 8:35 am approached, it wasn’t letting up.But they didn’t seem concerned. We boarded the plane and took off on time.

DD brought her cat, Kaleidoscope and a bunch of books on theplane. She also had the Star Wars trilogy on her iPod so she could get into theproper Star Wars Weekend frame of mind.

We landed in Orlandoand made our way to the National counter to pick a car from the Emerald Aisle.Now that DD is old enough and strong enough, we enlist her help to schlep thebags.

We like the Emerald Aisle, because you pay for a midsizecar, but you can pick any car that’s in the Emerald Aisle. Once we got aconvertible. This time there were a lot of midsize cars, and a couple of miniSUVs. We picked a white mini-SUV, a Dodge Nitro.

We loaded up our luggage and drove straight to AnimalKingdom Lodge. We love to take this photo every time we go. The usually don’tturn out well, but this one did.

We checked in at the hotel and were excited to learn thatour value studio had a savanna view, and it was ready!

There are a very limited number of value studios, and theyare all at Jambo. 40% of them are savanna view, 40% are pool view and 20% areparking lot view. You can request a view, but you can’t reserve one. But it’sreally the best value in DVC. For about half the points as a regular savannaview room, we got a room that is literally 3-feet shorter, and still has a viewof the savanna.

We’re doing the same thing in October, and we have ourfingers crossed that we’ll get a savanna view again.

After checking in and freshening up a bit, we headed out forEpcot. It was a little after 12:00, and we had an early dinner scheduled for3:30 at Teppan Edo. We were on the Disney Dining Plan for most of the trip,although at one point halfway through we switched to the Deluxe Plan for onenight, then back to the regular plan. It was an arrangement that available forDVC members for a while earlier in the year, but I just learned that they havediscontinued this practice as of September.

Upon arriving at Epcot, we grabbed FastPasses for a KimPossible mission, and made our way to the World Showcase. With a little time tokill before we could receive our secret agent assignment, we wandered aroundthe

a little bit.

As we made our way to the back of the pavilion, I noticedsome shenanigans going on between Tigger and Alice. He was chasing her in andout of the building.

It was a little surreal, but it was funny to watch. I’m notsure if Alicewas flirting with Tigger, or vice versa. Eventually Alice’s handler came out and took her over toher meet and greet location. Pooh and Tigger calmed down enough for a picture.

After that we received our mission: to help Kim Possible,Ron Stoppable and their friend Wade stop Duff Killigan. DD has done all of theKP missions multiple times over the last couple of years. They’re really welldone, and have enabled DW and I to see parts of the various pavilions weprobably wouldn’t normally see.

This mission included getting instructions from the toysolder at Toy Soldier. It’s really cool how they work the game elements intothe overall theming. Notice how the blocks in the window spell “Kim?”

DD had to give a secret phrase to one of the employees atthe Tea Caddy. He really hammed it up, making sure no one was watching while heretrieved a package to help further the mission.

Once Duff Killigan’s plans were thwarted we headed over toTeppan Edo. We were pretty hungry by this point, and Teppan is one of DD’sfavorite restaurants. The show started off with the usual onion volcano –although this chef built hers higher than I had ever seen before.

It was at Teppan Edo that DD first tried shrimp, and she’sbeen a shrimp fiend ever since. She ordered the chicken and shrimp, and Iordered the steak and shrimp. I gave her some of my steak, which made herpretty happy. Either that, or she was excited about her spring-loadedchopsticks.

After dinner the servers came out and put a hat on DD’s headand sang Happy Birthday. Her birthday was later in the week, and she wore herbutton proudly and frequently was greeted with “Happy Birthday Princess!”

After dinner we headed back to the hotel. Since we hadgotten started so early in the morning we wanted to call it an early night. Onour way back to the parking lot we took some pictures of the landscaping. TheFlower and Garden Festival had just wrapped up, but there were still beautifulflowers and topiaries around.

When we got back to our room we looked out the balcony andsaw that it was feeding time on the savanna.

This ostrich was just about always in this spot. He (she?)didn’t do much. Not an attractive bird.

After a bath and getting tucked in, the kid was wiped out.She was asleep within minutes of hitting the pillows. She likes sleeping on thepull out couch in the room. It’s a novelty to her, and we’re not going todispel that notion.

After she fell asleep DW and I sat out on the balcony watching the giraffes. I used my iPhone to edit together a movie using iMovie for iOS. It's surprisingly powerful considering I'm editing HD video, adding music, titles and transitions on a phone. Here's the finished product, which I'd put up against any video edited on a home computer.

Up next, the Force is strong with this one.

August 2010 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 8 & 9

2011-05-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

9/5 & 9/6 – Last Days and Trip Wrap-up

We slept in a little after being out late the night before. My mother drove up from Tampa in the morning. We spent some time swimming and participating in some of the activities around the resort.

In the evening we ate dinner at LeCellier, which was excellent (as always). DD loves steak and mushrooms (what 7-year-old likes mushrooms – weird kid), so we split a side order of mushrooms, which is way too much for one person, two people and probably three. The mushroom filet and mushroom risotto completed my mushroom trifecta.

After dinner we went back to the hotel to start packing things up. We had an 11:20am flight the following morning. The morning was uneventful and, despite the ridiculous backup at security at the airport (when is that NOT a madhouse?) our travel home went very smoothly.

On the way back home DW and I talked a little about the trip, and we agreed that with all of the special experiences that we had, the fantastic (albeit hot) weather and the nonexistent crowds, there would be no way to top this trip – it simply, and literally, couldn’t get any better. But we’ll certainly give it a try – we’ve got vacations planned for May and October 2011 to get the biggest bang for our Annual Pass buck!

Thanks for reading! I promise to get our next trip report in a lot more timely fashion...

August 2010 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 7

2011-05-17T15:00:00.000-07:00

9/3 MK

Unlike our last trip to Magic Kingdom a couple of days prior, we arrived around 8:30 to grab a good viewing spot for the Welcome show. If you get there early enough, cast members will set out hula hoops to amuse the kids (and parents). It looks like DD is a great hula hooper, but trust me when I tell you that this picture captures the split second between her letting go and the thing hitting the ground…

On our last day at MK we hit Fantasyland right off the bat, so today’s plan was to hit Tomorrowland first. If you want to ride the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway with no wait, that’s the only time to do it. The car drives about 4 mph, and is kept in its lane by an iron bar anchored in the road which your wheels straddle. If you drift too far left or right, you hit that bar, which jarringly forces you back into your lane.

DD isn’t old enough to ride alone, so I get the honor of being her passenger, while DW takes pictures.

Another Tomorrowland ride to do right when the park opens is the Astro Orbiter. It’s basically Dumbo, in rocketships, high up above Tomorrowland. You have to take an elevator to get there, which can really slow the line down once crowds start building. We got right on, and by “we,” I mean DD and me. DW hates this ride, so she takes pictures from below. I don’t know what it is about it but I get really dizzy on that ride. DD loves it though, and keeps the thing as high as it will go. There are some great views of MK from up there, but I’m usually too afraid to let go and take a picture…

From there we went on Buzz Lightyear 3-4 times in a row. That’s another experience which is only possible in the first 30-45 minutes of the park being open. We had to get off the ride at the end but we could walk around and get right back on with no wait.

I was keeping a close eye on the clock, because we wanted to visit the Fairies in ToonTown, and to do so with little to no wait means getting there right when it opens, around 9:45. We had just enough time to ride the Tea Cups. I think this picture shows how much fun DD was having, and also kind of describes how DW and I were feeling…

We got right up to the rope at ToonTown and were the fifth family in line for the Fairies. They really did a good job with the theming, and the fairies each spend a fair amount of time with each child. It makes for a great experience, but also a long wait if you’re not there early. I don’t know how they’re going to handle Fairy meet-and-greets now that ToonTown is closed.

After that we made our way across the park, gathering FastPasses at Splash Mountain, Jungle Cruise and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for our return in the evening, and stopping to ride Splash and Big Thunder standby.

Crowds were the smallest of the trip and Big Thunder and Splash were walkons. We grabbed lunch at Columbia Harbor House, sitting in our favorite spot, which Jack Spence spilled the beans on…

After lunch we visited the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor and headed back to the hotel by 1:30 for swimming and a nap. We like to take a good break when we’re planning on coming back to stay late in the park.

We returned to MK to use the FastPasses we gathered earlier, then monorailed over to the Poly for dinner at ‘Ohana. DD loves to participate in the parade and help hand out leis.

I love the food – especially the bread pudding a la mode.

After dinner we monorailed back to MK to stake out a place to view Wishes. We stopped on Main Street to get a photo in front of the castle.

We usually watch from a little trail on the right side of the hub. We can stand up against a fence, so no one can stand in front of us, and Tinkerbell flies overhead. We don’t have great pictures of the fireworks, but here are two of the better ones.

After Wishes we headed back to the hotel for the night. Our plans for the next day were to hang around Animal Kingdom Lodge, where my mother would be visiting us from Tampa.

August 2010 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 6

2011-05-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

Epcot – 9/2

Because DD was up past her bedtime at Simba’s Cubhouse last night, we planned for a sleep-in morning and spending the afternoon at Epcot. Indeed, we got up at a leisurely pace and got to Epcot a little before 11:00am. Our first two stops were to grab FastPasses for Soarin’ and the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure.

Because we still had a little time before World Showcase opened at 11:00am, we hopped on Living with the Land, which had its typical 0 minute wait. DW and I hadn’t been on it forever, and DD had never been on it, so it was a great chance for her to learn about growing pumpkins shaped like Mickey ears.

It must have been very confusing to me at the time…

After venturing into World Showcase, we jumped onto the Gran Fiesta Tour con Los Tres Caballeros. Unlike the confusion caused by crops, I guess I found avian mariachi bands surprising.

I don’t have it in my notes when or where we ate lunch. Maybe it was right about now? We usually have lunch in Morocco at the counter service there, Tangierine Café. DW and I like the chicken wrap, and DD usually gets chicken tenders and dips them in my yoghurt sauce. We all agree on the Baklava.

We’d never seen Voices of Liberty or the Spirit of America show, so we headed over to the USA. We caught the very end of the Fife and Drum performance…

…and then moved inside to grab a space in the Rotunda for the Voices of Liberty. As we entered, one of the cast members asked if we were going to be staying for the Spirit of America show. Because we were, and I guess because we were the first ones there, we were named the First Family of the USA! We took an elevator up to the second level and got to watch the Voices of Liberty perform from up there. We also got to sit front and center for Spirit of America. We enjoyed both shows, although the Spirit of America’s retelling of our nation’s history is, as you’d imagine, pretty whitewashed.

DD had been begging to do a Kim Possible mission, so we redeemed our FastPass at the International Gateway and were assigned to the UK. She’s done all of the missions, many of them more than once. Some of the elements change but the basics are the same. I think the UK one is the coolest. There’s a lot more interacting with parts of the scenery than in the others, and the way the mission ends is pretty neat too. One of the tasks required retrieving a special golf ball from a chute hidden in this ordinary-looking phone booth.

Whilst in the UK we caught a show of the World Showcase Players. They’re always funny, but the volunteers they pick to participate usually make the thing hilarious…

By this time we were getting late into the afternoon, so we headed back into Future World to use our Soarin’ FastPasses. We also hopped on Spaceship Earth on the way out, where DD decided that life would be better, down where it’s wetter (under the sea).

When you get off Spaceship Earth, it dumps you into an arcade of sorts. We spent a little time playing a combination virtual shuffleboard/SimCity type game.

With Wii, Kinect and all of the high tech gaming systems in people’s living rooms, the games seemed a bit dated. Very high tech when they first came out I’m sure…

We had 6:35 reservations for dinner at Whispering Canyon Café, or as DD calls it, it’s alternately, “The Cowboy Restaurant” or “The Ketchup Restaurant.” We got there a little early and were seated right away.

If you haven’t eaten there before, understand that there are a lot of shenanigans, the highest profile of which includes what happens when someone in the restaurant needs ketchup. Another tradition there is the Stick Horse Race.

I’ve always gotten the Skillet, which is way too much food. It seems a waste. Maybe the problem is that I order one of the bottomless milkshakes to wash it down. But I don’t think that’s my problem…

After dinner we went back to the hotel for the night. It was around 8pm and getting dark, and the Giraffes were out looking for dinner. I used the Clarity feature of Camera+ on my iPhone to brighten this up so you can see them better…

We said good night and hit the sheets to rest up for our last park day of the trip, heading to Magic Kingdom in the morning.

August 2010 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 5

2011-05-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

9-1 Our Quest to be Family of the Day

This was the day we would do everything we could to be the Family of the Day at Magic Kingdom. But first, a little back story…

Before our trip to WDW in February, DW called around to different Disney Reservations phone numbers, to see if she could “schedule” us for being Family of the Day as a surprise to me. Of course, she quickly found out that you can’t reserve that magical experience – you kind of have to get lucky. But we all really wanted to do it. So between our Feb and Aug trips, I did the research and decided that if we were going to try, we were going to give it our best shot.

I found a number of trip reports where families had been chosen as the Magic Kingdom Family of the Day (or “First Family,” as it’s officially known). The experience sounded incredible. Allowed into the park before it opened, greeted in ToonTown by a dozen or more characters. Riding the train with all of them to the front of the park, where the dancers would be singing “Zip a Dee Doo Dah,” awaiting our arrival. Helping Mickey countdown from ten to one to mark the opening of the park.

All of the families had apparently been chosen at random. But I noticed some common threads between them all and started making a list of little things we could try to improve our chances at being selected.

First – they were mostly families with children. Some families without children are selected once in a while, but in most of the stories I read, there were children as part of the family. Some were older, some were toddlers – no consistent pattern there. But already we had met one of the criteria.

Second – they usually wore matching outfits. Now, in August I always, always, always wear a performance-type wicking shirt. The breeze blows right through them and they never get sweaty. But for our mission I agreed that I would forgo comfort for the (potential) experience of a lifetime. I scoured the DISigns thread on disboards.com and found animal-print mickey heads (we love animals and were staying at AKL). We each got a yellow T-shirt on sale from Target, and using transfer paper from amymickey.com (which I had bought for a previous trip) I made the shirts – leopard for DD, tiger for DW, giraffe for me.

I figured the worst case (and most likely) scenario was that we would not be chosen, and I could change after we got into the park.

Third – they were all super friendly and outgoing to all cast members they came in contact with. This would not be a problem. DD is one of the most outgoing, cheerful and friendly people you may ever meet – child or adult. DW and I can be pretty friendly ourselves, but we made a mental note to strike up conversations with any CMs we came into contact with on the way to the park.

I can see where this third point could be crossing a line for some people. Faking interest in someone in order to get them to do something for you is manipulative and wrong. We would be sure that our interaction with cast members would be genuine, not merely being nice as a means to an end.

Fourth – they all got to the park really, really early. One family specifically said that, on a day the park opened at 9:00am, they arrived at 7:45 (having walked over from the Contemporary) and were chosen. Another report (two adults) stated they were the first to arrive, before 8:00, but that the second people to arrive (family with kids) were chosen.

So, with those four principles in mind, we finalized our strategy. As I said from the outset – if we were going to try, we were going to go all the way. Knowing that the resort monorail opens at 7am, we planned an early night the night before, woke up at 5:30, changed into our matching shirts, and drove to the MK parking lot, arriving before 7am.

As expected, the express monorail wouldn’t open until 8, but the resort monorail was scheduled to open at 7. However, due to safety checks or whatever, we didn’t actually board until about 7:10 or 7:15. We were the first people in line, though, and for about 10 minutes, had a great conversation with Charlie, an intern from Central Michigan. He told us all about how much he loves working there, and the different type of intern positions Disney has (basically, every position you see, and many you don’t). He was really nice.

Once we got on the monorail, it stopped at the Poly and GF, and it waited a long time at each. I was starting to freak out a little, because I was afraid if someone took a bus from their resort, they would beat us there. We arrived at the MK around 7:30, and we were the only family NOT going to breakfast (big sigh of relief).

After we went through security, we noticed 2 CMs outside the turnstiles talking. We said a cheerful, “Good Morning” to them and as we made our way to the non-breakfast turnstiles, one came over and started chatting with us. She first asked us if we were here for breakfast, and when we said no, she asked why we were here so early. We answered that we wanted to be sure to see the Rope Drop show (we didn’t want to appear over anxious, so we had decided in advance not to mention our desire to be Family of the Day).

Her name was Awilda, she’s been on the turnstiles for 21 years, originally from Puerto Rico. She had been hired to work at the Tomorrowland Speedway, but she was pregnant at the time, and they thought it would be better for her to work at the turnstiles… and she never left. We had a great conversation about working at Disney, the area she lives in, her commute… just a friendly chat.

In the middle of it, she shouted something over to the handful of CMs working the turnstiles for breakfast reservations. People were lining up for that now, and it was getting close to 8am (the earliest ADR is at 8). DW said something to her like, “I’m sorry if we’re keeping you from your job, we don’t want to get you into trouble,” and she replied that it was OK, someone else could work the turnstiles for her, and we continued chatting. A little later she asked us if we wanted to be the First Family and help them open the park. DD put her arms up in the air and started jumping up and down and DW and I were just about speechless.

So, what happens when you’re chosen as Family of the Day?

First, they invited us through the turnstiles, and asked us to wait on one of the park benches on the left hand side as you face the Mickey floral. Several CMs passing by introduced themselves to us, and a manager-type came out of the nearby office. He gave DD a little envelope of pixie dust, and confirmed our name and hometown.

Then another Cast Member, Barbara, introduced herself, and invited us for a drive down Main St. USA in the old fire truck. There were several CMs out, waiting for the crowds when the park opened, and they were all waving to us as we drove by. Barbara stopped many times along the way for pictures (a lot of which that she took with our camera for us).

We slowly made our way to ToonTown, where we posed for a number of other pictures…

…and after our family picture, Barbara had DD pose by herself in front of Mickey’s House – but she was surprised to see someone coming out…

…and the princesses and other characters just kept on coming…

It’s kind of hard to see, but DD is holding an autograph book that all of the characters had signed before they came out, so no time was wasted while we were mingling. It was all so amazing that DW was actually getting a little misty-eyed! DD was loving how every one of the characters wanted to spend time with her (and how they, of course, all called her “princess”). It was really incredible!

And finally, the group shot!

The character handlers were getting antsy so we knew it was almost time to open the park. We boarded the train with Mickey.

We could just barely hear the music playing as we arrived at the front of the park.

Now, up until this point, all of the pictures were taken with our camera, mostly by Barbara. It’s not until you get off the train that they have a PhotoPass photographer on hand to capture the moments. Here we are being introduced…

One of the dancers gave DW and I each a special kind of streamer to throw that is folded up inside of a little plastic cup that attaches to your middle finger. Here she is helping us put them on.

DW and I were so in the moment we only noticed afterwards, looking at the pictures, what a great job DD was doing waving at the waiting crowd.

Believe it or not, someone we knew from the TourGuideMike message boards (Kara_K)was in the crowd that morning, and recorded the entire show. When she found out we were the Family of the Day, she sent us a copy, for which we are eternally grateful (if you skip to about the 3:30, that's when the train arrives).

After we counted down from ten to one, we stayed to wave a while longer as the crowed filtered through and into the park. We then walked through the train station and headed for Main St. USA, Mickey and DD hand in hand.

We stopped on the down ramp for a few posed pictures.

And finally, one last hug from Mickey before we had to say goodbye.

We were given a PhotoPass card, which was loaded up with the pictures of us at the train station, and were told we could choose one picture for a free 8x10 print. And that was the end of our Family of the Day experience.

Along the way, Barbara shared some other insight about how families are selected for Family of the Day:

You never know what Cast Member will be the one looking for the family. Sometimes it will be a CM who’s up and bright and engaging, other times it will be a CM who is keeping to themselves and kind of checking things out on the sly.
You have to get there early. She told us that many, many times. You are rewarded for waking up early. She made a big point of this, and used the word “rewarded” many times. She also made a point of taking a picture of me by myself in ToonTown so DW and DD would remember that I was the one who decided to get up so early (even though it was a group decision).
You should NOT say that you’re there early to be Family of the Day, or that you’re hoping to be Family of the Day. She strongly implied that doing so would lead them to pick someone else. CMs really like to maintain the feeling that they’re spreading magic, and if you’re there with a sense of entitlement, that’s not really magical.

So, with the tips we got from other people’s experiences, and the few we got from one of the CMs, that should be all you need if you’d like to be selected as Family of the Day (oh, and a little bit of pixie dust)!

Coming off the ramp, who should we see but Barbara and her Fire Truck, once again. She invited us for a alow ride up Main St.

USA

. Our “Dumbo at Rope Drop” plan was out the window, so we figured, “why not!”

As we reached the castle and said goodbye to Barbara one last time, we realized it was only 9:10am. There was so much we had experienced, it felt much later than it really was. We decided to give Dumbo a shot anyway, and the line was so short, we only had to wait a couple of cycles before it was our turn.

We hit the rest of the Fantasyland rides after that, including Snow White, Peter Pan and Pooh. Our timing was a little off, but the crowds were so small it didn’t really matter. We were recognized a couple of times in the lines by people who saw us open the park. It was kind of neat.

We wanted to get some FastPasses for later in the evening, when DW and I would be coming back by ourselves for a bit, so it was off to Tomorrowland. We rode Buzz a few times:

And DD got locked up with Zurg…

After a few rides on Buzz we realized that our FastPass window for Splash Mountain would be opening up in about the time it took to walk over there. Since we’d be back to Magic Kingdom in a couple of days, with plans to spend more time in Tomorrowland, we headed over, grabbed FastPasses for Splash (with a return time just 20 minutes out!), and rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad standby. It was basically a walk-on, so we went around and rode it a second time.

After that, we used our Splash Mountain FastPasses and joined in a hoedown.

DD had absolutely no idea what the steps were for this dance, and didn’t really mind. She made up her own moves, and when it was done, got a big hug.

We ate lunch at Columbia Harbor House, and sat in one of my favorite places. If you go upstairs, you’ll find what looks like a little side room. It’s actually the bridge that marks the border with Fantasyland. We like to grab a table and look out the window at the people below.

We were quickly running out of steam, with the early morning and all of the excitement draining us pretty thoroughly. We decided to head back to the hotel for a nap, swinging through Tomorrowland for another set of Space Mountain FastPasses to use tonight. While there, DD touched base with her old friend, Push, the talking garbage can.

After a nap and some swimming, we dropped DD off at Simba’s Cubhouse for a few hours. It’s one of the Child Activity Centers on site where they’ll watch your kids for about $11 or $12 an hour. While there, the kids can play videogames, watch movies, do arts and crafts, dress up in costumes – there’s a ton to do, and DD would probably love to spend an entire day in there.

We had a little time before our Kona Café reservations, so we took the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom to use our Space Mountain FastPasses. We wouldn’t have needed them – the ride was a total walk-on. We rode twice before we had to head back to the Poly for dinner.

I got my arms coordinated for the second ride…

We had a great dinner at Kona Café – I think it’s really underrated. We’ve eaten there on every trip, gotten the same entrees on every trip, and thoroughly enjoyed it each time. We replayed the day and went over all of the magical experiences we had been a part of.

I retrieved DD from Simba’s Cubhouse (as per usual, she didn’t want to leave) and we called it a night. We had a “sleep in” morning scheduled for the next day, so we turned the alarms off.

August 2010 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 4

2011-04-30T16:15:00.000-07:00

Day 4 – Reunited with Cousin Joey

The plan for the day was to do a three-quarters day at Hollywood Studios. Unlike the other three parks, it’s tricky to take a midday break at DHS. That’s because the various shows and performances are staggered in such a way that you can’t do more than one or two unless you stay a while. At the same time, because more of the in-park time at DHS is spent watching shows and performances, it’s not as draining a day as the other parks.

We started the morning off with breakfast on the balcony, overlooking a relatively vacant savanna.

We arrived pre-rope drop and found a turnstile all the way to the right that was uncovered with a green arrow – but it was not staffed by a cast member. This is usually the sign that the turnstile will, in fact, be operational once the park opens. Typically, no one lines up there, since it’s not readily apparent that the turnstile will be open. We are usually the first people to form that line, and we have never been left in the cold.

After we staked our claim, a woman and her two sons got in line behind us, a little sheepishly. We soon discovered that it was another member of TourGuideMike’s August Vacation Club. We chatted a little bit as our daughter contemplated trading pins with her sons. Soon enough, we were let into the park.

My task was to get up front and get to the Toy Story Fast Passes ASAP, while DW and DD would take a little less hectic route toward TSM standby, and we’d meet up at the queue and ride standby together. I positioned myself toward the center of the street, while DD and DW waited all the way to the right (that’s DW looking back toward the turnstiles).

DW told me later that while she was waiting, the same TGM family ended up behind her, and mentioned that they were going to redeem their Give a Day vouchers for Fast Passes, and offered to “add us to her family” (each voucher was good for up to 6 family members). It was a gracious offer – one that DW didn’t really understand at the time, and one that we probably would have declined anyway because it would have meant missing out on the first TSM ride of the day. Still, it was such a generous offer – thanks so much!

There was no pre-show on this day – not sure why – but once the rope dropped I jockeyed and defended my position, got jammed with several strollers, elbowed and pushed, but I made it out alive and quickly with a set of TSM Fast Passes. I met up with DW and DD at the standby queue and we made our way through.

The line was moving at a moderate pace, but began to slow down as we approached the Carnival Barker Mr. Potato Head.

We soon realized that the line was already backing up, and hardly moving. When we got to the bridge that overlooks the ride track, we realized why. A couple of weeks before, Disney had installed gates to control guest access to the ride vehicles. Apparently a cast member or guest had fallen onto the tracks at some point, and adding these gates would prevent that from happening. They also had the effect of preventing quick loading and unloading of the cars. Additional cast members were standing by to try to hurry guests onto and off of the ride when the gates opened, but the whole process took a lot longer than in the past.

As a result, by the time we got off the ride, our Fast Pass window was just about open again. We decided to wait in the area and grab another set. To pass the time we made pressed pennies at the gift shop across the street, and DW bought a Mr. Potato Head T-shirt that she regretted not buying on our last trip (the “Don’t make me get out my angry eyes” one). DD also spent a couple of minutes playing with CMs trying (and failing) to catch a bounced ball with Mickey hands…

With our second set of TSM Fast Passes in hand, we headed down Sunset Blvd. to Tower of Terror. This was another ride that DD informed us that she was old and brave enough to try again. DW and I were dubious but didn’t want to dissuade her courage, so with great trepidation, we got on board. I don’t have any pictures from the ride because most of it consisted of us telling DD that it was almost over. Turns out it was just a little too scary after all, so we won’t be riding that one with DD again anytime soon…

Back out on Sunset Blvd., a Streetmosphere show was about to begin, so we decided to use this as an opportunity to take turns riding Rock n Roller Coaster using the Single Rider Line. I can’t remember the details, but famous director Alberto Dante was holding a shareholder’s meeting with help from Paige Turner and Bucky Greenhorn. About halfway through, DW came back and I left to catch the super stretch limo to the Aerosmith concert.

While I was away, Alberto Dante complimented DD’s coordinated outfit.

He also gave her his business card and told her to call him the next time she’s in Hollywood.

DD also got a picture with Bucky Greenhorn (he is Hollywood’s next leading man, you know)…

We all met up again outside the Beauty and the Beast theater. We’ve seen that show a couple of times now, and it’s pretty well done. You can’t compare it to the BatB on Broadway, but they do a pretty good job of condensing the story down to 30 minutes and including the best songs.

After the show, we checked into the 50’s Prime Time Café for our lunch reservations. We were soon seated and met our long lost Cousin Joey.

Joey was great – super service, very friendly and full of energy. DW and I both got the Fried Chicken, and it was great. Way too much food, but I managed to put it all away. And I earned one of these:

If we weren’t on the dining plan we wouldn’t have even considered dessert, but since it’s included, and since Brownie Sundaes are one of my most favorite desserts, we decided to give the menu a look. At 50’s Prime Time, the dessert menu comes on a ViewMaster.

Of course I ordered Dad’s Brownie Sundae, but hardly ate any of it. It’s probably enough for three.

After lunch we spotted a PhotoPass photographer and DW mentioned that we had never had a family picture in front of the Sorcerer’s Hat. So, with full bellies, we managed to scratch another item off her Bucket List.

We weren’t planning on staying too much longer, but had some time to kill since our second Toy Story Fast Passes weren’t good until 2:30. We wanted to end the park day with two TSMs via Fast Pass. So we headed over to meet the Monsters, Inc. guys. There was hardly any line for Sulley, and by the time it was our turn, we were the only ones in line! That meant DD got some alone time to spend dancing with Monstropolis’s Top Scarer.

Shortly after that, Mike came out, and we got a quick picture with him…

…before heading to one of DD’s favorite places in all of Walt Disney World, the Honey I Shrunk The Kids play area, or, as she calls it, the “Bug Playground.” She spent about 15 minutes running around, pretending to be an ant fleeing from the grasshoppers, and getting sprayed by the random squirts from the garden hose.

At this point it was close to 2:30, so we headed back to TSM to use our two sets of FastPasses. We should have known something wasn’t right when we saw the FastPass return line stretched outside the door. We got into the line and after about 10 minutes of waiting, we were still in sight of the door. We abandoned ship and gave up our FastPasses, since that wait, even in the FastPass line, was looking like it would be 45-60 minutes.

My theory was that the FastPass machines were still churning out the same number of FastPasses, even though hourly ride capacity was significantly lower than before the safety gates were installed. The statisticians at TouringPlans.com later confirmed this to be the case and soon noticed that Disney had reconfigured the FastPass system to bring the number of FastPasses issued more in line with the new ride capacity.

We went back to Kidani, swam for an hour or so, then got dressed for dinner. A lot more activity on the savanna in the early evening than there was in the morning:

I wanted to try the fish fry at Cooke’s of Dublin (or “Cookie’s of Bubblin’“ as DD misread the sign), so we headed to Downtown Disney. I really liked the fish and chips. I love that they had plenty of bottles of malt vinegar on the tables – I love that stuff. DD decided to go for battered mini sausages, and thought they were OK. DW chose the battered hamburger, and really didn’t like it. I mean, on paper, the concept of a battered and deep fried hamburger sounds so great! On second thought, even on paper it doesn’t sound so great. And on a bun, it was in fact, not great. So, if you’re keeping score at home, deep fried Snickers bars? Great. Deep fried hamburger? Not great.

After dinner we called it a night. We had to get to bed a little early, because we were planning on getting up extra early the next morning for our Family of the Day attempt at the Magic Kingdom.

August 2010 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 3

2011-03-07T11:12:00.000-08:00

Day 3 - Pixie Dust at Epcot

After the room-shuffling of the previous morning, it was nice to be able to just wake up, have some breakfast and get ready for Rope Drop at Epcot.

Staying in a DVC studio means having a kitchenette, which includes a medium-sized refrigerator, microwave, toaster and coffee maker (picture courtesy of allears.net).

We use the Disney Dining Plan for lunch and dinner, and prepare a light breakfast in the room – usually bagels or english muffins, cereal, some fruit, that kind of thing. What’s unique about having breakfast at Animal Kingdom Lodge is doing so overlooking the savanna.

Apparently they take the giraffes inside in the early morning to check on them, figuring that most people are leaving for the parks at that time. But we usually had something to look at while we ate…

After breakfast we left for Epcot. Again we used the “unattended turnstile with a green arrow” strategy of getting right up front. And we were rewarded this time by a Cast Member who came through the turnstiles to hand out some Mickey-head “pixie dust” to the kids in front.

As they counted down to opening the turnstiles, DD got ready and then threw the pixie dust into the air and in we went, making our way for the rope, which was set up (as usual) in front of the fountains.

The rope drop show at Epcot, which we’ve seen many times, includes the Fab Five, and usually some other helpers like Chip & Dale, who come up to the rope to shake hands with the people waiting. They don’t linger, so if you’re not right on the rope, you kind of miss out on the impromptu interaction. Luckily, we got a prime spot.

Shortly after DW took this picture, the crowd started building behind us. While we were waiting, a woman in a Test Track uniform came up to us and started chatting. She admired DD’s homemade Kim Possible shirt…

…and then asked me if it was just the three of today. After I said, “yes,” she asked if we would like to be their Family of the Day and help open the park. We were shocked (and said “yes,” of course)!

Our plan for this trip was to try to be Family of the Day at Magic Kingdom, which is a real long shot, so being Family of the Day at Epcot was never on our radar screen.

After she let us under the rope, she had the three of us pose in front of the fountain for some pictures. It was nice that they had PhotoPass photographers taking pictures so we could enjoy the moment.

After the Fab Five finished greeting the folks at the rope, they came over and greeted us with hugs and handshakes, and posed for a group shot.

After that they pulled up the Test Track car and had us climb inside.

They explained that we would be leading the crowd to Test Track and would get to ride it first, before anyone else was allowed in. She also said there were a few other surprises planned for us.

We could hear the rope drop countdown behind us as we pulled away and drove to Test Track.

We walked straight through the pre-show and got right onto the ride. As we came back around to the unloading zone, the first people were coming out of the pre-show and getting ready to board. The operator asked us if we wanted to ride again, so of course we said, “yes!”

After the ride we were told we could have a free printed copy of our Test Track ride, which was a great surprise! But we weren’t done yet… they walked us over to Mission:Space, and brought us upstairs into the private HP lounge. It’s a quiet lounge with couches, a wet bar, cable TV some video games and an attendant. HP employees can arrange to use it when they’re visiting Epcot – it’s part of what HP gets by sponsoring Mission: Space.

After 10-15 minutes in the HP lounge to cool off and enjoy a cold beverage, we got a behind-the-scenes tour of Mission: Space – no pictures allowed. We got to see the actual control room for the ride, where they monitor the equipment to make sure everything is working properly. They also brought us into the fake NASA control room where they let DD play with the various switches and knobs, which don’t really do anything (picture courtesy of collectspace.com).

After that we rode Mission: Space (the green version), and that was the end of our “Family of the Day” experience. They gave us two passes for a “Priority Entrance to One Attraction,” since it was after 10:00 am now, and we missed out on the early FastPass return times.

We used one at the Character Spot – because even though we had the great group picture with the Fab Five, we didn’t have the chance to get their autographs (we saved the second one for a souvenir).

Next we got FPs for Soarin, which were only 40 minutes out because crowds were so light. While we waited for our FP window, we went over to catch the next Turtle Talk with Crush show. On the way we rode the Living Seas with Nemo, and got DDs picture in Bruce’s mouth…

When the show was over, it was time to use our FPs for Soarin. After that it was getting to be lunch time. On our way to World Showcase we grabbed a FP for the Kim Possible mission we wanted to do after lunch. We had 12:10 ADRs at Teppan Edo, a real favorite and probably DD’s favorite of all WDW restaurants. We took the boat across the lagoon (DW and DD rode outside while I tried to absorb whatever air conditioning was inside).

As always, Teppan Edo was great food and great entertainment. We enjoyed talking a little with the other people at our table.

After lunch DD helped Kim and Ron save the world…

And then we left Epcot to head back to Animal Kingdom Lodge for some swimming and rest. We had dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express at Downtown Disney, which is one of the best Counter Service credit values to be had. Then back to the room for bed, and to get ready for tomorrow’s day at Hollywood Studios.

Coming next, catching up with Cousin Joey.

August 2010 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 2

2011-03-06T11:30:00.000-08:00

Day 2 – Check-in to Kidani and “Let the Adventure Begin” at Animal Kingdom

I woke up about 6:00am, showered and headed over to Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Village to check in. I had used a similar strategy in February to snag an available room by being early to check in. When I arrived I had to wait about five minutes behind another guest checking in, and then it was my turn.

The front manager was training one of the new Cast Members on the check-in procedure, and he asked if it would be OK if she checked me in with him right there to help. I said it would be fine.

It took a little longer than usual, especially since we had done Online Check-in, but the best news was that we had gotten our request for a room close to the pool on the Sunset Savanna. They told me we would be on the same floor as the lobby, just a handful of rooms away from the Lobby, and that it was a great location. The room wasn’t ready, though, so we’d have to wait to find out exactly what room we’d be in.

Armed with my packet of check-in material, I headed back to Pop Century to finish re-packing, gather up the family, and head over to our park for the day - Animal Kingdom.

We got there about 8:30, plenty of time for a Photopass picture in front of the Animal Kingdom sign. The photographer told us to make claws and growl, so we did. As you can see, I really wasn’t into it so much, while DD give it her all…

We found an unattended but “green arrowed” turnstile where no one was waiting and got in line. It was here we discussed our rope drop strategy.

Leading up to this trip, DD decided that she was a big girl (she turned 7 in May) and would no longer be scared of the rides that had terrified her in the past. At AK, that meant she wanted to ride Expedition Everest (or, as she calls it, “The Yeti Ride”) and Dinosaur.

After they opened the turnstiles, they kind of split off the rope in two sections, to the right and left of the plantings just beyond the turnstiles. That’s where they do the rope drop show now – no more Mickey up near the tree, he gets to ride on the truck now. We lined up on the left, betting that the two groups would converge at the bridge leading to Discovery Island. Most of the crowd lined up on the right, figuring that was the faster way to EE. The show ended about 8:50, and they started walking the rope into the park about 8:53. Turns out we were right, and as both groups converged at the bridge I was able to get one of the first FPs to EE.

I left there and doubled back to Kali… to find DD and DW waiting for me. They weren’t opening it until 9:30. Bummer! We had ridden Kali five times in a row at rope drop last August, and DD wanted to break our record. But with it opening at 9:30, I figured lines would grow quickly enough that we wouldn’t stand a chance.

We decided to see what the EE standby line was like, since it was only about 9:00 at that point. When we got there, the line was snaking all over the place in front of the queue area. We figured out that they hadn’t let anyone in yet (maybe because they opened the park a few minutes early) so we got in line, and they started letting us in almost immediately.

The queue for EE is really neat. It only took about five minutes to go through, and since we were moving pretty fast, we didn’t have a lot of time to look, but it’s really well themed, with the kind of equipment I suspect you’d take when searching for a Yeti in the Himalayas. DW and I had only been through the single rider line in the past, so it was cool to see how detailed it all was (we didn’t take any pictures, so here are some from wdwinfo.com to give you an idea).

Before long we were on the train, ready to go. DD’s biggest fear last year was the Yeti, so we explained that she could close her eyes and she wouldn’t have to see it. Frankly, in its motionless state, I usually miss it with my eyes open. And the shadow part, where you see the Yeti ripping up tracks, we explained was just a cartoon. She didn’t seem apprehensive or nervous as the ride started.

That’s my hand pointing out the great view…

Here we are, pausing at the top, and I’m checking on her, she’s looking back at DW just before we start rolling backwards. She was OK until about three-quarters of the way through where the train starts moving pretty fast. She started saying, “Daaaaaaadddyyyyyy? I think it’s too scaryyyyyyyyyy.” I asked her if it was just too fast, and she said, “tooooooo faaaaaaaaast!” The ride was just about over, so she was able to keep it together and as we were getting off she declared that she didn’t want to ride EE ever again. I told her I was proud of her for trying.

After getting off EE, it was about 9:20, so we went over to wait for Kali to open. We were in one of the first boats – we like to poncho it up in line so we can board without delay…

Aside from wearing ponchos, a couple of other Kali tips, to make your post-Kali day at Animal Kingdom more enjoyable:

- Put your purse, backpack, fanny pack, etc. in a XL Ziploc before putting it in the center storage bin. That sucker is always wet, and usually has standing water in the bottom, so it won’t keep your stuff dry.

- Put your feet up on the bar in front of you. Unless you get hit with a huge wave, your shoes will stay mostly dry. If you keep them on the floor, you’re guaranteed to be sloshing all day.

- Moisture-wicking, quick-dry clothing is the way to go. Even though we wear ponchos, we still get pretty wet, but we don’t stay wet for long.

We were able to ride three times before the line grew and we had to get off. We were even able to convince some of the other people on our boat to ride it again with us! We were sad that we didn’t get to break our record, but it was still a lot of fun to stay on for three straight rides.

Since this was our third trip in 12 months, we were trying, at every park, to do something we hadn’t done before. For AK, it was the Flights of Wonder show, which started at 10:30. By the time we got off Kali, dried off and put away the wet ponchos, it was a little after 10:00. I left DD and DW to watch an owl handler who was answering questions in front of the theater, and I went to get some snacks and FPs for the Safari.

When I came back with some pretzels and drinks, DW informed me that DD had been raising her hand repeatedly and offering helpful facts about owls (rather than asking any questions). DD loves animals and knows a lot of facts about them. Not shy about sharing. Apparenly I missed:

“An owl’s ears are so good, they can hear mice running.”

“An owl can see so well, they can see a bunny from a mile up.”

“I know why you’re wearing a glove – it’s so the owl doesn’t scratch you with its sharp talons.”

Thankfully, they opened the theater shortly after I arrived, and we were able to give the patient CM a break. Here he is after the show, probably fearing a bunch of parrot facts…

This bird was coming right at us!

We really liked the Flights of Wonder show. There was just enough humor mixed in with cool bird demonstrations and audience participation.

From there we conquered another of DD’s fears by watching “It’s Tough to be a Bug.” It helped that the soundtrack to it is on her iPod, and she knew the script word-for-word, so there wouldn’t be any surprises (other than the old acid in the face). We had lunch at Pizzafari (originally planned to eat at Flame Tree, but it was down for refurb), and then headed up to Africa to help Wilson stop some poachers.

There were two recent additions out on the savanna – a baby giraffe…

(really, that’s a baby)

…and a baby elephant, conveniently hiding behind a rock. If you look closely, you can see part of his ear and back…

DW took these pictures with our “real” camera, and I let DD use our Kodak PlaySport to take some, not expecting much… and I wasn’t disappointed…

…actually, she did get the best picture we’ve ever had of the male lion (he’s the thing that looks like a rock, sleeping under the tree)…

After the Safari, I checked my phone and we had received a text – our room was ready! Wwe were getting hot and run down anyway, so we decided to hit Dinosaur and head out. The wait time was posted as 10 minutes, so we got in line. It was about a five minute wait – not bad at all. For the record, Dinosaur is back on the list of rides to avoid – DD was scared out of her wits. “Too loud and scary,” she decided. We had an ADR at Akershus, so we headed over to AKL to unpack and freshen up for dinner.

Our room was five off the lobby, with a great panoramic view of the sunset savanna.

After a quick unpacking and refreshening, we headed over to Epcot for dinner with the princesses in Norway. We were running a bit early, and since we weren’t sweaty, so we stopped for pictures…

Our reservation was for 5:15, but we checked in about 4:40 to see if we could get seated early, since we were still a bit tired from the long day yesterday. We didn’t realize, but the restaurant doesn’t open until 4:45. Luckily, we were one of the first families called and seated right at 4:45.

The last time we went to Akershus, Belle was the princess who you met before sitting at your table. This time it was Princess Aurora.

The four princesses making the rounds were Jasmine, Cinderella, Snow White and Ariel.

We like the food at Akershus. DW and I both got the Traditional Kjottkake, which is a little like Meatloaf with gravy. Dinner portions are bigger than the lunch portions we got a couple years back, so we were stuffed by the end of the meal. We were really surprised and happy that we were able to get seated early. There’s really nowhere to wait after you check in, and unless you get seated right when they open, you’re likely to sit in the sun for 15-20 minutes. My tip would be, if eating around 5:00 is OK for your family, make an ADR but get there early if you can.

After dinner, we drove back to Kidani and were asleep before 10:00.

Coming up, the pixie dust really starts flying at Epcot…

August 2010 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 1

2011-03-05T16:56:00.000-08:00

Day 1 - Take Off and Splashdown

We spent a week at Walt Disney World August/September 2010. We had a really great time and some very magical experiences. Here's a trip report.

Our flight left from Buffalo at 7:40am. Since the airport is about an hour and 15 minutes from our house, DW and I were up at 4:00am to shower, make a quick breakfast for the trip, load the van, and get DD ready. We were out the door at 5:00, and were at the airport, through security and waiting at the gate by 6:30. The flight took off on time, and we were off!

I had copied some movies and episodes of Kim Possible to my laptop for DD to watch on the plane. As soon as the pilot gave the OK, I set it up for her to watch. My battery must not have been fully charged, though, because it gave out after about 90 minutes – it usually lasts about 5-6 hours – plenty for our two and a half hour non-stop direct flight. So DD listened to Disney Theme Park music on her ipod.

Our flight landed about 10 minutes early. We waited for our bags, then headed down to National to pick out our car from the Executive Aisle. Last year there was a convertible Sebring, but this year, no such luck. We ended up taking a black Jeep Liberty from the regular Emerald Aisle. It had 8,000 miles on it – not the newest, but better than the 18,000 mil SUV parked next to it.

After about a 30 minute drive from the airport – we had arrived!

We always have to take a picture as we drive under this sign. This one came out better than any other we had done – a sign of good things to come, perhaps?

Our first night was at the Pop Century. We had never stayed there before, but got a really good Annual Passholder rate, so before our reservation at the Animal Kingdom Lodge began the following day, we decided to give Pop a try.

The AP rate was only good for preferred views, but when we checked in (around 11:00) we explained that we didn’t really care where were ended up, if we could get into a room sooner. Luckily, the CM found a room in the 70s that was really close to the main building, and it was available right away. We drove over there, dropped our bags off, took a minute to refresh, and went back to Pop for lunch. We had the Quick Service dining plan for this night, and the regular dining plan for the week at AKL.

We had wanted to eat our first CS meal at Magic Kingdom, but because we had eaten breakfast so early, we decided that eating at Pop was the wiser choice. It was really crowded. There were probably a lot of people who were on the free dining promotion, and it was prime lunch time. I really liked the selection – there were a lot of different choices, from burgers, to salads, a pasta station with Chicken Parm and meatball subs, a sandwich station, and a Chinese food station.

After a quick meal we headed off to the Magic Kingdom. Our plan was to stay for a few hours, and because we were arriving so late in the day (for a TGM RD’er), I planned some activities we had never made time for before. But our first order of business was to renew our Annual Passes, which had expired a week before our trip.

We had participated in the Give-a-Day, Get-a-Day promotion, and had each received a free day admission. We were able to upgrade those to DVC Renewal Annual Passes. After it was all said and done, it was about $815 for three 15-month annual passes for the three of us – not much more than three 7-day Park Hoppers would have been! We are planning trips in May and October of 2011, so we plan on getting more than our money’s worth.

The transaction itself went very smoothly, even though the CM at Will Call had never done one before. I had been told to expect 5-10 minutes per ticket as they went through the various redemption and upgrading processes. It did take about 15 minutes, so while I waited at the ticket window, DW took DD over to trade some pins with a nearby CM.

With APs (good until late November 2011) in hand, we headed for the express monorail… which was down for maintenance. The resort monorail was also down, so CMs were directing everyone to the Ferry. We had never taken the Ferry before, and since we weren’t in a huge rush, it was OK with us!

The first thing we did when we arrived was to check the standby and FP return times for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We grabbed a set of FPs for Splash with a return time 40 minutes away. Just enough time to explore Tom Sawyer Island.

DD and I had never been to TSI, but she loves to explore and after all of the time in cars and planes, we figured she could use some running around time. We thought she might be afraid of the caves, but she assured us she was a “big girl, and not afraid of anything (in literary terms, this is known as foreshadowing).”

She actually wasn’t scared at all, and enjoyed exploring. She wanted to go through a second time, but I told her there were more fun things to do… so we bounced a bit on the Barrel Bridge…

…and shot at people racing by on the BTMRR…

After sneaking out the underground escape from Fort Langhorne, we were ready to use our Splash FPs. We’ve been looking forward to Splash since last August. We have the music to Splash from the Disney Park CDs and DD loves to listen to it in the morning before school, so we pretty much know all of the words to “How do you do,” and “Everybody has a Laughing Place.”

We got right on – I was in the front row and DW and DD were behind me. Before our trip I got a Kodak PlaySport video camera, which is waterproof. I had used it underwater at the YMCA during DD’s swimming lessons to test it out, and the quality is pretty good (HD) for a camera that’s smaller than my cell phone. I pulled it out and filmed over my shoulder as we made the big plummet. It wasn’t until a couple of days later when I copied the video over to my computer that we had a chance to see what our crazy kid looks like when going down Splash Mountain. I haven’t had a chance to edit the video yet, but these stills that I grabbed tell the story…

Everytime we look at those photos or the actual video, DW and I crack up – the way she goes from joy to sheer terror back to joy in about two seconds is so funny. By the way, in that last frame, she’s complaining that she was “so dry.” She wanted to get soaked, but only got splashed.

After Splash, we realized it was about 2:55, and we had never seen the 3:00 parade before. So we picked a spot on the rope across from Pecos Bills, and waited… and waited… and waited… For some reason, I had thought that the parade started in Frontierland and then proceeded to the hub and down Main St. It actually went in the opposite direction.

About 3:15 we caught the bonus Voluntears Parade, led by Kermit and Miss Piggy. Many of the characters interacted with DD and the other kids nearby. Here’s Dale, who right after this picture came up to me and messed up my hair…

The main parade was pretty much right behind, so we stayed for that too. DD is helpfully pointing out that Dopey is on the float…

Here’s the Queen of Hearts… just in front of her in the parade was Jafar, but he was on the other side of the road, so DD started screaming out “JAFAR!!! JAFAR!!!” She didn’t even see the Queen of Hearts come up and stop right in front of her. The Queen put her hands on her hips and pointed at her with her mean face, so ever-cheerful DD waved at her, and the Queen waved back…

Peter Pan and gang…

Prince Naveen and Princess Tiana…

There was a young girl next to us who had a Birthday pin on, and we were surprised how many people in the parade stopped to say “Happy Birthday” to her. Naveen even did it from up on the float!

After the parade we went over to use our BTMRR FPs. Here’s DD and I – DW asked her if she was excited, and this was her reaction:

I hadn’t planned on us seeing the parade or being able to get onto Splash or BTMRR so easily. Because it was getting late and we were getting tired, we scrapped plans to see the Swiss Family Treehouse and ride the Liberty Belle and headed back for Pop.

DW gave DD a bath while I went over to the food court to get dinner to go. We ate in the room and went to bed early. We were all asleep by 8:00!

General impressions of Pop – we weren’t there long, but here’s my take. We can’t really do the double bed thing. The room itself was OK, recently refurbed. The TV was nicer than what we have at home… the towels on the other hand were not. It was a bit noisy – there was music playing outside our room loud enough that I could hear from the bed, and we could hear our neighbors pretty easily. If we weren’t so dead tired, the noise might have kept us up or woken us up. We thought the food court was great and the food there was at least as good if not better than we got at the Pepper Market at CSR the last couple of years. We might stay there again for one night if we got a really good rate, but not having Queen beds, and the noise situation is kind of a deal-killer.

Tomorrow – I get up early to check in to AKL-Kidani, and we “Let the Adventure Begin” at Animal Kingdom.

Family of the Day at Magic Kingdom

2011-03-02T18:56:00.000-08:00

Here's some video of us helping to open the Magic Kingdom on September 1, 2010, when we were chosen to be Family of the Day. Eventually I'll get around to posting my tips for giving yourself the best opportunity to be selected.