Chess
Maury played in his first chess tournament today. He played five games and only scored in one...playing to a tie. He has been playing chess for a while, although not at home with his parents but with a couple of his uncles* who knew how smart he was and would play with him. Now, he attends chess club at school and this is how the tournament opportunity came up.
*Thank you to my Uncle David and my brother-in-law, Andy.
Labels: muffin
Day 7: Magical Ending
Last day! We were headed back to Magic Kingdom to visit the sections we didn't go to Tuesday: Adventureland, Frontierland, and Liberty Square. First stop: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. When we got to the park, we got on the Walt Disney World Railroad to go to Frontierland rather than walking up Main Street, etc. to get there. When we arrived, the wait at Big Thunder Mountain was only 15 minutes! We hopped in line and weaved and weaved and weaved our way through the queue. The ride was really long, but also very tame. Maury was less than thrilled and Lizzie wanted to do it again. A picture is worth a thousand words here:
After that, I headed over to get a FastPass for the Jungle Cruise while Steve and the kids took the raft over to Tom Sawyer's Island. When I got there, I met them at the fort and they were having fun running around and exploring. On our way back to the raft launch, Lizzie and Steve went into a cave to see where it would come out. Maury was not interested in that and instead we went to the launch and played checkers.
I think my only regret this trip was making Maury and Lizzie go into The Haunted Mansion. It wasn't that interesting and it scared the crud out of them. Still, it was something we didn't get to do the last trip (the Mansion was closed) and I really wanted to see it.
Two jittery kids in tow, we went back to the Jungle Cruise for a ride full of cheesy jokes and fake animals. We all enjoyed it. What a silly ride! Then, on to another Disney classic: the Enchanted Tiki Room. The slightly updated (fake) bird show was really short, but lively and fun. Maury really loved the talking totem poles.
It was time to leave the park for awhile and get some lunch, but Maury really wanted to do the shooting gallery. This kid loves carnival games!
For lunch, we went to Downtown Disney and ate at Rainforest Cafe. I am not sure why we keep going back there...it's quite overpriced...but it always has something the kids will eat and we needed (?) to go to the big Disney store there anyway.
We took about an hour and a half relaxation break at the resort and then drove back to the Magic Kingdom for the parade and the fireworks. As the sun went down, it was quite chilly, but other than wishing we had changed into jeans instead of just picking up jackets, we all loved what we saw! We watched both from the platform of the railroad station, as was suggested by a friend who knew how easy that made it to get back out of the park ahead of the rush. The Spectromagic parade was amazing, as was the Wishes fireworks show. I wish I could say the same for my photos, but that is OK!
All in all, we had a great week and I feel like we hit almost everything I had hoped for! Oh, and Lizzie and Steve even rode in the front of the monorail on their trip back to the parking lot after the fireworks. Maury and I were freezing on the ferry (his choice) while they were riding in style!
Day 6: Park Hopping
We finally took advantage of having Park Hopper passes and took in Epcot and Animal Kingdom yesterday. We started at Epcot with the goal being to get on Soarin' and Test Track. When we got to Soarin', we decided to just get in line and wait. The ride is like taking a hang glider through some of the most beautiful scenery in America, ending up at Disneyland. Amazing!
We then treked to the other side of Future World in hopes of riding Test Track. Again, we chose to just get in line and wait (rather than going for FastPasses). We were totally bummed when the ride went down and they told everyone that we would have to get out of line. I guess we won't see what that is all about this trip.
A friend had pointed out that we needed to stop by Club Cool in Epcot, so we did that. This is a place where you can try all sorts of drinks that are popular in other countries (like Coke is popular here). I took the kids straight to the Beverly, which I knew was particularly horrible. I have to give credit to Lizzie. Even after such a gross start, she tried every one of the other options!
We caught a quick lunch at The Land and then headed to the car to go on to Animal Kingdom. Once there, we went to the 3D movie It's Tough to be a Bug. Maury about freaked out in there and I'll admit that I was a little nervous when the whole room filled with smoke and black widow spiders dropped from the ceiling. Poor kid.
We then headed over to The Festival of the Lion King. Wonderful show...really enjoyed it again this time.
We pretty much called it a day there and headed back to the resort for a swim. Made a great call for dinner: Uno Chicago Bar & Grill. The kids got to make their own pizza, which they loved. Steve got a burger that looked Wimpy-sized and I got an individual deep dish pizza.
Labels: disney
Day 5: Just Keep Waiting
Yesterday we took on Disney Hollywood Studios. It seems to be easily the smallest of the four parks, yet we spent over 12 hours there and still didn't get to do all of the things we would have liked to. The problem with the Studios is that there are a lot of shows, few rides, and when it is crowded like it was yesterday, it is hard to do either one.
Toy Story Mania being brand new, we knew that was where we needed to go first. The FastPass line was crazy long, so we just went ahead and got in the line for the ride. The ride is a set of 3D midway arcade games like a shooting gallery, balloon darts and the like. When we finally got on the ride, our car started acting up after about two rounds of arcade games and we ended up just sitting for the rest of the time. They were ready for us when we got back to unload and pulled us off to the side and got us back on the ride right away. Second time through went with no hitch and the kids (and Steve and I) enjoyed it thoroughly.
By the time we got out, believe it or not, we were already too late for any of the 11 a.m. shows (and we got to the park before 9:30). We headed over to the Muppet Vision 3D show and enjoyed that before we went to Pizza Planet for an early lunch.
The kids and I stood in line for them to get their faces painted and Steve went to check out the situation at the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. He suggested we go on over there, but the kids and I didn't want to get out of the line we were in. After they finished with their faces, the stunt show was FULL! That venue holds something like 5,000 people and we were still 10 minutes prior to the show and it was FULL! I'm telling you, the place was crazy crowded.
We moved on to the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular and got in (we had tried this one earlier in the day and had been turned away). The show was fun and we all enjoyed the "extra" who turned out to be a stunt actor. I thought something was up when he was consistently not paying attention to direction and when the stunt lady started to beat him up, I knew for sure he wasn't just an audience member.
We had early dinner reservations at Hollywood & Vine, so we decided to take it easy for a while and let the kids relax. We thought we could go to the Great Movie Ride, but that wait was an hour so we just sat in the shade and let the kids play on their DS's. We hadn't brought those with us any other day and we were smart to bring them yesterday with all the down time we had.
Hollywood & Vine's buffett was fantastic. I don't know what more to say about that. We had a Fantasmic dinner package, so we got special passes to get in to the 8:30 show with the meal. Even with that, we were told to arrive at the venue for that at 7:30.
We did a little bit of shopping in the stores and went to the Beauty and the Beast stage show. Then we headed to Fantasmic for an amazing laser show filled with fountains (water was used as a screen for the laser light show) and Disney characters.
Funny story: we had been talking about trying to get on Tower of Terror after the show. Lizzie was up for it. After a loud cannon or gun shot in Fantasmic, she got up, stood in front of her daddy and said, "I don't want to go on the Tower of Terror." We just laughed and laughed at that.
After so many hours there, alot of which we spent just sitting doing nothing, we still didn't see many of the things we wanted to like The American Idol Experience and I didn't get a chance to ride the Tower of Terror or the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.
Labels: disney
Day 4: Disney Done Right
We finally did a day at Disney the right way! We arrived at the Magic Kingdom transportation center at 9:15...just 15 minutes after opening. This is really early for us, let me tell you. We took the ferry over to the park to avoid the lines at the monorail station.
Once inside the Magic Kingdom, we headed straight for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. This was a great ride...and, by being early, we only had a 10 minute wait to ride.
By the time we got off the ride, the wait was up to 40 minutes. We grabbed FastPasses so we could come back in a little under an hour and ride again and went over to the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. I love this little show. Right after we got out, we went back to Buzz again and then headed towards a street vendor for ice cream while Steve went to get FastPasses to PhilharMagic. When Steve got there, though, they weren't giving out FastPasses to the show, so he went ahead and got FastPasses to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh instead. Surprise! FastPasses to PhilharMagic came out with them!
We then all got in line for the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. Maury drove Steve and Lizzie drove me. She was so funny declaring, "I'm a terrible driver!" quite loudly while she was jerking us around mercilessly through both the corners and straightaways.
In Toon Town, we all rode the roller coaster The Barnstormer. It was a nice, short kid sized roller coaster. Lizzie was up for it right away. Maury was against going, but he went. This reminds me of when I was a kid. Nikki was always the thrill seeker back then while I didn't mind at all if I was too short for a ride.
We took a quick tour of Mickey's Country House and headed on out of Toon Town towards Fantasyland. Mickey's PhilharMagic was absolutely wonderful. Kids of all ages were seen reaching out to grab the various things and characters suspended right in front of our faces. Beautiful 3D show which focused on the music of Disney. I just wish it had been longer.
After a quick stop in the gift shop, we moved on to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I can't imagine it, but the wait time was 1 hour for this ride at this point. With FastPasses, we were on in about 10. The ride was sweet and simple. I'm glad we rode it, but no way would I have wanted to stand in line for an hour to do it!
The kids were starting to get a little worn down and while I didn't want to leave, I knew that it was best to head out. We had decided going in that we were going to focus on the three sections of Magic Kingdom that we had already done. So, we headed back out, hitting the Carousel of Progress on the way. I remember that ride from when I was a kid. Of course, since this was a presentation originally done for the 1960-something World Fair, the show was a lot dated in the last segment, but it did show Walt Disney's knack for innovation and love of technological progress.
Labels: disney
Day 3: The Need for Speed
Yesterday was all about Steve's Richard Petty Driving Experience. For Christmas, all of the family went in on this gift to him: 18 laps of driving a NASCAR car.
After spending the morning at the pool with the kids, we headed over to Walt Disney World Speedway. Steve got suited up and we all listened to a short orientation to the program.
After a short additional bit of instruction in the pits, Steve was pretty much ready to go.
Steve first took a couple laps around in the M&M car to see what the ride was like and to watch someone else drive to get a feel for how it worked. Top speed during the ride along laps: around 140 mph.
Then it was Steve's turn to drive. He was put in the 79 car and then was to follow the instructor's ESPN car at a 3 to 5 car distance around the track. The instructor would advance him increasingly faster and faster each lap. In his first 8 laps, Steve got up to 122 mph.
Then, with some constructive feedback, Steve got back in the car and took his final 10 laps. This time, he topped out at 127 mph and was four hundredths of a second shy of the top speed that they will get you up to in these sessions. Good work!
Thanks again, everyone! It was a real rush to WATCH Steve get to do this...I can only imagine how much fun it was to actually do it!
Labels: disney
Day 2: Having a Wild Day
Today we headed to Animal Kingdom and had a much more successful day than yesterday. As soon as we got into the park, I got a call from a friend who is here this week also. We decided to meet up for lunch after they got done with the musical show they were about to see and after we went to get FastPasses for Expedition Everest. Lunch, I will say, was kind of crazy because we were eating right at noon. Steve got Chinese from one place, the kids got pizza and corn dogs at two other places and I had barbecue ribs from Flame Tree Barbecue. Still, it took my friend longer to get food from McDonald's than it took any of the rest of us.
After lunch, we said good bye to our friends (we plan to meet for dinner on Tuesday) and headed towards Dinoland. The Finding Nemo musical was in the area, so we went ahead and got in line for the show since it was starting in 20 minutes. It was amazing! I'm sure this is going to be a Broadway musical in few years.
After the show, we took the kids to The Boneyard, which is a play area. Best part: there is only one way out, so all the parents can just relax while the kids run around. The weather was beautiful today, especially in a nice shady area like the one Steve and I found to sit in.
Then it was time for Expedition Everest. I'm so glad we did this! Awesome ride. Afterwards, the kids took pictures of us. I like this one by Lizzie. Please notice Maury making bunny ears behind me.
We then decided to take in Kilimanjaro Safari. I think we saw more animals up close this time than the last time we were here. I think the ride was rougher, too. Steve said he was glad he didn't eat a corn dog for lunch. Between Everest and the truck on the safari, he would have lost it, he said.
When we got off of the safari, the Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade was started and we were able to find a great spot to stand and wait for it to come back around to where it started. We saw the whole thing from a great vantage point. Perfect!
It was then time to head out (via the gift shop) because we wanted to try to drive to see the shuttle launch. We didn't get very close before liftoff time, though. The traffic was NUTS and it didn't help any that the route was on toll roads. Still, we pulled off and saw the launch...as close as I'll probably ever get!
Finished the night letting the kids take a swim while we waited for pizza to be ready at the resort's pool side pizzaria.
Labels: disney
Day 1: Hoop Dee Doo
Yesterday we drove into Orlando from Lake City. We had a late dinner reservation, so we originally thought we would drive straight to one of the parks and then check-in to the resort and let the kids chill for a little while before heading back out. Instead, we decided to see if the resort had a room clean for us when we got in around noon. They did, so we went ahead and got settled in before heading out to Epcot.
I am going to be completely honest and tell you that the day was not a great one. The kids were whiny (and so were the adults). The only ride that was ridden was The Seas and Maury didn't even want to go on that. I think I'll just leave this part at that. I was really disappointed, though, in how things were starting.
When we got into the park, we found the Photopass photographer and had her take the obligatory photo of us in front of the "big golf ball". She then said she wanted to do something with just Maury and Lizzie. As I listened to her explain what she wanted the kids to do, I realized that she was taking the Tinkerbell pictures. Basically, Tinkerbell is added to the image and the pics are really cute. (I can't share here because there is no way for me to pull the image off of the Photopass site.) I had told Steve that I hoped to find this while we were here this trip, so YAY that it was the very first photographer we came upon!
The kids did want to try the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure, so we go started on that in Future World. We were to be in Norway to get our mission at 4 p.m. and when we made our way there, it was early, so we talked the kids into going to see the Reflections of China movie. The circle 360 got to Steve after a while, so he and the kids left the movie about 3 minutes before it was over. We headed over to get our Kimmunicator (a special purpose cell phone so the kids could be like Kim and Ron in the cartoon series) and we were off on our first mission in China. Should I be honest again and say that the phone was another thing for the kids to whine about? Thank goodness Disney was, as always, smart enough to build into the game a signal for those playing to turn the Kimmunicator over to someone else for their turn, thus making sharing a part of the process. Even so, we were ready to move on from the game after the initial mission in China and a second one in Mexico.
On our way out of the World Showcase, I had the family wait on me while I stopped in the Rose and Crown in the United Kingdom. I wanted to get myself a Guiness. It was like being in a totally different world in there. Here were all the rowdy adults who had no children to worry with. I swear it was like a frat party was going on at one end of the bar. After a decent wait to get a bartender, I got my yummy brew and headed back out.
Now it was time to put into motion our souvenier plan for this trip. If you asked Lizzie what she wanted to do at any point on any day during a Disney trip, she would tell you 1) she wanted ice cream or 2) she wanted to go to the gift shop. She is usually not hungry, so #2 is the most popular answer. Well, to keep things easier on us, we told the kids they had a certain amount of money each day that they could have for souveniers. They could spend it each day or they could save up for something bigger. This turned the whole shopping experience into a challenge for Lizzie. She pretty much moved through the store checking prices and saying, "Why does everything have to be so expensive?" A-ha! A little insight into the real world. (I'm not crazy...this lesson won't have broad application for her, but it's a step.) Lizzie came away with a cute Mickey Mouse backpack in a tropical print and Maury started a pirate collection with handcuffs and a hook for his hand. He has plans to purchase a hat and an eye patch.
After a short stop back at the resort, we headed out for Fort Wilderness to see the Hoop Dee Doo Revue. Honesty break: getting to and from the campground was not good. I can't believe how difficult it is to get around here sometimes. But, anyway, the dinner was fantastic, particularly the cornbread, ribs and country style pinto beans. Yum. The show was very very much like the Hoot and Holler show we went to in Tennessee. Since that was why I chose this show, I was pleased by that. The kids definitely enjoyed it and that is what it's all about.
Labels: disney
Hollywood Day
Maury's book fair is ending today and they are having Hollywood Day to celebrate. Maury wanted to go as Ruben Studdard, so this is what we came up with for him:
We had to explain that painting his face brown wasn't appropriate.
Labels: muffin
Snow!
We had SNOW!
In ALABAMA!
In MARCH!
And ALL the kids had fun playing in it...
Labels: lizzie bee, muffin, schmoopy
