We've been back and forth to Indiana twice, once to bring my Mom out here to visit, then a return two weeks later to take her back, and to move Carol's mom from her home of 68 years to an independent living place in a different city. I've also had a bunch of doctors appointments, got a new crown in my mouth, and just a bunch of stuff. It's been exhausting.
And tomorrow morning, we're flying to Disney World. Nine months in the planning, it's our first visit in four years and we're going with both kids and their husband & girlfriend, so we're really excited. Oh, and there's a major hurricane coming that looks to drench our vacation next week.
So, we're crossing our fingers and hoping they don't have to close the parks.
Today is the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World, which opened on October 1, 1971. When I was seven years old, my family visited Disney World during its first year, which consisted of two hotels and the Magic Kingdom. Since then, my family and I have visited every few years, most recently in 2017 and again in Fall 2018, and watched it expand to four amazing theme parks, two water parks, hundreds of restaurants, a wonderful shopping district, more than two dozen hotels and more. We were all booked to go with Ben in June of 2020 as his college graduation present, but that was cancelled due to the pandemic.
I am very aware that it is a privilege to go to WDW and we are very lucky in that regard. It's expensive as hell and way too many people will just never be able to afford to do it, which sucks. There are ways you can go to WDW without spending thousands of dollars, but to experience everything it has to offer is beyond the means of most people. To some degree this is entirely understandable, because high demand means higher prices, but that reality is unfortunate. I'm also aware that Disney underpays its employees and really needs to do better.
The entrance to Be Our Guest restaurant.
While we've usually gone with our kids (now adults), Carol and I also went by ourselves in 2018. Lots of people say they don't understand why adults would go to Disney World without children. For me, it's because Disney is my happy place. It's immersive, fun, exciting, and just plain awesome. I have never had a bad time there.
Space Mountain loading zone.
The sheer volume of experiences available at WDW is staggering. The parks have dark rides, roller coasters, more traditional carnival-type rides, simulators, walk-throughs, and cutting edge attractions no one else has. The parks, hotels and restaurants are wonderfully, meticulously themed, whether to existing Disney IP or not, and excellently staffed to maximize guest immersion in the fantasy, whether it be Africa, Hollywood of the 1940s, the Old West, colonial America, the future, or countries around the world. I've been to other amusement parks and most are haphazardly themed. The closest another park comes to the Disney standard are the two Harry Potter areas of Universal Studios, which are excellent. But the rest of Universal Studios park doesn't even come close. Disney is just the best.
Sanaa Restaurant at Animal Kingdom Lodge, at Kidani Village.
In the lead-up to the 50th anniversary, Disney announced plans for major ride refurbishments, and the creation of new rides, restaurants and hotels. While some of those plans have been finished, and some are under construction, some were abandoned due to the pandemic. It's not entirely clear why Disney changed their minds.
Unfortunately, Disney has taken the opportunity of the pandemic to make some less than welcome changes. For example, their Fastpass system allowed anyone with a park ticket to pre-reserve a place in line for three rides at a time, allowing you to skip long lines. Disney has announced that the free Fastpass is no more, replaced by a paid system. If you want to skip lines, now it will cost you. They've also made changes to beloved perks you'd get from staying at Disney hotels like free Magic Bands and Extra Magic Hours, which allowed you to stay in the parks after hours. Going forward, the extra hours are restricted only to those staying in the most expensive Disney hotels on property.
We've seen this behavior before, during the 1990s. Pulling back guest perks and terminating announced plans is a sign that Disney's penny-pinchers have taken control. Keep in mind, this is a company that makes $1 billion every time they release a Marvel movie. Now that they seem to be entering "cheap mode", things might be dicey for a while. (And, yes, I'm aware that they have invested a ton on the parks over the past five years.) But cheaping out was a big mistake in the 90s, and it's a mistake now, especially on the 50th Anniversary.
Still, there's lots we haven't seen yet, including Star Wars Galaxy's Edge, and we can't wait to go back.
Whenever I go to Disney, I promise to write a blog summary when I return. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I may still get to our trip last September, but I've been wanting to get this more specific post out very badly.
For on that trip, Carol and I rode on the best ride on the entire planet. In fact, we ended up riding it five times, which, given it's famously long lines, is something remarkable.
That ride, is Avatar: Flight of Passage at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Yes, Avatar, as in the 2009 James Cameron movie, the highest grossing of all time.
Years ago when Disney announced that they had gotten rights to build a "Pandora land" at Animal Kingdom based on the movie, I'm pretty sure the most common reaction was "Huh?" Sure, Avatar made almost $3 billion and was technically groundbreaking, but was anyone clamoring for more? Could it sustain a big chunk of a Disney park?
Behold! Pandora!
Turns out, Disney created not just a lush, beautiful section of the park filled with "alien" landscaping, floating mountains, and a pretty damn good quick service restaurant, but they also created THE GREATEST THEME PARK RIDE ON EARTH.
When we went to Disney last year with my Mom, they had just opened Pandora and were only allowing in select annual passholders. So we saw lines, but couldn't get into the area, much less on the ride. Now, a year later, we were ready.
So, what is the ride? Going into it I had no idea. From brief descriptions, I figured that it was probably based on the great Disney ride Soarin'. In other words, kind of a flight simulator. But if Soarin' is a great ride, Flight of Passage is Soarin' 4.0, an improvement many times over the original.
The idea is that you're going to neurally link with an Avatar, one of the nine foot blue guys from the movie, and fly on an Ikran, one of the pterodactyl creatures from the movie. Like this:
The ride queue takes you through the lush landscape of Pandora, and then you gradually move into the industrial area set up by humans to study the planet. Interestingly, the ride is set after the events of the movie so there's no military around, just scientists working with the Na'Vi (the blue guys). In any event, the queue is excellent, with plenty to do and see and telling a story as you go.
Eventually you are split into a group of sixteen people who, after an amusing training sequence, move into the ride itself. You sit on a funky motorcycle-like device and the ride starts.
Are you afraid of roller coasters or other fast rides? Not to worry. You don't actually go anywhere. The room you're in tilts and vibrates, but doesn't actually move in space. The effect of movement is created from the small movement of the room and the ginormous 3-D projection in front of you.
What follows is pure magic. The ride is completely immersive. There is wind on your face, spray from the water, scents from the plant-life. What's more, the ride is designed to give you a variety of experiences organized in a meticulously planned progression. There's a quick drop at the beginning, and then you fly for a while. Then another Ikran gets in your face so there's a bit of dodging about, and more. You get a few thrills, lots of beautiful scenery, and fun maneuvers. I can't stress enough how well and thoughtfully designed the actual "flight" is.
There's a moment near the end where your Ikran stops in a dark cave lit by luminescent plant life. For a short time, everything is quiet, and beautiful. You can even feel your "Ikran" breathing between your legs. Then the music kicks up and you're off for the last part of the trip. As you leave the cave, there's a moment where you absolutely forget you're on a ride and lose yourself in flight.
The ride is so exhilarating, so moving, that I shed a tear every single time I rode. Yes, I cried five times.
There are two ways you can go on the ride. First and best, get a Fastpass so you can show up at the scheduled time and get right on the ride. We had one Fastpass set up for Saturday afternoon. The second way is to get in line and wait.
Typically, the ride can have waits of up to three hours, and we don't wait in line for anything for three hours at Disney. So on the Friday before our Fastpass, we got to the park before it opened and made a beeline for the ride. (They let people in before the park officially opens). We saw what appeared to be a short line and got into it. After about twenty minutes, I was wondering what the line on the other side of the path was, going in the opposite direction. After a bit more time, I recognized the horrible truth. That other line was ours, looping around at some point in the distance.
We ended up waiting in line for about 90 minutes before we rode that first time. And when we were done, we didn't regret a second of those 90 minutes. Had we known it was 90 minutes, we probably would have not gone, but damn, we were glad we did.
The next day we went for our Fastpass ride. Then, on Sunday, my brother and his wife joined us at the park. We did a proper early rope drop (early entry) and had to wait about 20-30 minutes in line. That day, we rode twice more, waiting in line each time. It was awesome.
If you'd like to get a small sense of what the ride is like, see the two videos below, knowing that they do the ride very little justice. While the second video has higher definition options available, I suggest at least watching the first couple of minutes of the first video. Listen to the riders. It's worth hearing their reactions.
If you get a chance to go to Disney, definitely do what you can to take this ride. Animal Kingdom is a beautiful park with some fun rides, but we never really felt the need to visit it more than once during any one trip. Flight of Passage puts Animal Kingdom over the top. I can't imagine going to Disney again without going on this ride as many times as we can.
Carol and I are empty-nesters and this is our first real trip alone since Ben went off to college (he's a Junior now!). We're doing a couple of days at Universal Studios, including their Halloween Horror Nights. I'm super excited about seeing the half of the Harry Potter world we haven't seen, and the TEN haunted houses at their Halloween event. And then, Disney World!
I've been planning out the details for a few months now and have all our reservations and Fastpasses set up. Since September is a low attendance month, our dining plan is free! That means one sit down meal, one counter service meal, and two snacks per day. Plus drinks (alcohol). Yes, free drinks. All our reservations are for restaurants we've never tried before and we're pretty excited about that, especially the incredibly hard to get into, Be Our Guest restaurant where we're having breakfast one day.
We're also going to ride the new Avatar rides at Animal Kingdom, see the new Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios, and all our usual favorites. Low attendance means we'll probably get to ride a lot.
We're staying at Disney's Yacht Club for the first time. The coolest thing about the hotel is that it's a short walk to EPCOT's back entrance and a short boat ride to Hollywood Studios. There's also what's considered the best hotel pool at WDW, Stormalong Bay.
Our schedule is to leave this Saturday afternoon (Sept. 15), and ::record scratch::
Yes, we were supposed to be flying out of DC on Saturday, when Hurricane Florence is supposed to be parked over North Carolina, directly between DC and Orlando. So we jumped through a bunch of hoops today and rescheduled our departure for tomorrow night, getting us ahead of the storm. We'll spend a bunch of money on additional days with the rental car and hotels, but it's pretty clear that the Saturday flight will be cancelled due to the storm. So we pushed the date up. Now we have to decide what to do in Florida for a couple of extra days. I'm thinking maybe we'll vote.
I would like to point out at this time that Disney is hella expensive these days, even with a free meal plan, and Carol and I are privileged to be able to afford it. I find it sad that most people can't afford it, because it's a wonderful place.
Hilariously, once you reach a certain price point, Disney suddenly becomes much cheaper. We were originally going to stay for five days but we found a couple of extra days. We called to find out how much those two extra days would cost us. This included Park Hopper passes to go into any park at will, and the dining plan. The cost was $11 per day for each of us. Yes, $44 for two people to go to any and all Disney parks, with food, for two days. Naturally, we took the two extra days.
New blog posts will probably be scarce for a couple of weeks. Follow my Instagram (tasteofipecac) to see pictures as I post them, or check out the box on the right of my blog.
Oh, and I haven't decided if I really want to see President Soon-to-be-Indicted in the Hall of Presidents. I think the urge to boo and throw things will be pretty hard to fight.
I'm working on editing some home movies and put together this short clip of Rachel meeting Cinderella at Walt Disney World in 2004. We were in the lobby of the Cinderella restaurant in Cinderella's castle waiting for our table.
This was taped on my MiniDV camcorder, so the quality isn't great.
When we returned from Disneyland last summer, I promised a follow up post about my unexplained comment, "And that night, I finally achieved a nearly life-long goal." Here it finally is.
I consider myself fortunate that when I was a kid, my parents enjoyed taking us to Disney World in Orlando. I had a beloved aunt in Florida, my Dad's sister, and we went to visit her and my (also beloved) Uncle several times when I was a kid.
On our first trip, I was about six years old and my brother four, we drove from northern Indiana to Florida over two days with my parents and my maternal grandparents. Six people in a car for hours on end with my grandfather smoking like a chimney. Still, it was hugely memorable and I'm amazed even today about how much we accomplished. In addition to visiting my Aunt and Uncle, we saw almost all of the popular attractions of the day - Disney World, Silver Springs, Six Gun Territory, Cypress Gardens, Marineland, Cape Kennedy, Busch Gardens, and St. Augustine. I'm probably forgetting a few.
A few years later, we went without the grandparents. I don't know for sure but I was probably around 10 years old. We went to Disney World, of course, (which was only the Magic Kingdom back then) and the newest and best Disney attraction was Space Mountain, then in its first year of operation. All day we wanted to go on the ride, but the lines were too long. Finally, as we neared the park's closing time, we went one last time.
As we arrived we could see there was no line. We quickly polled who would go and it turned out my brother couldn't or wouldn't (he may have been too small) so my Aunt would stay with him. That left me, my parents and my Uncle. We headed into the long corridor that leads into the ride.
It should be noted at this point that I have never been a fan of roller coasters. It's just not something I really enjoy. But this was SPACE MOUNTAIN! I'd be on a roller coaster flying . . . through space! What's more, the decor was futuristic as if I was walking through a real space station on my way to my rocket. Cool space art and dioramas lined the walls as we made our way. As a space geek, this was the ultimate thrill.
Unfortunately, with every step towards the loading area, my nerves ratcheted up a notch. My footsteps grew heavier and heavier and my panic increased. Basically, I was the Cowardly Lion approaching the Wizard of Oz's chamber. When we reached the loading queue, I had had enough. I couldn't do it.
We sent my Dad and Uncle on ahead and my Mother and I retraced our steps back down the corridor. I felt bad that I was depriving her of the ride, but she was an awesome mom and very supportive. Hilariously now, but terrifyingly back then, when we reached the entrance, the doors were closed. We had been the last granted admittance and they had closed the doors behind us. At this point, I'm about in full freakout mode as I think I have no choice but to ride the roller coaster in order to exit. My Mother and I once again head down the long corridor as she assures me that they can't MAKE me ride the coaster.
When we arrive at the gate, we tell our tale of woe and are introduced to the full wisdom of Disney: the chicken-out door. On most Disney rides, there's an exit that the faint-of-heart can take before entering the ride proper. Even the Haunted Mansion has one. The cool thing about it is that if you just want to see the marvelous interiors of attractions you don't want to ride, you can go through the queue and then "chicken-out". (Disney actually encouraged walkthroughs on Space Mountain because of the coolness of the interior, though we didn't know it at the time.) We did this a few years ago to see the interiors of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. My ten year old self was immensely relieved and we arrived in time to photograph my Uncle and Father coming off the coaster.
Very coolly, as you left Space Mountain, you rode on a moving sidewalk that took you past the RCA "Home of Future Living", a series of rooms with animatronic people living awesome futuristic lives. That display is no longer there so I'm really glad I got to see it. Here's a page with a really good summary and some pictures.
That chickening-out was one of the most memorable moments of my life. I really felt I'd let myself down, but in subsequent trips to Disney I was never able to conquer that fear and ride on Space Mountain.
Which brings us to last summer.
Aside from immense age and (some) additional wisdom, I've become a bit more brave in dealing with Disney coasters. I rode Disney World's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad a few years ago (after a similar "chickening out" experience) and loved it so much that I rode it a half dozen times. This time, last summer, on our first trip to Disneyland, I was determined to ride Space Mountain.
Another tool I didn't have as a kid was the Internet. Thanks to the Internet one can now ride Space Mountain through YouTube. In fact, almost every coaster and ride at every theme park is represented on YouTube by a first-person front seat view video. In addition, there is a really cool virtual ride-through at Spacestation77.com. After watching the ride-through simulation - there's even a version with the lights on - I knew I could handle the real thing. Especially since, at a top speed of around 35 mph, it's a relatively slow coaster.
The first night we were in Disneyland, we determined to give it a go. Fittingly, it was late in the evening when we headed to Tomorrowland. We arrived at Space Mountain to find the worst case scenario; the ride had broken down. But there was word it would be up again soon so we decided to ride something else and try again afterwards. Unfortunately, the worser case scenario presented itself - we were right next to the "nostalgia" showing of Michael Jackson's 3-D film, Captain EO. Oy, was that corny.
After Captain EO, we found that Space Mountain had reopened and there was only a very short line! Hooray, instant Karmic reward for sitting through Captain EO!
We waited a bit in a line and finally made it onto the ride. I was exultant as we reached the top of the lift hill and entered into the cavernous dark interior, stars and planets visible all around us. Following a countdown, we launched. After we hit the first curve, realizing that being in the dark made the ride seem a lot faster, I yelled "Curse you, Internet!"
I loved it. We rode it again a couple of nights later.
So I accomplished a lifelong ambition. I rode Space Mountain. Of course, the Disneyland and Disney World Space Mountains aren't the same coaster. So technically I rode A Space Mountain, not The Space Mountain.
That challenge awaits another day. I have no doubt I'll meet it.
Okay, this is long overdue. Following is the rest of our California vacation summary. Here's the first part.
I'll get to the life-long goal previously mentioned in the first part (hopefully BEFORE the end of my life).
On Tuesday, we took the Warner Brothers Studio tour. We wanted to tour one of the studios and were told that the WB tour was the best. We saw no reason to doubt, as it was tremendous. The lot was strangely quiet which was interesting. Our tour guide was informed, interesting and smart. We had a great time.
We saw the set of Two and a Half Men which we don't watch, and went onto the set of Chuck which we do watch. It was very cool being on the set of a TV show you've watched many times. We saw the exterior of the morgue from Pushing Daisies. We saw the area where they shot the T-Rex chase in Jurassic Park and we sat on the couch from Central Perk on Friends.
Most cooly, we went into a small house that's been used for all kinds of shows. As we looked up a staircase with a landing at the top and a room to our right, our tour guide told us that it had been used as Ross and Monica's parent's house in the video where Rachel's date doesn't show up for the prom and Ross is encouraged to take her. As soon as he said it, we recognized the set. That's one of Friend's best episodes and one of our personal favorites. And we were where they filmed it. Sweet.
Our guide on the Friends' stairs.
Afterwards, I suggested we check out the Griffith Observatory, which has been used in tons of movies, most notably Rebel Without a Cause, and most recently, Transformers. Thanks to the GPS, we had no problem finding it. The observatory sits on hills overlooking the entire city. Unfortunately, the lot was full so we had to park down the ways a bit and walk quite a distance up hill. Ben was less than enthusiastic.
But boy, we were glad we did. The view of Los Angeles was spectacular (see below). The observatory itself was wonderful. They had just finished a multi-million dollar renovation so there were many modern astronomical exhibits. It was a great find and well worth spending more time than we did.
After the observatory, we returned to Disneyland where we spent the rest of our trip. We visited both Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure over the next three days. More on that later.
This is Ray Bass of WFSH, your roving reporter. Today I’m here outside the Grotto, hoping to get an interview with the King’s youngest daughter. And wait! Here she is!
Princess! Princess! Ray Bass from your WFSH morning show. Do you mind sharing a few words with our audience?
Sure, Ray. I’d be delighted.
Thanks, Princess. First off, let me say that our listeners are big fans! And they’re really looking forward to your first concert next month.
Thanks, Ray. I’m just happy to be -- what’s the word? -- oh, yes, performing.
We all love the royal family and your sisters certainly have quite a lot of talent, but word is that you’re something special.
That’s nice of you to say.
Say, Princess, what’s that gizmo you’re holding?
Oh, this? Isn’t it neat? I found it near the spring. It’s for my collection.
I thought your collection was complete.
Shh! Don’t tell my father, but I’m always looking for more. Say, would you like it? I have twenty-one of these thingamabobs.
Why, thanks, Princess!
No big deal, Ray. Since the loss of my mother, my collection has given me a lot of comfort. It really makes me feel good to find some new whozit or whatzit for study. Now if you’ll excuse me, I really must be going.
We appreciate your talking with us, your Highness. You’re certainly the girl who has everything.
Well, listeners, that’s it for today’s show. Join me tomorrow as I look into rumors of a secret crab infestation in the Royal Palace. Scuttlebutt is that the King’s even appointed one of the filthy buggers to be his court musician. More on this scandal, tomorrow.
Star Tours is a Star Wars-themed simulator ride. Passengers board a “shuttle” for a leisurely tour of the Forest Moon of Endor when the whacky droid piloting the shuttle accidently steers into an ongoing attack on a Death Star. The first time we rode, I noticed the droid laughing nervously a lot and saying things like “Heh heh. I meant to do that.” When we debarked, I told the family that it seemed like the droid was doing a Pee Wee Herman impression. The next time we rode, everyone agreed. One wiki search later and I was proven right. Paul Reubens did the voice of the droid.
Additional (hysterical) revelation - Some Star Wars fans have gone to great lengths (somewhat unsuccessfully) to fit the Star Tours storyline of an attack on a Death Star into the Star Wars canon.
Great African buffet. Everything we tried was unusual and good. We should’ve gone back for a second meal. We went to several of the higher end Disney restaurants and while all were good, this was the most memorable.
Really. Of course, it helped that he was able to see amazing animatronics of his three favorite Presidents. # 3 Abraham Lincoln, #2 William Howard Taft, and his favorite President, #1 Richard Nixon. Really.
At Epcot, there’s an attraction that used to be called “The Living Seas” which includes a huge aquarium. They rethemed it recently to be a Finding Nemo attraction. They still have the aquarium with boatloads of live marine life, but the Finding Nemo theme makes it more accessible to youngsters. One of the new elements is “Turtle Talk with Crush” a live, face to face conversation with the sea turtle, Crush. The kids sit in front of a huge screen showing what looks to be part of the aquarium. Crush swims on screen and actually converses with the kids asking and answering questions. He does this in the Crush voice, in real time. The graphics and sound seem to be generated on the fly with no lag. It was quite impressive and very funny.
I’ve been to WDW maybe a dozen times and never ventured over to Tom Sawyer Island. It’s a big island, accessible only by raft, with walking trails, fake caves and mines to explore, and a fort with guns you can shoot. It’s well detailed and was doubtless a huge draw years ago. For today’s kids, it’s probably a little too old-fashioned.
Some years ago, Coca Cola set up a temporary exhibit of sodas from around the world. This seems to have become a permanent part of Epcot because they’ve moved into an actual building. In Club Cool, you can sample as much of the international sodas as you like. They have a variety of flavors from an excellent red pop from Costa Rica, a vegetable soda from Japan to an amazingly bitter and horrific entry from Italy called Beverly. It’s a lot of fun to try the different sodas and it costs nothing to drink as much as you want.
And that's my Disney report. It was a great vacation. I can't wait until our next visit.
The Haunted Mansion is my favorite theme park ride ever; nothing else even comes close. The Pirates of the Caribbean and Mission Space are great, but neither matches the scale and detail of the Haunted Mansion.
The complete ride takes up to twenty minutes from when you enter the mansion and the sound, visual effects and attention to detail are spectacular. Even the attendants for the ride are themed, having the unsmiling look, wardrobe and demeanor of Lurch from the Addam’s family. I was disappointed that by the end of our vacation we had only ridden it four times.
The unquestioned highlight of the ride is watching rooms in front of you fill up with partying, dancing, cavorting ghosts which fade in and out of existence, looking very real. Most people think that Disney is using holograms, when in fact this particular visual effect, Pepper’s Ghost, was created in the nineteenth century!
WDW recently upgraded the ride, adding some new effects and improving old ones. Without exception, the upgrades were excellent. In the seance room, Madame Leota’s talking head in a crystal ball no longer sits on the table, but floats three feet above the table. The attic scenery is much improved with multiple portraits of bridal couples in which the grooms' heads disappear. The ghostly bride looks scarier than ever and an axe materializes in her hands! They also got rid of the cheesy spiders and added a room full of Escher-esque staircases. If you’re going to update a classic ride, this was definitely the way to do it.
If you’d like more info on the Haunted Mansion, including behind the scenes secrets, check out Doombuggies.com. If you haven't ever seen the Haunted Mansion, plan your next vacation now!
I usually gain weight whenever we go on vacation. We have to eat out a lot (since our kitchen doesn't fit into our luggage) and that spells weight gain. Since Carol made reservations at several of the nicer WDW restaurants, I was concerned that I’d come home looking like the Staypuft Marshmallow Man. And we did eat quite well.
What I didn’t count on was all the exercise I’d be getting.
I’ve kept a pedometer on my shoe for several months now. On an average work day, I walk from 5000 to 6000 steps, about 3 miles of walking. After visiting the Magic Kingdom on our second day, I was shocked to see that I’d walked over 24,000 steps, equaling about 11.6 miles! And that wasn’t even the most I walked. One day we went to Epcot during the day and then park-hopped to the Magic Kingdom that evening and I walked over 26,000 steps! Full results are below.
For Monday, it's either Epcot or Blizzard Beach. I really love Epcot and I'm looking forward to Mission Space again. I'm also trying to screw up my courage to go on Test Track.
Our schedule for today, the Magic Kingdom! The Haunted Mansion is my favorite ride anywhere, so I'm looking forward to riding it several times. We'll also visit Tom Sawyer's Island, which I've never done before.
Yes, I'm on vacation, and so does the weight gain begin. Ugh.
I always considered Florida to be more sophistimicated than the rest of the south. Certainly, it's no Alabama or Mississippi. But judging from the rampant anti-abortion billboards and the omni-present biblical quotes, it would seem to be just as fundamentalist as any state in the South. Eye-opening, to say the least.
Tomorrow we visit Silver Springs with my Aunt and Uncle. My Aunt is confined to a wheelchair; this type of sightseeing will hopefully be easy enough for her to handle. Ben is really looking forward to the alligators.
For the third time, we're taking the Auto Train to Florida. It's a fantastic way to travel and very enjoyable. The entire trip takes about 17 hours. You have dinner on the train, go to bed, have breakfast and arrive around 9AM in Florida.
When this posts, we should be moving inexorably down the east coast in a very comfortable state room. Ah . . .
We're off! We'll be visiting relatives in Florida and then heading for 8 nights at Disney World. Since it's pretty much our favorite place on the planet, we should have a good time. We're pretty excited about it.
I'll try to post every now and then, but it will certainly be very sporadically if at all.
