Daily Reports

Okay, so here are our daily reports, at least what I can remember at this point. Some of these were written recently. Others were written shortly after we get back. Hopefully I'll point out most of the cool stuff, but if there's something you think I'm forgetting, that you're curious about, feel free to shoot us an email. There's a link on our home page.

Day 1 (Friday): Travel Day – We didn’t do much in the way of cool stuff the first day. We left about 11am and headed south. Originally we planned on driving as far as Georgia on Friday, then finish the trip down on Saturday. As the trip got closer, my wife found out she would have a short schedule on Friday, so we decided to change our plans and drive all the way to Kissimmee in one day. We didn’t try to surprise the kids with much about the trip, but we did keep the fact that we were driving straight through from them.

Neither one of them had a clue until we stopped at the Florida welcome station. They were both surprised and curious that we were in Florida already. We were a little disappointed that we arrived at the welcome station 5 minutes after they closed up the juice station. This meant we wouldn't get our "liquid sunshine" at the border. As we sat outside at the rest area, I told the kids I was thinking about driving all the way to Kissimmee, so we could get an early start at Disney on Saturday. I asked if they minded, of course the answer was no. With that we got back on the road and arrived at the Motel 6 in Kissimmee right outside the Disney gates around 9:45pm.

Day 2 (Saturday): Check in at Pop Century, EPCOT & Magic Kingdom – After grabbing breakfast at the Ponderosa buffet by our motel, we headed over to the Pop Century resort. During our planning we saw that you can show up any time the day you check in and enjoy the parks the entire day. You can check in and they'll even hold your luggage, if you need them to. From there you take off and have fun.

With that in mind, we arrived at Pop Century early. They gave us our welcome package and our tickets to the park and gave us a card with a number to call after 3pm. At that time they would verify our room was ready and tell us which room we were in. We parked the Jeep and jumped on the bus headed to EPCOT.

We were in the park just after 9am, so we got a lot done. We rode Spaceship Earth (the ride up in the big ball) first, and then headed over to Mission Space. Mission Space is the newest thrill ride at EPCOT. You’re loaded into a centrifuge, four per capsule for your "Mission" to Mars. Each person is given a job with 2 buttons they have to push during the flight. The “launch” of the spaceship is very realistic as they spin up the capsule. From there they take you through a slingshot launch where you pull enough G force that you could feel your face sagging. A few more maneuvers, a crash landing and you’re done.

I read varying opinions on Mission Space. Personally I'm not much of a thrill ride person, but I decided to try this one with everyone else. It was cool, but I was glad I didn't eat right before the ride. The spinning definitely gets to your stomach, but for all of us, the feeling was short lived. As we were walking into Mission Space, we got a cool surprise; Mickey Mouse was coming out to visit in his space suit. I had never really seen characters at EPCOT, so we hadn’t even gotten the kids their autograph books yet. We did get pictures, though, and it was a nice "welcome to The World."

Next, we got a Fast Pass for Test Track and got a bonus Fast Pass for Honey I shrunk the audience. This was our first trip where Fast Pass was available. In general the crowds are light in October, but we still used Fast Pass to our advantage. Overall, it's a very cool option. We had enough time to do the World of Energy, before we went over to do Honey I shrunk the audience.

I have to say I personally was a little disappointed with the World of Energy. The new World of Energy features Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye "the science guy." I guess the kids liked it, but I felt the political correctness of the ride's makeover was a bit over the top for me.

After the World of Ellen, we headed over to see Honey I shrunk the audience, one of several 3-D interactive attractions. We enjoy the 3-D shows and now that they throw "other surprises" in, they're even more entertaining. While we were in the area, we did Journey to Imagination (we were glad to see Figment was back), then we headed over to the Land. In the Land, we rode Listen to the Land and ate lunch. I like to hit the Land for lunch because they've always had a good food court there. There's a wide variety of foods to chose from, so everyone gets something they like.

After lunch,  it was time for our ride on Test Track. Test track is pretty cool; you get to do some different test maneuvers as take your turn as a crash test dummy. After the basic maneuvers, the car goes into high speed mode and they take you out for some 60 mph runs on the banked track.

Our next plan was to head back to Germany. We have a friend who does a big Oktoberfest every year and this year’s party was on the Saturday we got to Disney. We decided we would get an excused absence if we had a beer in "Germany" and give them a call from the park. We got two nice big Franziskaner Weissbiers in souvenir mugs and took pictures as we called into the party. Apparently they were having a good time, ‘cause we got their voicemail. Mmmmm, that was some good beer.

We still had a little time before we could check on the room, so we wandered the rest of the way around the World Showcase. We got pictures of the kids with the live statue in Italy. The camera was slow and didn’t catch her grabbing our son by the shirt, but you can see him laughing in the picture. Since we were "in the neighborhood," we also had to stop by France for a pastry.

After that we headed up to guest relations and used the Mickey Phone to check on our room. It was ready, so we headed back to Pop Century. I couldn’t wait to let the kids ride the monorail, so we took the monorail to the Transportation Ticket Center, then a bus to the resort. When we got back to the resort, we grabbed our stuff and headed to the room. We took a few minutes to check out the room then headed to the Magic Kingdom.

By the time we got to the Magic Kingdom, it was getting late, but we did run back and ride the Jungle Boat (I like getting to ride that one at least once at night). Then we hit Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion. After the rides, we had just enough time to find a spot to watch Wishes.

Wishes is Disney’s newest fireworks show. Cinderella’s castle is the center piece of the show complete with lights illuminating the castle, music and fireworks. Tinker Bell even flies from a tower on the castle. It was a great show with many classic Disney songs and it really made us feel like we had made it to Disney.

After the show we caught the bus to the resort. When we got back to Pop, we picked up our all you can drink cups (each resort offers cups for about $10 each that allow you unlimited drink refills for your entire trip). You have your choices of water, tea, soft drinks, coffee and the kids’ favorite – frozen slurpee drinks. We enjoyed our drinks and called it a night.

Click here for a few more pictures of Day 2 (warning dial-up connections will be slow to load this page).

Day 3 (Sunday): MGM Studios - We got up early and had breakfast at Everything Pop’s food court. We really enjoyed the fact that we could all pick from different menu stations then meet and pay in one location. We were also pleasantly surprised with how good the food in the food court was. After breakfast, we jumped on a bus to MGM.

My wife and kids were really excited about MGM because they are into the wild rides. I’m not, but don’t mind wandering and people watching while they have their fun. We got to MGM right before it opened, so we headed straight back to Tower of Terror and Rockin’ Rollercoaster. We were able to get them a fast pass on Tower of Terror and they only had a 10 minute wait for Rockin’ Rollercoaster.

While they did those rides, I headed back to "Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Play it" to see if we could get a fast pass there. I had to laugh because the cast member at the Millionaire attraction said they didn’t have fast passes at that ride any longer, “the machines blew away in the hurricanes.” I don't want to make light of those who had damage during the storms, but I did get an amusing vision of someone in Florida with a new fast pass machine in their yard.

I headed back to meet my wife and kids and picked up a fast pass for the Little Mermaid Show. I got the quick update on the rides I didn't ride. They enjoyed both of the rides. I think the consensus was that they loved Rockin’ Rollercoaster. They were not as thrilled with Tower of Terror, but said it was pretty fun.

We headed back to the other end of the park and walked into our showing of the Little Mermaid. It was a nice show with some nifty special effects and music. After Mermaid, we got to Millionaire as they were seating for the next show.

We also had a good time at Millionaire, although none of us did that great on the answers. It’s pretty cool that everyone gets to play along and everyone in the show has a chance at the “hot seat.” From Millionaire, we stopped by to see Sorcerer Mickey. There was a short line, but the kids had to get their first Mickey signature.

Our next stop was the Back lot tour. You get to see some pretty cool special effects presentations on the backstage tour as well as some movie props and such. They do a quick stunt scene with explosions and such, then you head back to ride through the back lot. During the ride you see another special effects show. In this "scene" you see some explosions that get washed away with a huge waterfall, and you're right in the middle of the action.

As you exit the backstage tour, you end up in the mini New York City. The forced perspective setup is impressive with all the typical Disney attention to detail. We also saw where they are adding a mini San Francisco and Chicago, too. They were also decorating the "cities," getting ready to put up Christmas lights.

Our next attraction was Muppetvision 3-D. We enjoy the 3-D shows and the Muppet show was no exception. As we left the Muppet ride, we saw Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Jessie at Al’s toy barn. While my wife and kids were waiting in line, I ran over to Pizza Planet and got us a snack pizza (so we completed the whole Toy Story theme). On my way over, I passed the Mama Melrose’s restaurant, man did it smell good! We decided we would have to plan a meal there some time.

After seeing the Toy Story characters, we headed over to ride Star Tours. Star Tours is one of the simulator type rides where a new "pilot" takes you on an adventure. We all enjoyed it. After Star Tours, we went across the park to get in line for the Beauty and the Beast show. The show was a Broadway style show and was very well done.

When the show was over, it was time for our priority seating at Hollywood and Vine. As I mentioned before, the H&V buffet was out of this world and we had one of our best servers there. We even got the kids some glow in your drink ice cubes.

After dinner we did the Great Movie ride, where you “ride through” some classic movie sets. It was very entertaining. As we exited that ride, we saw the characters were out, so we had to get pictures of my wife and kids with Pooh and Tigger. It turns out the characters are out on a regular schedule around the big sorcerer's hat each day. The lines form pretty fast, though, so you need to choose fast if you want to see more than one group of characters.

From there we headed over to see Fantasmic, which, as I mentioned before, was an awesome show. After the show we caught the bus back to the resort. This was the first time the kids got to see how housekeeping arranged their stuffed animals in the room while we were gone. Each day they did something different, so even coming back to the room was an event every night.

Before we went to bed, the kids wanted to swim, so we let them. It was a little cool for me, so I didn’t stay in long, but they enjoyed it. End of day 3, time for bed.

Click here for a few more pictures of Day 3 (warning dial-up connections will be slow to load this page).

Day 4 (Monday): Animal Kingdom & Downtown Disney - We were up early Monday for our first character breakfast. Some of my family visited Disney last year and highly recommended the Chef Mickey breakfast at the Contemporary resort. It was a great buffet and we were impressed at how the characters really took their time to visit the kids, even though they are pressed to hit every table in a timely fashion. It was cool how they had fun and didn’t make you feel like you were rushed.

After breakfast, we headed over to the Animal Kingdom. It turns out that even though we planned for rain, we didn’t really plan for a typhoon. Well, not a typhoon, but it was the remnants of a tropical storm. Fortunately it was warm, but we did get soaked this day.

The good thing is we did get a chance to do most of the shows, with the light crowd. We saw the Bug’s life 3-D show. It’s a very fun adventure with lots of interactive surprises. You also get some good views of the tree of life as you wait in line for the bugs.

From there, we headed over to see the Lion King. This was by far our favorite show of the trip. The singing, costumes and performances were top notch. My daughter even got to lead our group in making some Lion sounds.

After Lion King, we stopped off and let the kids see Lilo and Stitch, then my daughter wanted to get a hair wrap. The young girl who helped her made amazingly quick work of wrapping a few strands of hair with colored string and beads. My daughter was happy, so we were happy.

As we headed to the Tarzan Rocks show the rain really started to come down. We didn’t realize it at first, but we got lucky. Just after they let us in to sit down under the covered pavilion, the sky opened up and it poured. We enjoyed the Tarzan show. It was kind of like seeing a rock concert, but lacked a little of the punch of a real concert.

The rest of the day we saw on and off rain, but nothing as heavy as we did during Tarzan. We figured while we were wet, we’d head back and ride the Kali river rapids. It was pretty much your typical tube ride with a few added Disney effects. You do get soaked on the rapids (not that we really noticed), but for future reference, you will get wet.

From Kali we walked over and rode the Kilimanjaro safari. We were very impressed with the safari and the number of animals we got to see. From what I understand, this doesn’t happen all the time.

It was getting late, but we had a little time to kill, so we hitched a ride on the train that takes you back to Rafiki’s planet watch. Unfortunately, all we did there was get right back on the train and head back to “civilization” and dinner. On our way to the front of the park we caught the end of the parade. We followed the tail end of the parade and "danced" our way to the front of the park and dinner at the Rainforest café.

The Rainforest café is at the front of the park and with its jungle theme it really fits well in the park. The food was very good and fortunately we took some good advice and shared meals. The portions were huge, especially the Volcano!!! A volcano is basically a chocolate volcano made of cake, ice cream, hot fudge, more chocolate, more cake, more hot fudge and it's huge. It took the four of us on and won, but we hurt it in the process. <grin>

Animal Kingdom closes pretty early in October, so after dinner we caught a bus back to the room and put on dry clothes. One other thing we did to plan for wet weather was to each bring an extra set of tennis shoes. Boy were we glad for that, dry shoes and dry underwear feel so good after being wet all day. <big grin>

Feeling revived, we caught a bus to Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney is a big shopping/entertainment area that is divided into 3 areas. There's one area that's primarily made up of Disney and toy shops. There's Pleasure Island, which is more of a club scene thing with night clubs, restaurants and bars. Then there's another area with more shopping, CD stores and such. Disney Quest is on that end as well.

We didn’t really get any time for Pleasure Island this trip. It looked like a good time, but with the kids there and having been up all day, we weren’t really in a clubbing mood. The shops at Downtown Disney are impressive, to say the least. There are Disney art shops, toy stores, a Lego store and more. There was also a big record store and other stores with stuff we see every day, so we didn’t fool with them.

By the time we got to the end where Disney Quest was, we were about out of time, but we got to go in and try a couple of the “games.” The games at Disney Quest are like video games you ride and participate in. We did one where you "rode" on one of Aladdin's magic carpets with a 3-D helmet and chased the bad guys. We also rode in an inflatable raft that took us down a roaring river. It looked like something we would like to try again, but never made it back during this trip.

It was getting late, so we caught a bus back to the resort. We let the kids get their drink cups and Mom and Dad had a beer by the pool. End of day 4, pooped again, time for bed.

Click here for a few more pictures of Day 4 (warning dial-up connections will be slow to load this page).

Day 5 (Tuesday): Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon & EPCOT - We had a last minute change in plans when the typhoon hit on Day 4. Originally we planned two separate days at the water parks, but considering we lost some time at the Animal Kingdom, we decided to combine our water park days into one.

We hopped on a bus and started out at Blizzard Beach. It was still a little cloudy early in the day, but it was plenty warm to enjoy the water rides.

My wife and kids headed off first thing to tackle the big slides. My son did Summit Plummet, the world's tallest and fastest free-fall body slide, at a height of 120 feet. The girls opted for the Slush Gusher, a "mild" 90 foot drop. I opted to sit and watch. <grin>

From there, we hit Teamboat springs, a family sized tube ride. Teamboat ended up being one of our favorites and we returned to ride it several more times through the morning.

We hit pretty much all of the rides and enjoyed them all. Our other favorite ended up being the Toboggan Racers. With my size and weight, I found I could dominate these races, although my wife and kids kept trying to keep up. We tried the racers several more times before we decided to head over to Typhoon Lagoon.

I have to say that while the theme of Blizzard Beach was fun, we really liked the "look" of Typhoon Lagoon. You really had the feeling you were on a tropical island at the Lagoon. The wave pool also really felt like you were at the ocean. We tried pretty much all of the attractions, but to be honest, though, we really liked the rides much better at Blizzard Beach.

In the end, we decided that if we were going to go for a day of relaxing "by the beach" our choice would be Typhoon Lagoon. On the other hand, if we were looking for a day of fun water rides, Blizzard Beach would be our choice. Your mileage may vary.

Later in the afternoon, it was time to head back to the room and get ready for dinner. We had a priority seating at one of my favorite restaurants, the Biergarten. I love German food and going to Oktoberfest, so the restaurant gives you the best of both worlds. They offer out of this world German food and beer. They also do a traditional style Oktoberfest show.

The Biergarten had changed (for the better in my opinion) since my last visit. Where this used to be a sit down dinner in the past, it is now a buffet. There was great food, salad, cold cuts and cheese and wonderful desserts. We enjoyed some nice big Weissbiers, sang, danced and had a grand time.

After dinner, we headed back to the front of EPCOT to watch Illuminations. I have to say that I was mildly disappointed with Illuminations. I remember when Illuminations was the first laser, fireworks and music show. I guess it has to change, but I didn't feel it was near the show it used to be. It also has a hard time competing with Fantasmic and Wishes. In my Disney wish book, I'd like to see the imagineers put a little more effort into bringing back Illuminations to the show it used to be.

With all the time at the water parks, we really didn't get a ton a pictures on Day 5, so we'll call it a night and get ready for Day 6.

Day 6 (Wednesday): Breakfast with Cinderella & Magic Kingdom - Today we started with breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table. As I said on our food page, this meal was well worth all the trouble you take to get priority seating. The breakfast itself is a plated all you can eat, meaning they bring out your main breakfast, along with fruit and other fresh items, then you can have re-orders of whatever you want.

I just can't say enough about the "princesses." The way they make time for every child, every picture is great. They also each carry themselves as the princess they are playing. Even Mary Poppins made you feel like adventures in London were right around the corner.

We finished our breakfast and headed out to the rides in the Magic Kingdom. Our timing couldn't have been better this entire day. I was frankly amazed with how much we got done. The only places we didn’t make it to were Mickey’s Toontown Fair, the Walt Disney World Railroad and Buzz Lightyear.

The kids did the Dumbo ride (probably for their last time), then we headed over to ride Cinderella's carousel. Next we did Snow White's Scary Adventures, followed by the Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and the Mad Tea Party. After spinning my son on the Tea Party <big grin>, we went to see PhillharMagic. PhillharMagic was our favorite of the 3-D shows, the music and special effects were very well done.

From PhillharMagic, we made another trip to the Haunted Mansion, another one of my favorites. I was glad to see my kids enjoyed it as much as I did. After the Mansion, we saw the Hall of Presidents, then it was time for some Mickey Ear ice cream bars. Mmmmm. After our snack, we took a ride on the big paddle boat around Tom Sawyer's Island. From there we did the Country Bear Jamboree.

My wife and kids were very lucky and got to ride Splash Mountain next. We had picked up a fast pass for Splash Mountain, but it kept going down all day. We caught it running, towards the end of their fast pass and it seemed to work just long enough for them to ride.

After Splash Mountain, we all rode Big Thunder Mountain. Big Thunder Mountain is one of the few roller coasters I really enjoy. That must mean it's at least a little lame, but we had fun.

Our next attraction was Tom Sawyer Island. It's been a while since we took the time to visit Tom's Island. It's pretty time consuming if you're only at the Magic Kingdom for a day or so, but we had the time, so we wandered around the island for a while, exploring and having fun.

Next we did the Enchanted Tiki Room "Under new management." I have to say that I was not enchanted with the new Tiki room. I liked the old show and was disappointed with the new antics. I realize things have to change, but it left me wondering if it wouldn't be possible to have a retro show every couple of hours, for us old folks who remember when.

Next we did the Swiss Family Tree house. I haven't been in the tree house since one of my first visits. Like Tom Sawyer Island, it's not something you'll want to do every time, but it's worth a visit. It does offer some nice aerial views of Tomorrow Land. Something that you used to get with the Sky Ride. After the tree house, we headed over to see Cinderella's surprise celebration. After the show the characters come out and it's a great time for the kids to catch up on some autographs. The show is nice, too.

After the Cinderella show we headed back to ride the Jungle Cruise. For me, I enjoy doing the Jungle Cruise once in the daylight and once at night. It gives you a chance to get two perspectives of the ride. It also gives you a couple of chances to hear the "captain's" personal goofy take on the ride.

Next, we hiked across the park and rode the Carousel of Progress. I've heard this ride may be on its way out. I know it doesn't have the flash of the new rides, but it was one of my first favorites, so it will always mean "Disney World" to me. I was glad I got to share it with my wife and kids before it meets its untimely demise.

After the carousel, we rode the People Mover (or whatever they're calling it these days). Next we rode the Tomorrow Land Speedway. Again, this was one of my childhood favorites, so I wanted to give my kids a chance to "drive." All I can say is I'm glad neither of them have their driver's license yet. <grin>

Our last ride of the day was Space Mountain. Space mountain presses my ride limits, but I rode it with the family. We all had a good time and were ready to head back "home" for the evening.

Click here for a few more pictures of Day 6 (warning dial-up connections will be slow to load this page).

Day 7 (Thursday): Laundry, Animal Kingdom & EPCOT - We planned Thursday as Laundry day. We knew it wouldn't make sense to carry enough clothes for 10 days. Heck, I'm not sure any of us had that many clothes. Our plan was to get up early and get the laundry started. From there, we would grab some breakfast and then let my wife and kids run around the resort complex to take some pictures.

It all worked out pretty well. It was a beautiful morning for the pictures. We were also up early enough to beat the crowds to the laundry facility. We just used the facilities at the resort. I've heard you can save a little by going off property, but we figured convenience was worth something. The facilities were also very nice and clean and all of the washers and dryers were in good repair (something you don't always get when you go looking for a laundromat). We did save some by bringing our own laundry detergent and dryer sheets. I'll pass along a cool idea we used for bringing our own soap and fabric softener, too.

We've got a food vacuum sealer, so we used that. We took 4 or 5 bags, inserted a fabric softener dryer sheet, and vacuum sealed that part of the bag. We then added a measured amount of detergent to the top of the bag, then we sealed that. This gave us one pack for each load of clothes, one end had detergent, one end had the dryer sheet. We've used this process for traveling ever since. You never know when you've got to do laundry and with the sealed bags, you can just toss a couple in the bottom of your suitcase and you're always prepared.

When we were done with laundry, it was time to head back to Animal Kingdom. After our typhoon day, it was nice to visit in the sunshine. It was a gorgeous day, so we enjoyed seeing more of the animals and just wandering the park.

We made a quick stop, after entering the park, to see Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore. Then we went back to Dynoland. Our first ride was the Primeval Whirl. The Whirl is an old school roller coaster with a new twist when your car starts to spin. It was pretty fun, even for us non-roller coaster lovers.

On our way to the next ride, we saw some street performers. The guys looked like painters and did all kinds of juggling tricks. If you get the time, stop and watch the street performers in all of the parks. They are some real talented and entertaining people.

Our next ride was the Dinosaur ride. In Dinosaur you ride in a time traveling Jeep type vehicle that takes you back to an exciting encounter with the dinosaurs. I can see this being a little scary for little ones, but we all enjoyed it.

On our way to the back of the park, we passed by the new Expedition Everest ride. The new ride is supposed to open in 2006 and looks to be another mountain themed roller coaster. Check out the Day 7 pictures link to see how it looked when we saw it.

Our next stop was the bird show at the back of the park. The show was very good. It included many birds you don't see every day. They also fly right over and around the audience. With typical Disney flair, there's comic relief along with the show, which made it entertaining for all. After the bird show, we headed back to see the Lion King show, one more time.

It was closing time again for Animal Kingdom, so we headed over to EPCOT. I wanted to go see the Living Seas. I'll have to be grumpy one more time and say I was real disappointed with the Finding Nemo make over and the fact that they did away with the ride portion of the Living Seas. What used to be a favorite of mine has been turned into something you can see at many aquariums around the country.

After seeing the Living Seas, we headed around to the back of the park and had dinner in China. I have to say, I was very impressed with the dinner there. I was afraid it would be just another Chinese dinner, but it was excellent. We had two of the dinner deals that comes with soup, an appetizer a pick of an entree and dessert. We were able to pick 3 different entrees and enjoyed them all. The Tsingtao beer was tasty, too.

After dinner, we made a quick run over to Downtown Disney for some last minute souvenirs. Then back to the room and an end to Day 7.

Click here for a few more pictures of Day 7 (warning dial-up connections will be slow to load this page).

Day 8 (Friday): Breakfast at the Crystal Palace & EPCOT (Drinking Around the World) - Friday was Mom & Dad's day. First we did the character breakfast at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. This breakfast features Winnie the Pooh and friends and my wife's favorite Disney character, besides Cinderella, is Tigger.  In hindsight we might have passed on this breakfast, had we known we would see so many of the characters through the week, but we didn't regret the breakfast at all.

The breakfast included similar fun with the characters that the other breakfasts featured. We saw Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet. We were also impressed again with the buffet. The thing that impressed me was the fact that every one of the breakfasts were completely different. There was something for everybody and it seems that you could do every one of the breakfasts and not worry about falling into a rut of the same old stuff.

To back track a bit, we saw something else this day that we've had not seen before. Since we arrived early for breakfast, we got to the Magic Kingdom before they opened. This meant we got to see the "opening ceremonies," where the Mayor of Main Street USA welcomes everyone, then the train arrives with a bunch of the characters, including Mickey & Minnie. They sing and welcome everyone to the park, then they let you in.

When they let us in the park, we had a few minutes before breakfast, so we went straight back to ride the Buzz Lightyear ride. We didn't get to this ride our previous days at the Magic Kingdom, so the kids wanted to make sure we made it this time. After the ride, it was time for breakfast.

After breakfast, it was time to head to EPCOT. We headed for the monorail and since it was a slow period, I requested a ride in the nose of the monorail. I didn't make a big deal about it to the kids, because we had not gotten a chance to do this all week, so they were very surprised when we walked all the way to the front and got in.

We had a good time, playing VIPs. It was an interesting perspective and it was interesting to talk to the driver about what they do all day. Arriving at EPCOT on the monorail also gives you a real nice overhead tour of the park, which gave us some nice picture opportunities.

Once we "landed" we headed to the back of the park to the one thing I requested to do for the week. It's called "Drinking Around the World" and I read about it on a couple of websites while we were planning our trip. The "goal" in Drinking Around the World is to make a stop in each of the countries in the World Showcase and have some sort of drink. That means 11 countries (Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, USA, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom and Canada), 11 drinks and about 9 hours to do it. Some people will consider the African Outpost a country and do 12 drinks, but we're not the drinkers we used to be, so we opted to leave that one out.

We also planned to stick to beer and wine for our "trip." This was based on some good recommendations that mentioned some people will do mixed drinks and come out completely trashed at the end of the day. We were in it for the adventure and the fun, but we wanted to remember our fun. One other thing we did, to document the event, was to pick up one of the EPCOT passport kits. We took the passport to each country and asked our bartender/server to sign our passport. We also planned to get a picture with each server.

Our first stop was in Mexico, where we each had a Dos Equis. I've had Dos Equis before, it's a pretty smooth beer so we both enjoyed it. We also rode the boat ride in Mexico. It's a nice trip through Mexico, both old world and new.

Next stop was Norway. We had Carlsburg Beer in Norway. We both found it a little bitter for our tastes, but we worked our way through it. We rode the boat ride in Norway, too. That ride is a little more exiting than the ride in Mexico because it features a water slide. It's not exactly a wild ride, but it's entertaining.

Next was China and time for a couple more Tsingtao beers. We also saw the 360 degree movie in China. This movie has always been one of my favorites. The scenery is impressive and gives an interesting perspective of the country.

Next it was on to Germany and two more of the Franziskaner Weissbiers. This was our favorite beer of the trip, so we were glad to have them one more time. The ladies in Germany also really enjoyed helping us complete our journey. Our cashier took time to write to us in German (while the grumpy lady behind us complained). Then when we asked for a picture, our server ran out from behind the bar to join us for a picture. I thought she was going to send the grumpy lady over the edge, but we were having too much fun to care and really appreciated our German friends playing along.

After Germany, it was on to Italy, where we had a couple of Moretti beers. Italian beer is okay, but was a bit of a let down after our weissbiers. Italy, like Germany does not have a ride or movie, so we wandered the shops while we enjoyed our beers, then we wandered over to the American Adventure.

The USA attraction was where we made our first mistake of the day. We arrived just in time for the the American Adventure show to start, so we hurried in, never even thinking about the fact that we were 5 beers into our day. It didn't hit us until we got into the sit down part of the show (with nice seats right in the middle of the theater), but it did hit. We both had to go to the restroom so bad and we couldn't get out without disrupting the show. Needless to say, we were in PAIN by the time the show was over. To add to the "fun," we had run back 2 countries to find a bathroom. All I can say is WHEW!!! We had to laugh afterwards, but I wasn't sure I was gonna make it to the bathroom on time.

After doing our part to raise the water level in Florida, we headed back to the USA pavilion and had a couple of Michelob Ultras. Not much adventure there, but we were ready to move forward with our task. As we arrived in Japan, we figured we'd stop in for a snack. We went to the sushi bar and enjoyed a few different kinds of sushi, along with a couple of Kirin Ichiban beers. Again, our hostess was very happy to write us a message in her native language. The sushi was also very good.

Our next stop was Morocco where we had a couple of Casa Blanca beers. This beer was not very memorable, but we did enjoy watching the belly dancing show. We were well along with our tour, but we were still doing well enough, NOT to join in with the belly dancing. Nobody needs to see me do that. <grin> After Morocco, comes France. We had to make one more stop at the pastry shop, so we decided to have a couple of white wines with our pastries. It was a nice tasty treat before we headed in to see the movie in France. The movie at France is also one of my favorites. The scenery and music almost makes you forget some of the French folks don't like us. <grin>

Well, we're on the home stretch. We arrived in the United Kingdom and headed for the Rose & Crown pub. We ordered a couple of Boddington Ales and watched Pam Brody. Pam plays piano and requests "help" with her songs. My daughter got up first and sang, so I had to go next. I butchered Heartbreak Hotel, but had fun doing so. No one threw fruit or vegetables at me, so I'll call it a success.

Our last stop was in Canada where we had two LaBlatt Blue beers and some cheddar bacon soup. I don't know if it was the beer talking, but the soup was excellent. My daughter still talks about it and she wasn't drinking, so I guess it was good. With that our mission was complete. We were still standing upright and had yet another fun day in "the World." We caught the bus "home" and hit the sack. We slept well, I'm not sure why. <big grin>

Click here to see some scanned images of our Passport from our trip around the world. (warning dial-up connections will be very slow to load this page).

Day 9 (Saturday): MGM Studios, Magic Kingdom - Just like that, after what seemed like no time to us, we were up for our last day at "the World." We had to check out before we headed to the parks, so that meant it was time to pack. We checked and double-checked to make sure we weren't leaving anything behind. Then we loaded everything in the trailer, grabbed some breakfast and dropped by the front desk to check out. It was a little bit of a downer, saying goodbye to our home for the week, but there was still fun to be had, so we didn't dwell on it.

Today's plan was to try to do some things we had missed during the week and go back and do a couple of favorites one more time. Our first stop was MGM studios where we rode Star Tours one more time. Then we headed back to see the Indiana Jones stunt show. It was a good show with the right mix of action and fun.

After the stunt show, we went to see Walt Disney: "One Man's Dream." I remember most of this exhibit being on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom and I thought it was a good thing for the kids to see. It's not a stunt spectacular but it is a very interesting perspective of how this whole thing got started. There are some nice pieces of memorabilia there, as well as a film that tells the story.

From the Disney story we went to the Bug's Life play area with the kids. While this attraction is probably more for the smaller kids, it's a pretty cool perspective with all the "huge" stuff around to walk and climb through. On our way from the play area to see Drew Carey's Sounds Dangerous, we stopped and watched "Mulch, Sweat & Shears," a musical group that starts and ends looking like a ground crew, but turns into a rock band for the show.

Next was Sounds Dangerous, a fun show where you spend most of the time in the dark and "hear" the adventure. I've heard some people who don't like the dark may not like this one. We thought it was fun. I found it somewhat reminiscent of the old Alien Encounter in Magic Kingdom, when the lights would go out in that show and they made it seem like the monster was right behind you.

Our next stop was the 50's Prime Time Cafe, for lunch. We enjoyed this meal, but wouldn't rate it as a must see. The food was good and the theme was pretty cool, with all the old stuff from the 50s. Your waitress acts as if she's your babysitter and you have to follow the rules of no fighting and no elbows on the table. Again, fun, but not as spectacular as some of our other meals this week.

Next we caught a ride over to the Ticket and Transportation Center where we headed over to ride the ferry to the Magic Kingdom. The ferry is sometimes overlooked and can be a very good alternative when you're fighting the crowds, during peak times. That was not the case for us, we were just riding this time to do something different and see some different views of the park.

When we got to the park, we took the train around the park to Mickey's Toontown Fair. This part of the park had changed significantly since the last time we were here, years ago. There are a lot more kiddy rides and the place was really a mad house. I'm sure it's great for families with small children, but we were ready to head out pretty quickly.

Next we headed over to watch Cinderella's Surprise show again. The kids were on a mission to get Donald Duck's signature. His was one of the last signatures they were looking for to complete their collection. With that mission accomplished we hit a few more repeat rides. They kind of blur together at this point, but I know we hit the Haunted Mansion one more time. My wife and kids did Space Mountain again. A couple more and it was getting late.

No one wanted to go, but it was late and we had to make Georgia before we could stop for the night. As the old cliché goes, all good things must come to an end and this was no different. We caught a bus back to the resort, got one more round of drinks in our cups, jumped in the Jeep and headed north. It's a tough feeling as you pull out of the resort for the last time, but man we had a great time.

If you've made it this far, thanks for bearing with this rambling. Click the link below for some final comments on the main Disney page. Again, I hope you enjoy this for what it is... one fan's perspectives. If you have any questions or comments on this or any other info on this site, please navigate to our home page and use the email link there to shoot us some mail. We'll be glad to get back to you.

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