DIsney Trip Report, Day 4

10.23.07

We drove over to Animal Kingdom. Dad thought we were parking in the "aardvark" section (it was actually the dinosaur section. (Dad made a good funny).

Ken and Mark went ahead to get fast passes for the safari. Mom, Dad and I caught up to them and we all headed over to Expedition Everest. Only Mark and I rode. We thought it would be quicker to get in the single rider line, but....wrong. The regular line moved quicker! Oh well. After that, we saw "Finding Nemo, the Musical," which was the first time for all of us, it just opened last year right after our last visit. When we headed back to the safari, the bird show "Flights of Wonder" was just starting, so we walked in on that. (Mom and Dad had never seen it before). There was a beautiful bespectacled owl at the end, with the biggest, round eyes.


Before we left in the afternoon, we ate lunch at the Flame Tree barbecue and rode Kilimanjaro safari.

We all went back to the room to rest up for hat evening's Halloween Party. I was able to get a little snooze in. Mark dressed as Jack Sparrow, and I was Elizabeth Swann from Pirates. Mom wore a Halloween scrub top with Mickey, Donald and Goofy on it and Dad was the "Official Candy Tester" with his Halloween stitch t-shirt. Love the Halloween party!! We get lots of candy, ride some rides and enjoy the "Boo to You" parade and the "Hallowishes" fireworks. That's my favorite parade! We all went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Mark and I went on the teacups and while we were on Winnie the Pooh as one of our last rides of the night, it started to pour! It was almost midnight by now, but it lightened up enough for us to go over to Peter Pan and ride that before the party was over.

Day 5 coming up: a pedicure, Downtown Disney marketplace, and the Studios again.

Disney Trip Report, Day 3

10.22.07

We started our day at the Studios. But before we even got there, we received some Disney magic from a stranger. While we were waiting at the bus stop, another guy there saw Ken wearing his Columbus Blue Jackets shirt and gave Ken some fast passes for the Studios (any ride) good until the end of the month. A manager he knows there gave him some and he wasn't able to use them. He was from Columbus too, so that's why he gave them to Ken. We thought that was really nice. Tower of Terror, Rock 'n Roller Coaster...here we come!

We were in the Studios and walking down the street towards the Sorcerer hat when we were stopped by a policeman, looking for a wanted fugitive. (See above). We thought it kind of looked like Dad, but the cop decided to let us go. ("Sir, when was the last time you were this thin?") Guess it wasn't Dad.

Mark, Dad, Ken and I hit Tower of Terror first thing, and then Mark and I hit Rock 'n Roller Coaster. We also saw the Beauty and the Beast show, which had never seen before. Lunch was at the Backlot Express. I had a grilled vegetable sandwich which was really good! We saw Muppets 4-D and also just made it into the Indiana Jones stunt show (practically standing room only!) Mark, Dad and I hit Tower of Terror one more time before we left to head over to the Contemporary. We actually got there early, so we found some lounge chairs in the shade by the pool and relaxed until dinner.

Dinner was at Chef Mickey's. It's character dining with buffet. Our priority seating was for 5:10 and it was a good time to go. They were just opening for dinner. And boy was it a good dinner! There was prime rib, salad bar, shrimp, penne pasta, parmesan mashed potatoes, glazed baby carrots, so much to choose from and it was all really good! But my favorite were the desserts, especially the oreos with chocolate mickey ears on top. Loved those!! I think it was a favorite meal of everybody's. And we got lots of pictures with the characters, they all came around twice. There was Donald, Mickey, Pluto, Goofy and we got a group picture with Minnie on the way out.

That night was Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom, so we caught the monorail over there. We saw a lot of the Tomorrowland attractions, first thing was Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. When the show was just starting, Dad was on the video screen as "the guy who would treat everyone to churros." We also did Buzz Lightyear, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and Mark and I went on Space Mountain (always one of my favorites). We also saw the newly enhanced Haunted Mansion, and I really liked the additions, especially the rooms with all the crossing staircases. There's even glowing footsteps walking up and down them. We did Mickey's Philharmagic and Splash Mountain too. And Mark and I both took lots of pictures with our cameras, seeing how our pictures would come out at night, of the castle, main street, out front by the train station. It's beautiful at night with all the lights.

Day 4 coming up: Animal Kingdom and Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.

Disney Trip Report, Day 2

10.21.07

Our day at Universal. We started off in the Studios side, and headed straight back to check out the wait for "The Mummy." It said only 10 minutes, so Mark and I went in while Mom, Dad and Ken waited outside. It actually took longer, probably around half an hour by the time we got out of there. It still wasn't that bad, but we only got to ride once. Still a good ride, great special effects. Next, we went on "Jaws" and then Mark, Dad and I went on "Men In Black." We walked around the park, checked out the "Kwik-E-Mart" store with the Simpsons stuff (they're building a new Simpsons ride), even got a picture with Homer and Marge. Had lunch at Mel's Drive-In. And last but not least, saw "Shrek 4-D."

Then we headed over to Islands of Adventure. Mark and I were able to ride "The Hulk" right away, less than a 10 minute wait, which was great. Ken, Mark, Dad and I went on Dr. Doom's Fear Fall, and then Ken, Mark and I went on "Spider Man." Just after we got off that, the rain came. It poured for a little bit and we got the ponchos out. When it lightened up enough (and even eventually stopped) we started making our circle around the park. We were in Toon Lagoon and getting the people on "Bluto's Barges" wet with the water sprays and Mark and I decided we'd go on the water ride too, but they shut the ride down just as we were going to go on because of lightning in the area. Bummer. :( So we started walking again, and next ride we came upon "Jurassic Park" was closed too. We thought then we'd catch the Sinbad show, but that was cancelled too. So next was "Poseidon's Fury" and that was actually open! The last few times we've visited it's been closed and Mark had never seen it, so Mark finally got to see it this trip. When it came to exit, it was pouring again!! The downpour didn't last too long, and when it lightened up enough, we walked through Dr. Suess towards the front again. Mark, Ken and I rode "Spider Man" one more time before we headed out of the park and into Citywalk.

Dinner was at Bubba Gump, where we were hoping there wouldn't be too long of a wait. We were really surprised when they told us it would only be a 5-10 minute wait. It didn't even take that! It was a really good dinner, and we had a really nice waitress who took good care of us. That was a fun dinner. Mom and Ken had fish & chips, Mar and Dad had bourbon mahi mahi and I had coconut fried shrimp. Yummm... Did some shopping afterwards at the store there (I got a sweatshirt and a glass, Mark got a t-shirt, and Ken got a t-shirt too) and then at Margaritaville (Ken and Dad both got t-shirts here).

Headed back to Saratoga Springs after all that, and Mark and I decided to take a walk over to Downtown Disney. I'd say it took us about 15-20 minutes to get over there. The longest part was just walking through the hotel grounds to get to the walkway by the lake. Once you got to the edge of the resort, it was a quick walk over a bridge and you were right by the entrance by the scrapbook store (my favorite!). We had time enough to the check out that store, the Team Disney store and the World of Disney store. We caught the last boat of the night (11:00pm) at the dock there to take us back to Saratoga Springs. It was a nice boat ride, and it was a quick walk back to our room where the boat dropped us off.

Day 3 coming up: Disney-MGM Studios, Chef Mickey's and extra magic hours at the Magic Kingdom.

Disney Trip Report, Day 1

10.20.07

We arrived in Orlando around 11am from our 9am flight and went right to Saratoga Springs to check-in. Our room wasn't ready, so we got a bite to eat there at Artist's Palette and then went to Winn-Dixie for some grocery shopping. We dropped the groceries off in our now-ready 2 bedroom villa (ground floor, right by the parking lot - nice), and rested a little. Mom and Dad made use of the patio and while they were sitting out there, a few ducks stopped by to see if they had any goodies for them. We then went to church and stopped at the outlet mall to check out the Character Premiere store. Didn't find anything there this trip, though. Stopped at BW-3 afterwards to pick up some take-out for dinner. The Indians playoff game vs. the Red Sox (game 6) was on and we started watching it, but it wasn't going well, so we turned it off and decided to get some sleep. (I was going on about 3 hours sleep after making Mark's t-shirts, packing and cleaning the house in case somebody might actually want to see it while we were away - house still up for sale).

Day 2 coming up: Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Bubba Gump.

Busy, busy weekend

After a busy weekend, it's time to go to work tomorrow. Yuck. But here's all the good stuff we did the last 4 days!

Thursday night we got to go to Game 1 of the division series: Indians vs Yankees. What a game and a way to start the series. Tribe won 12-3! It was pretty close at 4-3 with the Tribe in front, but in the 5th inning they broke it open by scoring 5 more runs. Whew! Dad was lucky to go to the 2nd game on Friday night where they won 2-1 in 11 innings! What a nail-biter, but so exciting.

Friday night Mark and I went to the Maroon 5 concert at the Q, which was awesome. The Indians game was going on at the same time and they showed it on the screens next to the stage. We got to see Travis Hafner's game winning single in the 11th and they waited to start the concert until right after the game was over. I really liked the concert, and wished it could have lasted longer.

Saturday Mark, Mom, Dad and I went to Toledo for Homecoming and to see the football game. UT played Liberty and won (barely) 35-34. We hit the bookstore beforehand for some UT gear and stopped at the alumni tent for some free food (hot dogs and chips) before heading over to the Glass Bowl to watch the game.

Sunday we went to Kim and Chris's after church to see their new house (beautiful!) and their daughter Catherine is almost 2 already! They even went to the zoo with us for a few hours, but they left a little early. It was so hot that day in the 80's. Never expected to spend a weekend in October in shorts and t-shirts. The last few times we've went to Toledo for Homecoming, we've had to wear our thermals and gloves and sweaters!

Happy You and Me Day!

Happy 4th Anniversary honey!

Magic Number: 3

It's Tribe time now!

Mark and I were able to go to two Indians games this past week. Last Friday, I met Chris down there and Mark went to the same game with Dad and Ken. And Tuesday, Mark surprised me by going all the way downtown to the team shop to get a hat for me that I liked. While he was down there, he picked up tickets for that evening's game. Well Friday night they won, with a walkoff home by Casey Blake in the 9th. And on Tuesday they won 7-4 against Detroit! They won again last night, so now the magic number is 3. That close to winning the division title! Ken was even able to get some tickets for the division playoffs, so Mark and I will be going to either game 1 or game 2 at Jacobs Field.

GO TRIBE!