Orlando Adventures - Day 4

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

"Wow! We got into the parks reasonably early this time."

Today I started out the day by taking the kids to Disney's Hollywood Studios and left Tammie and Grandma to do some grocery shopping before the rest of the brood arrives. We got into the park around 10:00am. The first thing I immediately noticed was how much smaller this park was than all the others. In fact, having walked back and forth from one end to the other (several times) it seems that it's even smaller than Disney's California Adventure. I've heard many people call it a half-day park, but we actually spent the entire day there and didn't see everything. We did get to see most of what we wanted. I think the only thing we missed out on was the backlot tour.

The first thing we did though was to make a beeline for Toy Story Midway Mania. We had been told that it's a popular ride and the Fast Passes distribute very quickly. At 10am the return time was already 4:45! Once we had our Fast Passes we aimlessly wandered around trying to figure out what we wanted to do first. That's when we ran into the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers! Woohoo! Well...at least for Adam. He was very excited. And to our surprise there was really no waiting for picture opportunities with any of them. Turns out we got pretty lucky with the time because they left before we got pictures with all 5 and every time we saw them after that there were huge lines.



We then stumbled on the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show just as it was about to start. We missed a couple minutes of the beginning and got some crummy seats, but we returned later in the day and got somewhat better seats. And having seen it once already I knew when to have my camera ready the second time.

After the show we meandered around taking in some of the scenery and discovered Star Tours. Just outside Star Tours they were starting the Jedi Training Academy, but we couldn't see it very well and decided to come back later. We never did make it back though. I'm sure we will before the whole trip is over. This was Adam's first time riding Star Tours and he loved it. We came back again at the very end of the day and made it our last ride.

Right next door to Star Tours was the Indiana Jones stunt show. That was also a lot of fun. Again, we arrived just before it started and had bad seats. I'd like to also go back and see that again.

The kids then insisted on riding the Tower of Terror. Even Adam wanted to. I don't think Rachel has ever been on it either. I told Adam all about it, and although he seemed a little intimidated, he put on a brave face and didn't back down from wanting to ride. Once inside though he began to be even more scared but pressed on. I had a penny with me that I was going to use to entertain him with having it float as we fell. The penny doesn't float though. You fall so fast that it shoots straight up to the ceiling and falls back down. I managed to catch it and do it again. That seemed to make things more fun and a little less frightful for him. When it was over he said he loved it. We even rode it again later in the day and he didn't need the penny this time. Rachel also loved it enough to join in the second trip. I almost had David not holding the handles.


A young starlet trying to catch a break.

We got Fast Passes for Rockin' Roller Coaster. Adam was just an inch over the minimum height requirement, but I wasn't going to let him ride this one without me riding first to see what it's like. I loved it! Rachel liked it too. It was her first roller coaster with an inversion. She had no idea it was coming, but she loved it too. Of course, David loved the speed and the inversions. We'll be back to ride that one a few more times.

We also visited the animation building and enjoyed the shows in there. We joined in the drawing class where Rachel, Adam, and I learned how to draw Pluto. Rachel did a really good job. I hope her picture survives the trip home so I can scan it in.



When our Fast Passes for Toy Story Midway Mania matured I gave mine to Tammie (she wasn't in the park when we got them) so she could enjoy it with the kids. So I really don't know what it's like. But Tammie says it's worth a return trip just to ride that again.

Our second to last ride of the day was the Great Movie Ride. It was good, but I wouldn't say it was great. Rachel really liked it though. The Alien scene was a little too scary for Adam, but I thought it was cool.

My overall impression of the park is positive. We came to Walt Disney World the first time about 12 years ago but only visited Epcot and Magic Kingdom. So this was my first visit to Hollywood Studios. I am a bit annoyed at having to work around a show schedule when I visit a theme park. And with all the shows, that's pretty much how things work there. It makes it difficult to plan your day and kills spontaneity (unless you have luck on your side like we did the first half of the day). You also either wait around a long time for shows to start or you walk from one end of the park to the other quite frequently, trying to jam in as much as possible...like we did the second half of the day.

But there are things we want to come back to do a second time, and I'd still like to see the backlot tour.

I'm not really sure what we're doing tomorrow. We'd like to go to a water park while we're here, but it's been a little too cold for that the past couple of days. We'll probably do that in a few days. We also want to visit the Animal Kingdom.

Orlando Adventures - Day 3

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

Another slow start to the day. This time though it was mainly because we had to relocate from the resort to the house we're renting. The big one that all 4 families will be staying at for the reunion. Right now it's still just us and grandma. Everyone else shows up Saturday night.

We made it into Epcot at about noon-ish. I am hoping this trend of getting to the parks late won't last long. Mainly because I know I won't stop opening each post with a complaint about getting to the parks late. So I'm not even going to mention it anymore. From now on, if we get in early I'm going start the post with "Wow! We got into the parks reasonably early this time." Otherwise assume we got there 20 minutes before lunch. Then we had to postpone seeing or riding anything even longer while we ate lunch.

The first ride of the day was chosen by Adam again: Spaceship Earth. This time it was one he loved and has been begging to go on it again and again. We haven't returned to it yet, but we definitely will. By the way, we also found out that Spaceship Earth runs on Windows.


No wonder it had to reboot.

The ride stopped on the descent and the interactive video did a reboot on our car. We never did get it up and running again, so our finale was really disappointing. We could see what was supposed to happen on the other cars around us though.

Then we ate lunch at the Land pavilion and grabbed Fast Passes for Soarin'. And since Living with the Land was right there we rode on that. We then went and visited the Seas pavilion while we continued to wait for our Fast Passes to mature. There's a Finding Nemo attraction there and we all had a great time seeing all the fish, dolphins, and other aquatic life. One dolphin liked to buzz the windows while we were standing there. He'd make laps around the tank, seemingly coming out of nowhere as he swooped on by. I got video of it and will post it once I finish editing it all together. (Too tired to do it tonight.)

We then rode Soarin'. It's a favorite for all of us. Had great seats too. I'm usually unlucky on that ride and get the very lower corner seating position. But this time we were smack dab in the middle. And I had the extra pleasure of sitting next to Adam while he got super excited about the whole thing.

Following Soarin' we wanted to go ride Test Track and Mission Space, but we also wanted to be sure to save some daylight for the World Showcase. Since the Test Track line was too long and the Fast Pass return was too late in the day, we decided to just ride Mission Space. And by "we" I mean me and David. None of us had ever been on it before so we weren't quite sure what to expect. I wanted to see what it was like before taking Rachel on it. And we're taking no chances with Tammie and her heart condition.

Mission Space is a flight simulation that uses a spinning "centrifuge" type ride system to simulate the G-forces of a rocket launch and deep space mission. David was all excited to just feel some extreme G-forces. They have it set up where the "Green" team doesn't spin or feel the extreme forces. But the "Orange" team gets the whole experience. Naturally, we went with Orange. I get sea sick, car sick, and just general motion sickness pretty easily. I don't have any problems with roller coasters though. But a flight simulator isn't really truly a roller coaster. And every 30 seconds they're warning you about the ride conditions and motion sickness. I started getting a little queasy just standing in line with all those warnings. The ride was incredibly fun and very realistic feeling. But afterward I did feel a little dizzy and my stomach wasn't too happy. David was whooping it up about how awesome it was, and I was doing my best not to feel too sick. I'll go on it again, and I'll take Rachel next time, but on the Green team instead. (Why isn't the sicky version called the Green team?)

After that we made our way over to the World Showcase, starting on the left with Mexico. Riding that attraction and enjoying the indoor "outdoor" street shopping. It's pretty cool and I look forward to going back and maybe eating dinner there. We continued our way around the lagoon seeing as much as we could and as time allowed. The highlights include (in order of yummiest): dinner at Oktoberfest in Germany (fun show, great food), the circlevision theater and gift shop in China (the gift shop is an attraction itself...Rachel mastered the marionette), Norway and the Maelstrom ride (the gift shop there also looks quite fun but we had to dash through it to get to dinner on time to see the show). After more gift shop browsing in other countries we saw the fireworks show and headed out.

We never did get to see or do everything we wanted, but we'll be back.

Epcot is an interesting place. You really need to spend 2 days there in order to take it all in. But at the same time it doesn't seem like there's that much to do. Future World contains most of the rides, but it really doesn't have many. It's also not very picturesque (so I don't have many pictures there). On the other hand, World Showcase is very well themed and there's something wonderful to see around every corner. Unfortunately I didn't have much daylight while we were there so not many pictures there either. There aren't many rides at all, but still a fun experience getting to have a small taste (or at least a Disneyfied look) at cultures from around the world. We all look forward to our second visit to see the things we missed the first time and to experience some things a second time.

I believe tomorrow's plan is...Hollywood Studios!

Orlando Adventures - Day 2

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

I woke up at 7:00 this morning with the sun shining right in my face. And although I'm not a morning person, lately I've been finding it difficult to go back to sleep once woken up. So I decided to just get out of bed. My alarm was going to go off in another half hour anyway so I could get up to remote into work and do a couple things that I'm going to need to do every morning while I'm away.

I finished my work at about 8:15 and tried to pull everybody else out of bed. Nobody wanted to move. It must have been a tougher day yesterday than I realized. Eventually the kids were coaxed from their beds (everyone accept David who is an early riser on his own). But all they wanted to do was watch TV.

"We've got the Magic Kingdom out there just waiting for us. We didn't come all the way to Florida to just watch TV," I begged.

And after much more pleading and prodding the kids were fed, bathed, and dressed and ready to head out the door...at 11:00.

We had intended on using the shuttle service the hotel provides for transportation to and from the parks. Unfortunately, they only drop off and pick up twice per day and we missed it already. So we drove instead. It was a very short and pleasant drive. The weather was perfect for a day in the parks. High of 69 degrees. Sunny. Beautiful weather. (I heard it was rainy and cold back in Portland...snicker.)

The Magic Kingdom was gorgeous with all the holiday decorations on display. And the castle...breathtaking. Especially with the lights all over it at night (see picture above). Adam insisted that the first ride we go on be Space Mountain. I tried to warn him that it was a fast ride in the dark (but I didn't try too hard because I didn't really want to scare him out of it, I just wanted him to have some necessary information). It scared him pretty good. He acted like he enjoyed it afterward, but when we went on it again later in the day he wasn't up for it.

We also rode the Indy Speedway (WDW version of Autopia). It was Rachel's first time driving alone and she seemed to have difficulty steering and reaching the gas peddle even though she met the height requirement.

We then rode Thunder Mountain (another one Adam wanted to ride but didn't enjoy too much), Splash Mountain (no complaints from anybody here, other than getting wet), Haunted Mansion (cool new effects I haven't seen before), visited the Swiss Family Tree House (sniff...I've missed it), Jungle Cruise (some cool additions not at Disneyland, but the skipper was dull), Pirates (not anything as cool as the original, but had to ride it anyway), Stitch's Great Escape (I'm not a really big fan of Stitch, but had to see it anyway...I prefer the Alien Encounter that was there before...although that would have been way to intense for the kids), then back to Space Mountain.

By this time it was 6:30 and the park was closing at 7:00 for some Christmas party that was a special ticket event. We could have bought tickets to stay until midnight, but they were $60 each and seeing the crowds that came in for it we're glad we didn't. Instead we grabbed some food. We did stay over the 7:00 cut off to finish eating and we were politely asked by a cast member to finish up and exit as quickly as possible. We did finish up, but took our time exiting due to the crowds and being distracted by some of the changes that took place after dark.

We got lost on the way back to the hotel (took a wrong turn out of the Magic Kingdom) but eventually found our way back and went for a night swim to finish the day off.

Even though the day started out late and was cut short at the end it was a good first day. We didn't try too hard to see everything at the park, knowing that we have plenty of time to come back. We also took the time just to take things in, enjoy the scenery and even some of the wildlife.

Tomorrow...Epcot!

Orlando Adventures - Day 1

Today we flew out to Orlando Florida for a 2 week vacation/family reunion. My plan during this time is to provide a daily trip report with pictures (and maybe video) as we go instead of waiting until the end to try to catch up. I've got a computer with me this time due to work commitments that's making this daily report possible.

Things started out not so great but ended up nice. Our flight was at 6:00am which meant we needed to leave the house at 4:15. I also had some work I needed to get done before leaving the house, which meant I had to wake up at 3:30. Not impossible. This was something I planned for and was ready to deal with, so no complaints about it. But we didn't make it to the airport in time to meet the 45 minute cutoff. Yes, United Airlines (at PDX at least) requires passengers who are checking their bags to be there 45 minutes before the flight leaves or they don't get on. We missed it by 3 minutes. So we were put on standby for another flight. The United agents did their very best to get us on the next available flight, and I have no complaints about the way they treated us. They did a great job.

We did make the next flight 30 minutes later that put us through Chicago instead of Denver. We ended up getting to Orlando only about 45 minutes later than originally planned. But due to being put on standby we didn't get to sit next to each other on the first flight. They were able to find at least 2 seats together where Adam and I were able to sit. But David, Rachel, and Tammie had to sit in separate seats. They did fine though, and I had lots of leg room (yay). Adam and I played about 10 games of chess. (Yes, about a week ago I taught Adam chess and he picked it up very quickly. He's still learning strategy and is learning to take quick advantage of my slip ups. He's turning out to be quite a gamer. Any game, be it electronic or board. I want to introduce RPGs to the kids too. He'll probably love them.)

On the second flight we were able to get groups of 2 and 3 seats that were relatively close, so not so bad there. However, in the Chicago airport I think I got hacked when I tried to make a quick jump online to check in at work. I didn't have much time to do it and I may have tried to connect to the wrong hotspot. Those of you who got the email that appeared to be from me already know what I'm talking about. But I've been researching this email that went out and found that it's been happening to others and only with Yahoo mail. So now I don't know if my computer was hacked or just my Yahoo mail. Either way I've changed my password and that should prevent any further attacks. If it wasn't due to the Chicago airport hotspot then that's an awfully big coincidence since the email was sent roughly the same time I was in Chicago.

So we made it safe and sound to Orlando. Got a nice rental car. And we're currently staying in the Floridays Resort. It's a beautiful resort and very comfortable. We're tired, but excited about what tomorrow brings...Magic Kingdom here we come!

Water Park

We went to the North Clackamas Aquatic Park today. It was our second time going, but this time I took my waterproof camera case.



The above embedded video is really low quality. I recommend going to the Youtube page instead and clicking on the "watch in high quality" link just below the lower right corner of the video.

More pictures here.