27th: Non Disney Day #2 at Universal Studios

The park was basically empty when Karen and I arrived. There was no one in line for The Simpsons Ride, Men in Black, The Mummy, or Disaster.



Let's talk about Disaster. This re-opened earlier last year and was revamped. A group of 100 guests pushes their way into a room. A casting director jokes around for a bit, then asks for "volunteers" from the audience to play certain types of roles. The process was made funny and entertaining. "We are...", he would say, and we would answer, "...moving on." This became a catchphrase with the director saying the first part and the audience saying the second as we moved from room to room. It, too, became rather funny.

We moved on to the next room where we got to sit down and watch the various volunteers do their piece of the movie they would be in. This went by rather quickly because there were many assistants setting up the scenes ahead of the director who would say, "Action". It was fun to watch and the movie they created was funny.

We are...moving on.

Now EVERYONE was going to be an "extra" in a Disaster movie. We loaded into a subway tram. Cameras and monitors were in the tram. The tram moved forward and we were given "direction" by the director to looked shocked or scream or point. On our left as we entered the tram stop a gas truck drops through the concrete and ignites. On our right a torrent of water poured down the steps toward our tram. As the scene resets the tram is sent back to the beginning and as we move we see a movie on the screen and people on our tram are interspersed in the movie. Once again this is fun to see the movie magic happen.





We are...moving on...to the ride's exit and on to other attractions before leaving at about 3pm or so.

This place doesn't have the Disney Magic for us. We just aren't as happy when we leave this place as we are at a Disney Park. I think what we have decided is that while we are in Orlando the ONLY thing we want to do is be at a Disney Park. If we were on a roller coaster trip to other cities then Universal would probably be fine for us.

We are...moving on...to Walt Disney World.



We did meet up with Doug and Betty for dinner that night at their resort, Port Orleans French Quarter and rode a boat from their resort to Downtown Disney and had dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Express. We all agreed the food was good.

26th: Magic in the Magic Kingdom

Our best friends Doug and Betty arrived in Orlando on Sunday night and we planned a day at the Magic Kingdom with them. We enjoy the Park just as much with friends as we do alone.



We rode Space Mountain, an indoor roller coaster in the dark and then Buzz Lightyear, where you shoot targets while you are on a moving ride.

We crossed the park and had a great time on the Jungle Cruise. The pilot of the boat has a script that he has memorized, but this is one ride where an enthusiast cast member really makes the difference in your ride experience.





20 people ride in a boat and you see Bengal tigers (“they can jump over 20 feet, but don’t worry we’re 19 feet away and he’ll jump right over us”), elephants (“Look here…it’s the republican national convention. You can take pictures because they all have their trunks on. Oh by the way… If you want to see the Democrats they’re back at the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Festival of Fools attraction”), crocodiles (“Do you know what the difference between the crocodiles and alligators are? The crocodiles are made of plastic and the alligators are made with fiberglass”), and when returning to the dock (“…and now we reach the most dangerous part of the journey, my attempt at docking the boat”). It’s silly. It’s slapstick. I love it all.

The Magic Kingdom also has a Pirates of the Caribbean ride similar to Disneyland's. It IS a little different though. The queue line here is much cooler to go through, but the ride itself has a little less in it.

When we got on Splash Mountain we were told we would get wet and we got wet. Others got even wetter than we did when the water cannons blasted them. Basically, you ride a log around and see and hear the story of Brer Bear, Brer Fox, and Brer Rabbit. Near the end of the ride you drop down a roller coaster-like drop into a pool of water. Great fun.





Everyone had lunch and then we rode a raft over to Tom Sawyer's Island to walk around and explore the fort and the caves.

The Haunted Mansion tried it's best to scare us but we had ridden the one in Disneyland so we knew what to expect.



In ToonTown we rode a goofy roller coaster and then got on a real steam train that took us around the park to see everything from the tracks.





We lasted until 10pm or so that day. It was a great first day with our friends.

25th: Hooray for Hollywood

We're at Disney's Hollywood Studios today and we're going to ride the new Toy Story Midway Mania ride. EVERYONE was heading back for this ride as soon as the Park opened. Disney does a great job of directing everyone where to go since they know there is a rush to this attraction.

The queue line contains tons of old toys we've all played with. I'm sure from this picture you can see at least 5 that you recognize.



This talking, moving Mr Potato Head is voiced by Don Rickles and is very funny. It is a great photo opportunity and most everyone is handing their camera to the person behind them to take a picture. It seems like more and more people can actually shoot pictures fairly well these days.



When you are in the ride you are wearing 3-D glasses. In front of you is a shooting device to shoot with. There are five places along the ride where the vehicle stops and you are allowed to shoot objects like in a Midway Arcade - your darts hit balloons, your suction cup arrows hit moving ducks, you shoot rings onto targets, you break plates - all in 3-D. After each stop your score is shown. The object is to get a score better than your friend.

It's a simple game but when you are done you want to get back on the ride and do it all over again. Everyone would love one of these to take home with them.

Once again we are laughing hysterically trying to take our own pictures and get what we want in the pictures. This is so much fun.



Guess which movie this is from?



Another new attraction is American Idol. This is just like the TV show. Guests can audition in the morning. They do three shows where the audience picks the best singer. The Final Show pits all three winning singers against each other and the winner gets to audition in front of the real judges (Randy, Paula, and Simon) on the real American Idol some day. The first show we went to was OK (they are currently just in TEST mode so this isn't the final product yet). (I went to another show later in the week and it was much better. I think once the real show starts there will be great singers and the show will be better).

This is what the stage looks like.

24th: Day With Friends

Other friends of ours in our Disney Club sold their house in Bellingham and moved to Orlando so one of them could work at WDW. Ahhh...

We planned a full day with them to visit the WDW Resorts, trade pins there, eat lots of food, find shortcuts around the property, find hidden mickeys, visit their new home, and talk Disney.




Our first stop in the morning was fried dough covered with powdered sugar.







Sandwiches at the Earl of Sandwich.



NOT my new girlfriend.



They had this beautiful pool and screen put in after they moved in.




We ate dinner at this "local" place called Five Guys. It was just burgers but it was a really good burger. While you waited for your burgers you could grab a handful of peanuts and crack them open and eat them.

They dropped us back off at our morning meeting spot and Karen and I spent the next 2 hours shopping at the large Disney Store in Downtown Disney.

23rd: EPCOT

EPCOT is really big. It is made up of areas called Future World and World Showcase. FW has most of the rides and WS contains the pavilions of different countries.

We arrived at opening time - 9am - and headed for the most popular ride called Soarin' to get a ticket to ride it later in the day. The ticket machines were down - not an uncommon thing - so we headed for Finding Nemo, a new ride that SHOULD be more popular. You enter the building and into a beachy theme and gradually you start to think you are UNDER the sea. You can see a boat floating above your head and bouys too. The hand rails are all crusty like they have been rusting for years.

You get on ride vehicles that are upright clam shells and they take you on journey to find Nemo, a fish. If you haven't seen the movie the whole storyline might be confusing. Anyway, Dad is trying to find Nemo, his son.

Embedded into the rocks and ships AND the REAL aquarium are LCD screens that have animated characters on them like in the movie. Since the screen's edges are surrounded by rock you can't tell where the screen stops or starts. It makes for a great illusion and a wonderfully "magical" Disney ride.

After a couple of rides on Nemo we stopped back at Soarin' and got our "FastPass" for later then headed for TestTrack. You ride in cars and they take you over a simulated car testing course consisting of hills, bumpy roads, braking area, curves, and a high speed section that everyone REALLY gets on the ride for. The ride broke while we were in line. We waited 15 minutes and then headed for the next ride, Mission Space.

Mission Space simulates taking off from a launching pad and zipping around the moon on our way to a Mars landing in our Shuttle-like vehicle. People get sick on this ride because not everyone is cut out to be an astronaut. They have two versions of the ride - one side spins you and creates high G's and the other side is doesn't.

They have a new "game" you can play at EPCOT called the Kim Possible Adventure. They give you a cell phone and it gives you clues to follow to different areas in one of the pavilions. When you push the SEND button at each of the spots you get to it activates a physical object that is in the area. It might light up a lantern or play wind chimes. It is a really fun thing for Karen and I to do and they were other people at different stages of the challenge that we could see walking around with the "Kimmunicators" also. Eventually one of the things you are supposed to do is open a door and drop the communicator inside to end you challenge. Fun stuff.

22nd: Universal Studios Florida

Even Disney people need a break from Disney...



So we headed to Universal - Islands of Adventure this morning to ride some major roller coasters.

There was frost on the car windows this morning. Have I mentioned the weather lately?

For a view of the coasters we rode you can go to www.youtube.com and type in The Hulk, Spiderman, and Dueling Dragons individually in the SEARCH box.

There are lots of teenagers from Brazil in WDW and Universal. They have Dec - Feb off just like our children have Jun - Aug off from school. They come up from Brazil in groups of 50 or so with a Tour Group. A lot of them speak English very well when you speak to them. There are some Brazilian families but lots more teenage groups.

One of the rides we DID NOT go on...


Universal has two parks - it is hard to explain their differences. Even when I start to type out the differences I have to erase it because the differences start becoming the same. There are lots of Marvel comic characters at Islands of Adventure. There are more movie type themes at Universal Studios. Their entrances are about 100 yards apart.



We had time left over in our day and went and rode Simpsons - The Ride, Men in Black, and The Mummy at Universal Studios. These are both great rides that are fun to ride over and over again. The Mummy is very unusual because the coaster car goes backward for part of the ride and then goes forward for the remainder.

21st: Disney's Animal Kingdom

The most memorable thing about our first two days here will be how cold it has been. There has been talk like, "It hasn't been this cold for this long in 30 years." We're managing to still have a good time anyway but the weather certainly does come into the conversation often.

On Wednesday we visited the Animal Kingdom at WDW. There were many comments from the cast members that the weather was so cold that the animals did not want to come out. The human animals, on the other hand, thought nothing of riding roller coaster cars at 50 MPH in 35 degree weather...more than once...in a row...in the front seat. This could be why sometimes we aren't considered at the top of the food chain.





The Tree of Life in the center of the park is a huge concrete tree with hundreds of animals sculpted in it.



The new "Finding Nemo, the Musical" was really well done. No pictures are available because they wouldn't allow it.

Half of this was for me and Karen ate the other half.

20th: Brrrr in Magic Kingdom

It was very, very cold today in the Magic Kingdom... 39 degrees in the morning and 54 degrees in the afternoon. The sun was shining but Karen and I never took our coats off. Karen remarked that she felt like the Michelin Man with her 6 layers of clothing.

AND Wednesday is supposed to be colder!

This was about our 6th try at taking this picture and the wind was blowing and we kept missing the boat in the picture. THAT'S why we are laughing so much.

19th: Skip the Crowds

We flew to Orlando on Sunday without incident - meaning we landed on a runway and not in a river! Karen had a free pass to the Alaska Airlines Boardroom that we used before we left. There was a place to connect your laptop, watch TV, or gaze at the airplanes from comfortable chairs. Free soft drinks, fruit, muffins, and hot chili were available so we didn't need to buy lunch.

Monday we decided to skip the crowds at WDW since it was Martin Luther King's birthday and we headed to a couple of Outlet Malls with Disney stores in them. After a Subway lunch we headed to the coast.

Friends of ours in our Disney Club moved out to Florida 5 years ago to be closer to WDW and their daughter. We found Tom and Sue's house and after sitting around talking for awhile and looking at their magnificient collection of Tinkerbell stuff we headed for Cocoa Beach.












We wandered out to the beach and then went to dinner at the Lobster Shanty where we were introduced to broiled rock shrimp that tastes like lobster.















Three of us had rock shrimp and Karen had the coconut shrimp. Great dinner.



















Tom drove us by the empty Disney Cruise Line terminal just to show us where it was and then we headed back to their house to chat for awhile longer before heading back to our resort, Pop Century, at WDW.

We switched rooms to one with a king bed, put our 10 day park hopper tickets on our room keys, and since it was "close" to 9pm we bought some ice cream.

Jan 16: Two Days Until We Leave

It is two days until we leave for WDW. We're both packed and almost ready to go. Our itinerary is complete with 10 days at WDW parks, 2 days at Universal Florida, a day with friends, and a day visiting all of the WDW resorts on our 14 day calendar.

This will be our 6th trip. We went in 1990 with our sons, 1996 and 1997 on the same annual pass, 2000 with friends Chuck and Eva, 2006 with our coaster club ACE, and this trip 2009 with our friends Doug and Betty.