Disney’s Hollywood Studio

Day two of our Disney park adventure took us to Hollywood Studios. Again, this was a first for Andrew, but Susan and I visited once before years ago. We got off to a late start because everyone was tired from yesterday and Andrew needed to make some progress on his homework assignments. We arrived at the park just after noon.

Hollywood Studios doesn’t have much in the way of rides, but they do have some interesting and exciting live action performances. The two we liked the best were the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular and Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show.

Andrew enjoyed the Star Tours ride. This ride is based on Star Wars and has a full-sized Imperial Walker outside. Next door, young kids were training to be a Jedi and eventually got to face Darth Vader in a light saber battle. On this ride, we entered a Starspeeder 3000 (full motion simulator) to Endor. Along the way, we experienced a little trouble and detoured to the Death Star. Pretty cool.

The most exciting ride that Andrew was able to ride was the Hollywood Tower Hotel, also known as Tower of Terror. I was surprised to learn that he was big enough to ride it. The setup to the ride was pretty scary. We walked through the deserted hotel, full of dust and cobwebs, then went down to the basement, past the old coal furnaces, to the maintenance elevator. From there, we strapped in tightly and went for one crazy elevator ride. It started off slowly, but then, to everyone’s surprise, it dropped back to the basement, then shot up to the 13th floor, then went up and down in starts and stops. Finally, it dropped back down to the basement. At the end of the ride, we were all glad to be alive!

A new attraction at the park was The American Idol Experience. It was like being on the set of the actual TV show. Three park guests were chosen ahead of time to come on stage and sing. There were even judges there providing feedback to the contestants. Andrew liked the voting buttons, even though his favorite contestant didn’t win.

Another hit with Andrew was the Studio Backlot Tour. The coolest part of this was the Catastrophe Canyon. In here, an earthquake causes a power line to fall on a fuel tanker truck, which catches on fire. Then a dam breaks and dumps water into the canyon from both sides.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Today was our first visit to Animal Kingdom. We planned this as our first of four Disney parks this week. We wanted to get there bright and early to increase our chances of seeing the animals out and about. After showers and breakfast, we were on our way by 9:00 AM.

At the park, we flashed our annual passes and walked through the gate. Our first destination was Africa. We were pleasantly surprised to see the line for the Kilimanjaro Safaris was only 10 minutes long. We boarded a large truck and headed down the muddy, rutty trail. Our tour guide was in contact with an aerial spotter, who provided periodic updates to the animal whereabouts.

Our encounters included: Rhinoceros, Hippos, Crocodiles, Gazelles, Giraffes, Wildebeests, Elephants, Flamingos, Ostriches, and Cheetahs. At one point, we saw a male lion walking along a rock ridge, but he disappeared before I could get a picture of him. By the time our truck turned the corner, he was hidden in the rocks. At the end of the trip, Wilson – our spotter – reported sighting some poachers. We arrived at their campsite moments after they left and heard gun shots in the distance. It was quite intense.

Next up was Asia. The star animal attraction was the Gorilla habitat. There were also other animals, and a train ride to the conservation and behind-the-scenes area.

The animals were great, but the biggest attractions turned out to the the rides. The first was the Kali River Rapids water ride and the second was the Expedition Everest roller coaster. We were surprised to find that the roller coaster minimum height was only 44 inches. Andrew was good to go and the lines were pretty short. We rode it at least 7 times.

Then came Dino-Land. By now, the park was getting close to shutting down. We rode DINOSAUR, a time machine back to the late Cretaceous period just prior to the asteroid hit. The ride was very intense; dark, jerky, and full of surprises. We were nearly eaten several times along the way.

On the way out of the park, we found a display of very large fish. Andrew and several other kids enjoyed watching them slowly swim by. Andrew was busy taking pictures and video.

Long into the evening, Andrew kept describing his day to us. He was thoroughly impressed with the roller coaster.

WorldMark Kingstown Reef

This week, we’re on vacation in, of all places far and wide, Orlando, Florida. As WorldMark members, we have points that we must use over a given timeframe. If we don’t use them, they are gone. While unemployed, we didn’t use any points, so they were really piling up. To avoid losing them, we booked a week here in Orlando.

To prepare for this week, we bought annual passes to Disney World to go along with our afternoon passes to the Disney water parks. Before the week is through, we plan to visit all four of the major Disney World Parks: Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot Center, and The Magic Kingdom.

Mom in Florida

For the past week, my Mom has been in town to help us get moved in. It amazes me how much work can get done when you have someone to push you along when you get tired.

On Tuesday, we met Mom at the Orlando airport. On the way home, we stopped at a nice little Italian restaurant - Cariera's Cucina Italiana - for dinner.

On Wednesday, I had to go to the office, so Mom spent the day with Susan, running errands in Vero Beach.

Thursday was mega work day. We attacked the pile of boxes in the garage and kept at it all day. As the garage floor finally appeared, we put together the metal shelves that have been disassembled since our move from Bothell, WA. All empty boxes were broken down and moved into the attic. When we finished for the day, there was almost enough room to put the car in the garage.

Friday was also a work day, but not quite so intense. We went to the hardware store and found some bolts and nuts for the shelves - somehow, there weren't enough to build all the shelves - and some wall shelving around the washer and dryer. Later, we met Aunt Cathy and Uncle Dave in Titusville. We shared dinner at Wendy's and transfered Mom; she was needed for a big yard sale the next day.

Saturday afternoon, we drove up to Sanford. We met everyone at the marina, climbed in the boat, and went to the Swamp House Grill for lunch. When we returned, we took Mom to Fort Mellon Park and let Andrew burn off lots of energy.

Monday morning, we stopped at EuroTech to pick up the Fit. The work was complete and the car looked great. Then we met everyone at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon. This was our first trip to a Disney water park. We loved the park, but Mom and Aunt Cathy came away with some unwanted "souvenirs", courtesy of the wave pool.

I went back to work on Tuesday while Mom and Susan put away things at the house and unburied the dining room table.

On Wednesday, I left work early to drive to Orlando. We met Cathy and Dave at Cariera's Cucina Italiana for dinner, then headed for the airport in a heavy downpour. We dropped off Mom, then headed back home. What a fun and productive week.

Sun ‘n Fun

I finally crossed an item off my ‘bucket list’ – I finally went to the Sun ‘n Fun fly-in in Lakeland, Florida. After picking up Andrew from school, we headed west to Lakeland. We arrived at our motel, unpacked, grabbed a bite at Wendy’s, and headed for the airport. The plan for Friday was to meet some Commander owners at the campsite and watch the night air show. My first impression was, “Wow, this place is huge!” I’d never been to an aviation event this large before.

This morning, we were out of bed by 8:00 and found the included breakfast much to our liking. Then it was back to the airport. My first goal was to see the static displays. On the way, we came to the Cessna display. Andrew thoroughly enjoyed the Citation Mustang.

The static display had lots of old warbirds. Andrew was most fascinated by the landing gear. By far, his favorites were the enormous planes – the KC-135 and the C-130 - both of which were open for touring.

Before the air show started, we decided to see what was available for kids. We walked at least a mile to the west side of the field and found the education building. It contained an air traffic controller simulator, some PC-based flight simulators, a weight and balance demonstration, an aileron demonstration, and an old Taylorcraft outside for pre-flight checking.

At 4:00, the air show started with a large explosion. I couldn’t see the runway from where we were, but I imagine they were doing some mock bombing runs with the old WWII planes. We headed back towards the static displays for better view of the show and to grab something to eat. On the way, we passed through an exhibition hall and Andrew found another gadget to play with. A man was demonstrating a system for electronic trim control and he let Andrew play with all the switches.

Finally, it was time for the Thunderbirds. Unfortunately, they got off to a rough start. The number two plane had a mechanical problem, so they swapped it out for one of the media planes. Eventually, six planes roared into the sky and the show went off perfectly.

Fire Fighter’s Fair 2010

It’s hard to believe that a year has past since the last fire fighter’s fair. This year was a little different than last. This year, we didn’t find the great deal on a wristband for Andrew, but that was OK; we all got wristbands anyway. This year, the budget was no longer the driving factor.

Bad weather delayed the start of the fair from Friday night until Saturday afternoon. We arrived shortly after the fair opened, and ended up staying to after 10:00PM. It was a very long, tiring day.

Since Andrew is another year older and a little bit taller, he was able to ride a few more rides this year. He did the old stand-bys, but also was able to ride on a couple “big kid” rides. His favorite, by far, was the “Starship” – the spaceship-shaped ride that rotates so fast that you to stick to the wall. One ride in particular was pretty hard on me. The ride itself was great, causing my vision to completely blur while it was going, but after it stopped, things got just a little stressful.

The ride was called the “Cobra”. It was similar to the “Scrambler” - sort of. It had two sets of six cars that rotated like mixer blades at the ends of a long arm. The cars were tilted slightly outward, and the arm was bent upward with one end low and the other high. As a result, only six cars could be loaded and unloaded at a time, leaving the other six suspended about twenty feet off the ground. The tilt of the cars meant that the seats were not level with the ground. In our case, the seat was leaning about 30 degrees to the ground while the ride was stopped. The bar wasn’t all that tight or form fitting, so I had to hold myself on my side with my left arm to avoid squishing Andrew while holding Andrew with the right, else he’d slide under the bar to the ground far below. Luckily, I was able to get Andrew to help brace himself with his foot against the side of the seat. Finally, after three or four minutes, we were rotated to the ground and were able to get off.

The most enjoyable slow ride for me was the giant Ferris Wheel. The line was short, so we were able to get right on. The view was amazing, especially considering the poor weather over the previous few days. I could clearly see condos on the beach to the south that I know are over 20 miles away.

After enjoying the rides for several hours, it was time to get ready for the Little Mr. and Miss Fire Fighter Pageant. Yes, Susan signed up Andrew to participate. I told her it was fine, as long as Andrew was interested.

The pageant started with pictures of the participants with Sparky. Then the host introduced each participant, gave a quick bio, and asked a simple question based on information provided by the parents. Andrew was asked his favorite class in school, to which he loudly and clearly answered, “P.E.”.

Andrew didn’t win, but along with everyone else, he received a nice medal, which we refer to as his bronze medal. Secretly, I’m glad he didn’t win, otherwise we’d have to go to several events throughout the year and show up at next year’s pageant.

After the pageant, we changed Andrew back into his normal clothes, then found some fair food and ate while Andrew continued to enjoy the rides. I wasn’t quite satisfied just yet. Earlier I saw a sign for Apple Dumplings and Ice Cream. I had to try some before leaving the fair. The dumplings were great, but the ice cream was a little off.

Before we finally walked out, we had to see what was on the other side of the fairgrounds. I was happy to see that they had a very small area with cows, pigs, guinea pigs, chickens, and rabbits. They even had a few John Deere’s on display. No fair would be complete without big green tractors.

Houses and Airplanes

Today was a long day out. The day started early with a 9:00 appointment with a real estate agent. We scheduled tours of three houses in one neighborhood. Two were absolutely gorgeous, and one was not even in the same league. We also looked at another house in the same neighborhood the day before.

After our tours, we headed south to the Valkaria Airport. We were planning to eat pancakes, but we showed up five minutes too late. Right inside the gate, we found a set of inflatables with an all-day pass going for only $12, so we bought a tick for Andrew. As he climbed the ‘Space Shuttle’ slide, I sniffed out the barbeque stand and picked up a pulled pork platter with baked beans and cole slaw.

The air show got under way at 1:00 with Patty Wagstaff as the main attraction. There were several other entertainers, including a Yak, a gyro-copter, a team of RV's, an Albatross jet, a T-6 Texan, and a Piper Cub. As the show was underway, we walked along the fence near the flight line and found a seat in the grass. We noticed that they had biplane rides and helicopter rides for sale, so Andrew and I walked over to inquire about prices. They were reasonably cheap, but for very short rides.

During the show, we walked up and down the ramp, looking at all the exhibits. One that Andrew found extremely interesting had live animals. Finally, Andrew got to see - and touch - live alligators. They were only about two feet long, and they had their mouths taped shut. He also got to touch a bunny, guinea pigs, many different kinds of snakes, and a dragon.

After the air show acts, Andrew did the bungee bouncer. While waiting in line, he told us that he wanted to jump, but he didn’t want to do any flips. When he finally got his turn, he stayed true to his word and didn’t try to do a back flip.

After another bite to eat, Andrew and I discussed our plans with Susan. We decided to go ahead and do the helicopter ride. We hurried back to the flight line, bought our tickets, and waited our turn. While waiting, we discussed who wanted to sit where. Andrew wanted the front, so that’s where he sat. The ride was very short, but we all had fun. Andrew, as expected, was very excited after the flight.

After the show, we headed back to Melbourne for a break from the airport. We found a McDonald’s with a Play Place and promised to return after the night show.

Back at the airport, we watched the the twilight show, then enjoyed watching two hot air balloons rise to their full height. Not only were they fun to watch and beautiful to look at, they were also putting off a lot of heat!

On the way back to Play Place, we had some unexpected excitement. As we left the airport towards Route 1, the crossing gates started to drop as we were crossing the tracks. I gunned it to get across as I looked down the tracks and saw three lights heading our way. On the other side, I stopped so we could watch it go by. Turns out it was the Tropicana Juice train. We took off towards Melbourne to chase the train to the next crossing. Half way there, we were back in lead. As we entered town, our attention was diverted to an emergency near the tracks. There were at least two fire trucks and who knows how many police cars and ambulances. There was also a train stopped on the tracks. We pulled off the road and walked toward the tracks beside the train bridge. Meanwhile, a helicopter circled overhead, shining its light downward while a police boat slowly cruised the river. The word is that some kids were walking across the bridge when a train came. Unfortunately, the bridge has no walkway, so we can only assume the worst.

UPDATE: The news report says that three teenage girls were hit and killed by the train.