The 100 Coolest Things of 2010... #50 to 41

And we continue with the longest running list, not counting The Dave100, on this blog site... that being the 100 Coolest Things of 2010.  I won't bother with the recap just yet, you can find it to the right under archives...

50... Harry Finds a Hallow
After what I considered to be a disaster, though one I can still bear to watch, of the last movie (the post I wrote, by the way, "A Letter to Steve Kloves" is one of the most read posts on this here bloggy site), my expectations for "Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part I" were lower... but still slightly high, nonetheless.

Here's what I wrote on November 30th, 2010:

First and foremost, it holds a huge, huge advantage over any of the previous six films, and that is simply that this movie covers only half the book. The reason "Goblet of Fire" and "Order of the Phoenix" cut out almost half of their respective books is simply a time factor... you would have a six hour movie to cover everything ("Goblet of Fire" skipped the S.P.E.W. subplot, and was one of the few things I enjoyed about the movie versions over the books).

Essentially, the film version, at least Part I, of "The Deathly Hallows", is a little like a table of contents. You see a live action snippet of each scene that is fully fleshed out in the book itself, something is allowable because the 140 minutes of the movie covers only about 300 pages, not 500 pages.

You can read the full post here, but it continues to talk about the movie, first spoiler free, and then second, spoiler filled (though there are several alerts to tell you to stop reading if you haven't seen it).  I finished the post by saying, "Anyway, I really enjoyed the film, and have intentions on seeing it again. I said before my favorite movie character is Luna, but my favorite book character is Ginny Weasley... but I'm not sure I dig Bonnie Wright. I also think Fenrir Greybeck is fantastic in the book, but in the movie he's so marginalized and relegated to a second tier character.  Go see the movie, irregardless of whether you've read the book."

49... Via Napoli


Don't let the angle fool you.  This pizza is a monster, and this is taken
after four adults had just about had their fill...



What can I tell you about Epcot's newest restaurant?  Its in Italy, its authentic Italian, and its delicious.  I've eaten there twice, and its got some of the best pizza I've ever had, not to mention some of the best desserts I've eaten in a while.

Their food is a little pricey, but let's face it, its Disney, and all prices are a little higher than normal.  They ph-balance the water to match that of water found in Italy, as well as authenticate other ingredients to give you the freshest, purest form of Italian food... and their large pizza, $40 as it may be, will feed at least six people, if not more.  Its pretty awesome. 

48... Christians Like Stuff
So, Jon Acuff writes this blog, aptly titled Stuff Christians Like about being a Christian, and he asks tough questions like, what to do with the Christian version of "Freebird", or the problem with unrated movies on DVD... he's the author of several books, including one named after his website, and its a great read pretty much every day. 

47... Little Sister Ashley Gets a Ring
What can I say... my own adopted little sister (I got the looks in the family) got a ring on her finger from her hometown sweetheart, Brandon.  Apparently, he'd pined for her for years and years and years, and she gave him the cold shoulder... but one day, she woke up and said, "Whaaaa...?  I... like this guy!  No!  I love this guy!"



At top, its Brandon and Lil
Sister Ashley.  The bottom pic
features The Honorable Rev'rn
Ty "Sharpton" Coffey and Lori
Anne, bride to be.

 She stopped by my store and flashed the ring, then I immediately commanded her to go to The Cabana and show The Lovely Steph Leann, which she did. 

And this past May, we were able to attend the wedding, which I'm sure you'll read about in The 100 Coolest Things of 2011... at this rate, some time around September 2013. 

Which leads me to...

46... Ty Gives a Ring
Here's another engagement that rocks, and gets the slight edge over Little Sister Ashley's big moment if only because I was involved in the proceedings...  The Honorable Rev'rn Ty Sharpton called me up and asked if I would participate in his little engagement get-together, which involved me taking the ring from him and setting it up in Samford's chapel. 

It was a little intimidating, holding a ring that cost more than Toni Rocki Honda, my little car at the time.  He asked me to not open it, not to look at it, he wanted Lori Anne to be the next one to see it, and I obliged.  I was to place it on the podium of the chapel at a certain time, then hide when Rev'rn Ty and his bride-to-be, Lori Anne, came in. 

While I was waiting for the word from Ty, people came in and out of the chapel--Samford had a football game going on in the stadium across the street at the same time--and I sat off to the side in a pew, probably looking like an old creeper.  I held the ring box tightly until I got the text that said, "In chapel yard".  I was nervous about letting the ring leave my sight, but I put it on the podium then slipped out a side door.

I walked around the student break area until I finally got a text that said "ITS DONE"... upon my return, there was a big smile from Revr'n Ty, and a bigger smile from little Lori Anne, and the ring almost blinded me.   And I was also able to not just attend, but be a part of their wedding, which you'll probably see in The 100 Coolest Things of 2011 as well.

45... B.o.B. Professes His Love
By the summer of 2010, there weren't a ton of songs that had really piqued my interest, especially in hip-hop areas... cause really, they all kind of sound alike.  So, here comes "Nothin On You" by B.o.B. featuring Bruno Mars, with this profession of love for his boo, telling her that there are chicks all over the place, and that sure, they might be cute or he might say hello... but ain't none them ho's got nothin on you.  Nothing.

"Beautiful girls, all over the world, I could be chasin', but my time would be wasting, they got nothin on you baby (nuh nuh nuh nothin on you... nuh nuh nuh nothing on you)... they might say hi, I might say hey, but you shouldn't worry about what they say cause they got nothing on you, baby (nuh nuh nuh nothing on you... nuh nuh nuh nothing on you)... nothing on you baby..."

Keep in mind, this was the summer that both B.o.B. and Bruno Mars emerged, so I don't feel bad in telling you that for the longest time, I couldn't tell who was rapping and who was singing.  Perhaps I'm still not sure.

44... The Books Get Read
My love of audiobooks is well documented and deep, with probably 100 or more in my collection... I keep most of them, about 110 gbs worth, on an external portable hard drive, but on my iPod that I have with me about 97% of the waking hours of my day, I have at least 30 or 40 that I take with me, just in case I might want to jump into a random book, be it Kristen Chenoweth's biography (or Andre Agassi's) or maybe some Glenn Beck, or even a chick lit novel by Emily Giffen...

And then, I finally joined Audible dot com.  The way it works is, you pay one price per month and you are given "Credits".  Then, you can download audiobooks for a credit, or for larger audiobooks (like the Walt Disney biography I initially got, which was 35 hours--it was two credits, but I got it free for joining).  Every month, for $14.95, I get another credit...

Essentially, its buying an audiobook for $15 per month, but when you consider they are running anywhere from $25 to $50 per book, its a pretty good deal.  Also, for members, you get special discounts on books, sometimes half off, sometimes huge percentages off, sometimes free... I just downloaded "Go the Heck to Sleep" children's book (warning:  NOT Emmy Turnbow safe), narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, for no charge whatsoever...

And the selection is pretty great too.  I managed to get The Pixar Touch for less than $7, I got Patton Oswalt's comedic book for about $6 and downloaded "ESPN: Those Guys Have All the Fun" for May's selection for one single credit... regular price, $26. 

Randomly, just for thought, here's my current wish list, or, books I'll end up downloading or purchasing if they go cheap--in the order I'm going to get them:  "The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called Dreamworks" by Nicole LaPorte... "Decision Points" by Dubya... "Bossypants" by Tina Fey... "Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Musical Rent" by Anthony Rapp... "Your Only As Good As Your Next One: 100 Great Films, 100 Good Films and 100 Films For Which I Should Be Shot" by Michael Medavoy

And if you think this was just a reason to go all Ron Burgundy and say, "Hey everyone!  Come look at the cool stuff I've been reading!"... well, you may be right.  Though if anyone has thoughts on any of these books, then I'd love to hear them--besides the predictable recoil by Brad Latta, Atty at Law, at the mention of Glenn Beck or Dubya. 

43... A Dragon Gets Tamed
Here's what I wrote about "How To Train Your Dragon" on June 6th, 2010...

"How to Train Your Dragon" follows the story of Hiccup, who lives in a Viking village where the life of a Viking is to hung and kill dragons of every size--and they are aplenty in this movie. Hiccup is a loser that is made fun of by most of the clan, mostly because his heart is not into hunting anything, much less dragons, but to please his father--who happens to be village chief, no less--he does what he can.

Hiccup ends up taking down a rare Night Fury dragon, but upon finding it in the woods, cannot bring himself to finish him off... and there, the adventure takes flight, pun intended.

I loved it. I loved every single second of this movie. I loved the main character, Hiccup, I loved his love interest, a spry pixie named Astrid, I loved the dragons, including the main one nicknamed Toothless, I loved the setting, I loved the creativity, I loved the story... I thought this movie was brilliant. This was the first time I'd ever seen a non-Pixar animated movie and thought, "This should have been a Pixar film."

The Lovely Steph Leann loved it too. As the credits began to roll, she piped up and said, "Wow. DreamWorks finally got it right." (full review is found here)

By the way, I watched this movie a few days ago on cable... it is just as good, great even, as the first time I watched it.  And that is a true test of a good movie.

42... A Town Gets Covered
Wow this is a big book.  Perhaps Stephen King likes to release a 1000 page behemoth every year, or maybe I just tend to read one--in 2009, it was "It"... and in 2010, it was "Under the Dome".

In the fall of some year after 2012, Dale Barbara, known as "Barbie", is trying to leave the small town of Chester's Mill.  Before he can get very far, however, something odd happens.  An invisible, indestructible barrier--a dome, per se--is dropped over the town, keeping everyone who's out of town out of the town, and everyone who is in the town, in the town.

Big Jim Rennie, second selectman, takes over the town, appointing his corrupt friends and sick, twisted son Junior as town officials, and does his best to try and contain the opposition, which includes Barbie and newspaper editor Julia Shumway.   Slowly but surely, the town's government falls apart as Big Jim's rule becomes more and more stern, and as his ego--and paranoia of losing control--spiral out of control.

Efforts to destroy the Dome fail one after the other, and everything from civility to law to just common sense begins to fall apart, piece by piece, little by little... its not a slippery slope so much as a straight up and down cliff. 

While the Dome is the central key to the novel, it is what happens to the town that becomes the book's plot.  The breakdown in civilization, the loss of respect and democracy... that's the book's central storyline.  When Big Jim realizes that not everyone sees it his way, its then that he begins doing whatever, and I mean whatever, is necessary to ensure his own rule is followed. 

King stated in an interview that he thought of Dubya when he was writing the character of Big Jim, but honestly, all I could think of was He Who Must Not Be Re-Elected... who gives a rip how it affects anyone, this is what I think is best, so this is the way we are doing it. 

Anyway, its a huge book, but I'd rank it up there as one of King's modern classics, and one I'll probably read again in the next year or two (it stays on my iPod just in case...)

41... Z's Serves the Burgers
Sometimes the best food you can find is in a nondescript hole in the wall place you've passed by a thousand times but never noticed its existence... and that would be Chris Z's to a tee. 

Nestled on a corner near St. Vincent's hospital, sharing the same block, if not the same wall, with the empty building that used to be Golden Rule BBQ (take a left off of Red Mt Expressway/Hwy 31 as you are facing St. Vincents), it doesn't have very much parking, and in fact, the best way to get to it is to drive past it, turn left at the light and come around the entire structure.

Walking in, you can see immediately that its family owned and operated... covering the walls in almost every space are frames, frames with single pictures of family, frames with duo photos of more family, large frames with collages of a dozen or more pictures of family and friends.  Being my close friend Melanie's husband, you'll see pictures of Melanie and Chris together.  You'll see the Z kids, Jay Z, Special K and The Zack Attack.  You'll see lots of people that sort of look like their family, and you'll see friends that you might recognize... or not.  

The cafe itself is set with not more than a dozen tables, mostly because there is no room.  Come at lunch time, you'll be hard pressed to find an open chair, but if you are an experienced Chris Z eater, you'll know this and will plan for it--either come earlier or later, or get it to go, or just stand and eat like many patrons do.

The menu is typed out in a familiar Comic Sans font, with some scribble with a marker and some tape over certain things, those manual corrections that the owner doesn't have time to make in the form of a new menu... no, there is too much food to make.  And the food is aplenty.

Hot dogs cooked to perfection, topped with everything or nothing at all, your request.  And the cheeseburgers are fantastic... my personal favorite is a Chris Z burger with mayo, mustard and ketchup, and cheese splashed all over the fries.  The Chris Z burger was actually recently named by a local magazine to the be the best burger in town, and its a well deserved distinction.

And then there is dessert... a family owned recipe for cheesecake pie.  That piece of pie kinda deserves its own ranking among the coolest things of the year, almost like a #40 1/2 spot... its amazing.  I've had cheesecake in six different states, ranging everywhere from the Carnegie Deli in Manhattan to the Baltimore Harbor... and its the best cheesecake I've ever had.

Anyway, if you are in the St. Vincents area, and you find yourself hungry--or even if you just want to find something new, check 'em out.  They also serve breakfast, which is excellent too... and that's not to mention their Middle Eastern menu they have the first Friday of every month.  Its good, good stuff.  (you can click here for more info)

Coming up... Hide yo' kids!  Hide yo' wife!  Its more of the best of 2010, now that 2011 is half over!  Yeah!  More Disney!  A DFC Champion!  And startin' fires...

The Summer of Blogging, Day Twenty Two

The Love Is Magical Pin Event

The main reason we wanted to go to Disney World in February was that its now a tradition... not sure how many years have to go by before something becomes a "tradition", but this has been our third year, so we'll go with that.

Our time to go usually is right around the last few days of January into the first week of February, but this time around it was a little different.  There was... a pin event.  A Disney Pin Trading Event, which we had heard about but never been too. 

Okay, first, let me tell you about Disney Pins.  They are pins, not pens, and there are by now probably close to 100,000 different pins out there... all sizes, shapes, complexities, characters, and anything Disney related you can think of.  Long story short, you can trade them while you are there.  The Lovely Steph Leann and I choose to wear lanyards with pins adorning the left and right side, but some people carry small (and big) books, put them on hats, vests and any number of personal possessions.  Some people buy them just to trade them, others buy them as collectables only and still others do a combo of both, like us.

It started in Disneyland back in the late 90s, caught on at other parks, and because of Walt Disney World's size and sheer volume of guests every year, it exploded into this huge hobby and pasttime. 

My very first pin.  Its on one of our many bulletin boards,
and will never be traded.

The Lovely Steph Leann bought her first pin on a pre-marriage vacation she took with her mama and sister and family in the fall of 2003, and I purchased mine on our honeymoon in March of 2004.  I just asked her what her first pin was, and she said, "Oh... I dunno... probably a wedding pin or something..." referring to the several Mickey and Minnie bride and groom pins that she picked up.  I, however, know my first pin.  The abominable snowman from Monster's Inc, complete with yellow sno-cones.

Since then, she and I have spent hundreds... oh, who am I kidding, thousands of dollars on Disney Pins.  When I worked at The Happiest Place in the Mall, I got a huge discount at the park, which made buying pins even cheaper, which ended up costing us more money because we spent more than we would have otherwise.

For anyone who has visited The Cabana, they can tell you about our 6+ large boards full of pins, mostly grouped by character, or theme park, or whatever.  She loves classic pins like the princesses and the dwarfs and anything else she finds "cute!", while I have a huge collection of Tinkerbell pins, Incredibles pins and Hercules pins.

So, when I found out that they were doing a pin event on February 5th, I told The Lovely Steph Leann that we were going and our trip was going to be based around that day.  Well, we thought it would be good to go to the event early in the trip, especially since we had some friends coming down later that week, so we arrived on February 3rd (told in this post), and went to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios on Friday, the 4th (told in this post).

Saturday morning, we got our pins together, me in my "pin messenger bag" and she in her "pin backpack".  We could tell that there were a lot of other people there for the event because guests were arriving with suitcases and big boxes and crates literally rolled in on hand trucks and such.  She and I carried with us maybe 50, 75 pins each, these people had 100s of pins with them.

When the gates opened at 9a, I dashed on over and got Soarin' fast passes while The Lovely Steph Leann walked over to the old Wonders of Life Pavilion to get in line, which was good because we ended up being about 10th in line to get in, and the line got rather long behind us as 10am approached.

 

The theme to the event, featuring Duffy the Disney Bear, who I think is
kind of stupid.


 We go in, finally, handing over our passes--which, by the way, I feel like should more than an email confirmation... I mean, we paid like, $50 each to do this event, and we got a sheet of paper that essentiall said "Let 'em in."  Just like when you buy Annual Passes, I feel like they should be harder plastic, making it harder to mess them up, instead of the paper cards we got.  They dispatch four thousand plastic cards per day for room keys, can they not do something for people who pay $50 for tickets, or $495 for an annual pass?  Just sayin.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, we go in, and get in line immediately for our pre-purchased pins.  There were pins and pin sets you had to order ahead of time to ensure you got them, which we did, and we picked them up right off the bat. 

You know how you are planning for something, but because you don't know alot about it, you kind of have to feel your way around it and actually experience it to "get it"?  That was this event for us... we didn't know what to expect, so when we walked around the corner and saw the rows and rows of empty tables, we weren't sure exactly how to approach it.



Pin traders in action

 We did find a spot to put our stuff down, but again, we only brought a limited number of pins with us, so we weren't prepared to spread out and be real traders.   When you trade with a Cast Member, they have to take whatever you give them as long as the pin you are handing over is one they don't have, or its obviously a pin that isn't from Disney.  With these pin traders, these are pins that are from their own personal collections... so they aren't obliged to take anything you offer. 

There were sourpusses for sure, people that you try to talk to and they wanted to take advantage of you, asking for your best pins for something that you would be able to find elsewhere... and there were nice people to, people who had books of pins that were just their extras, and as long as they didnt have a bunch of the pin you would try to trade them, they were more than happy to help you finish a set.

Pin traders were only part of it, though.  As part of your ticket package, you got four coupons for pin boards, and the pin wheel. 

In the back of the room, they had several cute backgrounds set up with different Disney scenes, including one where several characters were coming out of a mine in a car.



The Tunnel of Love display.  Mickey and Minnie were in a nearby set up.

  

The Mine of Love, as its called.  This is right near one of the Pin Board lines


There were actually six lines to choose from, and five were just alike, so really it was a crapshoot.  Here's how this works... you get in line, and when you get up to the front, you get to trade two pins off of this big board sitting on an easel.  But the board is facing the other way, so you don't know what it looks like until you get up there... and they trade it out every 20 minutes or so, so its being refreshed with new pins.  The trick is trying to be someone who gets there right after they refresh it, because if you get there right before they bring a new board out, its usually pretty picked over.  Why not wait and take your time?  Because you only get 60 seconds behind the board to choose.

The sixth, though, was something a little different.  It was a pin wheel... we got in this line first, and because we lined up before the pin boards opened up, we were pretty quick to the front. 


Me, making the hard decisions


Its a wheel with 8 covered compartments.  You get there and stand on the X, and spin the wheel.  Whatever compartment comes to you when it stops, the panel opens and you choose out of those pins.  From what I remember, there wasn't much to choose from when I was at the wheel, but I think The Lovely Steph Leann found something cool, though she spun to a different section.

After the wheel, we got in the longer line for another board, this time a regular board. 




Time is ticking away, tick tick ticking away, as The Lovely Steph Leann tries
to choose wisely

This is what took much longer.  We decided to divide into two lines the second time around, and really, it didn't make much difference.   It took both of us forever to get to the front of each line we were in, so after that, we just stuck together. 


This is early in the pin board activity time... it got much busier





I hope you don't imagine all pin traders to look like big'un there in the blue... He is at the front of a long line, about to trade on the board--he should be more excited!  The Lovely Steph Leann, who is third in this line, is ready to sit down.


After the pin wheel and separating for a line, we just stayed together in the other two lines we went into... this part took up most of our afternoon, which is okay because it did start to rain. 

My only complaint was really that there wasn't a food place offered in the pavilion.  Being the old Wonders of Life, they had, even visible, a set up where they could serve food--but only offered desserts. 

For $50, you would think that they would give you a boxed lunch, but that's wrong... but I'd have been willing to pay Disney prices ($9 for a burger and fries) for lunch if it was offered in the buidling.  Instead, I had to leave the pavilion, walk all the way down to The Electric Umbrella, stand in line, get lunch and drinks, then walk all the way back... for those of you who are a little sketchy on what I'm talking about, imagine starting at Test Track--or behind it--then walking halfway to Soarin', getting food, then hurrying back.  No bueno.

Later, though, they did a great dessert buffet.

Don't mistake me.. the dessert was great, but it wasn't lunch

All in all, it was a lot of fun, something that I hope we can do again.  Like I said, some things have to be experienced to truly know what to do next time, and this was a perfect example.  Next time, we'll take more pins with us.  Next time, we'll know how to do the boards.  Next time, we'll be aware of the special pins available for purchase that we didnt even see...

Yeah, forgot that part.  So, off to the side of the big room they had a table set up, selling "mystery pins", or pins in a solid colored pouch for purchase.  There were two sets of pins, each with at least 12 pins in the set, and each set had a companion set that had a "Chaser" or a variation of that pin... hope that made sense.  Anyway, by the time we found out that they were for sale, most of the pins had sold out. 

I guess that is a good thing, though, because we also found out that each mystery pin was $15.95, and I can only imagine how many we would have purchased... because The Lovely Steph Leann found them to be so cute.  And when she thinks its cute, we usually end up going home with those pins.

About to enjoy a big plate of seafood and steak, surrounded by a
bajillion gallon tank (on my right, anyway)

We left the pin event in mid-evening, maybe 6ish, finally rode Soarin' and ended up eating dinner at The Coral Reef Restaurant, which was awesome. 

There is another pin event coming in September, though I'm not sure we are going to it... I would love it, because its called "The Florida Project", and its all about the 40 anniversary of Walt Disney World--but unfortunately, bills have to get paid.  And our AC went out--though it was an easy fix, it makes us remember that we need to have a little more money for emergencies, not pins.

All in all, a great first weekend to our trip, a trip that had an Africa Trek (Sunday), a lunch with an Imagineer (Monday), Melanie (Tuesday), Cirque de Soleil (Wednesday), Harry Potter (Friday) and a ride around Epcot on a Segway (Saturday). 

I'm glad this is the summer of blogging (day four!) because it might take me that long to get to all of it... and then, there's Disneyland to discuss! 

Keep reading!!!

Attack of the Left Eye

Highlights from our July 2010 Disney World trip, attended by me, The Lovely Steph Leann and the In-Laws, Mama Ruthless and Big Daddy Ron:

--Spending the night in Pensacola, including getting flashed on the road side.
--Day One of the trip, including the French Quarter, dinner at Epcot, the Electrical Light Parade, the Haunted Mansion Wailer and the Saturday morning's Soarin' snafu...

So, we ended up riding Soarin', and had our Fastpasses to ride it later.  We made our way to the other side of the park, grabbed Fastpasses for Test Track and rode Mission: Space... I would have preferred "The Orange Team", which is the "more intense" ride, as its a centrifuge.  However, due to the stomachatical dispositions of some of our party, we went "The Green Team", which is the same ride, except it is actually in a simulator. 

Anyway, we did Mission: Space, which I love any ride that has "sick" bags in it, and as we walked out, we decided it was a good time to go right next door to Ellen's Energy Adventure. 

 Ellen’s Energy Adventure is this slow moving dark ride which begins in a large auditorium where you stand and see the pre-show, which is Ellen’s dream where she’s on Jeopardy, losing to her college roommate, Jamie Lee Curtis, since all the categories are about energy, and Bill Nye the Science Guy comes in to take her through history to show her where energy came from.

To preface this story… well, its really more of a coincidental side note… so, last summer my right eye had a spaz. It was an allergic reaction to the new contacts I was wearing, and so on and so forth… now, for whatever reason, my left eye had its own bone to pick with me, and decided to do it in the most improbable place. That would be Ellen’s Energy Adventure.

We stood in the pre-show, laughed with Ellen and Alex Trebeck and Bill Nye, and then proceeded to board the large trams that take us through the next 37 minutes of the ride. Its also worthy of note that the ride is a great place for a nap. Its fairly quiet, at least compared to many other rides, its dark, and you are sitting down in a semi-comfortable tram for THIRTY SEVEN minutes. If you can’t throw back a power nap out of that, then I can’t help you. Cause let me tell ya, The Lovely Steph Leann excels at power naps, and she gets it honest from Mama Ruthless and Big Daddy Ron.

The first part of the ride takes you to the explanation of The Big Bang, then you slowly ride into the dinosaur area. It was here that my left eye said, “Hey, Righty, watch this.” All of a sudden, my eyes started to water, and my left eye started hurting. Even felt a slight head pain behind my eye… you know that feeling when you have an unusual sharp pain in your head and you get this mental image of suddenly dying due to undetected, exploding brain aneurysm?

 (crickets)

Uh… yeah, me neither. That’s stupid. Haha… lol… hahaha… uh… moving on…

So, The Lovely Steph Leann beside me is gone. Mama Ruthless on the other side of her is nodding off. Big Daddy Ron is slipping away fast. And my nap is already ruined by an eye pain. In the dim light, I get my Kermit bag and place it in my lap, I fumble around for my contact case, my eye drops and my glasses. I cannot find my saline, so I grab my bottle of “Blink and Clean”, which isn’t ideal for soaking contacts, but hey, any port in a storm, right?

I can’t see the “L” on my contact case lid to determine which side is which, but its one of those that is slightly angled. So I hold it where I can see the shape, swear to myself I’ll remember the angle is pointed out, and first take out my left contact, then my right. I pour in the Blink & Clean, and squeeze it too hard, and it hits the open case and splashes out all over me. In the dark.

Finally, my contacts are out… this is good. I hate wearing my glasses on vacation, but it’ll have to do for a few hours. What usually happens is my eyes water a bit, I rub them a little bit, the red goes away in a few hours and it’s all good. I actually wasn’t expecting what happened.

The ride continues, my eyes are watering like a faucet, and I finagle a tissue out of The Lovely Steph Leann’s purse to wipe my eyes. In the dark. The ride ends, we all get off, and if you’ve ever had that feeling of coming out of a dark theater into a bright parking lot, that’s what it felt like. I was blinded when I walked out, like my pupils had been dilated. I was able to open my eyes just enough to make sure I didn’t stumble over anything or anyone, and after a few minutes, my eyes were clearing up. A little. They were still spewing tears, though.

We made our way through the park over to Soarin’, and I was still squinting to see anything. We got inside The Land, where the ride is located, and the lower light helped a bit, but even on Soarin’, it was still hard to see perfectly.

And this is how it was through the rest of the day—inside, my eyes would clear up… sort of… outside, I would struggle to see anything for a few minutes until my eyes adjusted, which they never would completely. It was horrible. Now, this is Walt Disney World, so horrible there is many times better than “pretty good” back home, but still…

Lunch was at Le Cellier in Canada, my favorite restaurant in all of the parks, and the lack of light in there was glorious. I dined on a plate of Mushroom Filet Mignon, served over sour cream mashed potatoes, white truffle and herb butter sauce, a side of mac and cheese (served in a small skillet steaming hot), and maple cream brulee.

DOWNTOWN DISNEY
We had already made the decision to spend some afternoon time in the room, during the hottest part of the day, and we ended our time at Epcot around mid-afternoon.  We went back to French Quarter, rested a bit, then caught a little ferry to Downtown Disney. 

Hopped off the ferry about 20 minutes later, spent about 25 minutes in line to just order our food at Earl of Sandwich, and the guy at the register wasn't happy about anything in his life, particularly the fact that the line of people was running the length of the counter and back three times and almost out the door.  

Registerer:  What can I get you?
Me:  The sandwiches come with sides, correct?
Registerer:  Yep.  What can I get you?
Me:  Okay, I want a Montagu with no lettice and...
Registerer:  Ok, what else?
Me:  Yeah, also a lemonade and...
Registerer:  Get drinks on the other end (looks over my shoulder while handing me a ticket) Next!

Had dinner, toured some of the stores, bought a bunch of pins at the Pin Trading Store, hung out in LEGO for a few, and then we split up with the In-Laws as The Lovely Steph Leann and I walked toward the other side of Downtown Disney.  We visited a store called D-Street, which sold lots of Vinylmation pins, figures and such.  Had a lengthy conversation with a couple of guys (and I do mean "couple) about Vinylmations, but they were super cool and friendly. 

Later that evening, found a bus at the stop, took it back to French Quarter, and that was the night. 

The next day?  The Toy Story Disaster.

Disney in Hot July

For those of you needing to catch up, here's the scoop... after taking S'ray and C'ray last year to Disney World during the hot June of 2009, The Lovely Steph Leann swore we'd never, ever go back to Lake Buena Vista in the summer time.  Too darn hot.  For me, I handled it well enough... even went back a month later with Tommy Mac, Amy McL and The Good Revr'n Ty Coffey.

Lo and behold, early this past June, she pipes up and says, "Hey, let's go to Disney World!"  Uh, what?  "Yeah!  We need to go see Summer Nightastic, with the Electrical Light Parade and the new fireworks show!"  I looked online, saw that the Summer Nightastic events would only be through August 14th (which, coincidentally, is the last day for high summer rates--on the 15th, it goes to value rates), and after an invite to The Lovely Steph Leann's parents, Big Daddy Ron and Mama Ruthless, we orchestrated the trip around mid-July, spending a necessary night in Pensacola first (as documented here).

Leaving the Pensacola Marriott early, we managed to arrive at Walt Disney World around mid-afternoon, check into our resort (Port Orleans French Quarter), got our luggage and had agreed to be ready to head to Epcot around 5ish.  It was open late, so we figured after our dinner at Rose & Crown, we could catch Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, then maybe hit the Magic Kingdom later on that night, as it was open until 3am. 

Slight drama on I-10 worth mentioning--Mama Ruthless, from the passenger seat, turned around and looked at me at The Lovely Steph Leann in the backseat, realizing her Annual Pass voucher, that which she'd turn in for her Annual Pass, was sitting on a table back home in Birmingham.  Not good times.

THE FRENCH QUARTER

The hotel I probably wanted to stay at the least became the hotel I think I'd
like to stay at every time.  Course, Pop Century, which I also love, is fairly
cheaper, especially since I'm paying real folk prices.

Wasn't sure if I'd like this resort, as I've seen it in passing and it kinda looked... well, boring and old.  I did like Riverside, having stayed there for a night before and liking the setting and rooms.  Port Orleans Resort is broken into two sections, a small area known as French Quarter, and a much larger area called Riverside. 

Riverside is absolutely huge, we discovered, with over 2,000 rooms in twenty buildings and four bus stops, while French Quarter contains "only" about 1,000 rooms in 7 buildings, all fairly close to the main building and bus stops.   The rooms were, well, roomy, with double sinks, comfy beds and a nice showerhead.  I told The Lovely Steph Leann that I want to come back to this hotel again.  Love Pop Century, but I do love some double sinks.

It was also good to check tickets at the concierge desk too... not only did I have some extra day passes from working at The Happiest Place in the Mall, I had managed to procure a few from another Cast Member who needed a little cash.  However, we had used a couple of them, and we didn't toss 'em because The Lovely Steph Leann wanted to keep them.  I had ten in my hand, I knew at least two were not good, so I had several of them checked at the resort, putting the bad ones in the side pocket of my messenger bag, putting the good ones in another pocket (this is important, by the way, for later).

EPCOT DINNER

Mama Ruthless (white shirt), The Lovely Steph Leann (blue
shirt) and Big Daddy Ron (passed out) await Illuminations
to begin, while we chat it up with fellow Disneyphiles

Going into Epcot was easy, as the chick at the Will Call found my information of when I purchased all the Annual Passes, and re-issued Mama Ruthless's pass.  I had another girl check a couple of day passes I had in my hand as well, to figure out the ones that were good and bad.  I put the bad ones in a side pocket of my messenger bag. (again, remember this.  this will come up again.)

Dinner at Rose & Crown was wonderful, and while The Lovely Steph Leann, Mama Ruthless and Big Daddy Ron all settled for the Sunday Roast, I elected to go with the Surf N Turf, which was grilled steak and fried fish with Yorkshire pudding, Irish potato gratin, seasonal vegetables, and Shallot gravy , with sticky toffee pudding for dessert.  Yum.

We slowly ambled our way over to the front of the Seven Seas Lagoon and found a great spot to watch Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, and it was our first experience with a new species...

THE INTERNATIONALIS GROUPUS
They travel in flocks, from all over the world.  They are brightly colored, in red, yellow or green, sometimes in white with colored markings.  Never less than five, ten, fifteen banding together, they move in a huge blob of figures.  They chant, because they know no better, never being told what is good and what is not good in our culture.  They chant during shows and performances, and sometimes for no reason at all.  They stand in the middle and cheer...

Here they are, at The Magic Kingdom, chanting and whooping.  Its like a
mating call.  Or war cry.  Or both.

...mind you, I'm excited for them to be able to come to this country, and I think its awesome that these kids are getting to travel--for some, they may never come to America again.  But that doesn't mean they aren't obnoxious as wearing wet socks.  Heard a story of one girl who was about to go into the Fast Pass line at Big Thunder and had about 60 Brazilians run straight into the line before she could get there.  The Cast Member saw it, and walked her to the front of the line, bless 'em heart. 

The huge international tour groups were all the talk around the parks, with nearly every guest we talked to saying something about them, getting caught in the middle as they swarmed by, or behind them in a Fast Pass line (I did see one Uruguayan hold up a Fast Pass line at Soarin' with a stack of, oh, about 50 tickets to get passes for, while the guest behind him were coming up with creative ways to kill themselves), or trying to avoid them in a flow of traffic.  There must have been at least 20 or more groups there.  Were I better person, I'm sure it would have been a prime ministry opportunity.

Talking with a Cast Member later on, I discovered that there were plenty of these groups to go around.  He said that alot of times they come from other countries and not only are the kids not told our cultural norms, but the leaders aren't either, so as far as they are concerned, its perfectly wonderful to go into the Argentine Warble Dance, drowning out what ever show you are trying to follow.  Don't chant for me, Argentina, indeed. 

THE MAIN STREET ELECTRICAL PARADE
The plan was to dash from Epcot over to MK to see The Main Street Electrical Parade, one of the main reasons we were going, and though it was close, we made it.  We managed to make nice with another family visiting from... Portland?... and we ended up watching the parade with them at MK.  Big Daddy Ron had another guy his age to banter with, and The Lovely Steph Leann and I kept the others entertained by answering all sorts of pin trading questions and Walt Disney inquiries.

This is one of the few new floats in the Electrical Light Parade.  Its a great way to start off the show, as I love me

some Tink.

This was Cinderella's section of the parade, with a dancing party and all.  I would hate to be those guys in the

corners, actually carrying the canopy

One of my favorite floats, here's Dopey riding a mine train of lighted jewels

Who doesn't love a good pirate ship?

The return of one of the most famous Light Parade floats, Elliott from "Pete's Dragon", with smoking nostrils and everything.  Pete rode, waving and smiling at everyone.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE HAUNTED MANSION WAILER

Magic Kingdom stayed open really, really late, and we took advantage of some of it after the parade was over.  We managed to ride The Haunted Mansion...

...in the Stretch Room, by the way, there was a wailing of a child.  Some parent had brought her 5, 6, maybe 7 year old kid, and this kid wasn't having it.  I can't knock the kid too much, because the first time I went to Disney World in 1982, I was scared to death of The Haunted Mansion (and subsequently refused to go on Pirates of the Caribbean after that) mostly because I was--am--scared of the dark.  That didn't help when I saw "Poltergeist" a few months later, but that's a whole other story.

So anyway, as we left the Stretching Room and made our way into what I label "The Cattle Call", that is sixty or seventy people all streaming into the same little area and forcing their way into a single file line, we could hear the kid crying.  And crying.  And crying some more.  Big Daddy Ron & Mama Ruthless were several spots ahead of us, and as it turns out, the kid playing the Crying Game was between my in-laws and myself and The Lovely Steph Leann.

The In-Laws got into a Doom Buggy, and just ahead of us, Crying Boy became full out Wailing Boy.  He and his mom were the next in line to get in a Doom Buggy, followed by us, and my man was gripping the railing tighter that Obama grips a bad Dubya report, and he was not letting go for any reason.  And he was now completely screaming.  Mom, obviously embarrassed, was trying to talk him down, and the chick with them (aunt?  sister?  domestic partner?) was just standing there, looking like she'd rather be anywhere else in the world than right there in that very moment.

Little man continued his death grip, and when the ENTIRE RIDE STOPPED, Mom shifted her coercion from "C'mon, it will be okay, let's just ride it" to "Okay, let go, we'll get out of here".  The Cast Member just continued to smile, standing off to the side, awaiting the decision of the absolutely hysterical boy as to whether to let go, or to continue holding on as if his life depended on it--heck, for all he knew, his life, his soul, his sanity did depend on it.  Finally, maybe 30 seconds after the ride stopped, the boy let go.  He was still sniffling, crying and unhappy, but mom took his hand and the Cast Member directed them, and the companion, all out.  The ride started, and The Lovely Steph Leann and I took our place in the Doom Buggy to join the other 999 haunts for the ride... "...but there's always room for 1,000... any volunteers?  Mwah hah hahah!!"

THE SOARIN' SNAFU

We rode a few other things that night, and headed back to our room before it got way late... of course, that still means we didn't get back to the room until 1ish, maybe after, but it that was early for Disney.   We agreed to meet early to get to Epcot the next morning, and we did so.  The Lovely Steph Leann and I, with Mama Ruthless and Big Daddy Ron all got in line--which was weird, as I was so used to the Cast Member entrance, and this time I was coming in with the common folk, but we got in.

Like all the other parks, at opening, Epcot will let you in just so far before you can't go any further.  Epcot gets you in the gate around 15 til opening, and you can move up and past Spaceship Earth (the big ball) until you are stopped by a rope going across the courtyard.  At opening, they drop this rope and 99.8% of people either go right to The Land and get Fast Passes for, and/or ride, Soarin', or they go left and get Fast Passes for, and/or ride, Test Track. 

Not our Fastpasses, but you get the drift

My particular plan of attack is Soarin' first.  Get Fast Passes, ride it, then afterwards, trek across the Future World, get Fast Passes for Test Track as soon as they are available to you (when you get a Fast Pass, which allows you to come back and ride an attraction at a later time, with usually a much shorter line, but you when you get one, you can't get another one for at least another hour).  After I get the Test Track Fast Pass, we'll do Mission: Space, Ellen's Energy Adventure and so on.  And so, like usual, I'm the fastest, or at least the one not bothered by weaving in and out of old people trying to run me over in motor carts and stroller moms and small kids who aren't watching where they are stumbling, holding hands by parents who aren't paying attention.

I grabbed tickets from The Lovely Steph Leann, Mama Ruthless and Big Daddy Ron, and when the rope dropped, I was off.  My instructions to The Lovely Steph Leann were, "Wait for me at the entrance of the ride..." and I was on my quick way.  Got in line for Fast Passes--by the way, that hill leading up to The Land is just killer on the calves when you are trying to walk fast--and noticed a member of an Internationalis Groupus at the head of one of the other Fast Pass lines with a fat stack of tickets.  I got behind about four people, with the person up front having problems with the machine.  The Cast Member looked at it, then suddenly declared it to be closed, so our five or six person line quickly dispersed to other lines.  I was now about 9 people back.  The Internationalis Groupus was still at the head of his line, getting Fast Passes.

(by the way, I just figured out its "Fastpass", not "Fast Pass", so mock me if you must, but I'm not going to go back and change it all...)

It went quickly, and I got to the front of the line, and got my Fastpasses, walking away.  Walking past Internationalis Groupus, who now had a Cast Member with him to just count out the ones he needed.  All the other people behind him had already drawn out a map of how they were going to kill him and where they were going to bury him.

I stood in front of Soarin'.  And waited.  And waited.  Fastpasses in hand, I waited.  I called The Lovely Steph Leann, who rarely answers her phone anyway, and wasn't surprised when she had no answer.  I called Big Daddy Ron, who answered, and said, "We're under the Soarin' mural".  I hung up and thought, "Oh, they are in the building!" and though I couldn't place where the mural along the path of coming through the doors, walking around, and coming down the escalators, I waited, watching the steps.   Nothing.  No one that I knew.

So, I got in line.  Perhaps they were waiting for me.  I didn't want to be one of those guys who traverse the line, skipping past people, trying to find my party, especially if I couldn't find them... and as I went deeper and deeper in the line, I realized they weren't there.  I was a bit frustrated (ask The Lovely Steph Leann and she'd say, "oh, alot") and towards the end, I got out of line and headed to the front lobby, figuring I would find them at some point.  I thought they might have ridden it, and have expected me to do so, but I also thought that if I had not waited long enough and had gone on ahead, The Lovely Steph Leann would be The Unhappy But Still Lovely Steph Leann... that in mind, I went to the lobby... and saw she, Mama Ruthless and Big Daddy Ron there.

"Did you ride it?" The Lovely Steph Leann said with a smile.

"Uh... no, I was waiting for you," I replied, and her face dropped.  She knew there had been a misfire somewhere, and she knew I was really disappointed that I didn't get to ride it with her.  So, she and I agreed to ride it again, while the In-Laws walked around and did some other stuff. 

Yeah, I was unhappy for a little while, but like any other time I get frustrated, give me a few minutes and I'm fine.  To her credit, The Lovely Steph Leann was wonderful, being very apologetic, and just letting me brood for a little while without trying to "fix it".  I snapped out of it, and we had a great time on the ride.

This was a snafu.  Wait til you hear the Toy Story Madness.

Reports from The Happiest Place on Earth

So, here's our Walt Disney World vacation for our 5th Anniversary, 2009. I tried to figure out the best way to tell it without rambling, but the best way really was just tell some stories. Read the ones you want, skip the ones you don't, but along the way, I'll give you some great Disney tips and perhaps some food reports too... it might be two columns, it might be four, who knows... but, here we go...

I love seeing Cinderella's castle at the beginning of any of my Disney vacations. The broad base and moat, the tall blue spires that reach towards the heavens in... well, for lack of a better term, a majestic fashion. I know the castle doesn't do this for everyone.



Different things excite different people. I could care less about U2, I think Rammer Jammer is stupid and though I can dig on "Hey Ya!", its not my favorite joint... but in the same way that Mikey gets excited when he hears the opening notes of "With or Without You" in a U2 concert, or in the same way that Tyler Campbell jumps for joy when Rammer Jammer starts blaring from the band or in the same way that Mindy D'A starts breakin' it down when "Hey Ya" comes on the radio, I am about Disney World. (granted, I'm not sure that Mindy D'A breaks anything down when she hears OutKast, but I thought I'd name drop)

There's so much to tell in any trip to The Happiest Place on Earth, especially one that starts on a Thursday night, and doesn't end until Saturday of the following week. This was planned to be the 5th Anniversary vacation for myself and The Lovely Steph Leann--we had honeymooned here the first week of March, 2004, for 4 days before embarking on a 3 day Disney Cruise, so we thought a return for our fifth year kickoff would be grand. We'd already been 2 times in between, but who's counting.

Well, along the planning stages, somehow, someway, The Lovely Steph Leann's mom, Ruth, and Aunt Becky worked their way into the trip. Being a manager assistanty type person, a part payment for my hard earned work is the ability to get myself and three others into the parks pretty much most of the time. So, for you math skolurs out there, take myself, add The Lovely Steph Leann, throw in my just wonderful mother in law and now the aunt, and that makes four.

Discussions where had, compromises were negotiated, and no matter how I did or didn't feel about the entire thing, it was what it was, it is what it is, and Ruthy Campbell was paying for gas, so there ya go.

The thought was to leave late, late Thursday night, possibly around 10 or 11pm, drive all through the night and arrive at The Magic Kingdom around 8ish or so. The women would sleep in the car, I could drive the trip, and the next day, I'd be dead tired, but hey, I've done the whole "up for what feels like a bajillion hours" before. Well, we're taking this behemoth of a vehicle, a GMC Yukon, the type of SUV that cars like Toni Rocki Honda would actually orbit around, and I'm just not comfortable driving something that unfamiliar.

So, in my brilliance, I called up The Lovely Steph Leann a few days prior to departing, and suggested that we leave earlier, and get a room for Thursday night. She agreed, I called down and though Pop Century was completely full, we upgraded slightly for a night at Port Orleans Riverside...

...DISNEY TIP!!! There are several catagories of rooms, with the least expensive being "Value Resort", which is All Star Movies, All Star Sports, All Star Music and Pop Century. I highly recommend these, mostly because all you truly need is a bed at Disney. That being said, sometime it is nice to go a little better every now and then. "Moderate Resorts" include Coronado Springs, Port Orleans Riverside, Port Orleans French Quarter and Carribean Beach. From there, you get to "Deluxe Resorts", which include the very pricey digs like Grand Floridian, Yacht & Beach Club, The Polynesian, The Contemporary, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Fort Wilderness Lodge, Boardwalk Inn, Saratoga Springs and a few others. Beyond that, you've also got Disney Vacation Club resorts, campgrounds and a few other places mixed in...

...which is cool because we'd never stayed at Port Orleans Riverside. Its kind of my thing now, I want to try to stay in the different hotels at some point, with the ultimate dream of mine being The Polynesian, with all its tropical atmosphere and tiki towers rising through the lobby. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge for a night in September of last year, when we went with our friends DeLisa and DeNick, and it was glorious.

The hotel we slept in... for about four hours. It was awesome. And breakfast was great, too.

Problem was, we actually didn't quite get out of town until around 6pm, or after, and truthfully, when you have three women picking at each other about which direction to head, and who it is to blame for why we left so late and so on and so forth, its easier to just sit in the back seat, plug in my earbuds, and keep quiet.

After all this, we finally rolled up into Disney World, or at least Port Orleans Riverside, around 430, maybe 5am Eastern Time. Check out at the hotel was 11am, and we hadn't even checked in yet. I laid my head to rest around 530p, The Lovely Steph Leann didn't get to lay down until closer to 6am. We slept until around 9, then had to get up and pack up the few things that we had taken out. It might be silly to pay for a room for only a few hours, but trust me, that sleep was invaluable--I wouldn't have traded it for anything.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

The benefit of having so many days in front of you at The Happiest Place on Earth is that you can take your time doing everything. Magic Kingdom is not nearly the biggest size-wise, but has the most to do and is the park that is almost impossible to cover in a single day, so we had already planned to break it into two, perhaps three days, so we hit Magic Kingdom first, doing most of Tomorrowland... we rode Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, we toured the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor (both highly recommended rides), we rode Space Mountain--which, by the way, they will be closing later this year to update it, making it faster, darker and adding music.

We strolled into Pixie Hollow, which is located in Toontown...

... DISNEY TIP!!! The Magic Kingdom is comprised of seven different areas, each with its own style and atmosphere. Besides Tomorrowland, there is Main Street USA, which you walk on when you enter the park, finding various shops and such... Liberty Square, where you'll find the Haunted Mansion... Adventureland is the home of the Jungle Cruise, the Tiki Room and Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride... Frontierland has Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain... Mickey's Toontown Fair contains Goofy's Barnstormer kid coaster and The County Bounty... and finally, Fantasyland, a big area with all the major traditional rides like Mad Hatter's Tea Party, aka the teacups, Dumbo, Peter Pan's Flight, It's a Small World and so on...

...more specifically, the County Bounty, a huge pavilion of gifts and stuff. To the right side of the County Bounty, once you enter the big doors, you'll see two queues, one to meet princesses, and the other to meet fairies. We got in line, and for the first time, was able to meet Tinkerbell (who called my pin lanyard 'flitterific') and her fairy BFFs Silvermist and Rosetta.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

FOOD!!! That night we ate at 1900 Park Fare, which is located at The Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, at Cinderella's Royal Gala. Quite simply, its this huge buffet topped off with table visits by Cinderella, her boo Prince Charming, the Wicked Stepmother, and the two stepsisters, Drisella and Anastacia. The two stepsisters are my favorites, though, because they always seem to really play it up great.


Dessert was marvelous

Dinner for me consisted of yummy creamed potatoes and a large hunk of sliced roast beast, some mac & cheese, some other foods I can't think of, a bowl of chilled strawberry soup, and several little bitesized cheesecake tarts, berry tarts and chocolately junk. It was a-may-zing.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

After just passing out within ten minutes of getting to Room 240 at Pop Century, I slept like a baby. And since we went slower on Friday, we had to be up early on Saturday to hit the ground running... and Saturday...

TOY STORY MIDWAY MANIA!!! This was a ride we had been unable to ride last September due to the fact the wait was up to 3 hours in length. I had heard this ride was just unbelievably a fun ride to be on, so I wanted to prove it for myself... The Lovely Steph Leann and I raced... well, I say raced, but you have to understand, The Lovely Steph Leann doesn't run. She just doesn't. I was talking with The Dainty Steph Halpert earlier tonight, and she agreed, "Yeah, Stephanie doesn't run. I'm sure of that."

So when I say "race", we really just walked kinda fast. We got there and immediately got our fast passes, then immediately jumped in the currently-only-20-minute-wait-but-soon-to-grow-to-hours line. The queue is fascinating, as its as if your a toy sized being walking through Andy's room... everything is enlarged, from the crayons to the Tinkertoys to the Barrel o'Monkeys to the Scrabble game on the ceiling. In the back is Mr. Potato Head, telling jokes and singing and welcoming one and all to Toy Story Midway Mania.





Finally, we get to the ride, and are just giddy... seriously, we've heard from a ton of people that the ride is great, but truly, we really don't have much of an idea of what we'll be doing. We get in to the little car, both of us sitting behind brightly colored "guns" with a little pull string coming out of it. We throw on our 3D glasses, and suddenly are whirled in front of a screen with Woody and Jessie, as they tell us its time to practice. Pull back on the string, and a little "ball" flies across the screen, smashing "paint" all over a plate Jessie is holding.

Hold on... this is... kinda cool... this is really, really cool!

The little car zips around through various scenes, and we shoot ducks and plates and balloons and we try to ring the little alien guys and it was 100% incredible awesome. It was a ride you wanted to continue, so as soon as it ended, we hung out in the Pixar area until our fastpasses allowed us to ride it again. Over the course of our vacation, we rode Toy Story Mania five times.

...DISNEY TIP!! When you go to Hollywood Studios, you want to go immediately to this ride if you plan on doing it. Why? Because that is what every single other person will be doing. The fastpasses will sell out usually by midday, but even if you got one of the last ones they give, it wouldn't let you on the ride until 4, 5, maybe 6pm. My suggestion is to get a fastpass for it right off the bat, then either ride it then (allowing you to ride it again later with your fastpass) or just ride it a little later. The wait time will get up to an hour or more. If you aren't interested in this ride, though that's just weird, this is a good time to go straight to Tower of Terror and Rock'n Roller Coaster, because again, most people will be at Toy Story Mania

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We headed over to The Beauty and the Beast stage show, which is about 30 minutes in length, but is worth it. The colors are vibrant, the music is great--yes, the songs are somewhat condensed, but its enough "Gaston" to whet your appetite--and the dancing is top notch. Plus, its a great chance to sit and relax, especially since the theater is covered, during the summer months it will be awesome. Another show that is along the same lines, though not quite as good is "The Voyage of the Little Mermaid", which is simply the Little Mermaid story.



Ursula looks cool, but beyond that, its just a so-so show. Its a good wake up, though, when onstage the ship is in the storm, and in the audience, you get rained on. Sprinkles, really, but it will make you wet. Beware.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

They just started The American Idol Experience at Hollywood Studios, which both The Lovely Steph Leann and I jumped at. Earlier in the day, we passed the audition area, where you could sing for the judges to try and get on the show, but The Lovely Steph Leann refused to do so.

Though the "grand opening" wasnt until the next week, February 14th, they were showing "preview shows" all week. We filed in, and the stage looks like what the American Idol stage probably looks like in real life. There was a judges table, with the Coke containers sitting so you could clearly read "Coke".


The stage is set. The contestants are here. The dream is alive. THIS. IS. AMERICAN IDOL (lite)

A guy comes out, energizes the crowd and tells us how it all works (apparently, they do this on the real show too)... quite simply, three people perform, that being three guests who auditioned and were chosen. The audience picks the winner. Our host comes out, this chick with long legs and a bit too much makeup, and three judges come out, two girls and a non-British guy on the end.

Since its a preview day, the prizes won't be awarded today, but apparently, there will be four shows per day. The first three shows each produce a winner that goes on to the 7pm "Finals" show. The winner of that show, crowned the best singer of the day, gets a special "golden ticket" that allows her to go to any Idol audition in the country, and go directly to the front of the line.

The first girl to come perform is like, 15 or 16, and she does a great job even though she is singing "Colors of the Wind", on of my least favorite songs. The next guy does a forgettable country song (as in, I actually don't remember what it was) and the third chick does a loud version of "Independence Day". She starts off great, but loses it toward the end, but the crowd goes nuts anyway. The Lovely Steph Leann voted for the third chick, I went with the first one, but the third chick won out.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I got to meet Frozone!

There is an Art of Disney show that I highly recommend, because... well, its really cool. Afterwards, though, you spill into an area to meet some characters and see some animation, and they have a few kids areas too. We heard that Rhino the Hamster and Bolt were going to be there, so we got in line--we were the last ones in line, as a matter of fact.


Its Rhino and Bolt! It was awesome! It was beyond awesome... it was.... BE-AWESOME!

On our Times Guide, "The Characters of The Incredibles" was listed as being there, and though I love me some Incredibles, we had already met Mr. Incredible and Elastagirl. But after our pics with Rhino and Bolt, I glanced up, and saw a familiar blue color. In a voice that sounded like I was eight, I giddily exclaimed, "Steph! Frozone is up there!"



We scurried up the walk, and there was Frozone! It was one of the coolest things ever!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

FOOD ALERT!!! For dinner, we traveled over to The Garden Grill, located at Epcot in The Lands. The Garden Grill is a character meal, but its known more for the restaurant itself. It spins. When I booked it, though, I was imagining a tower like building with a rotating top, much like the one that used to be in Florence, where I shared a dessert date with Mary Ann Crittenden in 2000.



The fact that I couldn't recall any such tall tower in Epcot, though, puzzled me. Its not in a tall tower, though... its on the 2nd floor of The Land (a building in Epcot that houses "The Circle of Life" ride, "Living with the Land" and "Soarin'") and when we first walked up, The Lovely Steph Leann says, "Oh, it must not be rotating tonight. That's too bad, I guess its broken."

So I ask our cast attendant about it, and he says, "No, its working!" I stared at the floor, at a small black seam on the floor at the top of the ramp. On the right side, the ramp was just there, not moving. On the left side, every so slightly, the floor was moving. You had to really look at it to tell, no doubt it took an hour or more for it to make a full revolution. There was the lower level of seats that was in a big circle, where you could overlook part of The Land lobby area, and another part of the circle allowed you to overlook the "Living with the Land" ride.

We sat on the second level, which was really just one step up. It was strange, because as I sat, there was a large rock on the outside of the "vehicle/restaurant", and twenty minutes later, I had to turn around and look behind me to see the same rock. The food was great, though. They served us roast beast, along with turkey and some other meat, potatoes (now, I'm not a huge fan of potatoes unless they are really creamy, but there were some rockin' creamed taters all over Walt Disney World) and some cranberry sauce that The Lovely Steph Leann was diggin'.


They even brought us Anniversary Dessert, which was really a cupcakey thing with a few candles on it. It was nice, though.

And on Sunday... its off to The Magic Kingdom!!