Dancin' fool

The Sox are on the way to the World Series, and Katie continues to do the Papelbon dance now and then.
Last night my sister called and said, "Channel 4 is asking people to send in video of themselves doing the Papelbon dance. You should send in the one of you guys doing it at Epcot."
I said, "No way. But I do have another of just her doing it..."

So I sent it in.
They used it on TV during the morning newscast today!
They started talking about having people send it in, and they said, "But you won't be the first. The Burkes from New Hampshire were the first, and here's their daughter... blah blah blah."
They also were joking about how she called it the "Aplebon" dance.

Here's the cell phone video they used:


Disney connection: This was shot at Epcot. Randy, Katie and I were sitting outside the gallery store right next to Spaceship Earth.

J's dining plan

One of the really fun things about going to Walt Disney World is the variety of restaurants and food choices.

Not many people know this better than J, who recently unveiled the awesome idea of having a Walt Disney World dinner party – a plan that came to fruition this past Saturday night.

Here’s the menu, along with the person responsible for recreating it:

Bill: Cheddar cheese soup and breadsticks (Le Cellier)

J and Deb: Mixed greens with a honey lime Dressing (‘Ohana)

J and Deb: Fried wontons served with peanut sauce (‘Ohana)

Carol and Randy: Seared beef with a wild onion sauce (Epcot Food & Wine Festival/Oklahoma)

Mike: Mom’s meatloaf (50s Primetime Café)

Walt: Bread pudding a la mode with a banana foster sauce (‘Ohana)

J and Deb: Peanut butter and jelly shakes (50s Primetime Café)

There are some talented cooks among this group of Walt Disney World enthusiasts. I am not among them. My cooking skills are incredibly limited.

Here’s my brief review:
- I thought the soup came out OK;
- The salad was awesome;
- The wontons with peanut sauce were my favorite thing all night;
- The seared beef blew my mind. The onion sauce was EXACTLY like it was at Epcot;
- The meatloaf was great. I haven’t had it at 50s Primetime, so I can’t say if it was exactly like it is at WDW, but it tasted great. In the incredibly gracious words of Walt: “He didn’t F-it up.” (Which means it was very good.)
- The bread pudding – I loved it. Even Randy the Bread Pudding King™ gave it two thumbs up. I must learn how to make this. However, I’d probably skip the Illuminations fire barge show associated with the sauce. (More on that later.)
- The peanut butter and jelly shakes were just as mind blowingly good as they are at the World.

As I arrived at J and Deb’s, the house was filled with music from Walt Disney World, pictures from a recent trip were showing on the TV, and the food smelled great. I knew it was going to be exactly what a WDW addict suffering from withdrawal needed.
I plugged in the crock pot with the soup and promptly forgot to turn it on. Yay me!

The most memorable moment came as Walt was making the bananas foster sauce for his bread pudding. He had the sauce over heat, and added rum. The column of flame that instantly shot up from the pan reached the high ceiling in the kitchen and remained there for several seconds. Thankfully, it burned off a bit. There were no black marks on the ceiling, but memories of the close call reflected in Deb’s face. It was a look of horror mixed with “don’t burn my house down.”

Personally, I think it added a bit of a floor show to the proceedings. (In retrospect and due to the fact nothing was damaged, of course.)

By the end of the night we had great Disney talk, a showing of old pictures, full bellies and the Red Sox crushed the Indians on the way to a game 7 comeback.

J and Deb were, as always, amazing hosts. I hope we can do something like it again some time.

WDW Oct. 4-12, Day 2: Magic Kingdom

It seemed like a few minutes earlier we had just left the Magic Kingdom after a night of sweaty trick or treating and laid our heads down in the arctic embrace of our Saratoga Springs Resort rooms.

In fact, it had only been a few hours. And trust me when I skillfully use the word ‘arctic.’ Our room, at least, was positively freezing most of the time. But thanks to the way the air conditioning works there now, it swung back and forth between permafrost and humid. There are motion sensors in the room, and if no one is moving around the AC shuts off. So every once in a while during the night I’d get up, do an elaborate tap dance in front of the TV, and then go back to sleep when I heard the AC kick on.

It was so cold it hurt. It was awesome.

So, just hours after Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party had ended we were up and ready to attack the Magic Kingdom anew. It was quite humid and a little overcast. We made our way up Main Street as cast members welcomed us out on the sidewalks. My favorite shop on Main Street is the jewelers. They have nice watches, prints, big figures and pins there, and we usually end up getting something.

This time I had my mind set on picking up a big fig. They had eight or so big figures on display, and the first one to catch my eye was the Sorcerer Mickey figure. It stands about 18-24 inches tall I’d guess, and it had little lights in the sea foam. But then I saw a figure called ‘Pie Eyed.’ It was an old fashioned version of Mickey and Minnie walking hand in hand holding park passes. I knew before we left for New Hampshire, it would be mine. In fact, I had a plan. It’s not so much a brilliant plan that will have you gasping in awe, but more of an, “Oh. OK.” plan that justifies the price tag.

But that’s a story for another day. Because at this point I didn’t want to have it shipped home and have it beat us there, sitting out in the rain outside the garage. So I held off. For now…

After a little more shopping we wandered out the side door into the alley, where we stumbled across Pluto. He was just standing around with no lines or other visitors, so we took a few pictures and headed up toward the Castle.

Katie wanted to hit the teacups, so we hooked a right at the Castle hub. There was no line – literally – so Katie, Jenna and I picked out a teacup and went for a spin. Or, to be more accurate, went for a non-spin. The teacup we were in just didn’t spin around much. Normally I try to hold it fairly steady so Katie doesn’t get thrown around much, and so I don’t get motion sick and throw up on my 5-year-old. But this time I didn’t have to hold on at all.

We whipped around a bit, waved at Amy and Ryan when we saw them, and soon found ourselves winding back through the turnstyles for a second spin. There was absolutely no one around, so we just walked on, picked out a pink teacup (Katie’s choice) and took it around again.

Two times is more than enough for me, so Katie, Amy and I headed for the Indy Speedway while Ryan and Jenna made for Space Mountain. I’m not going to turn this into a “we did this and then this and then this and then this” type of trip report, but I have to mention our early path because when we got in line at the Indy Speedway (or, ‘The Slow Cars’ as Katie has named them), we looked back toward the teacups and saw that it wasn’t running, there was no one on them, and no one in line to ride them. The park was virtually empty – except for the Indy Speedway. We knew this wouldn’t last, so we figured we’d try to tear through Fantasyland before the crowds arrived.

This plan led to the first drama of the trip. I blame myself, partly. For whatever reason, Katie is deathly afraid of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh attraction. She is truly horrified by the idea of riding it. We tried to convince her, but she just got more and more afraid and upset. Amy, Jenna and Ryan went on while Katie and I sat outside and waited. She was very upset and just wanted me to assure her we would never go on it until she was 16. I said OK. Why press the issue, really?

The rest of the morning was taken up by Fantasyland touring, two trips in a row on It’s a Small World, and then lunch at Pinnochio’s whateveryoucallit Haus. Jenna and Amy got the Figaro Fries. They looked awesome. But I opted for a turkey sandwich. (A gripping detail, without which this trip report would not be complete.)

It turned into an afternoon of wandering around Adventureland, Main Street and ducking out of a pouring shower in the alley by the jeweler.

Dinner was at the Crystal Palace, so Jenna and I staked out a spot on the porch while Amy and Ryan took Katie over to meet Jasmine again. They were stuck in the second downpour of the day (and the last one of the entire trip) but got back to the restaurant fairly dry.

What can you say about the Crystal Palace? The food was great, the character interaction was great, the air condition is maybe the best on property (I’m an AC connoisseur) and our waiter was great. Amy got a birthday card signed by a few characters.

There was also a really gross bathroom event that I shall not relate in this entry. It did not involve your humble narrator – I was merely witness to it’s awesomely disgusting humor. I’d tell you all about it, but the liberal use of onimotopia would render me exhausted. Suffice to say dinner was great.

We got back to the room just as a cast member was delivering some balloons for Amy’s birthday, and thus began the second incident of drama: Katie wished it was her birthday, and not Amy’s.

After a beating, her mood changed.

OK, not really. After a stern talk she proceeded to conk right out. And the rest of us followed not long after.

Counting

I've been asked recently how many times I've been to Walt Disney World. I tried to count, and I've come up with 14 times. The thing is, I think I'm forgetting one or two trips.
Here's what I've come up with:

- 1st trip ever in 1981: My grandmother and aunts took me, my brother, my sisters and cousins.
- 1st trip with Amy 1998: When I caught the bug.
- Cruise trip with Kevin, Jodi and several others: We sailed into Hurricane Irene. Awesome.
- Chris and Barry in January: The trip where the chicken hit Barry in the head. And it was caught on video.
- Carol and Randy after 9/11: We flew down a couple weeks after 9/11. There was no one in the parks.
- J, Deb, Walt in Sept.: Katie was a newborn, so Amy said 'feel free to go.'
- J and Deb in June: A long weekend. Amy and I went fishing on this trip.
- Press trip with Kev: 100 Years of Magic press trip.
- Press trip with J: Everest opening. Yeah, I didn't ride it.
- Resort press trip with Amy and Katie: Katie's first trip.
- Mousejunkies trip
- December with Connie, Dave and Ryan: Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
- May birthday trip: Without Katie. Carol and Randy and J and Deb came.
- Oct. 2007 with Jenna, Ryan, Amy, Kate - See below.

I'm convinced I'm forgetting a trip. If you are reading this and have been to WDW with me and I left that trip out, tell me.

Day 1: A different perspective

Since I wasn't with Bill, Amy, Ryan and Katie for a big chunk of Bill's Day 1 report, I thought I'd write about what I was up to while they were wandering the World.

First of all, I have to backtrack several months. Amy and Bill first invited me along back in May or June, shortly after my most recent WDW vacation. However, I'd been told that we would be terribly busy at work and there was no way I could take a fall vacation. And then I did something really silly- I purchased a home! So not only was I convinced that I'd be busy at work, I was now dealing with the financial and mental health realities of closing on my condo, planning a minor remodel, buying appliances, and spending so much time at home improvement big box stores that I started to hum the Home Depot jingle absentmindedly all the time. Any hope of joining Amy and Bill on Amy's birthday trip was fast disappearing. Then things slowed down at work and projects got pushed back. And as I logged my 14 kajillionth hour standing on a ladder and painting the dingiest bathroom ceiling ever, I realized there was absolutely nothing in this world I wanted more than to go to Disney World with Amy and Bill (unless, of course, Jason Segel suddenly started installing a new kitchen in my home and began taking a lot of home improvement project initiative for me while saying "awesome" a lot, because I have to confess, I'd want that more).

Anyway, Amy mentioned something about a "birthday surprise." That was it. I was going. And it would be a birthday surprise. I allowed myself five outright lies. I don't think I used them all, but I was allowed to say "I wish I was going," or "I'm just too busy at work/home/playing the Sims 2" if I needed to. Mostly, I just stayed incommunicado. So, that brings us to October 4th.

My flight was on Southwest out of Detroit at 8:30 in the morning. I got to the gate with my trusty group A boarding pass and saw... almost no one waiting. Okay, use the facilities. Visit Starbucks. Still no one waiting. Turns out there were only 36 people on my flight and only one small child. I didn't just have my row to myself, I had the entire width of the plane for not only my row, but the ones in front and behind me. Talk about relaxing! The crew treated us like kings. We landed and I made my way down to the Magical Express counter. I didn't have very long to wait. I met a very nice family who were originally from Long Island, but had scattered as they grew older. They were meeting in WDW for a family reunion. Very nice!

I was a little nervous wandering around MCO and later, around Saratoga Springs. Amy didn't know I was there. What if her flight was delayed and I ran into her at the airport? When I checked in, I had the same desk clerk who had checked in Amy and Bill an hour or so earlier. She put me in a Studio room in the same building my friends were in, but a floor above. I was still worried about running into them, so when I went for lunch at Artist's Pallette, I wore a ballcap and sunglasses, and kept my head down. It was like when celebs pretend they don't want the paparazzi to take their picture, but then always seem to hang around places the paparazzi are waiting.

In the meantime, I was getting messages from Bill. The voicemail was something like "Amy's in the bathroom. Not much time to talk. If we can get Katie to nap, we'll try to be at the Halloween party all night. The tickets say 7:00 PM, but they let people in at 5:00. I'll try to call later." That was the only voice contact. At around 3:30, I put on my Halloween costume. See, I have this thing about Halloween. I played dress-up a lot when I was a kid. I never grew out of it. My thought about Halloween parties is this: if you don't wear a costume, it's just another party, albeit a party with some fairly creepy decorations. Two years ago, I wore my Rizzo from "Grease" costume to MNSSHP and was the only person in the group in costume. The only uncomfortable thing about it was the combination of the monstrous humidity and my Pink Ladies jacket. This year, I wore my Not-so-little Red Riding Hood costume (making an encore appearance from the 2002 MNSSHP). Everywhere I walked, I heard whispers of "Red Riding Hood." "Look, Mom, Little Red Riding Hood!" "Follow Red Riding Hood." Cast members: "Little Red Riding Hood! What are you doing here?" Me: "Looking out for wolves." CM: "There are plenty of them here. Mostly employees." I joked that I was a high tech Riding Hood, because my basket was full of digital camera, cell phone, and credit cards. I said I'd text the woodcutter: "Hlp! BBW! Brng ax 2 GMs house." So, you see, revelling in costume-wearing. Next time, I'll go with something a little less fabricy, though. Flannel lined hood in high humidity- not good.

The one time I did feel a little uncomfortable in my costume was when two little girls walked up to me with autograph books. I know some people just roll with it, but I looked at their parents and said, "I don't work here!" Then I knew it was time to move around and not just stand in the shade. I found a better place to wait in the Main Street Air Conditioning and Candy Shop. Through all of this, I received a series of text messages:
"She napped! We're heading to mk now"
"Getting on ferry at tta"
Then finally, a call, beckoning me to cross Main Street and surprise Amy. And that's where I join Bill's trip report.

Trip report: Oct. 4-12, 2007

The cast:
Bill – Me, 40, a bona fide Disney geek.
Amy – 37 at the start of the trip, 38 by the end of the trip.
Katie – 5 – this is her third trip to WDW. She loves Princess Jasmine very much.
Ryan – 17, a teen Disney expert in her own right, and a Pirates fanatic.
Jenna – Same age as WDW, veteran of many trips, extremely knowledgeable about the World. She would be arriving secretly to surprise Amy.
Randy – The Disney King.
Carol – Mrs. The Disney King. (Randy and Carol would also be arriving secretly – to everyone’s surprise. More on that later.)

Day 1: Arrival/MNSSHP

I was in Orlando working a trade show at the Wyndham Resort on International Drive. Amy, Ryan Elizabeth and Katie were flying down and we were all to meet up at our DVC home resort, Saratoga Springs. As soon my coworker and I broke down the booth I was going to fly right out of there, catch a cab and vacation would start.
I’ll be honest: I was a little antsy about getting out of there.

Trade show booth breakdown is supposed to begin at a designated time, and not one second earlier. It is trade show law. This show, it was to be at 12:15 p.m. I figured by 12:35 or so I’d be out of there. The thing is, the show had been slow, and the people working the show floor were a bit unhappy about that.

At about 10:45 a.m., someone ripped off a section of packing tape. The unmistakable sound – which had assaulted our ears about 90 minutes earlier than expected - traveled across the nearly empty showroom and seemed to echo for a moment before those in the booths around us cast furtive glances up one side of the aisle and down the other.
Seconds later mayhem erupted as every booth in the place began breaking down. It was unstoppable. My coworker and I followed suit and within minutes we had everything boxed up and ready for shipping back to New Hampshire.

I said my goodbyes, and headed for the lobby where I picked up my luggage and was soon on my way to the Saratoga Springs Resort. My taxi driver insisted on doing some kind of Mapquest search on his laptop, which was perched precariously on the seat next to him, as we careened down International Drive. This made for a scary trip, but I knew soon that I’d be deep in Mouse country.

A word about the weather: It was quite hot, and very humid. Local meteorologists were calling for downpours most of the week. This had me a little nervous, but my attitude was that a little rain wouldn’t disrupt our plans.

I was dropped off at Saratoga Springs a short time later, and was met by Katie, Amy and Ryan in the lobby. They had already checked in, gotten our DVC packet and card keys and were ready to go. We had reserved a studio for the week, and our room was in the Grandstand section of the resort. We piled into our Pontiac G6 rental car and found our way over to the Grandstand. Our room was on the bottom floor, and not far from where we parked. We grabbed the luggage and made our way to room 9543. We opened the door – and saw it only had one bed. I don’t know why I thought there would be two, but I did. No matter, the couch pulled out to a bed right where the second bed would normally be, so that’s where Katie and Ryan would be spending their nights over the next week.

We were all pretty hungry, so we unpacked, I got out of my suit clothes and into my slobby Disney stuff, and we drove over to Downtown Disney for a very nice lunch at the Earl of Sandwich. I got the Frenchy, as I am wont to do, and we even sat outside – which shows you how happy I was to be there. I normally eschew the sun and humidity, but I just didn’t care. I was very happy.

After lunch we went back to the room and we actually got Katie to nap. This was a minor miracle, as Katie has never been a champion sleeper. She had been up since about 4 a.m. though, and we’d be up late that night. A nap, we figured, would increase our chances for a fun first day or two.

I flicked on the TV and watched a little of the Stacy channel (the in-room resort channel) before nodding off for a few.

A couple hours later we were all up and preparing for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that night at the Magic Kingdom. Ryan was dressed as a pirate, Katie in her Jasmine dress, while Amy and I punked out and didn’t dress up. Amy wore a pair of Stitch ears and I agreed to procure a silly hat once we got inside the Magic Kingdom.

We drove to the TTC and took the ferry to the Magic Kingdom.

Once we were inside I called Jenna on her cell phone. Amy had no idea Jenna was coming. It turns out she was right across the street from us, and while I kept Amy’s attention Jenna walked up behind Amy, in full Red Riding Hood costume, and said, “Excuse me, can you tell me where Grandma’s house is?”

It was a great entrance, and Amy was completely taken by surprise. Now our vacation could truly begin.

I was talked into getting a pair of pirate mouse ears at the chapeau shop and then we made our way up Main Street.

We walked around the Magic Kingdom, focusing mainly on Adventureland that night. Katie’s 5-year-old mind was blown when she got a chance to meet Jasmine and Aladdin, and she rode Pirates of the Caribbean with very little fear (she asked me to cover her eyes until we passed below Davy Jones). Before long it was time for the Hallowishes parade, so we staked out a spot at the Hub in front of Cinderella Castle. The parade was, as always, very good. The music was good, the cast members were good and the spirit of the night was in full effect.

We made our way to the newly-refurbished Haunted Mansion. The line, at first, was absurd. After a little trick or treating it got better, and Ryan and Jenna rode it while Katie, Amy and I hung out on the porch of the gift shop nearby. Amy and Katie rocked in rocking chairs and Katie asked Amy to sing "Moon, Moon, Moon" to her (it's the song Amy sings to Katie every night before she goes to sleep.) It was undeniably adorable.

Ryan and Jenna gave the haunted mansion two thumbs WAY up, so Amy and I took our turn. It was great. The audio is much improved, the cobwebs look better and the attic was entirely different and much better than it used to be. We loved it.

After that we began trick-or-treating in ernest. This brought us around much of the park, and concluded with what I like to call “the death march.” I was tired, and if I had the energy to say anything I probably would’ve been whining. However, I just kept putting one foot in front of the other as we walked the path from Toontown to Tomorrowland. Amy noticed the look on my face, which was probably a mix of fatigue, pain and a lack of patience. However, I didn’t say a word. I was happy to be there, even if it meant I may die of humidity and lack of sleep. But I also didn’t argue at all when it came time to head home for the night.

As we exited the park we stuffed our bags full of Hershy’s Kissables candy. There was a gigantic trough full of it just past the turnstyles, and cast members were urging us to take as much as we could carry.

Amy and Jenna were a few minutes behind us, because Amy wanted to take a second shot at getting a picture of the headless horseman’s ride down Main Street. It is a great sight, but our camera isn’t exactly the quickest. I think Jenna got a good shot of it.

Ryan, Katie and I made the first ferry to the TTC, while Amy and Jenna were left on the dock. When we got to the TTC and boarded the tram which would take us to our car, Amy and Jenna ran up just as we were pulling away.

“Wait, my husband is on that tram!” Amy laughed as we pulled away.

They made good time however, as they were only about a minute behind us when we got to the car.

We drove home, I set the air conditioner to 70 billion below zero, and we all conked out for the night. It had been a great first day complete with Jenna, Jasmine, Stacy and candy, and we were getting up early to hit the Magic Kingdom first thing in the morning.

Sleep came very quickly.

Gallery

I uploaded more than 400 photos from our latest trip to Flickr. If you'd like to see the photos at your own speed, and including Bill's witty captions that tell the story of the trip, you can see them all here.

Or, to see them a little more organized...

Here are the photos we took. Click on each to see a descriptive caption that will help tell the story of the trip.

Here are the PhotoPass images. They were taken by Disney's PhotoPass photographers and uploaded to the Web.

I used to have a gallery rotating here, but it ceased working so I deep sixed it.

*sigh*

It had to be done. I'm so very sorry.

Progress

I'm starting to get short video clips up on Youtube and pictures up on Flickr. Here's a brief clip of Katie meeting her favorite princess - Jasmine.

It was on the night of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, and Katie was all dressed up in her Jasmine outfit. (The pink, special occasion one.) Jasmine and Aladdin were hanging out in Adventureland near the flying carpets. Katie was a little shy, but she did ask Jasmine if she would ride the carpets with her. (Jasmine very smartly said, "Why don't you come back later and we'll see!") We didn't get a chance to, but it was a good answer.

When we ask Katie now what her favorite part of the trip was, she says, "Meeting Jasmine." To be fair, she met Jasmine three times. But this first one was the most mind blowing to her, I think.

Home

Sadly, the latest Disney World vacation is at an end.

It was a great trip and there are many Disney tales to tell. However, I'm uploading photos like crazy to my Flickr account and dealing with my PhotoPass images so that will have to wait.

Here's the short version of the trip report:

Hot. Humid. Halloween. Great Cast Members. Many surprises. Don't eat at the San Angel Inn.

The end.

Full trip report to follow...

Yes, we're still here

Here we are, still firmly in the embrace of the Mouse.
We spent the day at MGM Studios today and had dinner at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary. Here's a few camera phone pics:

Amy agreed to wear her pretty pink princess hat, but of course she had to add the baseball hat underneath.

Look, I'm at Kona!

We were rather tired. My new hobby: Catching people in a yawn.

And yeah, well, I was tired, too.

Amy and I in the shadow of the Tower of Terror at MGM this morning.

Katie pretending to be scared. It's a long story, but it has to do with a very funny photo/message Walt sent.

We had lunch at the ABC Commissary. As you can see, Amy hated it. And to be honest, I hated it, too. But I was holding the camera phone, so she's the one in the photo.

My advice to anyone traveling to Walt Disney World anytime soon. Do not eat at the ABC Commissary. The food was disgusting. The burger tasted boiled. The desert was gross. Don't eat there. Just... Don't. It would be better to trap one of those little lizards that are all over the place and then let it bake on the sidewalk and eat that.

We'll be at the Magic Kingdom again tomorrow, and then Epcot the day after.

And hey... If you're reading this feel free to leave a comment.

A couple more pics

Things are still going great here at Walt Disney World. We've had surprisingly good weather.

If you define "surprisingly good" as "hot and crushingly humid," that is.

But it's not raining much, which is good. Once in a while we'll come out of an attraction and it's obvious it had showered. But we've had good luck.

We had dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table last night, watched 'Wishes' from right in front of the Castle, and then Randy and Carol flew home today.

Amy, Jenna and Ryan went on the Animal Kingdom Behind the Scenes tour this morning, while Katie and I went and met some characters, shopped, rode a couple of rides and watched the Festival of the Lion King.

Here's a few camera-phone pics:

Katie and I killed a little time while holding a table at the Columbia Harbor House in the Magic Kingdom.

The birthday girl was the princess of the kingdom.

Ryan and I thought the pink princess hat looked dignified.

Katie had her own princess veil to wear today.

Then we went back to the hotel room to bask in the subzero air conditioning and to check in with our friend Stacey on the in-room resort channel. I'm not joking - this room is painfully cold. It's awesome.

Distance

According to Amy's pedometer, we walked 11 miles yesterday.
So that makes 4 miles Thursday, 5 miles Friday and 11 miles yesterday. At first I was dubious, but after yesterday I believe it.
Surprisingly, we're still all feeling pretty well. All praise bodyglide. (Anti-chafing/anti-blister stuff.)

Epcot day

We keep coming back to Disney World because crazy, awesome things always happen. As many times as we've been here, something great always happens.

This is how it happened today...

The day started with a text message from Randy (The Disney King) giving me a hassle for not updating him on our travel plans. We valet parked at the Boardwalk and headed over to the International Gateway to enter Epcot from the back door. As we came through the turnstyles, I saw a guy wearing a Bruschi Patriots jersey and a baseball hat on backwards. The Disney King dresses exactly like this.

I turned to Jenna and said, "Does that look like Randy?"

She said, "Yes, it does."

We tried to catch up to the guy, but he was gone by the time we got to the top of the hill. I decided to cover my bases and call Randy. He picked up the phone and I said, "Where are you standing... RIGHT NOW!?"

He laughed and said, "What? I'm in a northern provice. Duh. I WISH I was at Epcot."

I said, "I know where you are! I saw you! You're in Canada at Epcot!"

In reality, I really wasn't sure at all that the person I saw was him, and besides, flying down from New Hampshire as a surprise is a big deal.

He pretty much conviced me I was being goofy and advised we just head for the fast pass machines at Soarin'. I hung up, and by now Amy, Katie and Jenna had gotten ahead of me in their pursuit of what Jenna had now named, "Fake Randy."

Only now, they had spotted something that tipped the scales even more toward the unlikely event that they had actually flown down to blow our minds... They saw a tall, thin woman walking in the distance next to Fake Randy - and she had a blue windbreaker tied around her waist! Only Carol would need a windbreaker on a day like this. (It was crushingly humid.)

I immediately called Randy back. He said "Hello?"

I said, "We saw someone that looks just like Carol! Where are you?"

He laughed and convinced me I was being goofy again. Only this time I said, "We'll see you in a minute!"

I had to act like I knew we were on to him - even if we weren't. At all.

Only none of us were convinced it really was them. But we got into the Land pavilion, headed right for the railing and started scanning for Fake Randy and Fake Carol. If it really wasn't them, we had to get a photo and show Real Randy and Real Carol.

But we didn't see anoyone that looked like them. So we went down the stairs, a little dejected, and headed over to the fast pass machines.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a Patriots jersey and a blue windbreaker moving in a blur towards us...

It was Carol and Randy. Our minds were blown.

They had flown down the night before - I had actually talked to Randy about the Red Sox as he was standing in Manchester Airport getting ready to fly down here. So after freaking out and actually seeing that it was Real Randy and Real Carol, we kicked off a full day at Epcot, open to close.

Here's a few camera phone pics:

First thing that happened: Katie learned she was about two inches too short to ride Soarin'. She was deeply saddened by this turn of events.

Randy introduced us to the new attraction at the America pavilion: "Voices of Randy."

Of course, I had to try on every goofy hat in Epcot.

This is what Carol thought of the apple chutney at the Ireland booth at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival.

Katie and I hung out near Spaceship Earth for a little while.

We had dinner at the Coral Reef Restaurant in Epcot, and it included a few surprises. I'll get more into that later, especially because the good pictures will really do the story justice.

We're all beat now and going to sleep. We've got the Magic Kingdom tomorrow...

First hand account

Randy has done a fine job relaying the tales of our travels.
Here's a few words direct from Walt Disney World...

I can't really expound much on what Randy said about the Halloween party. Katie met Jasmine, and it was an earth-shattering event. She asked Jasmine if she would ride the magic carpets with her. Jasmine said to come back later if we could. We didn't see her again that night though.
We stayed until about 11 p.m. and had a lot of fun.

Today we went right back at the Magic Kingdom. We were there at the rope drop and powered through as much as we could until 7 p.m.
Here's a few camera-phone pictures:

We went into the Hall of Presidents. Here's Amy at the official seal o' the prez.

Katie was still deeply afraid of the Pooh ride, but she loved the carousel.

Yes, she's afraid of Pooh, but she loved Pirates of the Caribbean.

Self-portrait on the train. We rode the train for a while to get out of the rain and to relax a bit. According to Amy's pedometer we walked four miles last night, and five miles today.

Leave the gun, take the cannoli. We had lunch at Pinnochio's Whateveryoucall it Haus. (Haus is German for "House." I've learned so much from Disney World.)

Katie pretends she's Stitch.

Tomorrow's plan is to hit Epcot. The Epcot Food and Wine Festival is going on, so we hope to partake in a lot of different foodstuffs, as it were.

We'll check in later this week.

Ryan would just not stop eating. It was crazy.

Sherpa Visits Sacred World: Day 1 & 2

Bill has ask me to post reports which he is relaying to me Dirrectly from Disney World.

From his previous posts, you can see that he started his trip working. But as of 12:37 AM yesterday, the family has arrived and the vaccation has begun.

This trip has some special meaning as the Burke's will be celebrating Amy's birthday at the most Magical Place On Earth, and I think Bill has a few surpises planned up his sleave. One of the best suprises planned is...... Wait, Amy might be reading this, so we will all have to wait for the surprise with her.

Amy's Birthday Disney Vacation - Day 1 - 10/04/2007:

After an exciting tour of International Drive, Amy, Katie and Ryan arrived at Saratoga Springs Resort to meet Bill and check-in. They have a lovely 1-bedroom villa in the newest section of the resort, The Grandstands. This location gives them an opportunity for an enjoyable walk to the main building, I think that is what Bill meant when he said, "the boonies".

Finished unpacking are adventurous band trekked accross the lake to Down Town Disney, for a bite at the world famous Earl of Sandwich. The plan being a nice lunch, a little shopping and then heading back to the room for a little nap before heading to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not So Scarry Halloween Party.

The main goal of the party was for Katie, dressed as Jasmine, to find her full size doppelganger. I am pleased to report, that at 7:46 PM, I recieved a postitive confirmation, that the meeting had occurred and that all parties involved were extremely pleased. The final report I recieved for Day 1, put our travelers on thier way to Main Street U.S.A. to await the special Halloween Parade.

Amy's Birthday Disney Vacation - Day 2 - 10/05/2007:

The plan for the day is the Magic Kingdom. As you can see from this photo, everyone is up early and very excited to be on thier way.

"Bill will you be taking these dumb pictures the whole trip?"

Well at least Katie seems excited and ready to go. So the plan for the day is...... Well I have currently lost contact with Bill, but will update when communication is restored. The only thing I do know about the rest of the day is that they will be dining this evening at the Crystal Palace. Enjoy the prime rib Bill.

Your Disney World remote sherpa reporter,

The Disney King

Raglan Road

We ate dinner at Raglan Road tonight. At one point, a host came over to talk to us about being Patriots and Red Sox fans (I was wearing a Pats shirt.)

He was from the Dedham area, and has been down here for two years now.
I asked him if he liked it here, and he gave me what was by far the most honest answer I think I've ever heard.

"It's Florida," he said. "You can't get good pizza. You can't get good Chinese food. And there aren't any good newspapers."

It's great to find a brutally honest Cast Member.

Raglan Road was amazing, by the way. The food there puts the great, but slightly overrated Le Cellier to shame. It might be my second favorite restaurant on Disney property, next to the California Grill. And even that is only because of the unmatched view.

We arrived at 8 p.m., the live music started at 9 p.m., and the dancer went on around 9:20 p.m.
You know I'd make note of it, so I didn't want to let anyone down.

The set list tonight was amazing: Fields of Athenry, The Town I Loved So Well, Rocky Road to Dublin, Leaving of Liverpool, I'll Tell Me Ma... The band really ripped it up.

Q&A

I'm here in Walt Disney World right now.
Well, I'm in Orlando, at least. I'm working a trade show on International Drive. Thusly:


If anyone has any questions or requests, put 'em in comments.

I will say this... The weather is turning very bad. We may be able to post a 'top five tips if your trip is a washout' post when we return.