Spring Break 2009, Disney World

Andrea’s aunt lives in Winter Park, pretty close to Walt Disney World and the other attractions in Orlando.  We decided to take a mini-trip, driving up from south Florida to spend the day at the Magic Kingdom and stay over night in Winter Park.

Andrea took the opportunity to try one of the spa’s at the Disney resorts while I took the boys into the park.  It was pretty crowded when we arrived early afternoon and we immediately got stuck in line for lunch.  The lines continued to be long the rest of the day but unlike the food line, the ride lines moved very quickly.

Before we met up with Andrea, we explored Adventureland.  We led off with a ride through the Haunted Mansion, then a trip around Tom Sawyer’s Island on the Liberty Belle.  I though the river boat would take us over but I was mistaken.  It was probably just as well since it gave us all a chance to sit rather than running around the island.  Next we defied the 40-minute wait sign and rode The Pirates of the Caribbean.  The additions from the movies were nowhere near as obnoxious as I would have feared.  We finished out Adventureland with a walk through the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, at the boys’ insistence.  I was a bit surprised but they clearly enjoyed it.

After we collected Andrea in front of Cinderella’s castle, we hit Tomorrowland.  We started with a ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority so the boys would get a sampling of the rides and attractions in that part of the park.  We all enjoyed it, especially the sneak peek into some of the newer additions.  We snagged a Fast Pass for the Buzz Lightyear ride then got in line for the Speedway.  Liam of course wanted to drive while Calum showed his budding pre-teen sulk and just passively rode alongside Andrea.

We then decided to see the Carousel of Progress for a lark.  It was as dated and silly as we expected, even the relatively new addition from the 80’s.

We caught a very nice dinner at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe then headed over to Main Street.  We had some ice cream then shopped for the souvenirs I had promised the boys for their patience and good behavior.  I really was surprised at how well they dealt with the lines and the heat.  Better yet, their good behavior was unprompted.  They were so enthralled with the park that they didn’t squabble or fuss.

With Goofy hat firmly planted on my head, I led everyone back to Tomorrowland.  We had just enough time before our Fast Pass came up for one more ride, so we tried out the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor.  It was better than I expected.  The live audience interaction made it more enjoyable than a themed comedy act would have been on its own.

The Buzz Lightyear ride was definitely worth the wait.  It reminded me of the long gone Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, frenetic and crazily lit.  Each car in the ride had a joy stick to spin it and a pair of blasters to shoot out targets scattered throughout the tide.  The long line and multiple hour wait for the Fast Pass definitely seemed justified.

We got a bit snarled in the crowd watching the Main Street Electrical Parade.  It was quite a bit different than the version I remembered from my youth but enjoyable nonetheless.  We managed to fight the crowd, moving upstream back to the monorail.

The boys had such a good time they asked to go back the following morning.  Thankfully, they took it in good graces when we said no since we spent the morning with Andrea’s aunt and then had to get on the road back to Grammie’s.

Everyone had such a good time that I suspect we may do more planning around Disney World for next year, for either a longer stay or trying to get a bit more out of the park in a single day than we did this year.

Spring Break 2009, Air Boat Ride

On our second day in town, we headed out to the Sawgrass Recreation Park to take an air boat ride through the glades.  Sunday we pretty much just recovered from our late arrival the night before.  Monday was very warm so we took the kids to see a movie.  Yesterday was just about right, clear and a bit cool.  We almost thought we would get rained out on the drive down but the sunshine held out.

After a short wait, we packed into a boat with about two dozen other tourists.  The large boat was driven by two enormous propellers, we all got free foam ear plugs with our tickets.  The boat captain was able to give us some good information about the wildlife as we rode out.  From the dock, I was expecting the ride to be a bit monotonous.  Sitting down on the flat boat hull, though, just inches off the water makes all the difference.  When he gunned the props, the ride was exhilarating.  When the boat coasted, it was calm, almost serene.

Most of the wildlife we saw were birds.  We actually got to see some rare ones, notably a flight of glossy ibis.  I got many good pictures from both out on the boat and the park’s wildlife exhibits.  It was apparently a bit too cooler for the gators, we only saw one though from a very close distance.  I was astonished at how well some of the raptors we saw blended into their surroundings and impressed at the distance from which the boat captain was able to spot them so he could bring us in for a closer look.

After the ride, we walked through the wildlife exhibits.  The park apparently takes in injured and abused animals, ones that for various reasons cannot be returned to the wild.  Liam actually held a baby gator, a small snake and a bearded lizard.  There was also a bit of excitement over an escaped chicken pecking around the pens with the domestic and semi-domestic animals.  Andrea and I definitely enjoyed the exotic animals section the most, mostly the big cats.

They had a Florida mountain lion, though he was sacked out under a ramp and difficult to get a clear view of.  They also had two black leopards.  One of the pair got up while we were there and played around about before resettling perched on a large rock.  More of a surprise, they had two wolves, a timber wolf and an arctic wolf.  Not surprising at all, they were also dozing through the afternoon heat.

As Calum said when I was chatting with him on the way back to the car, it was better than expected.  I am glad we went and will be posting my pictures once we return home to our more stable, and definitely faster, fiber connection.

Spring Break 2009, The Flight Down

Since we missed seeing my family at Christmas, we decided to take an extended trip for Spring Break. Our flight last night was uneventful other than being about an hour late. We got into the air port with plenty of time to spare and had a delicious, relaxing dinner before heading to our gate.

Both boys now have their own Nintendo DSs and with head phones they can easily disappear into a game for an hour at a time.  All the same, they clearly were getting antsy, asking after our plane’s arrival.  Given how late we disembarked, I was surprised they did not conk out on the plane.  I guess the novelty of having their own individual TV at the seat, even though they have flown almost exlcusively on jetBlue their whole lives thus far, kept them up.

Needless to say everyone’s nerves were a bit frayed when we arrived but we managed to collect our bags and hit the road without incident.  A few minutes after we left the airport, soft snores could be heard from the back seat.  Grammie spotted a traffic snarl on the way in and we consulted quickly on an alternate route to her place.  We managed to avoid getting stuck and got both boys into bed with only a little further pre-adolescent drama.

Today Andrea took them to the pool to splash around for a bit but otherwise it has been a lazy Sunday as we recover from the late night and ponder what to do with the full week and a few days ahead.