Recently in Vacations and Traveling Category

I mentioned yesterday that I had had enough of Disney by this time. For our last day there we decided to spend the first part of it at one of the water parks and then go to Downtown Disney that afternoon.

I'm glad we got to be able to go. While I didn't particularly want to go spend a fortune on stuff in the stores there I did want to go do some window shopping and have a bite to eat there. We canceled our dinner reservations at the Animal Kingdom and decided to just eat somewhere at Downtown Disney instead.

Although there is a ton of entertainment and we really enjoyed the several story arcade it's mostly made up of Disney shopping and boy do they have some stuff to check out.

There were a ton of Disney pins. If you haven't been to Disney before you won't know the import of the pins. See the lanyard around Pete's neck? It's full of the collectable pins. All of us, including myself succumbed to this and we now have a shitload of Disney pins. You can trade them with some of the Disney cast members for other ones you might want and apparently it's a pretty lucrative business on eBay as well.

I can understand that. We also give pins to our employees at work and they just love to collect, buy and trade the pins with each other and really love it when they have something someone else doesn't. I have an entire desk drawer full of that crap at home. 22 years of working for them. I may just have to put some of them up on eBay. The Olympics pins we gave out during the '96 games might actually be worth something to someone.

Anyway, they all got to get a couple of pins. I think all total I probably spent two hundred bucks on pins and freaking lanyards while we were there.

There was also a store that sold nothing by Mr. Potato Head. It was pretty cool. There were a couple of tables inside where the kids could put together Mr. Potato Head so we let them play for awhile. There was also an area with Star Wars Potato Head and I had to make sure and get a couple of pictures of these guys.

I particularly like Darth Potato Head and the Sith Potato Head.

We let them run around and play in there for awhile and then moved on to something else.










We thought about going to the Crab House but then decided on something else. I still wanted the picture of the old steamboat restaurant though.

I think that the favorite part of Downtown Disney for everyone was the Lego store. Man, they had some really cool stuff.



THIS is the Lego guy...

Lego guy and I got to talking for awhile and he was form some place in bumblefuck midwest who quit his life and job to move to Florida and work at the Lego place...

Lego guy was working outside where they have several tables for folks to build stuff out of. He's in charge of making sure everything is cool and nobody takes the Legos. He also makes sure to let everyone know that he's the one with the wheels. If you wanted wheels on your Lego car you had to see him and god forbid you lose the fucking wheels.

I see a fucking serial rapist in the makings...

I caught a case of the crabs there...

Maybe not but it certainly sounded good at the time...

After wandering around we decided to have dinner at the Wolfgang Puck Cafe. It was ok. Pete decided she wanted Sushi.

The only problem with Sushi is that if you are eating outside and it's 85 degrees it doesn't take long for that shit to get nastified.


Even Pete agrees...They screwed up her order the first time but finally got it right. What with the heat and humidity she didn't eat very much of it.

That was pretty much it. We went back to the resort and may have swam for a while but the next morning we high-tailed it back to Georgia. Unfortunately I had chosen to let them automatically charge me for everything so as to save time so I wasn't able to ditch the final bill. Since we paid for the lodging, food and park tickets way ahead of time the only stuff I had to pay for was what we actually purchased and any extra meals. I think it came out to around another $1100 so the damage could have been worse.

I love going to Disney but for us the time constraints just kill you. Even with having a week there we still weren't able to do everything we wanted to without cramming it into 15-18 hour days. I think the best way to go would be to spend about three days in each park. 14-21 days. I'll have to hock my fucking retirement for that one though...

Last week I posted about Hollywood Studios and Epcot. The same day we went to Epcot we had reservations at 1900 Park Place (I think that's the name of the restaurant) at thr Grand Floridian Resort. Since it was a character meal we didn't want to miss it. For some reason I thought it was an Alice in Wonderland type thing but apparently it was Cinderella and family. Here are some of the photos.

The pictures are pretty crappy. I had not had the chance to experiment with the camera's lighting settings yet. It's not like I'm trying to sell them or anything, it's the memories that count.

The girls were very happy to see Cinderella but it was the evil stepmother and stepsisters that stole the show.

Mean faces...

The wife is going to kill me for posting that one...

A very content RePete.

We had intended on going back to the Animal Kingdom the next day as there were several things I wanted to do that we didn't get to do on our short day there but by the time that last day rolled around I was so fucking tired of being there that I wanted an easy day....The last day of our trip next time...

The next morning (June 3rd) we went to Epcot. I had never been to Epcot before and I was really impressed.

The week was finally getting to us and we overslept. We had a Princess Breakfast scheduled for something like 8:30 in the morning for the girls at Epcot and we woke up at something like 7:30. Since the Wife and Pete had stayed up much later than RePete and nyself they decided they did not want to get out of bed. Repete and I made the mad dash to Epcot. It seemed like we had to wait forever. First we had to ride the monorail to the transit center and switch to another train and ride that all the way to Epcot. We had to wait forever. Then we got lost in Epcot :)

We ended up getting to breakfast 30 or 40 minutes late but they were gracious enough to seat us anyway. Repete got to meet several of the princesses she had not met before...

RePete and I had a really great time and since the breakfast was held in the Norse(?) area there were lots of cool new foods to try for her. I had a bit of smoked salmon with my eggs and she got to try several different types of cheeses. RePete LOVES cheese.

The wife and Pete showed up around 10:30 and we spent the rest of the day wandering around Epcot. There's some more pictures in the extended entry.

I haven't posted anything else about our trip to Disney since around the beginning of July so I thought it a good time to put up some more pictures from the trip.

The last time I was talking about it I had gotten to our day at Hollywood Studios.

We had to drag the kids to see the Lights, Motors, Action! show. It was pretty hot that day and neither of them seemed to want to see it but once we got there they enjoyed it.

This is the set from Lights, Motors, Action!

One of the favorite things for the kids on both of our trips to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios) is to play in the "Honey I shrunk the Kids" area. They always have a blast and it's nice to get into the shade after walking around the park for a while.

We didn't spend the entire day at Hollywood Studios as we had dinner reservations somewhere at the Magic Kingdom I believe. So we rode the bus back to our resort and then caught the boat over to the Magic Kingdom.

I honestly can't remember where we ate that night. I don't have any pictures so it must not have been one of the character meals. I do remember that we stayed awhile and since it was open late that night RePete and I caught the boat back to the hotel while Pete and the wife stayed past midnight. We were already getting toward the end of the trip and by that time it had kicked my ass good. We went to Epcot the next day. I had never been to Epcot before and I really enjoyed it. The next time it's just the wife and I we are definitely going back.

Technorati: Wordless Wednesday

While I much prefer driving when we travel sometimes there are just instances where you have to fly such as when we went to Nassau back in February or when our son comes home from California at Christmas. It's just too far to drive in one instance and impossible in the other.

I hate flying and as the years go by it keeps getting more and more uncomfortable. First they took away most if not all of the food on domestic flights. Then they start charging you for ALL of your luggage. Now, even though it hasn't really been covered in the press, they aren't even carrying pillows or blankets on board. That just plain sucks. Flying is uncomfortable enough and that just adds to it.

When we flew home from Nassau we ended up getting diverted to the other side of the state and sat there for several hours due to storms that were over Atlanta. What should have taken us and hour to an hour and a half ended up taking several hours. It was hot and then it was cold, the flight was awful due to the storms we had to fly through and I was just ready to walk home by the time we finally arrived.

It's hard to travel prepared for all emergencies that might come up but the Cabin Cuddler does take care of some of it. Believe it or not but most of us get cold flying in the winter, not the summer. That's because we travel for comfort. Shorts and a T-Shirt are my traveling clothes of choice but when you get on a plane and the AC is cranked to max then you start getting cold. If there is a blanket at all on the plane now there's no telling when the last time is that they did laundry. On my last flight the crew had flown several different routes over a 15 hour period, basically just landing long enough to take on fuel and passengers. The sure don't wash anything in between stops. Yuck!

The Cabin Cuddler comes with it's own inflatable pillow and the tote bad turns into a pillow case. The travel blanket completely covers you and there is a pocket at the bottom that keeps your feet warm. As often as we drive around the southeast U.S. it would come in handy in the car as well. Instead of carrying three or four pillows and blankets I could just throw a couple of these in the trunk.

The girls love to go on vacation with us but they are always cold as well. When I drive, particularly in the summer, I always crank the air conditioning. Since I am right there in front of the windshield I am usually several degrees warmer than they are in the back seat and the air also helps to keep me awake as well. When I showed the girls the Cabin Cuddler video on the linked website they were amazed. Of course they are children but their comfort is even more important to me than my own.

Let me know if you have one of these or have used one before. I am really interested in hearing from folks that have some experience with them.

The wife posted an entry over at her site. Apparently the phone number she posted for the Chalet Kristy was incorrect. The correct number is 706-878-2155. Also, oh by the way, there is something else big going on that weekend (aside from the fact that it's Oktoberfest in Helen) so if you are planning on reserving a room for the Southeastern Writer's Conference you need to get it done now!

I have a site set up as well over here. I will post pictures over there and there is directions to the hotel as well as pricing.

OK folks. I was going to spend my days off this next week (the only week in July that I actually have two days off) either in Hilton Head or Destin but I think we are going to stay in town. I would love to go to the beach but I want to conserve a bit of cash. After spending well over $6k for ten days in Florida last month I need the break anyway. Thursday I think I will take my oldest daughter to Six Flags instead. The Marine and I used to do that every couple of years and we always had a pretty good time.

We are going to host a cookout either Thursday or Friday, whatever is better for folks. I'll send some emails out but if you don't get one that doesn't mean you aren't invited it just means I don't have your fucking email address. Shoot me an email or call me if you want to come. The number is 770-313-3231. If'n you think it's a bad thing to post my number on the Internet, hell it's already there anyway. Leave me a voice mail because if I don't have you in my contact list I WON'T answer the fucking thing anyway but I will call you back. Maybe. Let me know if you want to come and I will email directions. Also tell me which day it should be. I know that Friday is probably the best day for folks since it's a work day, but since it's summer time I figured Thursday might be acceptable as well. I can drink Thursday since I am off Friday but I have to behave myself Friday. Not that I get drunk and act stupid or anything, I just get drunk and act stupid. Oh yeah, kids are welcome too. Gotta have small moving targets.

So after breakfast we caught the bus to Hollywood Studios. The last time we went I don't think we enjoyed it quite as much as we did this time. The split up more this time. It was almost like two vacations. That way we could do things that each of the girls enjoyed without cramping the other's style.

Most of the design in Hollywood Studios is modeled after the '40s and '50s. The heyday of Hollywood. This old truck sits just inside the gate.

Sometimes they just have to put up with me wanting to take pictures. Considering how shitty my memory is, photos ARE my memories.

The obligatory Mickey hat photo...

One thing that was really funny was that when we got to the area where the kids get to meet Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable Pete had no interest whatsoever but RePete wanted her picture taken. What happens when they get there? Just the opposite. Repete wouldn't go near them. I think she was expecting cartoon people to come out because when she saw them she hid behind me :)

I'm pretty beat, so I will be sure to post more photos tomorrow...