Walt Disney World #1

or "The Happiest Place on Earth" or "Where Dreams Come True" or the place celebrating "The Year of a Million Dreams."

We spent a generous portion of our Thanksgiving holiday allotment at Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida.

We left Friday following our Grandparent's Day program at Fort Worth Christian. The goal was to drive all night since our first day of Disney playing and staying was Saturday. We would drive and get there to enjoy as much of the day as possible. That didn't work. We made it to Mobile, Alabama, when Leslie and I decided driving all night was not an option this time. We stopped about midnight, rose at 6:00, had some McMuffins and drove arriving at approximately 3:30. We were at Disney-MGM by5:00.

A couple of things here.

1. We have never been to DisneyWorld.
2. We chose not to fly to save money and because we enjoy the driving.
3. We chose to stay at one of the resort's hotels.
4. We used, for the first time, a travel agent.
5. We did not get a meal ticket or whatever it is called.
6. The initial plan was to visit Epcot, Animal Kingdom, the Magic Kingdom - in that order forsaking the MGM park because it didn't seem to hold much attraction. We decided to go to MGM on our first day since it wasn't a whole day and because they were open later.
7. I read. I read this book about Disney. A lot.

Things Disney does well:

1. Service. Although we didn't experience an extraordinary event in the service arena, there was that feeling around. We witnessed kind treatment of many. This is not Six Flags.

2. Convenience. I am convinced that this is why so many go, so often. It is all inclusive. All located right there. Transportation is easy. Swimming pools everywhere.

3. Cleanliness. This is not Six Flags.

4. Light Show/Fireworks. Three of the parks have some sort of light show/fireworks display. This is not your typical fireworks/laser/light show.

5. Parades. We didn't care for them, but as parades go they were good.

6. What I call "free enterprise zones." After every major ride, you are dumped off into a gift shop based on the theme of the ride. For example, after Star Tours, which is based on Star Wars, to exit the ride you have to walk through a gift shop of Star Wars stuff. I'm not saying I like this. I am saying they do it well.

The next post will present more specific thoughts about the place.

Today:

I went to the Ipod store with a problem. They just gave me a new one and some extra doodad for free.

I walked through a parking garage. They give me the heebie-jeebies.

It is my mother's birthday. She is wonderful.

I bought Leslie a #5 thingy at Anthropologie. It was actually the number 5. There are five in our family.

We started a fire in our fireplace. Drank hot chocolate.

I saw that James Taylor has a new album coming out November 13th. Get it only at Starbucks, a place I do not go. Normally.

I saw a website called randomshirts.com. Funny shirts, and oddly enough posters of buildings from Navasota, Texas.

Quick Hits From the Absent Weeks

I went to Philadelphia for a conference. Visited the historic areas and I will take the family back. American history, which I enjoy, is as much Philadelphia as it is anywhere. More than Boston. Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, B. Franklin's home, businesses, and gravesite, place where the Declaration of Independence was written, adopted, and read aloud for the first time to the people crowded in the square, City Tavern where Washingon, Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson would spend the evening hours chatting up some historical documents, and the sight where the first two presidents presided over the country since Washington, D.C. was still a swamp - all in Philadelphia.-


While there, I actually stayed a little to the west of the city near Concordville, and this was beautiful countryside with covered bridges and white farmhouses and splendid little meadows laced with trails that led into the leaf-changing woods.

I was there for six days and with a lot of time on my hands I drove the back roads and saw:

1. Amish buggies all over
2. Quaker Meetinghouses as old as 1676.
3. Wilmington, Delaware. I asked a lady at the hotel what there was to see in Wilmington. She said nothing. I agree.
4. Route 100 runs roughly north and south from Hwy 1 to Hwy 141. One of, if not the best, road I have been on.
5. No street lights anywhere. After dark, it is difficult to get around.

In Philadelphia again before my return flight, I visited the Italian Market made famous primarily by the movie Rocky. You remember the scene where he is running in the gray sweats through the streets of Philley where people are cheering him on, huddled around barrels with fires built in them for warmth, people selling fruit and dried meat? I was there, but I didn't run or yell "Adrian." I was already attracting some attention anyway. I left before dark.

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Halloween. Erin was Princess Leah(?) from Star Wars. Jeb was a young Obe-wan-kenobee(?). Caleb helped supervise. Our street does Halloween well. Alot of decorations and adults dressed up to scare. It seems that our street gathers alot of visitors because of all of the good candy.
And speaking of candy. The best Halloween candy is Nerds. It's small, fitting in a box, weighty enough to chunk, tasty, not chocolate so there is no melt factor, and it is difficult to sabotage.

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Caleb had to take care of the Home Economics Robotic Baby this past weekend. He named it "it. " He also punched it in the head. Several times in the night he had to rise and take care of it to keep it from crying. It cries at different times and has a computer chip that records what happens. For example, it would record how long it cried before it was taken care of. With Erin's help, Caleb has the potential to get a good grade. Unless the computer chip discerns head trauma. On the last evening, our preacher, one Joel Quile, dropped the baby and it wailed.

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Upcoming. We are headed to DisneyWorld. Our family has never been and it is a trip that is atypical for us. However, we are looking forward to it. We leave Friday, the 16th and start home on Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving night we will be in a hotel somewhere, probably Louisiana, eating chicken tenders from Popeyes.