Day Six: Lions and Tigers and Bears....oh my

What a day to see the animals at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. When we had originally been planning this vacation, we had thought about staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. However, after seeing how far it was from the other parks, we are glad we didn’t. Someday we would like to open our balcony curtains and see the giraffes frolicking about, but for this trip we were aiming for location.

Once at the park, we walked to the entrance and noticed a Rainforest Café off to one side. How apropos. We were welcomed by the “Tree of Life,” a tree that is carved with all animal species. What a sight to see from almost every location in the park!



After ooing and ahhing, we headed to Expedition: Everest – a thrill ride (think roller coaster with a big drop and a photo) that takes you through the Himalayas frontwards and backwards in search of the Yeti (ooh, scary). Actually, it was kind of scary. We grabbed a Fast Pass (which, we discovered later would become unnecessary) and then went on the ride. Yes, folks, I am growing up and starting to like roller coasters. Mind you, I’m not getting ready to head to Magic Mountain anytime soon, but at least I can enjoy the Disney roller coasters.





Our next stop was the Kilimanjaro Safaris. It is just like a safari at any local zoo or animal park, but the fun thing is that each one is different every time you take it. Also, the tram tour guide also drives the bus feet away from the animals. Amazing!! Unfortunately, we only had time for one ride, but it was rather cool. We saw quite a number of animals that were close enough to touch. The best part of the safari was at a certain point – still near the beginning – all of the vehicles stopped. We overheard the radio stating that an ostrich had sat down in the middle of the road and was blocking traffic. That’s wild animals for you.



We headed out of the African plains toward Dinoland, USA (their name, not mine) and hopped on Dinosaur – a ride similar to Indiana Jones at Disneyland in that you are in a car that gets bounced around.



We stopped for a quick bite at the Restaurantsaurus before heading over to see “The Festival of the Lion King”. This was a musical/dance/gymnastics/animatronic show. There were “monkey acrobats” that bounced on a trampoline and caught a trapeze bar about 30 feet above them. They swung on high bars and did many tricks that proved to be quite incredible. The entire show was well worth our time as we were impressed by everything in it.

A short train ride took us to see a section dedicated to conservation and the protection of animals. There was even a petting zoo, though we only watched kids with the animals, choosing not to go in ourselves.

Another quick train trip and we were back in the main section of Animal Kingdom where we headed straight for the Nemo the Musical show. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Chris, how can they have a musical when there were no songs in the movie?” You’re right. They simply wrote music for the show. This production was done like everything else Disney – magical. And fantastic. It was a phenomenal show that offered the entire story of Finding Nemo in a quick 40 minutes.
Throughout the park – since it is the Animal Kingdom – we would wander trails that would lead to various animals, including chimps, gorillas, storks, rhinos, and birds.




Speaking of birds, we also watched a show called, “Wonders of Flight”, which gave us a close up view of various birds, including hawks, vultures and even more simple ones like chickens and cockatiels. We felt patriotic as they closed the show with the most majestic bald eagle. “O beautiful for spacious skies…”



One of the greatest things that Disney does for their guests is called “Extra Magic Hours”. This provides early openings or late nights for parks on different days to guests staying at their resorts. You simply show your hotel key to continue riding certain rides. Well, by the time the Magic Hours arrived, there were not too many people left in the park. This allowed us to go on Expedition: Everest two more times. Plus, we also managed to get soaked on the water ride, “Kali River Rapids” and take another excursion back in time on Dinosaur.

Animal Kingdom was such an outstanding park, but we were definitely tired by the end of the day. Thank goodness the next two days are places we’ve been and just want to see again.



Sadly, it also means this vacation is almost over, but it also means we can get back to our own wild animal, Sneakers.

22,442 steps = 11.8 miles.

Day Five, Part 2: Around the World In About 8 Hours

PLEASE NOTE: Pictures will be posted both to the blog and to the Snapfish album later this evening. Thanks for reading.

Before we really got started in the world, we needed to get to our reservation at Chefs de France – in France, of course. But to get to France, you need to walk through Canada and the UK. But that was not before going through Mexico to get to Norway earlier to get on the Maelstrom ride. We would hit those later.

Our lunch was quite delicious with the French people being the opposite of their nasty stereotype, which was nice. I had macaroni and cheese – and before you say anything, it was deliciously made with Gruyere cheese – yum. Joanna had a toasted ham and cheese sandwich, also made with Gruyere cheese and she enjoyed it.



After we were finished with lunch, we started our trip around the world. First stop, Morocco. As we walked, Joanna was reminded of the movie Casablanca. We were just missing Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Japan was next and beautiful. It even reminded us of the Japanese Tea Garden that we visited last year in San Francisco. America was next (wow, who knew that you could get from Morocco to Japan and then back to the US in a matter of minutes?) and it is set up more like Colonial America, just after the revolution. Being hot, we wanted to get out of the sun and entered the theater. While waiting for the show to begin, an a cappella group entered the theater and began singing old time songs, finishing off with America the Beautiful. They were the most spectacular a capella vocal group! The theater show was animatronic based and talked about the great people of America and the struggles that were endured to create our great nation.









From the United States, we went to Italy, where we saw a street entertainer juggling and having fun interacting with the crowd. Germany was next, along with the beer steins and clocks. What’s really fun about the World Showcase is that they have people from each of the countries as the “cast members”. It just adds another flavor of culture to the experience.

From Germany, we moved through Africa (where we got soft serve ice cream that practically melted before we could finish), and then into China and back to Norway. We didn’t go on the Maelstrom this time, but did stop at the bakery for some snacks for breakfast the next morning. After Norway, we went into Mexico and went on their boat ride, which is similar to “It’s A Small World”.

Our tour of the world over, we zoomed back to the future (without Michael J. Fox) and took another trip on the Test Track, Soarin, and a quick ride on Journey Into Imagination with Figment. A cute little ride with Eric Idle and a purple and pink computer generated dragon, named Figment.

Our final stop was the Illuminations fireworks and water show. Beautiful light show and fireworks to top off a wonderful day in the future and in the world.

26,908 steps = 13.9 miles.

Day Five: The Future Is Now

Epcot – Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. I never knew that that was what it stood for. I always thought it was some made up word that Disney just created. Nifty.

Today started like all previous days of waking up early and jumping onto a bus to get to our destination. Today was Epcot, though really, there are two separate parks here (something else that I didn’t know). Future World and World Showcase.

Future World is where things like the GM Test Track and Mission: Space live, while World Showcase has the various . . . well, World Showcases. This is an area with eleven different countries showing off some of their best qualities. But first, let’s talk about the future.

Our first stop was the GM Test Track. We were going to get a Fast Pass AND go on the ride, but one of the “cast members” handed us 2 Fast Passes and told us to save it (nothing wrong with getting free Fast Passes). Joanna and I didn’t really know what to expect other than what we had seen about the ride on television, so it was really fun to walk through. Once on the ride, you get to go through various car tests (brakes, heat, sharp turns, corrosion, etc.) before being sent out onto the actual test track at upwards of 60 mph. It’s an exhilarating ride. In fact, the next time we went on it, it was raining.

We moved on from Test Track and hit Soarin’, which is the same as “Soaring Over California” at California Adventure in Anaheim. The only difference is where it’s located. Soarin, here in Orlando, is in the large Land building with several other attractions.

From Soarin, we decided to check out the Nemo and Friends ride, similar to Disneyland’s submarine ride. The clamshell cars ends in the Sea building that houses several aquariums. At the end of the Nemo ride, they project the characters from the movie onto screens that are in the aquarium. It makes it look cool as the real fish float by the computer images.





We waited a few extra minutes for “Turtle Talk With Crush”, which is an interactive program between the animated Turtle, Crush, and the kids that are in the audience.

When we finished listening to Crush, we headed back toward the Future. We stopped at the big “Golf Ball” and I discovered something else that I didn’t know about this park – there is a ride INSIDE the “Golf Ball”. It is called “Spaceship Earth” and it takes you through time seeing various stages of Earth’s evolution. It even creates a version of the future with your picture on the bodies of little cartoons. Cute.

Moving on, we stopped at a ride that featured Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye the science guy. Basically, it was about saving energy. And we heard today that Ellen will be the new judge on American Idol…that should be interesting.

Before we really started to tour the world, Joanna took me on a ride that she remembered from her childhood – Maelstrom (in the country of Norway). While a very quick ride, it wasn’t as scary as Joanna remembered it, but going backwards in a Viking Ship was pretty neat!



For more information on the world, read on.

Day Four: God Rested on the Seventh Day…We Chose the Fourth

Today was a planned relaxation day, so we made sure to sleep in. This was good because after all of the walking we’ve been doing, our feet LOVED the rest. Along with resting, Joanna and I took advantage of the pool that is practically outside of our patio. A few laps later in the bubbling geyser pool (well, laps for Joanna as I mostly walked around the pool), we got ready for the rest of the day.

We had an 8:15 p.m. dinner reservation at the 50’s Prime Time Café at Hollywood Studios, so we knew we didn’t have to hurry. We boarded a bus and started our day’s adventure.

Our first stop of the day was Downtown Disney. It is similar to the California one, but obviously there are different shops. There is a section that is specifically for adults, full of night clubs and bars called Pleasure Island. We continued walking the path until we reached the end. There were a lot of stores we stepped into – thank goodness for air conditioning – and we used our fan/spray bottle to keep ourselves cool.

Lunch was at a sandwich shop named after the Earl of Sandwich – a province in old England. We shared a delicious turkey and cranberry sandwich. As Joanna called it, “Thanksgiving in a sandwich”. Yummy.

After lunch, we finished our tour of Downtown Disney and waited for a bus so we could make our way to Hollywood Studios. What we found out, though, was that the bus would not take us directly to the park. We had to go to a resort and then change buses to one that would get us back to the park of our choice. Well, an hour later, we finally made it to Hollywood Studios so we could have our second go round at the park.

Our first stop was to get a Fast Pass to either Aerosmith or the Tower of Terror. Unfortunately, there were no more Fast Passes available for Aerosmith, so we got one for Tower of Terror. After that, we went into some of the shops and then saw the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. As a fan of the movies, it was fun to see a demonstration of some of the stunts and effects used in the films.

We stopped at Star Tours again to get our fill of the ride and then went to the Tower of Terror once more. After that, we decided to watch the Finale show of The American Idol Experience. The singers in the Finale were good, but the one that was declared the winner was definitely the best.

It was now time for our dinner reservation and the place could not have been more fun. The 50’s Prime Time Café is built to look like a family kitchen from the 1950’s. The wait staff is dressed in poodle skirts and cardigan sweaters (women and men, respectively). Well, our waitress, “mom”, sat down next to us in our booth and explained the “rules” of the table: “no elbows on the table, no whining and you have to eat your vegetables.” During her speech and asking us what we wanted to drink, she spoke to a gentleman at the next table and told him to “put away the walkie-talkie (cell phone) before she took it away”. The guy looked completely embarrassed. However, he was not as embarrassed as I was when I was caught with my elbows on the table. To alleviate my habit of doing so, “mom” squirted a line of ketchup at the edge of my side of the table to keep me from placing my elbows down. Let me tell you, it became a very difficult meal to eat after that. I ordered fried chicken and Joanna ordered the famous pot roast. Both were delicious and I made sure to follow the rules after that.

Our table cleaned (by me, of course, which was forced by “mom” – including the ketchup), Joanna and I headed to the Tower of Terror for one more trip before we returned to our hotel. As we walked to the bus, we noticed the moon. And while not a full moon, it looked amazing. A great way to top off the day.

17,944 steps = 9.3 miles.

It’s a little less than the previous two days, but like I said, this was a relaxing day.

Day Three, Part 2: Some Creative Title Using Idol….

For more pictures, CLICK HERE

Although, before we did that, we saw the Beauty and the Beast show. This is a great live action musical that takes most of the best parts from the film and condenses it into 26 minutes. Impressive, but not impossible. Well done, considering most of the cast were hidden in giant costumes.



After being reminded that beauty is found within, Joanna and I headed to one of the other things that we were looking forward to here at Hollywood Studios – The American Idol Experience. Now, neither one of us was crazy enough to audition because it becomes an entire day’s worth of singing and waiting and singing and waiting and singing and waiting and never getting a chance to actually visit the park, which was the whole reason you had gone there in the first place.



Well, we walked into the theater and had a sudden sense of déjà vu. Some of you remember that Joanna and I saw the American Idol performance show earlier this year on a night when they were performing standards. That was a very cool experience and this was very similar to that evening. The stage and set looked quite familiar and even the “warm up guy” was funny and got the crowd into the performers for that time slot.

It even worked like the show with an intro by Ryan Secrest and a host and judges that seemed to mimic their onscreen counterparts. The judge with the perceived accent felt like he could be cruel ala Simon Cowell and did a good job at it, earning boos from the crowd each time. Joanna and I picked different people, but my pick managed to beat her’s out, though I wasn’t impressed with any of our choices (faint boo in the background).

No longer Idol’ing, Joanna and I headed to the Studio Backlot Tour. It started with a special effects show and then came the tour, although the tour seemed a little boring and mundane – though the immense heat at the time could have given us that reaction. Finishing the tour, we headed to someplace else that had air conditioning – the Hollywood Tower of Terror. The outside is slightly different, but once you enter, it is fairly the same ride. That is, until you actually get in the elevator car. There is a section that is completely different in the way it takes you from level to level. Until you drop. Amazing and fun. And yes, it is a ride that I enjoy despite the fact that it is something that drops you several stories down.



From the Tower of Terror, we went back to the Rock and Roller Coaster for another thrill ride. And it was a thrill just like before.

By now we had decided that it was time for Toy Story Mania. It’s funny, though, because this ride is at California Adventure and we can never get on it. It just goes to show that you need to travel to Florida in order to ride the good rides. And it is a fun ride. If you are in California, I suggest getting in line now for a chance of riding it before Thanksgiving.

After Toy Story, we wandered into the Prince Caspian attraction where we learned about the making of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian movie that came out last year. It was very interesting special effects, but there was not much more than a quick video about the effects. We also visited a large hall with the show, “Walt Disney, One Man, One Dream”. It was very interesting about who Walt was and how he came to have all of these creative ideas in his head.

From there, we went to “The Voyage of the Little Mermaid”, which is similar to the movie, but done with a mix of puppetry and live action. And water. Lots of water. And bubbles. And fog. And water. And a small laser show. And water.

With the clouds moving in and lightning off in the distance, Joanna and I didn’t want to get drenched, so we headed out. Mind you, it was not a short day in the least and we managed to fit almost everything from the park into this one day. We’ll be returning tomorrow to finish off the rest and for dinner at the Prime Time Café. More on that tomorrow. For now, it’s bed time.

18,195 steps = 9.7 miles

A little less today, but there was more sitting and standing here than walking. Good night.

Day Three: Rock and Roll

Today’s adventure began with a short bus trip from our hotel to Hollywood Studios. The first thing you see when you enter is a large replica of Mickey’s hat from “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”.




On the bus ride in, our driver explained that it would be best to get a Fast Pass to Toy Story Mania. He wasn’t kidding. When we eventually arrived at the attraction, there was a LONG line just to get a Fast Pass. It was a little crazy. After several minutes, and our Fast Passes, we headed to what we really were looking forward to.

Aerosmith’s Rock and Roller Coaster. For those of you that know me, you know that I don’t really like roller coasters. This can be bad when Joanna loves roller coasters and enjoys going on them. As we had decided to go on Aerosmith already, I couldn’t back down. I like California Screaming and Joanna said this was similar, so there was a good chance I would be okay, right? But this ride had a loop – not a problem. California Screaming has a loop. And Aerosmith has barrel rolls. Wait, rolls? Plural? More than one? Okay, now I was getting a little worried. I pressed on and hoped for the best as I climbed into the car. It figures that our first time riding it we would be in the back. We moved to the start and waited. I took a deep breath. What had I gotten myself into?

A countdown from five and then we were off at 80 mph or more. Despite our initial fears of this roller coaster (and believe me, even Joanna was a little unsure because she had never done it), we both ended up loving it. So much so that we actually ended up going back later in the day and it was just as good, though it did make us a tad dizzy.

After the first time on the roller coaster, we had to go to Star Tours. We knew it was the same ride, but it looks different on the outside (sadly, it looks so much cooler here than in California). From Star Tours, we moved on to Muppet 3-D – again, something that is the same from California, but we love the Muppets and that alone required us to visit. We walked further and entered the “Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground”. This was actually quite cool. It is a playground that is built to replicate a set from the movie. Except that this set is from the point of view of the children once they have been shrunk and therefore the size of tiny ants. It was fun to wander around the play area despite the fact that it was quite small.

Our lunch today was at the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater. It is an exact replica of a 50’s Drive In, complete with cars facing a large screen that showed old time movie shorts – 50’s B movie horror film type clips. Clips, that looking at them now, we laugh. Though, there was a cartoon that was suited for Dave and Mary (who are kindly taking care of our cat, Sneakers while we are gone). It was a cartoon titled, “The Cat That Hated People”. We hope that she’s at least poked her head out to see what’s going on when you are visiting.

Day Two: Showtime

We seemed to dedicate more of the afternoon to shows rather than rides, but we still managed to hit those as well. Some of the shows we experienced were Stitch’s Escape, the Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor (totally interactive and funny – except for that guy – and I know it’s an inside joke for Joanna and me, but it was funny), the ever popular Carousel of Progress, the Country Bear Jamboree, The Enchanted Tiki Room (which now includes Iago from Aladdin and Zazu from The Lion King), the Hall of Presidents and Mickey’s Philharmagic. That thing was so cool. It was a 3-D experience, similar to Honey I Shrunk the Audience or It’s Tough to be a Bug. And it was all with music, so it was really cool to listen to and watch.

Other afternoon adventures included Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear and touring Toon Town. While in Toon Town, there was an enormous rain storm that lasted a good thirty minutes. We quickly grabbed our bright yellow ponchos and floated through the park very conspicuously (not!). At one point, while in a store, the rain was so loud you could hear it pounding on the tented covering. Cool. Rain over, though, we headed on to dryer parts and made our way to the Haunted Mansion, which looks entirely different on the outside than at Disneyland, but is relatively the same on the inside.

Dinnertime was announced by our growling stomachs, so we stopped to fill them up. After dinner, several rides awaited, including Snow White, Winnie the Pooh (Eeyore says hi, by the way) and a return trip on Splash Mountain.

Spectromagic (similar to the Electric Parade) and the Wishes Fireworks ended our perfect first day!

Then the inevitable happened. Once the lights returned to full, the throngs of people turned into cattle as we all vied for the same exits and boats. Joanna and I have had a lot of experience at Disneyland with exiting through a lot of people and managed to make our way to the boat with little incident and very little pushing of others (always a good thing). We lucked out and got on the first boat and returned to the Wilderness Lodge. We’re back in the room and tired after a long day. If you remember from last year’s trip, we kept track of how many steps /miles we walked.
Today’s total:

25,517 steps = 13.1 miles

Wow. No wonder our feet are tired. Now to rest up for tomorrow’s adventure – Hollywood Studios. Come back often because we will post more photos from each of the parks.

Day Two: Magic Kingdom or Magic Lake?

Before we even got to the park we saw a family fishing in a boat on the lake (you need to take a boat in order to get to the Magic Kingdom). Now, I’ve fished a lot and I never caught fish like this family did. It seemed like almost every cast hooked a fish. And these didn’t look like any fish that I had caught either. They seemed more silvery than fish that I have seen in the past (must be all the pixie dust in the water). Luckily, they tossed the fish right back into the water. Magic Lake indeed.

A few minutes later, the boat arrived and we started our journey to the Magic Kingdom. It was a quick ten minute ride across the waves with the sun coming out from the morning clouds. We passed the Polynesian Resort, the Grand Floridian (which looks EXACTLY like the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego) and the Contemporary Resort (though Joanna pointed out that that resort has been on the property since the beginning and therefore isn’t as contemporary as its name may sound).
We arrived at the dock for the Magic Kingdom and made our way inside the main area (the park gates themselves were closed as we arrived about 20 minutes before the park opened). After another few minutes of waiting, a “good morning” party began to “welcome people to the park” (it is Disneyland, after all).



Did you know that Halloween begins September 5? Well, it does for Disney because they now have decorations around the entire Magic Kingdom celebrating one of Joanna’s many favorite holidays.





As soon as the gates opened, Joanna and I made a beeline for the tallest peak in Florida (i.e. Splash Mountain). Although, this morning it seemed more like SOAK MOUNTAIN as we were drenched on every single drop. Joanna, of course, thought ahead and used her poncho while I decided to brave the water without. I should have used it because I was soaked by the end. However, Joanna, despite the poncho, still managed to have mascara running down her face by the end.

From Splash Mountain, we hit several rides, including Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride (now with spitting camel), the Jungle Cruise (along with skipper Ashley Tisdale – if we didn’t like her – and skipper Sarah if we did), the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House and It’s A Small World. And that was all BEFORE lunch.

Day One, Part 5: No Whispering Allowed

Vegetarians beware. Whispering Canyon Café would not be recommended for you. However, for those normal people out there (like us), it is a place where you can enjoy TONS of meat. We ordered the sampler platter and it was A LOT. But we did enjoy every piece of it. We made sure that we tried at least a little of everything in order to get our money’s worth.

On top of the food – well, not really on top of . . . more like along with – we ordered a milkshake (which was considered “bottomless”). We started with Vanilla with plenty of expectation that we would finish and “enjoy” one of the other SEVEN flavors of milkshake. Yes, I said SEVEN flavors of milkshakes, including bubble gum, caramel, cotton candy, just to name a few. Unfortunately we managed to barely finish the one.

We watched a neighbor table that ordered hamburgers and fries ask for ketchup. The waitress smiled and told the people to “get it themselves” and pointed out where it was. A few minutes later, still no ketchup. Apparently the little boy at the table was too shy to go get it. The waitress smiled again and said she would get it for him. A few moments later, another young man approached the neighbor table with TWO bottles of ketchup and placed them on the table. Smiling, the neighbor family thanked the boy for the ketchup. But wait, there’s more. Another moment later, an elderly man walked into our area and proceeded to place another bottle of ketchup on the neighbor table. Needless to say, the family had enough ketchup.

After dinner, we chose to explore our resort a little bit. We found our way to the bay where we catch the boat that will take us to the Magic Kingdom. And as we walked around and found the beach, we heard fireworks. It turns out that you can see the fireworks show from the Magic Kingdom, so we sat on one of the several chaise lounges and watched the fireworks. It was a spectacular show that rivaled even the best Fourth of July specials that we have witnessed.

Fireworks over, we wandered back through the hotel and into one of the specialty shops that had a lot of merchandise related to the Wilderness Lodge. We also discovered that this store had a small grocery area that allows people to purchase cereal, milk, microwaveable meals (microwave not included).

Day One, Part 4: Into the Wild

Well, not really, but it’s close. The Wilderness Lodge at the Walt Disney Resort was built in the same vein as Disney’s Grand Californian in Anaheim. The design is remnant of the Craftsman movement in the early parts of the 20th Century in California. This hotel will act as our home away from home while we’re gone. It will be a place to rest for a few hours, watch some television for a few minutes, or simply a place to drop some things before heading onto our next destination wherever it might be.

We will take some time to explore it, but the first thing we are doing is eating dinner. This whole day flying thing can make one weary and hungry. A small salad and a bagel will not be enough. Luckily, the restaurant inside The Wilderness Lodge (Whispering Canyon Café) is a grand dining experience – at least from what we’ve read and been told.

So here we go. Into the Wild that is Disney World. Wish us luck.

Day One, Part 3: It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

On our descent into madness, I mean, to the Orlando International Airport, we noticed that the clouds below us looked like a lot of different things. Things like Dumbo (since we are going to Disney World), a monkey, a baseball player catching a fly ball and a dolphin, among other things.

And then the pretty clouds gave way to the large thunder storm clouds, ominously covering the exact path we were headed. Once through the rainclouds, though, we squinted to see everything with what little light that was being let through. Luckily, our pilots were not afraid of the impending storm as they guided us toward Orlando.

As we closed the gap to the ground, we saw light breaking through enough to see a cloud that looked like Mickey’s ears. It looks like God wants us to have a good time, so we shall.

Day One, Part 2: Cowboys and Indian

Being a Native American in a state that was settled mostly by cowboys was a tiny bit unsettling. I was hoping that Tony Romo would be waiting outside the gate for us with his new girlfriend. Alas, he must have been detained and unable to welcome us to the great state of Texas. It’s probably a good thing, anyway, since I’m a Cardinals fan, Tony may not have wanted to see the competition.

But here we are in the DFW airport and it’s huge. So huge, we had to use a tram to get to tour next terminal. Once we got there, we made sure where our gate was and stopped for a quick bite at Au Bon Pain – a good salad / sandwich restaurant in the airport. Now we’re on the next plane for the second leg of our trip.

While waiting, Joanna told me a story about her bathroom experience at DFW. It seems that despite conventional thinking, ghosts also do need to use a bathroom on occasion. While Joanna was in line, a stall suddenly slammed opened. Joanna waited and waited, but no person emerged. As she slowly peered around the corner to look into the stall (afraid she may see a small child needing their Mommy), there was absolutely no one inside. Joanna waited a moment. And another moment, a bit baffled by the experience. As she sauntered in the stall, another perplexing point…the ghost apparently forgot to flush. Gross!

True story.

Day One......O Dark Thirty

The day has finally arrived. We're off to see the wizard....wait, that was a different movie studio. We're getting ready for our day long (though only because of the time difference) flight. It's going to be a great time. And I know this because of where we are going and who I am going with (cheesy, I know).

I don't know how often I'll be able to post. I might just take one day and post several days worth of information. A kind of information dump, if you will. Good luck reading it all. Or, is that, good luck to me to try to write it all? Either way....

"Hang on to your hats and glasses....cuz this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness!"