Long Disney posting

Here’s a map of Disney’s layout of their Parks. Not bad deal since it started out as swamp land.

Monday’s adventure took us to MGM Studios.

I thought this was my first time there but after getting lunch at one of the mass feeding places, I realized I had been there before. Many years ago albeit it being about 10 years ago.

It we spent most of the day there but it doesn’t really feel like we did either. Of course with most of these parks there is always the waiting in line. We didn’t do too much of that since there are not awhole lot of rides here. First ride was the Star Wars one.

This one has not changed over the years. The first time pilot still travels incorrectly thru the space station and other naughty things. (Don’t want to give it away for those that have not been on it.) The kids loved it since it was Star Wars, a ride, and robots. My stomach wasn’t too thrilled. Thank goodness we ate before jumping on.

Of course the ride has you exiting thru a ton of merchandise to purchase. Oh that Han Solo! How could I exit the store and not have his picture with me. ;) Not to mention that was THEE movie back in the day.

We did some looking around and possibly some other rides. The rides that we didn’t do are really the story. We wanted to catch The Little Mermaid but my bro couldn’t figure out where it was and the time it started. Found out it was only steps away and we just missed the beginning by moments. Ah well.

Hit this ride. Had to it was another one of those that one grew up with back in the day.

Other frightening ride(s) - Tower of Terror. Get this; my nephew was willing to go on. He’s usually the one afraid to go on such rides. So I’m thinking he didn’t understand what is involved with the ride. My mom and I couldn’t go on due to health problems, so no one went on that one. Next to that one was the Rock ‘n’ roller coaster.

Bro wanted to do the Aerosmith’s rock ‘n’ roller coaster. Since there are loops that leaves me out. Mom wasn’t too keen on it either. I think the niece was all for it. She was too small for the ride so we told her that she was not old enough to go on. She was cool with that answer. We were not sure how she would react if we said she was too small. Probably have a fit.

We would have liked to see this but it wasn’t dark enough at the time. Hanging around for another couple of hours just waiting for that was not on the game plan.

So after our ice cream break and looking at the rides we didn’t go on, we did what any American family would do. Went shopping!! A lot of the stores/shops were on our way out so we hit quite a few. We also hit the AFI Showcase. I totally loved just looking around. There was a board of all the AFI lifetime award winners. It did not have George Lucas on it since the broadcast of that had not occurred as of yet.

They also had a boards of the Good guys and the Villains. They did include animated folks as well like Ursula (wicked octopus from The Little Mermaid). I’m hoping the pictures of those boards comes out. If so I might be able to scan ‘em in and post ‘em somewhere.

We did a couple of hours in the resort pool before calling it a night.

Question: On a trip, if there were no limits on what you could take, What would you take with you?

Sunday the 12th and other latest news

From captain to Professor to another professor. When I read it, it sounded awesome. I love Patrick Stewart already. Ok since his stint in Robin Hood: Men in Tights. My issue had Anakin on the cover and has so much info in it.

You think you ready for this?

How about a remake?

I like Keanu but I'm not sure about this. This is almost to close to the real world. It's also like having all the bad folks of Hollywood in one movie to see if it can fly.

So Sunday the 12th We headed to Animal Kingdom. Up around 8am so that we can get something to eat at Pop Century before heading off. It was about 92 degrees before we left the hotel. Yes it was damn hot! I believe the heat index was up over 60%. Oddly I didn't have trouble breathing that day. Allergies did kick in however, so a sniffling I went.

I learned late in the day (way to late to prevent us from going) that the Kingdom in kinda built into a pit. This is to make it very very warm like Africa. Mostly for the animal's comfort. It was me, my bro, the niece, the nephew and my mom on this glorious hot day. I believe we each had 5 bottles of water before it was even noon.

First ride was Dinosaur. My bro and I didn't think it would be too bad since the nephew likes Dinos. Little did we know about the popping out dinos and one eating another.

My niece was cute in saying later that the bigger dinosaur eating the little dinosaur was not very nice. Man she can be so adorable! Beware all, she turns into a terror 3 seconds later.

We then hit the Safari. That was a quick two week ride. hehe Almost all rides are two weeks. We did see sleeping lions, tigers, grazing gazelles and elephants.

Before heading to the safari we did a fastpass to the rapids. Fastpass is a timed entry into a ride so that one doesn't have to wait in line for 35 min to 2.5 hrs. It's pretty damn cool. Rapids was pretty neat. I was getting a bit motion sick when the whole thing was spinning around, not fast mind you but around enough to make me a bit dizzy. We all got a little wet but the folks directly across from my bro and niece were drenched!

This you have to check out! It was so cool to just look at the tree. We didn't get very close since it was so hot and we couldn't take it. The carvings on the tree are just awesome. I'm hoping the pixs I took turn out. Otherwise I have to print out copies of what my bro took with his digital.

We headed back to the resort to have dinner and cool off. Also to get ready for another long day at another park.

Day to day update on vacation plus other bonus features

Saturday the 11th was a very long long day. Up at 3am to help the G-folks get their luggage into my mom's car. Ok I'm not used to getting up that early. Going to bed yes but not up at that hour.

It wasn't too bad. The kids were pretty reasonable at that hour. Got there of course way earlier than we needed to. Not my fault some folks didn't listen to me. Like Milwaukee has a serious Int'l airport?! Pah - leeese! Hung around as much as we could until we had to go to the respective gates.

Flight was pretty decent. Only thing that wigged me out was the sliding on the air before landing. I'm used to that when landing on an icy landing strip but not in the air before the actual landing.

Once down, the kids, I and the bro went looking for the G-folks. We had to take a shuttle to the main connection hub to get close to their gate entrance. It wasn't too long of a wait. All were a bit excited since we were actually in Orlando, Florida!

Now that we had everyone together, it was time to get the Disney shuttle to the resort. We were staying at Pop Century. It's not the most luxurious but hey we were not there for the amenities in the room.

We couldn't figure out what to do once we were checked in. It then hit us. We're tired! So in true Panagis fashion - we ate, hit the room to chill out and unpack. We had connecting rooms so it was fun to walk back and forth. Besides we could send the kids in there to drive them nuts for a few min while bro and I got things a bit settled with luggage and his breathing machine.

Now tomorrow (later today) I should be posting about our first adventure at one of the Disney parks. :)

Off to visit Minnie and friends

This week has been pretty hectic.

Working until 8 or 9 every night to catch up or at least not be more than two months in repairs. I've tried to do the repairs after 6p but of course there are other things that needed to get down that I couldn't do during the day.

Anywho, Thursday night was great at Giovanni's. Johnny picked the place. I wanted decent tasting steak. It was very good food, good laughs and did I mention great food? ok ok, good company too. Wasn't bad tasting this morning either. hehe Met Lisa's mom. Congrats on her 5 years of "freedom".

Well tomorrow morning around 730am I'll be in a plane bound for Orlando, Florida. Disney World watch out! I'mma coming with my family. It's gonna be fun with the niece and nephew. Love hanging with them when they are excited. Eyes light up, glitter and gleam when they tell a story. It's just great! If you haven't met my great niece and nephew, let me know and I'll come up with a fun day/night. Oh and I should be hitting Cape Canaveral sometime during that week. Requests for trinkets can be sent to my phone. hehe

Have a great week you all and catch ya on the back swing.

Trophy weekend

Have I bragged about my nephew lately? No?! Well then let me tell you how great he is again!

This weekend he was part of the Club Scouts Heartland Races (something like that). At the Zoo this weekend the Club Scouts held little derby car races. My Cute little nephew took first place on several races and perhaps for the day before the rains came down. He has a couple of trophy's. He only beat 62 other cars!
Mind you this is his first district race ever in the Club Scouts. However, on Sunday he competed against 31 other divisions. Since he's so great he took 5th overall. I think he's damn great for his first time.

Friday night at Planet was pretty cool. Let's just say finally the bartender took noticed. I guess the leather chaps really helped. haha

Saturday was fun. Jen called up and invited me over to her folks place for food and cards. Always like going over there and hanging out. Cards are fun to play with a bit of competition and money.

Question to ponder: Car ride to anywhere with money as no object OR all kinds of fun by living out your favorite fantasy?