Friday, February 20, 2009

Orlando and McDill Air Force Base, FL

2/16/09
The next day we all went to Magic Kingdom, We got to ride the monorail from the parking lot and it was a really fun ride. We walked around until we decided to go to Space Mountain for fast passes. We played around in Tomorrow Land until we got bored, then we went to Adventure Land and waited in line for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride for 20 minutes. We did some other minor rides, and got more fast passes and had more fun. Then we had lunch, boarded a train and rode to Space Mountain. We all had a blast, literally. It was supposed to be like a space launch, and we screamed as much as if it were the real one. Finally, we went back to the places where we had got our other fast passes at Splash Mountain and got really wet! Then we went to main street USA and watched Spectro Magic a show about all other Disney classics. Then we boarded another monorail and went home.
The next day we stayed at our condo with Matt and Julia. We played a complimentary miniature golf game, tennis, and raced in paddle boats that looked like swans. This was our last day with our friends at Disney World and we had so much fun with them! The next day they all boarded a plane that took them back to San Francisco. We miss them all dearly, and I wish that we never had to go back to school and our friends didn’t have to leave and we got to stay in our condo with an automated ice maker! But all dreams don’t come true, do they? Oh well, we left the condo the next morning and moved back into the coach. Then we went to Blizzard Beach, Epcot, and Disney Quest for one final bang and left Disney World for this time around.

2/13/09
My sore throat still hurts but I seem to be feeling better. Yesterday we didn’t do anything but school, a quick swim, and a visit with our friends from Alaska. Yea, The Hoseltons are from Fort Greely, the same place that we’re from! Mr. Hoselton is an amazing guitar player, and writes his own songs on the road. He played new songs for us, and we played at his hotel’s pool with his sons Parker and Jackson. Mrs. Tammy, Mr. Roger Hoselton’s wife, talked with my mom about Alaska. We had a really fun time. Then we packed up, said our goodbyes, and went back to the timeshare. See you later!

2/12/09
We haven’t done a lot, except for going to the greatest water park in the WORLD! There are two of them at Disney World. One of them is called Blizzard Beach, and the other is Typhoon Lagoon. We went to Blizzard Beach with our friends. The story behind this heated water park is that a freak snow storm blew in and made 8 feet of snow. With all that snow what do you do? Build a ski resort of course! So while the chairlift was built up, so did the temperature, and it’s now one of the world’s most gushiest slushiest water parks that looks like a ski resort in the world. We had a lot of fun on the double dipper and summit plummet, the only place in the world where you can travel straight down for 250 ft and go 64 mph sliding on your bottom. It was scary yes, but I’m not one to be afraid of heights. There were a couple of other rides that we went on but not nearly as good as that one. My bottom still hurts though. And that’s why I now prefer passing people on the lazy river. I’ll keep you posted.

2/11/09
Ok so even though I haven’t done a lot since I blogged yesterday my mom says that I have to blog everyday we’re at Disney World. So here goes. When I finished blogging yesterday we loaded up in our car and drove to EPCOT. We saw everything thing that we didn’t see last time we were at EPCOT. EVERYTHING. And some things that we had already seen last time we were at EPCOT. We had a lot of fun with our friends Matt and Julia, and their kids Alex and Sophia (But we call her Sofi). Then we stayed around for the fireworks and all in all, had a lot of fun. My favorite ride is still MISSION: SPACE but the most interesting ride is “living with the land.” We’re going to Blizzard Beach today even though I’ve come down with a sore throat the last few days and have been tough enough not to show it. I’m taking Ibuprofen now and seem to be feeling better, but let me tell you that I still stay as far away as I can from the stuff! Blizzard Beach is a giant water park that you can ride up to 60 mph on some of the rides before you can say “UUUUUUhhhhhhhhhh Where’s my bathing suit?” Time to go! Bye!

2/10/09
On February 8th our friends Matt and Julia came with their children, Alex and Sophia. We switched all of our food from the coach to the apartment/condo, and switched again because the people at the front desk made a mistake. So after we got settled in, we moved again…. pain in the butt by the way. My mom bought an extra carload of food for our friends and we couldn’t even ride in it because it was so stuffed. So while we walked to our new apartment, which was the same as the first, my mom drove off and we almost lost sight of her once or twice. Next, our friends arrived from the airport late at night and we went to bed earlier than we wanted to. The next day we all went to Hollywood Studios theme park in Disney World. It is my second least favorite of 4 parks. Although it has Rock and Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith (that can go 0-60 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds) and the Hollywood Hotel Tower of Terror, it still doesn’t beat Epcot (My first favorite) or Magic Kingdom (My second favorite). But it is a hair above Animal Kingdom because of nightly fireworks. They’re omitted in Animal Kingdom because it “scares the animals.” It also has Fantasmic, half fantasia and all fantastic. It’s a show where Mickey Mouse battles evil in this magic duel with fireworks and a water projectile screen. Dancers dance on boats and Ariel, Beauty, and Snow White fall in love, conquering all, the end. It was great. Today we’re going to EPCOT with our friends, and we still have 5 days on our tickets! See you later!

2/8/09
Of all the Disney theme parks that we have went to, none of them even compare to how amazingly great EPCOT is. EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype City Of Tomorrow. And a small city it is! It has restaurants, lodging, roads, and parks. Even though they don’t have cars in the park, they do have Monorails galore and some things that a city doesn’t have. I’m mostly speaking of all the rides they have. And they aren’t based on a movie like in Magic Kingdom. No, these rides are there because they are the most high-tech, futuristic, and thrilling rides of all the rides at Disney. A perfect example would be MISSION: SPACE, an amazing ride where you get to feel the thrills of being in a real-life astronaut simulator. Everything is dazzling and razzling, especially at night during their IllumiNations: Reflections of the Earth. This is where hundreds of fireworks are shot into the sky and synchronized with music to create a truly amazing experience that you’ll most likely never forget. Then after all of the fireworks burn out and there’s nothing but smoke in the night, they shoot laser beams through the smoke and you see a beam. Well actually you see hundreds of them as well as lights on the side of the lake, but whatever I tell you isn’t as good as seeing it yourself. There are all sorts of cool plants and fish in the LIVING WITH THE LAND ride. You get on a boat and slowly glide through all the exhibits of agricultural progress since farming was invented.

Everything is awesome and clean and beautiful. Frankly it’s too good for words and that’s without talking about the mind-boggling world showcase: 13 amazing countries, one after another, bordering a lake. All the cultures of Europe, the Middle East, Japan, China, Morocco, and even Canada are all within a small square half-mile. And each countries’ gift shops, restaurants, and street performers are manned by people from that country which is really cool too. So far my favorite country is China, and my favorite ride is SOARIN. We just left the Disney campground and are moving into a temporary hotel that my parents’ friends Mr. Matt and Mrs. Julia and their two kids, Alex and Sophia were kind enough to give us for one week of their timeshare. Mrs. Julia is also my God Mother and my Mom’s maid of honor at her wedding. Everything is wonderful, except for all of the school that we’ll have to do when this is over, and all the longing we’ll have to come back. But one of the greatest things about being here is that I’m here! You don’t understand? Let me explain. Everyone I know practically has gone to Disney World one way or another. But finally I’m here at the famous Disney World that is world famous. If you don’t believe me, talk to the multi-lingual people from China, Spain, and even Russia. There are 5 languages written on all the signs here so everyone can understand the message. All the games tell you to choose your language out of twenty, some of which I can’t even understand! It’s so cool and everyday I thank my parents for bringing us here for ten whole days! That’s all for now! See you soon!
P.S. The temperature has gotten up past the 60’s and into the 70’s, so we can go outside in shorts now!

2/6/09
We arrived at Disney World late at night and checked into Fort Wilderness Campground Resort. They have a heated pool…………….that’s heated a whole 40 degrees or something. We already figured that out. The first theme park that we went to was Magic Kingdom. It’s not the most interesting park, or the newest edition to Disney World, but definitely the most classic. We went on “it’s a small world” and Mom loved it. Sam’s and Dad’s favorite was Splash Mountain. Ben liked Tom Sawyer’s Island, and my favorite was Space Mountain. It’s an indoor roller coaster that’s in the dark. You keep on thinking (as you round hair pin turns) that some giant metal beam holding up the ride is going to come out of nowhere and take your head off. Nobody dares to put their hands in the air on this ride. We explored Tom Sawyer’s Island and had fun there. We saw bears sing, got wet, rode the big thunder mountain railroad, and even flew on a pirate ship. We took a lot of the tips that Charlie gave us in Maryland such as “get up early” and “go to the popular rides first.”

It rained on us and apparently it’s their value season, or opposite of peak season, so a usual 3 hour wait in line turned into a whopping 10 minute wait. We definitely had a lot of fun and rode Space Mountain 3 times. The line was about 3 minutes, and 2 minutes was walking through all the empty lanes. It was hard to imagine all those lanes filled with people. The next day was 2 lessons of school to take the place of the day before and the day, after that was our Animal Kingdom day. This was the biggest park with the fewest rides. We saw the Safari Tour in the Africa Section and Dinosaur from the Dinoland USA section of the park. Everyone’s favorite ride had to be EXPEDITION EVEREST. It was really neat and we almost got eaten by the Yeti. Ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh Scary. Forward, Backward, side to side, straight down and straight up. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

When we were done with Animal Kingdom we went home. We planned to go to Epcot but Will woke up with a pain in his neck and the whole day we stayed at home and did school. We did school all right but we sure didn’t stay at home all day long. We went to a cool place called Disney Quest located at Downtown Disney. There it’s nothing but fun and games, literally. It’s a five story building filled to the brim with top of the notch gaming like Astro Blaster where you’re IN the Starship. It’s top of the line and all new, all interactive, and all cool. That’s all for now.


1/31/09
We got to Tampa on the 29th and set up camp at McDill Air Force Base 7 miles away. We met Mr. and Mrs. Miller and one of their 4 puppies, Rosy. While I finished up on my tests, my mom and dad “caught up” with their friends. Afterward I did the dishes and got to be surrounded by Ben and Sam a little (okay a lot) more than I wanted to. The next day we went roller blading into Tampa for a couple of hours and met some more of my dad’s friends. Will has been behind me and just finished up his tests and it’s really nice to know that it’s all behind us. We went sightseeing in Tampa and saw all the Steelers fans in black and gold jerseys. We met the Millers again and their son, Justin. We got to play with all 4 of their puppies and they cooked us a great dinner. We went home at 1 in the morning and got up at 10 the next day.

We drove to Orlando and got our Disney tickets at Shades of Green. We also went to “Body Worlds,” a human body museum that was all about the human body’s limits, health, and how to take care of it. All of the bones and kidneys and stuff were real people once. That’s right! Walking, talking people who died and were dissected and put on display for all to see. It gave me Goosebumps just remembering all the stuff that I looked at. But we also saw an IMAX DOME THEATRE movie called Extreme Sports.