No Motorhome?

Spring break is early this year.  And as our original planned destinations remain 'winterized', so too will our motorhome.  The nightly lows in northern Arizona are still near freezing.  

We've never been to Florida and have been planning on doing the Disneyworld thing within the near future, so we logged on to Travelocity a couple of days ago and booked it.  Flying out of Seattle will cost a third of the cost of leaving from Vancouver.  Same days, same airlines, same number of stops, same hotel.

The kids immediately started packing.  Because all of our vacations for the past three years have been in the motorhome, our kids could not grasp the concept of packing for a flight.  First attempt included most of their stuffed animals, half a bookcase worth of books, several remote control vehicles, bike helmets and bikes.

OK, so here's the experiment... usually after returning from a trip I have several hours worth of video, hundreds of pictures and the intention of organizing it into a web page.  But it doesn't happen.  So this time we're going to try and post it as it happens.  That's the plan.  Although it is highly possible that this first post will also be the last (and we will return from the trip with several hours worth of video, hundreds of pictures and the intention of organizing it into a web page)... we'll see.

Some border signs make me giggle...

Fearing the reports of today being the busiest day in the history of YVR, we figured the border and SeaTac might also be busy.  We sailed through the border with no wait at all.  

Travelling south on the I5 the day after the Olympics is a parade of charter buses, TV satellite trucks and a couple US government mobile command post vehicles including one that was 40 foot long with huge satellite dishes on the roof and an American flag on the grille.

We arrived with hours and hours and hours to spare before our flight so we wasted some time shopping and went for dinner.  Found a Park'N Fly lot, took the shuttle to the airport and checked in our baggage.  While checking in online with Delta, the default number of baggage is zero.  Once you select one, a message pops up telling you that "You have exceeded the number of free baggage.  Add $25."  Awesome.

Orlando

4 hours to a stop-over in Atlanta and then on to Orlando.  Kids slept for the most part.  Definitely a bumpy landing and taking off  in Atlanta with a lot of  wind and freezing rain.  Shortly after we took off, Delta cancelled over 500 flights out because of snow.  Hartfield-Jackson Airport is the busiest in the world.

Rented a car in Orlando and found our hotel.  More of a condo than a hotel... 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room, washer/dryer.  Kids love their room with beds separated just enough that they can bounce back and forth between them. 

Very windy out but it's supposed to calm down later tomorrow.  The rocket launch we were planning to go see today at Cape Canaveral has been moved to Thursday.

Epcot

Epcot is huge and the kids had a great time.  Originally designed as Walt Disney's experimental prototype of sustainability, technology and culture.  And then he died and they turned it into an amusement park.  With a laser show.

Stubhub.com is great.  You can purchase tickets for concerts and games at a fraction of the original price.  Also, Stubhub.com sucks.  You can purchase tickets for concerts and games at several multiples of the original cost.  (See Friday)

Bonus - A short film by Cole:

3/4 of our family did not enjoy this ride...

Hint: back row.

"A unique thrill ride located within DinoLand U.S.A. at Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park, DINOSAUR allows you to travel back in time 65 million years and come face to face with a variety of menacing prehistoric creatures!"

Spent most of the day at Animal Kingdom...  Part theme park and part zoo with lots of real animals (unless Disney has pooping animatronics now).  The kids enjoyed the Lion King show and the Kilimanjaro Safari.  

After the day in the park, we drove about an hour east to Cape Canaveral.  The Delta IV rocket was originally set to lift off on the 2nd, but mechanical delays had postponed the launch to today.  Because of too much wind up in the jet-stream it looked like the launch might again be delayed,  but shortly before the one hour launch window closed the countdown resumed.  The sight and sound was awesome as it lifted off, even from miles away.  I shot some great footage on the high-def camera, but have no way to get it from the camera to the computer while on vacation.  For now, here's video from the mini-cam.

There is now a picture link at the top of the page.

Disney Studios

3 Disney parks in as many days... I think we're going to need a break before the fourth.  The weather is getting much warmer and the crowds are growing.  Spent the day at Disney Hollywood Studios.  I'm still family champion at the Toy Story Midway Mania ride/game.

We surprised Taylor with tickets to a Taylor Swift concert here in Orlando.  She had a great time at her first concert and sang along with almost every song.

Vacation from the vacation

Spent the day relaxing in the room and at the pool.  Great kid pool with a water-park.

Evening family mini-golf tournament at Pirate Cove.  Nicki insists that she won, although it`s not even a real sport.  A real sport like Toy Story Midway Mania.  176000 points.

Magic Kingdom

OK, we've now visited the four theme parks that make up Disney World.  Missed some parts that we may or may not get to in the next few days.  Taken all together, it's vast.

Today was Magic Kingdom:

Lots o' Gators

I can appreciate something being kitschy... we traveled along Route 66 in Arizona a couple years ago.  But a place called Gatorland with a huge gator mouth as the entrance?  It seemed  too much even though the guide books and TripAdvisor rated the place highly.  Cole really wanted to go, so misgivings aside we hopped in the rental car and headed the 10 minutes to Gatorland.  

One big difference between west coast and east coast driving is toll roads.  There's a ton of them.  My only real experience with a toll road was the Coquihalla when they charged $10 for the length and now the Golden Ears bridge.  Between the airport and our hotel we were scrambling for change three times within about 15 miles.  $1.25, 75 cents and $1.  When you drive anywhere you need to make sure you have some small bills and quarters.

So after a toll or two, we made it to Gatorland.  Once in we were surprised at how entertaining the place was.  Feeding the alligators hot dog wieners was fascinating and frightening.  There's also an aviary filled with parakeets that you can feed and you can let them poop on your head.  Fortunately for Taylor, parakeet poop cleans up easily.  Great fun for the kids and us, maybe more memories than a Disney park.

Speaking of which, we had almost gone an entire day without shoveling over a bunch of cash to Mickey... so we headed to Downtown Disney.

Kennedy Space Center

We visited the Kennedy Space Center today.  We were across the river from the center last week when we watched the rocket launch.  The area and the artifacts are fascinating.  This is where the Mercury, Gemini and then Apollo moon rockets launched from, where the shuttle will launch and land a few more times.  The rockets and vehicles and launch pads and control rooms on display aren't models, they're the real thing.  The history of it is kind of lost on the kids, but big rockets are cool whatever the age.  The Saturn V was over 360 feet.

Armadillos in Florida?  I thought they were only found in Texas, the southwest...  Apparently a failed zoo in the 1920s let a bunch loose here and they haven't looked back.  At Cape Canaveral they call them "space rats".

Back to Epcot

Back to Epcot for our last Disney day.  Hot out... Cole insisted on getting soaked in every water park.  Fireworks/Laser show at Epcot is pretty impressive.  

We're planning on taking it easy tomorrow as we leave tomorrow night.

Wrap up...

Home now after a long day of traveling home.  We woke up at 4am and weather delays and shopping stops got us in the front door at 7pm (10 pm Florida time).

Tornado warnings with heavy rainfall meant the last day in Florida would be spent relaxing around the hotel.  News reports were breaking into regular programming to warn people to stay indoors and off the road.  But then I came across an ad for Bubbalou's Bodacious BBQ.  Torn between the safety of my family and a 4 Meat Combo, we ventured the 10 miles to the 'world-famous' restaurant.  Lightning strikes on either side of the road and rainfall heavy by Vancouver standards made for an 'exciting' ride. 

The restaurant smelled like a smoker and had picnic tables set up on the greasy floor.  Food was served on a paper plate and was spectacular.  I ate myself into a meat coma.

The weather improved by the time we were done.

Signing off for a couple months.