A few days with the Mouse

Sam and I took a few days to visit Disneyworld and just got back to Portland last night. We had a fun time but it was definitely not roadfood.
We flew in on a red-eye(the joy of cashing in frequent-flier miles!) and spent the first day at the Animal Kingdom. Sam enjoyed the new Everest ride and the Dinosaur ride. There was also a tilt-a whirl ride he liked in Dinoland and he obligatory water ride( this one called the Kali Rapids). We both liked the 3-D show "It's Tough To Be A Bug" with its outstanding stink-bomb effect. The Kiliminjaro Safari ride reminded us of trips through San Diego (and Winston, Oregon's) wild animal parks. There were also hikes through well-constructed exhibits of animals and some zoo-like enclosures. It was a good way to start especially after an all-night flight.
Sam heard wonderful tales about MGM_Disney and asked to go there on Day 2 instead of EPCOT as was the origiinal plan. His enjoyment of the roller coasters made it worth it. I made the mistake of going on the Tower of Terror ride and Sam enjoyed my discomfiture. All told he rode the Rock and Roll Roller Coaster 4 times and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 5 times. As might be guessed, the park was not crowded so we were able to do all we wanted. I especially enjoyed the new Car-stunt show but I have always been a sucker for car chases and the stunts were quite exciting. The Star Tours Ride was less exciting than I remembered but I loved the Star Wars gift shop. We ate lunch at the Brown Derby on site which is a replica of the famous Hollywood restaurant where the Cobb salad was invented as was Grapefruit cake both of which we sampled and enjoyed. The Indiana Jones stunt show was also a treat.
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays scheduled 3 games at the Disney Sports complex and our evening was spent watching the D-Rays play the Texas Rangers. Devil Ray Pitcher Jamie Shields piched well but got no decision, Brandon Harris of the D-Rays got his 3rd hit in the bottom of the 10th and drove in the winning run for a 4-3 D-Rays win.
Sam gently but firmly insisted on visiting the Magic Kingdom on our third day and our luck held. We got to do everthing we wanted and there were minimal wait times everywhere. Sam rode Space Mountain 4 times and went on Splash Mountain once and the Mining Car ride twice. Pirates of the Carribean now features several robots of Jack Sparrow and remains a marvelous experience. I gave Sam what Catholics would call a plenary indulgence if he would ride "It's A Small World" and he agreed to do so. I forgot how much I would suffer but it will be an excellent blackmail device if Sam gets a little too rambunctious in future to tell everyone how much he "liked" It's A Small World". We had a great day. We ate luch at a place called Columbia House(on the border between Liberty Village and Fantasyland) which had decent Fish and Chowder and which was not a bad food option.
We met fellow roadfooder Travelin' Man in the evening and took in another D-Rays game. Future Hall of Famer Sammy Sosa played and to our delight hit career home run number 597 and extended his major league record by homering in his 45th major league stadium. D-Ray Carl Crawford had a bases-loaded triple to lead the D-Rays to an 11-8 win. it was a great pleasure to see Steve and I was a little sorry we could not sample some of the local Cuban cuisine.
it was a fun trip and I am grateful for the quality time I was able to spend with Sam. And it was great to see Sammy hit a home run.

Disney and Baseball - now that's my kind of vacation!
Did you not do the Epcot portion?

I concur- no EPCOT? You missed the best!
I do love that car stunt show too, those drivers are great!
We have never really eaten in MGM, just a drink and fries, Epcot is the place to eat
There is a new show at Epcot called "Turtle Talk", it was so interesing,new technology that I would love to watch the actor that does the voice, we were saying "Dude!" for days afterward (you have to see the show to get it)

Dude!...
KB

quote:

Originally posted by Salustra

Disney and Baseball - now that's my kind of vacation!
Did you not do the Epcot portion?

We only had 3 days due to airline restrictions on when we could get our flight back to Portland. I would rather have gone to EPCOT than the Magic Kingdom but Sam was adamant(in a nice way) that he wanted to go on the rides at Magic Kingdom so I gave up on EPCOT this trip. We will do it another time.

Sounds like the two of you had a GRAND time! Yep, EPCOT will still be there next time....Disney is all about the kids! And bonus round....seeing Sosa hit one out of the park and seeing Steve.......you packed a whole lot of punch in a few days!

Glad to hear you both enjoyed it. We'll be there for a long week in August.

MikeS.

mr chips-
You went on a trip and didn't do any Roadfooding? You are a good dad! I'm glad to hear that your son had such a good time and you saw a ballgame.