See ya real soon!

As promised, here is a brief recap of my recent trip to The Most Magical Place on Earth.™

I mentioned before leaving that Walt Disney World is a place that I like a lot more than I would readily admit... just as I would not readily admit to consciously watching a movie starring Meredith Baxter Birney, thinking that Hugh Grant is underrated, or making a "mean souffle." But I do like the place, if for no other reason because of the memories it kicks around.

We stayed at the Wilderness L0dge. While the property is very nice, every glimpse of my family in the context of the thematic center of the hotel made me feel like I was in a Very Brady something. For the record, staying at a Disney resort is the way to go. I won't do it another way again if I don't have to.

The first full day was spent at the Magic Kingd0m. Predictably, I headed here first with my Dad, brother, and his five-year-old son.



This was taken in the exact spot where my father spent one hour talking a crying Brett into riding Space M0untain for the first time somewhere around 1979. If you know me, then you know I was scared for my life through the entire entry line. You also know that I enjoyed the ride so much that I had to be dragged off of it after riding it five times. I rode it six times this past weekend as well. And so goes my entire life.

The FantasyLand basics followed, as did Mickey's PhilHarMagic (which didn't impress me as much as I had been led to believe it would). Before you knew it, it was 1:30 and my Mom and sister-in-law were ready to nap and take the 20-month old back to the hotel. The would-be men kept the older boys, and took them with us on Splash M0untain and Big Thunder M0untain. By the time this was over, everyone but me was all, "We're tired and nauseated." And I was all, "Come on. You drove eight hours to nap in a hotel room?" And they were all, "Yeah." And I was all, "Fine, I'll go ride Space M0untain again. And I'll take my own damn picture in front of the castle. See ya."



And I did. The rest of the evening was sorta blah.

Day Two found us at the Studios as the park opened. I don't think that park has aged well at all. I had forgotten how campy the live shows were... ugh. But two cool things came out of this day. One was the Aer0smith Rock-'n'-R0ller C0aster. Possibly the best coaster I have been on. It just needed to be about twice as long (that's what sh... never mind). The other great thing was that E-S.P-N: The Weekend was taking place while we were there. So while the rest of my family was watching some puppet cartoon shit, I was watching the broadcast of Sp0rtscenter from behind the anchor desk.



The woman on the right is her. The seated guy in the blue shirt is him. When I asked, he didn't seem to want to discuss the 1/1/00 Outback B0wl. I didn't understand.

(Edit: At this point in the process of blogging, I am getting sleepy. After reading it back, the rest of this entry sucks. Grazi.)

A rainy evening put a damper on our return trip to the Magic Kingd0m. But my dad and I capped the evening off nicely back at the ranch, each of us enjoying one not-so-low calorie Mickey Bar. My favorite memory of being a child at DisneyW0rld was trying to eat one without getting ice cream all over me. That memory makes them taste a lot better than they really are.

Day Three was Epc0t day. S0arin' was amazing, as was Test Track. Mission Space is fine, but no one should have died as a result of it. It just isn't as intense as they scare you into believing it is.

After dinner, my brother and I headed back to the Magic Kingd0m one last time to relive our childhood habit of riding the same coaster over and over again when the park is all but empty (We also had a Mickey Bar.). I knew things weren't quite the same when, after three rides on Big Thunder M0untain and three on Space M0ountain, we both complained that our feet were hurting.



The next morning, I was on a plane for Nashville, and by 3:00 PM was working and already suffering withdrawals.

Chicago tomorrow. I'll try to write.