Once in a Lifetime

It all started w/ a 14 hour drive in the rain. (Taki would probably say it went downhill from there). We were both a little sick and upon arrival had to get some emergency DayQuil. Our hotel was just atrocious. The highlights include: stains on the sheets, hair on the towels, mold in the carpet, and ants on the floor. Taki later told me he killed a huge spider too, but didn't want me to get all worked up. At the end of the day, it was just nice to have a place to sleep after a long day.

Apparently Disney World consists of four different parks. Lucky for us, we were there for four days so we got to spend a day at each. Above is a picture of the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. My favorite was our last day at Animal Kingdom. It has less to do than the other parks, but the roller-coaster was fun and the entire day worked out perfectly w/ short lines. Here's a picture of Taki outside of the 3-D Bug's Life show which turned out to be super cool. The best ride of all was in the Hollywood Studies Park: the Tower of Terror. I loved it because it was just the right amount of scary. It would drop you in the dark at random moments. Taki took a video which he thinks is hilarious. You can hear him laughing in the background while I scream.

Taki's favorite ride was called the Rock'n'Roller Coaster. It went upside-down in the dark and had colorful neon lights throughout. It was cool, but by far the longest line we stood in the entire time. Right when we could see the entrance, the ride shut down, but at that point we couldn't just leave. I think it ended up being almost 2.5 hours long. But of all the rides and shows that Disney has to offer, it was the Roasted Turkey Leg that turned out to be the biggest hit. Taki had been eying them the entire time and finally broke down and bought one. He scarfed it down in no time, and had the biggest smile the entire time.

One of the craziest rides was Mission Space at Epcot. It simulated a launch into space and then landing on Mars. At the beginning there was the choice of the "More Intense" or "Less Intense" experience. Taki of course laughed saying, "That's not even a choice." The picture at the right shows him right before entering the space simulator, primed and ready to serve his country. The ride was actually super intense. It simulated the G-forces during take off, the weightless-ness in outer space, and the G-forces upon landing. I don't know if he didn't keep his head back, or eyes focused on the screen, but afterwards he stumbled out of there in a complete mess. He tried acting tough and playing it cool as we walked outside, but once there he crashed down on a grassy hill where he stayed for the next half hour. In his words, "It totally kicked my trash." So I guess I never have to worry about him flying off into out space.

The rest of Epcot had an "Around the World" Theme where each section represented a different country. It reminded me of all the countries I was able to visit 2 years ago. We took our picture at the Japan location, which has the notorious "Epcot Ball" in the background. Inside the ball is the ride Spaceship Earth documenting the history of communication. It ends w/ a cool little video clip that it makes depicting your future from answers to various questions throughout the ride. You can then have the video emailed to you as a souvenir.

Hollywood studios had our two favorite rides, as well as some neat shows. My favorite was probably the Beauty and the Beast musical. One of their new attractions is the American Idol Experience where each day they have contestants try out and perform during six separate shows. They then take the winners and have a final show where the winner gets a golden ticket good for any front line tryout for the real American Idol. We went to the final show and they make it as real as possible with judges, performance, and audience judging. Even though we didn't try out, I did strike a pose in front of the back-drop.

At the end of the night they have this huge show called Fantasmic. It had fireworks, water shows, all the disney characters, and tons of cool stuff. A definite must see.

After the fun was over we checked out of our dumpy hotel and headed for Daytona Beach. It was beautiful and the sand was so soft. We had a nice little picnic and then left. The wind was blowing in a storm so we just starteed our drive home a little early. We stopped in Savannah, Ga where we went to dinner and watched some tv. It was definitely the most relaxing part of the vacation.

The next morning we headed home w/ no temporary license plate. It had fallen off in a rainstorm on the way down. Luckily we didn't get pulled over until Virginia because I made Taki drive from that point on in case it happened again. He was such a good sport to take me to Disney World waking up at 7 and going to bed at 11 day after day, but he is adamant about being the one to plan our next "vacation."