Joan notices that a young man with his family at a table next to us is celebrating his 21st birthday today, and finds out his name. On three – all 23 of us sing Happy Birthday to this complete stranger – a little of our own Disney magic. The look of surprise and happiness from his table was priceless. And in traditional “It’s a Small World” fashion….the young man named Roger ….and his family will be moving to the same town, only a few blocks away, as my nephew’s cousins in Connecticut in a month or so. 

    After dinner we all head for the Magic Kingdom. Tom points out something a little disturbing about the Walt and Mickey statue when viewed from the side. I say no more.

    We all head for and enjoy the Pirates of the Caribbean, then head for Splash Mountain. I check my Verizon Disneyworld app and it says the wait is 45 minutes, but the sign says 10. So half the group convince me to go on. Well – it was 50 minutes. We have eleven people. The CM then thinks it’s a good idea to fit all eleven of us in the eight person boat. “It will make a great picture” Well, it’s actually 9 adults and two kids. We all squeeze in. Big Rich, Rich and I were wedged in to be precise. We now realize our boat is easily the heaviest one out there. Boy - are we going to make a big splash! During the ride there are a few points where they stop the boats and meter them out, so as not to let the boats get too close to another. Well, when we go down the mini drops we pick up a lot of speed and almost catch up to the next boat! We are all laughing hysterically -having a great time. We survive the big drop and it was a sight when we had to unwedge each other out of the boat.

    My wife Kelli along with Patti and Paul stayed off the ride. They planted themselves on the bridge watching the ride….and the unsuspecting guests getting soaked by the spray of water when the ride comes down the big drop. 

    We then stake out a spot to wait for the Main Street Electrical Parade, we are near the Country Bear Jamboree, but across a path leading to Adventure land. There is a planter around a tree that we use as seats, and a platform to see the parade from above. Kelli and I love the floats but we think that the music from SpectroMagic is significantly better.

    Most of us head out- we want to beat the crowds to the buses after the fireworks. Being there many times; we show our group how to cut through the stores on Main Street to avoid the crowds. The Summer Nightastic Fireworks start as we exit the turnstiles and we watch them from benches near the lake. There’s no music to accompany them but we enjoy them anyway. After the finale we quickly head for the buses. Some of us have a big day at Isle of Adventure to see the greatly anticipated Wizarding World of Harry Potter the next day.

Tuesday August 10 2010

    Today eleven of us (Kelli, Rich, Kevin, Mike, Tim, Marissa, Kelli, Katie, Michelle, Rich Sr. & I) headed to Isles of Adventure so see the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I took my rental car and Rich had a mini-van to get us all there. We left early to make sure we got there at regular opening. I was surprised they let us in through the turnstiles at 8:30. The park opens for regular guests at 9. We were directed the long way around to a huge queue to wait till 9. By the time we got in, the place was busy. After a few pictures in front of the Hogwarts Express we hit the Dragon Challenge coasters as the lines were very short. Kelli sat this one out. In the outside part of the queue we saw the enchanted car beeping at us, inside we passed the tri-wizard cup. Marissa, a huge fan, was taking lots of pictures. We ended up riding each side once with Marissa and Michelle joining Kelli in between the rides. 

    I left to join the girls while the others went for a third time. While we were waiting we all tried the butterbeer - very sweet and creamy, very similar to a great root beer/vanilla ice-cream float. In the area we found the wanted poster for Sirius Black – and the picture moved just like in the movies.

    After the others got back we had a rest room break where we discovered Moaning Myrtle wailing, crying and talking in the walls of both the ladies’ and men’s’ room. You did have to wait for the hand driers to stop to hear her well.

    We made our way into the back part of the wizarding world for the new Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride. The wait time was 90 minutes but we expected that. Kelli walked through the queue with us but did not ride. She took all of our bags so we could skip the locker area in the beginning of the queue. Once the line got into the green house it was an easier wait since there are many things to look at. Inside the castle we saw the incredible detail that went into this place. It makes the rest of the Isles of Adventure look shoddy. The paintings move, Dumbledore, Harry, Hermione and Ron talk to you and it really looks as if they’re there. There are lots of creepy stuff to look at in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. The Great Hall has the enchanted ceiling with hundreds of candles floating in the air. 

    Before getting on our enchanted benches, we loaded up Kelli like a pack mule with all our gear. She later said the chicken exit had a flight of stairs and she was worried about falling down them since she had so much stuff. 

    The ride was fantastic and you wished it went slower to see more of the detail. The whomping willow and a dragon come within a few feet of you - a very thrilling ride. I look forward to going back in the future when the crowds calm down to ride it a few times. When we exited the ride the crowds were ridiculous. The group split up. It took Kelli and I fifteen minutes just to make our way down to the shops. 

The shops now have lines just to get in them. We had a medium wait to get into Honeydukes –which is connected to Zonko’s. We tried a Cauldron Cake (yummy), Rock Cake (like a moist scone) and Pumpkin Tart (hit the spot) and picked up some gift gags - like screaming yo-yos, an inflatable tongue etc.

    We then stood on line to the main store (where you can send an owl), but it was way too long. We all regrouped and headed out. We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t experience more but the crowds were too much. The line to get into the land was still way over into the Jurassic Park area. We tried for lunch at a counter service meal across from the Jurassic Park ride called the Burger Digs. It took 30 minutes for all of us to get food! The lines were only 8 people long and they only have 5 main items. We heard they were running behind on cheese burgers. What a poorly run restaurant. We were starting to get testy now. Rich Sr. swore he’d never come to this park again.

    We made our way down to Spiderman and it started to rain. Kelli went shopping and we stood on line for another hour to get on. After this I’ve had enough of long lines. Most headed for the very long line for the Hulk. Kelli, Marissa, Michelle and I shopped and walked around Seuss land and I enjoyed a root beer float. I noticed that even the Cat in the Hat had a 45 minute wait. Tim joined us – he’d had enough of lines as well. We hit the big store close to the entrance and everyone bought a few things there. We were ready to head out, however we were holding a few fanny and backpacks of the people still on line for the Hulk. Michelle said she’ll stay behind and wait for the group. At the turnstiles we found an outdoor market featuring 30 % off of merchandise. I couldn’t pass up a bargain and bought a Woody Woodpecker Hat. The four of us headed back to Pop Century. 

    When we arrived back at the hotel we found out the rest of the group was on their way home. We also found out Mr F was taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons from a groin pull he suffered a few days prior and the bruise was spreading. He at first didn’t tell anyone about it for a couple of days – he didn’t want to burden us. In a way it ended up as a good thing. Most important he would be under the care of professionals and it gave him time to rest. He won’t be out in time for the group picture on Main Street – that’s when we realized how lucky we were in the group photo at Chef Mickey’s.

    Kelli and I had a reservation for four at Raglan Road tonight. We offered to take Tim and Marissa who were newly engaged, but they wanted to be on their own, so we offered to take two other people, but only Rich decided to join us. Everyone will be heading to Downtown Disney tonight so we might meet up with them after dinner.

    I took the car down and made it to our 6:30 pm ADR. We had a table right next to the small stage in the middle. Rich and Kelli quickly ordered a Guinness and a chocolate martini, but I was looking for something unusual. The waitress suggests a Jaygail Sangria - a blend of Strongbow, Peach Schnapps, Fruit Liqueurs with squeezes of lemon & lime and a splash of orange juice. She said it tastes like sangria with a shot of Guinness. Well, I normally don’t drink sangria, but it sounded so weird I had to try one. And yes – it did taste like sangria with a hint of Guinness.

    For appetizers: Rich ordered the Heritage Tomato salad - heirloom tomato & rocket salad with shallots, parmesan crisps & balsamic reduction; Kelli had a Tart Art - asparagus and goat cheese tart with garden peas, leeks and lemon oil dressed arugula; and I got the Drunk Chicken -whiskey marinated chicken skewers with a Dalkey honey mustard dressing. Kelli and I shared and we loved both dishes. Why are appetizers always the highlight of a meal? One day we will just do a variety of appetizers and desserts and forget the main meal.

    The entertainment started and the music, atmosphere and the step dancers were fantastic! We are definitely coming here again – and we haven’t eaten dinner yet.

    For the main course Rich ordered the special Rib-eye; Keen Eye for the Shepherds Pie for Kelli and I had the Me Crock 'o' Mussels - Fresh Blue Hill Bay mussels served in a saffron, grape tomato and leek broth.

    The food was very good but I had better mussels at Artist Point. Kelli liked her Shepherds Pie but couldn’t finish it. For dessert Kelli ordered some ice-cream while I got the Me Ger's Bread & Butter Pudding and Rich got a Bailey's Crème Brulee tart –It looked more like a slice of cake. The bill with drinks and tip came to a hefty $164.15.

    After dinner we waddled over to the World of Disney. I’ve heard about the vinylmation figures but had no interest in them. They are plastic Mickey Mouse figurines that are painted with different themes or characters. In most sets - it’s like baseball cards- you don’t know what figurine you are buying. I knew I wouldn’t fall for this old ploy. Kelli did like the “owl” figure in the Cutesters series, so I brought two boxes for her. Maybe she’ll get lucky. I saw that they had a Muppet series. I’m a big Muppet fan so I broke down and bought two boxes for me – so much for no interest in them. 

    Kelli was tired - so was I - but the car was far away and I wanted to visit the Magic Masters store. So I walked Kelli over to the closest bus stop near Disney’s Days of Christmas so she could return to the room. I walked completely across downtown before realizing I could have gotten on the bus with Kelli and gotten off at the next stop, cutting my walk in half! I bought a few new magic tricks and headed home. When I got back Kelli bought me a tie-dyed cheesecake from the Pop Century food court –something I’ve always wanted to try. The deep colors didn’t make it look appetizing but it did taste good!

Wednesday August 11 2010
    Since we were wiped out by yesterdays walking, we decided to sleep in. Bill and I then played the Fantasia Fairways mini golf course (next to Fantasia Gardens). It’s a very tough but fun course. There aren’t any windmills and things on the course, but the undulating fairways were up to 100 feet long!

    We never made our Sci-Fi diner lunch – maybe next time. We spent midday in the room and pool. Kelli and I decide to exchange the little gifts we brought for each other. She was very happy to try the Cutesters vinylmations. She didn’t get the owl – but was very happy with the ones she got. I couldn’t wait so I opened my Muppet ones. I was hoping for Dr Bunsen Honeydew – it’s impossible to find any merchandise featuring him – and I got him on the first try!

    Kelli also had discovered the vinylmation pins. Again you don’t know which one you are buying. We ended up with a number of them.

    After a wonderful relaxing afternoon the whole group headed to the Wilderness Lodge for our group dinner at Whispering Canyons. There are now twenty-five of us. The grandparents of Eric and Kristina had arrived and joined our group for the last few days. 

    We did some shopping in the gift shop and the pin cart. I discovered they have a partial set of vinylmation Muppet pins. It included a Dr Bunsen Honeydew and a mystery pin. So yes- I had to buy it. The mystery pin turned out to be Sweetums.

    Tom and Theresa approach me for advice since their boy Eric was interested in pin trading. After trying to explain it too him I decide to show him how it’s done. I had just gotten a $1 pin – after spending so much at the gift shop - so I traded that and got a great Jiminy Cricket Pin – my first pin trade! Eric also made a trade, we’ll see if he gets hooked.

    We all headed into Whispering Canyons and they seated us at three tables. The waitresses threw the napkins and straws at us – I knew at this point with the antics of the wait staff combined with antics of our large group – this was going to be fun. Staying with my trend this trip of trying a variety of liqueurs - I had the Captain's Rum Runner - spiced rum, blackberry brandy, crème de banana and tropical juices topped with dark rum. 

    We had a blast – even some of the adults participated in the pony races. Mike (not me) hid his mother’s plate. I got a great shot of the guilty looking perpetrator. We joined in doing the hokey pokey – with me shooting some great embarrassing video of our group. Patty ordered a root beer and got a huge glass of root beer, she needed two hands to lift it. Later, Joan tried for the “large” root beer – what she got was the tiniest glass.

    We saw lots of tables calling for ketchup. At one point the waitress had our three tables compete at the same time for ketchup. All twenty-five of us called for ketchup and tried to get the family bringing all the bottles to our particular table. I think we confused them with all of us screaming at them to put the ketchup on one of the three tables. 

    We were celebrating Joan and Rich’s anniversary as well as four birthdays and arranged for a huge sheet cake. There was plenty left so we ran around the restaurant offering pieces of cake to the wait staff and unsuspecting families. One boy got a slice even before his dinner! He must have been happy but I not too sure of the parents.

    After dinner many of us split up. Kelli and I headed to the Magic Kingdom. I wanted to make an effort for those little added extras one can find if you know where to look. I found the paw prints surrounded by a heart in the cement - of Lady and the Tramp in the town square.

    I couldn’t find the sitting statue of Goofy, but we did find the old telephone in The Chapeau shop where you can listen in on a party line conversation.

    Next was listening for the music lessons on the side street off to the right. 

    We then did Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and then looked for the cream cheese filled pretzels we’ve heard about. They are at the Lunching Pad under the TTA but they had just closed for the night.

    We then did the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover (Yes – they added PeopleMover back to the name!) and then joined the Club 626 Dance Party in Tomorrowland at the Rocktower Plaza Stage. It was part of Summer Nightastic! celebration and was loads of fun. The DJ played some great music with Chip and Dale, Goofy, Stitch and Pluto all coming down into the dancing crowd and dancing with the guests. Sadly this was one of the last days it was being done. I hope they bring it back next summer or have it occasionally during the off season as well.

    We finished the evening with a visit to Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. When we came out we saw the last half of the fireworks show, with Tinkerbelle flying over us.

Thursday August 12 2010

    It was the same routine, an early 6:30 breakfast and meeting everyone at the bus stop at 7:30. We did the group shot on Main Street (minus Mr F). Then everyone was on their own.

    Most headed over to EPCOT but Bill, Kelli and I spent the morning here at Magic Kingdom. We quickly headed for the empty fantasyland to do Peter Pan’s Flight, followed by a ride on Dumbo - which gave us a good view of the huge area under construction for Fantasyland expansion. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was next with the entrance a little hard to find since the facade was cover with construction walls. After a quick rest room break I shot new video of Madam Leota’s moving tombstone at the entrance doors to the Haunted Mansion, followed by the ride. Then we finished up with Snow White's Scary Adventures and Mickey's PhilharMagic.

    I never remember ever doing the Liberty Square Riverboat so on we went. It was a nice relaxing ride, with great views of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Tom Sawyer Island, but we had to keep moving to stay in the shade – the sun was already strong. 

We stopped near the castle to the fountain where if you position yourself just right – the crown is around the princess’s head.

    We crossed over to Tomorrowland to listen to Sonny Eclipse in Cosmic Ray’s Starlight cafe then finally tried a cream cheese filled pretzels – very good. 

    We made our way to the front of the park where Bill and Kelli went to the restrooms. I stayed outside where the Dapper Dans had just finished a set. The quartet overheard that a young couple just got engaged. They went over to the couple and sang a song just to them – it was a nice moment.

    Bill headed back to his room. Kelli and I headed for EPCOT by monorail. We met up with Joan and Rich for cheese and crackers but I saved my appetite for the empanadas I saw in the world showcase at the Refreshment Port. We picked up our Kim Possible assignment at the kiosk on the middle path from Future World to Showcase plaza. The beef empanada was good. 

    Boy was it hot! I was sweaty. I was worried about how I’d look and smell by the time diner at Kouzzina came around. Not to worry – I had a great idea. In Canada I brought a new shirt and I generously tried on some of the cologne for sale. I’ll switch to my new shirt at the restaurant later.

    Next stop was in England to look for Kelli’s Cadbury Twist bar and Walker Crisps (chips) but we struck out on both. We watch a bit of The World Showcase Players starting the Arthur's Quest for the Holy Grail skit. One bit of hilarious improvising was when a maintenance worker came by with a huge cart going clunk, clunk, clunk, on the cobblestone sidewalk. The troupe just stopped and silently just stared at her as she slowly made her way past. I guess you had to be there. 

    We headed over the Kim Possible kiosk in Italy for our assignment in Germany. We easily completed our mission here when a light rain started. We ducked into the American Adventure to rest our feet and listened to a great performance by the Voices of Liberty followed by the American Adventure. I incorrectly looked for the plane picture that seems to follow you upstairs and missed it once again. 

    We then did the Kim Possible mission in Japan. This mission had some really cool effects. We shopped in the stores and bought a small bag of shrimp flavored potato chips! I’m glad we bought a small bag – when we tried them when we got home – they tasted exactly like shrimp that was left on a hot dock a little too long – yuck!

    We stopped into Japan’s Bijutsu-kan gallery. The display “ Spirited Beasts- from ancient stories to Anime Stars” was interesting. It’s hard to imagine that a “super hero’ based on a rabbit would catch on here. 

    We headed toward the International Gateway to walked over to the Boardwalk. On the way we stopped for a delicious Grand Marnier Orange slush from France. We had a 5:00 PM reservation at Kouzzina – Iron Chef Cat Cora’s new restaurant. 

    For drinks Kelli had the Kouzzina Citronge Cafe -Patron Citronge orange liqueur, cafe liqueur, white cream de cacao, and half-and-half and I had to try the Ozzo-tini. Both were good. For appetizers we shared the Goat Cheese-stuffed Grape Leaf - large grape leaf filled with herbed goat cheese and grilled and the Saganaki - seared haloumi cheese with lemon and oregano. We both loved the Saganaki.

    For our main course we both had the Kouzzina Trio - tasting size portions of Pastitisio, Char-grilled Lamb Burger, and Cinnamon-stewed Chicken with Orzo. 

    Pastitisio was described as a Greek comfort food or Greek style lasagna – it was good but too heavy for a hot summer day – we would have enjoyed this more in the cooler months. I would love to have this after coming in after a cold winter day in New York. The Cinnamon-stewed Chicken was certainly different for us and one of the great reasons we love dinning at Walt Disney World – to try dishes and tastes we’ve never experience before. The surprise of the night was the lamb burger. It was fantastic. It was the best burger I ever had - and I prefer beef over lamb!

    I am a big fan of Bobby Flay’s burgers and I was surprised for me to say – it was better than any of his burgers! We were too stuffed to have dessert. Cost :$81.85 plus15.37 tip.

    During dinner Kelli said how tired she was and was asking if there was anyway back besides walking back to the International Gateway, making your way up and through Future World and the long trek to the bus stops. I thought about it and –yes there is. We can take the nearby boat to Hollywood Studios which would leave us with a short walk over to the buses back to Pop Century!

    Well – we did save a huge amount of walking – but the boat from the Boardwalk to the Studios was hot and stuffy. There was no air flow through the cabin. It was pretty awful.

    The ride did feature nice views of both the Swan and Dolphin resorts. I pointed out to Kelli on the big mistake made when they constructed them. The Swan features a huge Swan stature on top along with a huge clam shell. The Dolphin features a Dolphin along with a Lily Pad. Obviously each was meant for the other – freshwater vs. salt water.

    We later partied with everyone with all of us sitting on the balcony / walkways in front of our rooms.

    Next up: “Drinking around the world - but Mainly Germany” and a very long last day. 

Friday August 13 2010
“Drinking around the world - but Mainly Germany”

    Today we all headed for Typhoon Lagoon for extra morning hours. The group was a little late getting to the bus. This gave Kelli and me a chance to see the Pop Century Food Court “Do the Twist.” The staff stops what they’re doing and dances to the Twist, encouraging guests to join in.

    We arrived at Typhoon Lagoon only a few minutes before the end of the extra hour. After setting up camp, a few of us headed to the Shark Reef for some snorkeling. I’ve never done this and was looking forward to it. Unfortunately – though I’m a good swimmer, I’m not a good snorkeler. My mind had a hard time getting over trying to breathe with your face down in the water. I wanted to hold my breath. I did see some fish but it will be a while before I try this again. 

    I met up with Kelli on Castaway Creek and we relaxed and floated around twice. I then hit a few slides on my own then found everyone in the tidal wave pool. It was cheese and crackers for lunch again and we left early as we did most of the slides and it was now getting a bit crowded. Mr. F will also be getting out of the hospital today and join the gang for our last night group dinner.

    Kelli and I did a relaxing walk around Pop Century. At the bridge we fed the turtles with some leftover bread at the bridge. At one point we had fourteen turtles in site.

    After freshening up in our room we left early for EPCOT, everyone will be dining at the Biergarten tonight. Our first stop was Innovations West for our Disney Visa picture and met Pluto and Mickey.

    We stopped by England again and this time they had some Cheese and Onion Walker Crisps – score!

    When we arrived in Germany Kelli and I shared the wine flight for $9. You get to choose 3 wines from about 6 and get about 2 oz pour of each. I chose three of the sweeter wines for Kelli: Gunderloch "Diva" Spatlese Riesling (White); Gunderloch Beerenauslese (Dessert Wine); and Schmitt Sohne Eiswein (Ice Wine). We liked them all but Kelli preferred the Spatlesr Riesling. It turned out they also serve it at the Biergarten. This can be a great opportunity to try the wines and order your favorite in the Biergarten – Note that not all the selections for the wine flight are available in the restaurant. 

    While waiting outside the Biergarten, a cute blond German hostess entertained the kids by showing off her soccer skills – while dress in clothing representative of Germanic cultural heritage. 

    We were seated at three tables on the highest tier, with good views of the stage. I ordered the beer flight, it featured: Becks, Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse, Spaten Oktoberfest, & spaten Optimater. My nephew Mike did likewise.

    Biergarten is a buffet and the food and the entertainment were good. A number of us got up to dance to a polka and the chicken dance. Cost for two with drinks and tip was $112.03.

    After dinner, Kelli and I and our nieces and nephews toured the showcase together. We wanted margaritas so we headed for Mexico. We detoured in China to see the acrobats and the movie. There was this one girl juggling a wooden card table with her feet – amazing.

    I ran into Norway to find the school bread I heard so much about – wow, what a great dessert for such a great price!

    Kelli and I shared a Fiesta margarita - a triple flavored margarita (lime, strawberry and mango) in Mexico while watching five Green Herons chase each other around the edges of the water.

    The group headed back to the American Adventure where I finally saw the large painting of the airplane that seems to follow you. To find it make a right turn as soon as you walk through the doors and you find it on the right just before the corner of the room. I was expecting some sort of special effects – but it’s just a regular painting that has this affect on most people – I was amazed on what this artist could do –it is just paint. Kelli couldn’t notice the effect – she was tired and wasn’t to interested – so that may have played a part.

After the show we positioned ourselves in Japan to see IllumiNations – the plaza was empty, only one person deep at the railing, so we all had great views. We headed out after that and finish the night outside our hotel room with my last Dogfish 60 minute IPA.

Saturday August 14 2010

Our last day.

    At the time I booked the trip we all thought it was great that we had a late flight and could spend nearly a full day in a park. But now we were not looking forward to being out in the heat all day, then getting on a plane.

    We are all on our own. Mr. F's family went to Magic Kingdom for some group pictures which I put on my Photopass account.

    I got up a little earlier to gas up the rental car and sneak into Disney Hollywood Studios to quickly ride the Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and fast pass Rock ‘n’ Roller. When I got back Kelli had finished packing. We checked our luggage at Pop Century and Bill, Kelli and I took the bus to Disney Hollywood Studios at 10:40 to catch all the things we missed. We were tired of the heat so I tried to keep us indoors as much as possible and was quite successful.

    We did Magic of Disney Animation and after the presentation we made sure to look for the classroom where you get to draw a Disney character. I’ve always missed it. We found it and got to draw Pooh. My drawing really looked like Pooh. Kelli thought hers looked like "poo" too. Inside the same building there was a huge display on the upcoming animated movie - “Tangled” base on the Rapunzel story.

    Near Star Tours we saw the little Jedi's being trained to fight Darth Vader. Next was the Muppet Vision 3D and I looked under the mat of first door on the right (next to the turnstiles) and saw the key for the first time!

    We shopped in the gift shop and I picked up another Beaker T-shirt. There was a tee Bill wanted but couldn’t find it in his size. It’s features Statler & Waldorf with the saying “Old... It sure beats dead!”

    Next was The American Idol Experience. The set is great – the judges over acted a bit. The middle singer was clearly the best and she won. 

    To keep out of the heat we then did the Great Movie Ride (gangster version) and The Voyage of The Little Mermaid. Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream was scheduled to close soon for refurbishment and I hadn’t seen the movie in a while so we did that. The movie is well worth seeing. We headed over and down Sunset Boulevard. Bill posed for a picture as if he was hitching his way across the USA on Route 66.

    We finished on a high note for me with one last exhilarating ride on Rock and Roll and headed out.

    Back at the Pop Century food court, a great Ice Cream Sundae cooled us down. Most of our group is leaving today but four are staying for one more night with an early morning flight. So everyone was either in the pool or using their one room to rest and cool off. We walked over and said our temporary good byes. 

    We picked up our luggage, and headed to the airport. We had dinner there and I tried the sushi (pre-made) and surprisingly was quite good. Our 8:20 PM JetBlue flight left on time and we were back in New York before 11 PM.

    I always list the new things tried, experienced or saw. Being here seven times in seven years you would expect a short list – but this was one of my longest. It really shows how much more there is in Disney World beside the main attractions and how much can change in just a year.

New Things Experienced 
Siemens Super Driver – at the end of Spaceship Earth 
Captain EO
Finally seeing the plane painting in American Adventure
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set area
The quiet sit down area behind Tamu Tamu refreshments.
The back trail, between the It’s tough to be a Bug exit queue, and the entrance to Africa 
Ms DeVine
California Grill
Fireworks from the top of the Contemporary
Summer Nightastic Fireworks Show
Electric Water Pageant,
LeCellier
Main Street Electrical Parade
Vinylmation Figurines
Raglan Road
Tie-dyed cheesecake
Fantasia Fairways
My first pin trade 
Whispering Canyons 
Summer Fantastic DJ party
Cream cheese filled pretzels
Lady and the Tramp paw prints
Old telephone inside the Chapeau
Kim Possible missions
Kozzina
Shark Reef in Typhoon Lagoon
Biergarten
School Bread in Norway
Margaritas in Mexico
Drawing a character in Hollywood Studios
Finding the key under the mat in Muppets
American Idol
- and of course the non-Disney – Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Michael and Kelli

We hope you enjoyed our trip report and pictures.

To read more of Kelli and Mike’s Trip reports visit: http://www.bochnik.com

Comments: E-mail Michael at bochnikm@cs.com