ARE WE THERE YET?
Part 2

The Girls Favourite Things

The girls have written what their favourite thing was on our trip to Walt Disney World.

Claudia

"My favourite part was the Tower of Terror. I like the Tower of Terror because it takes you and down and you get to see weird things. Me, Angela, Gillian and Daddy went on it. It was very tall."

Angela

"My favourite part of the trip was Walt Disney World. I liked Walt Disney World because in Animal Kingdom there was a ride called Expedition Everest. I loved it because of the big drop and the part where you go backwards."

Gillian

My favourite part of our trip was at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The rides there were amazing!! There was one called The Tower of Terror, this one lifts you up and then drops you 13 stories down. When your going to drop the doors on the top open up and you can see out to the Hollywood Studios. The whole time we were on that ride I was gripping my dad.

Another really fun ride was the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith. You sit in these cars and go really fast through a series of loops, drops, and turns. Me and my Mom sat together and half the time we were gripping each others hands. On some rides they take pictures; Mom's picture on the Aerosmith ride was funny. Her hair was blown back and her cheek was presses against the seat, as if she were in a jet.

Another really fun thing was the Toy Story Midway Mania. In this ride you sit in cars and ride through a series of games. In the games you shoot different objects at different targets. Dad always got the highest score. That was the funnest part.

Trip Summary

Number of days on the road: 15

Number of digital photos taken: 1,355

Number of kilometres driven: 4720.3

Most kilometres driven in one day: 1,199

Number of speeding tickets: 0

Number of states visited: 12

Number of Tropical Storms: 1

Number of relatives visited: 0

Price of most expensive gas (in USA): $3.799/gallon USD ($1.08/litre CAD) near Jasper, Florida

Price of cheapest gas: $3.519/gallon USD ($1.00/litre CAD) in St. George, South Carolina

Price of gasoline for trip: $386.91 USD

Taking the girls to Walt Disney World and surviving Tropical Storm Fay: Priceless

We're Back!

It was a long day of driving, we left Charlotte at 8:00 am on Friday morning and headed for home. Our first stop was the Virginia Welcome Centre.

The girls with Thomas Jefferson, born in Virginia in 1743.

After a short drive through Virginia, we crossed into West Virginia.

Some of the West Virginia countryside.

Dad had lent us their GPS, we used it off and on, it was good for finding hotels.

The first time we had to pull out the laptop for movies was our last day of travel. Here are the girls looking pretty happy.

Our second last state, Pennsylvania. Only a couple of hours from the outlet mall.

We stopped in Grove City to visit the Prime Outlets mall. One last shopping binge.

We crossed over into New York state, but there was no Welcome Centre on the I-90, not that we would have stopped at that point, it was more like "just keep swimming, just keep swimming" until we got home. We crossed the border at Fort Erie with no trouble. Five questions, How many of you? What is everyone's citizenship? Where were you? how long have you been gone? Are you all one family? and that was it, have a good night. There was no wait and we crossed over at 10:52 pm. We pulled into our driveway at 12:16 am, tired, but happy to be home. We started and ended with a picture of the girls in the van, so I have put both here, see if you can guess which is which.

Hope you enjoyed our adventure to Walt Disney World. I'll post our trip summary and some words from the girls soon.

Heading Home!

We started for home today. We figure we'll be about two days. Here are the girls in the hotel lobby with an astronaut.

A fire truck outside the hotel, not sure why it was there.

A palm tree in the middle of the parking lot.

We stopped at the Cocoa Beach pier but only made it half way, i.e. we didn't pay to go to the end.

The next state on our journey was Georgia again.

Lunch break at the Georgia Welcome Centre.

Another break at the South Carolina Welcome Centre.

We lost a little time just outside of Columbia, South Carolina on the I-77. There was a truck that took a corner to fast and combine that with the first game of the USC Gamecocks football season against the NC State Wolfpack. At the start of the 4th quarter the Gamecocks were leading.

Some of the fans on their way to the game.

Finally our last state of the day was North Carolina. We pulled into another Drury Inn in Charlotte, we missed the free beverages due to the traffic jam, but we still enjoyed the free sodas and popcorn.

Our drive today from Cocoa Beach, FL to Charlotte, NC.

Surf's Up

This morning we went to Ron Jon Surf Shop. The place is huge and open 24 hours.

The store front along North Atlantic Drive.

It was back to the beach for some more rest and relaxing.

We enjoyed watching the sand crab excavate his hole.

Watching the clouds go by, what do you see in this cloud?

After some waves it was over to the hotel pool.

A nice picture Susan took.

The girls and I headed back down to the beach because it looked like a storm was heading towards us. The waves were a lot bigger and seemed to come one after the other. Yesterday it was a High Hazard, today was a Medium Hazard.

We went to get a Domino's Pizza to take back to the room for dinner. The Domino's was near the city limits. Gillian got across the street before the rest of us did.

Here are the girls posing by the Tiki Man.

While we waited for our pizza there was a cigar stor in the same plaza.

We are headed for home tomorrow so after dinner the girls went for one last swim in the ocean.

It look a storm was coming from the south.

Our family on the beach.

Sunrise

I was up for the sunrise this morning, it wasn't that bad it was only at 7:59 am.

It wasn't a great one because of some clouds, but still a sunrise.

A sand crab watching the sunrise with me.

I have finally caught up with the blog updates. This post is actually being posted in real time. Hope you have been enjoying the blog.

A Holiday Within A Holiday

We figured we would need a little holiday after our week at Disney World, so we headed off to Cocoa Beach for a few days of sun and sand.

We are staying at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, it was hit hard by Tropical Storm Fay last week as the storm centre was about 20 miles southeast when it stalled. The first floor of the hotel had a lot of water damage.

In the main lobby.

But we weren't there to sit in the hotel we came for the beach!

Angela getting caught in a wave.

The waves were pretty good, good thing they got some practice in at Typhoon Lagoon.

Our hotel and the crowds of people around us.

This guy was fishing from the beach and kept catching fish, not sure what they were, it didn't take long for him to hook one.

A sand crab caught out of his hole.

Walking back along the beach after lunch.

The evening sky. The girls were back in the ocean after we had a swim in the pool.

It was a great day chillaxing on the beach.

It Was An Excellent Week

Despite being in Florida during Tropical Storm Fay and her record four landfalls in Florida, it didn't slow us down unlike the storm itself which brought record rainfalls and flooding due to its slow movement. Here is the projected path on Sunday August 17, 2008 while we were still in Georgia. Thinking okay by Wednesday night it will have cleared out and we should be good.

Here is the path the storm actually took.

We still had a great time this week, our motto became "just keep swimming, just keep swimming", like in Finding Nemo, we just kept going, the Tropical Storm wasn't going to slow us down. It was actually the guy in Space Mountain on the first day who said it as we were trying to navigate the queue. Everything from the parks, rides, food, resort and animals made out of towels were excellent.

Typhoon Lagoon

Our final day at Disney World had us at Typhoon Lagoon water park. Today wouldn't be as busy as yesterday but there were still alot of people there.

The girls with Lilo, she was there when we entered the park and suprisingly nobody in line to see her.

The Crush 'n' Gusher, this one was a 'water'coaster.

 Here are the girls having a break from the sun.

It was back to Typhoon Lagoon Surf Pool with its 6 ft waves.

Here it comes, Angela and Gillian waiting in the lower centre of the photo.

And there it goes, Angela and Gillian left centre of the photo.

Susan and Claudia in the break zone.

Claudia was having a blast in the wave pool.

Relaxing before the wave comes.

And after the wave comes.

The girls took a short ride on Castaway Creek before we left.

Coming out on the other side of the bridge.

We all quite enjoyed Typhoon Lagoon, even though some of us got a little too much sun, but after the start we had to our week at Walt Disney World, we were trying to soak up as much as we could.

Extra Magic Hours

To end an already busy day we headed off to the Magic Kingdom to watch the fireworks. It was also Extra Magic Hours so the park was open until 1:00 am for Disney resort guests.

As you can see the place was packed for the fireworks.

Claudia and I were waiting while Susan and the girls were looking for a t-shirt.

Now for the fireworks.

After the fireworks we headed to Fantasyland as we didn't get to that area on Day 1. the wait for Peter Pan was only about 15 minutes compared to 60 minutes on the first day.

Angela wearing a crown.

The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh.

Angela and Claudia on the Mead Tea Party.

It was over to Tomorrowland for our last taste of the Magic Kingdom. We almost finished with Space Mountain, the first ride we did when we arrived.

Our last ride was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. By then it was 12:30 am. We even Fastpassed it before we rode Space Mountain.

Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue

Our final big dinner was the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue at the Fort Wilderness Campground and Resort. Heading from the Outpost to the Settlement on a Disney bus.

We caught the early show at 5:00pm. The chef came and visited us when we sat down and told us everything on the menu was okay for the girls.

Included in the price were the bandanas.

Our seats were on the first floor and at the back. They were good because the table and chairs were higher then the rest of the tables.

The girls howling over something, it could have been when the waitress brought me half a pitcher of beer and left it on the table for me.

Me and my pitcher of beer.

The Hoop Dee Doo Revue Pioneer Hall Players.

Claudia and the big bucket of chicken.

Gillian and the big bucket of ribs.

Some more of the Hoop Dee Doo Revue.

Flinging our crumbs again.

Can you guess what we had for dessert.

Angela playing the washboard during the finale.

The girls really enjoyed this show and want to see it again next time.

Blizzard Beach

With the sun out it was time to tackle the water parks, of course being a Sunday and only the second day of sun in over a week, it made for a busy day at Blizzard Beach.

The highlight of the park is the 120 ft Summit Plummet, Angela and I braved the wait and the drop and did it once, reaching speeds of 51 mph.

The girls enjoyed watching these guys (Brown Anole) running around all over the place.

Around Blizzard Beach.

Angela and Gillian on Toboggan Racers.

Claudia and Susan in Melt-Away Bay.

We had to keep an eye on the time as we had to get back to the hotel to change and head off to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue for dinner.

Port Orleans Riverside

We have been staying at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort during our week at Disney World. Our room is in the Alligator Bayou section.

Some photos from the resort.

Our room had two double beds and a trundle bed.

We were in building 14, it was a good building, close to the main building and South Depot bus stop.

Downtown Disney

Saturday night we headed down to Downtown Disney for some shopping.

Angela reading in a corner of the store.

Kermit the Frog for only $150.

Angela and one of the 101 Dalmations.

A shelful of Pooh Bears.

It was a good evening, it threatened to rain but it never did while we were out.

The World of Disney.

The girls and a boney friend.

The girls with Cinderella.

Angela in the Lego Store.

The girls with a Lego girl.

Hanging with Buzz Lightyear and Mr. Potato Head.

Mr. Potato Head parts.

Minnie and Mickey and the girls.

Claudia getting tired after another long day.

Back to Animal Kingdom

On Day 5 at Disney we finally woke up to bright sunny skies. What a a change from the cloudy overcast and often wet mornings we have had. Although with the overcst skies came with more bearable temperatures. As we rode the bus to the Animal Kingdom different families all had the same stories to tell over the past week.

This time waiting for the official opening of the park in the sun.

Some of the characters giving a show to the waiting crowd. This morning we were headed to DinoLand, USA to finish up the attractions we didn't see the other night.

The wait for Dinosaur was 5 minutes so we were able to ride it twice.

The girls with their dinosaur friend.

Another hat fitting for the girls. Buzz Lightyear sitting on Claudia's shoulders.

Gillian with a dino head.

We ran into Pluto along one of the streets.

The dinosaur of DinoLand. Look at the blue sky.

The girls sitting in the car going to Dino Rama.

Here we are waiting to go on Primeval Whirl. Could not have been that good the girls didn't want to go on it again.

While we were on the Primeval Whirl I spotted Goofy down one of the lanes.

One Goofy family.

Time to lather up with the sunscreen.

Leaving DinoLand and heading to Africa.

We found a misting station along the way.

We Fastpassed Kilimanjaro Safaris and took the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch.

We got to meet Rafiki when we got to the Conservation Station.

I would think Jiminy Cricket should be careful hanging out in an area with a Year of the Frog sign.

The girls petting a goat.

We went on the Kilimanjaro Safari ride.

We walked the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail.

This was an actual person dressed up as a part of the tree.

We headed over to Everest Expedition to get some Fastpasses for the girls scrapbook.

Susan and Claudia waiting for us.

The thing I didn't know what it was the other day has a monkey today.

All the animals on the tree are carved into the trunk.

See the manatee in the background.

We left the park in the sun and headed back to the hotel for a swim. Again the rain cut our swim short and we had to walk back to our room in the rain, good thing we had our swimwear on. We also had a well deserved nap after being on the go for the last few days. We also missed most of the rain. We were headed to Downtown Disney for some shopping.