Disney !

Disneyworld . . . so much fun for me for pretty much one main reason . . . I was with some of my MOST favorite people . . John Mark and Victoria Harrell. While I was visiting their hometown this summer, we took a few days and braved the crowds at the Wonderful World of Disney. It was fairly typical Disney . . long lines, heat exhaustion, large icy colorful slurpees. We hit the park running and tackled it like a science. There is a nice little system they have down for line-waiting called "fast pass" (which I insistently called "fast-track" due to our Bay area fast-trak system for bridge tolls). One goes to the ride of choice, inserts their Disneypass and gets a little ticket for when to return later that day as to avoid hours waiting in line. The three of us organized each of our days in a way that the fast-pass would be most beneficial. We had it down to a science. One of us would be waiting in line and the other two would go to the next ride with our tickets and get our fast-passes so that when we would be finished with one, we could hop into the fast-pass line for the next one. This was especially prudent for rides like "Aerosmith," a great indoor dark roller coaster at MGM. Blaring Aerosmith tunes in the headrest, the coaster starts at a rest and is catapulted to 60 MPH in just a few seconds. I made fun of John Mark the first time we rode it saying he screamed like a little girl in that first jolt. I'm still laughing over the memory. It was HILARIOUS. We rode it again several times.

Due to simple logistics, our first day happened to be more focused on Epcot. We wandered around the various science exhibits and saw the undersea world of beautiful marine life. Making it to the "world showcase," we started to get hungry and ended up in Germany for Bratwurst sandwiches. YUM. It was so good that we immediately started thinking about dinner. I asked both of them what they wanted for dinner and having already made a brief trip to Morocco for henna, they both suggested going back for dinner. You have to love kids who are willing to try "out of the box" foods. And by out of the box, I mean NOT McDonalds. Both John Mark and Victoria (as well as their siblings) have benefited from living in San Francisco. They are exposed to new and interesting foods and have thus developed a quite sophisticated palate. I notice this every time I ask them where they want to eat. The response is usually, HMM, how about Thai food, or Indian or some equally succulent adventure into exotic cuisines!! How lucky am I!

All in all our time at Disney was great fun. Our last night was mostly spent synchronizing our watches and scientifically plotting out the most effecient way to get in as many rides as possible. One of my greatest memories will be the three of us sprinting through Epcot after "Test Trak" (having been VIP'd by one of the ride stewards) to catch the tram to MGM for one last fix from Aerosmith. By that time we were worn out. Our motto of "power through" was coming to a close. It was a great couple of days and we are already planning our next foray into roller coaster world next summer at Busch Gardens. I'm already counting the days !