Magic Kingdom Attractions ratings - Tomorrowland
Mark, Kirsten and I went to the Magic Kingdom after school on Thursday, November 13, 2008. Mark requested no princesses or fairies. Kirsten requested princesses and fairies. Luckily, we could agree on rollercoasters and rides.
I believed that getting the princesses and fairies done first would be wise so we set off for Mickey's Toontown to meet the characters. Would you believe that the line for the fairies was over an hour long! We passed on meeting them this time, more on that in another blog.
We did wait the 15 minutes to see the princesses. Cinderella was a bit miffed to find out that the line for the fairies was out the building. Apparently having flawless princess skin, hair and a dazzling smile (not to mention the gorgeous gowns!) is just not enough to compete with the gals from Pixie Hollow!)
Having completed the princess meeting, we went off to Tomorrowland. This is my rating of the attractions we saw there. ( 5 star the highest - NR- not rated)
*** Indy Speedway. It was fun to ride the gas powered cars, but my children chastised me for going too slow. I'm telling you I had the thing floored!
***** Space Mountain - a roller coaster in the dark, what could be better? Even Mark liked this attraction. We fastpassed this and rode it twice.
*** Astro Orbitor - We waited a bit to get on this one. It is basically a children airplane ride that travels in a circle and you can make go up and down by pulling on the handle. The cool part about this one though is that it is on top of a building, so you have to take an elevator up to ride it. Normally, I am pretty good with rides, but I am not so keen on heights, so my kids would probably rate this higher than I would.
NR Transit Authority - This is a train ride that goes through Tomorrowland.
NR Carousel of Progress - We've seen this before so didn't do it again. Maybe next time.
**** Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin - We like this one so much we rode it 3 times in a row. It appealed to Mark because you could shoot things as you traveled along in the car. Too bad we have no idea how the points add up as you shoot things. It would be even more fun to challenge ourselves to get higher scores.
*** Stitch's Great Escape - I guess when the shoulder harness came down I expected this to be more like a "ride", but it was still fun to watch the show.
**** Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor - Great new attraction. We all laughed at the jokes (most corny) and the audience participation was fun to watch.
We spent about 3 hours in the park. The weather was absolutely perfect and I think even Mark had a good time (After the princesses that is.)
Magic Kingdom Attractions ratings - Fantasyland
On Wednesday November 12, 2008, Kirsten and I went to the Magic Kingdom without Mark and Dave. That left us free to ooh and aah over all the beautiful Christmas decorations without Mark groaning and rolling his eyes at us. We also spent a good deal of time walking through the stores and admiring all the Fairy stuff for sale. (Yes, Fairymania has hit Kirsten - she is the "true" Tinkerbell.) But we did have time to see a lot of the other attractions in Fantasyland. So here is our opinion of each of the attractions: (with Tammy's star ratings- 5 being the highest - NR-not rated)
**** It's a Small World - just try to get that song out of your head when you are done. But it was a lot of fun for us to try and figure out what country we were traveling through based on the costumes of the kids. Kirsten thought that she would love to get a job as one of the kids swinging on the swings all day. I told her there was a reason that they used all robots - it would get boring after awhile, she disagreed. I liked this one so much because Kirsten liked it a lot.
** Peter Pan's Flight - was cute but after going on the other theme rides, it was predictable.
**** Mickey's Philharmagic - this is a classic. The 3-D effects make it a lot of fun. Even I tried to reach out and grab the bubbles! And we loved the surprise ending in which Donald Duck goes flying.
NR Dream Along with Mickey - missed this stage show, guess we'll have to go back...
*** Fairytale Gardens - what a beautiful place to sit and listen to a story with Belle! Would be even better if Kirsten was young enough to be picked for audience participation, but they only picked the little kids (under 7 years- I guess it makes it more interesting because you never know what they will do.)
** Snow White's Scary Adventure - another cute, but predictable theme ride. Maybe Kirsten was just too old so we didn't "catch the magic" on this one. Once upon a time Kirsten was very into Snow White (she even dressed as her for over a month straight - wore that dress everywhere, school, the mall, church...) but now she is onto other things (think Fairies..)
NR Cinderella's Golden Carousel - long line and we have done carousels before, so we skipped this.
NR Dumbo the Flying Elephant - ditto
NR Ariel's Grotto - long line in which you get to meet Ariel, we passed.
NR Pooh's Playful Spot - designed for toddlers, we passed.
** The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - we waited an hour to go on this since we thought it was a new ride. I don't know if it was new or not, but it seemed exactly like the Peter Pan and the Snow White ride to us, just with different characters.
NR Mad Tea Party - this is the teacup ride. We passed since there was a line and we have ridden similar at Great Adventure dozens of times.
Kirsten and I had a great time together that day and it took us about 31/2 hours in the park to see the things I noted. We could have seen more if we had skipped the Winnie the Pooh ride, but now we know that it is not a ride worth waiting for. By the time our season passes expire next November, we will be Disney World experts!
Space Shuttle Endeavor Launch
On Friday night, November 14, 2008 we were sitting around the dinner table in Orange Grove Campground (Kissimmee, FL), when we got a phone call from my sister-in-law, Karen, telling us that the space shuttle Endeavor (Mission STS - 126) was set to launch at 7:55 pm. We had seen a day-time launch from this campground back in March of this year but because we are a little far from Cape Canaveral we hadn't seen much, but we figured we would stand outside and see if we could catch a glimpse of something this time.
When we went outside we saw a small group of people gathered around anticipating the same launch. One gentleman even had his outside TV on the side of his rig set to the televised coverage of the launch so we could watch and listen to the countdown. The launch went off as scheduled and we all scoured the sky looking for any sign of the shuttle and after about 30 seconds we still had seen nothing. Oh well, maybe it was shot off at a different angle or there was too much cloud cover. I hated to miss it because it was the last scheduled night time launch of a space program that does not seem to have too much future. I really was hoping the kids would be able to see it - in the same way that my parents wanted me to remember the first lunar landing (Appollo 11 back in 1969 - OK, at the time when they woke me up to watch it I didn't appreciate it, but I do now.)
Suddenly, at the top of the tree line, we saw this amazing ball of fire! It was phenominal, especially since we knew how far away it was, we could only imagine how big that plume of flames must be up close. About three minutes into the flight we saw them jettison the two solid rocket boosters. At that point the shuttle was traveling at a speed of 6,000 MPH, though to us it looked like it was only slowly inching away. It gradually disappeared into the atmosphere and within nine minutes of takeoff, the Endeavor was safely in orbit.
It would have been nice to have some pictures, but like all other things that look so wonderful to the naked eye, I am afraid that any picture we would take would not do it justice. Hopefully, the memory will stay with the kids for awhile, as do my memories of watching Aldrin and Armstrong walk on the moon a LONG, LONG time ago!
hi
Hello everyone,it's been a long time since my last post. I'm starting to clean up the blog. I've put in some more categories to make it easy for you readers to find out what the post is about. So far i have General, Mark's adventures, and Kirsten's poems. Later I might put in places for my mom and dad to post. I've been doing great, I'm going to florida in about 27 days. I'm really exited about that. My famiy got a new RV. The pic following pic has our old RV(now sold) on left, and our new one on the right.
That's all I have to say for now.
Mark
Wind, by Kirsten
A poem by Kirsten, age: 9
Wind
Wind darting through the air,
Wind flying without care.
Wind always passing by,
Oh how it loves to fly.
My Little Kitten by Kirsten
An original poem by Kirsten (age 9):
MY LITTLE KITTEN
I like my kitten,
Her fur white as snow,
She likes to wander,
So I wonder where she did go.
Her eyes shine like a cloudless day,
When she plays outside,
Her tail swings every way.
When I give her milk she purrs with gratitude.
I like when she purrs.
It makes me smile,
So I sit,
And listen for awhile.
New cousin
We have a new baby girl in the family. Her name is Gabrielle Eliza Ferraro and she was born on Friday, July 18, 2008. Kirsten is so excited to go see her new baby cousin, but unfortunately, Gabrielle had been in the infant ICU, so she hasn't been able to see her yet. Yesterday Crystal and Gabrielle came home from the hospital and hopefully, today will be the day that we go visit. Let's hope we remember to bring our camera!
The Manasquan Trail
Today Kirsten and I took a hike on the Manasquan Trail here in Turkey Swamp Park. Armed with a camera, a bottle of water each and some bug spray, we set off on our adventure. Well, the trail is only 2 1/2 miles long and we didn't expect too much of an adventure, but we were pleasantly surprised.
After walking about 20 minutes we came to the Manasquan River. The banks were muddy, and steep in parts, but the day was warm and I thought Kirsten might appreciate getting to put her feet in the clear cool water, so I told her to go ahead. She really enjoyed the water on her feet and we took some nice pictures of her wading through the water (which was mostly pretty shallow.) It was just such a beautiful spot with the sun reflecting off the water and sparkling on the leaves that made a canopy over the water.
There was also a fallen log across the river that Kirsten shimmied on to and crawled half-way across the river. She wanted to go to the other side, but I didn't want her wandering around without her shoes on, so she came back. Kirsten wants to go back with a picnic lunch and eat by the side of the water. Hopefully we can plan that before we leave.
Also along the trail were all kinds of critters. We were constantly running into caterpillars hanging from the trees, the many birds seranaded us as we walked along and Kirsten saw a chipmunk scamper into it's hole. But we saw the most impressive critter as we rounded a bend and nearly stumpled across a deer on the path. For a fraction of a second he stared at us and then was off like a shot. Unfortunately, he was way too fast for us to capture a picture of him. Before we knew it, he was gone.
The enitire walk took us about an hour and a half, but what a great amount of memories we gained! We can't wait to go on more nature walks.
Cranberry-orange cake
While we were staying at Turkey Swamp Park Grace Christian Church had it's annual "Church in the Park." Kirsten and I went to Sam's Club to get something to bring to the picnic that they hold after church and lo-and-behold, one of the food try-ers was sampling this delicious Cranberry-Orange cake. That was it, we decided, we would bring that. It was delicious and BIG!
We brought it to the picnic, but sadly it didn't even get opened. It was a really hot day and there was ice cream. Our cake wasn't even competition. Plus, someone else brought a HUGE birthday cake. After eating all the BBQ, desert was clearly not on too many poeples minds. (side note, those church guys make some mean BBQ chicken and ribs - Kirsten and I LOVED it!) At the end of the picnic I offered the cake to anyone with the qualification that Kirsten and I got to take a piece home for later. Well, we took a really substantial piece (like 4 servings) claiming that we were saving some for the boys.
The day wears on and we are still so stuffed from BBQ. Dinnertime had come and
gone and Kirsten said she wasn't hungry, so we didn't eat. But later
in the evening, probably around 7pm, I reminded her about the "cake" we brought home. It is about desert time, and I thought, well what harm is there in skipping dinner and going straight for desert, just this once. I take that big hunk of cake and split it in two. Well, we ate it. And
wouldn't you know about an hour later Kirsten got sick to her stomach. Now of course, I am feeling totally rotten. Isn't it my job to protect the kids from over-indulgence? Aren't I supposed to be the voice of reason? Great job Mom!
But you know, she handled it like a trouper. She went out for a walk by herself for fresh air and when she came back, she just wanted me to rub her head so she could get to sleep. I think we both learned a good lesson on over-indulgence, but I did especially. I had forgotten how young she is (she acts so grown-up), but what might be a little "splurge" for me, was just really bad for her. Hopefully, I will get a whole lot better at this mommy thing before I am done.
Girl's Week at Turkey Swamp
While the guys were out galavanting in Arizona, Kirsten and I were having fun of our own here in the RV at Turkey Swamp Park for "Girl's Week". We were internet-less (Wow! Was that harder than I expected), so we will have to catch up on it now.
To begin the week, there were lots of playdates. Abigail and Cory came over a few times before their big trip out west in their RV. As always, the girls had a great time riding bikes, catching toads and just giggling. Rachel Douthitt came over to play twice and Kirsten loved catching up with her as they don't get to play as often. And Sammie Pierson came over to play once. Unfortunately, that Friday was the beginning of the heat wave that is still in effect today, which made the girls a little less than enthusiastic to do too much running around.
Kirsten and I also had some very good alone time. We played Rack-O and Sequence and Rummy-Cube. She is getting to be a very good game player, just so grown-up like for a nine year old. During the week we alos watched an awful lot of movies. There is not much TV reception at the campground, so we watched all the movies Kirsten got for her birthday (several times.) Favorites were Enchanted, Nancy Drew and Moondance Alexander. But we also enjoyed Flywheel, Alvin and the Chipmunks, National Treasure 2, and Barbie Rapunzel.
All in all it was a great time just meeting with friends and for Kirsten and I to hang out together. She was excited when the boys came home, but is looking forward to us having an opportunity for "Girl's Week 2."
Coming home from Arizona
I tried to do a post from the pool at the Sheraton... but before I got much written everyone decided to leave, so my next chance to write is now at the airport. We had a great trip. Starting with a 4 wheel drive tour of Sedona. The scenery was amazing and the off-road driving was fun. Our driver was also a documentary film maker and photographer, so we found her pictures after the ride at http://www.dreamstime.com/taragolden_info
The Grand Canyon was also awesome. Maybe we should get in a bit better shape and try hiking further into it next time. Even a short hike was fun though. Not so suprisingly there is no aircard service on the south rim of the canyon, but surprisingly there IS service about 20 miles south, just outside the national park entrance. See Mark's post there.
Grandma's 100th birthday party went very well. After all the celebrating, visits and stories I was able to collect pictures from a lot of the cameras and should be able to put together a pretty good set for everyone.
We were also able to spend a couple nights at the Swiers in Sun City and catch up on that side of the family. We learned that Mark likes Mexican Train and Spades (he likes it more when he wins, but he was pretty good at both games).
Now we are sitting in the airport waiting for the plane. So far it seems that the worst thing that's happened in the trip was that airport security confiscated our sun screen. I completely forgot it was in our bag and after two trips through the X-ray they found it and took it away. Oh well...
After we get back I should be able to organize more pictures and link them into this post.
the grand canyon
I' currentlly driving back to a hotel from the grand canyon. I found out that it's not big, it's BIG. That thing was huge. It was amazing to be able to look at a whole that big. A picture really can't portray it correctly. My dad and I hiked a little bit of a trail into the canyon. It was hard but also really fun. I don't think my mom would have liked it, it was narrow and dropped off steaply.
bye bye,
Mark
First entry from Arizona
Mark and I have a half hour to wait in Sedona before we take a jeep tour of the canyons here so we decided to see if this aircard would let us make a quick post. It seems to be working pretty well.
Last night we got in fine and picked up the rental car Tammy found for us. Really nice, a convertible PT-cruiser. Even though it was 102 outside we had to ride to the hotel with the top down.
Today we got up late (by our NJ clock) but early in the AZ timezone and drove up to Sedona. It's changed a lot since I was here 15 years ago. Lots of shops, lots of construction, and I heard that real-estate prices are flying high. Not like NJ.
We stopped in a gourmet jerky shop and boy were they right. We tried Elk, Buffalo, Beef and Alligator. Mark said they were all good but we bought some Elk for our trip.
Gotta go now -- maybe we'll do the next post on the drive to the Grand Canyon tomorrow. This aircard is fun!
Kirsten's birthday party
Yesterday we celebrated Kirsten's birthday here in Turkey Swamp Park. We were joined by the Biddles, who were camping with us, and the Cornmans and Rappleyeas, who came later in the day. This is the fourth year we have celebrated here and each time, no matter what the weather, we have had a good time.
Speaking of weather, around 1:00 pm a ranger came to our campsite and told us there was a tornado watch until 5:00 pm. and I thought, OK here we go again. (Remember 2 years ago for her birthday when there were 15 or so of us all huddled in the RV trying to eat while the winds howled?) And of course, as soon as the ranger told us that, the wind starting picking up and the rain came down. There really wasn't much else to do but go back to the RV and bake a cake while the girls (Kirsten, Abby and Cory) watched a movie. So I figured that once again we would all be smushed together eating in the RV.
But guess what? The storm blew over just as quickly as it came in and we had an absolutely fantastic afternoon. The kids played in the playground and caught toads and got really dirty (which is what you do when you camp) and the grown ups had an enjoyable afternoon just chatting and eating (that is my type of afternoon!) We finished off the day with chocolate cake and ice cream. The evening was spent sitting around a wonderful campfire that Dave made (without any accelerants, I'm impressed!) And best of all, Kirsten claimed that I am the best mom ever and said she really, really enjoyed her birthday. (Of course, getting to sleep over Abby and Cory's RV TWO nights in a row was a high point of the whole birthday.)
We are truly blessed as a family, and I have to say, if the rest of our part-time lifestyle as RV'ers is this much fun, then we have definitely made the right choice.
Walking
One of our favorite things to do while camping is to go for a walk. I walk with Tammy and I also walk with Kirsten. Kirsten promised that NO MATTER WHAT she will always walk with her Daddy. I am very happy about that promise - since walking is a great time to just talk and relax and enjoy.
It's funny though - apparently we are conditioned to walk while camping. At our house in Howell we walk when it's really nice out, but mostly we don't -- walking is a camping thing, and if we can find good campground walking, we decide that "it's a good campground".
Well... we are essentially all moved out of our house and we are "camping" on the driveway as we get the house all empty and cleaned up for our closing on Wednesday. We were joking that we have a pretty nice camp site - electric and water (no sewer) but a nice paved site and it's private with woods all around. After dinner Kirsten said we should walk! So we did - and we had a great walk and a great time chatting. Apparently when we camp here in Howell we can walk -- but just living in the house here... not so much walking. Funny.
Well - if we move back into our house on Buckalew we may still get to have a few more walks in this neighborhood - who knows. I think it's really interesting how you get in the habit of doing certain thing a certain way.
