UMTravels

Odd, odd culture shock to spend one evening off the waters of the Caribbean, and spend the next night on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World.

But that was our Sunday. Off the boat a little before nine after breakfast with Kate and Eric, and into the mad house that was disembarkation. Eric’s comments from an email later in the day were:

Hey, Dudes………..

We finally got off of that damned boat. Was that a goat rope or what? We’ve cruised many times, but have never experienced a back up like that;……….glad it’s behind us.

We’re in Gainesville, FL tonight, plan to make it as far as Atlanta tomorrow……..No news here, except that we’re waiting for the Chinese delivery……Don’t know whether the delivery person will be Chinese, but maybe the food will be…………

Enjoyed hanging with you, lads. Take care.

That clusterfuck was followed by the clusterfuck of getting a rental car from Hertz. No mid-size, so we are in a Ford Explorer at a few dollars less. Luckily, we’ll be returning it to the airport rather than the cramped, seedy downtown Miami location.

Next stop — Orlando. Yes, it’s four hours north. Swanda drives, I hold on and occasionally try to sleep.

Got checked in early at the WorldMark Orlando with groceries in hand for an early dinner as tonight’s big deal is “Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party 2008” complete with parade, castle lighting and fireworks. Think free cocoa and cookies and kids high on sugar.

Now, I’m not that big a Disney junkie (read: Swanda and Spiral), but I actually had a good time. It was my first time at Disney World and was truly amazed by the shear SIZE of the place between Disney Worldwhich includes EPCOT, and everything else they had to offer.

Here is a little snippet of the fireworks show over the castle:

Didn’t get bed until after 1am — with extra blankets over me since I didn’t have a jacket and was pretty frozen by the time I got back to the car. Of course, there were TONS of people trying to leave at the same time (party ran from 7pm-midnight) and I was shocked at the number of strollers going back the parking lot at 11:30 at night.

Highlights were two back-to-back rides on the Pirates of the Caribbean (for me), and the Haunted House and It’s A Small World for the big guy.

If you want to update yourself on ALL the photos from the Caribbean/DisneyWorld trip, here is the standard scrollbar y’all’re used to by now.

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