Our Trip to Florida

(or how I survived 10 days, 6 hotels, 2400 miles, 2 kids, 1 wife, and who knows how many 1000’s of dollars)

June 14th, 2002
Courtyard Marriott
Richmond, VA

Lots of traveling today. We left Weston at 11:30 this morning after picking up both the kids from their last day of school.

We hit our first bit of traffic after crossing the bridge from NJ to Delaware. Pretty much the whole state of Delaware consisted of a bunch of congested highway mergers. After about 10 miles we were in Maryland and the traffic cleared up quite a bit.

Just past DC, I had to use the bathroom REAL bad, so we pulled into a 7-11 which was right off I-95. Bad idea. They would not let me use the bathroom. That's right, a gas station / convenience store off of a major highway, and THEY WOULD NOT LET ME USE THE BATHROOM. The old lady working there did not even have the common decency to lie and say that they didn't have one, or that it was out of order.

Nope, she made it quite clear that she had a bathroom, but I could not use it. I cannot emphasize just HOW badly I needed to use the bathroom; suffice it to say that I offered her $10 if she let me use it. Still no dice. I told her that she could either take my $10 and let me use the bathroom, or I would be relieving myself on her floor. She indicated that I should go outside and pee behind the dumpsters. "People are always peeing out there" she said.

I decided that I'd implement plan B, and got back in the car, had Lori drive down the road and I proceeded to fling myself into the bathroom of an Exxon station.

So in terms of my endorsements of major corporations, a big thumbs up for Exxon and a very big thumbs down for 7-11.

We headed back on I-95 and all was going smoothly until we crossed into Virginia and the traffic ground to a standstill. I thought I-95 in Connecticut was bad, but this added a whole new dimension to my idea of traffic (on top of the fact that it was pouring out).

It was 7:00 at night and NOTHING was moving between DC and Fredericksburg. We finally got into Richmond about 9:15 and pulled into a pretty nice restaurant that we found in the AAA tour book. It's called the Graffiti Grille and if you are ever in Richmond and want tasty "California" style food I'd recommend it.

It's now a little after 11, the kids are in bed. Lori and I are about to hit the sack ourselves.

Tomorrow: Savannah bound.

June 16th, 2002
Savannah, GA

Lots more driving today.
On the way out of Richmond we stopped for breakfast at one of the "Waffle House" restaurants which seem to be on every corner down here. Daniel tasted grits for the first time in his life. It was not his cup of tea.

We went through the entire state of North Carolina without stopping. I get the feeling that we didn't miss too much.

The only stop we made between Richmond and Savannah was the pretty much mandatory stop at "South of the Border." If there is a tackier spot in the western hemisphere, I've yet to see it. After a quick lunch and gassing up of the car, we hit the road again.

I-95 thru South Carolina is pretty much 200 miles of absolutely nothing, but we did about 80 the entire time and arrived in Savannah at 4:00 on the dot.

Savannah is a very nice city with a lot of charm and appealing architecture. We ate dinner in a very nice restaurant ("The Oyster House") down by the river. I would not mind coming back here again when we have more time to see the city.

Sunset in Savannah.

We have a few more hours of driving ahead of us so we are going to try and hit the road early so we can maximize our day in Disney tomorrow.

Tomorrow: Disney here we come.

June 17th, 2002
The Beach Club
Walt Disney World

After a quick breakfast at the Hilton in Savannah, we hit the road. The only stops we made were for gas in Savannah, and a quick pit stop near Jacksonville.

We arrived at Disney about 2:00. The weather had been really nice and clear the past two days, but for the last half-hour before we hit Orlando it was pouring. We figured that it was just our luck, but fortunately the sun came out just as we arrived at the hotel.

We checked in, had a quick bite to eat and hopped on the bus to the Magic Kingdom.

I was pleased to see some pretty intense security at the entrance. Not only did I have to open up my camera bag, but they also checked the little side pockets as well.

We arrived just at the parade was starting. While the family was taking in the parade, I went and picked up some bottled water for all of us. Disney now sells you a strap for toting your water bottle around (how thoughtful of them).
The parade out of the way (check that one off my list), we headed over to Tommorowland and the Alien Encounter. I loved it, Daniel Loved it, Mikey had the crap scared out of him and had his eyes closed the entire time. Lori was so worried about Mikey that she didn't really pay that much attention.
Next, we got our fastpasses for the Buzz Lightyear ride and got on line for the speedway. Mikey really liked driving the car (by now he was getting over his alien encounter). After the speedway we rode the Astro Orbiter. Mikey was riding the spaceship with me and in the middle of the ride he said, "This is the best day of my entire life!" At this point, the trip is already worth it as far as I'm concerned. Lori rode the Astro Orbiter with Daniel and according to him "ruined the ride" by not letting him use the control lever to make the ship go all the way up.

As soon as we were done with the Astro Orbiter, we jumped on Buzz Lightyear (courtesy of the fastpasses). This was a really cool ride. You get to shoot targets with a laser gun as you are riding. Needless to say I kicked butt in terms of family point count.

We had a 6:50 dinner reservation back at the hotel so we hopped on the bus and made it back just in time. After dinner we walked along the "Boardwalk" which is right by the hotel and checked out the ESPN arcade. Everybody in the family tried their hand at virtual reality boxing. We also got a partial view of the Epcot fireworks show. We hope to see the entire show when we have dinner at Epcot.

Afterwards, Lori and Mikey went back to the hotel room (it was my now nearly 10:00). The pool was open for another hour, so Daniel and I changed quickly and headed down for a swim.

The pool at this hotel is really something. It's really an artificial beach; with a sandy bottom, currents, and a really neat water slide that starts on a pirate ship across the "street" from the pool.

At the moment it's 11:45, I'm the only one still awake and I'm about to hit the sack myself.

Tomorrow: Breakfast and the morning at Disney-MGM.

June 17th, 2002
The Beach Club
Walt Disney World

This morning we took the boat from the hotel to Disney-MGM Studios where we had a reservation for a Character Breakfast at the "Hollywood and Vine" restaurant. The kids got to meet Minnie, Goofy, Chip, Dale and Pluto. Mikey got to collect their autographs. Daniel just posed for pictures.

My kids jump out of bed, ready to start another exciting day at Disney World!

After breakfast we saw the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. This is a very elaborate production with stuntmen and special effects, including exploding trucks, airplanes and gunfire.

After the show, it was time for the Tower of Terror. Mikey loved it, Daniel and I loved it. Even Lori liked it (Although she did turn kind of green).

Next it was Star Tours, I knew Mikey would like this as he is a HUGE Star Wars fan.

Afterwards, we split up. Daniel and I went on the Rockin' Rollercoaster and Lori took Mikey to see MuppetVision 3D. The rollercoaster was a very intense indoor ride, but it was too short. I'm glad that we had a fastpass instead of waiting in line for an hour.

By the time we got out of the rollercoaster it was raining. We had some lunch at Pizza Planet and then caught the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" show. By now, it was raining pretty hard so we caught the boat back to the hotel. We all dried off and Lori and I took turns working out at the gym.

We had dinner at the restaurant at the Polynesian Hotel. We sat right by the fire pit and they had some activities for the kids, such as hula-hoop contests and an ancient island tradition called pushing a coconut around with a broom, which Mikey took to pretty well.

Mikey participates in an ancient Polynesian Ritual

After dinner we tool the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. It was drizzling, and pretty much everybody was wearing one of the yellow rain ponchos which Disney sells. It was like some surreal scene from a sci-fi movie: thousands of identically dressed people walking around at night in the rain. Kind of Blade Runner-ish.

Attack of the Poncho People

We did the Haunted Mansion (not scary), and by the time we got out, the rain had stopped. We did It's a Small World (the guy who wrote the Unofficial Disney Guide was right, this ride would be much more interesting if they gave you a basket of softballs), Small World was followed by Snow White's Scary Adventures (also not scary). Daniel and Mikey then rode Dumbo together. Lori was very emphatic that Mikey ride Dumbo as some sort of childhood rite of passage. Interesting note: she's 43 and has yet to ride Dumbo herself.

After Dumbo we did Peter Pan's flight and then headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean and hopped on just as it was closing. We had the entire ride to ourselves. Finally, something that was actually scary.

We get a private ride on Pirates of the Caribbean.

As we were leaving Pirates, the Spectra Vision electric parade was just starting, we were able to catch the parade as we were leaving the Magic Kingdom.

Tomorrow: Breakfast in the castle.

June 18th, 2002
The Beach Club
Walt Disney World

We had breakfast at the castle in the Magic Kingdom, lots of character photo-ops with the kids. After breakfast we were able to do both Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain without any real wait. Lori wimped out on Splash Mountain, which was too bad as she probably would have liked it.

My kids with someone who is clearly overdressed for breakfast.

We then checked out the Hall of Presidents; which now includes a talking George W. Bush robot (I wonder if they just lifted one of his speeches, or did he make a special recording for Disney), then went and got fastpasses for Space Mountain.

It was now time to head over to Mickey's Toontown Fair so the kids could get some Mickey pictures (as well as Winnie the Pooh, et. al.) We also rode the Barnstormer Rollercoaster (kind of a wimpy coaster, but good for Lori).

We headed over to Adventureland and did the Enchanted Tiki Bird show. We went back to Space Mountain. The kids and I rode the Mountain while Lori got fastpassses for the Jungle Cruise.

I finally got to ride Space Mountain after 3 trips here! It was worth the wait, and has now surpassed Tower Of Terror as my favorite ride in the whole place. We met back up with Lori, had some lunch and then did The Timekeeper before we headed back over to Adventureland where we did a quick run through the Swiss Family Robinson Tree house and then did the Jungle Cruise

After the cruise we took the monorail over to Epcot and did Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Spaceship Earth and El Rio Del Tiempo before heading over to the Japan section for a Hibachi dinner. After dinner, Lori and Mikey headed back to the hotel, while Daniel and I waited for the Illuminations show. While we were waiting we rode the Maelstrom ride in the Norway section.

A big improvement that Disney has made since that last time I was here (7 years ago), is the introduction of the FastPass system. We have seen many "marquee" attractions and have not spent more than 15 minutes on any line. They should have had this system from the beginning. In fact, Daniel suggested that they have a FastPass for the food lines. There is some merit to that suggestion, as by far the longest line I've waited on has been at Pizza Planet.


Jun 19th 2002
Hard Rock Hotel
Universal Orlando

After breakfast in the Breakfastsaurus at the Animal Kingdom (where we yet again got to meet some more Disney characters, and I got my picture taken with Mickey), we hopped right on the Dinosaur ride. This was one of the best attractions I've seen. The vehicle that you ride had a very fluid movement and there are great dino effects. We then went and got fastpasses for the Kilimanjaro safaris and then saw the "It's Tough to be a Bug" 3-D show in the Tree of Life. This is very similar to "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" Epcot, but less scary and with more familiar characters.

Me and a guy dressed as a disease-carrying, rodent vermin.

We did the Safari ride next, and I was very impressed at how Disney gets the animals to hang out where they will be in full view of the riders.

We then saw the wild bird show, which was very entertaining.

We then rode the Triceratops ride. Which is exactly like the Dumbo ride in the Magic Kingdom, except the line moves twice as fast since each dino hold 4 people while each Dumbo only holds two.

My kids being assaulted by some strangely dressed guy.

We then caught the bus to Blizzard Beach (which Daniel had been lobbying for the past three days). Just as we finished changing into our bathing suits, they temporally shut the place down as a thundershower rolled in. Fortunately, this only lasted for about a half hour, and then it got very hot and sunny.

After a couple of hours of water slides and wave pools, followed by a late lunch, we headed back to the hotel, claimed our car and our luggage and headed to the DisneyQuest at the Downtown Disney area.

DisneyQuest is a very state-of-the-art, high-tech entertainment facility. One of the highlights is the Cyber Space Mountain, where you design your own rollercoaster on a workstation and then move over to a simulator where you get a very realistic simulated ride (including inversions, etc.) of the coaster you just designed. This is one of the most sophisticated attractions at Disney. This simulator is more than just a video screen with a seat. You are loaded into a cylinder and strapped in. The thing actually fully inverts, banks and rolls. They even make you store your personal belongings in a locker before you enter. Once testament to how rough this can be is that it's the first amusement attraction I've ever seen where they give the rider an emergency stop button.

After DisneyQuest we headed over to the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal and checked in, and then had dinner at Jimmy Buffet's Margaretivlle in CityWalk.

June 20th, 2002
The Hard Rock Hotel
Universal Orlando

We slept until 9:00 since we had no Character Breakfast this morning. After breakfast in the hotel, we walked over to Universal Studios. One nice feature that Universal has over Disney is that everything is within walking distance of the hotel.
There is an old guy who stands with a microphone at the entrance to Universal and jokes with the people as they enter. In my case, he commented that it was 11:00 and I was "late."

I really like the layout of Universal Studios and think that this is something from which Disney should take a lesson. Most of the place is a big ring around a lake, you can basically pick a place to start and just go around in a circle until you've seen everything that you want.

My kids standing in front of a giant corporate logo.

Universal has a system that lets guests of their hotels jump onto an express line for each of their attractions. This makes it possible for you to hit most of the big attractions in less than a full day.

We made a right turn just past the main entrance and did the Terminator 3-D, followed by:
E.T.
Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster
Back to the Future
Men in Black
Jaws
Earthquake
Kongfrontation
Twister
The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera

We then saw the Animal Planet Live show and then headed back to the hotel to wash up for dinner.

One of Universal’s more unusual attractions is the “Giant Spud Encounter.”

June 21, 2002

Ramada Inn
Sumter, SC

We walked over to Islands of Adventure and got there just as it was opening at 9:00. We grabbed a quick breakfast in the park and rode the Spiderman ride. Having been to all four Disney parks and both Universal parks, I would say that Spiderman is the best theme park attraction that I've seen.

It combines the best features of Tower of Terror, Terminator 3-D and Back to the Future and creates an absolutely fantastic experience. This is totally state-of-the-art stuff.

Islands of Adventure is laid out in a similar style to Universal Studios. You can do the whole place in one big circle.

We did the Popeye raft ride. You get really wet on this. There were some water slides at blizzard beach which were dryer than this. There is even a bridge which crosses over the raft ride where spectators can squirt water at the riders below (for a quarter).

Afterwards, it was Universal's answer to Splash Mountain: Dudley Doright's Ripsaw Falls. This is not quite as creative as Splash Mountain, but it has a steeper final drop and you get much wetter.

Fortunately it was a nice sunny day. I would not recommend Islands of Adventure if it's cool or cloudy, as you will be walking around in wet clothes after the above two mentioned rides (plus the Jurassic Park Raft Ride).

My kids standing in front of the entrance to Jurassic Park (the theme park, not the movie). Although it’s just like the theme park in the movie. Except the theme park in the movie is fictional and this is a real theme park. Except of course the dinosaurs in the real theme park are fake, and the dinosaurs in the fake theme park are real. Except that they are not really real, because it’s just a movie (the movie not the theme park, which is an actual theme park (but the actual theme park is in a movie studio, so what does that make it?)).

We also did the Cat in the Hat ride, the Flying Unicorn coaster and saw the Poseidon’s Fury show.

After lunch, we picked up the car and the luggage and hit the road.

The Temple of Poseidon. You would think that the folks at Universal would keep it in better shape. The place was literarily falling apart.

Before checking into the hotel, we stopped for dinner in Sumter. Since we were in South Carolina, we figured we would sample some of the local cuisine. We chose a quaint establishment called "The Outback Steakhouse." It had a bit of an Australian influence; no doubt due to what I'm sure is the large Australian population in South Carolina.

June 22, 2002
The Willard Inter-Continental
Washington

I thought that perhaps on the trip down I'd judged South Carolina a bit too harshly. I decided that I would look upon the state with fresh eyes on trip home. My conclusion: I was right, there is nothing there.

After driving all day, we arrived at the Marriott in downtown Washington to find out that the room we had reserved was unavailable. That's the bad news, the good news is that they are putting us up for free at the Inter-Continental across the street for free. It's the first money I've saved on this trip so far.

Before dinner we walked over and took some pictures of the White House. We were able to walk right up to the front gate, but the street in front no longer allows car traffic.

Daniel in front of the house that Al Gore should be living in.

For Dinner we met Lori's college friend Sandy and her husband Andy for dinner in Chinatown.

Tomorrow: Some of the sights in Washington and we go home.

June 23, 2002
Home

We did a whirlwind tour of DC this morning. We saw the Washington Monument, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and the Air and Space Museum. We also walked by the capitol and took some pictures.

Mikey and I standing in front of a big pointy thing.

About 2:30 or so we hit the road. It was pretty smooth driving until we hit New Jersey, at which point we sat in traffic for a couple of hours. It cleared up in northern Jersey and then the bumper-to-bumper resumed until we were past the Tappan Zee Bridge. We stopped at a diner near our house for dinner, picked up a few essentials at the super market and arrived home about 11:00.

Summary:

Total Miles Driven: 2465

Best Meal: Teppanaki Lobster at Epcot

Worst Meal: Salad with Grilled Chicken at South of the Border

Thickest Southern Accent: The waitress at the Venus Pancake House in Florence, SC

Best Attraction: Spiderman at Islands of Adventure

Best Memorial: Lincoln

Total Pictures Taken: 250

Best Picture I took:

Number of different brands of bottled water consumed: 5 (Poland Spring, Fiji, Zepherhills, Crystal Geyser, Aquafina)