Disney Trip (May 22, 2013): "There it is! There it is!" Edition

Well, the big day finally arrived. Utilizing the touring plan from the (highly recommended) Unofficial Guide, we arrived at The Magic Kingdom an hour before they opened. We rode the ferry from the Heroes Lot.










We were the first in line, pressed up against the white rope. We. Were. Ready!

Iconic.









Our first ride! Peter Pan's Flight, easily my favorite ride among the non-thrill ride variety.










We had a BLAST. We've talked about this for a year and it lived up in every way.










Jefferson and Mom were randomly assigned to the front seat on Splash Mountain. As everyone knows, the right front seat is the drench seat. The Mom was soaked. Here they are being fake sad. 

Jefferson and his namesake at Hall of Presidents

Anyone who knows me well knows two things about my trip to The Magic Kingdom when I was 5. The first is that I came home with chicken pox. The second is that I psyched myself up before getting on Haunted Mansion and sort of freaked out on it. When I saw the ghost sitting on top of our Doom Buggy, I sobbed. Jefferson, on the other hand, was a champ on Haunted Mansion. Little did we know, he was saving up his freak out moment for the next day.

It's a Small World is total Disney nostalgia. That said, it's dull beyond belief, especially after riding  Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. At this point we didn't know we'd be stuck in the South Pacific room for 5 minutes. I almost jumped overboard.

About 1:30, we had finished day 1 of the Unofficial Guide touring plan so we bailed and headed to Epcot. That Epcot is the third most visited theme park in the US is a testament to the fact that it's a short monorail ride from the most visited theme park. We went when I was 12 or so and it did look like the future. Now it looks like what people in the 80s thought the future might look like.

We rode Soarin' (RAD) and Mission: Space (I had an anxiety attack). The department store in the Japan area was AWESOME. They had imported Pokemon stuff for Jefferson and Mobile Suit: Gundam accessories for me.












It poured rain most of the time we were there, so we don't have many photos of Epcot.

After Epcot we dragged an exhausted little boy to Downtown Disney in search of ice cream. Along the way , Jefferson teamed up with Lego Hulk to defeat me and mom. The prize was to eat all of the hot fudge out of an incredible Ghirardelli banana split.

Disney Trip, May 2013: Mom's Phone Addendum Edition

I smuggled these photos from Mom's phone. The trip begins.










We ate dinner at Corky's. Jefferson LOVES ribs. Ribs might be his favorite food. He's serious about his ribs.

Well, mostly serious.

Back to business.

Cute photo ... but look at that meaty paw!

Chili cheesburger, rings, frosted orange. A glorious meal.

This was our first (of four) trips to The Varsity on this trip. I have my bag of fried pies and a boy with a belly full of grease and happiness. One of the most delicious ways to shorten your life!

After we bailed on the very soggy Braves game, we headed straight for Mary Mac's Tea Room. Every morsel of food that was delivered to our table was perfect. However, our table-mate was a little kooked out.

The aforementioned Mojos. Perfect.

Just before g-forces pulled our cheeks back and rattled our internal organs.

Disney Trip (May 21, 2013): "Sand full of sugar" Edition

Of course it isn't as glitzy as Disney. It's an exhibit based on a government agency, for crying out loud! Honestly, it's a few steps away from being an exhibit on TPS reports. But Kennedy Space Center is incredible. 

There is a ton of stuff to see and do and climb. This is a replica of a Mercury capsule.

Gemini.









Bridge to the white room.

I dunno...

Fun for kids of all ages.










We had lunch with an astronaut. That's her in the middle. Freaky fact about Barbara Morgan: she was Christa McAuliffe's alternate for Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. Anyway, she was great. When she asked for questions, Mini-Me's hand was the first in the air: "How do you know when it's time to go to sleep in space?"

There's a space shuttle launch simulator, a couple of Imax movies, the Angry Birds thing, but the true gem of the whole place is the Apollo/Saturn V Center. You sit in a recreation of the firing room for the Apollo 11 launch (with the original desks and equipment) and then the doors open to reveal a Saturn V rocket on its side. Dude.










The Apollo 14 capsule.

Touch the moon.

Jefferson wanted to dip his toes in the ocean. So after we left Kennedy, we drove out to Cocoa Beach. Looking for shells.












At this point, the waves were coming in about ankle high. About 2 minutes after I took this photo, a waist high (to Jefferson) wave came in and he was almost swept out to sea. They were both soaking wet and covered in sand from the waist down. 

I mentioned looking for a sand dollar. We didn't find one, so Jefferson made me one.

Disney Trip (May 20, 2013): "Nah ... it felt rough..." Edition

We had planned to go to the Georgia Aquarium after the intense propaganda of World of Coke but before the intense sogginess of the Braves game. We asked the guy at the ticket gate if we had time and he gave us a "No way Jose." So we hit it on the way out of Atlanta. Here's the thing: underwater stuff has always given me the creeps. This thing was horrible.










The penguin habitat was great. You crawl through a tunnel to get to these plexiglass enclosures where the penguins refuse to acknowledge you exist. Good for them!

Unlike me, the mom could stand up in this without sustaining a mild concussion.










My mantra through this area of the aquarium was "It won't break. It won't break. It won't break. It won't break."

We had better photos of this, but this one most closely approximates the experience of spending all day every day for a week with Jefferson.

I wouldn't have touched this thing for $100 as a kid. Heck, I wouldn't touch it now.

He wanted to see what Patrick felt like. Kinda rough.

When I was a kid, Shakey's was probably my favorite place. As my homies know, the Springfield, MO, Shakey's closed and reopened as a strip club. When I found out that there was still a Shakey's in Warner Robins, GA, we had to make the detour.












Does this look familiar to anyone?










What about this?

Well, it had one of the filthiest restrooms I've seen in awhile, but the pizza and mojos were exactly right. No more must my sense of childhood nostalgia of Shakey's be tainted by the seedy facade of the Pink Cadillac.

Disney Trip (May 19, 2013): "Dad, I want one of those hammers..." Edition

The Atlanta City Pass included admission to the World of Coca-Cola. Unless you're one of those wacko Coke memorabilia collectors, there is one reason, and only one reason, to visit this attraction: Taste It. Taste It is a room in which you can sample 65 Coke products from around the world. Grab a cup, buddy. Before.

After. Yikes. PS: Do not, under any circumstances, try Beverly.

On to Turner Field. Braves v. Dodgers. As this photo was taken, it had just started to rain. By the time we entered the stadium, it was pouring sheets of rain.

Two hour rain delay allows ample time to do other fun things. Lose a tooth!
 








Pretend to be Bobby Cox!
 










See amazing historical relics (the Henry Aaron 715 ball and bat!)!












Eat the most delicious burger I've ever had! Really. This is the Turner Field version of the legendary Holeman & Finch burger. And it was extraordinary. It included hand-cut fries and a Coke (naturally) and was an absolute bargain at $15!
 








But the purpose of the visit was baseball. The 2 hour rain delay eventually ended .... only to be followed a few innings later by another rain delay!

After 4 hours, we'd seen only 5 innings of baseball. We bailed and had an amazing meal at Mary Mac's Tea Room, which was every bit as good as we'd heard. Worth the maddening parking and the wait.