The Happiest Place on Earth

Yep, we did Disney. Some adults immediately groan when they hear that. I'll admit there are some negatives when I think of Disney World. The crowds; waiting an hour or more in line surrounded by screaming kids for a 2 minute ride; the muggy, oppressive heat of Florida; and the cost--a one-day park pass can set you back more than a hundred bucks these days. However, in this case I was pretty excited. We went in October, so there weren't so many people. Lines were shorter. Also, it wasn't as hot. I mean, it got up into the mid-80s during the day; I was sweating in shorts. But I can imagine it is much worse in July. The military offers a sweet deal on 4-day passes for retirees, so the cost wasn't so bad. The best part: My friends Matt and Kerrie were going too, along with their three awesome kids!! Going to a park like that is SO much better when you're with friends. You're kind of forced to be on your best behavior, you know what I'm saying? If it was just the three of us, I can imagine there would be a lot more moaning and groaning (mostly by me) and bickering. I couldn't imagine a better family to go with either.

I think I mentioned earlier that Matt and I were roommates in college. Here's a grainy class photo (sorry, my scanner sucks):

The main idea here is that he used to have a full head of hair

Matt was the captain of our swim team and near the top of our class of ~950 athletically, academically and militarily. By contrast, I tried playing intramural water polo one time and I was really horrible at it and surprisingly out of shape. I was decidedly average both academically and militarily--I mentioned in a previous post that I'd gotten in a bit of trouble when I was a freshman for being "out of uniform."  I had a 2.99 GPA (you'd think they could've thrown in the extra 0.01 just out of pity, the bastards). Not bad, but not stellar either. I graduated about #350 out of 950. I think Matt was #12. Matt would go on to get his MBA at Cornell. The only reason Matt agreed to room with a low-life like me is because his options were limited and because he went to the same high school (Go Raiders!) as my good friend, Dave--the same Dave as that "out of uniform" post.

I guess Matt's views on streaking were fairly liberal or maybe he had a lapse in judgement. Regardless, he was stuck with me for our last semester of college. This is where Kerrie comes in:

She still has hair today--others weren't so lucky

Kerrie Gribuski (I'm not making that up; her name was Gribuski; I can laugh because people laugh at my name all the time) and I were in a class together our senior year, Engineering 410 or something like that. Kerrie worked with me on a class project in our dorm room just once, and Matt was smitten. Actually he probably knew her before that semester--I can't recall. Regardless, a few days later, he sent her a long, thoughtful note complete with poetry expounding on her beauty and how he longed to share an evening with her if only to gaze into her eyes. Then he whisked her off for an intimate, romantic evening that would bud into a loving bond that could not be torn asunder.

I'm just kidding. He sent her a terse e-mail that said "I need some Gribuski time!" Then he picked her up for their 'date' with two freshmen girls in the back seat who needed a ride. At the end of the night he got no kiss and it was several months before Kerrie agreed to go for a second date.

But anyway, Matt and Kerrie now have three awesome kids. It was so cool catching up with them, reminiscing about college and sharing a few days in the Disney parks. It was especially gratifying that Matt planned our park visits like the Normandy invasion and had apps on his phone that would show how busy the parks were on a given day and up-to-the-minute wait times for each attraction.

Our first stop was Magic Kingdom.

Anders, Grace's cousin Julie, Sloane, Avery, and a strange Chinese kid who photobombed our picture at Magic Kingdom

Betsy and Kerrie standing in line; we did a fair amount of that

One of these men is devilishly handsome. The other is bald.

We brought in my Vitamix because we thought I might need it later on if we decided to eat dinner in the park. That turned out to be a mistake. It was a pain to drag the suitcase into the park. Then, we had to check it in at the first aid clinic. We left the park before dinner so there was no point bringing it in. To anyone who wants to bring their blender into the park: yes, they'll let you bring it in and you can leave it up near the entrance to each park where the clinic is. When you're ready to eat, you can pull it out and bring it to the restaurant. There are some sit-down places where I could've brought the Vitamix. Or if I was really bold, I could've plugged up on the wall of any snack bar. Disney will bend over backward for anyone with special needs, in my experience. I'm sure there are exceptions, but they wouldn't make much money if they had poor customer service.

As I'm sure you're aware, the food in the park is expensive and isn't the healthiest (though I noticed the market in Animal Kingdom had fresh fruit, veggies, and gluten-free stuff beside the Cheetos). I'd recommend bringing your own blend in. Better yet, bring in a Real Food Blend because you'd need to refrigerate your own blend until you're ready for it.

The little one lost a leg in the Haunted Mansion...the rides seem perfectly safe

After that first day, I was really exhausted. My left leg was dragging. Just way too much standing in line and walking around. For the other two parks we visited, I brought my cane and it helped tremendously.

Getting one of my pre-made blends from home for dinner

Thought I could do this whole post in one fell swoop, but I'll have to split it up. I'll talk about Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios in the next post. Plus I'll discuss why this kid is a little punk:

Because he liked to scare me and it's not funny when I'm not the one doing that, ok??