Summer 2007
Narrative Trip Report

[NOTE: The following trip report for our July 2007 visit to Disney World was originally posted on the Mouseplanet web site in August 2007 and is available here in its original form.]

Cast of Characters

• Arnold, 57 (report writer) -- 9 WDW trips since 1973 and 1 DLC trip in 1985
• Helena, 58 (spouse) -- 8 WDW trips since 1982 and 2 DLC trips in 1972 and 1985
• Jerry, 51 (brother) -- 3 WDW trips in 1973, 1988 and 1996
• Myrna, 50 (sister-in-law) -- 2 WDW trips in 1988 and 1996
• Steven, 24 (nephew) -- 2 WDW trips in 1988 and 1996
• Mark, 16 (nephew) -- 1 WDW trip in 1996

Prior Mouseplanet Trip Reports

• 30 Years at Disney World: 1973 to 2003
• Christmas 2003
• Christmas 2004
• Christmas 2005
• Christmas 2006

Advance Planning

Since 1992, Helena and I have only visited Walt Disney World in December because of the cooler temperatures and smaller crowds, but this year the opportunity for a rare July visit came up unexpectedly. I've been retired for a year now; but I'm keeping my CPA and other professional certifications active in case I decide to return to the workplace sometime in the future. Because of this, I still have to complete a certain number of hours of continuing professional education each year. Well, much to my surprise, in January I found out that the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) was holding its annual training conference at the Coronado Springs Resort (CSR) from July 15 to 20. This was the perfect opportunity for me to meet my training requirement and enjoy another visit with Mickey and friends. As it turned out, my brother, Jerry, who's also a Certified Fraud Examiner, was planning to attend the same training conference. So, we decided to make a family affair out of it.

For Helena and I, the planning started in earnest in early March, when I registered for the conference and called the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) to reserve a room at CSR for the two of us. Helena and I still had annual passes (APs) from our December 2006 visit, and those covered us for park admission tickets at no extra cost. (We'll be using them a third time in December, so getting those APs was a great investment.) To save even more on the travel expenses, we used American Airlines frequent flyer miles for our nonstop flights from St. Thomas to Miami and return. Lastly, because Jerry and his family (wife, Myrna, and sons, Steven and Mark) would be making the trip with us, I reserved a Ford Expedition with Hertz using an American Institute of CPAs discount code. Since there would be six of us plus our luggage, we needed a larger rental vehicle than the sedan Helena and I usually get when we travel alone. Jerry and I agreed to split the cost of this rental. We also decided to fly to Miami instead of Orlando because, after our week at Disney World, we were all going to spend a second week in Florida, visiting with Helena's and my daughter in Port St. Lucie and Jerry's and my sister in Deerfield Beach. Returning home directly from Miami made more sense than driving back up to Orlando International and then still having to make an airline connection in Miami on the way home to St. Thomas.

Jerry made his hotel reservation at CSR through a special number at Disney World set up for the conference. The conference rate was $143 per night plus tax, which I don't think was much of a discount! Jerry also purchased 7-day Magic Your Way tickets through this same conference number (I don't remember the cost per person, but Jerry said it was at a discounted price). Since the conference included breakfast and lunch for Jerry and I, we opted for just a few dinner reservations at theme park restaurants. Other meals at the parks would be counter service. The three advance dining reservations (ADRs) that we did make were at the Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom, the SciFi Dine-In at Disney-MGM Studios, and the Rainforest Café at Animal Kingdom. We also planned to visit Downtown Disney and, hopefully, we would get the opportunity to eat dinner at Bongo's Cuban Café (which doesn't take advance reservations).

Jerry and his family are not frequent visitors to Disney World and their last visit was in 1996, staying at the Main Gate Holiday Inn. So, I took it upon myself to try preparing them for what to expect at Disney World. I gave them a 2007 guidebook, the 2006 and 2007 Disney vacation planning DVDs, maps of the four theme parks with the location of the most popular attractions marked, and a fact sheet that I put together for them on how to get the most out of the Fastpass (FP) system. I also gave them suggestions of the attractions that would most appeal to their young adult and teenage sons -- basically the thrill rides. I went through all of this extra orientation effort because Jerry and I would be in conference sessions all week during the daytime, leaving Helena, Myrna, Steven, and Mark all by themselves to tour the parks. Jerry and I would only be able to join them at the parks during the evenings and, although Helena has visited Disney World just as often as I have, she's not a Disney-holic like I am and, therefore, really doesn't have the park layouts and the ins and outs of touring the parks ingrained on her brain like I do.

As for park touring plans, Helena, Myrna, and the boys really didn't want to get up too early each morning. Because of that, I suggested that they avoid the theme parks with the Extra Magic Hour mornings. I also warned them that they should make every effort to be at the parks as close as possible to the 9:00a opening times and to make wise use of Fastpass if they expected to get any real chance of riding the most popular attractions without long hours of waiting in line. If they could do that, they would try to head back to CSR each afternoon for an hour or two at the pool. For Jerry and I, I was hoping that we could drive up to Orlando and check-in at CSR early enough on Saturday, July 14, to give us a few hours of daylight at Epcot. If Jerry and I could ride Soarin', Mission: Space, and Test Track, I'd be very satisfied. Wednesday, July 18, was to be a half-day training session, so I was again hoping that we could get to Disney-MGM Studios early enough to catch the last showing of Lights, Motors, Action. Jerry is as big a car and auto racing enthusiast as I am, and I knew he would enjoy this attraction. On Saturday, July 21, we planned to check-out from CSR early in the morning and then head over to Animal Kingdom for a few hours before heading to the Florida Turnpike for our drive down to Port St. Lucie. Lastly, Jerry and I planned to meet the rest of the family at the parks after our sessions were done each of the other days to at least catch the evening entertainment (SpectroMagic, Wishes, Illuminations, and Fantasmic). With that plan, our final itinerary looked like this:

• Fri 7/13: -- AA Flight from St. Thomas to Miami, Drive to Port St. Lucie, Overnight at Hampton Inn

• Sat 7/14: -- Drive to Orlando, CSR Check-in, Epcot, Dinner Open

• Sun 7/15: -- ACFE Conference, Downtown Disney, Dinner at Bongo's Cuban Cafe

• Mon 7/16: -- ACFE Conference, Magic Kingdom, Dinner ADR at Crystal Palace

• Tue 7/17: -- ACFE Conference, Magic Kingdom, Dinner Open

• Wed 7/18: -- ACFE Conference, Disney-MGM Studios, Dinner ADR at SciFi Dine-In

• Thu 7/19: -- ACFE Conference, Epcot, Dinner Open

• Fri 7/20: -- ACFE Conference, Animal Kingdom, Dinner Open

• Sat 7/21: -- CSSR Check-out, Animal Kingdom, Lunch ADR at Rainforest Cafe, Drive to Port St. Lucie

• Sun-Sat 7/22-28: -- Visit with Family in Port St. Lucie and Deerfield Beach, Kennedy Space Center

• Sun 7/29: -- Drive to Miami, AA Flight from Miami to St. Thomas

What Actually Happened

Friday, July 13

The Plan: AA Flight from St. Thomas to Miami, Drive to Port St. Lucie, Overnight at Hampton Inn

Helena and I were awakened by our alarm clock at 4:00a, showered and got dressed, had a light breakfast, packed our luggage into the car, and drove to Jerry's home. From there my Mom (who lives with Jerry) and a cousin drove us all to the St. Thomas airport in two separate cars. Check-in at the American Airlines ticket counter was a breeze. Although the large suitcase that Helena and I were sharing was a couple pounds over American's 50-pound limit, the clerk didn't make an issue of the extra weight. The security check was very slow and very detailed, including having a security officer look through our carry-on bag until he found a roll of quarters that was showing up on the x-ray machine. Of course, we all also had to take off our shoes and show the security officer our little plastic bags with any liquids or gels (like certain medications) we were carrying on-board the plane. We now had about an hour and a half until our flight's 8:30a departure time, but we all spent the time reading, listening to our mp3 players, or just chatting -- happy to know that we would soon be on our way to Florida.

The flight took off right on time and was smooth all 1,200 miles to Miami. When we arrived at the designated baggage claim carousel (after what seemed like a 10-mile walk through the Miami terminal building), our suitcases were just coming off the plane and were all lined up, one after the other. Then it was to the Hertz counter to sign up for our rental car. The clerk gave us a no-cost upgrade to an "upscale" Expedition model that had GPS navigation and satellite radio installed. This was going to be the largest vehicle I'd ever driven, and I must admit to some concern about making sure all our time on the road was safe. Recent news reports have ranked Florida (or at least Miami) drivers as among the rudest on the road, so being a defensive driver in this "tank" I was going to be driving was foremost on my mind.

Our timing continued to be perfect, as a Hertz shuttle bus pulled up just as we walked out of the terminal building and to the rental car pick-up area. Our driver immediately noticed our "island" accents as we were talking among ourselves and started a friendly conversation on the way to the Hertz garage complex. It turned out that he was from Jamaica and had visited St. Thomas in the past with his wife. He joked that he uses his native "island" accent with West Indian customers, but changes to an "American" accent with other customers to make it easier for them to understand him. He was a very amiable chap.

At the Hertz garage, our assigned Expedition was still being serviced, and we had a short wait for it to be ready. When it did arrive, my reaction was "boy, that thing is really high and long!" But we needed it to comfortably fit six adults and almost-adults plus our five full-sized suitcases and numerous carry-on bags. Once I had adjusted the driver's seat and mirrors, and plugged in my mp3 player (with "top pop hits" from the 1950s through 2000s), we were on the I-95 freeway headed north to Port St. Lucie. The drive was completely uneventful and included a short stop at a Burger King in Deerfield Beach for a quick lunch. Traffic, notoriously bad near West Palm Beach, was lighter than Helena and I have experienced in a long time, and we arrived safely in Port St. Lucie around 3:00p. We stopped at our Hampton Inn hotel to check-in and leave our luggage, then headed over to our daughter Selene's home to spend some time with her, our son-in-law John, and granddaughter Jaidyn. After catching up for a while, all nine of us headed to a local Roadhouse Grill for a fabulous family dinner that included steaks, BBQ ribs, and Roadhouse's trademark "Messy Sundaes." (In case you're not familiar, a Messy Sundae consists of mounds of rich vanilla ice cream and whipped cream served in a large glass that's been dipped in hot chocolate fudge. The fudge on the outside of the glass runs down into a large saucer and is more than enough to have some fudge with every spoonful of ice cream. Sinfully rich and delicious!) After dinner, we headed back to Selene's home for a while and then drove back to our hotel, where we were in bed by 10:00p, ready for an early start on our road trip to Orlando the next morning.

Saturday, July 14

The Plan: Drive to Orlando, CSR Check-in, Epcot, Dinner Open

Helena and I woke up around 6:00a and met Jerry and family in the hotel lobby around 7:00a for the complimentary breakfast offered by Hampton Inn. Unlike hotel chains that give you a complimentary continental breakfast (basically pastries and coffee, tea, or juice), Hampton Inn gives you a hot breakfast that, today, included Southwestern-style scrambled eggs among other choices. After breakfast, we checked out, loaded up the Expedition, and headed to the Florida Turnpike for our own expedition to Orlando. The weather was hot but sunny today, and we had a completely trouble-free drive. We stopped at a rest stop about half-way to Orlando for "potty breaks" and then continued on to the Osceola Parkway exit. (Boy, the 45 to 55 mph speed limit on the Osceola Parkway felt like standing still compared with the 70 to 75 mph on the Turnpike. But with patrol cars lurking everywhere, I forced myself to keep to the speed limit.) The anticipation went up a notch as we passed under that unmistakable Walt Disney World archway and entered Disney property. We found CSR without any problem or wrong turn to the Animal Kingdom parking lot (see my December 2004 trip report) and were soon driving up to CSR's security station. The officer on duty took a quick look at my driver's license and cheerfully directed us to the parking lot for people who were checking in.

Once inside the check-in area of the El Centro complex, we found just a couple other families in line before us (by now it was just a little past 10:00a), and we were soon at a check-in station. Cast member (CM) Caitlin was very friendly and helpful. In particular, without our having to even ask, she took it upon herself to change Jerry's room assignment so that he was just a few doors down from where Helena and my DVC-assigned room was located. We ended up on the third floor of the Casitas 3 building (rooms 3347 and 3356) just a short way from the elevator. Without Caitlin's efforts (even going to a supervisor to get authorization to change Jerry's room assignment), Jerry would most likely have ended up with a room on the far side of CSR's central lake, in either the Ranchos or Cabanas section. After we had checked in, Jerry went to the concierge desk to pick up the pre-paid Magic Your Way tickets for his family.

We then moved the Expedition to the parking area for Casitas 3, where we'd leave it during our Disney stay. (I know that using the Disney buses is an issue with some, but Helena and I have had pretty good luck over the years and prefer that means of getting around rather than driving to and from the parks.) Although Jerry's room wasn't ready this early in the day, luckily ours was. So, we unloaded the luggage and put it all in our room. We were a bit surprised by how far away we had to park from where our rooms were. Without exaggeration, it was at least a 10-minute walk. Unfortunately, our bus stop (No. 2) was very close to where the car was parked, which meant that although we were going to use the Disney buses, we'd still have to make the same 10-minute walk to catch the bus. On the positive side, bus stop 2 was the first one on the bus route, so we were always the first picked up and the first dropped off.

Unfortunately, we just missed the Epcot bus and had about a 15-minute wait for the next one to arrive. We finally got to Epcot around 1:00p, and found the expected huge crowds. Even so, the security check was rather painless and the turnstiles accepted all of our park tickets and finger scans without any problems. I noticed immediately on entering that the Mickey hand, wand, and Epcot sign above the Spaceship Earth globe were in the process of being removed. Each time that we returned to Epcot, more and more of it was gone. Anyway, the first order of business was to check the ride-time board to see where we stood in terms of lines and FP availability. Soarin's FP return time was already up to 6:42p, so we headed over to the Land pavilion to get passes for that ride before they were all gone. From there, it was a short walk over to the Imagination pavilion to get in the standby line for Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Jerry really likes 3D movies, and he wanted to be sure to see all the ones offered at Disney World. Everyone enjoyed being shrunk down to the size of insects and all of the mayhem this caused.

We then headed across Future World to ride Mission: Space. Surprisingly, the standby line for the mild (green) version was posted as only 10 minutes, so Jerry, Myrna, and I got in line for the next flight to Mars. Steven and Mark opted for the spinning (orange) version, which had a posted 30-minute wait time. Helena is hesitant to ride Mission: Space for health reasons, and she decided to sit this one out. She found a shady bench where she could people-watch and read her ever-present paperback novel. Jerry, Myrna, and I thoroughly enjoyed our "green" ride, and I must admit that as I get older, I find myself satisfied with that level of thrill ride. I suffer with occasional episodes of vertigo and certainly didn't need to activate that condition on the first day of our vacation. We met up with Helena near the exit and waited for the boys to finish their "orange" flight, which they raved about the rest of the afternoon.

Next up was Test Track, but FPs were all gone for the day and the standby line was posted at 70 minutes with the line wrapped around the outside of the building. So, we decided to pass on Test Track and instead made our way across to World Showcase, where we checked out the recent changes to Mexico's Rio del Tiempo ride. The line for the new Gran Fiesta ride was quite short and that was a good thing, because the ride itself seemed almost as short. Little has changed physically on the ride other than the film clips that are shown throughout, which now feature the Three Caballeros -- Donald, Joe Carioca, and Panchito – as they get ready for a big show they're supposed to be putting on. It's a cute little ride, but I certainly wouldn't get in a long line to see it.

We continued around World Showcase, stopping to take some pictures and enjoy the live entertainment. (I never noticed before that one of the main alleys in Italy is named "Via Benvenuti." My maternal grandmother's maiden name was "Benvenuti" and her family was from the Mediterranean island of Corsica.) In Japan we watched the Matsuriza drummers for a while and enjoyed some rainbow-flavored Khaki Gori. Passing by the American Adventure, we saw a man with a fresh-baked funnel cake. I must try that sometime. It looked delicious! Continuing our leisurely stroll, we eventually arrived at Canada and stopped for a while to see Fiddler's Joy and listen to their Celtic music. (Has the ever-popular Off Kilter been replaced or did they just have the week off? They weren't listed at all on the Epcot showtime schedule.)

Having traveled around the world in about an hour, we were still too early for our 6:42p FPs at Soarin'. So, we parked ourselves on a bench on the upper level of the Land pavilion, enjoying the air conditioning. While there, we saw a CM bring a family over to a wall phone to hear birthday and anniversary greetings from several Disney characters, including Mickey and Goofy. We couldn't hear the entire conversations, but the calls appeared to be interactive. You should have seen the smiles on the kids' faces.

After a while, we decided to head down to the Sunshine Seasons food court for a quick dinner. Helen and I had rotisserie chicken, Jerry had a Chinese dish, Myrna had a salad, and I don't remember what Steven and Mark had. Getting a table for the six of us was a major task, but we eventually found one that was vacant. By the time we finished our meals, which were pretty good for counter service, we were inside our FP window. Soarin' is one of Helena's and my favorite rides at Epcot, and now it's also a favorite of Jerry and his family. I gather that it's also a favorite of a lot of other people, because by the time we exited the ride, the standby wait time was up to 130 minutes and all FPs were gone for the day. We would have enjoyed a repeat flight, but that wouldn't be happening today.

Jerry called CSR to confirm that their room was ready and to get the room number, then we headed to the exit and the bus back to the hotel. The wait for the bus was less than 10 minutes and, upon arriving at the hotel, we decided to call it a night. Jerry and family retrieved their luggage from our room and headed just around the corner to theirs. Helena and I unpacked our stuff and settled in to watch some TV, which included Stacey and her countdown of the "seven greatest things to do at Walt Disney World." I'm guessing, but we probably turned off the TV and went to sleep around 10:00p. This had been a long, but quite enjoyable first day at Disney World, especially considering the large crowds at Epcot and the 90+ degree temperature and equally high humidity.

Sunday, July 15

The Plan: ACFE Conference, Downtown Disney, Dinner at Bongo's Cuban Cafe

A 6:00a wake-up call was in my future for the rest of the week and, although today was Sunday, there was no exception. My conference was starting today with early conference registration followed by a couple training workshops. We were all up and ready to meet for breakfast at the Pepper Market food court by about 7:30a. The choices were varied and ranged from as simple as toast or muffins, to sweet pastries, to hot and cold cereals, to pancakes and Mickey waffles, to breakfast pizzas, to scrambled eggs with bacon or sausage, to my favorite -- Southwestern omelettes. Unless things have changed in recent years, the Pepper Market is unique among Disney World's resort food courts in that there is some amount of table service (CMs get your drinks for you), when you get your food items the servers stamp a card with the name of each item, and then you pay at a central cashier station with 10 percent being added to the tab as a service charge. My guess is that this arrangement is used here because CSR caters to large convention groups rather than to the more casual vacationing guests. In fact, we saw very few young children around the resort all week. Most of the people we saw were probably convention participants and their spouses.

Around 10:30a, Jerry and I headed over to CSR's convention center, the entrance of which is located between Pepper Market and the Panchito's gift shop. This convention center is HUGE! The ACFE convention had over 2,500 attendees with as many as 12 different workshop sessions running simultaneously plus a grand ballroom area set up to feed all 2,500 participants, and another huge area set up for conference-related companies to exhibit their goods and services. Even so, the ACFE still didn't use all of the meeting rooms that were available. It was very impressive. Today was a series of pre-conference workshops running from 1:00 to 5:00p. Jerry attended one on Persuasive Interviewing Techniques and I attended a session on Finding Hidden Mickeys . . . er, I mean Finding Hidden Assets.

While we were learning how to combat fraud and corruption, Myrna and Helena decided to go to CSR's spa, called Relaxed Yet?, for 30-minute back massages. Talk about the pampered life! Steven and Mark spent some time in the workout room and then at the Big Dig (that's the main pool area with its large Aztec pyramid). They also got jealous of Myrna and Helena's pampering and decided to sign up for massages of their own on Wednesday, with Steven paying the tab for himself and Mark. But they insisted that the massages be given to them by women, not men. By the way, the back massages cost $65 per person.

After Jerry and I got out of our conference sessions, we all met to head over to Downtown Disney. The wait for the bus was quite short, but we had to make a stop at Typhoon Lagoon on the way. None of us were intent on any souvenir shopping today, so we just strolled along through the Marketplace, taking in the scenery and occasionally going into a store just to window shop. We continued through the virtually empty Pleasure Island (I really miss the Jessica Rabbit sign!), and finally through West Side. We checked out what was playing at the AMC 24 and then crossed over to Gloria Estefan's Bongo's Cuban Café for dinner. The place was packed, but we were seated pretty much right away. Helena, Jerry, and I had a chicken dish with Cuban rice, black beans, and fried plantains, Myrna had a beef dish with the same sides, and Steven and Mark had chicken Caesar salads. The food was excellent, but we were all too full to order the wonderful desserts that they serve here -- especially the vanilla coconut flan (custard). (Note: I don't have dining cost information or the names of dining CMs for this trip because Jerry picked up the dinner tabs for the entire group here at Disney World. I picked up the tabs for dinners during the second week of our family vacation in Port St. Lucie, which included Selene, John, and Jaidyn.) After dinner, we exited from Bongo's to find West Side absolutely crawling with people. Our best guess is that most of them were locals who had come to Downtown Disney on a Sunday evening for dinner and a movie. We were a bit too tired to fight the crowds just to see a movie, so we decided to head back to CSR so that Jerry and I could get a good night's rest to begin our full conference sessions early the next morning. As it turned out, it was a good thing we decided to head back to the hotel at that point, because the Florida afternoon thunderstorms were beginning to roll in. Luckily, our bus arrived before the rain.

Monday, July 16

The Plan: ACFE Conference, Magic Kingdom, Dinner ADR at Crystal Palace

Jerry and I got up at 6:00a again and got ready to head over to the convention center for the included continental breakfast. The wives and Jerry's two sons were on their own schedule. The breakfast served by the CSR convention staff was the most elaborate "continental breakfast" spread I've ever seen. Yes, there were the usual pastries and muffins, but they also had tons of fresh fruit and hot items, which changed each day. Today, for example, it was tasty egg burritos. The conference schedule started with breakfast from 7:30a to 8:30a, followed by a general session until 10:00a and breakout workshops the rest of the day. Since today was the official opening of the conference, it started out with some pomp and circumstance, in which I was honored to have been asked by the ACFE to participate. The ACFE is an international organization with members in over 100 countries. Many of these countries were represented at this conference, so the opening ceremonies were going to start with a parade of flags. A couple weeks before the conference, I received an email from the ACFE asking if I would like to carry the U.S. Virgin Islands flag during this parade of flags. The only regret I have is that I don't have a picture of the event. Jerry tried, but he was too far away to get a good shot.

I won't bore you with the details about the conference. Just a few of the workshop titles will give you an idea of what the conference was all about -- Confidentiality and Privacy Issues in Fraud Investigations, Understanding Procurement Fraud, Asset Misappropriation Schemes, Fraud in Government, Fraud Analysis Techniques. You get the idea. Not quite as titillating as Hollywood Tower of Terror, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, or Rock ‘n' Roller Coaster; but, hey, the conference was the reason I was at Disney World in the first place.

One last point -- can you imagine serving table service lunch to 2,500 hungry people all at the same time? Well, the convention staff at CSR did a magnificent job. Each CM was assigned to a table or small group of tables, and they went about their tasks like clockwork, bringing each new course to their tables, clearing the finished dishes, and refilling water and soft drink pitchers. My hats off to them. I've been to similar conferences in other cities where lunch didn't go off as smoothly as it did here. Congratulations to the CSR convention staff!

For trip reporting, I tried to get as much information as possible on what the rest of the family did each day, but the details will be somewhat lacking since I wasn't actually there. Please bear with me. Helena, Myrna, and the boys got up around 8:00a, had breakfast at Pepper Market, and then headed out to the Magic Kingdom for a day of touring. Steven and Mark first went to Tomorrowland to get FPs for Space Mountain, then all four went across the way to Adventureland to ride on Pirates of the Caribbean. The appearances of Davy Jones, Captain Barbossa, and especially Jack Sparrow were big hits. Next, Steven and Mark got FPs for Splash Mountain and then returned to take their Space Mountain rides. Steven was a bit apprehensive at first, but came off the ride raving about how great it was. After a light lunch at the Lunching Pad, Helena returned to the hotel to rest up a bit. Myrna stayed with the boys, who got soaked on Splash Mountain by over-splash from another log before their ride was barely started. (The same thing happened to me last December.) They then rode on Big Thunder Mountain using the standby line. After that, Myrna joined Steven and Mark on It's a Small World and the Hall of Presidents. In Frontierland, Steven and Mark tried their hand at some shooting gallery target practice and then Myrna again joined them on the Jungle Cruise in Adventureland. I think that was a pretty remarkable set of rides considering the late start and the big summertime crowds in the parks.

Jerry and I finished our conference sessions around 4:30p, headed back to our rooms to freshen up and then were joined by Helena to take the bus over to the Magic Kingdom, where we met up with Myrna and the boys near the Crystal Palace. Since our ADR at the Crystal Palace was still almost an hour away, we decided to all head over to Fantasyland to see Mickey's PhilharMagic. The standby line was only 10 minutes and we hardly spent any time in the pre-show area, but we were all very disappointed with the show because there was some kind of technical problem that had everyone seeing the 3D movie only through the left eye. In fact, we got a better view of the film by taking off the 3D glasses. On exiting, I told two CMs what had happened. They were unaware of the problem and promised to let a technician know to check out the projection system. Hopefully the problem was fixed easily for later viewers.

We now headed back over to the Crystal Palace, where we had less than a 15 minute wait to be seated at a large round table on the far left side of the dining room. At the check-in window, the CM who helped me was in training and I congratulated her on "earning her Ears." She was surprised by this and a big smile beamed across her face as she thanked me for the comment. The CM who served us at our table was very perky and friendly, getting our soft drinks right away. As usual, the buffet dinner items were all very good -- especially the desserts! During dinner, Eyore, Pooh, Tigger, and Piglet came over to our table and stayed long enough to get some nice pictures. I'm glad that they all stopped by even though there were no little children at our table.

After dinner, we took a chance at Pirates of the Caribbean and were on the ride in less than the posted 20-minute standby time, using the left side queue line. Jerry got some great pictures using his flash. (I know, that's a no-no, but for what it's worth, other people in boats in front of and behind us were flashing first.) Then it was back to Main Street, where we staked out spots near the Railroad Station hub to see SpectroMagic. A couple of CMs were keeping the little ones busy with a jump rope and, although other people came around where we were, we had no obnoxious or pushy guests trying to position themselves in front of us. This was the first time that Jerry and his family had ever seen SpectroMagic, and they were all suitably delighted by the show. After the parade, Helena, Myrna, and Steven decided to head back to the hotel, leaving Jerry, Mark, and I to wait it out for Wishes. We positioned ourselves in front of the same Railroad Station hub, from where we had a great view right down Main Street to Cinderella's Castle and the fireworks. Jerry commented afterwards that after seeing Wishes, fireworks back home just won't be the same.

Surprisingly, when we got to our bus station for the return trip to CSR, there was not a huge line. But we did have about a 15 minute wait for our bus to arrive. Back at the hotel, everyone else turned in by midnight, although I stayed up until past 1:00a checking email, downloading the day's digital pictures, and writing some quick trip report notes. I was going to be sleepy tomorrow morning.

Tuesday, July 17

The Plan: ACFE Conference, Magic Kingdom, Dinner Open

It's 6:00a already? Jerry and I met at around 7:30a to head over to the convention center for our free hot breakfast and to begin another full day of workshops. (By the way, before leaving the room that morning, I secretly took a picture of Helena fast asleep. She never saw the flash go off.) Helena, Myrna, Steven, and Mark got up around 8:00a, had breakfast at Pepper Market, and were at Disney-MGM Studios by 10:00a. They all first got in the standby line for Star Tours, which was posted at 20 minutes, and enjoyed the ride very much. They then all went to Sounds Dangerous with Drew Carey and were very much less impressed by this simple show. For some reason, Steven and Mark didn't ride Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n' Roller Coaster. I supposed that, with their late start, the FPs were already into the late afternoon hours and the standby lines were very long. Anyway, Myrna and the two boys decided to go to Epcot via a bus from Disney-MGM to the Magic Kingdom Transportation Center and then a monorail to Epcot. Helena opted to return to CSR for a rest. At Epcot, Steven and Mark were able to again ride Mission: Space, "orange" version, and then they and Myrna took the bus back to CSR.

Jerry and I were let out of the conference at 4:30p, and we all met at Pepper Market for a light dinner that included such varied dishes as Chinese bourbon chicken, Mexican beef fajitas and chicken quesadillas, and pizza. We then all headed out to Epcot, catching the bus at the El Centra stop since we were already closest to that one. It was crowded at Epcot, but we had our sights on getting to ride on Test Track (which we had missed doing on Saturday). Helena again decided to sit out this ride for health reasons, and the rest of us got in the 60-minute standby line. FPs were already gone for the day. The ride itself was exhilarating. The ride photo came out great and we had it transferred to our Photopass account.

By this time, people were already beginning to stake out spots along the World Showcase lagoon for Illuminations. We were lucky to find a Photopass photographer who took a nice group portrait with Spaceship Earth in the background, and then we headed over to Germany, which is my favorite spot to see Illuminations. On getting there, we found that a family with the grandfather in a wheelchair, the grandmother in an electric scooter, and two small children in strollers had positioned themselves to block off almost half of the space on the terrace in front of Germany that projects into the lagoon. Besides them, there were only the mother and two older children, who sat on the floor in the blocked-off area. We all thought this was a ridiculous situation, because they could have easily and comfortably occupied a smaller amount of space on the terrace and still have an unobstructed view of the fireworks. But to avoid a confrontation, we just stood up behind their barricade to wait for the show. On several occasions, small children from other family groups tried to pass the barricade to stand in the excess space this family had reserved for themselves, but the grandfather loudly and aggressively chased them away. Some people just think they own the place! Anyway, there was a spectacular sunset and Illuminations itself was also as spectacular as ever. I did, however, miss the awesome "Let There Be Peace on Earth" add-on that's presented at Christmas time.

After the show was over, we leisurely strolled along towards the exit, taking our time to let the rushing crowd get out of the way. We again were lucky not to find a long line at the bus stop back to CSR, and the bus was along pretty quickly. Everyone else hit the sack soon after arriving back at CSR, but I again stayed up until almost 1:00a checking emails, downloading the day's pics, and writing some trip report notes.

Wednesday, July 18

The Plan: ACFE Conference, Disney-MGM Studios, Dinner ADR at SciFi Dine-In

Jerry and I had our usual 6:00a wake-up and free conference-provided hot breakfast. But today our conference sessions would only go until 12:30p. Helena and Myrna took the morning to do some laundry, and Steven and Mark went for their pre-scheduled back massages. I didn't hear any complaints, so I guess they enjoyed this first-time experience.

We all met up by 1:00p and headed immediately over to catch the bus to Disney-MGM Studios. On arriving, we stopped at the Dockside Diner (the light blue ship on Echo Lake just opposite Gertie the Dinosaur) for a quick snack, since we had skipped lunch and had an ADR for dinner. Although Helena and I will eat pretzels, we're really not crazy about them. So, we had never before bought pretzels at Disney World. Wow, what a mistake that was. We shared a cinnamon-apple soft pretzel today, and it was delicious! Pretzels and bottled water in hand, we rushed past the Streets of America to the stadium for Light, Motors, Action. A huge crowd was already there waiting to get in for the 2:45p show, but we were lucky to get into the queue.

It was blazing hot here and fans provided to cool the guests were of little real help. Thankfully, the CMs soon let us into a shaded area, where we had a short wait before being let into the stadium itself. While we were waiting for the show to start, there was a brief but heavy rain shower. I was a bit afraid that the show would be canceled because the pavement was now very wet and very slippery, but it went off as scheduled. The wet pavement made me appreciate even more the skill of the stunt drivers who put on this show day after day. I know how unpredictable driving on wet pavement can be.

After the show was over, we headed to Muppet*Vision 3D, where we had the opportunity to see the entire pre-show movie and get great seating right in the middle of the theater. Believe it or not, this was actually the first time Jerry and family had ever seen this 3D show, and they thoroughly enjoyed it -- as did Helena and I for the umpteenth time. We then tried to get onto Star Tours and the Great Movie Ride, but both had standby lines of more than 60 minutes and late FP return times for Star Tours. So, we found ourselves a table in the shade just outside of the ABC Commissary and cooled off there until closer to our reservation time at the SciFi Dine-In. The term "cooled off" is a bit of an exaggeration, because today was the most uncomfortably hot and humid day so far on this trip. Every day the temperature and humidity were in the 90s, but after the rain shower that had fallen earlier, it felt like we were in a sauna. We were sweating even while just sitting in the shade. Now I remember why Helena and I always come to Disney World in December!

We finally went over to the SciFi Dine-In about 15 minutes early for our 5:20p ADR and were seated almost immediately. It was so cool and refreshing inside the dining area, that we just didn't want to leave. Our CM (again, I'm sorry I don't remember his name) was very friendly and right on the ball. We all went for the BBQ ribs with hot fudge sundaes for dessert. The CM took a nice group picture of us in our stretch Chevy convertible booth before we left. We were planning to stay for Fantasmic, but Helena and Steven decided that they had enough of the heat and humidity and headed back to CSR. The rest of us headed over to the entrance to the Fantasmic amphitheater, where, unbelievably, people were already lined up waiting to get in. We found a table in the shade at the eatery across the avenue (I think the name is Rosie's All American Café) to wait for a more reasonable time to get in line. While we waited, we could hear some of the music from the Beauty and the Beast show.

When we saw the crowd in front of the Fantasmic entrance get up to a substantial size, we finally got in line. The CMs let us in in stages, with a rope at each next section of the long walkway. When they dropped the last rope, people started running into the amphitheater to claim seats. This was kind of ridiculous, because the seating area is so large that goods seats are going to be available to all of us in this initial group. In fact, although we had simply taken our time walking in, we got great seats exactly at center stage. As the place began to slowly fill up, three school groups -- one from Argentina on our left, one from Brazil on our right, and one from a U.S. school way down in front of us at the bottom of the amphitheater -- began chanting back and forth, each trying to out-shout and out-dance the other. At one point it got a little out of hand when the Brazilian group started chanting the Spanish/Portuguese equivalent of the anti-gay F-word. One of their adult counselors told them to cool it and then they went back to just chanting "Brasil." As is customary, people also tried to get a wave started, but I've seen more energetic and long-lived waves on previous visits to Fantasmic. Finally, the stadium lights dimmed and it was time for Fantasmic to begin. I just love this show and especially the music. Jerry and his family were also suitably impressed. After it was over, we held back for the bulk of the crowd to leave and then headed across the bleachers to the area where the reserved seating guests exit. We probably saved a good 15-20 minutes by doing that. (A couple years ago a CM told me about this exit strategy to save some time.)

We got to the bus stop to find absolutely no one else there yet and the bus already waiting for us. Back at CSR, I hit the sack by 11:00p -- early for me. Except for the heat and humidity, it was another great park day.

Thursday, July 19

The Plan: ACFE Conference, Epcot, Dinner Open

Jerry and I were up at 6:00a again and did our morning breakfast routine over at the conference center. Unfortunately, today and tomorrow our conference workshops would go until 5:00p. Helena slept in late today, had breakfast, and then just chilled out at the hotel and the quiet pool for the Casitas area. Myrna, Steven, and Mark also slept in a bit then headed over to the Magic Kingdom, where the boys got in another ride on Space Mountain. Then the three took the monorail over to Epcot for Steven and Mark to ride Mission: Space a third time. They wanted to also ride Test Track, but the standby line was 120 minutes and FPs were into the late afternoon, so they passed on that one. They then headed over to Disney-MGM Studios for another ride on Star Tours before heading back to CSR.

After Jerry and I finished our last conference session of the day, we all met at Pepper Market for dinner, which again consisted of a variety of dishes from the various food stations. We then headed over to the Panchito's gift shop to do a bit of souvenir shopping. It was our intention to head to the Magic Kingdom this evening so that everyone could see Wishes (remember, Helena, Myrna, and Steven didn't stay for that on Monday); but the weather in the area was turning very nasty. There were very strong thunderstorms in the area and, if I recall correctly, there were even reports of tornadoes not too far away. Therefore, we decided to call it a night and just chill out in our rooms. Before heading in, I was able to get several great photos of CSR buildings with the thunderstorms in the background. One in particular shows an almost black stormy sky in the background with a brightly sunlit El Centro and lagoon in the foreground. It's really an awesome shot. (Note: There's a link to my photo gallery at the end of this trip report.)

Friday, July 20

The Plan: ACFE Conference, Animal Kingdom, Dinner Open

Jerry and I spent our last day at the conference, again being let out at 5:00p. Overall, the conference was a very positive experience and, with one exception, the conference workshops were excellent and very informative. The one exception was a session where the speaker appeared to be totally unprepared. Many people, including Jerry and I, left before the session was finished and I know that I gave the session very low ratings on the course evaluation form. I'm assuming many other attendees did as well. Overall, the ACFE and the work that it's members do in trying to prevent, detect, and prosecute cases of fraud against government entities, businesses, and the general public is very important. This one-week conference provided us with information that will help us to do our jobs even better.

Helena again slept in late and then took some time to do a small load of laundry so that we'd be ready to pack our suitcases this evening. After the laundry, she again relaxed around the hotel. Myrna and the boys decided to hit Typhoon Lagoon. Because the water parks weren't included in their Magic Your Way tickets, they had to purchase add-ons for about $35 per person. Myrna said that she relaxed in the shade reading while Steven and Mark took in many of Typhoon Lagoon's activities, including Humunga Kawabunga (wedgy central according to the boys), Crush ‘n' Gusher, and the Shark Reef pool. Steven also said that a wave took him under in the Surf Pool. Overall, they had a fun day at the water park.

We all met after Jerry and I were finished with our conference and had dinner again at the Pepper Market food court. Overall, I have to give Pepper Market high marks for the quality of the service and the food. I think that everyone in our group was satisfied by the meal selections they had, with maybe one or two exceptions. One such exception was a slightly burned pizza crust that I had. I ate it that way rather than have to wait for another one to be prepared.

After dinner, we went back to our rooms to pack for an early check-out the next morning. Unfortunately, Helena and I were awakened at 3:00a by a rude hotel guest who was knocking loudly on the room door right next to us and then talking loudly with another man for about 15 minutes. Some people have no concept of courtesy.

Saturday, July 21

The Plan: CSR Check-out, Animal Kingdom, Lunch ADR at Rainforest Cafe, Drive to Port St. Lucie

Helena and I got up at 6:00a, showered, got dressed, and packed the last of our items in our suitcase. Our CSR receipt was on the door by 7:00a and all charges were okay. We met Jerry and family around 8:00a for one last breakfast at Pepper Market, and I splurged today with a big, delicious Southwestern omelette. (I still think that my favorite Disney World breakfast item is the huge -- or at least they used to be huge -- banana nut muffins at the Caribbean Beach Resort. I've had good banana nut muffins in other places, but there's just something about the ones I remember at Caribbean Beach Resort. Maybe it's just the location and atmosphere.) After breakfast, we loaded up all of our bags in the Ford Expedition and then headed across the way to catch the bus to Animal Kingdom.

We were pulling up to Animal Kingdom around 9:30a. We stopped at the bridge overlooking the Tree of Life for a couple group pictures and then headed over to Africa to see what the situation was for the Kilimanjaro Safari. The standby line was already up to 50 minutes, so we got FPs for return at 10:55a and headed over to the Pangani Forest Trail. A male gorilla was sitting right next to the viewing glass and the CM commented that "he's very misunderstood, but that's his own fault." Do gorilla's qualify for psychological counseling? Further along the trail, there was another gorilla who was fast asleep in the shade, but no others were in clear view. Unfortunately, this proved to be the rule rather than the exception today, as many of the animals were sticking to the shady areas and not always in easy view. I can't say I really blame them with the heat and humidity.

We still had lots of time before our FP, so we then headed over to Asia for the Maharajah Jungle Trek. There we saw the Komodo dragon, several of those huge fruit bats, and three tigers fast asleep in shaded areas close to the viewing glass. While on the way back to Africa, a large group of people were crowded around what looked like a walking tree. Of course, this was Devine, and Jerry and I got several good closeups of her. On returning for our Kilimanjaro Safari ride, the FP line was quite short and we were on our safari bus in no time. We did see many animals, but most were at a distance keeping to shaded areas. The lions were hiding out, and we didn't see the cheetahs either. Although the ride spiel still includes the plot about poachers in the area, the storyline no longer includes reference to the elephants "Big Red" and "Little Red." Now we have to keep an eye out for "a lost baby elephant" who might be the target of poachers.

After getting off the Safari, we stopped by Expedition Everest so that Steven and Mark could check on FPs, but it was just too late. The earliest FP time was after 3:00p and we were expecting to be on the road to Port St. Lucie long before that. The standby line was also too long at 90 minutes. The timing also wasn't right for us to make it to either the Festival of the Lion King or the Finding Nemo: The Musical shows. So, we headed to the Tree of Life to see It's Tough to Be a Bug, with a 30 minute posted standby time. It was actually about half of that time. Because Jerry and family had never been to Animal Kingdom before, the special effects in this show were totally unexpected by them. After the Bugs, we headed over to Dinoland and got FPs for Dinosaur with a 1:05p return time. That meant that we had to cancel our 1:00p ADR at the Rainforest Café. Instead, we settled for a quick hamburger and hot dog lunch at Restaurantosaurus.

By the time we were finished eating, we were inside our Dinosaur FP window. This is only the second time Helena and I have ridden Dinosaur and now I remember why. Although the dinosaur animatronics are great, the ride itself is extremely jerky -- even more so than Body Wars over at Epcot ever was. I banged my knees against the back of the seat in front of me several times, and Jerry also complained about hurting knees after the ride. On exiting we found that our ride photo had come out nicely, but Photopass transfer wasn't available and there was a long line at the purchase desk, so we passed on getting it.

It was now around 2:30p, so we left Animal Kingdom and returned to CSR. We climbed aboard the Expedition and headed out to the Osceola Parkway and the Florida Turnpike towards Port St. Lucie. The approximately 2-hour drive turned out to be somewhat stressful because most of the distance was in a driving rainstorm with limited visibility. We finally arrived safely in Port St. Lucie around 5:00p and dropped off Jerry and his family at the Hampton Inn, where they would be staying for the rest of the week. Helena and I then headed over to our daughter Selene's home, where we would be staying. A short while later, we all got together at a local Chili's restaurant where we had a nice dinner and a great family gathering. After dinner, we took Jerry back to their hotel, stopped for gas ($50 for a half tank in the Expedition), and to Selene's home for the rest of the night. The Walt Disney World portion of our trip was now ended.

Sunday, July 22 to Saturday, July 28

The Plan: Visit with Family in Port St. Lucie and Deerfield Beach, Kennedy Space Center

I'm not going to go into much detail on this portion of the trip, except for Thursday, July 26, when the guys took a road trip to the Kennedy Space Center. The rest of the week I'll just briefly highlight.

Sunday - July 22 - Helena, Jerry and family, and I went to the Treasure Coast Mall in Jensen Beach to do some shopping for clothes and other items not available in the islands. We picked up Selene and Jaidyn (our granddaughter) later in the day so that Selene could also get in some shopping. We all had a late lunch at the Ruby Tuesday restaurant at the mall. John (our son-in-law) works on Sundays, so he couldn't join us. But today was John's birthday, so we had a cake and a little family party for him when he got home.

Monday - July 23 - Jerry, Steven, Mark, and I had a day to do some "guy" shopping, which meant looking for video games, DVDs, music CDs, and electronics at Best Buy, Circuit City, and Walmart. Helena and Myrna stayed with Selene to mind Jaidyn while Selene put in a full day at work. Selene is a web site designer (http://www.idesignstudios.com) who works at home. Dinner was delicious stuffed bell peppers that Selene prepared.

Tuesday - July 24 - Helena, Jerry and family, and I drove down to Deerfield Beach where we spent some time with Jerry's and my sister Marion and brother-in-law Richard. We all had lunch at an Olive Garden restaurant. In the afternoon, we continued a bit further south to Fort Lauderdale for a medical appointment that Myrna had. While she was at the doctor, the rest of us killed some time at the Pompano City Centre mall. On the way back to Port St. Lucie on the Florida Turnpike, we were caught by a massive thunderstorm that was even worse than the one we encountered on Saturday on our way from Disney World to Port St. Lucie. We passed by several accidents on the southbound lane of the turnpike, including one that was a multi-car pileup that stopped traffic for several miles. Luckily, these accidents didn't affect us in the northbound lane.

Wednesday - July 25 - Today was Jaidyn's second birthday. We celebrated with an outing to Chuck E. Cheese, where Jaidyn enjoyed riding on a train with Barney the Dinosaur and a classic car with Chuck E. Cheese himself. After Jaidyn's afternoon nap, she opened her presents, followed by celebrating with a birthday cake. Dinner was BBQ steaks cooked by John and topped with a black bean salsa prepared by Selene.

Thursday - July 26 - The guys (Jerry, Steven, Mark, John, and I) went on a road trip to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). We left Port St. Lucie at 8:00a for the almost 2-hour drive to KSC on I-95. The weather was perfect all day long, with relatively mild temperatures, low humidity, and clear skies. Admission to the KSC Visitor Center cost $40 including tax, but you can have your ticket validated for a second day admission at no extra cost. Helena and I haven't visited KSC since January 1993, so this trip was a real treat for me. The KSC Visitor Center has been expanded greatly since 1993 and is definitely worth a two-day visit if you can fit that in. Among the attractions are two IMAX 3D films -- Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon (produced by Tom Hanks) and Space Station; Astronaut Encounter (the chance to meet and talk with a real astronaut); Rocket Garden (a collection of historic rockets including the ones that took the first American astronauts into space); Early Space Exploration (a small museum with spacecrafts and artifacts from the early Mercury and Gemini space flights); Shuttle Explorer (a full-size replica of the space shuttle, which you can enter to see the flight deck and cargo bay); Mad Mission to Mars 2025 (a live action and animated story about a mission to Mars for young "astronauts"); Exploration in the New Millennium (displays related to the exploration of Mars and the other planets); Astronaut Memorial (a series of memorial plaques and displays dedicated to space explorers who have died in the line of duty); and Shuttle Launch Experience (a simulation of a space shuttle launch).

The Shuttle Launch Experience was a highlight of our visit because it gave us a chance to compare this simulation with Walt Disney World's Mission: Space. First off, I must say that although these two rides have a similar theme, they were designed for different purposes. Mission: Space is a thrill ride that is meant to elicit repeat visits based on the "wow" factor. The "orange" (or spinning) version of Mission: Space certainly does that. Shuttle Launch Experience, on the other hand, is meant to be a realistic recreation or simulation of what the real astronauts experience during an actual space shuttle launch. In that sense, it doesn't have the same "wow" factor as the "orange" version of Mission: Space. Mission: Space creates real G-force effects through the use of a centrifuge that spins riders so that they feel the effects of 2 or 3 Gs pushing down on their chests, arms, and legs. The only problem is that the spinning can cause many people to feel nauseous. Shuttle Launch Experience, on the other hand, uses no spinning. G-force effects are produced by lifting the cabin that you're in to a vertical position so that the normal forces of gravity push you into the back of the seat and make your arms and legs feel heavier than normal. But Shuttle Launch Experience adds one real-life element that you don't feel on Mission: Space -- that is the extreme vibrations experienced during a real shuttle launch. Those vibrations feel like they're going to shake the teeth right out of your mouth and make your vision blurred. It's a somewhat unsettling experience, but it's what the astronauts really feel during every shuttle launch. Which one is better? That's really hard to say. I've ridden both and like both. Mission: Space lets you feel what a mission to Mars "may" feel like sometime in the future. Space Shuttle Launch Experience lets you feel what a space shuttle launch "actually" feels like today. My suggestion -- experience them both and decide for yourself.

There are a couple more aspects to the KSC Visitor Center. One is the Astronaut Hall of Fame, a separate facility devoted to commemorating the brave men and women who have ventured into space. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to visit the Hall of Fame. The other aspect is the KSC/NASA bus tours. There are three different tours to choose from. The standard tour, included in the cost of admission, drives you past the huge Vehicle Assembly Building where the space shuttle is mounted on the fuel tank and solid rocket motors that will power it into space and gives you free time to explore on your own at three stops. Stop 1 is at the Launch Complex Observation Gantry. This is a large tower from which you can see the two launch pads from which the space shuttle is launched. During our visit, the space shuttle Endeavour was on one of the launch pads being prepared for a scheduled August 7, 2007 launch. From this location you can also see the unmanned rocket launch pads located on the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base. Stop 2 is at the Apollo/Saturn V Center. This is a new building where you can see and almost touch one of the last surviving Saturn V (V = 5) rockets that sent 27 astronauts to the Moon -- 12 of whom actually landed and walked on the Moon. This building also has a show recreating the launch of Apollo 8, the first mission to orbit the Moon, and many displays related to the Apollo missions. Stop 3 is at the International Space Station Center. This is an actual NASA operational building where components for the International Space Station are prepared for launch. At the time of our visit, a European, a Japanese, and two American laboratory modules were being worked on, and these are not replicas -- these are the real thing that will be sent into space in the not-too-distant future. Two optional tours are also available at extra cost and by advance reservation. One tour will take you to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base where you will see many of the historic facilities where the early unmanned and manned space missions were launched. The other tour will take you behind the scenes to see more of NASA's operational space shuttle facilities. These include the Vehicle Assembly Building and the Shuttle Landing Facility. Taken all together, there's really no way to see everything at KSC in one day. If you can, I strongly recommend planning for two days here.

The KSC Visitor Center also has four separate souvenir shops and no less than seven food and drink outlets that range from a full-service restaurant (MILA's Restaurant) to a soft drink and ice cream stand (Milky Way). We had hamburgers at MILA's at lunch time and ended with soft drinks from Milky Way as we were headed towards the exit at 5:30p. One last stop was to get a group picture taken with a space-suited astronaut near the exit. Then it was back on to I-95 for the drive back to Port St. Lucie. Once again, we passed an accident on the opposing (northbound) lane. This time is was a nasty rollover accident that had traffic stopped for more than 5 miles. (I saw on the local newscast the following morning that the occupants of the truck, including a couple children, miraculously survived although none of them were wearing their seatbelts.) We arrived at Selene's home just around 7:30p to the smell of home-cooked lasagna in the oven.

Friday - July 27 - Today was the girls' day out, and they (Helena, Myrna, and Selene) spent it shopping at the Treasure Coast Mall. John stayed home to take care of Jaidyn. Jerry, Steven, Mark, and I tagged along to the mall but only Mark did some shopping, for a pair of sneakers. The guys spent some time at the adjoining movie theater, where we saw I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. It was a very funny movie with a heavy gay-tolerance message, and Jessica Biel was certainly very easy on the eyes. Later in the evening, we all (including John and Jaidyn) went to dinner at a Red Lobster.

Saturday - July 28 - Our last full day in Florida was spent doing last-minute laundry, packing, and getting ready for our return drive to Miami and return flight to St. Thomas. Jerry and I stopped at the local post office to mail home several boxes with the results of all of the shopping trips. We closed out the day with dinner for everyone at TGI Friday's.

Sunday, July 29

The Plan: Drive to Miami, AA Flight from Miami to St. Thomas

We wanted to be sure to give ourselves plenty of travel-time leeway in case we ran into some highway hangups on the drive down to Miami. So, Helena and I got up at 6:00a, had a quick breakfast, packed our luggage in the Expedition and then said our farewells to Selene and John (Jaidyn was, unfortunately, still asleep). We then drove over to the Hampton Inn to pick up Jerry and family, and then headed out to I-95 southbound. Being early on a Sunday morning, the traffic was very light, and we made great time to Deerfield Beach, where we made a short snack stop at Burger King (mostly orange juice only for everyone, although I got four mini-cinnabuns to share with Helena). Then it was back to I-95 for the last leg of the road trip. The drive was again very smooth, except for the very end, when we had to make an unexpected detour around roadway construction in order to get to the Hertz garage. Luckily, we had programmed the GPS system in the car and it steered us right to the correct location. We ended up putting a whopping 2,600 miles on the Expedition in two weeks. That's equivalent to the round-trip distance between St. Thomas and Miami. I still can't believe we drove that much, but that's what the trip odometer read.

We used curbside check-in at the airport and then had to walk what seemed to be another 10 miles to get to our gate. Airport security was even more strict than on St. Thomas, and the security officer threw away a bottle of shampoo and a can of shaving gel that I had in my carry-on, although St. Thomas security had allowed me to bring those items on the plane to Miami without question. Once we got to our gate, we learned that the departure time had been pushed back 40 minutes, so we were now leaving at 1:00p instead of 12:20p. During our nearly 2-hour wait, Jerry fired up his laptop to check email and play solitaire for a while, Steven watched a DVD on his portable player, Mark and I listened to our mp3 players, and Helena and Myrna found someplace to shop some more. Helena picked up a travel bag for $10 and Myrna also got an item or two in the same $10 store. We snacked on sandwiches for lunch and eventually it was time to board the plane. The flight home was uneventful, but we had a long wait of at least 30 minutes before our luggage appeared on the carousel at the St. Thomas airport. Finally they arrived, and my cousin and his son met us to drive us home.

Conclusion

Overview

Despite the unbearably hot and humid weather in Florida and the large crowds at the Disney World parks, this was an enjoyable chance for Helena and I to go on a joint vacation with Jerry and his family. The last time we had such an opportunity was to Washington, DC in July 1993. We all had a great time then and had always wanted to do it again, but our work, school, and vacation schedules just didn't allow it until now. I hope it won't be another 14 years before we can get to vacation together again.

An added bonus of this trip was that Helena and I were able to spend some time with Selene, John, and Jaidyn and to celebrate John's and Jaidyn's birthdays with them. (Selene's birthday was on August 1, just a few days after we returned home, but those schedules and commitments back at home prevented us from delaying our return home.) Jaidyn has grown so much since we last saw her in early January. She's not just walking but actually running around completely unassisted, and she's beginning to speak not only words but complete phrases to make herself understood. Of course, one of her favorite words is "no" when things don't go her way. Remember, she's now officially at the "terrible twos." We can't imagine how much more advanced she'll be when we see her again in December. We can hardly wait.

The Highs

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Last Updated: November 26, 2007