Tuesday: Up to Epcot
Chelsea woke up at 4:45 a.m. Let me repeat: Chelsea woke up at 4:45. The last time she probably saw that hour of the day was from the other side, sometime in college. Or we probably had some kid awake, either sick or teething, at that hour. Even so.
A friend of ours once said, "4:59 a.m. is an hour before 5:00." And he was right - the psychological barrier of that 4 is significant.
We packed up the car as quietly as we could and drove up to Tampa, where we collected Richard and Ginger's daughters. We then turned east toward Orlando, where we would meet up with the rest of the Spergers.
The gang looked hale and hearty when we met up with them at the gates to Epcot:
There were many excited hugs between my people and our guests. Once inside the gates, we stopped to visit with some characters... and this time they weren't relatives of mine (rim shot):
Then it was time for rides. We went first to Mission Space, which is new since the last time Chels and I were in Epcot; we opted for the wimpy non-fatal version, which meant that everybody was game to ride:
Next we went on the Universe of Energy, which celebrates fossil fuels by showing you where they came from:
We had some lunch, at which Chelsea and I disgusted the rest of the group with our honeymoon-esque affection:
With our bellies full we marched straight over to Test Track, which is now sponsored by the US Federal Government:
A glimpse of the final stretch of the ride, during which the cars get going up to 65 miles per hour (105 km/h):
We then backtracked to the big ball for a ride on Spaceship Earth:
Our group has a constant interest in seeing the world, so we decided to head over to World Showcase:
A thunderstorm blew over, which made for some excellent foreboding pictures:
And also prompted our gang to break out the ponchos:
One of the highlights of the day was visiting the Japan pavilion, where our girls got dressed up in kimonos:
It was fun taking pictures of the pavilion in the dark, too:
Before we knew it, the fireworks were shooting overhead:
Then it was time for your mildly geeked-out tour guide to take a few last pictures of the giant golf ball:
On Monday: Soggy SeaWorld. Have a great weekend!
A friend of ours once said, "4:59 a.m. is an hour before 5:00." And he was right - the psychological barrier of that 4 is significant.
We packed up the car as quietly as we could and drove up to Tampa, where we collected Richard and Ginger's daughters. We then turned east toward Orlando, where we would meet up with the rest of the Spergers.
The gang looked hale and hearty when we met up with them at the gates to Epcot:
There were many excited hugs between my people and our guests. Once inside the gates, we stopped to visit with some characters... and this time they weren't relatives of mine (rim shot):
Then it was time for rides. We went first to Mission Space, which is new since the last time Chels and I were in Epcot; we opted for the wimpy non-fatal version, which meant that everybody was game to ride:
Next we went on the Universe of Energy, which celebrates fossil fuels by showing you where they came from:
We had some lunch, at which Chelsea and I disgusted the rest of the group with our honeymoon-esque affection:
With our bellies full we marched straight over to Test Track, which is now sponsored by the US Federal Government:
A glimpse of the final stretch of the ride, during which the cars get going up to 65 miles per hour (105 km/h):
We then backtracked to the big ball for a ride on Spaceship Earth:
Our group has a constant interest in seeing the world, so we decided to head over to World Showcase:
A thunderstorm blew over, which made for some excellent foreboding pictures:
And also prompted our gang to break out the ponchos:
One of the highlights of the day was visiting the Japan pavilion, where our girls got dressed up in kimonos:
It was fun taking pictures of the pavilion in the dark, too:
Before we knew it, the fireworks were shooting overhead:
Then it was time for your mildly geeked-out tour guide to take a few last pictures of the giant golf ball:
On Monday: Soggy SeaWorld. Have a great weekend!
