Halloween's a -comin'!

Andy, Sam, and Otto carved our jack-o-lantern last night.


And an image from Halloween past... 2006.


I don't think I'll ever top that costume combo!

Disney World

We had a quick, and somewhat spontaneous, trip down to Disney World a couple weeks ago. Otto had the opportunity to attend a conference there, which he had known about for several months. But we weren't sure if he could actually go until about a month before hand. And for us, one month before hand to plan a trip to the Southern U.S. is pretty much as spontaneous as we get!

The first day Otto was at his conference, so I took the boys to the Magic Kingdom. Here were some princes and princesses dancing in front of the castle.


After (high speed) Space Mountain and The (slow speed) People Mover in Tomorrowland, we made our way to the Speedway.


Sam at the wheel....


After a quick ride on Splash Mountain (because there happened to be a gentleman standing there with three fast passes that were to expire in three minutes!), we headed to Big Thunder Mountain. The first time we rode we stood in the regular line. The second time we got a fast pass; much faster, and no extra charge!


Here we go!



That evening lots of family arrived. Both Martas, Pupy, Bill, Aaron, Teresita, and Hector. Everyone met up at Epcot the next morning.

Somewhere in Epcot.... (photo taken by Mom or Bill).


Aaron and the boys.

Sam and Andy in the red phone booths in England.


A balancing act in France.

And a parting shot before Otto's family headed back to their condos for the evening.

Mom, Bill, and Otto and the boys and I stayed nearly 'til closing. We ate in Morocco, which was DELICIOUS!

The last ride of the night was Test Track, where you are first taken through a bunch of test sequences in a race car (bumpy roads, temperature extremes, testing the brakes), and the grand finale is the speed testing. Where you go REALLY fast. And it was REALLY fun.

Here was either a Charger or Camero at the exit of the ride that you could try out. Parked.


The next day is was just Otto, me, and the boys at Hollywood Studios.


The first ride we went on was The Greatest Movie Ride Ever (?), which took you through a bunch of famous classic movie scenes.

Here's Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.


John Wayne.


The Wicked Witch of the West...


and Dorothy heading to the Emerald City with Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Lion.

Next we headed to a behind-the-scenes ride, where I volunteered myself for a movie-making activity. I was the captain. They quickly edited the shots in with some pre-filmed footage to make it look like we were being attacked at Pearl Harbor. It was hard to see from out there in the sunlight, but I'm sure it was a stellar performance. ;o)

Later, we were directed to a shop (seems like most rides exit into a gift shop) where there were Mad Hatter hats, complete with poofy orange hair.

Posing on a cab.

Here are a couple shots from the Indiana Jones Stunt show. They performed some really neat stunts.


As we were walking along, we saw that Woody from Toy Story was available for pictures!

Woody's footprint. (The little boy in the movie who is Woody and Buzz's owner is named Andy.)


And Woody!

The last ride of the day was the Hollywood Tower of Terror. Is was very much liked by all, except Sam, who cried, and through his sobbing while experiencing zero-gravity, screamed at me, "I TOLD YOU I WOULDN'T LIKE IT!!!!" We're already preparing him for whenever we go back.

That evening Otto's family made dinner for everyone.



Marta hand-smashing the tostones.


Nice.

Nicer. Otto and Tia Tere.

Photo cred: Bill.


The next day, Otto's family headed back to South Florida, and the rest of us headed (back) to the Magic Kingdom.

On Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride.

Up in the air!
Back to the race cars. (Bill took this one.)

This was Bill's first trip to Disney World, and he had just gotten his ears. :o)


Trying to pull the Sword from the Stone.

On the carousel.


One last shot with Mom and Bill before we headed out. They stayed a little longer, but we had a 2:30 am wake-up call headed our way.

And as we were walking to the front gate to leave, we were greeting by this parade. So we stopped and took in a little dancing and music before saying goodbye.