« June 2007 | Main | August 2007 »
We went to Arlington Park yesterday; this was an employer-paid event that included admission, a program, food, beverages, and a private tent for our company. The kids had a great time, and pictures are HERE.
Next event: A Day Out with Thomas, in August. More pictures to come!
That last post might have made more sense if I had completed it. As it was, it looked a lot like my previous post on the topic, I didn't really cover anything new in this one. But what set me off was the recent spat of news stories about travellers being stranded for hours on the tarmac, and now this one about a minor who was denied boarding because his name appears on the TSA's terrorist watch list. For the record, the TSA clarifies that "no minors are on the terrorist watch list" - meaning: if your kid's name happens to match a name on the list, he or she is by TSA definition not the person that the list is targetting. This wasn't the TSA's fault, it was the airline who refused boarding to someone to whom the policy simply does not apply.
We also had a recent news story where a mother and child were removed from a flight by a flight attendant. Was the toddler screaming and refusing to sit in his seat, like previous stories? No. Did the mom threaten anyone? No. The toddler was.... talking. Kept saying "Buh-bye Plane." Gave the FA the heebie-jeebies, so she removed him.
So the point of my post below is, I'm not going to let the airlines (A) charge me more for services they don't deserve to be paid for, then (B) strand me with my children on the tarmac, and (C) maybe decide that my kids talk too much and remove us.
We'll drive, thanks.
So here is why I liked driving to Florida from Chicago (I will contrast my reasons with where air travel fails):
For short-haul flights (anything less than cross-country) it's just not worth flying anymore. True, I break up my car trips into multiple days and stay in hotels, but if we flew in, we would be staying in hotels in our destination for more time anyway. Air travel has lost it's appeal, and it's only going to get worse.
The airlines are re-shaping air travel to make it more profitable. They have to; historically the airline industry has essentially been a zero-sum game - cycles of high profits offset by cycles of huge losses. They need to come up with a model that provides sustainable profit, or nobody will invest in airlines and we won't have any.
Still, this reshaping is taking the form of "We're going to take this away from you, and charge you [or charge you more] for that, and we're going to turn a deaf ear on you when you complain." And what we'll end up with is a very different kind of air travel that I experienced when I flew across the country twice a year as a child.
I remember fondly taking flights from San Fransisco to Chicago in a Boeing 747 and Lockhead L1011. Coach class was then what Business class is today. Flight attendants were friendly and helpfull. You could go to the cockpit and visit the pilot. I realize some of that was lost on 9/11/01, but still - it's a different business today. Out of Chicago, American flies MD80's (narrow-body planes, like 727's) everywhere in the United States, except Hawaii and Alaska. Music on headphone tubes, hot meals, enough legroom and width to sit comfortably and safe arrival of your checked luggage are all things of the past.
I guess it's also a lot cheaper now. But not cheap enough to make me want to sit in an airport for two hours with three kids to fly them two hours south. And it will take a lot more effort from the airlines to bring back the comfort, joy and convenience of air travel before I park my Grand Caravan in the garage for a family trip.
So I'm catching up on some stuff that should have been done in late May / early June, if we hadn't hightailed it out of Illinois so fast after school ended.
Aaron is a member of the District 73.5 beginner band, and this band won the 2006 John Philip Sousa Foundation Sudler Cup award for excellence. This award covers the full band, including the beginner band that Aaron belongs to, all the way up to the elite Symphonic band.
So in honor of this award, the band had a concert during the last week of May, and we recorded portions of it.
Here is Aaron's band playing three selections of music [MP3]. This is an MP3 file, so you can download it but you'll need an MP3 Player to listen to it (hopefully your computer already has one). If this works out well, I may post other MP3s from the concert.
BTW as I was writing this post, Aaron received a letter from Illinois Congressman Louis Lang congratulating him on his class's Sudler Cup achievement. We, of course, are very proud.
Oh, I guess I should mention that Aaron plays Trombone.
Epcot Day 2 had a lot of character ;-)
That is to say, we planned two character meals for today: the Princess Breakfast at Akershus in Norway, and the character meal at Garden Grill in The Land pavillion.
We planned the Princess Breakfast because the younger two of our kids still love the princesses (even though they're boys) and Cinderella's Table was full when I tried to book it. So this is the next best thing.
Getting there was confusing (my fault - I didn't plan our route in advance) but once we got there, we were let it pretty quickly even though we were a few minutes late for our Priority Seating time.
I must say of all the character meals, the characters in this venue really sort of rushed through. We didn't get much time at all with them, they just dropped by to sign autographs and snap a few pictures, no real bonding with the kids. That bonding experience is what makes character meals special, and without it, you might as well set up cardboard cutouts.
The food was actually better than a lot of breakfast venues, featuring both a buffet of authentic Norweigan breakfast foods, and a "family style" serving of standard American fare.
At this point I'm going to stop and direct you to the pictures HERE, because the Breakfast pics were on a memory card that crashed and are thus in a different album in the gallery. It's pictures of the kids with all the princesses at breakfast.
Moving on, we toured (again) the world showcase and got very tired (it is so huge). Maybe next time, we'll allow for one day for each country - that would be fun, eat meals in one country and just hang out in that country all day. Yeah, when we've got all the time in the world. But not soon. :) So the kids got their faces painted in Africa (it's a country now, according to Disney!) and then we made our way back to the front of the park where all the rides are to take ride inside the geo-dome (Mission:SPace?) I remember this being a more fun ride, but this time it seems like it was just a documentary. I guess my memory isn't what it used to be. Next, Aaron and I finally used our Test Track fastpasses from the last time we came to Epcot, and I finally got to ride. That was a really fun ride, and I hope it's there next time we come to Disney.
Finally we made our way to lunch at the Garden Grill. We had been waiting our entire trip for this character lunch; last time we came to Disney, we were exhausted at lunch time and had no reservations. We had just toured "the land" and were ready to sit down and eat. We walked up, unknowing, to the desk at Garden Grill, and asked if there were any stand-by seats available. We were seated immediately, and only after we sat down did we realize that it was a character meal. This was one of our most memorable experiences, both because we "lucked" into a stand-by seat at a character meal, but also because this is where Ethan got chocolate all over his face, and the characters made a big deal about him and sort of danced around him, making fun of his face.
This time, again our great memories failed us. I'm not saying it was a bad experience, by any means, but it didn't live up to our memories. The characters were so-so and came by infrequently for quick snapshots, and the food was not-so-special. But hey, we lived. It's Disney, you can't really have a bad time at Disney, can you? :)
Here's pictures of the kid's facepaintings, plus the char meal at Garden Grill.
This wraps up my Disney trip narrative. We certainly had a wonderful time, and it was well worth it. We're going to go again, in about 3-1/2 to 4 years, so I can start my planning as early as 2010!
I'll take a break from the fun blogging about my family and vacations, in order that I may bleat a little more about President Bush's Worst Choice for Attorney General ever, Alberto Gonzales. Seems the AG has gotten himself into trouble again, and further demonstrated his lack of respect for the people of the United States.
In this article. we learn that the AG testified to congress that he knew of no FBI violations of civil rights that had resulted from the USA Patriot Act. His testimony led congress to renew the act. Now, we've learned that the FBI's own internal investigation has uncovered several violations of civil rights (by their own admission) which they made Gonzales aware of prior to his testimony before congress.
I really have run out of things to say. I could reiterate my belief that Gonzales should step down, but I don't think he values my opinion anyway. I'll just restate Sen. Charles Schumer's assessment: "This should be the last straw, but there never seems to be a last straw when it comes to George W. Bush and Alberto Gonzales,"
We return you now to happy stories about our travels :).
OK June 12th, Aaron's birthday. We decided that we hadn't built enough rest into our plan (even Aaron was tired), so we decided to swim at the resort, eat lunch, take a nap, and then go to the park. The cool thing is that once you figure out how to "work" the parks, it's easy to go late and take as many rides as you want - you just work them around the crowd-grabbers, like parades and fireworks.
So after some R&R we made our way to MK for the last time.
First, we drove to the TTC and took the Monorail in. and Aaron sat up front in the captains compartment. This is a great time for the kids, and the driver always treats each kid like it's the first time he's ever had a visitor in his compartment, and tells them all about the Monorail and how it works.
Next, I'll just highlight stuff - we took rides and met characters. Here are the pictures starting at DSC00231, and an explanation:
Marla's Aunt and Uncle from southern Florida joined us at Magic Kingdom today to help us celebrate a couple of birthdays. Since we arrived late, we went and got fastpasses for Space Mountain. We diverged from our plan a bit because we had guests with us. No sense in killing anyone on our vacation, eh?
Lunch was at Cosmic Ray's, and it was one of the few disasters we encountered. We took our time touring, and then ate a late lunch. We figured by 2:00 PM things would clear out at the counter service restaraunts. Boy, were we wrong. We had to scout for seating for 30 minutes, splitting up and staying in touch by cell phone when we found tables. Once we found one, it had no chairs. Marla, Penny and Alfie guarded the table and scouted for chairs while I went to get us food. The food lines were not actually too bad, although they screwed up our order and I had to wait too long for an order of fries with my kids' meals. Finally, the food came, and I made my way back to the table. By now, the others had scrounged some chairs and even another table nearby, so we could actually sit and eat. From there, it went smoothly, but we were not happy with the seating availability at such a late hour for lunch.
After lunch, we did some more touring until dinnertime. I'm not going into detail here because I don't remember it all - I know we finally went to Mickey's toontown Fair and did the Mickey pictures and the big playground, and at some point we did the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and Enchanted Tiki Birds, but I don't remember much else until dinner.
Dinner was great, at Liberty Tree. I must say, having reservations is a must. We saw several disappointed families waiting to see if they could get in "stand-by" - it was no good this night. They were booked solid. This was a character dinner that included Goofy, Minnie, Chip, and Dale.
After dinner, we rode a few rides but the highlight was It's A Small World - by now the lines were negligible, and we rode it twice. We could have ridden it three or more times, but the kids had had enough. We had already closed this park once, so we packed it in and went back to our hotel. Tomorrow, we were coming back to MK again, so we needed our energy.
Pictures are HERE (starting with the picture of Ethan on the train), and this is what you'll see:
Every trip to Disney should include planning for a "down day" - recover, rest, and sometimes play at the resort. As I said in my review of Port Orleans, I wish we had planned for more time to just play at the resort. As it was, we ate breakfast at Boatwrights - the Port Orleans Riverside table service restaraunt - and then we went swimming at Old Man Island. We had made plans to eat lunch at a Disney Studios table service restaraunt, however we decided we needed more rest after swimming so we napped and ate at our resort's counter service food court.
Dinner was at Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney. It was our first experience with Planet Hollywood, and we were very happy with it. Plus, they take the Disney Dining Plan - that alone almost paid for the cost of the plan! Planet Hollywood is a very expensive place, and we definately ate our money's worth.
After that, we looked around Downtown Disney a bit more, and then met up with Marla's Aunt and Uncle, with whom we toured Magic Kingdom the next day. We got back to our hotel early, took one last swim, and went to bed, even though our plans called for arriving at MK late the next day. You take all the rest you can get at Disney!
I don't have any pictures for this day, but you can check out some of the scenes from our resort HERE. What you'll see:
Day 4 at Disney - June 9th, we went to Magic Kingdom.
The only thing I regret is that we did Epcot the day before Magic Kingdom. Next time, not gonna do it that way. We closed Epcot last night, and today is our first day of a park that you have to be very aggressive to tour - Magic Kingdom. The tour plan we were following was called "Dumbo or Die in a Day". But, we did it - and, I'll admit, we had fun.
We arrived at opening and made our way to Dumbo - a cycle loader that pretty much has a 90 minute line anytime 30 minutes after opening. So if your goal, like ours, was to not wait more than 20 minutes for any ride (a goal we achieved, by the way) you have to hit the rides with long lines first.
So we rode Dumbo. Then Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, Buzz Lightyear, and the Laugh Floor Comedy Club. All before lunch. Then, we took a break - went back to our hotel, ate lunch, and took a nap. These were all of our favorite rides amongst the most popular, and they were done.
When we came back, we took the pontoon boat (Disney calls it a "raft") over to Tom Sawyer Island and looked around. The younger kids loved it, but Aaron hated it (as you can tell from the pictures). Even though our plan called for it, by this time we didn't want to do the ToonTown stuff (Mickey's house pictures, Donald's Boat, etc.) until we met up later with Marla's Aunt and Uncle. So we skipped forward to Country Bear Jamboree, skipped It's a Small World (line over 20 minutes, better time to ride will come later) and Pirates of the Carribean. Meanwhile, we had gotten fastpasses to Jungle Cruise and we took that.
Whew! What a day. Time for dinner, table service at Tony's Town Square, fashioned after Tony's in Lady and the Tramp. Of course, the specialty of the house is Spagetti and Meatballs, which we all devoured and then watched the parade and fireworks before going back to our hotel.
The pictures of every MK day are HERE; I'll give you a little guidance on our first day at MK:
Epcot was one of our favorite parks the last time we went. It didn't disappoint us this time. We went on day 3, which was June 8th.
First, we arrived early for opening, and hit the plan running. Marla and Aaron made their way to test track, while I took the younger kids in the stroller to The Land to get fastpasses for Soarin', the new flight-simulator ride. That was an adventure in itself; since Disney has opened this ride, it definately attracts big crowds to The Land which used to be somewhat sedate. But with a very short wait, I got the fastpasses and made my way back to Test Track. The idea was, we were supposed to meet up and all ride together. Marla, knowing that we couldn't take Justin on the ride, got a switch-off pass, which is kind of like a fast-pass for parents of small children, and then she and Aaron took the ride. Disney has really improved how they handle switching off now - instead of waiting at the front of the line with your non-riding kids, the non-rider and kids can now tour nearby while the riders go. Then, when the riders get off, you take the "switch off pass" and the adult with the non-riding kids can go with up to two other riders. Works great. So Aaron and I went back to Test Track again. Only this time, the ride broke down, just as we were about to board. So this time, we got new fastpasses good anytime that month, no time limit - w00t! We saved the "oops the ride broke while you were in line" fastpasses for our next visit and moved on.
After a couple of the slow rides (Living with the Land and Journey Into Imagination), we took Soarin'. This is really an amazing ride, I can't really describe it. You are strapped into a sort of hang-glider looking thing and then lifted up in front of a huge IMAX-like screen on which plays a video of a hang glide through many cities. But the screen isn't just IMAX, it goes below you and above you and around you - creating a true feeling of flight. We were blown away.
After Soarin', it was off to the countries - El Rio del Tiempo in Mexico first. I love this ride. They've renamed it, and now I can't remember what it's called. But it's still fun, and we rode it 3 times.
Next, off to Norway and Maelstrom, a kind of neat indoor ride that includes a small log flume.
We had lunch at Les Chefs in France - we really wanted to try different dining this time, and Les Chefs was great. Each time we go to Disney, we have one memorable dining experience - and this time, Les Chefs was it. Great service, excellent food, and a very relaxing atmosphere. It's nice to eat in a French restaurant with kids and not have to worry, because it's Disney!
Next, we rested up until our dinner reservations at Rose & Crown, the last seating before Illuminations starts, so we could watch it from the outdoor dining area. This has changed a bit - in the old days, you could get there early and ask for a seat by the rail and be accomodated. Now, they seem to seat the people who show up last in the best seats - which I found to be considerably rude. But wait, they redeem themselves. Just prior to the show, our waiter comes by and asks us, "Do you want to watch the show from our private viewing area?" It turns out, anyone who gets seated close enough to the show time but not at the rail gets to watch the show a little bit closer, in a small area reserved for that purpose, down by the water. Great view! Better than up by the rail! The only gripe is that you have to stand, but it is a better view by a longshot. After the show, we returned to our table and were allowed to finish our meal - no rush, they were very nice. We actually left after park closing, and nobody rushed us.
The pictures are HERE, and here's what you'll see:
I'm obsessed with finishing my travel review of our trip to Disney, no matter how long it takes :).
On day 2 (this was Thursday, June 7th) we arrived a bit late after needing some extra rest from the drenching we got at Disney Studios the day before. Our "plan" was still in force, but again we had fewer rides we wanted to take than the plan called for, so we had plenty of time.
We did ride Dinosaur, the new indoor dark thrill ride. It was great, except it kept breaking down. This was OK in one sense, whenever you're removed from a ride prior to it's completion, you get a sort of FastPass that lets you come back anytime and ride it again, through the FastPass line. This is nice because there's no specific time limit, so you can re-ride anytime you want. The downside is, when it breaks down they have you walk through most of the ride with the lights on, exposing all of the "surprises" that you would normally experience in the dark. I guess that's OK, but I'd rather not have seen the "behind the scenes" before I rode it all the way through. Eh, what are you going to do.
My only regret is that we didn't ride the Safari ride. We tried, but kept getting sidetracked picking up our Fast Passes, and by the time we finally got there they were out.
Disney is importing more animal characters into the park, and thus we got the chance to take pictures with Winnie the Pooh and Friends.
We were disappointed with the petting zoo. Frankly, the petting zoo at Brookfield Zoo is better.
And of course there's the big play area (forget what it's called) themed after an archeological dig. The kids always love this, and it's a good way to spend a hot afternoon - in the shade, in a place where parents can sit back and watch their kids burn off energy.
That night, we ate dinner at Rainforest Cafe. We've eaten at the Downtown Disney Rainforest before, and it was great. This one was so-so, our seating wasn't great but the ambience was still very nice. The downside of Rainforest is that they don't take the Disney Dining plan, so you have to plan around that.
Since AK closes early, this was a great day to see some sights, ride a few rides, and then get back to our hotel early and get some rest before our big day (Day 3) at Epcot. I think the next time we go, we might actually skip AK unless they have some new major rides. Dinosaur is great, but they need more here.
Oh yeah, pictures of our visit to Animal Kingdom are HERE.
If you looked for the pictures yesterday, they might have still been uploading. Everything is done now, and you can find them all at:
http://gallery.famille.org/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=1249&g2_fromNavId=xdd28d5ca
This includes Disney, Dells, July 4th, and the car races.
On July 4th, we went to the Skokie fireworks show after returning from the Dells. This is an annual event held at Niles West High School that includes music, food, games, and of course the fireworks show. The pictures are HERE, and here's what you'll see:
So, as promised, pictures from Wisconsin Dells: <http://gallery.famille.org/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=2401&g2_fromNavId=xb17dc9dd>.
Here's what you'll see:
Last night, we all went to Hartford Speedway Park in Hartford, MI (about 2 hours from Chicago) to watch stock car racing. This is a half-mile dirt oval track that has Factory Stock, Mini Stock, UMP Late Model, UMP Modifieds, Mini Sprints, Enduros, and Quads. We actually went to see a friend race in the Quads, which are like little one-cylinder two-stroke four-wheel ATVs. A friend from work helped the driver rebuild his Quad, and he was there watching his friend race. So we went, because it's a good opportunity for the kids to (A) see REAL stock car racing, and (B) Meet the driver.
This is what NASCAR was 30 years ago - a bunch of guys just racing their hearts out on a dirt track just for the thrill of it. And we all had a great time, and came home at 2:00 AM covered in dirt.
The pictures are HERE.
It's been a couple of years since we went to the Dells, and things have changed a lot. It used to be a place where you could go, nearby to suburban Chicago, and (relatively) cheap - compared to places like Hawaii or Disney or so forth. It's still nearby.
Driving down the main strip (Wisconsin Dells Pkwy), you feel a real sense of Deja Vu if you've ever been to Vegas. Not that casinos are taking over (although there are two nearby) but because, like Vegas, big players are taking over the strip and making mega-parks that must constantly expand in order to hold bragging rights to the "Biggest waterpark".
For instance, Treasure Island used to be a big player with a large indoor & outdoor park and an onsite hotel. Suddenly, a small start-up from up the street, Mount Olympus, owns Treasure Island (and everything else on that side of the strip for that matter). I'm not saying that's bad - big parks can be good - but it does change the landscape of things a bit.
The Dells attractions are traditionally a pay-as-you-go affair. You buy as little or as much entertainment as you want. Like the old Vegas. But now with the mega-parks knocking down the old players and building huge all-inclusive parks, it's a bit harder. For instance, we would have liked to have ridden the "Trojan Horse" go-carts. A few years ago, when Mt Olympus was a newcomer to the strip, TH was a pay-as-you-go affair. Now, you have to buy in to the Mt Olympus mega-park in order to ride it, whether you want to ride anything else or not. Maybe that's fine if you want to do the roller coasters and rides and water park at Mt Olympus. One price, and you get it all. But if you just want to ride Trojan Horse, you're out of luck.
Condos are also taking over, and I think in a bad way. Timeshare sales is tainting the Dells, and they're knocking down some good family entertainment in order to build. For instance, the old Native American dance show at the top of the hill near New Concord, across from the Indian Trading Post, is no more. They've knocked it down to build condos. No more Native American dance show.
Same with Big Chief go-carts - gone, soon to be something else, probably a condo. In fact, in the old days you couldn't drive a block without tripping over a go-cart place. Now, only a few go-cart-only places exist (like A-Dare), otherwise you have to buy in to a park to ride go-carts (and the selection is still very limited).
Wis Dells is still a fun place, and it's still (just barely) cheaper than Disney, but I'm afraid if they keep developing this way, soon it won't be.
We went to Wisconsin Dells this week for three days, a sort of last-minute trip that we didn't plan in advance, after we had cancelled a longer six-day trip that we were just too tired for. So at the last minute (last Friday) I searched online for "last minute wisconsin dells" and two resorts came up - the Raintree and Christmas Village. Christmas Village is a timeshare, and several reviews mentioned that they hard-sell you on timeshares while you're there, so I looked into the Raintree.
We approached the hotel with mild trepidation. Most of the reviews were outstanding, but one or two mentioned how old and worn out this resort is, and the Raintree management sometimes answered those reviews with "Just wait until Fall 2007, we're planning a major renovation!" Well, that doesn't help me now, but on the other hand, they were offering rooms the week of July 4th, at the last minute, for $125 per night for two beds plus a foldout queen. For reference, you can't really stay at a cheap Wis Dell on-strip motel for this price, and this hotel has an indoor/outdoor "waterpark" (more on that later).
The hotel is indeed worn and aged, but it's clean and it's smallish indoor waterpark is actually bigger than some we've seen (like the New Concord). Our room was clean and stayed clean throughout our stay, and all the amenities worked.
We made our way to the waterpark, and although it's certainly not going to compete with Kalahari or Mount Olympus, it is a nice indoor waterpark with plenty to do for the younger kids (10 and under). There are five or six toddler-sized slides and two bigger slides (our ten year old was fine on them, and then got bored iwth them after a couple of trips). It also has a water basketball area, a zero depth pool, things that spray and dump water at you everywhere, and one of those lilipad-like things that you try to balance your way across the pool.
The outdoor pool was basically the same. Great decor, well themed, and all the sprayers and water activities were in working order. Oh, and there are two whirlpools for those of you (like me) who spend time relaxing - one indoor and one outdoor. The indoor park has a snack bar adjacent, and the outdoor park has a small bar that they sell things like Mike's Hard Lemonaide out of ice buckets.
Overall, our stay was great and everyone at Raintree provided exactly what we expected for our $125 a night. Despite several bad reviews on hotel review sites, I would recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a discount stay in an expensive resort town, as long as you don't mind threadbare carpets and old furniture.
Twenty years ago this month, I decided that I'd had enough of the left coast and I packed most of my worldly belongings into a 6X6 U-Haul trailer, hitched it to the back of my 1985 Dodge 600 convertable, and got on I-90 and headed east.
Now and then, I like to reflect on how my life has changed since I make that move.
When I set out, I had grand plans to go back to school and study Engineering. Today, I am a Systems Engineer for a top-five investment bank.
My main goal was to settle down, stop partying, and find a real life somewhere. Today, I am married to a wonderful woman, I have a house in the 'burbs and two minivans, and three kids. I'm about as settled down as I think I can get!
I'm not sure exactly what date is the twenty year anniversary of my departure from Seattle, or arrival in Chicago, but it is sometime this month. Right after I arrived in Chicago, I did my first trip "up north" to Camelot. Well, unfortunately that's one thing that's changed for the worst - the residents of Adams County (and namely Rome) gave us campers the bums rush, but to celebrate my first trip "up north", today we're all going to Wisconsin Dells for three days. We'll be back Wednesday, July 4.
Then I'll resume my Disney postings. See you then!