On day 6 of our trip, we went to Six Flags Hurricane Habor, a water park owned by Six Flags but (in Texas) separate from the main park. This was fine with us, because we only wanted to go to the water park and we paid less to get into HH than we would have for a full Six Flags admission.
All Texas vacation pictures have been posted here. One note: there are two pages of indexes; be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "last" to see more albums after you've looked at all the albums on the first page.
So what is "Slop Line BBQ"?
You enter. You grab a tray. You ask for your food: BBQ of course, it's usually either Pork, Beef (brisket), Turkey, or sausages. "The Guy" slices off what you want, puts it on a plate, and you move on. Then you pick your sides.
A NOTE ABOUT SIDES
You shouldn't have to go through a line to get sides. THe BBQ should be good enough, that the sides are just a... hmm, second thought? Dunno, but certainly the "slop line" should not justify the good or bad BBQ that the establishment serves. Unfortunately, in most cases, it does (or at least, they hope it does.)
THE FINAL ANALYSIS
Everyone who we asked for suggestions always said we should try the local slop line BBQ house. We usually did, and we were always disappointed. The BBQ is the key, and the slop line restaurants are more interested in providing a variety of sides than a great BBQ experience. The table service restaraunts were much better, provided better BBQ, and delivered whatever sides you wanted to your table anyway.
On our stopover in Springfield, MO we inquired as to the best place to eat some good MO BBQ. We were initially referred to "Buckinghams" - a slop-line BBQ joint (I'll explain what that means later) that the hotel staff rated "the best BBQ in MO". But we wanted a table-service restaurant. So we went to Rib Crib in Springfield. We were not disappointed.
On our recent trip, we had our choice of BBQ restaurants along the road and by far the best was a MO chain called Rib Crib. The sliced brisket was absolutely perfect: slightly red in the middle with plenty of smoke flavor and a nice crust on the outside.
Their sauce was absolutely to die for. Both the mild and the hot had the appropriate mix of flavors, smoke, and heat to keep your lips burning with that "I want to remember this dinner for hours" flavor, whether you are a BBQ veteran or a newbie.
The service was great, and I tipped our server well. I hope to find a Rib Crib near us (even if I have to drive four hours to St. Louis) soon, so we can enjoy it all over again. I strongly recommend Rib Crib for anyone who wants to try authentic southern BBQ for the first time, or veterans like me.
Now before I start my review of the Holiday Inn Express in Lewisville, Texas let me say that despite one problem we had, which was resolved, the hotel was "as expected" and it was a great stay.
The full review after the jump.
Continue reading "Holiday Inn Express Lewisville TX Hotel Review" »
We made it home, the kids are in school now, and I have a lot of work to do!
I'll catch up posting about days 6 through 10, however here are some statistics from the Humphries-Dolnick Summer Vacation 2008:
Here are a couple of funny pictures from the road.
First, "and you thought you paid a lot for gas"
And this one: Lord Vader.
Well we made it. Day 3 (Monday) was a driving day that took us through the rest of MO, then Oklahoma and into Texas. Several times signs along the freeway in Oklahoma warned us not to "drive into smoke", but none was seen so we're safe. 
Yesterday, day 4, Tuesday - we got together with Morgan, Aaron's best friend from school who moved to Keller Texas (near Fort Worth) last year. Finding this place in the boondocks was interesting, but then we went to a place called "Main Event" near our hotel which has laser tag, games, glow-in-the-dark mini golf, and of course Pizza. A good time was had by all. After that, we drove to my cousin Lisa's house in Coppell and hung out for the evening.
Today we got together with Lisa and Rory again and went to see Clone Wars. That brings us up to now, we're resting up and getting ready to go swimming. Ah, rest. Soon the whole Humphries clan will be here and it will be just a sweet memory. 
Some preliminary pictures are up here. The pictures in a playground are from the Limestone (Illinois) rest stop near Normal, where we also stopped off at the beginning of the summer on our trip to Normal for the Special Olympics. Yeah, I still owe you pictures for that one too. For those of you joining us in Dallas this week, we'll see you soon.
We're staying at the Holiday Inn in Springfield, MO near Branson.
Upon check-in, the hotel staff were friendly and very quick. We have a family suite on the 2nd floor, and our room is very clean and well maintained. There is a large room with two beds and a tube TV, plus the only bathroom (but with a whirlpool tub) and separate room with toilet and shower. Unlike other Holiday Inn "family suites", they actually expect a family to stay here - and provide enough towels for everyone.
The small-ish separate room for the parents has one "king" bed, although I've never trusted the bed sizes anyone quotes -- this one is definately more like a queen, and the two "queens" in the other room are more like double beds. But hey, I'm used to that. There's a microwave, fridge, and sink in the parents room. The only complaint I have about the room is that there is not enough light - a couple of lamps but you can't see in the closet at night, even with all the lights on.
We really need a pool when we travel. The kids are very good about travelling, but they do end up sitting in the car six to eight hours per day, and they need this to burn off some energy. This hotel has a pool and Jaccuzzi, although the Jaccuzzi is pretty lame. It's very small - OK, I can live with that, but the jets aren't very powerfull and the water is lukewarm at best. They need to warm up the Jaccuzzi a bit. Fortunately, I have a whirlpool in my room, so I can sit in a proper soak after driving all day.
The restaurant is OK ... the greeter sort of ignored our kids, who were very excited to try to talk to her. The waitress was better. The food was standard Holiday Inn fare - nothing great but not bad - and was served promptly and hot. They made a big deal about having to "check" on whether we were guests, in order to give us our discount (kids eat free!)
Overall I like the hotel and might stay here again, although I would first look around for a hotel with a better Jaccuzzi .
Here's a link to a Google map of what were we've been over the last two days:
It's about 11 PM on day two of our big summer vacation. Yesterday was just a drive day, we went about 530 miles from Chicago to Springfield MO in about 11 or 12 hours with plenty of stopovers. Now we're watching the Olympics before we go to bed, ready to make the trek from here to Dallas in about seven hours of driving (ten with stopovers).
Today we went to Branson, which is about 45 minutes south of Springfield. For those from Illinois, Branson is a lot like Wisconsin Dells. There is a main strip, and a lot of family activities. The main differences I noticed:
Aside from that, we're loving the food and swimming a lot. Aaron has developed quite a taste for southern food, especially BBQ. He is really going to love it in Texas. Well, at least I hope that Dallas has good BBQ.
Now it's time for bed. I'll post more later, and maybe some pictures will come soon too.
Oh, speaking of which, I owe you readers some pictures from the Special Olympics (last June) and the Bears game we recently went to (late July). As soon as we get back home :).
As I said, we went to Stevens Point and Rome, Wisconsin for our 4th of July vacation. We stayed at a hotel because as you may or may not remember, the chumps in the Town of Rome kicked us campers out two years ago. Ironically, that decision was overturned by an appellate court this year. But too late, we've already sold our camper.
Anyway, the Anderson's hung on to their property, so we stayed there during the day and went to our hotel in Steven Point in the evenings. During the day, it was swimming on the beach and of course the kids collecting up as much dirt as possible.
Pictures HERE.
Besides our late summer trip to Texas, we have a weekend trip to Normal, Illinois. Justin and Ethan have been invited to participate in the Special Olympics Summer Games at Illinois State University. We're going for a weekend in mid-June.
Of course, what would any trip be without a Google Map? And the hotel... and pictures, after we return.
We're going to Dallas, Texas in mid-August for our family vacation. I've just planned out the route and hotels, so as usual I will give my blog readers a look at our plans.
This is a Google Map of our outbound trip. It's split into two days, Chicago to Springfield, MO and then Springfield to Dallas. While staying over in Springfield, we'll stay at the Holiday Inn & Suites. It's near Branson, so we're staying over an extra day and might go check out some funky music. Once we arrive in Dallas, we'll stay at a Holiday Inn Express near my cousin's house.
On the way home, we'll take basically the same route home, but keep going through Springfield and stop over for our first night at a Holiday Inn in Lebanon, MO. Then it's the final leg back to Chicago.
During my last visit to Zurich, I took a day excursion to Jungfraujoch, the highest point in the Swiss Alps, also called "Top of Europe". From roughly 11,700 feet you can see ... well, more Alps. But it is a beautiful trip up the mountain by cogwheel train, with picturesque views of the Swiss countryside and mountains. On the way, we stopped over in Lucerne and Interlaken. The pictures are HERE; unfortunately I don't have time right now to explain them all but it's basically - pictures of Interlaken on the way up (that's where you'll find Hooters), and then pictures of the mountain itself.
Enjoy!
During my recent travels to Zurich, I took a walking tour and during the tour I saw this:
For those of you who can't read it, the full-size picture is here.
For those of you who can't read German, it basically says that Lenin, the leader of the Russian Revolution, lived in this apartment.
Interesting, huh? So what does that have with Swiss Banking Law?
Well, see,when Lenin left exile in Switzerland at this apartment to go back to Russia and overthrow the Tzar, he took all his money out of his Swiss bank account... all except CHF8 (eight Swiss Francs).
And there it remains, to this day, in his name, until a decendant of Lenin claims it.
I've blogged about the amazing mass transit system in Zurich before... the most amazing part is that it is (A) extremely comprehensive, and covers all of the city, and (B) runs almost completely on the honor system. There are ticket booths everywhere, and you're expected to be in posession of a valid ticket at all times during your journey, but there are no turnstyles or "man traps" to go through to get on a tram.
Equally amazing are the warnings they give you about proper conduct on a tram. For instance, let's take a look at this sign:
Now many of my friends do speak German as their native language, but for those of you who don't, there are helpfull pictures to guide you through proper tram-riding etiquette. Let's take a closer look, shall we?
OK that's easy, no smoking. Except, really what this picture is saying is, "If you must smoke, don't blow it directly at the head of the person in front of you."
OK here's where it gets a little harder. Is this the international symbol for "No poor people"? Sure, you say "no fareless cheapskates should ride", but all I see is a poor guy trying to get by on pocket lint, and he's being denied boarding.
Umm, OK, so, uh, like, no pickin'-and-grinnin' allowed on the trams. capiche? Mariache band members will be summarily removed.
Here's my favorite:
By all means, do NOT under any circumstances, saw on the trams. Saw-ers have a special place in Zurich prisons. Your sawing days are numbered, kimosabe. Take you and your saw somewhere else.
Well, anyway, these signs sure seemed a lot funnier after I drank this and took a tram back to my hotel.
During my recent trip to Zurich, I went to the Zoo and visited Masoala, the simulated Madagascar Rainforest area. This is an indoor area that has been cultivated and primed with everything except insect life from a Madagascar ecosystem. Most of the animals came from other Zoos, so they are not truly wild - but still, very authentic.
The pictures are here. Mostly you'll see plant life and many attempts to capture Lemurs without a flash. That first picture is actually of the largest clock face in Europe, and is not actually in the Zoo, it got mis-organized with my Zoo pics and it wasn't worth moving it again. The second picture is a street scene near Fraumunster, again not Zoo, so sue me. The rest are pictures from the Zoo, I promise! :)
I spent a little over a week in Zurich on a business trip at the end of August. Pictures are HERE, and this is what you'll see:
I stayed at "Du Theatre" for a recent business trip. This hotel is located centrally in Zurich, very convenient to the main train station and other "downtown Zurich" hotspots, including a LOT of shopping and restaurants right outside the hotel doors. This is a good thing, and a bad thing because all those restaurants are also bars and they stay open late and make a lot of noise. I had a room facing the pedestrian streets of downtown Zurich, and with the window open it was quite noisy.
Which brings us to our problem. The Hotel does not have air conditioning. This is fairly common in Europe as well as Switzerland, for hotels that don't cater to Americans. But when the temps get up to 85-90 degrees F in the summer, I can't imagine that even hardened Europeans are comfortable. So you open the window. And then you hear the noise. So you close the window, and hope for the best.
The breakfast floor has a small buffet Swiss-style breakfast of cereal, fresh sliced meats and cheeses, hard boiled eggs, and of course coffee. If you like coffee, you will really like Zurich. If you must drink decaf, good luck. But if you can handle a cup of espresso that is equivalent to five American cups of coffee, you will do well here. Everyone does business over coffee, and you can easily get a huge caf buz going by dinnertime.
Which is why there are so many great bears in Switzerland. To offset all that coffee :).
Anyway, back to the hotel. Great service, OK breakfast, no lounge or restaurant (not that you need one, with all the bars and restaurants right outside the door) and no A/C. Small rooms, but that's OK for Biz travellers.
The kicker? It's about 25% cheaper than most Zurich American-style hotels. For a business traveler, this is a great deal on a no-frills hotel that puts you in the heart of the city. For a leisure traveler used to "European-style" hotels, it would also be good. For an American family taking a European jaunt, I'd skip the "Du Theatre".
First order of business: Post number 200! W00t!
We stayed at the Stevens Point Holiday Inn in Stevens Point, Wisconsin over the Labor Day weekend. We needed to go "up north" to have our boat serviced after over a year in storage. I have the scumbags at the Village of Rome Town Hall to thank for that, since they gave campers the bums rush last year. Oh well, we can take our vacation money elsewhere.
Anyway, the hotel was as close to perfect as I think I'll get. The check in was flawless, and I was given a "snack bag" on check-in that included and apple, a juice drink, and a cereal bar. The room was exactly as we expected (King Family Suite) with a King bed, and a bunk bed in a separate room for the kids. Everything worked and was well maintained.
The "waterpark" is barely that, but then it's certainly much more than a pool you might expect at a Holiday Inn. There's one medium sized waterslide and a small waterslide for the tots. The medium waterslide was fun for Aaron, our ten-year-old. They had two "pools", a zero-depth affair with the tot water slide, and an adjacent pool with built in water basketball courts. The Jacuzzi was at a comfortable temp and good working order. It's not a waterpark for older kids or fearless adults, but for young kids and going into it with the expectation of a "pool", it's not bad.
The restaurant, Rudy's Redeye Grill, was almost perfect and was the only disappointing experience that would have otherwise earned this hotel an MHD "Perfect" rating. The full text of our restaurant experience is after the jump.
Overall, I would still stay at this hotel again - well worth the money. I would be wary of the restaurant staff, and not let them get away with their obvious staff problems. We ended up eating one meal free because of the attrocious service. But I still rate this hotel very high, when you happen to find yourself in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
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!
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.
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:
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.
Day 1 we checked out of the Nick Hotel and made our way over to the Port Orleans Riverside so that we could get our park tickets. Sometimes your room is ready early, and if so you can check in and even dump your luggage before you go, which is what we did. So we got to Disney Sutdios a little after opening, but our touring plan was already severely limited based on the rides we wanted to take.
We ended up taking everything we wanted, including the new Lights, Motors, Action! stunt show. Thi s was a great show, with a large stage that a bunch of smallish cars did jumps and other stunts.
Later in the day, it started raining. Soon, it was a heavy downpour that wouldn't stop. Undeterred, we moved on donning our ponchos. We became wetter and wetter, but the forecast had called for the showers to come and go, so we kept moving.
After dinner at Hollywood and Vine, we had a couple hours to kill before our Priority Seating at Fantasmic! It was still raining, so we took in shows and did some shopping until then. It was still raining when Fantasmic opened for seating, and asking a few Disney CMs didn't yield any sort of plan as to whether we should skip it or not. So we went to our PS entrance, they let us in, and we went to sit. We sat for 45 minutes, in the pouring rain with our ponchos on. Justin was so tired, he fell asleep. On an aluminum bench. In the rain, with a poncho on. And when he fell asleep, he fell forward, and landed on the ground. In a large puddle of water. And then, he woke up. Really mad.
Shortly after that, we heard an inaudible announcement, and the lights went down and some fireworks started. A few people stood up and left, which we thought was odd, considering we had all been waiting an hour in the rain. Turns out this was the "consolation show" that they put on when inclement whether cancels their regular show... about 15 minutes of fireworks. I'm sure the kids thought we were stupid for waiting 45 minutes in the rain for that. But hey, it's vacation.
So we went home, soaked to the bones, and when we got to our room - for the only time during our entire vacation - we turned the room's heater on. And then, we went to bed.
Like our first stop, our last stop was a no-surprises Holiday Inn Express with everything we expected. A clean room with the bed layout we can fit in, an indoor pool, and a respectable free breakfast. This Holiday Inn, in a little town in Southern Indiana near the Kentucky border, fits the bill and we would return again. The only issues, which did not detract from our stay were:
Otherwise, this was great. Keep it up!
This is my last hotel review. Next, I'm going to post some stories about our trip, and that will wrap up the Disney portion of our Family Vacation 2007 blog.
Coming up next: Wisconsin Dells :)