Me vs. Scotland Video - Part #1 - 4

Creator of Review the World Brian H. journeys from small town Hamilton, Ohio to Scotland with his friend Steve S. A multi-part travelogue detailing the trip with authenticity and fun.

(As of 2013 parts #5-7 have not and will not be posted currently.  Thank you.)

Hamilton to Hollywood

Back in 2003 my friend Nick and I ventured to Hollywood, California from Hamilton, Ohio.  At the time I was working three jobs simultaneously, saving cash for our journey and, post-high school, completely unsure of what I was going to do with my life.  We took Greyhound buses across the country, exploring new places and meeting interesting people along the way.  Now, almost seven years later, it’s amazing to look back at our adventure and fondly remember the experiences we shared.

Hamilton to Hollywood #34 

Hamilton to Hollywood #33 

Hamilton to Hollywood #32 

Hamilton to Hollywood #31 

Hamilton to Hollywood #30 

Hamilton to Hollywood #29 

Hamilton to Hollywood #28 

Hamilton to Hollywood #27 

Hamilton to Hollywood #26 

Hamilton to Hollywood #25 

Hamilton to Hollywood #24 

Hamilton to Hollywood #23 

Hamilton to Hollywood #22 

Hamilton to Hollywood #21 

Hamilton to Hollywood #20 

Hamilton to Hollywood #19 

Hamilton to Hollywood #18 

Hamilton to Hollywood #17 

Hamilton to Hollywood #16 

Hamilton to Hollywood #15 

Hamilton to Hollywood #14

Hamilton to Hollywood #13 

Hamilton to Hollywood #12 

Hamilton to Hollywood #11 

Hamilton to Hollywood #10 

Hamilton to Hollywood #9 

Hamilton to Hollywood #8 

Hamilton to Hollywood #7 

Hamilton to Hollywood #6 

Hamilton to Hollywood #5 

Hamilton to Hollywood #4 

Hamilton to Hollywood #3 

Hamilton to Hollywood #2 

Hamilton to Hollywood #1 

Gatlinburg, TN Roadtrip - June 2001

This is something else.  Part of the appeal to me of keeping this blog going, amid insurmountable debt, depleting free time, college workload, etc. is the opportunity to immortalize things.  Sure, generally they’re banal and of not much interest to the general public, but it feels inexplicably good to put pieces of myself, my past, out there for the world to bare witness to.  My landmark article 25 Years of Me is both a fan favorite and personal accomplishment for me.  Now, I’m too young to start thinking of my legacy yet, not the type to thumb through tombs in decrepit old libraries pondering what will be thought of me long after my time has expired here on earth; but, while Review the World still has a heartbeat I plan on continuing sharing of myself honestly and genuinely because that’s what this project is all about.

So, let’s talk about Gatlinburg, shall we?  Back in June of 2001, my then girlfriend Molly, friends Steve and Didge (short for 7 Digits—it’s a long story) took a trip there for a getaway weekend.  Now, first and foremost, I need to warn those who brave the videos below, these were shot for our own amusement and preservation, never were they intended to be shared, especially en masse, with the entire world.  Watching this home video back now—wow.  In the past eight years so much has changed.  The only one of the three that I still speak to is Steve, and had he not recently had a child with my cousin, speaking candidly we’d probably not talk all that much, either.  In the video, us guys, and embarrassingly myself predominantly, sometimes speak in a high-pitched shorthand vernacular that’s no so much colloquial speak but just damn annoying.  I apologize ahead of time but make no explanation here.  The video is as it was originally shot, frame for frame, as I took nothing out.

As I said, a lot has changed since then, for me, for all of us, but it’s a lot of fun, even if just momentarily, to drift back to a more simplistic time, when freedom seemed to be abundant, and the future was a big, beautiful mystery.

The first section has a lot of variety.  It starts out with my alarm blaring at 8:00AM as I shot the first second of footage before even leaving my bed.  Steve picks me up, and then we’re off, picking up Molly and later Didge.  We take care of some last minute things, drive through our hometown of Hamilton, OH, seeing a few interesting characters along the way.  The drive to Tennessee is captured including a pit stop for lunch.  The video ends with us arriving at our hotel, the Family Inn, in Pigeon Forge, TN.  We get lost trying to find our rooms.

Next, we hop a fence and take a swim in a restricted pool area.  Later, we take a drive down the strip in Gatlinburg to get our first glimpse of the city’s nightlife.  Lastly, and one of the more memorable incidents, I get a call from next door only to discover Steve had completely broken his bed.  Needless to say, he wasn’t too happy when I showed up with the camcorder laughing hysterically.

So, someone was sent to look at Steve’s shattered bed; in the meantime, we headed out for some late-night arcade action.  In some footage that best exemplifies our trip, you see us all playing different games, the highlight being Steve’s two battles with Uncle Fester and his electrifying challenge game, as well as an ancient old man peering over Steve’s shoulder in one of my favorite visuals.  The video ends with the morning of our second day, as I document the wildness of the previous night and we start off for another day of adventure.

The first-half of this part shows us just making our way from lunch to downtown Gatlinburg and exploring on foot.  The second-half was kind of a fun thrill for me, as, I essentially brought my camcorder with me on a free tour of the amazing Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum.  I’m not sure how it translates, especially to someone who has never been there, but for me, it was one of the trip highlights getting access and filming freely inside of there.

The fifth part has a lot of good stuff on it.  First, we set off to the World of Illusions.  Now, firsthand, this place was incredibly cheap and ridiculous, which is sort of charming in retrospect, but at the time, we walked through it making bad cracks and obscure inside jokes throughout the entire thing.  Next, we walk through some nearby stores, including one particularly dank grocery where I find a “packaged woman”.  Lastly, we meet, amuse, chat, and harass a guy working at the Hard Rock Café.  Oddly enough, several years later, I was back in the area and he was still working the door there.

This is probably the most odd portion of the video, as we took an alternate route back to our parked car and walked for what felt like eternity.  To distract myself I let the camera roll a lot of the way and documented our disgruntled journey.

We then played a scary amount of putt-putt (or miniature) golf.  There is one thing you need to see, the rest, well, skip it unless you’ve got an inordinate amount of time on your hands.  What is it?  I got a fucking hole in one on my very first swing on the first hole!  Now that I could watch all day…

Yes, I’m afraid so, more from the same long, arduous game of miniature golf.  Now, don’t get me wrong, it was a blast when it was actually transpiring.  But, if you sit through this whole thing, well, you’ll earn yourself some sort of ribbon of RtW super fan legitimacy.

The last portion shows the epic (well not really) finale to the miniature golf game.  It also shows Steve and Didge braving skydiving of sorts.  Lastly, we say our goodbyes to our seedy lodgings, hit one last arcade for some farewell gaming, and hit the road back to Ohio.

Our Magical Days at Disney

This is Brian from Review the World! My wife, Amanda, put together her first edited video and I wanted to share it with everybody:

"This video is a collection of bits and pieces of our Disney trips. My husband and I are big fans and we go every year."

Trip to Gatlinburg Videos

Trip to Gatlinburg Update #1 

Trip to Gatlinburg Update #2 - Vending Machine Search 

Trip to Gatlinburg Update #3 - Swimming Pool Tour 

Trip to Gatlinburg Update #4 

Trip to Gatlinburg Update #5 

Trip to Gatlinburg Update #6 - Tossing a Horseshoe Crab 

Trip to Gatlinburg Update #7 - Guitar Solo at KB Toys

International Drink Reviews at Club Cool

Located inside Walt Disney World’s Epcot, Club Cool (sponsored by beverage behemoth Coca-Cola) is an awesome little overlooked attraction that allows park guests the complimentary opportunity to sample beverages from around the world.  I’ve visited every time on each of my visits to Florida, as it’s a nice getaway to cool off, as well as try unique drinks you can’t find in your own country, let alone the local supermarket!

There’s turnstiles set up with several soda fountains on each, as well as cup dispensers so you can try as many and as much as you desire.  There’s usually a handful of people browsing or sipping away contentedly, but I’ve never encountered anything resembling an actual line formed.

There’s many different drinks to try, ranging from the weird (Japan’s VegitaBeta) to wonderful (Mexico’s Lift Apple).  On this particular visit, and for the purposes of my video review, I tried an old favorite from past visits (a coke/orange hybrid titled Mezzo Mix from Germany) and a brand new flavor I’d never seen (Smart Watermelon from China).

Watch above as I sample and critique two beverages at Coca-Cola’s awesome Club Cool.

The Search for Cherry Coke

I’m a huge Cherry Coke fan—always have been and probably will forever be.  But, the suits at Coke took my beloved beverage in a new direction in late 2005.  Ditching the old, iconic name for the more streamlined Coca-Cola Cherry.  Granted, it still tastes the same, however, the new marketing campaigns, logo, and overall design aren’t blowing my skirt up.  Sure, some design major came up with a fresh take on a contemporary new look, and while the new purple-heavy design is admittedly sleek and snazzy, it’s just not the same.  What hurts the most is the name change, as Coca-Cola Cherry doesn’t have the same ring or nostalgic edge built-in like Cherry Coke.

While down at Walt Disney World last month I thought I’d found what I felt was taken away so cruelly from me… honest to goodness Cherry Coke!

Watch the video and join me on an adventure as I try to hunt down the elusive last remnants of Cherry Coke.

Lotus Blossom Cafe (Epcot)

Epcot, like the other Disney parks, has lots of dining choices.  Epcot hosts the World Showcase, too; meaning there’s food from 11 different countries available so narrowing down a choice isn’t always easy.  One key thing to keep in mind is that there are essentially three types of places to get food.  The first category is small kiosks and stands, where you can get a quick bite to eat, the second category is your more reasonably priced sit-down restaurants, some using the cafeteria line method showcased in a few of my earlier Disney restaurant reviews, and then lastly, the nicer higher-priced upscale dining establishments.   Lotus Blossom Cafe falls into the second category, and is right nearby Nine Dragons, one of the aforementioned expensive places.  Lotus’ menu contains only a handful of items and is ideal for lunch or to get some fuel to keep your park trekking energy up.

We went to Lotus Blossom Cafe on our first Disney visit in ’06.  The pictures above are from our first trip.  The food was uniformly good, and in comparison to other, less expensive eateries the character of the food, people, and atmosphere here was more than enough to make it one of the only restaurants we made a return visit to on our second trip.

This time we both opted to get the Orange Chicken with steamed rice.  We had dinner reservations later that night and figured this would be a fun, quality lunch.  Chinese food has been bastardized by shopping malls and culturally plundered, but still in America, you can find both good and bad examples of it.  As far as mall and similar fare goes, Lotus’ Orange Chicken would rank up near the best that I’ve ever had.  It’s not fancy but rather simple and straightforward, but the taste is incredible, and the texture of the crispy chicken, thick, sweet sauce, and rice is unbelievably satisfying.

We tried what I believe they referred to as a “Choco Bubble Drink”, hoping it’d be similar to the boba tea phenomenon we’d recently been introduced to.  For the uninitiated, boba is generally little black round balls of tapioca that have a chewy texture, and are put in the bottom of tea and other beverages.  So, when you’re drinking, you’ll occasionally suck up a couple through your straw.  Writing it out sounds rather ridiculous, but when done correctly, it can be fun and quite addicting.  This beverage however was a pale imitation.  It tasted like generic chocolate milk, with crushed ice, and thin, rubbery square pieces that were their answer to boba.

A few small birds joined us for lunch.  I don’t think the employees were real thrilled we were feeding them bits of rice, but how could we refuse such delicate, beautiful creatures?

In closing, I really do enjoy Lotus Blossom Cafe.  I’ve been there twice, and next time I’m in Orlando, I’ll definitely be there again.  If there were a franchise of these and one was within driving distance, I’d make the trip regularly.  But, being that this is the only one, gives it so much more charm.  It’s located right in the heart of the China section of World Showcase, and really one of the best lunch options in all of Epcot.

Overall Grade: B+ 

Portobello Yacht Club (Downtown Disney)

So, I’ll be honest, forthright, and just get this right out of the way – this was the only negative dining experience we had while spending a week in Orlando.  Incidentally, our original agenda didn’t even include this restaurant; Amanda’s a fan of Italian, so upon checking in at our resort, I snagged us two reservations for dinner later that night.

It’d been a long day for sure, with the traveling, settling in at the resort, and some theme park action of course.  So, when it was finally time to eat that night, we were famished and ravenously hungry.  This was to be our first official Disney meal.

We ordered an appetizer, opting to try the fried calamari.  While not the best plate I’ve ever had, these milk-marinated tender rings of crispy fried calamari still managed to be a scrumptious way to start our dinner.  With some freshly squeezed lemon juice and homemade marinara to add to the equation, this was a flavorful and fun appetizer.

I can’t be quite sure, but I believe the drink I ordered, on the left, was called a Bibita Modo Tuo.  I choose the raspberry version.  Sadly, I was rather unimpressed; it tasted exactly like Kool-Aid with some puréed ice in it.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Kool-Aid at home, but when I’m shelling out cash for a specialty drink, I’m expecting a little more.  Amanda got a Illy Espresso martini.  It was made with some quality items, including chilled Illy Espresso shaken with Godiva Dark Chocolate liqueur, Frangelico liqueur and Licor.  But, for $8.95, it was a bit of a letdown, as upon both of us tasting it, we agreed we’d had better martinis elsewhere before.

But, in the bread accompaniment category, I’d have to rank this lovely loaf above most Italian restaurant fare.  We had no idea at first what that object is on the far right, but discovered upon a test taste it to be garlic.  It was nice to have both butter and garlic, so you could be as zesty as your heart desired.

Here we are awaiting our entrees.  The place’s décor is moderately appealing, but it’s way too bustling and loud inside if you’re anticipating a quiet, romantic Italian dinner

This is where things took a turn for the worse for me.  I ordered the veal scallopini.  Damn me, and my adventurous palate!  I’d had veal a couple times back home in Ohio, and had never been impressed.  I was hoping here, in an allegedly nicer establishment, I’d finally find my veal valentine.  Plus, it came with gnocchi, which are basically Italian dumplings, and are usually a gastronomical gift.  Something about this dish just didn’t gel, though; be it the tough and relatively flavorless veal, the uninspired “sauce” that it bathed in, or something else entirely.  I regretted not going with something safer, that I’d likely have enjoyed a lot more, like Eggplant Rollatini or Grouper Carciofi.

Upon examining their current menu now, I don’t see this dish, which Amanda selected, currently being served.  I don’t recall the exact name, but it was similar to a shrimp scampi and pasta hybrid.  While the bite I had wasn’t bad, Amanda wasn’t terribly excited by this entrée; still, it easily put mine to shame.

Overall, our experience wasn’t very favorable.  Upon leaving the restaurant, a Disney employee of some sort, who you can see clearly in the very first picture above, asked us to participate in a survey.  Questions were basic, like would you recommend this restaurant to others, etc. and we were perfectly honest when we said we just weren’t that impressed.  Could you have an amazing time here?  Surely.  I don’t think that’s beyond questioning.  Unfortunately, we just didn’t – and when there are so many extraordinary places to eat and experience nearby, I can’t see choosing this one as the best of options.

Overall Grade: C- 

ABC Commissary (Disney-MGM Studios)

Located at Disney-MGM Studios, the ABC Commissary is a recommendable eatery to grab lunch at.  The design definitely lends itself to the park’s theme, as it feels you’re eating at a catering mess hall on a soundstage in a studio somewhere.

This type of set-up is used by several eateries at the different Disney World parks – it’s a pretty straightforward process, and rather painless, especially for those with a little patience.

The menu’s not very extensive, but offers up a decent selection of lunch options.  I went with an ABC Special Cheeseburger (their terminology, not mine) and fries.  Now, generally speaking, a hamburger and fries is a fairly safe dish to order anywhere.  Occasionally, like this time, you’ll be surprised; as, a familiar dish can sometimes taste better than ever.  Needless to say, I really enjoyed my lunch.  The bun was ample, the lettuce fresh, and the burger hearty.  I was glad that unlike several other eateries on the cheaper end of the spectrum, ABC Commissary didn’t serve McDonald’s fries.  I much preferred this variety, as they are bigger, and texturally superior.

Amanda got a Cuban sandwich with black bean salad.  Amanda is pretty particular about what she likes and doesn’t like, so for what I suspected to be a decent yet unmemorable lunch, I was surprised that she really enjoyed her meal as well.  I thought the black bean salad was a unique side dish, one that I was glad to see offered, and had a very pleasing taste.

Here’s Amanda getting ready to take her first bite.

Here I am, cheesing out, getting ready to devour my lunch.  I really did enjoy this place.  As you can tell by my surroundings, amidst all the excitement elsewhere in the park, this place has a comforting calmness about it; or, at least it did on our visit there.  There are photos and memorabilia from past and present ABC television shows everywhere, too.  As far as a quick and inexpensive lunch goes, in the four Disney World parks, you’ll not likely find a better place than this.

Overall Grade: B+ 

Restaurantosaurus (Disney’s Animal Kingdom)

How exquisite to find delectable dining right alongside prehistoric pissers and dinosaur dig sites.  Disney’s Animal Kingdom, while being the biggest of the four Disney World parks, offers the least eating options.  If you want to grab some fossil fuels for you and your crew, but don’t want to spend too terribly much, consider stopping by Restaurantosaurus.

Inside is a hustling bustle of hungered humans craving their calories and carbonated beverages.  There’s nothing quite like ordering your lunch underneath the fossils of a pterodactyl.

Here’s Amanda picking up our order – this was a mid-day snack, so we planned to save some money and stomach space for later by sharing one meal.

Once away from the main ordering area, there’s a spot where you can personally garnish your gargantuan sandwich.  Don’t worry; you can be generous with the onions, nobody’s watching.

Our snack consisted of a vegetarian burger, McDonald’s fries with barbeque sauce, and Diet Coke with lemon.  The veggie burger was certainly edible, but still retained that particular panache that carefully crafted faux meat has.  But, the lady likes them, so I went along, and ate my ersatz burger.  The fries were your typical McDonald’s fare, slightly salty and made much more pleasant when dipped in tangy barbeque sauce.  While I don’t drink much diet soda when I’m at home, it became a companion on this trip; with prices so high, we usually opted to share beverages, and Diet Coke was an agreeable compromise.

There’s several scattered sections inside the restaurant to eat in, all decorated differently.  Ours was a small corridor, which went heavy on the archeology theme.  Overall, this was satisfying for the purposes it served, a quick meal to give us energy to continue exploring.  It’s a good spot to stop at for lunch, especially if you have kids, but definitely not a dinner destination.

Overall Grade: B- 

My Disney World Trip

This past May saw me take my second trip to the beautiful city of Orlando, Florida.  My fiancée Amanda and I were planning on a vacation to Spain.  Her passport was supposed to arrive in 10 weeks – it didn’t.  After a series of trials and tribulations, we made last-minute changes to our flights and reservations, and opted to visit Disney World instead.

Now, I’ve been to Disney World once prior – we went in March of ’06.  This piece isn’t a full-fledged review of any one particular thing, just a travelogue of sorts, full of randomness, and my memories in photographic and textual form.  I have done two mighty reviews of Disney theme parks prior, critiquing both Animal Kingdom and Disney-MGM Studios.  Without further adieu, let’s go to Orlando!

Here I am in Cincinnati’s overly expensive airport.  It’s customary, time permitting, for me to get some breakfast before a flight while watching planes takeoff.

If you ever see my on a plane, chances are, this’ll be the sight you’ll see – me sipping on ginger ale and reading a book.

When we arrived in our hotel room, this Mickey Mouse head constructed from towels was there to great us.

This is the picture that best shows our room.  We didn’t take many, though.  I don’t remember it this way, either, as it was never this clean again.  Souvenirs, luggage, and empty Coca-Cola Cherry bottles littered it within days.

Every morning before we started off on our day, Amanda took a picture of me outside our room’s door.  We were on the third floor and really liked our location.  There was actually a pond nearby, which you can see in the background, and I chilled at the railing several times throughout our stay to relax and reflect.

Disney owns all kinds of resorts, and this time, we opted to say at the Disney All-Star Sports Resort.  Granted, it wouldn’t have been our first pick, given more time and money, but it turned out being a lot better than either of us anticipated.

This is actually one of the lowest-tier resorts, too; that being said, I can only imagine what the most expensive ones are like.  There were different themes for different buildings.  We stayed in the tennis building.

This was sort of a centerpiece at the resort, and ideal for perfect touristy photos.

We were fortunate enough to be there for Epcot’s International Flower & Garden Festival.  There were over 70 topiaries around the park, which were Disney characters built using flora.

We weren’t sure if the margaritas at Epcot were actually alcoholic or not – we soon found out they hit harder than the Incredible Hulk.

Here I am with Sleepy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  Not only is Sleepy my favorite because he likes to snooze like none other, but he also sports the longest beard of all the dwarfs.

We strolled upon his performer, near the Italy section of Epcot’s World Showcase, early during our first day in Florida.  I believe this marked the official moment of realization that I was indeed on vacation.

There was an awesome exhibit in the Japan section showcasing all kinds of tin toys.  Highlighted above are Ultraman, Godzilla and friends, and Amanda posing beside a robotic pal.

I actually just randomly spotted this lizard and was fortunate enough to be able to get close and get an incredible picture of it.

After the aforementioned margarita, we zipped over to the France section, where we partook in a wine tasting.  Shortly after, I was a bit goofy and lightheaded, when I ran directly into Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Downtown Disney is a great place to take ridiculous photos at.  I think we took at least a dozen of us wearing silly hats alone.

This is the World of Disney store – the ultimate stop for Disney shopping on our entire planet.

Here we are about to enjoy the Kilimanjaro Safaris at Animal Kingdom.  It may appear that I’m making a cheesy face strictly for the camera, but I was genuinely that happy.

Here I am waxing philosophic with a goat about his species’ portrayal in contemporary cinema.

Pleasure Island is an area at Downtown Disney comprised of a bunch of different themed adult nightclubs.  We choose 8 Trax, a place that specializes in ‘70s and ‘80s hits.

After a few drinks, we let loose, and headed down to the dance floor.  They played all kinds of great stuff, like Whitney Houston, The Jackson 5, and Eddy Grant.

We caught a showing of Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage at Disney-MGM Studios.  It was one of the few attractions we missed the last time we visited.

Here’s the nefarious duo of Amanda and Captain Hook.

Here are two props from Wes Anderson’s brilliant film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

We took a drawing course and learned how to create Pluto.  Not pictured: Amanda’s superior drawing.

Nothing says exultant joy like a giant turkey leg and beer!

This photo depicts me as all smiles while waiting in line at one of Epcot’s coolest attractions Test Track.

The new and improved Three Caballeros.

New to Epcot this year is a ride titled The Seas with Nemo & Friends.  While not exactly groundbreaking, it’s still an enjoyable addition.

I like to think Snow White and Amanda were smiling at me because I’m a really great guy – but it was actually just because I was holding a camera.

Here’s Amanda admiring one of the Chinese zodiac animals.

The only thing I found more interesting than these amazing statues was a young Chinese man working there calling me “cute”.

Don’t make this Viking girl angry!

I almost bought this hat so I could wear it at really inappropriate times, like say, the opera or a funeral.

Yes, it’s true; Captain Jack Sparrow is now a part of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.

One of the most beautiful views we enjoyed in Orlando.

At DisneyQuest Interactive Indoor Theme Park, there are all kinds of awesome things to do.  But, for my money, one of the coolest features is that besides virtual reality experiences and contemporary favorites, there’s a section solely dedicated to classic games where I spent tons of time.

One night while venturing around Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney, we decided to stay out late, and check out some improvisational comedy at Comedy Warehouse.

Needless to say, before the doors opened, I got smashed on mixed drinks.  My favorite, the bright green one, was titled Funmeister and I had several of them throughout our stay.

What trip to Disney World could be complete without a picture in front of Cinderella Castle?

Last year when we visited Magic Kingdom we didn’t check out Tom Sawyer Island.  So, we give it a shot this time, and it was definitely worth it.  There are trails, swinging suspension bridges, and mysterious caves to explore.

Here I am recreating one of my childhood fantasies in homage to the terrific animated film The Sword in the Stone.

At some point during our stay, Amanda was magically, and thankfully temporarily, transformed into a cat.

The last time we visited Disney World we totally skimped on souvenirs.  So, this time, we bought all kinds of stuff to bring back home.  My favorite find, and something I’ll surely be wearing around campus when it gets cooler, is this Disney World hooded sweatshirt.  The back has a large collage featuring characters and attractions from all four Disney theme parks.

Like I said above, if timing allows, definitely try to visit Epcot during their yearly International Flower & Garden Festival, because some of the things you’ll see are simply breathtaking.

I love Jim Henson’s Muppets, and here I am, posing with Sweetums and Kermit the Frog.

My favorite band The Rocket Summer was coincidently playing a show at House of Blues in Downtown Disney while I was in Orlando.  Unfortunately, when I went to get tickets, it was sold out.  Thus, as shown above, I was relegated to sitting behind the venue, settling for listening from outside.

Amanda sent me this from a kiosk while I was occupied playing the Wii.

These photos were actually taken by Disney, giving a glimpse of our aftermath after riding Crush ‘n’ Gusher at Typhoon Lagoon.

This final photo was taken at Orlando’s airport very early in the morning on our final day in Florida.  I’m holding a Caramel Frappuccino from Starbucks, and for some strange reason, a discarded piece of flimsy faux egg.

We took a couple hundred more photos, but I think the ones selected give a sufficient glimpse into our vacation.  A little over a year ago I had never been to Disney World – now I’ve been twice in 14 months.  It’s really a great place; the fun comes effortlessly, and I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather blow copious amounts of cash.  We told each other that we wouldn’t return for many years until we had a kid of our own to bring along with us.  But, we can’t fool ourselves; we’ll probably be back a lot sooner than planned.