10 Things That Will Help You Survive a Walt Disney World Vacation

My wife and I have just recently returned to the "real world" after having spent a week at the All-Star Sports Resort at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. It was a fantastic trip - a truly magical combination of experiences and happenings that we're both incredibly happy and humbled to have been able to take part in. This was our second trip to the House that the Mouse built (as a couple, that is) and by now we consider ourselves to be seasoned veterans when it comes to being a guest therein. We know the ins & outs of what there is to be had and, what's more, I'd like to think that we know how to make the best of any situation we might encounter.

I bring that last bit up because of the fact that one of the prevailing memories I have from this particular trek are the folks we saw who did not look like they were having a good time at all. (In my opinion, not having fun is a difficult thing to do around those parts - I sincerely believe that if you're having a bad time at Disney you're probably the one to blame.) From the sourpuss expressions to children screaming in disagreement, from grown-ups arguing with each other to kids in strollers being unwittingly used as battering rams to get through crowds, my wife and I have pretty well seen the worst of what being at Disney World can bring out in people. To be quite honest, it's kind of scary. Case in point, we witnessed a family squabble over how a check for a meal would be divvied up while having dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom and we also saw a couple get into a physical altercation while at Epcot Center.

Walt Disney World, despite all its beauty and grand assemblage, can be trying on a person's constitution. On any given day you're likely to be dealing with massive crowds, humid weather, transit issues, and ride queues with waits so long that you could conceivably pass the time by catching up on episodes of your favorite TV shows.

That said, instead of putting together a recap of our vacation in blog form (which I sort of did last year after our first Walt Disney World vacation - click here for that entry, then skip down to the section titled "Walt Disney World is Awesome") I thought I would do my best to share some tips with you, dear reader, on how you can best make your way through time spent in "the happiest place on Earth" without developing a sincere desire to commit an act of violence upon a member of your own family.

10) Bring Only What You Need To Survive

If you get the reference, give yourself 10 points and a gold star for the day

With this, I'm talking about stuff but I'm relating the point to two environments. The first is what you bring with you on vacation in general. Clothes, toiletries, medication - essential items necessary for each of us to function from one day to the next. The second and arguably more important point is what you bring with you when you go to the theme parks.

Almost every group or family that comes into the theme parks has at least one individual burdened with carrying a backpack of some variety. Bringing a backpack is a great idea. You can keep all your stuff together in one neat and fashionable package. However, problems arise when people bring more than what they need.

Don't bring your iPhone, your iPad, your biggest, thickest jacket, 3 pairs of flip flops, 9 bags of chips, a copy of War & Peace, and a 6 pack of Diet Dr. Pepper. Leave that crap at home - you're going to the Magic Kingdom, not on an aid mission to Haiti, for crying out loud. Along these same lines, I'll point out that any bag brought into the theme parks is subject to inspection prior to entry, meaning if you bring a bag expect it to be searched before you get so far as the ticket booth.

So what do you need? In the case of my wife and I, that's 2 bottles of water (you can bring in bottled water so long as it's sealed), our cameras, and a wallet. (Yes, we have our cell phones but we usually keep them in a pocket as you want to have quick access to it for photos and video or whenever the urgent need to tweet sets in.) That's a fairly light load, which isn't a bad thing because it means the person carrying the bag isn't going to be worn out from lugging it before lunch and it will also leave room to store any acquired baggage like purchases. Depending on the day and the park you're visiting, necessities might also include things like a change of clothes, a towel, rain gear, sun block, etc.

The bag also makes a difference. Your average backpack is great, but I would suggest something made from nylon as it's resistant to moisture and stains. We carry a Sitka Gearslinger made by Maxpedition - it's a great bag that's come in handy for a number of years.

9) Footwear is Your Friend

It's hot in Florida about 90% of the year. By "hot", I mean the temperature is at or above 85° and that's not even considering the sort of humidity you can expect to encounter which only exacerbates the situation. Sandals and flip-flops may sound like a good idea, however I would contend that they're actually a horrible choice if you're going to be spending your days pounding the pavement at the theme parks.

Running or cross training shoes are a great choice as they provide cushion and support. They also grant protection against things like rain (as well as other forms of moisture) and debris but also stroller strikes (more on strollers later) and sunburn. (Trust me when I say that you should consider yourself lucky if you've never had sunburn on your feet - it happened to me on our honeymoon!) Additionally, I will say that investing in good socks with padded soles can really do great things for your feet.

SIDE NOTE: I had the misfortune of coming down with what's referred to as golfer's vasculitis during our most recent trip. I include this here because golfer's vasculitis is a randomly occurring heat rash that typically affects the lower extremities of golfers but also commonly affects that of visitors to Walt Disney World. It happened to me the day we were at Epcot Center; I noticed the trademark red splotches and that my ankles were swelling. By the time we got back to our room, I'd begun to have chills. I was slightly worried about what was happening but as it turns out this is something you more or less just have to endure as it will eventually go away on its own.

8) Buses Be Crazy

My wife & I choose to stay on the Walt Disney World property at one of the resorts. One of the biggest benefits to doing this is the fact that you have free transportation to any of the Disney facilities provided to you in the form of a transit system of buses, boats, and monorails that will ferry you to and fro at no additional cost. You can literally park your car and not drive again for the entire duration of your stay (so long as you don't desire to leave the compound, as it were). Every morning we would look forward to boarding a bus near the lobby of our resort as we knew it wouldn't be long before we'd be at the front door of the park we'd be visiting that day. Each resort has its own designated bus stop with pick-up points for each of the theme parks; in turn, the theme parks have pick-up points for each of the resorts and, in some cases, certain of the other parks as well.

As great as the transportation services are, they are not without their share of quirks. The buses don't run on a schedule but there are enough of them in circulation that you can count on one showing up at a given pick-up/drop off point at least once every 20 minutes. That doesn't mean you're guaranteed a spot on said bus, though, as there are often situations during busier times where a bus will fill up. That said, we find that it's usually best practice to allow yourself a 30-45 minute window based on where you want to be and when for bus service.

The tricky aspect of Disney transportation is when you wind up having to transfer from your resort to a theme park in order to get to another resort. This happened to us this year on one evening in particular as we had dinner reservations for the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at Pioneer Hall in the Fort Wilderness Lodge. To get to Fort Wilderness we would first take a bus from our resort over to the Magic Kingdom, and from the Magic Kingdom we took a boat to Fort Wilderness. We thought we were going to have to take another bus but Pioneer Hall wound up being within walking distance of where the boat dropped us off. We made it to where we were going in time, but the point of this is to say that leaving early is a good idea because you never know when delays might crop up.

Believe me when I say that these buses will take on passengers until they are nearly bursting at the seams. The Disney buses are equipped with handrails that are intended to let patrons stand in the aisles safely while riding. I wound up standing quite a bit during our most recent trip; it's not that bad, although I will point out that these buses don't exactly stop on a dime. When the driver engages the brakes, you'd best be holding on tightly else you're going to wind up in someone's lap or on the floor.

If you get into a hurry, though, and you feel like you'd be best served by driving to wherever it is you're going on the grounds, as a resort guest you do receive complementary parking at each of the parks. The only issue here is the fact that you don't get any kind of preferential parking, meaning you might get to the park quicker but you might also wind up in a lot about a mile from the front gate.

7) Hygiene, Please

I can't think of a gentle lead-in to this comment. Some people stink and I don't know whether or not they realize it. Several times during our most recent trip we would be in amongst a crowd of people and I found myself overcome with the stench of body odor. I'm talking about the kind of funk that not even an entire can of Axe body spray could cover up.

Before I go further, I know there are medical conditions that can cause a person to give off an odor; I'm not talking to those individuals. There's a difference between having an ailment and having poor hygiene. This is to the people who either don't bathe or think they can get one more wear out of their favorite shirt even though they had it on when the rode the Khali River Rapids and that was 2 days ago. If you're staying in a Disney resort, there's no reason for you not to bathe with soap and shampoo at least once a day because every room gets stocked daily with plenty of both. Please do the rest of us a favor - give yourself the classic "pit sniff" test and if you get a whiff of something foul, take 10 minutes to scrub off the cheese before you forcibly introduce your musk to the rest of us.

6) Don't Be Normal

How often do you get a chance to cut loose these days? Chances are if you're a working stiff like most of us are, the answer is not nearly often enough.

That's one of the best parts about being on vacation, and on a Disney vacation it gets even better. Where else in the world is it okay for a grown man to wear a set of mouse ears? Or a baseball hat shaped like Pluto? Or to have their picture taken with characters like Buzz Lightyear and Mr. Incredible?

Vacation is about having fun and there are very few occasions in the real world to do the sort of things that being in Walt Disney World allow. Did you grow up adoring a certain character? Go out of your way to get to a character meeting involving them! (Trust me when I say that the characters do an amazing job of creating a unique, one-on-one encounter with everyone they meet.) Bring silly t-shirts, wear Crocs with socks every day, or something of the sort - take full advantage of the opportunity, in other words, because when you leave it's back to wearing the monkey suit (a phrase I use to affectionately refer to the sort of clothes I'm expected to wear to work).

5) "Value" is NOT Synonymous With "Cheap"

I think people have the opinion that taking a Walt Disney World vacation is only slightly less expensive than taking a trip to the moon. I don't know where this comes from because the truth of the matter is that we've been able to do it two years straight now and at a tremendous bargain.

I will be upfront in saying that the time of year you want to visit the Mouse will dictate greatly the kind of offers that are available for staying in the resorts. For example, we have gone the week of Veteran's Day for two reasons: 1) We both have Veteran's Day as one of our paid holidays, and 2) by booking that time of year we were able to get a package that included the cost of staying in the resort, theme park tickets, and a free dining plan. Yes, you read that last part right - a FREE dining plan.

For our trips, we've thus far opted to stay in what Disney refers to as their "value" resorts (we were in the Pop Century Resort last year and this year we were at the All-Star Sports Resort), which puts them at the bottom of the spectrum as they also offer "moderate" and "deluxe" accommodations. Trust me when I tell you that this is a great way to save money. Sure, you could opt for nicer digs, but the fact of the matter is that we are typically in our room long enough to sleep, bathe, and get dressed. (PRO-TIP: All hotel rooms look the same when your eyes are closed!) The rest of the time we're out and about enjoying our vacation. Why pay more for a higher-end room?

The view from our front door at the Touchdown building of Disney's All-Star Sports Resort

What's more, I don't find there to be that big of a difference between the moderate and value rooms, at least not the ones I've experienced. I stayed in the Coronado Springs resort in 2008 when I was attending a conference - it's a moderate resort and I could not tell you anything about that room which was superior to the ones we've had on our recent vacations. All the rooms I've seen have been spacious and equipped with all the necessary amenities (including refrigerators).

I mentioned the free dining plan. In selecting a value resort, the offer included a free dining plan featuring what Disney calls "quick service" meals, which is more or less their descriptor for fast food. (If we'd have selected a moderate or deluxe resort we'd have gotten what they call "table service" meals, which involves more traditional, sit-down and order style restaurants.) The plan gives each guest an allotment of meals and snacks; in this situation, we received 2 meals and 1 snack per day which was fine for us as we brought breakfast items like Pop Tarts with us and kept them in our room. Don't let that fool you, though. Just because it's fast food doesn't mean all you have to choose from is hamburgers and hot dogs (although you could conceivably get that). When we were at Epcot Center we had lunch at the Seasons restaurant that's located inside The Land pavilion. My wife had a bone-in, seared pork chop that was probably 1.5 inches thick smothered in a tomato barbeque sauce and served with garlic mashed potatoes. She also had her beverage and a strawberry shortcake desert. It was the kind of meal that would've cost you upwards of $20 in a steakhouse but it cost us absolutely nothing! That's just one example of the kind of food you can expect to encounter while at Disney.

This was my lunch at Be Our Guest - IT WAS FREE!

We had a 7-day reservation with a 5-day theme park ticket package. So how much did all this vacationing actually cost us?

Right at $1,300.

You can't get a hotel room for a week in most resort towns for that kind of money and yet we had our room, our park tickets, and we got fed. Also, since we booked in advance we were able to pay an initial deposit of $200 then we had up until 90 days prior to our vacation to pay off the balance. It takes some budgeting and planning, but the point of all this is to say that YES, you can take your family to Disney without breaking the bank!

4) Pace Yourself

Something that any seasoned Disney veteran will tell you as a beginner is that it's important to understand in advance just how much there is to do and see at any of the theme parks. There is so much more to these facilities than what one day will allow for, even with certain of them opening early and staying operational later for resort guests. (Did I mention that if you stay in the resort you get access to Extra Magic Hours, a program wherein at least one park opens early and/or stays open late just for resort guests? No? Well, there, I did it.) The fact of the matter is you've got to have goals for your day and you've got to understand that you will get eaten alive by the grandiose nature of the thing if you try to do too much.

You'll see it on the faces of your fellow guests. It's a look that is equal parts 3-day binge hangover and post-awesome sex fatigue. Their bodies are utterly exhausted and yet they ache for more of what's put them into said condition.

How do you avoid this? (I know some of you reading this might not want to, given my description; that's fine, just pack plenty of energy drinks and consider getting a B-12 injection.) It may be unavoidable but the best means I've discovered are to set realistic expectations for your day. Make a list of the attractions you're most interested in experiencing, like a top 3-5, and have that as your goal. Anything you do on top of that is thick, luscious icing on top of an already bountiful cake.

Another part of this discussion is the concept of overexertion. I don't care if you're a triathlete, you're going to get tired while you're at Disney. It's vital that you take a few moments each day to rest and recover. Sit on a bench and get in a bit of people watching (trust me, it's more entertaining than it sounds). There are water fountains everywhere - use them in lieu of drinking 15 Cokes a day and stay hydrated.

3) Plan Ahead

It wasn't that long ago that Disney World guests were more or less forced to wing it in terms of trying to plot out their adventures with a schedule. You had to wait until you arrived on property to get an idea of what the park hours were, what were the show times, and if there were any ride closures to be concerned about. That's not the case anymore as Disney has done some fantastic things in making smartphone users the kings of their own virtual kingdoms.

Near the end of 2012, Disney launched the My Disney Experience app for Android and iPhone (sadly, and for whatever reason, no version exists for Windows phones). The app allows resort guests to manage literally every aspect of their vacation - from dining reservations to ride wait times, it's all in there.

Before I go further, I feel like I need to describe that for almost every attraction (meaning rides as well as shows) there are two lines - standby and FastPass+. Standby is your traditional first come, first served queue. FastPass+ is a line only accessible by patrons who have booked a reserved spot on a ride during a given time frame (usually an hour). Everyone gets the same ride experience, however FastPass+ patrons get preferred access when it comes to who gets seated first. In other words, if I'm a standby patron I might have to wait 30-45 minutes to get on a ride whereas if I'm a FastPass+ patron  I might have to wait 5-10 minutes to get on a ride.

"How does one get this FastPass+?", you ask. Read on, dear reader!

FastPass+ is an evolution of Disney's original FastPass system which saw park guests use their ticket in order to access a kiosk nearby a given attraction that would then spit out a paper ticket with a time on it. This time was when you, as a patron, were guaranteed a quick jump to the front of the line. Problem is and always has been the fact that only so many FastPass-es and FastPass+-es get issued per day. What that means is that preferred access to particularly popular rides is sometimes difficult if not impossible to get. In turn, this means a patron might wind up spending upwards of an hour waiting to get on a ride. This is especially true for one ride in particular, Toy Story Midway Mania at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It's a fun ride but FastPass-es for it are almost always gone within an hour of the park opening and the standby line is commonly posted as being anywhere from an hour to 90 minutes.

(SIDE NOTE: Is it a fair system? Kind of, but not really. It's been implemented in the hope that more patrons get to partake in more experiences, but I think it's wound up being a deal where more people spend more time in one line as opposed to less time in 5 lines.)

Using the app and FastPass+, patrons can schedule a window of time during which they'll be able to access a ride weeks in advance. All but gone are the days of having to run from one ride to another as soon as you get inside a park - the older paper ticket kiosks are still there for some attractions but they're in the process of being phased out. You'll more than likely still have a brief wait even with FastPass+ reservations but it will be significantly less than that of the poor sods relegated to kicking it in the standby line.

Trust me when I tell you that my wife had a ball in using this app as she was able to secure for us a range of FastPass+ reservations. The fact that it can provide up to the second wait times for rides as well as use GPS to locate your exact position on a map of the park makes it the perfect companion for a trip to any of the Disney parks and a great tool for scheduling your day.

2) Realize That Unique is Often Better Than Expensive

I mentioned earlier how much our vacation cost us. I think we're fairly frugal people and we like to get the most bang for our buck. It goes without saying, though, that if you want to do so you can spend untold thousands of dollars on a vacation like this (between your room, food, purchases, and other amenities). The thing is, just because you spent a lot of money doesn't mean you got the most out of your opportunity or, perhaps more importantly, that you were able to make lasting, valuable memories with people you love.

One of my favorite moments from our 2013 vacation was when we took several classes at the Animation Academy within Disney's Hollywood Studios. DHS when it first opened was called Disney-MGM Studios; the partnership with MGM eventually soured and they were dropped from inclusion. At one point in the history of the park, inside of it existed a functional animation studio - this was back when animators made cartoons and films using pencils, paper, paint, and cells. That studio has since been emptied of its easels, but the spirit of animation survives as in its place now sits the Animation Academy where park guests can come to learn how to draw some of their favorite Disney characters.

The classes are about 20 minutes in length and they feature instruction from an actual Disney animator. They don't cost anything extra, either, as it's included in standard park admission. If you can't draw at all you're more than likely not going to come out of the class as a Rembrandt but at the very least you'll come away from it with your own drawing, however good or bad it may be. More importantly, as was the case for my wife & I, you'll leave with a fresh set of memories involving time spent doing something fun and unique with a person (or people) you adore. It's the kind of experience that tends to get lost in all the hubbub of a vacation like this - I'm glad we took the time to make it a part of our plans.

1) Exercise Patience

You can ruin a Disney vacation by not observing just a little bit of patience. To that end, there are three things you have to accept when on a Walt Disney World vacation.

1. At some point during your stay, you will suffer an injury to your lower extremities as a result of having been struck by a stroller or motorized wheelchair (I'm convinced that certain people use these devices more as battering rams to make their way through crowds than as a method of conveyance)
2. You will spend significantly more time waiting to get on rides than you will spend on said rides
3. You're in the same boat as the guy or girl next to you - no point in whining or arguing because none of that will make it better

What I'm getting at here, especially with the third item in that list, is the notion that the lines and delays are unavoidable. You have to accept it but you can also do something about it. Play a game on your phone that's good for a group (we saw several folks playing Heads Up!), have random and rambling conversations about nothing in particular, or debate the subtleties of how Episodes I-III of the Star Wars franchise would've been better (or worse) if Jar-Jar Binks had been killed early on in a horribly bloody lightsaber accident. It's not that hard, and chances are once you get the ball rolling your time spent in queue won't seem that bad because you've got something to effectively occupy the time.

When we were on our 2012 vacation, we saw two families almost get into a fist fight while at the Magic Kingdom waiting to see the Main Street Electrical Parade. They were arguing over the fact that one group had taken up a position that was in front of the other. Maybe it's just me, but that didn't seem like grounds for a man to verbally threaten a woman with physical violence. The whole scene could've been avoided if cooler heads had prevailed - as it was, we wound up watching the parade on eggshells wondering when the first punch was going to be thrown.

Things happen on vacation just as they do when you're at home or at work. Don't be overly dramatic about it, whatever may come. Room keys malfunction, MagicBands don't always work, and occasionally the lady at the lunch counter serves you up a chicken sandwich instead of a bacon cheeseburger. Deal with it with tact and professionalism, not drama and spite. It frustrates me to no end to watch grown men and women make a scene out of an issue that's not exactly life-altering in its scope. You may think Walt Disney himself has something against you but I can assure he doesn't.

In wrapping this up, let me reiterate an opinion of ours that I hope has permeated this blog - when it comes to vacation destinations, we'd sooner go to Walt Disney World than just about anywhere else. Even going two years in a row as we have, we've managed to find new things to do and enjoy while also revisiting our favorite attractions. I don't know that we'll be back in 2014 but if we receive a similar offer we'll definitely consider it. Otherwise, and Lord willing, we may find ourselves on another big boat floating somewhere out in the Caribbean.

We Got MagicBands!

My wife & I made our first trip to Walt Disney World as a couple about a year ago and it was an incredible experience for the both of us! Jill hadn't been since she was a small child, which made it particularly special for her as she adores the Disney princesses (as most little girls, even those in grown-up bodies, usually do). For me, it had only been a few years since I last visited the House that Mickey built seeing as how I was there back in 2008. At that point in time, I had the distinct opportunity to attend a software conference held on the grounds at Disney's Coronado Springs resort; Jill would've gone with me then, too, but she was dragging her feet in becoming a part of my life (that conference happened in June, we wouldn't meet for the first time until September).

Truth be told, Disney is kind of old hat for me. There's no way I can tell you what I'm about to without it coming off like I'm bragging or that I was a spoiled kid so I'll just be out with it: My family & I went to Disney quite often when I was but a young lad - as in almost every year. It was something of an annual event for us and I have tremendously fond memories of those trips. While I can honestly say we never had a bad trip to Disney, I will say that there were times where it got repetitive. Those parks don't change that frequently, truth be told, and having the same experience over and over again became redundant. However, change has been in the air for the Disney parks for what seems like the better part of the last few years with the creation of New Fantasyland and a slew of other updates, refurbishments and the like. It's a great time to fall in love with Walt Disney World again, in other words.

The parks have gotten a fresh coat of paint, as it were, but that's not the only big alteration that's being made. Perhaps more significant are the changes that are happening with Disney's resorts and how resort guests are granted access to the various properties. Disney is taking a big leap forward in using devices equipped with RFID (radio-frequency identification) chips to replace aging technologies like key cards that rely on bar codes or magnetic strips to store guest data. The most shining example of this are MagicBands - a brand new accessory that's all the rage in Orlando these days.

Therein lies the uniqueness of these things right now. You see, at this point Disney hasn't rolled out MagicBands as being fully implemented seeing as how they're testing their functionality to gauge what is and what isn't working all that well. What that means is that only certain Walt Disney World Resort guests are being invited to participate in testing MagicBands and the various systems associated with them (more on that later). It's a fairly exclusive club to be in, needless to say, and Disney fanatics have had a field day in jockeying for an opportunity to get their hands on them. No one seems to know for sure when full deployment will occur but it would seem to be fast approaching seeing as how it was recently announced that all resort guests staying on the property after October 23 will begin receiving MagicBands. They're still considered to be in test phase, though the breadth of this new round of testing would seem to indicate that it's only a matter of time before MagicBands become standard equipment for resort guests.

The October 23 date hadn't been publicized when we received this in the mail about a week ago - kind of takes the novelty off of it in hindsight, to be completely honest, but we're not about to turn down the opportunity to be involved.

We've been following the development of MagicBands since they were announced. We were both really hoping we'd get to participate when we booked our vacation back during the summer but we weren't sure that we'd get an invitation seeing as how not every resort was taking part in the initial round of testing. To make the sense of anticipation worse, some friends of ours made us quite jealous as they took a family vacation to Disney within the past month or so and they were in on the testing. That said, I'm not lying when I tell you that my wife and I literally turned into two small children when we opened the letter - yes, I'm a grown man and I got schoolgirl-giddy over the fact that Mickey & Co. wanted us to help them out!

Obviously we went online to customize our MagicBands the same day that we received the letter. You're able to pick what color band you would like and also have it branded with your name - I picked a grey band whereas my wife picked a red one. I will register one complaint with Disney at this point. The letter stated that we had until October 31 to customize our MagicBands, however when we went online we were presented with a quandary because the site stated we only had 1 day remaining to make our selections. We got everything handled in time, thankfully, but I'm glad we got the letter the day that we did else we might have missed out on getting to customize our bands.

We completed our customization request on Friday, October 11. They were delivered by 9:30 AM on October 15 - that means in less than 3 days, our MagicBands were customized, packaged, and shipped to our home. As someone who's a fan of logistics, that kind of turn around on something like this is really impressive.

I've never done an "un-boxing" before but I figure this is something that's so new it stands well to be documented. The box itself was very nondescript; it had no logos or markings that would've tipped someone off to its contents other than the from information block on the shipping label.

The box had no adhesive, rather just one convenient peal strip was all that kept it together.

Tearing back the strip revealed a piece of art in terms of geometry and packaging design. Did you know people actually go to college specifically to learn engineering geared towards developing boxes?

It's almost like some kind of magical box that springs open only when the heart of a true believer is near...

What I found most interesting about the MagicBand box is the fact that out of all the characters that could've been featured on it, Disney chose Elasti-Girl from The Incredibles which is one of my favorite movies, ever (personally, I think it's a better example of what a Fantastic Four movie should be - i.e., a family that just happens to be made up of superheroes - than what any of the actual Fantastic Four films have been able to capture).

Then it was time for the moment of truth - I'm always skittish about things that are to be customized and whether or not they'll be made correctly.

As one of my old co-workers would have said, "Oh, happy day, happy day!"

In describing them, MagicBands look like rubber watch bands without an actual watch face. Instead of the watch face you have a logo that's become synonymous with the MagicBand, that being a new take on the classic Mickey emblem. Underneath this logo is where the RFID chip is contained. The band uses a pair of pegs that fit into a number of corresponding holes in order to secure it to the wearers wrist.

 

There is already a line of MagicBand accessories out that allow for users to customize their bands even further by adding covers (called CoverBands - no "Freebird", unfortunately), Bandits (studs featuring character faces and other logos that can be inserted into the empty holes on the bands), and MagicSliders (a slip-over piece that makes the band look more like a watch but doesn't include a timepiece). These items are only for sale at Disney resorts, which plays into the fact that this is, after all, a technology that's still in test.

I will bring up the fact that MagicBands fall into the category of "one size fits all". This was mildly terrifying to me because I have never fallen into the category of person for which "one size fits all" was applicable. "All" being a relative term, as it were, I had misgivings about whether or not the band would fit my wrist as I have had issues in the past in finding watches that fit. Thankfully, Disney had me covered as my MagicBand fit perfectly, and I didn't even have to resort to using the last or next-to-last holes in the band.

Regarding the sizing of the bands, there is an accommodation in place for small children who might find that the band has too much slack for their wrists. The darker grey section of the band can be removed in order to make for a tighter fit. A word of warning, though - that section of the band CANNOT be put back on once it is removed, meaning it would be best to follow the old saying of "measure twice, cut once" before pulling it off. This isn't something that I determined by trial and error, rather it's plainly spelled out on the interior of the box's lid.

You may be saying to yourself, "This is cool and all but what do these things actually do?" MagicBands are part of what Disney is calling MyMagic+ which is a multi-tiered system that allows resort guests the opportunity to take greater control of their Walt Disney World experience. MyMagic+ includes MagicBands, FastPass+, and the brand new My Disney Experience app for Android and iOS smartphones (apparently there is no version available for Windows phone). You MagicBand is essentially the way you're identified while on the Disney properties (to make a TRON analogy, it could be said that the MagicBand is your identity disk); it can be used to open the door to your room at the resort, it functions as your ticket to the parks, and it allows the wearer to make purchases. FastPass+ is a reincarnation of the original FastPass, a reservation system that allowed for park guests to be assigned a time when they could return to a ride or attraction and get quicker service than they would by joining the standby line. The My Disney Experience brings all of these assets together under one convenient app as users can view park information, get ride wait times, change their FastPass+ reservations, and more all from their smartphone.

There have been some concerns levied about MagicBands and how they could be used to collect data on the wearer. I hate to break it to people who are complaining about this, but that's not exactly anything new. You know all those discount club cards you have in your wallet or clinking around on your key chain? What do you think retailers are doing every time you swipe that card when you make a purchase? They're collecting data too, so don't try to demonize Disney as being some kind of unique entity in the modern marketplace.

My wife & I were already looking forward to our vacation but needless to say we're now REALLY looking forward to it! I hope the MagicBands add to the experience. I know there will be some learning involved and some getting used to, but that's all part of the fun for me.

We've Been a Bit Busy

Before I begin, I'd like to note that I'm aware of the fact it's been almost a full calendar year since last I added anything to this here blog o' mine. Hopefully no one's been using this journal as a means of knowing whether or not I'm still alive and kicking - if you were, I can certainly see why you might have thought I'd fallen off the face of the Earth but I also want to say thanks for waiting around all this time. It's been too long, don't you think? Yes, I do too.

So, where do I begin? I guess the most obvious answer would be to handle this linearly, so as to keep a logical order of events flowing. I have a hard enough time remembering what happened to me two weeks ago which is why I wouldn't dare engage in some kind of Quinton Tarantino-esque re-telling of the past year where the ending takes place before the beginning and the middle is filled with random exposition. My issues with brevity are well known by this point, however I feel like my advanced usage of Twitter may have helped in that regard. We'll keep an eye on that, though - drat, I'm already well past 140 characters.

We Bought A House

Around the point in time that I last wrote an entry, my wife and I were in the beginning stages of house-hunting. Renting was no longer a desirable arrangement for us as we wanted something of our own instead of continuing to pour money into something which would never be that. Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed the house we were renting. It had been my home for almost 3 years by the time Jill and I were married, and we'd been living there together for nearly 2 more years when we began seriously looking into financing options and available properties.

I will be blunt in saying that our search for the house that would become our home was not a completely enjoyable experience. Things in the realm of real estate are altogether different than how they were several years ago, or at least that's what we were told throughout the process. Neither my wife nor I had ever gone through this sort of transaction previously, thus we had nothing to which we could compare it. Apparently a whole bunch of backhanded dealings by bankers, investors, real estate agents, and the like lead the powers that be to recognize a need for change which is why things are much more tightly run these days.

My wife and I became frustrated with our search at one moment in particular. We'd found a house that we both liked (although in hindsight I would say Jill liked it far more than I did) in a neighborhood where people we already knew lived which was in our price range. It needed some work in terms of updating but I think we both felt like it had solid potential. After talking with our agent we submitted an offer that was a bit below the original asking price. The owners then came back with a counter offer; we thought we could get them to come down more since it was an older home that we'd have to put some sweat equity into, so we made a counter to their counter. At that point the owners offered us a price that was higher than the original asking price - yes, you read that correctly. They were now willing to sell it to us at a price HIGHER than they had listed it. Essentially they were blowing us off, which wasn't a huge bother to me truth be told as I'd begun to have serious misgivings about that particular property. It was nice but not worth what we'd have wound up paying for it.

As an aside to this, I can tell you that the house in question was never sold; from what I've been able to gather the owners instead decided to take it off the market.

We continued searching and our frustrations mounted. It just didn't seem like there were many houses within our price range in the area that appealed to us enough to actually want to buy them. (There were some that we probably could've afforded that were above the ceiling we'd set for ourselves but it wouldn't have been reasonable to pursue them; the last thing we wanted was for our new home to become an immediate financial burden.) I feel like this upset my wife greatly because having a home of our own in her eyes (mine as well) was something of a gateway to us beginning our own family, and I agreed with her completely.

Honestly, we more or less stopped looking for a while. We'd literally seen all there was to see, from beautiful homes we'd have loved to have to houses that looked like they'd been better off demolished. (We viewed one home which had been repossessed; apparently the previous owners decided to ransack the place prior to leaving and we toured it in its as-is condition.) I was in a state of mind where I was content with what we had, that if something came along we'd look into it but no longer was I all that interested in the pursuit.

I forget the date but one afternoon I took some time while working at my desk to look at real estate listings in the off chance something new would have become available. I noticed a new listing in Saint Matthews, a nearby town I've known all my life seeing as how my Aunt & Uncle are residents there. It was a home built in 2006 at a corner lot on about half an acre of land. It looked to be well-maintained and equipped with everything we'd hope to find in our first home. What blew me away, though, was that the asking price was set at $119,000 which was well-within our price range.

By way of fate, coincidence, or whatever you'd like to call it, Jill had seen the listing as well - we wanted to check it out immediately so we contacted our agent and he arranged the viewing. (He happened to be the listing agent for the property, so scheduling for us to tour it was a snap.) After seeing the house in person we both wanted to move in so we entered an offer of $115,000. Our offer was accepted within 24 hours - I'll never forget when we found out as we were walking around the electronics section of Walmart. Jill got the call and it was all we could do not to start celebrating there in amongst the cell phones and DVD players.

We sought out pre-approval for our loan before we ever began looking at houses, and this was a big help in terms of looking at numbers when we would try to plot out what we might be paying per month based on the asking price of a house. (We knew what the bank said we could spend but we knew we didn't want to get anywhere near that.) Unfortunately, our loan officer decided to leave the bank we'd been working with while we were still in the middle of ironing out the transaction. I'm not going to harp on this because clerical mistakes do happen in every line of work, but I will say that there were quite a few occasions where we were called into the bank to fill out corrected documentation because the person who'd taken over for our previous loan officer had botched them. It was all handled ultimately but suffice to say that something of this magnitude is not when you want to find out a supposed "premiere lender" has trouble with numbers.

Be that as it may, we were fortunate to be able to work with a number of great professionals who assisted us tremendously in ironing out matters related to the business end of things, main among them Manny Andre with the Century 21 office in Orangeburg, SC. I can't say enough about how thorough he was in dealing with us as our agent; he was there every time we had a question or concern, coached us through every step of the process, and provided a wealth of information along the way about houses, how things work within the industry, and the whole gamut of potentialities we might've been facing. I would strongly encourage anyone in the Orangeburg/Calhoun area who's looking to buy a home contact him for assistance - he hasn't started mailing me my royalty checks yet for all the clients I've steered his way but I'm confident they'll arrive, at some point.

The Moving Process Sucks 

We closed on our house June 1, 2012. Knowing when we'd be moving out, we began the process of packing up all our belongings in anticipation of the move. You'd never think from the amount of stuff we pulled out of the house we'd been renting that only two people had lived there - more like a half dozen or so it seemed.

I rented a Uhaul for the occasion but obtaining the thing and returning it was something of a chore. I made the reservation online for a truck that would be larger than we actually needed - I figure if it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing. I wound up having to get a relative to drive me 30 miles out of town in order to pick up the truck, which according to Uhaul's dispatch operator was the only one of its size within a reasonable distance. More details regarding why this particular Uhaul experience was painful will be divulged later on.

I drove the Uhaul to our soon-to-be former abode where we had a small army of friends & family over to help us load and unload our wares. Jill and I truly appreciated all the assistance we had that day because without it the process would've taken days instead of just the better part of an afternoon. I have to admit that I promised those folks a barbeque at our house which hasn't come to fruition yet; one more thing for me to work on and look forward to having, I guess.

Now back to my Uhaul debacle. When we were finished unloading the truck, I dropped it off at the nearest local "rental office" I could find. "Rental office" is in quotes because while this joint is officially in business with Uhaul it consists of a guy who has about as many teeth as I do fingers working out of an old building guarded by what looked like a German shepherd who's had a very bad upbringing. I was told doing so would be perfectly fine by the agent who leased the truck to me that morning so I assumed I had wrapped things up in returning their property.

I began getting phone calls from an unknown number the evening I returned the truck. I ignored them at first as I figured it was just someone mistakenly calling me, then they finally left a voice mail. The message was from the guy at the "rental office" I'd dropped the truck off at earlier in the day. He told me that I had to come pick up the truck as soon as possible else I'd be charged a significant return fee, fuel surcharge, etc., etc. - I don't know how much money we were talking about but he made it seem like it would be quite sizable. (Bear in mind that it's almost 10 PM when this conversation is taking place.) I ask him why and he describes to me that the lease agreement I signed was for a round trip rental, meaning I had to return the truck to the same dealership from which I'd leased it. This wasn't what I had been told when I picked up the truck - for that matter, I had no idea Uhaul even had such a thing as a round trip option - but I had no ability to argue with this guy about it seeing as how he wasn't involved in that transaction.

My only recourse was to pick up the truck in the morning from where I'd dropped it off and return it to its point of origin, which is exactly what I did. I wound up having to put more gas in the truck (you have to return it with the same amount of gas in it when you picked it up), incur the bother of having a family member drive 60 miles round trip to get me back home, and in the end I was billed for an additional day's rental.

Suffice to say what I learned from this experience is to make sure what you're agreeing to before you drive off with someone else's property.

This wasn't the only moving we'd wind up doing.

Saying Goodbye to 200 Colonial Avenue

My Grandma passed away in July of 2011. She and my Mom had lived together in the home where I grew up for years after I'd moved away for work, but the house had become a burden upon them in more than one way. The house is 2,500 square feet (tri-level with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths) situated on a piece of land just shy of an acre. It was way more house than they needed or cared to continue keeping up, so they'd put it up for sale. Unfortunately when they initially listed it was when the housing market was at its deepest lows thanks to the economic recession, which meant that people weren't looking to buy a home. It sat on the market for almost 2 years before it was finally purchased by a family with kids enough to fill it up and make use of all it has to offer. Their timing couldn't have been more coincidental as they wanted to move in to my family's old home at just about the same time that Jill & I would be moving into our new home.

We were elated that my Mom would get out from under the issues she had related to maintaining the house by herself. The financial and physical burden it had placed on her was a tremendous weight but she'd bore it just as she has so many others throughout her life. Still, it was an emotional process in emptying what had been our family's home and a time consuming one as well. There were lots of old memories stirred up in the process, believe you me. Things that hadn't seen the light of day for years suddenly being pulled to the forefront of your mind. People tend to collect a lot of stuff after living somewhere better than 30 years, but after many trips to Goodwill and at least one yard sale a majority of it was whittled down to only that which was deemed necessary or otherwise needful.

It was a real stroke of luck that this happened when it did as my Mom was able to move into our old house in Orangeburg. The house we'd been renting is perfectly suited to her needs as it affords her and her dog Chewie plenty of room and privacy. There was a bit of overlap between when my Mom moved out and when our old house would be ready for her as it needed a coat of paint and she wanted to put down fresh flooring as well (the carpet that was there while Jill & I had lived there was ancient, green and in need of replacement). She lived with my Aunt & Uncle during the time in between and her belongings took up temporary residence at a nearby storage rental unit.

When the day came to move Mom's belongings I found myself driving yet another Uhaul truck, this time from Rock Hill, South Carolina to Lancaster to pack it up before finishing off the day in Saint Matthews. I found myself identifying with my fellow truckers, to the point where I felt like I should begin a new diet consisting of beef jerky, black coffee and speed. The truck I drove that day was the same size as the one I'd rented to move my wife & I into our new home - the difference this time around being that we'd wind up using every bit of space the truck had to offer and then some.

As I mentioned earlier, we put her stuff into a storage unit temporarily until our old house was ready for her to move in. The concept of loading the Uhaul to then unload it knowing that we'd eventually have to move it all again seemed like an incredibly daunting task but with a lot of lifting, patience and help from friends & loved ones we got it done.

It's been about 7 months since we moved - it certainly doesn't seem like it's been that long. There was a couple days in there where I was fairly distraught about the whole ordeal but I think I hid it well. For the first time in my life I felt like I didn't have a home town anymore. I didn't have a reason to go back to Lancaster, a sensation I'd never felt. It took a while but I began to realize that the old adage of "home is where the heart is" holds truth. It doesn't matter where a house is, what matters is where your family is.

The Space Between

Almost immediately after we'd finished up the move it was time for our annual trip to Myrtle Beach with Jill's side of the family. This vacation has become something I look forward to every year as it's a fun-filled week of time away from work spent with family in a locale that couldn't be more picturesque. We rent a spot within Pirateland Campground that's owned by some friends of Jill & her family; it's located on a small inlet which makes it ripe for fishing (we haven't caught anything yet but we know they're out there by the splashes they make) and nature-watching. Some traditions we've built over the years are our trips to Medieval Times, the House of Blues, and the Annual Truesdale Myrtle Beach Putt-Putt Challenge Championship. To save time on describing what the ATMBPPCC is, Jill & I play a best of 5 series of putt-putt matches at various courses around Myrtle Beach and whoever wins the most matches gets the title. Jill bested me in 2012 and in so doing gets the rights to the trophy for one calendar year. A new pastime that I grew fond of thanks to this trip is the game of cornhole, or bean bag toss as it's referred to by some. Every camper slot seemed to have their own set of boards which made me want my own as well, except I wanted to build my own which I finally did just a few weeks ago - free time has been a valuable commodity for us over the past year, you see.

Around the early-middle portion of 2012 I began writing album reviews for a site specializing in critiquing releases by bands subscribing to the genre of heavy metal and its associates called The NewReview (check it out at http://thenewreview.net/). The site is owned and operated by a couple friends of mine that I got to know during my college years through the music scene in and around Myrtle Beach. It was a great opportunity for me as it allowed me the chance to do two things I've grown to love, those being to write and listen to music. This was a hobby, though, and as 2012 progressed it wound turn out that I needed to focus elsewhere. I left my position on their staff towards the end of the year.

I Got A New Job

My employment with Orangeburg County government was the reason why I originally moved to the midlands. If I had never taken the job I would've never met my wife; if I had never met my wife, we wouldn't own the home that we do. There are a whole bunch of other "if not for this" scenarios I could add but I think you get the idea that things (in my experience, at least) happen for a reason. By the latter stages of 2012, I had been with Orangeburg for almost 5 years and they'd been a great 5 years. Orangeburg afforded me the chance to grow professionally and learn more about real-world IT support than I ever did in a classroom. More importantly, Orangeburg allowed me to meet some of my closest and best friends. For those reasons it made the decision to leave Orangeburg all the more difficult.

I'd seen that Calhoun County government was in search of an IT director; I wasn't necessarily looking for a new job as I was fairly content with where I was but I weighed my options anyway. Saint Matthews, our new hometown, is a part of Calhoun County and their administrative offices are within 10 minutes of our home, meaning getting the job would immediately cut down on my fuel usage. There was a significant increase in salary from my position with Orangeburg to what was being offered in Calhoun. I'd have essentially the same benefits in terms of health insurance and retirement investing as those I'd enjoyed in Orangeburg. Everything seemed great on paper, like a real win-win situation, which is why I submitted my application and carried through with the interview process. All the while I knew that if I landed the position I'd have to say a whole lot of goodbyes, and that was going to be the most difficult part of it all.

I will admit to thinking I had a snowball's chance in Hell of getting the gig (a 32 year old guy with less than 10 years of experience in the industry just didn't seem like a top contender in my mind), so when it was offered to me I genuinely didn't know what to do. I'm not one to burn bridges which is why I did what I felt was best by informing my superiors at Orangeburg of the opportunity that had been presented to me. They made a gracious and generous counter-offer, which I will point out is something that they did not have to do. As I said before, I enjoyed my time in Orangeburg and more than that I will forever be grateful to them for allowing me the chance to be a part of their operation. I opted to take the position with Calhoun, though, because (much like when I left a previous job to move to Orangeburg) I felt like I would be missing out on a big step forward in terms of my career if I didn't accept it.

The last day in my old office was tough. It's the people you encounter and build relationships with that you miss the most and who are often the biggest pieces of collateral damage when it comes to the changes life inevitably brings. It's not as though I moved across the continent and would never see my friends in Orangeburg ever again; even so, there's a fair amount of adjustment involved when you're accustomed to seeing the same group of people every day then they're suddenly no longer a part of your life.

It's been said that life goes on with or without you - you either stay where you are or you learn to adapt. I'm still adapting to my new surroundings but I'd say they fit quite nicely. Every day is a new challenge, but every challenge is a chance to grow. I'm going to stop with this section now because the more I write, the more I'm starting to sound like someone who comes up with slogans for motivational posters.

Walt Disney World is Awesome

Jill & I have developed something of a tradition when it comes to taking a vacation around the second week of November. Why such an odd time of year for a vacation, you ask? She's a government employee as well, you see, and we government types have fairly consistent schedules when it comes to holidays that are observed every year, Veterans Day being one of those. The strategy being that you take a vacation when you're already going to have a day off anyway so that you wind up using that much less annual leave time.

In 2011 we took a Carnival cruise to the western Caribbean and enjoyed every minute of it - even the night when the boat was sailing at what felt like mach 2 because we were rushing back to port due to there being a passenger with a medical emergency on board. That was the second cruise we'd taken in two years, the first being our honeymoon, and while we love those trips we wanted to do something different this time around.

I will fully admit that when we got married my ideas for the honeymoon were Hawaii or Walt Disney World. I don't think I ever really thought of Hawaii as being a realistic option because of the expense. I more or less included it because I figured if my wife didn't want to get involved in that much travel Disney would win by default and I'd have wound up getting my way regardless. The cruise was her idea and it was a great experience, but be that as it may I still wanted to get her into the House that Mickey Built before we take the next hurdle in life as a couple, that being starting a family and having kids. Fortunately, it didn't take any arm-twisting at all for me to get Jill's interest up in going to WDW as she wanted to go just as much as I did.

My family & I went to Disney every year when I was a kid, or so it seemed, and I have always adored it. I've seen those parks expand and evolve over time; I probably know more about their development than an average person realistically should, a fact about me that my wife found out about thanks to me spouting off trivia about them ad nauseum. It had been close to 4 years since I'd been to WDW by this point, however it had been probably 20 years since Jill had last visited - that point made, I really think she may have been looking forward to the trip more than I was.

We booked our vacation directly through Disney and we opted to stay at the Pop Century, one of their value resorts which is on the lower end of the spectrum as it relates to hotels run by Mickey & Co. I can tell you with absolute honesty that the low-rent section in Disney is nicer than most 4 star joints, so don't let the classification fool you. We knew going into this adventure that we were going to be in our room to sleep and not much else, and that's the thing I've always tried to keep in mind when booking a hotel - they all look pretty much the same when your eyes are closed.

I had spotted a deal on the Disney Resorts Facebook page that offered a free quick service meal plan which would include two quick service meals and a snack per day for each of us. Quick service in Disney terminology refers to, as it was described to us, any meal that you pick up on a tray; it's their equivalent to fast food, more or less, but this is unlike any fast food you'll see anywhere else in the world. The quality is second to none, the options are vast, and the fact that we were getting what amounted to a package worth several hundred dollars for free was unbelievable.

To anyone who may be reading this and thinking about going to Disney, keep the last two paragraphs in mind when planning your trip. If you luck up you can get 7 days at a value resort with your theme park tickets and a whole bunch of awesome food included for around $1,700. It may sound like a lot but if you book in advance you can make a deposit and pay off your balance over time. Please don't snub your nose at free food either because trust me when I say that unless you bring your own you're likely to drop a good chunk of coin on sustenance during your stay.

The trip itself was every bit as magical as we'd hoped it would be. I could spend days on end talking about our experiences but I'm going to sum up every bit of it in one picture.

That's my wife while riding the Flight of the Hippogriff attraction at Harry Potter World within Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure theme park. I love to see her smile and there were plenty of those to be had during our time in Walt Disney World. That's what life is all about for me now - striving to live not just a content existence but one where joy can be found in every moment.

Our time with the Mouse flew by - something that seems to happen with all our vacations - but I know we'll get back there someday and make a whole bunch more memories.

The Holiday Season (aka, The Chaos Season)

Thanksgiving was upon us almost as soon as we got back from Disney. We hosted our first family Thanksgiving dinner at our new home, and it was quite the spread as we had everything from deviled eggs to fried turkey. There would be many more epic meals throughout the weeks that followed as it seemed like we were on the road every weekend from roughly the end of November up through the beginning of January. My wife and I are fortunate in that our families are all within driving distance, so while we may log a lot of miles in getting from here to there at least we aren't like many other families who wind up spending more time around the holidays sitting in airports or dealing with other travel-related woes than with their loved ones.

My Mom's birthday is in December and she would be celebrating her 60th in 2012. Since it was a definite special occasion, we took her to a local restaurant that offers a style of cuisine that's quickly become one of our favorites, that being a Brazilian steakhouse. I had been introduced to them earlier in 2012 when a good friend of mine and I visited one while we were attending a software conference in Greensboro, NC. This particular restaurant is called Cowboy Brazilian Steakhouse (note that that's the correct spelling; they don't use a plural or possessive form of the pronoun) and it's in the heart of downtown Columbia. I don't think I can give credence to the food with mere words; do yourself a favor and search out a restaurant of this kind near you. If you're a meat eater like me, trust me, it's some of the best food you'll ever have.

I planned a quick trip to Charleston for Jill & I the weekend before Christmas. Charleston is within a 90 minute drive for us and we love visiting that area. We go down to the low country (as it's referred to here in South Carolina) a couple times a year but the days we spend there always seem to get cut short because of having to drive to and fro. For this reason, I thought it would be great if we spent the night. I booked us a room and we got into town fairly early in the day that morning. We normally wander around the historic city market as there's an amazing assortment of shops and restaurants to enjoy in the area, and we began this trip there.

It was while walking around the market that I got a call from my Uncle notifying me that my Mom had been injured while stopping at a gas station in Kershaw county. She and my Aunt had been on their way to Lancaster to see some friends and members of our extended family when they decided to take a restroom break. Mom doesn't remember what happened to cause the fall but she wound up taking a tumble that resulted in her suffering a laceration to her lower lip and an upper humeral fracture on her left side. To put that in more simplified terms, she broke the part of the bone in your upper arm that connects to the shoulder socket.

Luckily enough, Mom wasn't alone when she got hurt. Like I said, my Aunt was traveling with her that day and she was a great ally in helping my Mom through the process of getting treatment. My Uncle coordinated the flow of information amongst everyone as the situation changed throughout the day. Jill's Mom & Dad were brought into the ordeal. We'd dropped off our dog at my Mom's house since she'd agreed to keep him overnight while we were out of town, so Jill's Mom came and got him then took him to their home for safe keeping. I felt bad that we were out of town when this all happened, but there was nothing we could've done to help. I've talked with my Mom about the calamity she went through that day and she agrees with me, which makes me feel better in light of it all.

Mom has since had surgery to repair the damage and is going through physical therapy now. She has a lot of work ahead of her in getting back to being fully functional, but I know how strong my Mom is. She's endured divorce, raised a child as a single mother, taught elementary school for more than 30 years, had both knees replaced, successfully fought breast cancer and undergone a double mastectomy, lost both of her parents, and now this. No, her name isn't Job, it's Barbara - she's my Mom, I love her, and I know her spirit and her body will endure this trial as well.

We had originally planned to host Christmas festivities at our house but with Mom's injury it wound up being more convenient if we all came to her. Me, Jill, my Aunt & Uncle, my Mom and her dog all celebrated Christmas together (yes, Chewie opens his own presents). It was a house packed with family and that's the way it should be.

Jill & I have a unique arrangement as we get to open presents 3 times seeing as how we celebrate once with my family, again with her family, then a third time with just the two of us - well, three of us counting our dog Roddy. It was a really special feeling to have Christmas in our own home. It's one more thing that only a few years ago a part of me never thought I'd get to do.

To Infinity...

I'm going to go ahead and be blunt about this. Right now I have no idea what comes next for my wife & I. I mean I have things in mind that I'd like to do but to say we have definitive plans for what we're going to be doing with ourselves in the near future is totally up in the air. (The only definitive venture we're plotting now is trying to start a family - bow-chicka-bow-wow.) That's not a bad thing, though, because I'm discovering living life one day at a time to be fairly rewarding. We're one month into 2013 and life is about as good as it's ever been for us. We're both gainfully employed, we have our own home, we're healthy, and we have a fantastic relationship. I wake up every morning feeling thankful for all that I have and all that I am, pleased with another opportunity to go out into the world. I have everything that I need and so much more. I think that's about the best way I could end this update entry, by simply being appreciative.

And so much for that brevity thing, huh? It's overrated.

Our Voyage to the Western Caribbean (Part 5)

11-18-11 (Friday): The final day of a vacation is always bittersweet (or at least it usually is to me) as you may want to go home but not necessarily back to work, school, or what have you.  It’s usually around that time that you start to feel the cold harshness of reality dragging you back to the mundane processes of everyday life.  Such was the sensation I had upon waking up the last day of our cruise.  Even though our vacation was ending I couldn’t help but be happy.  We’d done so much and seen so many things – we’re not wealthy people by any means but we have been tremendously blessed to be able to enjoy trips like this.

We’d gotten up at what had become our usual time, that being 7:30 AM, and decided that we wanted to have breakfast on the lido deck.  The buffet line for breakfast that morning wasn’t particularly busy, which would seem to have indicated that either we were up too early or everyone else was sleeping in (although it could’ve possibly been due to a combination of both factors).  Since it isn’t often that I get sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, and the like in the mornings I helped myself to a portion of each that was way more than any reasonable person would’ve considered.  Gluttony is not only acceptable on cruises, it’s encouraged.

Since it was our last day we had no plans of what we’d be doing from one hour to the next, which was a first for us on this vacation seeing as how we’d had scheduled events going each day prior.  Jill and I have something of a tradition built around miniature golf – putt-putt, if you will – with our Annual Truesdale Myrtle Beach Putt-Putt Challenge Championship (the ATMBPPCC, for short), a truly epic yearly competition where my wife and I do battle to see who is the best of the best (out of the two of us) at mini golf.  Seeing as how the Dream features an 18-hole course, we could think of nothing better to do than play a few rounds.

Attempting to line up a shot - not that it helped

Jill strikes a pose on the Dream's putt-putt course

If you’ve never played mini golf on the top deck of a cruise ship sailing through the Atlantic Ocean, let me be the first to tell you that it gets a bit windy up there.  The gusts we encountered while playing putt-putt that day were the strongest I’ve ever felt.  Add to that the fact that the ship is in a constant state of motion and you can easily see how the difficulty level for playing on this course was quite high.   The course itself was not all that challenging; the holes there featured a fairly basic set of obstacles, nothing near that of the absurdly configured holes we’re accustomed to playing during the ATMBPPCC.  Conditions being what they were, I think either of us would’ve been lucky to have scored a round even close to par.  As it were, Jill bested me both rounds – 47-48 the first and 43-46 the second.  I blame my poor performance on the environmental conditions as well as the fact that I was distracted by the shenanigans of a group of older men playing behind us (they were hilarious and I’m fairly certain they had a betting pool going).  She may have beaten me but the ATMBPPCC trophy is still mine, at least for a few more months!

As I mentioned in an earlier part of this series, Jill and I had decided to use a portion the extra spending money we gained by way of our excursion in Isla Roatan having been cancelled to purchase some of the pictures we’d had taken during formal nights.  We went to the photo display walls after we were done with our putt-putt match and decided to buy four more pictures, bringing our total to six – I won’t tell you exactly how much they cost us but I will say that it was worth the expense to have them.  They really are excellent pictures and the ones featuring the staircase in the Dream’s atrium are especially nice considering the uniqueness and ornate nature of the surroundings.

Looking down the shaft of the Dream's atrium

Looking across the atrium at the Fun Shops and photo walls

By the time we finished up browsing through the photo walls and shops, it was – you guessed it – time for lunch!  There was a barbeque on the lanai deck that day and an assortment of tasty vittles were being prepared by chefs cooking on honest-to-goodness grills.  The selection was a combination of traditional grilling fare like slider hamburgers and hotdogs but also things like quesadillas.  I had a couple of hotdogs and I can honestly say that they were some of the best hotdogs I’ve ever had.  Say what you will about the process of making them or the meat that goes into those casings, these were great.  Jill picked us up a plate of deserts, almost all of them involving chocolate which should come as no surprise to anyone who knows my wife.  I learned of her affection for chocolate early on in our relationship as there was an occasion where we were out at dinner and wanted to get a desert to share.  Jill said that I could choose what our desert would be, and so it was that I picked the one item on the menu that didn’t involve chocolate.  Her disappointment at my selection was more comical than it was resentful, but suffice it to say that her point was made that night.

There was an event in the Encore Theater in the afternoon called Love & Marriage hosted by our cruise director Jaime.  It’s a take on the Newlywed’s Game where several couples (three, to be exact) are involved and each participant is asked a series of questions about their spouse with the winning couple being whoever gets the most similar answers to each question.  The contestants for this event were a young couple who’d just gotten hitched, a couple who’d been together for a while, and an older couple who’d been married for 64 years.  It turned out that the husband of the young couple was the grandson of the older couple; considering the nature of some of the questions, I think Sonny learned a few things about his Pappy and Maw that he might not have wanted to but it was all in good fun as we laughed the entire time.  One of the questions posed (which was aimed at the wives but had to be answered by the husbands as well) was “When is your husband most macho?” with possible responses being: A) In bed, B) Out of bed, or C) In his dreams.  The husband from the older couple – whose name was Bud and who happened to be hard of hearing – had come up with his own answer: Boobs!  And I have to agree with him because boobs are awesome and I think they’re as good an inspiration as any for us men to be macho.  Jaime got closer to Bud and explained the answer choices which lead Bud to change his response to “in bed with boobs”.  Bud, I don’t know where you are today but let me applaud you for being a shining example of all that is man.

Our cruise director Jamie coaching Bud during the Love & Marriage game

Part of the process of concluding any vacation is getting your stuff packed, and so it was that after the Love & Marriage game we had to return to our stateroom to begin the process of wrangling our clothes, gear, and other accessories.  Much like how your luggage is delivered to your stateroom sometime during the first day of your voyage, your luggage will be picked up by the crew from outside your stateroom during the evening of your final day aboard the ship and you’ll retrieve it from a processing area similar to those seen in airports once you’ve disembarked.  It’s an efficient method of handling what amounts to literally tons of baggage, and it is so at least partially due to it running on a schedule (like everything else associated with the cruise experience, it seems).  Passengers have to have their luggage ready for pick-up by a certain time and we certainly weren’t going to miss it.

The festivities onboard that evening were very low key as it seemed like everyone from the passengers to the wait staff knew that the voyage was all but done.  No more neckties or evening gowns in the dining rooms – if I had to guess, I’d say most of the passengers were just wearing whatever remaining clothing they had that was clean.  We bid adieu to our tablemates at supper and wished them well.  After the meal we returned to the Encore Theater for one more show.

I should point out that throughout the entire cruise we noticed our dining room was often rattled by what we assumed to be the churning of the ship’s propellers since the Scarlet Restaurant is located at the stern of the ship.  It wasn’t too bothersome until this final evening when we began to feel a much more intense shimmy, so intense that we and other passengers were wondering what might be causing it.

The rattling was even more pronounced in the Encore Theater as we watched several members of the entertainment staff performing an edition of the Liars Club, a show driven by audience-participation where passengers are asked to pick who amongst the entertainers is telling a fake story and who’s telling the truth.  The Encore Theater is equipped with a wide assortment of lighting rigs and other audio/visual equipment, all of which could be seen shaking or swaying to and fro.  It reminded me of shows I’ve seen at amusement parks like Universal Studios Florida where parts of the theater have been gimmicked to give you the sensation of calamity.  There were no gimmicks here, though.

Members of the Dream's entertainment staff in an edition of the Liars Club

We returned to our stateroom after the Liars Club to set out our luggage and get ready for bed.  We also took the time to fill out our customs forms as passengers are required to declare everything purchased while abroad as it could pan out that you own Uncle Sam some money, if you catch my meaning.  Around that same time, our cruise director Jaime made an announcement over the ship’s public address system that we may have noticed the boat traveling at a higher rate of speed than normal.  “Huh, here I thought we were just sailing downhill!” the smart aleck in me replied.  Jaime continued, saying that the reason for this was a medical emergency involving one of our fellow passengers.  My thoughts immediately went back to the passenger I’d seen being taken away in an ambulance the day prior in Costa Maya.  We never found out what the specifics of the situation were, but I certainly hope that whatever the matter was that the passenger in question is alright now.

I think we both had issues sleeping that night which wasn’t a good thing seeing as how we’d be hitting the road in the morning, making the long drive back to South Carolina (and reality).  I guess we should’ve expected some drama considering our surroundings – too bad it had to happen on our final night aboard the Dream.

11-19-11 (Saturday): Once again we were up bright and early, only this time what we had to look forward to were long lines, customs procedures, and our re-integration into the United States.

We rounded up our carry-on (carry-off would be a more appropriate term in this instance) luggage, said our goodbyes to the stateroom that had been our home-away-from-home for the past week, and made one final trip to the Encore Theater which would again serve as a staging area for guests before disembarkation.  To keep things orderly, guests are allowed to disembark according to zoning designations.  We were supposed to have been off the ship by 8:30 AM but our zone wasn’t called until almost 10 AM – breakfast would’ve been nice to have had that morning but room service doesn’t deliver to passengers whose voyage is over, I’m sad to say.  While the lines for passengers to pass through customs were long they were at least moving somewhat steadily.  Our customs experience this go-round was entertaining as the agent working at the station we passed through was working with several teenagers who were job shadowing that day.  We were recognized as citizens of this great country, found our luggage and were able to get to our car in near record time.  Our egress out of the port area was slowed when we got to the parking attendant stations where we’d pay our due for the week; there was either a mechanical issue or some sort of confusion among the staff there.  It was resolved, though, and once we were paid up ($120…FOR PARKING!?!?!?!?!?!?!) we were on our way.

I usually handle the driving duties whenever we’re on the road and Jill usually sleeps 93% of the trip.  I’m kidding – she’s awake at least 30% of the time.  As we got to Jacksonville the lack of sleep the night before caught up to me as I was very close to dozing off while driving.  Trust me when I say that Jacksonville is not a town you should drive through if your head isn’t exactly clear as there are more lane changes and overpasses to navigate there than I’ve experienced anywhere else.  The fact that the gentle jostling sensation you get from riding in a car has always been a relaxing feeling for me didn’t help matters (my parents would take me for a drive around the neighborhood when I was a child if they couldn’t get me to sleep otherwise).  Jill helped out as best she could by trying to have a conversation but she was tired too.  It felt like it took forever for us to get into Georgia but once we were there in the Peach State we stopped at the welcome center where Jill and I swapped places so that I could get some rest.

I don’t recall which Georgian town we were in when we got lunch but I do remember the occasion as we stopped at a Krystal Burger restaurant where I had my first ever Krystal burger.  We don’t have Krystal’s in South Carolina (if we do I’ve never seen it) and consequently I’d never thought to visit one when we’ve passed them in our travels.  Jill had become a fan of theirs thanks to her having lived in North Carolina for some time after college and she felt it was high time I sampled their food.  I have to say that it’s a good thing there isn’t a Krystal Burger anywhere near where we live, else I’d probably be there every other day.  Their burgers are proof that something doesn’t have to be intricate in order to be tasty.

We got back home late in the afternoon, unloaded the car then sorted our laundry.  There were mountains of clothes in our living room, some of them smellier than others but all ripe with reminders of the week that had been our cruise to the Western Caribbean.