Monday at Work

I spent the day in an office building running mind-numbing test cases on a barely-working future system. It's very technical and secret. But the computer lab we were in used to be the boardroom. Something about that added excitement to the day.

Anyway, since I can't really talk about my day, here's two more pictures from our trip to Animal Kingdom last week. Both taken in my favorite section of the park, Pangani Forest. I present a Chillin' Silverback and a little waterfall. Enjoy!

Skulls & Bones

"I don't know, doc. All of a sudden, it felt like my skull was being crushed..."

Yep, this is what happens when you set me and Scott loose with skulls and a digital camera with fresh batteries. Of course, while we were horsing around, we missed the hippo swimming right along the glass wall behind us.

And for anyone with Facebook who saw my status yesterday and wondered what 1-2-3 Whee is, here's a blurry action shot to help explain:


From left to right, that's Trip, Molly (in the stroller with her tongue out), Jenn, Kara and Scott. It's hard to tell who is having the most fun!

We had a whole lot of fun at Animal Kingdom today, despite a little afternoon shower and the humidity that followed. The whole park smelled like Vo-ban, which was a little disgusting, but we made it through. In addition to everyone in the photos above, Aunt Mary and Uncle Rich were also around. Anyone with Facebook will see pictures in the coming days. For now, you'll just have to believe me that they were there.

I love my family a whole lot. We're a whole lotta fun!

Photo Safari

After almost 18 months, I finally managed to be in Animal Kingdom on a sunny day with my "new" camera. The result? LOTS of animal pictures. Here's some of my favorites:

Expedition Everest

I worried that I was building up Expedition Everest a little too much in my mind.

I worried that it would be like Space Mountain - fun once in a while, but too rough to be one of my all-time favorites.

I was especially worried after my friend Melissa said it was like a "glorified Big Thunder Mountain."

I had no reason to worry.

I will be the first to admit that this isn't what coaster enthusiasts would call a great roller coaster. It doesn't have the world's highest, fastest, or steepest anything. It does have a smooth ride, lots of hills and valleys, banked curves, and plenty of surprises. The train goes forwards and backwards, inside and outside, through pitch-black and water mist effects. Plenty of reasons to scream. And of course, there's the Yeti. I wished the ride could have stopped so I could get more than a 5-second glance at the **amazing** animatronic beast that we were flying past.

I woke up this morning at 9:30 (for the second day in a row) to get up and meet a crew of people including Chuck and my new friend Nancy to ride Everest. Today is the last day of Cast previews, and the posted wait time was only 10 minutes. Actual wait was nonexistant... but it does take 5 minutes to walk through the queue. We rode three times in a row. Of course, now my throat is raw, and I was fairly dizzy walking out of the park, but it was SO worth it.

Scott found this link with an amazing picture of the Yeti. It was obviously taken by someone standing still (**cough**c.m.**cough**), and there are wind and lighting effects during the ride that aren't evident in the picture. If you're a chicken and never going to ride Expedition Everest, click on the link and take a look at what you're missing. But if there's any chance you'll ever ride, I would recommend against seeing the pictures in advance. He's so much more impressive in person.

I'm really glad that Disney is building such great new attractions. The last three actual rides (Everest, Soarin', Mission: Space) have been absolute home runs. Of course, the shows haven't been great. Lights Motors Action was exciting once... but it's not something I'll do again unless I'm with someone who hasn't seen it yet. And of course, Cinderellabration was awful. And that says a lot coming from a Princess like me. ;o) Shame though - to the best of my knowledge, there's nothing else under construction right now, so it'll probably be a while before I get this excited about a Disney ride again.

Expedition Everest now joins Rock n Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, Soarin', and Splash Mountain (in no particular order) on my list of Top Five Disney Attractions.

Actually, it also joins my Top Five Attractions Anywhere -- Kraken (Sea World Orlando), Hulk (Islands of Adventure), Everest (DAK), Tower of Terror (MGM), and Montu (Busch Gardens Tampa).