Don Killingbeck, Jeremy Killingbeck, Judy Killingbeck, Cara Killingbeck

Today we got up, showered, and ate breakfast.  My breakfast consisted of 1 ½ donuts, 2 pieces of bacon, Crispix, milk, and juice.  After breakfast, we all hopped on the bus for the Magic Kingdom.  It was about a 10 minute ride there.  We saw a wreck.  A truck a ran into a car and nearly pushed it off the road.  When we got to the Magic Kingdom, Jeremy discovered that he didn’t have his ticket so he and Don had to go back to the hotel to get it.  We decided to meet them at the Swiss Family Robinson Tree house.  We road the train over to Frontier land and backtracked through Adventure land.  We quickly noticed the tree house renovation.  Construction platforms crisscrossed the tree and the whole thing was surrounded by a tall, brown, fence. 

Mom thought It’d be a good idea for me to take Cara on the jungle cruise so that’s what I did.  The line was short and we quickly boarded the boat.  Our boat was blessed with the most gorgeous girl I’ve seen the whole trip.  She had the perfect face with blue eyes and blond hair and a body to match.  I described her to Jeremy and quickly pointed her out on the Splash Mountain ride, later.  Anyway, the jungle cruise hadn’t changed much.  They still use the same dry humor.  I think they may have added some more Indians but I could be mistaken.  I still enjoyed my 4^th or maybe 5^th time on it. 

Cara, mom, and I met up with Jeremy and Don and rode the Pirates of the Caribbean.  It hasn’t changed much either.  I still like it.  I especially like all the skeletons.  After that, we headed over to Splash Mountain the worlds steepest & longest log ride (or so they say).  I really liked the scenery on the ride.  The log floats through the story of Brer Rabbit and the Tar baby (excluding the Tarbaby).  Once again, Brer Rabbit is thrown into the brier patch only this time you go with him plunging down in a log and getting soaked in the process. 

Next was Thunder Mountain Railroad, a rollercoaster that’s frontier scenery is very pleasing.  The last ride before lunch was the HAUNTED MANSION.  Like the Pirates of the Caribbean, Cara was apprehensive to go on it but she loved it.  Here are a few epitaphs:  "Here lies good old Fred a great big rock fell on his head."  "Here lies cousin Huet.  We all know you didn’t do it."  "Here lies good old brother Dave.  He chased a bear into a cave."  I love reading the headstones.  In Key West, our tram conductor told us about a lady who kept telling the doctors that she had the disease.  She died of something or other and had, “I told you I was sick” written on her headstone.  We ate lunch at Pinnochios (just like the band trip). 

After that, Jeremy and I split off from the family to Blizzard Beach.  We only had to turn back once to get the sunscreen.  We road a bus back to the hotel after getting our hands stamped with a fluorescent color not visible without a special light.  I was worried it’d rub off.  While waiting for the bus to Blizzard Beach, we talked to an old man from Sandiago.  He was rather nice to chat with.  He told us a little about the Sandiago Zoo and said it's like a safari since all the animals run unconfined around the area. 

Blizzard beach was fun.  Jeremy told me that it was based after a huge snowstorm and now the waterslides were where water was running off the mountain.  There was even a ski lift with skis attached to each car.  It had a long lazy river that went around the park and through a cold tunnel.  It also had a nice variety of waterslides.  I, personally, liked the wave pool the best.  Me and Jeremy would stand as close to the wave machines as possible in 5 ft 9 inches of water and jump with the wave or dive under them.  It was fun trying to swim with them constantly pounding against you.  We left about 5:00 and waited forever for our bus which was supposed to come every 35 minutes. On the ride back, Jeremy and I were the only people on the bus.  Jeremy was constantly asking the bus driver questions like he normally does.  I can’t believe he’s still stuck on wave runners.  We got back to the hotel just behind the Magic Kingdom bus so we went to our rooms for 10 minutes.  Just as we came back out to the bus stop, the bus pulled up.  My fears were for nothing.  The stamp obviously stayed on my hand since we were let back in with no problem. 

We waited on mom, dad, and Cara for 5 – 10 minutes before they showed up.  I just stood and watched people walk by fidgeting with the railing around a tree.  Jeremy watched some guy sculpting glass with a blowtorch.  We ate dinner at the same place as I did on my last trip here with band.  I had pizza and salad.  It was good.  After dinner, Jeremy and I ran off to Tomorrow land to an Extraterrestrial Encounter while the rest of the family got us a good spot for the parade. 

The Extraterrestrial encounter was an incredible experience.  The story was based on an advanced alien company who wanted to sell us transporter technology.  During the demonstration, they fried a little alien.  Then they took us to the lab so one of us could be beamed to the aliens home world.  Instead, the boss of the company decided to beam here but they lost his signal and accidentally transported a carnivorous alien.  It broke it’s glass encasing and ran a muck.  Some of the effects used were blackouts where you would hear him, feel his hot breath, or feel your restraints move under his weight.  They also used blast of air to make you feel like he was flying over you.  I liked the water droplets that were supposed to be a mechanics blood flying down from above you after he mauled the mechanic.  It reminded me of the situation with the raptors in Jurassic Park. 

The parade was great except that my back hurt and my foot kept falling asleep since I had to sit Indian style so the people behind me could see.  The light studded floats with all your favorite Disney Characters really added a nice touch to the dark streets.  You could tell when they were coming because the street filled with flashes of light from cameras.  The music was great too though I liked the real band playing Disney songs earlier in the day better.  They played great, especially the trumpet.  The people we sat around during the parade were friendly.  I just wish they were taller.  After the parade, Jeremy and I rushed over to adventure land and back to get me an Australian Style hat that I saw earlier.  We got back in plenty of time before Tinkerbelle flew out of the castle and started a spectacular display of fireworks.  They went off to music and at times the glow lit up all around the deformed 25^th anniversary birthday cake castle.  There were all types of fireworks: big, small, water fountain spray, and rockets.  The colors spanned across the spectrum.  Don commented how he liked them because they kept it going after fooling you with two false endings.  They tried to make Mickey twice but I couldn’t see it.  Cara showed me her autograph book.  She acquired ten Disney character signatures throughout the day.  We waited a long time for the crowds to die down before we attempted riding back.  Jeremy and Cara ate ice creams.  We couldn’t get out without doing too much shopping.  We got back at 10:00.  Everyone is laying in bed.  I’m writing this journal.  It’s been a fun day.