Disney World- 1

Last Friday Barbara and I took off for Disney World to enjoy a weekend of acting like children, and we did!  It was a gorgeous day, sunny and cool, and a cloudless sky.  Our check in at the resort was easy and relatively quick, so we were soon in the park and looking at all the beauty. 

Once we got oriented, we realized how hungry we were and headed for this English style pub.  Barbara had good ole traditional fish and chips and I had a favorite, a Scottish egg and a pint of Boddington.  We then proceeded to tour the "countries", stopping at Italy, Canada and China.  We had tickets for the 6:00 show at Cirque de Soleil, so we had to pace our touring a bit.  This was fine with me, as I had partied hard the night before and was a tad sleep deprived and tired.  It was still a wonderful afternoon. 

Barbara loved the fairy garden so we spent some time looking at all the beautiful creations there.  Butterflies were plentiful, too, and added to the ambiance. 

My friend Bruce, who still gets to hang with the astronauts once in while, told me that they told him this ride, Mission: Space, was as close to the real thing as you could get.  So I had to give it a go.  It was spectacular!  When the ride began, I was staring up at the sky will clouds and sea gulls going by.  Blast off was loud and had a very real feel to it.  We pulled more than a couple of G's, which felt real good after so many years without them, and there were even a few negative ones at times.  There was some rockin' and rollin' and terrific visuals and sounds.  Overall, it was one of the best rides I've ever been on and the best of any kind in many, many years. 
As it did the last time I saw it, in Vegas many years ago, Cirque de Soleil exceeded all of my expectations and Barbara's as well.  It was colorful, full of splendid acrobatics, light and sound and music.  Wonderfully staged and executed to a T, it was absolutely spell binding!  The show was called La Nouba and the venue was built just for Cirque.  It is called "a boundless and festive journey into the imagination", and it is.  It is "where the mundane meets the marvelous...and dreams and nightmares intertwine."  You can see more at www.cirquedusoleil.com.  The pictures alone are with the website visit. 

The greatest beauty that I witnessed this day wasn't the scenery or the rides or even my beautiful sister,Barbara, but an incident on the bus as we left Epcot for our hotel.  It was standing room only, with a young boy of 6 or 7 standing with his mother in front of me.  Sitting to my right was a mother, her young daughter (also about 6 or 7), and the father.  The boy was very agitated and insisting on sitting down, while his mother tried to comfort him and explain there was no place to sit.  Suddenly he moved in front of the little girl and tried to sit on her lap!  The girl's mother became quite upset, scowling at the little boy and a bit angry.  Suddenly her face changed, she asked her husband to stand up and her daughter to move over so the little boy could sit.  As he sat, he reached over and took the hand of the girl's mother who said, "He was afraid."  She then put her arm around him and he leaned his head on her shoulder.  As I watched this, the tears ran down my face from under my sunglasses and I was glad to have them to hide behind.  It was one of the most touching things I've ever seen.  The mother of the girl seemed to have an intuitive moment, as a mother, which told her the little boy was afraid and not being aggressive or meaning harm.  Just like Walt Disney to bring a few tears along with the laughter.  Oh yeah!