Magic Our Way

So my family and I have returned from our vacation at Disney World in Orlando, our third straight year and, if I'm counting right, my tenth lifetime visit. My wife and I will hopefully chronicle our trip in some detail on another board, so I won't go into incredible detail here, but it was an awesome trip.

There were many, many good times, but a few stand out. One of them is a somewhat hidden gem at Pleasure Island called the Adventurer's Club. What a hysterical concept. It really defies description, but if you get down there take a chance on it one night. You'll thank me.

Another real treasure is the Animation Academy in MGM Studios, where a Disney animator teaches a class how to draw a character. We got to do Goofy and Stitch this year. Special congratulations to our instructor Timmy, who's moving on to the Imagineer program. This guy was awesome, passionate about what he does, very talented and over-the-top enthusiastic. He deserves every bit of success he gets. I wonder how many of us could be like Timmy if we'd not allowed the harshness of the rat race to jade us.

Finally, this guy in the picture was at Cinderella's Castle three minutes before the fireworks, freaking out because some little kids sat in front of him on the sidewalk. Very intimidating, screaming for Disney security in his mouse ears. That kind of entertainment you can't buy.