Archive for the ‘travel’ Category

Posted on November 2, 2009 - by MG

Halloween at Disney’s Magic Kingdom

Halloween at Disney’s Magic Kingdom

Originally uploaded by mgharris

Well it isn’t for the faint-hearted, tired or the Disney-phobe. We arrived yesterday at 9am and parked in the Pluto car park. When we left after midnight there were only 6 cars left of around 1000 spaces. Everyone else had wimped out!
Ha, amateurs, to those with staying power, the candy!
Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween party is a ticket-only event which takes place on select evenings during October. The actual Halloween date sells out way in advance.
Too bad we didn’t think of that when we booked our hotel and flights some months ago. We ended up buying tickets from a scalper on eBay, some clued-in guy who bought them up well ahead of time, and made out like a bandit. As my friend Donna’s husband Ben remarked yesterday, at this point buying those tickets in advance is a better investment than any stock.
Party-goers get to enjoy a special parade (Boo To You) and fireworks, trick-or-treating and dance parties, plus late night access to the rides.
After lining up multiple times for the free candy that was being handed out all over, and seeing the mayhem around popular rides like Peter Pan we headed for the relative quiet of Tomorrowland (quiet apart from Stitch’s wild disco dance party, where we mamboed with Pluto and Goofy.)
There we adults finally allowed the kids off the leash, and let them ride the Peoplemover alone, where i’m told they discussed confidential ‘girly’ stuff. And in our own separate car we kicked back, exhausted, and temporarily child-free. ‘The best ride in the park’ was the verdict of Donna (fellow author @writerdonna of the LITOPIA Daily podcast).
Best ride of the day: Splash Mountain.
Best score on the Buzz Lightyear ride/game: Donna with 270,000 odd points.
Best snack: the Pineapple Whip at Aloha Isle in Adventureland.
Emailed from my BlackBerry®

Posted on October 30, 2009 - by MG

Random observations from Disney

Random observations from Disney

Originally uploaded by mgharris

The Twilight Zone ride Tower of Terror is out of order for a bit.
I’m still very spacey from some cough medicine I took last night. How cool that you can buy such effective drugs over the counter in this country!
Also my appetite has failed to return post another attack of some kind of virus. (I hesitate to say H1N1 but it kinda probably was…) thank goodness, really, because food here is so yummy and tempting that a bird-like appetite is all that stands between me and massive weight gain. The cupcakes are frosted six-inches high! And apples smothered in thick layers of caramel.
What is a girl to do?
A High School Musical float has just appeared next to the Starring Rolls Café where we’re having breakfast.
I bought a Jack-O-Lantern shirt for tomorrow’s Halloween party at the Magic Kingdom.
Oh how I love Disney. And did I mention I’m feeling a bit jazzed? You’ll get no sense out of me today.
Hasta luego. X

MG Harris

Emailed from my BlackBerry®

Posted on October 23, 2009 - by MG

Mission Space Green Team is for wimps

Mission Space Green Team is for wimps

Originally uploaded by mgharris

Thus spake Little Daughter after experiencing the most hardcore simulator ride I’ve ever come across, Epcot’s Mission Space.

Despite numerous warnings, before and just prior to the ride, we chose the more challenging Orange Team mission. We laughed when they told us it was not for the wussy. I’ve never been on a ride where they tried so hard to talk you out of it. If you have any doubt whatsoever about which mission to pick, the ‘mission trainer’ urged, pick Green Team. Or dip out completely and go do some mission training at a console.

Remember Tomorrowland’s old ride, Mission to Mars? Well, this is a new mission to Mars but that’s where the resemblance ends. Once you’re in the ‘training capsule’ you’re subjected to actual G forces, as well as the usual simulator stuff, sudden turns and drops.

Fully, fully awesome. We last visited Epcot during the millenium celebrations and it’s changed quite a bit. Yet still, the ‘wow’ factor isn’t quite what it was in my first visits in the 1980s.

The truth is that the gap between Epcot’s vision of the world and the actual world has narrowed. Little Daughter’s jaw didn’t drop as mine had on first seeing a silent monorail glide around the futuristic buildings. How could it? She’d seen sleek monorail shuttles at the airports of Singapore, Detroit and Orlando. Fountains emerge from flat ground to dance in front of Heathrow Terminal 5. She’s been on the insanely high London Eye and seen our capital’s swanky new skyline.

Epcot is still seriously cool but it’s no longer an experimental prototype.

Do kids today even know what EPCOT means?

But then I’m nostalgic enough to miss Horizon and the Carousel of Progress.

*sob* damn you Disney, what have you done to my childhood memories?

Best ride at Epcot for little kids: The Seas with Nemo and Friends

Most physically challenging ride at Epcot: Mission Space Orange Team
MG Harris

Emailed from my BlackBerry®

Posted on October 4, 2009 - by MG

A Joshua Files Mexico Trip: Part 1 - Veracruz state

If reading ‘The Joshua Files’ has made you curious about Mexico and its rich diversity of attractions; ancient ruins in the jungle, old colonial towns, turquoise beaches, then here’s the perfect trip for you, exclusively researched by me!

Josh Garcia’s Mexico

Photo on left shows the sleepy old town of Tlacotalpan on the River Papaloapan, in Veracruz state.

Trip 1 - Veracruz State: Port of Veracruz, Tlacotalpan, Catemaco

It was here that Cortes and the Spanish Conquistadors first arrived in 1519.As a native of central Mexico - the capital, Mexico City, I hadn’t visited Veracruz until 2001. During the summer of that year, urged by my late aunt Josefina, I took the family to see this unique part of the republic.

It was the state’s Caribbean heritage that my aunt thought would attract me. She was right. El Puerto de Veracruz (Port of Veracruz) has a strong hint of Cuba’s capital, Havana, although on a less grandiose scale. Tropical rhythms mingle in the main city square, dancers and singers rub shoulders with street vendors. It’s not unlike the Havana you’ll see in the opening section of the 1958 film of Graham Greene’s novel, “Our Man in Havana”.

“You must also visit the witches of Catemaco,” my aunt insisted. “And Tlacotalpan! It’s like going into the past.”

Mystic witches, watery towns that seem to be locked in a forgotten past, plus some of the most spectacular scenery you’ll see anywhere in the world - snow-capped volcanos, impossibly green terrain ripe with coffee, vanilla and banana plantations, the vertiginous surroundings of the Orizaba mountain range, spectacular ancient ruins: Veracruz is one of the most rewarding and unspoilt regions in the republic of Mexico.

Read the rest of this article including tips on getting there, where to stay and notable Joshua Files locations in Veracruz, featured in ‘Invisible City’ and ‘Ice Shock’.

 

 

 

 

Posted on August 28, 2009 - by MG

Cake Frenzy in the Birthday Week

Cake Frenzy in the Birthday Week

Originally uploaded by mgharris

It’s a week of birthdays in my brother’s family. Michael, his wife and twin children all have birthdays in the last week of August.
And me too!
It’s been a week of cake. If you read this blog you’ll know how fond I am of me cake.
I type this on my BlackBerry with delicious red nails, fresh from a birthday manicure. One gift was a recipe book from the Hummingbird Bakery, source of London’s finest cup cakes.
Between trampolining sessions (see above) mountain strolls, and multiple birthday celebrations I have found a few minutes to spend alone with the ms of Joshua 4. And now I think I really am ready to hand it over to someone to read.
I know I’ve said this before but this time I think I mean it…
Meanwhile we continue to tweak the jacket of Zero Moment. Sneak preview soon I promise!
With Joshua 4 handed over, ZM in its very final form, could it finally be time to turn my attention to Quite Secret New Thing…?

MG Harris

Emailed from my BlackBerry®