Airport Blues

Today is our last day in Orlando. We cleaned out our hotel room. Checkout was quick, and we got up early, so we hit Sonic first.

The airport itself was easy to find. It was not clear where we needed to return our rental car. We had to turn around at least once. Others were confused too.

There was more confusion once we got inside the airport. There were no signs for our airline. I asked a janitor. He told me I was on the wrong side of the airport.

Security lines were short at the airport. We found our gate. But the flight got delayed. Now they have changed the departure gate as well. I hope we get home soon.

Out to Eat

Even though we are here in Orlando, the family decided to take a day off today. We have gone to theme parks for the last 5 days. It was about time to take it easy.

The biggest choice today was to figure out where to eat. Mamma Kat rejected the idea to go to Chinese buffet. She led us to Perkins restaurant instead

Little Kat was happy. We made him get a kids meal. It came with soda, a cookie, extra side orders, and a lot of food.

Dinner was the only other choice. We were thinking about Sonic. However we ended up waiting in line for Olive Garden. That was some good cooking. We even brought some back to our hotel room. Time to return home tomorrow. I got our boarding passes already.

Magic Kingdom Denied

Today we decided to go to Disney’s Magic Kingdom. While driving there, Mamma Kat thought she saw a sign stating that the park was closed. When we approached the parking lot, we saw all the cars turning around and leaving. The parking attendant told us that the park was closed. All we got were some coupons.

We rode around for a while then parked. The family decided against a trip to Disney Studios. Instead we returned to Epcot. The Test Track ride that Little Kat wanted to go on was still too long a wait. Therefore we visited the side of the park that we had skipped before.

After getting a fast pass, we headed to the Temple of Mexico. At first it seemed like a tourist trap with a bunch of stores. However the center of the exhibit had a boat ride. We then used our fast pass to jump the line at Norway’s Maelstrom. It was supposed to be a ship ride. The ship hit a dead end, went backwards for a long ride, then took a sharp drop down. Yikes.

Mamma Kat made us go to the German exhibit to eat some brats. I insisted we watch a patriotic presentation about the USA. By then we were tired, and took a boat ride across a huge lake to avoid a long walk around it. I rested as the cats did a lot of shopping at a number of Disney stores.

Seaworld

Yesterday me and the family visited Seaworld here in Orlando. We could not find a good place to eat before arriving. So we grabbed some chicken platters inside the Seaworld park.

I saw some sharks up close. They had evil looking beady eyes. And from a distance I saw Shamu the killer whale. Even from the cheap seats Shamu looked huge. Kit Kat and Little Kat went up close to Shamu and got seriously splashed.

My favorite attraction was a Chinese acrobat show to a deep sea background. There was so much action on that stage that I could not keep up with it. As we left the park by tram, some cat tried to jump off while it was moving and got hurt. Ouch.

Universal Studios

I slept in a little this morning. Mamma Kat wanted us to get to Universal Studios early. By the time I got up, we only had time for a couple burgers for breakfast.

It was a total maze to find the official parking for Universal Studios. Once parked, we took advantage of moving sidewalks to get us to the entrance. We had to wait a long time in line to purchase tickets.

We opted for express passes which cost extra, but allowed us to skip long lines. My favorite attraction was a rock show headlined by Beetlejuice. This show featured a great singer playing the Bride of Frankenstein.

The rest of the family wanted to see Blue Man Group in concert. I just did not have the energy. However I did have enough energy to take the family to Golden Corral for dinner. Tomorrow I wanted to relax. But the family is talking about wanting to visit SeaWorld.

Trip to Epcot

Today we headed to Epcot for some more Disney fun. The day started bad. Mamma Kat guided me with directions to drive to Epcot. However we got onto a toll road that needed exact change. We did not have any change. I had to run through the toll booth without paying.

We got to Epcot and took a twisty tram ride into the park. There was some good news at the front door. We got a discount because it was the second day we had gone to a park. We hurried up and got passes to 2 rides.

I chose my ride to be one that was not too crazy. It was a slow boat ride through a cave where they taught you about farming. The ride was mildly entertaining. Then we went to a ride that Kit Kat chose. We went back in time to learn about energy. Some cat at the end of my row got scared of the dinosaurs we met. He ran up the row to sit next to me, far away from the huge dinosaurs.

There was a free exhibit at Epcot. We got to taste all the drinks that Coca Cola serves around the world. Some of them tasted like ginger. Others tasted like a spicy Coke. And some were just nasty. We got little cups that we filled with soft drink dispensers ourselves.

The last stop was the gift shop. It was so crazy we had to leave before we got anything. Luckily we found another gift shop before we left. A lot of things were on sale there. I got a shirt. The kids got hats. Mamma Kat got some little globe. Tomorrow we hit Universal Studios. See you then.

Day One at Disney

We decided to first visit Animal Kingdom on our trip. Before entering the park we ate at Sonic. It took a while to figure out that that Sonic is located within Walmart stores here.

The parking lot was full on arrival. A train took us to the Animal Kingdom entrance. As we entered the park, we learned that our one day passes were good for "fast passes". That means we can sign up to skip the lines and get on rides immediately.

We had a most interesting ride in the Safari. It took us through dirt paths and water. We saw many real animals in the jungle. Kit Kat talked us into going on some bug ride. I got poked and sprayed by evil bugs. Then Mamma Kat talked us into another ride. It was too late before I realized it was white water rafting (which got us drenched).

The last ride was a time travel one to see dinosaurs. The whole family hung on for dear life. The ride was in the dark. The kart rocked back and forth wildly. We all recouperated in the hotel room, preparing for tomorrow's adventure at Epcot.

Travel Trouble

We plan to vacation at Disney World in Orlando. I got airline tickets with Southwest Airlines. I got advanced boarding passes to obtain good seats. Southwest has a general boarding. That means there are no assigned seats.

At first I was surprised. The boarding passes seemed to go quickly as soon as I was able to log in to get them. I feared a full flight.

On the day of departure, me and Lil Kat loaded up the car. When we got to the airport, we were missing the crucial bag with boarding passes. We sped back home to retrieve this bag.

The check in and security lines were very small. Our flight was delayed due to ice storms. The plane eventually arrived. We had plenty of room. The kids got window seats. Things were looking up.

Off to Disney World

My cat parents invited me and the family over for Christmas. It was time to figure out what our family was going to do for my vacation Christmas week. If we had some money, I thought we would visit Disney World in Florida. Well we might not have the money. But you only live once. So I decided we should go for it.

Hotels dot com found us a good place to stay. It has a separate bed for each of us cats. And it does not cost an arm and a leg (or paw). We went with our most frequent airline to get there. That is SouthWest. So now you know we are free to roam about the country.

Our trip is going to last a monster seven days. That should give us time to sample a little of everything in Orlando. We will hit SeaWorld - love them fish. Of course we shall go to Disney World. There is Universal Studios. I think we shall see the Epcott Center as well. Some spots such as the Animal Kingdom are maybes. They got some big cats there I bet. We will report back on how the trip goes. Maybe we will talk Little Kat into writing that status report.

Back to College

At work I am thinking I may need to learn some more programming skills to prepare for the long haul. The next version of the system I work on will use technologies I am not familiar with. My plan is to go back to college to help my studying.

Today I took the morning off from work. I went to the local community college where I recently enrolled. I had read the schedule of classes and identified where visitor parking was. The problem was that the lots were not clearly marked. Eventually I parked in the right place.

After registering for a spring class, I decided to get a parking sticker for my car. A worker in the book store pointed me out where the Campus Police substation was. When I got there, it was empty. They are the only ones who can issue a parking sticker. That's ok. I decided to go to the Campus Police main office in the facilities building.

This is where it got strange. I had a campus map. I followed along to the edge of the parking lots. Then I passed some tennis courts. There was a small concrete path that I followed. The path ended at a tiny shack. I had to proceed on a dirt path. Finally I made it to Campus Police. Ooops. I did not have my registration. So I made the trek back to my car. As I was walking back on the dirt path, a pickup truck making a lot of noise came up behind me. I bolted toward the concrete path in the front. This college campus is not very cat friendly. Let's hope the class I signed up for is good.

Hunted by Jaguar

I was in my house. Actually it looked more like the house of my parents. I found myself in the basement. And I thought I overheard a conversation upstairs about a jaguar being on the loose. That sounded like crazy talk.

I heard a noise outside. Like a dummy I opened the back door. That's where I saw the jaguar. It was all black. In person this cat looked much more dangerous than just seeing a picture. It had really strong legs. And I thought I could also tell that it had a strong jaw. It seemed to position itself as is it was going to lunge at me and the door. So I hurried to close the door. I had trouble securing the door shut.

After that I ran upstairs. Halfway up the stairs I looked out another door that faced the back yard. I saw the jaguar again. For some strange reason, I wanted to taunt it. I started banging on the window. The jaguar looked a bit confused. I laughed. Then I practiced my escape by seeing how quickly I could run upstairs. I got caught in the upstairs door and decided I should stop this nonsense of teasing this killer cat.

Then I woke up. My muscles were still tense from fearing this jaguar. People say that your dreams all mean something. What does the image of this jaguar mean for me and my future? Is it time to invest in some more home security? Or are my real parent in danger sometimes soon? These are the things that keep a black cat such as myself up at night.