Practice Report - May 23, 2013

Practice last night started out slowly.  I opened the site, and it took people a while to get there.  Eventually Edmund showed up, and we started doing some stretching.  After that, Malcolm showed up and we continued with the stretching.  With just the three of us, I ran some rapier and dagger drills.  A little after 8, Firebow and Orlando showed up.  They started fencing while I was finishing drills with Edmund.

Prior to Orlando and Bow showing up, we were doing drills in just masks and gloves, so I suited up.  Its been a few weeks since I fenced with Orlando.  We started out fencing single, me with my normal blade (37") and he with my 30".  I was able to use the reach advantage against him, since unlike with a 40"+ blade, I was not giving up a lot in terms of tempo.  I wound up pulling the tip off the blade he was using, so he switched back to his 40".  I was able to maintain my distance and play the game I wanted.  I finally feel like I am learning the measure of this new blade.

After that, I fenced Scrooby, who has just moved down to the area from Boston.  I met him at K&Q up in Montreal.  We sat next to each other at dinner.  I had noticed something in his footwork earlier while he was fencing Firebow, and wanted to see if I could take advantage of it.  Basically, he had a very wide stance, and was leaning in and out, so when his weight was forward, I knew I could press the attack on him.  After some passes, I told him what I observed and how I thought I was able to work it against him.

That was all the fencing I did last night, but the best thing was, I never felt my hand get cramped.  I'm not sure why that is, but I'll certainly take it.

Practice report - 5/2/2013

So tonight we got started late, but it was a good practice overall for me.  We did about 35 minutes of stretching and calisthenics prior to fencing.  I've been hurting since Tuesday when I went on a lunch walk with coworkers.  We did about 3 miles in 45 minutes and afterwards my ankle was sore. It was yesterday, but was telling OK today, until after practice. 

I only fenced with two people tonight, Judy and Garrick.  Judy got frustrated after a few passes, mainly she needs to knock the rust off.  She was flicking her blade at mine from 3 when I would attack from 3 or 6.  Since there was no real parry, I just kept going.  So after the first few I stopped and we drilled for a few minutes.  Then we just fenced non stop, calling out the good blows.  This helps her get into that space mentally where it's just reaction, no time to think.

Garrick was an interesting fight.  I found myself occasionally too close to him, starting at the point of his blade coming at me.  I was able to get out of it most times, but it means I need to be more conscious of my measure, especially with using a shorter session than what I'm used to.  I am getting used to the new blade length.  Yes I'm giving up a few inches in reach but it's less than half the length of my foot. 

So all in all, a good evening, but I'll be posting for it fit a few days.

Practice Report . Drew Med Fest Demo

Practice 4/18/2012

So again our intrepid duelist forayed to the wilds of Settmour Swamp to do battle with his biggest enemy... himself.  I got to practice a bit late, due to making a stop to find supplies for the wedding while they are in season at the dollar store.  I got there just in time for stretching, which is good as I'm not as flexible as I once was.

After stretching, I warmed up with Antonio.  I took out my 30" rapier against him.  He matched me, so it was an intense battle with small sword.  I love fencing with the shorter blades, all forte, no waiting.  Not the best way to warm up by going out there hard for the first bouts of the evening, but certainly a fun way to play.

After Antonio, I'm not sure who I fought, maybe Edmund.  My right hand was cramping, and my point was bouncing all over the place.  I felt like I had no control of the blade, so after the bouts, I changed out the Hanwei 43" blade I normally use for a 37" blade from Darkwood.  I figured I would see if there was some improvement, both with control and pain.  I took the blade out against Kat.  I went single, she went dagger.   I felt like I had more control of the point, but not as much as I normally do.  Also, I noticed the hand cramping more around the thumb. Additionally, my range was now off, coming up short on hitting my opponent by about 2-3".  Again, this was something I had experienced back in November, when I decided to go back to the 43" blade.

So hand cramping, knowing my measure was not happening, I tried to think what would be the best thing for me?  So I went out and just worked on my basics while bouting with Jose, Kat's boyfriend.  This was his 3rd or 4th time suiting up, and he just gets things instinctively.  I was working on one concept, keeping my hand relaxed.  I'm not going to out muscle Jose, so no point in trying to.  I was able to hit some nice things, but the hand was cramping severely.  After we went a bunch of passes, I showed him one of the moves I hit him with and how and why it works.  When I had hit him with it, I could see the WTF moment through his mask. When I explained it to him, he caught it quickly.

After that I suited down, as did everyone else and we headed to Applebee's for food.  Service was a bit lacking on promptness.  That's one thing the diner of disappointment had going for it, semi-prompt service.  So we may be on the lookout yet again for a new place for after practice.

Edmund and I at Med Fest - 4/20/13

Med Fest - Drew U - 4/20/2013

So Jennie and I had a morning meeting with the priest at her church to review some pre-wedding stuff, thus we got to the demo a little late.  There were a few fencers there, but the only one I wound up facing all day was Edmund.  We started out, me with the Darkwood 37" and a dagger.  Very quickly my hand cramped up again.  So after a bunch of passes to entertain the crowd, I switched the grip on the sword, back to the original grip it came with.  Overall, I think the grip I made was too square and not the right shape for my hand, thus I had to grip it in an unnatural way.  This then caused the hand to cramp and sent my blade control out of whack.  I fenced for the rest of the day with the old grip in place.  I noticed later in the day that my thumb was out of the normal alignment with the rest of my hand.  I could not even get my thumb to line up flat with the rest of the fingers as muscles in the pad of the thumb were just so tight.  So Retep helped me out a bit and I was able to get in some more passes and I felt like the control was coming back.

I think I am going to try and rest it more this week, but we'll see how successful that will be with work and life.  I'd not sure which blade I will be using this week at practice, the Hanwei 43" or the Darkwood 37".  I'm leaning towards the shorter blade, but I know I will be using the original grip.  We shall see how this works out.

Practice Report - 4/11/13

So last night, the weather was nicer.  It was warm during the day, so fencing in an unheated building was not too bad.  Getting to practice, the parking lot was full, so I figured it was a large turnout for practice.  Turns out the Moose were drinking in force, but we had only 7 fencers in attendance.   So after getting suited up, we did some basic footwork drills led by Antonio.  Then to change things up, and as we are getting older, we did about 20 minutes of stretching led by Mable.  I am hoping the stretching becomes part of the regular practice schedule.

I started the night fencing Firebow.  Typically, we are both out there fencing Italian with long blades (40"-43") and daggers.  I decided to change things up by bringing out my 30" rapier and dagger.  It was a much more fun fight than out typical waiting game.

Next I fought Malcolm with case of daggers, facing the same.  It was silly, it was fun, I was able to actually land a lunge from both sides.  I need to incorporate more of that in my regular game.

I ended the night with fencing Edmund.  We went back and forth.  I was working on something specific but he is probably the wrong person to try something new against as you can never get a consistent response from him.  Surprisingly, after fencing Edmund, there was only about 15 minutes left for practice, so I suited down.

When fencing Edmund, I was using my longer blade.  I noticed my hand and wrist were fatiguing.  Its something I have noticed since I changed the handle.  I think the handle I made is too narrow, so I am going to make a new one, and swap the existing one to the matching dagger.

After practice we skipped going to the "diner of disappointment" and went to Applebee's instead.  I and others had been having digestive issues after eating at the diner.  Nice thing about Applebee's, you can get a drink, and after 10 PM to close, its happy hour with half priced appetizers.  So with a bunch of appetizers and a few drinks on the table, it still came out about the same price as going to the diner.  And, my belly thanked me as I was trying to get to sleep by not keeping me awake.

Mudthaw

So I was unbelievably stressed going into Mudthaw.  Not just for a few days but for weeks leading up to the event.  So much prep to do, so little time.  Not being intimately involved in the planning and running of the event for the first time in a few years, I was not sure what was actually happening and when.

So part of the prep was Jennie made new garb for her niece and nephew and we were making a cake for Stacey's vigil.  So, in January, we borrowed her beehive cake molds, saying that it was for a cake for my niece.  We found a honey cake recipe, perfect for the lady with bees in her arms.  We also found recipes for fondant and butter cream icing.  So the weekend before Mudthaw, we needed to get our act in high gear.  We made the cake in mold, but impatient me being impatient, I tried to de-pan one before it was fully cooled. So the cake crumbled, but at least it tasted good.  We then tried to get the second one out when it had cooled, and while we had less trouble with that one, we still lost some detail.  Additionally, I need to learn to read instructions as I set the temperature a little too high, so while the outside cooked, the inside was  still a little gooey and under cooked.

So a second batch was made and this time, we used two 10" rounds.   We ran out to get supplies for decorating the cake as it cooled.  But realizing that we'd want the cake as fresh as possible meant that to ice and decorate it, it would have to wait until Friday night.  Crap, Friday night where I had made dinner plans with friends coming down for the weekend.  So into the freezer goes the cakes, and wait until Friday.

Friday:

During lunch I made the fondant.  It needed some time to rest before we could roll it out and cut to shape.  We had gotten a leaf shape fondant cutter, so that we could make a laurel wreath on the cake from the fondant.  We whipped up a batch of icing from scratch, but it was not enough to go between the layers and cover the cake nicely.  Because the cake was a little crumbly, Jennie laid on a rough coat of icing, which picked up some of the crumbs as she spread it.  So I made a second batch, adding a little orange extract to it and then she recovered the cake with a smooth final coat.  We then rolled out the fondant and cut it into the leaf shapes or two sizes, the large size for the top and a smaller size for the sides of the cake.  So I finished decorating while Jennie took a shower.  Cake went into the fridge, got washed up, and off we go...

Headed out about 8:00 to meet up with Cheryl, Robert, LT at the hotel and take them to our favorite sushi place.  Donovan, Sorsha, and Anastasia were just checking in to the hotel as we were about to leave, so we waited for them to get a room key and then they followed us.  Magdalena met us at the restaurant on her way to the hotel.  So the nine of us were out at Nagoya.  I ordered two Mike rolls for the table (afterall, the roll is actually named after me).  It was a great night, getting to hang out with friends outside of an event, and really talk, have fun, laugh a lot.  Jennie and I dropped Sorsha off at Adam & Stacey's where we arrived to see a house full of friends.   Then we headed home to get what sleep we could.

Saturday:

In the morning, we made a packing list and list of things to do so we would not forget.  Problem is, I forgot stuff, like extra cloaks for Jennie and her sister, and the list.  Well the list actually made it with us.  On the way to the event, we stopped at Walgreen's  and we picked up some supplies for the day, mainly foam swords for the kids to play with.  We got flowers for the vigil to go along with the laurel branches Jennie cut from the trees around her house.  We got coffee.  I didn't order coffee, but my ice tea tasted like tea and coffee mixed and not in a good way.  So I asked them to remake it.  Still tasted the same.  Jennie tasted it so I know I was not crazy.

We got to the event and grabbed the stuff for the vigil from the car when they called Stacey into court.  From that point forward, it was rush, rush, rush.  I grabbed the cake, and made sure I showed it to her before people partook of it.

So afterwards, I got suited up to fence.  I pushed myself a bit too much too early going back to back to back with warmups against Jacob Fisher, the newest OGR Davius, and then Donovan.  After fencing Donovan, I was having issues breathing, mostly due to the chill in the air.  Lungs a burning, it took me too long to recover, so I dropped out of the tournament and marshaled one of the four lists in the rapier tournament.  What I saw was some excellent fights, courteous combatants, and smiles on faces.

I played major domo for a little bit while Antonio had things to do at the start of Stacey's vigil.  Finally, I saw someone cut into the cake, so I had to try it.  I don't want to toot our horns, but my goodness, was that a tasty cake.  There was not much left of it.  Actually, all the food/gifts/etc for the vigil was amazing.

Court came, and I got to see two friends made companions of the Silver Crescent.  I know there were other awards, but I was breaking down the vigil, chatting, and doing other things.  I got to see a good friend elevated to a peerage up close.  I got to see a new comer to the SCA go up and receive a token from the royals.   Post court, we got in the car, ran home, got changed, got beer, and headed over to Adam & Stacey's for dinner.  Well us and about 40 others.  The house was packed, food was eaten in mass quantities.  I got to hang with my pelican, his wife, and my chosen family.  And oh, my cheeks still hurt from laughing too much.  I think we left at about 12:30 and the party seemed to still be going strong.

All in all, what a wonderful, exhausting weekend.

Sources for recipies:

Cake Recipe:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moist-holiday-honeycake/detail.aspx
Icing Recipe:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quick-and-almost-professional-buttercream-icing/detail.aspx
Fondant Recipe adapted from : http://www.sweettoothlove.com/rainbow-fondant-cups/

King and Queen's Rapier Championship

So the weekend had the chances of being unforgettable for a few reasons.  With the snow coming in, we could have wound up sliding off the highway and into a ditch, never to be heard from until spring in the Adirondacks.  But we found Nemo and just kept swimming along until we arrived in Montreal.  But now for some of the back story...

In October, the idea was proposed of chartering a bus from NJ to Montreal for K&Q Rapier.  I looked into it and figured we'd need 36 people minimum to make it work.  40 would have been preferred.  We wound up with 35 people, but due to circumstances and real life, we ended up with only 27 on the bus.  The good thing was almost everyone had a row to themselves.  The bad news was, some of our friends would not be making it.

Friday

So the weather was looking dicey with a storm coming in from the west and a nor'easter developing and dropping snow on the area Friday morning.  But like the intrepid adventures we are, we arrived in South Plainfield, NJ at our pick up spot.  Many thanks to Sir Antonio and Elizabeth for the use of their driveway as a parking lot.  Everyone arrived by 9:30, but the bus was not there.  Finally the bus arrived about 9:45 or so, and we loaded up the luggage and started boarding.  The roads in NJ were not bad until we hit the northern most part of 287, just before the NY Thruway.  Once on the Thruway, the roads were pretty clear until we hit the Adirondacks.  But our driver, Paulo, was awesome.   We had some movies playing on the bus ride and people mixed and mingled.

At the border crossing, I had to get off the bus and speak with the Canadian Customs Officers.  They asked the basic questions, "What were we going to do while in Canada; how long were we staying; and where were we staying?"  They explained that they wanted to look under the bus and then would check passports.  After coming onto the bus, they asked about the crown they found.  This was the Princess of the East's crown who was travelling with us.  They also asked about the SCA.  One pointed out that he thought Alexander looked like he'd be pretty dangerous with an axe.  From there it was a little over an hour to the hotel.

We arrived in Montreal at the hotel and already a large contingent of fencers had beat us to the bar.  Check in was pretty smooth.  I had two reservations in my name, neither of which for a room I was staying in.   I wound up bunking with Antonio, while Kiena and Mable took one of my rooms, and our bus drivers were in the other room.  After dropping the bags, the group kind of broke up as people sought dinner.  I wound up heading into Chinatown with a bunch of people.  The recommended place looked at us strangely since we did not have a reservation, so we headed down the street and found a place to eat.  The food was tasty, especially after the bus ride.

Back at the hotel, we had the bar filled.  Over the course of the weekend, I was reminded of Birka, being in the hotel with good friends, hanging out for the long weekend.  At some point I headed up to the room and crashed.  I didn't sleep too well in the hotel bed.  I just could not get comfortable.

Saturday (morning and afternoon)

I woke up and headed down to the restaurant for breakfast.  Normally when I am going to fence, I can only have a light meal, so I think it was a Coke and a croissant.  Edmund staggered down about 9:05 thinking he had missed the bus.  Staggered is the right word as he was still drunk from the night before.  Back up to the room, I packed my gear for the day in my fencing case.  Getting back downstairs, we loaded up the bus and waited for Ian and Declan.  The bus ride to the event was pleasant.  We pulled up to the site, and I had to laugh as I heard a couple of people gawking in French about the fact that we had rented a bus, and why had they not thought of that.

I was still exhausted from the lack of sleep, so I chose not to warm up too much before the pool.  I did a little to get myself loose and just figure out the size of the lists (tiny).  I wound up in a pool with Ogedai, Thomas, Bruce, and some guy from Carolingia.  We were supposed to have one more person, but she never showed up, so I'd only get four fights in my pool.  I wound up undefeated and advancing out of the pool with Ogedai.  When people asked how I did, I said "OK."  I didn't feel great, but was feeling pretty good.

There was a conference call the royalty had to attend, so there was a lengthy delay between the end of the pool and the double elimination portion for those who advanced.  Even though I knew I advanced it was still somewhat shocking when my name was called.  I did a warm up with Malochio prior to the 16 being announced and then just before the bouts were announced with Pascual.  I had to borrow some defensive secondaries from Pascual as I had not brought any of mine.  I was not expecting to need them.

My first bout was with Don Alain Longship.  I don't recall much of how the bout went (which is odd), other than I won it in the third pass with a nice thrust to the throat.  I think we had agreed to match forms.  My next opponent was Don Griffith Davion.

I think this was the fourth straight year that I have faced Griff in the elimination portion of K&Q.  We agreed to match forms.  I managed to catch him with a beautiful thrust up the middle on the first pass.  I think that may have woken him up as I came no where near close to him on the next two passes.  I did however take cloak out as a defensive secondary during the second pass of the bout.  It was the first time in many years I had pulled out a cloak in a tournament.  I think I may have to fight more often with one.  The reason for the cloak was that when I saw him pull a buckler, all I could think was:  lefty vs righty and both with bucklers doesn't sound like much fun.  He hit me with a beautiful rising shot just inside my left arm over the cloak.  I had the line blocked on his initial shot, but he changed it and I was dead.  The last pass, I don't recall.

So I got knocked down to the one loss list.  Next loss and I'd be out of the tournament.  My next opponent was Don John Radburne.  In the first bout, he took a stick, and I took a buckler.  I landed a thrust in his right armpit, over his sword.  So I'm up 1-0 in a best of three.  John grabbed case, so I grab single.  He then puts down his secondary, and I pick up my dagger.  We go back and forth like this for about a minute.  Finally we start the pass, he with single, me with rapier and dagger.  Knowing I can't fight him from range I made the plan to close and close hard.  After posturing and positioning, he wound up close to the corner of the list.  I parried one of his attacks and closed hard, taking his right arm with the point of my sword.  I continued closing and got the kill with the dagger, winning the bout.

My next bout would be my last for the day, but I faced off against Lord Guthfrith Yrlingsson.  I've had the pleasure of fencing him at Birka a few years back and was looking forward to facing him again.  We agreed to match forms.  In the first bout, we both had single.  I legged him, but then stepped in a little to close and he landed a nice touch on my belly.  Down 0-1, we then took defensive secondaries.  I took the buckler, he had a stick I think.  At one point, I went for a short lunge, and he tagged me in the chest on the way in, with my foot up in the air.  I brought my foot down early, trying to stop my momentum, and landed ok, until the lower leg shifted forward slightly, scraping bone on bone in my ankle.

(For those of you who don't know, I have no cartilage in my right ankle, having destroyed the joint back in 2002.  Fencing was part of my rehab program after my physical therapy benefits expired.)  

The pain I felt can only be described as intense.  Its not the first time this has happened, it won't be the last time either.  Thankfully, while VERY intense, it is also short lived.  It usually lasts about 5-10 minutes and then fades pretty quickly.  Some nice people carried me out of the list.  One got me two bags of snow to keep it from swelling more than normal.  So I was dead and out of the tournament prior to the pain.

All in all, it was a good day for me in the tournament.  I finished in the top eight and had fun.  I was more relaxed than I have been in a long time.  I'm still not sure if I am fencing better than I was prior to injuring my shoulder a few years ago, but I come out of this tournament content, knowing I gave it my best.

I go into K&Q with the goal each year of wanting to be considered for Queen's Champion.  I want to finish high enough, but fight clean enough that I would be in consideration.  I think that goal was accomplished this year.

After the finals, it was time to wait around for court.  We had originally scheduled with the bus company to have pickups from the event at 4:00, 6:00, and 9:00.  Fencing had not concluded at 4:00.  By 6:00, court was in mid-swing with many of us waiting to see Frasier get inducted into the Order of the Silver Crescent.  They way court was running, most of us packed up and got our stuff on the bus before the conclusion of court.  Once court finished, we got everyone other than Davius and Kiena back on the bus and headed back to the hotel around 7:00.  They would stay for feast, but this meant the bus only had to make one trip back.

Saturday (evening)

So back at the hotel, Antonio didn't want to brave the cold Montreal night in search of food, so we decided to order pizzas in.  Along with Alexander and crew, and Pat, we had about 10 people in with us.  As we waited for the pizzas, I was starving, having barely eaten anything all day, so I had a beer and poutine.  The pizza came and we all piled into Raff and Pascual's room.  Then more and more people started hanging out, and by the end of the evening, I think every Scadian who was staying in the hotel had been in their room at some point.  I was exhausted and I think i may have been the first to head to bed.  

Sunday

Breakfast was had, check out was performed, and onto the bus we went.  The ride was uneventful, finally stopping south of Albany for some lunch and a break.  We arrived back at Antonio and Elizabeth's home to find our cars cleared off.  Goodbyes were said, flat tire was fixed and everyone was on their way home.  I went out to dinner with Jennie, Antonio, Elizabeth, and the kids.  Coming home I crashed hard.

Lessons Learned

In planning for this adventure, working with the hotel and bus company to make all the travel arrangements was a lot of stress.  I think I was more stressed about this trip than my first real attempt at running an event, which was Mudthaw.  Part of this was I didn't want to let my friends down.  Another part was taking money from friends.  I'm someone who likes to spoil those close to me.  Having to chase down money from people is not something I enjoy doing and would rather not do.  Thankfully, Raff is pretty damn good about it so having her help with the financial stuff was key.  Having to do all the arrangements via phone and email is tough as I like to be able to see the person I am working with.  I had not seen the hotel prior to checking in.  Thankfully, things worked out better than I expected.  

I was stressed on Thursday leading up to getting on the bus due to weather.  Jokingly, I said the alternate plan would be to stop at Great Wolf Lodge in Lake George if the roads were impassible.  Honestly, I was worried about everyone's safety and enjoyment and I felt responsible as such.  

The good thing is that now we have the institutional knowledge to pull a trip like this off again.  Hanging out at the hotel to me was the best part of the weekend.  Just seeing friends from all over gather in one place and enjoying each others company, I think that is what I love most about the SCA and fencing in the SCA in particular.  TOADs, Tadcaster, Sharc, whatever, I think we all had a great time.  So what if it was Montreal in a blizzard, I want to do it again (only this time with Jennie there with me, because I missed her terribly).

Disney World Trip recap

So since January of this year, Jennie and I had started talking about a trip to Disney World.  She had planned on going with her mom and brother and I was invited along.  In March, we started to plan things such as what restaurants we wanted to eat at, what parks we wanted to go to.  So it was almost 10 months by the time that we left on a plane heading for Orlando on a cool October Saturday morning.

One of the key items in planning the trip was we wanted to stay onsite.  We looked at our options and chose the Port Orleans French Quarter Resort.  It is the smallest of Disney's Moderate Resorts.  I had stayed at the Riverside resort while I was in college and always wanted to stay at the French Quarter.  Our flight got in early and we hopped onto the Disney Magical Express to the resort.  We arrived at the hotel and checked in.  While its a small resort by Disney standards, they are still pretty large.  Most Disney resorts have a central building, housing the restaurants, bars, gift shop, and registration.  Our room was right on the corner of the closest building to the main building on the second floor.  After dropping the bags, we headed off to Animal Kingdom.

We had lunch scheduled for the Tusker House Restaurant in the park.  We got to the park early and rode the safari ride.  It was still early in the day and the animals were all out.  Then it was lunch time.  We got our picture taken with Donald in his safari gear during our wait.  The meal was a buffet and everything I had there was delicious.  Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, and Goofy were wandering around and we got pictures with each of them.  After the meal, we walked around the park.  We rode Expedition Everest.  My back and rib cage hurt after the rid as I was holding on for dear life.  I'm not a big roller coaster fan.  After riding Everest we headed back to the rooms and our luggage had arrived.  We unpacked, got a little rest, and then headed to EPCOT for dinner.  We had reservations at La Hacienda de San Angel.  Now that was a meal I won't forget.  The evening ended with the fireworks show after dinner and then back to the room to crash.

The following day we headed down the west coast of Florida to spend the day with Jennie's family.  We got back late and headed to Downtown Disney.  We didn't have a lot of time there before the last boat so we walked around for a bit before heading back to the room.

Monday was EPCOT.  We hit most of the rides in the park.  Lunch was great at Chefs de France.  Chef Remy came by to make sure our food was up to snuff.  Dinner was at the hibachi in the Japan exhibit.  Jennie has wanted to go there on her last trip and she was unable to eat there so that was a priority.  During the afternoon, I had a little stomach bug and had to do the search for some sort of medication.  While searching for Pepto, Jennie's mom and brother met up with some other members of her family.  We eventually caught up with them before dinner.

Tuesday, we went to Universal Studios to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  The ride in Hogwarts was... well, I rode it, but I was getting motion sick from the start, so I closed my eyes and hung on.  What parts I did open my eyes for was cool, but I to close my eyes again.  After that ride, we got some Butterbeer... YUM!  Jennie and Damien went to ride the Dueling Dragons Challenge.  They rode both coasters, and Damien was feeling like I did after the first ride.  We walked around Universal and hit the Dr. Seuss rides.  We didn't feel like doing other rides, but just wandered around for a bit.  We headed back in the afternoon and I think I took a well needed nap.  That evening was Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

For MNSSHP, which is a special admission ticket, Disney changes up the Magic Kingdom just a bit.  There is a special villains show and parade.  There is trick-or-treating around the park.   We took the opportunity to ride the rides during the first parade.  Rides that would normally have an hour plus wait we were on in a few minutes.  Then after getting a bite to eat we grabbed a spot in front of Cinderella's Castle to view the parade.  We were in perfect position to view the villains show while waiting.  The parade was cool and we got some treats that they were passing out.  I have video of almost the whole parade.

Wednesday was back to the Magic Kingdom, but first, we had breakfast at the Polynesian Resort, for the O'hana breakfast with Lilo and Stitch.  Just seeing Jennie's smile at seeing a life size Stitch was awesome.  I also made sure to ask Lilo if she had fed Pudge that morning, so we'd have good weather.  Lunch was at Tony's Town Tavern, an Italian Restaurant themed after the restaurant in the Lady and the Tramp.  Lunch was very good.  After touring the park all day, we went back to the room to get off our feet.  We got changed for dinner and then went back to the Magic Kingdom to have dinner in Cinderella's Castle.

Thursday saw us meet back up with Jennie's family at Hollywood Studios.  We rode Star Tours often.  Lunch was at the Sci Fi Dine In Theater.  This was my least favorite meal of the vacation.  The concept was great, the food good, but I just felt very rushed.  After lunch we met up with Jennie's family.  We rode Star Tours again, saw Muppetvision 3-D, and more.  Dinner was at the 50's Prime Time Cafe.  That was the most fun meal of the vacation.  Let me forewarn anyone, if you go there, finish your veggies, and don't put your elbows on the table.  We had a lot of good laughs during this meal.

For Friday, we were back at the Magic Kingdom.  Breakfast was at the Crystal Palace with Pooh and Friends.  Jennie and I share an affinity for Piglet and it was great to walk up Main Street USA with no one in site as we were in the park before opening.  After a long day, dinner was at Artist's Point in the Wilderness Lodge Resort, one of Walt Disney Worlds signature restaurants.  The food there was AMAZING.  After dinner we headed to Downtown Disney.  Traffic was getting backed up all over Walt Disney World, due to VP Biden's arrival.  Our bus driver got us around the jams and at one point we saw the VP's motorcade heading to the Grand Floridian.  If our bus driver had not taken a few detours, we would have been stuck sitting in traffic for a while.  When we got to our destination, everyone on the bus thanked the driver.  We took the ferry ride back to our resort.

Saturday, our last day at Disney World.  We hit 3 parks to catch those things we wanted to see but had missed.  We started at Animal Kingdom, and hit the Finding Nemo musical.  It was so worth going back there just to see that show.  Then it was off to EPCOT for lunch at the Rose and Crown in the UK exhibit.  Then it was a monorail ride to the Magic Kingdom for a last tour up and down Main Street USA.  Dinner was at the Polynesian Resorts, Luau dinner and show.  Let's just say, the show was good, the food.... eh.  But it was a good way to end the vacation.  We took a cab back to our hotel to retrieve the bags and then headed to the airport.  We had an early morning flight, so I booked rooms at the hotel that is right in the airport terminal.  Waking up, we just had to go downstairs and we were in the airport.  It sure beat waking up at 4:00 AM for our flight.

All in all, I had a great time and can't wait to go back again.  If you didn't realize this fact while reading my recap, we had planned our vacation around where we were going to eat.  I was very happy with the food at Disney World.  We had purchased the Deluxe Dining Package, which included three meals per day at almost any restaurant onsite.  While it was not a cheap option, we certainly got our value out of it.

Best Food:

1. La Hacienda de San Angel (EPCOT)
2. Artist's Point (Wilderness Lodge)
3. Chefs de France (EPCOT)
4. Tusker House (Animal Kingdom)
5. 50's Prime Time Cafe (Hollywood Studios) *
6. Teppan Edo (EPCOT)
7. Tony's Town Tavern (Magic Kingdom)
8. Cinderella's Royal Table (Magic Kingdom)
9. Crystal Palace Breakfast (Magic Kingdom)
10. O'hana Breakfast (Polynesian)
11. Sci Fi Dine In Theater (Hollywood Studios)
12. Spirit of Aloha Luau (Polynesian)

It's not fair to list the breakfasts at Crystal Plaza and O'hana and trying to compare then to the other meals since the menus are so different.