natatomic

1) Yeah, Mexicans are okay. But I like to think that people of Swedish/German/Croatian decent are best. I dunno, maybe I'm a bit partial. 5) I'm offended that you skipped 2. It's my favorite of the numbers 0-9. 8) I MISS YOU, TOO! Thank you! I use a Canon Rebel XT. Thanks, but don't feel too bad. For every "great" nighttime photo I take, I have about 200 photos that look like this: Eh, it keeps me modest, anyway.

Failed a class for the first time in my life. Now that I've hit bottom and didn't die from it, it's kind of liberating. At least, that's how I'm rationalizing it.

^It sounds like there were a few TPR peeps who were in Orlando around Thanksgiving. I wish I had known that, I would have tried to meet up with you guys! I called Neil and asked him if he wanted to go to Universal with me, but he was working the day I went.

Day 1 - Epcot (I know this is kind of late, but I still have yet to post a trip report from my October trip to SFoG and Dollywood, so...it could be worse? Yeah?) This year for Thanksgiving, instead of doing the traditional family thing, I headed down to Florida to visit some friends I had met while doing the Disney College Program in 2007. (Before you go off thinking I'm some rebellious anti-family heathen, let me explain - most of our extended family was spending the holiday with their respective in-laws, so my mom decided to go to our home town in Tennessee to visit some of her old friends. And with that being of no interest to me, I decided take advantage of my still-Disney-employed friends, Christa and Chris, who could get me into the parks. Plus, they were going to be going back to their home states - Texas and California, so no where near me - at the end of the year, so this was probably my only opportunity to see them ever, EVER AGAIN.) So. Thanksgiving Day, we spent at Epcot, which is my absolute favorite park. We had Thanksgiving lunch in Mexico, and don't bother calling me Comrade for it, because my family already took care of that. It wasn't nearly as busy as I was expecting, but that could be due to the fact that we didn't ride much during the day, except for Journey Into Imagination, Nemo, and Living with the Land which generally have little to no wait most of the year anyway. After Christa and Chris left to go to work later in the afternoon (Cast Members getting off during the Holiday season? Ha, ha, I don't think so), I rode Test Track, Mission: Space, and Universe of Energy, and never waited more than 20 minutes. I didn't do Soarin' that day, nor were the Christmas lights on nor the Candlelight Processional performing that night, but when I returned a couple of nights later, I got to check all three off my list, though I included all the pictures in this portion of the TR for the sake of efficiency. Blah, blah, blah, I'm getting bored listening to this train of thought in my head, so on to the pictures. And finally, a nighttime shot of SSE. Lovely, if I do say so myself. Next up, Disney's Hollywood Studios. Stay tuned. Narrated by Mr. Peterman Also, the Candlelight Processional. I didn't wait in line for seating (it stretched all the way to Italy! Literally!), so I just watched from the Midway. In case you're not familiar with these lights, they sort of dance and change along with the music As I said, these lights weren't lit the first night I was there, but I was able to go back towards the end of my stay to see them. Onto the Christmas decorations Some IllumiNations photos. I didn't have a tripod, so my first strategy was to set my camera on the narrow railing in front of me. That didn't work because it wasn't high enough. So I then propped my Flip video camera on the railing, balanced my photo camera on the Flip, and rested my chin on the camera to steady it. Pretty crude, and I had no idea what I was aiming at, but it worked pretty well for what it was. Night shot of UoE How about the hat-tip to Horizons? Aww, memories! Well, no, I actually never went to Epcot when Horizons was there so....awww, someone else's memories! Notice anything interesting in this picture? Besides the gravity-defying dining set? This is the only ride at Disney that gets me the tiniest bit anxious. Not because it's scary exactly. It's just that I can be a bit of a hypochondriac sometimes, so before I board the ride, part of me wonders if I have developed an undiagnosed heart defect or brain aneurysm since my last visit, and perhaps THIS RIDE WILL KILL ME. I guess I'm not THAT worried about it, though, because I still rode the Orange side. AND I'm still alive, so I guess I can skip my physical this year. Giant walk-through car commercial theming theming theming I know it can be risky, but I went ahead and tried the single rider line on Test Track, which ended up working well, as my wait couldn't have been more than 15 minutes or so It's not my favorite attraction - it's a bit dated - but I love, love, LOVE the main theme and the music during the big bang sequence (which isn't what is pictured here, but it's the only picture I have and I needed a place to put the explanation, so there you go.) Look at all those legs, I'm like a spider. A spider waiting in line to learn about Energy. Thank goodness Ellen Degeneres has got a whole Universe full of the stuff. Due to the line and lack of fastpasses, I didn't ride this on Thanksgiving, but I got to it twice a few days later. Sorry I don't have much to say in these captions. I've got a killer soar throat, a bruise on my arm, and I'm still trying to process the death of Princess Di, so...lot of distractions here. The Land Pavilion (my favorite) Nemo Back to Future World for a bit - the reverse waterfall thing at the Imagination Pavilion And since you already saw Mexico, we'll just end here at Norway. China Germany Italy 'Mer'ca Japan is most definitely my favorite country in Epcot. I always buy pretty dishes when I'm there. So it was nice to be able to causally meander through the country at my leisure for once. The first time I went to Epcot while in the College Program, I was picked up by a Moroccan on the International Program who, by the end of the day, was asking me about marriage, making out with me, and giving me jazz CDs of love music (I really don't know which one of those was more awkward). And since he still had 15 months left in his program, during all my subsequent visits to Epcot, I had to make a mad dash through Morocco with my face hidden behind my hand for fear he'd see me and ask for my hand in his American Citizenship, whoops, I mean marriage. Morocco... More U.K., because apparently I didn't take any picture of France so on to... United Kingdom... Canada... I then went on my merry ol' way to walk around and take some pictures Plus, Chris always wanted a picture of himself holding up SSE. You know, 'cause that's never been done before. Both Christa and Chris had to work in the afternoon, so I walked to the front of the park with them. It was the least I could do since they were getting me into the parks and all... I don't think any of us actually knew what these were supposed to be (giant prickly snow balls on sticks? what?), but they were still nice enough looking to pose in front of. Epcot doesn't have as many lights as MK or Studios, but this little strip they have at night is still prettier than most stuff you see anywhere outside of Disney. Of course, this is what it looks like during the day time, so you'll have to take my word for it until we get to the night shots. Since Christa was an Operator in the Imagination Pavilion, we went ahead and waited in the unheard of 3 minute-long line for Journey Into Imagination (since when is there ever any sort of wait for that?) We did, however, spare ourselves the torture that is HISTA. And for dessert - the absolute best ice cream in the entire history of both ice AND cream - a Mickey Premium Bar. I drool just from the memory. Yep. Pretty, pretty. I haven't eaten in all the countries yet, but of the ones I have, Mexico is probably my favorite. The food is delicious and the atmosphere is top-notch stuff. Plus, it was prettier than Chris's kids' quesadilla. Main course - okay, okay, it was technically an appetizer (or appetizero, in Spanish...I think) according to the menu, but I'm poor and frugal, and that was all the money I wanted to spend. It was still very good, so...I win. First course - free nachos! What better place to celebrate the American Thanksgiving than, you know, Mexico? Christa, who was too busy photographing our misery at Club Cool did not partake in the Beverly tasting. This could explain why she is so happy and upbeat in this photo, whereas Chris and I were still miserably throwing up on each other off-camera. There are various ways to survive the Beverly Experience. Chris prefers the clenched-fist-and-constipation-face technique as he attempts to eradicate the horrible taste through shear will. I prefer the allow-my-double-chins-to-make-a-cameo-appearance approach, where I try to "ugly" the taste away. In the end, we just had no choice but to remove our tongues. Since it was crowded, we spent most of the day just walking around and doing stuff with no lines. You know what that means... BEVERLY. Cheers! To whomever made the official call to take down that horrid wand - let's make out. To whomever came up with the latest redesign of SSE (the attraction): you're dead to me. DEAD. You know you're excited when you take a picture of your entrance ticket. Obviously, Christa's (the blurry girl in the background) level of enthusiasm does not quite match mine. Nor does she find my habit of photographing every single little thing amusing.

Yes, buy me a new bra and all will be forgiven.

Sorry, no time for a speech from up here in the Heavens. I'm too busy playing my harp and flapping my wings. Still, all those who voted to save me...ahhh, you shall be blessed.

^I appreciate your support, but you're supposed to vote for the one you want to DIE!

Finally. An election where everybody wins.

I'd imagine that mine is far less hairy. Especially after that monkey picture you posted of yourself.

TOTALLY FREAKING ABOUT TOMORROW. LIKE, I'M GOING TO NEED A COUPLE OF SLEEPING PILLS TONIGHT TO KEEP ME DOWN.

^Psh. I'd like to see that in writing.

^But if I did that, there'd be no mystery, nothing to ponder and think about before you go to bed at night. If I just showed you my boobies, what else in life would you have to look forward to? Plus, I'd probably be kicked of the site, and Wes would win by default. And then I wouldn't be able to do anymore trip reports for you guys. Is that really the kind of world you want to live in? Is it? Trust me, I'm doing you a favor by keeping my girls covered and left to your imagination.

Yes, it's odd how Wes's graph survived the outage, but all of my rebuttals mysteriously...disappeared. I'm not implying foul play or anything. I'll leave that up to the conspiracy theorists. Still...very, very odd.

I just don't know how Aussies do it. I wouldn't last a day down under.

I forgot about him! I feel bad now, because I even told him he was going in the trip report for helping us (not that he had much choice after I kind of lost it and shoved my bleeding foot in his face to drum up pity). What was his name? Jeremy? Tyron? Chuck? I don't remember, so I'll just pick one. Thanks Chuck! Good. I'm glad someone got it. This. Trust me, it's an overrated experience.

Bonus Day!: Six Flags Mediocre Adventure The problem is that "bonus" almost makes it sound enjoyable - fantastic, even - and I don't know if our visit to SFGAdv was all that great. Now, this trip was nearly 3 months ago at this point, and between that and the fact that I'm sure I blocked out some of the most terrible parts, I don't know if I can fully explain what made this day so bad. I know it had a lot to do with our way-overpriced Gold Q-bot acting up, almost every ride breaking down as soon as we decided to ride it (I think 4 coasters were down simultaneously at one point), a fence mutilating my foot (could be an exaggeration, but you be the judge when you see the photo), and one VERY RUDE STAPLE-HAPPY RIDE-OP ON EL TORO (Robbie was the one who experienced that first hand). If there were any other bad moments, I'm sure either Neil, Robbie, or Ben (the other three non-East Coast Trip people I did this park with) will remind me of them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that SFGAdv bad park. Well, maybe it is, but until I have another chance to visit, I'm just going to give SFGAdv the benefit the doubt and assume that we simply hit the park on an off-day. BUT! At the very least, El Toro was AMAZING. It took my already-high expectations and completely blew them out of the water with its sheer awesomeness. There's no other wooden coaster like it in North America - not one that comes anywhere close to being this incredible - and if any of you disagree with me on that, well, I'm sorry but YOU AND I CAN NEVER PARTY TOGETHER. (P.S. I don't have a single picture of ANY of us at the park. Minus one shot of the back of Neil's head. Sorry, guys.) So, after our rather disappointing day (and there was something about a not-so-good Papa John's experience had by one of the guys that I don't really remember, but it was somehow related to what I'm about to tell you), I decided to stick it to the park and take more than my fair share of free pizza sauce condiments. Yeah. That showed 'em. Bet you didn't realize I had such a deviant side, eh? Welp, that's it! Thanks for reading everyone! Hopefully I'll see some of you next year on the West Coast trip! Mmmm, I want to eat that first drop. Blah, blah, blah, sorry this TR is getting progressively more boring as we near the end. Really, it's the only place to get a good view of Superman. And here are some shots from the parking lot. That tree isn't in FRONT of the coaster - it's PART of the coaster. One of the beams never had its roots cut off, and it took to the soil and regrew its branches. Totally exclusive shot, and I know you're all jealous on my ninja-like skills of getting shots that no one else has ever taken before. Ever. I had NO idea what was in here, beyond the fact that it was a coaster. At first, I was surprised at how fun it was. Then 5 seconds later, I was surprised that that was it. But even for us non-PMW enthusiasts, Batman shows no mercy. Or at least the fence in Batman's queue shows no mercy. My poor, delicate foot. Looks like Batman-related PMW accidents are becoming a nationwide epidemic. Make sure to note that there are two distinct coasters in this photo. That's the problem with having two coasters with similar color schemes next to each other. That inversion down there would be one helluva neck-snapper on if it really were part of Nitro. ....and this is Batman with an atomic weight of 14.0067. (Okay, this one was a bit of a stretch. A nerdy stretch, really) ...This is Dangly-feet Batman... Here's Batman in a Box... I know it's spelled "Movie World," but actually it's pronounced "Batman Town." You'd be surprised how many people don't know that. I think this section of the park is called Candyland Land. Maybe. I don't know about you, but if I were to win a prize, I'd definitely prefer mine to be all moist and moldy. Thank you Six Flags! Nothing like the coaster-over-the-bathroom shot. I also got to achieve the N. American Superman trifecta that day. That was pretty cool. I had such low expectations for Great American Scream Machine that I actually kind of liked it. Key word: *kinda* I'm telling you, this coaster taught me how to love again. Ahhh, El Toro. That's it! Yep! Scooby Doo's Ghoster Coaster! Wait. No. Wrong park. Know what it is yet? I know KK seems to be the focal point of the photo, and I suppose it is, but the wood structure to the right deserves to steal the show. Neil can vouch for how rough this coaster was, because at one point we hit a bump in the track that caused my boobs to lurch into the air and hit me in the face. And I know he saw it because I immediately heard him moan, "AUGH," sympathetically on my behalf. Isn't that right, Neil? See? Not too shabby. This *area* of the park, however, had pretty decent theming at least. This is the only part of Kingda Ka that is better than Top Thrill Dragster. But restraints? Smoothness? Theming? Dragster wins those hands down. Okay, let's get this 13 seconds of underwhelming record setting over with. Wait, when did Cedar Fair buy Great Adventure? First, we sold our kidneys for a Q-bot.

If I hated rides, I'd just stay home while my husband and daughter went on the trip. Behind home alone would probably be more of a vacation to me than driving by myself behind a tour bus for HOURS on end (especially since some of the bus rides go late into the night - at least on the bus you have the option of sleeping). Just my two cents. But if it's something that your wife would be up to and R&E say it's okay, well then...have fun!

Well, I was considering the possibility of sucking it up and getting a prescription for something (or maybe just a bottle of vodka) to knock me out so I could fly. And maybe looking to see if anyone on the trip lives near me who'd be willing to take the same flight so they can hold my hand, hold the paper bag to my mouth, and remind me to breathe in and out, in and out. But hmm...road trip... I like that idea too. We'll have to discuss it as it gets closer.

Nooooo! You beat me to it!

West Coast, here I come. Now who wants to donate to the Get Natalie Therapy For Her Airplane Phobia (or GNTFHAP for short) fund? It's for a worthy cause! AND it's a tax write off!* *This part probably isn't true.

^Nope, sorry. You won't be getting down with my va-jay-jay anytime soon.

Remember, a vote against me is a vote against vaginas everywhere. Save me. Save the va-jay-jays. Save the ta-tas*. *The GOOD ta-tas. Not Wes's freaky chesticles.

Very true! It could be about a backwoods, basket-weaving, barn-raising, Amish-style Terminator. You just never know.

^Ohhhh-hoh-oh, it's too late. No nataboobs for you, chmilo24. That's okay, just more of me to go around to the rest of you who don't turn against me.

^^Ahem, I call that a fauxboob credit. I broke many a man's heart for not letting them grope the real thing.