PikaPika

I sent my package out this morning, I hope that it brings a smile! It's been fun and I'm planning on participating next year.

Thank you to my secret Santa (who is remaining a secret ) I'm trying to track down a camera to take pictures of my gifts. They are AWESOME! I love the soap, and the little monster is so cute he has to live at my office so I can see him when I need a smile. I especially liked the personalized card. It had a shout out to my favorite Simpsons guest voice, Thomas Pynchon! I was impressed with the hand drawn French Horn too! I've been trying to draw that since I was a wee lass and I could never get it right. As well as lots of other stuff but those were extra nifty. THANK YOU! Pictures to follow...

Have you ever been to Grimaldi's Pizzeria? That's where we usually go when we're in NYC, it's awesome! What other locations did the pizza tour visit? And I get what you mean about Wicked. I'm a fan of the book series, but I didn't think it would translate well to a musical. Despite being a huge musicals geek I've never seen it. I bet KidTums would like the Shrek musical

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like DarKastle is not open for Christmas Town. At least we get Verbolten! I'm hoping to get some people to head down there from MD. Any weekends that would be better than others?

That is awesome! It would be cool to see what kinds of ideas would surface if they did a battle-bots style competition TV show for the best homemade dark ride. Calling all theater and robotics geeks!

Count me in! I'm new to TPR and excited to participate. A few things I like: Cooking/Baking, Pikachu, Game of Thrones, The Simpsons, Bath stuff or lotions, Knitting/Crafting, Disney Parks, Star Trek, Thinkgeek stuff, Books in the style of Thomas Pynchon, David Foster Wallace, Cormac McCarthy, or Sci Fi. That should be enough to work with!

I'm also not a fan of summer in Florida, so if it's summer then I would choose SoCal. SoCal's beaches are more accessible as well, which is good for those theme-park rest days when you need to chill out and veg away from the barrage of stimulation. Otherwise I would choose Florida.

I rode Batwing for the first time a few weeks ago and it was awesome! That would have to be my favorite Vekoma right now, with Everest in as a close second because I love the theming.

How sad, now she has to push that running stroller all over the place!

^^ Hilarious! At least the cashier was trying to be friendly. I wouldn't be able to respond with a straight face to that question in that circumstance, much less twice. Yet another reason why I have to go to this event! I thought the African dishes looked great. There are super delicious flavor combos that you can only find in African dishes.

I liked your report . Interesting theming, a trip to the outhouse, the bath, and the vomit barrel! It's a beautiful park, the landscaping & architecture are lovely.

A question for all you Aussies out there: so is Fosters the Coors Light of Australia? What would be a good beer to showcase at Food & Wine? Maybe some Shiraz is in order? EDIT: Yep, I see Shiraz on the menu now that I've checked.

So what do they have at the Country of Cheese now that there's no fondue?

^ Yeah, you have to go with your gut on these things. And like I said, drunkenness helps!

When I had it, it came with mashed turnips and potatoes. I figured it couldn't be any worse than ground beef or hot dogs, so why not?

Vegetarian haggis tastes exactly like meaty haggis, which is like a spicy oatmeal. If you like spicy turkey sausage stuffing then you would like haggis. It's surprisingly good, although I personally had to be a little tipsy before trying it the first time! It goes well with Scotch whiskey in my experience.

The Rattler!! Our family trips with our cousins were always to Fiesta Texas because my extended family lives in Austin and Fredericksburg. Even though I grew up going to East Coast theme parks, the Rattler was the first coaster that we all rode over and over again. I think I was 10, because we went the first summer it was open in 1992. I can't wait to ride the Iron Rattler. Texas does it right!

The one in Hard Rock Park looks pretty sparse! So the nay-sayers think that the theming will be sub-par, resulting in a less desirable ride. I don't know, those trains look good to me! I love the lanterns and the swinging will be extra fun.

Could somebody please explain how a mine train, which is essentially a family coaster, could be a D-ticket ride? It does not compute...

Yes, and live in a Sea Castle! Oh wait, all the people that are supposed to be developing that sort of technology are designing apps. At least I don't have to deal with pesky cash or learn how to read a map. I loved Kitchen Kabaret, but it changed to Food Rocks and that's gone too. I remember World of Motion as a fun ride (it had jokes!) Universe of Energy used to be intense but now you need a pillow to ride it. I think Horizons captured the spirit of Epcot the best, although it was neat to see the space travel predictions (first family in space, etc.) in the queue for Mission:Space. It's too bad they scrapped the shuttle program a few years after the ride opened. The end of an era.

I think the elephant is based on Hannibal's war elephants, but they look kinda steampunk. Either way a giant elephant is sweet!

Bennett's Curse looks awesome! The group consensus is Kings Dominion because coasters+scary = fun times, but I might have to make a case for going to both. You can never have too much Halloween...

I am now officially going to Food & Wine at the first possible opportunity. Country of cheese, you say? Is there fondue? And Brie? And other melty goodness? Epcot, you've done it again!

Sad like watching old episodes of Reading Rainbow or 3-2-1 Contact. Don't want to go back but I miss it somehow!

Those are beautiful pictures! Thanks for the post, I'm going to read the article. There's a definite difference in the "feeling" you get when you're in either East or West Futureworld. And now I know the reason. Epcot does have the most boss icon with Spaceship Earth too. It's totally overwhelming in a good way. There is nothing like it.