Looking over my last few posts, I realize that I may have mistakenly made two impressions - that I had no fun, and that I didn't appreciate the vacation at all. The truth is that despite the exhaustion and aggravation of visiting a place that is expensive and overpopulated, I did still enjoy myself. But this time, it wasn't Disney's doing. Rather, I enjoyed being with family. In fact, it was wonderful to catch up with my sister, her husband and meet my new little niece. It was a joy to see Choosyboy bond with his grandfather on the Buzz Lightyear ride.  read more »

Although I tried to prepare myself for the sticker-shock, I am always amazed at how expensive everything is when we visit Disney World. A sweatshirt for the kids will run $45. A t-shirt is $20. Mickey ears were about $13. Nearly every sit-down restaurant in the park will cost you $25 per entree - even for Mexican food! Bottled water was probably our biggest recurring expense, as we were feeling dehydrated and dried out from all of the air conditioning.  read more »

We were happy to arrive in Orlando, where the weather was much warmer and we could store our jackets. My parents picked us up at the airport and took us to the condo that my father had traded his timeshare for. It was nice, bright and roomy. Best of all, we had our own bedroom and bathroom.

Unfortunately, the tap-water had this bad smell to it. It's hard to describe - different from Memphis, but not much better. It actually smelled burnt. So once again, we would be dropping lots of cash on bottled water.  read more »