On the 7th day of our Disneyworld vacation we went back to EPCOT Center.

This was a great way to finish out our trip. We could take time to visit the places that we hadn’t seen yet at EPCOT and to do some last minute shopping at the park with the best stores and restaurants.

We had a late lunch/early dinner at Teppan Edo- an amazing Japanese restaurant in the Japanese section of EPCOT. The restaurant was beautiful insode and out. Chefs cooked for you at the table and our students and kids LOVED that! The food was amazing. I had the opportunity to have chicken, shrimp, and steak with rice.

We had an excellent time shopping at all of the unique nationally themed restaurants. I thought about buying a Chinese suit there, but the pants where HUGE! Literally three of me could have fit in them- no exageration!

That night when we left, I seperated from my family to take a different boat from the Magic Kingdom to The Wilderness Lodge to use all of our remaining meals on our meal plan. For some reason, that boat ride from the Magic Kingdom to The Wilderness Lodge, and from the Wilderness Lodge to our hotel was so special?! The weather, the temperature, the ambient moonlight, the illuminated clouds, the lights from the parks, the quietness of the lake, etc…..everything was magical. At the Wilderness Lodge I had to get very creative with the assortment of food that I got my family to eat that night and the next day at the airport and on the planes.

It was a great day but I was sad to have to leave the next day.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRPHvz6qZ-U

On the 6th day of our Disneyworld vacation, we went to Blizzard Beach! This was the best day of the trip for me! I had the greatest day with my family, particularly with my son Zion.

Blizzard Beach is a beautifully awesome water park with some of the most fascinating water slides on earth including one of the world’s tallest and steepest, a super long one that you can ride down with up to eight people on an inner tube, a toboggan style racing slide, a huge wave pool, and an incredibly long lazy river. The whole park has a ski resort feel complete with fake snow, glaciers, and even a ski lift that takes you up to three of the slides. They play great relaxing beach music to make the wonderful irony complete.

My son went on some impressive slides for being a 4 year-old and DID NOT want to leave. I think all of us would have been happy to go to Blizzard Beach every day of our trip. That’s how great and relaxing it was!

One highlight of the day was getting some new black Oakley Monster Dog Polarized sunglasses. Because of the current economy, Disney was giving away $200 gift cards for every room booked. So we got $400 worth and I bought my new sunglasses with them.

That evening we wednt back to EPCOT Center for dinner. We went to Maracesh- a Morrocan restaurant in- of course- the Morrocan area of the park. What a great time! The students loved this place! There was great live Morrocan band playing traditional music along with a very classy- very beautiful belly dancer: much more interesting than the fat old hippies who belly dance in the US!

At one point the belly dancer invited people from the audience to come join her in dancing and a teenage boy from another table came up and did a breakdance to the Morrocan music with the belly dancer- it was freak’n hillarious and awesome!!

To eat I had the Morrocan Feast. It had Leg of Lamb, a half baked chicken, kuskus, a strange soup for an appetizer, and an assortment of nut-like pastries for dessert? Everything was good! THis place had the best service and the most relaxing atmosphere of all the places we had been.

This truly was a great day!

On the 5th day of our Disneyworld trip, we visited Animal Kingdom. This park is probably the most beautiful. It is basically a giant zoo with an incredible safari that makes you feel as if you are actually in Africa, and some really wonderful rides.

We arrived at this park a little too late though, and by the time we got there, it was time for an early lunch. Unfortunately when you have two small children with you, eating is not something that can be done quickly. So by the time we got to the park andf ate lunch, most of our day was already spent.

The maticulous detail that has gone in to the gardening and decorating at this park is breathtaking. It makes you feel as if you are in another world. The Disneyworld atmosphere is alive and well here. The Tree of Life in the middle of the park is amazingly beautiful and detailed! One cool addition was an African American woman who was dressed up as if she were a part of a vine system growing up a tree! Here face was painted beautifully to match the foilage and her arms and legs extended far into the branches and root system with green leaves covering every inch of her.

The last time I was at this park was the greatest for it was not busy by any means and we were able to walk on any attraction we chose to with no lines and had the abillity and time to do anything we wanted. This time, however, was insane. It was the busiest park that we visited on this trip. It was literally hard to even walk through the crowds.

Basically all we did was go on Expedition Everest- which took close to 2 hours, and ride on the raft ride with Zion. While Susan and I were on Expedition Everest, my mom took the kids into the Finding Nemo Musical. We were not able to make it there on time to see the show. My mom told us that during the show Zion helped himself by sitting in a teenage Asian girls lap whom he didn’t even know for the entire performance? He is a little too used to this at CCA I guess.

We tried to make it to the Safari, but the crowds from a parade literally made that impossible!

We left the park early to head over to the Polynesian Resort to have dinner at the Spirit of Aloha luau dinner show.

Zion was especially naughty by this point and becuase of his figitiness, he slammed his finger between his heavy rotating metal chair and the large table- which made the rest of the evening very stressful.

The food was great as was the entertainment, but the students that we brought with us hated it?? They kept trying to leave early. It was very annoying.

After dinner we roamed around the resort and did some shopping there. Once again, we had hotel envy.

Susan, my mom, and the children went back to the resort and I took the students to Downtown Disney. They went off on their own to do lots of shopping and I retreated to the back of Downtown Disney where a very large theater resides in order to see the much anticipated movie The Watchmen. I don’t care to take the time to give a detailed review of this film, however it was VERY weird, and very violently and sexually explicit. There were some violent and sexual scenes that I wish I did not allow my eyes to take in.

The Watchmen strangely made covert references over and over again to the September 11th terrorist attacks and showed the World Trade Center towers in every shot they could (since the movie was set in the eighties). They also explicitly implied that sometimes horrible things should be done to prevent the proliferation of even greater tragedies- as if they were saying that 9-11 was  orchestrated at a much higher level than it was in order to spearhead other projects (the Iraq war) or prevent greater otrosities? Afterall, and with no explaination, in a flashback sequence one of the films heroes is shown assasinating President JFK from a grassy nowel in Dallas.

One other strange message in the film was that it seemd to strongly condemn homosexuality: because a lesbian couple was murdered for their lifestyle, and the movies main character condoned that killing? This is strange for the world we live in today for a film to condemn homosexuality and almost condone hate crimes because of it?

I know this has become a rant and I will stop now.

On the fourth day of our Disneyworld trip we visited Disney’s EPCOT Center: Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow. THis is probably my favorite park at Diney because ot mixes Science and Technology with History and Culture.

We spent this day exploring the Science and Technology side. We got the kids pictures taken with the flagship Disney characters. And we went to the Coral Reef restaurant whichis basically in a giant aquarium. There I feasted on some owe-so-good seared Ahi Tuna: MMMmmmmm!

We went on the Seas with Nemo, Turtle Talk with Crush, and the incredible Mission Space. Over the course of our trip, we went to Epcot 3 times and not once were we able to go on the amazing ride Soar’n due to lng lines and ‘sold-out’ fast passes.

My favorite part of this day came as I brought my son Zion on the Spaceship Earth ride. This ride is located within the large silver globe that is EPCOT’s signature monument. The ride is not too cool. It simply highlites man’s innovations in transportation and communication over the course of history. But for some reason Zion REALLY loved it. And I simply enjoyed watching him enjoy the ride so much and bonding with him through it.

Because we had eaten such an early dinner at the Coral Reef, by the time the park closed we were straving and all of the restaurants close early. So we took the monorail from EPCOT to the transportation center. And the monorail from the transportation center to Magic Kingdom. And from Magic Kingdom, we got onto a boat that went to our resort: Disney’s Fort Wilderness. This drawn out transportation process is much better than taking the crowded and noisy buses. We then took the bus from Fort Wilderness to Disney’s Wilderness Lodge- which is flipp’n amazing. We instantly had resort envy. The place looks like a giant log cabin with towering totem poles inside, nice restaurants, and even a river which sorings out from inside the lobby and flows outdoors to an exquisite swimming pool complete with water falls and slides!

We grabbed a bite to eat their then road the bus back to our resort to hit the hay! A good day indeed!

On the third day of our Disneyworld vacation we had the opportunity to visit Hollywood Studios. This is an interesting movie themed park. It used to have very little to do. But now; with the addition of attractions like The Hollywood Tower of Terror, Rock’n'Roll Roller Coaster, Lights-Camera-Action, and the American Idol Experience, it is hard to fit all of the activities at this great park into one day.

It’s a good place for kids because there are some Playhouse Disney themed attractions and even a great Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground.

There is a new ride at the park called Toy Story Midway Mania that we waited in line for over an hour to go on, but then it broke down and we were kicked out of the line with no Fast Passes to return at a later time- lame!

It was so awesome to watch my son experience things like Star Tours for the first time. He had a great time at this park.

One thing interesting about Hollywood Studios is that it doesn’t quite have the Magical Atmosphere that the other parks do. It does, however, tend to have an overall 1940′s Hollywood glory days theme which is nice in and of itself.

This park has some amazing restaurants; one of which we got to visit: Primetime Cafe. Primetime is a unique dining experience where you eat in what looks like a 1950′s American Suburban House. They serve classical American home-cooking, and the staff acts as if they are your family. They yell at you if you don’t eat all of your food or if you’re using bad manners. They will not bring you your dessert if you haven’t eaten all of your vegetables, etc…

The highlite of our day, by far, was Zion injuring his head. He was waiting in a line to see Buzz and Woody from Toy Story when he hit his head extremely hard on a wooden cut-out of a Toy Story character. His forehead instantly began bleeding and swelled-up larger than my fist (no joke).

I panicked and ran him to first aide at the front of the park immediately. I was so worried that something was seriously wrong with him due to the size of the swelling on his head. The doctor at the first aide center informed us, however, that swelling on the outside of the head is good because it means that there should be no swelling on the inside of the head. Thank God he was ok and didn’t even need stitches.

If you would like to hear a more detialed account of this story. Download or listen to my teaching titled ‘The Implications and Fulfillment of Palm Sunday’ which I will upload to my website shortly.

On the second day of our Disney vacation we had the opportunity to visit The Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom is an amazing place. Right when you walk into the park you see the vibrancy and activity of Main Street USA and the splendor of Cinderella’s Castle at the end of the street. It’s amazing to see the looks on people’s faces as they enter into the park- so much expectancy and joy. By all accounts; this really is the happiest place on earth. The lengths that Disney goes to to create this special atmosphere is nothing short of extraordinary.

A few months ago I was reading a tweet from pastor Perry Noble that said something to the extent of,” What if the Church invested the kind of money that Disney does in order to introduce people to Jesus?” And he is right! I don’t believe that the CHurch should neccessarily be a form of entertainment, but what if we put that kind of effort and even money into creating an atmosphere of grace, love, and acceptance in our churches- our churches would probably be the happiest places on earth.

One thing that was so great about the Magic Kingdom is that my son went down Splash Mountain for the very first time- and had a blast! He went down all of the hills with his eyes open and his hands up, screaming with joy. We even bought the picture that the ride takes as you decend down the final hill. It is a priceless item and shows the fun and joy that a son can have with his parents.

I am so greatful for the awesome time that God gave us to share with our children while we were in Disneyworld.

So this last Saturday I got back from a great vacation to Disneyworld in Orlando Florida. On this particular vacation; we happened to bring with us my mother, and 8 international students. It was interesting to say the least. Over the next few days I will be blogging about some of my experiences: including both my basic activities, but mainly my insights.

We left from the Portland International Airport on Saturday, March 21^st. It had been about 2 years since we last flew; not jet-setters I know!

The new security regulations at the airport never cease to amaze me. The fact that ordinary American citizens are expected to have their shoes checked for explosives is quite amazing. Particularly the fact that my four year-old son had to remove his small little shoes and the fact that my one year-old daughter had to remove her ‘booties’. It’s not like a young lower middle class evangelical Christian Oregon family with two small children on their way to Disneyworld is out to commit horrible acts of terrorism; is it??

Another interesting facet of flying is the complete lack of service that has been lost in the industry; all while prices are going up. No more free headphones for “in-seat” music. No more TV news clips or movies. No more safety videos before the take off. No more free food. No more free checked bags. Nothing!

Some things that I have learned for my next trip: when leaving the West coast to go on an East coast vacation; always leave early in the morning as to not arrive at the destination so freak’n late. And, when flying home from your East coast destination; always leave late in the day so you don’t have to get up so dang early for no reason- because you gain 3 hours and you’re going to get home at a reasonable time anyways.

More to come!