Cape Canaveral/Disney Cruise/WDW Trip

Thank you, everyone. I just work up with a splitting headache!

Ugh!

And I was planning on getting on my elliptical today. I ate waaaaaaay too much food on this trip. That's what you get when you visit family. They want to feed you every hour on the hour! Oy vey!

Zz.

I'm a day late with this, but hey, I'm still nursing a cold from this last trip.

So happy New Year! This was taken from this last trip, and it is the holiday tag to Illuminations.

{I turn 51 today. I feel old!}

Zz.

Thank you, thank you.

So here's a brief report on my "visit" to the HK Disneyland store at the Hong Kong airport.

This is the larger store situated in Terminal 1.

I didn't snap that many pictures, because I was more in a hurry to shop. I bought a few t-shirts, but most of my purchases were for pins. Here are some of the pins that I bought.

Loves this one. The photo doesn't do it justice. It is really has vibrant colors.

This is a rather nice set. I initially bought this to keep the Donald pin, but later on decided to keep the entire set.

More Donald pins

This is another neat set. I bought one complete set for myself, and then bought a few more of the Mickey, Donald, and Pluto for trading.

This is a neat Jack Skellington set that I'm buying this for someone else.

I also managed to buy these. Now keep in mind that I can't buy too much stuff because I will have to carry them onto the plane. So I couldn't buy more than a set of these at a time. These are Mickey and Minnie in traditional, Chinese costumes. They look very cute!

But if you turn them around, you see a zipper at the back. What they are really are cases that contain candies on the inside!

And the candy is a chewy candy shapped like a Mouse ears/head.

I think I could have bought 4 or 5 pairs of these and resell them over here to my friends.

Zz.

I'm slowly getting the videos for this trip edited and uploaded. Here's the first one. This is the fireworks on the Disney Dream during Pirate Night.

Enjoy!

Zz.

Thank you.

Here are two very short videos of what we saw in the virtual portholes in our stateroom.

I actually had more videos of the various characters that appeared on the porthole, but I accidentally deleted the video files!

Oh well....

Zz.

More videos from this trip.

This is Illuminations with the Holiday tag. I've "padded" the live sound with the original music so that it comes in clearer, but still keeping the "live" sound a little bit so that you don't miss the "screamers" at the end. Of course, I couldn't do this with the Holiday tag since I don't have the soundtrack for that.

Stated earlier, this was videotaped from in front of the German pavilion.

Enjoy!

Zz.

This is the raw video footage of our rare visit to the Launch Control Center at the Kennedy Space Center. As I said before, this area was opened to the public for the first time ever. As you can hear from the tour guide in the video, not many pictures of the LCC can be found elsewhere unless guests on the tour have posted them (such as what I've done in this trip report).

Zz.

So when it rains, it pours.

I've spent the whole morning editing the Kennedy Space Center video, and now it is ready and on YouTube. This is a more "comprehensive" coverage of our trip there, rather than just at the Launch Control Center.

Zz.

Thank you. I hope to go back there as well after the new Shuttle attraction opens.

Here's ANOTHER video. This one is the new Castle light show Celebrate the Magic, with the Holiday tag at the end.

Now, compare this with the old castle light show The Magic, The Memories, and You (with the Holiday tag as well). I posted this video that we took in last year's trip report.

As I've said earlier in this trip report, the new show feels rather disjointed, and does not have the same emotional effect as the old show that it replaces. Certainly, the ending felt "unfinished" and felt as if the holiday tag was just added on rather than being incorporated with the show. The technology they're employing now is certainly more sophisticated than the old one. I just wish it is more coherent than what it is now.

Zz.

This is a compilation of Donald's photos during this trip.

Donald is enjoying the sun and the wind at Cocoa Beach.

He made many friends on this trip, even with humanoids in strange space suits.

Here Donald is on the Disney Dream, chilling out while waiting for his dinner seating.

He's contemplating on whether he wants to buy the wine package on this cruise.

Prince Donald on his throne.

Donald at Castaway Cay

Back on the ship, he thought that he should be part of this Mickey sculpture. It is only appropriate since he is the Admiral of the Disney Dream.

Towards the end of the cruise, he is getting to be tired and running out of gas. So he spends a lot of time lounging around. Here he is on a very comfortable seat about to take his daily nap.

And in this, he's lounging right by this huge porthole in a state room, watching the ocean water below him.

Donald had a wonderful trip/cruise.

Zz.

I think it might be appropriate to conclude my trip report with this piece of news.

Yesterday, we booked our next trip to WDW for late April/early May (Apr 27 - May 2). This will coincide with my partner's birthday on Apr 30, so that should be a lot of fun (I have a few surprises up my sleeves, so don't anyone breath a word!). However, this trip will also have an added significance.

One of my close friends passed away this past December, after an 11-year battle with prostate cancer (we were given news of his decline while we were on this trip). He and his partner had been together for more than 35 years! He was one of the kindest person I've ever met. When you talk to him, he makes you feel as if you are the most important person in the world to him. Both of them are wonderful people and it is no wonder that they have this huge circle of extended family that adore them. So this loss was utterly devastating to us, but especially to his partner.

After the Memorial service this weekend, we decided to invite his partner to come with us to WDW. They have been there a few times, but they've always talked about going there with us since they know we are such nuts.... er ... "experts" on WDW. Unfortunately, we never had the chance to do that with both them. So we thought we shouldn't wait any longer and do this with my surviving friend. When we broke the news to him, he was utterly excited and said yes immediately. He also thanked us profusely for giving him something to look forward to. My heart broke at that moment because I could feel the loneliness and the emptiness that he was feeling. My partner and I looked at each other and knew that this was something we should do.

So yesterday, we booked two studios at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House, with savannah view. I intend to make this trip as a celebration of life, both for the living and the departed. In some ways, I hope to make the grieving for all of us a little less painful, and this is where I will completely depend on the Disney magic for help.

Wish me luck, and thanks for following this trip report.

Zz.

Thanks Mimi.

To be honest, I don't feel that "selfless". I'm doing this for myself as well. I just felt utterly helpless in all of this, and it actually made me feel a bit better that I can actually do something.

Besides, I'm going to the place that I love. That doesn't require any kind of "sacrifice" at all.

Zz.