The Magic Kingdom

OK, the tax prep work is pretty much done. Just got to gather everything together and put it in the envelope for the accountant. This year I kept really good records, so it took me a several hours going through all my expenses to get everything itemize, but I did, and it's done. The last two years I was very late in filing and I paid penalties, etc, and I refuse to do that again.

I still haven't gotten the video from my show in VA, but it is looking more and more hopeful. My dueling partner is in VA this weekend and he is supposed to hook up with the video guy and retrieve the files. I'm hoping that all will go smooth. I had actually thought that I would be able to use data recovery software to undelete the files he deleted originally, but after many many hours, it was ultimately fruitless, so if my partner can't get these files, then I won't have video.

I'm going to backtrack here. After my show in VA Saturday night, I got an early start and to Orlando with my friend in the car with me. I didn't know I had it in me to drive that long, but it was surprisingly easy. I only stopped twice for 20 min and once for 5 min and made the entire drive in almost exactly 12 hours. We spent the next three days in Disney. I was there twice as a kid, but it's been a long time ago. Many times I had moments of deja vu; once standing in the line for Space Mountain, I remembered standing in that same hallway, and it was a really spooky feeling. It was fun to show my friend around the Magic Kingdom, as I remembered the good rides and made sure we went on all of them, including: Space Mountain, Peter Pan's Flying Adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, The Jungle Cruise. It was definitely different seeing them as an adult.

My favorite part of the entire trip was the fireworks over Cinderella's Castle at 9:30pm. It was (God, I'm going to say it...) magical! It was quintessential Disney. And Tinkerbell came flying out from one of the turrets, perfectly lit. (that's so gay, i know!) It reminded me of the show I watched as a kid, Wonderful World of Disney that was on every Sunday night at 7pm. At the very end it would show fireworks above the castle and Tinkerbell would fly out. It was the same thing.

As we were waiting in line for the Snow White ride, a little 9 year old girl sees all the people exiting the ride and says, "Mommie, everyone looks so happy. Why is it called Snow White's Scary Adventure?"

The name of the Wedway People Mover got changed to the Disney Transit Authority. Boo!

In Disney World I felt out of place without a stroller, wheelchair, electric cart or other wheeled ambulatory assistance device.

And speaking of baby carriages, I have authored Eddie's 2009 Recession Axiom #37 which states: "The amount of money you have lost in the stock market this past year is directly proportional to the number of cup holders built into the handle of your child's baby stroller." Think about it.

We spent one day in the Magic Kingdom (Magical!), one day in Epcot (wish we had two) and one day in the Animal Kingdom (fun), and then began driving back the last night when we finally stopped for the night in South Carolina. The next day we were on the road for 11 hours including an hour dinner break during rush hour in D.C. Finally back to Philly were I returned the car and we trained back up to NYC the next morning.