Fire and Ice

I stumbled across this story on the BBC site today, about a musical road . Basically, it's a road that has been groved to "play" the Lone Ranger theme when a car drives over it at 55 mph. Sounds like a cool idea right? Shame the residents are begging for the groves to go, as apparently it's driving them nuts. However, this story personally reminded me of one of the weirder (and most unknown) Disney stories I've heard in a while. It concerns the short-lived STOL-port just off the Transportation and Ticket Center over at WDW. This long strip of asphalt, that looks just like an airstrip, actually DID used to be an airstrip, a very long time ago. It hasn't seen any airplanes in years but apparently, this was the place where Imagineers experimented: "What sort of experiment?," you ask. Well, the guys at WDI reportedly discovered that -- if you set up different raised areas of asphalt along a roadway at very specific intervals -- as you drove a wheeled veh...

I didn’t think this could be controversial but apparently, it is. As many of you know, I’m having a baby and due to deliver sometime in early Feb. Part of the preparation includes working out a plan. In my case, the plan is basically the same as last time – fly home a few weeks before, have the baby there, wait another few weeks while the paperwork goes through and then fly back to the UK with the baby. The idea is to book a c-section sometime in late January, and the boys will arrive a few days before that and stay for a couple of weeks. It sounds complicated but it really isn’t and as I’ve done it once before, I know very well what I need to do, to carry, to organize and to work out. So these past couple of weeks I’ve been researching flights, documents, etc. I’m fairly confident it will all work out in the end and I’m pretty happy with the choice. I’ve checked it out with the airlines and it is all okay as far as they are concerned (just as it was 5 years ago). However, every time...

Yet another set of questions but these ones come from one of many Disney blogs I follow. Imaginerding have a series where eminent Disneyphiles answer these questions, which I thought was fascinating. I’m not enough of a Disney fan to feature in their blog but I thought it would be fun to answer them in my own blog! So, with thanks to Imaginerding here we go: What is your earliest Disney memory? I have vague recollections of Disney characters in my nursery when I was a baby – but these memories could come from seeing photos of what my nursery used to look like. I was apparently conceived while my parents honeymooned in Disneyland and my first trip to WDW was when I was very, very little: 2 years old. For the record, I was terrified of Mickey Mouse! What is your single favorite attraction? This is one of those questions where the answer probably changes daily but a trip to WDW doesn’t count if I don’t get on Spaceship Earth. I haven’t yet experienced it post-refurb but everythi...

(It's not often I write something so personal so please indulge me - I'll be back with the regularly scheduled programming soon!) My little boy started school today. Ever since he attended his trial days back in June, he has both been eagerly awaiting the start of school and saying he doesn’t want to go. It’s normal I guess – it is a big step and very different from the nursery he’s been in since he was a baby. So it was a relief to see him so excited this morning about wearing his school socks, his nice new black shoes (he doesn’t usually like new shoes so that was another triumph) and his gray trousers and blue school polo shirt. He looked adorable and was so, so happy to go. He even asked me to take his photo because he was so proud of his uniform – and as a good scrapbooker of COURSE I took several photos! As we were driving to school he kept telling me and Chango (his stuffed monkey and faithful companion) how he was now a big boy and was going to school and could get dres...

I heard something on the radio this morning that made me cringe, something about “…John McCain’s campaign for President of America …” President of America ??? This is one of those issues that really, really grate my nerves. Why is it that the citizens of the United States feel that ‘ America ’ is just the name of their country, when in reality it is the name of a whole continent? The worst part is that it’s not just them, but the Brits that follow that convention too and constantly talk about going to ‘ America ’ for a holiday, when they really mean the USA or even just Florida . WHY? It is no good trying to narrow it down to North America, because both Canada and Mexico are also part of North America . So I can truthfully say that not only am I Mexican but I am also North American – because I was born in Mexico , which is a part of N. America, and the same goes for Canadians (who probably get even more annoyed at being confused with those from the USA). ...