Disney World

Just back from Disney World last night, after an 11-hour drive from Orlando. We had a great time, and the weather was perfect. Crowds were outrageous, though. Even so, with Fast Passes we never had to wait more than about 30 minutes for anything we wanted to do, and the crowds thinned out later on in the week.

One of the highlights was The American Idol Experience at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It's exactly like the real thing. To audition, you have to sing in front of a music director for screening, then if you're one of the few that pass (they pass only 40 in a day out of 250-400 that try out), you have to audition in front of the Producer to see if you're one of three people that sing in front three judges (one of which plays the jerk) and an audience of 1,000 that vote on a winner. There are 4 such live shows per day, and the winner from each compete against each other at the 7 p.m. finale, where the winner gets a golden ticket to move to the front of the line at a real American Idol audition anywhere in the country. Caitlyn and I both tried out (no upper age limit), but Sarah was too young (14 min) and Chris opted out. You can only try out once per day, and on the third try, Caitlyn passed the first screen and made it to the Producer. She got some great feedback but didn't quite make it all the way to the stage. Still, it was a huge thrill for her to be in the top 10% that tried out that day, and a great experience for her.

Another highlight (except for the ridiculous traffic) was watching the shuttle Discovery launch from Cape Canaveral. It scrubbed the week before, so we got lucky and witnessed the nighttime launch last Sunday. It was a spectacular sight, but unfortunately the wind was at our backs so we didn't get the usual roar.

Watch for more pictures on Facebook and/or through an invitation on KodakShare.