Toluu

Disney World Sherpa

Picture Update of Sherpa TripMay 20

Here is the whole trip clan, sans Mike who was sunning himself by the pool, just before we went down the water slide at the Atlantis water park.

I am in the double tube with Carol, Sue is next, followed by Julian and finally we have Liz giving a little wave.

The 40 Birthday Trek of a Disney World Sherpa: The PlanMay 12

The planning started early in 2008, a trip to Walt Disney World to celebrate my 40th Birthday, but first we needed to plan the trip and to invite the guests, because what's a birthday trip without guests. Hmmm….who to invite? Well our friend Sue was also celebrating a 40th Birthday this year and she and her husband Mike seemed like likely candidates. Then there were our friends from NY, Liz and Julian, and would you just go figure it, Julian was turning 40 this year too. Ok, now that we had a few people to celebrate with, what were we going to do on the trip? Carol, my wife, said “plan it anyway you want, hey, you’re the one who’s getting old!” Did She just say I was getting OLD! Well OK then, to me that sounded like, “the sky’s the limit, cost is no object, you deserve anything your heart desires.” (Not quite sure that was what she meant, but hey, she's the one who called me OLD!) I decided to look into a land and sea trip. We would use our DVC points for the land portion and then book a 3 day Disney Cruise separate. OK, we have the plan, now we need to decide on the when.

Since Carol can’t travel till after April because of work, May would be the earliest we could go. I picked the week of May 11, started checking out availability for DVC resorts and pricing out the cruise, wow, some great availability and the cruise prices were pretty cheap. I wanted to stay in a veranda room (Carol said to plan it and why hold back) since we had never stayed in

Eisner honoredApril 26

Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this week.

My first reaction was: "That guy's a dick."

But then I started thinking about the massive expansion Disney enjoyed during his watch. The resort explosion in the 90s certainly came to mind. And then I got to this part of the story:

"Under Eisner's longtime leadership, Disney opened theme parks in Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong, acquired ABC and Miramax Pictures, developed the Disney Cruise Line and created Walt Disney Theatrical Productions."

That's quite a bit, really.

He was ousted in a shareholders revolt led by Stanley Gold and Roy Disney - and how do you not get behind someone with that name - and his out of control ego was laid bare for all to see, but he was in the driver's seat for an incredible era at the Walt Disney Co.

I still don't have good feelings about him. He seemed bound and determined to screw with Pixar. And since 90 percent of my interest in Disney has to do with Walt Disney World, I have to think that none of t

DVC news?April 25

Lou Mongello's podcast mentions the possibility of DVC at the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian.

That would be great, since staying at the Poly is a longtime dream of mine. Due to prohibitive point costs and crazy cash costs, that's just not going to happen. However, if they add or convert part of it to a DVC resort, my chances go up.

But I can't help but think: Would this start to create a tiered DVC structure - official or otherwise? The properties on the monorail would be highly prized, while my home resort, Saratoga Springs, would be where people who when they're slumming.

Honestly, I like Saratoga Springs, but I've stayed there the past three trips and I'm ready for a change.

Eye candyApril 16

There are some really great pictures of Epcot through the years over at the Orlando Sentinel.

They range from construction of the park through to the 25th 'celebration.' (Note the sarcasm. Epcot is my favorite park, and the observance of its anniversary was embarassingly lacking.)

Anyway, the pictures are pretty cool, if a bit unorganized. The older pics are in the middle of the gallery.