Honeymoon

April 28 - May 10, 1998

We started off heading to Walt Disney World. Quite a bit different than Disneyland here in California. They've got a lot more space so it is more spread out, and they've separated the rides in the different parks (Star Tours, for example, is in MGM Studios). We stayed in one of the Disney Resort hotels (Dixie Landings) which gave us access to all the parks, transportation between them, and the ability to get into the parks an hour and a half before the general public. Getting in early was really good and allowed us to hit the main rides before the lines got long (7:30 in the morning, which was 4:30 PST). We hardly had to wait in any lines the four days we were there.

MGM Studios has the "Tower of Terror" which is a very cool ride. A Twilight Zone theme where you do a thirteen story free fall in the hotel "elevator", but the elevator actually travels around on a little journey before the falling part. Loved the Muppets in 3D, which is like Captain EO, but a lot more fun. MGM loved to spray people with water. It seemed half of the shows we experienced had rain or mist or something that got us damp.

The Magic Kingdom we breezed through because a lot of the rides were the same as Disneyland. Space Mountain seemed slower and only had one passenger per row instead of two. The 'Toontown' section didn't have Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin-out, no Matterhorn, no Indiana Jones. The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter was something Disneyland doesn't have, but we won't tell you about it because the fun is not knowing what is going to happen. Jeff liked the PeopleMover and America Sings knockoffs, but mostly out of nostalgia.

We got done with the Magic Kingdom early and decided to head over to the Animal Kingdom (which opened only a week or two earlier). Wasn't expecting too much and just went over to see what it was. Unfortunately it started raining, but we were used to it from all the rides that had 'spit' at us. We had an umbrella and the rain was pretty warm so we didn't suffer much. The rain brought the animals out and chased the people out, so we breezed through quite a bit of the park in a short time. It looked like the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park rolled into one with a bunch of Disney merchandising shops at every corner.

The center of the park is dominated by the Tree of Life. Over three hundred animals are represented in the knurls and shapes of the bark. There were a few shows/rides scattered throughout the park. One was like the Indiana Jones ride (where you are on a rolling flight simulator) where you go back in time to bring back a dinosaur. Pretty fun, but it was mostly dark with things appearing out of the blackness to scare you. We rode on it twice. Within the base of the Tree of Life there was a 3D show called "Its Tough to be a Bug." Great fun. Went on it twice as well. Ate dinner in the Rainforest Cafe, which was like Animal Kingdom indoors, but the animals were animatronic.

Epcot was huge, but again because we were able to get in early we beat the crowds for a lot of the good rides like "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" (another 3D show). Didn't get to play with all the interactive centers, but a lot of them were corporate advertisements, video games, or internet portals. The mind and body building was pretty cool. There was a flight simulator ride ("Body Wars") that was really corny, but Christine liked "Cranium Commando" (where you're inside the brain of an adolescent that has a crush on the new cute girl at school).

The last day we went back to the Animal Kingdom to catch the rides we missed. The Lion King Show was outstanding. We were in a 'theater in the round' with live actors dancing around. They brought out parade floats to the four corners of the theater and then assembled a stage in the middle. The monkeys were actually acrobats and started doing a tumbling routine on the trampoline and trapeze. Very impressive. In the afternoon we headed back to Epcot to see the things we missed before.

Most every evening after going to the theme park during the day, we headed to Downtown Disney at night. A good deal of it is just mega-stores, but there is a section called Pleasure Island that has nightclubs and entertainment. Seven nightclubs from Jazz to Hip-Hop to Disco. One is an improvisational comedy show that Christine almost wet herself she laughed so much. Another (called the "Adventurers Club") had skits running that involved volunteers (victims) from the audience incorporated into the routine. We had fun dancing and 'bar hopping', but it was strange at a Disney park to see alcohol served and waitresses wandering around with things like Jello shooters.

After Disney World we went on a week cruise in the Western Caribbean on Holland American line. We sailed on the MS Veendam, one of the newest on the line and the 1998 Cruise Ship of the Year. The ship was beautiful and adorned with art. Our cabin was spacious and nice. We were on the lowest level of the passenger rooms so we didn't have to participate in the life boat drill. Just kidding, we were treated like royalty.

We enjoyed the different kinds of music on board - especially the Prime Time Trio who played swings, fox trots, and waltzes. Every so often they played our wedding waltz. We would often go dancing during the "cocktail hour" before dinner.

There was a "Passport to Fitness" program where we earned a gym bag and a T-shirt. We earned stamps by walking on deck, doing fitness classes, line dance classes, and Jeff earned a stamp by snorkeling on Half Moon Cay. Jeff also got stamps when Christine was ahead of him and one of the girls would give him extra stamps so we would be even.

Jeff enjoyed playing blackjack in the Casino and participating in the blackjack and slots tournaments. He even ended up on top. There was also a kitchen tour and went to a vegetable carving class. Christine chose to enjoy the sun on deck.

We participated in the talent show and performed our wedding waltz. The orchestra played the music so it was a little different and a lot faster than our CD. We had fun doing it anyway. Lots of people came up to us and said how much they enjoyed it. It was videotaped (the entire talent show) and people who hadn't seen us live said they saw us replayed.

There was a special party for Honeymooners and couples renewing their vows. There were 25 honeymooning couples on the boat! We met some very nice people.

After dinner each night there was a show. One of the nights Jeff was a part of the act. He was a plant in the juggler act. The juggler told Jeff he would juggle axes over him and had Jeff lie down on the floor with a towel over his face. The juggler actually used pins but everyone thought that Jeff thought that he was using the axes. It was great fun. Part of the act was that Jeff said that he was a lawyer (lawyer jokes are funnier than engineer jokes). So the rest of the trip people asked us when we would be suing the juggler. One man said that he saw Jeff come up on stage and he knew Jeff was a lawyer. We did, however, met one man who said that Jeff couldn't have been a lawyer because he is too honest.

There were so many activities on board we sometimes missed opportunities to eat. You could eat 24 hours a day, that is, if you wanted to. The first morning we had breakfast delivered to the room. After that, breakfasts and lunches we usually ate in the Lido dining room which was buffet style and more casual than the formal dining room where you weren't allowed to wear shorts or bathing suits. Dinners were in the formal dining room. We had five course dinners every night, and sometimes two desserts. There were great menus with plenty of choices. The highlights were the lobster, crab legs, and filet mignon. There were plenty of opportunities to try different foods. We also enjoyed afternoon tea and goodies. Of course, there was also the midnight buffet if you were still hungry after dinner. One night was the Danish Dessert Extravaganza. It was incredible. They used sweet Danish Chocolate in their desserts. It would be worth going on another cruise just to eat this chocolate.

The cruise had four ports of call. Our first was Cozumel, Mexico. We went on a Mayan ruin tour on horseback shore excursion. Jeff thought it would be tour of the ruins you reached via horseback. It was more of a horseback ride with some remade ruins along the way (just like Disney!). A little disappointing, but still fun.

The next day we stopped in Georgetown, Grand Caymen Island. This was a beautiful island. We relaxed and walked on seven mile beach. There was some local music at the beach club and we danced. We went back into town for lunch. Jeff ate a turtle burger (not bad, in Jeff's opinion; disgusting, in Christine's). Then, we did some shopping. Jeff bought two very beautiful rocks for Christine. (Loose diamonds are considered rocks and are duty free.) We'll have those rocks set in earrings.

Our next port of call was Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Jamaica was beautiful but different than Grand Caymen. Mountains, for instance. We took a taxi one block to the shopping area to avoid walking through a gate where men were yelling and seemed to be clawing at the gate. Once at the shopping area our cab driver followed us so he could take us to our next stop. Apparently when they get a fare, they follow for the rest of the day. The people in the shops were also quite aggressive. We went to Dunn's River Falls were you could walk up a 600 foot waterfall. The falls were gorgeous but crowded. Jamaican guides would take people up the falls a hundred at a time in a huge line linked hand to hand. There were so many people you could hardly tell where one line ended and the next hundred began.

The last port was Half Moon Cay, Bahamas. It is a private island owned by Holland America, so only the 1271 people aboard were there. All the people were crowded at the activity end of the beach. We walked along to the end of the island where we were the only ones around... Other people eventually had the same idea, but by then we were heading back. Jeff enjoyed snoozing in a hammock in the shade while Christine swam. Jeff also went snorkeling on the island.

We had a wonderful two weeks. How can anyone possibly object to this marriage thing? So far, it's been great!