New Feature Helps the Blind to Experience WDW

Here’s one other thing that we did in Innoventions after tooling around on the Segways – we got to star in our very own video game!

Titled RUNTIME, it’s a pretty neat setup by IBM that first takes videos of you doing a couple of simple actions, then inserts those videos into an old-school, side-scrolling video game (like Super Mario Bros) that you can then play.  You can even e-mail a link to where other people can play your game, too – which is what we did here.  I’m not sure exactly how long the link stays active after your visit – probably something like 30 or 60 days – but until then, feel free to click on the image below to play a round as us, so to speak…

Just try not to kill us, eh?  Those pitfalls hurt!

As the previous photos might suggest, we just got back from a very spur of the moment, middle of the week, just really gotta get out of here while we can-kind of trip to Disney World!  For those of you playing along at home, we’re currently enduring year two of my wife’s return to school, and although thankfully it’s year two of two, she’s still got a ways to go and in the meantime, our time together is quite limited … let alone time when we can escape over to Disney…

So needless to say, it was a quick trip, as we’d found a small bit of time between semesters where the stars somehow managed to align, and ultimately it was just nice to get away, even if things didn’t go exactly the way we had planned!

A Second Chance for Caribbean Beach
Due to limited availability on what pretty much were day before reservations, we ended up staying at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort again and just between you and me and my wife, I’m really glad that we did. You see, the last time we stayed here was when we got engaged back in May 2007 and the entire experience just lacked a certain panache – compared to the other resorts we’d visited, it just didn’t seem all that special.  It probably didn’t help that the food court was mediocre at best, our room was out in the middle of nowhere, and some kid pooped in the pool just before we went down to unwind, but nonetheless, it just really wasn’t a vacation for the books, if you know what I’m saying!

That said, this latest trip was much better – our room was very clean and seemed more spacious (king bed instead of two doubles), the food court was still only adequate, but ok for the quick meals we ate there, and the atmosphere between the pool area and the beaches and the hammocks just felt all the more relaxing this time around!  The single complaint I would still make is that the hot tub at the pool is ridiculously small, which was all the more annoying because it was filled with bored, little kids because their parents wanted a break and wouldn’t take them swimming, but eventually we retreated back to one of the hammocks and thankfully found that much-needed quiet time…

No Room at the T-Rex Cafe
Simply put – our big meal that we wanted to try for this trip was the new T-Rex Cafe at Downtown Disney, however when we showed up the wait was almost two hours and the line itself looked like it would take half an hour just to get up to the podium, so we ended up passing on that … will need to see if they do reservations next time, I guess, although I’m not sure if they do because the Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney doesn’t and they’re both operated by the same company.

Either way, dining at Downtown Disney in general sucked that night, as we weren’t able to get into Rainforest, either, even though the group ahead of us got a table at their back patio “no problem” … apparently they didn’t want to waste any tables of 4 on a lowly couple of 2 like us.  We ended up finally just eating over at Wolfgang Puck Express instead, which wasn’t much better because I decided to try something new by way of their spicy chicken pizza and it backfired horribly by way of entirely too much cilantro, but you live and you learn, I suppose.

Experiencing the American Idol Experience
So we finally got around to trying this after missing the passholder previews in February and despite how I can’t really stand the show anymore, I must admit that the attraction was actually pretty good. The presence of the stage itself is spot-on and the show seemed to flow quite well … I guess the only thing that I really didn’t care for was the judges. And I don’t mean that in an “I didn’t like their opinions of the contestants” or an “I thought Simon was too mean”-kind of way, but more so all three of them just seemed very fake and out of place.  It was very clear that each character was based on Randy, Paula, and Simon from the show, but it was just over-the-top, bad acting to the point where it actually distracted from the show. And I don’t understand the dilema because the host was just fine – he wasn’t trying to be Ryan Seacrest … he was just being the host of a talent competition, and that worked.

Aside from the judges, however, the show was neat, and although I can’t say that it’ll be something we frequent when we visit the studios, I would like to return sometime to check out the finale show at the end of the day to see how that all flows – it seems like it would have to be different, what with three times as many contestants performing and all.  That said, I still don’t think this show will be around more than a couple of years just because I think Idol is past its peak anyways, but for a half hour out of the hot, mid-day sun … it’s not bad.

Tipsy Segway Fun
Another one of the cool things we got to do during this trip that we’ve never done before is take a ride on the Segways in Innoventions at Epcot, which was at the same time both fun and a sad realization of yours truly’s sincere lack of balance! Let me tell you, for anybody who would think, “Well, it looks easy enough – all you have to do is stand on it!” allow me to remind you that what you’re standing on also happens to have wheels, and although the Segway itself does the job of remaining upright while you’re on it, let’s just say that it’s certainly sensitive enough to respond with movement to any shakiness one may have while on-board!  Sara was more of a natural, though, and either way it was pretty cool because it’s something that otherwise neither of us would ever buy on our own.

The only addition I think that would’ve been ideal – especially for Innoventions, of all places – would be maybe a short video for those waiting in line that explains how Segways work to remain upright, move with your direction, and so forth.  There’s a lot of really cool science under the hood that I think perfectly fits into the theme of what Epcot’s all about!

Flower & Garden … Just Phoning It In?
And finally, an observation that Sara made during day two of our journey and one that I think I tend to agree with – is it just us or does it seem like Epcot is just kinda “phoning it in” this year for the Flower & Garden Festival?  I guess I’d need to refer back to old pictures to get a better idea of the scope, but it just seems like this year’s topiary displays feature a lot less natural flowers and plants and a lot more of what appears to be just painted moss for the various colors in the sculptures.  Frankly, I didn’t even take pictures of several of the sculptures because they just looked cheaply done, but for some reason I just want to think (and I could be wrong!) that in years past, we saw a lot more actual flowers making up the colors of these pieces.  The fairies in the new Tinker Bell display were all done like this, a good portion of the Lion King displays at the entrance to World Showcase were like this … who knows – maybe it’s easier to maintain these or something with the climate, but they just didn’t seem as appealing to us because of all the paint…

Good times, good memories, and although I can’t say in the slightest when our next trip over will be, you know that we’re still already planning it out in our heads just the same!

A rather colorful bedspread at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort…

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