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Friday, April 12, 2013

April 13, 2013: Thomas Jefferson loved those wooly mammoths.


Louisa Middle School Eighth Grade just returned from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We took 90 students to Dollywood, Ripley’s Aquarium, Wonderworks, Tanger Outlet Mall and Bass Pro Shop. At the various events, our students were complimented on their courteousness and good behavior. It takes a huge amount of fund raising to make this trip happen and it’s a shame we can’t raise enough to take everyone to Walt Disney World. The kids are amazed by Pigeon Forge, and many of them have never been to any place like it, how would they react to Walt Disney World.

Speaking of people’s reaction to Walt Disney World. We had our first trip in 2001 and I still remember how it felt to be on property for the first time. In 2009, we took our sister-in-law, Tonya, for her first trip to the World. In 2012, we took our kid’s friend, Austin Muncy, for his first trip and it is official, June 23rd we will walk into The Magic Kingdom with my son’s girlfriend, Leslie Robinson, for the first time. Many times we have been at WDW with friends but there is nothing like experiencing the World with someone for the first time. Now we get another refresher course in just how wonderful our home is, even though we only get to visit once per year.

One last personal note before our several excuses; our first two trips to WDW we booked ourselves through AAA, and they did a wonderful job but since 2006, including our Disney Cruise, we have booked our Disney Trips through The Magic for Less Travel and our wonderful agent, Marsha Gabauer. Sure, you can do it on your own, and my friends tell me I should be a Disney Travel Consultant, but it helps to have someone in your corner who can help you get things done. I recommend Marsha to everyone and I hope she benefits from it because she has always been beyond good to us.

(This is not a paid ad, we just love 'em.)

Need an excuse to go to Walt Disney World?

Today is Thomas Jefferson Day. Jefferson, our third United States President, was born on this day in 1743 and, on this date in 1943, Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin both visited Kentucky to examine the fossils at Big Bone Lick near Cincinnati, Ohio. Many bones of Wooly Mammoth’s were found at Big Bone Lick and when Jefferson sent out Lewis and Clark on their expedition he fully expected them to find elephants because of the skeletons in Kentucky. Let’s go to the Animal Kingdom and visit DinoLand U.S.A. While there, visit the Boneyard where you, and your kids, can dig up the skeleton of a 10,000 year-old wooly mammoth just like Thomas Jefferson. (You expected me to recommend the Hall of Presidents, didn’t you? Psych!)


Ever read The Family Circus comic strip in the newspaper? Bil Keane just drew strips that related what he saw in his own family and the vast majority of his strips related to he and his wife’s relationship to their children. I always loved the strips where the kids were asked to do something that involved them travelling perhaps 20 feet but Keane would show the divergent and circuitous routes that the kids travelled to make it those few feet. In 1954, Bil Keane had a son named Glen and Glen grew up watching hid father work as a cartoonist. Glen, so strongly influenced by his father, became an animator and storyboard artist. In fact you may have seen some of Glen’s work: The Rescuers, The Black Cauldron, Treasure Planet, Pocahontas, Aladdin, Tarzan, Tangled and work on what has proven to be one of our favorite attractions, Mickey’s Philharmagic. Make it over to Fantasyland and honor Glen Keane by enjoying Mickey’s Philharmagic. It doesn’t matter how goofy a path you have to travel to get there.



Quickies:

1950: Ron Perlman was born. Ron became famous in the TV series, Beauty and the Beast, not the Disney version but he was Stabbington Brother in Disney’s Tangled as well as appearing in episodes of Kim Possible. If you’re already at The Magic Kingdom, look for Rapunzel, at Hollywood Studios enjoy the stage show of Beauty and the Beast.

Today is Scrabble Day. In 1899 Alfred Moser Butts, a man who worked in tile and loved puzzles, in vented the famous game. Go to Hollywood Studios, check out Toy Story Midway Mania and look for all the Scrabble references.


Remember, your best excuse is always: waiting for your dreams to come true.

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