Arrr, me hearties.  Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day.  We be big Disney fans and me boyos love that scurvy scallywag

Captain Hook.

The little landlubbers also love Jake and the Neverland

Pirates, I thought this be quite appropriate.

Especially because me boyos

met Sharky and Bones at Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.

So pepper ye speech with “arrrr’s” and “avast’s” me hearties.  Shiver me timbers!

One of my favorite “rides” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is Kilimanjaro Safari.  I use “ride” in quotes because, despite the “chase the poachers” storyline at the end, it feels more like an actual African safari than a ride.

Of course, a big reason why I like it is taking photos of the animals.  This can be a bit frustrating, though.  The car you’re riding in goes over bumps and doesn’t always stop for every animal.  Some animals might be right in the clear, giving you the perfect shot.

“Who says I need a bath?  Want to come closer and say that?” *sharpens nose-horn*

Other animals hang back and make you use your camera’s zoom to the fullest… and then make you wish you had an ultra-super-mega zoom lens you could attach.

I promise there’s an animal in there.  Lying down.  No, really, there is.

Of course, when you go on safari, you never quite know what to expect.  One trip can be a washout for elephant sightings while another one can have the most unexpected cuteness around!

Yes, that’s Mommy and Baby Elephant walking to the pond.  Isn’t Baby Elephant so cute?!!! Lots of awwww’s were uttered, I assure you.

The big things (like elephants) are great, but it’s the small touches that turn this from a “ride through a glorified zoo” into “African safari moved into Florida.”  Small things like these termite mounds.

Given Disney’s quest for realism, we’re left wondering if that’s a fake termite mound or if they imported actual African termites.  I’m leaning towards fake only because real termites would be tricky to keep confined.  They’d tend to get out and munch on other sources of wood.  Pretty soon you’d have these mounds popping up all over Disney World and that wouldn’t look too good.  As a side note, while impressive, I’d *hate* to see one of these pop up in my yard.  I think I’d just wave a white flag and surrender my house to the wood-munchers at that point.  Those things can clearly out-build me!

If you find yourself in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, whatever you do, don’t miss the Kilimanjaro Safari!  But before you get on, make sure your camera is ready.  You’ll need it!

Ok, breaking the “Wordless Wednesday” rules here, but look closely at what that boy is doing.  He’s got a chicken by the neck and is… um… I mean he’s looking at this girl and… um… Maybe we should just move on.  (Ow, B!  Quit jabbing my arm!!)

Have you ever read CakeWrecks?  If not, you definitely should.  People from all over send Jen and John photos of badly designed/executed cakes done by professionals.  These might be funny on their own, but Jen and John don’t simply post the photos.  They include hilarious commentary as well.  The end result is a website that can often result in you laughing out loud thus alerting your co-workers to the fact that the website you’re on is not work related.  (Not that I’d ever do that, mind you!)

Anyway, as we were planning to go to Disney World for DisneySMMoms, I noticed a Cake Wrecks post that mentioned that Jen and John reside in Orlando.  I asked if they’d be interested in a meet-up and they said yes!

While walking through Disney World, I was so looking forward to meeting the folks behind Cake Wrecks that I began seeing Steampunk influences in various locations in Disney World.  Ok, this might require some explanation.

Many of you are probably saying “What the @%^# is Steampunk?”  First of all, you should all be ashamed of yourselves for using that kind of language.  That aside, Steampunk envisions a world in which steam powers everything.  (For a detailed analysis of Steampunk, consult Wikipedia.)  From many readings of Jen’s other blog Epbot, I know that they like Steampunk.  So my brain seemed to home in on Steampunk elements.

One thing about Steampunk is that gears and bronze coloring are big.

Those shots are from the Dumbo ride.  Yes, the ride known for letting kids of all ages fly atop an elephant is secretly a Steampunk ride!

This robot can be found outside of House of Blues in Downtown Disney right near where La Nouba is located.  I’m not positive that Steampunk includes robots, but if it did, I think this is what one might look like.

Of course, my imagination being what it is, I couldn’t help but expand on Steampunk.  Introducing Junglepunk!

These are from the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.  The river turns the big wheel which pulls ropes to move a series of buckets.  The buckets collect water, get lifted high up and then spill their contents onto a series of drainage gutters which lead to a storage vessel in the kitchen.  I’d bet you could design a whole series of “technology based on running water”  I believe Futurama has already provided one:

Getting back to the Swiss Family Treehouse (which my boys loved so much that we walked through it twice back-to-back and then they complained when we didn’t go through a third time), I loved the look of this piano.

Getting back to the “*punk” genre expansions, though, how about “Toypunk”?

I’m thinking that the Lincoln Logs could be miniaturized and used to replace gears in a Steampunk-esque design.  Steampunk meets Toy Story!

Of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the Cake Wrecks-TechyDad/TheAngelForever meet up.  We had agreed to meet in Epcot’s France area.  Twice prior to this, the boys and I (and B on one of the occasions) ate at Patisserie.  Both times, the boys had Cheese Tartine – French bread topped with a touch of sauce and some cheese.  No, it’s not pizza.  That would be found in Italy and this was France!  Both times I had the vegetable quiche.  Both times, I eyed the pastries.  Please excuse the drool as I think of them again.

When we met, we got a seat and then John, the boys and I went to procure some snacks.  JSL wanted chocolate cake, NHL saw John getting a strawberry tart and wanted one.  Me?  I had my eyes on the Napoleon.  (There’s that pesky drool again.)

As good as it looked, it tasted even better.  As we ate, we talked about various subjects both online-related and offline-related.  A good time was had by all.  Even when JSL – with perfect kid-timing declared he needed to use the restroom and I had to walk all the way from France to Morocco to find one for him.  The lengths dads will go for their kids and I didn’t even get any frequent flier miles!

Pretty soon the snacks were consumed and it was time to head out.  We said goodbye and went out separate ways.  Here’s hoping we can meet again the next time we go to Disney or if they happen to be in the Upstate NY area!

On Friday, March 18th, while B was in the DisneySMMoms conferences, NHL, JSL and I went to Epcot.  We sought out the characters and topiaries (more on those later), but at one point we happened upon the phone booths in the UK.

Seeing it, I remembered reading that all of these booths were actual working pay phones.  They even had numbers that people outside of Disney World could call.  I wondered: If I tweeted the number from one of these booths, how long would it take before someone called me?  What kind of conversation would I have with a Random Twitter Follower?

My kids were not too keen on this experiment.  They just didn’t see the fun in it.  My seven year old actually said: “Dad, this trip is not about you.  It’s all about us!”  That clinched it!  The experiment was on!

I walked up to one of the booths, looked for the number and tweeted:

Then, we waited.  We didn’t have to wait long, however.  Soon the phone rang.  I picked it up and was asked if I was “TechyDad.”  After I answered “yes”, I had a nice (if short) conversation with @moth_editor and @cheimbuch!  (Short because the boys were getting restless and I wasn’t going to make them wait too long.)  We waited a couple of minutes after the phone call ended to see if anyone else called, but nobody did so we left.  I couldn’t help wondering how many times the phone rang that day leading Disney parks-goers wondering “Who is TechyDad and why is someone calling Epcot for him?”

Thanks to everyone who participated and those of you, like @BabiesGottaHavT, who tried calling and just got a busy signal.  By the way, if you want to try calling the Epcot UK phone booths to see what random people you get, here are the numbers:

Left Booth: 407.827.9862
Center Booth: 407.827.9863
Right Booth: 407.827.9861

That information comes from @adisneymom who had a similar idea (and coincidentally executed it the same day as my Twitter Experiment).

A few days later, when back in Epcot, I stopped to take some photos of my boys in the phone booths when the center phone rang.  I answered, but it turned out to be a wrong number.  At least I got some nice photos of my kids placing some calls (as NHL attempted to dial the phone without entering an area code… or putting in any money).

Bonus photos.  These weren’t from DisneySMMoms, but I just had to share them.

B quite nicely explained our arrival in Disney World for the 2011 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.  As we checked in to our room and made our way around the hotel and parks, NHL and JSL began noticing things they hadn’t noticed before: Mickey Mouse. 

No, not that Mickey.  I’m talking about the more hidden variety.  Like on the floors of the hotel in the tiles.

Of course, Mickey wasn’t alone there.  His friends Pluto, Donald, Minnie and Goofy joined him.

In the room, the boys noticed a Mickey hidden (not so subtly) in our towels.

They also spotted his face in a lamp.  (Again, this one was pretty obvious.)

Then, JSL made a discovery.  There was a second Mickey on the desk.  Not on the lamp, but hidden in the woodwork.

Later on, we discovered that the tiles by the elevator held a certain fairy.

I’d like an extra large order of pixie dust, please.

When it was time for us to join B for dinner (after her Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings and Honeymoons Platinum Soiree), we spotted a few more Mickey-and-Friends in the rug.

We also noticed, in the Grand Floridian’s lobby, Chip, Mrs. Potts and a certain magical rose.

Our final Hidden Mickey of the night, though, was the proudest one.  NHL and JSL looked at the floor and declared “Mickey!”  Sure enough, there was a Mickey hidden in the pattern.

A family saw me taking this taking this photo and wondered why I was taking a photo of the floor.  Then, they saw the Mickey.  As we walked along the same path for awhile, their daughter kept pointing out Mickey’s appearance in every tile.  I’d like to think we transferred a bit of Hidden Mickey Fever to her.  (The only cure: More Mickey Mouse!)

Of course, that night the boys got to see the real Mickey Mouse along with Minnie, Goofy and Pluto:

Oh yes, and I also got this dessert, despite the fact that I had a full plate, because of Minnie’s appearance on it.

It was to be expected.  I gained weight while at Disney World.  It was always going to be a battle between the calories burned by walking throughout the parks (and sweating in the Florida heat) and the calories consumed from the wonderful food Disney World has to offer.  The food won.  When I left for Disney, I weighed 188 pounds.  Upon returning home, I weighed 193 pounds.  That’s a gain of 5 pounds.

This setback, though expected, means that I now have 10 weeks to lose 12 pounds.  I also have Passover looming on the horizon.  During Passover, I’m not going to count points as Passover food tends to be high calorie and high in carbs.  Matzoh alone is 120 calories and 27 carbs per sheet and I can easily eat 3 slices for breakfast slathered with cream cheese before I feel full. There is no option of low calorie/low carb bread or rice during Passover.  Matzoh seems to permeate everything that gets made and so it won’t be a good situation to be tracking points in.  I’ll try to give myself a fighting chance by loading up on fresh fruits and veggies and by not buying a ton of Passover cakes/cookies (no loss as they tend to taste awful).  Still, I expect weight gain during those two weigh-ins.

I guess that just means I’ll have to try extra-hard to lose weight during the 8 weigh-ins that I have left during which I’ll be tracking points and (hopefully) losing weight.