Days of Future Perfect - Day Three

Continuing with my visit to the future thanks to an odd RSS glitch that sent 10 blog posts from the future back in time, today it looks like we take a few odd left turns along the way to an exciting day at Walt Disney World. This post is dated, Septemer 10th, 2006. The most interesting stuff, however, is up front in a discussion about the inner workings of a writer's mind. I hope you enjoy.

WHOAH!

Whoah seemed to be the watch word today. It was the sound made by Joshy when he got to see the lions and elephants up close. It was the sound my Mom made when she realized what TAC had in store for her Disney Day. And it was the sound that escaped my lips when I received an e-mail from Andy this morning telling me that his spy show thingy had been green lit. I haven't even finished the pilot script yet and Andy's already got the show green lit. Whoah!

So, you may ask, what's the problem? Why don't I just pop out a script really fast and get it over with? Well, allow me to explain...

The show is called Brock Lee - International Accountant. Its a spy show. It follows the main character, an average accountant at a large construction firm, who somehow manages to get involved in the high stakes world of espionage. In the pilot episode, Brock gets sent to a Texas Construction Company, called EnWill, for a conference on construction in the Gulf Coast post Katrina (see, its modern and edgy!) and gets caught up in a nefarious plan to separate Texas from the United States. By the show's end, Brock discovers that his wife and two kids secretly work for the CIA and that there may be more to the death of his mother in a tragic blimp accident than he at first suspected. Just the sort of mindless drivel that is green lit before the script is even completed, right? My problem is that I can't write this with a straight face. It's supposed to be serious, but every draft I do sounds like a bad episode of The Flintstones. I can even hear Barney Rubble speaking Brock's dialogue and its starting to mess with my mind. Whoah! I think I'm going crazy.

But since I am on vacation, I can ignore these little insanity trips and concentrate on having a good time.

This morning we headed off to Animal Kingdom first so that the kids could get a chance to see the real animals up close and personal. Our morning was actually uneventful, stopping for breakfast snacks in the Roaring Forks Snack shop downstairs in our hotel before we boarded the bus for the long ride to Animal Kingdom. We arrived in Animal Kingdom and were immediately impressed by the giant Mt. Everest that now climbed out of the back of the Animal Kingdom park. You can't see the Tree of Life from the ticket windows, but you can sure see the roller coaster. As soon as the gates opened we headed with the crowds at a mad rush through the Oasis and towards the center island.

In all my previous trips, almost everyone in the crowd would have continued heading to the back of the park to board the trams for the first ride on the safari. But this time, as we reached the center island, more than half the crowd peeled off and headed towards Asia to be amongst the first of the day to ride the new roller coaster - Everest Expedition. We contemplated going there first to get Fast Passes but then decided that the park wasn't likely to be crowded today and continued to the safari.

This was only the second ride Natalie had been on and she loved it - for the most part. She hated the bumpy start of the tram (it has to cross all those gates that keep the animals inside) but was thrilled when we were finally able to point out some of the animals. Joshy pulled out the camera Grandma had given him and she showed him how to take pictures. Under the best of circumstances this ride is hard on the camera enthusiast because it jostles so much, but Joshua didn't know any better and so had a blast taking pictures. How many will end up being pictures of fingers or sky or someone's leg? Who knows... but probably slightly less than the number of pictures I take that end up as pictures of fingers, sky, legs, etc... ;)

After the Safari we walked through the Gorilla exhibit and watched the Gorillas for a while and the hippos swimming in their lake. Then, since we were there, we took the train out to Conservation Station and let the kids pet and feed the goats, sheep, and pony's at the petting zoo. This place hasn't really changed since my sister and I were there two weeks after it opened - and that's too bad.

After Conservation Station, we only had a little more time for us before Mom and I had to head off for our little Disney Day rendezvous. So we all headed down to Camp Minnie Mickey to watch The Festival of the Lion King show - which is just fantastic. Everyone loved this show, but the kids couldn't help watching the acrobats and saying, "Whoah!"

After the show, Mom and I headed towards the exit while Heather, Carl, Dave and the kids headed across the park to try and ride Expedition Everest. We reached the front of the park and I explained to Mom the concept behind the TAC Disney Day - to catalog the length and the breadth of the WDW experience with my family acting as guinea pigs. She looked worried.

I told her that the experience started right now and I whipped out my video camera and started interviewing her. You'll be able to see all this on my website about a month after we get back from our trip. Anyway, we boarded a bus bound for the Grand Floridian Resort for Sunday Brunch at Narcoosee's. Mom wanted to know what else was on the agenda, but I wouldn't tell her.

The Brunch was exquisite and we were both glad that we'd barely eaten anything that morning. After lunch, I called ahead to make sure that our reservation was still valid (thus building the anticipation) and then told Mom that we had to hurry or we'd be late for her appointment. Mom primped up her hair in anticipation.

At the last second, we turned away from the Grand Floridian Spa and the promise of a nice massage and deep wonderful body treatment, and we headed out the front door to board the cab that I had already requested. The driver had already been told where to go, so I just sat back and watched my Mom's expression as we drove to our new secret destination.

About four blocks from the destination, Mom saw a sign and heard the unmistakable roar of the race car engine and she opened her mouth and said, "Whoah!" In less than 30 minutes, she was strapped inside the passenger seat of an authentic Daytona 500 race car zipping around the Walt Disney World Richard Petty Experience track at speeds well in excess of 150 miles per hour. Her whole Disney Day experience lasted little more than three hours, but I dare say she loved every minute of it.

I swore her to secrecy, telling her that we would reveal everyone's experience only on Saturday - the day before we left. And then we headed back to the hotel and waited for the others to return from the Disney Studios where Heather was going to take the kids to Playhouse Disney.

Mom was more excited than the kids when everyone got back and I could see that she was frustrated in not being able to tell them why she was so excited, but the anticipation level rose in everyone else for their own Disney Day. I also told them that I had a great time as well.

After another mid-afternoon nap, we all took a leisurely time getting ready and heading off to dinner. We had reservations at the Cape May Buffet - a seafood buffet at the Yacht and Beach Club Resort near EPCOT. Two nights in a row, now, we'd eaten rich, succulent, and wonderful food and lots of it. I feared for my jog in the morning.

We were all too hyper to go to bed when we got back to the resort so we walked down along the beach and then returned to the video game parlor for the first round of our quad-annual Air Hockey tournament (Team Dave and Will, once again, crushed all comers!) Then we made our way to our rooms for more mad libs and sleep. I decided to get a drink at the lounge and am sitting here even now eyeing the cocktail waitress as I write this entry on my blog. I can only hope this night ends with me saying, "Whoah!"

In the meantime, I really must consider getting back to work on my first ever green lit pilot script. After all, its not every day a writer is guaranteed work. I suppose I can put a ribbon on a pig with the best of them. I don't know why Andy didn't pitch my idea for the pilot, but then again, it's his money.

See you all tomorrow, the Fifth Anniversary of 9/11. Until then, have a great day.

Well, there you have it. Day Three in the books and I'm already getting exhausted just thinking about this upcoming trip and all the writing work I'll be doing between now and then. Still, this glimpse into the future is pretty cool. See you all tomorrow.