One evening of our vacation in Disney World, we went to Downtown Disney. While Cowgrit and Momgrit went shopping at the World of Disney store (more like 3 stores), the Calves and I visited the Lego Imagination Center.

The first thing you see when you near the Lego store is the giant Lego constructs. The picture to the right shows the sea serpent and the t-rex. The serpent is actually in the water of the harbor — I’m told it is constructed of 2 million Lego pieces. The t-rex stands about 10 feet tall and its head occasionally moves from side to side. To get a sense of the scale in the picture, the rails in front of the serpent and dino are about four feet high.

Not pictured is a robot, that stands as tall as the dino, an ocean scene with a giant crab, shark, and fish, and a life-sized family of four with four dogs on leashes. All of these constructs are made of normal size Lego pieces — the dino looks like it’s made of large blocks, but they’re really just regular, small pieces put together to look like large pieces. All the statues are just awe-inspiring.

Inside the store is every Lego piece and set you can think of, including sets I have never seen in any other store. For instance, check out this picture of the Millennium Falcon — for $500. It is to scale with the standard Lego mini figures — Han, Chewie, Leia, and Obi Wan are sitting in the cockpit. (As a nod to all you other Star Wars geeks: Yes, I noted this is an odd grouping.)

Besides the Star Wars sets, there’s also all the Bionicles, Exowarriors, fantasy, and real-life sets all around, too. Plus there’s a metric butt-load of individual Lego pieces you can buy by the scoopful. You can also build your own mini-figs — three for $10.

Outside the store, under a big permanent shelter, are tables for open building. In the center of the tables are bowls of loose Lego pieces, and there were 20 or 30 kids around building any and every thing they could imagine. There’s also two sloped race tracks for testing your race car builds. After picking out a couple sets each to buy, my boys hung out building cars and racing them with other kids for probably an hour.

That is just an amazingly cool store. I wanted to build and play too, but there was just too much going on for me to get distracted from paying attention to the boys. So I enjoyed the experience vicariously through my sons.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

A couple of days after getting back from our Disney World vacation I asked Cowgrit if she was recovered yet.

Cowgrit: “I feel like a truck hit me. Yesterday I felt like a train hit me. So I’m getting better.”

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

I’ve had some gray in my head of hair for a few years, now. Since I keep my hair pretty short, it looks sprinkled with salt rather than streaked with strands. This gray has slowly evolved over the last five years, so I easily grew accustomed to it. It’s just me.

I also have gray in my beard. I usually have a mustache and goatee, connected at the corners of my mouth, and if I let it grow a couple weeks, you can see two gray spots on either side of my goatee. I think this looks kind of cool. It almost looks designed.

I also have some gray hairs on my arms. There’s not a lot of gray hairs — just a few, here and there. But in the right light, they stand out. This hair, though I don’t think it’s cool looking, isn’t particularly troublesome. It’s just a sign that I’m getting a little older. Nothing disturbing.

But I’ve started noticing gray hairs on my chest. Now this. . . gray chest hairs. . . this is not something I like. Salt-and-pepper head hair is character, symmetrical gray spots in the beard is cool, couple of short grays on the arms is acceptable, but gray hair on the chest, that’s oldness. I don’t like it. I do not like gray chest hairs.

If I ever try to cover any gray hairs with color, I’d probably start with those on my chest. Only old men have gray chest hairs, and I just can’t be that. I can’t be old yet. Hell, I’ve not accepted middle age yet, I can’t even comprehend old age.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Here’s the thrill rides I experienced in Walt Disney World last week:

Animal Kingdom

• Expedition Everest — with Calfgrit7
• Kali River Rapids — twice with Cowgrit and both Calvesgrit
• Dinosaur — with Cowgrit

Epcot

• Test Track — twice; once with Cowgrit
• Mission: Space — once on the “less intense,” once on the “more intense”

Hollywood Stuidos

• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (with Aerosmith) — twice
• Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Magic Kingdom

• Space Mountain — twice; once with Cowgrit
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad — three times; twice with Cowgrit
• Splash Mountain — three times; once with Cowgrit, once with Calfgrit7

There may be another ride or two that didn’t come to mind right now, but this should be a complete list. I/we experienced many other rides, shows, and attractions, but the above are the thrill rides. In Disney World, the rides are more than just rides, they’re experiences. They have and stick to a theme, and the whole experience from the waiting line to the exit stay in the theme. That’s the thing that makes Disney World stand out as a theme park for me — a roller coaster is not just a roller coaster, it’s an experience.

Expedition Everest was Calfgrit7’s first roller coaster experience. It’s a decent ride, but it had too many “loose your stomach” moments for me and him. I like roller coasters, but I don’t like a lot of big drops where I loose my stomach. The “threat” of encountering the yeti during the ride adds to the excitement.

There’s a warning at the beginning of Kali River Rapids: “You will get wet. You may get soaked.” It’s a very fun water ride, and we all did, indeed, get wet; Cowgrit got soaked.

Dinosaur is more violent than fun. I wasn’t impressed.

Test Track is a fun fast ride in a “car.” I thoroughly enjoyed this ride.

Mission: Space has two versions: less intense and more intense. The less intense version is very minor (hardly worth loading in), but the more intense version is far too intense (I wish I hadn’t done it). I’ll write more about this one later.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is a great thrill. It starts with going from 0 to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds — I underestimated how that would feel. After that start, it’s a standard roller coaster through the dark with only neon signs as light along the way.

Tower of Terror is a “drop ride” themed as a Twilight Zone experience. It has the best special effects — seamless and spooky — of all the rides at WDW. I’ll write more about this one later.

The “Three Mountains of the Magic Kingdom” — Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and Splash Mountain — are good old standard roller coasters, but each with their own theme. I enjoyed each of these thoroughly, even Splash Mountain’s big drop at the end. I’ll write more about Splash Mountain later.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com