When last I wrote, we were just about to come home. And you thought the story ended there, hah! On Tuesday night, Cheryl announced that she wanted to take Beth to the park early, so our last day at the park would not be a short day at the park. We had to drive home on Wednesday, so it was already going to be a short day. Shortly after Cheryl made her announcement, I announced that I could sleep in and go to the park with her parents later that day. If Cheryl cursed me for the sentiment, it worked. I slept in alright, but when I woke up something did not feel quite right. I tried eating, but it only made matters worse. Showering and shaving didn’t do any good either. When it finally got to be time to go to the park I didn’t feel much like walking around, unless I was walking to a bathroom. Cheryl’s parents went to the park and I stayed in the hotel room, alone with my growing agony. When they called two hours later, I was well beyond ready to go home. I was having visions of being violently ill in a hotel room and I craved familiar surroundings.

You should have pity on my wife and her parents. I am not a pleasant person when I’m violently ill. I was an unpleasant person for the hour or so it took them to pack and load the car, the two hours it took to drive home, and the half an hour they spent unloading the car.

Later Wednesday night I went to the ER. The ER doctors were all impressed that I still didn’t have to pee after getting three liters of IV fluids. Fortunately I didn’t have to spend the night in the hospital, they let me go home at 2 a.m.

I spent the next four days depositing and withdrawing clear fluids.

I write this entry one week after the onset of my illness. Today was the first day I ate regular food. That’s something to be thankful for, believe me.

Did I mention that we were going to the World of Walt this week? If Walt were alive today, do you think he would approve? What would Walt Do? We’ve been constantly reminded that Walt would be 100 years old now. That would be pretty old, if he were still alive. He isn’t. Do you think someday they’ll celebrate Michael Eisner’s 100th birthday?

All right already, what did you do there?
Not much. We had planned to spend four fun filled days at the world that Walt built. Instead, we spent one partially healthy night and day, one violently ill day, and one semiconscious day at Walt’s central Florida tourist Mecca. On a personal note, I saw “the animal park that Michael built to compete with Busch Gardens” for the first time. I knew Busch Gardens. Busch Gardens was my friend. You sir are no Busch Gardens. Do you find it ironic that the center piece of a park that is supposed to be dedicated to the wonders of the natural world is a large, artificial tree? “Welcome to Disney. We don’t aim for reality, we want something better.”

Is reality so bad? We were walking through Epcot later that day and a question came to me: “can you find a Living Sea somewhere other than Epcot?”

Are you going to tell us what you did or not?
We saw lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Then we got out of the car and went into the park. Kidding aside, Animal Kingdom was pretty cool. Everyone commented that we had not seen Gorillas so close up before. The lay out of the park was pretty cool and easy to navigate. And the settings were quite impressive, particularly the Asia section of the park. I can’t speak towards it’s reality, since I’ve never been to “Asia.” Then, maybe the park is better than the real thing.

After spending the morning and the first part of the afternoon at Animal Kingdom we drove over to Epcot. At Epcot we enjoyed more low-impact entertainment. We ate dinner at The Land. We played with the exhibits at Figment’s place. Beth saw her first 3-D movie at “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.” We walked through the world showcase just after the sun had set, which I consider to be the perfect time to walk through the world showcase at Epcot. I’ve never traveled outside of the U.S. so I wouldn’t know the real thing, but I can imagine that I’m traveling somewhere else in the world when I walk the streets of the countries there. And who knows, maybe it’s better than the real thing.

Tuesday we made our way to Disney’s MGM Studios. The only reason we went there, as far as I’m concerned, was because it was the only place we could get a reservation to a character lunch. It turned out to be a pretty good move all the way around. Beth enjoyed the back lot tour and the Beauty and the Beast stage show. Oh yeah, she liked the character lunch too. At first, we weren’t sure that she could find the courage within to stand up to one of her childhood fears: larger than life creatures walking among us. But when the characters walked in she warmed up to them like Mercury orbiting the Sun.

Wednesday we plan to try the Magic Kingdom again. We’ll see how it goes.

I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving.