Orlando Florida Fieldtrip Updates (May 14-21)

Thursday, May 13 - We arrived safe and sound early this morning in Orlando. Everyone is very pleased with the hotel. Breakfast was very good with plenty of variety and healthy choices. Nice pool and courtyard too. We spent today at Typhoon Lagoon, an amazing waterpark with water-roller-coaster type rides that keep you screaming from start to finish. Perhaps the highlight of the day was swimming in the shark reef with the colorful tropical fish, sharks and Stingrays! We found out that Stingrays are actually very gentle creatures and will only sting in defence if they are attaked or threatened. It is very painful for them to use their barbs and so even when threatened their first response is to swim away harmlessly. Tonight we head out to Ci Ci's Pizza and Pasta Bar for dinner. It will be early to bed for everyone as they've had a full day of adventure and not much sleep last night on the plane. The kids were great, they've all been extremely polite and responsible. Let's hope every day is as fun as this first one in Florida!

Friday, May 14 - Today we spent the day at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Our Edu-program at the Animal Kingdom focused on animal care and nutrition and also the many career opportunities available at Disney (engineers, artists, performers, veterinarians, food services, and "Imagineers"). We visited the kitchens where the food is prepared for the herbivores and carnivores. We also took a behind the scenes safari ride through the animal habitats and saw giraffes, lions, antelope, Hippos, Rhinos and many other remarkable creatures. The entire group watched the spectacular performance of "The Lion King" with singers, dancers, acrobats and animal animatrons. We also had plenty of laughs in the "It's A Bugs Life" 4-D show. The Himilaya Mountain Roller Coaster was a huge hit with the kids (and Ms. Wong). The kids have been great and tomorrow we are destined for Disneyland Magic Kingdom!

Saturday, May 15 - Today we enjoyed the magic of Disneyland's Magical Kingdom. We were taken backstage (underneath) at the Haunted House and learned how the Imagineers use mirrors, scrim fabric, ultraviolet lighting and projections to create the ghosts and scary illusions in the Haunted Mansion. The kids kept telling me how much they were learning about light waves in this "special classroom" and how they wished that every science class could be as much fun. Then it was off to Splashdown Mountain and Space Mountain roller coasters. It was a long, hot day, and I expect that they will all sleep well tonight. Tomorrow we are destined for Epcot Center.

Sunday, May 16 - We spent the entire day at EPCOT Centre. EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow and it was Disney's vision of what the high-tech world of the future would look like. EPCOT is a huge park in the shape of the number 8. Half of the park is the visionary world of the future and the other half of EPCOT is reminiscent of the EXPO 1986 Plaza of Nations. Various countries from all over the world have their own pavilions at EPCOT. Our educational program was on the marine animals and their care. Once again we visited behind the scences the "kitchen" where all of the food is prepared for the dolphins, sharks, sea turtles and other creatures. We saw the huge pipes and plumbing systems that make it all possible to replace all of the salt-water in the marine exhibits in just 2 hours. These pumps/filters are in operation around the clock 24/7/365 to ensure that the chemistry of the water is exactly right. In the event of a power failure EPCOT has it's own backup generators and during power failures they can have all of the pumps and equipment back up and running in less than 2 minutes. We also spent some time in the VIP lounge at EPCOT which is a private dining room with huge glass windows that allow patrons to keep an eye on the dolphins and other marine animals. The VIP lounge rents out for a measly $300 000 per hour! (no mistake here on the number of zeros - that's three hundred thousand dollars for one hour). My guess is that they don't see too many birthday parties in the VIP lounge! Tomorrow we are destined for SeaWorld and our 3 hour educational program will focus on animal training. Then in the evening we've made reservations for everyone to enjoy dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Monday May 17 - Sorry for the delayed update (Internet was down). We had a great day at SeaWorld. The edu-program focused on animal training, not just for crowd pleasing tricks but more importantly for "husbandry" which is a term related to animal health and well being. For example, The killer whales are trained to stay still and offer a fin when vets need to obtain blood samples. The animals are also trained to release urine and semen for medical testing and artificial insemination. The animal shows were great but kids will probably remember only one thing at SeaWorld - the crazy roller coaster ride called the Krachen. It left me wobbly legs for a few hours but they seemed to like it! Then we had a great dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, surrounded by nostalgic Rock N Roll memorabilia from the likes of the Beetles and U2. We also had some time to enjoy City Walk, an entertainment district with more shops, restaurants and theatres.

Tuesday, May 18 - Please pardon the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors as I write these postings at about 1:30 AM each night. Today I really enjoyed the NASA tour at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral Floriday. It brought back alot of memories when I was a kid and we watched the Apollo astronauts land on the moon for the first time. We visited the actual Mission Control Room used for all of the Apollo launches, we even experienced the countdown and blastoff of Apollo 7 which was the first successful mission to bring men to the moon. After NASA scrubbed the Apollo moon missions they turned their attention to the re-useable Space Shuttles that our kids have grown up with. We were fortunate enough to see the Space Shuttle Columbia sitting on the launch pad in preparation for it's launch on May 31. There are only 10 shuttle missions remaining and then all three space shuttles will all be retired as NASA has once again set its sights on the moon and a return to the Apollo style rockets. This evening we did our part to support the local economy when we visited the Mall at Millenia. Kids are crazy about this Hollister stuff!? Anyways, they are also bummed out about the fact that tomorrow is our last day. Destination is MGM studios. We catch an afternoon flight to SEATAC and the bus should arrive at Burnaby South just past midnight. Looking forward to seeing you all their. And on behalf of Ms Sharon Wong and myself, we have had a terrific time getting to know your kids and they are all fantastic! Thank you for allowing us to spend a very special week with them. Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow night (just past midnight). The kids don't necessarily share my enthusiasm to return home but I'm sure they are also very excited to tell you about everything they did. Thanks again and see you soon.

Stephen Fuerderer