Waiting for Toy Story

Magic Kingdom and EPCOT are definitely our favorite parks at Disney World, but with two other parks we have to throw in some variety. On our fifth day, we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly known as Disney MGM Studios). It's a nice enough park, but it has a bipolar focus on both shows (not Benji's style) and very thrilling rides (Benji's not tall enough). There's not much in the middle that holds Benji's attention. What it does have, though, is the ride with the longest line in Disney World — Toy Story Midway Mania. When we arrived at maybe 10:30 the fastpasses were out to 7:10 (and the park closed at 8:00 that day). So we got our fastpasses and tried to figure out how to kill an entire day while waiting for that one ride.

We tried to see the Little Mermaid show, but while we were in the pre-show area Benji announced that he had to go potty. Thankfully we hadn't been in line very long so we didn't really waste any time, but we never did make it back to see that show. We then read the map and discovered that Star Tours was only a 40-inch height minimum. It had been 15 years since I had been on Star Tours, but from what I recalled it seemed like it would be right up Benji "the thrill seeker's" alley. While it was pretty much what I remembered, Benji told me afterward that he didn't like that ride and didn't want to go on it again. It wasn't terrible since he told that to me very calmly, but clearly we wouldn't be going on that again.

After lunch, we headed over to the "Lights, Motors, Action!" stunt show. Now that he liked. No cars crashing, but lots of cool driving on two wheels and cars flying over each other. He was on his feet watching excitedly through the whole show. And when they asked for kid volunteers from the audience he eagerly raised his hand (we were way too far back in the amphitheater to get called on).

We wandered past Toy Story to see how long the stand-by line was (80 minutes) and Benji thought we should get another fastpass. Of course they were all out. As I was kneeling next to Benji, pointing to the sign for him to read, and telling him they were all gone a random stranger walked up and gave me a set of 4 Toy Story fastpasses. Those are the hottest ticket and someone gave them to me to make the day of my disappointed three-year-old. By the time I turned to show Benji and turned to thank the guy profusely, he was gone. Quite the random act of kindness! The passes weren't good until 6:40, but I was still so appreciative because that meant Benji would be able to go on three times after all day of waiting.

Our next stop was the Playhouse Disney live stage show. In general, we're not familiar with Playhouse Disney since we don't have cable. But we had seen some of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the hotel and at Josh and Beth's house. The storyline of the show focuses on it being Minnie's birthday and all of the characters from the different shows had to do things to prepare for the party. Benji is fascinated by birthdays and their trappings — the cake, the singing, the presents — so he liked the show. During several of the scenes they blew things into the audience (tissue paper leaves and streamers) and even when Benji sees those things around the house now he talks about how they're from Minnie's birthday party!

Next Daddy took Benji to the animation exhibit where they have computers to play with while I went over to the adult rides (Aerosmith Rock 'n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror).

After dinner it was finally time to head over to Toy Story Mania for our fastpasses. Since we had a set of 4 from the random act of kindness, we split up and Matthew took Benji on first. Then I took Benji on. But, we didn't make it very far on our ride. We were on the first activity when the ride broke down. You know it's not a good sign when, instead of saying "stay in your seats; the ride will resume soon", they say "stay in your seats; someone will come to get you soon". Benji was so disappointed! He had just been on the ride, so he knew exactly what he was missing. And we were one of the last groups to be offloaded so I just had to keep comforting him. I, too, was disappointed since we had waited ALL DAY to ride this ride and I didn't even get to ride it at all. And while it was interesting to see some of when we got walked off, it wasn't really all that impressive of a ride with the lights on.

As we were all being escorted to the exits they gave us fastpasses for Toy Story good for one ride during the next week. Well, we had no intention of returning to the park (we didn't have park hoppers and another day at the Studios would have been a big waste) and the park was already closed for the night. So while Matthew calmed an upset Benji I marched over to Guest Services. I was gearing up for a fight to get some sort of compensation such as an upgrade to park hopper for the rest of the trip, but the case member simply took my name and address and said I would have 3 one-day one-park passes waiting for me at the window. I would just have to show photo ID and use the pass that day, but other than that there are no strings attached. We decided not to use them on this trip since Benji had calmed down, but it sure is nice to know I have over $200 of Disney tickets I can use any day in the future. And it's a nice reminder of why "it doesn't hurt to ask".

When we returned to the hotel that night, Benji had an amazing surprise waiting for him — Grandma and Grandpa! He knows that we were on vacation and that Grandma and Grandpa don't live in Florida, so imagine his shock when he saw them! We played some silly games in the food court until it was time for bed — time for Grandma and Grandpa to go to bed, that is. Benji could go on forever at Disney World so it's definitely the adults that run out of steam first. In any case, we visited for a while and then went to our rooms to rest up for a full day at the Magic Kingdom with all five of us!



"Lights, Motors, Action!"


Streamers and leaves from Minnie's birthday party.





Even with all the rides and shows, Benji still enjoys the simple pleasures including a game of hide-and-seek. Another simple pleasure was pushing his stroller in circles.


Giant toys in the queue area of Toy Story Midway Mania.


Notice Mickey on his shirt is wearing the 3D glasses.


Toy Story Mania with the lights on.





Silly games in the food court.


Who doesn't love a little plate balancing?

Libellés : Benji, Disneyworld

My album.

After I finished last year's major music project ("The London Underground"), for whatever reason I started working on a number of Christmas arrangements that involved handbells and other instruments: handbells and cello, handbells and string quartet, handbells and full orchestra, etc. I didn't really have a good plan in mind what to do with these arrangements, other than, y'know, sending them off to publishers as usual. (Which, by the way, I'm starting to do.) For a time I was thinking maybe I could turn them into a cantata, although the inconsistency of the instrumentation (i.e. the instruments used change from piece to piece) might make that difficult.

My current and probably final thought, however, is that I think I'll turn them into a instrumental Christmas album -- to be released this fall. The main issue with an album is that I don't have the expendable money to hire people to record all the instruments, and even if I did (best guess: high four figures, excluding studio costs), the return-on-investment is almost certainly be worse than bad. The great thing about the wonderful era we live in, however, is you can make a palatable recording by using virtual instruments (i.e. carefully programmed musical samples) along with software that "humanizes" the playing of the notes on the page. (You could also use a sequencer, but I don't have that sort of time to learn.) And the great thing about both of those things is that Finale 2009, which I bought earlier this year for work, includes both a decent set of virtual instruments and probably the best notation humanizing software out there. So for exactly $0 out-of-pocket (other than costs of making/distributing the CD), I could make a decent album of Christmas arrangements. Of course, I could make it even better by buying awesomer virtual instruments (like, oh, this nice $12k investment), but my primary goal with the project is to not lose money, so I need to keep my total costs under about $100, or somehow raise enough money in advance to cover what costs I do incur. (First idea: presales. Second idea: this, although I'm not sure that's actually legal without setting up an actual security or something.)

(Aside: Actually, taking a look right now, studio time isn't prohibitively expensive: There's one in the northwest suburbs that's $20/hr with only a one-hour minimum. I could record some live bell tree/dulcimer/piano parts in two hours and throw them in the mix to give it an even more realistic feel. But, again, not much more than two hours, since my goal is to make this album self-sustaining. That said, if I do decide to record a little bit, and those of you who play instruments [Ed] would like to join in, I can schedule it around you.)

Anyway, I like the album idea for a few reasons: It's good promotion for myself and my sheet music -- it might have a positive impact on my other music sales. (And vice-versa: the name I've built up with sheet music should help the album sell better.) If nothing else, it'll definitely promote the music that's on it, making it that music both easier to sell and more likely to be picked up by a publisher. It's something else to give out when interviewing for handbell jobs (although, admittedly, I've been offered four of the five handbell jobs I've interviewed for). And it's just kind of fun to, y'know, have an album released. So, for now, that's what I'm thinking to do with this music, although I'm open to other ideas.

Good Morning, Mickey!

On the third morning of our trip, Benji had a surprise visitor. When he woke up there was a new Mickey Mouse in bed with him! Mickey was a perfect souvenir to go along with the Mickey Mouse ears and he quickly became a new best friend. Even now after the trip is over, Benji sleeps with Mickey every night and talks about how much he loves Mickey.

But, when it was time to go to the parks and leave Mickey behind, there were no arguments. After all, who would choose Mickey over more rides? So we went off to Epcot.

At the entrance to Epcot they play a variety of music to set the mood. Among those songs are the theme songs to some of the attractions. This morning they were playing the music from Soarin' as we walked under Spaceship Earth. I don't think Matthew or I noticed it at all, but Benji got very excited and wanted to go immediately to Soarin'. So we sent Daddy to get fastpasses while Benji and I took a ride on Nemo and saw Turtle Talk.

By that time we needed to head over to the Coral Reef for our lunch reservation. Unfortunately we didn't get a seat by the fish tank, but we still had a nice meal. My favorite part had to have been dessert. Matthew and I split the Wave, a chocolate lava cake. Yummy!! It also had a few Mickey sprinkles for garnish and Benji just loved those. We got Benji his own dessert — a make-your-own sundae. He loved it last time and he loved it again. In the process of making and eating his sundae, he got chocolate sauce all over his face. So I told him if he were a Mr. Men book he would be Mr. Chocolate Face. He loved that thought! Now I just need to think of a good storyline for Mr. Chocolate Face.

At the tail end of lunch our window for more fastpasses opened up so Matthew ran over to Soarin' to get another set. Then we all headed over to Nemo and Turtle Talk again. Every time we go he very much wants to talk to Crush during the show and he's never been called on. But after the show was over and the theater was emptying the cast member was asking the straggler kids if they wanted to talk to Crush. So Benji said "hello" into the microphone and he seemed pretty happy about being able to talk to Crush.

By this time our first fastpasses to Soarin' were valid so we had our first thrill ride of the day. Benji loved it as much as ever! Then we had to wait for the next fastpasses. We headed over to Innoventions where we played the "What's Your Problem?" game show again. There were more kids than last time, so Benji had to play with a "team" but he had a blast again! While in Innoventions, we visited Mickey for photos again and played with some of the displays and computer kiosks.

We tend to spend very little time in the World Showcase on our Epcot visits but Matthew and I keep saying we want to do more of that. So we headed to the left side of the Showcase where we tend to spend almost no time. We tried out the boat ride in Mexico where they had recently added Donald and the Three Caballeros to an existing boat ride. It was kind of cute, but not thrilling enough for Benji. I did like the general atmosphere within the Mexico pavilion and may have to go back there sometime for the restaurant. We took a quick stop at Norway thinking we could just walk on to the Malestrom boat ride, but it was a 30 minute wait. Benji was quite angry, but that ride is definitely not worth a 30 minute wait. So we continued walking around the World Showcase Lagoon and eventually stopped for dinner. I walked a bit further to pick up dinner at the France pavilion. They had a delicious little ham and cheese croissant and a creme brulee. The sandwich was the biggest bargain in the park at only $3.25 and so tasty, too.

After dinner it was time for that sweet spot of the day for thrill ride riding. We rode Soarin' twice, Test Track twice, and Soarin' yet again. Test Track is another 40 inch ride and definitely more thrilling than Soarin' so we have to be more careful and hold onto Benji during a few parts (so his head doesn't bounce back against the seat strangely). There's a part inside the building where your "car" is put through its paces on various tests, such as a steep incline, bumpy pavement, and stopping with and without antilock brakes. Then you go outside for a 65 mph figure-eight around the building. It's the fastest ride in any Disney park, but it's actually only as fast as going on a highway in a convertible. Still, Benji screamed with laughter and joy with the wind in his hair. He loved it!

Libellés : Benji, Disneyworld

Composing update.

As the royalty statements for 2008 start rolling in (although publishers some don't run on calendar years), I have now sold probably just under 7000 copies of sheet music. (I'm missing some of my 2006 numbers in my spreadsheet, so I don't know the exact number.) My five best sellers, in order: "I Need Thee Every Hour", "Ave Maria (Two Settings)", "Ten Christmas Hymn Introductions", "Born is the King of Israel", and "Good Vibrations". "Good Vibrations" is the odd duck, having sold three times as many copies the year after the piece was released than the year it was released -- probably largely due to it being performed at the International Handbell Symposium.