Our Second and Last Post from Florida

Greetings from Orlando International Airport where our flight has been canceled, forcing Mrs. Stroock to swing into action. Man, that woman knows how to work the system. Anywho, we got time and are taking to Oldest Daughter's laptop once more to deliver our keen insights.

We have one of those health gismos that tells you how many steps you've taken and how many miles you've walked. It isn't pretty, folks. Here's our Sunday: 21,970 steps, 9.47 miles. Wow. That describes Saturday and Monday too. Frankly, as bad as our gouty foot hurt yesterday, we wondered if we shouldn't have toughed it out. Our feet hurt anyway. Heck, on Saturday night we couldn't feel them. Needless to say, we're not hitting the gym tomorrow. 

But lots of other Disney guests should. Look, we know we're a gym rat with the time and means to do four or five hours of cardio a week. And we're not really talking about people who've committed the unforgivable sin of reaching middle age and gone frumpy. But OMG. There's a lot of men wearing shirts so tight their bellies look like volcanic calderas about to burst.  And there's a lot of women who have no business walking around in lycra. 

Skip breakfast, cut down on carbs and start walking. We confess to eating breakfast all week. Eggs, bacon, and sausage links. It was glorious at Disney's All Star Music Resort. We needed the morning meal for the day's walking. As reader(s) can see by the step and mile count, Mrs. Stroock isn't afraid to go the full Bataan Death March when visiting amusement parks. She is indifferent to cries of hurting legs and feet.

We saw some really great shows at Disney this week, starting with Disney Fantasmic. This is a live-action homage to Fantasia; a water, fireworks, and lights display of the first order. An intensive and exhilarating half-hour. What can we say 4/4.

We're happy to see Muppets 3D is unchanged from the last time we saw it in 2003. If one likes the old Muppet Show and the Muppets Movie, one will like Muppets 3D. It's silly like the old show was as Kermit tries to run a musical number.  There's an animotronic version of Statler and Waldorf heckling the show from the balcony. In the waiting room, TV monitors show guests the behind the scenes catastrophes of the crew. A very good use of time. Once again 4/4

The live-action Lion King was a well executed barrage of color and sound. Dancers portrayed African animals; gazelles, monkeys, wildebeests, crocodiles, and of course, lions. We really liked The Lion King themed floats that drove across the floor. 4/4

Moving on...

While we were stuck in our room yesterday we watched the USA vs Iran World Cup game, or match. We're happy to say Team USA won, which I guess makes up for the whole embassy thing in 1979. Take that, Ayatollah! Watching the...match...we realized something. Soccer isn't very athletic. Oh sure, there's lots of in shape men running around and kicking, which is hard enough to do. We get it. But soccer players aren't skating and handling a puck. They're not dribbling and shooting baskets. They're not hitting a baseball (the hardest thing to do in sports). They're not landing a triple sow-cow.* We were impressed by the guy who took a knee to nuts when scoring the USA's only goal. We admit to being entertained. But don't try to compare these guys to NBA players. The world loves Soccer. The world is wrong.

We had a revelation yesterday, as is our wont. The Norwegian section of World War 1990: Battle of the GIUK Gap, could really be its own book, couldn't it? Land invasion up north, massive aerial/amphib assault on the coast, a naval action around Oslo. What we really need to do is read a good book about the Battle of Norway in 1940. There's a Netflix film about same. The 1940 invasion would certainly be on the Soviet's mind. Can World War 1990: Norway be done? Certainly. But as the president in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country said, just because you can do a thing does not mean you must do that thing. We must dwell on this.

*People who think figure skating isn't a sport really need to check it out. Brian Boitano could defy gravity in a way that would make Michael Jordan envious. Also, there's no better announcer in sports that Sarajevo gold medalist Scott Hamilton. His knowledge of figure skating is unsurpassed. Hamilton broadcasts with love of the sport and respect for the audience.