Bike spotting in Disney World

First, a brief explanation of my last few posts. Before we left for Disney World, I noticed a link on the Blogger dashboard inviting users to try mobile blogging from their cell phone or mobile device. Thinking it may be useful since I don’t own a laptop, I decided to give it a try, and followed the steps to coordinate my cell phone with my Blogger account (basically sending a text message and confirming an email). After arriving in Florida, my first attempt to send a photo to my blog failed for reasons unknown, but my husband confirmed that the next photo sent a few days later had appeared within minutes. Boy, did I feel like Techno-Mama then! Mobile blogging from Disney World, what could be easier?

Dealing with the massive crowds at Disney World, however, was not something that could be made easier with modern technology or gadgets. Only stamina, patience and comfortable footwear would get you through that endurance test. We expected heavy crowds during the week before Easter, since most schools are on vacation then, but no one was expecting record-breaking numbers this year. On Tuesday, the Magic Kingdom theme park reached its capacity at one point, and the gates had to be closed for a short time until enough visitors left. It is not easy to navigate through such crowds with a group of 7 people ranging in age from 9 to 76. But with a few early morning and late evening visits, we managed to get the kids on nearly all of their most-wanted rides.

Enough about the crowds, on to the bikes! The Disney decorators seem to have a fondness for bicycles in their still life arrangements. This scene greeted us on our first day as we walked to check-in at the reception:

We spent our second day enjoying the pool and water slide in the heat of 86F. I checked out the bike rental area and decided to wait until later in the week when I knew the layout of the resort better and temperatures would be cooler. Unfortunately, I never had time again. I only saw two people on rented bikes during our stay.

Animal Kingdom was my favorite park, and I must admit the bikes had something to do with it. I didn’t see any bikes in the African area of the park, although we didn’t get to see everything there, but the Asian area had plenty:







Taking these photos amidst the sea of people was not easy, and I was grateful to have my daughter’s assistance. Somewhere ahead of me, I heard her calling out, “Mommy, come here, it’s a Raleigh!” and she had the shot before I even caught up with her. Here's her photo:

And here's mine:

In Magic Kingdom, I could find only this sign near Main Street:

I saw no evidence of bikes anywhere in the countries represented in EPCOT, not even in China, although I admit the crowds prevented us from exploring every nook and cranny.
As the week was ending, we decided to skip the Hollywood Studios theme park completely, since none of the kids' top-listed rides were there. Anyone know if we missed any bikes there? Or anywhere else?
Back to life, back to reality.

Spring vacation time

After neglecting my little blog for two weeks, I'm taking another week off while daughter and I head down to Disney World with her cousins, aunt, uncle and grandmother, and half the population of the United States, it seems. Poor (lucky?) dad is staying home to pay the bills and enjoy the peace and quiet and sole custody of the TV remote.

Luckily, there are bike rentals available where we are staying, so I can escape the world of make-believe at some point and enjoy my favorite kind of ride.

Happy spring!

It's a shore thing

My family has owned a vacation home at the New Jersey shore for more than 30 years, so I've been fortunate to have spent every summer in a beach resort town since I was a child. Soon after my father bought the house, he bought each of his three daughters a new three-speed bike. In this small town, it was as good as handing us the keys to a brand new car – what freedom we suddenly had! We could ride our bikes to the beach, the boardwalk, the shops “downtown”, or just go for a ride to cool off by creating a breeze when there wasn’t any. A few years later, we used our bikes to go to our summer jobs at the amusement pier and movie theaters on the boardwalk. Fast forward through drivers license, real jobs, marriage, child – the bike was sold somewhere along the way in “the great garage cleanout”. It wasn’t until this summer that I once again enjoyed the freedom that a bike gives you at a crowded beach resort – no need to drive around looking for a parking space; no returning to a ticket on your windshield because your meter ran out of time; no sweltering car interior after sitting in the sun. I traded all that for quiet rides on the bike path beside the bird sanctuary, morning rides on the boardwalk with views of the sparkling ocean, and family rides to breakfast at the tiny airport diner.
Riding to the airport (click to see planes upper left)

Wheel Watching from BIKE Lite on Vimeo.

Last weekend we decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather and drive to the New Jersey shore one last time (until next spring). Since it was only a day trip, we didn’t bring our bikes, but we made the most of our time by taking the scenic route along the coast from Atlantic City down to Cape May Point. Most of the resort towns were rather sleepy now that the tourists have left, but Cape May was full of bird-watchers since it is prime migration season, and Cape May is the biggest migration rest-stop for birds on the East Coast. The beautiful weather brought many people out on their bikes, and the racks along the beach were full.

I wonder if the owner of this pink bike stood out on the beach as much as her bike did in the rack.

I miss the shore already. Especially my flip flops.