Aylmer Express "MoHo" Extravaganza 2006

Although we were packing up and heading to Orlando today, our main activity was actually something en route. On our way to Disney we ended up stopping by the Kennedy Space Center. You know, the place where they blast people into space? Popping in to the Johnson Space Center in Houston peaked our interest enough that we couldn’t resist stopping by Cape Canaveral to see what things are like there. We decided to take the bus tour which takes you right out to the launch pads that were used for the Apollo and the Space Shuttle launches. The tour was very well done and very informative, but it was a little long for us since we didn’t get there until noon and it closes at 5:30. We got to see some pretty cool stuff. First of all, I did not realize that this facility is built in a wild life sanctuary. The result is that there is wildlife all over the place. We saw many, many bald eagles, as well as egrets, turtles, and even a few gators sunning themselves in the riparian splendor! Not only did we see the launch pads up close and personal, but we also swung by the vehicle assembly building which is used to prepare and assemble rockets and orbiters for launch. It is the famous building you always see when they show the Kennedy Space Center. It was originally designed to be big enough to assemble a Saturn V rocket standing straight up. It stands over 50 stories high and has four times the volume of the Empire State Building. It doesn’t seem that big or imposing when you see it simply because there is nothing around nearby to compare it to. That is until you get up close to it yourself. It is so big that they have specially designed heating and air conditioning units to ensure that clouds don’t form inside. It is big! After our driving tour they took us over to the indoor Saturn V rocket display. Regular blog readers will remember that we saw a Saturn V rocket in Houston so I wasn’t super excited about seeing it again. However, I was very impressed with how the Kennedy Space Center had done their display of the Saturn V. Rather than being in a building that looked like a gargantuan metal shed, this time it was brightly painted and housed in a building that looked more like an interactive museum with tons of information. I wish we could have stayed there longer to check everything out but the clock was ticking so I snapped a bunch of pics and we were off to the main visitors’ complex to check out what they had. First thing the kids wanted to do was catch the 3-D IMAX movie about the moon, narrated by Tom Hanks and we got there just in time. It was a fun movie and it was quite impressive how they made it 3D; however, it was not as well done from an informational or entertainment standpoint as the IMAX movie we saw in Houston called Inside the Space Station. After that we were running very short on time. We were just able to check out the Rocket Garden before they started to kick everyone out for the day. There was so much more to see so it was another case of wishing we had more time. Oh well, at least the kids were able to take solace in the fact that we were now going to jump in the MoHo and be at DisneyWorld in about an hour! Who wouldn’t like that? We ended up taking some toll roads on our way to Disney since it makes for a much more direct and simple route and it was already getting dark. One other advantage of taking these toll roads was that it gave me some practice in opening up my wallet and letting people take my money at random intervals. From my previous experience at Disney, I knew it would be important to get used to this as soon as possible. Welcome to Mickey’s world.

Today’s word:

riparian \rih-PAIR-ee-uhn; ry-PAIR-ee-uhn\, adjective:
Of or pertaining to the bank of a river or stream.