Stalzer/Obele Family Blog

Finally, I got the video rotated (I filmed the launch holding the camera vertical). Got the FLV created and have everything embedded in Flash Control. I could not convince MS Live Writer or Wordpress to include the video, so here is a link to  webpage containing the video.

Have a look - However having seen the launch in reality is much more impressive…

As mentioned in the last post, we got up at 5:45 this morning. After checking the KSC (Kennedy Space Center) Website, we prepared a breakfast to go, got some coffee into gigantic cups, woke up the boys and off we went to the east … Direction Cape Caneveral. From a technical point of view, the space shuttle was all go, however, the weather was at 70 percent chance of a no-go.

Our tickets had mismatching information - Our parking ticket said, we had to be there at 8am in the morning, the entry ticket said, we could get into KSC beginning at 8am. So, to be on the safe side, we calculated to be there at 8am. It is about a 70 miles and we didn’t know about morning traffic, so finally at 6:45 we were on our way.

Traffic was actual very low and we were at KSC at about 8:05am. No problem getting into the Visitor Center. After having our bags checked, we were thinking about what to do. I went to the information counter in order to get some programs and some information on where we may watch the liftoff (if it would be today…), what we may do, etc. At the counter, I had a really, well, funny, experience. It was better than slap-stick. A man, with a slight mexican(?) accent was trying to get to know, what his tickets all included. It went like this. Him: "We have tickets for the l(a)unch. Where do we have to be?" "Well, you got tickets for the launch. You can view it from the east side of the Visitor Center." "No, we have tickets for the lunch, where do we get the food" "Oh, you mean ‘lunch with an astronaut’ - let me see your ticket" "Here are our tickets" "Oh, it’s just for the launch" "I said to the lady at the phone - we want tickets for the launch with the lunch" "No you only have launch" "No rocket?" "Yes, only the rocket launch, but no lunch"… and so on. I had to watch out, that I wasn’t going to start laughing.

BTW, did I mention, that there were a lot of visitors at the KSC. Oh, yeah - and there were visitors. And third - there were really a lot of visitors at the KSC.

One of the recommendations I got from the information desk, was to take the tour to the Saturn V center, where some movies are shown and an exhibit is open to the public including a complete Saturn V rocket. The most important thing however, is the view to the launch pads of space shuttle. So, we went to the busstop and joined the queue. Did I mention, there were a lot of people waiting. Seems like a lot of people had the idea of going on the tour (the last tour was at 9:15am). We waited for about 45 minutes to board one of the busses.

In the mean time, when we talked to the personnel, they were not too positive about the launch in the afternoon. There was a cold front moving in and it should hit right about launch time. The launch time could not be changed as the shuttle had to go directly to the ISS and the launch window was about 10 minutes wide.

We went to the Saturn V exhibit and - most importantly - made some pictures of the shuttle launch pads. After 45 minutes, it was announced, that the Saturn V exhibit was about to be closed in preparation for the shuttle launch. After another short 30 minute wait to board a bus back to the visitor center (Did I mention, there were a lot of people)

We still were 3 hours before launch. The chances for a launch have increased from 30% to 40%. On the way back to the visitor center, we passed the bus carrying the astronauts to the shuttle. The boys spotted an alligator in the pond next to the road. That was definitely more interesting than the bus with the astronauts.

Back in the visitor center, we wanted to have a look at the attractions. Did I mention, there were a lot of people? The waiting line for shuttle experience was 2 hours. The waiting line for the IMax movies was more than 2 hours. We ended up, just walking around and spend time in the center.

The boys got hungry, so we were looking into the restaurants. However, queues without end… and did I mention: There were a lot of people. So we found a small barbecue and joined the line for some hamburgers. The "cooks" or "hamburger preparers" weren’t really the fastest and the queue was quite long. So it took us about 45 minutes to get something to eat. A second shock were the prices - 4 cheeseburger and two bottled waters = 36US$ — Wow. As A dessert, I got the boys two icecreams - another 9US$.

We found a nice spot to watch the launch later on and we enjoyed our cheeseburgers. In front of us, was a small wall and a little lake behind it. The boys spotted two alligators swimming in the water behind it. This was really amazing - normally everything in the themeparks is more than safe and here, alligators are not even separated from the visitors.

A little bit to the left, where we were sitting, a video display showed the launch pad.

So, 2:45 was approaching, everyone got their camera ready. We were checking for the tenth time, that we had good view in the direction of the launch pads. And finally we saw it - Space Shuttle cleared the tree line and climbed up into the sky. Boy - that thing is fast. After a couple seconds, the noise of the take off finally reached us. After about one minute, Space shuttle was so high, you could no longer see it.

From the launch itself, I don’t have any pictures, as I was filming the launch with the camera. Once I figured out, on how to put a Video into the weblog, I will  make it available. So for now - only some smoke (mostly water) clouds from the launch.

So, Space Shuttle made it and we saw it live. (We don’t have to come back tomorrow ;-))

After the launch, we decided to drive back to Orlando. Getting out of KSC wasn’t a problem at all, however half way through Merritt Island, the traffic jam started (basically it was a traffic light just before getting on the highway, 15 miles away…). It took us approx. 3 1/2 hours to get back to Orlando.

On the way back, we stopped at the Lego store and I got the "Mindstorm Robots" - but that is a another story.

We have two friends living in Zurich. They are brothers. One of them is divorced. They are chaotic experienced organized. They resemble a little bit "the odd couple" from the TV-Show from the 60’s. They even got a weblog "Männerwirtschaft".

Going through the Virigin Records DVD/CD/Music/Book store at Disney Marketplace, we found a whole set of DVD’s and DVD packs. The next days we are going to watch the movies and then we are going to send them of to Zurich. Have fun guys!

no - this topic is not about V8-cylinder cars, etc (Sorry, Wolfgang).

It’s about…. the V8 vegetable juice. I totally forgot to buy some in the last days and yesterday evening, Helga reminded me: "Don’t you like the V8 anymore??" So, today, I had my first glass of "hot-and-spicey"V8 with ice and pepper - Great

I wonder, why Helga doesn’t want kiss me anymore…

While the guys are playing air hockey I am going to write down some of the adventures we experienced on Maxis birthday.
As usual Felix was the first one who got up. He was very quiet and did some reading homework by himself because Maxi had asked Felix the night before that he would wish as a birthday present that Felix will not wake him up in the morning. Thank you Felix.
Well it would not have been necessary as Maxi got up shortly after Felix. He was all excited because Thomas had promised him that they would build his Lego race car together.

So the three guys had a great time building race cars, taking about fast driving, (women?), and how to make the world a better place…
I enjoyed some quiet time. When I heard that they were finishing their construction I took some pictures.
It is quite impressive what they achieved as the Lego model is quite complex. Max proudly demonstrated how the race car is driving through a loop that is moving and looks like it is on fire.
The next wish Max had was to go into the pool. Everyone liked this. The pool was really nicely warm (this pool cover does work) and we had lots of fun. While we played in the pool, Thomas started the cinnamon rolls and fresh croissants.
Soon the cinnamon and the fresh croissants smelled really great and everyone realized that they were really hungry.

We sang Happy Birthday which hopefully nobody heard and enjoyed a wonderful birthday breakfast. Max could decided to which Disney Park he would want to go and the decided for Magic Kingdom (Felix tried to convince Max that this was a bad idea, but if Max made a decision we cannot normally be persuaded to change it).

So we finally got on the way to experience a great day at Magic Kingdom. The picture on the right is for "thank God we have two boys - there was a very cranky little princess next to us).

At the ticket booth Max got a "Birthday Pin" which he proudly wore and Felix was appointed "Honorary Citizen" of Disney (have a look at http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/parkLanding?id=MKLandingPage
Then came Thomas favorite - the monorail ride.

We had a really great time. First, we started climb into Robinson’s Treehouse,

then we tried Aladin’s Flying Carpet

Then we went on to the Enchanted Tiki Room. First Felix was not so sure whether he should like it or not (Felix does not like really loud noises), but he soon realized that this was a nice show.

After that we went to Tom Sawyer and Huckelberry Fins island on a raft.

There were lots of things to explore and discover on this island. Felix discovered that the spelling was all wrong and commented that Tom Sawyer would not get any stars from his teacher Ms. Carolyn (if you click on the pictures you can view them in normal size and might be able to read them)

Our next stop was at the Bears Jamboree Show.

Then, of course, we joined the Pirates of the Carribean (it was too dark - we could not make any pictures).
After that, the guys remembered that there was Goofys Barnstormer - a great roller coaster that the smaller ones will also enjoy. On our way over to Goofys Barnstormer we watched the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway and decided to try this later. After the roller coaster ride you could see the adrenalin pumping through the boys system. Felix could not wait to try out driving, so we got in line for the Indy Speedway. Felix and Thomas rode together and I had "Racing Mad Birthday Max" - what an experience.

The steering was strange and at first Max was quite busy trying to stay in the line.

When we got out there was a lot more adrenalin circling through the guys system.
With that much self-confidence we felt it was time to go to infinity and beyond and free the universe of the evil emperor Zorg - yes, we went zapping aliens for BuzzLightyear. Thomas and Max always get an amazing high score - I have no idea how they do it - Max is a lot better than Felix and I.
In the end we went for a last ride in Goofeys Barnstormer.
Back at home waited quite a surprise for us - a delicious birthday cake from Susan and Alan. Thank you so much - this was terrific (and very delicious).

Max wanted to start with the cake right away, but Thomas could convince him that maybe he should first enjoy the steak he wished for and then have the cake as dessert.

Everybody helped and soon we sat down to have Maxis Birthday Dinner - at that time we were quite hungry. Felix and Max made sure to not eat too much. They wanted to have some space left for the birthday cake.

We could hardly move after we were finished. Our feet hurt from walking all day in the park and now also our stomachs felt as if they would explode.
We quickly cleaned up and I started preparing to put things together for the next day - the Spaceshuttle Launch. We had to get up at 5:45 am and leave by car no later than 6:30 am. Our launch package explicitly defined that we must arrive no later than 8 am.
Max enjoyed being the center of attention - we all had a great day.