Frontdorr.com

It’s been over two months since my last post. A lot has happened, but not as quickly as I would like. And there has been some bad and good news during that time.

At this point, I’ve wrapped 4 of the 10 vertical light tubes and one out of 4 (started to be 6 but I’ve scaled back) leaping arches. The bad news is I’ve run out of clear mini-lights, so I’m on hold for any more tubes or arches until the lights are available from Hobby Lobby or Wal-Mart. That should be the later part of August. Also bad news is that I’ll have to pay the full retail price at that time. I may just push it and see how long I can hold out for the prices to go down. Read the rest of the article »

Plans for our 2009 Christmas Lights Display have been completed and I’ve moved into the execution phase. The mega tree will be replaced with a Z-tree this year. A Z-tree you ask? A fellow Christmas lights enthusiast, Mike Ziemkowski, built a new kind of mega tree several years ago, and it is named after him. Mike is extremely creative and you can see his work on his website at http://www.lightsondisplay.com/. Just click on the Display tab and select a year to view.

A Z-Tree is made out of 3/4″ PVC pipe. At this point the basic structure has been built and looks like this:

Next steps are to paint it hunter green to hide the white pipe, wrap it in garland, add the lights and were ready to go. I’ll add the 3D star on the top again and finish it off with 50 strobes. Read the rest of the article »

We have taken our first cruise on with Disney Cruise Line on the Disney Magic, February 7-14 to the Western Caribbean. There were nine of us. Mary and me, the parents/grandparents, our kids, Tracy and Brett, the kids, their spouses, and the three grandkids, ages 10, 8 and 5. Here is a quick review:

Airport Pickup
Our travel agent recommended using a private van vs. riding on the Disney bus for the nine of us to transfer from the Orlando airport to the ship and back. She made the arrangements with Lake County Shuttle, Inc.. When we got all of our luggage together, called Raphael, since drivers can’t hang out curb side, and he told us to walk across the street to the Dollar rental area. He was there when we arrive, packed up in our own 15-passenger van, and we were off.

Embarkation
Arrived about 2pm at the Disney Cruise Terminal in Port Canaveral, FL. Gave our luggage to be delivered on-board to porters and tipped them. Walked into the terminal about 100 yards from street and went through an airport type security. Took escalator up to check-in area and was immediately helped. They had about 12 open “windows” for check-in. Grandkids went to separate area for Kid’s Club sign-in (Tracy had pre-registered them) where they received wrist bands and parents received pagers. Once check-in, went to another area for room card and to have picture taken.

Read the rest of the article »

Our last show of the season was New Year’s Eve. Overall we were very pleased with the show and the reception by all who stopped by to see it. It was a very challenging season with a bunch of lights dying that needed to be replaced to keep things going, and a couple of nights when the rain knocked out circuits. I think there is a solution to both problems that will be incorporated into this year’s show. Read the rest of the article »

We’ve reset all of the circuits, run a test, and all of the lights are back on for tonight, and hopefully until New Year’s Eve.

Again, we’re sorry for any incovenience if you drove by last night and found a dark front yard. We’ve got to find out a way to minimize this problem, but not sure what the solution is at this point.

MERRY CHRISTMAS