Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY

4:17 AM |

We had been thinking of visiting the Corning Museum of Glass, ever since I realised it was just 2 hrs drive from our place. We were just waiting for the weather to get a bit warm. So we thought the Memorial Day (May 28-30, 2011) weekend was just perfect. It would be a day-trip, and still would get 2 days to do our usual chores around the house.

We set off by 8.45 in the morning. We got there by 11 AM, took the tickets to enter the museum and also for the Sand-blasting. We had reserved the spots or the sand-blasting the previous day(and had the receipt for the payment made), but had to redeem those for the actual tickets. We rushed to do the sand-blasting as we had the booking for 11.20 AM. 

There were many other stuff you can make and do with glass. But the Sand-blasting was the only one for which you get your masterpiece the same day. They had all the art studios in one section of the museum. The sand-blasting was a fun activity for the kids. After all of us were asked to wear special glasses, we sat down to work on our masterpieces. We were asked to apply stickers on the glass/ bowl of their choice in whatever order or pattern we liked. They had all the choice you can ask for, in stickers, and also tapes. My elder son decorated his glass (with some help from me) and I decided to decorate my younger son's glass (as he was too young to do that).

My elder son,busy decorating his glass.
His glass, after he decorated it.



After the sand-blast

My younger son's glass

 After we were done decorating the glasses with the stickers and tape, the helper at the desk took the glass to the sand blaster which would do the task. I held the hose through which the sand would come out with such immense force and speed. The glass was held by the helper and in no time, all the areas except for the spaces which had stickers were all frosted. They treated the glass with some chemicals and washed it and handed it over to us in 2 minutes. I helped with my elder son's glass and my husband with my younger son's.

After the sand blasting, I perused all the lovely creations in display cases. Some of my favourites are below.

A pond with Swans

A burger, and fries on the side

The Globe

A berry-plate

We then spent some time in the Frederick Carder Gallery:

A toiletries kit

Candle-stand set

The entire case

Jade Utensils

Elephants: in different semi-precious stones



Some pictures from the special Exhibit: East meets west

A crystal Pagoda

Fine China

Chinese style Cameo Vase(from 1890)
We had lunch at the restaurant inside the museum. Food was fairly priced and tasted good. From the Mac n' cheese for kids to the fancy ratatouille, they had a wide range of food items too.

Saw one Flame-working Demo. It was really interesting, how the different techniques create various patterns and shapes on the final product. It is truly amazing!!! We had watched a similar show at a glass factory long back. After you visit such places, your entire perspective about the various glass pieces you come across in your daily life really changes. You will see how much pain and effort have gone into each one. The kids were getting bored, and so we decided to skip the rest of the shows.

The Glass Innovation Center had lots of hands-on things.

A structure made of ceramic bowls

The entire thing

My younger son through a looking glass


My elder son 


Inside the museum


Their store,from the top level

The store had lots of lovely things.  I was really confused as every piece was beautiful. From the cookware to the glass roses, glass beads to glass jewelry, they have everything.

I finally ended up buying all of these.

Giraffe Earrings

A blue pelican with a fish


A crab



These were a few of the exhibits near the front entrance, as we were getting ready to leave.
A fruit-platter


A glass cat

Overall, it was a good trip. There was not much for really small kids. But for older kids.... there are some interesting things to see. Definitely worth a trip.










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Posted by Priya Menon

Animal kingdom

5:57 AM |

We left Animal kingdom to the last day were in Orlando. Of the parks we wanted to visit, Animal kingdom was the one that was supposed to take the least time. This is also the only park without a grand closing act, which meant we could leave early enough to catch our flight back to Buffalo.

We did get to the park really early (before the gates opened) and went straight to the Kilimanjaro safari. This is supposed to be the signature ride in the park that simulates a safari in the jungles of Africa. Honestly, for people that have been on a real safari (both my Husband and I have been on one) it was not that exciting. Seemed more like a guided trip through an animal park. There were a lot of animals to be fair, some more interesting than others, but it really never had the feeling of the wild. We did see a sight that we had never seen before, an Ostrich pooping. It may seem infantile to remark on our witnessing an ostrich maturating, but if you have ever seen one....... you would know it is worth remarking about. Lets just say, I am glad ostriches don't fly.




Kudu, one of me brother's favourite delicacies when he was in  Africa.

African elephant

Flamingoes


Rhinos

Wild beast
The Ostriches, close to our bus


Gorilla

We next went to the Pangani forest exploration trail. It was an interesting walk that ended with seeing a few Gorillas. Next we went to the Flights of wonder show. This is a show with birds doing stuff. This day though, the singing parrot had a few false starts but overall it was an interesting show.

Off to lunch at the Yak and Yeti restaurant. This was perhaps the first really sit down restaurant that we visiting in the 3 parks that we visited. The meals plan would have been a good deal if we went to similar restaurants every meal. Given that we went to so many quick service restaurants, I am not sure that the meal plan had made sense for us.

Next we did the Maharaja trail. We went though made up ruins and saw some bats and a few relaxing tigers.







The largest Pigeon in the world, hiding from the camera.


Me & my son, with the 'Tree of Life' in the back

While we were leaving the Maharaja trail, we came across an interesting site, A "Lady of the Jungle". There was this lady all covered in plants to the point that she was blending into the forest, on stilts

My husband and son sent to see the Finding Nemo show while our younger one took a nap on the stroller. Apparently, the show was excellent, very true to the movie and some very interesting sets and songs. Apparently, he liked it more than the more heralded The Festival of the Lion King show.

We were on our way to the Lion King show when we got an opportunity to get Tigger, Winnie and Eeyores autographs without much delay. It was a good break as our kids for the first time were not afraid of the larger than life characters.


We then rushed off to The Festival of the Lion king show. It was an interesting show. Lot of energy. While it did have interesting bits for the kids, it was overall a show for adults.

Walking out of the show, we got the autograph from Donald Duck. This was also the first time that the kids took a picture with the character with neither of us being in the picture. 

We then found a nice place to see the parade and then headed out of the park after the parade.


We skipped a few of the rides that the kids couldn't do but saw most of the park.

A couple of suggestions.
Compared to the other parks that we have been on this trip, the Animal kingdom had a lot more trees and shade. Perhaps it would be a good idea to visit this park on the hottest day of the trip.
Really young kids are always fascinated with animals, but you could get the same fascination from the local zoo.

If you're there on a really hot day and want to cool off a bit, the Kali River Rapids would be the best ride(we couldn't do it as we were headed to the airport from the park, and we did not want to get wet and also because of the height restriction).
If you are a thrill-seaker, the Expedition Everest is a must-do ( again ,we couldn't do it because of the height restrictions for kids).

If I were to go back, I would like to do:

1. Finding Nemo, the show
2. Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade

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Posted by Priya Menon

Epcot

5:30 AM |

We had planned on going to Epcot the second day we were in Orlando. Instead of rushing to the park the first thing in the morning, we decided to relax a bit and let the kids enjoy the pools( big pool and a wading pool).
Mickey Mouse watching over the main pool at the All Star Movie resort

The Main Pool


Kids having fun in the wading pool

We also wanted to use the opportunity to see the different larger than life characters peppered around the grounds of the hotel. As we were staying in the Toy story wing, Woody and Buzz Lightyear were the stars in our vicinity.

To Infinity and Beyond........

The kids seem like lilliputions among the characters

Woody is sitting down and still nearly 3 stories tall.

The brothers are off to the races

These large buckets hid a spiral staircase inside them

The towel art that greeted us to the room reminded us of a cruise.
We finally reached Epcot around 11:00 on a nice sunny and warm day. We were welcomed by perhaps the most recognizable symbol of Epcot, the Geodesic dome. It is impressive to see it in person. And to think that it is made of many many small triangles.


Going though the gates, we went straight to get the fast pass for Soaring. That was the only ride that we wanted to do even though the kids couldn't do it. Ours was for 4:20. As you can imagine, this is indeed a popular ride. The general wait time for the ride was around 90 minutes. The fast passes for the day had run out by 11:45. I would really suggest that you  try and ride Soaring the first thing in the morning, or at least get the Fastpass early. 

With the fastpass in hand,we headed to the Nemo ride. The line didn't seem that long, but as we entered the building, we realized that the line was much longer. It did move quickly though and there was enough things on the way to keep things interesting. The ride itself was OK, with some interesting scenes. 



We got 'stuck' in between the jelly fish, in the ride





Getting out of the Nemo ride, we headed off the Turtle Talk with Crush show. This was really interesting in how the technology allows the animation to interact seamlessly with the audience. We would definitely recommend this show.

After the show, we headed off to lunch at the Seasons restaurant in the Land building. The restaurant was laid out in the style of a food court and had a good choice of food. They had an amazing array of desserts as well, like Key lime pie.


The Living with the land boat ride was right next to the restaurant and there was hardly anybody in line. We decided to hoop on it. It was an interesting ride that felt like a trip to a farm. Some of the trees and fruits reminded us of home ( A large Jackfruit for instane)




We then went on the circle of life with Simba, Pumba & Timone show. It was a movie on how inter-related every thing is. The message was nothing new, but it was funny coming from a lion. The kids loved seeing their favorite characters



We then headed outdoors to find a place to spread out a blanket and sleep. We wanted to get some rest in the afternoon but didn't want to go to our hotel.

The Flower & Garden show was still on when we traveled and there were a whole lot of Disney characters topiaries around the park.














Bambi's butterfly house




After about an hour of rest we went back to The land pavilion to ride Soaring. We had to take turns on the ride as the kids were too small to ride. Even with a fastpass, there was more than a 30 minute wait to get to 5 minute ride. But what a 5 minute it is. It is perhaps the best simulation ride I have been on bar non.

We then took the ferry to the Moroccan pavilion. We had dinner at the Tangierine cafe- Falafel Wrap, Couscous salad, Chicken Gyro, Greek Salad, Baklava.



We were planning to take the ferry back and spend some time in the exposition, but it started to rain cats and dogs and we were stuck on the other side of the park. We decided to hike it back and go through the different pavilions.


Japanese Pavilion

A 38- yr old Bonsai tree



China



Mexico

As we got back to the main park,we found a great spot to watch the Illuminations: Reflections of the Earth - Laser show and Fireworks. The show was a great combination of lasers, fountains and fireworks.

After the show, we left the park and headed to our hotel. 



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