Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

On the Friday of our honeymoon, The Gryphon and I got up early and took a trip to the Kennedy Space Center, which is about an hour and a half drive from the Disney resort where we were staying, Port Orleans - Riverside.

I wasn't feeling great, early in the day, because of the after effects of our night at the House of Blues, but fortunately, I felt better as the day went on.

We already had tickets, which we'd purchased ahead of time at a discount through AAA, so we headed for the ticket plaza.

The first thing you notice when you walk towards the main gate are rockets off to the left, in an area known as the Rocket Garden, which houses historic rockets. They were an impressive sight, and we'd look at them closer up later on.

After we'd gone through the ticket booth, we had to stop at security, where they check your bags. Of course, this was something we'd gone through frequently at the places we'd visited that week, but at the KSC they were more careful about it.

We started off looking at a map of the Visitor Complex, which was large, as demonstrated by the map below.

The Space Shuttle Launch Experience is at No. 19, the Rocket Garden at No. 3.
The Space Shop, where we bought souvenirs, is at No. 14. Bus loading is No. 16.

I believe we could have spent at least half the day there, viewing IMAX movies and checking out the interactive displays. However, The Gryphon, who had visited the KSC before, knew that to see the significant sites you had to take the bus tour. There's no additional charge for that: you just go to the Space Center Tours section and hop on a bus.

The bus takes you to three different places on the property — the LC-39 Observation Gantry, the Apollo/Saturn V Center and the International Space Station Center — and at each stop, you can stop and explore the exhibits and sights. When you're ready to go, you come back to where the bus dropped you, and you can either take a bus to the next tour stop or take one back to the Visitor Complex

An overview of the Kennedy Space Center.
For an interactive map, click here.

Before we loaded on the bus, a photographer took a picture of us in front of a back drop that looks like the Space Shuttle.

We thought we might be the first bus load of the morning, but I think there was at least one before us, because they were already at the first site when we arrived.

The bus drivers acted as tour guides, giving us information about what we were seeing as through the windows. So we learned, for example, that this impressive building is the Vehicle Assembly Building.

That's where they build and work on the Space Shuttles, and since the Space Shuttle program began, visitors are not allowed inside due to the highly explosive nature of the Space Shuttle fuel. The multistory doors on the side of the building were originally designed to accommodate the much taller Saturn V rockets, used in the Apollo missions.

We also saw the crawlway where the shuttles are transported to the launch pads, using heavy duty crawler transporters that literally travel at a snail's pace. They also can't turn around, so they are designed to move both forwards and backwards.

First, we stopped at the Launch Complex 29 Observation Gantry, from where you can view the space shuttle on its launch pad. I asked one of the KSC employees how far we were from the launch pad, and she said we were about a mile from it. You could never be that close during an actual launch, when the closest you can be is about three miles out, where the VIPs and the press observe the launch.

From this distance, we could view the shuttle, either through the naked eye or through some binoculars on stands. I took a picture through the binoculars for a closer view of the shuttle.

As you walked around the different levels of the observation platform, there were signs that told you what you were seeing in the distance. This gave you a real sense for how much was really there, only a small portion of which we were visiting.

Downstairs we walked through an exhibit area ab0ut the shuttle program and the mission planned for Mars. They were piping in music, which The Gryphon identified as coming from Star Trek. I thought that was great; what more positive model for our future in space?

Then we sat in a theater and watched an educational film. NASA is definitely keyed up for the next phase of the space program, and throughout the facility you saw signs of it, such as this display at the observation platform.

We stopped next at the Apollo/Saturn V Center, where we started with what's known as the Firing Room Theater, which recreates an Apollo launch.

The Firing Room Theater contains banks of computers, with IBM jackets conspiciously draped across the backs of the chairs (since IBM had created the computers used for the moon landing). These were actual computers used in mission control for the moon landing and other missions.

The show starts and the lights dim. You hear the recorded sound from mission control and watch lights flash on, indicating different portions of the rocket activated during the checklist. On the computer monitors, you see lights flashing, video of the launch pad on the screens, countdown clocks and other data, much like you would have during the launch. It was exhilarating watching the rocket launch.

You can't fathom how big they are until you stand next to them, and they simply dwarf you. Here's The Gryphon, underneath the boosters.

Each segment of the rocket was suspended independently, so that you could actually see the wires and connectors where each stage would connect. A scale model on the floor explained the different sections of the rocket and how they were used during the course of the mission.

When you get to the top of the rocket, you see the very small capsule inside which the astronauts flew. It's awe-inspiring to think of them hopping on top of a big explosive rocket and shooting off into space.

Also suspended from the ceiling were a lunar lander and large signs representing the badges from all the Apollo missions. The lunar lander was suspended just over the Moon Rock Cafe, an eatery. This gives you some idea of scale.

I took an interesting photo of The Gryphon and I, reflected in a photo booth shaped like a space capsule.

We also saw a lunar rover. Ooh, shiny!

By this point, it was nearing lunch time and we were hungry, so we sat at a table and ate the lunches we'd packed: sandwiches, apples and cans of V-8.

Then we moved into what's known as the Lunar Theater, where you watch a multimedia show about the first moon landing. The waiting room was cool, because they had benches and TVs that were playing news footage from coverage at the time of the moon landing. I never realized that CBS News used some realistic looking recreations to illustrate what would happen on the trip to the moon.

I learned something I'd never known, which was how close it came to being a disaster. Apparently, as they were nearing the chosen landing spot, pilot Neil Armstrong determined it was too craggy to be safe. With only three minutes of fuel on board, he ignored commands from Mission Control and shot across the lunar landscape, searching for, and finally finding, a safe place to land.

The last tour stop was the International Space Station Center. We determined from looking at the materials in the walk-through exhibit that it was probably put together right as the ISS program was starting. You got to walk through segments that showed you inside the living quarters and storage areas of the ISS. I'm guessing they were made specifically for this exhibit, but they look very authentic.

Of course, the ISS gives people a lot more space to move around than either the Saturn V rockets or the space shuttle. But the total space of what's currently built is probably barely more than a small one-bedroom apartment, which is why they seldom have more than three people on board at a time.

Then we got to walk over a raised bridge to watch workers building new parts of the space station. We found out that we'd lucked out: this part of the tour only reopened a few months ago, having been closed since September 11 for security reasons.

You could take non-flash photography, so I got some interesting shots, which I believe are of the Harmony module that is currently winging its way aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery to its destination on the ISS.

While we were there, a KSC employee was pointing to a diagram, explaining to a visitor the changes to the ISS program since it was developed. For example, Congress denied funds for a U.S. escape vehicle, so our astronauts are dependent on the Russian escape vehicle. Also, the Russians were supposed to provide a solar array but were unable to come up with the funding, so the other partners managed to figure out ways to do without it. It will be interesting to see, when it's completed, how closely it matches this original concept model.

At each of these sites we took our time exploring and reading signs, so that by the time we returned to the Visitor Complex, we only had a short time before closing. When we got off the bus, they had a rack displaying the photos that had been taken of us at the beginning of the day. The packages included a 5 x 7" photo, four wallets and two refrigerator magnet frames. I liked the package, so I bought it.

We stopped then in MILA's Restaurant, to grab a cup of coffee. Then we stopped in the gift store. I wanted to find something for my Dad, who we thought would appreciate a KSC souvenir. We also wanted to shop for ourselves.

After some browsing, we found a NASA calendar and a paperweight for Dad. I got myself a black fitted T-shirt with the NASA logo in sequins. The Gryphon got himself a NASA pin. We also bought some freeze-dried ice cream, which The Gryphon had never before tried.

Since we still had time to spare, we headed for the Shuttle Launch Experience, which we'd heard about. This is where you can experience the sights, sounds and feelings of a vertical launch in the space shuttle.

I wasn't sure what to expect, especially since they have lockers for you to put your loose items. When we got to the front of the line and were waiting to load up, a KSC employee reassured everyone, telling them that it wouldn't be terribly intense and we should just enjoy ourselves.

The simulation was less intense than Mission: SPACE at Epcot, but you did get to experience some G's, a feeling of weightlessness, and also view the Earth from space. Over the course of the ride, I realized why the lockers were necessary: nothing would have stayed put on the floor.

While we were there, we also walked inside a scale version of the Space Shuttle.

This shot gives you a sense of scale. I took it from the platform that allows you to enter the vehicle.

Up close you could see just how many tiles cover the space shuttle, each of them marked with an identifying code.

Finally, before we left, we visited the Rocket Garden, where we strolled through some historic rockets. Many of them were a good deal smaller than the Saturn V, but they were still quite big.

By then, it was near closing time, so we left the Visitor Complex, then sat in the car and ate the freeze-dried ice cream. The Gryphon was amazed by how creamy it was. I hadn't had it since I was in about junior high, and it was better than I'd remembered.

When we returned to our room to take a nap and change for dinner, we found a fun surprise. Some of the wash cloths had been turned into ducks, while others decorated the sinks, looking like turkeys.

We found two more wash-cloth ducks on top of the wardrobe.

This wasn't the first time we found a surprise waiting for us in our room. A day or two earlier, we'd found a laminated, signed keepsake on our table. It was a drawing of Mickey and Minnie Mouse dancing on the clouds, with Cinderella's Castle in the background. It said "Happy Honeymoon", with our names on it, and was signed by Mickey and Minnie.

That evening, we returned to Downtown Disney to try a different restaurant, this time Bongos, which was designed by Gloria and Emilio Estefan.

The restaurant promised Cuban food and atmosphere, so we were interested. Sadly, while the atmosphere was, indeed, colorful and fun, the food disappointed. It was simply bland and tasted like a microwaved frozen meal. The menu didn't even state clearly what sorts of fish were served in various dishes but simply said, "Fish". I might have asked the waiter, except that the band was so loud I could barely hear myself.

The waiter was a bit standoffish and even corrected me once when I said that a dish was hot. He said it was "caliente", which I gathered was Spanish for "hot". Thanks. Could I have some "agua"?

It was, however, fun to watch the dancers spinning on the floor below us. I got some very impressionistic non-flash pictures.

I was interested in checking out the clubs in the Pleasure Island section of Downtown Disney, but The Gryphon definitely wasn't feeling up to it. He was still having problems with complications from his swimmer's ear, and he had a pained expression on his face when I asked if he wanted to stay out a bit later. He did promise me, though, that we'd come back the next night.

As luck would have it, we walked into the River Roost lounge area at our resort, Port Orleans - Riverside, in time to catch the tail end of a performance by energetic pianist Bob Jackson.

He was interspersing some impressive piano playing with audience favorites like classic rock songs and TV show themes, where he encouraged us to sing along. Clearly, he'd built a rapport with the audience, who shouted call-outs he'd taught them as he played.

When he realized that we were new to the room, he asked us where we were from, and I called "Philadelphia."

"Anyone else here from Philadelphia?" he asked. The whole crowd cheered. It must have been something he'd taught them early on. For the rest of the performance, he referred to us as "Philadelphia", encouraging us to sing along and, at the end, to join a line of people who were dancing to "When the Saints Come Marching In".

We enjoyed a glass of wine and laughed along, and when I saw The Gryphon smile, I was glad we'd skipped the clubs at Pleasure Island.

Afterwards, we went up to tell him how much we'd enjoyed it, and he gave us an autographed picture. He told us that if we stopped by the next night, he'd give us a call out: "Here are my friends from Philadelphia". But I told him I wasn't sure what we were doing.

One way or the other, whether it was Pleasure Island or the River Roost, we would definitely have some fun on the last night of our honeymoon.

More Musings on Alyce's honeymoon:

Honeymoon Index

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

October 2007 Index

Musings Index

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