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11:23 AM, Wednesday, December 24th, 2025:   So before I get into the last video and all that entails, I should probably explain why this is the last hurrah so to speak...   We obviously went a bunch when the kids were little and Jimmy worked there as we did NOT have the money to go that often. Then in '22 we went to see Rise and it was a crazy 17 hour day and we did it UP. Then of course Six-flags last year felt like a "step-up" so to speak. Thrill rides instead of theme rides is hard to return from with Cam absolutely loving the faster rides. Like his favorite rides at Disney are Guardians and Incredicoaster because they're the fastest. Even this last trip I had to keep reminding him of the history of these slower rides and that it's about an experience not a thrill, etc. They aren't really the little kids the once were...   ...in June however Costco was doing the craziest deal. It was 3 separate PARK-Hopper days - ZERO BLACKOUT DATES, Lightning lane on your ticket and $30 dining credit for $450. <blink> To give you an idea, for the day we went (12/19) if you had purchased that ticket? It would've been $350 for ONE ticket if you had all of those add-ons. That's if you could even make a reservation on the black-out dates. Absolutely crazy deal. So we went in the summer, went at Halloween, and of course here at Christmas kind of like a big last hurrah... until these kids have kids and then we'll most likely start the whole thing over again. That seems like some distant far-off time but that could be like 10 years. I just know that our family has kind of outgrown it and Talya and I just aren't Disney adults (not that there's anything wrong with that Paddy)... we just only enjoy seeing the kids be happy. And we were happy. It was an awesome trip. Let's get to the final part...     Radiator Springs racers was ok... but too fast and too dark. Winnie the Pooh however was PERFECT much like Little Mermaid. You can literally see the flats and almost feel the texture. Such an amazing thing to do in VR180. Haunted mansion was a little darker than I would've liked but it's still a cool thing to sit through. The sound is awesome. Smuggler's run worked surprisingly well unlike the FUCKING PILOT who couldn't HIT LIGHT SPEED or ANY OF THE BUTTONS to SAVE HIS LIFE. They were having technical difficulties so we couldn't have our own ship which sucked.   THRILLED we got Autopia before the changeover and do kind of wish it was during the day but it's cool at night. I don't even want to TALK about Star Tours (I swear I'm about to buy a single-day ticket next year JUST to do that right. SO EASY TO JUST PUT THE FUCKING GLASSES OVER THE CAMERA DAMNIT.   Ahem.   Storybook kinda sucked sadly but then we come to the shocker of all shockers:  Small World was just perfect. I mean I sat in that ride in VR and just looked around and saw all sorts of things I never saw before. You can ride it again and again and see new things - did you guys hear Santa say Cameron!?!?! That was cool. But yeah, in 8k - the clarity is just gorgeous and it's wild because no one likes Small World... but at least it was the holiday version so they sang different stuff.   And there you have it. For the first time I just uploaded a fuckton of the rides individually as Virtual Presence pieces with no affiliation to The Journey because I at least know they'll be found that way! Of course my family will probably stick with the journey ones since we're all in 'em.   So ends a chapter of life that I'm glad I got to capture, but I am certainly ready to move on from. It just isn't the same... I miss the littles. But we had a great time.   Alright it's Christmas Eve! 12 Talk with Cameron tomorrow!   Adam