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Kimberly Lund -- December 2000 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite)December 1-9, 2000 Cast of Characters:
Pre-trip report: This has been quite a year for us! 2 weeks into the year, we were blessed with the birth of our third child who is adored by all. Then in late spring, I was offered a promotion at work. In July, I turned 30. And in August we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. This is Mykiah's last year at preschool (she has been going since she was 15 months old and loves it). And Brady has learned to read! We feel a celebration coming on!! Actually, Dan felt like it was time to start planning a trip to the World last February. We originally looked at February 2001. Because Mykiah starts kindergarten next year, we wanted to go before the 2001 school year started. Then I argued that if we were going to go this school year, we should go before the Millennium celebration ended. So we looked at December. We wanted to go the second full week, but Dan has a super sales week that week, so we moved it up one week. Boy that seems like a long time ago... Because we live in a city which seems to have expensive airfare, we have decided to go with a Delta Vacations package. Our air alone was going to run $350 a person; with the Delta package it works out to about $200 a person. We could have driven a couple of hours and gotten the $200 price from a larger airport, but driving 20 minutes across town made it worth getting the package deal. Our flight leaves at 5:25 am so we're looking at a pretty early morning. Still debating about hiring a limo/shuttle to take us to the airport, and really hoping that the early morning plus the dramamine I'll give the older kids will encourage naps on the plane! Although we originally made ressies at ASMo, we switched to the Holiday Inn Family Suites for several reasons. First, Dan really wanted to visit Sea World again. This is one of Dan's favorite parks and Brady just loves animals so we knew we would enjoy it, but we weren't going to rent a car if we were staying on-property. Then I started wondering whether an ASMo room could hold the 5 of us (at that time Grandpa wasn't going) and all our gear -- 2 strollers, crib, etc. So I looked into off-site hotels and fell in love with HIFS -- free buffet breakfast, wonderful pool and more room to spread out. Plus we could rent a car and go to Sea World for about the same price as staying at ASMo. So we switched and are really happy with our decision. All along we've been kicking around inviting my parents to go with us on the trip. We have done really well saving for the trip (think garage sales, online auctions, rewards programs) so I did some figuring and decided we could invite my dad to come along for a birthday gift. (My mom has already been to Orlando once this year and -- horror of horrors -- didn't even set foot on Disney property. She hit the flea markets!) The kids made him a certificate of award for his gift and Grandpa was flabbergasted at how much we're giving him! I think he thought we were just going for a weekend and he was truly grateful for being included. This works well for us, too, because we'll have extra help for the kids. And he'll get to have 9 days with his grandkids, who he absolutely adores. Here is my itinerary, including some reasons why I've ordered it the way I have:
A couple of thoughts/explanations about my family: Brady can become very frightened and what scares him doesn't always make sense. For example, 2 years ago at Disneyland he was scared to death of Peter Pan but loved Splash Mountain. Actually, the kids didn't enjoy any of the "indoor" rides at Disneyland but they have become really brave lately and having Grandpa along will help. If Brady or Mykiah gets scared, the adults can just take turns waiting with them and no one will have to feel they are missing out on anything. Although there are at least 2 MVMCP scheduled while we are at WDW, we have chosen not to go. Our kids are the early to bed, early to rise type and I really think they would be too tired to enjoy the party. We'll be at each park at opening, though, because the kids will get us up at 6 on the dot! And a final word: Dan, Brady and I went to WDW 5 years ago in May. We were poorer than poor at the time, but Dan was in a wedding near West Palm Beach and I could bear to think of driving to Florida without stopping at WDW. Dan had worked for the Disney Catalog call center the Christmas before and his gift was 2 free 1 day tickets to any Disney park, so we had one day taken care of. We were able to get discounted tickets for Sea World (did I mention this is Dan's favorite park?) and scraped up enough to pay for tickets to Epcot. We stayed at Days Inn Orlando Lakeside for $25 a night and ate McDonalds and Pizza Hut. Obviously, it was a budget trip. I remember back then looking at the guide books and thinking how fun the restaurants seemed, especially Prime Time and Garden Grill. And I knew that I would never have enough extra money to spend 2 weeks' food budget on one meal. Needless to say, times have changed for the Lund family! :) I've almost completed my master's degree, am working in the field (and have even gotten a promotion); Dan's doing a great job in sales; and I have become the queen of rewards programs and eBay! We've really saved for this trip and it truly is the trip of a lifetime for us. We're very blessed to be able to take Grandpa along because it will take some of the pressure off everyone. And it will be so fun to experience the world through different generations! Day One 2:45 am. Dan and I actually wake up before the alarm goes off and he jumps into the shower while I finish some last minute packing and make sure my dad is up. Dad came down the evening before and spent the night with us; this was a great help as the kids were quite excitable and it was hard to get them settled into bed. I had all the kids sleep in their travel clothes: sweats and a tee for Brady, leggings and a tee for Mykiah and a bodysuit for Chesney. When they woke up, I slipped sweatshirts over the big kids and a dress over Chesney, put their shoes on and we were ready to go. It took a good 10 minutes to get all our gear in the van but soon we were on our way to the airport while singing along to "Celebrate the Future" which I had slipped in the casette player the night before. We don't get far before Dan thinks we forgot the tickets (of course we didn't) but we pulled over and checked anyway, just to be sure. We arrived at the airport before the ticket counters even opened, but had only a short wait and were able to check our baggage through. We had 2 30" suitcases and a rolling duffel bag. We also took 2 strollers; we checked the nicer LiteRider and gate checked an older umbrella-type stroller (and were glad we did). We had purchased a ticket for Chesney so we also had her car seat, a diaper bag and my trusty backpack. I would grow to hate that thing. After checking in, we wandered down to the gate which was of course the fartherest from the entrance as possible. I had been checking Delta's website daily for a week or so to get a feel for how often our flight was on time because we had a very tight (40 min) connection in Dallas. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 5:25 and when it got to be 5 am and the pilot started talking on a cordless phone to maintanence I knew something was going to go wrong. I immediately went to the gate agent and explained our situation and she went ahead and confirmed us on the next flight out of Dallas. Meanwhile, it was announced that a mechanic had done some work and forgotten to sign off on it so we had to wait for another mechanic to double check before we could board. We finally boarded at 6 am, knowing that it was at least a 1 hr, 15 min flight and our next flight was scheduled to take off at 7:30 am from Dallas. Just a word about flying with kids: I gave the older children Dramamine because Brady gets motion sickness fairly easily and it wouldn't hurt Mykiah either. I didn't do anything for Chesney because I thought she would sleep. All three children had ear planes, which are ear plugs specially made to help with the air pressure during flights. The children did really well on the planes, although this first short flight was awful for me. It was a 30 seat turboprop plane and my own motion sickness was awful and I wound up chewing a couple of the kids' dramamine which was too little too late. Our excuse for a plane finally landed at 7:30 am and I started a mad dash for our departing gate. Since I knew that we may have to run, I had prepared mentally and had also check the DFW airport website and knew exactly where I was going. I grabbed a cart, threw the carryon stuff on it and took off. Made it to the gate at 7:35 only to be told our flight had just left. Did I mention we now were looking at a 6 hour layover in Dallas with 3 kids (and 3 adults) who just wanted to get to Florida? We locked most of our carryons in a locker and found a quiet place to spread out as it looked like we were going to be staying awhile. I'll just skip over the layover here as it was boring and everyone was more than a little grumpy by the time we boarded our plane to Orlando. We did have one magical moment, however. Mykiah had just had enough of sitting around and doing nothing and had a complete meltdown in the seating area, throwing herself around and screaming. Nothing I could do would bring her out of it so I finally just ignored her (the business travellers loved it, I'm sure). A Delta gate agent came up and offered to take Mykiah and Brady down to the cockpit of the plane and show them around. I'm usually hesitant to allow a reward for bad behavior, but in this situation I just wanted to distract the kids, so off they went to see a real plane (it wasn't even ours; it was headed for Albequerque). When they came back, the gate agent gave them Delta wings, which were promptly pinned on their shirts. So back to our story... We arrived in Orlando about 5 pm, the same time that we were supposed to be dining at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. But no worries, we're here! We followed the masses to baggage claim and watched as the luggage went around and around. Finally after 10 minutes, I asked a Delta employee if all the luggage was off the plane. It was. And ours obviously was not on our plane (although I had been assured that it would be). So I lead the march over to the claims office. Now I know you are supposed to carryon a change of clothes for everyone but our carryons were full with baby and kid supplies so I hadn't done this. My plans for the evening are changed once again as I envision going to Wal-mart and buying everyone new clothes. As we approach the office, I notice a familiar stroller. Our luggage is here!! Lined up outside the office is our luggage, which apparently made the first flight to Orlando, even though we didn't. You may be wondering how this could happen, and so am I, but at the time I was just thankful it was here. We did a happy dance all the way to the ground floor and Avis, where we were able to obtain our minivan (we chose a Montana) with a minimum of fuss. We loaded the van, jumped in and were off to Holiday Inn Family Suites in Lake Buena Vista. Of course, by this point Chesney has had enough of being stuck in a car seat so she cries all the way there but at least we were on our way! It is very easy to get to HIFS following the instructions provided on the website (about a 20 minute drive). We checked in without any hassle and were given room 522, which was in Chesapeake Building, the 2nd floor, facing the adult pool. It was a great location in the building right next to the lobby and we could take the stairs if we didn't want to wait for an elevator. I never heard any noise from the pool although Dan said he did. We had a classic suite which had a small living room with a loveseat (which pulled out to a sofa bed; this is where Brady and Mykiah slept), tv, vcr, safe, end table and a regular table with two chairs. One wall had a microwave, refrigerator, sink and cupboards. The refrigerator was actually a little bit bigger than a dorm size fridge; we put in 24 cans of pop and still had room. We dumped our luggage and grabbed the swimsuits. It was in the upper 70s and a swim sounded like heaven. The kids loved it and it refreshed the adults enough that we could function. When we returned to the room, the kids had a little surprise waiting. Mickey and Minnie had visited and left letters with a stuffed Mickey or Minnie and Guest of Honor badges engraved with each child's name. Brady and Mykiah were thrilled with their gifts and wore their badges everyday! We went to the food court to eat. I think that night we all just had personal pan pizzas from the Pizza Hut Express, but we did eat there one other time also. It was standard fast food fair and even with the kids eating free from 11am-5pm it was still expensive ($14 for 2 adult bacon cheeseburger combos). We went to bed early and as I drifted off to sleep I remembered old reports about trouble with the fire alarms when HIFS first opened. My last thought was that with everything else that had gone wrong on our first day, at least the fire alarms were fixed.... Day Two Ever been awakened by the sound of multiple fire alarms going off? As if to cap off a horrid day of travel troubles, the fire alarm in both the rooms and the building went off at 3:30 am on the morning of our first full day at Disney. Dan at first thought the alarm was going off and I tried to pull the battery out of the smoke alarm before we realized it was going off all over the building. This continued for at least 20 minutes in our room and even when that one was silenced the building alarm went off for another 10 minutes. It was awful. And of course I was wide awake by then (Dan and the kids can sleep through anything) so I started thinking about all the things I had wanted to do the day before that I hadn't done and how totally unprepared I was for going to the parks. I finally managed to drop off to sleep only to be awakened at 5:45 by the alarm. Stumbling into the bathroom, I try to figure out the unfamiliar shower controls. No matter how I do turn the handle, I'm not getting any hot water. Finally I realize that the room just doesn't have any hot water. So I stumble out to the phone and call the front desk who promises to send someone up. I wait half asleep in a chair, getting more anxious by the minute because *I'm on a schedule here!* and eventually decide just to go for lukewarm (giving thanks for having cut my hair short a month ago... less hair to wash). I wake Dan and tell him about the hot water problem and he decides the swim yesterday was good enough so we go ahead and get dressed and get the kids and grandpa up. Before we head for breakfast I call the front desk again and they apologize and promise again to send someone up. HIFS offers a free full breakfast buffet to all guests. There are two main stations: the Club Car dining room and in the main area of the lobby. Each station has two lines. The Club Car opens at 6:30 am and the main area opens at 7:00 am. We were always at breakfast before 7 so we always ate in the Club Car (the Club Car is the only place where you can get pop and Dan and I are addicted to caffeine so it was also our only choice). Breakfast varied but they always had sausage or bacon, fried potatoes or tater tots, pancakes or french toast, and scrambled eggs. Some mornings they also had biscuits and gravy or corned beef hash. There was also a section with yogurt, applesauce, orange wedges, jello (go figure!), and melon; bread for toasting and Fruit Loops and other cereals were available also. The beverage station had orange and apple juice; skim, whole and chocolate milk; and coffee. All the plates, cups, utensils were styrofoam or plastic; to go containers were also available. The food wasn't excellent or even very good but it was edible and free. My kids loved the pancakes and applesauce and the adults always had enough to feel full. We were at the gates to Disney-MGM Studios at 8 am and waited in line until 8:30 for the gate to open. Then we hustled to the end of Hollywood Boulevard and waited at the rope for the official opening. While we were waiting, I noticed a camouflage van driving down a street and heard the Toy Story music. By the time I had pointed it out to Brady, the van had stopped just in front of us and Green Army Men were climbing out. One came right over to us and played with Chesney in her stroller. Mykiah was scared (and who wouldn't be? They have green faces!) and hid behind her dad which made him feel good because she doesn't usually run to him. Brady posed for a picture and got an autograph and we all watched the antics of the other Green Army Men until their leader called them back to the van and they drove away. This was a great start to our day. When the ropes dropped we headed to Muppetvision. I've always wanted to see this movie and since it was not scary it seemed a good way to start our day. We waited for a few minutes before the preshow began and Chesney had a lot of fun crawling around the preshow area. She was just beginning to take steps when we left on our trip and it was so hard on her to be cooped up in a stroller all day. By the end of the week she had gotten used to it but this first day was a little trying for all of us. We all enjoyed the Muppets and as we exited the theater we ran smack into Jessie the Cowgirl from Toy Story 2. Now Mykiah's favorite Disney character (and the only one she had really shown any interest in) is Jessie; she was even Jessie for Halloween. So we got a quick picture and autograph before hustling over to catch the Indiana Jones stunt show. Dan had been really looking forward to this and everyone loved it even though Mykiah kept asking question after question about the show. She's always been one of those kids that has to know why everything is done and how. After the show we decided to cross the park and see Bear in the Big Blue House. On the way we noticed several characters in front of the Great Movie Ride so we stopped and visited with Donald. Brady was in line for Genie and just as he got to the front of the line, Genie took a break. A little disappointing, but we did see him later in the trip. The line for Bear was huge and we were stuck in the sun but once the theater opened, it moved quickly and the line behind was much longer than the line ahead. We were seated near the front but to the right side of the stage which made it a little difficult to see. Dan had Chesney and she absolutely adored Bear. She clapped her hands and bounced around. :) It was so fun to see the joy on her face. The kids know that I love the Goodbye song with Luna so Mykiah crawled into my lap and sang along with me. We were all a little parched by this time so we stopped at a drink cart in the main plaza and paid outrageous prices for small cups of Coke. While we were sitting, I suggested that we go on the Great Movie Ride. Neither of my big kids was too sure about this, especially when I told them that it may be scary in some parts. Now Dan thinks I was wrong to warn them because it increased their anxiety, but I think that children need to be prepared. So the kids and I made a deal: we would ride and when I knew it would be scary (during the Alien scene) they could put their heads in my lap and close their eyes. And that's exactly how it worked and both of them actually opened their eyes during the scariest part just because they felt safe. By this time we had about half an hour until our priority seating time at Prime Time Cafe but I couldn't think of anything that we could do in that time frame that sounded interesting so we just went to the restaurant and checked in. They warned me that it may be awhile, but we found a seat in the living room and relaxed while Chesney had a chance to explore. I had told the kids about the "theme" of the restaurant but we had all decided to surprise Grandpa so the kids were bursting with excitement. "The Lund Kids" were finally called to be seated (at about our scheduled time) and were taken to a room with 3 other tables. Our server was Cousin Harry and he was very good. We were the last to arrive in the room and everyone else was getting their food as we were ordering so most of the harassment was directed at the other families but we did enjoy watching. Grandpa had the meatloaf, Dan ordered the pot roast, and I had the fried chicken with a chocolate milkshake. Brady wanted chicken strips and Mykiah wanted a hamburger so we ordered them each a meal although we usually just have them split a meal because neither one eats a whole lot. Cousin Harry managed to get me and Grandpa for having our elbows on the table and Grandpa had his hat on at the table and was ordered to remove it. I wasn't sure how much the kids were understanding until I looked over and Mykiah was stuffing her face with food. She was scared to death that Harry was going to pick on her for not cleaning her plate so she was just shoving it in! ;) Once I assured her that he wouldn't embarrass her, she slowed down and wound up eating most of her meal. Dan and Grandpa both cleaned their plate and got stickers (Grandpa didn't even realize he had one until he got back to the hotel; he thought Harry was just patting him on the back). Chesney had fallen asleep in my arms just before the food came so it was a little difficult to eat my chicken but I did manage most of it and Harry didn't hassle me about what was left. And thank heavens he didn't see the mess I made trying to pour more milkshake from the tumbler into my glass.... Yuck! I covered it with a napkin and got out of there quick! With lunch behind us, the Mulan parade was close to beginning. We shopped a little on Hollywood Blvd then found a place along the street to watch. We had watched the parade two years ago at Disneyland at night and really enjoyed it. It was entertaining again this year but I liked the atmosphere of the night parade more. As soon as the parade was over, we left and went back to the hotel. At the hotel, we swam for a bit in the family pool which was fun but very cold. We also made a quick trip to the Publix down the street and stocked up on pop, juice, beer for Gramps and snacks. Tonight we went to sleep early and had no nasty fire alarms to disturb our slumber. :) Plus we had hot water!!
Day Three After a filling HIFS breakfast, we're at the front of the line at the entrance to Animal Kingdom. As it gets close to opening, I talk to the cast member working the gate and she tells me about a *show* that will start just before opening. I put Mykiah right in front of the turnstile and soon Rafiki comes out and tells a story, closely followed by Safari Mickey and Minnie, Baloo, Chip and Dale, and other characters. It's a virtual character flood! Mykiah immediately begins screaming for Minnie and I am torn as I try to photograph both of my older children who are posing with different characters and I'm also trying to keep tabs on Dan and Gramps who are with Chesney. We rush through the characters, intent on getting to the safaris and also hurrying because Brady has to use the restroom (a recurring theme on this trip). We do pause and get our picture taken in front of the life... gotta have a group pic for the scrapbook! Even with a restroom pit stop, we get on the safari with no wait. We are seated in the back of the vehicle and my notion that I would relax and feed Chesney a bottle while I watched animals quickly went out the door. This ride is bumpy!! Mykiah loved the bumps; she kept yelling at the driver to go faster. :) Our next stop was It's Tough To Be A Bug. Again, we didn't have any wait. The kids knew that this might be scary but we assured them they could take their glasses off if they were scared. They maybe watched a minute of the movie before the glasses were off. Chesney slept through the whole thing on Grandpa's shoulder. I found it hard to enjoy the show with Brady literally shaking beside me but Grandpa and Dan thought it was great. My dad really enjoyed the 3D shows at Disney as this was his first time to experience them. I should add here that Mykiah had not quit complaining about not being able to see Minnie for more than a moment before I pushed her toward the next character. All she talked about was Minnie. Now all this time I had a priority seating for Chef Mickey's that we had decided not to use. I couldn't bring myself to cancel it, however, and so we still had it. Mykiah's whining about Minnie was really starting to get on her dad's nerves so I suggested that instead of going to Garden Grill the next day we go instead to Chef Mickey's tonight and see Minnie. While Dan grumbled a little, it did calm Mykiah down and we were able to enjoy the rest of the day. Our next stop was Festival of the Lion King. We loved this show!! It really is a *not to be missed* show. We stopped for cookies and juice after the show, then went to Dinoland and played in the BoneYard. Dan loved this because adults are welcome to play, too! Chesney learned how to crawl up stairs here and was crawling all over with me chasing her. ;) It took some convincing to get Brady, our resident dino expert, out of here, but we finally left the park around 12:30. On our way out Mickey, Goofy, and Donald were signing autographs outside the gate so we stopped and got Goofy's autograph -- he's Dan's favorite. On our way in to the Contemporary, Mykiah threw a huge fit because I had told her that we were going to eat with Minnie and this didn't look like Minnie's house. Grandpa finally managed to convince her to follow along and we eventually got inside. We checked in at Chef Mickey's about 5 pm for our 5:30 priority seating (we're always early!). We were told to get our picture taken and have a seat but before we even got to the front of the line we were called to be seated. Our table was in the front dining room rather than the main room but I didn't feel that this detracted from our experience. We started out with salads and on our way back to the table I asked the server how long it would be before the characters appeared. I was a little concerned that we would be done eating before any came out. She said it would be about 5 minutes but it wasn't more than 3 and Minnie headed straight for our table. This really made Mykiah's trip special! Because she was the first character in the dining room, a few children from the waiting area came to our table and were pulling on Minnie's skirt. Minnie totally ignored them and concentrated on Mykiah and Chesney (Brady and the men were at the buffet). We also saw Chef Mickey, Goofy, Donald, Chip and Dale during our meal. Chesney *loved* Chip and Dale. She seemed to think they were just big stuffed animals and when Chip gave her a kiss, Chesney even seemed to be kissing him back. It was so magical! Brady and Mykiah decorated their own cupcakes, which was a treat in itself. Minnie even came back around to say goodbye. Dan suffered a near heart attack when the bill came (the tip was more than we usually spend on a meal) but this was the one character meal that I would do again. We all had a wonderful time, the food was delicious (Chesney inhaled the parmesan mashed potatoes), and the characters were great fun. I do think that part of our enjoyment was that we went as soon as the restaurant opened so that it wasn't busy or crowded. We went back to the hotel and went to bed. The kids were so tired they didn't even ask for a bedtime snack... and they never forget! Quotes of the day:
Day Four We had driven by Epcot several times and gazed at Spaceship Earth, but today was our first day to actually visit. We were at the gates for opening and walked straight on to Spaceship Earth and this quickly became one of Brady's favorites. Mykiah just cannot understand Audio-Animatronic figures. They look real, but they're not. So confusing to a 4 year old. The whole park was open when we got off so we walked to Test Track, planning to take a spin. It was down so we grabbed a FastPass for later and walked to The Living Seas. Brady loves animals so he really enjoyed this (as did the adults). Next it was The Land where we did the boat ride and watched Food Rocks. Brady still talks about the Wrapper. :) Continuing our tour of the west side of Future World, we went on the Journey Into Your Imagination ride. I kind of liked the redone ride, but it scared Mykiah to death. She would have crawled inside my skin if she could, especially when it sounds like a train is coming right towards you. After JIYI, we walked over to Honey I Shrunk The Audience which again the adults loved. Brady and Mykiah watched it without the glasses and also enjoyed it. By now it was time for our Fast Pass at Test Track so Dan, the kids and I walked over and walked right through the Fast Pass line area and straight to the preshow. We were in our car within 10 minutes and it was even a yellow car, Mykiah's favorite color. This was Dan's favorite ride of the trip and I'd rank it high also. Brady says he wasn't scared but he didn't want to ride it again later in the trip. Mykiah was terrified. It's so funny that she loved the speed and bumpiness of Kilimanjaro Safaris but absolutely hated Test Track. We bought the picture at the end of the ride because even though you can't see the kids' eyes, you can see Mykiah's mouth, wide open and screaming. Next we met back up with Grandpa and Chesney who had done some shopping at MouseGear. Our tummies were rumbling so we stopped at Electric Umbrella and had 3 adult cheeseburger combos and 2 kids' chicken meals. $36 total -- wow food is expensive! We did enjoy the topping bar for the adults since Dan is so picky about onions and tomatoes (he hates them). I wanted to wander around World Showcase so we headed that way. At the entrance to WS, the character bus was just getting ready to leave. We were so sad because all of the characters were dressed in their holiday finery. Pure luck had us the last group to get to see Santa Goofy before he boarded the bus. I led us on a short cut through a gift shop and we arrived in Mexico just in time to watch the character bus drive by on its way backstage. We then rode the boat ride at Mexico, where Chesney followed Lund family tradition and promptly fell asleep. Maelstrom was fun for all and we managed to skip the movie by walking straight through the theater and out the exits. We meandered around until we found Germany where the kids bought some GummiBears in the shop there. Grandpa went for a cup of German beer, so I had to get a German pretzel. We sat in the sun (it was finally starting to warm up... it had been in the 50s most of the day) and snacked while I checked the map for show times. Seeing that a performance of Voices of Liberty would begin in 5 minutes, I suggested we hustle over and catch the show and then see the American Adventure. We arrived in the rotunda just as the singers were coming out. We were actually seated against a pillar behind the singers but after their first song they encouraged everyone to come into the rotunda and hear so I took the two older kids and sat to the side of the singers. I loved the performance and the kids were behaving well. Then the lead singer said he was going to need some help for the next song and asked Mykiah to come up. She sort of hesitated but went up with some encouragement from me. She put on the singer's hat and helped them sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" while I was motioning desperately for Dan to bring me the camera. It was another magical moment for us. After American Adventure, we walked the rest of the way around World Showcase but didn't see anything that caught our interest. We stopped at Ice Station Cool and tried some of the international Cokes (I liked the lemon) and emailed some postcards from Innoventions. At 3:30 pm we headed back to WS to grab a spot for Tapestry of Nations. We found a great spot in the shade and I went to the bakery in Norway and bought a cinnamon roll and Viking helmet cookies for everyone to share while we waited. I had been waiting to see this parade for 9 months and was so excited to finally be here. And then at 4 pm they made the announcement that the parade had been canceled due to winds. I was so disappointed but hoped to make it back later in the week (we never did). Not wanting the day to be over yet, we left the park and headed to Downtown Disney which was originally planned for Friday but canceled due to our travel troubles. We didn't do much here: took some pictures at the Lego playground, talked to Santa and ate dinner at McDonalds. My dad was nice enough to volunteer to stay in the van with all 3 kids so that Dan and I could shop alone and I jumped at it. We ran to World of Disney and used our discount to buy sweatshirts for the kids, some souvenirs for my family and a WDW watch for me. Then it was back to the hotel where I took my shoes off, popped a few Advil and relaxed to The Wild Thornberries on Nick. But no, our day was not over yet.... The kids were still restless so Dan and I took them down to the recreation center in the lobby and played family bingo. We were there for the last 3 games and I won 2 of them: 10 game tokens, a 32 oz soft drink and a medium pizza were my prizes! My luck was definitely improving!
Day Five Everyone was excited about finally going to the Magic Kingdom and we managed to be parking in the lot 45 minutes before transportation even started running. It was cool out and I tried to convince Dan to wait in the van, but he and the other kids were too excited so we were some of the first in line. All week the weather was cool for Florida, but I was so amused by the newscasters complaining about the cold 60 degree weather. I'm thinking they're a little too spoiled and if they want to feel cold they should come to Kansas where today it is 20 degrees below zero with the wind chill. That's cold. 60 is nothing. So while it did mean that most mornings we started out with a sweatshirt, we were usually in tee shirts by the afternoon and some days we even managed to go swimming --- we just had a lot of towels ready for when we climbed out of the heated water. We chose to take the ferry over to Magic Kingdom; I just love standing at the front of the ferry and watching us get closer and closer! Dan loved making fun of my windblown hair. ;) On Main Street we separated and Dad took Chesney and went for coffee and Dan and I took the big kids and stood at the rope leading to Adventureland. When the ropes dropped we were at the front of the line heading for Splash Mountain and even with stopping to park Mykiah's stroller, we were on the first boat down the mountain. This is my all time favorite ride and always will be; Brady usually says that his favorite is Splash also. This was Mykiah's first ride and she liked the animals but *hated* those drops. When we started up the big hill I had to hold her in her seat, so our picture shows me desperately holding her around the waist while having my eardrum punctured by her screams. And as soon as we were at the bottom she was fine again and enjoyed the ZipADeeDooDah part. Kids. Go figure. We had told Grandpa we were going to meet him in front of the Country Bears at 9:30 so after we bought our picture and a frame (a family tradition) we hurried over to meet him. A show had just started so instead of waiting 20 minutes, we walked over to Pirates of the Caribbean and sang YoHo. The Tiki Birds were just starting a show so we went ahead and caught that which of course made us miss the next Country Bear show. Dan suggested Fantasyland so we walked through Liberty Square on our way. Dan and Brady really wanted to do Haunted Mansion but Mykiah was still in her scared stage so we decided to do that on Friday and walked on to Peter Pan. On our trip to Disneyland 2 years ago, Peter Pan was our first ride and it scared the big kids to death. They cried every time we tried to get them on a dark ride after that. So my stomach was in knots as we approached our pirate ships for our flight through Neverland. I took Chesney (who only wanted Mommy), Dan took Mykiah and Gramps took Brady. I was in the first ship and kept turning around trying to see the kids and how they were doing. I needn't have worried; Peter Pan was Mykiah's favorite ride of the trip! She loved it. It's A Small World was our next ride and all of the kids enjoyed this (and even I didn't mind much). We picked up a FastPass for Pooh and then went to the Speedway so the kids could try their hand at driving. I had no desire to do this one and it was posting a 20 minute waited so I took Chesney and bought us a Mickey bar. She loved Mickey bars! Of course she drooled chocolate everywhere so I was cold busted when the rest of the family got back but we had fun sharing. By the time the family was done with the cars, it was time for our Pooh Fast Pass. I thought the Fast Pass line here moved very slow and that the standby line was actually moving faster, but I could be wrong. We enjoyed the ride, but it wasn't anyone's favorite. Since the family had figured out that I'd already had a snack it was time for a Mickey bar break for them. We walked to Toontown but it was packed with people so we just saw a few characters at the Hall of Fame (Minnie and Goofy for Mykiah; Cinderella for Brady) and then went for Buzz Fast Passes. While waiting for our Buzz time, we rode the Transit Authority (which Brady thought went too fast) and the Carousel of Progress (which Brady also names as a favorite). I happen to love both of these so I was happy. Buzz was a lot of fun but I found it hard to know where I was aiming. Dan found it even harder, though, so I managed to get the high score in the family. Grandpa came in second, which was a feat because he was also holding a baby and not spinning at all! We were all hungry by this time and it was time for our priority seating for Crystal Palace, so we checked in and waited on the verandah for a few minutes before our name was called. We were not pleased with this meal at all. We felt rushed, had trouble getting service, missed Tigger completely and didn't like the food. We were billed for Chesney (who ate nothing) and had a terrible time getting our server's attention to point out the error. We wouldn't do this character meal again. Irritated at the waste of money for a meal we didn't enjoy, my mission now was to get a seat for the Magical Moments parade. We cut through Adventureland and ran smack into Robin Hood characters and Genie. After getting some quick pictures (no time for autographs) we found a spot for the older kids and I to watch the parade. We were in Liberty Square and the kids got picked to rub the lamp during the Aladdin portion. Brady was too shy to go out, so Mykiah went out but mostly looked back at me rather than dancing. I still wanted to catch the Country Bears Christmas Show and once again we got there right after a show had started. This time we waited the 20 minutes for a show. I liked the show but sort of missed the regular show. When we went to Disneyland, Mykiah was crazy about the Country Bears and we watched the show 3 times in 3 days but this time she was more into the characters and rides. After the Bears, we left the park and went back to the hotel. We did some laundry and ate our free pizza and once again played family bingo. No luck tonight.
Day Six We were running low on pop and film (I only brought 13 rolls!) so we stopped at Publix on the way to Sea World. Once again we were early and waited in our van until the parking lot opened. Then we got to the ticket window where we supposed to exchange vouchers for tickets and the windows weren't open. The actual park was open but we didn't have a ticket so we had to wait. This just seemed crazy but we finally got our tickets and we were in. We waited maybe 5 minutes, stood at attention during the Star Spangled Banner and then somehow I let Dan talk me into riding Journey To Atlantis. I'm the planning fanatic so I already knew that no matter how bad that drop on the outside looked, it was worse inside. Not to mention that it was chilly outside and I knew I'd get wet. But before I knew what I was doing, my dad was watching the kids and I was getting in a boat. I still don't have any idea what the story was, but I did manage to survive. I said a bad word coming down the big drop --- there was no one else on the ride so I didn't worry too much until I saw my own children standing on the bridge overlooking the drop. Whoops. Oh well, only Grandpa heard it. Once again, we bought the picture (and I think I got scammed into buying a frame too). We really wanted to see Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island, so we just wandered around the Penguin Encounter, Pacific Point Preserve and Dophin Cove until half an hour before show time. We had seats about 1/3 of the way up and in the sun so we were able to get warm. Dan and I thought the mime preshow was hilarious and Brady and Mykiah loved the Sea Lion and Otter Show. I think what I like about the show is that not only is it educational but it's also entertaining for the kids. Plus the Florida election humor made us all laugh. Dan had looked at the map and decided that if we ran, we could make it from the Sea Lion stadium to the Shamu show in less than 15 minutes. So that's what we did with Mykiah whining all the way that she was thirsty. At Shamu's stadium, I sent the men in to grab seats (they sat in the splash zone... never trust a man) and bought a bottle of water and 2 Shamu bars to hold us over. Mykiah and I sat down just as the show began. The show was good, but I didn't enjoy it as much as Clyde and Seamore. I like humor rather than unnecessary wetness. By this time we were all getting hungry so we were off in search of a restaurant. We wound up at Mama Stellas where it was spaghetti and meat sauce for all. We cleaned our plates (even the kids) and even had dessert. Then it was off to Terrors of the Deep because Brady was not going to let us rest until we had visited the sharks. After our trip through the tunnel, we had Brady and Mykiah's picture taken inside a fake shark and bought a t-shirt with the picture on it because it was so hilarious. Last stop for the day was the Intensity Games water sports show, which is OK and a good place for a break. For once all three kids fell asleep in the van on the way back to the hotel. Brady and Mykiah managed to do without naps almost every day (although I think Mykiah may have taken 2 naps during the trip). I used the *never wake a sleeping child* excuse to get Dan to stop by the Lake Buena Vista Factory Outlet stores, which are right down the street from HIFS. I directed him right to Character Corner which is an official WDW outlet. Wow! What bargains we found here! For me, an Epcot embroidered tee that was $35 at World of Disney/$17 at Character Corner and a lighted Epcot snowglobe that places "Celebrate the Future" probably over $60 retail/$28 at Character Corner. We also bought Animal Kingdom tees for $8 (regular $18) and a few other odds and ends. Plus we could use our discount here. On the way out of the mall (by this time Brady was awake) I noticed another store that said "Disney--75% off" so we had to stop there too. Most of the merchandise here was the same but there was a whole wall filled with beanies which I sadly bypassed and more home decor. Only bummer was that they didn't accept the discount. My dad picked up quite a few things here. After relaxing at the hotel, we went to Ponderosa for supper (typical buffet) and were saddened to learn that there was no family bingo that night. So early to bed for us. Quotes of the day:
Day Seven Brady started this day off with a bang... his motion sickness finally kicked in on the way to Animal Kingdom (by far the longest drive from our hotel -- about 15 minutes) and all of the applesauce and apple juice that he had just eaten came right back up all over the only shirt I had in the van for him. So we stripped him down, he put on Dad's extra sweatshirt and I jogged to the Rainforest Cafe gift shop and used one of the gift certificates we had earned through a rewards program to get him a new shirt. I went through the Rainforest gate to AK and the rest of the family went through the main gate and we managed to meet up just before the paths to the park. Of course, our plans to ride the Safari were now out the door (too bumpy) so we went to ride Dinosaur instead, with Brady planning to sit this one out. Mykiah swore she wanted to go but as we go to the preshow she got scared so I took her out and went to get Grandpa, Brady and Chesney. Dan absolutely loved this ride but agreed that it would have scared Brady and Mykiah so it was probably better that they hadn't gone on. And I don't feel too sad that I missed it. :) Moms get scared too! We hadn't done the Jungle Trek (we did the Forest Exploration Trail our first day at AK after we left the Safari) so we went to have a look at the tigers and bats. The bats were not nearly as scary as I'd thought they would be and the tigers were gorgeous. After this Brady was obviously feeling better, skipping around and singing, so we went to get a FastPass for the Safaris. We had almost an hour before our time and I just couldn't think of anything else I wanted to do so we sat down and had a family vote. We could waste time at AK, keep our priority seating at Rainforest Cafe, go back to the hotel and drop off Dad and Chesney and then the rest of us could head to Epcot. Or we could all go to Disney-MGM studios, see a couple shows then go to the hotel, then Epcot. Grandpa and I voted for Studios so that won out. On our way out of AK we stopped at the RFC gift shop and spent the $150+ of gift certificates that we had on gifts for the family for Christmas. The way I look at it, we could have spent $60 on a meal and gotten nothing for it or spent the whole wad on gifts and be done with our Christmas shopping. And it sure was nice to be done. A short drive later we were walking through the gates to Disney-MGM Studios. Our first stop was Voyage of The Little Mermaid, which was great. Grandpa couldn't decide if the mermaid was real or a robot. :) After a snack of pretzels and pop, we took the Backlot Tour which scared Mykiah during the Catastrophe Canyon scene but mostly she was mad because I wouldn't let her sit by me. Sometimes moms just have to be mean (and pay attention to their other children). After a short pit stop at the hotel and a kiss goodbye to Chesney, we went to Epcot with eating our first goal. By this time we were all grumpy and couldn't decide where to eat and we eventually wound up at Sunshine Season Food Fair with way too much food and spent way too much money. Brady wanted a kids pb&j meal and the pb&j thing they gave him had to have been the most disgusting food item I have ever seen. It looked like a piece of uncooked dough filled with runny peanut butter and jelly and then pressed together. My stomach still turns thinking about it, but he ate it. While at Epcot, we also rode Spaceship Earth (Brady had really been wanting to do this again) and saw a few minutes of Off Kilter. But as I said we were all grumpy so we went back to the hotel early without seeing Tapestry of Nations. I was a little said, but worked off the grumps by taking the kids on the free train ride around the hotel and having the resort photographer take their picture in front of the Christmas tree. We ran to Subway that evening for subs and bought ice cream from the convenience store for dessert. Yum!
Day Eight Our final day... and what a day it was!! We took it a little slower this morning and only had to wait about 15 minutes until we could ride on the ferry over to the Magic Kingdom. Our mission today was Dumbo and Mykiah was resolutely saying that she was scared and not going on it. We got in line anyway and managed to be on the 3rd ride of the day. Mykiah and I chose a yellow Dumbo with Dan and Chesney in front of us and Grandpa and Brady behind us. Once the ride started going, Mykiah grabbed the joystick and kept us as high as Dumbo would go. I hadn't planned on this and my own fear of heights had me a little frightened but I hung in there. I guess I should have ridden with Brady, who kept his Dumbo as low as possible. Mykiah practically danced off the ride and we walked onto Peter Pan for a second flight since this was her favorite. To keep up with the Mykiah's favorite theme, it was now time for our priority seating for Cinderella's Royal Breakfast. We checked in and were 3rd in line to see the Fairy Godmother when we were called upstairs. The hostess suggested the elevator since we had a baby, but I took the spiral staircase just for atmosphere. We were seated in the alcove just at the top of the stairs and served very quickly. Brady inhaled his pancakes in no time and Grandpa and Dan cleaned their plates of eggs, french toast, sausage, bacon and breakfast potatoes. Dan loved the croissants and Grandpa liked the muffins. I'm pretty picking about my breakfast food but I did love the potatoes and meats. Mykiah was just too excited to eat, looking around at all of the princesses. They had just started on the main room when we arrived so we had plenty of time to eat before the characters reached our table which actually worked well because our plates were cleared and the table was clean. The characters that day were Snow White, Aladdin, Jasmine, Belle and Cinderella. Mykiah was so nervous that she kept sucking on her autograph pen. I would remind her to dry it off but she forgot and handed to Belle wet... Belle was not pleased but she did pose for a picture. Mykiah was wearing her Princess Minnie hat with its veil and it got quite a few comments from the characters. This was a great breakfast and I'm not sure if we would do it again. It would depend on our budget and what the kids wanted to do. After our breakfast with the princesses, we still owed Mykiah a Splash Mountain tee for her bravery 3 days before, so we walked over to Splash and she picked one out. We saw Brer Fox and Brer Bear outside so we stopped and visited them. I was wearing my reindeer antlers with Mickey ears and Brer Fox stole them and was clowning around. I took some very cute pictures for my scrapbook. When we left Brer Fox kissed my hand... Awww. We caught the train just upstairs and rode to Toontown. Mykiah had been wanting to visit Minnie's house so we did this (taking lots of pictures) and not to be outdone, Brady wanted to see Mickey's house. I find Minnie's house a lot more fun than Mickey's because the kids can really explore but Brady enjoyed it anyway. Since we had already gotten Mickey's autograph at Chef Mickey's we didn't go into the Judges Tent but instead took off for Buzz. After grabbing FastPasses, we planted ourselves on a bench by Alien Encounter. Grandpa bought us all some frozen Cokes (my favorite!) and we relaxed until our FastPass time. This sure beats standing in line with antsy kids. Both times we used FP at Buzz we were able to walk right on the ride. This time Dan got 129000 points and thought he was a stud so it seemed like a good note to end our trip on. We walked right down the middle of Main Street USA, stopping at the Emporium for a few last souvenirs and also buying some Minnie Ears for Chesney at the hat store. We took the monorail back to the TTC and I felt more than a little said to be leaving WDW. Even Grandpa felt it. We had a wonderful time and have memories that will last forever. It was 78 degrees that afternoon so we spent a couple hours playing in the pool before we went in search of a late lunch/early supper. We chose Chili's in Kissimmee which really hit the spot (and we were there during happy hour... 2 for 1 margaritas!) before going back to the hotel and beginning the chore of packing. I had brought 2 extra bags with us and we certainly managed to fill them up. We had almost everything packed and ready to go by 6 so Dan and I and the kids took one last walk around the hotel to say goodbye. We were going to miss it. Quotes of the day:
Day Nine This was supposed to be our uneventful travel day but I woke up at 3:45 and just couldn't shake this nagging feeling. Finally at 6:30 while Dan was in the shower I called Delta flight information just to confirm our 12:40 flight from Orlando to Dallas. The worst words in the world are "this flight has been canceled due to flight crew delays." I felt like the bottom just dropped out of the world. The big kids were fighting about granola bars, the baby was crying and I just locked myself in the master bedroom and got on the phone with a ticket agent. Delta had already booked us on an alternate 5 pm flight but had no way to tell us that since they didn't have our hotel number. The ticket agent was able to get us on a 9:20 am flight, however, which worked much better because we were already packed and our van had to be back at 11 am (meaning another 6 hour airport layover). We hurried around, managed to eat a quick breakfast and checked in at the airport just in time to hear the announcement that our 9:20 flight would be delayed due to mechanical problems. Now I am not the most confident flyer anyway, but I sure didn't want to fly in any plane with recent mechanical problems. Having no choice, we boarded the plane about 9:45 and it wasn't until the plane was in the air that the pilot came on to assure us the oil leak had been fixed. Just information I didn't need to know. Chesney was an angel on the flight and the big kids played GameBoy so it was very uneventful. After a Wendy's picnic at the Atlanta airport (and a 3 hour layover) we finally boarded a plane for home which was thankfully bigger than our first commuter plane and we landed at home about 3:30, were home about 4:30 and dropped off 15 rolls of film for developing at 5:30. Priorities here. Final Thoughts:
I guess that's it. If anyone has any questions, just email me at kimberlylund@hotmail.com. I'd be glad to answer them as best I can. Thanks for reading! Kimberly Lund kimberlylund@hotmail.com Mail a Comment to Kimberly Lund |
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