I woke up at 5:15 and couldn’t go back to sleep. Today was a sad day in that it should have been Mom and Dad’s 42nd wedding anniversary. I vividly remembered talking to Dad last year on their anniversary. I was at Hampton Beach and they were driving home from Dan’s baseball game. Who would have thought……. I gave Gram a hug and we had a quiet moment. We then faced the day on a positive note.

At 8:00, we all headed to the grocery store. We had a minor miscommunication here. When we entered Orange Lake yesterday morning there was a Publix grocery store adjacent to the entrance on the left. As we were getting into our cars, Carolyn said “So we are going to the grocery store on the right hand side of the road?”. I, of course, said “yes”, since Publix would be on our right, going back out. However, we went out a different exit (it was the one we used all week) where there was no Publix. I just assumed when we got to the Publix we would turn in, but we didn’t. Carolyn had been referring to another grocery store farther up the road, so she was headed there. I, of course, didn’t realize that. I called Gram to see what was going on and she said we were going to another grocery store. No one cared what store we went to, but Gram thought the prices might be better at Publix, so we went there.

We all split up to get the necessary groceries. I was pleased that the prices were pretty comparable to home. I had brought a suitcase full of snack and breakfast items from home. (I did this because I pretty much buy everything on sale and it would kill me to spend full price on a box of cookies or a candy bar!) I stocked up on milk, bread, sandwich meat, fruit, ice cream and simple meals like hotdogs, frozen waffles, frozen pizza and chicken tenders. Eating out for 2-3 meals everyday for 2 ½ weeks was definitely not in the vacation budget, especially considering we were just at Disney eight weeks ago for two weeks and had spent a considerable amount of money then.

Gram and I finished shopping first, so we headed back to the resort. The Cookinghams didn’t bring any food with them, so they had lots more shopping to do than I did. By the time we had put everything away, the Cookinghams were back.

The lazy river was calling our name, so a visit to the River Island area was in order. Carolyn knows her way around the resort, but I am still getting my bearing for sure.

It was 10:00 when we put our stuff down on the pool chairs. Both Carolyn and I offered to rent tubes for the kids to use in the lazy river, but they weren’t interested. They all thought that swimming through it was more fun! The kids all headed for the slide first. Jamie continues to be the growing/shrinking kid. Sometimes she is tall enough to slide and sometimes she isn’t!!!! The slide looked like fun, so I joined the kids for a ride. I went down in the sitting up position and, unfortunately, banged my head on the top of the enclosed slide on the last curve. Jillian, who had been in front of me, had also hit her head. She had been laying on her back and the force of the water threw her head back. We were both left rubbing our heads!!!! (Fortunately, there were no more injuries on the slide for the rest of the vacation!) Hardly anyone was in the water and we had a nice leisurely trip around the lazy river. We adults all marveled over how this lazy river rivals any lazy river back home at a traditional water park!!! It’s amazing that a resort of this size could have such an amazing pool area!!!

We spent over three hours swimming and relaxing. In addition to being in the pool, the kids also played in some fountains that were squirting water up in the air. The fountains were similar to those at Downtown Disney/Marketplace. The kids had a ball in the fountains and probably could have stayed all day. However, both Carolyn and I were concerned about them being burned to a crisp!!! We decided to return to the villa and return in the evening.

Once we had showers and lunch, I tried to decide what to do for fun. I thought that going to the nearby Animal Kingdom Lodge for zebra domes and pin trading sounded like fun, along with a stop at Coronado Springs. We just love to visit all the Disney resorts. Even though we haven’t stayed in them all, they all hold good memories and are just fun to walk through! I floated the idea out to everybody. Gram wanted to go, and Jimmy and Cam were dying to do more pin trading, plus indulge in their favorite treat, zebra domes!! Carolyn said she wasn’t up for any driving for fear of making a wrong turn. I tried to no avail to convince her to come. Instead, they all wrote postcards and had naps.

On the quick drive to the Lodge, we saw flashes of lightning and heard some rumbles of thunder. The lobby of the lodge was as impressive as ever. It was pretty quiet, with not many people around. The kids pin traded in the gift shop before going down to the food court. Because of the thunder and lightning, all the people who had been at the pool had moved into the food court, making it pretty crowded. I waited outside and called Jim while the boys went inside to buy some zebra domes. Jim was at his mother’s house painting a ceiling. We had a nice visit and I thanked him again for being SO GOOD to let us vacation while he is stuck at home working!! Because of his unselfish ways, the kids and I have had many, many vacations and are not limited to the amount of vacation time he gets from work. Thanks Jim!!!

We went upstairs to the beautiful lobby and sat down while the kids ate their zebra domes. A CM walked by wearing a lanyard loaded with lanyard pins. The kids traded for four hard-to-find pins. (Chip & Dale zebra dome <how appropriate!!!!> pirate treasure chest, a Fast Pass pin and an “I love pins” license plate.)

Next, we drove to Coronado Springs. I had wondered when we were at home (since I knew I would be taking advantage of having a vehicle to visit the resorts) if we would have any trouble getting into the resorts without having a Disney Resort parking pass. All I had to do was show my driver’s license and we were let right in. (We had no problem all week getting into the various resorts!) The kids pin traded and we all looked around the gift shop.

We returned to the car and the thunder storm was still going on in full force. Since it was still stormy, we decided to go to the Disney outlet store. I had no idea how to get there, but Gram guided us there like a tour guide expert! We parked and ran in, dodging the puddles along the way. We were hoping the store would be selling discounted pins like they were in April. Sadly, they weren’t! There were TONS of deals to be had, but since we had bought SO much stuff eight weeks ago I restrained myself! I bought a beautiful hard covered book about Walt Disney World for $5.00 that had been $25.00 and some stationery with the castle on it for $1.00, it had originally been $5.00.

We drove back to Orange Lake and the storm was just letting up. The Cookinghams were all awake and had enjoyed their quiet afternoon. We put on our bathing suits and drove to the River Island area. Gram had a couple of beach balls, so we inflated them. We took turns hanging onto them as the lazy river pulled us along. It was so relaxing, just bobbing along.

We returned to the villa for dinner, followed by T.V. and some microwave popcorn. Carolyn ran out to the nearby Rite Aid to pick up a few things. I asked her to get me some throat lozenges. With the evening hour, my throat was pretty uncomfortable again. Hard to believe that now that I am on vacation I have a sore throat, and it’s only JUNE!!!!!!!!

We all turned in by 9:00. Around 10:00, Jimmy came into my room asking for gum! At first I didn’t even realize that he was sleepwalking! I told him that he couldn’t have any gum, and that everyone was sleeping. He then asked for a drink of water, which I got for him. (He didn’t remember any of this in the morning!) I was just starting to doze when the phone rang. It was Joe, so I went and woke up Carolyn. Sea World tomorrow!

Sunday June 25^th

I slept much better last night. The throat lozenges were a tremendous help!!! I woke up at 5:15, but the kids were able to sleep until 7:30, which was great! Jamie woke up with a rash all over. To cheer her up, I let her go through all of our trader pins and pick one out. She picked a cute one of Crush! (Although uncomfortable, her rash did eventually go away!) We left at 8:00 and, as we reached the exit to Orange Lake, we were overpowered by thick smoke. The smell was terrible. (Carolyn told us at Sea World that when she went to Rite Aid last night she actually saw the fire and tons of fire trucks) That was the closest I have ever been to such a large fire!!!!! Or any fire, for that matter!!!!

We had an easy and quick drive to Sea World and arrived at the entrance at 8:15. We sat in our car and waited at the gate until it opened at 8:35. Jimmy and Cam popped the back seat down and crawled into the trunk. They though that was pretty cool! (I, of course, had them return to their seats and get buckled before we drove in!) We paid $10.00 to park.

We bought our tickets using a coupon that had been on my Southwest snack box back in April. (Carolyn had already bought her tickets on-line months earlier.) As soon as we entered the park, we went straight to customer service to trade our one-day tickets for new tickets that were good for the next seven days for no additional cost.

We proudly listened to the National Anthem, than the park opened. Carolyn, Jen, Jimmy, Cam and I walked straight to Kracken. Gram walked more slowly with Jillian and Jamie since they were too short to ride. Cam was pretty nervous about Kracken and I had my doubts whether he would actually ride. Kracken is an enormous roller coaster with a HUGE drop and several upside down loops and spiral turns. We quickly got on the ride and Cam sat next to me. Once the headrest came down to hold us securely in place, I couldn’t offer Cam much comfort. He did, however, ask me to hold his hand, even though he was clasping the handle. When we were at the top of the big hill climb and Cam saw the huge drop he yelled out “That drop is too big!” He was right, it was quite a drop, but there wasn’t much I could do at that point! However, by the time the ride was over, Cam was begging to go again!!!!! We quickly looked at our ride photos and hurried around for a second ride. Cam loved it even more the second time, and of course, Jimmy, who loves all sorts of coasters, absolutely LOVED it, as well!! After our second ride, we spotted Gram and the girls. Gram was good enough to wait while we all scooted around for a third ride. There was no wait and we were able to walk right on for all three rides. All five of us gave this coaster a HUGE thumbs up!!!

Next up was Journey to Atlantis, a water flume ride. Gram sat it out due to the fact she didn’t want to get wet. Carolyn and Jamie sat in the front seat, Jen in the second, Jillian and Jimmy in the third, with Cam and I in the last seat. Jamie was scared almost immediately and wasn’t enjoying herself. Cam was a little nervous for the big drop, but not too bad. (This from a kid who just rode Kracken three times, which has a drop that dwarfed this drop!!!) We went down the big drop and everyone was relatively dry. However, next we went around a corner and went down a small dip. I suddenly noticed the whole front part of our flume go under water and a giant wave landed in Carolyn and Jamie’s lap. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen! They couldn’t have been more soaked than if they had jumped in the lake fully clothed! We finished the rest of the ride, which was like a roller coaster with no water. We exited the ride and while I felt refreshed from being lightly splashed with water, Carolyn was soaked to the bone!! Jamie declared that she hated the ride, but the rest of the kids wanted to ride again. I grabbed Gram and reassured her she could sit in the last seat and remain relatively dry! The six of us took the three seats toward the back and left the front seat for another couple to “enjoy”!!! Jillian sat with Gram and enjoyed telling her everything that was about to happen! Everyone had a good time.

We all met up and went to the Penguin Encounter. Everyone liked walking through the exhibit. We may have enjoyed the air conditioning as much as the penguins!!!

Next, we walked over to the Shamu show. We got seats and, while waiting for the show, ate our lunch that we had brought with us. (When I was home planning the trip, I remembered the food being nothing special and a little overpriced at Sea World. I also remembered waiting in a LONG line to get food the last time we were there. I decided to bring a collapsible cooler with me from home. Last night we froze water bottles and bags of juice to put in the cooler and this morning made sandwiches to bring with us. I would highly recommend doing this. We saved a considerable amount of money, didn’t waste valuable park time standing in the heat to order lunch, plus our sandwiches were probably better than anything we would have bought there!!) The Shamu show was great and we all enjoyed it. It was a totally new show since our last visit, and I liked it more than the old Shamu show. It’s amazing that such large creatures can be trained to perform!

We left the theater and walked through the Shark Encounter. Again, we rejoiced in the air conditioning!!! Having the sharks swim around us was pretty cool, too!!

Our next show was the Seal and Otter Show, Clyde and Seamore take pirate island. Jillian really wanted to sit in the “splash area” so the Cookinghams sat there. Since that was in the sun, and it was very HOT out, we opted to go up higher and sit in the shade. (Now that I am home, when I think about the trip, this was by far the hottest I felt the entire trip!) We attempted to stay cool by using our small hand held fans and by putting our frozen water bottles on our arms, legs and necks. Without a doubt, we were the envy of everyone around us!!!! After about five minutes, Jillian got too hot in the sun and joined us in the shade. About five minutes later, the other three were too hot, as well, and moved to higher ground. The “mime” who entertained us before the show was fantastic!!!! He was SO FUNNY. The four of us laughed so hard. (He was definitely a highlight of the whole entire trip!!!) The seal and otter show was as funny as always and was enjoyed by all!

We walked over to the Odyssea Theater for a circus type of show. I can’t even describe how heavenly the air-conditioning felt, even the metal seats were cool. I could feel my energy returning as I sat in the cool air. While the show was cute and very well done, I don’t think any of us were “wowed” by it.

It was now 2:00, and we had done everything we had planned for the day. We browsed a few gift shops on the way to the exit. As we were walking along the heat and humidity seemed to evaporate and a fantastic breeze began to blow. The sky also began to get dark.

On the drive back to Orange Lake it began to rain; perfect timing! Our friend CM Barbara called Gram on the ride and offered to take us to Disney Quest tomorrow at 11:00. Wow, that was great!!!

Back at the Villa we snacked on fruit and the kids watched T.V. I worked on my trip report. When the rain stopped, we decided to go swimming. Jimmy had developed a headache and wasn’t feeling his best, so he and Gram stayed at the resort. Unfortunately, as soon as we pulled out Carolyn saw lightning so we parked the cars and went back inside and changed out of our swimsuits. I again offered to take the Cookinghams to see the nearby Animal Kingdom Lodge and this time they were up for going. Jamie ended up staying with Gram and Jimmy. Jim called as we were walking out, so I talked to him for a few minutes, updating him on our day.

Once at the Lodge, we went outside to see the animals. We saw wilderbeast and giraffes. We also showed the Cookinghams a hidden Mickey. Since there was still some lightning going on in the area, I asked the CM if they ever put the animals in when there are storms. She said “no”, since when the animals are in Africa they stay out in the storms. This surprised me because I remember two summers ago reading in a N.H. newspaper about a giraffe getting struck and killed by lightning on the safari at Animal Kingdom. There seemed to be a public outcry about it and Animal Kingdom workers that were interviewed said that every time a storm comes up they do their best to get the animals under cover.

We went into the food court and bought more zebra domes. The Cookinghams bought a package, as well, and seemed to enjoy them as much as we do! Next up was a visit to the gift shop. Cam made some pin trades while the girls checked everything out.

When we went to leave it was pouring buckets, so I volunteered to run out and get the car. I pulled up under the covering and everyone hopped in. A quick drive and we were soon back to Orange Lake.

Jimmy was feeling better, so that was great news. Gram and Jamie had done some sort of bead project. The kids settled into T.V., while I had a long chat with Jim. I also talked to cousin Kathy on Gram’s phone, giving her the update on what we have been doing.

It was an early night. We went to bed around 9:00.

Tomorrow we’ll go to the Wilderness Lodge to visit CM Sandra, go shopping at the Marketplace and meet CM Barbara at Disney Quest. The Cookinghams have opted to go out to breakfast and shop at the nearby tourist stores along with taking naps.

Monday June 26^th

I had a great nights sleep but, unfortunately, woke up at 4:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep. Ugh!!!!

We said good-bye to the Cookinghams and left the villa around 8:00. We drove to the Wilderness Lodge. We had a gift bag for Sandra with an assortment of beads, since she told us that she loves to make jewelry. It was great to see her again. She gave Jimmy and Cam autographed cards from Mickey, which was very nice. We browsed through the pin book and made some great trades. Sandra was getting ready to go on her break so we said good-bye to her, knowing that we would see her again in a few days. (We are definitely taking advantage of having a car, because we won’t have one after we check into Disney.)

I drove to the Marketplace. Jimmy and Gram shopped and pin traded together, while Cam and I went together. The shops were very quiet, so it was fun to look around. The kids didn’t find anything overly exciting but still managed to do quite a few trades! Cam and I went into the candy store where he bought a chocolate covered strawberry and I bought a cookie. It was a challenge to get someone to wait on us and another challenge to get someone to check us out. It was strange, as there were plenty of workers and no other customers. The CM’s would actually look at us and look away. We never would have gotten any help if I didn’t practically beg for service. It was an unusual thing to have happen on Disney property!!!! At any rate, we both enjoyed our treats immensely, despite all the effort it was to buy them! We met Gram and Jimmy as we were leaving the candy store. They went in and each bought a chocolate covered strawberry. (They were waited on with no problem!) Gram recognized a CM in there, wearing a lanyard, who had been extremely friendly to her back in April. They talked about pins and the CM went out back and returned with some limited edition 1st anniversary Goofy candy store pins. Gram, Jimmy and Cam all ended up buying one.

We left the Marketplace at 10:45 and drove next door to Disney Quest. We met CM Barbara and her husband Frank. There were LOTS of people around. Nothing at all like April. I could tell it was going to be quite crowded! It didn’t open until 11:30 and the crowd just kept building. We did have a nice visit with Barbara while we waited for the place to open. It finally opened and we went inside. We thanked Barbara over and over and hugged her good-bye. She and Frank were headed over to Epcot for lunch.

It was evident right away that the place was going to be packed! We went straight to The Pirates of the Caribbean ride. We were given our instructions then let onto our ship. I was the captain and steered the ship, while Gram and the boys controlled the cannons. The effects were pretty good and we all enjoyed the ride. We hurried around for a second ride. This time Gram was the captain while the three of us shot all the enemy boats! Again, a fun time was had by all.

Gram headed to the restroom, while the boys and I went to Cyber Space Mountain. In April, there was no wait for this and we rode over and over. This would not be the case today! Already a good line had formed. The kids designed the coaster and got a 4 out of 5 on the scary scale. (They were trying for a 5!) The boys rode it together first, than I rode it with Cam. We went around, waited our turn and designed another one. This time the kids scored a 5 out of 5 on the scary scale!!! While we waited to ride, Jimmy pointed out a kid dressed from head to toe in black with zippers and spikes everywhere!!!! The kids rode first, while I watched them on the video screen. Cam found it hilarious to continuously wave as he was flipped upside down and all around!! I laughed out loud as I stood watching the screen. They looked so funny!!! When they finished, it was my turn to ride with Jimmy. Unfortunately, my barrette fell off right away. Every time we went upside down the barrette would clang back and forth. A few times I tried to catch it, but it was always out of my reach. Meanwhile, my hair went into my face every time we went upside down!! Of course, once the ride stopped, I couldn’t find it!! The CM had us get out and went in with a flashlight to look for it. She looked for quite awhile before coming out and handing me a broken piece of it! Oh well! It wasn’t a big deal except for the fact that I wasn’t happy with my hair for the rest of the day!

We went upstairs to order lunch. Since the line was long, I told the boys to go explore and to come back in 20 minutes. I figured by then I’d have the food, and I was right! Gram and I both had teriyaki roll-ups and the boys had hotdogs and fries. We all ate and the food was delicious! When we finished, I told the boys that they could go and play for an hour, as long as they stayed together. It’s new for me to let them out of my sight, so it’s a little nerve- wracking for me. I am so fortunate in that both Jimmy and Cam are extremely well behaved and responsible. By nature, they automatically make the best choices and would rather die than do anything that would cause trouble! I am truly blessed to have such great boys!!

I visited with Gram as well as worked on my trip report. The kids returned on time and said they were hungry. I offered to go and get cheesecake, while they played. We would meet back at our table in 30 minutes. I ended up buying two pieces, plain and peanut butter cup. The kids returned and we all dug into the cheesecake. The peanut butter cup cheesecake was outstanding, and very, very rich! I think because it was so rich the three of us couldn’t even finish the two pieces!!!! Pretty pathetic!!!

The four of us went to check out the various arcade games. I found a video mini golf game that I especially liked. Gram, Jimmy and Cam all played some games, as well. The kids returned to Cyber Space Mountain for one more ride before we left at 4:30. As we were going down the elevator, I wondered out loud what the weather was like outside. Since Disney Quest is a big windowless box, you have no idea what is going on outside. Well, wouldn’t you know it, we got downstairs and it was POURING out! We threw on our ponchos and made a mad dash for our car!!

A quick drive back to Orange Lake and we were reunited with the Cookinghams. They all reported a great day; breakfast at IHOP, souvenir shopping, swimming and naps. We all ate dinner before driving to the Yacht and Beach Club.

We admired the lobby and then went into the gift shop. Cam made two awesome pin trades! He traded for two lanyard pins that were available at the Marketplace two months ago, if you spent $25.00. Way to go Cam!!! We walked down to Beaches and Cream. I have heard so much about this place, but have never been here. The wait to sit down was 30-45 minutes. We opted to just order our ice cream from the counter and eat outside. Gram and Carolyn ordered everything, while I ran back out to my car. I didn’t remember putting my license away after showing it to security to get into the parking lot. Luckily, it was sitting on my seat! I returned to Beaches and Cream just as our orders were being made. Jimmy, Cam and I all had hot fudge sundaes that were delicious. Gram had a strawberry sundae, Jen and Jamie had brownie sundaes, while Jillian had a malted. Everyone reported their selections to be great! The rain stopped, so we decided to walk the loop around to the boardwalk and back. Gram thought it would be too long of a walk, so I encouraged her to sit and relax at the Yacht Club, but she ended up walking along. The heat and humidity of the day was gone. It had been replaced by cool temps and a beautiful breeze!

Once on the Boardwalk, I could see a show going on, so I directed the group over. The guy turned out to be really, really funny!!! He was balancing and flipping a baseball hat back and forth on his head. He also balanced a LONG pole on his head with a basketball hoop attached to the end. He continuously threw the basketball up and got it through the hoop!!! He was SO GOOD!!!! The show ended and I was sorry we weren’t there from the beginning. We walked a little further down the boardwalk and another show was going on. This show involved juggling and was also very good and quite funny. Jimmy and Cam loved both shows and I enjoyed watching their smiles and reactions as much as the show itself!!!

We continued walking along. Well, I should rephrase that. Some of us were walking!! Cam was running ahead and sliding on the wet Boardwalk with his sandals. Tragedy struck when Cam tumbled. He quickly stood up with a badly scraped elbow, both ankles and the ends of three toes. For the full effect, he had blood oozing out of all the scrapes! I was prepared with my little first aid kit and bandaged him up as best I could. Cam slowly limped along, grimacing with every step. When we crossed the bridge to the International Gateway, I noticed people were lined up and I realized it was 9:00 and time for Illuminations. Cam was in some pain, so I suggested that he and Gram hobble to the lobby and take a seat, while we watched the fireworks. The fireworks were, of course, pretty, but you miss a lot of the show from being outside of the park!

We met Gram and Cam and walked back to our cars. We were back to Orange Lake in about ten minutes and asleep soon after. It had been another great day!! We’ll return to Sea World tomorrow for a Kracken marathon!!!

Tuesday June 27^th

I was sound asleep when the alarm went off at 6:50. Cam groaned when I crawled over him to get to the clock. I unintentionally hit his scraped elbow, ouch!!!

We showered, made sandwiches, packed the snack bag and were off.

We arrived at Sea World at 8:20 and again waited for the parking gates to open. Soon enough, we were let in and parked. We did the routine of bag check, ticket scan, wait at the rope drop and listen to the National Anthem. We proudly held our hands to our hearts and looked at the flag. It was annoying when the family next to us continued to talk loudly and appeared to have no idea that the National Anthem was even playing!!! It was odd, as everybody was silently standing there looking at the flag, and then you had this family carrying on!!!

The park opened and Gram took Jillian and Jamie to Dolphin Cove, while the rest of us went straight to Kracken. As we approached Kracken, I could see a line forming outside the entrance and realized that the ride wasn’t running! For anyone that knows me or reads my other trip reports, you know that this is a common phenomenon that happens to our family! Whenever our plan is to go into a specific park to spend a good portion of the morning riding a specific ride, it is highly likely that said ride will be “experiencing technical difficulties”!!!

We stood in line until we heard the second recorded message that said, “because of technical difficulties, the ride will be closed for an undetermined amount of time”. The line to Journey to Atlantis was building, as well, and we tried to decide what to do; switch lines or stay put. Jimmy and Cam were fine with riding Atlantis, but all they really wanted to do was ride Kracken. However, since there was no way that we could stand in that HOT sun for God knows how long, we bailed out of line and jumped in the Atlantis line. When we were just about ready to load, I noticed that Kracken was running. The boys and I jumped out of line and jogged back to Kracken. Fortunately, there wasn’t much of a line and before we knew it we were once again going up the long hill climb! All Cam had talked about in the last 48 hours was riding Kracken again. He was excited, but nervous at the same time, as we neared the top before the huge drop. As soon as we went upside down the first time, Cam was back in his element, just loving the ride. It goes without saying that Jimmy absolutely LOVED it, as well!!!

We hurried around to go again and met Carolyn and the girls. Jen joined us to ride on Kracken, while the others went back for another ride on Atlantis. Gram was off exploring on her own. When we exited the ride, I called Gram and she came to meet us at Kracken. Carolyn and the girls weren’t back yet, so I sent the boys back for another ride on Kracken while we waited. I had Jen stay with me, since I didn’t know what Carolyn’s plan was. After a few minutes, the girls returned and Carolyn said it was fine for Jen to ride with no adult. So she ran through the line and was able to catch the boys just as they were boarding. As we waited, I came up with a new plan to compensate for the delayed opening of Kracken. I decided to skip the whale and dolphin show at 11:00, since Jimmy and Cam were dying for more rides on Kracken. Jen joined us as well. We all planned on meeting at the Pets Ahoy show between 11:45-12:00. The boys went on to ride Kracken 8 times, Jen 7, and 6 rides for myself. Twice, we waited a little longer and rode in the very front seat. It was an awesome ride. Going down the first drop was a rush unlike anything I have ever experienced!! There was also an optical illusion that your feet were going to hit the track!

We headed to the Pets Ahoy show and we all met up outside. They had all enjoyed the whale and dolphin show. It felt great to sit down in the air conditioned theater. The show was great and we all enjoyed it. There were over a 100 animals in the show, including dogs, cats, birds and even a pig! It was amazing to see all that the cats would do. We have two cats and know how fiercely independent they are, so to see them so well trained was nothing short of amazing!!!!

Next on the schedule was the Fusion Show with water sports, kites and a high dive. However, while we were walking to the theater, we could hear thunder. That wasn’t good for an outside show!! We continued on over and stopped at the large gift shop at the Wild Artic. We wandered over to the Fusion Theater, but with the loud thunder I was pretty sure there would be no show. I checked with a nearby worker who confirmed my suspicions that there would be no show, due to the weather.

We headed to the exit, but very soon we were swallowed up in a deluge of rain! We were completely soaked by the time we reached the gift shop near the exit. We stood under the awning for a bit to take a break. Cam went into the gift shop and bought a large stuffed Shamu. He was SO SOFT!!! After about ten minutes, we began the adventure of going to the car, while the storm continued to rage around us.

By the time we returned to Orange Lake, the storm had settled down, so we gathered everything up and headed to the River Island complex. The water felt heavenly!!! We used Gram’s beach balls to hold onto as the current from the lazy river gently pulled us along! This was SO relaxing, definitely vacation at its finest!!!

At one point in the lazy river, Carolyn’s earring fell off. When she said it had fallen off, a man nearby asked her what it looked like. As she went to show him her other matching earring, that fell off as well!!!! The man dove under water and found one earring downstream, while another woman retrieved her other earring! Very nice people!!! We stayed for a couple of hours and did the loop around the lazy river countless times.

Around 4:30 we returned to the villa. Tonight was the night we were going to Port Orleans for our favorite dinner of ribs and pot roast. The Cookinghams were not interested in going, so we said good-bye to them and headed out. Dinner was outstanding, as usual; pot roast for Gram and ribs for me! The food court was very quiet, which surprised me, considering it was 5:30. After we ate, the kids made a few pin trades before returning to Orange Lake.

We spent a relaxing evening at the Villa. Gram, Carolyn and I were entertained by a fabulous lightning storm. We sat on the couch and watched it dance around through the big glass sliding door. Jimmy, Cam and Jen watched “The Pirates of the Caribbean” on the portable DVD player. Jillian fell asleep on the couch and Jamie looked as if she would have liked to! We all turned in around 9:00. Back to Sea World tomorrow where Kracken awaits!!!!

I was shocked to hear on the evening news that a 12 year old boy had died today on the Rock-n-Roller coaster. I said a prayer for the family.

Wednesday June 28^th

We left around 8:00 and, again, waited to get into the parking lot. (Jim called me on the drive, to tell me that he had heard on the news in N.H., about the young boy dying on the RRC.) We parked and followed our routine of bag check, ticket scan, wait at the rope drop, listen to our National Anthem and speed walk to Kracken. Gram took Jillian and Jamie to look at the seals. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that Kracken was up and running. Yeah!!! (Didn’t want a repeat of yesterday!!!) We waited in line for the very front seat. The plan was I would go first in the front seat and then Carolyn and the kids would catch the next coaster and go in the front seat together. Carolyn thought that we should all go on the same coaster and either she or I should just ride in the second seat. I knew that I wanted another opportunity to ride in the very front seat and I thought Carolyn should experience it, as well. I tried to reassure Carolyn that it was worth the extra few minutes. I went first, and what can I say, what a rush, the front seat is amazing!!! Carolyn said she enjoyed it, as well. We all hurried around for a second ride. After that, we met Gram and the girls and rode Journey to Atlantis. Gram declined another ride. Jimmy was kind enough to volunteer to sit up front by himself and sacrifice his body for a soaking!! As it turned out, he didn’t get drenched. I wonder since he doesn’t weigh much, if that was why the boat didn’t dip down.

The boys and I returned to Kracken (where else!!!!) while the girls stayed on Atlantis. (Jamie has taken a liking to the ride after hating it the first time!) The boys and I were able to snag the front seat again, in addition to catching an additional two more rides. After the third ride, Jen joined us again and we made plans to meet everybody at the whale and dolphin show. We rode two more times and I have come to the conclusion that we will never tire of this ride!!!!

At the Whale and Dolphin Theater, I spotted Gram waving to us, so we went and sat with them. The whale and dolphin show was completely new since our last visit. This show included acrobats, high divers and beautiful birds flying through the theater. The entire show was great and we all enjoyed it! One odd thing, though, there were no whales in the show. Sorta odd since it was the whale and dolphin show. When we exited, we walked by a performer and a man inquired on where the whales were. The performer answered with “Oh, we just thought we’d try the show with no whales”. The man then asked if the whales would be in the next show and she said that “yes” she thought so. Seemed strange to me. Seems like a whale and dolphin show should have a whale in it!!!!!

We stopped in a gift shop that had some discounted merchandise in it. I bought Cam a Kracken t-shirt for $5.00 and a visor for myself for $2.88. Gram and the Cookinghams made a few purchases, as well.

We arrived at the Wild Artic and, when we saw the line for the simulated ride, opted to do the non-simulated one instead. We watched the movie, then walked out to see the polar bear. Near that exhibit was a sheet of thick ice on the wall. We all leaned up against it and let it chill our hot bodies. It felt SO GOOD!!!! Next up was the Beluga whales and then a walrus. The walrus was HUGE!!! I always forget how large those creatures are!! By the time we left the wild artic, I was cool and refreshed, we all were! Carolyn, Jillian and Jamie walked over to the Shamu kids area to check it out. The rest of us went to the Fusion show. It began by workers coming out with kites that they demonstrated, while fellow workers came out with hula hoops, bubbles and some remote control boats, all for the kids to go down and use. Later on, these same workers danced throughout the show. The show consisted of some EXCELLENT water skiing. That was really fun to watch. At one point, they were flying these HUGE kites from behind the speedboats. It was a wonder that they didn’t get the long tails tangled!!! There was also a high diver and when he dove into the water Jimmy exclaimed, “WOW!!” All in all, it was a great show. We met up with Carolyn and the girls and headed out of the park.

When I unlocked the car and reached in to start it and open the windows, I felt like I had put my head in an oven!!! (Carolyn told me later that when she stood up after starting the car, one of the girls said, “Mom, your face is purple!!!”) Boy, was it HOT!!!!

Back at Orange Lake, we decided to hang out for an hour, before going to the pool. Big mistake!!! It was great to relax in the villa but, unfortunately, when we arrived at the pool an hour later, it began to thunder and the pool closed. We returned to the villa with plans to go back to the pool as soon as the storm passed. Well, it was still raging on four hours later, so we never made it back. The kids all seemed content to hang out, so all was not lost! We were in bed by 9:00. Tomorrow the boys and I are going to Animal Kingdom to get some rides on Expedition Everest, the Cookinghams are going back to Sea World to concentrate on the Shamu kids area, while Gram hangs out at Orange Lake.

Thursday June 29^th

Our last day at Orange Lake, Boo Hoo!!!! I reminded the boys that most people would be ending their vacations tomorrow and going home after one week. Not us though, we were checking into Disney tomorrow and still have another week and a half to go!!!

We headed out at 8:15 and drove to the nearby Animal Kingdom. Once on Disney property, my very low gas gauge dropped to empty and two warning bells went off. Oh no, that wasn’t good!!! We parked and walked in, where we encountered the longest bag check line I have ever seen. Eventually, we got our bag checked and the security man gave me a big smile and wished me a good day! I have often read about the separate entrance through the Rain Forest Café, and Jimmy suggested we try it. What a GREAT move!!! The line to get in at the main entrance was LONG!! The line at the entrance though the Rain Forest was a measly two people!!! This was awesome!!! None of our AP’s worked. The worker rubbed them a few times and presto, they worked and scanned just fine! The CM thanked us for coming and wished us a good day. Nice touch! That is why I LOVE Disney so much. The kids made a few pin trades and we walked up near the Tree of Life for the rope drop. We watched the pre-show and when Mickey appeared, it was fun to see all the young kids around us get SO EXCITED! At this point, I heard a CM say that Expedition Everest had a “slight delay”. Oh bother, why does this always happen to us??? Our plan was to come in just for Expedition Everest. Now our plan for multiple rides with a relatively short wait went right out of the window!! We made a new plan. The kids would ride the Primevil Whirl, while I went to get FPs for Everest. We all walked to Dinoland and I watched them safely walk into the line. I then continued on to Everest and found myself in a mob scene. People were EVERYWHERE!!!!! I got into a line for FPs (if you could call it that, it was more like being squished together with a thousand of my closest friends!!!) While I waited, the FP return time changed from 10:30 to 10:35 to 10:40 and, finally, my time of 10:45!! I got the FPs and got myself the heck out of there!!!! As I was walking back to Dinoland, I encountered two parents, toddler and grandma. The parents looked like they were trying to leave the child with Grandma (I assume to go to Everest) and the child was screaming, while Grandma was trying to comfort the child as the parents walked away. One thought came to my mind: I sure don’t miss those days!!!!

Back at Primeval Whirl, I noticed that the left side was running. Odd, since it was the right side that was going when I left the boys 15 minutes ago. I also noticed a CM with a ladder on the right side. I didn’t think much more about it and was scanning the ride for the boys. I heard a distinct yell of “mom”, but I couldn’t spot the kids. However, on the next yell I spotted the sweet faces of my boys, all smiles waving at me as they went around a corner. When they got off the ride and met me at the exit, Jimmy had a smile on his face that I knew meant he had something to tell me. On our walk back to Everest, he filled me in on their excitement. They had indeed gone in on the right side and had ridden the ride about half way through, when it suddenly came to a stop. They sat and waited about ten minutes to be rescued. They were then escorted to the other side of the ride and into a waiting car, where they rode around. What excitement!!!! I was glad that everything had worked out. It never occurred to me that there would be any problem after I got them in line and left.

Expedition Everest was open and the sign proclaimed that the wait to be 30 min, Ugh!!!! We had come to this park planning on taking 3-4 rides in rapid succession in the first 30-45 minutes, oh well!! We hopped in line where the wait was more like 20 minutes. Jimmy and Cam sat together and I sat in front of them. A girl of about 8 sat next to me with her mom and brother in front of us. The girl loudly complained that the ride was “too slow” until we got to the part that goes backward. She then screamed with delight for the rest of the ride. Apparently, this girl loves coasters, and the faster the better!!

We exited the ride and got in line again. The sign said a 45-minute wait. We had only waited about five minutes, when an announcement came on saying that the ride was down and to leave the line. I looked up and saw a stalled coaster on the big hill climb. The three of us came to the conclusion that it wasn’t in our destiny to get many rides on Everest today!!! I suggested that we go and ride the Kali River Rapid ride. Cam was up for it, but Jimmy didn’t care about it one way or another. The sign said a 30-minute wait and I think that turned out to be pretty accurate. Although the wait was hot, it certainly was interesting. In the past we have always either had FPs or walked right onto the ride. Consequently, we have never had the opportunity to appreciate the queue. It really was neat with so many interesting things to look at! The family in front of us had three children. The youngest, about four, was all over the place. Hanging on the rope, going on the other side of the rope and touching things that you clearly aren’t supposed to touch. The mother attempted a few times to reign the child in, but would then give up. Jimmy noticed it and we exchanged glances. It wasn’t that the girl was especially naughty, it was that the mother had no control. I didn’t raise my kids like that. If my kids had wandered on the other side of the rope, I would have told them to come back and they would have. End of story! I just watch these families and scratch my head. Our lives have always been so pleasant, with well behaved kids. They always knew that “no” meant “no”! Since I followed through, they always knew that it wasn’t worth their trouble to test me!!

Jimmy and I put ponchos on, while Cam was fine with getting soaked. Jimmy and I had on jean shorts, which wouldn’t feel very comfortable when soaked!! We had a great ride and, “yes”, Cam got DRENCHED!!!! Jimmy and I were fairly damp, despite the ponchos. In fact, everybody on our raft looked pretty soaked! After the ride, I snapped a picture of Cam dripping wet!

We walked back to Everest to see if, by any chance, it was up and running, and it was. We used our FPs and walked right on with no wait.

We pin traded our way out of the park. We were somewhat disappointed that our plans for riding Everest multiple times never materialized, but what can you do! We exited the park. On our way to the parking lot, we walked by the “Welcome to Animal Kingdom” sign. There was a family of four there with the dad taking the picture. The mom, who apparently had posed long enough said, “come on now, just take the picture already!” The dad’s reply made me giggle. He said. “Smile honey, you’re at the most magical place on Earth!”

We opened up our car, which was like an oven again. I kept my fingers crossed the whole way that we wouldn’t run out of gas. Every time that I heard the alarm sound my stomach flipped. I just couldn’t imagine running out of gas and having to walk very far in this heat! I think we made it to the gas station running on fumes!

I called Gram and told her that we would be back shortly. She offered to make us grilled cheese sandwiches, which was so nice of her. Back at the villa, we told Gram all about our morning at Animal Kingdom. After we ate, we all hopped in the car and drove to the Wilderness Lodge. We wanted to visit CM Sandra one more time while we still had the car. As always, we enjoyed our visit and the kids made some great pin trades. Sandra had brought in some bracelets that she had made to show us. They were lovely.

On the ride back to Orange Lake, we all made predictions if the Cookinghams would be back from Sea World yet. They weren’t. We quickly put on our suits and went to the River Island complex. We wanted to get some swimming in before the daily storm hit.

As usual, the water felt great and the lazy river was SO RELAXING!! We floated around for about an hour before the thunder began. As we walked to the car, big drops of rain started to fall. We returned to the villa and there was no sign of the Cookinghams. (We found out later that they had gotten back and we must have been driving out of the pool parking lot while they were driving in.)

We quickly changed and headed right back out. The thunder was quite loud, but there was only a little bit of lightning. We considered eating a dinner buffet at the Golden Corral, but the kids weren’t that excited about it, so we didn’t bother. We drove to Animal Kingdom Lodge to get zebra domes for what I expect will be the last time this trip. (It was. It just takes too long to get from resort to resort when you don’t have a car.) Gram made a new discovery here, in that you could ask to buy a package with five zebra domes in it. (What is packaged to sell is three zebra domes and some sort of a chocolate tart.) That was awesome, as we LOVE the zebra domes, but don’t care so much for the tart. It did take a while for the CM to make up these packages, but it was well worth the wait! We all had our fill, then Gram went back and bought another four packages for us to dine on back at the villa. It appeared that we might have an overdose of zebra domes, but we all survived intact!!!! We were in zebra dome heaven!!!!

Back at Orange Lake, we met up with the Cookinghams. They had a great day at Sea World and were in the process of gorging themselves, so they could finish up all their food before we checked out tomorrow!!!

We headed to the pool complex for our last time. Sob!!! The area was very quiet. I’m not sure if it was because it was 6:30 in the evening, or that the storm had cleared everybody out and they hadn’t returned. Whatever the reason, we enjoyed the fact that not many people were there! At 7:00, all the rented tubes had to be returned. Once that happened, pretty much everybody left. We ended up having the lazy river to ourselves from 7:00-9:00. I can’t even describe how relaxing it was just floating along. I tried to soak everything in, not knowing if we’d ever have the opportunity to return to Orange Lake again. (That night was one of the highlights of the whole vacation.)

With heavy hearts, we left the River Island complex one last time and returned to the villa. Packing everything up was a challenge. I needed to get all the additional food that I had bought for the next week into my suitcase. I wanted everything contained so that the bellhops could easily store it for us, until the room was ready. I froze all of my water bottles so I could put them in my cooler tomorrow. (Shockingly enough, I still had ice in those bottles until the following Thursday!!! It was great to be able to go back to our room and always have a cold drink!) The boys finished off our remaining refrigerated food, ice cream and Jell-O before going to bed.

Friday June 30^th

We woke up today, all sad to be leaving Orange Lake, but also excited to be on Disney property! We loaded up all of our luggage into the cars; another tight fit! We stripped the beds and put all of our linen in the tub and brought out all of the trash, one last time.

It was less than a ten-minute ride to the All Star Music. The bellhop stored all of our luggage and we checked in. There wasn’t a wait, so that was nice. Of course, our rooms weren’t ready. It was only 9:30 and rooms aren’t guaranteed until 4:00. The best part about getting checked in is that, even though the rooms aren’t ready, you can do the whole check-in procedure. The CM just gives you a phone number to call throughout the day, and when the room is ready they will tell you the room number. They give you the key, so you don’t have to go back to the desk at all. With that accomplished, Gram and the boys went to the pool to get into their swimsuits. Carolyn, the girls and I drove our cars to the Disney car care center to return them. It was a quick drive and, as soon as we pulled in, a woman came out to check in the cars. It took all of about two minutes. We then waited about three minutes for the National/Alamo shuttle to drive us back to the All Stars. It was a quick, easy, painless process.

Gram and the boys were surprised that we were back so soon. We quickly got in our suits and joined them in the pool. There was some heavy equipment set up at the giant maraca. It lifted some workers up to the top of the maraca where they were scrubbing it. That was interesting to see!

We swam for a couple of hours. The kids had so much fun together, laughing and playing. Actually, all week there has been non-stop chatter between all of them. I can’t imagine putting another group of five kids together and have them all get along so perfectly!!! The way the kids are together is what makes our vacations with the Cookinghams SO MUCH FUN!!!!! While we were swimming, we saw a family of four; mom, dad, brother and sister walk by. They were all wearing fluorescent orange, bucket style hats that were tied under their chins!!!! Hmm!!!!!

Gram called to inquire about our room, but it wasn’t ready. The Cookinghams, the boys and I decided to walk around the resort. We knew we were in the Jazz building, so we made a game out of trying to guess which room was going to be ours. (None of our guesses were anywhere near where our actual room turned out to be!!) We strolled down the street in the Broadway section and looked at the giant cowboy boots in the Country Fair section. Lastly, we looked at the piano pool and the Rock section. After our little tour, we returned to the pool for more swimming.

Around 1:00 we went into the food court to see about lunch. It was pretty quiet in there and in no time we were sitting down to eat. When we finished eating, Carolyn called about our room and it was ready. Ya!!! It wasn’t quite 2:00 yet, so that was great!

We gathered up our stuff and went to find our room. After one wrong turn, we located our rooms. We had wanted connecting rooms, but, although they were side by side, they weren’t connected. Oh well, that was fine. What was a matter of concern was the fact that the carpet was SOAKED!!! It was so wet that water actually squished up between your toes as you walked across the room! There was a note on the table saying that our carpet had been cleaned today. I, however, found the amount of water unacceptable. In my opinion, the room needed a day to dry out and should have been left vacant. Carolyn’s rug, while not quite as wet as ours, was wet as well. In addition to our wet rug, there was a dirty washcloth, used soap and a small pool of water around the sink! Ugh!!! I know we should have asked for a new room, but there were several reasons that I didn’t. The first being that I was hot and tired. I didn’t want to return to the food court to wait for another room. I just wanted to stretch out on the bed and enjoy the air conditioning. Also, we were in the Jazz building as I had requested, and in rooms side by side. I didn’t want to chance getting stuck in the Country Fair section or at the opposite end of the resort as the Cookinghams. I have never had this happen before at the value resorts and I hope it was just a fluke!

We met the Cookinghams at 5:00, to go to the Contemporary, for the kid’s pin trading night. We caught the bus to the MK and the monorail to the Contemporary. We were 5^th in line, so that was good. We passed the time by looking in the shops and getting food in the food court to munch on. The kids also took turns with the Gameboy DS. 7:00 arrived and we talked briefly to Barbara, telling her what a great time we had at Disney Quest. The five kids had their turn and had a great time trading. Jamie was only trading one pin, so I gave her four of my pins and asked her to trade for any Chip & Dale lanyard pins that she saw. I didn’t really think she would come out with any, but, sure enough, she did!! Thanks, Jamie!!! The kids all returned with pins that they were happy with. We hung out until 8:00 for the first drawing. Shockingly enough, Jen won AGAIN!!!! We were so excited, but also scratching our collective heads, wondering how she could win two Fridays in a row!!!! Jimmy and Cam have attended this event many times and have never won!!

We caught the monorail to the MK to make our transfer. This was by far the LONGEST monorail ride of ALL TIME!!!! We stopped four different times on the track, either waiting for clearance or because they were adding another monorail to the track. The monorail diver was quite funny and entertaining! He came on several times to alert us as to why we were sitting there not moving. One time he said in a movie announcer voice “sit back, relax and enjoy the soothing sounds of the………….air conditioning!!!!!” Another time he told us to “enjoy the view”. This was in a place with NO view!!!!

On the monorail ride, Jen very generously gave Jimmy and Cam the pin she won in the drawing. It was extremely nice of her and the boys were thrilled. (When we returned to the room, I gave her five trader pins in exchange for the artist proof pin. That way she could trade for more of the pins that she was collecting.)

We finally arrived at the MK and walked to the bus stop. We had no wait for the bus, which was nice, and quickly returned to the resort.

We settled into bed around 10:00. Everyone is excited to go to Animal Kingdom tomorrow. We skipped this park two years ago when we were here with the Cookinghams, so everything will be new to them. I am sleeping with my fingers crossed all night, in hopes that Expedition Everest will be up and running when the park opens!

Saturday July 1^st

What a terrible night!!!! After sharing a king size bed with Cam for the last week at Orange Lake, the double bed just doesn’t cut it!!! Cam kicked me ALL NIGHT LONG!!!

We met the Cookinghams at 7:15 to head to Animal Kingdom. Short wait for the bus and we were on our way. We breezed through the bag check and had a short wait for the ticket turnstiles to open. Carolyn was slightly concerned about their new tickets working, but they all worked fine.

We waited at the rope drop. I hoped they would still do the pre-show, even though it was extra magic hour. I wanted the girls to get a chance to see it. Happily, the show went on. Carolyn videotaped it, Jillian stood in the stroller and I held Jamie so she could see it all. As soon as the show ended, we all hurried over to Everest. Gram pushed the empty stroller and was nice enough to snag everybody FPs for Everest. (It makes poor Gram nervous, to have all eight tickets for fear of having the responsibility of losing one.) We literally walked right onto the ride. Jamie was pretty nervous. I asked her if she wanted to ride with me. That way I could talk her through the ride and she would know what was coming next. I hoped that would help her not get scared of the unknown and freak out, like she did on her first ride on Journey to Atlantis. (It worked. She LOVED it!!!) Jillian and Carolyn rode together, Jimmy and Jen, while Cam rode alone. Everybody LOVED it!!! We hurried around to go again. Once in line Cam realized he had left his lanyard loaded with pins on the train! (He did the same thing on our trip two months ago!!) I ran back to the gift shop and asked Gram to wait for the lanyard to be returned. I then rejoined everybody in line. We were able to walk right onto the ride a second time in a row. (What a difference when a ride is up and running at opening, as opposed to a delay!!) We all split up into different groups for another ride through the Himalayas!

We walked over to a deserted Dinoland. Carolyn and Jamie went to the Triceratops Spin. The three older kids hopped in line for the Primeval Whirl, while Jillian and I ran to the nearby bathroom. Jillian went super fast and we ran back to the ride. The three kids were getting ready to board, so I yelled at them to step aside and wait for Jillian to join them. They did and Jillian hurried up the ramp to meet them. I imagine Jillian was probably out of breath by the time she stepped onto the ride, but hey, she made it!!!! Carolyn and Jamie finished their ride and were going to go back on for a second ride. However, Carolyn heard something about a screw falling off and the ride closed!! Oh well! Carolyn measured Jamie for the Whirl. She thought she would be one inch too short but as it turned out she was tall enough, go figure!!! Carolyn, Jamie and I rode together, while the other four kids rode together. Everyone had a great time. As we were nearing the exit of the ride, I told Carolyn that in April, the kids and I had ridden it four times in a row, without having to get off. Carolyn didn’t think her stomach would be up for that!!!

We met Gram and walked over to the Dinosaur ride. On the walk over, we spotted the “orange hat family”! I was excited about going on this ride so I could get into the air conditioning!!!! There was no wait. We walked right into the pre-show with the Cosby Mom. As we were getting ready to get in our Time Rover, the CM said, “Put the kids in front, that way you can save on college costs!!! I always forget how LOUD this ride is!!! It was a close call, but we somehow avoided the meteorite and safely made it back!!!

We split up here. Gram was gracious enough to walk all the way over to Africa to pick up FPs for the safari, while the rest of us went back to Everest to ride using our FPs. The plan was to meet at the Its Tough to be a Bug show. On this ride, (our third) Carolyn sat in the very front seat and videotaped the entire ride! (It came out great!) Of course Jimmy and Cam love this ride, but it seems like everybody else is enjoying it as well!!

We met Gram at the Tree of Life. The sign said a 5-minute wait, but there was no wait at all! On the walk in we enjoyed looking at all the carvings on the tree. Cam made an awesome pin trade with the CM moving the strollers. He traded for a lanyard pirate flag pin! It felt great to sit down in the theater. As always, the show was great, with spectacular effects!! We were sprayed with “acid”, survived the bee sting, and held our noses when the stinkbug let loose!

I sent everybody toward Africa, while I hustled back to Everest to grab more FPs. We would all meet at the safari. I secured the FPs then hiked over to Africa. On the way I saw “Devine” for the first time ever! She was incredible and could really blend in! I called Gram on the cell phone to see where they were. They were taking their time, browsing in the various gift shops. I told her to hurry up. Once they showed up, I guided them quickly back to where Devine was. She was just finishing up and heading off stage, but everyone got to see her for a few minutes. Gram was especially glad to see her, because she had heard so much about her on a podcast!

We used our FPs for the safari and bypassed a 40 minute wait! (Thanks for getting the FPs Gram!) Not nearly as many animals were out that we normally see, but we still saw quite a few.

I sent everybody to get in line for the 11:40 Lion King show, while I trudged back to Asia to get FPs for the Kali River Rapid ride. It was downright steamy and I could feel the effects. I was happy to get all the FPs though, as I wanted the Cookinghams, as well as Jimmy and Cam, to get to see as much of Animal Kingdom as possible. I met everyone outside of the Lion King show and we were soon let inside. I am so glad that this theater is now enclosed and has air conditioning! We were in the lion section; ROAR!!! What can I say about the show, it’s AWESOME, one of my favorite attractions! The singers were outstanding, great dancers, terrific acrobats and, of course, Timon is very funny too!! A big thumbs up from everybody!!!

Back out in the heat, we went directly to the Kali River Rapid ride. Neither Gram, nor I, wanted to get completely drenched, so we threw on ponchos. It goes without saying that everybody got soaked!! It’s funny because when the ride begins, I always watch everybody flinch at the slightest splash of water. All I ever think is “Don’t bother to flinch. In a minute you will BE SOAKED to your underwear!!!! Of course, everybody was dripping wet. Despite the poncho, I was pretty damp myself!

At this point, Gram headed back to the resort. The rest of us went to catch one more ride on Everest with our FPs. Everyone enjoyed their fourth ride. I don’t think we will ever tire of this ride!!! I had Grams two FPs, since she didn’t ride, so the boys hustled around for their fifth ride of the day. During this time Carolyn purchased a picture of everyone riding Everest. I stood in a LONG line to buy cousin David an Expedition Everest T-shirt. (Kathy is giving it to David for Christmas. I hope he likes it!)

We headed for the exit. I was dying of thirst and we were all VERY hungry. I had packed many snacks and drinks in my backpack, but they were long gone! Thankfully, we only waited about three minutes for a bus and we were soon back at the resort.

As soon as we hit the food court, I gave Cam an empty water bottle to go and fill up for me. (Did I mention that I was THIRSTY!!!!) Jimmy went to the pizza/pasta line and ordered two personal cheese pizzas. I stood in a different line and ordered myself a taco salad. Our food was quickly ready and we all filled our bellies. It was now 2:00 and Jimmy had been starving since 12:00, so it was great to eat. The Cookinghams had all walked back to their room to get their refillable mugs, before ordering any food. Unfortunately, when they did order their large pizza, it took forever for them to get it. We had finished eating lunch and our dessert of cheesecake before they even sat down to eat. We sat with them for a bit, then said good-bye, with plans to meet at 5:00 to go into the Magic Kingdom.

It felt great to stretch out on the bed in the cool air conditioning. Gram had a nap and I worked on the trip report. The kids watched a new Disney DVD “Sky High” starring Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston, on their portable DVD player. I offered to bring the kids to the pool, but they opted to just hang out and watch the movie.

We met the Cookinghams at 5:00. Did they ever have a tale to tell!!! Apparently, Jenny had put her retainer, wrapped in a napkin, on her lap while she ate lunch. When she finished, she realized that it had disappeared!! They figured it must have fallen out of her lap and onto the floor where it had been swept up by the ever present cleaning crew! Carolyn approached several CMs to try and determine where the sweepers had emptied their trash. The language barrier made it difficult, because the CMs she approached didn’t seem to understand English. Finally, Carolyn found someone who told her that it was probably in one of three trashcans. Carolyn asked for gloves, so she could search through the trash. One of the CMs offered to help her, which was so nice. Thankfully, the CM found it, and they all breathed a sigh of relief that the $490.00 retainer had been found!!!! Carolyn gave the worker $20.00 and many thanks!

We arrived at the MK and there were no lines for the bag check or the ticket turnstile. Even Main Street was quiet and pretty deserted! I found this shocking for a Saturday evening on a Holiday weekend!! Jimmy and Gram pin traded up one side of Main Street, while Cam and I did the other. We planned to meet the Cookinghams at the tip board in 15 minutes. Even the stores were quiet. It was easy to pin trade because the CMs were standing near quiet registers or standing near a door.

We met at the tip board. Everyone went to order Dole Whips, while I hiked over to Space Mountain to get FPs. The Magic Kingdom is my favorite park and I enjoyed just walking over to Tomorrowland. Although Main Street was so quiet, the line at Space Mountain is what you would expect, 50 minutes.

I met everybody at the Dole Whip stand and they were still standing in line. I was surprised, because it had taken me awhile to walk all the way to Space Mountain and back again! Everyone enjoyed the Dole Whips, but probably most of all, Gram, I think it is her all time favorite treat!!!

One of the few things we had not done with the Cookinghams two years ago was the Swiss Family Treehouse, so we walked on through. Next, Carolyn and the kids went on Aladdin’s Magic Carpet ride with a 10-minute wait. Jim called me, so I sat down and had a nice chat with him.

We then had a nice surprise that The Pirates of the Caribbean had re-opened. We were excited to see the new changes. The first change was a steady flow of thick fog with a projection of Davey Jones on it. It was really neat. We went right through the fog and the image disappeared. We saw Jack Sparrow three times and he was so realistic. Jillian even said that she really thought it was Johnny Depp!!! They definitely did a good job of creating that autioaminatronic!!!

We meandered over to Thunder Mountain and picked up FPs that were good in 45 minutes. To pass the time, we walked over to the Haunted Mansion. I was feeling hungry, so I sent everybody else on, while I ran into the Columbia Harbor House to get a sandwich. I also ordered a chicken strip basket for Gram and the kids to share. There was no place to sit down and the upstairs was roped off. I ended up putting my tray on a large wooden box near the entrance. I just stood there and ate my sandwich. I enjoyed looking out of the large window, watching the world go by. When I finished, I went outside and sat on the curb, and waited for everybody. Soon enough, they all came out. Gram and the boys devoured the chicken and fries!

We returned to Thunder Mountain and walked right on with the FPs. It’s always fun to pass all of the people in the long standby line. Plan, people, plan!!!! We asked for and received the four last seats. I rode with Jamie at her request. She held her hands up throughout the ride, totally enjoying all the twists, turns and dips.

It was only 8:15, but we decided to grab a spot for Specto Magic. We lined right up in front of the rope in Frontierland, across from the Liberty Tree Tavern. It was the same spot that we watched the parade from two years ago with the Cookinghams. A CM came by and asked the kids if they wanted to do a trivia game. Jimmy, Cam, Jillian and Jamie went into the street to play. The four kids were all smiling and appeared to have a good time. Jimmy came back after awhile and said the questions were super easy. At one point he even had to correct the CM!!!!!! (I told you he is a Disney kid!!) The CM asked the kids to name three Disney water parks. Jimmy had to break it to him that since River Country has been closed for years, there are only two Disney water parks!!!! Carolyn went and got a pretzel and a churro for the girls. I went and bought three ice cream cookies sandwiches for the boys and I, and a fruit juice bar for Gram. At one point, Jamie returned from the trivia game to sit down and eat her snack. When she returned to the game, a young girl plopped herself right down in Jamie’s spot. Carolyn told her to move, as it was her daughter’s spot and the girl continued to sit there!!!! Her parents were right there and weren’t bothered in the least that their daughter was sitting with another family!!! Carolyn got the girl to move and all of the kids returned to get ready for the parade. Right before the parade, Jamie was picked to “shut out the lights for the parade”. At precisely the right moment, Jamie rubbed her hands together and presto, the lights went out!!! Carolyn began videotaping the parade. I reminded her that she had taped the entire thing two years ago and her response was “I know, but I just love it!” A true Disney convert!!!! The parade was awesome! The lights were beautiful, the characters fun and the music full of good memories!

After the parade, Gram headed to Main Street to watch Wishes and to make a quick getaway to the buses. We hurried over to Space Mountain. On the walk over, Jimmy said his legs were aching terribly and he wished he had gone with Gram. We made it to Space Mountain and walked right on the ride with the FPs. The four older kids went together, while Carolyn, Jamie and I went together. The four kids screamed for fun throughout the ride and thoroughly enjoyed themselves!! (They have had SO MUCH fun together on this trip. Whenever they are together it is non-stop talking and laughing. I would think that they would run out of things to talk about but they never seemed to!!! Visiting Disney with friends is SO MUCH FUN!!!)

When we exited Space Mountain, Wishes was going on. We enjoyed the fireworks and music as we walked to Fantasyland. We literally walked right onto Pooh and sat down in the honey pot with no wait at all!!! Even though the boys are getting older, we still love to take a quick ride around!

Next, we scurried onto Snow Whites Scary Adventure. Again, there was no wait. We haven’t been on this for a while, so it was fun.

Peter Pan awaited us with only a five-minute wait. Peter Pan holds so many good memories and is a family favorite! (Especially when there is no wait!!)

We still had FPs for Splash Mountain burning a hole in our pockets, so we walked on over. In the end, no FPs were needed, we walked right on the ride! Cam wanted NO part of the ride! The kid who owned Kracken only days ago, thought that the drop on Splash looked too big!!! Go figure!! With STRONG encouragement from me, Cam went on. He said that if he was going on, he wanted me to buy the ride photo and I agreed. Cam was so nervous that he didn’t enjoy the ride. He survived the drop and realized that it was nothing scary. (Cam had ridden this ride at least ten times, but for some reason, on our April trip, he got it into his mind that it was too scary!!!) When we came around to exit the ride, there was no one waiting, so everyone, except for me, stayed on for another ride. I jumped out to buy the ride photo. (In retrospect, I should have stayed on, rode again and bought the next picture because it was SO much BETTER!!) Cam ended up riding alone in the backseat for the second ride and had his hands high above his head for the drop!!! So much for being afraid!!!!

It was now 11:15 and the park was closed. The park was so pretty at night, all lit up. I love walking down Main Street at night.

A bus was just pulling out, but another pulled right in. There was standing room only, but we were happy to be headed back so soon. We walked into our room at 12:15. We crawled into bed and talked to Gram for a bit. Another great day!! I told Carolyn that we would meet between 9:00-9:30 tomorrow morning to go to Downtown Disney.

Sunday July 2^nd

Jimmy slept until 8:00, while the rest of us woke up at 7:30. Cam had another night terror last night and was screaming about his arm.

At 8:00 I left a note under the Cookinghams door, to meet at 9:30. We had left it up in the air last night saying between 9:00-9:30. The boys were feeling lazy, so I figured there was no need to rush out the door at 9:00. Unfortunately, the Cookinghams were all ready to leave at 9:00 and didn’t notice the note until they came out at 9:00 to meet us. Lesson learned; just pick one time, not a range!

We headed out at 9:30 and as soon as we went outside, you could feel the humidity. The air even felt hot and heavy to breath! The kids chatted up a storm on the entire ride to the Marketplace. (God knows, they haven’t seen each other for a whole nine hours and fifteen minutes!!!!!)

At the Marketplace we split up with plans to meet in an hour in the gift shop at the Rain Forest Café. We spent the majority of our time at the toy store. We finally bought one of the potato heads with all the cute Disney accessories. We LOVE to do window decoration at the All Stars and Pop Century. We knew this would be a great addition to our display! The kids put a lot of thought into getting a good variety of pieces!

The four of us grabbed a quick sandwich at the Earl of Sandwich. (You haven’t lived until you have had one of these sandwiches, just outstanding!!!!) The kids had the pizza sandwich and, for $1.95, it has got to be the best bargain on Disney property!!!

We met the Cookinghams in the gift shop at The Rainforest Cafe. Carolyn had considered eating here, but changed her mind. If they had eaten here, we were going to go too, and just order dessert. Instead, they decided to eat at Wolfgang Pucks. We said good-bye with plans to meet in the late afternoon to go swimming.

Gram wanted to see the pirate area in the World of Disney store, so we walked over there, before heading out. We waited about ten minutes for a bus. The bus ride from the All-Stars to Downtown Disney is LONG!!

As we were walking through the lobby, I spotted Jen leaving the food court. She was going to the room to get their mugs. I was surprised to see her, as I thought they were at Wolfgang Pucks. Apparently, there wasn’t room there to sit inside, and sitting outside in the heat wasn’t an option. They came back to the resort to eat. We went inside and ordered sundaes and sat down to eat with them. As usual, the kids kept laughing and laughing together. Cam took out the potato head and spread all the accessories on the table. Everyone had fun looking everything over. Jimmy and Cam created a fashion sensation by taking the potato Head yellow hoop pirate earring and hanging it from their ears!!!

We returned to the room. The Cookinghams had their daily nap. Gram napped, as well, I worked on the trip report, Cam played with the new potato head and Jimmy watched the Pirates of the Caribbean. During this time, a HUGE storm raged outside, complete with thunder, lightning and torrential downpours! Around 4:00 the storm ended and the pool re-opened, so we headed out. I put a note under the Cookinghams door to let them know we were going to the pool. Carolyn heard the paper rustling and answered the door. The three girls were still sound asleep. She said they would see us at the pool. I brought all of our dirty laundry to the pool with us. Once everything was in the machine, a woman told me that dryer #3 was “magic”. She said that it worked for free. Cool! I thanked her for the tip.

The water at the pool felt great. We all swam around for a half hour before the Cookinghams arrived. The kids had a ball together. (Again!!) Carolyn brought her laundry, as well. While swimming, we spotted the “orange hat” family again!! (Honestly, you could not pay me to wear a hat like that tied under my chin in this heat. I won’t even go into the style or color of the hat! Jim would absolutely laugh me right out the door if I ever suggested that our family wear such a thing. Possibly matching Red Sox hats, but that’s it!!!!)

I did indeed get to dry all of my clothes for free in dryer #3!!!! (Carolyn did, as well!!) Something free at Disney!!!! I brought all of the clothes back to the room. When I returned, Carolyn told me that Jillian said that a boy had approached her and said, “I am having fun observing you”. Carolyn was concerned, as was I. I think we were both imagining a teenager saying this, which would have been troubling. However, the boy turned out to be about eight. For the rest of the vacation, the kids would swim up to each other and say in a serious tone “I am having fun observing you”, then howl with laughter!!!

We were at the pool for over three hours. Gram ordered her dinner and ate in the food court. I went into the food court to use the microwave. I warmed up Chef Boyardee Mac and cheese and ravioli that I had brought from home for the boys. They were happy with their meal and I was happy to save some money! While hanging out, Gram called cousin David. She happened to mention that we were going to the Magic Kingdom tomorrow. He said something about it opening up at 8:00. That was a surprise, because we all thought it opened at 9:00. I checked to see if there was an EMH hour tomorrow and there wasn’t. This began a flutter of calls back and forth to David, along with a call to guest information and a check on the resort T.V. We confirmed that it did indeed open at 8:00. It wasn’t an EMH, just an hour early, because it was the day before July 4^th. (A HUGE THANK YOU to David. I would have been totally disappointed to show up an hour after opening and miss walking on a few rides in the first hour!!!!!)

The Cookinghams all showered then went to the food court for dinner. We joined them and had dessert. (Again!!!)

At 8:30 we called it a night and returned to the room for an early bedtime. Magic Kingdom tomorrow.

Monday July 3^rd

We were up by 6:30 and met the Cookinghams by 7:00. We walked right onto a waiting bus. We rode to the Magic Kingdom with only one other family and an older couple. The kids were very excited and a little loud on the bus ride!

We were first in line at the ticket turnstile, which is always fun! At 7:45 we went into the park and waited under the train station. There was no opening show, but the train did pull up full of characters.

As we were walking up Main Street, I offered to go over to Space Mountain to get FPs for everyone, while they went to Splash Mountain. While I waited for the rope to drop in Tomorrowland, I noticed a little boy who was nearby crying. He was probably 5 or 6 years old. His mother loudly called him “selfish” and said that he only cared about what he wanted to do. When the rope dropped, the little boy started to cry much harder, as the mother dragged him to Space Mountain. I had to wonder who the “selfish” one was here, the poor boy, who was obviously scared to death, or the mother who was making him ride so she herself could ride. Let me say, I have nothing against making your kid ride something, if you’re 99% sure they will like it. (I just did that with Cam the other night on Splash Mountain!) However, it is certainly NOT NECESSARY to call your child “selfish” for not wanting to ride!!

I got the FPs and began the long trek to Splash Mountain. I think every pore in my body was working overtime pushing out sweat! Yuck!!! It was so HOT! Fantasyland was pretty quiet, as was Liberty Square. I just enjoy walking through a quiet Magic Kingdom and not have to dodge people.

I arrived in Frontierland and called Gram. She answered and said they were on the ride and quickly hung up, before I could ask where they were on the ride. I wanted to watch them go down the big drop, if they hadn’t gotten to that point yet. I stood by the big drop in the blazing hot sun, to see if I might be able to see them. After about four minutes, they emerged from the mountain and went down the drop. Carolyn was up in the front videotaping and all five kids had their arms crossed behind their heads, looking like they were relaxing on the beach!!! I waved to them as they floated along below me. As I walked inside to meet them, it struck me as odd that I had walked across the whole entire park and still waited a good four minutes before they even went down the drop!!! As I waited by the ride photos, Gram called and said there was no line, so they were going around again!! That was fine, but I desperately needed some air conditioning after my long jaunt and wait in the sun. I went back out to the gift shop near the entrance to Splash. I went inside and the air conditioning was heavenly. There was one rocking chair right near the entrance so I parked myself right in it. I wasn’t getting up until I heard from Gram that they were done riding!! The store was deserted, except for two CMs. From the rocking chair, I watched people scurry by on their way to Splash Mountain.

Gram called and said they were off the ride, so I stepped out of the gift shop. Carolyn and the girls had already retrieved the stroller and were waiting at Thunder Mountain. We all went on together. Jamie asked to ride with me again. I again asked for the last four seats and we received them. There was no wait and we walked right onto the ride. As we were going up the second hill climb, I spotted ten hawks circling above us. Dad loved watching hawks and he loved Thunder Mountain. It felt like he was watching down on us from heaven.

We hurried around for a second ride. Jamie wanted to sit up front, while the rest of the kids wanted to sit in the back. I suggested to Carolyn that she sit up front with Jamie and I would sit in the back with the other kids. We ended up being in two different trains. As always, it was a great ride! When we got outside there was no sign of Carolyn and Jamie. That was odd, as they had been in the first train. We waited a few minutes and when they still didn’t show up, I suggested the kids go and ride either Thunder or Splash, so we didn’t waste any early morning ride time. The kids picked Splash, so I walked them over to the entrance and watched them walk through the line until they were out of sight. I then returned to the exit of Thunder Mountain. In just a couple more minutes Carolyn and Jamie emerged! There was no one waiting for their seat so they stayed on for a second ride, which was great. Carolyn said they could have stayed on for a third ride if they wanted to. I encouraged them to go on again while I waited for the kids. Thunder Mountain is such a quick ride compared to Splash Mountain. Carolyn decided not to, because she felt it would be too confusing. I thought it was a good idea, but it was fine to all hang out together and wait. The kids all came out with big smiles!

Jimmy and Cam really wanted to go to Tom Sawyers Island to look for a hidden paintbrush. While waiting for Carolyn, I had seen the first raft of the day go over, so I said that all the paintbrushes may have been found. The boys didn’t care, they still wanted to give it a try. The girls weren’t interested in Tom Sawyers Island so they went to Splash Mountain, with plans to meet in thirty minutes at the stroller.

On the raft ride over the CM said, “Tom and Huck were supposed to paint the fence. Instead, they hid all of the brushes and Aunt Polly is really upset with them!” We split up, Gram and Jimmy went right and Cam and I went in the other direction. Cam found one right away in the fort and then a second one!!! Jimmy and Gram arrived in the Fort and Jimmy had found one, as well! We were all pretty excited!!! I took a picture of the kids holding all three paintbrushes! What are the odds of that? We missed the first few rafts of the day and still found three paint brushes. Cam put back the second one that he found so someone else could find it. We caught the raft back. Both Jimmy and Cam received special certificates for our whole group to ride Splash and Thunder Mountains, with no wait. So the Cookinghams also lucked out with our good fortune!

We met the girls and headed to the Haunted Mansion. Jamie didn’t care for it two days ago, but was a good sport about riding again. She rode with me and was very brave. We talked throughout the ride. When we saw the two spiders at the beginning of the ride, she told me that the one of the right was the baby spider, and the one on the left was the Mommy spider! I pointed out the hidden Mickey in the dinner plates of the ballroom scene. Jamie told me that the ghosts that go up in the air in the graveyard look like dish towels to her. I had never thought of that before!

We walked over to Space Mountain to use the FPs that I had gotten when the park opened. We picked up more FPs then walked into the ride. Carolyn went by herself and the six of us went together. The kids screamed at the top of their lungs throughout the ride!!!

We made our way over to the TTA. Our sole purpose of riding this (besides just enjoying it!) was to have a snack and drink. As soon as we were seated, I poured everybody a glass of ice water. (I had brought a large drink container from home and every morning I would fill it up with ice and water from the food court. Carolyn let me put it in their stroller, so I didn’t have to carry it everywhere.) Then the boys all grabbed a snack out of my backpack. The TTA is such a simple ride, but always relaxing and fun. We spotted Stitch when we were on the ride, so as soon as we got off, we hurried over. He was just leaving for a break. The CM said he would be back in two minutes, and he was!! The girls all got autographs and we took pictures of all five kids. Buzz walked by, but the girls weren’t interested in him, so we didn’t stop.

We returned to Space Mountain with more FPs and Gram headed to Mickey Philharmagic. After another ride through Space, we went to Mickey’s Philharmagic, as well. We only waited about ten minutes for the show. It goes without saying that the effects are superior! Poor Donald, he sure works hard trying to get that hat back!

It was now time for the Cookinghams to get ready for their Princess lunch in the castle. Jamie needed to get into her Cinderella dress. Fantasyland was VERY CROWDED. I tried to point Carolyn in the direction of the bathroom, but she couldn’t tell where it was with the crowd. I ended up just walking her over to it. I grabbed all of our tickets, so I could go and get Space Mountain FPs for us to use tonight. I told Carolyn that when I got back, I would meet them in the bathroom, under the arch outside or inside the restaurant. I brought the boys into the Pinocchio Village Haus to sit in the air conditioning, while I hightailed it back to Space Mountain. I called Gram on the way and she met the boys in Pinocchio’s. I worked up another good sweat on the jaunt over and back. I returned to Fantasyland and checked the bathroom and under the arch. No sign of the Cookinghams, so I went inside to check on the boys and to see if they were in there. Gram and the boys hadn’t seen them, so I went back outside. I called Gram and she said they were inside. (It was actually just Jen.) I hurried through the maze of people back inside and no Cookinghams, huh!! Gram said she didn’t know where Jen went. (Jimmy knew that she was going to get the rest of the family, but I didn’t hear Jimmy tell me this!) So I went back out to the arch! Gram called again and said that they were all inside now. This was getting comical!! Back inside I went! We must have kept missing each other! Jamie looked gorgeous in her dress!!! I gave Carolyn all of our tickets, so she could get some FPs for Buzz after they ate and we would use them tonight. We walked them to the castle, wished them a good time and said good-bye.

We made our way to Main Street. Gram went down the left side to the jewelry store and we went down the right with plans to meet back at the resort. For Mother’s Day, I had given her a Grandma pin with four Mickey charms with the Grandkid’s birthstones. I had mistakenly bought one silver one and three gold. She was returning the silver one for a gold one. The boys and I went down the right side of Main Street. Again, the air conditioning felt great. In one store we encountered a family in a state of panic. They had lost their two year old son. The Dad was SCREAMING “Liam” at the top of his lungs. I knew we were witnessing every parent’s worst nightmare. The CMs were scurrying around to offer assistance. We continued on with heavy hearts.

In the Emporium there was a CM standing next to a board loaded with pins. I inquired about it and she said that it was for kids and they could make two trades each. Both Jimmy and Cam made a trade. Cam traded for a Chip & Dale kitchen sink lanyard pin for Gram and Jimmy traded for a Segway tour pin.

When we arrived at the bus stop, a bus pulled right in. At this point, I noticed Gram coming in the distance. I delayed getting on for as long as I could, so she would have time to catch up with us. She made it and we all sat together.

We stopped in the food court for lunch. Gram and I had taco salads. The kids were going to share a pizza, but after waiting ten minutes in line, and not getting any closer to the front, they gave up! Instead, they had cheesecake!!! Yum!!!

Once we returned to the room, it began to absolutely POUR outside! The kids and Gram watched the Pirates of the Caribbean, while I worked on the trip report. I left a note under the Cookinghams door telling them to stop at our room when they got back and tell us all about their lunch.

At 3:45, there was a knock on the door. They all had rave reviews about the lunch, describing in detail the excellent food, cute things the Princesses said to them and where they sat. Carolyn said it far exceeded her expectations!!! I was so happy for them. They all headed into their room for naps, with plans to meet us at 6:00. Gram had a nap as well, while the boys and I headed to the pool. The pool area is still not crowded, which is wonderful! (The Pop Century pool had been uncomfortably crowded at times in April, so this pool was a treat!) While we were swimming we saw the “orange hat family” again!

We met the Cookinghams at 6:00 and caught the bus to the MK. They had all napped and Carolyn mentioned she had a real hard time waking Jamie.

We quickly had our bags checked and ticket scanned. The boys and I ran to the bathroom. I had been pushing the water and juice all day and it was going right through them! Gram stopped in City Hall to see CM Cheryl. Cheryl had been our savoir two months ago when we were stranded in Celebration! She and her husband had given us a ride back to the Pop Century. Carolyn also stopped in City Hall to see where they could do a meet & greet with Dopey. She was told you could only see Dopey in the parade and possibly in World Showcase.

Gram went to get a Dole Whip, while the rest of us went to Tomorrowland to use our two sets of FPs for Space Mountain and our set for Buzz. Buzz appeared to be broken down, so we went to Space Mountain first. The stand-by line said 60 minutes! We cruised through two times, obviously passing the same poor folks in the stand-by line!! The kids continued with their tradition of SCREAMING on this ride!

We walked over to Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. The stand-by line was also 60 minutes! Even the FP line was out the door, although it moved right along. Carolyn and I wondered who would be so crazy to wait over an hour for a ride!! Jimmy had the highest score with 468,100! Way to go Jimmy!!! Jimmy was quick to point out that this wasn’t his all time highest score, but it was MUCH HIGHER than the rest of us!!!

I called Gram to tell her we were on our way to Frontierland. We were going to use the special certificate that the boys had gotten this morning on Tom Sawyers Island. Tons of people were in the park, probably the most crowded I have ever seen it!! We met Gram and walked the five kids to the entrance of Splash Mountain. The stand-by line was 70 minutes. The line seemed to weave in and out of every possible inch of space!! The kids exited at 8:35, we grabbed the stroller and began a brisk walk (Or as brisk as you can go weaving in and out of 2.1 million people!!!!) to Main Street for the fireworks. (At some point today we heard that they were doing the special July 4^th fireworks tonight, as well as tomorrow night!)

We grabbed a piece of pavement in the hub and settled in to wait. Never in my life have I seen so many people packed in together. Additionally, never in my life have I ever seen so many people try to push a stroller through a one inch by one inch piece of space!!! The lights dimmed and we all watched Tinker Bell make her flight. What ensued was the most spectacular fireworks display I have ever seen in my entire life!!! First, there were fireworks behind the castle and the train station. If that wasn’t incredible enough, even more fireworks began circling around us!!!! They were being let off up and down Main Street. We were all constantly moving our heads back and forth to try and catch the fireworks that were going 360 degrees all around us!!! There was also awesome patriotic music playing throughout the show. To say we were in awe was an understatement. The sheer amount of fireworks going off was mind boggling!!! When the show ended, Jimmy turned to me and said, “That was amazing!” He was right, it was!!! We stood still for a good five minutes to try and let the crowd dissipate, since there was no sense in trying to move. Finally, we ventured out into what was my least favorite part of the entire vacation thus far. The congestion of people was almost claustrophobic, especially crossing the bridge from the Hub to Liberty Square. At times, we stood in the mob of people not moving at all. Other times, we could move an inch!! There was absolutely no air in this crowd! It was here that I heard the most amazing comment of the day. A man pushing a wheelchair said, “geesh, I said excuse me, why can’t people move??” Holy cow buddy, If I can only move an inch every minute or so, where the heck is anybody suppose to move to, to get out of your way???? After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably more like ten minutes, we broke out of the crowd in Liberty Square. Don’t get me wrong, there were still crowds everywhere, but at least you could move!

We made our way to Thunder Mountain and used the special pass that Jimmy had gotten this morning at Tom Sawyers. (Thanks, Jimmy!) After the ride, we said good-bye to Gram, as she was headed out. The rest of us were going to Space Mountain to use more FPs. On the way over, Jimmy’s aching legs gave him a lot of trouble, poor kid. Another great ride on Space Mountain with still lots of screaming from the kids! Tonight the MK was open until 1:00am, and EMH until 4:00am. It was absolutely mobbed, so we headed out at 10:45, as planned.

Since Main Street was so packed, another walkway had been opened up behind all the shops to get to the Train Station. We were behind the scenes!!! I had been worried that we would have to wait forever for a bus, because of the massive crowds, but in reality there was hardly anyone at the bus stops! A bus pulled up and we hopped on. We were thankful to sit down, thankful for the air conditioning and thankful for an exceptional day!!! We went on tons of rides, despite the fact that the MK was probably the most crowded I have ever seen it!!!

We were back at the resort at 10:55. I sent the kids back to the room and called Gram to say that they were on their way. I ducked into the food court to grab something for a very late dinner! I was in bed not long after.

Tomorrow we want to go to Fort Wilderness for some type of 4^th of July golf cart parade. We also have ADRs at 1900 Park Fare. The Cookinghams are going to sleep in and meet us at the Grand Floridian.

Tuesday July 4^th

Gram and I were up by 7:00, Jimmy at 7:45 and I woke Cam up at 7:55. He was sound asleep and I wondered how long he would have slept if I hadn’t woken him. (I hate waking up my kids when they are sleeping. We are not nappers, so they have to get their sleep in the nighttime hour or until they wake up in the morning.)

We left the room at 8:00 and caught the bus to the MK. From there, we went to the boat launch to get the boat to Fort Wilderness. The boat arrived and was overflowing with people, but we of course were the only ones to get on to make the return trip!

On the dock at Fort Wilderness, we noticed that the sign over the dock was gone. It wasn’t in good shape the last few times that we have been there. It held one of the last musket Mickey’s logo’s on it. We walked up to the intersection and people were already sitting on the fence, so we joined them. Everybody was decked out in red, white and blue. We had only been sitting there for a few minutes when all four of us looked up. We were somewhat surprised to see well over 50 hawks and birds circling right over us!!! They made me think of Dad, because he always loved watching hawks soar and circle. I took those hawks as another sign that Dad was indeed looking down from heaven, just thrilled that we weren’t holed up in N.H. suffering from depression, but down at our family’s favorite place in the entire world. (I love you, Dad.)

After patiently waiting about 10 minutes, we heard a siren in the distance. Soon enough, a fire truck rounded the corner!! This was our first sign that this “little” parade was going to be a little more than what we had bargained for!!! (We thought that maybe we would see 15-20 golf carts, decorated with a couple flags, a streamer, perhaps a banner. Well, were we in for a surprise!!!) We couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces as we watched one golf cart after another pass by us!!! (We found out later there were a total of 113!!!) There were also bikers who had decorated their bikes and families pushing strollers that were also decorated! The golf carts were decorated quite elaborately. Some were so covered in decorations you could hardly see the people driving it!! Some people must have spent hours making amazing Disney decorations that they attached to the roof of their golf carts. Some had bubble machines attached to the back, leaving a trail of bubbles behind. Some people were playing patriotic music. Most families were covered from head to toe in red, white and blue, while others were dressed in beautiful Disney character costumes. We even saw two Statue of Liberties!!! One thing that surprised us was all of the people throwing out candy and beads!!! The boys ended up with a large bag of candy when the parade was finished!! To say that the participants were REALLY into this would be an understatement!!!! A HUGE amount of effort and spirit went into this parade! The parade ended with two Clydesdales pulling a wagon. The wagon is used at night for hayrides. In the wagon were Betsy Ross, Davey Crocket and Uncle Sam who, incidentally was also the GM for both the campground and the Lodge! After the parade, we walked down to Pioneer Hall where a CM in a beautiful blue sequined dress sang the National Anthem. Next, “Uncle Sam” read an inspirational speech. When he finished, he told us that it had been originally written by Walt Disney himself! It goes to show how truly patriotic Walt was! Next, they began handing out prizes for all the winners. Time was running short for us, but we did hear the first place bike participant, and he won one free hour on a watercraft. Pretty good prize!!!

It was now 10:00. We had planned on seeing CM Sandra at the Lodge before our ADR at 11:00. Obviously, there wasn’t time to bus to the Lodge, visit her, then boat to the MK, catch the monorail and ride the loop around to the Grand Floridian. It was either no visit with Sandra or visit with Sandra and get a taxi to the Grand Floridian. When I mentioned the taxi, Gram thought I was crazy. I knew that this may be our last opportunity to see Sandra and I figured that since the Lodge and the Grand Floridian were so close, that the cost for a taxi would be minimal, so that is what we did.

We were happy that Sandra was at the pin cart. I showed her the two bracelets, I was wearing that I had made. Her work is far more intricate than mine, but she was very complimentary about mine! The kids made some pin trades and we visited a bit before we had to leave.

We went out front and I asked a CM to call a taxi for us. He asked how many there were of us and I answered four. He then replied that he would bring us over himself! Wow, that was nice!!! Moments later he pulled up in a Wilderness Lodge SUV and we were on our way. Right after we left the Lodge, we spotted a huge turtle on the side of the road. The CM was extremely friendly and talkative. He told us that he was originally from New Jersey and had relocated to Florida ten years ago. He had worked at various jobs at Disney ever since. He said he was glad to be done with cold snowy winters. I told him that Jimmy and Cam are avid skiers so cold, snowy winters are what we want! He dropped us off, right in front of the Grand Floridian and we all gave him a big “thank you”.

We arrived in plenty of time for our ADR. We sat down in the luxurious lobby to wait for the Cookinghams. They arrived all smiles and told us that they had ridden up front with the monorail driver. (They had arrived at the Grand Floridian much earlier, then went back out to ride the monorail around the loop for fun.) When Carolyn inquired about sitting up front, the monorail attendant jokingly said they could ride up front in exchange for a chocolate bar!! After the ride, Jen ran into the gift shop, bought a chocolate bar and ran it out to the CM. I’m sure that must have made his day.

I went to check into 1900 Park Fare and was given a beeper. I had barely rejoined everybody when the beeper went off! We were seated and Pooh arrived promptly soon after. The girls all got autographs and we took multiple pictures. Between getting our food and eating we were visited by Tigger, the Mad Hatter and Alice in Wonderland. Both Alice and the Mad Hatter played their roles perfectly! Carolyn told the waitress that Jillian’s birthday was only days away. They presented her with a big cupcake, complete with sprinkles and topped with a piece of chocolate shaped like Mickey. In addition, she was also given a crown. It was all very nice and Jillian was pleased. The food was fantastic! Everyone had their fill and then some!! I left wishing that I could have eaten more, but you can only eat so much!

We rode the monorail back to the MK. Jimmy, Cam, Jillian and Jamie all sat up with the driver. We caught the bus and were soon back at the resort.

We all went swimming. I continue to marvel over the fact that the pool is never crowded!! It is SO different from the Pop Century! The kids all had fun together in the pool. Jamie entertained everybody with her pretend accent, which was quite good! The kids also would swim up to each other and say “I am having fun observing you!” The Cookinghams all left to nap, while we stayed at the pool. We relaxed in the room for a bit before meeting the Cookinghams at 6:00.

We began our journey to the Polynesian Resort to see the 4^th of July firework display. Even though we had just seen it last night from inside the park, we wanted to see it again. We bussed to the MK and monorailed to the Poly.

First we visited the gift shop, where the kids made a few pin trades. During this time, I took a deep breath in the lobby as requested by friend and fellow trip report writer Jim Pertierra! Next, we decided to grab a quick bite to eat. I was surprised when we went downstairs and discovered that Captain Cooks was closed for renovations. A sign read that there was a temporary food place set up near the arcade. We followed the signs to the arcade. We stepped in a line that was wrapped all along the wall. The menu was very limited and made me appreciate, even more, the fantastic food court at the All-Stars! The kids ended up getting frozen ice cream bars. I had a bowl of pineapple and Gram and I shared a sandwich. We claimed a spot on the beach. There were people scattered here and there, but plenty of room. Cam played in the sand, while we sat and ate. We watched a group of young adults playing catch with a football. We also observed a family burying each other in the sand, then going into the Lake to rinse off. (They were in bathing suits.) I remember seeing this when we were here two years ago watching the July 4^th fireworks. I remember as a kid and teenager swimming in the Lake, but it has been closed for many, many years now because it isn’t safe. I can’t imagine who in their right mind would submerge themselves in that water. Here’s my opinion; go bury yourself in the sand, then when you’re finished, go back to your room and have a shower!!!!

The electrical water pageant moved into position in front of us. When the announcement from the MK came on (all recordings and music from the show are piped onto the beach) the stars and stripes from the pageant lit up and the fireworks began. The show was terrific. The fireworks began, then just began to spread out in front of us. It was a totally different perspective than from watching it on Main Street. Both shows were excellent!! I know we all felt fortunate to see the show two nights in a row!

We made our way to the bus stop. Unlike two years ago, when we waited a good ten or fifteen minutes for a bus, one showed up in less than two minutes to take us to Downtown Disney. Once at Downtown Disney, we again waited less than two minutes to make our transfer to the All-Stars. We certainly made excellent connections, and this on July 4^th one of the busiest nights of the year!!!

Another awesome Disney day comes to an end. Epcot tomorrow.

Wednesday July 5^th

We were up and out by 8:00. I have to mention that in the night, Cam was halfway to the bottom of the bed. I asked him several times to get his head back up on the pillow. His response was “I don’t want to, have Jimmy do it!!!” Too funny!!!

We caught the bus to Epcot. When we arrived, Gram went to get a new AP. (hers didn’t work yesterday when Carolyn tried to use it to get FPs to Buzz Lightyear. It amazes me that other Disney tickets are made out of plastic and the AP is a flimsy piece of paper!)

We went into the park at 8:45 and waited at the rope drop at 9:00. We headed straight to Soarin, with everybody else! I secured FPs, then we all got in line together. Here we witnessed a phenomena that I don’t notice at other rides that offer FPs. It seems like what everybody does here is, send the whole family into the line, while one member gets FPs. When that member gets the FPs, he then has to excuse his way by hundreds of people in an attempt to catch his family. Whatever floats your boat, but it seems like a better option is to just get your FPs and enter the line as a family, instead of one family member crawling up everyone’s back trying to catch up to their party!!! One man bumped right into Gram as he was pushing his way through. Gram said, “I assume you’re catching up to your family!” He stopped, turned around and said, “Lady, of course I am, you could get killed around here for cutting in line.” I wanted to say “buddy, isn’t that exactly what you are doing? You’re cutting in front of me!!!!!” I bit my tongue and didn’t say a word, as this guy could have the potential to ruin someone’s day!

At the end of the line, I asked if we could sit in the front row. We could, we just had to wait for the next rotation, which was fine. While waiting, a CM noticed Jillian’s birthday button and wished her a Happy Birthday. She went on to say that Goofy had a special message for her. The CM brought her to a nearby phone and gave her the receiver. When Jillian returned she said that Goofy had sang Happy Birthday to her! The ride was as awesome, as always. The Cookinghams were very impressed and loved it, as well. This attraction is so well made, you really feel like you’re right in the middle of all the action!

Next, I offered to walk to Test Track for FPs, while everyone else went to Living with the Land, to ride the boat. Gram thought I was crazy to walk all the way over to Test Track in this heat, but I didn’t mind. Besides, everyone was SO APPRECIATIVE of all my efforts, so that they could get on twice as many rides. It was worth it!!!!!

After I got the FPs, I stopped at pin central on my way back. I was able to purchase two of the pins, that my friend Stacey had asked me to get. I met up with everybody. They had all enjoyed the boat ride. Favorites included seeing the pumpkins that were grown in the shape of Mickey heads!

We had another excellent ride on Soarin, before we headed out of The Land! We moseyed next door to the Living Seas to see Turtle Talk with Crush. We were lucky. We walked right into a show without having to wait. I strongly encouraged Jillian and Jamie to sit down front, in hopes that they would get picked to ask a Crush question. More specifically, I was hoping that Crush would call on one of them and do the part when he asks where their parental unit is, and then goes on to ask the parent a few questions. I knew Carolyn would die, but she owed me. Last summer we vacationed together and went to a magic show where I was picked out of the crowd to go up on stage. That was NOT my thing, but I went. I think it was the highlight of Carolyn’s vacation!! I was hoping she would give me some entertainment today, but no such luck!!! We laughed throughout the show, as always! When we left, I gave both Jillian and Jamie a pin. It was my thank you for sitting up front, in hopes of Crush calling on them.

We walked over to our highly anticipated ride on Test Track. I grabbed some more FPs before going through the FP line. Jamie wasn’t too thrilled about this ride since she HATED it two years ago. Everyone else was pretty excited! We had a great time, the favorite part being going around the outside loop. Test Track is still not a favorite of Jamie’s, but she did fine.

We stopped at Club Cool where Gram and the five kids went in. Carolyn and I walked over to the Character Connection, to inquire whether Dopey was there or if they had any insight into where we might be able to find him. He wasn’t there and the CM said it was unlikely that he would be anywhere in Epcot. She did say there was a remote chance that he might be in Germany. We returned to Club Cool where the kids, with the urging of a CM, had all drank the Beverly drink!!! Gram did not partake!!! I was surprised that Jimmy and Cam drank it!!! The CM made out “magical moments” certificates for all five kids, proclaiming them all to be part of the “Beverly Club!!!”

We headed to World Showcase and went to Mexico first. We browsed in the shop before going on the boat ride. Everyone enjoyed the boat ride, and on the way out, we stopped at the Kidcot Station. The kids began making their masks. Jimmy and Cam have done this several times and didn’t care about doing it again, but they decided to do it with the girls. When we went outside, we bought one of Jimmy and Cam’s favorite treats; churros! Yum!!!

Next up was Norway and a ride on the Maelstrom. Jamie, who has so entertained us on this trip with her Norwegian accent, said, “I’m so glad to be in my homeland!” She sounded so authentic, and we all cracked up!! After the ride, we browsed the shop and took a picture of all the kids in front of the giant troll. I also bought a chocolate bar that the kids and I shared. It was outstanding!!!

We continued on through the countries, stopping at the Kidcot stations along the way. The kids bought more chocolate in Germany. It was so good!! I spotted Mulan in China and directed the girls her way. They were able to get autographs and photos with no wait.

We ate lunch in America. Jillian was given a free Jell-O for dessert when the CM noticed her birthday button. When Cam saw her Jell-O, he thought it looked so good, that he went up and bought one for himself! When we finished, we brought the Cookinghams into the American Adventure to show them the picture of the plane. We discovered this in April, and were amazed that no matter where you stand, the plane is always pointing at you. It is a terrific optical illusion!!! We caught the American Adventure show, which was great, as usual! It is probably one of my favorite things at Disney. I just love it! Carolyn enjoyed it, as well. Outside at the Kidcot Station, the kids were all given beaded bracelets. These were a HUGE hit and were worn for the rest of the vacation. (As I sit typing this in Sept., Jen is STILL wearing hers!!! Cam wore his right up until two weeks ago when it broke. Jimmy had a baseball game the day after we returned from vacation and had to rip his off when he went up to bat! These were really such simple, cheap bracelets, but all the kids loved them!!!)

We split up here. Gram returned to the resort. Carolyn, Jillian and Jamie went back to Germany for the Snow White meet and greet, in hopes of seeing Dopey. The boys, Jen and I continued on to Japan to get their beloved candy. The kids bought a bunch of candy. A new favorite for Jimmy is a strawberry flavored chocolate bar. In a short span of time, we zipped into all the remaining countries to finish the masks. Jen had Jillian’s and Jamie’s masks, so we completed those, as well. Time was running short for meeting Carolyn at Test Track. I tried to decide if we should abandon finishing the masks or be a little late and finish them. Jimmy and Cam didn’t care about them, but I thought the girls would like to have theirs finished, so we did!! Carolyn was waiting for us at Test Track. They did get to see Snow White, but, unfortunately, not Dopey. According to Snow White, “he was working in the mine today!”

We had our last ride on Test Track, using our FPs, before finally leaving the park at 3:30. That is a long day for us!! We usually arrive at a park at opening and leave by around 1:00 to return to the resort. Luck was with us, as a bus was waiting, and we all hopped on.

Back at the resort, the Cookinghams all napped, while Gram, the boys and I went swimming for about an hour. At 6:00, we headed to the Food court for dinner. I had my favorite flank steak salad. Yum!!!

We met the Cookinghams as planned at 6:30 to go to MGM. Gram opted to stay at the resort and rest her legs. On the bus ride over, I reminded everyone that the lines may be long and all the FPs might be gone. Our primary reason for going to MGM was to see Fantasmic.

There was a 30 minute wait for the Tower of Terror, so we grabbed FPs. We then went over to the Rock n Roller Coaster to find a 60-minute wait. Carolyn asked if we wanted to wait and, of course, the boys didn’t care about it. I told her to go ahead and we could catch up to each other later, but, ultimately, they decided not to wait, either. We walked back out to the tip board to see what the other waits were. We noticed that most of the shows had ended for the day. Our choices were the Great Movie Ride, with a 20-minute wait, or the Little Mermaid show, the 3-D Muppet Movie or the Backlot Tour, all with no waits. Carolyn and the girls decided that they wanted to wait the 30 minutes for the TOT. Jimmy joined them, so off they went. Cam still has no desire to ride, so he and I went pin trading. Cam made some fantastic trades, including another pirate flag lanyard pin. We decided to get an ice cream at the place near the TOT. We waited in line for about ten minutes. When the people in front of us were finally waited on, (they had also been waiting ten minutes, as well) they stood there and decided what they wanted!!!! Why the heck didn’t they decide while we stood waiting all that time!!!! Think people, think!!!!! Carolyn, the girls and Jimmy finally emerged from TOT at 8:15. The wait time had increased while they were in line, so they ended up waiting about 45 minutes, as opposed to 30.

We went into the Fantasmic Theater and were able to get seats, which was great. They were way over to the left, but that was fine with us. Carolyn bought some popcorn for everyone to munch on while we waited. We were also entertained by “the wave” for a while. The show started at 9:00 and we all enjoyed it. I know some people just LOVE this show, but for me, nothing compares to Wishes. Although it is a fine show, I don’t feel it is spectacular. I think I would enjoy more live action and less of the movie clips projected onto the water.

We headed out with the masses, just inching along. We went straight to the TOT to use the FPs that we had gotten earlier. Since Cam didn’t want to ride, we did the child swap. Carolyn rode with the kids first, then sat with Cam, while I rode. Since Cam didn’t ride, the other kids really lucked out, getting two rides in a row. Thanks Cam!

We rode the bus back to the resort and crawled into bed at 11:00.

Blizzard Beach tomorrow, EMH at 8:00.

Thursday July 6^th

The beeping of the alarm woke me up at 6:30. Yikes, two weeks of vacationing is catching up to me. Usually I am up long before an alarm would wake me! I gently woke the kids up at 7:00. It wasn’t easy, as they were both in a deep sleep. We headed out the door at 7:15 and met the Cookinghams. We only waited a minute for the bus and were soon on our way. We were the only ones on the bus, so that was a good sign!!!

We waited in line until it opened at 8:00, then headed in. We secured a beautiful private, shaded spot right next to the Lazy River. Jimmy and Jen really wanted to ride Summit Plummit. Even though the family ride at Blizzard Beach is one of my all time favorite rides, I happily volunteered to wait for Jimmy and Jen so everyone else could go ride. I knew the crowds would be arriving in force, and I didn’t want us all standing around waiting. Everyone rode the chairlift up the mountain. I watched Jimmy and Jen come down Summit Plummit with a mix of emotions. Dad absolutely LOVED Summit Plummit. He made it his first ride of the day whenever we went to Blizzard Beach. The last time we were here, Jimmy wasn’t tall enough to ride. How I wished Dad was here now, to finally get to ride it with his Grandson…… The kids looked great coming down the slide. They both had relatively easy landings, probably because they are so light!

We all met up and everyone else had had a terrific time on the Family Raft Ride. We rode the chairlift up the mountain so we could all ride the family tube ride. The five kids went first and we three adults went after them. Our raft actually caught up to them and we bumped into them a few times. I have never had that come close to happening before! Carolyn didn’t think it was too safe, but except for the fact that it surprised me, I wasn’t worried about it. Other than that, it was a great ride and I was so happy to be on it. It is such a long ride that I don’t think that there is a family tube ride anywhere that can compare to this one! Everyone wanted to ride again, so this time we walked to the top. The line was building at the chairlift, as I knew it would. (It doesn’t take long for that to happen. It is SO SLOW moving and can only accommodate three people per seat! Personally, I view the chairlift as wonderful theming more than efficient transportation!) This time, the four Cookinghams went in a tube together, while Gram, the boys and I went together. The water was so warm and we reminisced about the sometimes cool water temperatures we have at the water parks in November. (We were here 3 ½ years ago in November on a somewhat chilly day. The place was all but deserted. It was so empty that they had a few CMs walking around with wicker baskets full of warm donut holes and they were giving them out!!!! Yes, something free at Disney!!!!) When we got to the bottom and were going through the little building that sprinkles water down on you, we noticed some hockey sticks tacked up on the building. (We are a “hockey family”, both Jimmy and Cam are on travel hockey teams.) This prompted a little discussion about the attention to detail that Disney puts into EVERYTHING!!!!

When we got out of our raft, the Cookinghams were already out and reading a nearby map. When we caught up, they were heading right, toward the back of the mountain. Carolyn said they were going to the tube slides because it looked like there were less stairs to climb. Unfortunately, you can’t escape the stairs at either water park, and since the rides at Blizzard Beach are so long, you must pay the price with climbing stairs to enjoy them! I told Carolyn that there were just as many stairs for the tube rides, but they were excited to ride them, so we split up. I wanted to stick with my original plan of doing the rides in the front of the mountain, where the lines form rather quickly. I think because the rides in the front of the park are the ones seen by everybody coming in, those lines get the longest the fastest, as opposed to the tube rides in the back of the park. As we walked by Slush Gusher, both Jimmy and Cam said they wanted to try it. I was surprised that Cam wanted to do it. Although it isn’t as tall as Summit Plummit, it certainly is a HUGE slide in it’s own right!!! Both Jimmy and Cam LOVED Slush Gusher!!! They rode it three times, while Gram and I sat and watched them. Cam would have ridden a fourth time, but Jimmy’s body had been banged around enough!!

Next was the Downhill Double Dipper. This is another fun ride that creates a super long line as the day progresses!! As we were waiting to get our tube, the Cookinghams joined us. They had had a great time on the tube ride. Jamie just barely made the height requirement to go on the Downhill Double Dipper. It was very odd here. There weren’t any people over here to ride this, and there were no tubes coming up. (I found out, when I rode down to the bottom, that there was a HUGE pile of tubes just sitting there that needed to be loaded onto the conveyer belt and sent up to the top. I think they only had six or so tubes rotating on the ride. It was absolutely crazy. I can’t imagine why a lifeguard didn’t send any tubes up.) We would have gone again, but knowing only a few tubes were in use, you had to wait awhile just to get a tube, even though there was no line to ride down!!!

Next was the Toboggan Racers. There was just a short line, but as we waited, I could feel my skin burning, despite lots of sunscreen. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the hot sun was relentless. It was neat because there were eight lanes and eight of us, so we could all race! This is another of my all time favorite rides! We rode it twice before riding the nearby Snow Stormers. The lines were growing and the sun was hot. We were ready to go ride the tube slides, so we said good-bye to the Cookinghams, who stayed at the Toboggan slides. The tube slide was still deserted, so that was fun. Gram sat in the shade while the boys and I grabbed single tubes and went up to do the enclosed slide first. This is another of my favorite rides! Since it is pitch black and you’re racing down, it always makes me think of riding Space Mountain! It was a great ride. We rode it a few more times before getting Gram to join us on the double tubes. Gram and Jimmy rode together, while I rode with Cam. I remembered the last time I had rode this ride was a year ago, in April, when Jimmy had a broken wrist and rode this with a cast on.

Next, we hopped in a tube and floated on the Cross Country Creek over to our spot. When we floated by our spot, I spotted the Cookinghams sitting there and jokingly called out “Ma’am, ma’am, get out of our spot!!!!”

We all headed to the kids area. A favorite thing to do, in the past, was hanging onto the suspended t-bar and dropping into the water. We discovered that Jimmy is now too tall to go on it. That was disappointing, but Jimmy took it all in stride. Instead, he, Cam and Jen must have rode the nearby enclosed slide, that shot you out into the pool, about a hundred times!! I also rode down it a few times, more to cool off than anything else! During this time, Carolyn, Jillian and Jamie were exploring another part of the kid’s area. The area was quite crowded and I never could spot them. (Carolyn told me later that she was dying standing in the hot sun!)

We all returned to the Lazy River and rode the loop around. Once we had completed the whole circuit, the Cookinghams and Gram returned to our spot. The boys wanted to go around again, so that is what we did. When we returned to our spot later, Gram said the Cookinghams had decided to head back to the resort for some rest. We were all hungry, but Cam especially was starving. We were right near a small food place, so I ordered us all hotdogs. The hotdogs were great! Unfortunately, Cam dropped his, so of course I took his dropped one and gave him mine! (The joys of Motherhood!!)

We stopped in the gift shop, where Gram bought a glasses case for cousin Keith. I snapped a picture of the kids in front of the snowmen. I then took another one of the ice gators outline where he had crashed through the gift shop. Cam noticed that in the walkway was the trail left behind by his skis. We then noticed his ski trail on the roof of a nearby building!!! The attention to detail at Disney is amazing. I snapped one last picture of the boys sitting on the snowmobiles, (yes a snowmobile in Florida!) then we headed out. We waited a good ten minutes for our bus. Definitely our longest wait all week. (The Cookinghams waited 30 minutes!!! Ugh!!! So glad we didn’t leave with them.)

Back at the resort, Gram and Jimmy went swimming. Cam played with the new Disney Mr. Potato Head and I lay down. My head hurt a little, probably from being in the bright sun all morning. When Gram and Jimmy returned, Gram had a nap. The kids played a little Gameboy and I brought a load of dirty clothes to the laundry. The laundry at the main pool was closed for refurbishment. (Possibly Disney was starting to go in the red because of dryer #3 working for free!!!!) I went to the other laundry at the piano pool. Once it started, I returned to the room and got the kids and we went swimming at the piano pool. I know I keep repeating myself, but we are loving how uncrowded the pools are! We swam for an hour until the kids wanted to go to the guitar pool. We stopped at the room to drop off the clean clothes. Gram was awake, so she joined us at the pool. (Tons of swimming today!!!!) We hadn’t been in the pool for too long before it started absolutely pouring! The pool water was SO warm and the rain was SO cool, that the contrast in temperature felt neat! The kids and I always laugh when we see people stop swimming when it rain. The running joke is “oh, it’s raining, we better get out of the water before we get wet!!!!” Eventually, we went into the food court for dinner. I was surprised to see the Cookinghams in there, since I hadn’t seen them walk by the pool. We grabbed our dinner (chicken for the kids, flank steak salad for me) and sat to eat with them.

When we finished eating, we all went out to the pool. Unfortunately, it started to thunder and lightning, so the pool closed. I think it was more disappointing for the girls. Jimmy and Cam had been swimming all day. The girls had been napping, so they were ready for some pool time.

We returned to our rooms. Jimmy and Cam read, while I worked on the trip report. After about 45 minutes, the storm had let up enough, so we all went to the food court for dessert. Jimmy had a chocolate shake that looked fantastic, Cam had two scoops of ice cream between two cookies and I had a hot fudge sundae. Everything was delicious! The kids all talked and laughed and in general acted like they hadn’t seen each other in a year. When we had lounged around enough, I suggested we walk over to the All Star Movie Resort to look around. It’s amazing how close the Mighty Ducks section is to the Music. When we walked through the Dalmatian section, the kids and I looked up at the room we had stayed in, in November 2004.

We went into the food court, where I witnessed an “interesting” occurrence!! A family came in with two HUGE Rainforest Café cups. They went to the beverage area and proceeded to wash them out. However, they did not use the nice little sink that is provided for washing out your refillable mug. Oh no, they chose to use the ice water dispenser in the soda machine!!!! The Dad even rammed his dirty straw right up into the water dispenser, in an effort to clean it!!!! Yuck!!!! A little common sense would have gone a LONG WAY here!!!!! I actually had to turn away and gag, as I thought of the countless times I have drank the water from those dispensers! Hopefully, people doing that is not a common occurrence!!! As if all of this wasn’t enough, the family then proceeded to fill up those HUGE Rainforest Café mugs with soda!!! I looked at Carolyn and loudly said, “Hey, we didn’t need to bother to buy the All Star mugs. We could have used any old container!!!”

I spotted a CM with a lanyard and directed Jimmy and Cam in that direction. Turns out that the guy had four lanyard pins from series 1! That was a surprise!! We checked out the menu in the food court and I was surprised that they had different options than the Music food court. Most noticeably, they had pork loin and London broil dinners. Sounded good!

We wandered back to the Love Bug section to look around. I was surprised to see that there were fountains to play in. Either they are new, or weren’t working 2 ½ years ago. At any rate, the kids had a blast running through them and playing. Carolyn and I sat down on the steps next to the Herbie car. Gram sat on a bench almost out of sight. Jillian and Jamie had their bathing suits on under their clothes, so they were all set. The boys and Jen completely soaked their clothes. It was fun sitting there watching them have so much fun. It’s so nice to see Jimmy and Jen, who are teenagers, still be able to kick back and be kids and just have fun!

We returned to the room for an early night at 9:30. Just as I was about to doze off, I heard Cam, who had been sound asleep, mumble “I think I am going to be sick”. I just barely heard him. I jumped up and grabbed the trashcan and reached him just in time!! Yuck!! Gram woke up and came over to help. Finally, Cam finished and I tucked him back into bed. (He made it through the night and wasn’t sick again.)

Tomorrow will be a relaxing day spent at the pool. Tomorrow night will be our last kid’s pin trading night at the Contemporary.

Friday July 7^th

It was a miracle!!!! We slept in until 8:00, which is unheard of for us!!!!! We hung out in bed until we heard a gentle knock on the door at 9:00. We opened it up to see the Cookinghams, who were in their bathing suits and headed to the pool. We quickly got ready and joined them fifteen minutes later. The sky was cloudy, which was great, since it meant we weren’t baking in the sun! Around 10:30, I went into the food court and bought Cam an order of pancakes and Jimmy a cheese Danish. Cam literally devoured his pancakes. I think he could have easily eaten 3-4 orders!!! Cam then proclaimed that he would be happy to eat pancakes morning, noon and night!!!

After about two hours of swimming, we walked over to the All Star Sports. The first order of business was swimming in the baseball pool. At first, for some reason, all the kids were hesitant to get into the pool. I told Jimmy and Cam to hop in and cool off, before we went to the next pool. I hopped in, too. The water in this pool was pretty cool and refreshing, unlike the warm water at the guitar pool. One neat feature in this pool was the way that each corner had a base in it. The base was under about five inches of water, so it was easy to pull yourself out, than you could just sit and relax in the water. (We sat on third base!)

We discovered that quite a few baseball teams were staying in this section. One team had apparently just returned from a ball game. A few players jumped into the pool with their uniforms still on!! Some of the boys got a little rowdy, climbing up on the lifeguard chair and jumping in the water from up there!! This went on for about five minutes, until a lifeguard came zooming around the corner in his golf cart and restored order!

We moved on to the large surf pool. We spent about a half hour here. Cam found a couple of pennies in the pool, which prompted all the kids to begin searching for money! When we left this pool, Gram headed back to the room. This was a good idea, as the heat was getting to her. She didn’t swim with us, but sat in the shade by the laundry room. We wandered out to the tennis and basketball sections. We looked all around and took many pictures. For some reason, while we were walking around, the kids kept finding coins on the ground; pennies, nickels, even a few quarters!!! By the time we returned to the Piano pool at the All Star Music, the kids had found over a dollar in change!!! We took one more swim before returning to our room.

The Cookinghams ate lunch in their room, while we went to the food court. The kids each had ravioli and mac n cheese that we microwaved, along with milkshakes, and I had a taco salad. After we ate, Gram headed to the Magic Kingdom and the boys and I returned to the room. At this point it began to POUR!!!! When we got back, the Cookinghams popped their heads out of their door. This prompted more searching for money!! The kids walked on the sidewalks around the buildings and looked in the nearby grass. Shockingly enough, they found even more money!!!! When they returned, all five kids came into our room. They all watched the Pirates of the Caribbean. (Again!!!!) After about an hour, we said good-bye to the Cookinghams. We wanted to go into the Magic Kingdom, before we went to the Contemporary for the kid’s pin trading night.

We rode the bus in the pouring rain to the MK. Once we got through the bag check and the ticket scan, we stopped under the train station to put on ponchos. Next, I sent the kids into the camera store on Main Street, while I stood outside and called Gram. I knew she was somewhere in the MK, and I wanted to let her know that we were now here, too. I talked to her and found out that she was on the train and headed to Main Street. Good timing!! I went into the store and saw Cam. He came over to me and said that one of the CMs was very rude to him. I asked what happened and he explained that he saw a CM wearing a lanyard. He approached the CM and asked if he could look at his pins. Cam said he was excited because he spotted some lanyard pins on the CMs lanyard. The CM asked Cam what he was interested in and Cam told him “lanyard pins”. With that, the CM told Cam in a gruff voice to look at someone else’s lanyard and turned and walked away!! I could tell Cam’s feelings were hurt and he was bewildered as to why the CM asked him what he was looking for, was actually wearing what Cam was looking for, then turned his back on him for no apparent reason, and just left him standing there. We have pin traded for four years. In all that time, the kids have literally made thousands of trades. In all of that time, we have never been treated like that. It’s true that some CM are friendlier than others, but no one has ever turned their back on us and refused to trade. Jimmy came over and said that the same CM had been a little sharp with Gram and him a few days ago, at the pin cart on Main Street. Needless to say, this didn’t set right with me. I had the boys show me the CM and I walked over to where he was standing. He was talking to another CM, behind a cash register, with no customers. I waited patiently while they finished their personal conversation. When they finished, I asked the CM (Andy, by the way) if I could see his lanyard. In a shockingly gruff and rude tone he said, “Why do you want to look at my lanyard? Look at his.” And he pointed at the CM he had been talking to. I was almost shocked speechless! I have never been spoken to that way and here I was being treated like that on Main Street USA, of all places. I answered by saying that I had already seen the other CM lanyard and I was asking to see his lanyard. At this point, Jimmy stood by my side and joined me. I then proceeded to point to two pins that I wanted to trade for. He literally glared at me as he said, “you can trade for one of them, but I won’t let you trade for both”. Now I was ticked off. This CM was rude to Gram and Jimmy a few days ago, he was especially rude to Cam, he was rude to me, and now he was refusing to make two trades with me!!!!! I informed him that I was well aware of the pin trading rules, and the rules are very clear that each guest can make two trades with each CM. (Theoretically, I could make two trade, Jimmy could make two trades, and Cam could make two trades, all with CM Andy, if we so desired.) He told me there was no way he would let me trade for two of his pins!!! (By the way, they are not his pins. They are part of his costume and belong to Disney, not him!) I responded by saying, “so, you’re making up your own personal rules here?” He said one trade was final or we would “take all of his good pins away”. I made my trade, and then I told Jimmy to go ahead and trade for the other pin that he wouldn’t let me trade for. I said to CM Andy “You don’t seem to enjoy pin trading at all”. He replied, “No, I don’t”. I then asked him if he traded very often, and he barked back at me “As little as possible”. I told him he seemed like an angry man and I didn’t understand what the problem was and he just glared at me! As if this wasn’t enough, Jimmy handed him a pin to complete his trade. It was a pin that was given to us for using Magical Express. The CM took the pin and says, “Oh, we don’t like these pins!!!” Here is a pin that the Disney company gives out to people using the Magical Express, for the sole purpose of trading. Then you get a Disney employee that has the nerve to criticize a guest for trading it!!!!! We turned and walked away. I honestly could not believe all that had transpired.

If someone had related this story to me, I would have had a hard time believing it myself. At this point, I came to the conclusion that this was the nastiest, meanest and rudest CM that has probably ever walked Disney property. Poor Walt would be turning over in his grave if he knew that his beloved Main Street had such an unprofessional (or downright mean) CM working on it!!!!! Why in the world this CM had a lanyard around his neck is beyond me. Obviously, pin trading makes him very angry for some reason. I see lots of CM that, for whatever reason, do not wear a lanyard as part of their uniform. CM Andy should be one of those CMs. He most definitely should not be wearing a lanyard. Here trading is a part of his job and he flat out refuses to trade with Cam, then turned my encounter with him into a painful ordeal!!! I walked out of the store steaming mad. We met Gram and walked to the end of Main Street. By the time we reached the tip board. I had decided that the CMs behavior was way to over the top for my comfort. I decided to walk back there and complain to a manager. Since the tip board showed long waits for everything, Gram, Jimmy and Cam all walked back with me, as well.

I asked to speak with a manager and waited about five minutes for one to show up. When he appeared, I told him exactly what had transpired with CM Andy. How he refused to trade with Cam, how he snapped at me when I asked to trade with him, that he refused to follow Disney rules and do two trades with me, how he criticized Jimmy for the pin he was trading. The manager apologized profusely. He pulled out his lanyard and offered to make a trade with Jimmy and Cam. They both declined. I left feeling somewhat better, but I had that unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach that you get when things just aren’t right. My only regret was, when Andy was treating us so badly, I should have stopped him and had him call the manager then and there. I would have liked to have seen how he would have defended his actions or explained his odd behavior to his boss. (To everyone who may read this, I give you a challenge, seek out CM Andy on Main Street and attempt to make a pin trade with him. See for yourself what kind of reception you get. If he is even half as nasty as he was to us, report him. Disney doesn’t need employees like him!!!!)

We headed out to catch the monorail to the Contemporary. We had just missed the monorail and the place was empty. Cam spotted a monorail CM wearing a lanyard, so he went to trade. Fortunately, this CM was very nice and engaged Cam into a conversation about pins. He than told us all about his pin collection and other non-Disney memorabilia that he collects. It was an enjoyable conversation, until it took a sudden turn. He had been talking about his upcoming retirement, which was fine, when suddenly he was telling us that he was going to be an American gigolo!!!!! If that wasn’t enough, he told us about one lady friend (one of many, I might add!!!) from Brazil that he visits on occasion!!! Luckily, the monorail pulled into the station and we were rescued from that conversation!!!!! Talk about extremes. In a thirty-minute span, we went from CM Andy, who was one of the meanest people I have ever met, to this CM who was telling us a little too much about his personal life!!!!! When we sat in the monorail, Cam asked me, “Mom, what is a gigolo?” Oh, boy!!!!!

We arrived at the Contemporary early, so we rode the elevator up to the 8^th floor, so we could get a good view of things below.

We settled into line at 5:45. A mother got in line behind us, to save a spot for her daughter. The Cookinghams arrived soon after. They sat with us and I reassured the Mother that when it was time to go in to trade, the girls would take their spot behind her daughter. (This seems insignificant, but when the time came to line up, the daughter actually cut in front of us!! I told the boys it was no big deal and we didn’t say anything. However, with typical “Pratt Luck”, this girl ended up winning a pin in the drawing at 8:00. Had she not cut in front of us, that winning ticket would have been Jimmy’s!!!!!!) The kids had their turn and, as always, had a great time trading. Jillian and Jamie didn’t have any trading pins, so I gave them each five pins to trade for extra lanyard pins for the boys. When they were done, I gave each of them a pin to keep as a thank-you from me. None of the kids won the first drawing. We decided to ride the monorail around the loop and wait until the second drawing at 9:00. Both Jimmy and Cam were tired, but I convinced them to stay. Well, wouldn’t you know, both Jamie and Jen won!!!! (Jen won three Fridays in a row!!!! What are the odds of that??? To this day, Jimmy and Cam have never won, despite coming to this event numerous times!!!) Cam actually drew Jen’s name out of the hat!!!! Jen gave her winning pin to Jillian, who in turn gave it to Jimmy and Cam. That was SO NICE!!!! So, even though Jimmy and Cam never had their ticket drawn, they still each went home with a pin. I, of course, gave Jillian five trading pins in return for the winning pin. Jimmy and Cam were absolutely thrilled to each have artist proof pins. We decided then and there that Jen should accompany us on all future trips so she could continue winning pins for us!!!!! What amazing good luck!!!!

We monorailed back to the MK and caught the bus to the All Stars. I was worried that we would get caught in the crowd leaving the 9:00 fireworks display and have to wait in a long line. However, shockingly enough, the bus stop area was like a ghost town! We were in bed by 11:00. Tomorrow we go to Typhoon Lagoon.

Saturday July 8^th- Happy Birthday Jillian!

We left the room at 7:15. We rode an empty bus to Typhoon Lagoon and were in line at 7:35. We hopped in line behind a family of four. The place was deserted! Shortly after, a lifeguard came out and pulled Jillian out of the line. The lifeguard declared her to be the “Big Kahuna” for the day! When he found out that Jamie was her sister, Jamie was declared a “Big Kahuna” as well!!! How Exciting!!! The lifeguard asked Carolyn to join them as they went into the park. I had to step forward and ask the lifeguard where I would find them when I got inside. When he realized that we were all together, he welcomed us all in early. I needed to buy a one-day water park ticket, so I bought that while they headed in. We all met up at the gift shop. Both Jillian and Jamie were wearing medals around their necks. On one side it said “Typhoon Lagoon” and on the other it said “Big Kahuna”. They had been given a large refillable Typhoon Lagoon mug, along with eight towels and use of a locker for free. They were also told that they could get two dozen mini donuts for free by showing their medals. Then we all got the V.I.P. tour. We have probably been to Typhoon Lagoon 25-30 times. So, for us, it was kind of funny to have all the different slides pointed out to us and explained! However, for the Cookinghams, who had never been before, it was great. I think it set them up for a great day! It was funny, because as we were walking around, every time we passed a lifeguard they would yell out good morning to the “Big Kahunas”! When the tour ended on the beach, we were escorted to a terrific area of the beach that was roped off. It was a prime spot that was reserved for the “Big Kahuna”! There were plenty of chairs, a table and an umbrella, which was great for shade! This was all so cool and everyone was so happy.

We headed off for Crush n Gusher. We grabbed two three-man tubes and one two-man tube. Each time down, we split up into a variety of combinations. There was no line, so we were riding down and hurrying back up again in rapid succession. After the fifth ride down, Gram looked like she was in pain or exhausted. When she started to go back up again, I suggested she sit one out, take a breather and go back up with us the next time. She nodded her head and turned around. I was concerned when we came down again and she was nowhere in sight. I was torn between having fun with the kids or to go look for her. Ultimately, I stayed with the kids and hoped that she was ok and just tired. We rode another six times. Each time I was hoping Gram would reappear, but unfortunately, she never did. When we left Crush n Gusher she reappeared. She said she was in the area the whole time, but I, of course, had no way of knowing that and had assumed that since she had been going back up when I suggested the break, that she would just sit one out than rejoin us. I did suggest to Gram that on future visits, perhaps if there is no line, to ride down every other time, so she doesn’t kill herself on the stairs! Everyone gave Crush n Gusher a big thumbs up. The only mishap occurred on one ride down when Jen and the boys flipped their tube over at the bottom. Jen scraped her toes, but the boys were fine.

Next up was Shark Reef. Jillian was adamant about not going, so Carolyn sat out with her. We all received our instructions and got into the water. Jamie was next to me. The first time she put her face in the water she came up and in a startled voice said, “I just saw a shark!” I never really saw anything on the way over, because Jamie was nervous and I was holding her up. Jamie joined Carolyn and Jillian and the rest of us went across a second time. We saw a good variety of fish, some sharks and stingrays.

We moved on over to Humunga Kowabunga (the lifeguard giving us the tour earlier called it the wedgie machine!) and the storm slide. The boys and Jen rode Humunga Kowabunga 15-20 times in rapid succession. The rest of us rode the storm slides. I have always loved these slides. They are just so fun swishing back and fourth. Jillian and I then joined the boys and Jen for a few rides down Humunga Kowabunga.

At 9:30 we headed to the wave pool, which is always a highlight for Jimmy and Cam. Gram sat under the shade of the umbrella. Jen joined the boys and I riding the waves. We really had a blast together. Jillian and Jamie were frightened of the waves, so they went with Carolyn to ride the family tube ride.

At 11:00 the waves stopped, so we decided to grab an early lunch before the lines got long. As we crossed the bridge, the boys noticed the outboard motors that you can use to squirt people on the lazy river. Every time we have ever walked by, there has always been a line for these. Today no one was there, so the boys hurried over. I ordered lunch while they played. When we got our food, Lilo and Stitch walked by. Luckily, Carolyn had her water camera around her wrist, so she was able to get pictures of the kids with them.

After lunch, we went to Castaway Creek. Jimmy and Cam wore their goggles and searched the bottom for money. They ended up having tremendous luck and each found a handful. Every time they found more money they handed it to me. I guess I was the official “money holder”!!! The girls also found some money, but Jimmy and Cam had the clear advantage because of their goggles!! We went around the Lazy River three times. (The total haul was over $5.00!!!!)

Around 1:30, we gathered up our stuff and headed out, with plans to return tonight for EMH. We made great connections and were relaxing in our rooms by 2:00. The Cookinghams all had their daily naps. Gram and Jimmy went to the pool, for even more swimming. I did a little reading and Cam played with the Mr. Potato Head.

We all met up at 4:00 and caught the bus to Downtown Disney/Marketplace. The plan was to go to the Rainforest Café and have the volcano desserts to celebrate Jillian’s birthday. There was only a 20-minute wait, which was a great surprise. During the short wait, I ran over to the big pin store and was able to get a pin that had been released today, for trip report writer Stacey. Soon after I returned, we were all seated in the gorilla room. We talked about getting a couple of appetizers, but settled on the volcanoes. I told Carolyn that I thought two would be plenty, because I had remembered seeing them in the past and they were pretty big. Carolyn had read on the menu that one was big enough for two people, so she ordered four. She wanted to make sure we all had plenty. Carolyn had brought a #9 candle and had slipped it to the waiter. He arrived to the table with the candle burning with 4-5 other waiters/waitresses and they all sang to Jillian!! Well, have plenty we did!!!! Those things were HUGE!!!! They were delicious, rich and VERY filling!!! We just barely waddled out of there!!!

We caught the bus to Typhoon Lagoon. Once inside, we got our EMH bracelets. The two lifeguards doing the bracelets gave Jillian and Jamie a big enthusiastic welcome back! (They were after all, the “Big Kahunas”!!!!) We reclaimed the “Big Kahuna” spot on the beach and set up camp.

We went straight to the Storm Slides and Humunga Kowabunga. Jimmy and Cam did Humunga Kowabunga, while the rest of us did the Storm Slides. Jimmy and Cam (I am not exaggerating!!) easily went down Humunga Kowabunga 25-30 times!!! There was no wait and as soon as they exited the slide they literally raced back up to the top. We had a great time on the storm slides, than moved over to Shark Reef. Carolyn and Jillian ran over to Crush ‘n’ Gusher for a quick ride before it closed. (Crush ‘n’ Gusher is the only ride not open for the evening EMH, because there is no lighting. Seems odd that the newest attraction is the one that is ill equipped to be open at night!!!!! A little planning would have gone a long way here!!!) Meanwhile, we made two trips across Shark Reef, with no wait either time.

We all joined up again and hopped in the Lazy River. The “money hunt” was on!!! Jen had her goggles, so it was easier for her to find money. Every few minutes someone came up with a coin, ranging from pennies right up to quarters. We went around twice and the total haul this time was $3.20!!!! Amazing!!! We pretty much had the Lazy River to ourselves. The lifeguards were super friendly (and probably bored!!). They all called out special “hellos” to the “Big Kahunas”. Two lifeguards in particular, would see us coming, walk on their walkway as far up as they could to meet us. They would then start talking, asking us questions (Were we having fun? where we were from? favorite water rides? etc.) as they walked beside us as we floated along. They would walk as far down as their post would allow before yelling good-bye!!!

The boys, Jen and I returned to the wave pool. Not many people were around, so it was extra fun riding the waves. You didn’t have to worry about crashing into anybody! We rode the waves for a good hour. A few times, Cam and I swam way out deep. We were the only ones out there and it was a strange, almost eerie feeling. Around 9:00, we noticed the sky getting light and colorful. We couldn’t see the actual fireworks, but it was still pretty. (Gram told me later that from her spot on the beach she could see the fireworks.) As we rode the waves and floated around, the realization began to hit me that this most wonderful vacation was really winding down. If all I did all vacation was watch the kids laugh, joke, talk and play, that would have been enough for me! The kids have had SO much fun together!!!! As I floated around, I couldn’t help but wish that we could all come back here together some day.

At 9:30 we headed back to the beach. Carolyn had told Jen to return by then, so that they could head out. After saying a quick goodbye to them, the boys and I hustled over to Humunga Kowabunga. The area was COMPLETELY deserted!! The boys slid down three times and I joined them for the fourth, and last, slide down. We then went to the Storm Slides. I LOVE these slides and all day I had been looking forward to riding them at night. My anticipation was worth it. It was an awesome ride!! Since there was absolutely no one else around, the lifeguard at the top had us all get into position then said “on your mark, get set, go!” so we could race to the bottom. We were lucky to get in four rides on this, before 10:00 closed in on us. We returned to the wave pool and rode the waves three more times, before going back to our spot one last time. Gram was waiting for us. We gathered up all of our stuff. Gram said Carolyn hadn’t left right at 9:30, but had showed her some great pictures on her digital camera. She then filled up two of our empty water bottles with pink lemonade that she had gotten from the drink machine, in their refillable mug. That was GREAT, as we were thirsty and I love pink lemonade. I was sorry to have the night come to an end. I can’t say enough good things about EMH at Typhoon Lagoon. The whole park had an entirely different look and feel to it at night. The fact that not many people were here was fantastic!!! Just an AWESOME night and Fantastic time!!! We stopped in the gift shop. I had realized that the vacation was coming to an end and I hadn’t bought anything to bring back to Jim. Normally, I am not much of a “gift buyer” on vacation. However, Jim is SO GOOD to enthusiastically encourage us to go on many, many vacations that, sadly, don’t always include him, because of work. We had to bring something home to him! The store was in the process of closing, so I grabbed a Typhoon Lagoon t-shirt and paid for it, before going to the exit. As we were walking out, we passed a group of young men with their surfboards. Apparently, Typhoon Lagoon must offer after hours surfing.

We arrived at the bus stop ,where a crowd of people were waiting, including the Cookinghams!!! Carolyn wasn’t looking too happy over the fact that they were still waiting. She said a bus had just pulled out when they were walking to the bus stop. A bus arrived in about ten minutes and, unfortunately, there was standing room only on it. (It had just come from Downtown Disney and was pretty full) Cam hopped on, but there wasn’t enough room for us, so I had to call him back to me. The bus driver said another bus would arrive soon for us. She was right. In about five minutes, another bus pulled in. We all hopped onto an empty bus, happy to be able to sit down in seats. Gram and the kids returned to the room, while I stopped at the food court to get another late night dinner!

Tomorrow morning MGM. Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror here we come!!!!

Sunday July 9^th

Our last full day! Boo Hoo!!!!! I woke the kids up at 8:00 and we met the Cookinghams promptly at 8:15. I made a quick stop in the gift shop to buy band-aids. I was in desperate need! Apparently, yesterday I had lost several layers of skin on both big toes, in the wave pool and the Lazy River. I had brought a ton of band-aids with me from home, but I underestimated the number of scrapes we would get on this 2 ½ week trip. We went through one box in the first week alone. Between Cam’s wipe out at the boardwalk, and various other scratches, we went through a bunch!!! I had bought a second box at Publix, but those were also long gone!! One thing I didn’t think of when I was packing at home was that the kids would put on a new band-aid, go swimming, then need a dry band-aid to put on after. It didn’t take long to go through a TON of band-aids!!! (I actually think that the stock rose on band-aids after our vacation at Disney!!!) I almost fell over when I gazed at the little shelf of drug store items! There were NO band-aids!!! Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, else imaginable was there, but a simple, much needed box of band-aids!!!! I went to the register to inquire on the band-aids and the CM went out back to look. Sadly, she returned empty handed!! I was pretty surprised that a resort that is hosting SO MANY children (and children are known to fall down and get a scrape! Additionally, Disney is a place that requires LOTS of walking, which can be known to cause blisters, which also need the padding of a band-aid!!)) let themselves run out of something as simple as a band-aid!! Being the resourceful person that I am, I wrapped each big toe with a tissue then slipped on my sock and sneaker. Surprisingly, it felt pretty good!!!

We caught the bus and were soon at MGM. Once the rope dropped, Carolyn, Jimmy, Jen, Jamie, Cam and I went to Rock n Roller Coaster. Gram and Jillian got FPs for the tower of Terror and rode it, as well. After the pre-show, we became separated in line. (The same thing had happened at Test Track last week, with about 20 people between the kids and Carolyn, and Gram and I. It was no big deal and we all met up in the gift shop.) Cam, Jimmy, Jen and I were first in line. Cam was SO NERVOUS to ride. I just wanted to get him on the ride and get it over with for his sake, because as nervous as he was, I knew that he would love it afterwards!!! (He has ridden it several times before and absolutely hated it.) The ride, although not a favorite of mine, was fun, as always! To my relief, Cam absolutely LOVED it, so that was great! Now our family of four are all roller coaster fanatics!!!

We exited the ride and looked at our ride photos. Carolyn was nowhere in sight, so we waited for the next coaster to unload, then the next and the next…… No Carolyn or Jamie anywhere. I wondered if maybe Jamie was too afraid to ride and they had been led out. I couldn’t imagine where they were. I asked Jen if she thought that they might be waiting outside for us. Jen shook her head and said, “No, she’d wait in the gift shop”. So we continued to wait. Finally, I told the kids to stay put while I walked through the gift shop, down the long ramp and outside. Sure enough, they were standing out there. I waved to Carolyn then hurried back in to gather up the three kids. Apparently, Carolyn and Jamie had someone rode before us, even though we were in front of them in line. When Carolyn didn’t see us in the gift shop she headed out to wait for us there. All back together, we went on a second time. (Yes, Jamie loved it too!)

After the second ride, we met Gram and Jillian. Jillian decided to ride it too. They all went on while I found a quiet place to call Jim. I gave him a shopping list so we could come home to a fridge full of food! I knew the last thing that I wanted to do tomorrow night or the next day was to go grocery shopping!!

We all met up. The Cookinghams decided to go for a fourth ride on RRC. The boys, Gram and I headed to Tower of Terror with our FPs. We did the child swap with Cam since he didn’t want to ride. This worked out well for Jimmy since he got to ride twice. When we returned from the second ride, we met Carolyn and Jamie by the ride photos. They ended up not riding RRC again, after all, because of the line. Additionally, when they were seated and all buckled in, their elevator on the TOT didn’t work. Everyone had to unbuckle and get off. Once everyone was off, they were all lined back up to go back on the same elevator. Jamie didn’t like the idea of getting back on the same elevator that had just had a problem. (I don’t blame her!!!) So Carolyn and Jamie had bypassed the ride while Jen and Jillian rode. Thankfully, Jen and Jillian survived the ride intact!!!

Next up was the Millionaire Show. We caught the first show of the day at 11:00. When the show started I was shocked to see how empty the theater was! Only about a third of the seats were filled! We have seen this show many times over the years and each and every time there is a full audience, with more people waiting outside for the next show! I knew the show was closing for good this summer and this would be the last time we would get to see it. Jimmy and I pre-planned a random sequence to punch in. The last few shows that we have been to, that is how the winner ended up in the hot seat! I told Cam to do that as well but he said, “no way!” He was not taking any chances of landing in that hot seat!! In fact, later in the game one of the questions was; Which Magic Kingdom attraction features a man’s hairy leg hanging over the bridge. A- Haunted Mansion, B-Small World, C-Pirates of the Caribbean, or D-Space Mountain. Cam intentionally picked D- Space Mountain! He was not taking any chances of doing well and landing in the hot seat. There would be no worse punishment for Cam than to be the center of attention!!! Jen was hoping to keep her winning streak going by landing in the hot seat, but no such luck! Two older men, who were both from Florida, ended up in the seat during our show. One man who said he had been in the hot seat many times, said his favorite way to spend the day was to attend all of the Millionaire Shows!!!

After the show, the four of us went to see Lights Motor Action. Carolyn said the girls didn’t want to see it. I was surprised, because the girls like cars and spend some of the Spring, Summer and Fall going to weekly shows. We all enjoyed the stunt show. Gram and Jimmy had seen it in Nov. with Jim and Dan so they already knew how good it was. My first impression was that just the set alone was bigger than the downtown in our hometown of Warner!!! It was a great show, with some truly talented drivers and performers!

When the show ended, Gram and Cam headed back to the resort. Jimmy and I went to TOT to use four FPs. Both rides were terrific. I LOVE this ride!!! Even though I have been on this ride countless times, I continue to notice new things. On one ride, I noticed in the hallway (before it gets dark and the window comes closer) that there are slippers and dishes from room service outside of the doorways! Such attention to detail!!!

As we were leaving our second ride, I saw Carolyn and Jamie in the lobby. They were waiting for Jen and Jillian. They had seen the Beauty and the Beast Show and really enjoyed it. We said good-bye and returned to the resort. The Cookinghams were going to see the Little Mermaid Show and the Playhouse Disney Show.

We found Gram and Cam in the room relaxing. I laid down on the bed to rest and Cam crawled in next to me. Before I knew it he was sound asleep!!! I guess over two weeks of vacation were finally catching up to him!! I felt refreshed after laying there for about fifteen minutes, so Jimmy and I headed to the pool. I told Gram that when Cam woke up to bring him down to the pool. (He slept right through!)

We returned to the room and Cam was still sound asleep. WOW!!!! Finally, at 4:45, I began trying to wake Cam up. We were meeting the Cookinghams at 5:00 to go into the Magic Kingdom for our last time. Cam was in a deep, deep sleep. This was not going to be easy to wake him! A few times he appeared to be waking up, then he would be asleep again! Finally, after ten minutes of rubbing his back, gently talking to him and taking the covers off from him, he woke up!

We met the Cookinghams and rode the bus over to the Magic Kingdom. On the ride over, Cam, who was sitting behind me, said, “Mom, we are flying home today, right?” I replied, “No, tomorrow we are flying home”. Cam then said, “Gram, you said we were going home today”. Gram shook her head that she hadn’t said that. It was a strange conversation, but I didn’t think anymore of it.

We went through the bag check, then, headed over to the bathrooms, before going into the park. When we all met up outside the bathroom, Cam looked at me and again said, “I thought that we had to go home today”. I said “Cam, its only Sunday, we are going home tomorrow, on Monday”. He said he thought today was Monday! I said, “Cam, it’s Sunday. Remember we went to MGM this morning?”. Cam then said, “No, we went to MGM yesterday!” It then dawned on me that Cam had been in such a deep sleep during his nap, he actually thought that instead of it being Sunday night, he thought it was the morning of a new day!!!!! I told Cam it was still Sunday and we went to MGM this morning. He answered with a sarcastic, “Ya, right!” This conversation went back and fourth a few times before I was able to convince Cam that this was indeed Sunday night. We all had a good laugh over Cams confusion, including Cam himself!!! Cam was also psyched that he really wasn’t going home today!!!

We wandered down Main Street, then headed to Tomorrowland. We decided to eat dinner at Cosmic Rays. I sent everybody in, while I walked over to Space Mountain to grab some FPs. I also gave Jim a quick call on my walk over. I found everyone in Cosmic Rays. Gram was sitting down with our food and Carolyn was still in line. (Apparently, Carolyn had gotten into a shorter line than Gram. However, the CM had trouble with her register. Finally, Carolyn gave up and got into another line and started over.

We all ate and I mentioned to everybody to enjoy the beautiful view of the castle because tomorrow at this time we would be home and all of this would be a memory. The girls are all ready to go home, but the boys and I never like to have our vacations end!

We headed over to Mickey Philamagic. As always, it was a great show! Next up was It’s a Small World. This was closed two years ago when we were here with the Cookinghams. Despite the fact that it’s been open on our last three visits, we purposely didn’t ride, so we could wait and ride it with the girls. You could definitely tell it had been refurbished. Everything was bright and colorful! The kids couldn’t believe all the coins that had been thrown into the water!!! They were wishing that they could jump in with their pails and shovel and scoop it out!!!!

We headed to Pirates. On the walk over, I took a quick detour to Splash Mountain to grab more FPs. I met everybody at Pirates, where we waited in a 30-minute line. This ride has certainly gained popularity with the new changes! The line moved right along and wasn’t actually 30 minutes. We all enjoyed the ride and the kids enjoyed seeing Jack Sparrow again.

We all walked over to the Dole Whip place. Gram got into one line and Carolyn and I in the other. I told Gram to go and take a seat and rest and I would order hers. Our line took FOREVER!!!! The other line moved right along, while we waited and waited!! It was at this time that I learned a valuable lesson; Pick the opposite line that Carolyn gets into. She has a knack for making lines come to a standstill!!! Finally, we got waited on and received our Dole Whips from the slowest CM to ever service the Dole Whip stand!!!!

When we were done, Gram headed to Main Street to watch Wishes and to make an easy exit. We headed to Thunder Mountain. The sign said a 20-minute wait, but we actually walked right on! We hurried around for a second ride. The kids screamed at the top of their lungs for the ENTIRE ride. I can only imagine what people were thinking!!!

Our FPs were good for Splash Mountain, so we walked on over. Ironically, despite the fact that when I picked the Passes up about an hour ago the wait had been 70 minutes, the ride was now a walk on. We didn’t even need the passes!!!! Another great ride as usual!! We made the trek over to Space Mountain so we could complete the “triple mountain whammy!!!!” Boy, were my feet sore!!! With every step, I was wishing that the All Stars had had band-aids in stock! We were entertained by Wishes on the entire walk, so that was nice! When we arrived at Space Mountain, we were SO GLAD to have FPs when we saw the wait was 50 minutes! In keeping with tradition, the kids screamed for the entire ride!

With heavy hearts, we walked down Main Street one last time. It had been such a fun trip and I was sorry to see it come to an end! We waited in the longest bus line of the whole vacation. A bus was filling up when we arrived and then we waited about ten minutes for the next bus to arrive. (It seemed like an hour because my feet were killing me!) Fortunately, we all got seats.

It felt great to get back to the room. I soaked my feet in some cool water before crawling into bed.

Monday July 10^th

We all slept in until 8:00. Magical Express was picking us up at 12:30. I went to the food court to get pancakes for the kids. However, when I couldn’t even see the end of the line to pay, I hightailed it out of there!!! There were roughly five thousand teenage girls waiting to pay for their food!!!!!!

I returned to the room and we all put on our bathing suits and headed to the pool. The Cookinghams met us there soon after. After some swimming, I returned to the food court, ordered some pancakes and cruised through the line to pay! All the girls were gone and the food court had returned to normal!

When the kids saw the food, they happily hopped out and devoured the pancakes. The Cookinghams left around 10:30 for showers and tattoos. We stayed until 11:30, trying to savor every last moment.

We returned to the room, packed up and left one last time. We made one last stop in the food court to fill up our mugs with lemonade. Next, we stopped in the gift shop for one last look around. Jimmy picked up some chocolate, while Cam bought a few gummy Goofy burgers.

The Magical Express bus arrived on time at 12:30. We loaded on then stopped at the All Star Sports and Coronado Springs to pick up more people. On the ride to the airport, we watched the Disney “good bye” video. I noticed that it needs a little updating, since it talks about how Expedition Everest will be opening in 2006!!! (It’s been open for six months now!!)

We checked in all of our luggage and quickly went through security. When my carryon loaded with pins went through, the worker asked me if I had a lot of pins. I said yes, and he didn’t even check it. What a difference from flying down, when every pin was looked at with a fine tooth comb!!!

The boys and I grabbed some lunch at the McDonalds while we waited. Gram had already eaten lunch back at the resort and the Cookinghams all had some snacks.

We boarded our plane on time and all went well for our flight back to N.H. Another awesome vacation is over, but will be with us always with the wonderful memories that we made.

Highlights and Final Thoughts

There are SO MANY highlights it will be tough to narrow them down!

1. Hands down, the biggest highlight of the vacation was just going with the Cookinghams. For Jimmy and Cam to be at Disney with their good friends is the ultimate vacation. These five kids are extremely special, in that no one ever got irritated with each other. They always looked forward to seeing each other. They never ran out of things to talk and laugh about, and in general just had so much fun together!
2. The Extra Magic Hours at night at Typhoon Lagoon!!! We loved it and had such a good time. The place was empty, and the dusk turning to darkness gave the park a whole new feel to it!

So here are the rest of the highlights, in no particular order:

3. The mime at Seaworld, who was incredibly funny!
4. Orange Lake was awesome!!!!
5. Our last night at Orange Lake, floating along in an empty lazy river was the ultimate in vacation relaxation!!!
6. Pin Trading
7. The 4^th of July parade at Fort Wilderness. We had thought it would be some little rinky dink operation. However, the time and effort that both the Fort Wilderness Resort and all the campers put into their golf carts was nothing short of exceptional!!!
8. Finding money!!!!! The kids had a blast looking for money near the end of vacation and seemed to have unparalleled success doing it!!!
9. Kracken!!!! This is probably one of my all time favorite coasters. Sure, there is basically no theme to it, but boy what a rush, especially in the front seat!!!
10. Jenny winning the pin drawing all three Friday nights at the Contemporary!!!! What are the odds of that?
11. The great food and character interaction at 1900 Park Fair.
12. Swimming everyday, and the fact that the pool was NEVER crowded was spectacular!
13. Riding all of our favorite rides multiple times, with no waits, during one of the busiest times of the year. Of course, this was not only due to the fact that we were at the parks at opening, but also because I was willing to run all over the parks and get FPs. I really didn’t mind. I just enjoy walking around the parks and taking it all in, as much as I love riding on a ride.
14. Dole Whips, sundaes and cheesecake.
15. Great flights down and back.
16. Visiting with CM Barbara and Sandra.
17. Celebrating Jillian’s Birthday at the Rain Forest Café. We have always seen other people have the volcanoes delivered to their table, so it was nice to finally be able to try one!
18. Getting such an awesome spot at Blizzard Beach. Even though we didn’t use it much, having our own private spot in the shade, right next to the Lazy River, was a first for us.
19. The ease in which we were able to return our rental cars to the Disney car care center and only wait about two minutes for a shuttle back to the Resort.
20. Jillian and Jamie being selected to be the “Big Kahunas” for the day!!
21. We were so thankful to cousin David for alerting us to the fact that the Magic Kingdom was opening an hour early on July 3rd!

22. The amazing, unbelievable, awe inspiring and spectacular firework display that we witnessed on both July 3^rd and 4^th!!!!! To be on Main Street and watch fireworks exploding all around you was a sight I will never forget! The topping on the cake was being able to watch it the following night from the beautiful beach at the Polynesian!

23. Despite a few minor things (my sore throat, Cam being sick in the night, the girls having a few rashes) we were relatively healthy for the entire 17 days!
24. Disney Quest!
25. Jimmy and Cam finding THREE painbrushes!!!!!
26. Just being at the HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!!!!!

Heidi Commerford
jcom@mcttelecom.com

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