Trip Reports

This is written first and foremost for the cast of players that went on this vacation and secondly for our family members (present and future J ) and thirdly for any others who might find joy or glean information from this writing. I would like to dedicate this report to my family. They are the reason that I not only dare to dream the dreams I dream but to pursue them as well. Without them, well, what would Pooh be without Piglet, what would Mickey be without Minnie, what would Walt Disney World be without Walt? I love you guys. I could be anywhere with you and find happiness.

Cast of Characters:

Ben (49) a.k.a. Pooh and Daddy
Stephanie (49) a.k.a. Tigger, Mom, and Mama
Holly (23) a.k.a. Libba and Holly-Berry
Jake (12) a.k.a Cubby
Wendy (27) a.k.a. Wendy-Bird
I, your host, am Wendy, the eldest of the Kids and big organizer of this trip.

The Beginning:

Mama and Daddy have been talking for years about getting back down to Disney World. They wanted to take Jake before he left childhood. They live on a teacher’s salary and are still paying for 2 children’s college educations. They have 2 more college kids to pay for. Not a lot of extra bucks floating around. During the Christmas Season of 1997 I get a call at my house from Santa Claus. Wow! I’m thinking I must have been super good this year and he needs me to do something special. I’m thinking he wants me to write a new Christmas song. (I’m a songwriter.) No, it seems that he got backed up with everything this year and was wondering if I could do him a favor. He said that my parents are two of the best in the world. He wanted to give them a vacation this year because they never take them. Santa asked if I could go down to the Disney Store and buy 3 park passes for Mama, Daddy and Jake. He said they had all been really good for years and they deserved this and much more. I said of course, Santa, I’ll help out. It wasn’t until after the phone call that I realized that I wasn’t included in the ticket receiving. Was I not a good girl this year? I’m sure he must have thought that I am just extremely busy with my fledgling career that I could just not get away. (Phooey on that! I’m gonna go too.)

Christmas morning arrives and a little envelope is sticking out of Daddy’s stocking addressed to Ben, Stephanie and Jake Dawson. Well, they were shocked! They never expected anything like this and it was wonderful to see their faces. I called Santa the next week and told him that his great idea worked wonderfully.

During the next month, Holly and I decided that we wanted to go so I head down to our local Disney Store again and buy two more passes. We all chat about when we have time off and when we can go. It’s not that hard to get Jake out of school but Daddy teaches school and it isn’t that easy to take him out for a week. Holly had very little time off due to the fact that she is finishing her degree and student teaching this year. She is going to classes through the summer, too. So when do we go? Depending on snow days, Daddy and Jake are finished with school around May 20 and Holly is taking May off after her exams and is starting back to class June 1. Mama doesn’t work so she can go pretty much whenever and I will take the time off whenever we can do it. So looks like the last week of May it is. That includes Memorial Day. Oh, goody. Hordes of people. Oh well, maybe it won’t be too bad. (Yeah, Right!)

Time to go has been established. Where do we stay? On site or Off site? With relatives? I had stayed on site in November 1995 at Caribbean Beach Resort and the Grand Floridian (GF). Mama really enjoyed the details I gave her on my stay at the GF. I told them that yes it was probably more money to stay with Disney but the perks were awesome. The main perk for us being proximity. We can split our party up and head our separate ways easier because going "home" is such a breeze. We can take afternoon siestas too. We have two cars traveling down so we could drive from any hotel but we wouldn’t be able to leave and come back as easy. So we decided to stay on-site. After looking at the needs of 5 people staying together (Our options were limited because of our number), we discovered the Fort Wilderness Cabins (FWC). (Daddy first tried Shades of Green because he is retired military but they didn’t have anything until September! Maybe next time. We would have paid only $101.00 a night for the biggest rooms on Disney property!) Mama and Daddy wanted to conserve dollars and if we stayed at the Cabins we could eat at least two meals a day there and save a considerable amount of money. That really sold them on staying on-site! The cabins sleep six people, have a full kitchen and Jake is thrilled about sleeping in a bunk bed for the first time! Also, the Cabins are fairly new and Mama liked the idea of staying somewhere with that still new smell. O.K. let’s reserve that Cabin! I call Central Reservations Office (CRO) and see what is available. I ask do they have AAA discounts for that week. Yes, they do. Do you have any special promotional rates for the week. Yes, they do! We got our cabin for $164.00 a night. We are happy campers now! Come to find out that in 1982 when we were down there the last time as a family, Mama and Daddy enjoyed the views of the campgrounds on our way to River Country. They said hey, the next time we come we should stay here. We can let the kids run wild and have fun and not worry about them. They were thinking of getting back before now. Anyhow, Mama always says be careful what you wish for, it just might come true. We are glad that it does!

A sad little note before we continue on our journey. We do not have the whole Dawson Gang going with us. Remembering River Country just now, I remember my brother Matt and how much he loved the slides and how much that 9-year-old got on my nerves. Well, now he’s 25 and has a super wife, Becky, and a growing business in a Plant Nursery. They cannot get away to join us at Walt Disney World. We love them both and Matt doesn’t get on my nerves any more, as much. He’s still my little brother. Who cares if he is 6’3" ? We will miss you Matt and Becky!

Hey, let’s go earlier than we planned and get down to Orlando on Saturday instead of Sunday! We need another night’s stay. What should we do? We like the idea of stopping at the Ocala /AAA exit off of I-75 and seeing what’s available. Cool! A few weeks later everything is filling up. Wow, Animal Kingdom is becoming more of a draw than we thought! We don’t want to chance sleeping in the cars overnight, so I call CRO again. We can’t extend our cabin to include Saturday night! They do have a bungalow open at a nice cheap rate of $154.00 a night. O.K., twist our arms. I am still continuing to call to see if someone cancels a reservation at the Fort Wilderness Cabins for Saturday night.

It’s Monday May 18, 1998 as I am writing this. We have bought new swimsuits, water shoes, Disney clothes, etc. We have discussed meals and our shopping list. The plan is to eat breakfast at the cabin and then hit the parks. We all have brand new waist packs with water bottles attached. (Thanks Mama and Daddy!) We will be taking snack items in our pouches to tide us over until 3:00 when we will have a nice meal at a sit-down restaurant. We are using this as our break and our one meal out of the day (tentatively). Then back out to the park until closing and then when we get back to the cabins we will have a lunch style dinner (sandwiches, soup, etc.). We only have one Priority Seating (PS) set for now. We figure that we should be able to get day before PS at the 3:00 time. We will decide each night where we would like to eat. Everyone will get a day to pick where they want to eat. Our PS is for Breakfast in the Castle on Sunday, May 24. Mama said that she has always wanted to eat in the castle and we will get to enter the park early because of our PS! We eat at 8:10. It will be great!

Wednesday, May 20,1998:

O.K., I have called CRO religiously and no Cabins available for Saturday night! Nothing is opening up. I have talked to September, Zaundra, Burke, Beverly, Bethany, Lilac, Penny, Natalie, Luigi, and Jasper. All quite nice people, but no cabins. I guess we decided too late. So we’ll be staying at the DI Bungalows Saturday night for sure now. It is more convenient to the Marketplace where we are planning to go on Saturday night. All right. I’m happy with that.

Oh, why is this clock ticking so slow? I know it is just going to speed up while we are there so it can catch up! The suspense is killing me, but it is half the fun, right? We are all in different states of excitement right now. I still have to iron my clothes and pack everything. I will do that Thursday, May 21. We leave on Friday! Wahoo!

DAY 1, FRIDAY MAY 22,1998

It is 11:07 Central Daylight Time and I am leaving this office at 12:00 noon to drive to Mom’s and Dad’s to pack and it is off we go! I managed to have some nice one-on-one kitty time with Claren this morning. She purred and purred. I know my roommates will take good care of her but I will miss the little rag-a-muffin. I called this morning and got us a reservation tonight at the Econo-Lodge off of I-475 in Macon, Ga. Mama called me at work and said that Daddy was wigging out that we didn’t have a reservation and we were going to be arriving late and there may be a shortage of rooms. So Daddy doesn’t have to worry anymore. We have a place to rest our heads for only $45.00 a night with all 5 of us squeezing in a room. Good thing we love each other. When Mama called this morning she said "Happy Disney Day!" in the cutest voice. She is very excited. I think we all are super excited. It’s like waiting for Christmas morning. When us girls get excited our voices creep up into our higher registers and we all sound supersonic. I hope the boys will be able to understand us today.

(Again, I would like to mention for you RADP’ers who will be reading this trip report that I am primarily writing this for our family. So some of this stuff may be boring to you but in the year 2010 when I read this to my children, nieces, and nephews, they will enjoy hearing things about their grandparents, aunts, and uncle. So please just bear that in mind when reading this and skip over stuff you don’t want to read, after all nobody’s making you read this unless your spouse or significant other is making you read every trip report they find. If that’s the case good luck!)

Various excitement happening upon reaching my parents abode. I change from work clothes, we pack and off we go. We were in the car by 3:00 EDT. Mama and Daddy were in one car and Wendy, Holly, and Jake in the other. Lots of parking lot traffic just outside of Chattanooga on I-24. Plenty of Cicadas! This is the year of the 13-year cycle that the cicadas come up out of the ground and mate for a period of five weeks. No, they don’t mate for that long. They emerge, mate, and die in about a week. There are millions of the little buggers and they come out at various times during the five week period. They are not harmful (they won’t bite you) but they make the most awful racket. And they are everywhere!! We are very happy to be leaving them in the state of Tennessee for awhile. We couldn’t identify this bug on the back of this truck that cut me off. (Jerk.) So Holly has me pull right up on the guy’s bumper. (We were only going 2 miles an hour if that so I suppose it was safe.) We were looking through Jake’s camcorder to zoom in on it. No such luck. We have no idea what that funky bug was but hey it was entertainment while we were stuck in horrible traffic!

Past Chattanooga and before Atlanta, Holly and Jake decided to get into a strong-willed argument about a song on Jake’s tape. It is a tape of Super Mario 64 songs and the song in question was one from the Ice World. It’s quite humorous to listen to your 23 year-old sister and your 12 year-old brother argue. We stopped at Cracker Barrel in Dalton. Yum! Yum! I had a vegetable plate. We spent $38.00 plus tip. Back on the road through Atlanta. We reached the Econolodge in Macon at 10:30. We had spent 7 ½ hours on the road. We retired for the night happy to be on our way.

DAY 2, SATURDAY MAY 23

Woke up at 6:00 eastern time. Ouch! That’s 5:00 am our time and I am not used to getting up that early. Neither is anyone else but we are too excited to care. My night’s sleep wasn’t as good as I would have liked because the status of the air conditioner kept waking me up. It was freezing and I was on the complete other side of the room! So I turned it down only to wake up 2 hours later to a stuffy room so I put it back on. Hope everyone didn’t mind my messing with the temperature.

We all grabbed doughnuts and OJ / Coffee at the free continental breakfast and then gas at the Shell gas station. Love those Georgia gas prices. Much cheaper than in Tennessee. However I have noticed that Atlanta has lower prices than Macon. Huh. Daddy would like to add here that the Shell station kept interrupting their cool music with ads and other stuff about Shell. It was not a great way to wake up according to Daddy.

On the road again, we stopped just north of the Florida state line. Mama had to go to the bathroom real bad. I forgot to mention that today we have switched up the people in the cars. The smokers, Mama and Holly, got to be in Mama’s car and Daddy, Jake and Wendy (non-smokers) were in Wendy’s car. Hopped back in the car and drove to Ocala.

At Ocala we got out at the AAA Disney Welcome center. This place is really cute! We got pictures made in front of statues of our favorites (Beauty and the Beast for Holly, Captain Hook and the Croc for me, and Mickey in his automobile for Jake.)

We didn’t bother to check for room rates since we already had reservations. I didn’t want to know anyway. I would have been disappointed if we found out that we could have stayed somewhere luxurious for half-price. We bought little souvenirs here too. We went to lunch at Chic-Fil-A which is across the interstate from the Ocala center. Cheap meal for us at @ $25.00.

We drove straight to the Disney Institute. What a quaint resort and so spread out! It was quite relaxing. We checked in at a little after 3:00 because our room was all ready! A nice CM whose name I totally forgot drove a little golf cart (with our cars trailing behind) to our room. We were in Bungalow #805. We walked in and saw a pretty couch/ daybed with huge pillows, a nice sized TV across from the couch in the corner and next to the sliding glass doors. We were a ground floor room so we had a good-sized patio with two pool chairs and a table. When you walked in the front door directly in front of you was the Mini-frig on the floor with a cabinet next to it. A little counter-top with a space saver microwave attached to the upper cupboards. We got a free package of eight Disney paper plates, bowls, and cups. Very cute. The couch was on the wall to the left. On the right was a door leading to the bedroom with two queen beds. Very cool turtle lamps above the bed. Bedspread was colorful and inviting. There was a vanity as well across from the beds with Disney Institute stationary in the drawer. On the right as you enter the bedroom is the door leading to the bathroom. There is a single sink with a hairdryer underneath. The bathroom was standard small size and suited our purposes fine. There was two cute pictures on the walls of the bungalow with Disney characters in topiary. I remember one was Daisy Duck. Really neat decor for an "unthemed" resort.

We unpacked only what we needed for the night and put the suitcases back in the car. At this time I wanted to finish filling out my postcards that I had bought in Ocala and get them off to my friends. Holly had bought some as well and did the same. OK we are off in pursuit of a mailbox now. We walk over to the check-in building and ask where a mailbox might be and when pick-up time is as it is now after 4:15. Well, lo and behold there is a cute dainty mailbox made out of iron right in the check-in area. That flag weighs a ton! Postcards are mailed and they promise that they should still go out today. This is good because being Memorial Day weekend they wouldn’t go out until Tuesday otherwise. I don’t like taking the chance that someone will receive a postcard from me after I get back from vacation. What’s the point? (Note: they didn’t go out until Tuesday but my friends said that they received the postcards by Thursday.)

Holly and I meander back to the bungalow. We passed the coffee and dessert place right next to where you can rent watercraft. Sorry I cannot remember the name of the place. "Too bad we aren’t staying here longer or we’d definitely try this place out," I said. We get back to the room and Daddy and Jake are already in the pool. We could see this for ourselves because from our patio we were ten steps away from the pool edge! Boy, does it pay to request stuff. I asked for close to the pool and we got it! Holly and I changed into our bathing suits and off we went. I’m in the pool and it feels definitely warm. Daddy says "You want this water to feel cool? Try the jacuzzi and then come back in the pool." My eyes light up. "Jacuzzi?" I am so out of that pool faster than lightning. Jacuzzi nice. Jacuzzi my friend. I don’t have to leave here do I? OK. I’m gettin’ hot now. Mom comes out with Jake’s camcorder at his request and gets some film of us relaxing. Oh Yeah! Well, think I’m gonna hit the pool now. Before I know it Daddy has snuck up on me from under the water, grabs my legs, and hoists me up and throws me in the air to splash in the pool. I come up for air and he asks if it was the same as when I was five. I laugh and say "Oh daddy. That was great! But now I know better. If I want to keep my hair dry I’m gonna have to stay away from you at the pool." It was a little different though. It wasn’t really cold. My "little" brother, Matt, wasn’t there. And I didn’t have my little orange juicy thing. You used to could get these little plastic oranges or grapes filled with juice with this green straw sticking out at the parks. No more. They were quite entertaining too. I had so much fun being thrown in the air Daddy got Holly too. Thank goodness we have multiple hair dryers.

We head in and get ready for our evening. We decided to hit the Downtown Disney Marketplace and try Rainforest Café for dinner. Holly and I decided to "look nice" so we got out cute sundresses and donned festive sandals. Daddy wore a tie-die shirt and comfy shorts. We are on vacation. We wear what we want and don’t worry about matching anyone else. Yay us!

The CM who checked us in said that it was much closer to walk to the Marketplace than to take the bus. Well OK we’ll walk. Not good idea. We got lost. Mama got hot and cranky. We end up walking around the 1 bedroom villas and took a detour to get back over to where we could get to the crosswalk. We made it. I was sweating like a pig in my new dress but that’s OK. We did see some adorable baby ducklings swimming with their Mommy in the water. We walk up to Rainforest Café to get reservations for dinner. Wow! What a cool place! Really, I got sprinkled on as we waited under the mountain to approach the reservations stand. That’s just what I needed to cool off with after a hot walk! The wait will be about an hour and a half? OK we’ll go shop.

Off to The World of Disney. This place is huge. Mama was worried about losing all of us and being able to meet up to make our dinner reservations. Uh hum. I was not really worried nor did I pay attention to anyone else as my eyes took in all that they could and I did a race to pick up things for my friends on my "To Buy for" list. I got cute Pooh earrings with Pooh holding on to a blue balloon for my friend Tomi. I got a Goofy Koosh Ball and a Goofy Hat for my friend Rick. I got a Donald Duck pen, paper pad, and keychain for my friend Lena. Hey not bad. Half of my shopping is done and it is only the first night.

Mama decides it is time to go back to the Rainforest Café and check on our reservations. So we hang out in the gift shop. I used to collect Pandas and they have a couple of darling stuffed toy pandas. We played with the puppets. Holly walked around with the Snake one and tried to scare Jake with it. Jake loved it and they went in search of Daddy to scare him. "Will the Dawson party please approach the elephant. Your safari is about to begin." Ooh cool!

We are seated in the elephant room. I don’t really know how they tell which room is which. They all mesh together it seems like. Some gorillas were behind us and one was beside us. Not an elephant in sight. Huh. Everyone orders fruity drinks from the menu. Jake gets his non-alcoholic of course. Mine was some melon ball thing. It really got me feeling happy. I think it had vodka in it and it kind of snuck up on me. Daddy finished it for me. Our waiter was quite efficient and really cute too. Next time I go down. I am writing down the names of our CMs and servers. I just can’t remember all that detail! Mama and I split the rasta pasta. Holly had a burger I think. Jake had the hot dog kids meal thing. I don’t remember what Daddy had. Mama and I also split an appetizer. Mama didn’t like the appetizer. I did. Mama didn’t really care for the pasta dish either. I loved it! I like spicy weird stuff though. Dinner was over $100.00. Daddy is having a hard time getting over the price of everything. It is rather expensive. I was "Tip Girl" so I paid the tip pretty much for the rest of the trip. All in all we liked the atmosphere of the Rainforest Café very much. The thunderstorm was definitely captivating! We all decided that it was enough for now. Daddy said "maybe with my grandchildren", as he looks at Holly and me. I said "Talk to the married couple." Daddy loves to tease us, but sometimes we wonder. Well, I’d love to give them grandchildren but they are just going to have to wait. They have to go broke paying for my wedding first. Ha! Ha! Ha!

We’re not done shopping, no! We go to the little Pooh store. Mama and Daddy find Pooh songs with a sing along book for our little cousin, Michele. We then head back toward the Lego store. We stop at this kiosk and I get my red Guest of Honor name badge with the year I first arrived at WDW. I suppose I could have put my hometown but that changes from year to year so I never know. I was so excited about this thing. 1973 is a pretty early year for a girl still in her twenties. I got some definite questions about this later, you’ll see! J The Lego store. Wow! They had a whole lot of HUGE Lego designs. The serpent in the water is incredible! As we walk around and look at all the Lego displays we decide that our brother Matt would be in heaven here (and Holly’s ex-boyfriend, Dan). We also wish that it had been here when we were little. We would have spent hours in there! Outside of the store itself they have these Lego stations where you can get hands -on experience building with Legos. If any kid hasn’t played with these way-cool blocks I’d be willing to bet that any kid who did would be dragging their parents in the store and coming home with some. There you go, Lego. Let the kids play with ‘em. Parents will buy ‘em. Brilliant.

Last stop, the World of Disney again. Mama has been on a bench since before the Lego store. She is pooped. We are all definitely winding down. Holly buys a couple of things in the store. I look around but I am so tired nothing looks cute anymore. I go and sit outside to find Jake and Daddy already made it to the bench. Oh Dear God it is just the first day and we haven’t even been to the parks yet! Please let us get some rest tonight and be refreshed for our day at Magic Kingdom tomorrow. Holly arrives with her purchases and we head to the bus stop. Since it is now dark we decide not to walk back. We had enough trouble the first time! So we wait and wait and wait for our bus. 30 minutes go by. Oh we could have been home by now. Here comes our bus. Very nice driver and it was nice to sit down. We also got to see the treehouses in the dark because our driver had to drive through there first.

We make it home and call for a 5:30 am wake-up call. That is 4:30 to us Central time folks. Got to get over that. We sleep like the dead.

DAY 3, SUNDAY MAY 24

MAGIC KINGDOM!!!

It is 5:30 am. The sun is not up yet. But Mickey calls and cheerfully wakes us up. I am first out of bed and everyone else sleeps while I get first shower. OK got to wake up. Let’s sing ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH the original version. After I’m done Daddy crawls out of bed and he hops in next. I am awake and getting dressed and getting Mommy’s coffee ready. Mama has to have two cups at least per morning. This morning she is good with one because we got to go!

6:30 everybody is up and we are in our cars and off we go to check out. We had express check out but our packet had not arrived by 6:30 so a few minutes at the front desk and we are off to Fort Wilderness! Goodbye Disney Institute! Very pretty resort and so nicely planned out. We felt we were at a country club the whole time!

We got to Fort Wilderness and did pre-check in for our Fort Wilderness Cabin. They let us do this at 6:45 in the morning. Such nice people. The Fort Wilderness Post is sooo cute. Everything so rustic and homey like a log cabin. The Hunchback of Notre Dame was playing on the TV in the lobby. We went ahead and bought our E-Ride night tickets for Tuesday while we were here. Obviously they don’t have a cabin ready yet so we get our card/keys and head to the bus stop. We get on Boone which is the next bus. Like this transportation already!

We arrive at the TTC and we have to take the resort monorail because it is the only one open. As we scurry up the walk to the platform the very handsome monorail driver named Ted is waving us up. I ask loudly if we can ride up front with him. He says that’s why I was waving you up here. Oh cool! Mama and Daddy bow out and ride in the car behind. Only four people can ride up front so the three "kids" did. Jake filmed it all with his camcorder. The view from the front is so very worth it. We’ll have to do this again! Ted was a sweetheart and got all of us our little monorail driver cards. We invited Ted to breakfast with us but he said he had just started his 8-hour shift and he didn’t think that they would like that.

We are skipping and holding hands of the platform. Oh look it’s Mickey in the Flowers! Why are we waiting in this line? We have priority seating at the castle for Once upon a time Character Breakfast at 8:10. Well, the turnstiles aren’t working for some reason. At 8:00 they open the gates and let those of us who have priority seatings in for FREE! No running our cards through the turnstiles. WOW! Now that is Disney for you. We will end up paying for our day because we have to leave to go check in to our cabin.

Under the train trestle and there is our world! Oh I love this place. Our hearts are full to bursting as we walk to the castle taking a couple of pictures along the way. We get to the castle and I stand in line to check us in at the podium. The others go inside to wait comfortably. I get my little card with Cinderella on it and I pick up the others and we walk up the circular stairs to be seated. This room is fantastic! So very middle ages yet so clean! Mama wants Fairy Godmother's signature so Jake and I head back downstairs to get her to sign our autograph books. This should have been fun but took entirely too long! A line had formed but somehow two little girls made their way in front of me that had not arrived when I did. Not very nice but I’m not going to upset them. Jake had a little trouble staying in line with me. He wanted to look around so it was OK but I was getting increasingly frustrated. Two last people in front of me and they make an announcement that the Fairy Godmother will be here all morning and we can get her signature at any time. Now they tell me. I figure I’ve already waited this long and I’m not about to get in another line and wait longer later. We get her autograph in both our books and back up the stairs we go. Also, while waiting Daddy comes downstairs to tell me that I am missing Peter Pan, my favorite. Oh great. The reason we chose this character breakfast is because I wanted to see Peter Pan. Well my mood is shot now. I feel pretty stupid getting upset over these little things but you can’t help how you feel but you can help what you do about it! When we got back upstairs Mama said she was sorry and that she didn’t know it would be so long. I’m frustrated but I’m gonna let this go. No ruining my day. I sit, I eat, I’m a happy girl. We got to see EVERYBODY, so we didn’t miss anybody. Everybody was, Peter Pan and Wendy, Belle, Cinderella, and Snow White. Pictures with all of them. Boy the characters are short! I guess I grew a little since I’m 5’9" now. But I towered over these girls, I mean princesses. Also, I think we need a bigger Pan. Ha! Ha!

The food at breakfast was scrumptious! First we had a plate of croissants and fruit, etc. And our pre-plated meal came with eggs, bacon, sausage, and these out-of-this-world cream cheese blintz things. They were so very good, we asked for extras and when we couldn’t eat all we got, Daddy and I packed them in our pouches to go. Boy those pouches Mama bought were working out great! We had zip lock bags for just such an occasion! Total for breakfast was @ 75.00 plus tip.

After breakfast, we gathered our selves and walked to Adventureland! First thing we do, because they are starting in a few seconds is The TIKI Room: Under New Management. Very cute show! I wish they had played the whole TIKI bird song though that is the song that usually gets stuck in my head the rest of the trip. We were all singing along to the words!

The tree house was closed because it was being refurbished. Holly was upset because she loves the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. This was the first land we went to in 1982 and now it’s kind of tradition. The Treehouse was the first thing we did. Well, we’ll just have to come back!!

The Jungle Cruise looked very busy and a longer line than we wanted so we went to Pirates of the Caribbean. We just walked right on! This is one of the family’s favorite rides! Got a kick out of the politically correct changes made.

We headed back to look at the line for the Jungle Cruise. It’s shorter! We got in and awaited our cruise through famous rivers. I love the signs that you read as you wait in line. My favorite is right before you board. The sign tells what the menu is for the week. Everything sounds disgusting but strangely enough tastes like chicken! I wonder if Timon and Pumbaa are the chefs! We sat in a very crowded boat. We did sit near the front and Mama had hoped that he would pick Jake to help steer the boat. No such luck. Maybe they don’t do that anymore. Our guide was very good. He nailed the puns exactly where they ought to go. It turned out that most of our boat only spoke Spanish and their translator was not translating everything our guide said so… pretty much only the Dawsons laughed at his puns. Poor guy!

We finished Adventureland and headed to Frontierland! Head to Splash Mountain. We waited about 15 minutes. We never waited more than 15 to 20 minutes for anything. Most rides/attractions were walk-ons. Everyone loved this ride!! It is not your normal log flume adventure. "How do you do/ Very glad to meet cha!" The songs are adorable. We bought the picture. Daddy looks hysterical. Holly and I are in the front and we have the exact same pose because we are both holding our hats. Even Jake loved it and he normally gets anxious about drop rides.

When we stepped out of the Splash Mountain picture buying area we saw Brer Fox and Brer Bear! Well, we had to stop and get their autographs. Brer Bear signed mine and Daddy made me kiss him on the nose for a picture. Brer Bear got real embarrassed. Jake got Brer Fox’s autograph. We are having a lot of fun with this autograph book business. I know we are not little kids but you sure feel like one when you get to get close to the characters and talk to them.

Big Thunder Mountain is next. What a great coaster! Jake hates coasters but he likes this one! Thanks, Disney. The possums swinging from the tree are my favorite.

Let’s go ride a train! We hop on at Frontierland and ride it all the way around. Between Frontierland Station and the station at Mickey’s Toontown Fair, I see some blackened ground and it looks like Disney had a brush fire here not long ago. I hope nobody got hurt. We all enjoy the peacefulness of the train. I like the guy who talks about all the different lands as you pass through them. It makes the train ride interesting and more fun than you’d think.

It is getting hot and the lines are getting long. We take a break and head to Tom Sawyer’s Island! This is just plain fun. I remember bouncing on the barrel bridge when I was a kid. I hurt Mama’s feelings some now though. We all went to Aunt Polly’s first for something cold to drink. And I knew Mama wanted to have a cigarette. I told her that she probably couldn’t smoke here because of the other families. She said "But it’s outside." I understand and personally I think she should be able to smoke outside but I had read where others had complained and in hopes of preventing someone from saying something to Mama and hurting her feelings or spoiling her mood, I decided to suggest that she wait to smoke when she could sit down on a bench away from others who were eating. (In all honesty, I didn’t care at all about anyone else and their precious lungs, I cared about my Mama.) Well, in my trying to prevent her from getting hurt I hurt Mama. I should have left well enough alone. Oh well, I’ve learned. I’m sorry Mama. Mama’s OK now. (Actually, throughout the trip we have learned what not to harp on with everyone. With Mama, it’s smoking, With Daddy, it is the high cost of everything. With Jake, it’s his manners. More on Holly and I later.)

Mama found a nice place to sit with a checker board. I checked on her to make sure she was OK and to hug her and tell her that I love her. I went back to the table and there are more baby ducklings clamoring over rocks to be fed. Well, I had to go see so I broke up some of my Ritz Mini Peanut Butter Crackers and those little ducklings loved it. I love little Animals! All this time Jake has been out exploring and he comes back to take us to see what he has found. Barrel Bridge, Windmill, and a really cool merry-go-round. We wind through the caves. It is very cool and comfortable in those caves. Good way to escape the heat! We wind up back at Mama and Holly decides to sit down play some checkers and have a cigarette with Mama. Daddy, Jake and I head off for the fort.

Daddy says that the Fort was one of the main things he remembers as a kid visiting Disneyland. This fort closely resembles that one. Daddy was very much into Davy Crockett and all westerns when he was a youngster. He sure had fun at this fort. We went up into the top of the fort and pretended to shoot injuns and other bad guys like bank robbers. The guns are really neat because they make firing sounds when you pull the trigger. The Liberty Bell Riverboat was passing by as we were playing with the toy guns and I aimed at a few passengers. Daddy and I decided that was a little too real for us and quit. Aiming at imaginary foes is one things, real people is another. As we walked back to the other part of the island I realized that it was so wonderful to reexperience my Father’s childhood memories with him. Jake was with us some of the time, other times he was off filming. I tell you what that boy loves video cameras. Maybe he’ll be a director someday.

Well, off we go back on the raft to take us to the mainland. For some reason Mama got nauseous on these trips on the rafts. I suppose the slow movement of the raft compiled with the natural rocking of the water did it. She joked and said that it would be real cute if the only thing that made her nauseous were these silly rafts.

Time to sit inside out of the heat. Country Bear Jamboree!! This is a well-loved favorite of all. Holly said she was having one of her childhood memories in here; the magic was working again. My favorites are the wall decorations, if you know what I mean. I’m so glad the Country Bear Jamboree is still there. One of those things that just makes you smile. It is especially funny if you can figure out the Country Artists that the bears mimic. Little bit of Patsy Cline, Little bit of the Carters, definitely Hank Williams, Sr.

It’s a little after 2:00. Wow we have gotten a lot done. Mama wants to see the parade at 3:00 then we need to head back to the cabin to get our keys validated and check in to our cabin. So off to the Train Station we go.

We got great seats on the left side of the Train Station overlooking Main Street. We saw that Donald Duck was giving autographs over in the little Character greeting area next to the City Hall. Jake and I sprint in that direction with the Camera and wait about ten minutes for Donald. He had to take a short water break but he wasn’t gone very long. 2 minutes tops. Donald was quite sweet and very nice. Not like his usual self at all. Maybe he knew that Jake loves him best!

We get back to the train station and Daddy tells me that he’s found the little flip card movies that used to be in the Main Street Penny Arcade. That old arcade has some of my favorite memories. When I was little you couldn’t tear me away from those motion picture ones. Well, guess what! They are now located on the upper level of the Train Station. Holly, Jake and I had a ball looking at the different ones. Fun, Fun, Fun!

Here comes the Remember the Magic parade! These floats are something else! Highly detailed and very fun. Cinderella and her Prince led the parade along with Chip, Dale, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Pluto and Sorcerer Mickey. The Fairy Godmother followed along after the float. Next was the Little Mermaid. This float stopped in front of us and a select group of little kids got to participate in the Under the Sea song. Very cute! Holly noticed that Ariel only had one hand motion of the waving sea and she repeated it over and over again. Huh. Maybe a little more choreography there. Beauty and the Beast floated by next. The Beast looked as if he was having heat stroke. He was leaning on the hand rail and this other CM that looked like he had been swallowed by the Beast. I mean this guy was not feeling good at all!! I hope he was OK. I can just imagine wearing all that fur in this heat. I’ve done my share of furry costumes in my lifetime the heat of summer is too hot.

Aladdin, Lion King, and an Enchanted Forest float with the Pooh characters, Mary Poppins, Baloo, King Louie, Pocahontas, Pinocchio, Gepetto, Wendy, and Peter waltzed by to the Remember the Magic refrain. Jake got it all on tape. Let’s all go get on a boat!

We took the boat transport back to Fort Wilderness. Very nice soothing ride. We hadn’t been to this part of the campgrounds before so we took it all in as we walked to the bus stop. Oops, wrong bus stop. On the right bus and before long we are getting our cabin assignment and heading off to Fleetwood Pass. We stayed in cabin 2423 on the 2400 loop. Not a very long walk at all to the pool. I had requested to be toward the end of the loop so we’d be closer to the pool. Oh, well. Middle of the loop is not so bad. Now that I know how the numbers are organized I can ask for a specific cabin next time.

Oh, but our cabin, 2423, was splendid!! We all piled in Mama and Daddy’s car to make the trip. You can only park one car at a time at your cabin site. However, as we pulled up we saw quite a few cheaters with two cars at their cabins. Tsk. Tsk. (We ended up doing this later in the week too but only out of necessity). The cabins are really very cute. They have faux wood siding that looks pretty authentic. They have a little grill out by the driveway. The deck is quite spacious with a nice picnic table on it. Upon entering the cabin you see the kitchen directly in front of you. A nice, clean, full kitchen! We have dish washing supplies and everything! There are glass mugs/Mason jars to drink out of as well as coffee mugs. Everything is a serving for six. BIG refrigerator, microwave, stove, lots of cabinet space. We rearranged a little so that we could put groceries up. On your right as you enter there is a wooden bench with cushions and a table with woodsy chairs. The couch is next to that on the wall. Nice little rug on the floor. The TV set is across from the table facing catty-cornered toward the couch. Also a VCR! This was next to the Food Pantry that we used as extra space for clothes. Next to the TV is the cutest little table and chairs for wee ones. On the far right end of the cabin is the Murphy Bed. On the two sides of the Murphy Bed in the corners are more storage spaces with counter tops. The right side had the cabin phone and all phone necessities.

If you turn to the left as you enter the cabin you see a hallway toward the bedroom. A storage closet is on your right as you enter the hall. The port-a-crib is in here. The next door on your right is the bathroom. Awesome bathroom. More Mickey soaps, etc. The bathtub you step up and over and it is very roomy. The shower head is high enough up for tall people and the water pressure is nice and heavy!

There is one sink but very roomy counter space. There is a little shelf on the wall to put toiletries, etc. The only problem we had with the bathroom is that it got stopped up a couple of times. But that was not Disney’s fault. (What’cha been eating Holly? Whole cows? Ha!Ha!Ha! This is the thing we don’t bug Holly about anymore. So I’ll be quiet now. Sorry I joked, Holly.)

Moving on down the cabin, the door directly in front of you leads to the bedroom. In here an incredibly comfortable double-bed is the first thing you see as you open the door. Cute lamps above the bed of bears. Little nightstand with alarm clock. Bunk Beds! Jake was thrilled with these. The comforters were made to look like quilts. Once in the room and you turn around you see a TV on top of a dresser. Next to that on the left is a closet. In the corner of the room in front of the bunk beds is a vanity with a hairdryer.

The cabin’s ceilings are vaulted so it gives a very airy and open feel to the place. It’s just so charming. We could have stayed the summer and been very comfortable.

We unpacked the one car - then I drove their car back to the parking area and retrieved my car with the rest of the luggage, etc. It was very nice to be alone for a few minutes. I just smiled and breathed and listened to the soundtrack of Beauty and the Beast. When I got the car back to the cabin, Daddy and I headed off to Publix to buy the rest of the groceries while Mommy and Holly unpacked everything. I think Jake explored.

My lord is it a drive off property! We had to drive this convoluted way back out. We drove toward the Magic Kingdom ‘til we could reach a crossroads to get to the road leading out. Quite confusing. Disney property is HUGE! It really only took about 15 minutes but I’m used to the grocery store being about a block away.

We get to Publix, which is a very nice grocery store in Kissimmee. (It’s on your left on route 192 coming from Disney property.) We found everything we needed in about 30 minutes. We had to get a little more than we had planned because Mommy had inadvertently left some snack items that I had purchased back home. I though this was pretty funny. I am notorious for leaving things behind so I purposefully gave these groceries to Mama so they wouldn’t be forgotten. Hee! Hee! Hee! Daddy got himself some lunch here as well. They were having a promotion for charity in the vestibule before entering the store. A hot dog and Pepsi for $1.00. Cheapest meal all week.

We arrived home about an hour after we had left. Mama and Holly took care of putting away the groceries. Daddy and I relaxed.

Back to Magic Kingdom for the evening. We took every transportation device possible to get to MK. Bus to boat dock. Boat to Contemporary by way of Wilderness Lodge. Resort Monorail to Magic Kingdom. We got there just as Spectro Magic was passing by. This parade is Spectacular**! We stood on the steps of the guest services building and saw the whole parade very well. I love how everything including the characters are lit up first in white and then brilliant color. This really is must-see Disney.

OOOH GOODY! - let’s go fight through throngs of people to get to Fantasyland where there are even MORE people. Woo Hoo! I can hardly contain myself. Fanny packs also make excellent life support lines. Hold on everybody - Here we go! Whew! We made it through that.

Snow White (the not so scary but golly it looked pretty darn scary to me) Adventures. We rode in Sleepy - ain’t that the truth! Ding Dong the witch is dead! Whoops! Wrong movie but it fits! We step out into the balmy Florida air from our adventures with Snow White and would you LOOK at the lines now. Lots of tired children. God knows I will probably do the same stupid thing with my kids but I am going to try to remember that keeping little ones at any park until midnight is futile and pointless. Parents were crabby and kids were crabby and the lines atrocious. We had our longest lines of any Disney park at this time. Enough about that. To each their own vacation.

It’s a Small World was next. The fireworks started going off while we were in line. Boy the line cleared out then! Too bad it didn’t last. "There is just one moon and one golden sun…" Aaah. Love the Heaven room where everyone is playing and they are all in white and perfect harmony. Survived the song one more time. Actually, it is a wonderfully written song. More people know this song than others you would think they should, Americans can we say "Star Spangled Banner?" I know all the words but you would be amazed at how many people are clueless. Anyhow back to the point, "It’s a Small World" is truly a song that unites the world.

30 Minute wait for Peter Pan. Mama’s favorite ride and my favorite story and characters and oh everything so yeah – we wait. Awesome as usual. I love the fluorescent coloring in Neverland.

Jake wanted to ride the Sky Buckets. Well, that’s good. We need to head out of Fantasyland anyway. See if we can find shorter lines in Tomorrowland. The Skyway has an awesome view of Magic Kingdom. You can see over the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Lagoon. I really miss that ride. I remember it from when I was five and I loved it! I have looked forward to riding it again but no such luck. Why? Maybe too much maintenance. Actually, everybody misses that ride in our family. Well, the ones who actually got to ride it do. At night when everything is all lit up like a fairy land the Skyway is a great place to be. The girls rode in one car while the boys rode in another.

Great, Tomorrowland has huge lines, too. Oh joy. Serves us right for going on a major holiday weekend. The TTA is a walk-on and it is going to be closed down for the rest of the week for an update to the New Buzz Lightyear ride. Daddy, Jake, Holly, and I rode it while Mama has a cig break. We weren’t actually planning to ride this. It is relaxing - oh but some of it is so… well… let’s say not very interesting. We did get to see Space Mountain with all the lights on. That did it. Jake says he’s not going on it now. Oh well. We exit the TTA on those got to keep my balance downward slope continuous movement things. Daddy says that’s why escalators became more popular. We just missed the last showing of Timekeeper. We also missed Carousel of Progress, another family favorite.

We decide to head on back home but look - Alien Encounter is starting now! In we Go!

Holly and Daddy laughed through the entire experience. They thought it was a hoot. I didn’t remember everything from my 1995 visit, so it was scary and kinda new for me too! We all liked the experience and thought it was definitely different than regular Disney stuff. I do think that if every ride was the same as far as intensity and content, then they would get old pretty fast. Variety is the spice of life!

We are exhausted!! Let’s go home and pass out. OK!! Lots of enthusiasm pouring out from all participants involved at this novel idea. We get home and Mama and Daddy decide they want the Murphy bed and us girls get the double in the bedroom. We’ll put in a call for Mickey to wake us up then Lights Out!

DAY 4, MONDAY MAY 25 MEMORIAL DAY

DISNEY/MGM!!! Yay! I love this park. It’s like everything is set in early Hollywood days.

We decide to drive today and forego transportation by Disney means. We were there in a heartbeat. (Well, more like 5 minutes of heartbeats). We parked so close that we walked instead of riding the tram. Comedy 15, I think. Inside we go and we take a picture of the crossroads and Mickey circling the top.

We arrive early enough that the crowds were still very low. We decided to go to the Tower of Terror first thing. All of us got in line and got to enjoy the pre-show. For some reason everyone was on the right side of the line and no one on the left. We took the left side and that was a smart thing because we were next in to the little pre-show room! The atmosphere here is way spooky. Once reaching the elevators, Jake decided to take the chicken elevator. Pretty smart idea according to Mama. She got off of Tower of Terror totally Freaked Out! Daddy, Holly, and I liked it, of course. Mama said, Never Again. She bought herself a T-shirt to commemorate her one and only survival of Tower of Terror. Daddy actually was expecting more. He said it didn’t seem like we dropped that far. Over too soon and all that. I remember the terror being longer too but maybe my brain is playing tricks on me.

At this time I tried to plan our day according to the times listed in the program. Let’s go to the 10:00 Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. Whoo! Hoo! We get there early enough to see the janitor pre-show. This guy is a trip! We laughed pretty hard. Next came the casting director. I personally have been on a set but my parents thought it would be a kick to see me up there. So she asked for screamers. I screamed my head off. In order to push me over the edge of the crowd, Holly squished in next to me and screamed her head off, too. Well, I got picked. And now I have no voice from screaming. (J/K)

The casting director made us scream some more this time on stage in front of everybody. We had to do stupid fun stuff, too. Since I have a degree in acting this really wasn’t hard. I hammed it up and had a ball. Of course, Jake taped the whole thing. I was told to leave the stage and go to costuming. Boy, that costume sure was hot. It didn’t look hot but I’m glad I didn’t spend any time on my hair like this one lady. One guy in our group was a plant in the audience. He wore one of the ugliest pink touristy shirts I have ever seen. He was quite adorable, however. Oh man the men in this show. Very handsome and they definitely work out, whoo! I think I will try to be an extra every time!

We planned to get to the Beauty and the Beast show at 11:25. We had about 30 minutes and tried to go to Star Tours. Nope, everybody seemed to go to Star Tours after Indy. So we did One Saturday Morning instead. This was very cute. The CM who runs the show picks guests from the audience to be a part of the show. Mostly kids are chosen and they get to make all these sounds that make up a part of the 101 Dalmatians show. I had volunteered for the Sound Show in 1995 and had a terrific time. Back then it was a Chevy Chase and Martin Short little feature. I decided that I was through volunteering for the day. No one else in the family wanted to so we just sat back, relaxed and watched other people work. The kids sure looked to be having a great time.

Had a ball playing with all the stuff outside of the Sound Show (One Saturday Morning). So much stuff to play and do! We spent a little too much time in there because we were not as early as we had hoped to be for the Beauty and the Beast show. We had to split up to get good seats but that was quite alright.

This show was very entertaining. We thought Belle could have been a little better. Actually, we thought Holly would have made a much better Belle. Holly sings beautifully and looks just like Belle. All the characters were cute and I think children would especially like this show because most of the characters are not face characters and therefore their likeness’s are exact.

Now we wanted another "ride". We decided to do the Great Movie Ride. There are two "sides" to this ride. Basically you see the same things except for one scenario. We got the gangster one. The other one is western. Makes you be "a part" of the movies. The CM that was our gangster was a dud. We got caught in the Alien section of the ride for awhile for whatever reason. This guy stayed in character but could not improv for the life of him. I have done many shows where improv is the key! I don’t know if he wasn’t trained in the event that he would get stuck with somewhere or if he was just not a good actor. Even his spiel was just that -- a spiel. Not much life. I hate to be overly critical. Maybe he was just having a bad day. Let’s hope so. Our main driver was great. Very excited and fun to be with.

I was attempting to cram all of this park into one day, so I suggested that we make the next Little Mermaid show and then we can take the Animation Tour and be able to just make our 3:00 Priority Seating at Prime Time Café. We got in line at The Little Mermaid and I went and filled up everybody’s water bottle. When I get back to the line, I try to start thinking about the rest of the day. Holly says "Wendy can we please slow down a little I’d like to just not do so much." It seems she wasn’t the only one who felt we were rushing from place to place. I felt it too, honestly. I was trying, however, to make sure we saw all we could. We can’t come here every year and if we miss stuff, we might never see it. I really don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go with them again. So, because of my tiredness and my constant attention to the planning and trying to make sure we got everything in and that everyone was having a good time, I broke. I started crying in the Nautical room outside the Little Mermaid. I tried to hide it from my family, but Holly could tell something was wrong. Then she felt guilty because she thought she had made me cry. I was really just exhausted, that’s all. Well, from then on out we took a much slower pace. If we made it we did, if not we didn’t. I didn’t sweat it. We decided to forego the Animation tour and just shop and stroll after The Little Mermaid show.

The Little Mermaid show was so neat with all the lasers and puppets and actors and watery mist. Everyone enjoyed the show. They were also a little worried about me because it’s quite rare that I just start crying especially in public. It was so cool and relaxing in there. Ariel was great! Vocals especially.

We are goooooing to sloooooow it doooowwwn nooowww. I found some cute Cinderella stuff for my friend Kelly in the shop right next to the Little Mermaid. I got her the soap with the slipper in it! We meandered back to main street and looked in the shops there. We also saw a little bit of Darlene putting her hands in cement. Darlene from the original Mouseketeers. What a peppy person! She and Minnie were driven down the main street in a really cool convertible preceded by a marching band. After we got our fill of looking around we meandered over to our Priority Seating. It was only a little after two so Mama sat down to have a cigarette (No smoking in restaurants , you know). Daddy, Holly, and I went in this store near Indy and they had some great stuff in there. Daddy had been looking for a hat to purchase for himself. He got a great one that looks like Crocodile Dundee.

Upon checking our Priority Seating and asking if we might be seated earlier. "Mom" said "Aren’t you already here? I have the Dawson kids already arrived." I said well somebody in there is telling a fib because the Dawson kids who made the PS for 3:00 are right here. She said "Oh my Goodness. We’ll get you checked off and seated." We never found the other Dawson kids. Boy, sitting down in a restaurant to have a meal in the middle of the day is wonderful!

Our waitress sat down right next to us and asked what we wanted. She put on Daddy’s hat and my sunglasses. She was Baby Sister something. I’ve really got to get these names down. The table next to us kept getting into trouble all the time. Our waitress didn’t scold as much. She probably would have gotten into as much trouble or more! The meal was excellent. I couldn’t seem to eat enough! I had all of my meal plus some of Mama’s potatoes and all of Holly’s green beans. They were steamed green beans and Holly didn’t like them much.

After our dinner with our "relatives", we wanted to do Star Tours so off we go. NO LINE AT ALL. We flew past all the cool stuff to look at and boarded immediately. Very fun! We are all big Star Wars fans from the first time the first movie came out. Well, not Jake. He wasn’t alive yet. Oh but I wanted to BE Princess Leia! We all rode and it made Mama nauseous. No more simulator rides for her. Daddy and Jake wanted to do it again so off they went. Mama, Holly, and I sat outside and looked at what we wanted to do for the remainder of the day.

Let’s go see the Muppets!! Another childhood favorite. "It’s time to put on make-up. It’s time to dress up right. It’s time to get things started on the Muppet Show tonight!" The theatre even looks like the old Muppet show! All red and completely garish. I love it. Mama was still feeling sick and was afraid she wouldn’t be able to sit through the show. She headed out but asked a nice lady CM and she said that Mama could leave any time during the show that she needed, if she felt ill. So Mama came back! Yay!

Oh my Gosh! The two old geezers in the box seats are also there. "Why do we always come here. I guess we’ll never know. It’s like some kind of torture to have to watch this show!" I love those guys! Their names have popped out of my head. I have got to go to Name school. This is getting ridiculous! The show was awesome! The 3-D effects are amazing and you have got to see it to believe it. We all had a blast and were happy campers. Mama felt better and she said she might see it again when she’s feeling better so she can truly enjoy it.

The last thing we shall see today will be the Hunchback of Notre Dame, we decided. It was getting late and we had enough time to catch the last show of the day including the pre-show. Matt the juggler was our pre-show. He was very good and quite funny. I must admit, I’m a little biased when it comes to jugglers and entertainers of the like. Broon, one of my good friends, is outstanding and he tours the country with his act which is incredible. Not only is his act great but he is so talented himself that every show is different because he allows for things to happen and he incorporates them and the audience into his show. Anyway, I did think Matt was great. He kept the audience enthralled while waiting for the show to begin.

Wow. I think that word says it all. This show was stupendous. Oh I want to rush right back down to Orlando and audition for Esmerelda just to work with these very fine actors and singers. We were blown away. Dad said , "We just got to see a Broadway show… in a park!" I wanted to go back stage and tell them how incredibly glorious they were. That wasn’t possible, maybe I should write a nice thank you letter or something. If this play does make it to Broadway, this cast should be able to go, especially Clopin and Quasimodo. Wow. What talent.

Well we are thoroughly happy now and Jake has collected up as much confetti as he can fit into his hat pouch and everywhere. We begin walking out and decide to stop and play in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground. Oh how fun! Holly and I went everywhere we could fit. We meandered down New York street and casually strolled on out to our car. What a lovely day! I’ll have to cry in the middle of the day more often if this is how it is going to turn out.

Home we drive all happy. Daddy and I get back in the car once home to go over to Shades of Green to get beer and wine coolers cheap. Tonight is cook out on the grill night and we wanted to have refreshments as well. Shades of Green is a very pretty resort! It is within walking distance from the Polynesian. Mama has already decided that she and Daddy are coming back next year for their 30th anniversary and are going to stay at Shades of Green! Daddy is retired from the Air Force and his benefits are way worth it in this place!

Daddy cooks out and the hamburgers are yummy! Happy Memorial Day everybody! When we get done eating Jake and I head over to the pool for a dip. I like the pool here. No it is not fancy but it does it’s purpose and it was really nice to lean back and relax and watch Jake do his tricks. He’s a great kid and I am so happy to be able to spend this time with him. Jake and I finish up and we go home to our cabin and dream of something but I really can’t remember even the next day because I am sleeping so hard. We are wearing ourselves out but loving every minute of it!

DAY 5, TUESDAY MAY 26

EPCOT AND MAGIC KINGDOM "Early in the mornin’, gotta get up Early in the mornin’" Oh man. I’m going to be sleeping in next week for work. Early Entry day EPCOT! Whoo! Hoo! We about got there on time. We wanted to ride the monorail in and Jake wanted to film it so we took a bus to the TTC, (Boone is our friend!) and then took the EPCOT monorail in. It is overcast today but that’s OK, we’re still excited.

We arrive about 8:00 and a couple in front of us are trying to get in but guess what? They are checking to see if you are a resort guest and can be there at early entry. They were turned away. Not a very pretty sight.

Neat topiaries of an African savanna at the entry way to Spaceship Earth. I also like how the monorail goes around Spaceship Earth to dock at the station. The little voice tells you all about the different areas you pass. We walk right onto Spaceship Earth. Everybody likes this ride. How neat it is to follow communication from the get go. I, however, was only seeing it with one eye so maybe I missed some. I forgot to tell you that last night I decided "Hey, What fun! Let’s lose a contact down the drain in the bathroom." Gone. There’s no getting it back. Did I bring my backup pair like I had planned? NOOO! Actually, I laughed and shrugged the whole thing off. The only pain it causes is either I am seeing out of one eye or I am wearing my glasses which are not up to my prescription. Either way, yuck! So in the middle of the Spaceship Earth ride I take my other contact out and put on my glasses. Yeah, I’m risky. Probably why I lost my right lens in the first place! J

It is still before the time they are letting everybody else in so we head over to Honey, I Shrunk The Audience. Another pre-show where they pack you in like sardines. So many people and itty bitty living space. I’ve always wanted to be closer to my fellow man but I don’t think like this. Holly really liked the pre-show. All the pictures made you feel good. Daddy thought it was a waste of time. The show itself was way fun. The snake coming at you scared Mama. That was funny. Actually I think we liked Muppets just a teeny bit better. Jake LOVES all of the "Honey, I blank the blank" movies so this was definitely a special treat for him.

We decide to finish out this "area" of EPCOT and take in Journey into Imagination, the ride that belongs at Woodstock. We just were not impressed with this ride at all. Maybe you need a child younger than twelve with you to enjoy it. We won’t be riding it again until a child or grandchild as the case may be drags us on it. It does have some cute elements about it. Figment is definitely an adorable dragon thing. I really thought that all those hippies on dope would have loved this ride. It is quite psychedelic and definitely very strange. My imagination is broad and vast but this kind is almost a little scary!

We had a ton of fun in the play area upstairs.(Image Works?) I loved the little squares you step on to make music. The conducting area was a fun place to get silly. Jake got some great film of us all sweeping our hands and gesturing wildly in order for the music to get louder.

OK let’s discuss where to go next. I had been to the Land Pavilion last time I was here. I had never even been on the other side of future world. Well, that decides it off we go to the other side and begin toward the front at Ellen’s Energy Adventure. I think this was Mama’s absolute favorite. Ellen is hysterical as usual. Too bad about her sitcom. I must admit, however, that ever since she "came out" I didn’t watch as often. Her humor just seemed to get lost when the focus shifted. Oh well. She’ll be at the Universe of Energy for awhile I’m sure.

After exiting this way cool ride, Jake realizes, gosh, I’ve lost my Donald Duck hat. No way we can make it in to check. Too many people. We’ll just have to check lost and found later. Jake is such a smart kid, but his attention to detail and keeping up with his stuff is sorely lacking. Gotta love him though. We didn’t chide him about this.

I have to take a moment to discuss the CM’s costumes here in Future World. I was not at EPCOT in 1982 but if I was I am sure I would have seen these same uniforms. They look like futuristic janitors. With those long-sleeved jumpsuits on, they also looked extremely hot. They are kind of this grayish color with muted colored shapes on them. All I know is that if I worked for Disney, I think I would ask for Future World last.

The Wonders of Life pavilion. Body Wars is up first and Mama sits this one out from her nauseating experience before. Oh, I should have too. I can handle motion simulators. They don’t bother me. I think however that today other factors contributed to my condition. While waiting in line for Body Wars, I kept smelling the distinct scent of stale body odor reheated. (Kind of like leftovers in the microwave but by no means appetizing.) I kept smelling me, Daddy, Holly, and Jake. No, it’s none of us. I eventually realized it smelled the worst when we passed through the jets of air that are periodically stationed throughout the cue. All, I know is this smell was making me very sick to my stomach. This person or persons had obviously had a grand time yesterday and got all sweaty and then didn’t bother to bathe, yesterday or today. Oh, gross. After Body Wars, I went outside and stuck my head between my knees while the others enjoyed all the hands on stuff in the center of the pavilion. Oh, lucky me. (Body Wars was quite fun actually. Definitely jerkier than Star Wars. The pilot should NOT have his license.)

Still queasy, we get in line for the Making of Me only to decide no, not gonna wait for the next show. Too much to do. Cranium Command. Cute! Cute! Cute! I would have enjoyed it more if I had felt better. I love all the celebrity involvement but I think I like the little robot that controls all your involuntary systems best. He’s like the Eeyore of the body. "Nothing going on and nothing planned. Sounds like Saturday Night at my house."

We leave Wonders of Life and I am happy. I think my sense of smell has been heightened because my vision has been lessened. I started smelling too much of the people around me. Holly and Mama got frozen lemonade things outside the pavilion. They tasted way too tart. Way too Tart?! Something is definitely wrong with me. I decide to get some air away from people and family and check out the "good bugs" that were all over this area of Future World for the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival. Come to find out all the huge bugs they had displayed were good bugs. I guess the bad bugs were cleaning out the restroom stalls or something.

Let’s go ride Horizons. You sure, Wendy, you feel up to it? Yeah, it should be cool in there and the continuous motion should be OK. I was fine and I loved this ride!! Why get rid of it? This was one of the things I liked best about Future World. So what if it is not a true conception necessarily about the future? (Yeah like Journey into Imagination is the only way to conceive imagination.) I’m glad I got to see it once. However at the rate Test Track is going with its testing, I‘ll get to ride it at least 5 more times in the next 10 years.

We didn’t even stop at Test Track. We were too hungry by now. We walked over to the Pasta place in Future world next to Innoventions and near the fountain. I can’t remember its name. Daddy and Jake got pizza (Mickey shaped), Holly got lasagna, and Mama and I had chicken parmesan. I thought the food was OK. Everyone else liked it. We were trying to conserve and save money but I would have preferred to try a restaurant in World Showcase. After lunch we gave Daddy and Jake about 45 minutes to an hour to enjoy Innoventions. Holly, Mama, and I relaxed outside at the café next to the fountain. It was very relaxing just to feel the light spray of the fountain and watch the fountain do its show.

I walked over to a store nearby because my sunglasses that I had just purchased before leaving on this trip, had broken. I got some cool shades with Walt Disney World written across the top. I also saw the Passport book for the countries. So I picked one up for Jake because I knew he would enjoy using it. It comes with all these stickers from each country. Not long after I got back to the table where Mama had bought an iced cappuccino and now she swears by them, Daddy and Jake show up. It seems that Innoventions didn’t hold their interest as well as they thought it would. I spent 2 hours in there in 1995 and that was in the one side alone. Jake doesn’t care much for SEGA probably because he is a Nintendo freak and there wasn’t much else that interested him. So we make for the countries.

Holly is not feeling very well at all. She missed something last week and now it is here to haunt her. Cramps galore. Holly trying desperately not to cry and keep everyone from having fun. Mama and I stop to get Name Badges with our years of first attendance on them. (Yes, I had already purchased one, but somehow it got ripped off my pouch during the pushing and shoving to get to Fantasyland Sunday night and I first noticed it missing waiting in line for "It’s a Small World") It was sooo hot. Holly sat in the shade with Daddy and Jake trying to feel better. When we were through Holly looked much worse for the wear, so we decide to go on home. It was 2:00, scorching hot , and we were going to E-Ride Night at Magic Kingdom anyway so we needed to get home to rest.

Back to the monorail, but first a check at lost and found. Mama found Jake’s hat. Yay! Monorail to TTC to Crockett bus to Meadows Trading Post to pick up packages that we had sent there the past two days. Meadows area is so quaint. Cute little playground area. Lots of canals where we saw various kinds of floating travel. More baby ducks! So neat to see all the spring babies. The Trading Post was well stocked and had a little of everything. I got a Goofy T-shirt for a friend. We picked up our packages and we were on our way.

Lots of Brits here this week. I love to hear the different accents from the different areas of England. Today’s experience however really doesn’t fall under that description. A two to three-year-old tow-headed little British girl was screaming her head off and crying while we waited for our bus. "NOOOOOOOOOO! I DON’T WANT TOOOOOOO! STOP TOUCHING MEEEEEEE!" Her mother was quietly trying to calm her down but fat lot of good it did our ears. I’m talking ear-piercing. Did you know that you could tell she was British from her accent? Yes, even when reaching glass-shattering heights she still managed to hold on to her accent. We get on the bus. It is crowded. Guess who I get to sit directly in front of? Yep, Screaming Mimi. I gave Mama a look that would kill and she thought I had directed it at her. I only wanted to share my grief about whom I had to sit near. Mama kept asking "What is wrong?" I said "I’ll tell you later. It’s not you and it’s really not that big o’ deal." Holly was sitting next to me about to burst out laughing because she knew exactly what that look was for. For the rest of the trip, we mimicked that poor tired little girl that needed a nap very badly. "NOOOOOOO!" We even got the accent.

Home. Nap. Yay Nap! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Oh, OK I’m awake. I think I shall mention here what a wonderful maid/ housekeeper we have. Every day when we come home. Everything is spotless and our dishes are clean in the dishwasher. Also she oh so cutely arranges Jake’s Nintendo Beanie Babies on the different beds. Duchess (from the Aristocats) Has given lectures to the others and today she was in control of the remote. Jake has been thrilled every day and insists on filming them. She also tucks in our toothbrushes and does other arrangements in the bathroom. What a nice little thing to do. We have left her a note every day thanking her along with a little tip in our appreciation. Little things certainly do mean a lot and the nice touches that she adds is a highlight of our trip.

Dinner in the cabin leftover hamburger and chips! Yum! Yum! Definitely better than fast food in the parks. Back to Magic Kingdom we go! We arrived at about 7:00 and walked straight for the little stand set up outside of guest services to exchange our little E-tickets for wristbands. I was wearing my Guest of Honor tag and I love how the CM’s use your name when you wear it. This one girl who looked to be about 18 herself saw the year "1973" on my tag and said "That’s when you were born, right?" I said "No, I was almost three. That’s when I first visited the Magic Kingdom." She said, "You don’t look it." Wow. Thank you. I love it when people say I look younger than my age (27). But, just how is 27 supposed to look? Still young, no wrinkles and all the confidence in the world. Anyway, I appreciated the huge compliment, gave her a big smile and said thank you very much! One of these days people are going to stop doing that and I won’t be happy.

Jake and I spotted Eeyore in the same character greeting place that we spied Donald on Sunday. Only a few people waiting. Zip! Got his autograph. Daddy taped the whole thing too. I love this feeling like a kid thing. It’s great! There was a young couple (20’s) behind us waiting for Eeyore. The guy was just as excited as the girl was to be getting his autograph. He was all jealous of us because we had Donald’s and Donald is his favorite. Man, where are the guys like that? Really handsome that still gets into fun stuff like this? I should have asked him if he had a brother.

What shall we do first? We want to finish what we haven’t done that is not open later. Fantasyland it is. The Legend of the Lion King. Good show. Rafiki was wonderful. After all the great reviews I read, I was expecting more. I don’t know why. It has some of the same elements as The Little Mermaid and I really like that show.

We bypass the Carousel and we come upon "Toad’s Wild Ride." Ha! Ha! Ha! Holly and I had a lot of laughs on this ride. Holly was on the left and I was on the right so when there was a "left turn" Holly turned the wheel and when there was a "right turn" I turned the wheel. We screamed, not piercing just halfway, every time we hit a "wall". Oh no the fireplace we’re gonna burn AAAAHHHH! Oh no the haybale AAAAHHHH! What fun! This ride is rumored to leave and have a Pooh ride take it’s place. Well, this ride is quite cheesy but fun! I’m not sure how many little children want to visit hell, though. Pooh might be the better choice. All that merchandise - no ride. Where’s Mickey’s ride for that matter, huh? We’ve got his house. That’s better than nothing.

Tea Cups. Oh God. I did promise Jake I would ride with him. Everyone else is bowing out laughing and smirking. Dear Lord, please let me get through this without throwing up on innocent people. I prayed in earnest and got into the cup. The little mouse kept popping out of his tea kettle with a look that said you too will look this silly and nauseated. I realized that if I leaned back all the way in the cup, spread my arms out and closed my eyes, it wasn’t so bad! Jake hadn’t the strength to move the cup too fast. Hey, I can live through this! I got so comfortable that I began to help turn the wheel. Ohhhhhhh! I’m stopping now. It’s all you Jake. Back to the position. The ride ends, I get up and only a moment of disorientation and then I’m fine. Crisis averted! Onward Dawson Gang!

We show Jake the race cars. We tell Jake the wait is incredibly long. We ask Jake if he REALLY wants to ride it, we will wait. If not we’ll probably make a couple of more rides before they close for the night. Jake says I don’t need to ride them. OK. Let’s walk through Mickey’s Toontown Fair and head over to Tommorowland to catch Carousel of Progress.

Mickey’s Toontown Fair is colored very brightly and oh so cute. We decide to walk through Mickey’s house to see all his stuff. Mickey has a cute little house and he is redecorating his kitchen. What is he doing with all his millions? It is not spent on his house. Maybe this is just where he stays in Orlando. He must have a house in the Hamptons or something.

We take the SECRET walk over to Tomorrowland. Mama and I remember a certain trip report about a person falling asleep behind one of the bushes and waking up at 3:00 am. Ha! Ha! Ha! He had us going for awhile there. We reach the Carousel of Progress and we have just missed the last showing of the day. What! A whole hour is left. Oh, It runs from an hour after opening to an hour before closing. Doh! Everything else in Tomorrowland is open later tonight or we have ridden it already. OK mad dash to see the last showing of the Hall of Presidents. Insert William Tell Overture here. Visualize four adults and one preteen leaping over people and strollers and walking (no, not running. You don’t run. You walk with a spring in your step so it may appear to be running but it is not) with a goal located in Liberty Square. Hold the curtain. Oh yay they did. Any extra oxygen maybe?

Well, this is a nice show. Maya Angelou has a very quiet, calming, soothing voice. I am remembering back to an earlier time. Yes, I am a 2 year old. I am tired, room feels good, I am slZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Happens every time. I always fall asleep in the Hall of Presidents. I awaken and all the presidents are on the stage. Nice to see you guys. No, you didn’t bore me to sleep. I am just that comfortable and feel that safe with you running the country that I just slept knowing you’d take care of me. Well, I think they bought it.

It’s Firework Time. We go and grab a space near the railing in front of the Crystal Palace. Very good viewing from here! You cannot see Tinkerbell’s entire decent super clearly but you can see her take off and then she is lit up through the tree.

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! And see I think fireworks are all alike. This was magic. The music and everything timed perfectly. Wow!

I have counted 5 wristbands on other people’s hands and I have been looking. Looks like we have the park to ourselves. Whee!! We walk to Pirates and ride this again and Jake tapes it. Yo Ho Yo Ho. OOH boy and they nail you on that wristband thing too. You don’t have it? Sorry, Charlie. Where can I get one? You can’t. Oh the power! We proudly lifted our arms in the air and displayed our wristbands to the CM. See we paid our measly $10.00 a piece. Let’s party!

Haunted Mansion at night. Only two other people were with us for this experience. Let me tell you, I was scared. I had heard that the CM’s like to have a little fun here on E-Nights. Holly and I rode together and were talking about this very thing when just as we are entering the graveyard and are BACKWARDS the ride stops. Now, there is no one they are putting on this ride. WE KNOW THIS! Holly and I are freaking out. We scoot as close as we can to the interior of the coffin-like ride apparatus. After 2 minutes, we begin to descend into the graveyard. It worked. Spookiest experience we have ever had on this ride.

Holly has been very patient. The one ride that she wanted to ride so badly was closed in 1982 when she first came. This is only her second time to the World and she has been waiting and waiting. Now’s the time for her first experience of SPACE MOUNTAIN. We all queue but Jake sticks to his guns and does not ride. We waited, oh, 1 minute maybe to get on this ride. In we go. This coaster is even more fun than I remembered and I rode in 1995! We exit and Holly is elated. It was so worth the wait. The best ride ever! You better believe we ran around to the entrance and loaded back up. Mama thought it was way too jerky and again congratulated Jake on a well-made decision. They sit this one out and Daddy, Holly and I ride again.

We cannot recall ever riding Astro Orbiter. Mama goes to sit and have a "break" and we get in line, yes we actually waited about 5 minutes, to ride. Two normal sized young women had a great deal of laughs over getting into and out of this ride. The seat is just not that wide for a butt and a pair of thighs. We were so squished. We helped Daddy out and we were the last people on the elevator. We laughed about it and were happy. We now know that we can miss this ride and not ever be too upset about it.

Timekeeper here we come. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the next show but we got our pick of lean rails. There was a good many people gathered with us. You know, about 25. Robin Williams is the master. No doubt about it. He is just brilliantly funny. It is nice how 9-eyes moves around so you can see all of the picture at the front of the theatre at some point.

Mama is tired and is going to shop on Main Street and just enjoy being at Magic Kingdom with hardly any people here. Jake decides he’ll go with her and not face the Frontierland Mountains with the rest of us. Suit yourself. (I think Mama may have had something different in mind.)

The big kids (yes, that always includes Daddy) skip off to Splash Mountain! It is different at night, a little spooky at the beginning. Not much as well lit in the first part. Whoosh Happy Place! There is no one in line behind us and they ask us if we want to ride again. Wish we could but we have one more Mountain and then we have to rescue Mama. Goodbye for now, "gotta be movin’ along."

We rode in the front of the train at Big Thunder Mountain. I prefer the back. You have to wait some for the rest of the train to catch up with you in the front. The back rips you over the top and then down the little hills. Much more thrilling. Oh that was great! This E-Ticket-Ride Night thing is SUPER! A guy we overheard in line said. "I like to come first to E-night and get the thrill rides done and then come back the next day for the fun stuff. You know, Dumbo." Aargh! Where are these guys? Are there any single ones left? Holly and Wendy would like to know.

Met back up with Mama and Jake. Jake is dead asleep face down on a table outside Casey’s. Poor guy. Mama looked really tired too. We are all happy but ready to see our cabin again. We get a fantastic bus driver that was supposed to be Crockett route (not one that stops anywhere near us) but instead he picked us up and another family going to the cabins and off we went. Service with a smile and boy how we were grateful! Again I have no idea what his name was. I am really horrible. Tomorrow is sleep in day!!! Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!

DAY 6, WEDNESDAY MAY 27

TYPHOON LAGOON

Sleep is such a wonderful thing. Mickey, we love you, but thank you for not waking us up before the sun rises today. We leisurely get up and we leisurely get ready for our fun in the sun excursion. We looked at all the water parks before we left. Well, the Disney water parks. And decided that Typhoon Lagoon would best be suited to all of us. It is like pulling eye teeth to get Jake to go down a slide, so we needed a place that had more than that to do and wasn’t the emphasis. Blizzard Beach is out. We went to River Country back in 1982 and we wanted to try someplace new.

Typhoon Lagoon is it!

Mama took today to spend by herself. She volunteered to do laundry and lay out by the pool. Convenient that they have the laundry right there at the pool. We said sure we’ll go and have fun and we’ll see you when we get back. We had to stop for ice first so we drove to a comfort station and picked up some ice. Daddy accidentally bought the big huge block of ice instead of the crushed stuff. Pretty funny rearranging the cooler so it will all fit around the ice. It turned out that the ice lasted much longer and we were able to keep stuff cold for days!

Driving to the lagoon, Jake filmed us and the crew read the signs along the way in. We didn’t get there until twelve. Daddy said "Oooo Wendy, I don’t know if we’ll find a parking space. Too many people here. Maybe we shouldn’t have left so late." The parking lot is ¾‘s empty. I had wanted to get there early enough because I had heard that they close the parks when it gets to capacity. "Oooo Dad, Shut up." Daddy loves to tease me. (Ssh! Don’t tell him but I love it too. J )

This day should prove to be interesting. I am wearing my sister’s prescription disposable soft contacts. (Holly was SMART and brought her extra pair.) I know this is really not the best idea in the world, but I’m tired of being blind. Incidentally, they are working great! Especially with extra water in them.

We buy our tickets (absolutely no line) and walk on in. First a picture by the "Woody" at the entrance. I’m all happy because I am wearing my new orange wrap that matches my orange and yellow bikini. Yes, I wore a bikini to a water park. I am daring and dangerous. I also am not embarrassed easily. We go stake out a spot in the sand with a couple of beach chairs. I think we actually sat on them twice but for very short periods of time. We also got a locker to put camcorder, money , tickets, anything else we wanted to remain in our possession, in. We got a little orange rubbery band that was pretty thick actually with a key to the locker on it. My initial thought is that thing is going to come off in the water and we’ll be SOL. It didn’t move. It stayed right where it was on the wrist of whoever was so lucky to be holding it.

The wave pool is starting up. Gotta do that first! The waves are huge! I didn’t knock into people that bad. Very hard to catch the wave and body surf, though. Maybe because I am not even an amateur at it. Daddy loved this and surprisingly so did Jake. Jake hung out in the shallows but he loved every bit of it. We stayed in there a good half hour.

We ALL go to the family tube ride. Jake is very apprehensive. We let him see all the people riding in it and he decides that it is not that bad. This ride is too short. It is fun but it is over too quickly. Whoo waterfall. Whoo fun dip. Blink. Over. Probably a good thing though. It was just Jake’s speed. And we couldn’t get him to slide on anything else with us all day.

Next, we split up. Jake took off for the creek that floats around the park and Holly, Daddy, and I wanted to do the body slides. We decide that Jake will float around once. Get out and wait ten minutes. If we’re not there he’ll float around again. Good plan.

Humunga Kowabunga. Oh boy. Straight down and fast. In a bikini. There are many people, most of them men, lined up at the end of the slide. Wonder who or what they are waiting on? Cheap thrill here we come. OK cross your legs and hold your arms over your chest and don’t sit up until your done. I sat up too quick. Excuse me a moment, my brain is waterlogged. Water all up my nose. After getting over the inhalation of speed water, I realize that the slide has given me a new look with my swimsuit. Thong. The CM is laughing and said "you OK?" I said yeah I sat up too soon and I’ve now got a thong bikini but I’m fine! Grab my suit rearrange the butt then down the runway smiling at the gathered crowd and off I go to do it all again. Fun slide! Told you I wasn’t embarrassed easily. Now, if my top came off, different story. Daddy and Holly liked this slide too. We really hadn’t intended to do this one again. We thought we were going to another slide but it was the raft one so we turned around and did Humunga again. Same story except I didn’t sit up this time ‘til I had stopped.

The Body Slides were great! I don’t remember having this much fun at a water park. The one in the middle with the tunnel gets very dark. Psyched me out. I got a scratch on my back from one of these slides. Holly and Daddy were fine because they were wearing T-shirts. Novel idea, that. I did lay down to pick up more speed. We went on each slide before trying to meet up with Jake. The waits were non-existent.

We come back to the place we said that we would meet Jake and he shows up not long thereafter. He had floated a little past the place to get off and he had to fight the current to get back. He didn’t have his glasses on so it must have been hard to see just where. All the foliage mingles together anyway.

Lunchtime! We brought a cooler in with full lunches and drinks. Much cheaper way to go and we were happy with our treats! We ate and watched the floaters. I believe Jake floated around another time and we watched for him from our perch. He then came and had lunch and Holly went off to have a cig. I can’t remember if we went back to the Wave Pool now or if we decided to float around the lagoon. Regardless, we decide to float around to Shark Reef and check it out.

Shark Reef is awesome. I really want to go snorkeling and scuba diving somewhere tropical now. Oh wow! Definitely COLD water. The warm suit they gave me did not fit me snug enough. I was a tad cold in the water. A CM goes over the rules with you before you go in. It looked as if there were two side and only one side was open. I went in and Jake held onto my ankle the whole trip across. The water was very deep and I think he may have been a little wary of swimming with so many fish in a concentrated area. You could actually reach out and touch the fish as they swam by you! As we start out I notice little Nurse sharks down in the water but it didn’t look as if they were swimming near the top where we were. I am floating lightly near the end with Jake attached at the foot and I feel something swim up against me and I think "Cool. A fish swam up next to me. This fish passes me and I realize that it is a Hammerhead Shark! I think, Oh my gosh, I didn’t even know they were in here. I was very freaked out when I got out. I know he wouldn’t harm me but the close encounter without prior knowledge was a bit much. Daddy, Jake and Holly are riding high on adrenaline from their fish contacts and they book it around to do it again. No wait. I love this park.

We floated around (Love the tranquil transportation!) to the tube slides and gave them a try. We loved these too. A little bit of a wait for these but only about 5 minutes. I think Wednesday is a good day for Typhoon Lagoon. I couldn’t tell you what my favorite slide or attraction was. We all had the time of our lives here at the park. One more time in the wave pool. Everybody screaming after the horn sounds.

We gather our belongings and turn in our key and Jake realizes that he doesn’t have his glasses. Well, none of us were paying attention to when he was wearing them or not. What a problem. Daddy says "Boy am I gonna get it!". We try to jog Jake’s memory and check our "spot" and where we had lunch and the locker. Nowhere. Oh great. Now Jake can’t see a thing and, unlike me, he has no other options.

Before facing the wrath of Mama, I decide to stop at Port Orleans for beignets. I adore beignets ever since that road trip in college when we watched the sun rise over the bayou with beignets and milk. AAAhhh! These beignets were pretty fantastic too. Jake got some video of the decor inside of Port Orleans guest services area. I like this resort. The jazz feel and sweet smells coming from the bakery. Yeah, I could stay here.

We arrive back at the cabin and Mama has had a nice relaxing day. Let’s ruin it! Mama we don’t know how it happened but Jake lost his glasses. Mama is not happy. She has got that I am disappointed in all of you look. Daddy to the rescue! Daddy decided in a last ditch effort to search my car. The glasses were under some papers on the floor. Whew! Another crisis averted. Mama is now happy with the beignets I bought so we munch on them. YUM!

Mama was in the cabin when the maid came by to clean the cabin. The maid talked her ear off. She said that the first day that she cleaned our cabin she was in such a bad mood and didn’t feel well at all that she almost called in sick. She came anyway and she said that her spirits were lifted completely by our nice note. She said that she is keeping every note we write and she shows it to her supervisors because it helps her. Her name was Julia and she was so very nice. We continued to leave her a note everyday thanking her for her good work and for making us smile. It made us all feel good to know that we had made someone’s day. Julia said she looks forward to coming to our cabin everyday. She also said that we are nice to clean up for because we go ahead and pick our stuff up. Most people leave stuff everywhere and the maids are not allowed to move your things. Mama said that she wouldn’t stay anywhere without keeping it at least picked up. How can you find anything in clutter? … Little things. Disney is made up of lovely people like Julia and THEY are what makes the magic. (I used the word maid instead of housekeeper because maid is shorter and this report is getting long. Just wanted to clarify that I am PC just thrifty!)

Tonight is Parents night out and Kids night out, respectively. Mama and Daddy are off to have dinner and go to Pleasure Island and we kids are off on our own adventure. In the car and down the road to the Beach Club Resort. OOOOH, this place is pretty! What a gorgeous resort! Holly goes, "Tell me again, why didn’t we stay here?" Lack of green pieces of paper. Next time we are coming with more green pieces of paper. We check out the pool. Oh wow. That thing is huge! OK, definitely staying here sometime. In we go to Beaches and Cream. We decide to be good kids and order dinner before desert. Fatal mistake. We just knew that between the three of us we could kick some *** and take names with that monstro of ice cream desserts, THE KITCHEN SINK. Oh we were so wrong. This thing is the biggest ice cream we have ever seen. People would stop to comment and say oh my. We couldn’t eat any for the first two minutes because we couldn’t stop laughing. They brought it out in grandiose fashion embarrassing the fire out of us. It had 5 brownies, 5 pieces of angel food cake, Umpteen candy bars and oreos. And the toppings. I don’t know where the ice cream was. I don’t think we ever got to it. We spent 3 hours in there trying to finish that D***ed thing and we made a pretty big dent but could not complete the task. We pleaded with passersby to not buy any ice cream. Pull up a chair and grab a spoon we will gladly share. Only one man took a bite. We admit defeat, I pay the 47.00 bill and we walk away in shame. Oh dear lord, where was that bathroom we passed? Holly scopes out the bathroom and I go to the toilet and literally try to relive the experience in backwards motion. No such luck. We walk from bench to bench fighting nausea. Jake is fine after 15 minutes. I don’t think he ate as much as we did. We’ll get him for that. We manage to check out the boardwalk a little. We had planned on renting those surrey bikes and pedaling all around. No way, Jose. Although, it probably would have done the trick and we would have felt better afterward. We throw in the towel sometime around 10:00 and decide we just can’t take it. Home we go. We collapse into bed vowing never to eat ice cream again.

Side note: Mama and Daddy had a glorious time at Pleasure Island. They first went to West Side and checked out Virgin Records (Huge) and House of Blues (Daddy loves this place). They went to the Adventurer’s club but spent most of their time at the Jazz club and would recommend it to anyone. Great ambiance. They had their dinner here and said the food was delectable and not very expensive. Best price on the island.

DAY 7, THURSDAY MAY 28

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

Well, Mama tied one on last night with just one Kungaloosh. (Hmmm.) She has a headache and is not smiley. The kids wake up fine but still do not wish to engage in ice cream for awhile. Daddy feels great. Yay, Daddy! Breakfast at the Cabin and hop in the car for the trip off property. Thank goodness for maps.

A little confusing with all the construction but we make our way to the big parking garage. And we walk and we walk and we walk and oh there’s the entrance. We have our discounted passes all ready from AAA so we just walk right in. We could have received a second day free but we do not have an extra day. The Nickelodeon Tour is the main impetus for coming to Universal today so we check when the first tour is and decide that we have time for one of the big attractions before going.

TWISTER. Worth it. Mama sat out because she was still feeling nauseous and we didn’t know what to expect from this ride. It is a total experience. You get the wind the rain and all the special effects. We were willing to suspend our belief and it was frightening! Some other people (kids) were saying it was lame. We thought it was done superbly and when we finished we went to find Mama and brought her on the ride with us. We got on the first row the second time so there was nothing in our way. We didn’t wait too long for this "ride" about 5 to 10 minutes both times.

We waited at the front of the pack for the Nickelodeon Tour. We didn’t rush with the crowd so we ended up waiting about 10 minutes before our tour began. The cue had fun games to play. Some were Nintendo! Oh, Jake is in his element now! The tour segregates the kids from the parents. Holly and I felt a little like we were in No man’s land. We probably should have gone with the kids but we went with the parents instead. They had a mock game show that some of the kids were chosen to participate in and some parents too. One kid got slimed at the end. Lots of Nick words and Nick references. I felt like I was visiting a foreign land. The kids on this tour had a super time and Jake was one of them. He has been waiting for years for this experience and I am glad we made it a priority.

Let’s hit some of the more popular attractions so we won’t have to wait in line too long. Back to the Future - Mama declines this adventure also. We wait 20 minutes at least. The lines are staring to pick up. I am noticing that the employees here are not paying close attention to what they are doing. They appear to be having a good time, but some miscommunication occurs and we are told to go down the hall too early and they have to reroute us. We load into the Delorean in the back seat. During our "flight" the backs of our heads got slammed into the back of the seat so hard, Holly and I came out with splitting headaches. I don’t remember it being this jerky in 1995. This was my favorite simulator ride at that time. I didn’t get sick to my stomach like during Body Wars. We stopped outside to investigate the train and told Mama that she made the right decision to not ride.

Sauntering over to Amity we stop to admire the boat from Waterworld. Fun movie. We cue up for Jaws which has a 30 minute wait. All the waits go down hill from here. I think school must have let out of something. LOTS of unchaperoned children running amuck. We were thoroughly entertained by Captain Jake’s Boating Cruise ads. All the neat maps and stuff on the walls were cool too. We kept pointing to all the boats. Look- "I think we need a bigger boat." Best line in the movie. Also I sang "Show me the way to go home. I’m tired and I wanna go to bed. I had a little drink about an hour ago and it went straight to my head." Jaws, you are a cult classic. We got an animated guide for our tour. It got pretty hot next to those flames at the end. A little too close to the campfire. Definitely cute, though.

It’s growing toward lunch time so we look at our options and go for Earthquake before lunch. Don’t want to shake up lunch. This was a favorite of ours. Great effects and you have no idea what is coming. They also incorporate "extras" into the show during an earthquake sequence. Really cool how they made the subway cars. Thus far this is second only to Twister.

Lunch. We decide to eat "nice" and go to the restaurant on the wharf. Oh what a mistake. Terrible service and the food wasn’t all that good. Way overpriced for what was received. Waste of money and time. In 1995, I ate at the Irish pub down the street and it was excellent food and great service. Well, we tried. I guess we are spoiled by the service received at Disney places. Hey, I expect that service now when I go out at home.

Well, our stomachs have food in there and are attempting to digest it and we trot down the avenue to check out Kongfrontation. One Hour wait. You have got to be kidding me. It was OK when I rode it in 1995 but we decide an hour is not worth OK. Maybe we’ll check back later. Right next door to Kongfrontation they had a preview of the new park Islands of Adventure. This was done up like an attraction. Kids could get passports and get them stamped at each "land". This place looks awesome! And HUGE! They will have a Dr. Seuss World, a Marvel comics world with a Spiderman ride and an Incredible Hulk ride. Some definite thrill ride coasters and a really fun looking boat ride in Jurassic Park. Oh ho ho! I think we are going to try and see this place next time. Give Universal another chance to measure up.

We walk on around and go to see Terminator 2 3D. We liked the pre-show. It really got you into the swing of things. Dad said, it was scary how much this show and reality are alike. Intense attraction. Excellent effects and use of live actors that amazingly look like the on-screen actors. Still like Muppets better, but as far as show quality it’s a toss up. Great live actors vs. Great Muppets. Don’t know.

It rains for the first time our entire trip. We are actually excited about this because we get to use our colorful ponchos that we have been toting around religiously all week. "I’m singing in the rain, just singing in the rain!" We walk to ET and it is a 45 minute wait. I tell the folks that it was my favorite ride the last time I was here and it is probably worth the wait. So we wait in the longest line we have ever waited all week. Kids whizzing by us to catch up to their friends. I tell you, somebody forgot to teach their children what is acceptable behavior and what is rude. Then again, the parents might not know either. ET is as precious as I remember it. The rest of the gang liked it OK. We decide to amble along the street. Still raining off and on.

Last ride of the day. Mama and Holly opt for shopping and Daddy, Jake and I choose to ride Hanna Barbera Adventure. Definitely cute and definitely the tamest of the motion simulators. I loved it because these are the cartoons I remember. "Scooby Scooby Doo where are you? We’ve got some work to do now." You have to save Elroy from Smudly and that dastardly character.

Mama found a surprise for someone for Christmas at the main merchandise shop. I had a 20% off voucher through AAA because I had purchased our tickets through them. AAA is such a wonderful value. Discounts on hotels rooms everywhere. Discounts all over Orlando and special treats. Oh and yeah, roadside help. I have had punctured tires twice this year and it didn’t cost me a penny to tow. Thank you AAA!



We are on our way out when I spy a treat shop and Jake and I go in. He finds Jelly Bellies and I see Caramel Apples. OOOOH! I see only two out front that look a little worse for the wear. I see some over on the side and so I ask for a Caramel Apple but would not like either of the two they have left up front. She says that is all they have. I point to the side and say what about those? She has to go ask her supervisor if I can have one of those? What will they do with them if they are not going to sell them? Her supervisor grudgingly says OK and then they proceed to wrap paper around my Apple! Paper, Caramel, gets stuck all too easily. At this point I do not want to deal with the brainless wonder parked behind the cash register and just leave with my purchase. Where do they get these incompetent people? I shrug it off cause this is my vacation and I don’t need to waste time being angry over something I can’t control (it is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things anyway) and we head out of the park.

Time to rest before Holly and I go be young single girls out at Pleasure Island. We have decided that next time we must plan to go to Pleasure Island earlier in the week. Gosh we are tired. We get ready to go and I decide to drive. We could take the bus but driving gets you there that much faster. Holly keeps asking me if I really want to do this, I must look as tired as I feel. Neither one of us wants to push the other to do something they don’t want to do. I figure all I need is caffeine and I am good to go. As we are leaving our little loop, a bunny rabbit takes flight across the road and I was sure I hit him. He scampered across on the other side and I burst into tears. Holly is sure we need to go back home now but no we got all pretty, we are going to do this, at least for a little while.

We park out in east Budapest. Tons of people here tonight. We came Thursday night because it is 80’s night at 8-Trax and it is also Cast Member night. I guess they either get a discount or get in free on these nights. At this time, Wildhorse had not opened up yet but they sure were promoting it. (It opened 2 days later) Shania Twain is blasting all through the Island.

We want to try Adventurer’s Club first and get a Kungaloosh. We were inducted into the club. This is fun! Then we had to vote for Adventurer of the year. Whoever the nerdy guy was, he was precious! The really pompous guy stood at the bar above me and I had to crane my neck to look at him. He pointed away from me as he was telling his story and he kept saying to me over there, over there. "Yes, if I were you I’d rather look at me, too." Everybody laughed. He also kept trying to see down my dress. These guys are too much! I had a Kungaloosh. Something may have been wrong with my tastebuds but this is the nastiest drink I have put in my mouth for a long time. All I tasted was alcohol and lots of it. I like my drinks to taste sweet or fruity or milky or creamy. I only want a hint of alcohol taste in there. I had two sips and then poured the oh so expensive drink down the toilet. No wonder Mama was bombed after one of these. I would have been too!

We moved outside so Holly could have a cig and we could look where we wanted to go next. 8-trax it is, but where’s the entrance? What looks like the entrance is really the exit. You have to go down some steps into darkness and turn left and there’s the entrance. Real good, guys. I can see drunk people slipping and falling in the not so well lit areas and suing. We found our way in and I ordered a Pina Colada. This tasted better, but I still only had half before it started to make me sick. We grooved to 80’s music until they started playing 80’s songs remixed and set to a dance track. Yuck! Yuck! Why must they ruin the music? Just play it as it was originally recorded and don’t stick in dance tracks from the 90’s to make it longer. It is that constant techno-rave crap that they have been playing for forever that really isn’t music. It is a constant beat with some gyrations thrown in. We leave in search of a place that does not play "dance music".

No such luck. We went to Rock and Roll Beach Club. The band was on break and they were playing icky dance tracks in the interim. We stayed 10 minutes and decided sleep would be much more fun. As we go outside we realize that we should have paid better attention to the time because we just missed the midnight New Year’s eve blast. Oh well. We’re over it.

As we drive back I put out mental and astral images to all furry animal types to steer clear of the road. No more bunny incidences. They all listened. Home safe and sound for our last night. Mama is still up and bids us good night. We sleep on the Murphy bed tonight. Lights out. Last day tomorrow. L

DAY 8, FRIDAY MAY 29

MGM / EPCOT LAST DAY!!!!

We are up with the dawn to finish packing and get everything in the cars. We discussed all together as to what we should do this last and final day. Originally, we had planned to go back to Magic Kingdom. We all agreed that we had done most everything there and there were other places that we needed to cover. The best plan of attack was to hit MGM in the morning and see all the tours. Leave by 2:00 and then go to EPCOT and see the world showcase. Good plan. Last note to Julia with a nicer tip than normal and we say bittersweet good-byes to our cabin. Au Revior! We will miss you! (You know, I called to get Mickey to wake us up every morning and I never got to answer the phone. Somehow that’s just not fair.)

We drive both cars to MGM and get waved through. Still using our parking passes because they are good through today. Glad not to pay for parking. We park in Comedy again but this time we just missed the end of the row and had to drive all the way down to the other end. The walking hasn’t killed us yet!

Time to stop at the restroom for Mama. This has been a daily ritual. After arriving at the parks and before we can get started Mama must go potty. And she goes before we leave the room too. Quick bladder functions there. Daddy was really beginning to rib Mama about this.

We head on in and get a park listing for the week. We go straight back to where the Backlot Tour is and go on the first one. Holly and I are the first to arrive and the lady asks if we wouldn’t mind volunteering for the show. I remember this from November 1995. If they haven’t changed it we are in for it. Nope, nothings changed. Sigh.

The CM’s were nice but pushy. We had to take our shoes off and anything not water resistant. Holly looks at me. We’re going to get wet aren’t we? Uh huh. We get yellow slickers and yellow rain hats. I feel like Paddington Bear. We get led out to where the demonstration is to occur and they give us our instructions, quite quickly I might add. Holly is the skipper and I am the captain. Holly gets led off first to this boat in the middle of this huge water tank. I am led to the side. They are showing everyone how some of the effects are made on film, particularly water effects. Holly got the nicer job. However, when I dumped hundreds of gallons on her it sure looked like she was drenched.

Now it is my turn. Holly gets to have revenge. I am acting and blowing up ships left and right throwing grenades having a good old time and then I have to try to see something over the water from my ship. A horn sounds and now hundreds of gallons of water are on me. Oh my gosh, that was cool! The anticipation was a killer though. We waddle back to the changing area and put back on our shoes. We are amazed that we are not wet at all, really. Just sprinkled. Well, Holly, let’s go join up with our family shall we?

THEY ARE GONE! The CM says just go to the end of the bleachers. There is no family. There is nobody and a new group is coming in. AACK! We sprint down the walkway that my brain thinks it remembers that heads to the next section and go through twists and turns at breakneck speed. No we cannot stop and look at the cool stuff. We reach the tram and they are finishing boarding and are about to leave!! We sneak on and see the fam. They had saved seats for us and thought we would have been directed down there. Their section is closed so we must sit away from our family and at the back. Holly and I are mad now. Disney fell flat on their faces here. I guess we