Pre-trip details and Introductions:
(You probably know all of us by now, but some updates anyway!)
Who:
Me (Jaime) – former middle school teacher, currently stay-at-home-mom. It’s no secret that I’m a little Disney-obsessed! For a long time, I tried to be okay with the one-big-tripevery-few-years routine, but finally lost patience and decided to start making use of the fact that my whole family lives in Florida (and we fly down there at least twice/year to visit) So I declared that we would begin adding short Disney trips to our family visits! I have come to really love these “mini-trips”, and enjoy always having some sort of trip in the works.
Brian (DH) – software engineer at Adobe. It has actually been a tough year for him. He got a nasty case of pneumonia last spring, and is still not fully recovered. It doesn’t affect him too much now for normal daily activities, but he is very into active things like mountaineering, snow climbing, skiing, etc. And it has been a constant source of frustration and stress for him that he can’t do those things at the level he was a year ago. But he does seem to be making progress at least. He “likes” Disney, but doesn’t love it the way I do. And actually complains now that we “go too often”, though without fail, once we are there he is always loving it, and never wants to leave.
Lily (DD- 11 years old) – Currently in middle school, and all the hormones that go with it lol! I’m not gonna lie, it’s a tough age. On a good day, she’s an emotional roller coaster. On a bad day, that roller coaster has totally derailed into a train wreck. I have really been trying to have extra patience with her, because I know she can’t totally control it right now, but sometimes I grow tired of the tip-toeing. She is very excited about the trip though. She is still into competitive swimming (with practice 5-6 days/week), and has started playing the oboe at school as well. Oh, and I am very happy to report that, for the first time in many years, she actually has a favorite Disney character! (when she was little, she was all into the princesses, then briefly fascinated by Wall-E, but for years after that was just sort of ho-hum about all of them) But she has become a big fan of the Alice in Wonderland story, and particularly the Mad Hatter. She has actually met him a couple of times, before she cared, so hopefully we will get another chance this trip
Owen (DS- 4 years old) – He is my wild child, but also scared of pretty much everything. Especially the unexpected and unknown. He definitely likes his comfort zone, lol! But we make a lot of progress on that with this trip. And he really is just a lot of fun. Very expressive and creative. And lately, generally no problems with behavior. You may remember the nightmare of meltdowns we dealt with on our trip last spring… very happy to say that we seem to be past that. Honestly, getting his tonsils out in May made a huge difference for him. The surgeon said that his sleep apnea was so bad, he was probably waking up 15-20 times/night. Poor kid was living in a constant state of sleep deprivation, no wonder he lost it at the drop of a hat! So, while he still has his moments (what 4 year old doesn’t?) he is usually just a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky kid. His favorite Disney character is probably still Lightning McQueen, though he’s not as crazy about him anymore. My Disney-loving-heart hangs its head in shame a little to admit that what he’s really obsessed with right now are the Ninja Turtles (or “Engine Turtles” as he calls them.) Oh well!
When: We flew out of Denver on Dec 19 (Fri), arrived at 11pm. Spent most of Saturday at Kennedy Space Center. Sunday (Dec 21) was our big day at Magic Kingdom. We hung out and did a couple of other things around Disney on Monday and Tuesday, before driving to my parents house in Naples, Fl on Tuesday night (Dec 23).
Where: For the Disney portion of our trip, we stayed in the Villas at Wilderness Lodge (on DVC rental points). I wanted to be close to MK. Actually our first choice was Bay Lake Tower, but it was all booked, even right when the booking window opened 11 months out. Overall, I’d say I liked the resort. But I didn’t fall in love with it the way I did the Poly or AKL. Glad we got to try it out though!
Why: We alternate years going to my parents for either Christmas or Thanksgiving, and this was a Christmas-year. Per my “new plan”, we get to spend some time at Disney before heading down! I had initially planned it as a MK-only trip (Back last January), because we spent time at each of the other parks last spring. Having no idea that we would make another MK-only trip (for MNSSHP) in October, just two months before this trip. But oh well!
Before the Trip: The trip started off stressful. Less than 24 hours before we were supposed to leave, we broke our heater, trying to install a new thermostat. With temperatures forecasted to be in the low single digits, there was no way we would be able to go off and leave the house without heat, else we would surely come back to burst pipes. Fortunately, with a little help from YouTube, Brian got it working again with the original thermostat. The new one, my Christmas present, would have to wait. (Turns out it was defective and caused a fuse to blow inside the heater).
I had also just generally been stressed for weeks, thinking surely we were going to get sick, since it seemed like EVERYONE at Disney was getting sick. Or the weather was going to be awful, because it had been pouring rain EVERY day. So, it had not been the most Magical pre-trip week ever.
Oh, and just a couple weeks before, we got another “move-scare” from Brian’s work, thanks to a rumor that somehow got started. Luckily, he managed to get pretty good assurance from his boss before we left that it was a false alarm. Number 3 in as many years, not that I’m counting…lol! (In case you don’t remember, his company is based in San Fransisco, and occasionally it has come up that we might have to move there at some point) But yeah, stressful few weeks for sure. Hopefully this trip would prove my pessimistic mood wrong.
Day 0. Friday, Dec 19
Chapter 1. Go for Launch!
Instead of our usual early-morning flight, we were taking an evening one, since Lily still had a half-day at school to finish out the semester. As soon as she walked in the door, we jumped in the car to pick Owen up from pre-school, and drop off her fish at her cousins’ house. We had a very brief stint as a pet-free family after Nala, our 13 year old dog, died in the summer. And I thought it was going to be so much easier to travel…. But then Lily talked her dad into getting her a fish for her birthday. And took that success as a sign that she might be able to talk us into a bunny. To which we have repeatedly and firmly told her no! I am determined to enjoy my new floors for at least a couple of years, lol!
After we got Neptune’s tank filled back up and him settled in, we were ready to go! Brian started a new habit here, asking everyone in the car if they were a “go” or “no-go” for launch (you can tell we already had the space center on our mind!) Probably a good idea though since Owen usually does his own seat belt now, and in a rush it would be easy to take off before he was buckled. It was an easy, no-traffic drive to Denver, and took just over an hour. Both kids slept for at least part of it.
We parked at our usual lot and had the shuttle bus to ourselves. Getting our luggage inside and checked was still no easy feat though, we were totally maxed out in both checked bags and carry-ons. (Because “Santa” was having to tag along, lol!) I had forgot to pick up our boarding passes, and for some reason the line for those that didn’t have them was a LOT shorter than the express bag drop line. (Last time it had been just the opposite, so I had been kicking myself when I first realized I didn’t bring them)
Security wasn’t bad either, the agent commented that there had been a huge line earlier, but we must have hit a lull. Nice to see some good luck to start our trip, and it was a trend that would happily repeat itself many times.
Once we were in the gate-area, I was thrilled to see that VillaPizza had replaced McDonalds. So we had a good dinner, earlier than we are used to eating but there wouldn’t be another chance until we were in Orlando. We were still at the gate over an hour before boarding, despite me being convinced when we left home that we were going to be late. Brian often makes fun of me for my slightly obsessive need to be punctual. But in fairness, a LOT had gone easily that might have otherwise been very time consuming.
While we were waiting, Brian went to get a snack and came back with a green smoothie. He talked Owen into trying it, and the look on his face after a sip made the couple sitting across from us bust out laughing. I hadn’t even realized they were paying any attention to us until that moment. Kinda made me wonder how often people are “watching me” discreetly. But it WAS pretty funny.
I had tried desperately to get Owen to go potty before we got on the plane, but of course he wouldn’t. He is extremely stubborn about it, and won’t even try until he suddenly has to go SO BAD that it’s an emergency. And sure enough. As soon as we were pulling back from the gate, he had to go. Too late! So it was a rather uncomfortable 30 minutes for him, and a stressful one for me, but he managed to hold it. We did cheat a little and get up while the seat-belt light was still on, but other people were already moving around and the flight attendants weren’t saying anything. A few more minutes and they would have been cleaning up a mess!
The rest of the flight was uneventful. We were all playing on our iPads. Owen had just gotten his as his Christmas present from me the night before. I did realize “what I forgot”, downloading more shows onto my own iPad. I am working my way through the (sadly single) season of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. I managed to get one episode downloaded at the airport, but the wifi there was very slow.
We landed at MCO just after 11pm. As we were coming off the fake-monorail, Owen again announced that it “ smelled like Florida”. For some reason he says that every time in that exact spot. I guess it’s where the swampy, humid air first hits you. Fortunately we didn’t have far to go as we were staying the night at the Hyatt right there in the airport. The kids had always wanted to do that, but until now we had always flown into Orlando in the morning and out in the evening. So it never made sense.
They were thrilled that our room was overlooking the main airport terminal, and you could watch the security line from our balcony. I commented that it felt weird being here so late, when everything was empty and closed! We went straight to the hotel check in, and then left the kids in the room while we went about the arduous task of collecting our bags. It took a while, and was exhausting, but we made it. Glad we didn’t have any farther to go at least. And while we were gone, the kids did their usual trek to find ice. Not sure why that is a hotel-ritual for them, but it seems to be.
I had hoped we were ready to settle in, but Brian was hungry. And everyone knows that a hungry Brian is a grumpy Brian. It doesn’t matter how tired or not-hungry everyone else is, if he’s hungry you’d best venture out and find food. Luckily, the hotel restaurant was still open. Serving only their “light menu”, but that mostly meant appetizers which are Brian’s favorite part if the meal anyway. Lily got some type of salad that she said was the bestthing-ever. It felt kind of surreal actually, eating dinner at midnight, in a restaurant, inside a hotel, inside and airport. And just a few hours ago, everyone had been at work and school, nearly 2,000 miles away.
By the time we were done, I had to carry Owen back to the room as he was falling asleep standing up. I think we were all more-or-less in bed before 1am, though Brian was still being hyper and I lost patience with it at some point. Finally, everyone was asleep!
Day 1. Kennedy Space Center (Sat, Dec 20)
Chapter 2. A Tedious Morning, but again, It All Works Out
We didn’t sleep in as late as I had hoped. I think we were all awake before 9am. Everyone was a little grumpy though, and not ready to get going. So I went on down to get the rental car while Brian took a shower and the kids played on their iPads.
I will say right now, I HATE the whole car-rental process. And it seems to be at its worst in Orlando. I complained to Brian after the ordeal that it seems completely ridiculous to spend hundreds of dollars on a rental car, then still leave the counter feeling like the agent is peeved at you, because they couldn’t talk you into spending more. They must get most of their pay from upgrade-commissions. But it just feels like lousy customer service. And it doesn’t seem to matter what company, they all do it. Anyway, rant over! The keys were in my possession, a couple of bags stowed in the trunk already. Hopefully they wouldn’t mind me leaving it there for a few minutes while I went to collect the rest of the family.
Except that it was more than a few minutes, because Brian needed breakfast. Right here, right now. And we’ve covered the whole Brian-is-hungry thing already. Sooo… We headed on over to the hotel restaurant. There was a long wait for a table, and the sever warned us that if we didn’t want the buffet, we would have to “have some patience with the kitchen.” And of course Brian didn’t want the buffet. As long as we didn’t have traffic on the way to Titusville, we would be okay. We were headed to the Space Center and had a special tour booked at 1:30.
After breakfast, we just barely managed to fit all the luggage in the back of the rental-car. They had given us a Chevy Captiva. I’m still not sure that counts as a “full-size SUV”, which is what I rented. But I’m sure after I made the agent mad, she gave me the very smallest thing she could get away with. Just to make a point. But it would work, even if we had a few bags squished on top of the kids in the back seat. And thankfully, no one seemed to have noticed that we were basically using the rental car area as free parking for over an hour.
The drive to Titusville was about an hour, but easy and uneventful with no traffic to speak of. Though we did have another potty-emergency. Again, after refusing to go before we left, Owen was suddenly in deep desperation, and we were in the middle of nowhere. We finally gave up on finding a gas station or other sign of civilization, and found a place where we could safely pull off the road. And make use of the bushes, lol! And of course, about two miles later we finally passed a gas station. Oh well.
Despite the morning’s stress, we were there with time to spare before our 1:30 tour. We looked around in the Early Space Exploration museum, one of the few we had missed last time. The kids really liked the lunar rover you could sit in. Lily was in a surprisingly good mood, hopefully it would stick.
Owen’s favorite thing here is the playground, so he and Brian headed that way while I went to find out about our tour. I had the printed confirmation they sent me when I booked it, but still wasn’t sure where we were supposed to go.
It’s good that I looked into this early, because it ended up being an ordeal. Apparently we were supposed to have tickets in addition to the confirmation. Everyone kept asking me for my “vouchers”, and I kept telling them I had no idea what they were talking about! All I ever got was an email with the confirmation page. It seemed like we were just out of luck, until I managed to dig though my email on my phone, and find the original email they sent. There was another order number in it, that wasn’t on the confirmation page, and they were able to find and print the tickets with it. It seems to be a flawed system though if it’s that hard! Clearly they are not used to online reservations, though their website makes it very easy to do.
I did feel very grateful that I had decided to ask ahead of time though. My initial plan was just to show up at the bus loading area at 1:30, confirmation in hand, assuming that’s all we’d need. I’m pretty sure that if we had done that, we would not have been going on the tour. It was like a little bit of pixie dust had planted that sudden paranoia in my head, lol!
We still had just a bit of time and Brian wanted a snack. I was stressing that we weren’t going to make it, but trying to remember that I DO tend to go overboard with the whole punctuality thing. We were one of the last to board the bus, but were nowhere near being left, so all was well.
The kids were given coloring books as we got on, and strangely it ended up being Owen that got really into coloring during the tour. Usually Lily is the artist and Owen has no interest. He really liked the map coloring page, and kept showing me where we were. Or at least his interpretation of it 🙂
Chapter 3. Really BIG stuff. And a lost phone.
I won’t go into too much detail about what we saw, because unless you’re a NASA junkie you’d probably be bored, lol! But a few highlights… We stopped for a while outside the Vehicle Assembly building. Talk about a BIG building! It was hard to even grasp the size standing right outside of it. Owen was very fascinated by the firefighter bunker. Apparently after the Apollo 1 disaster, they starting keeping a tank full of firefighters close to the launch pad in case there was a problem. (No one else is allowed to be within 3 miles during a launch, obviously the bunker has to be very well protected and insulated) Owen now says he wants to be a “rocket firefighter” when he grows up!
And we saw one of the Crawler Transporters, that move the spacecraft to the launch pads. Again, size of a scale that is difficult to even describe. It would have been big for a building.., except that it was capable of traveling miles!
Of course we saw several launch pads from varying distances. The tour ended at the Apollo Center, where was got to see an Apollo launch simulation from the mission control room, and then see the actual Saturn 5 rocket on display. Owen has been fascinated by the Saturn 5 for quite some time and was really awed. Lily enjoyed the tour too, though I think she was more interested in the wildlife we saw (gators, bunnies, turtles, and an eagle nest) than any of the space stuff. She is on a zoology kick right now, and says she wants to be a zookeeper.
We would have liked to stay longer at the Apollo center, but we had dinner reservations at Wilderness Lodge, and we were really running out of time. Even Brian agreed, so I wasn’t just being overly-cautious! And Lily was getting worked up again, almost in full stress mode. Definitely time to go.
However, as soon as we were sitting on the bus back to the visitor center, I realized my phone was missing! My heart must have skipped a beat when I suddenly remembered setting it down in the restroom…. I must have left it there. I jumped up and ran to the front of the bus, shouting to Brian that I would meet them back at the visitor center, and begged the driver to let me off, as he had already closed the door, and was about to go.
I had reacted completely on instinct for the past 10 seconds, but once the bus pulled away with me standing there alone, panic started to set in. My first thought was to call Brian and have him locate it on Find Friends. Which would have been great, except that I didn’t have a phone! And here I was, having given up my seat on the bus when we were already running late, and had no way of communicating with my family. (I’ll admit to being a mild phone-addict, I just can’t stand to feel totally disconnected!)
Deep breaths. I ran back inside to where I was pretty sure I had left it, but it wasn’t there. I figured there was a good chance someone had turned it in, but had no idea where. The Apollo Center is huge, I didn’t even know where to start. But the gift shop was the closest thing to the restrooms, so I decided to start there.
But as I stood in the middle if it, packed shoulder-to- shoulder with people, and every single person who worked there trapped behind a register with a mile-long line, despair started to set in again. We were never going to make it to dinner at this rate. But just then, a cashier at a register far on the side away from the line (but close to where I was standing and looking lost), called out that she could take someone. And when no one immediately responded, I seized the opportunity to jump up there and ask her if there was a central lost-and-found in the building.
She asked what I was looking for, and when I described it she seemed skeptical. It turned out that there WAS a lost and found, and it was right there at her register!! She didn’t remember seeing my phone though. (She thought she would have remembered one in a Mickey Mouse case!) But alas, after a little digging, there it was!!! The sense of relief that washed over me was indescribable. What good luck I had, accidentally walking right up to the lost-and-found, at just the right moment. Pixie dust looking out for me again, I guess!
Lily had apparently sent me a text message telling me that my phone was indeed showing as being in the building. Immediately followed by a text that said “I guess that was dumb”. But in fairness, my first thought had been to use it to call Brian, while I was looking for it, so I can’t blame her!
I let them know I was on my way, and luckily the bus line had gone down considerably so that I was only about 10 minutes behind them getting back. So that was some stress I really didn’t need, but it all worked out in the end. It would end up being a common theme of the trip. Had I not noticed until a few minutes later, after the bus had started moving, it would have been so much worse. It’s a 15 minute bus ride back to the visitor center, and actually the last bus TO the Apollo Center had left an hour ago, so I don’t know how I would have gotten it back.
We were definitely running late to dinner, but if traffic could be kind we *might* still have a shot at making it.
Chapter 4. Oh No. We Need Ketchup. (Day 1, evening – Sat, Dec 20)
The traffic-gods definitely seemed to be looking out for us again… Google maps was showing various snarls all over the city, but there was exactly one clear path right to Disney World and we just zipped right along, re-routing slightly every time Google warned of trouble ahead. We walked into the lobby of Wilderness Lodge about two minutes late, but not bad considering! While Brian checked us in for dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe, I checked us in for the room.
I will say, the check-in desk seemed a little unorganized. There wasn’t really a clear place to be “in-line” so people were just waiting around in random places, and the CMs weren’t even sure who was still needing to be helped. But someone noticed me eventually and gave me our packet, quickly sending me on my way. Usually even when we do online check-in they still want to give us the whole spiel.
And then there was nothing to do but wait. Owen was NOT in a good mood by now, having had a short night and no nap. In general, he has been doing much better lately, but it’s all about sleep for him, and he was definitely running low. He was trying though, poor kid. Finally our buzzer went off and we were seated. Probably about 20 minutes after our ADR time.
We turned our card to red, meaning we didn’t want a lot of interaction and crazy antics, as they are known for at WCC. Mostly because we didn’t want to push our luck with Owen’s mood. The kids did get up to join the pony-parade though, and Lily said Owen had a good time. (We couldn’t see any of it from our table). He started to wake up more as we got food.
And then… He wanted ketchup. Because, for probably the first time in 6 months, he had ordered fries (okay, we’re mean and don’t normally let the kids get them at home! Had I thought of the ketchup issue, I probably wouldn’t have here either.) Now if you’ve never eaten at WCC and don’t know much about it, you’re thinking, what’s the big deal? Just ask for some ketchup! Except that ketchup IS a big deal at WCC. But he was convinced he needed it. So I braced for impact and asked the server, strongly suspecting that our card being turned to red was not going to save us, lol!
And of course my request was immediately met with growing restaurant-wide chants of “Ketchup! Ketchup! They NEEED KETCHUUUUP!!!” And then it arrived. All 21 bottles of it. Carried over by the last family who was foolish enough to ask for it. Yeah, you don’t ask for ketchup here unless you REALLY want some ketchup. And a lot of attention. I was worried this sudden commotion was going to be too much for Owen, but to my surprise, and delight, he was laughing hysterically like this was the best thing that had ever happened to him! Once again, worried for nothing. Maybe we should have had the card on green after all. (You can only see about half of the ketchup bottles in the picture)
It was only a couple of minutes before the next family was asking for ketchup and the whole charade repeated itself, with Brian, Lily and Owen doing the delivery duty. So by the end of dinner, everyone was in good spirits. Pluto and Goofy were meeting in the lobby but the kids weren’t interested. Owen has been going through a shy phase, and Lily is just not “into it” these days (unless the Mad Hatter or Elsa is involved) So I was simply going to have to accept that this would not be a character-heavy trip. Oh well.
We found our way to our room over in the Villas. I always mean to take pictures when we first go in and it’s all perfect-looking, and I always forget, this time no exception. Sorry! But it was as expected. A small studio with one bed, one sleeper sofa, and one pull down Murphy bed. The kids not having to share a bed is a major plus though, as it makes them both grumpy.
Once again, we left the kids in the room to explore (and find ice, I’m sure) while we went for the luggage. And as we were struggling to get it in, I was thinking that I really miss using Magical Express! Especially since we had just done the luggage-drag the night before. And the vast majority of it was Christmas presents (shhh though, the kids think those suitcases are empty so we can take home all the stuff that Santa brings!) We wouldn’t even be opening those suitcases here, but I didn’t trust leaving them in the car the whole time.
Finally we were settled in, well before 9pm, which was the best I had been hoping for. Now if everyone could just get to sleep! We had a VERY early morning ahead of us, as Magic Kingdom was opening at 7am, and we certainly planned to take advantage of it!
I’m always the last to fall asleep, and I love that feeling of relief that settles over me when I realize that everyone is out for the night. Hopefully we would all be reasonably well rested when the alarm goes off at 5:30am!!
Day 2. Sunday, Dec 21
Chapter 5. WHERE is our Boat???
And 5:30am it was. Owen thought we were getting up in the middle of the night, I guess we almost were! But he was wide awake at the first stirrings in the room which was a big relief. At home he’ll sleep until 8am if I let him, and doesn’t like to be woken up before he’s ready. But today was different, we were going to Disney World! For as long as we could possibly stand it. They were open from 7am until 3am!
We quickly got ready and headed for the boat dock. Of course everything was empty and quiet in the dark. We were the second ones there, at about 6:15. The sign said the boat would start 30 minutes before park open, which was cutting it a little closer than I would have liked. Oh well. As long as it’s on time… Except that it wasn’t. Starting at about 6:25, we watched boat after boat come across the lake, then turn different directions instead of coming to us. The kids tried calling to them across the water, but of course that was unsuccessful, lol! The family waiting behind us asked if anyone had an emergency flare we could send up as an SOS, clearly we were not the only impatient ones!
Finally one got to the dock at 6:45, was loaded and pulling away at 6:52. Only about half of those waiting made it on, so it left behind rather unhappy looking line of people at the dock. And I was a ball of stress! By the time we got there, docked and made it through bag check, there was no way we could get to Rope Drop and see the show.
Except that, we did. The math doesn’t totally make sense, as it’s supposed to be a 10 minute boat ride, then a couple more to get docked and unloaded. And there were lines at bag check. Except the one right in the middle that was strangely empty, so we breezed right through. The show started just as we scanned our bands and came through the tapstiles. Again, despite seeming impossible, things “just worked out”.
The sky was starting to lighten, but the sun definitely wasn’t up yet. It was an eerie feel to be there already, as if the world really had just come alive all of the sudden, in the middle of the night. Kind of surreal actually, since I had been planning this particular day for 11 months, and now here we were.
It was not an empty Main Street for sure, but also not such a stampede that we couldn’t generally walk at our own pace and easily stay together. I really like the new Main Street décor. I know a lot of people were unhappy that they had to do away with the garland, but I think the simpler wreaths are better, and less cluttered looking.
And despite the crowds, we somehow got to the Castle during a lull, and I managed to get a great picture! Within seconds it was mobbed again.
Chapter 6. Owen discovers “The Dark Ride”
I wanted to head straight to Peter Pan. I initially had a FP for it, but gave it up when a Anna&Elsa one became available a few weeks later. Owen was afraid to ride it in October, but had been saying for weeks that he really wanted to do it this time. (He calls is the “Flying Jolly Rogers”)
However, as soon as we got in line, he started getting nervous. And was crying pretty hard by the time we got to the front. Screaming and refusing to ride by the time it was our turn to load. But I was determined to get him past this, and we did end up dragging him on, somewhat forcibly. The wait had only been about 5 minutes, at least.
Just as I expected, before our ship even made it out of the loading area, he settled down. And within a few seconds he was laughing and pointing at things. I don’t know why he gets himself so worked up for these “dark rides”. He’s totally fine with roller coasters, but scared of Peter Pan, Pooh, and Small World!
Even though he always settles down once we are on it, he still throws the same fit in the very next line. But for whatever reason, this particular trip seemed to be a breakthrough. He ended up loving it, and as soon as we got off, he was begging to go again, right away!
A second ride on PP was definitely not in my touring plan for the morning, but there was also no way in H-E-double-hockey-sticks I was going to deny it to him after he had made such a drastic turnaround! So again we went. The line was a little longer by now, maybe 10 minutes, but passed more quickly since he was now happy and excited to ride. After the second ride, he was really feeling brave, and asked to go on It’s a Small World! Another one I hadn’t planned on “wasting” RD time with, but again, didn’t want to lose the chance while he was willing.
I felt a little bad because I had promised Lily we would go to Barnstormer right after PP, but she was actually being very patient. I think she was relieved at Owen’s sudden change in perspective too, and willing to postpone our plans because of it.
There was no wait, and we even got the front of the boat! I know a lot of people can’t stand it’s a Small World, and think its cheesy, but I still love it for some reason. There is just something calming about it, puts me in a good mood every time 🙂
Everyone was hungry, not having had breakfast yet, so we went over to Gaston’s. Chocolate Croissants are my favorite guilty pleasure, and theirs did not disappoint! Brian enjoyed the pork shank, and Lily had a giant cinnamon roll. Yeah, our usual rules for what constitutes a meal as opposed to a dessert were clearly suspended. Brian loves Beauty and the Beast, and likes that they have a whole area themed for it now.
It was still EMH for a few more minutes when we finished, and wanting to check off a few more “big” rides, we headed back to Barnstormer. As I mentioned, Owen loves roller coasters so this one was a hit, and they even let us ride a second time since no one was waiting in our rows when we came back.
Owen could see Dumbo and was really wanting to go there next. I was hesitant because what he likes most there is the playground. And while I had been flexible early on with a couple of rides, I wasn’t willing to whittle away our EMH/RD hour at a play area! So we had to lay down the law a bit, and said we would ride, but come back later to play. He wasn’t thrilled, but went along with it.
Still on a bit of a high from his earlier bravery, he decided he wanted to conquer Pooh next! He had been saying all along that he still didn’t want to do that one, but here was our chance. Of course it’s one of my favorites, and it would be great to not have to split up for it. The queue here is really neat. All sorts of stuff for the kids to play with as you go through and it helped keep him distracted from the fact that he was still a little nervous. As we got closer to the front (and the interactive games ended) he almost lost his nerve, but I was proud of him for hanging in there and of course once we got going he loved the ride and wasn’t scared at all!
He would have been happy to ride again, but the waits were building already (we waited about 15 minutes for Pooh) so we promised him another ride on it later. We went on to the Mad Tea Party, one of Lily’s favorites. And boy did we get that thing spinning! I stopped even trying to help Brian spin it about halfway through because I just couldn’t keep up.
We had done most of Fantasyland by now, still well before our early lunch FP at Be Our Guest, so we went ahead to the Speedway. I still don’t get the appeal of this ride, but for some reason the kids both love it, this time being no exception. So far it had been a nearly perfect morning. Could our good luck possibly hold?
Day 2 – Sunday Dec 21 (late morning & early afternoon)
Chapter 7. Using the 4 Most Sought After FPs at MK!
We decided that we had just enough time to do Enchanted a Tales with Belle before lunch. But it ended up being the longest wait of the day, a full 30 minutes. And Lily had suddenly delved into one of her moods (not the good kind, lol!). We managed though without any full blown meltdowns or altercations. And I have to give Brian credit, he was really trying to have more patience with her. Those two tend to “push each other’s buttons” and can really escalate a single comment into a full blown fight. But she cheered up a little once we were inside.
Overall, I really liked ETWB, I just wish they made it easier for people in the back to see. They need some risers or something. Owen got chosen to play Chip, and it was very cute. And Lily was all smiles by the time we left-crisis averted! They had separated the kids from the adults early-on, and I think she liked feeling “in-charge” of Owen for the whole thing.
We were right next to BoG, and perfect timing for our lunch FP! The line was all the way down the bridge and wrapped around the corner. It was only 10:40! But with our FP we got to skip it, and were sent straight inside to a table of our choosing. We decided to try the West Wing, since we had dinner in the Ballroom last year. And our food was there a few minutes later. I had pre-ordered it nearly a month ago, and couldn’t really even remember what we had all picked, so it was a little confusing for the poor server who delivered it, trying to sort out what went where.
We really enjoyed the West Wing, especially Lily. She got up several times to take pictures and get a better look at the decor. And the food was really good! I got the veggie quiche, which I usually don’t care for (but it was the token vegetarian item on the menu) and I actually really liked it! Either I haven’t given quiche a fair chance, or theirs is just unusually good. So it was an overall great experience. So glad we had the FP, made it super easy. But, all too soon it was time to move on.
We had FPs for the noon Christmas Parade, and even though it was a reserved viewing area, I knew we would have to get there early for a curb spot. And I’m glad we got there when we did. There were only a few front row spots left! I had been reading so many horror stories of bad behavior when staking out parade spots lately, that I was grateful to have a spot that was less crowded and seemed to be a lot more laid back. And we would have a curb spot with the Castle in the background!
But it was still 30 minutes until the parade, and with the sun beating down on our backs it got HOT! I definitely wouldn’t want to do this in the summer. The parade finally started, and I do think it was worth it. We rarely see parades because it’s just too hard to stake out a spot (and I’m short so unless it’s the front row, there’s no point in bothering) This one was really neat though. Great Christmas music, and lots of the kids’ favorite characters. And a LOT of Frozen floats! Glad my kids like it, otherwise I can see being annoyed at the overindulgence. I think it ended up being one of Lily’s favorite parts of the day, she even took a video of several minutes of it on her phone, so she could watch it again later.
After the parade, it was time for our 7 Dwarves Mine Train FPs! I had really been looking forward to this one, and it took some quick midnight-clicking to get it. Lily got to ride it in October but the rest of us hadn’t yet. I had initially been worried that Owen would get scared and refuse to go (since it loads inside like a dark ride), but he had been so brave all morning that by now I knew it wasn’t a concern. We zipped right by the standby line (which was at 90 minutes) and were loading in no time. Owen actually kind of laughed at a kid a little older than him who was acting nervous about riding. No fear here anymore!
And it definitely lived up to all the hype! By far the smoothest coaster I’ve ever been on, and the swaying motion is really fun. It’s not a crazy thrill ride like Space Mountain, but it’s got its own type of adrenaline rush and we all really enjoyed it. Owen wanted to go again, but we had to explain the difference in wait times in the regular line. I was hoping the wait would drop enough during evening EMH so we could go again, but even at 1am it still had a 70 minute wait. But I’m sure we’ll be back in a couple of years! And I was happy to see afterwards that not only were the pictures automatically added to our account, but they even made a ride-video with clips of us in it! Pretty neat 🙂
We still had some time before our next FP so we went over to Cheshire Cafe for some frozen treats. We had been outside for over an hour with no A/C break, and it was HOT!
We were feeling a little more refreshed afterwards, and Owen wanted to ride the carousel. Apparently they forgot to do the safety check, and about 15 seconds into the ride they stopped it. Now I know the carousel ride is short, but really? No, not really, once they checked everyone’s seat belt we were going again. Owen and Brian were on battle horses, and Owen spent most of the ride pretending to pull arrows out and shoot them. Lily of course, had picked a frilly, flowery one, and was practicing her parade-trot.
We headed over to Phillharmagic next, and just barely made it into a show that was starting right away. We got seats in the front row, but pretty far off to one side. It wasn’t too bad though. Owen laughed so hard through the whole thing, I don’t even know how he had time to breathe! Lily enjoyed the show too, but probably enjoyed watching her brother laugh just as much.
With still a few minutes to kill, we let Owen try to pull the sword, and wandered around in Sir Mickeys and Castle Couture. While we were in there, a CM sprinkled both Lily and I with pixie dust!
The kids each picked up a small Olaf, as we were headed in to meet Anna and Elsa next! They aren’t totally into the Frozen craze like some kids are, but like it well enough and specifically wanted to meet them, especially Elsa. There were no FPs available at my 60-days (since we had a short trip we were at a disadvantage) but I managed to snag one a few weeks later.
While we were waiting in the FP line (only about 5 minutes), Lily took an intentionally close-up and off-centered picture of Olaf, and posted it to Instagram with the caption “Olaf takes a selfie in the Castle”. She actually put quite a few pictures on Instagram during the trip, and it was fun to see things from her perspective.
Honestly, I have to say I was a little disappointed with the m&g. The kids were happy to meet them, but the interaction was rather flat. I could tell they were trying, but the dialogue just seemed very forced and scripted. (Plus the kids were being unusually shy, not giving them a lot to work with) Maybe they feel a lot of pressure to move people along quickly, so it’s basically a get up there, “snap the picture, and go” type atmosphere. The photographers even seemed annoyed that we wanted a family picture in addition to the one with the kids. Not a big deal though, at least we can check it off the list.
Lily spotted an Elsa doll on the way out that she really wanted. But I didn’t want to be stuck carrying it all day so I told her maybe later. I probably should have just let her get it then, but it thought maybe she would forget about it and move on to wanting something else. She has been so hot-and-cold with the Frozen stuff. One minute she seems obsessed with it, and the next, acts like it’s dumb. (Typical middle-schooler I guess!) I had taken a slight gamble and got her a couple of Elsa things for Christmas. So far we were still in a “Frozen is cool” state, but I hated for her one-thing from the park to be something she might hate tomorrow.
Day 2 – Sunday Dec 21 (Late afternoon)
Chapter 8. Adventureland, and a Meltdown is Coming
Owen needed to go potty, so a Brian took him while I ran over to the FP kiosk near Phillharmagic. I was hoping for Jungle Cruise and was in luck- FPs only 40 minutes out! And the standby was currently at 60 minutes, so there’s a win!
We had just enough time to do the Enchanted Tiki Room first. Lily was laughing that we have the first song memorized, since it’s on a soundtrack album I play in the car a lot. But it makes me happy. Both the song and the show 🙂 One part of the song that’s always getting stuck in my head is the part that goes “Pierre, you Rascal you! Let’s put on the show”. As we were leaving, I spotted Pierre up over our head! Thought that was pretty cool.
We were still a couple minutes early for our JC FP, but they let us on anyway. We hadn’t ridden this one since 2010, which means never for Owen. I don’t think the kids really got into it, but I felt like they should at least know what it is. And another FP kiosk was at the exit, so I got in line while Brian and the kids went for a snack. The pickings were definitely getting slimmer. I got a Haunted Mansion for Brian and Lily, but the soonest availible wasn’t until 10pm, so that would probably be their last FP. Owen and I got the Magic Carpets, only a few minutes out.
So we split up for a while. Brian and Lily wanted to do Pirates of the Caribbean. It had about a 30 minute wait, and I figured it wasn’t going to get any better. Owen and I had a couple minutes before our FP so he played with some drums at a nearby shop. He enjoyed the magic carpet ride as always, but I’m glad on this trip he’s started appreciating some of the more complex rides too. Afterwards I figured I might as well get the two of us another FP. By now everything was for late-night, so I got us another ride on Peter Pan (his request) that would overlap with Brian and Lily’s HM.
We waited for them in the Pirates gift shop, and Owen found a red toy gun that he really wanted. I ended up letting him get it as his “one thing”, and knew I was going to be in trouble for having told Lily no earlier.
Brian really wanted to get over to Tom Sawyers Island, and it closed at 5. It was already after 4, so it was now or never. Lily was predictably a little grumpy, and had a near-total meltdown while we were waiting for a raft. I can’t even remember exactly how it started, but I’m about 99% sure it would have gone something like this. Lily would have made a less-than-polite comment about what we were doing, at which point Brian would have lost his patience and snapped at her. To which she would have gotten all offended and snapped back… and then it’s just a downward spiral from there. You may not have been aware that 11 year-olds are still capable of the screaming, flailing fit, in public. But well, all I can say is that mine still is, apparently. Ironic that last spring it was Owen having constant meltdowns. Now he’s easy, but it’s Lily we have to tiptoe around! The tables have definitely turned.
Against better judgment, we boarded the raft anyway, hoping she didn’t try to throw someone overboard. I had just about decided we were going to have to call it a day and head back to the hotel, but all of the sudden, it was like the metaphorical storm clouds cleared and the sun started peeking through. I could see her demeanor visibly change in an instant, and she went limp, laying her head on my shoulder and crying quietly. She got it together, apologizing and promising she was going to be better. I sure wish I knew what the trigger is to bring her out of these fits! Just glad this one hadn’t lasted for hours, as they sometimes do. She snuggled with me for the rest of the ride, and I did my best to reassure her that this is all just part of growing up.
We explored the cave first. The kids had fun running up ahead of us, and we didn’t really even see them again until we got out of the cave. Then we did the barrel bridge, and the kids (and Brian) played at the fort for a few minutes. But after a while I could tell Lily was not really where she wanted to be, despite the fact that was making a genuine effort to enjoy herself. Brian and Owen wanted to stay a few more minutes until they closed, so I offered to take Lily back to get the doll she had seen earlier.
It ended up taking a little longer than I expected. It was a LONG way back to FL, and packed shoulder-to-shoulder the whole way. (It was really the only time all day that we actually had trouble getting around because of the crowds, we had somehow seemed to avoid them for the most part) And then the nice CM checking us out had a very difficult time getting Elsa out of the box and packaging. Very glad she did it for us though, as we never could have gotten it without scissors. Lily was in a much better mood now, and even apologized again for her earlier behavior. She admitted as we were walking that when she gets like that, she knows she’s being unreasonable but just can’t make herself stop, even though she wants to. Poor kid. Rough age!
We had agreed to meet at the Riverboat. It’s one of Owen’s favorites and closes at dark. Unfortunately we both got there right as the boat had left, and didn’t want to stand around for 30 minutes waiting for the next one. I thought maybe we could go do the Country Bear Jamboree then come back. But, Owen fell totally asleep in my lap within a minute of the show starting, and showed no signs of wanting to wake up when we came out. So, no riverboat this time. A bummer, but really ended up being the only thing we had wanted to ride and didn’t. So I can’t complain too much. And we are going on a real riverboat tour in Vegas in a couple of months, so no huge loss, I guess!
I was relieved at least that Owen never got grumpy about being tired. It was like he was running full speed one minute, then collapsed sound asleep the next. Hopefully a nap would give him enough energy to last into the wee hours of the night.
Day 2 – Sunday, Dec 21 (Evening)
Chapter 9. A Soggy Evening
Since there was no point in doing the riverboat with Owen asleep, we decided to go ahead and try to get a spot for the Castle Lightning Ceremony. So after stopping for some coffee and hot chocolate, we headed towards the Hub. It was a madhouse, but we actually managed to find a pretty good spot, possibly because it had just started raining lightly, and a lot of people were starting to bail.
I was hoping it wouldn’t be that bad, and was going to wait it out. We put our jackets on and opened an umbrella, but just then the sky opened up and there was a loud crash of lightning and thunder. Suddenly our plan to wait it out didn’t seem so wise, and Brian decided that we were too exposed and needed to find shelter. So we headed over to Tomorrowland and stood under the cover of the terrace, along with (what seemed like) the rest of the park.
I was still a little hopeful that it might pass in time for them to do the lighting ceremony, but after about 30 minutes it was still coming down pretty hard. So, I was sad we didn’t get to see the show since it was one of the things I had really been looking forward to. Oh well, there’s always next time. Or YouTube, lol!
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Owen woke up at some point during all this, and was very distressed at first. But settled down quickly once I assured him that we were staying safe and dry. And Lily was being surprisingly tolerant of the situation too, so it could have been much worse. The rain had finally started to slow a little so we went on over to ride the People Mover.
We had to dodge several flooded areas on the way, and I got a little frustrated with Owen for doing some puddle-stomping! I had extra clothes in my backpack, but not shoes. We enjoyed the ride though, and saw as we came by the castle that they had turned the lights on, without doing the show. As we went above Buzz Lightyear, Owen said he really wanted to do it! I don’t think we’ve ever gotten him on it and I certainly wasn’t expecting that to change tonight. So excited that he has discovered a whole new type of ride on this trip! So many more things that he can enjoy now.
Unfortunately I had not adequately covered the stroller, and it was soaked. Owen refused to ride until Lily offered to put her jacket over the seat. I think it was less that she was being nice, and more that she just really didn’t want to have to wear it! This is my child who will wear shorts and flip flops in the snow, after all.
It was almost time for our dinner ADR at Tony’s, so we took advantage of a short lull in the rain to make a dash down Main Street. They must have really been booked solid because they were turning people away outside the doors who didn’t have reservations, or who were too early. Fortunately it wasn’t a long wait though, just like last time.
Once we got settled and ordered, Lily left to go use the restroom, and shortly after Owen really wanted to change into dry clothes, and I decided that I did too. Lily was still in line, with about 8 people behind her! I sent Owen up ahead to go in with her so at least he wouldn’t have to stand there cold and wet with me. They really need a bigger bathroom here! By the time I got back to the table, the bread, drinks, apps, and entrees were there already! Fine by me, I was starving. I know some people complain that Tony’s rushes you through, but I rarely mind a little speed with getting my food. And it was good! Nothing fancy, but spaghetti is our ultimate comfort food at home. So after our soggy last hour, it felt great to just relax with something familiar and easy.
Chapter 10. He Likes the Fireworks…. or Maybe NOT.
We decided to head back to Tomorrowland after dinner, since Owen was sticking by his plan to ride Buzz. We always intentionally save that part of the park for the night, since I love how it looks all lit up. The line for Buzz was about 25 minutes, and we had to dodge a few waterfalls in the outside part of the queue! But the CMs were working very hard to at least keep everyone under the roof so they weren’t just standing in the rain. It wasn’t as hard as it had been at first, but not really showing any signs of stopping either. Owen LOVED the ride! He didn’t score many points, but luckily is still too young to understand the difference between his score of 800, and his dad’s of 200,000! His had a bigger first number, after all.
He wanted to ride again right away, so I offered to take him while Brian and Lily went to Space Mountain. He loved it just as much the second time. Spent most of it shouting directions at me, apparently I was never shooting at the right thing, lol! Unfortunately he never shows up in the ride photos because he’s too short, all you see is the gun, lol! Hadn’t heard from them when we finished so we went over to Astro Orbiter.
I had hoped to wait until it stopped raining, but I wasn’t sure that was ever going to happen, Right after we got in line, it must have had a problem, the CM at the bottom was on the phone for about 15 minutes, during which time the elevators never moved. I was just about to give up when they got it going again! Although now we were just barely going to have time to finish before Wishes. The ride was a bit more intense in the rain, but Owen still loved it.
We met up with Brian and Lily. They had done Stitch instead, since SM still had an hour wait. I had hoped I could get that as our fourth FP but it was already gone by early morning. Hopefully later it would work out, if nothing else during EMH. We walked toward the Hub, and found an acceptable spot to watch Wishes. There was a tree partially blocking the castle, but this late in the game it was the best we were going to do.
I was really hoping that Owen would finally prove that he was over his fireworks fear. It had been getting better and better with each trip, and I want to be able to do the Pirates and Pals firework cruise, once I’m confident that he’ll be okay with it. As they started, he seemed to be really enjoying them. Maybe next trip it could happen! We were actually right underneath where Tinkerbell did her flight, and got a great view of it. We almost always miss that part, so I was glad to finally catch it.
I was standing with Lily, and Owen was with Brian a few feet away. We were really enjoying the fireworks, when suddenly I looked over and Owen was crying! So much for my earlier misplaced hope. Apparently, after I stopped paying attention (because I was able to actually watch the fireworks for once) his mood had grown worse by the minute, until he finally lost it. I was trying to comfort him and muffle his cries, thinking I was going to have to bail with him somewhere, but luckily he quieted down just then. We made it through the rest of the show with his head buried in my chest and my hands over his ears. He said later that he had liked them at first, but didn’t understand why they JUST KEPT GOING! Poor kid. He can only take them in small doses, I guess. Maybe a fireworks cruise in a couple of years?
He was fine as soon as it was over and ready to go have more fun, at least. But I didn’t get many pictures. I was going to wait until the big finale at the end, but by then I was too busy with Owen.
Chapter 11. How Long Can We Make It???
It was time for our Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan FPs that I had gotten earlier in the afternoon. So we split up. It seemed like an awfully long walk to FL just to ride PP for the third time today! But Owen loved it just as much.
We met up outside the Hall of Presidents. Lily specifically requested this one, as she loves US history. We must have just missed a show because we had a long wait, but the kids had fun exploring the lobby. We spent a day at Mt. Vernon earlier this summer, and Owen has been fascinated with George Washington ever since. He immediately recognized the pictures of him! And the show was great as always. Brian is especially impressed with the animatronics here. Pretty amazing how they can animate so smoothly even very subtle movements.
And I don’t know why I’ve never thought of it before, but it’s really neat how they are all wearing their period appropriate attire. You can see the progression of the changes in dress throughout the last few centuries. Then I had the really weird thought of how they would all react to each other if they really were all in the same room together. These are the musings a sleepy brain goes through when trying to watch a serious show, I guess!
The park was finally starting to clear out a little, and we decided we should take advantage of the plunging wait times at Space Mountain. Had I gone with them, we could have gotten a child swap, but it didn’t really seem worth it. I did ride it twice just a couple months ago. As we were leaving HoP, the MSEP was going on. So we caught a few glimpses, but the kids didn’t seem interested in hanging around to watch. We had committed quite a but of time to the afternoon parade, so I was okay with skipping this one. Maybe next time.
Owen and I headed back to FL. He wanted to ride Pooh again, then go play at Dumbo. We were doing a lot more back-and-forth walking than normal, but we had promised another ride on Pooh, and Dumbo play-time at some point today, after all. And Owen is NOT one to forget when you make a promise, lol! The child will hold you to it, even if it’s been weeks.
The Pooh line was almost empty, and we ended up letting a lot of people in front of us because he wanted to be able to play with the stuff in the line. Not nervous at all this time though! I was getting pretty sleepy by now. It was after 11pm, and we had been there for 16 hours already! So I was fine with just chilling on the bench while he played inside Dumbo. I at first mentioned that he could stay in there “for as long as you want”. He literally did a double-take and was like “REALLY? You’re going to let me stay as LONG as I want??” I laughed and clarified that we would stay longer than I normally let him since we weren’t in a hurry. I forgot that they were supposed to keep their shoes on, and when the CM noticed he had taken them off, he offered to go find him in the tunnels and put them back on, for which I was very grateful. He happily played for about 20 minutes, and then decided he wanted to ride Barnstormer. We didn’t even bother riding Dumbo, just gave the pager back and left.
We had just finished riding when Brian and Lily caught up with us, so we went one more time all together. Brian wanted to do Pooh again, Lily didn’t really care that much so I think the two of us mostly just walked around while they rode, and decided that we needed a snack if we were going to be able to stay much longer. So we all ended up at Gaston’s again, as most everything else was closed by now.
Midnight, 17 hours in. Brian still wanted to stay until 3am, but that was seeming completely undoable. Besides, the only thing we hadn’t ridden that we were interested in was Big Thunder Mountain. I think Lily and I would have been happy to skip it and head back, but it was a compromise to do that one thing, and then call it a night.
We rode the train over to Frontierland, and asked Owen if he wanted to ride. He went back and forth a couple of times, but finally decided that he did. There was almost no wait, so we ran pretty quickly through the queue, and Owen was seeming just the tiniest bit nervous, but not hesitant. Flashbacks were already coming though… this seemed an awfully lot like Lily’y first ride on BTMRR, which had been a total disaster.
And I was right to be having the flashbacks. Talk about deja-vu! His first ride, at 4 years old, in the dark, and he was terrified! Unlike his usual pattern, he was fine getting on, but after the first few seconds, grew increasingly uncomfortable. And was crying to get off by the end. I felt so bad for him! I think part of the problem is that it’s just so long. He kept thinking we were almost done, and then it hiked us up another hill. So, just like 6 years ago, we had an unhappy first-time-rider on our hands.
Fortunately, he shook it off much more quickly than Lily had. Actually, I think he mostly just passed out in the stroller again. So we began the long walk back to the front. We were actually leaving just as they were announcing the end of regular park hours. Brian was a little bummed that we weren’t sticking around for EMH, but it was 1am, and we were clearly at our limit. Or well past our limit, as Lily quickly proved.
I’ll spare you the details this time, but suffice to say she had a major meltdown while waiting for the boat back to WL. She was just so tired, all hope of controlling herself was long since gone. She actually fell asleep on my shoulder during the ride, and was in a much better mood when we got there. Which was good, because I had been worried about how in the world we were going to get her back the room. At 5 feet tall, I certainly can’t carry her!
But we actually had a pleasant walk back. It was just as deserted and empty as when we had left that morning. We had come full circle, I guess! So that was it, our epic Magic Kingdom day, that I had been planning for nearly a year! We didn’t quite make it the 20 hours we were hoping for, but 18 hours is still a LONG time, as we found out.
Overall, I have to say that day was a huge success. Despite the crowds, we managed to get a lot done, and thanks to a good touring plan didn’t have too many long waits. And everyone had a lot of fun. A few minor rough moments with the kids, but honestly, compared to what we deal with on a normal day at home, they had been nearly perfect today, lol! We collapsed into bed almost immediately. Hopefully everyone would actually sleep in tomorrow!
Day 3. Monday, Dec 22
Chapter 12. Another Meltdown, and PINK HAIR!
And sleep in we did! I had set my alarm for 10am, thinking there was no way we would actually sleep that late, regardless of how late we had been out. But I think I only woke up a couple minutes before it went off. Haven’t slept that late since I was in college!
I had gotten the latest breakfast reservation I could at 1900 Park Fare, because I knew Lily would enjoy meeting the Mad Hatter. But we still couldn’t sleep ALL morning. Which was unfortunate for Lily, because it became quickly apparent that she probably needed to. Again, I’ll glaze over the gory details, but another major meltdown erupted while we were getting ready, and I almost canceled our ADR (knowing I would have to eat the cancellation fee at that point). Actually, had the MDE app on my phone let me cancel it, I would have. It turned out I was going to have to call, and before I was able to get through, she started calming down a little.
So the morning was not off to a good start, but maybe it was salvageable. I hadn’t allowed extra time to get ready, wanting to be able to sleep as long as possible, so we were definitely running late once we finally got a mostly-calm Lily out the door. I was glad we had a car this time, at least we were the masters of our own fate!
Fortunately, we didn’t have any traffic on the way to the Grand Floridian and were there within just a couple of minutes, and only checked in one minute late for our ADR. I think this is the character meal we’ve actually done the most times, for some reason. A shame that in the past, Lily had barely known who the Mad Hatter was. Now she is obsessed with him. Brian says it’s appropriate, as she is definitely at a “falling down the rabbit hole” age.
We had our picture taken while we waited for our table. Owen wouldn’t really smile, he gets very nervous around cameras, especially when it’s a posed shot. But it was still a cute picture of the kids.
Our buzzer went off before too long. While we were standing at the doorway to be seated, two different groups tried to cut in front of us. Off-topic rant, but I saw more blatant line-cutting on this trip than ever before. I don’t know what has gotten into people! Several times, someone had looked us straight in the eye while pushing in front of us in what was clearly a line, like they were daring us to try and stop them. We let one succeed this time, but stood our ground when the second one tried.
Since we had a late seating, I could tell the restaurant was already starting to empty out a little. I think we had just missed the characters in their table rotation, but it actually worked out better this way, because we all had time to get our food and eat before they started coming around again. Which put everyone in a good mood, and able to enjoy the characters more.
By the time they made it to us, the restaurant was only about half-full. I’ve thought a couple other times when we had late breakfasts that the characters are better then. Maybe they don’t feel so rushed once it starts emptying out, things definitely start feeling less scripted and formal! Today was certainly no exception.
Well, Alice and Mary Poppins were their usual selves I guess. Tigger and Pooh were great with the kids though, lots of extra attention and hugs. But the best had been saved for last.
The Mad Hatter was almost here! He was actually in the middle of taking a picture at the table next to us, when he happened to look our way, and spot Lily. Right in the middle of the picture, he suddenly pointed at her and shouted, loud enough for the whole place to hear, “Piiiiinnnk Haaaaaaiiiiiiiirrrrrr! OH My GOD everyone LOOOOOK! She has Piiiiiiink Haaaaiiir!” (I think I forgot to mention, but it’s probably been obvious from pictures, yes her hair is pink right now. What can I say, it’s middle school!)
Well if she was wanting his attention, she had it, lol! I worried it might actually be too much, since she is definitely shy and introverted, but she was laughing harder than I think I have ever seen! I wish I had gotten a picture of her face, but the only reason I didn’t was that I was too caught up in, and enjoying the moment to have time to pick up the camera. It was awesome, definitely worth all the stress we gone through earlier the morning to get there.
Once again, the hopeless situation turned to gold. He finished his picture at the next table, then came over to chat some more. Lily was wearing her Mad Hatter shirt (or more like “Mrs. Hatter”), and he said to Lily, “Oooh, you look GOOD!” And then called over to Alice to show her the shirt too. But he said Owen looked like a hedgehog! And referred to him as such for the rest of the interaction. Owen was a little taken aback by all of it, but Lily was soaking it up.
He asked us what we were doing today, and when we told him we were just relaxing after a late night, he declared that he was too, and tried to lay down in the floor! I think it was Alice, still nearby, that yelled at him to get up, lol! So a great interaction for sure, very glad we got here and it worked out so perfectly. Priceless smiles ☺
We were finished eating already and about to leave, but after the Mad Hatter left the next table, he bumped into Tigger “accidentally”, and the two of them got into a scuffle, chasing each other around and wrestling! Alice got caught up in it somehow too, and the whole fiasco was hilarious, I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. Glad we hadn’t left a minute sooner and missed it. Definitely the best character meal ever, lol!
Day 3 – Monday, Dec 22 (afternoon)
Chapter 13. Our Lightsaber Mission & Lazy Afternoon at the Pool
After breakfast, Brian wanted to go back to the hotel to swim, but I had promised the kids (especially Owen) that we would do the Build-Your-Own-Lightsaber thing at Downtown Disney while we were here, and this seemed like our best opportunity. Neither of them have even seen Star Wars, but Owen has been obsessed with lightsabers for weeks, and since breakfast had mainly been for Lily it seemed only fair to do “his thing” now.
I had read that traffic and parking was a mess over there right now with all the construction, but was somehow hoping for a miracle I guess. We didn’t get it. The magical bit of pixie dust that had seemed to be hanging out on my shoulder briefly abandoned me, lol! So Brian was very grumpy by the time we finally fought our way to a parking lot, across the street. He was convinced we would be here all afternoon and not have time to swim, so of course I was determined to prove him wrong.
We had one simple mission. Get in, build a saber, and get out! And we did just that. The place was packed, but we just pushed our way right through the mobs, straight to Once Upon a Toy. Fortunately there was a CM there helping people build, because I never would have figured out how all those parts went together. Brian had said earlier he didn’t get how you could “build” or personalize one, weren’t they a pretty simply device? Well they sure found a way to make it complicated! But with the CM’s help, they were done in just a few minutes, and a few more minutes later we were headed back to the car.
Brian started to relax finally, realizing that this really hadn’t taken so long after all. Still plenty of time to swim, and now we would appreciate the relaxation more! Especially since the walk back to the car was hot and muggy. Yuck!
Back at the room, they started getting ready to swim, while I took a pile of clothes to the laundry room. It took me longer than I care to admit to figure out how to work the washing machine, but finally I had it started and went to join them at the pool. Not off to a good start though, Owen was crying when I got there! Brian hadn’t been able to find his goggles, even though Owen had them in his hand when I left with the laundry, so they just came out without them.
And now Brian was mad that Owen was refusing to swim without them. Well, DUH, I thought! I don’t know why he didn’t just take another minute to find them, I could have told him it would end in tears otherwise. So I went back for them, and Lily came with me. Luckily, we had a ground floor room with a patio that opened up to the grass right outside the villa’s pool, so going back and forth was easy. I had them in my hand about 10 seconds after entering the room, and once he had them on, Owen was happy and swimming all over the pool.
Lily was having fun doing handstands on top of the bubble jets in the bottom of the pool, and Owen was just generally happy to be in the water, swimming back and forth across the pool, over and over again.
After a while though, I convinced them to go over to the main pool because I wanted to see the waterfall and geyser. The kids took off ahead of us and were already on their way up the waterslide steps by the time I got in the pool. Owen came down first, and he was totally out of control! By the time he hit the water, he was totally twisted around with his feet up over his head! But he thought it was the best thing ever and wanted to go again.
So they went several more times, almost every time just as wild as the last. It took a lot of tries to get a picture where his butt wasn’t in front of his face, lol! Lily wanted to go explore the other side of the pool with the waterfall, so we swam over there while Brian stayed with Owen, I think he was still doing the slide, and they went over to the play area at some point too, though Owen didn’t care for it.
The water was warm! A little too warm actually, it didn’t feel very refreshing. I actually had to sit out a few times to cool off. But the waterfall area was neat. We sat right up on the edge with the rocks where we could feel the water flowing past us. We all joined up a little later, and decided to get a frozen treat from the bar. We got some combination of berry and orange smoothies, I can’t remember exactly who had what, but Owen ended up trading with me because he didn’t like the one he had picked. The child is very finicky! Lily has always been one to eat, or drink, anything.
While we were sitting at a table next to the pool enjoying our drinks, a series of odd events ensued. A boy, maybe just a little younger than Lily, walked by us just on the other side of the fence, and pulled his swimsuit down! I mean like, all the way down to his knees, nothing hidden, lol! For some reason, I seemed to be the only one who noticed this and he continued across the bridge to the other side of the pool with his bare self completely on display! It was one of those, “Am I really seeing this???” moments.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see how it ended because just at that moment a lifeguard whistle sounded and suddenly the whole place grew deathly quiet as she dove in after something. It turned out to be a false alarm, as it was just a piece of fabric floating in the water, but from a distance it could definitely have looked like someone’s swimsuit who was in trouble. That wasn’t the end of it though, while everyone was still focused on that crisis, ANOTHER whistle sounded, and ANOTHER lifeguard dove in on the other side of the pool, this time for a person who really was struggling. The water wasn’t all that deep, but a lady who apparently couldn’t swim had lost her footing and fallen, and was having trouble getting her feet back under her, and starting to panic.
I was really impressed with that lifeguard, it would have been so easy to miss that since everyone was still focused on what was going on across the pool. She must have really been trained well and was taking her job seriously. Brian used to be a lifeguard and gets so frustrated with the lifeguards at our gym, someone could drown right in front of them and they probably wouldn’t even notice. So we appreciate good lifeguarding when we find it.
Things returned to normal after that, and we swam a bit more before I decided that we should probably head back to the room to get ready for the evening. We did also get to see the geyser erupting while we were over here. Cute, but obviously not as impressive as the real Old Faithful which we’ve visited a couple of times.
Chapter 14. Date Night!
As we were getting back to the room, I decided to check on the MDE app to make sure I had remembered our dinner time correctly. I was pretty sure our ADR for Artists Point was at 7:10, and I had arranged to drop the kids off at the Cub’s Den at 6:45. So I was a little disconcerted to see that MDE showed our ADR at 6:10! That was less than an hour away! And more concerning, I was about 95% certain that I remembered making the Cub’s Den ressie for 6:45. That wasn’t going to work!
I tried to call them, but didn’t have any luck getting through, so I decided to just get dressed quickly and go over there. It was very close to the Villas, though it still took me a while to find it. But they had our reservation correct, with a drop-off time of 6:00. I must be really loosing my mind! In fairness, I did change it a couple of times as I switched our plans around, I guess that’s why I was confused. But all was well.
So we finished getting ready and headed back there with the kids. Oh, and they played outside in the grass with the lightsabers some while we were getting ready. One of several reasons I always request a ground floor room, I love having a “backyard”.
I had been feeling a little bad about making Lily go to childcare for the evening, as it was obviously geared towards younger kids. I would have been fine letting her roam the resort on her own while we ate, but I wasn’t ready to leave her in charge of Owen for that long, and I knew he would be more likely to cooperate with the situation if he had his sister with him. Fortunately she was being unusually agreeable and didn’t seem to mind at all.
We got them checked in, and their dinner ordered, and they quickly disappeared behind the gate to go find some toys. We walked on to the lobby, and briefly thought about getting our picture taken with Pluto and Goofy, since the kids hadn’t been interested. But the line was pretty long and moving very slow, so we decided that we should just go on to dinner.
We checked in at Artist Point and were seated right away. We were put at a table for 4, even though it was just the two of us, and I couldn’t help but stare at those empty chairs thinking that our kids should be in them! We almost never go out without them at home, like maybe once a year at the most, so I was feeling a little guilty. But it ended up being a very pleasant and enjoyable meal.
Our server was very attentive, always seeming to be right there when we needed her, and of course the food was great. And for once we got to have a “grown-up” conversation, that didn’t include fart-noises from the 4 year old, lol! We actually spent most of it talking about Brian’s work, not the technical jargon that would have gone over my head, but more about the culture of his industry. It was actually interesting to get a look into what goes on in his corporate circles. Definitely not the same world that our parents lived in!
After dinner, we had just a little bit of time before we needed to pick up the kids, so I took advantage of the opportunity to finish my “Santa-shopping”, buying some Disney-themed treats for their stockings. Owen was not particularly happy to leave, he would have been content to stay and play all night! But we got them checked-out, then went back into the lodge because I knew Lily would need more to eat. They just served the standard CS kid’s meals, and that hasn’t been enough food for her in a long time!
So she picked up a turkey wrap at Roaring Forks. It was actually the only time we went in there, and I was surprised at how small it was. Luckily it wasn’t too busy though. The characters were still out in the lobby, but still we couldn’t convince the kids to meet them. Oh well. As I said, not a character-heavy trip this time.
Back in the room, I had to go collect the laundry and get it put away. (We had to pack very light on clothes this trip since most of the suitcases were filled with presents) There was another mom and son in there while I was folding, and while I certainly don’t wish parenting-difficulty on anyone, it was at least comforting to see that I’m not the only one that has trouble with the pre-teen attitude!
This was our last night here so I packed up a little before we went to bed. It was also the first night that we didn’t get back late and exhausted, so we could just chill for a while too. But, we did have a pretty early morning ahead of us, so we all turned in for the night before too long. One more day of fun left tomorrow!
Day 4. Tuesday, Dec 23
Chapter 15. Pirate Adventures and Packing Up
I had asked Brian the night before if he wanted to eat breakfast at Roaring Forks (CS at WL) or go to WCC again. As if that was even a question! So I made a 7:30 ADR for WCC, and we slept until almost 7am. Owen was still sleepy though, and had some morning grumpies to work out after we were seated. He finally promised that if I went back to the room and brought him his stuffed raccoon that he would cheer up. Sigh. Whatever it takes at this point, I thought! He did start doing better after that though, so I guess it was worth it.
Our waitress was fun, but the antics were definitely more laid back than they had been at night. Mostly just some lively conversations between the servers and a few jokes. But breakfast was good, and everyone was much more awake afterwards. The kids were off on a pirate adventure cruise this morning, leaving from the Grand Floridian. We had just been there the day before, and knew it was a quick drive.
Except that we must have hit morning rush hour for MK, because traffic was at a standstill! I was suddenly worried we were going to be late. We finally made it to the GF with a few minutes to spare, and I had Brian drop us off at the front since we were otherwise going to have to park pretty far away. Okay, it turned out that we were the first ones there. You can probably see why Brian gets annoyed with my on-time paranoia, lol!
Finally, all the pirates had assembled at the boat dock and they got ready for their adventure. The story was that they were supposed to be on a big pirate ship, but someone had stolen it, so their captain had to commandeer another one (just happened to find some keys to one of the nearby pontoons…) so they were going to use that to find their ship, and hopefully some treasure.
Lily and Owen were both being a little shy, but still seemed excited to be there and go with the group. I was glad we had waited until they could do it together. There were a total of 8 kids, exactly 4 sibling pairs. Lily was the oldest, and Owen was the youngest of the group. Being 7 years apart, when there is an activity they can both do, they do tend to be the bookends.
We left them and headed back to the hotel to get packed and loaded. I figured we should have plenty of time, but somehow it took longer than I was expecting. I didn’t even start carrying suitcases to the car until about 15 minutes before we needed to leave. And then got halfway there with a heavy load before I realized that I didn’t have the car keys! Brian had gone to the gym while I was packing and left the keys in the room, but I totally forgot to pick them up. So, nothing else to do but drag everything back, get the keys, and start over. We finally got everything into the car and on our way, about 10 minutes later than I had been planning on.
I had read that if you got there a few minutes early for pick-up, you could join the pirate-crew on the last part of their adventure, and for some reason it was very important to me that we make it. I guess I just didn’t want to be that slacker mom who missed something cool with her kids! I ended up driving, and since we were so late I dropped Brian off before I parked so that at least maybe he would make it in time. Then I ran all the way, in my dress and flip flops (Lily and I had a manicure and tea later). And it was so muggy! I remember thinking as I was running by the pool that I must be absolutely insane to be considering a July trip. I was about to collapse in the December heat!
I had been checking Lily’s location from my phone, and it looked like they weren’t quite back to the dock yet, so maybe I could still make it. Except that I got a little turned around as I got close, and ended up on the wrong side of the Sugar Loaf building from the dock. But then I remembered that there were doors coming out of its lobby right by the dock, and made a good guess that I could cut through the building instead of going all the way around it.
I don’t *think* I ran anyone over as I blasted through the lobby, in one set of doors, to the ones on the other side. Although I did almost trip over a vacuum cord. And then it was like one of those epic scenes from the end of a movie that would be played in slow motion with the Rocky theme song in the background… I flung open the door leading to the dock area at the exact moment that their boat was pulling up, right in front of me! A little more drama than was necessary, but I made it!
They got off the boat, and told us that they found their ship, but it was shipwrecked on an island. Owen was very excited to explain everything to me. And they had figured out that the map was leading them right back to the hotel, the treasure was apparently buried somewhere near Gasparilla’s Grill. So we all set off to find it! After a little hunting, they discovered it, buried under some plants by the sidewalk. They opened it, and let everyone take their share of the treasure.
Owen had clearly had a blast, and Lily seemed to have enjoyed it too, though she was a little more mellow about everything. She took a few pictures of Owen on the boat though, which I thought was neat.
So my morning had been a little stressful but the kids had obviously had a good time. Not sure we’ll have another chance to do a pirate cruise before Lily is too old, so I’m glad we were able to do it this time.
In my original plans, I had told my parents we would head to Naples as soon as we got up and packed today, but then I thought of the cruise, and promised we would come right after that. But… then Owen had been begging to go on Test Track again, and Lily really wanted to do Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian, so how could I say no??? I ended up assuring my parents (a few weeks before the trip) that we WOULD be there sometime today, but warned them it would probably be late. Like, 10pm late. Because there was still time for one more fun adventure!
Chapter 16. Not the Poly I Remember
But now, it was time to split up, and head our separate ways. Lily and I had a “Girls’ Afternoon” planned, while Brian and Owen were off to Epcot. Mostly because he has been talking non-stop about wanting to ride Test Track again for several months. And Brian was now hopeful that after our success at MK, he might even have some luck getting him on a couple of the dark rides, that he refused to do last time. It seemed like a good excuse anyway to get our tickets evened back out, as Lily and I had used a day back in March just to spend a few hours at DHS. (Though that means that we have now used 4/10 days on our tickets in one year. They were supposed to last 4-5 years. Oops!)
We almost had a deal-breaker though, when I told Owen he couldn’t take his bag of treasure with him. He was heartbroken, but neither of them had any sort of backpack at all, so it was going to have to stay with me. We let him take one small piece with him that he could leave in his pocket, and that seemed to be a good compromise.
After they left, Lily and I went inside so that she could change into her dress. We got our picture taken in front of the Christmas Tree in the lobby, had to have one in our matching (or at least coordinating) dresses. We actually got a good number of compliments on them throughout the afternoon. I happened to find them online at Hot Topic, for about $30 each. They were a hit! (And notice in the picture that she’s almost as tall as me, wouldn’t be surprised if I’m having to look up to her in another year!)
Since we still had some time to kill before getting our manicures, we decided to hop on the monorail. I was curious to see the Polynesian, since they had finished the lobby renovations. Honestly, I wasn’t at all impressed with the pictures I had seen of it, but was hoping that maybe the pictures just didn’t do it justice, and wanted to see for myself. I have a very nostalgic attachment to the Polynesian, since that is where we stayed on our first trip in 2008, and I still consider that to be one of the most incredible weeks of my life. My memories of that trip are very much centered around the Poly, so it’s held a kind-of supernatural draw for me ever since.
Well, all I can say is that the pictures were generous. I could go on for pages about how upset I was to see what they had done to it. But suffice to say, it felt like a punch in the gut. They have totally ruined it, in my opinion at least. It made me sad. It might as well be the lobby of a Marriott now.
We wandered outside, hoping to at least recapture a little bit of the magic there. But the outside is still just a big construction zone. Huge fences, piles of dirt, noisy equipment. Even the longhouse we stayed in was completely closed off and gutted. I was hoping to get a then-and-now picture of Lily outside of it, but since the original location didn’t exist anymore, I at least made one of her next to a neighboring building. No reason to stay here any longer. We hopped on the monorail back to GF.
Day 4. Tuesday, Dec 23 (afternoon)
Chapter 17. The Girls have Tea & the Boys ride in Fast Cars
We were still a little early for our manicure appointment at the spa, but headed in that direction. Lily was jealous that the GF has “Mad Hatter Pool”, it’s actually the kids’ water play area. We walked by it and took some pictures at least. We checked in at Senses Spa, and were taken back to the lounge to wait. They had some drinks and light snacks, and comfy couches to hang out on!
I didn’t take any pictures inside the manicure room, since my heads were understandably occupied the whole time. But it was very nice.
Lily and I had our nails done right next to each other, then while mine were being finished, she was taken over to have a pedicure as well. Personally, I can’t stand someone messing with my feet, but she seemed to enjoy it! She had been being very shy the whole time, and it didn’t help that the manicurist had a thick accent, which I think made Lily feel a little less confident making conversation.
Afterwards, the manicurist suggested that Lily and I switch shoes, since mine were open-toed and hers were not, and she was afraid that her shoes would mess up her toenails, which wouldn’t be totally dry for some time. Fortunately, we wear almost the same size shoe, though hers were still a tight squeeze for me.
Again, we had a little time to kill before our Afternoon Tea ADR. I had gotten them as close together as possible, but even 180 days out the options were pretty limited. Actually just a couple days before I had finally been able to get a slightly earlier time, but we still had about 30 minutes in between.
Instead of giving us a buzzer, they just insisted that they would be able to “find us” when they were ready, and that we were free to roam anywhere in the lobby. But we stayed close by just in case. And got several more compliments on our dresses while we were waiting!
I started checking MDE to see if Brian and Owen had used their FPs yet, and immediately suspected there was a problem. I texted Brian to see what was going on, and he said they were almost on Test Track when it broke down and they kicked everyone out! That was the whole reason they went to Epcot! I tried not to be stressed, since it was obviously out of my control and I wanted to enjoy my afternoon with Lily, but I couldn’t help but check the app every few minutes, and was relieved when it finally stopped showing as “Temporarily Closed”. And more relieved when he texted to say that they were on their way back over there.
The tea was very good! We had actually done a “practice run” a few weeks ago, getting manicures then having tea in a local, historic tearoom. And I’m glad, because I felt much more comfortable now knowing the protocol, and how the menu is set up. It might have been a little overwhelming otherwise. I picked a mango-vanilla flavored one, and Lily picked the gingerbread tea. And all three traditional courses of scones, sandwiches and desserts were brought out. Everything was delicious, and very filling!
Lily has really gotten into drinking hot tea at home, and would be getting an Alice in Wonderland Tea set for Christmas in just a few days. She uses it several times a week now. Fortunately she had been in a pretty mellow mood all day, none of the drama-filled episodes we had been subjected to earlier in the trip. Quiet, but seeming happy and content J
I had told Brian to be back by 5pm, but then he talked me into 6pm, (and I knew that realistically that meant they would leave at 6), so we once again had some time to kill. So we hopped on a boat to the MK, thinking we would take the monorail over to the Contemporary from there. And our boat ride almost ended up being a water ride! I don’t know if they had overfilled the boat or what, but the water was lapping right at the edge I was sitting next to the whole time, and even spilled in once or twice!
But the resort monorail seemed to be having difficulties when we arrived, and a lot of people were giving up on it and heading to the boats instead. I wasn’t even sure if they had a boat to the Contemporary, but I certainly wasn’t going to walk it in my dressy flip flops! Fortunately, the monorail was going again in a few minutes. It must have been stopped for a long time because there were hundreds of people waiting for it when we got to the Contemporary, I had never seen the loading platform so full!
We explored a little, and ended up buying Lily a pair of flip-flops in one of the stores, since her shoes were uncomfortable. After having worn them for a bit earlier, I could see why. And she played around with a Sulley tail and hat that she thought was really funny. Glad to see her finally developing an affinity for my second-favorite Disney character!
I thought about buying a sweatshirt, but for some reason couldn’t commit and left without anything. We wandered around a little more, window shopping and enjoying the Christmas decorations.
On our way out, we spotted a detailed model of the Fantasy, the DCL ship we are sailing on next year! She was already excited about it, but became even more so looking at the replica, and talking about all the stuff we could see on it.
So it was sort of a meandering, plan-less couple of hours. But we both really enjoyed spending some laid-back time together, and just soaking in the atmosphere, without feeling like we had any place in particular to be.
It was almost time for the boys to get back, so we took the monorail back to the GF, where our car was still parked. It had been there all day, but in fairness, we had three separate activity reservations at the resort so that should be expected.
They arrived at the car not long after us, and Owen was beaming with excitement! He had to tell us all about their afternoon. They ended up having a great time at Epcot. Not only did Owen love Test Track (they designed some kind of Jeep with rocket boosters on it), Brian even got him to go on Spaceship Earth and he now says it’s one of his favorites! Although he was quite confused as to why Michelangelo (in the part where he is painting the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel) did NOT look at all like a Ninja Turtle, lol! But he hated the ride at 2 years old, and refused to ride it at 3. So we are definitely making progress.
They also did the Nemo ride and Turtle Talk with Crush, both of which were hits. (And again, he had refused to do both last year) Oh, and he had his first ever Mickey Ice Cream bar. I think they really enjoyed their father-son bonding time 🙂
Chapter 18. Wrap up
We drove on to Naples, battling a little traffic until we were out of town. Got to my parents house around 10pm, and quickly settled in for the night.
We spent Christmas and the rest of the week there, then came back to Orlando Saturday night, since Brian and Lily were signed up for the Astronaut Training Experience on Sunday. (They only offer it a couple times a month, and that was the only day during our trip) They said it was really awesome! It was a simulated shuttle mission, and everyone had their own tasks to learn and perform.
While they were there, my parents joined Owen and I for another day at the Space Center, and they really enjoyed seeing the Atlantis Space Shuttle on display. Owen is so fascinated by rockets, and space in general. He is especially excited about the new Orion/Space Launch System that Nasa is working on. Brian says that we WILL be there to watch the first launch, currently scheduled for November 2018! Guess we have a while to plan J
Oh, and I have to mention the server at a random Arby’s we stopped at on the way back to Orlando. He had recently retired from being a CM at Disney World, and was so much fun! The whole time we were in there, he went around playing with all the kids, and trying to guess which Disney character they were. Not many fast-food joints get a gem such as that on their staff J
We had a late flight home Sunday night, got to the Denver airport around 10pm, which was midnight eastern time! (And still had over an hour drive home) We stayed home for about 36 hours, barely time to unpack and repack, before heading out on a two night trip to Breckenridge for some cross-country skiing. Definitely an action-filled two weeks!
So I think this may have actually been one of our best trips ever! Okay, nothing is ever going to live up to our epic first trip in 2008, but I’ve mostly accepted that. This one almost certainly gets a well-earned 2nd place, even though it was so short. We still did a lot, and had relatively few problems.
I was worried about the crowds, being so close to Christmas, but honestly it was no worse than when we went at spring break. I think we did a good job of getting some important rides done during EMH, then having good FPs for the early afternoon, and spending the later afternoon at shows and less popular attractions. And being able to get additional FPs after our first 3 definitely helped. So we wasted relatively little time waiting in line, and didn’t ever really “feel” like it was too crowded to be enjoyable. From what I saw by others in my December group, those that were there later in the week may have had a very different experience. Apparently there is a “sweet-spot” just before Christmas, before it turns to craziness.
We were originally planning two trips in 2015 (July and November) but it looks like neither will happen. Brian has put his foot down and says that he is Florida-ed out for the year. He really wants to go camping instead for his week off in July. (The whole company shuts down the week of the 4th). And both he and Lily are itching to get to Universal Studios, so we are now booked for 4 nights at the Royal Pacific (at Universal) when we go down at Thanksgiving. That will definitely be a new adventure! (But I told Lily she has to get into Harry Potter before then) And then we have our big cruise the following March. I wasn’t planning to do any park days with it, but if we aren’t going to get there at all this year, we just might have to change that 🙂
