Day 3 – Sunday, March 23, 2014

Chapter 4. Day at “The Creek”

We woke pretty early, not because we needed to, just because its what we are used to I guess. I hadn’t slept well though, my heel had been bothering me since about 2 am, and I hoped it wouldn’t mess up the day for me. (I have rheumatoid arthritis, and it’s one of the joints that often flares up randomly)  We headed down for breakfast at Boma. Owen had slept through dinner here the other night and I don’t think he even remembered going at all. Fortunately breakfast went much better.

We hadn’t decided for sure what we were doing today… The kids wanted swimming in one form or another. Our waitress happened to ask us where we were headed today, and we mentioned that we were thinking about going to a water park. She immediately recommended Typhoon Lagoon, having just been there the week before. If we were doing a water park, I had been assuming it would be Blizzard Beach, just because it’s the one we went to in 2008, and really liked. She told us all about Typhoon Lagoon though, and we were sold! (Can you believe we were eating breakfast without even knowing where we were going for the day?? Look at us, being all spontaneous, ha!)

We should have easily had time to get there before they opened, but thanks to just missing the bus, then Lily realizing her MB was still in the room, we got there about 5 minutes late. Not too bad though. Our waitress had suggested that we head straight to Ketchekidde Creek (pronounced “Catch a Kitty” Creek) to set up camp, and she was not wrong! Owen ended up loving this area.

There were rivers, waterfalls, slides, fountains, etc, all designed for the preschool crowd. If all of Disney World were reduced to just “Kitty Cat Creek” as he called it, he would still be happy.

After a while there, we did the lazy river and Gangplank Falls, a family raft ride. He did okay on those, but they both had a part where you have to go under a water-dumping-on-your-head thing, and he wasn’t so fond of that. Honestly, neither was I. Is it not possibles make a fun ride at a water park without insisting that you go underneath a waterfall?

He wanted to go back to the Creek so I took him while Brian and Lily went to some of the bigger slides. This time, we discovered a tube slide on the other side of the Creek that he REALLY fell in love with! He was a little scared to try it at first, but after watching some other kids his age,  he went for it, and there was no stopping him then. He went over and over again. Fortunately it wasn’t too busy. At times there would be a short line of 3-4 kids, other times he was only limited by how fast he could carry his tube back up the hill.

Eventually we all met back up to get lunch. I wanted to go to the snack bar that was near the creek, but Brian was convinced that there was something better over near one of the slides he had done with Lily. My heel had been bothering me all morning, since we were off for a long walk I decided to put my flip flops on instead of going barefoot, and that did help a lot. (Actually they were Lily’s flip flops that she bought at the YC last year, yes my 10 year old has such huge feet that I can wear her shoes. She likes it though, says that big feet make good flippers for swimming) So we hiked across the park for lunch.

After lunch Brian and Lily wanted to do Shark Reef, there wasn’t an age or height limit so we thought we would let Owen try. You get to snorkel through a pool with live fish! Owen wanted to do it right up until the moment that we got in, then he freaked out. Brian had already taken off swimming so I pulled Owen out of the water and we had to do the walk-of-shame backwards through the line. At least he was willing to give it a try though. Maybe it’s progress?

I had been stuck with Owen most of the morning while Brian and Lily had been playing, so he suggested that Lily and I go do something now. I don’t tend to like scary water slides, but I was wanting to try Crush n’ Gusher, the water coaster. It was more of a walk than I was expecting from there, but it was worth it! So much fun. We shared a double tube, and it really is just like a roller coaster, in the water.

We found them afterwards, playing in the sand. I’m actually a little uncertain about the order of events for the rest of the afternoon, I know at some point Lily and I went back for a second ride on Crush n’Gusher, and Lily took Brian on it too. We generally took turns staying with Owen at Kitty Cat Creek, while the other went with Lily.

Near the end of the day, I had been with Owen for a while, but was content to stay, so when they came to check in with me I just sent them back out. Brian wanted a drink first, and Lily was in a hurry to get back to the wave pool, so he told her he would meet her there. But about 30 minutes later, he came back, not able to find her. I hadn’t seen her, so he went back out looking. She finally showed up at the Creek sometime later, in tears, having gotten lost.

I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how she could have been lost for so long, there were maps everywhere, and pretty much anyone in the park could have given her directions to the creek. But that’s my shy, introverted daughter, she will walk around for an hour in tears before she will speak to a stranger. Oh well. Brian caught back up with us, and the park would be closing soon. I didn’t want this to be her last memory of the day, so I sent them off to do a couple more slides.

We got packed up and out just as they were making the final closing announcement. Another full day! Unfortunately, as we were packing up, I realized that Owen’s stuffed raccoon, which he is desperately attached to, was missing. I was almost sure he had left the room with us this morning. Had he left it on the bus? Or had he made it into the park and disappeared during the day? In any case, I doubted we would see him again, and had a sinking feeling that there were many tears in our future.

I’m really glad we came to TL today though, both kids had a blast! The other time we did a water park, in 2008, I had second thoughts for a while and was wishing we had gone to MK instead, but then Lily ended up saying it was one of her favorite parts of the trip. So I don’t know why I always resist the water parks, clearly they are a hit with the kids! And so far, knock on wood, we hadn’t had any Owen-meltdowns. He is usually happiest in water, so no suprise, I guess. We have the waterpark option on our 10 day NE tickets, so we should have a good excuse to come back.

Getting back to the resort was tedious and frustrating, they had already stopped running busses to the resorts, even though the park had JUST closed, and there were still tons of people there. So we had to go to Downtown Disney and connect to an AKL bus from there. And traffic by DTD was a mess. The whole thing took almost an hour. I was really wishing that we had stuck to our original plan of renting a car.

(Sorry I don’t seem to have taken any pictures the rest of the day, oops!)

We barely had time to change for dinner, we were headed to Sanaa tonight! Owen had slept on the bus, but was still sleepy and not in a great mood. And Kidani was a HIKE! I hadn’t realized looking at the map how far it was. I think we were a few minutes late checking in, and I had to carry Owen for much of the walk.

Almost as soon as we sat down I knew we were in for a rough meal. Owen was not up for this, and being extremely uncooperative. It didn’t help that our server was not very good, he forgot our appetizer and we had a horrible time getting drink refills. The food was okay, but not the best of the trip for sure.

Things picked up a little towards the end of the meal, after Owen ate a little he started doing better (though not before knocking over a full glass of water, oops!) And we finally got our appetizer (the bread service) AFTER the meal. It was really good! The walk back to Jambo was much more pleasant than the walk earlier had been, now that we weren’t rushed and the kids were both in better moods. Brian had promised them both a small dessert after we got back as a reward for salvaging dinner.

So we picked up a cookie from Zawadi (the marketplace) and took it out to the observation deck. We had the whole place to ourselves. The kids really liked that there were rocking chairs just their size, and it was a nice way to end the day, just relaxing and listening to the African music playing in the background. Definitely feeling very “at home” here at AKL, pretty sure it’s going to be my new favorite!

Day 4 – Monday, 24, 2014

Chapter 5. Enough Meltdowns to fill Outer Space

We had originally planned to go to Epcot today, but the weather forcast for Orlando looked dreary, so Titusville and the Space Center seemed a better option. (Well, we had originally planned to do Epcot on Sunday (yesterday), but I was reading too many reports before the trip, of the Flower and Garden stuff being slammed on the weekends by locals) So we were putting Epcot off yet another day.

I had requested a 7am shuttle to the car care center to pick up our rental, hoping we could just leave from there to drive to Titusville. But the kids weren’t ready to get going yet, so I went by myself and told Brian to get them dressed and fed before I got back to pick them up.

The rental process went smoothly, except that on the shuttle I got a call from Lily… She was freaking out because Owen was having another meltdown and Brian was losing his temper with him. So this is how the day was going to start.

Totally unrelated, but I did find it a little odd that, being the only female on the shuttle with 3 other guys, not one of them held the door for me when we got there, but instead pushed past me to beat me into the line. Oh well. So much for chivalry!

By the time I got back, Brian had things under control and they were eating breakfast in the Mara. So much for making it in time for opening at the Space Center though. We also had to check out of our room today. Since I ended up booking the trip as two separate ressies (one DVC rental and one regular room-only) we were going to have to move.

It took longer than I had expected to get our new room assigned, but only because the nice CM at the desk was trying very hard to find us a Savannah view room, even though we hadn’t booked one. She finally succeeded, though apologized because it was so far away. I started to say it was no big deal because were far away before, but then realized that our first room was only about half-way to this one! It was the absolute last room at the end of the last hallway, truly as far from the lobby as possible. But we could tell from the map that it was going to have an awesome view, so Brian was especially excited.

She also gave Lily a purple princess tiara, which she wore for much of the trip after this. I have to say, I actually liked checking in at the desk instead of waiting on the couches and being handed a packet. It just felt like things were more solidified before we walked away. I did online check-in for both ressies, so I’m not sure why it worked differently this time.

We were on the road to Titusville at 8:50am, 10 minutes until they opened, with over an hour drive ahead of us. I forced myself not to stress, we had already bought annual passes and were planning another day or two here in December, so we would simply do what we could today and not worry about it.

On the way there, before falling asleep, Owen suddenly said that his throat hurt. And I about panicked. He is extremely prone to getting strep throat, that’s the last thing we needed on vacation! And the children’s Tylenol, the second bottle I had bought on this this trip, was back at the hotel. Hopefully I wouldn’t have to buy a third by the time the day was done.

And he asked about raccoon, but I told him that maybe he was back in the room. Fortunately he had been too tired the night before to notice he was gone. Not sure how long I would be able to put him off though.

He was seeming okay by the time we got there, but still whiney like he has been for much of the past few weeks. It took a little while to get our vouchers converted to APs, and I was anxious to get on to some of the more popular exhibits before it got too crowded. So far it didn’t seem too bad despite our late start, at least. It was almost 10:30 by the time we got in.

We stopped first to look at some of the rockets in the Rocket Garden. Brian was particularly fascinated by these. And Owen had fun climbing into a few of the capsules and pretending he was flying to space. I was trying to get everyone to move on, when Lily suddenly announced to Owen that we were right next to the playground. I can’t even count how many times in the last few months I have asked her not to offer things to him without asking me first, and I got quite frustrated with her now.

Brian didn’t want to risk another meltdown and decided that we should just let him play for a bit. I know I said I wasn’t going to stress, but I was very displeased that we were doing all the things that wouldn’t get crowded first. Finally we were ready to move on, and headed all the way to the back of the complex to where the space shuttle Atlantis is. This is a fairly new exhibit and it was the one I was most looking forward to.

As we were getting in line, there was an announcement that the first part of the tour was a movie, and that it had loud parts which could frighten young children. I thought we would be okay since it was supposed to be brief, but Brian started talking to Owen about it, and of course he got all worked up. So, when the doors opened, he refused to budge, and threw another screaming fit right there in the line.

This was starting to feel like a nightmare, we weren’t going to be able to do anything! Brian and Lily ended up going ahead while I sat outside with him, still lying on the floor crying. One of the employees offered to take us around the back way so that we could skip the movie, but it was a few minutes before I could even get him calmed down enough to do that.

Once we were inside, he was all smiles again and ran around happily looking at the shuttle and playing inside the model cockpits. We even found a “space station” of tunnels that he could crawl through! Brian and Lily came out from the movie a while later and joined us, though Owen was running all over by that time so we didn’t end up touring together much.

At one point I spotted a big slide and Owen was all excited to do it, but when we got over there he wasn’t tall enough. He was very sad and I felt bad that I hadn’t checked it out first. Lily did it a few times though. I went into the gift shop to buy the picture we had taken, and got each of the kids a small souvenir.

The exhibit is really cool. The space shuttle Atlantis is the main center piece of course, and having been fascinated by the shuttle program as a kid, it was neat to see a real one right there. They also have a shuttle launch simulation ride, which we wanted to do, but would have to use rider swap since Owen wasn’t tall enough.

And this is where the trouble started. Well, started again I should say, since we had already endured 2 meltdowns this morning. They wouldn’t let us bring anything at all into the line, even Owen who wasn’t riding. (Unlike at Disney, their rider swap required everyone to wait in line together) When we went to put our stuff in a locker, Owen freaked out that he had to give up his new space shuttle toy. And we had ANOTHER meltdown. And then Lily got upset too, and at one point we had two kids melting down at the same time.

After about 15 minutes, we thought he was calmed down enough, but he threw another small fit later in the line. And we were starting to think that we just can’t take him anywhere! Brian and Lily rode first. We actually got to watch their ride on screens from an observation room. Owen was a little scared at first, but actually ended up enjoying it. Then we switched and Lily went again with me.

It was a cool simulation, similar to Star Tours at DHS in the way it moved, but of course themed to be a shuttle launch. We had promised Owen more playground time after lunch, since there was a cafe right across from it. It was after noon already so we headed back there.

Chapter 6. Afternoon Explorations, a Good Dinner, and a New “Strategy” for Tomorrow

Lunch was really good! It was an outdoor counter service venue, but definitely more upscale food than you would get from a similar place at Disney. And Owen was surprisingly patient waiting for us to finish so he could go play. (The child eats next to nothing, I don’t really know how he stays alive)

While they played, Brian explored the rocket garden some more, and I took advantage of the down time to solidify our plans for the rest of the week. We had originally planned to go to Epcot today, and do the space center tomorrow, but the weather forecast caused us to flip flop at the last minute. It turns out that there was actually a launch at the space center tomorrow… It would have been cool to see, but at the same time I was kind of glad we were there on a day that wasn’t so packed, so that we could see the exhibits.

Again, Owen surprised us and actually left the playground without too much fuss. We’ll take what progress we can get, lol! He does tend to do better in the afternoon, not a morning person I guess.

We spent the next couple of hours exploring some of the museums. I know we did the Space Exploration museum and the Angry Birds Space Encounter, maybe one  more that I’m forgetting. They were really cool. Lots of neat exhibits and interactive stuff, some of which Owen even enjoyed. He had a few rough moments, but no disasters.

We would have liked to stay longer and do the tour that takes you out to see the launch pad and other buildings, but there just wasn’t time. Brian was a little disappointed to miss so much, but I promised him we would do it in December. The place is much bigger than I expected. I didn’t think one day would be enough, but I thought we would come closer to seeing most of it, we had barely scratched the surface!

Both kids fell asleep on the ride back to Orlando. Hopefully that would help them make it through dinner. We had an ADR at Jiko, it was the one Brian was most looking forward to!  Getting the car returned was easy, and we were back in time to relax for a few minutes before heading to dinner. And enjoy our new view! There were tons of animals outside our balcony – gazelles, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, and a few others I think.

Dinner started off challenging, as had seemed to be the trend so far. Fortunately, once Owen had a fresh cup of milk and some bread to snack on,  he settled down and actually ended up doing quite well. Brian started thinking at this point that maybe he could be bribed with food, specifically candy. And made plans to go shop for some after dinner, lol.

Dinner was very good. Brian said it was his favorite meal of the trip. Our server was excellent too, a big relief after last night. So we were all in good spirits when we left, and Brian did indeed go buy a Pez dispenser to “use” on Owen tomorrow. He does tend to rely on the jelly Cliff Blocks when hiking with Owen, Brian had discovered their magic a few months ago and was wishing he had brought some. But Pez would probably do just as well.

We briefly stopped by the observation patio and hung out in the lobby for a few minutes, just enjoying the music and ambience. Definitely my new favorite resort, it’s going to be hard to stay anywhere else now!

Oh, and I had been asking Owen about his throat all day to the point that he got tired of me bugging him about it. He constantly assured me it was fine, and he didn’t seem to have any other symptoms, so hopefully he had just had a dry throat this morning, and we had dodged a bullet…

Day 5 – Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Chapter 7. Cars are Fine, but Boats are Scary

Since, at the last minute we had decided to go to Epcot today instead of yesterday, we were going to have to get there early. It was amEMH. I hadn’t really wanted to do EMH on this trip but since it was happening, I figured we better be there for it. Especially considering how crowded AK had been.

We had to wait a very long time for a bus, in fact we didn’t even get on the first one that finally came because there were so many people waiting and it was already half full from having stopped at Kidani first. Not sure who dropped the ball in the transportation department that morning, but it seemed pretty ridiculous. Again, I wish we had a car.

We made it well before 8am, but were obviously not the only ones to have this idea. The line was already snaked through several switchbacks and we couldn’t even see the gates from where we were. Since we weren’t going to be in the front anyway I wasn’t in as much of a hurry, we’d probably only have time to ride one thing before regular opening regardless. So we stopped for a picture in front of Spaceship Earth, and rented a stroller.

Oh, and I think I forgot to mention, but after our ill-fated morning entry at AK, my magic band had been working fine. They didn’t seem to think they had fixed it at the time, but I never had to use the card they gave me.

We headed on over to Test Track, and Owen got measured. I was a little nervous before the trip since he was close, but he easily made the 40-inch mark. So far, he wasn’t even seeming nervous, but we had just told him it was a “fast car ride”, and he does like fast cars, lol! The posted wait time was 5 minutes, though it took us closer to 15. But I don’t think we’ve ever done the standby queue, so it was neat to see the exhibits in it.

While we were in the car design room, Owen suddenly had to go potty! I could tell earlier that he needed to go, but of course he wouldn’t. But now he had that look of desperation and was bouncing like crazy, there was no way he would make it though the ride. There was also no easy way we could get to a potty now and still keep our place in line. So… Desperate times call for desperate measures! I did have a couple of emergency diapers in the bag, so yes, I pulled down his pants and whipped a diaper on him right there in the design room. I had his bare butt covered in under a second, and no one seemed to mind or even notice. And he immediately “relieved” himself.

I was worried that as we were boarding he would get nervous and refuse to get on, but he climbed in without any hesitation. He did get a little uneasy after we started moving and were coming up to the seat belt check. He suddenly grabbed me and asked “How long does this take to be done?”, which is his code for “I don’t like this and don’t want to be here right now.” But I just reassured him and he seemed okay. He looked a little tense through the dark parts, but pointed at things and was fascinated at times too. And he really loved the part outside where we got to go fast! So glad he enjoyed his first thrill ride, and since coming home he has talked about it non-stop. And constantly asks to listen to the soundtrack, lol!

After the ride, they wanted to play around in the part with the cars. I was hoping to go get in line for Character Spot before regular RDers were let in, but we would have needed to head there right away, and Lily chastised me for always rushing them through. So we stayed.

By the time we got to Character Spot, there was a 25 minute wait, but we hadn’t met Mickey or Minnie at AK so I didn’t want to risk missing them here too. And I casually mentioned to Lily when she complained, that it would have been a shorter wait had we not stayed so long at TT, which she wanted to do.

The time passed pretty easily, and we had great character interactions as always. Since we had to get there so early, there hadn’t been time for breakfast at the hotel. We had made do on snacks and coffee, but I had promised a real breakfast once we were here. So we went over to the Land pavilion. Our FP for Soarin was much later this afternoon, and I hadn’t been able to get anything earlier despite trying several times. But we could eat breakfast and do the boat ride.

Oh yeah, the “boat ride”. We really shouldn’t have used the same terminology for Living with the Land as we had used for Kali. Because apparently now he was traumatized to all “boat rides”. He was seeming a bit braver after breakfast, and agreed to go through the line and have a look, but as we were to board, he freaked out and planted himself firmly on the ground, screaming “NO, NO, NO!!” He was convinced he was going to get wet again, and no amount of promising could sway him.

We gave him a few minutes, but he was resolute, he was NOT getting on a boat. So Brian and Lily finally went ahead, and we waited at the exit for him. I tried to explain to him during this time that he was going to miss out on all the fun stuff if he was scared of everything, but I could tell it was falling on deaf ears.

It was time to head to Spaceship Earth, we had FPs and since Owen was refusing to ride, we needed to have time to get through twice during our window. Lily decided to go with Owen and Brian to the interactive stuff at the end of the ride while I rode, since she didn’t want to do it twice. I had never needed a FP for this one before, but the standby wait was 30 minutes. Spring Break indeed. But I don’t feel like I’ve been to Epcot until I ride Spaceship Earth, it’s been one of my favorites ever since I was a kid. And we’ve been listening to the soundtrack from the all the rides for several weeks, it almost caught me off guard that I now recognized the music so well, like I had forgotten what I was listening to at home, lol!

After we switched, I took Owen over to the Radiator Springs playground. If there was one thing here I knew he would like, it was a playground, lol! He had really enjoyed this one last year, and I was glad to see that they brought it back for this years F&G Festival.

Once Brian and Lily met up with us, they wanted to know if it was time to go “eat around the world”. Lunching at the F&G snack kiosks was one of Brian’s favorite parts of our trip last year, and he was anxious to repeat it.

We headed toward Mexico, but Lily spotted the Duffy store and really wanted to go in. So she quickly picked out two new outfits for Duffy, who had come along with us today, of course. And then just outside, Duffy was doing his m&g, so we jumped in line. I felt bad that I had promised Brian lunch then let us get derailed, but he was being very patient, and was even a little glad we waited because during this time the sun finally came out, and for some reason he thought that made for much better eating conditions.

Meeting Duffy was fun. While in line, Lily put hers into his new Sulley costume, and big Duffy got all excited, starting jumping around and pretending to be a monster, even the handlers were laughing at him. And then as we were leaving, he grabbed stuffed Duffy from Lily and rocked him to sleep. It was very cute. Now time for lunch!

Chapter 8. Lunch (and Dinner) Around the World, and Will We Fly??

Our first stop was Mexico. Lily and I shared a cheese quesadilla-like thing, and I think Owen ate a bite of it. It was about all he ate the rest of the day (as I said, I don’t know how he doesn’t just wither away). Well, except for Pez candy. So far Brian’s bribery was working pretty well. Other than the boat incident, he had managed to keep it together all morning, thanks to some well timed Pez dispensing.

In Norway, we didn’t see a F&G food stand, but Lily had picked up one of the Phineas & Ferb mission phones so we started it here. I’m glad we finally got to do one, but doubt we’ll do another. The whole thing is pretty time consuming and tedious, made more so by the fact that the area was shoulder-to-shoulder people. Trying to maneuver back and forth through the crowds got tiresome. But we finished it, anyway. And though we weren’t willing to wait in the 4-hour line to meet Elsa and Anna, we did catch a glimpse of them through the doorway while we were working on the mission.

It was somewhere in the middle of all this that Owen fell out of his stroller. I know, we should have buckled him in, but he really didn’t want to, and assured us he wouldn’t try to get out while we were moving. But I think he started falling asleep and toppled right out. He scraped up his finger pretty good, and would complain about it off and on for the rest of the day 🙁 Poor kid.

We continued on around the world showcase, stopping in every country that had a special F&G kiosk set up. I can’t remember everything we ate, but the manicotti in Italy was especially good. We were somewhere around on the other side when Brian decided that he was full, we would have to pick up where we left off later, for dinner. Lily was really wanting to ride something, so he took her back to Maelstrom, while Owen and I sought out a playground. It turned out that there was one very close to us, but I didn’t see it and we ended up at the Monsters Inc playground at the entrance to WS.

He had fun running and playing here, but after a while decided that he wanted to go back to Radiator Springs. We were headed there when he spotted the Butterfly Pavilion, and we made a brief stop. He tried to catch some butterflies, but every time one would get close, he would panic a little so that instead of landing nicely on his finger, they just sort of crashed into him. But he laughed about it.

Instead of going to Radiator Springs afterwards, we ended up at the Imagination Pavilion. He chased the jumping water in the fountains, and played on some of the activities inside. He also bought his Epcot souvenir, a small train with Mickey Mouse in it.  Would not even consider the ride though. I was having my doubts that we were going to get him onto Soarin later…

Brian and Lily met up with us here, and Brian took Owen while Lily and I did the Figment ride. It had nearly a 30 minute wait, still wondering if spring break was a wise choice! But I can’t “imagine” coming to Epcot and not seeing my favorite purple dragon.  The guys ended up going to the playground all the way over in the Seas.

It was finally time to fly!! We met back up outside the Land, and Owen assured us that he wanted to ride. He seemed a little hesitant a couple of times going through the queue (the FP wait wasn’t bad, maybe 10 minutes to the loading area) We kept presenting it as a “flight”, and talked about going through the “airport” to find our plane. Those were words he knew, and experiences he was comfortable with. Goodness knows he’s flown on enough airplanes in his short life, lol!

So he was mostly fine, and excited to ride. Right up until the point where he was sitting, strapped into his seat. And then he started crying, wanting off. I was afraid we were in for another total meltdown, but at least he stuck to moderately quiet sobs instead of screams. And I was the mean mom who wouldn’t let him get off.

He was still whimpering a little when we left the ground (we ended up in the top row, of course, couldn’t possibly make things a little easier for his first ride, could we??) But once the first scenes came on, he relaxed a little, and within a few seconds he was smiling and pointing at things! I was so relieved. He even did okay with the fireworks at the end, maybe we’d be able to watch Illuminations tonight! He said his favorite part was when you are up in the sky with the hang glider. He was really glad he did it and I was glad I didn’t let him back out at the last minute. It’s still my favorite ride here, and it was fun to get to do something as a whole family, after having spent much of the day split up. I am really looking forward to the day when he can (and WILL) ride everything, so we can all do more together.

After that, we headed back to the Seas and explored the tanks. Owen wouldn’t do the ride, and no one else cared that much so we didn’t bother splitting up for it. (So the only things he rode all day were Test Track and Soarin’, the most intense rides that he’s tall enough for, but everything else was too scary, go figure) There was a group scuba diving in one of the big tanks, and it was fun watching them.

We were getting hungry by now so we set off again for the world showcase, starting from the Canada side this time. We did all the ones we didn’t get to earlier, then repeated a few of our favorites from lunch (for me it was definitely the manicotti) I had hoped to see some of the movies, specifically France, but no one else felt like stopping, and we really didn’t have time anyway. Oh well. Maybe one day. It’s on my list every trip and we never make it.

We went all the way back around, and by the time we were done it was almost time for our Mission Space FPs. Oh, and I think Owen fell asleep in the stroller at some point. Never did eat anything during the whole trip around, for sure.

We stopped to watch the Future World fountains doing their show on the way, Brian loves that and was sad last trip that in all our days at Epcot, we never once caught the fountains while they were performing to music. So I’m glad we saw it tonight.

Owen had been getting increasingly grumpy throughout the afternoon, and was a mess by the time we got to Mission Space. I could tell he really needed to go potty (for more than just pee, sorry if tmi, lol!)  but was fighting it hard. I left Brian and Lily there to wait for the FP time since it was only a few minutes away, and after a few rough minutes in the bathroom, Owen came out a different kid, happy and ready to play.

He had loved the space playground last year, and this year was no different. As soon as he saw it he started yelling “YES, YES, that’s where I wanted to go!!” It was cute. He immediately disappeared into the tunnels and I hardly even saw him before Brian and Lily came back. I left Brian with the task of finding and retrieving him, and we headed to the queue again.

Brian had never done this one before, and had always worried it would make him sick, but in the few seconds I had to talk to him in between our rides, he seemed to say that he really liked it. Since Owen and I were gone to the rr when they rode, we hadn’t gotten a riders swap. So Lily just had to use Owen’s band. It was the first time our names showed up on a screen when we scanned it and the CM gave us a quizzical look when Owen’s name came up on hers, but she didn’t care enough to question us.

I actually got a little nervous right before it started, remembering how intense it had been last year. Hadn’t I said then that one ride was probably enough? What was I doing here again, then?? It was fun though, and knowing what to expect made it a little less terrifying.

We set off to find the guys, who had been tasked with staking out a spot for Illuminations. Fortunately they hadn’t gone far and were up against the lake in Mexico. It was only about 15 minutes to show time by the time we got there. I suddenly remembered that Owen had eaten practically nothing all day, and became convinced that he would do better during the fireworks if he had food and milk. So I raced over to the CS place in Mexico to pick up something for him. They were being really slow though and I barely made it back in time. And of course he only ate a bite or two anyway.

In preparation for tonight, I had ordered him a special pair of sound blocking earmuffs. I was hoping it would make the fireworks more tolerable. We would see anyway. Our summer vacation this year is to DC, and one of our main goals is to watch the Capitol Fourth fireworks. We were very curious to see if this was a reasonable plan. Last year, even hearing the fireworks from outside the park always sent him into a screaming frenzy.

Finally the show started. As the first firework lit up the sky, Owen dove head-down into his stroller and went into turtle shell position under his blanket. He stayed like that for the whole first part of the show. Once it entered the firework-free middle part (and I suddenly remember the timing that we had memorized last year, lol) we got him to come out and watch. He was fascinated with the earth ball that floats around the lake. But as soon as the fireworks started again, he was back under his blanket. So we made it through with no screaming banshee, though he did seem a little shaken afterwards. Maybe he can at least tolerate the fireworks this summer, though I doubt he will enjoy them.

We were really glad to get to see the show though. I didn’t get to see it at all last year because of Owen, and the trip before was when it stormed so hard through the whole show that I had to seek shelter in a nearby building partway through. So I hadn’t seen the whole thing since 2008. I had forgotten that they still use some of the Millennium Celebration music in it, we listen to that soundtrack at home sometimes and it was fun to hear some familiar favorites in the show.

Getting out would take patience, no surprise. I was glad to finally get to spend some time in the park after dark though, that was one thing I really missed last year. And we had made it -13 hours nonstop! It took a couple of bus loads to get us back, I forced myself to not stress about it since we could sleep in as late as we wanted.

Oh, and I have to add the funny story that happened as we were walking back to our room. There were several room service trays (with used dishes) sitting outside rooms. (Remember we had a REALLY long walk) For some reason they all seemed to have uneaten grapes on them and Brian thought they looked good. Finally, on about the 4th one we passed, he looked around to make sure no one was watching, and reached down and ate one! We all just about died laughing. And then the next morning, Owen kept offering him uneaten breakfast food off all the ones we passed.

All in all, a really good day! Owen had no major meltdowns, thanks to the Pez Strategy. And we had gotten him on two new rides, both of which he enjoyed. We still didn’t get to spend anytime in Innoventions, and the only stuff we did in the WS was food related. Brian was a little bummed again as he started rattling off other things we hadn’t gotten to, and I had to remind him that one day simply isn’t enough to do it all, even if it’s a really full day!

Day 6 – Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Chapter 9. Sad Goodbyes, and a Sick Boy?

We still didn’t sleep in as long as I was hoping, around 7am I think. Owen was the last to wake up, and I knew right away that we had a problem. He was extremely fussy, and I was pretty sure he had a fever. I gave him some Tylenol, glad I spent $18 on it at the airport after all.

We were planning to go down to the Mara for breakfast, but walked past Boma on the way and thought about doing that instead. But with Owen not feeling well, we stuck to our original plan. Until we got there, and the line to order hot food was backed up almost to the door! Back to Boma it was, since they weren’t busy at all. I was secretly a little glad, since I LOVE their breakfast.

Owen perked up a little, and even ended up eating a decent meal for once. Maybe he just needed some food, since he hadn’t eaten hardly anything yesterday. Breakfast was good, and I’m glad we got to eat here one more time.

After breakfast, we had a frustrating problem to solve. Brian was flying home today, and supposed to be taking ME back to the airport. But we hadn’t gotten any paperwork with his bus assignment. It ended up taking almost 45 minutes to sort it out at the front desk.

Turns out that United had changed his flight number at some point, so ME couldn’t figure out when his flight was leaving, and hadn’t put him on a bus yet. Fail on United for not notifying him of the change, and fail on ME for not contacting us to sort it out ahead of time. Oh well. The kids had been surprisingly patient hanging out in the lobby while we got passed from one desk and CM to another.

By the time we got back to the room, Owen was seeming totally fine and I hoped that the morning sickies had just been a fluke. We watched animals from the balcony for a few minutes (definitely going to have to pay for the upgrade next time, lol!) then got changed to go swimming. It was actually quite cool this morning, so we were mostly planning to hit the hot tub.

Owen likes the hot tub, but mostly treats it like a pool, constantly wanting to jump, swim and splash! Fortunately for most of the time we had it all to ourselves. Even though it was cool, the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. Still love the atmosphere at the pool here, a lot more than at YC/BC.

Eventually, Brian and Lily wanted to go to the pool. I thought it was too cold, and so did Owen after trying to get in. We watched the two of them race a couple of times, Lily easily beating her dad each time.

So Owen came back to the room with me while they swam, and I set about the task of packing. It shouldn’t have been hard, since we had only been in this room for two nights and I hadn’t really “unpacked” at all, but somehow everything was still a mess. Plus I had to make sure that all of Brian’s stuff was kept separate so that it could go home with him. I had managed to get us an extra hour until check out, and we needed every minute of it!

By the time they got back from the pool and dressed, we had to head down for Brian to catch his bus. He was very sad to be leaving.  This is the first time that he’s come on one of our mini-trips, and I think he had fallen into the mode of full-week vacation, only to have it cut short. It didn’t help that Owen was in a sour mood again, and giving Brian a hard time at every turn. We had a few minutes to spare, so we took a short walk outside to look for animals on the Savannah. We found some giraffes and a few others, I think.

We waited outside with him until the ME bus came. They hadn’t been able to print anything for him earlier that morning, but wrote down a confirmation number and said that would be enough. It wasn’t, at least not according to the bus driver, who was extremely annoyed with us for not “being prepared”. I was quite irritated at how rude he was being! It hadn’t been our fault that everything was messed up. He finally let Brian on, but only after lecturing us on “how to do it right next time”. Whatever, shake it off, I thought.

We waved to him as the bus pulled away, until it disappeared around the corner. Then headed back into the lobby, all feeling a little sad.

Chapter 10. Grandparents arrive, and a Sick Boy.

My parents were on their way, in fact would be there in just a few minutes. I had originally planned to meet then at AoA, but since the timing worked out, I texted them to just come get us at AKL. That way we could bring our luggage instead of having it transferred. We shopped in Zawadi’s until they got there. All the necessary grandparent hugs were had, and before long we were loaded up into their truck, leaving AKL for good.

We checked in at AoA. Unfortunately, my one request had been “close to parking” since my mom doesn’t handle walking very well, but they didn’t have any close rooms ready right now, and with Owen starting to act sick again, I agreed to a room in the farther of the two Lion King buildings that we could have right away.

I thought the check in here was awkward. They were trying to pull off the same thing as at AKL by having us wait on a bench and bring our packet out, but unlike the lobby at AKL, there wasn’t a lot of seating or room, so we were just kind of standing out in the middle of the walkway talking to the CM, with people bumping into us and even cutting between us the whole time. Honestly I would have rather just been up at the counter, not sure why they seemed hesitant to use it.

The lobby was fun and colorful, but I had a feeling already that I had set this place up for failure by coming directly from AKL. It wasn’t going to compare. We finally got all of our stuff to our room after a couple of trips. And thankfully, Racoon magically “reappeared”, thanks to a quick stop my parents made at Bass Pro on their way. He had asked about him a couple of times, but fortunately always when we weren’t in the room, so I just suggested he was probably there. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right?? Although I’ll admit that I was having some unsettling Lotso images going through my head.

The Lion King stuff was cute, and while the resort didn’t do a lot for me, I’m glad we got to see it once. I just wish Owen had been more up for enjoying it, because he would have liked it the most.

Speaking of Owen, he had taken a downhill turn again, and I started to wonder if we had a real issue on our hands. I was hoping food would help, like it did this morning,  so we headed to Landscape of Flavors for a late lunch.

I had read a lot of bad reviews of the place, mostly due to the layout and service. Sadly, I had to agree. It was downright awkward to get around, and it took forever to get food anywhere! The CMs seemed totally unorganized, like they didn’t even know what to do most of the time. Plus the dining area was under some construction, making it very difficult to navigate. But we got our food eventually, though I couldn’t get Owen to eat much.

After lunch I took the kids over to the Nemo playground, they weren’t that crazy about it though. Owen was having some “potty issues” at the time, which didn’t help. (Flashback to evening in Epcot, but couldn’t ever get a breakthrough potty trip this time) so we wandered back to the room. Which, by the way, was cute. Lots of brightly colored Lion King stuff, and while it still felt cramped with 5 of us in there, I could see the appeal of the extra sleeping area if it were just the 4 of us.

The kids played in the room and visited with their grandparents for maybe an hour or more, then we headed back to Animation Hall. Lily wanted to do the drawing class at 5pm. We ended up being the only ones there. The artist doing the class seemed a little shy, like he wasn’t totally comfortable with talking in front of a group, but still did a decent job of guiding Lily through drawing a pretty good Donald Duck. Owen made one too, with some help from me.

While they were drawing, I used my phone to explore our options for urgent medical care. Owen was going downhill by the minute, even the last dose of Tylenol hadn’t totally brought his temp down. He still felt warm, and was now complaining that his throat hurt. He’s already had strep throat three times in the last year. Sigh.

After finding a clinic not too far away, that had appointment available that evening, I started second guessing myself. Maybe we should just wait and see, had we been at home that’s probably what I would have done. But Lily and I were planning to take off to DHS early in the morning and leave Owen with my parents. We couldn’t do that if he woke up extremely sick. And if it was strep, I knew he would.

I also knew I had to make a decision. I watched him hard for a couple of minutes. Then I closed my eyes for about 10 seconds, and I knew. I had known when he woke up that morning, maybe I had even known the first time he complained about his throat in the way to the space center. I just hadn’t wanted to admit it. He was sick. And there was no point in putting off getting him help.

So I made the appointment, and told my dad. We didn’t need to leave for his appointment quite yet, so we wandered around in the gift shop. I bought Owen a plastic shovel, and told Lily she could pick something out while we were gone, and charge it to the room. (Not surprisingly, she had no interest in going to the Dr with us)

We found the clinic, it was about 15 minutes away. We had a very long wait after we checked in though, and Owen fell asleep in my dad’s lap. At least he was getting some rest. This really wasn’t so bad. Lily stayed in touch by texting me (my mom had stayed back as well), and she seemed to be doing just fine. It gave my dad and me a chance to chat and catch up. At least we were taking care of this on a night when we hadn’t made any other plans.

Once we were finally brought back, it didn’t take the Dr any time at all to diagnose him. Strep throat. Sigh, sigh, sigh. Not like it was any surprise. His Dr at home was surely going to be after his tonsils now. He gave us a script for some antibiotics and we were on our way. Unfortunately, it took a painfully long time to get the script filled at Walgreens (there was only one person working in the pharmacy, and there was a constant stream of customers) We we finally headed back to the resort around 8:30pm, having been gone nearly 3 hours.

We ate a quick dinner at LoF, which would not have been my choice, but given the hour and Owen’s state, nothing else seemed practical. He wouldn’t eat, and spent most of the meal on my shoulder. We got him settled into bed, hoping to goodness that the first dose of antibiotics would be enough to make him babysit-able by morning. Because Lily and I had an author to meet at DHS!

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