At this point, we are starting to drag. It’s been 3 nights of bedtime for the kids after 9:30/10 pm and this night was going to be even worse. Why? We headed to Magic Kingdom and the fireworks show wasn’t until 10pm! Yawn……..
I was pleasantly surprised when we made it out the condo front door by 8:15 and we were parked, ready to get into the park (along with the masses of other people) by 8:45! We even happened to catch the opening of the park and the train as it brought the characters to Main Street.
You know, before I go any farther, I have to say that Disney, although coined ‘The Happiest Place on earth’, certainly presents a unique set of challenges. For one, the vision itself of taking our family there and enjoying the magic and allure of it all that ‘Disney’ is, it’s what fuels getting us there. In order to get in the gate, we first have to pay an arm AND a leg for each family member first. And that right there sets the stage for the push and pull we, as parents, feel constantly while there. Since it did cost so much to get there, we sure want to enjoy it, and therefore, the line is drawn in the sand. The ultimatum is given to the kids ‘STOP complaining! We are at Disneyworld! Let’s enjoy this! ‘Well, that unleashes the alter ego of each of our children. The ones that whine and can’t seem to find the energy to walk from one ride to the next, the ones that NEED to eat and seem to think only a Disney churro will hit the spot, the ones that seem to like the answer NO because they insist on continually, and at a rapid rate, asking questions that only result in the answer NO! So then they get whiny all over again. I tell you, Disney brings out serious love/hate feelings. Thankfully, I think we all loved it more than hated it……darn well better have!
I can say that we got really lucky today. The lines were very manageable and we used our fast passes wisely. We were able to skip any character visiting since we had done a whole lot of that in November 09-very nice to not have to worry about tracking them all down! The kids got to ride all the rides they wanted and some more than once, like I said, very lucky! The favorites of the day? Crazy driving at the Autopia ride
We all rode Space Mountain, Bill included!
We thought about leaving the kids with Zurg, but they were small enough to escape their confines! Darn….see what I mean….such unique challenges!
Thunder Mountain was very fun-
Super high on the priority list? Pin trading!! We bought a big pin lot off eBay before we left on the trip and they each had so many to trade. They had a blast running up and asking to see cast members pins and I have to say, they were nearly 100% of the time very polite and said please and thank you. From the reactions they got back, I gather the employees don’t hear those words all that often.
The last event of the day....fireworks!
The end of the day-well now, that’s the time of day when parents get to let their alter egos out. When it’s 10:30 pm and there are thousands of people pouring out of the park, parents, especially me, get a little ticked off to see a ginormous long line in front of them just to get on the monorail to get to the parking lot. We are all in the same boat at that point, dragging exhausted, tired, sleepy little people to where we need to be in order to get home. Moms carting babies and toddlers with sticky finger and sweaty heads-it’s all part of the Disney experience. That part does make me smile…..and our smallest little people? Asleep in their strollers with Dad and brother pushing.
or in the van 5 minutes later
***a note to Heather** if it makes you feel any better, we lost 2 kids today. Eric got left behind at City Hall and only when we were a block down the road did one of his brother's ask 'where's Eric?' Isn't that nice? It wasn't even ME that wondered...jeez! Jacob got away from us when he went one direction thinking we were following but we went the other direction. We triangulated and found him but it took what seemed like an eternity! The next 4 days we repeated 'where's Eric' about 300 times........
2 comments:
Cari, I absolutely love every part of this blog entry...from the truth of the love/hate and happiest/most frustrating place on earth to each and every picture!! The one of the fireworks and the castle is beautiful, btw... frameworthy, even!! I so admire y'all (with quite a bit of jealousy, too!) for taking your children on the trip of a lifetime! I know that in the years to come, they'll look back on all these amazing adventures you and Bill have taken them on, and they will be so incredibly grateful. Not to mention the myriads of memories and stories that will fill the pages of memory books that you will treasure forever. Praying for continued safe travels for y'all, and looking forward to seeing you soon!
Thank you! That makes me feel MUCH better. I'm glad you found everyone and are having so much fun. I'm not envying the heat and humidity but I do envy the destinations.
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