The alarm goes off at 5:15 AM...today is the BIG day!!! We need to be ready to go by 6:30. To be honest with you, I didn't sleep a lot. The anticipation was overwhelming, and the fear of oversleeping consuming!
Everyone was pretty tired this morning, but no problems with getting up and moving. Joey arrived and we met everyone else on the monorail platform. Ashley was all ready in her "Lucky" T-shirt because she said she was a very lucky girl. We all needed wired with mics for the big morning and our interview with GMA. We met our photographer and the videographer and waited for our time. When it was time, we boarded the monorail (in the front...That was really cool!
) and headed off for the MK. It was such a beautiful morning with the sun rising as we rode to the park.
We get there and meet a few more Disney folks, some we've met and others we haven't. I was really glad to get to meet the guy who gave me that wonderful phone call to tell us that we won!
They remind us that they won't be going with us...that this moment is just for us!
OK...this is really happening!
You know as we walked into the park, it was just so amazing! The park was quiet and still. As we walked in, there was no one in sight! Soft music was barely audible and you didn't want to do or say anything to spoil the silence. It was just so beautiful! As we get a little farther in, for the first time we noticed just how visible the carousel was through the castle. Not that we had never noticed that it was there, but when thousands of people are running through trying to get to Dumbo first, you lose that full effect!
As we find our way walking down the red carpet, we were looking in all the shops and just noticing little details, that we just tend to overlook. Disney is tops because it pays attention to detail and I think sometimes we miss the beauty of it.
I will tell you, we looked in every shop window and there was nothing to be seen!
Disney is also the master of disguise!
We reach the center of Main St. and we turn around to face the station for that castle shot and at the moment, the enormity of it all hit me! There standing on the Main St. station platform was more cameras then I could possibly imagine would ever be there for me!
I wanted that moment to be etched in all of our minds forever! This was the most incredible moment. I remember being so thankful that my children were old enough to remember this! That they would be able to comprehend the magic of this memory was a blessing.
As we are waving, the buglers appear on the tops of the buildings. You hear that royal announcement bugle call and it was breathtaking! The music begins to get louder and then we hear, "Tammy, Ray, Derick and Ashley! Welcome to YOUR Magic Kingdom!"
Are you kidding me? Our names were being announced over the sound system at Disney World welcoming us personally? This was just too much!
Of course, all that dissolved into a burst of "Be Our Guest" along with an explosion of characters and CMs flooding the streets to welcome us "Disney-style"
A moment to remember? Unbelievable!!!
Overwhelming? Yes!!!
Fabulous? Of course!!!
Once in a lifetime? Definitely!!!
I think Disney pulled off the surprise of a lifetime for us! I still don't know where all those people were, but they were not visible or audible and we were standing right in the middle of it! It was amazing!