Chapter Seven: Morning Has Broken
Outside the open window
The morning air is all awash with angels.
- RICHARD WILBER
Sigh! Is there any sweeter time of the vacation than the moment when you first wake up and realize that you are in Disney?
No work today…just play, play, and more play! I always liken it to the first day of summer vacation when I was a kid…pure, hedonistic joy!
I could hear Billy in the living room and he was giggling. He always does this first thing in the morning. I say it’s because he has a sunny personality; Ed says it’s because he’s laughing at himself passing gas. “It’s a boy thing,” he assures me with a grin. I called for him to come to me and his feet were thumping across the floor before I could say, “Mickey Mouse!” He opened the door and bounded across the room and into the huge bed, where he snuggled in and began to sniff my hair with great satisfaction and then climbed over me to get to Ed.
“Good morning, Billy,” Ed told him.
“Good morning to Daddy,” he replied, followed by a long series of chuckles.
Whew!
Ed was right… he was passing gas! I sent him into the bathroom, threw on a cover-up, and went into the living room to fold up his bed and straighten the pillows. Ed left to go for a run, so I made our bed, too. Then I went back out to the living room again and knocked gently on the door to the adjoining studio. The room was dark and both Tricia and Aunt Rae were sleeping. AR woke as soon as I padded across the floor to Tricia and shook her gently.
“How did you sleep, Aunt Rae?” I asked.
“I didn’t. I was just lying here with my eyes closed.”
Hmmm. Time check:
6:50.
I returned to the living room and paused a moment before opening the blackout drapes for a first glimpse at our view. I took a deep breath and opened them quickly. The concrete patio was quite small, especially compared to our “verandah” last year at OKW, but like OKW, the entire area was peaceful and quiet. I snapped a couple of pix, then turned my attention to getting us ready for a day at the park.
Our view looking straight ahead...
Our view looking toward the main Lodge...
One of our three little patios...
I helped Billy with his shower first and got him started with getting dressed. After showering and dressing myself, I wrapped my hair in a towel and went to check on Tricia. She must have lollygagged in bed for a while, because she was still in the shower. Aunt Rae was still in her pajamas and robe and was laying out her clothes meticulously on the bed. She showers in the evenings, so I wasn’t too worried about her….at first.
One of the things I love best about staying in the villas is that we don’t have to go to the food court and deal with long lines and crowded seating for breakfast. We had our kitchen nicely stocked with hot and cold cereals, bananas, raisins, milk, O.J., coffee, tea, and even hot chocolate. AR brought some of her gluten-free bread so she could make toast, but she had become disillusioned with her diet as of late, and had already announced gleefully that she would be “cheating” while on vacation.
Ed had returned and he went in for his shower. Billy was already dressed and ready to go. He turned on the TV and asked for “Ten Sees”, aka the Stacey show. Then he asked for the breakfast of champions…or at least, the only thing that he eats for breakfast nowadays…a bowl of dry Cheerios and a glass of water. He roamed around the living room while he grazed on the cereal and I lost count of the number of times we asked him to please sit down and stop dropping Cheerios all over the carpet!
I think he was just too revved up to sit still.
I was a bit revved myself, and still trying to get myself oriented to where I had put everything when I had unpacked the night before. I dried my hair, threw on a bit of makeup, and swung back over to the studio to check on the “girls’, picking up any Cheerios I found along the way. Tricia was dressed and she came out to the kitchen area and fixed herself a bowl of cereal. She began to eat it at the breakfast bar, her nose in her latest book. While I had been drying my hair, AR had set the table for a full meal and was now puttering around with the coffee maker. Suddenly, she began clucking and fussing because she had inadvertently poured the water into the wrong place and it was draining out the bottom while she held the pot. “Oh! Oh! Oh!” she exclaimed, “Oh, I’ve made such a mess!”
Relax, Aunt Rae, it’s only water!
But, she continued to get flustered. I showed her where to pour the water and she made it successfully this time. Then she disappeared into the other room, I assumed, to get dressed. Time check:
7:40.
Ed came in and I poured tea for the two of us and we started eating our cereal, talking all the while about his new running route around Fort Wilderness and our plans for Animal Kingdom that morning. We finished our breakfast and I loaded the dishwasher. Then AR emerged again, still in her pajamas and slippers, and sat down to
begin eating her breakfast. Oh boy. Time check:
8:05.
The rest of us brushed our teeth.
Tricia dried her hair.
Ed and I packed our park bags.
Billy bounced around like Tigger and his stimming got louder and louder.
And Aunt Rae sipped her coffee.
I tapped my foot. I cleared my throat. I checked my watch. I said (to no one in particular), “We really need to get going, soon!”
Aunt Rae got up and disappeared into her room again.
We passed the time with some locals who came to call...
I had to close the patio door, or else this one would have come right into the living room!
Hmmm. I wonder if all the Cheerios on the floor had anything to do with that...
Tricia went in to get her lanyard and pins. “Is Aunt Rae almost ready?” I whispered hopefully. “She’s still brushing her teeth,” Tricia replied, rolling her eyes. “And she’s still in her pajamas!”
I groaned. Time check:
8:35. There goes all hope for #1 on my list: “Arrive at park opening.”
"Kathy... ," Ed began.
"I know, I know." A few deep breathing exercises and I felt a little better.
Finally, AR was dressed! She carefully placed her lanyard of pins over her head and I helped her to adjust it under the collar of her jacket. Ed fetched a bottle of water for her from the fridge. She draped her new baggallini across her shoulder and we were off!
We got about ten paces down the corridor when we heard her cry out, “Oh, I forgot to change my shoes!!” We all looked at her feet. Sure enough, just like she had done time and time again last year, she was walking out the door in her bedroom slippers. She went back to change and her key card wouldn’t open the door.
Oh “angels of the morning air”, won’t you lend us your wings?
Kathy
I’d much rather look at trees than trash receptacles! And although I had requested an upper floor, I was content with our assignment. Our position on the east side meant no foot traffic passing by our French doors, so lack of privacy would not be a concern. It would be a shame to have to keep the curtains drawn all the time.
I had reinforced all the edges with packing tape, but that didn’t seem to be able to prevent a goodly amount of crush damage. Luckily, there was nothing breakable in there! The mangled box, however, was too heavy for Ed to carry, so we left it at the desk for the bellman to transport with our regular luggage.
A large Mickey Mouse topiary pointed the way to a log-hewn covered walkway lit by mission-style lanterns, which appeared to flicker gently in the night air. A Disney Vacation Club sign welcomed us “home” as another set of automatic doors opened and revealed an intimate, yet still impressive, lobby area. 
The first order of business was to turn the thermostat down to 68*. Whew! We turned on the lights and I followed the others around as they cruised through the villa checking out all the amenities and getting oriented to the place. Billy chose to get oriented to the couch in the living room. He took off his sneakers, then his socks, and plopped down like a sack of potatoes. Tricia and AR took off to examine their room and Ed and I perused the Master bedroom. Ed began to stretch out on the bed.
An extra hour of sleep…. what a great feeling! Nighty-night!!
with me....I'm such a bad Diser friend lately. I can't believe I missed the FINAL countdown and the departure and then the return.....
$$$$$
Do a sense a follow-up issue or issues coming....
: I thought they were usually laid out like your room (pullout couch/queen bed).
. She is adorable.
, what a pain, at least you had that extra hour 
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If you want to read more about our ressie-making, it's in the PTR in the first couple of posts! 
more in the next post!
