Now, on to how everything is going.
I stepped on the scale Friday morning to see my pre-Disney weight, with the hope that the scale wouldn't be too much different by the time I came home. Much to my surprise, I was down another 1.5 pounds, bringing my total loss to 50.5 pounds! and my WISH loss to 32 pounds! That was just the boost I needed to maintain my commitment to this effort through the weekend. And, when I stepped on the scale this morning, I was thrilled to find I didn't gain at WDW. In fact, the scale was down a tad, though tomorrow is my regular WI day, and I'll see how I did this week overall.
Now for the trip--
All I can say is WOW! We had the most awesome time. We packed soooo much in those 49 hours at the WDW resort. Here is some of what we did:
checked in after 3 on Friday, and after changing rooms to have a wheelchair accessible room, we changed into bathing suits and cover ups. I gave Judy a short tour of the Beach Club resort and Stormalong Bay, and we headed to Beaches and Cream for dinner. After dinner, we went to the hot tub for a while. Then, back to the room for showers and cute, corny matching tee shirts for Pleasure Island
We took the wheelchair and took a bus from BC to Disney Marketplace, where we shopped for a short while. Then we walked along the waterfront where there was a great kids dockfront concert and made our way to Pleasure Island. We were pleasantly surprised to find that with my Premium Annual Pass, I got a complimentary guest pass, so Judy didn't have to pay to get in. We made our way to Adventurers' Club, where we proceeded to drink our way through 5 "shows" and had the most awesome time. What a great club! The actors are terrific and the theming there is so unique and fun!
When we finally dragged ourselves out of Adventurers' Club, we went to 8Trax for a while for some "dancing" -- we loved the music there! So many memories of high school and college dances and parties. Then off to a great show at the Comedy Warehouse. Then back to the BCV for late night snack of leftover onion rings (microwaved-- YUMMY ;o) ) We stayed up into the wee hours talking in the dark in bed and still somehow managed to drag ourselves up very early Saturday.
Saturday morning, we made it to the Magic Kingdom in plenty of time for the Opening Celebration, which I'd never seen before. It was so much fun. I am hoping I caught it all on my video clips on the digital camera to share with my family. We swappped the extra AK wheelchair that we'd borrowed at BCV for an
ECV, went to City Hall for a Guest Assistance Pass, to the Emporium to replace my really good sunglasses that I'd lost at the hot tub the night before (before I'd even had a single drink!), then up to the castle for Cinderellabration. I "parked" Judy and went back to the Main Street Bakery for breakfast for us and we had an enjoyable breakfast with Cindy and her friends at her coronation.
After Cinderellabration, we went off on our mission to cover as much in the park as possible. Some of the highlights I remember are: Mickey's Philharmagic, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Snow White, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room, etc., etc. We had a delicious lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, did Hall of Presidents, and then saw Share a Dream Come True parade. After the parade, we did a couple more attractions, had Dole Whips, and then traded the ECV for another borrowed wheelchair with which we headed to MGM for a couple hours.
As we were leaving the MK, the skies were opening up and we made it to the monorail just in time to avoid a downpour. We arrived at MGM just in time for Voyage of the Little Mermaid and The Great Movie Ride. We decided to forgo Tower of Terror for a shared turkey leg, then headed back to MK. We were in the MK by about 8:15, got situated in a handicap viewing area, and then I ran to Casey's for soda and ice waters. Spectromagic was stunning, as always. I LOVE this parade and Judy was blown away. Judy described Spectromagic and WISHES as a spiritual experience, and I have to agree that all the magic came together in that hour for a sweet, unbeatable collection of memories to treasure.
We had fun with a little shoppping after the fireworks were over and then headed to Exposition Hall to look at our main street photos. They came out so great. Then, back to the BCV where I helped Judy get to the room with all our stuff, then headed to the front desk to check on the missing sunglasses status, get boarding passes, and ask a bunch of other questions.
We woke up early Sunday morning for a 7:30 breakfast with Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale at Cape May Cafe. The breakfast was good and the character interaction was excellent! They all spent a lot of time at our table, "chatting" and getting lots of pix and we had such a great, giggly time! After breakfast, we made our way to EPCOT through the International Gateway. Our mission was to get fastpasses for Soarin' and to get in the standby line. We rode it the first time in the second row and were completely utterly blown away by the experience. By the time we exited, we had only about a 10 minute wait before we could use our fastpasses to ride the first row. It was even better the second time when we knew what to pay attention to. What an awesome experience! We also did Ellen's Energy Adventure and the Space Lab stuff at Mission Space. I don't remember what else we did in Future World, but it was a lot of fun.
World Showcase is even more wonderful the more times you've done it, when you are willing to slow down and see the countries in more depth without trying to zip through all of them. We met a gorgeous woman in traditional garb in China and saw the acrobats there (what an amazingly talented group of children!) We got some food at the Chinese cafe and took it over to where we sat on the ground to watch the acrobats. It was such fun. We also got to see the drummers in Japan, and finally got to see Miyuki, the candy artist in Japan. This "show" is so unbelievable -- the woman is a true artist with a really sweet sensitivity to her audience. She did a squid for Judy and we took it to the crystal kiosk in Germany where a very very sweet CM named Catherina packed it so carefully for the trip home in a sturdy box. We also got to ride the friendship across the lagoon, and stopped in France for a shared pastry before walking back to the BCV to catch Magical Express.
There is sooo much more to tell, and I am sure I will remember it all eventually, but as you can see, the trip was absolutely excellent! I am so glad we didn't cancel or postpone when Judy broke her ankle. Disney makes it so easy to enjoy your experience regardless of your limitations. Everywhere we went, CMs and other guests went out of their way to help us in every way you can imagine, from carrying things for us to opening doors to insisting on helping Judy use the ramps, etc. on the buses so she could stay in the wheelchair instead of hobbling on her crutches. We had the best time and made memories to last a lifetime.