Cast: Sorry, but you'll have to read Days 1 and 2 to catch up! 
*********
Day Three
Monday, 26 February 2001
"What goes down sometimes comes up."
We awoke with a plan: to be at Animal Kingdom for the park's opening. We were focused. We were determined. We made it!
It was terribly smoky on this morning. The brush fires hadn't caused us any problems the day before, but we were bothered by the smoke on Monday morning.
As we waited in line at AK, a "talking" trash can entertained the children. I rented a stroller upon entering the park, as I intended to keep whininess (Is that a word?) to a minimum. We strapped in Chicken Girl and Chocoholic, and I got the aerobic workout of my life by pushing them to the Africa section of the park.
We rode the safari first. The animals were particularly active, so we really enjoyed the ride. The highlight was seeing a baby giraffe and a baby zebra play a game that resembled tag!
We stopped at the Kusafiri bakery for cinnamon rolls (and chocolate milk, of course!) for breakfast. The cinnamon rolls were hot from the oven and were delicious--but I discovered that one roll would have been more than enough for Chicken Girl and me to share. They were huge!
We strolled to Camp Minnie-Mickey, and the girls enjoyed interacting with several characters, including Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear, Pooh, and Tigger.
We went to the animal training session of the Pocahontas show. The girls were impressed with the animals. P. F. and I were impressed with a set of parents who had brought their SEVEN (yep, seven) children to WDW. Wow!
Chicken Girl was rather unhappy that she didn't get to see the Pocahontas "show" as well as the animal training session. However, she did enjoy watching the racoons, and she could empathize with their difficulties. "Kit" (one of the animals) had to be put into time out; Chicken Girl can relate.
We walked to the BoneYard so that the girls could play on the playground and dig at the excavation area. Chicken Girl LOVES the BoneYard; she would spend all day there if she could. Chocoholic was not impressed; she HATED the feel of that gravelly sand between her toes! P. F. and I sat around the perimeter of the excavation area and observed humanity. While we waited, the radio was blasting "It's the End of the World as we Know It," a song which holds great personal significance to me.
We saw that creepy vine-person on our way out of the theme park. We then boarded the bus, and headed back to the Dolphin.
Upon our return, P. F. and I agreed that we looked like sweathogs, but that we truly did not care. We rustled up the girls and headed to the Yacht and Beach Club Resorts for lunch at Beaches and Cream. Chocoholic WILL eat a beef patty; it is one of the five things in the universe she will eat, so Beaches and Cream proved to be a good choice. Chicken Girl (who is just like me) has rarely met a food she didn't like, so she devoured her two mini-burgers and asked for the pickle from my plate. (Remember that detail. It will come back to haunt us.)
We returned to the Dolphin and decided that naps were in order. Since the girls were missing school, we had some work to do, so, after naps, we staked out an area in the lobby with a table and had school at WDW in the middle of the afternoon.
After "school," P. F. and I let the girls play around the fountain, and she and I enjoyed drinks while listening to the piano player for a few minutes.
We went back to the room, and decided to regroup and head to Epcot. When we came back downstairs, P. F. decided to buy some film at the gift shop. Then, she realized she'd left her camera in the room. Then, we decided to use the pay phones to call our husbands, as the phone was out in our room. (Side note: I reported it, and the phone was fixed when we returned, so no big complaints there.) After all the confusion, we FINALLY set off for Epcot.
We saw one of the Living Statues at the France pavilion. In five trips to WDW, this was my first time to see a Living Statue!
We watched the Tapestry of Nations parade from the China area of Epcot. Throughout the parade, Chicken Girl asked repeatedly, "Can we ride Spaceship Earth after this? Can we? Huh? Mom, did you hear me? Can we ride Spaceship Earth?" I was not in the best frame of mind anyway on this particular evening, and I do recall a response in the form of "If I even so much as HEAR the words Spaceship Earth again, you won't ride again until you're 100." CG believes me, but she is smart. She changed her tune, "Well, then can we ride that bug ride?" (She misunderstood me when I told her that there's a BOAT ride at the Land pavilion, and nothing could convince her otherwise, once she decided it was a BUG ride--instead of BOAT.) I was trying hard to enjoy the cultural significance of the parade, and CG was not helping! She was, however, delighted when one of the puppeteers allowed her to touch one of the "baby" puppets.
We had a dinner reservation at San Angel Inn, so we headed to the Mexico pavilion. Both girls LOVE the Mexico boat ride, so we lined up. (I maintain that it is the least politically correct ride at WDW.) Such was her enjoyment that Chicken Girl announced at the end, "I wish I could ride it again!" Imagine my horror when the CM said, "You want to ride again? Fine! Stay on the boat!"
We were early for our PS, but we were seated within a few minutes. I like the San Angel Inn, but it has to be the darkest restaurant in the universe! We had margaritas (good), and I had the mole poblano chicken. I think that P. F. had some sort of pepper steak, but my memory fails me on that point. The meal was very good, but Chicken Girl was not having a particularly good night, and I was not feeling so great either. (A sign of things to come!) Hence, we didn't enjoy the dinner as much as we should have.
We returned to the Dolphin and put the girls in bed. P. F. decided to make a reasonably early night of it, so I caught up on e-mail and did some reading.
I went to bed just before midnight, and was alarmed when my daughter began coughing. She had suffered with a cold a couple of weeks before our trip. When her symptoms hadn't improved dramatically over several days, the pediatrician put her on an antibiotic, and she seemed to feel better.
I was concerned about the coughing. She couldn't stop; she couldn't sleep. I finally took her into the bathroom area and gave her some strawberry-flavored juice to drink (BIG mistake). We returned to bed, but she still coughed.
I got up around 12:30 to search for cough medicine. While I was rummaging around in the closet, I heard Chicken Girl say, "Mom?" in a sweet, quiet voice. "Yes?" I responded. CG said, "Mom, I just threw up." ACK! I grabbed a towel and rushed to the bed. Chicken Girl was making a valiant effort to be brave and not to make a mess. I rushed her into the bathroom and began the cleanup. One word to the wise: Strawberry juice and coughing do not mix.
I stripped the bed, washed out the sheets, washed out the towels, cleaned up the mess, changed CG into clean pajamas, and called housekeeping. I was really impressed that someone brought fresh towels, sheets, and blankets within 10 minutes. I confessed to the housekeeper that, despite appearances to the contrary, we had NOT been slaughtering goats in our room. I don't think I'll ever be able to drink strawberry-flavored juice again. CG says not even to THINK about giving her any!
Chicken Girl was feeling a little better, and P. F. had awakened at that point. Proudly, CG announced, "Guess what? I threw up! I did! All that red juice, two french fries, and a pickle!" YUCK. (I apologize to all of you non-parents for the sordid details.)
Chicken Girl took some cough medicine, but she was still having trouble sleeping, so I finally settled into the reading chair in our room and held her until she was able to fall asleep. It was a very long, very horrible night.
Day 4: Coming soon!
[This message was edited by Chelley on 03-03-01 at 04:44 PM.]
[This message was edited by Chelley on 03-03-01 at 10:10 PM.]
*********
Day Three
Monday, 26 February 2001
"What goes down sometimes comes up."
We awoke with a plan: to be at Animal Kingdom for the park's opening. We were focused. We were determined. We made it!
It was terribly smoky on this morning. The brush fires hadn't caused us any problems the day before, but we were bothered by the smoke on Monday morning.
As we waited in line at AK, a "talking" trash can entertained the children. I rented a stroller upon entering the park, as I intended to keep whininess (Is that a word?) to a minimum. We strapped in Chicken Girl and Chocoholic, and I got the aerobic workout of my life by pushing them to the Africa section of the park.
We rode the safari first. The animals were particularly active, so we really enjoyed the ride. The highlight was seeing a baby giraffe and a baby zebra play a game that resembled tag!
We stopped at the Kusafiri bakery for cinnamon rolls (and chocolate milk, of course!) for breakfast. The cinnamon rolls were hot from the oven and were delicious--but I discovered that one roll would have been more than enough for Chicken Girl and me to share. They were huge!
We strolled to Camp Minnie-Mickey, and the girls enjoyed interacting with several characters, including Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear, Pooh, and Tigger.
We went to the animal training session of the Pocahontas show. The girls were impressed with the animals. P. F. and I were impressed with a set of parents who had brought their SEVEN (yep, seven) children to WDW. Wow!
Chicken Girl was rather unhappy that she didn't get to see the Pocahontas "show" as well as the animal training session. However, she did enjoy watching the racoons, and she could empathize with their difficulties. "Kit" (one of the animals) had to be put into time out; Chicken Girl can relate.
We walked to the BoneYard so that the girls could play on the playground and dig at the excavation area. Chicken Girl LOVES the BoneYard; she would spend all day there if she could. Chocoholic was not impressed; she HATED the feel of that gravelly sand between her toes! P. F. and I sat around the perimeter of the excavation area and observed humanity. While we waited, the radio was blasting "It's the End of the World as we Know It," a song which holds great personal significance to me.
We saw that creepy vine-person on our way out of the theme park. We then boarded the bus, and headed back to the Dolphin.
Upon our return, P. F. and I agreed that we looked like sweathogs, but that we truly did not care. We rustled up the girls and headed to the Yacht and Beach Club Resorts for lunch at Beaches and Cream. Chocoholic WILL eat a beef patty; it is one of the five things in the universe she will eat, so Beaches and Cream proved to be a good choice. Chicken Girl (who is just like me) has rarely met a food she didn't like, so she devoured her two mini-burgers and asked for the pickle from my plate. (Remember that detail. It will come back to haunt us.)
We returned to the Dolphin and decided that naps were in order. Since the girls were missing school, we had some work to do, so, after naps, we staked out an area in the lobby with a table and had school at WDW in the middle of the afternoon.
After "school," P. F. and I let the girls play around the fountain, and she and I enjoyed drinks while listening to the piano player for a few minutes.
We went back to the room, and decided to regroup and head to Epcot. When we came back downstairs, P. F. decided to buy some film at the gift shop. Then, she realized she'd left her camera in the room. Then, we decided to use the pay phones to call our husbands, as the phone was out in our room. (Side note: I reported it, and the phone was fixed when we returned, so no big complaints there.) After all the confusion, we FINALLY set off for Epcot.
We saw one of the Living Statues at the France pavilion. In five trips to WDW, this was my first time to see a Living Statue!
We watched the Tapestry of Nations parade from the China area of Epcot. Throughout the parade, Chicken Girl asked repeatedly, "Can we ride Spaceship Earth after this? Can we? Huh? Mom, did you hear me? Can we ride Spaceship Earth?" I was not in the best frame of mind anyway on this particular evening, and I do recall a response in the form of "If I even so much as HEAR the words Spaceship Earth again, you won't ride again until you're 100." CG believes me, but she is smart. She changed her tune, "Well, then can we ride that bug ride?" (She misunderstood me when I told her that there's a BOAT ride at the Land pavilion, and nothing could convince her otherwise, once she decided it was a BUG ride--instead of BOAT.) I was trying hard to enjoy the cultural significance of the parade, and CG was not helping! She was, however, delighted when one of the puppeteers allowed her to touch one of the "baby" puppets.
We had a dinner reservation at San Angel Inn, so we headed to the Mexico pavilion. Both girls LOVE the Mexico boat ride, so we lined up. (I maintain that it is the least politically correct ride at WDW.) Such was her enjoyment that Chicken Girl announced at the end, "I wish I could ride it again!" Imagine my horror when the CM said, "You want to ride again? Fine! Stay on the boat!"
We were early for our PS, but we were seated within a few minutes. I like the San Angel Inn, but it has to be the darkest restaurant in the universe! We had margaritas (good), and I had the mole poblano chicken. I think that P. F. had some sort of pepper steak, but my memory fails me on that point. The meal was very good, but Chicken Girl was not having a particularly good night, and I was not feeling so great either. (A sign of things to come!) Hence, we didn't enjoy the dinner as much as we should have.
We returned to the Dolphin and put the girls in bed. P. F. decided to make a reasonably early night of it, so I caught up on e-mail and did some reading.
I went to bed just before midnight, and was alarmed when my daughter began coughing. She had suffered with a cold a couple of weeks before our trip. When her symptoms hadn't improved dramatically over several days, the pediatrician put her on an antibiotic, and she seemed to feel better.
I was concerned about the coughing. She couldn't stop; she couldn't sleep. I finally took her into the bathroom area and gave her some strawberry-flavored juice to drink (BIG mistake). We returned to bed, but she still coughed.
I got up around 12:30 to search for cough medicine. While I was rummaging around in the closet, I heard Chicken Girl say, "Mom?" in a sweet, quiet voice. "Yes?" I responded. CG said, "Mom, I just threw up." ACK! I grabbed a towel and rushed to the bed. Chicken Girl was making a valiant effort to be brave and not to make a mess. I rushed her into the bathroom and began the cleanup. One word to the wise: Strawberry juice and coughing do not mix.
I stripped the bed, washed out the sheets, washed out the towels, cleaned up the mess, changed CG into clean pajamas, and called housekeeping. I was really impressed that someone brought fresh towels, sheets, and blankets within 10 minutes. I confessed to the housekeeper that, despite appearances to the contrary, we had NOT been slaughtering goats in our room. I don't think I'll ever be able to drink strawberry-flavored juice again. CG says not even to THINK about giving her any!
Chicken Girl was feeling a little better, and P. F. had awakened at that point. Proudly, CG announced, "Guess what? I threw up! I did! All that red juice, two french fries, and a pickle!" YUCK. (I apologize to all of you non-parents for the sordid details.)
Chicken Girl took some cough medicine, but she was still having trouble sleeping, so I finally settled into the reading chair in our room and held her until she was able to fall asleep. It was a very long, very horrible night.
Day 4: Coming soon!
[This message was edited by Chelley on 03-03-01 at 04:44 PM.]
[This message was edited by Chelley on 03-03-01 at 10:10 PM.]
