Daddy for a week, Emily's Special Trip to "Ally's Room"

[heaven2dc]

What a great day you had! Emily looks so cute with her new teddy bear - how colorful! Would love to eat dinner at CP some day - couldn't get in on our last visit Dec 2008 but will definitely add to our list of "must do's" for next year's trip.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

Good morning Allan. You are spot on about Beth. You really know her well. We are all our own worst enemies. If we could just let go life gets much simpler. Just slowly keep working your magic around her. You've already won the most important person in her life.

Ginny

 

[KatMark]

Awesome update. Love the Teddy Bear pic...you can tell she loves it. Waiting for the next installment.

 

[Cafeen]

I know what you're all thinking, "Do they ride more than 3 'real' rides on Tuesday?" Well, you're going to have to read on to find out!

When I was planning this trip, I went against all conventional thinking (that I hadn't known about yet) and all research (that I hadn't done yet) and planned Animal Kingdom for our second day (Tues, 9/22). This was mainly inspired by two things:
#1 - "Always start with Magic Kingdom" (especially with a little one). That seemed simple enough.
#2 - Quite simply, I've never been there. It opened up several years after I had last been (though, I do remember the early signs advertising it on our last visit in 1991-92ish).

Well, this wouldn't turn out to be a mistake, but let's just say that we could have done a whole lot better!

My original plan was to hit AK at rope drop to do the Safari and several other attractions. However, with the realization that neither Beth nor Emily are particularly good at waking up in the morning, I quickly set that aside. I was up around 7:00ish and took a walk around for a bit.

I was in a scenic mood today.

Soon enough (around 9:30ish) the girls were up and about and getting ready for the day. I had picked up their first visit buttons this morning (I forgot to on Monday), and Emily wore hers proudly for about 12 minutes before she started to play with it (which, it being sharp, made us take it away from her rather quickly).

She had strawberries for breakfast.

I also had plans to meet a friend of mine from WoW today (and his new wife and their little 2 year old daughter). We headed off to Animal Kingdom and got there pretty quick (and, without running around in circles! Wee!)

We headed off for Dinoland, USA first, and I noticed I had a voice mail. It was Derek (my friend) saying that they were at the Grand Floridian eating breakfast. Great! I called him back, and left him a voice mail as to where we were and to give me a call when he gets to the park.

So, we play a couple games (after I borrow Beth's 10$ in cash, since I forgot mine in the room ><) and Emily wins a dragonfairy looking thing and an orange turtle. 4 Games played and 10$ spent, and we decide to take a spin on the Triceritops (or whatever it's called). This ride is a bit of a test for Emily, since she had been on something similar at a county fair in the spring (or last fall?) and did not like it one bit. The heights really scared her.

Well, Disney is always different isn't it?

She loved it (and that meant that I knew that she'd love dumbo)!

After the ride, we went over to Restaurantasaurus for some Lunch. I think we all had burgers, and they were pretty good. We hung out there in the A/C for awhile before we began our trek to Asia. Of course, in the meantime, Derek and I were playing the most epic game of phone tag ever. Note that his first voicemail was from about 10:15am, by now we were pushing 11:30 and the game had just begun.

So, we meander over to Asia taking our time and taking in the sights.

The monkeys (ok, I admit, I don't know what KIND of monkeys they were...) were great. Emily is a big huge fan of monkeys and we sat and watched them for a few...

While they were watching the monkeys, I snuck away to the shop nearby. We knew that Emily loved monkeys and it would be hard to pull her away to see the rest of the park. So, I sneakily purchased one of the little monkey and monkey baby stuffed animals from the stand and hid it in a bag.

When we started moving away, I asked if she liked the monkeys (of course she said "Yes"). I then asked her if she wanted her own Monkey and she looked confused. Then I whip out the monkey from the bag and once again, I get that lit-up face that I love seeing . Of course, at the same time, I failed at taking a single picture of the monkey, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

It appears you are having a great time. That is a good thing. That Emily, geesh, I just can't say it enough. What a personality she has.

Speaking of WoE. Austin says there are 125 in his league and on his server they are # 2 right now.

 

[Cafeen]

Great report so far! Emily is just a darling little girl - looks like she was having a great time!

Can't wait to read more!

Thanks She really was, and it gets better soon(ish)!

Subscribing...
Being a patient and supportive best friend is worth it in the end.
I love your story and wanted to share.

My best friend has been there for me through everything. He even stood up as my "master of honor" at my wedding years ago. He has been my rock that I could always count on. He has been a father to my sons who are now grown and absolutly loves my DD, 3. Who in turn loves him and picks him over everyone else for everything. When I began going through my nightmare of a divorce he stood by me and supported me no matter what. Finally one night when I was feeling very lonley I teasingly asked him if at least he loved me. He looked at me and in a serious voice and told me that he had loved me for years and would always love me. I was suprised, although come to find out all our friends had always suspected just never told me. Once I stepped back and really looked I realized that I had always loved him, that I had always looked to him for everything in my life. I just never thought he would look at me that way.

Fast forward to now and I can't imagine not being with him. He has been everything that I ever needed or wanted in my life. But most importantly he has been and is the man in my daughters life that teaches her to value herself and that she desrves to be respected. For years our relationship was hard to explain to outsiders. So I understand you lengthy explination in the beginning. I just consider myself luck to now be able to say he is my love and I am his.

Welcome aboard.

Thank you for the story, it's pretty much the way I've lived for the past several years. Whether we are together or not, I couldn't stand her not being part of my life. The focus of our relationship is up to her, as I'll stand by no matter what. She does know my feelings for her (though, I don't think she knows how far and deep they truely run), but I've worked hard at keeping those separate from the true meaning of our friendship. I know she appreciates that it's not anything put on her, even this trip didn't come from that part of me. ("The Jerk" tried to tell her otherwise, she laughed at him.) We certainly have been through a lot together, and we both know that neither of us would have made it through without the other. Whatever happens in the other "aspect" will happen, but I am thankful for every day that I can have her in my life.

What a great day you had! Emily looks so cute with her new teddy bear - how colorful! Would love to eat dinner at CP some day - couldn't get in on our last visit Dec 2008 but will definitely add to our list of "must do's" for next year's trip.

CP was a nice place and the pictures I took didn't do it justice. The food was pretty good (above average buffet food) and the service (once we got inside!) was excellent. The wait time was a bit of a drag though, and had I been expecting that I may have chosen a different time (early seating rather than later) and/or day (something without a large breakfast), or something along those lines.

Awesome update. Love the Teddy Bear pic...you can tell she loves it. Waiting for the next installment.

Thanks . She still sleeps with it every night too, so I'm so happy it wasn't just a Disney thing.

I'm really trying hard to keep this spread out. Part of me wants to just fly through the installments, but then we lose a lot of the journey in getting there.

As for me today, work picked up a bit. I did kinda flub up and sent back the fix for my application. Then, talking with the developer, I realized that what I saw on my end was two different issues caused by two separate things. On my testing portion, I didn't have enough records according to the fix and it was throwing it off, on the client-data side, I simply forgot to apply the fix before testing it ><. Oh well, at least it's done and can move on and you all get a peek into the "exciting" world of software development...

 

[Cafeen]

It appears you are having a great time. That is a good thing. That Emily, geesh, I just can't say it enough. What a personality she has.

Speaking of WoE. Austin says there are 125 in his league and on his server they are # 2 right now.

She definitely has a personality, and a very good one at that. Beth (and I as well.. even though I can't claim to have done much for it ) got constant compliments at how well behaved she was, how friendly she was, and we could constantly see people smile when she was around. It really was a great feeling.

One thing that we noticed was that she was always extra friendly toward both the elderly people we saw (and always very polite to them too) as well as any special needs people that were around. She'd go out of her way to give them an extra smile and hello. Beth is doing a great job with her and it really shone through during the week (Yes, I made sure to mention that whenever I could, and always have told her how proud I am of how she does.)

 

[MEK]

The last two updates were great. Your pictures of the animal kingdom are really, really nice. Too bad you forgot to take the picture of Emliy and her new monkey. See is so adorable in the picture with her 1st visit pin! Glad you got to ride some rides!

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

She definitely has a personality, and a very good one at that. Beth (and I as well.. even though I can't claim to have done much for it ) got constant compliments at how well behaved she was, how friendly she was, and we could constantly see people smile when she was around. It really was a great feeling.

One thing that we noticed was that she was always extra friendly toward both the elderly people we saw (and always very polite to them too) as well as any special needs people that were around. She'd go out of her way to give them an extra smile and hello. Beth is doing a great job with her and it really shone through during the week (Yes, I made sure to mention that whenever I could, and always have told her how proud I am of how she does.)

Well then, she would like me just fine. I'm old and often told I'm not well in the head. I ignore that man on my shoulder. He doesn't know what he's talking about. ( I work for a psychiatrist by the way)

Obviously Beth has managed to not let her worries transfer to Emily. That is a hard thing to do. She certainly has her best interest at heart.

 

[Cafeen]

When we last left off, we had just visited the monkeys in Asia and I had given Emily her own little monkey. It is now around 12:30-1:00 PM, and the day was just starting to get hot. Derek and I were continuing our game of phone tag and he was now waiting for his mom to finish her shift to sign them in.

After visiting the monkeys, we headed deeper into Asia, I was slowly leading them to the Maharajah Jungle Trek as I knew one of Beth's favorite animals would be there. Of course, I didn't mention them to her, just a chance to see some animals in general.

We stopped at the little store (which must be near Yak & Yeti, since it had that name in it) and I picked her up some sandals. Her sneakers were getting too hot for her and she had been looking for sandals for awhile. These were a nice pair of white ones that did not have the flip-flop through the toe thing (neither of us can stand those at all). After the purchase, we continued on our way.

Soon enough we began the trek through Asia and Beth changed her shoes at the first bench.

I really envied this guy, just lazing around.

After the trek, we were all swealtering. Luckily there was a fountain nearby with kids playing in it. Emily was able to cool off a bit (and we were too, though not to the extent that Emily did )

We began heading toward Africa, as Emily wanted to see Elephants and Giraffes. On the way there, we passed by the drums and let Emily play a bit.

After spending some energy (and talking to a seemingly exhausted and apathetic photopass guy...) we used some snack credits on some frozen treats. Now, none of us wanted Mickey bars, but we did all pick up the Strawberry popscicle things. We paused at some tables near the entrance to Africa and chomped away.

Now, let's take a quick break here to point something out. You may remember from earlier in the day that Emily was wearing a cute pink shirt with fruit on it (apples and pears to be exact). She was also eating a strawberry (and had a few more this morning). Well, there's a reason that the last few pictures had a different shirt on as she got strawberry all over the pink one.

What's this have to do with anything? Well, let's just stay that you'll see her pink shirt return after this adventure with the frozen strawberry popscicle thing .

Well, we arrived in Africa sometime after we left Asia (my timekeeping was starting to fail at this point) and were welcomed by these guys:

(I'll stick with the belief that Emily was better )

We watched them for a few minutes, and then headed up toward the Safari.

By this time, Derek and his family were just arriving into the park (I think it was around 1:30ish, though I'm not entirely sure, probably closer to 2) and I left him a message (we each called around 10-12 times so far, and spoken once, maybe twice...) that we're at the Safari and would be hopping on.

The wait was marked at 15minutes (which, in our experience so far, hadn't been all that bad), so we hopped in line and made our way through it. We watched people hop into the Fastpass line to try and get in front of everyone, and then laughed when the CM turned them around and pointed them to the end of the (now longer) standby line. I know that I, along with a few of the people around us, were quite amused by this.

At any rate, we were getting ready for our 2 week journey through Africa and it was starting to get real hot (hotter than it had been).

 

[Phibbles]

But why were they turning away people at the FP line. Did they not have FP tickets?


Oh, and this is a good read. Keep the updates coming.

 

[Cafeen]

But why were they turning away people at the FP line. Did they not have FP tickets?


Oh, and this is a good read. Keep the updates coming.

Correct, they just hopped into that line to get ahead of everyone, knowing full well that it was the FP line (I heard them ask one of the other people in line, and they were told about them) and they didn't have FPs at all. The line itself wasn't too bad, maybe 20-25minutes, but in the 95degree weather that day, we all had it a bit rough.

Thanks for reading .

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Great update! you don't spoil Emily do you?!?
I noticed the shirt change; I was thinking due to the heat!!! can't wait to hear about your meet with your friend, Derek!

 

[Wrexie]

I'm enjoying the updates! Animal Kingdom is a favorite place of mine. Emily is so cute and looks like she's having a wonderful time!

 

[Cafeen]

Great update! you don't spoil Emily do you?!?
I noticed the shirt change; I was thinking due to the heat!!! can't wait to hear about your meet with your friend, Derek!

Never!

Nope, the shirt change was due to a large strawberry colored spot on it. It was only one spot though. Once she finished with the frozen strawberry pop, the blue and white shirt fared much worse. The pink shirt will return after we do the safari!

I'm enjoying the updates! Animal Kingdom is a favorite place of mine. Emily is so cute and looks like she's having a wonderful time!

I liked the idea of AK, but I think that we really didn't do it right, plus the heat that day was unbearable for us. It really tainted the whole park for us that week. Hopefully next time we do it better and really get to see what it has to offer. Plus, Emily should be tall enough by then to ride the bigger rides (well, EE is the only one she wouldn't have been able to, she's 38 1/2" already).

And, despite the heat, Emily really did have a great time, as always (At least, for now )

Writing up the next piece now before I get to working. Should finish out our AK day, or at least mostly...

 

[mickeystoontown]

I am all caught up now. I was two installments behind. Emily's personality just shines right through her gorgeous eyes! She just has a sparkle to her! Sweetie pie.

You're a sweetie pie too buying Emily her own monkey and Beth a new pair of sandals. You certainly know how to take care of your ladies.

Oh and that fountain that Emily was cooling off in. When my son, Hunter, was 2 years old, he was playing in that same fountain. A castmember came by and was talking to us. She then picked him up and, literally, sat him down in that fountain. She said he looked too hot.

I sure hope that your friend makes it there soon. I want to see what Derek looks like. It's always great to put a face to a name.

 

[Cafeen]

When I last left off, we had seen the drummer guys in front of Tusker House on our way to see the Elephants, I was still playing phone tag with Derek (hour 4 or 5 of the game now..), and it was hot. Really hot.

I also took you in line with me for the Safari, where we laughed at line jumpers getting kicked to the back of the line. One very nice thing about the Safari queue is that you park your stroller halfway through (or more than halfway), this meant that Emily had a nice shady spot to sit for our wait.

The Safari itself was great. Lots of the animals were out and about, which was unexpected since it was about 3pm on a 95 degree day. Emily was thrilled at both the animals we saw, as well as the ride itself. I was less than thrilled at not knowing my camera well enough yet to find "Sports Mode"

I did get some shots though of course! (And several others that will never see the light of day!)

Ok, this isn't the best picture, it's mostly of his rearend...

Emily was thrilled at this point. Two of the animals she wanted to see most were the giraffes and elephants.

The lion was out and not really about, but at least he was awake. The lioness was hiding though.

So, we finish up and Emily needs a change. Beth heads off to the bathroom and I hang out by the exit. At this time Derek and family were in the queue for the Safari, so I figured that I'd just hang out here and wait.

I picked up some drinks from the stand right there, as ours had grown hot in the sun in our little black not quite cooler bag (remind me to mention this to my mom, it wasn't insulated at all). I picked up a couple waters and a vitamin water that tasted gross (but it was cold and wet).

So, I waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually the girls returned from the bathroom, Emily redressed in her pink fruit shirt and whatever matching shorts she had. We mixed another cuppy up for Emily with what we started to dub "Cuppy Juice". (Which was basically a mix of juice, water, and whatever happened to be in there first. Ice, other juice, the rest of that strawberry bar, etc.)

At anyrate, we were waiting and I was just kinda walking around the area when suddenly I hear a woman's voice ask a Derek where the stroller was. Now, I had seen pictures of this guy from WoW, but really didn't recognize who he was. I stepped up and asked if he was him, and finally the phone tag game was over (3ish pm, yes, I know it was 3ish about 20 minutes ago, but I'm getting back on track with time here!).

So, introductions were made, Beth and Emily meet Derek, Amanda, and Madison (their 2 y/o little girl) and off we go. Now, you may remember that Beth and I are both smokers. You may also have noticed that I tended to put in when we took "those" breaks. Lastly, you may notice that I haven't mentioned that since Asia. Yeah, it had been about 3-4 hours, in the heat. We were in need of one immediately.

Out comes the trusty map, and I point to one behind Tusker House, and off we go. Of course, you know how I kept saying it was 3ish? Well... as we rounded the corner to the front of the Safari queue, I knew for sure it was just after 3. How'd I know it?

This guy told me.

So yeah, locked in by the parade before we could get our fix, we watched it go by.

They started bringing the ropes down, and we quickly made our way toward Tusker House. We got there and still couldn't find the spot. Eventually, we made our way down around a corner and spotted:

Now, I know most of you don't smoke, but I'm sure you can all catch the feeling of relief that I had when I saw that sign. It was an amazing sight at the time and I took that picture specifically to relate that little "nicfit" story to everyone.

So, Derek, Amanda, Madison, and Emily hung out a little bit away as Beth and I caught up on our necessity. After we finished, we hung out for a few minutes, chatting it up and getting to know each other.

That's Madison (aka Maddie) along with Amanda's feet. I looked and looked, and for some reason neither me nor Beth really took many pictures of them. (And I don't think they took any of us). I think we were all just focused on the little ones, as we have tons of pictures of them ><.

So, with that taken care of, we head off to the other trail who's name I can never remember (Patagonia? something like that, the one with the gorillas). Beth changes her shoes again, as the new sandals, while nice, were rubbing against her toe too much and it was starting to get irritated.

Coming Soon: More Monkeys, Gorillas, a Hippo, and some other stuff (I also figure out how to take pictures through glass!)

 

[hhockman]

Hi Allan. I'm in. Saw you on both Lisa and Ginny's threads. Any friend of theirs....

This is such an amazing story. I know everyone has told you what a great guy you are, but I'm sure you can stand to hear it once more.

Your TR is intriguing to me also because we were there at the exact same time. Our dates were the 18th-26th. I'm desperately behind on my TR though. We haven't even arrived yet (though we're on our way). I keep thinking I'm going to get to it and don't (hoping to get an installment up tonight).

We were at the Animal Kingdom on Monday and Magic Kingdom Tuesday. Maybe on Wednesday we're in the same park? LOL

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

 

[Cafeen]

I am all caught up now. I was two installments behind. Emily's personality just shines right through her gorgeous eyes! She just has a sparkle to her! Sweetie pie.

You're a sweetie pie too buying Emily her own monkey and Beth a new pair of sandals. You certainly know how to take care of your ladies.

Oh and that fountain that Emily was cooling off in. When my son, Hunter, was 2 years old, he was playing in that same fountain. A castmember came by and was talking to us. She then picked him up and, literally, sat him down in that fountain. She said he looked too hot.

I sure hope that your friend makes it there soon. I want to see what Derek looks like. It's always great to put a face to a name.

I had seen your message when I previewed my installment. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of Derek or Amanda (and I don't think they had any of us either). The girls on the other hand, of course .

Great story about Hunter and the fountain. And yes, I treat them well. They deserve it!

Hi Allan. I'm in. Saw you on both Lisa and Ginny's threads. Any friend of theirs....

This is such an amazing story. I know everyone has told you what a great guy you are, but I'm sure you can stand to hear it once more.

Your TR is intriguing to me also because we were there at the exact same time. Our dates were the 18th-26th. I'm desperately behind on my TR though. We haven't even arrived yet (though we're on our way). I keep thinking I'm going to get to it and don't (hoping to get an installment up tonight).

We were at the Animal Kingdom on Monday and Magic Kingdom Tuesday. Maybe on Wednesday we're in the same park? LOL

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

Welcome and I never get tired of hearing how wonderful I am! I have a "bit" of downtime at work normally (shh, don't tell the boss) so I can update pretty quick. I also lack a bit of patience on many things, so I get antsy to keep the updates flowing.

If you were at Epcot Wednesday, then yes we were! (If not, then nope )

In other news, regarding my probably upcoming Feb Solo Trip, I was having difficulty in planning the meals. I then took some time and plugged stuff around my spreadsheet and have the plan figured out. If you responded to this before this edit goes through, thanks and sorry for any confusion!

So far, this is the plan:
Thu - 4-Feb (MK: AM EMH, HS: PM EMH) - Arrive mid-morning (airport) and check in. Lunch @ Epcot (CS). Dinner @ Epcot (San Angel Inn)
Fri - 5-Feb (Epcot: PM EMH) - Morning @ MK. Lunch @ Epcot (Biergarten). Dinner @ Epcot (Teppan Edo). EMH @ Epcot
Sat - 6-Feb (HS: AM EMH) - EMH @ HS. Lunch @ HS (Sci-Fi). Dinner @ Artist Point (probably earlyish). Either resort or MK after dinner
Sun - 7-Feb (MK: PM EMH) - Morning @ resort or Epcot. Lunch @ Epcot (Le Cellier). Dinner @ MK (Tony's). EMH @ MK
Mon - 8-Feb (AK: AM EMH) - EMH @ AK. Lunch @ AK (CS). Early Dinner @ AK (Boma). MK or Epcot after dinner
Tue - 9-Feb (Epcot: AM EMH) - EMH @ Epcot. Lunch @ HS (50s PT). Dinner @ Yachtsman. Evening @ Epcot or HS
Wed - 10-Feb (AK: PM EMH) - Morning @ MK. Lunch @ MK (LTT). Dinner @ AK (CS)
Thu - 11-Feb (HS: PM EMH) - Morning @ MK. Lunch @ MK (Plaza). ME to MCO afternoon
(Yes, I'm stealing KatMark's tradition here of Plaza on the last day . It's a good idea and makes perfect sense though!)

Of course, these are still idealized plans, I know that 10/27 may change some things around with the dining, but it shouldn't be too too bad, since I have very few "set in stone" meals at each place (e.g. LTT, not liking the dinner offerings, so I'd only do lunch there or Yachtsman which I specifically want for my Birthday night dinner). I'm mostly going to try for earlyish lunches and later dinners (except as denoted) to spread out the amount of food.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

That was a great update Allan. Your pictures of the parade are great. IMHO I think that is one of the best parades Disney has. It really amazes me how they do all that.

People don't care that there are spots on children's clothes in Disney. Heck I think Don and Mike had on their 'eatin shirts' almost everyday. Ok, they aren't children but they eat like them. Always dropping something.

It was nice you got to meet your friend and his family.

Your plans for your solo trip look good to me for sure. I would do that too but daughter Sheri would never let us go without her.

Ginny