Waaaaaaaah! It's over! We're back home. Those 5 days flew by like nobody's business!!
But I am so glad that we got to go down and spend a few days, and I learned a few things that will help with the planning of the November trip. So join me as I stroll leisurely down short term memory lane:
Day 1-
7 am ~ We load the kids into the car and pull out of the driveway. If you have been following my PTR, you know that this short notice mini trip was planned as a surprise for the kiddos. So much to the beast's amazement, I have kept the secret. At this point the kids think we are going to Wild Adventures, a local-ish amusement park to which we have season passes. Now the drive to Wild Adventures is about an hour and a half. It takes us a little more than 4 hours to get to Disney from here. So I pull out a couple of new DVDs the kids haven't seen yet. I figure if they are caught up in a movie, they won't really notice how LOOOONG the drive is taking.
I was right. They finish up the first DVD about the time we get to Jacksonville. They are beginning to ask questions, but are satisfied when I tell them that I think Daddy took a wrong turn and it might take a little longer to get there today than usual. "Daddy, you should have let Mama drive." is all DS has to say about it. So we pop in the 2nd new DVD and keep on driving.
When the movie is over, they are seriously sick of riding and everyone is getting hungry, but it is a little early for lunch. So I break out the snack and goodie bags I had prepared earlier in the week. That keeps them busy for about 30 minutes. Occasionally we hear little comments like, "I don't think are anywhere near Wild Adventures," and ,"Daddy must have forgot how to get there." Pretty soon DD pipes up with, "Hey there's a Disney World sign!" Our son, the expert, corrects her saying, "No, that says Summer Nighttastic!"
It's embarrassing, but I have to admit, that my children still didn't realize what was going on even when we drove through the Walt Disney World Resort entrance. Apparently, they are much more thick-headed than I ever realized. I'm pretty sure they still didn't believe it until we actually walked in to the lobby at Pop.
We were given a room in the 50's section facing the pool but on the 4th floor to get away from the noise. I was pretty happy with the location but a little annoyed that they did not have a refrigerator available. Good thing I brought the cooler.
As soon as I completed check-in, the children started begging to go straight to Magic Kingdom. But the beast needed a nap, so we killed some time in the bowling pin pool. Regrettably, I didn't start taking pictures until we got to the parks.
We entered Magic Kingdom at about 3 pm on Friday afternoon. First ride of the trip: Jungle Cruise. We had the best guide EVER!!
After Jungle Cruise, we tried to enter Pirates, but were turned away as the attractions was closed due to technical problems, so we made our way around to the mountains, Splash and Big Thunder. We got FPs for Splash and rode Big Thunder and Haunted Mansion. We spent some time in Fantasy Land and got a bit of real food before heading over to Tomorrowland Noodle Station for our Wishes Dessert Party.
The fireworks were beautiful, of course, but the dessert party even was a hot mess!! Let's just call it a disaster and leave it at that. No, I would not recommend this event to ANYONE!! It totally ruined my enjoyment of Wishes. Couldn't hear any of the narration because of all the commotion on the terrace. And despite having a table right at the front, much of the view was obscured by the hordes of people standing at the rail and the roof of the terrace! And the desserts were nothing to write home about. Yuck. I will not make the mistake of doing this again!
We headed back to the room and went to bed after this. I tried to be positive and not let the dessert party experience ruin my excitement over the rest of the trip.
More to come...
I'm heading back to Warner Robins finally this year! Geez it's been like 2 years almost since the last time I went to see my folks. 
oh well I'll admit I never stick around for the fireworks.
