The Cast:
The H family Me, 42, planner extraordinaire, hates wasting a minute of Disney touring time DH, 38, goes w/the flow, doesnt mind sleeping late but also likes to be at the parks early (you figure it out!) and is a great navigator in that he knows how to get from anywhere to everywhere and can find bathrooms whenever someone needs one! DD, 11, loves to sleep late/is practicing to be a teenager, is not a Disney-freak like her mother, but enjoys the trip and goes w/the flow with a smile and minimal complaining (most of the time) DS, 8.5, *loves* everything Dis just like Mom, is a thrill rider, will try anything once (or twice) and is up and at em early and willing to stay late suffers from peanut/tree-nut allergies.
The M family (friends of the H family, who after hearing about our past three trips decided theyd give it a try) MrM, 48, just smiles all the time and goes w/the flow, loves to eat but has newfound health issues that restricted his diet considerably MrsM, 40, thinks shes Tinkerbell suffers from UMS (ugly mood swings) is incredibly frugal yet wants the best, has very high standards yet is not willing to pay for them, all around difficult but we love her anyway KAM, 9yo dd to Mr/MrsM, always smiling, first time visiting since she was 3yo BAM, 7yo ds to Mr/MrsM, has a bit of his mother in him, can be fresh at times, but also fun-loving and anxious to see Disney for the first time (cause his visit as a 6 month old didnt count!)
AND, were off!
Thursday, Jan 12
Picked the kids up from school at lunchtime, totally to their surprise (they thought we were leaving the next day) had an uneventful trip to the airport and nice flight to MCO got DME after what felt like a long wait, but it was probably only 20-30 minutes and headed to Pop Century
The line to check in at Pop was not too long, but we hit some snarls at check-in we needed connecting rooms and they were hard to come by it all worked out at the end but it was late, everyone was extremely tired the M family had a screw-up w/their ressies (lesson learned: check those docs when they arrive in the mail!!!!) and had thought they booked two rooms but only had one upon arrival after having four CMs working to find them another room (on a sold-out weekend!) as well as checking other resorts (I had my fingers crossed wed all upgrade to the wilderness lodge, which was my first choice but MrsM said it was too costly, even though we would have been able to go from four rooms to two, not understanding that it would only be a few bucks more and youd get more for your bucks penny-wise and pound foolish according to DH!) Anyway after we were checked in, we made our way to the food court for a very late dinner and then hiked to our room in the 80s building #7 (it was a long long walk the first night, but we later found plenty of shortcuts to make it a nice two minute walk). My kids went in the pool (at 11pm) but MrsM would not allow her kids to join them (this was a recurring theme, Ill attempt not to mention it every time it occurred)
The H family Me, 42, planner extraordinaire, hates wasting a minute of Disney touring time DH, 38, goes w/the flow, doesnt mind sleeping late but also likes to be at the parks early (you figure it out!) and is a great navigator in that he knows how to get from anywhere to everywhere and can find bathrooms whenever someone needs one! DD, 11, loves to sleep late/is practicing to be a teenager, is not a Disney-freak like her mother, but enjoys the trip and goes w/the flow with a smile and minimal complaining (most of the time) DS, 8.5, *loves* everything Dis just like Mom, is a thrill rider, will try anything once (or twice) and is up and at em early and willing to stay late suffers from peanut/tree-nut allergies.
The M family (friends of the H family, who after hearing about our past three trips decided theyd give it a try) MrM, 48, just smiles all the time and goes w/the flow, loves to eat but has newfound health issues that restricted his diet considerably MrsM, 40, thinks shes Tinkerbell suffers from UMS (ugly mood swings) is incredibly frugal yet wants the best, has very high standards yet is not willing to pay for them, all around difficult but we love her anyway KAM, 9yo dd to Mr/MrsM, always smiling, first time visiting since she was 3yo BAM, 7yo ds to Mr/MrsM, has a bit of his mother in him, can be fresh at times, but also fun-loving and anxious to see Disney for the first time (cause his visit as a 6 month old didnt count!)
AND, were off!
Thursday, Jan 12
Picked the kids up from school at lunchtime, totally to their surprise (they thought we were leaving the next day) had an uneventful trip to the airport and nice flight to MCO got DME after what felt like a long wait, but it was probably only 20-30 minutes and headed to Pop Century
The line to check in at Pop was not too long, but we hit some snarls at check-in we needed connecting rooms and they were hard to come by it all worked out at the end but it was late, everyone was extremely tired the M family had a screw-up w/their ressies (lesson learned: check those docs when they arrive in the mail!!!!) and had thought they booked two rooms but only had one upon arrival after having four CMs working to find them another room (on a sold-out weekend!) as well as checking other resorts (I had my fingers crossed wed all upgrade to the wilderness lodge, which was my first choice but MrsM said it was too costly, even though we would have been able to go from four rooms to two, not understanding that it would only be a few bucks more and youd get more for your bucks penny-wise and pound foolish according to DH!) Anyway after we were checked in, we made our way to the food court for a very late dinner and then hiked to our room in the 80s building #7 (it was a long long walk the first night, but we later found plenty of shortcuts to make it a nice two minute walk). My kids went in the pool (at 11pm) but MrsM would not allow her kids to join them (this was a recurring theme, Ill attempt not to mention it every time it occurred)
The captain was kind enough to drop us at MK so we did not have to take the monorail back to the bus stop so we were able to get back to Pop in no time flat and my kids went to the arcade and the pool and the M family went to bed
the rest of us enjoyed our dinner
oh, but how I love their salad! this was supposed to be our Spectro night, but we had to cut it short and get her back to the resort
I felt so badly for her cause I know she felt like she was ruining our evening
but we all survived
after a short nap in the room, she felt much better, and joined DS in the pool
spectro will run again next time were there!
