I'm glad to be home. I'm not a complainer (I don't think)...I do try to be positive and upbeat. But this vacation...well...it was hard to find the positives.
We reserved a 3BR condo at Windsor Hills at a great rate. We were going to be there from Sat-Thursday, and my husband had a conference on Tue & Wed. My best laid plans were shot down when he comes down with the flu.
Day 1: 4:30am: Rise and shine to catch a 7am flight. Kids didn't know that TODAY was the day, so getting them out of bed was fun. They were stoked. Husband, however, was still not quite 100% due to the flu. He was well enough to fly, but that's all we were able to squeak out of him. Catch the plane, and fly down, no problems. Arrive just after 9:30am. He's crabby and sick. DD7 starts slowing down. (She had the flu the week before!) Stop to purchase our MYW passes at a discount place, and then head over to DTD... me and DD7 & DS8 walk around DTD while DH staked a shady spot in an outdoor cafe to do some business via phone & computer. (He's the company owner.) He was too exhausted to walk. Me and kids did DQ for the first time, and I don't think I'd go back. My kids are not video arcade types, and I found the layout maddening, and some of the games antiquated. Plus, it was such a nice warm sunny day outside, I hated the idea of missing out on the weather. Little did I know it was going to be the ONLY warm sunny day of our trip.
We check into our condo at the assigned checkin time of 4pm. The place is beautiful and roomy and just as pretty as the pictures. But the kitchen floor was sticky...gross! A run to the grocery store for breakfast and snack essentials so I'm set to start the next day, hitting the ground running with my AK touring plan. At 6pm, DS8 wants to go swimming in the pool, but DD7 has a raging fever, as does DH. So, me and DS8 head over to the pool. In 20 minutes, the pool closes because of lightning. Bummer. Head back to condo, eat a little dinner, and pray for the speedy health of both sickos.
(sidenote on the condo: As nice as it was, it wasn't well stocked, IMHO. Not enough small kid's cups and plates. None, actually. There was no dishwasher soap. Not a lick of any condiments...not even a salt shaker. No extra toilet paper. No cookie sheet for the frozen pizza we had. Tiny towels. Flimsy garbage bags. No ice cube tray. I know that when you rent a condo, it's pretty much stocked with the minimum and you provide your own food and such, but I've stayed in many other places where it was much better stocked and supplied!)
Day 2 (Sunday): Arise at 7am. DH still quite sick, and stays at condo. DD is feeling better. Breakfast, and out the door by 8:30. Forgot to check about the detours due to the marathon, and that sets us back a little. The weather is comfy, but cloudy. We get in the park by about 9:30am. It was cool to see the marathon runners all through the place. Very inspiring. There were no crowds, so we did about half of what I wanted, untill the heavens opened up and drowned us, bringing in a cold front that caused our fingers to go numb. We leave the park drenched, freezing and disappointed at about 2:30pm. I missed doing a LOT of things, like the Nemo show, Tough to be a bug, and didn't even get to check out the tree of life.
That evening, we head over to Universal City Walk for the 6pm show of Blue Man Group. AWESOME!!!! AWESOME!!!! My son was picked out of the audience for a little show on the stage, and he was thrilled!!! Totally worth the hundreds of dollars I paid for the 2nd row seats! Did I already say AWESOME?????
I would have loved to walk around City Walk, but DH was still feeling quite sick. And he's quite crabby too.
Day 2: DH still sick. He stays home, we head to Epcot just after it opens. The weather is cool, but sunny. We did LOTS on that day, but I got pretty tired of hearing my kids complain. They are professional whiners, and I was getting tired of it. My kids are good kids, but they are extremely energetic. They get along just great, but their level of silliness tops the chart, and I get weary of it. DS8 is BIG into hidden Mickeys, so that's all he would talk about. It was driving me and DD7 crazy! I wanted to stay for IllumiNations, but by 8pm I had enough of thier behaviour, and they were wanting to go home. By that time, we were in the World pavilion section: DS8 was complaining it was too dark to find Hidden Mickeys. DD7 was complaining it was too boring. I was ticked with both of them, so we left.
Day 3: DH still sick, but decides I can take him over to his conference. Me and kids head to Epcot again. It's really kinda cold today...lots of layers for the park. DD7 has meltdown in the Innovations building because I won't let them build the plastic snap-together robots...I am not willing to carry them all over the park, and they'll just end up in the heap of other toys at home that they don't play with. Meltdown to the nth degree. More complaining and whining. I'm loosing my patience with them both by noon, and I hate the fact that I'm doing Disney without my husband. Bless the heart of single parents! I feel your pain! We finish touring the World pavilions (to the chorus of uproar and protest from the kids) and head to the park entrance to do Spaceship Earth again, but it was closed. Bummer. We head over to Chef Mickeys for our 5pm ADR. Husband joined us, still not feeling well. Dinner was great...we head back to condo about 8:30pm.
Day 4: DH still sick, but again decides to head to his conference. Me & Kids go to Magic Kingdom. Still quite cool, but sunny. 1 hour into the park visit, my camera battery dies. GRRRRR!!!! But MK is my favorite and the crowds are non-existent, so we get LOTS covered pretty quickly. We did stuff we missed our other time last year, so it was like a different MK for me. I didn't like what we did this trip...Don't like Haunted Mansion. Snow White was too dreary. Stitch was gross. But we loved our other favorites...Space Mountain, TTA, Mickey's Philharmagic. Kids hated Hall of Presidents. I Loved it. So, crabbing and complaining is escalated. We go to the Country Bear Jamborees how and was amused. 45 minutes later, DS8 realized he lost his list of Hidden Mickeys in the Country Bear Jamboree show, and had a melt-down. He stayed mad at me for 2 hours because I refused to go back and look for it. (it was just 3 pieces of paper copied from a book that was back in the condo...nothing that couldn't be duplicated again!)
By this time, I'm no longer charmed by my children's attitude and behavior. They are acting selfishly, thanklessly and rudely. I'm crabby. I'm desparate for adult companionship. I'm bitter that my husband is sick, and I can't shake the feeling that he brought it on himself because he won't slow down as he works. He had been feeling not well for 3 weeks before, and I kept telling him to take it easy, take a few days off, and not push himself before our vacation. He wouldn't listen. Even on our vacation, he opts to go to the conference instead of be with us. I realize it was easier for him to sit in conference sessions than trudge all over WDW with me and two kids, but I'm still a little bitter.
We stay through the fireworks (no parade...it's an off day for the parade), and we scoot out asap. I love the fact that all the shops on Main street are connected together, so it took about 70 seconds to go through them and get to the Monorail, while the Mainstreet road was choked with people.
Get back to condo, and I'm exhausted. Plus, we're now out of toilet paper.
Day 5: DH still not well. Conference is over, so he stays at condo. I take the kids to Typhoon Lagoon. The weather is projected to be cloudy, but mid 70's. How bad could that be? Well, pretty bad. The kids were freezing. DS just wanted to stay cuddled in a towel. DD wanted to stay in the surf pool, and she was nearly blue. After 2 hours, (which included one trip down the family raft and one trip down Crushin Gusher, and enduring endless choruses of "I'm COLD!") I declare to them, "We're going back to the condo". That is then met with choruses of "NO!!!!". Mom just cannot get a break. I can't seem to make anyone happy.
We head back, get packed up, check out at 4, and head to Bob Evans for dinner before our 7pm flight home.
Get to the airport and with an hour to wait, I decide it's a good time to start on some of the homework they had and have completely neglected. Roars of protest heard throughout Orlando. DS8 suddenly develops "excrutiating stomach ache" which causes him to writhe on the floor of the gate area. I'm furious!!! DH is on the phone. DD is dawdling through a simple math worksheet. And this is the reason why I will NEVER homeschool!
Finally get boarded, and DS makes an amazing recovery from the stomach problem. There's a Garfield movie inflight, but the kids don't tell me that they've tuned into the wrong audio channel, and they won't watch it because it's in Spanish. I spend 15 minutes convincing them of thier innocent error, and finally, they settle in. But sitting next to DS is like sitting in a pinball machine. He won't sit still, and his arms, legs and head are constantly butting me and disturbing me.
Get home by 10:30pm, get into bed, and I'm so thankful that this dreadful vacation is finally over.
I have peace in my home today...kids are in school, husband is at his office. And I'm not doing anything of any significance or value.
Except maybe dreaming about our next WDW trip, which of course will be perfect! Every rotten thing that can happen has already happened in one trip, so that means I've used up the allotment of rotten things, right?
(That's my thinly veiled attempt to be positive here!)
We reserved a 3BR condo at Windsor Hills at a great rate. We were going to be there from Sat-Thursday, and my husband had a conference on Tue & Wed. My best laid plans were shot down when he comes down with the flu.
Day 1: 4:30am: Rise and shine to catch a 7am flight. Kids didn't know that TODAY was the day, so getting them out of bed was fun. They were stoked. Husband, however, was still not quite 100% due to the flu. He was well enough to fly, but that's all we were able to squeak out of him. Catch the plane, and fly down, no problems. Arrive just after 9:30am. He's crabby and sick. DD7 starts slowing down. (She had the flu the week before!) Stop to purchase our MYW passes at a discount place, and then head over to DTD... me and DD7 & DS8 walk around DTD while DH staked a shady spot in an outdoor cafe to do some business via phone & computer. (He's the company owner.) He was too exhausted to walk. Me and kids did DQ for the first time, and I don't think I'd go back. My kids are not video arcade types, and I found the layout maddening, and some of the games antiquated. Plus, it was such a nice warm sunny day outside, I hated the idea of missing out on the weather. Little did I know it was going to be the ONLY warm sunny day of our trip.
We check into our condo at the assigned checkin time of 4pm. The place is beautiful and roomy and just as pretty as the pictures. But the kitchen floor was sticky...gross! A run to the grocery store for breakfast and snack essentials so I'm set to start the next day, hitting the ground running with my AK touring plan. At 6pm, DS8 wants to go swimming in the pool, but DD7 has a raging fever, as does DH. So, me and DS8 head over to the pool. In 20 minutes, the pool closes because of lightning. Bummer. Head back to condo, eat a little dinner, and pray for the speedy health of both sickos.
(sidenote on the condo: As nice as it was, it wasn't well stocked, IMHO. Not enough small kid's cups and plates. None, actually. There was no dishwasher soap. Not a lick of any condiments...not even a salt shaker. No extra toilet paper. No cookie sheet for the frozen pizza we had. Tiny towels. Flimsy garbage bags. No ice cube tray. I know that when you rent a condo, it's pretty much stocked with the minimum and you provide your own food and such, but I've stayed in many other places where it was much better stocked and supplied!)
Day 2 (Sunday): Arise at 7am. DH still quite sick, and stays at condo. DD is feeling better. Breakfast, and out the door by 8:30. Forgot to check about the detours due to the marathon, and that sets us back a little. The weather is comfy, but cloudy. We get in the park by about 9:30am. It was cool to see the marathon runners all through the place. Very inspiring. There were no crowds, so we did about half of what I wanted, untill the heavens opened up and drowned us, bringing in a cold front that caused our fingers to go numb. We leave the park drenched, freezing and disappointed at about 2:30pm. I missed doing a LOT of things, like the Nemo show, Tough to be a bug, and didn't even get to check out the tree of life.
That evening, we head over to Universal City Walk for the 6pm show of Blue Man Group. AWESOME!!!! AWESOME!!!! My son was picked out of the audience for a little show on the stage, and he was thrilled!!! Totally worth the hundreds of dollars I paid for the 2nd row seats! Did I already say AWESOME?????
I would have loved to walk around City Walk, but DH was still feeling quite sick. And he's quite crabby too.
Day 2: DH still sick. He stays home, we head to Epcot just after it opens. The weather is cool, but sunny. We did LOTS on that day, but I got pretty tired of hearing my kids complain. They are professional whiners, and I was getting tired of it. My kids are good kids, but they are extremely energetic. They get along just great, but their level of silliness tops the chart, and I get weary of it. DS8 is BIG into hidden Mickeys, so that's all he would talk about. It was driving me and DD7 crazy! I wanted to stay for IllumiNations, but by 8pm I had enough of thier behaviour, and they were wanting to go home. By that time, we were in the World pavilion section: DS8 was complaining it was too dark to find Hidden Mickeys. DD7 was complaining it was too boring. I was ticked with both of them, so we left.
Day 3: DH still sick, but decides I can take him over to his conference. Me and kids head to Epcot again. It's really kinda cold today...lots of layers for the park. DD7 has meltdown in the Innovations building because I won't let them build the plastic snap-together robots...I am not willing to carry them all over the park, and they'll just end up in the heap of other toys at home that they don't play with. Meltdown to the nth degree. More complaining and whining. I'm loosing my patience with them both by noon, and I hate the fact that I'm doing Disney without my husband. Bless the heart of single parents! I feel your pain! We finish touring the World pavilions (to the chorus of uproar and protest from the kids) and head to the park entrance to do Spaceship Earth again, but it was closed. Bummer. We head over to Chef Mickeys for our 5pm ADR. Husband joined us, still not feeling well. Dinner was great...we head back to condo about 8:30pm.
Day 4: DH still sick, but again decides to head to his conference. Me & Kids go to Magic Kingdom. Still quite cool, but sunny. 1 hour into the park visit, my camera battery dies. GRRRRR!!!! But MK is my favorite and the crowds are non-existent, so we get LOTS covered pretty quickly. We did stuff we missed our other time last year, so it was like a different MK for me. I didn't like what we did this trip...Don't like Haunted Mansion. Snow White was too dreary. Stitch was gross. But we loved our other favorites...Space Mountain, TTA, Mickey's Philharmagic. Kids hated Hall of Presidents. I Loved it. So, crabbing and complaining is escalated. We go to the Country Bear Jamborees how and was amused. 45 minutes later, DS8 realized he lost his list of Hidden Mickeys in the Country Bear Jamboree show, and had a melt-down. He stayed mad at me for 2 hours because I refused to go back and look for it. (it was just 3 pieces of paper copied from a book that was back in the condo...nothing that couldn't be duplicated again!)
By this time, I'm no longer charmed by my children's attitude and behavior. They are acting selfishly, thanklessly and rudely. I'm crabby. I'm desparate for adult companionship. I'm bitter that my husband is sick, and I can't shake the feeling that he brought it on himself because he won't slow down as he works. He had been feeling not well for 3 weeks before, and I kept telling him to take it easy, take a few days off, and not push himself before our vacation. He wouldn't listen. Even on our vacation, he opts to go to the conference instead of be with us. I realize it was easier for him to sit in conference sessions than trudge all over WDW with me and two kids, but I'm still a little bitter.
We stay through the fireworks (no parade...it's an off day for the parade), and we scoot out asap. I love the fact that all the shops on Main street are connected together, so it took about 70 seconds to go through them and get to the Monorail, while the Mainstreet road was choked with people.
Get back to condo, and I'm exhausted. Plus, we're now out of toilet paper.
Day 5: DH still not well. Conference is over, so he stays at condo. I take the kids to Typhoon Lagoon. The weather is projected to be cloudy, but mid 70's. How bad could that be? Well, pretty bad. The kids were freezing. DS just wanted to stay cuddled in a towel. DD wanted to stay in the surf pool, and she was nearly blue. After 2 hours, (which included one trip down the family raft and one trip down Crushin Gusher, and enduring endless choruses of "I'm COLD!") I declare to them, "We're going back to the condo". That is then met with choruses of "NO!!!!". Mom just cannot get a break. I can't seem to make anyone happy.
We head back, get packed up, check out at 4, and head to Bob Evans for dinner before our 7pm flight home.
Get to the airport and with an hour to wait, I decide it's a good time to start on some of the homework they had and have completely neglected. Roars of protest heard throughout Orlando. DS8 suddenly develops "excrutiating stomach ache" which causes him to writhe on the floor of the gate area. I'm furious!!! DH is on the phone. DD is dawdling through a simple math worksheet. And this is the reason why I will NEVER homeschool!
Finally get boarded, and DS makes an amazing recovery from the stomach problem. There's a Garfield movie inflight, but the kids don't tell me that they've tuned into the wrong audio channel, and they won't watch it because it's in Spanish. I spend 15 minutes convincing them of thier innocent error, and finally, they settle in. But sitting next to DS is like sitting in a pinball machine. He won't sit still, and his arms, legs and head are constantly butting me and disturbing me.
Get home by 10:30pm, get into bed, and I'm so thankful that this dreadful vacation is finally over.
I have peace in my home today...kids are in school, husband is at his office. And I'm not doing anything of any significance or value.
Except maybe dreaming about our next WDW trip, which of course will be perfect! Every rotten thing that can happen has already happened in one trip, so that means I've used up the allotment of rotten things, right?
(That's my thinly veiled attempt to be positive here!)
But here's to hoping your next trip is as magical as it could possibly be! 
) that I will be the one to enjoy WDW from now on--they can have the local Carnival when it rolls into town in the summer! I can't force the Magic down thier throats...Why marvel at the fireworks when you can fight over seats on the ferry?! Why enjoy at the Hoop Dee Doo when you can go to the bathroom 75 times!?
