Whos who:
Me: (Steve), 37
DW: (Louise), 37
DS: (Jeremy), 5
DS: (Simon), 3
DD: (Ellie), 5 months
Pup-pup and Doggie: Simons 2 stuffed dogs, each of which spent the entire trip clutched under one of Simons arms.
We woke up early again today, intending to get to Animal Kingdom at park opening. Today the sky was overcast and it was a little cooler, with a chance of rain. We didnt care if it rained we had our 87 cent ponchos from Wal-Mart (courtesy of information gleaned from these boards). The entire morning went smoothly, getting the kids ready, etc., until we got to the AK parking lot at 8:45am. As were walking from the car to the tram, I realize that I dont have our park tickets! Luckily, due to my avid reading of these boards, I had photocopied the tickets and placed a copy in the glove compartment of the car. With that in hand, we boarded the tram to the park entrance, and I stood in line at guest services, extremely frustrated at myself for this failure. This seemed like a longer line than any we saw at MK yesterday Come on, come on, come on . When it was nearly my turn (after at least 10 minutes waiting), I reached in my fanny pack for my drivers license, and found the park tickets!! UGH! What a waste of time. I SWEAR they werent there before. Ugh.
Undaunted, we (and just about everyone else) booked over to Kilimanjaro Safari. The wait was only about 5 or 10 minutes, and it was well worth it. We saw giraffes, elephants, wildebeasts, and hippos very up close and personal. Jeremy and Simon liked the ride, and even Ellie seemed to enjoy it. Next we went to see the 10:45am Lion King show. We were early, so we expected to wait for the show, but we thought there might be somewhere to sit. There wasnt, and although the sky was cloudy, it was very humid, like it was about to rain. We stood around for a long time. Simon was so tired that I carried him and he rested his head on my shoulder. Jeremy meandered around -- into other families! When we finally got to see the show, we all loved it, even though it was a little loud for the kids' taste. It was a great, amazing, well-done theatrical experience. Not to be missed.
After the show (about 11:25am) it really looked like it was ready to rain. We had decided that we would forego the rest of AK for this trip and go back to Magic Kingdom for the afternoon. With one eye on the sky, we rushed back to the main entrance and just as we got to the Rainforest Café restaurant, the skies opened up in a big way. Our timing was great/lucky again. We didnt get wet and neither did our stroller. Obviously we were going to eat lunch at Rainforest Café.
We knew about the theme of the RC (loud jungle and animal noises, etc.) and we knew that Jeremy hates loud noises. But given the torrential downpour outside, and given that it was lunchtime and we were all hungry, we didnt have much of a choice. We hoped for the best. It didnt happen. It went badly for Jeremy from the beginning. Although Simon and Ellie had no issues, Jeremy was so bothered and scared by the loud, shrieking noises that he cried and screamed the entire time, with his fingers in his ears. Everyone was hungry so we devoured our food pretty quickly, but Jeremy (even though he was hungry too) literally did not touch his chicken fingers and fries at all. We tried our best to comfort him, and during some relatively quiet periods, I would ask him to just eat his lunch. He would reply (with fingers in his ears) I DONT HAVE ANY HANDS LEFT! That was funny, but it wasnt so funny when he turned to his mom and yelled GET ME OUT OF HERE, NOW!!! That crossed the line from cute/scared right on into bratty. So we stayed until everyone else finished their lunch (pretty good food, but not as good as the Crystal Palace lunch yesterday). We packed Jeremys food up, untouched, and as soon as we got outside the restaurant, he began devouring it. Poor guy.
It had stopped raining (our timing was great again). We decided to head home since everyone was tired and Ellie really needed a good nap, and wed go back to the Magic Kingdom later in the day. Jeremy ate the rest of his lunch in the car, and announced that he really did sort of like the Rainforest Café, except that it was a little too loud. Everyone was happy. Back at home base, Ellie ate and napped. The boys played with their toys for 3 hours and had a blast. They didnt nap, but I didnt really expect them to. I unintentionally fell asleep on the floor, though.
We left again for the Magic Kingdom at 5:00pm and everyone was refreshed and excited to go back. At 5:30pm, we pulled FastPasses for Buzz Lightyear. We rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (which the kids loved) and the Carousel of Progress. At the CofP, we experienced another bit of cast member magic. The crowd in Tomorrowland was very light, and we were the first/only ones in line for the next CofP show. As were waiting outside the building, the cast member (an older gentlemen) asks Jeremy if hed like to learn a magic trick. Jeremy says sure. The man teaches Jeremy, in several steps, to hold his right hand out towards the building, wiggle his fingers, and say Hocus Pocus. When Jeremy is ready to do this all by himself, he does, and the doors to the building automatically open. Jeremys jaw dropped and I think he really believed that HE magically opened those doors. Just a small thing by the cast member that made a big impression on Jeremy. Very nice.
Next we rode the Buzz Lightyear ride. Of course, Jeremy was afraid of the evil emperor Zurg, so he didnt want to ride. First I rode with Simon, then Simon rode again with Louise. After that, Simon cried because he wanted to ride it AGAIN! Just goes to show that, regardless of age, kids have different personalities. We did a little more souvenir shopping, getting Jeremy a Buzz Lightyear backpack (since he starts kindergarten in the fall) and we got both boys some Toy Story CDs and computer games. Then we had dinner at the Plaza Terrace.
Our last attraction of the day was the Enchanted Tiki Room. Louise remembered it from her childhood, but I really didnt. Again, no line, and I think we got into the last show of the evening. It was getting to be dusk now. The show was OK, but a little scary for the boys, so they didnt care for it too much.
It was about 8:00pm now and we decided that, since it had been a long day and we had seen a lot, we would hightail it out of the park before the 8:30pm Spectromagic parade so that we could beat the mad post-parade rush out of the park. We walked out down Main Street and it was beautiful to see the Castle turning blue-green, then blue. We left the park at 8:20pm and took our last monorail ride back to the TTC. When we got back to the villa, Jeremy actually asked to take a bath! We know enough not to argue with that, so the boys had a bath, even though it was way past their bedtime. Simon had a semi-meltdown, he was so tired. For some reason, he kept screaming/crying Dad I did a poop!!! at least 30 times. Of course he hadnt, but that is beside the point. Simon went to sleep at 9:45pm, then Jeremy and I worked on his Disney trip journal until about 10:00. He went right to sleep.
Tomorrow we pack everything up and leave for home. Jeremy told me he is sad to be leaving, but also glad because he misses our home and the rest of his toys. I'll be sad, too, because this trip really has seemed magical in some way.
One more travel day ahead .
Me: (Steve), 37
DW: (Louise), 37
DS: (Jeremy), 5
DS: (Simon), 3
DD: (Ellie), 5 months
Pup-pup and Doggie: Simons 2 stuffed dogs, each of which spent the entire trip clutched under one of Simons arms.
We woke up early again today, intending to get to Animal Kingdom at park opening. Today the sky was overcast and it was a little cooler, with a chance of rain. We didnt care if it rained we had our 87 cent ponchos from Wal-Mart (courtesy of information gleaned from these boards). The entire morning went smoothly, getting the kids ready, etc., until we got to the AK parking lot at 8:45am. As were walking from the car to the tram, I realize that I dont have our park tickets! Luckily, due to my avid reading of these boards, I had photocopied the tickets and placed a copy in the glove compartment of the car. With that in hand, we boarded the tram to the park entrance, and I stood in line at guest services, extremely frustrated at myself for this failure. This seemed like a longer line than any we saw at MK yesterday Come on, come on, come on . When it was nearly my turn (after at least 10 minutes waiting), I reached in my fanny pack for my drivers license, and found the park tickets!! UGH! What a waste of time. I SWEAR they werent there before. Ugh.
Undaunted, we (and just about everyone else) booked over to Kilimanjaro Safari. The wait was only about 5 or 10 minutes, and it was well worth it. We saw giraffes, elephants, wildebeasts, and hippos very up close and personal. Jeremy and Simon liked the ride, and even Ellie seemed to enjoy it. Next we went to see the 10:45am Lion King show. We were early, so we expected to wait for the show, but we thought there might be somewhere to sit. There wasnt, and although the sky was cloudy, it was very humid, like it was about to rain. We stood around for a long time. Simon was so tired that I carried him and he rested his head on my shoulder. Jeremy meandered around -- into other families! When we finally got to see the show, we all loved it, even though it was a little loud for the kids' taste. It was a great, amazing, well-done theatrical experience. Not to be missed.
After the show (about 11:25am) it really looked like it was ready to rain. We had decided that we would forego the rest of AK for this trip and go back to Magic Kingdom for the afternoon. With one eye on the sky, we rushed back to the main entrance and just as we got to the Rainforest Café restaurant, the skies opened up in a big way. Our timing was great/lucky again. We didnt get wet and neither did our stroller. Obviously we were going to eat lunch at Rainforest Café.
We knew about the theme of the RC (loud jungle and animal noises, etc.) and we knew that Jeremy hates loud noises. But given the torrential downpour outside, and given that it was lunchtime and we were all hungry, we didnt have much of a choice. We hoped for the best. It didnt happen. It went badly for Jeremy from the beginning. Although Simon and Ellie had no issues, Jeremy was so bothered and scared by the loud, shrieking noises that he cried and screamed the entire time, with his fingers in his ears. Everyone was hungry so we devoured our food pretty quickly, but Jeremy (even though he was hungry too) literally did not touch his chicken fingers and fries at all. We tried our best to comfort him, and during some relatively quiet periods, I would ask him to just eat his lunch. He would reply (with fingers in his ears) I DONT HAVE ANY HANDS LEFT! That was funny, but it wasnt so funny when he turned to his mom and yelled GET ME OUT OF HERE, NOW!!! That crossed the line from cute/scared right on into bratty. So we stayed until everyone else finished their lunch (pretty good food, but not as good as the Crystal Palace lunch yesterday). We packed Jeremys food up, untouched, and as soon as we got outside the restaurant, he began devouring it. Poor guy.
It had stopped raining (our timing was great again). We decided to head home since everyone was tired and Ellie really needed a good nap, and wed go back to the Magic Kingdom later in the day. Jeremy ate the rest of his lunch in the car, and announced that he really did sort of like the Rainforest Café, except that it was a little too loud. Everyone was happy. Back at home base, Ellie ate and napped. The boys played with their toys for 3 hours and had a blast. They didnt nap, but I didnt really expect them to. I unintentionally fell asleep on the floor, though.
We left again for the Magic Kingdom at 5:00pm and everyone was refreshed and excited to go back. At 5:30pm, we pulled FastPasses for Buzz Lightyear. We rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (which the kids loved) and the Carousel of Progress. At the CofP, we experienced another bit of cast member magic. The crowd in Tomorrowland was very light, and we were the first/only ones in line for the next CofP show. As were waiting outside the building, the cast member (an older gentlemen) asks Jeremy if hed like to learn a magic trick. Jeremy says sure. The man teaches Jeremy, in several steps, to hold his right hand out towards the building, wiggle his fingers, and say Hocus Pocus. When Jeremy is ready to do this all by himself, he does, and the doors to the building automatically open. Jeremys jaw dropped and I think he really believed that HE magically opened those doors. Just a small thing by the cast member that made a big impression on Jeremy. Very nice.
Next we rode the Buzz Lightyear ride. Of course, Jeremy was afraid of the evil emperor Zurg, so he didnt want to ride. First I rode with Simon, then Simon rode again with Louise. After that, Simon cried because he wanted to ride it AGAIN! Just goes to show that, regardless of age, kids have different personalities. We did a little more souvenir shopping, getting Jeremy a Buzz Lightyear backpack (since he starts kindergarten in the fall) and we got both boys some Toy Story CDs and computer games. Then we had dinner at the Plaza Terrace.
Our last attraction of the day was the Enchanted Tiki Room. Louise remembered it from her childhood, but I really didnt. Again, no line, and I think we got into the last show of the evening. It was getting to be dusk now. The show was OK, but a little scary for the boys, so they didnt care for it too much.
It was about 8:00pm now and we decided that, since it had been a long day and we had seen a lot, we would hightail it out of the park before the 8:30pm Spectromagic parade so that we could beat the mad post-parade rush out of the park. We walked out down Main Street and it was beautiful to see the Castle turning blue-green, then blue. We left the park at 8:20pm and took our last monorail ride back to the TTC. When we got back to the villa, Jeremy actually asked to take a bath! We know enough not to argue with that, so the boys had a bath, even though it was way past their bedtime. Simon had a semi-meltdown, he was so tired. For some reason, he kept screaming/crying Dad I did a poop!!! at least 30 times. Of course he hadnt, but that is beside the point. Simon went to sleep at 9:45pm, then Jeremy and I worked on his Disney trip journal until about 10:00. He went right to sleep.
Tomorrow we pack everything up and leave for home. Jeremy told me he is sad to be leaving, but also glad because he misses our home and the rest of his toys. I'll be sad, too, because this trip really has seemed magical in some way.
One more travel day ahead .
