Return to the True Path: 12 Days of Bliss

[TikiGoddess]

Recovery please! Or is it too horrifying and shocking to reveal? I'm beginning to wonder...

 

[eeyore45]

I love your trip reports.

I must tell you, I started reading them, and realized we are almost "neighbors"!! I live in Vernon Hills!! I also have a Meagan and a Ryan - unfortunately I didnt have twins - so we only have 3 kids!

Hope you find time from all this heat, and thundershowers to complete your trip report!!

 

[UtahMama]

You poor thing! I too am a super planner- not quite at Uber status yet. I appreciate each of your disasters (ok that didnt sound right so let me explain) because I have been planning and tracking our every move for our upcomming Sept. 5th -14th trip. Bless you for trying so hard to make this the best vacation EVER, but sooooo much happens to throw a wrench into the machine (or something like that...) like the busses not being there, waiting far too long for a meal reservation, unsuspecting precious daghter being asaulted by a trash can, having a friend like Lonnie to visit with, etc...So I'm learning from this to be more flexible in my planning. I wont budge an inch on my dinner reservations, though!
I love that your imperfect and your not trying to paint a rosey picture and that your husband is a non-communicator (Hel-loo. Mine is the worst at that. In fact he'll walk wayyyyyy too fast to keep up with him, we spend more time looking for each other than anything! sorry honey if you read that ).
I hope all in all it was a good time! Can't wait to read more!!!
Your children are way too cute! Love your princesses!

 

[LilyWDW]

Love it, love it, love it! Great trip report!

And I must note: I was so excited when I saw you lived in Libertyville! I am originally from Vernon Hills (Like eeyore45 I just noticed!), though I now live in NE Tennessee due to school! Just so nice to see people from around there that I HAD to note it hehe!

 

[KathyRN137]

Please return to your True Path and finish your TR!!!
Don't leave us all hanging!! Thanks!!

Kathy

 

[BONITATIME]

I love your little girls dresses for CRT they look so lovely .
I do hope things get better. Haven't we all had days that go like that.

 

[dawgfan]

Thanks for the review!

 

[skent10]

Thank you all so much for your encouragement! I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to post again. I know you all feel like I'm still at Epcot where I left you hanging, but unfortunately I've returned to the real world. Day camps, swimming lessons, visiting in-laws and regular household chores have worn me out and kept me from posting another installment. But I'm proud to say I've gotten the next post ready to go!

Eeyore45 What a small world! If you ever frequent the Target on Townline Rd, keep your eyes open for my children and me. It seems like we're there almost every day.

And I must note: I was so excited when I saw you lived in Libertyville! I am originally from Vernon Hills (Like eeyore45 I just noticed!), though I now live in NE Tennessee due to school! Just so nice to see people from around there that I HAD to note it hehe!

Where are you in TN LilyWDW? I went to school in NE TN (Milligan College for undergraduate and ETSU for graduate) and then we lived in Knoxville for 6 years. We're actually considering a move back there in the next few months. Even after almost 3 years, I miss the mountains terribly (northern IL is SOO flat!)

 

[skent10]

Sunday, June 18, Part 3

You know all those silly cliché questions that get asked at job interviews? How would you describe yourself in one sentence? What are your favorite hobbies? What is your best strength? What is your weakness? Well, the answers to those last two questions for me are easy: my best strength is persistence and my weakness is the flipside of the coin, stubbornness.

But even I know when to call it quits. And we had reached that point in our day. Oh, I didn’t have any intention of leaving Epcot and abandoning Scott. But I decided today’s plan wasn’t working, and trying to keep up when the fates—and my children—were conspiring against me was just a losing battle. It was time to take the opposite approach and just go with the flow.

So I picked Amanda up off the ground and gently removed her ice cream for her t-shirt. It was still edible, so I steered the kids over to a low wall and told them to sit and finish their treats. Amanda’s shirt was easily cleaned off with some wet wipes and we were soon relatively back to normal.

By this time, it was 5:05 p.m. The dive guide back at Guest Relations had said that Scott and the other divers would be walking through the Living Seas in their wetsuits to head up to the aquarium surface at 5:00 p.m., so we had missed that. But they all still needed to get “geared up” and wouldn’t actually hit the water until about 5:30 p.m. We still had plenty of time.

The kids finished their ice creams and we continued our journey over to the Living Seas. We passed the line for Turtle Talk—which didn’t really seem any longer than it had at 9:30 a.m.—and headed upstairs to find a good vantage point. When we got off the escalator, we noticed a CM looking around rather confusedly (isn’t it his job to help us who look confused?), but then he visibly relaxed when he spotted my kids. Apparently, we were why he looked so confused. He walked up to me and handed me a small sign he had been holding, a laminated sheet of paper with “Happy Birthday Scott” printed on it. He explained that we could hold the paper up against the window and the divers would be able to read it. It would help Scott find us easily, and the videographer in the water with the divers would be able to capture it on film.

Then the CM apologized for the delay but assured us that the group should be coming through the walkway and then up the elevator to enter the water within a few minutes. So we hadn’t missed Scott’s entrance after all! I felt like some of our from yesterday was still working!

We walked over to the window near where the CM indicated the divers would descend, then turned to watch for the divers. It wasn’t long before we saw them headed in a line down the hallway. The kids squealed with delight, and Scott waved to us with a big grin on his face. I find it physically impossible to smile while squeezed into a wetsuit, but he doesn’t suffer from that particular malady. Most of his wetsuits seem rather loose, and this one was no exception.

It would take about 15 minutes for all of them to get their diving gear on, so I let the kids wander around the aquarium area while we waited. There were few people in that area (what do you call that round area at the end of the walkway? Is it a rotunda?) but anyone within earshot soon learned that my kids’ daddy was about to go diving “Right THERE!”

After almost 30 minutes, we finally saw a couple of fins break the surface, and the group slowly made its descent to the bottom of the tank. It took us a few minutes to figure out which one was Scott—trust me, when everyone’s suited up with masks on and regulators in their mouths, you’re reduced to searching for freckles on the hand and old scars on the shins to determine who’s who—but when we figured out who he was, the kids followed him around with delight. They had seen video of our diving before, but this was their first real experience.

We spent the next hour watching the divers as they explored the tank. Several times Scott would come up to the window and press his hands against the glass for the kids to touch. He must have been really enjoying himself, since I even got a kiss, and this was from the man who thinks holding hands in public is too much of a display!

Too soon it was over, and they were back out of the tank and down the escalator. The kids raced back down the hallway with Scott, each talking a mile a minute, until he disappeared back into the restricted area to shower and change back. We’d have another hour wait before we’d meet up with him again.

My original plan had been to go back over to Innoventions. But considering how well the plan had gone earlier in the day, I decided we’d just stick close to the designated meeting spot. So we spent the hour at the Living Seas, exploring the upstairs laboratory area and watching the manatees, with a couple of FPBs and an extended session at the Kidcot station thrown in for good measure.

When we did finally meet up with Scott again, he showed us everything DiveQuest had given him—t-shirt, mask strap, pins, commemorative certificate—and confessed that he had spent extra to get a DVD of his dive (just as I’d expected he’d do). He explained their two delays (the one before heading to the elevators and the second before entering the water) by saying that the CMs had been concerned over the sharks’ behavior earlier in the day. Apparently the resident sharks had been more aggressive than usual, following a couple of CMs who had been in the water a little bit too eagerly. They had had to wait while a second set of CMs got in the water to make sure the sharks had calmed down and were back to their usual docile selves (how’d you like to have that job at DW?! ) If not, there wouldn’t have been a dive that afternoon!

It was now almost 7:30 p.m. I had one more surprise for the day that nobody else knew about. But in order to get back on schedule, more slashing needed to be done. The FPs for Test Track would remain unused. The ice cream snacks the kids had eaten almost three hours ago had just become their supper (does this make me a bad mommy?). Such drastic cuts would allow us to take our time heading to the International Gateway and out to the Yacht Club Marina. For I, planner extraordinaire, had managed to secure a specialty cruise for Illuminations this evening! (Hah! A parry and a thrust, Scott!)

It was nice to be able to take our time walking through Epcot (for the very first time that day!) and we stopped a couple of times for pictures and to see a little street performance.

As we walked, I explained to Scott what we were about to do. I am, however, sad to report, that he did NOT express the amount of enthusiasm one would expect upon learning they were about to go on an Illuminations Cruise. His first question, “Do I have to drive the pontoon myself?” His second question, “Did you have to pay for this?”

Aside: Scott works for a boat company. He pilots 50 ft. yachts on a regular basis as one of the perks of his job. To him, pontoons are the nautical version of double-wides; riding in one is tolerable, but to have to drive one himself is not his idea of fun, but rather more like a burden he’d be forced to bare. And to be more specific, Scott works for a boat company that’s in partnership with Disney. As a result, we got free admission tickets and free use of the Raycers while staying at the resort. We could have gotten free use of the pontoons at the resorts and the Grand 1 had we wished to arrange it in advance.​

So I was forced to swallow my disappointment at his lack of enthusiasm and explain to him that no, he wouldn’t have to drive as there would be a captain on board, and that yes, I paid extra because these cruises were so popular we probably wouldn’t have gotten it for free and even if we could have, he would have had to arrange it himself, thereby spoiling the surprise. I then emphasized the unique view of the fireworks we’d get without the excessive wait beforehand and fighting the crowds afterwards. He simply shrugged his shoulders and kept walking.

As we approached the marina, I heard a small groan escape from Scott’s mouth. One of the pontoons had been festively decorated with colorful helium balloons and a large banner. He turned to me and said, “Let me guess which one’s our boat.”

“HAH and double HAH to you mister! I knew that by this point you’d be tired of all the birthday attention you’d gotten today. So, no, I did not order a birthday cruise and this is NOT our boat!” was the reply in my head. But my audible response was, “No, dear. That would have cost extra. Somebody else must be celebrating a birthday today.” So with a sigh of relief from Scott and whimpers of disappointment from our kids, we signed ourselves in and met Captain Ron.

We talked to Captian Ron for a few minutes, then ran back to the Yacht Club for one more FPB. By 8:30 the kids were in their lifevests and we were pulling away from the dock. We had a nice tour of the resorts, boardwalk area and lake while Captain Ron provided us with lots of interesting trivia about the area. He timed it perfectly so that our pontoon was the last boat to slip in under the bridge just a couple of minutes before the fireworks started.

Once the boat was tied off, the kids dived into the drinks and snacks, their ice cream supper having disappeared long ago, and then Captain Ron brought out my final little surprise for the night—the Mickey Mouse birthday cake I had ordered from the bakery for us to share.

I’ll have to offer my very subjective opinion on the Illuminations cruise. I’m glad we did it, but we’ll probably never do it again. It was nice not having to deal with the crowds and getting a good vantage point for the fireworks. But Illuminations is not our favorite nighttime show—it ranks third after Wishes and Fantasmic, fourth if you count SpectroMagic—so it wouldn’t be worth the extra money to do again. However, if you’re an Illuminations fan, then I can see the appeal of this specialty cruise. We’ll be booking the Wishes cruise next time.

Captain Ron is a veteran guide and lovely man. As soon as the last firework had exploded in the sky, he had our pontoon backed out from under the bridge and racing back down the waterway to the Studios. His goal: catching the last few minutes of the Fantasmic show. He got us there in plenty of time to watch the fully lit paddle boat emerge from around the side of the mountain and then, just a few minutes later, we could see Sorcerer Mickey take his place at the top of the mountain. We had not yet seen this show, so my kids didn’t know what to expect, but they were thrilled to see Mickey and hear all the “oohs” and “aahs” coming from the audience. It made them eager to see the show from the stands (our plan for Tuesday) and we thanked Captain Ron for the sneak peak.

We were quickly dropped off at the Studios dock and leisurely made our way over to the bus stop. It wasn’t a long wait for our bus back to the Lodge and we were all safely tucked into our beds shortly after 10:00 p.m. There may have been a few bumps along the way, but all in all it turned out to be another great day at Disney.

UP NEXT:

Monday, June 19
“You Will Get Wet on This Ride”

 

[burly]

It was worth the wait, keep posting, I'm really enjoying your trip report.

 

[skent10]

Aside: Scott works for a boat company. He pilots 50 ft. yachts on a regular basis as one of the perks of his job. To him, pontoons are the nautical version of double-wides; riding in one is tolerable, but to have to drive one himself is not his idea of fun, but rather more like a burden he’d be forced to bare.​

Okay, I've been mulling over this paragraph and the comparison of pontoon boats to double wide trailers. I'm afraid that I've managed to insult both pontoon and double-wide owners while making Scott out to be a snob, all rolled into one sentence.

We have nothing against double wide trailers; my parents lived in one during their early married life while still students and one of Scott's sisters currently lives in one. Likewise, we have nothing against pontoons; they're wonderful boats that have introduced a lot of people to the amazing world of boating.

But Scott's company doesn't make pontoon boats. In fact, pontoons are the competition against his company's market entry level of speed boats. And likewise, they're just so small and slow compared to what he normally gets to tool around in, so they don't thrill him. It would be like going from a Formula 1 racing car to a Yugo. Or from a huge Hummer to a Yugo.

Except now I think I've insulted the Yugo owner.

I'll quit now. Especially since I have Rush Limbaugh's spoof of Elvis' "In the Ghetto" repeating in my head.

"In a Yugo ..." ​

 

[TwinkieMama]

I am not insulted...
of course I don't own a pontoon or a speedboat or a doublewide or a Hummer or a Formula 1 racecar or a Yugo
don't worry you are doing fine, good to see you back, I can't wait for the next installment... I am so hoping that it ends with Scott proclaiming this "the best vacation ever"....

now the part about free park admission made me feel
(that's green with envy while really happy for you)

 

[MNRMommy]

How was the cake on the cruise? We are taking the birthday Illuminations cruise in October and I am planning on ordering a cake. Do you recommend the one you got? Was it enough for the whole family?

Glad you are back by the way. I am loving your report

 

[LilyWDW]

Where are you in TN LilyWDW? I went to school in NE TN (Milligan College for undergraduate and ETSU for graduate) and then we lived in Knoxville for 6 years. We're actually considering a move back there in the next few months. Even after almost 3 years, I miss the mountains terribly (northern IL is SOO flat!)

I go to ETSU in fact! I am still in undergrad there, Interior Design, and have one more year. Currently living in Jonesborough and commute to Johnson City daily.

I admit, I miss home (Vernon Hills will always be 'home') but the view around here is SO much better.

 

[TikiGoddess]

I'm taking my doublewide pontoon home made by Yugo and leaving! You have systematically insulted every facet of my life...did I mention my dad ran off and left us in a Formula one car? Okay, I'm not really leaving, but only because I want to know what ride you got wet on...and then once that mystery is solved I am actually leaving! hee hee...

 

[Jacksmom99]

Then the CM apologized for the delay but assured us that the group should be coming through the walkway and then up the elevator to enter the water within a few minutes. So we hadn’t missed Scott’s entrance after all! I felt like some of our from yesterday was still working!

Ohh....What a huge sigh of relief I just let out!! I love it when things fall into place!!

Great report so far...Keep it coming!!

 

[skent10]

How was the cake on the cruise? We are taking the birthday Illuminations cruise in October and I am planning on ordering a cake. Do you recommend the one you got? Was it enough for the whole family?

Glad you are back by the way. I am loving your report

Thanks for the compliments. The cake was good--not the best I've ever had, but definitely better than your average grocery store cake. And it was beautifully decorated. It was huge--the bakery said it was for 8 people, but we easily doubled the slices we got out of it.

It did have a rather odd undertone to the cake. I think it may have been laced with alcohol, but since I drink only on rare occasions, I couldn't tell you what it was. It didn't make the cake taste bad, just a little different.

 

[SmithFamily2003]

I am enjoying your trip report! Love the shirts! How long did the Illuminations cruise last?

 

[Tanya90210]

That sounds like a really awesome birthday!!! Great job!

Love your trip report so far. Can't wait to read more... I will be there in less than 3 weeks with my 3 kids so I like reading about parents that took multiple children...

 

[skent10]

I am enjoying your trip report! Love the shirts! How long did the Illuminations cruise last?

Thank you for the compliments. The shirts were really easy to make--I highly recommend them for those who don't feel too "dorky" wearing coordinated clothes. Scott would have felt dorky, but he was okay with the kids matching.

The cruise lasted slightly longer than one hour (it's supposed to be one hour, but they're not sticklers). We were the last ones to get on our boat and leave the marina, at about 8:30. Others started the cruise at about 8:15 p.m.--Captain Ron didn't rush us and said he'd leave whenever we were ready (which meant one more FPB at the Yacht Club). Because we started our cruise later, Captain Ron didn't have to head straight back to the marina after the fireworks were over. So we booked it all the way to the Studios in time to see the end of Fantasmic. I think we stepped off the boat at the Studios Dock at about 9:40 p.m.