Saturday Jan 13 part 1
The alarm went off at 2am. I turned it off and laid back down for a little longer. I finally got up at 2:15 got myself dressed and packed my suitcase in the car. I went to wake the kids, then went back down to pack up all the snacks for the trip. We were in the car by 2:45am. My Dh drove the entire way and we made pretty decent time without much traffic.
Most of you are probably wondering, if I am separated from my husband, why was he on this trip with me. I invited him to go mainly because I felt bad for him. I saw such a difference in the kids last May when we were there. Their willingness to try the faster rides and I got to really see how much they had grown and he missed all of that. I realize that it was his choice to miss that, since he was invited and opted not to go, but I still felt bad that he missed all of that with his kids. So, here was his chance to see it for himself.
We arrived at the Swan about 9:30am and assumed the room would not be ready. I went to go check us in, but the room was in my DH's name. The policy is that he would have to check in. I find that amusing, since Lee was able to use my credit card to charge the room without being questioned, but no big deal.
I came out to tell Lee (who was waiting in the car with the kids) that he had to check in and I saw TVT had arrived. So, we chatted about the days plans while Lee went and checked in. Much to our surprise the room was ready. It was such a great room. The kids loved the balcony and the beds felt so good. Tvt was wonderful to us as he helped get the bags unloaded from the car and into the room. Good friends in life are really hard to come by, and TVT is just one of those guys that treats his friends very well.
We had a few errands to run that day before we headed off to Animal Kingdom. I needed to get the kids APs and Lee needed to get his AP, so we headed off to Downtown Disney. While we were waiting to do all of that, Nico started complaining about how hungry he was. I told him we were going to a place called Five Guys. "Why can't we just eat at one of the restaurants here? I'm too hungry to drive too far." He whined. We got to five guys about 5 minutes before they opened.
When they opened, Lee and Tony went to get the food and I sat down with the kids. The guys got the drinks and sat it down in front of us. Nico took the first sip of fruit punch and Julie started crying.
“Where is my drink?“ She cried.
“Where is her drink? “ I asked Lee.
“I just got them one drink. It’s fruit punch. I thought they could all share. “ He was explaining. “ I can go back and get another drink if you want.“ He offered.
“No, it’s fine.“ I said as Julie was still crying. “Julie you have to share with Nico.“ I started to explain.
“Yeah, you have to share with Nico, Julie. It’s not just yours.“ Nico echoed me.
“Julie wants her own.“ She cried some more.
At this point, I realized she was just too hungry. I took her out of the restaurant to calm her down while we were waiting for the food. She finally calmed down enough to go back inside.
“Are you feeling better Julie?“ TVT asked.
“I’m not Julie, silly goose.“

She laughed
“You’re not Julie? Well then who are you?“

TVT smiled as he asked.
“My name isn’t Julie. I’m not Julie. I’m Tyrone.“

Julie said triumphantly.
“Tyrone??!!“ TVT shocked turned into hard laughter when he turned to me.

“Did she just call herself Tyrone?“ I nodded. “Why in the world is she calling herself Tyrone?“ He asked me.
“It’s from the Backyardagains. She had a little friend in preschool that always insisted she was Charlie Brown. When I started subbing in the class, I realize Laura listened better when I started calling her Charlie Brown. So, Julie picked up on that and now she wants to be called Tyrone at times.“ I explained.
The food was finally ready. We sat down to eat and I realized Nico wasn't in the least bit kidding or exaggerating about being hungry. He ate a double bacon cheeseburger and fries all by himself. My poor baby really was hungry. The girls took a lot longer to eat. “Tyrone, finish your hotdog and French fries” I said to Julie. I think she wanted to enjoy her food a bit longer as her and Sammie took another 15 minutes to eat.
The next stop was to Sears at the Florida Mall. Lee had gotten a new Digital Camera to take with us on the trip and he needed to get a new card for it, one that would hold more pictures. TVT and I sat in the car with the kids while Lee ran in. "You do realize that I will not put up with any of his crap while he is here right? If I see him treat you or the kids badly, I'm going to say something to him. I held my tongue at Christmas and he pushed me to the limit. If I see anymore of that, I will have to say something." Tvt was saying quite emphatically.
"Shhhh..let's just all get along. I know you were frustrated with him, but that is just who he is, I can't change that." I said.
"I'm just saying, I will not let him walk all over you, I can't stand that." He stated.
I drove up to the Sears door to pick Lee up and we were on our way to Animal Kingdom. I wanted to be sure we got to Animal Kingdom so we could see the new Nemo Musical. It was very crowded. Nico wanted to ride Kali Rapids, since he never had before, so that was on the list of things to do. The problem was, Julie wasn't interested in trying it and Samantha is too little still. Tony offered to stay with them, but I felt bad. I tried to steer the group towards other rides. We went down towards Dinoland and found Triceratops spin. Samantha really wanted to ride it, while Julie and Nico were afraid. So, Tony and I took her on, while the others waited.
We waited in line about three turns before we got in there. We finally sat down and the announcement came on to exit the ride. Poor Sammie was so upset. We got out of the ride and waited for a bit. Finally TVT asked if we could get fast passes for another ride. They gave us fast passes for any ride in the park. We got the fast passes and started walking towards the other kids. As we walked, Triceratops started working again. So, back in line we stood, while the other kids waited.
This time it worked and Samantha's smile and giggles while she rode it made it all worth while. We got off the ride to find out Nico wanted to ride Dinosaur. "Are you sure Nico?" I asked.

I mean, this was the child that was just too scared to ride Triceratops Spin.
"Look, he wants to ride it let him go on,"

both of the guys insisted. I took Julie and Samantha to the back to wait for them to get off. As I was sitting there, I heard one of the other vacationers tell their family that the ride had broken down.
"You have got to be kidding me.." I said as I looked at Tony, "are you starting to get a complex? Every ride you go on breaks!" He started laughing and we walked to see how long the line was for Prime Evil Whirl.
"Will you do this ride?" I asked Lee, "Yeah, I can do it." "Ok, why don't you go ahead, I can't because of the spinning, so I will stay with Julie and Sammie." "No it's fine, I'll wait with you." He said.
So we waited for TVT and Nico to get off that ride. I have to say, I love to watch Nico's face when he is on that ride, he has the biggest smile and he just laughs and laughs.
By the time they got off that ride, Dinosaur was back on. The girls and I went to the back and waited as the guys rode it. At this point, I started feeling terrible for Julianna. She had been so patient waiting for everyone else to do the rides and she had not done one ride yet. She really is such a sweet kid. Nico got off Dinosaur and walked right up to me. I looked at his face and knew right away, that ride scared him.
"You didn't like it?"

I asked
"It was way too scary."

He told me as he clung to me while we walked over to the Nemo Show.