DAY TWO- WEDNESDAY
Today we decided to do Hollywood Studios, then if we had enough time, we thought wed bounce over to Epcot. Mike really wanted to see the Illuminations show, and the kids wanted to do Test Track! Before going to bed, I had called the front desk and told them we were not super happy with the shuttle and if it was possible to change our mind and get a rental car. I was told Id get a phone call back, and left it at that. Mike woke me up at 7am, again with the coffee and an offer of a little alone time on the porch. We sat and enjoyed the quiet of the morning, outside in the warmth of Florida. We figured that we were still using the shuttle today, and figured we had some time, since we couldnt leave until 10am for Disney World. We finally pulled ourselves away from the peacefulness of our little porch retreat, and woke up kids. Its funny how easy kids are to wake up when they know theyre going to Disney World! About 8am I got a call from the office, they had the rental car for us, buts since we have so many kids, they had to rent us a 15 passenger van
and it was at the airport. Then I found out that our wish org had agreed to pay for it. I guess I had just assumed that GKTW had a deal with rental cars. Im not sure why I felt so bad about WUNS paying for the rental, I think its because they already did so much for us, and had given us such a generous expense check, and then dished out another $500 bucks for us to rent a car. Gee these people are amazing!
To get the van, an angel was going to drive me to the airport at 9am. We all finished getting ready for the day and went to breakfast at the Gingerbread house. Of course we had to do the carousel after we ate..it was becoming a tradition
James in the snail (we seemed to find this hilarious)
Mackenzie
Macylea eating an apple while taking a ride
Dakota and Caelan, smiling
and then it was time for me to leave. Mike stayed at GKTW and let the kids play. It was Wednesday, at GKTW which means
.PONY RIDES! Macylea, James, Elijah and Mackenzie all took advantage of the pony rides. They even received cowboy hats and certificates.
Macylea
James
Elijah
Mackenzie
After the pony rides, they went to the Castle of Miracles and played. I had wanted to be there when they made the pillow, but I told Mike to go ahead and let them do it without me. I really wanted his star to be a family affair though so we waited for that until we were all together. The rental car took awhile to get and then it dawned on me that I had no idea how to get back to GKTW AND I had brought my wallet with my drivers license and credit cards but no cash
and the highway back was a toll road! Add to this that the biggest city Ive driven in is Anchorage, and I get a little scared driving there. The angel, Jim, who was truly that, handed me ten dollars, and said he would lead me back to GKTW, even though he was technically done for the day. He explained how to pay the tolls and then we were off. I was white knuckles and sweaty, but having Jim in front of me gave me something to focus on. I made it back to the village and was so proud of myself, I just drove in Florida!
The family waiting out front of the main office for me (by the mini golf)
We were walking in slow motion here. Its our family saying Were off, like a heard of turtles
The kids and Mike were over ready when I got back. It was now 11am and everyone was anxious to start the days adventure. We loaded the kids into the van when James realized he had left THE BUTTON in the bathroom at the villa. We were parked at the front office, so Mike ran back to get the button and I had the bright idea to grad sandwiches from Katies Kitchen for the road. It took about ten minutes for the sandwiches. We ordered a mix of chicken salad, chicken, and meatloaf, and for sides fresh fruit. Since I was still waiting for the food, Mike went over to the front office to ask about the video camera rental. About the time the food was done, he had been trained on how to use the camera, and we left for Disney Hollywood Studios. The media center gave us the camera, the carry case, two spare batteries and three disks. We were told if we needed new batteries or more disks to stop back by. We dont own a video camera so we were super excited about this. Finally, we were ready, and it was only
noon? Okay ready and a little late. Heres another pointer. Bring your GKTW guide book with you at all times. It isnt very big, but I can almost promise you will want it at some point. For us it was when we became hopelessly lost and had to turn around and start over from Bass Rd. The directions to the parks are all pretty good, if you follow the book. We made the mistake of following road signs that first day, bad idea! Next left does not always mean the very next left. All of this in a humongous 15 passenger van. Maybe some of you city folk will fare better than we did, but for us, lets just say, I arrived at the Disney parking lot in tears, and not from joy! Hubby brought out the camera and began recording right off the bat. He started every recording with Star date
.this is the captain Mike A
and these are the voyages
. So we dubbed our 15 passenger van the Enterprise. The first day of the trip Elijah was beginning to feel a little left out. From the going away dinner, where James was given gifts and interviewed by the news, to the plane ride where the flight attendants are gushed over him, and then the arrival at GKTW, Elijah was feeling a little green with jealousy. This wasnt manifest in a mean way, rather Elijah being a little gloomy and sad. DH, who is very in tune with the kids, sat Elijah down and told him that he needed his help. He asked Elijah if he would be the camera man. Well of course Elijah was overjoyed with this responsibility and from then on we never had another moment of jealousy.
It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm, exactly what wed been hoping for. Mike forgot his beanie and was worried his bald (-ing) head would burn so the kids decided to help him out
James and Elijah having fun at the huge soda bottle
We wandered a little at HS, and then started to ride some rides. Heres a little side bar for those who are tech savvy. Caelan texted a family friend who had asked what we were doing. Caelan wrote back that we were at Disney World riding rides
and sent it. But apparently his predictive text sent were at Disney World riding sheep. Our friend still cant figure out why we were riding sheep at Disney World! We got to the Aerosmith ride and found out its an upside down coaster. Mackenzie and I went into the gift shop instead and played around. This was everyones favorite ride at all the parks, so if you have coaster fans, dont miss this ride! We made it through HS in pretty good time so we decided to do Epcot. We took the ferry from HS to Epcot. It took about 15 mintues of waiting for the ferry, and then another 20 minutes to get to Epcot. It isnt the fastest way, but it was a fun ride, and you get to see a lot of Disney World.
Dakota on the ferry ( I got up to take his pic and the lady next to him stole my seat!)
James looking at the Epcot map on the ferry
The rest of the family in the back of the boat
Elijah and Macylea
DH Mike and Mackenzie with her new Jesse doll
Once in Epcot, which by the way we were told stands for Every Person Comes Out Tired, lol, we went to Soarin. After that everyone was ready for food so we did burgers again. We went to a burger place right in front of the BALL and the dancing fountain. It had an outside eating place so we enjoyed the fountain and atmosphere of Epcot while we ate. These were terrific burgers! Great buns and very filling. There wasnt a condiment bar like at MK, but still for $8 a burger with fries it was pretty good. We did a little looking around Epcot, but there wasnt enough time to do any rides, by now it was getting time to go line-up to get a good spot to watch ILLUMINATIONS. We found the row right in the front area, and asked two young men where the best place to watch was. These guys were pretty camped out and obviously had either done this before, or had some good info about the show. What they did next was truly wonderful. They actually offered to switch us places and let us be in the front. We had started to get use to Disney treating us like royalty, but these two guys, about 19 or 20 at the oldest, were just sweet young men. In front of where we stood was a stage type area that was blocked off with ropes. After about 45min some Disney cast came down the line and told people that if the weather co-operated, they would open the roped off area. Now we were getting to be pros at the WISH thing, so I mustered up the courage and asked the Cast member that IF they were going to allow people up onto the stage to view the fireworks, would they let us onto the stage just a minute earlier. I envisioned them dropping the rope, and us trying to scurry in with James wheelchair, ending up worse for trying. The cast member was very pleasant and told us to go wait be the rope, and right before he allowed anyone else up, hed let us go. Heres the one caveat
up in that viewing area you must be sitting
so we were going to have to carry James up the steps, then fold his chair. No problem, we were excited to be getting the absolute best seats in the house for the show. We gathered our stuff, which when you have 8 people tends to be a lot of stuff, and told the two young men they could have their spot back. We thanked them again for their generosity and went to stand by the rope. Now this place by the rope had zero visibility, but thats ok because we were going to be on the stage. WRONG! The cast member came back about 20minutes before the show and told us that it looked like it was going to rain, and if it did then they would NOT open the stage. So where does that put us? We couldnt see a thing from where we were, we couldnt go ask those nice guys to give us the spot back, and it was 20 minutes before the show, which means all of Epcot was lined up in rows to see Illuminations. The cast member said there was still some space in the wheelchair viewing and we decided it was our last and only option. The wheelchair viewing is just to the right of the stage we had greedily wanted to be on. Usually in the wheel chair viewing area the disabled person is allowed 3 guests, but again James magic button spoke louder than rules and the whole family was ushered in. James had a front row spot with his chair and the kids even had room to gather around him. It turned out to be a perfect place to watch the show.
Obviously pictures do not do it justice
DH Mike and I watching the show
Mackenzie, Dakota and James waiting for it to start (we waited 1.5 hours)
We were not disappointed. It was so amazing even Mackenzie, who was 3 hours late for bed, was glued to her spot. I highly recommend taking a little time for these shows. I wish we would have factored in a few parades during our trip too. I hadnt thought we would care about them, but looking back I think it wouldve been fun. After the show the park was closed and we headed quickly back to the monorail to catch a bus to find our car which was parked at Hollywood Studios. This took about an hour. Everyone was hungry, as always and it was 10:15pm. Pizza stops delivery at 10:30, and its a solid 25-30 minutes back to the village. We called the pizza place and asked if they were allowed to leave it at the desk, but apparently it isnt
we asked if they could put in on our porch, but again, nope. Oh well, we had some fruit and snacks in the room. The kids all fell asleep in the van and by the time we got to our villa, everyone was too tired to eat anyway and day two was officially over.
Next: Day 3: Sea World and Christmas Together