Esmerelda
04-18-2003, 08:00 PM
September 2nd, 2002
I woke up before our wakeup call, feeling guilty for hibernating the night before and determined to have a good day. Elayna enjoyed watching TV while I got ready and I made sure to give her a five minute warning and get her in the bath right as the cartoon ended. She was in a much more compliant mood this morning. I took a pain pill for my aching joints and all was well with the world. We actually were early so we went for a stroll. Shortly along came the character caravan but Elayna was not interested. I did manage to get one picture of her though. She absolutely refused to get out of her stroller though.
e headed to Magic Kingdom with my friend Jutta and her daughter Carolin. Our first ride was Alladin’s Magic Carpet’s. I noticed that the camels did not squirt water and was surprised since there had been so much rain lately, I didn’t think there could be a water shortage. We got to stay on and ride Alladin three times without getting off. Then it was a walk on to the Jungle Cruise which Elayna really enjoyed. The park was really deserted which seemed strange since today was a holiday! Elayna kept running off from me after the rides, but I didn’t have to be worried because she headed straight for her stroller every time. I asked her if she wanted to do Pirates of the Carribean and she said yes so we headed there next. Carolin wanted to ride Splash Mountain but I could not convince Elayna to ride it so we were going to wait for them. We passed the Country Bear Jamboree and Elayna wanted to go see the show so we split up there. We were the only ones waiting for the show and it was only about an 8 minute away. As more people came in Elayna started entertaining them with her dancing and singing. She really enjoyed this show. After the show was over we walked out and there were some square dance performers. One grabbed Elayna to dance with them and I got some great pictures. This was very emotional for me-seeing my daughter dance, when at one time I wondered if she would ever walk. Tears welled up in my eyes.
We met with Carolin and Jutta and found out that Elayna’s stroller was too big to fold up and load on the train. Jutta volunteered to walk to ToonTown with Carolin while we rode the train there. Our destination was Goofy’s Barnstormer. We arrived first so we stopped at the open shop there that has the fresh fruit. Elayna overheard a lady tell her daughter that she should get some fruit and she piped in “Yes, eat the fruit so you can have big muscles and be strong like me” The girl turned to her mama and said “Mama, I don’t want to be THAT big.” The Mama was embarassed, but I just smiled at her with sympathy. Elayna hadn’t heard what she had said. I don’t remember if the little girl got the fruit or not! We rode Goofy’s Barnstormer three times, but they there was just enough people in line that we had to walk around and go through the line again. It still just took about five minutes though. In Elayna’s ten or so trips to Disney World we had never visited Minnie and Mickey’s houses. She really enjoyed playing in the kitchen of Minnie’s house.
I used all my self control and totally abandoned my commando tourist attitude and let her enjoy the house at her own pace. Then we went to Mickey’s house, got our picture taken with Mickey(one of the few character pictures this trip) and she enjoyed playing in Donald’s Boat even though the sprinkler part was not working. We headed back to Fantasyland to eat at Pinocchio’s Village and were amazed at how much the crowds had picked up. I went to get us a fastpass for Peter Pan and then met Jutta back at the restaurant. We were able to get a seat overlooking It’s a Small World and Elayna enjoyed waving to everyone. After lunch we rode Peter Pan and then Elayna and I headed back to the resort. She was getting whiny and believe it or not I was finally using good judgement and was NOT going to stay one more minute!
We fell asleep soon after getting back to the room and had a nice nap.
[b]LESSON LEARNED #14. Remember this is your child’s vacation too and try to squelch your Type A personality
I woke up before our wakeup call, feeling guilty for hibernating the night before and determined to have a good day. Elayna enjoyed watching TV while I got ready and I made sure to give her a five minute warning and get her in the bath right as the cartoon ended. She was in a much more compliant mood this morning. I took a pain pill for my aching joints and all was well with the world. We actually were early so we went for a stroll. Shortly along came the character caravan but Elayna was not interested. I did manage to get one picture of her though. She absolutely refused to get out of her stroller though.
e headed to Magic Kingdom with my friend Jutta and her daughter Carolin. Our first ride was Alladin’s Magic Carpet’s. I noticed that the camels did not squirt water and was surprised since there had been so much rain lately, I didn’t think there could be a water shortage. We got to stay on and ride Alladin three times without getting off. Then it was a walk on to the Jungle Cruise which Elayna really enjoyed. The park was really deserted which seemed strange since today was a holiday! Elayna kept running off from me after the rides, but I didn’t have to be worried because she headed straight for her stroller every time. I asked her if she wanted to do Pirates of the Carribean and she said yes so we headed there next. Carolin wanted to ride Splash Mountain but I could not convince Elayna to ride it so we were going to wait for them. We passed the Country Bear Jamboree and Elayna wanted to go see the show so we split up there. We were the only ones waiting for the show and it was only about an 8 minute away. As more people came in Elayna started entertaining them with her dancing and singing. She really enjoyed this show. After the show was over we walked out and there were some square dance performers. One grabbed Elayna to dance with them and I got some great pictures. This was very emotional for me-seeing my daughter dance, when at one time I wondered if she would ever walk. Tears welled up in my eyes.
We met with Carolin and Jutta and found out that Elayna’s stroller was too big to fold up and load on the train. Jutta volunteered to walk to ToonTown with Carolin while we rode the train there. Our destination was Goofy’s Barnstormer. We arrived first so we stopped at the open shop there that has the fresh fruit. Elayna overheard a lady tell her daughter that she should get some fruit and she piped in “Yes, eat the fruit so you can have big muscles and be strong like me” The girl turned to her mama and said “Mama, I don’t want to be THAT big.” The Mama was embarassed, but I just smiled at her with sympathy. Elayna hadn’t heard what she had said. I don’t remember if the little girl got the fruit or not! We rode Goofy’s Barnstormer three times, but they there was just enough people in line that we had to walk around and go through the line again. It still just took about five minutes though. In Elayna’s ten or so trips to Disney World we had never visited Minnie and Mickey’s houses. She really enjoyed playing in the kitchen of Minnie’s house.
I used all my self control and totally abandoned my commando tourist attitude and let her enjoy the house at her own pace. Then we went to Mickey’s house, got our picture taken with Mickey(one of the few character pictures this trip) and she enjoyed playing in Donald’s Boat even though the sprinkler part was not working. We headed back to Fantasyland to eat at Pinocchio’s Village and were amazed at how much the crowds had picked up. I went to get us a fastpass for Peter Pan and then met Jutta back at the restaurant. We were able to get a seat overlooking It’s a Small World and Elayna enjoyed waving to everyone. After lunch we rode Peter Pan and then Elayna and I headed back to the resort. She was getting whiny and believe it or not I was finally using good judgement and was NOT going to stay one more minute!
We fell asleep soon after getting back to the room and had a nice nap.
[b]LESSON LEARNED #14. Remember this is your child’s vacation too and try to squelch your Type A personality