ddoll
07-01-2003, 11:50 PM
Us vs. The Teens part 1
Day 1: Saturday, June 14, 2003
A very busy morning indeed, as we try to pack the last few items, fit them into the car, and get everyone reserved curbside seats for the local parade before we leave. That’s 2 adults, 3 teens, and 1 kid, BTW.
The parade starts at 10:00am, should be over by 11:45 and we need to get to the airport by 12 noon. Good thing we live so close and a friend is dropping us off at the gate. We did make it in time anyway.
Arrived in Orlando a few minutes early, so that’s good. Unfortunately, the Dollar counter at the airport was the most inefficient operation we’ve ever run into. It took us 25 minutes to get a car…. and there were only 2 people ahead of us in line!
Car obtained, discount applied, all is well. Off to the rental house and ……oops! Forgot to print out the directions to the house. Oh well, we know the address and the general area. No problem, right? Let’s just say it was a while later before we found the house.
Unload the teens and all the stuff into the house. No! No one is going to swim right now! We have a PS at Ohana’s in….. uh-oh…..25 minutes! Since only the adults are unloading the luggage, I forget to warn the kids about the pool alarm.
A few minutes later, with our ears ringing like we’d been sitting next to the speakers in a large-scale rock concert, we head off to the Polynesian.
We have a wonderful meal at Ohana’s. Can’t beat that meat-on-a-stick for a meal sure to please everyone in our party. Too bad, my youngest, Chase, is tied up in the bathroom when they start the broom races. We all eat ‘til we’re ready to bust, then head off to the monorail for a trip around the Seven Seas Lagoon. My teen boys complain that this is an unnecessary excursion. I remind them that DS’s girlfriend, Jess has never been here before and would really like to get a peek. This satisfies only a few of them.
The plan is to head back to the Poly beach to watch the Electric Water Parade and then perhaps the Fireworks. Unfortunately, we see the EWP begin as we’re rounding the corner on the monorail to return to the Poly. We all race down to the beach in time to hear the music end and see the tail lights disappear. Oh well. We can catch it another time. Everyone, including DH, agrees not to wait for the fireworks, but instead head back to the house as we have an early morning tomorrow.
Day 2: Sunday, June 15, 2003
We wake everyone up early so as to catch 7:30am mass at Mary Queen of the Universe. The priest takes almost 15 minutes to start mass, as he greets everyone from every state, one at a time, and then every country, and he welcomes each one of them. Nice touch, but we’re all thinking how we cold have spent that extra 15 minutes in bed!
Our first day at the parks, we head to AK. First thing we do is go to ITTBAB. Everyone but Dane, my 16yr old DS, goes in. He confesses at the last minute that this show has always “bugged” him and he’d rather wait outside. This being Jess’ first Disney trip, everyone asks her immediately how she liked it when we get out. She’s a good sport and says she loved it. Off to the Lion King. It was even better than the last time we saw it, if you can imagine that. We all agree there were some minor changes made, and we loved it.
This time we’re determined to make it to the Tarzan Rocks show. It’s something we’ve always missed before. Too bad we saw it right after the Lion King, as it paled in comparison. The kids liked it anyway. My 18 yr old son Evan is a musician (bass player) and he appreciates the music, at least. They all agreed there wasn’t enough roller blading or tricks. I was still scratching my head about the costumes. What were they thinking there? You’d certainly have to pay me an awful lot of money to appear in some of those silly one-legged outfits.
Off to catch some rides now, despite my DH’s constant complaints about how hot and humid it is in AK, the layout of the park and how you can’t get from here to there, etc. We manage to get right on the Primevil Whirl. I loved it. I was alone in that reaction, though. The teens complained that it hurt them to spin around, and Chase is afraid of plunges. We then squeeze in a ride on Dinosaur before we leave the park. Everyone was pretty hot and tired by then.
After lunch, a swim, and a nap for all back at the house, we head to MGM to catch the last day of Star Wars weekend. I take a few pictures and then began to get overwhelmed by the heat. DH and the kids all take off to ride Star Tours and see the characters while I head towards the air-conditioned shops with my FRS in my bag to meet them when they’re done.
I think I was probably near heat-exhaustion that day, as the A/C in the stores wasn’t enough to make me feel any better. I dragged myself from store to store, bought some postcards and finally remembered I had one of those neck scarves with the water-retaining beads inside. I got some water (duh….forgot to drink water!!), and squirted some on the scarf. That felt good. Water and coolness finally made me come around to near-normal and I watched the afternoon parade from the doorway of one of the shops.
Oh! I forgot to mention that my FRS wasn’t working properly. All I could hear was one initial word from my DH, followed by nothing but beeping and clicking. Very LOUD beeping and clicking, at that. I clearly spoke into my loudly clicking radio that if they could hear me, I was on the main street in the stores and I could NOT hear anything but clicking from them. I repeated this message several times. Did it stop the clicking? No, it intensified the frequent clicking and beeping sessions. I tried in vain to pretend the noises were coming from somewhere else, but still I received evil stares from clerks and customers alike as I tried to shop.
I later found out that my family was wandering around the park without a clue because they could not find any street called “Main St” on the park map. Turns out they could hear me just fine, but were stumped by my message. Then to top it off, all the way home they most disrespectfully (and incorrectly, I might add) imitated me as yelling shrill messages into the FRS.
Despite my simmering and muttering about how anyone with any common sense should be able to figure out the difference between “the main street” and “Main St”, I agreed to accompany them all the Epcot.
We had a PS at the Rose and Crown for 7:30pm. We parked the car at the Beach Club and walked into Epcot through the International Gateway. I requested a table with a view of Illuminations. Everyone was too hot and tired to do any touring while we waited for our PS time, so we wandered around the shops in England. The kids had fun asking the little old lady in the pub to play a Michael Jackson song as we waited to be seated.
Our table was directly in the center, right on the water, ground level. Couldn’t be better. I was very excited to have such a great view and couldn’t have my spirit dampened…even by the teens complaining about the food selections. “You said they’d have regular food…not this weird stuff!” I ignored them.
Just before our meals arrived, the rain started. Up ‘til then we hadn’t even noticed that ours was the only table without an umbrella. Not to be deterred, DH and I took out our own umbrellas and covered the table and the food ourselves. My DH was happily enjoying his newest discovery: a Shanty. A delicious drink made from Bass Ale and Sprite. “Remember what’s in this for me, will you? This is so goo-ood!”
Fortunately, our luck changed and the rain stopped just before Illuminations. It was the best view we’ve ever had! We were all delighted. It was a wonderful ending to our day. Now we had a quick exit back to the car since we got to avoid the main crowds by departing through the Int’l Gateway.
Day 3: Monday June 16, 2003
Today is our full day at MGM…our favorite Disney Park. We got there early, parked close to the entrance with our AAA Diamond pass and headed straight for the two best rides in all of Disney: Tower of Terror and Rock N Rollercoaster. After a brief conference, we head to ToT first while DH takes Chase with him to get fast passes for the group. Chase, who has been on RNRC several times in the past, has decided not to go on any rides with spinning or steep plunges on this trip. Neither the gentle reminders from his parents that he liked it before, nor the taunting of his older brothers (which is forbidden, but came out anyway) could dissuade him.
We emerge from the RNRC to find that DH not only got Chase to ride ToT for the first time, but he’s already purchased him an “I Survived The Tower of Terror” tee shirt and a Hollywood Hotel key chain, and taken his picture proudly displaying same in front of the ride. We could not, however, persuade him to go on again with us. His feat of bravery achieved for the day, Chase was content to coast for the rest of the day.
One goal of this trip had been to get Evan, now 18 yrs old and able to participate, to volunteer for the Indiana Jones show. When they asked for volunteers, my 6’3” DH stood up and waved his arm widely to draw attention to our group. It worked. Evan, however, chickened out at the last minute, presumably afraid to look “uncool” in front of his girlfriend, Jess. My DH was then chosen for the 3rd time to be one of the crowd extras. That was good for a few laughs and some great photos.
We again went home for lunch, a swim and a nap. Unfortunately, when I took my shoes off, a big old blister had reared its ugly head. Too late for moleskin there. Then I had to listen to those teens rub it in to me that I was the one with a blister after being the one to remind all of them to take good care of their feet.
We got back to MGM and had a PS for 3:00pm for dessert at the Sci-fi Drive-In. What a very cool place! Our waiter wasn’t too much fun, especially after he found out we were only there for dessert, but the guy at the next table seemed to be an awful lot of fun! I know others had complained that the food there wasn’t too good, but the desserts we had were wonderful. The kids thought the old movies were hysterical and they laughed about it for the rest of the day.
We managed to fit in a trip to the Great Movie Ride and the Muppets before the afternoon rain started. Then of course, it was time to eat again. We had a 6:00pm PS at Hollywood & Vine for the Fantasmic Pkg. I had arranged to meet up with Leanne and her parents there too. We checked in and were waiting in the rain for a table, when I spotted a familiar looking girl with her parents, fumbling with a piece of white paper and a cell phone. I walked over and asked. Sure enough it was Leanne. We had only a minute to talk before they were called in to their table. Too bad it ended up being on the other side of the restaurant. I did however; catch up with them in the hall outside of the restrooms. We agreed to try to rendezvous at Fantasmic later on. The teens and Dad headed off to fit in another couple of turns on RNRC before the show, while Chase and I repeated the Great Movie Ride.
We bought a couple of Disney beach towels on the way in and got great, if not dry, seats at Fantasmic. I spotted Leanne and her parents, who had wisely chosen to show up later than we, and flagged them down so they could sit with us. Close to showtime, the stadium was still not completely full. The rain had slowed down to only a very slight drizzle by then, and it had stopped completely just before the show started. Fantasmic was just as wonderful as always.
We headed home for the night, with me now limping from my enormous blister. Thank heavens we had that lovely hot tub to soak in when we got back. My aching feet could sure use it.
The kids all complained that they never wanted to eat that much in one day again. Chase was having some tummy sickness then , but we attributed it to his being on antibiotics from strep throat.
Day 4: Tuesday June 17, 2003
Our Seaworld Day. Now let me say first off, that I wasn’t the one who wanted to go to Seaworld to begin with. We went there a couple of years ago, the same time of year, and it was unbearably hot. That’s the main thing that stuck in my mind about it. But my two teen boys had both agreed that the Kraaken roller coaster was indeed one of the best around and was certainly worth a day there. I grudgingly bought the tickets at AAA before we left home. So we were then committed to going.
It was indeed very hot there. So hot, that I was dreaming of shopping in cool, air-conditioned shops again. We all went to see the Shamu show, and the sharks. We gave them some money, and the 3 teens returned to Kraaken while DH and I took Chase to the Anheiser Busch Deli for lunch. The wait for the rides never exceeded more than a few minutes.
DH was thrilled to find the beer was free at the AB Deli. He told me I must go and get one, even though I don’t drink beer. Fortunately, he was able to drink that one for me. He was busy thinking of ways to disguise himself to get more free beer (one per customer, you know), when he came to his senses and decided to try and find the teens.
Even the kids were sick of the heat by then, so we headed back home. The rest of the family went in the pool while I went out to get some groceries and some better stuff to treat my poor blistered foot.
We went to Bahama Breeze for dinner that night. Lovely place. All themed Caribbean with waterfall, pretty, exotic drinks, calypso music, steel drum band playing in the outside lounge, and Caribbean foods. After dinner, DH and the teens returned to Seaworld to ride Kraaken a few more times and to watch the fireworks. Chase was feeling a little “punky” too and wanted to stay home and go to bed. I soaked my feet and the rest of me in the hot tub in blissful solitude.
Day 5: Wednesday June 18, 2003
Today is our all-day Magic Kingdom Day. Too bad the weather is supposed to be rainy all day. We don’t care though, we’ve packed ponchos and umbrellas.
As we enter the TTC, a CM informs us that the boat would be much faster right now, so off we went to wait for the next one. When we got to the park, we headed straight for Tomorrowland, (not for Adventureland like I recommended, because it was what the kids wanted to do). So we got fastpasses for Space Mountain and went on Buzz Lightyear. The stand-by line was still only about 10 minutes for Buzz. Chase did Buzz again with DH as I headed to Space Mtn with the teens. We used the FP’s only because we had them, but the standby SM line was still short. Evan and Jess went on SM again immediately, this time with the FP’s that should have been for DH and Chase.
Now it was time for our PS at the Crystal Palace. We chose the latest time: 10:30am, so as to be able to spend more time with the characters and to have the meal be brunch for us…being mindful of the kids’ plea to not “have” to eat so much.
It was great. We were able to eat plenty before any characters even got to our table. The meal was very good. The puffed French toast was “to-die-for” and we all had to have seconds of that. Piglet was so funny. DH, Evan and his girlfriend Jess were sitting on the outside, while Chase, Dane and I were sitting on the inside. When Piglet came by , Evan made some remark about Piglet getting too friendly with his girlfriend. Piglet proceeded to take Evan’s napkin off his lap and place it over Evan’s head, obscuring his face while I took a picture of Piglet alone with Jess! It was one of our most magical moments. It’s still our favorite picture from the trip.
http://www.spotlife.com/users2/debi7357/webalbum/pic/image023.jpg
One thing that I wasn’t happy about, was that there was a line in the lobby where people had their kids waiting to have autographs and pictures taken with Pooh. I thought one of the main reasons to go to a Character Meal was to avoid having to do that at all. As we were leaving, the line was almost gone, and we did get a brief “audience” with Pooh after all. Fully sated, we headed off to do the rest of the park.
Having already survived Alien, Chase now “needed” to get on his favorite ride of all, the Haunted Mansion. We got on that while waiting for our FP for Splash Mtn. We also managed to get in to see the Country Bears before the afternoon parade. I talked Jess into trying a Dole Whip. She, of course, loved it! We grabbed a spot in Frontierland to view the parade so as to make a quick escape to Splash when it ended.
The Share A Dream parade was really nice. It was our first time seeing it. DH , Chase and I had also had never been on Splash Mtn. The line there was horribly long, so good thing we had our FP’s from earlier. Half way into the ride, Chase decides the plunge would be too much for him and he changed his mind about going on. We would never force him to go on anything, but we were a little annoyed that he waited to tell us this until we were just about through the line. I asked the CM there about doing a child swap and DH got off with him while I rode with the teens. When we came off, we couldn’t find them. Turns out the only way to do a child swap there was to get a special FP with a 4 hr return time window and get back into the FP line again. By this time, Dane wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go home. We coerced him into riding Pirates once with us before we left for home.
On our return, it was already raining. Jess and Chase wore ponchos, DH and I carried umbrellas, but my teens were just too cool to be seen in either. Knowing that Jess had had her first view of the castle from Main St, we got on the train and went straight out to Frontierland. DH took his turn on Splash with the FP from the child swap, bringing a couple of teens with him. Dane, Chase and I braved the rain and crowds and went to secure a place by the Country Bears for Spectromagic. After waiting almost an hour, they announced it was postponed due to inclement weather. We knew the odds weren’t good that it would go on at all, so we set off to do a few more rides.
We took Jess on It’s A Small World, then went to the Teacups. The rain was fairly heavy by now, so there was no wait at all for the Teacups. We slowly made our way around the park. Dane again wasn’t feeling very well. We decided to avoid the mad dash for the monorails at closing time and we began to head towards the entrance as the fireworks were going off. We were saved a long wait by taking the resort monorail back to the TTC.
Day 1: Saturday, June 14, 2003
A very busy morning indeed, as we try to pack the last few items, fit them into the car, and get everyone reserved curbside seats for the local parade before we leave. That’s 2 adults, 3 teens, and 1 kid, BTW.
The parade starts at 10:00am, should be over by 11:45 and we need to get to the airport by 12 noon. Good thing we live so close and a friend is dropping us off at the gate. We did make it in time anyway.
Arrived in Orlando a few minutes early, so that’s good. Unfortunately, the Dollar counter at the airport was the most inefficient operation we’ve ever run into. It took us 25 minutes to get a car…. and there were only 2 people ahead of us in line!
Car obtained, discount applied, all is well. Off to the rental house and ……oops! Forgot to print out the directions to the house. Oh well, we know the address and the general area. No problem, right? Let’s just say it was a while later before we found the house.
Unload the teens and all the stuff into the house. No! No one is going to swim right now! We have a PS at Ohana’s in….. uh-oh…..25 minutes! Since only the adults are unloading the luggage, I forget to warn the kids about the pool alarm.
A few minutes later, with our ears ringing like we’d been sitting next to the speakers in a large-scale rock concert, we head off to the Polynesian.
We have a wonderful meal at Ohana’s. Can’t beat that meat-on-a-stick for a meal sure to please everyone in our party. Too bad, my youngest, Chase, is tied up in the bathroom when they start the broom races. We all eat ‘til we’re ready to bust, then head off to the monorail for a trip around the Seven Seas Lagoon. My teen boys complain that this is an unnecessary excursion. I remind them that DS’s girlfriend, Jess has never been here before and would really like to get a peek. This satisfies only a few of them.
The plan is to head back to the Poly beach to watch the Electric Water Parade and then perhaps the Fireworks. Unfortunately, we see the EWP begin as we’re rounding the corner on the monorail to return to the Poly. We all race down to the beach in time to hear the music end and see the tail lights disappear. Oh well. We can catch it another time. Everyone, including DH, agrees not to wait for the fireworks, but instead head back to the house as we have an early morning tomorrow.
Day 2: Sunday, June 15, 2003
We wake everyone up early so as to catch 7:30am mass at Mary Queen of the Universe. The priest takes almost 15 minutes to start mass, as he greets everyone from every state, one at a time, and then every country, and he welcomes each one of them. Nice touch, but we’re all thinking how we cold have spent that extra 15 minutes in bed!
Our first day at the parks, we head to AK. First thing we do is go to ITTBAB. Everyone but Dane, my 16yr old DS, goes in. He confesses at the last minute that this show has always “bugged” him and he’d rather wait outside. This being Jess’ first Disney trip, everyone asks her immediately how she liked it when we get out. She’s a good sport and says she loved it. Off to the Lion King. It was even better than the last time we saw it, if you can imagine that. We all agree there were some minor changes made, and we loved it.
This time we’re determined to make it to the Tarzan Rocks show. It’s something we’ve always missed before. Too bad we saw it right after the Lion King, as it paled in comparison. The kids liked it anyway. My 18 yr old son Evan is a musician (bass player) and he appreciates the music, at least. They all agreed there wasn’t enough roller blading or tricks. I was still scratching my head about the costumes. What were they thinking there? You’d certainly have to pay me an awful lot of money to appear in some of those silly one-legged outfits.
Off to catch some rides now, despite my DH’s constant complaints about how hot and humid it is in AK, the layout of the park and how you can’t get from here to there, etc. We manage to get right on the Primevil Whirl. I loved it. I was alone in that reaction, though. The teens complained that it hurt them to spin around, and Chase is afraid of plunges. We then squeeze in a ride on Dinosaur before we leave the park. Everyone was pretty hot and tired by then.
After lunch, a swim, and a nap for all back at the house, we head to MGM to catch the last day of Star Wars weekend. I take a few pictures and then began to get overwhelmed by the heat. DH and the kids all take off to ride Star Tours and see the characters while I head towards the air-conditioned shops with my FRS in my bag to meet them when they’re done.
I think I was probably near heat-exhaustion that day, as the A/C in the stores wasn’t enough to make me feel any better. I dragged myself from store to store, bought some postcards and finally remembered I had one of those neck scarves with the water-retaining beads inside. I got some water (duh….forgot to drink water!!), and squirted some on the scarf. That felt good. Water and coolness finally made me come around to near-normal and I watched the afternoon parade from the doorway of one of the shops.
Oh! I forgot to mention that my FRS wasn’t working properly. All I could hear was one initial word from my DH, followed by nothing but beeping and clicking. Very LOUD beeping and clicking, at that. I clearly spoke into my loudly clicking radio that if they could hear me, I was on the main street in the stores and I could NOT hear anything but clicking from them. I repeated this message several times. Did it stop the clicking? No, it intensified the frequent clicking and beeping sessions. I tried in vain to pretend the noises were coming from somewhere else, but still I received evil stares from clerks and customers alike as I tried to shop.
I later found out that my family was wandering around the park without a clue because they could not find any street called “Main St” on the park map. Turns out they could hear me just fine, but were stumped by my message. Then to top it off, all the way home they most disrespectfully (and incorrectly, I might add) imitated me as yelling shrill messages into the FRS.
Despite my simmering and muttering about how anyone with any common sense should be able to figure out the difference between “the main street” and “Main St”, I agreed to accompany them all the Epcot.
We had a PS at the Rose and Crown for 7:30pm. We parked the car at the Beach Club and walked into Epcot through the International Gateway. I requested a table with a view of Illuminations. Everyone was too hot and tired to do any touring while we waited for our PS time, so we wandered around the shops in England. The kids had fun asking the little old lady in the pub to play a Michael Jackson song as we waited to be seated.
Our table was directly in the center, right on the water, ground level. Couldn’t be better. I was very excited to have such a great view and couldn’t have my spirit dampened…even by the teens complaining about the food selections. “You said they’d have regular food…not this weird stuff!” I ignored them.
Just before our meals arrived, the rain started. Up ‘til then we hadn’t even noticed that ours was the only table without an umbrella. Not to be deterred, DH and I took out our own umbrellas and covered the table and the food ourselves. My DH was happily enjoying his newest discovery: a Shanty. A delicious drink made from Bass Ale and Sprite. “Remember what’s in this for me, will you? This is so goo-ood!”
Fortunately, our luck changed and the rain stopped just before Illuminations. It was the best view we’ve ever had! We were all delighted. It was a wonderful ending to our day. Now we had a quick exit back to the car since we got to avoid the main crowds by departing through the Int’l Gateway.
Day 3: Monday June 16, 2003
Today is our full day at MGM…our favorite Disney Park. We got there early, parked close to the entrance with our AAA Diamond pass and headed straight for the two best rides in all of Disney: Tower of Terror and Rock N Rollercoaster. After a brief conference, we head to ToT first while DH takes Chase with him to get fast passes for the group. Chase, who has been on RNRC several times in the past, has decided not to go on any rides with spinning or steep plunges on this trip. Neither the gentle reminders from his parents that he liked it before, nor the taunting of his older brothers (which is forbidden, but came out anyway) could dissuade him.
We emerge from the RNRC to find that DH not only got Chase to ride ToT for the first time, but he’s already purchased him an “I Survived The Tower of Terror” tee shirt and a Hollywood Hotel key chain, and taken his picture proudly displaying same in front of the ride. We could not, however, persuade him to go on again with us. His feat of bravery achieved for the day, Chase was content to coast for the rest of the day.
One goal of this trip had been to get Evan, now 18 yrs old and able to participate, to volunteer for the Indiana Jones show. When they asked for volunteers, my 6’3” DH stood up and waved his arm widely to draw attention to our group. It worked. Evan, however, chickened out at the last minute, presumably afraid to look “uncool” in front of his girlfriend, Jess. My DH was then chosen for the 3rd time to be one of the crowd extras. That was good for a few laughs and some great photos.
We again went home for lunch, a swim and a nap. Unfortunately, when I took my shoes off, a big old blister had reared its ugly head. Too late for moleskin there. Then I had to listen to those teens rub it in to me that I was the one with a blister after being the one to remind all of them to take good care of their feet.
We got back to MGM and had a PS for 3:00pm for dessert at the Sci-fi Drive-In. What a very cool place! Our waiter wasn’t too much fun, especially after he found out we were only there for dessert, but the guy at the next table seemed to be an awful lot of fun! I know others had complained that the food there wasn’t too good, but the desserts we had were wonderful. The kids thought the old movies were hysterical and they laughed about it for the rest of the day.
We managed to fit in a trip to the Great Movie Ride and the Muppets before the afternoon rain started. Then of course, it was time to eat again. We had a 6:00pm PS at Hollywood & Vine for the Fantasmic Pkg. I had arranged to meet up with Leanne and her parents there too. We checked in and were waiting in the rain for a table, when I spotted a familiar looking girl with her parents, fumbling with a piece of white paper and a cell phone. I walked over and asked. Sure enough it was Leanne. We had only a minute to talk before they were called in to their table. Too bad it ended up being on the other side of the restaurant. I did however; catch up with them in the hall outside of the restrooms. We agreed to try to rendezvous at Fantasmic later on. The teens and Dad headed off to fit in another couple of turns on RNRC before the show, while Chase and I repeated the Great Movie Ride.
We bought a couple of Disney beach towels on the way in and got great, if not dry, seats at Fantasmic. I spotted Leanne and her parents, who had wisely chosen to show up later than we, and flagged them down so they could sit with us. Close to showtime, the stadium was still not completely full. The rain had slowed down to only a very slight drizzle by then, and it had stopped completely just before the show started. Fantasmic was just as wonderful as always.
We headed home for the night, with me now limping from my enormous blister. Thank heavens we had that lovely hot tub to soak in when we got back. My aching feet could sure use it.
The kids all complained that they never wanted to eat that much in one day again. Chase was having some tummy sickness then , but we attributed it to his being on antibiotics from strep throat.
Day 4: Tuesday June 17, 2003
Our Seaworld Day. Now let me say first off, that I wasn’t the one who wanted to go to Seaworld to begin with. We went there a couple of years ago, the same time of year, and it was unbearably hot. That’s the main thing that stuck in my mind about it. But my two teen boys had both agreed that the Kraaken roller coaster was indeed one of the best around and was certainly worth a day there. I grudgingly bought the tickets at AAA before we left home. So we were then committed to going.
It was indeed very hot there. So hot, that I was dreaming of shopping in cool, air-conditioned shops again. We all went to see the Shamu show, and the sharks. We gave them some money, and the 3 teens returned to Kraaken while DH and I took Chase to the Anheiser Busch Deli for lunch. The wait for the rides never exceeded more than a few minutes.
DH was thrilled to find the beer was free at the AB Deli. He told me I must go and get one, even though I don’t drink beer. Fortunately, he was able to drink that one for me. He was busy thinking of ways to disguise himself to get more free beer (one per customer, you know), when he came to his senses and decided to try and find the teens.
Even the kids were sick of the heat by then, so we headed back home. The rest of the family went in the pool while I went out to get some groceries and some better stuff to treat my poor blistered foot.
We went to Bahama Breeze for dinner that night. Lovely place. All themed Caribbean with waterfall, pretty, exotic drinks, calypso music, steel drum band playing in the outside lounge, and Caribbean foods. After dinner, DH and the teens returned to Seaworld to ride Kraaken a few more times and to watch the fireworks. Chase was feeling a little “punky” too and wanted to stay home and go to bed. I soaked my feet and the rest of me in the hot tub in blissful solitude.
Day 5: Wednesday June 18, 2003
Today is our all-day Magic Kingdom Day. Too bad the weather is supposed to be rainy all day. We don’t care though, we’ve packed ponchos and umbrellas.
As we enter the TTC, a CM informs us that the boat would be much faster right now, so off we went to wait for the next one. When we got to the park, we headed straight for Tomorrowland, (not for Adventureland like I recommended, because it was what the kids wanted to do). So we got fastpasses for Space Mountain and went on Buzz Lightyear. The stand-by line was still only about 10 minutes for Buzz. Chase did Buzz again with DH as I headed to Space Mtn with the teens. We used the FP’s only because we had them, but the standby SM line was still short. Evan and Jess went on SM again immediately, this time with the FP’s that should have been for DH and Chase.
Now it was time for our PS at the Crystal Palace. We chose the latest time: 10:30am, so as to be able to spend more time with the characters and to have the meal be brunch for us…being mindful of the kids’ plea to not “have” to eat so much.
It was great. We were able to eat plenty before any characters even got to our table. The meal was very good. The puffed French toast was “to-die-for” and we all had to have seconds of that. Piglet was so funny. DH, Evan and his girlfriend Jess were sitting on the outside, while Chase, Dane and I were sitting on the inside. When Piglet came by , Evan made some remark about Piglet getting too friendly with his girlfriend. Piglet proceeded to take Evan’s napkin off his lap and place it over Evan’s head, obscuring his face while I took a picture of Piglet alone with Jess! It was one of our most magical moments. It’s still our favorite picture from the trip.
http://www.spotlife.com/users2/debi7357/webalbum/pic/image023.jpg
One thing that I wasn’t happy about, was that there was a line in the lobby where people had their kids waiting to have autographs and pictures taken with Pooh. I thought one of the main reasons to go to a Character Meal was to avoid having to do that at all. As we were leaving, the line was almost gone, and we did get a brief “audience” with Pooh after all. Fully sated, we headed off to do the rest of the park.
Having already survived Alien, Chase now “needed” to get on his favorite ride of all, the Haunted Mansion. We got on that while waiting for our FP for Splash Mtn. We also managed to get in to see the Country Bears before the afternoon parade. I talked Jess into trying a Dole Whip. She, of course, loved it! We grabbed a spot in Frontierland to view the parade so as to make a quick escape to Splash when it ended.
The Share A Dream parade was really nice. It was our first time seeing it. DH , Chase and I had also had never been on Splash Mtn. The line there was horribly long, so good thing we had our FP’s from earlier. Half way into the ride, Chase decides the plunge would be too much for him and he changed his mind about going on. We would never force him to go on anything, but we were a little annoyed that he waited to tell us this until we were just about through the line. I asked the CM there about doing a child swap and DH got off with him while I rode with the teens. When we came off, we couldn’t find them. Turns out the only way to do a child swap there was to get a special FP with a 4 hr return time window and get back into the FP line again. By this time, Dane wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go home. We coerced him into riding Pirates once with us before we left for home.
On our return, it was already raining. Jess and Chase wore ponchos, DH and I carried umbrellas, but my teens were just too cool to be seen in either. Knowing that Jess had had her first view of the castle from Main St, we got on the train and went straight out to Frontierland. DH took his turn on Splash with the FP from the child swap, bringing a couple of teens with him. Dane, Chase and I braved the rain and crowds and went to secure a place by the Country Bears for Spectromagic. After waiting almost an hour, they announced it was postponed due to inclement weather. We knew the odds weren’t good that it would go on at all, so we set off to do a few more rides.
We took Jess on It’s A Small World, then went to the Teacups. The rain was fairly heavy by now, so there was no wait at all for the Teacups. We slowly made our way around the park. Dane again wasn’t feeling very well. We decided to avoid the mad dash for the monorails at closing time and we began to head towards the entrance as the fireworks were going off. We were saved a long wait by taking the resort monorail back to the TTC.