Disney World 2012

We had quite a week at Disney World. We got really sick early in the week, so it put a bit of damper on our plans, but we still managed to irk out some fun every day! Warning, this post will be wordy, but I wanted to remember some of the experiences we had.

On Sunday, we arrived and went straight to Magic Kingdom. We got to eat at the Crystal Palace and have dinner with Winnie the Pooh & his friends. Hadley thought that was neat! After dinner we rode a few rides, and saw a musical show in front of Cinderella's castle.

Monday we went to Hollywood studios. I think this was Adam's favorite. He loved the Toy Story ride, and wanted to do it over and over. Unfortunately, that was the one ride that had over and hour wait, so we weren't doing that again! While we were there, actors would walk around the street and heckle people. When I came out of the bathroom one of them was there asking if "we felt relieved." The male actor told a boy, with a bowl haircut, that "he would give him $100 to get the rest of his hair cut by the end of the day." The boy looked puzzled, but was excited when the man handed him something. He was disappointed to find that it was just play money. The same guy kept calling Adam, "Opie." Adam had no idea who Opie was. Adam loved the Star Wars ride, and I haven't stopped hearing about it. 

On Tuesday, I woke up with a sore throat, but otherwise was feeling fine. We headed to EPCOT. We rode the soaring ride. It is very neat, but I don't do good with heights. I knew it was just a ride, but I had a hard time as we were flying over trees and through the skies. After lunch, I knew I was really sick, so Hadley & I headed back to the hotel for a nap. The rest of the gang did more rides for the afternoon.

On Wednesday, we went to EPCOT and had lunch at La Cellier. They had the best pretzel bread. I got tired easily and came home for a rest, but Adam & Jared played there that day.

On Thursday, I was feeling somewhat better, but Jared woke up so sick. I wasn't sure I could manage the kids alone at the park, so we took advantage of the hotel's heated pool. The water was 82 degrees, so it was actually warmer in the water than out of it! Adam went down the curvy slide probably 30 times. He loved that thing! I cracked up because most kids would just go down the slide normally. Adam would announce himself as he sliding down. I would always know it was him because he would yell out something like, "Waahhh-hoo!" or "Cannooonnn--ball." They had a park next door with sand, and the kids had great fun digging and playing on all the equipment. They had a giant shovel and bucket that kids could climb on. After we were good & tired we headed back to our hotel for lunch.

Jared was feeling well enough late afternoon that we rented some two seater boats to drive around the canal. They were very slow, perfect for relaxing. Jared is more of a daredevil and somehow managed to get Hadley soaked by driving their boat into the wake of passing boats. This would spray her every time. On the way back to our hotel room there were a group of teenage girls in very skimpy bikinis. Adam saw them walk past, did a double take, and then shouted out, "Those girls are NOT dressed modestly, right mom?!" Just in time for them to pass me. While I was proud of him, I'll admit I wanted to crawl under the nearest rock. (A big thank you to my son's Sunday school teachers...he may not act like it, but he is listening.)

Thursday night, Jared was back to not feeling well. I took the kids back to Magic Kingdom so we could see Tomorrowland. We did the Monsters Inc. Laugh factory which had interactive jokes with the audience. We rode the people mover which is just a slow moving ride through the air of tomorrow land. Hadley liked this because she had been looking forward to riding a roller coaster. It just stayed straight on a track, but that was good enough for her. We walked around some, picked out some souvenirs, and then headed for the hotel.

On Friday my dad, me, and the kids took a ferry boat to Downtown Disney. We went to the Lego store, which of course made Adam go nuts. Pappaw got them each a small lego set, and Adam a lego brick engraved with his name. I got a chocolate shake from the Ghirardelli chocolate shop. That was the equivalent of my Lego store. We were going to buy some chocolates, but the were the same chocolates you could buy here at Walmart, and they were only sold in very large clear bags that we didn't have room for in our suitcases.

That evening Jared, me & the kids went back to the pool. I didn't swim because we had after dinner plans. Adam discovered he could bypass the (seemingly to him) long commute of getting into line for the slide by heading to the deep end and climbing out of the pool. Which worked fine for awhile while Jared was in the pool. Once Adam got tired, he had trouble navigating through the water as he wouldn't swim, but would hop through the water instead. He was in the middle of the pool, and instead of coming back to where he could reach like I asked he told smugly told me, "or I could go the easy way." A few seconds later he called out, "help me!" and was promptly rescued by the lifeguard. That put an end to our pool night. Good grief son, just listen to your mother!

My parents stayed with the kids, and we saw a 9 o'clock show of Cirque du Solei at Downtown Disney. It was a little bizarre, but amazing how talented the performers were. I don't have any good pictures of that night because Jared insisted that I take a picture of him picking the nose of a nearby sculpture. When we went to take our photo, my camera battery had died. Groan. I am married to a child.

On Saturday, it was time to come home. It was a long day of traveling, and we were glad to be in our own beds. On Sunday, we still weren't feeling well, so we went to the urgent care to find out that everyone except Adam had strep throat. No wonder we felt so sick. I kind of feel bad for pushing through it because we probably unknowingly infected other visitors. Other than that it was a great trip! The weather was just perfect. The buses took us every where on Disney properties so we didn't have to drive. We had a laid back week, and got to take lots of naps. Bonus, because I had been sick, I actually lost a pound on vacation. That never happens! We will be definitely be planning another trip in a few years when Hadley is older.