Aug 23-24 - Back from Disney

Whew. As usual it was a whirlwind day. Lauren was so excited that she was up at 4:45 a.m. with me and only got 1/2 hour sleep just before we got to the park. She stayed excited all day never once asking for something to eat -- probably a record for Lauren -- and never, repeat never having a nap even though she was in the stroller a lot of the day as we moved around.

We left the house around 7am and first stopped at Kelly's, the dog sitter, to drop off Abby for the day. I picked her up this morning just after 7am. It was an easy drive to Disney, taking the 44, I4, then the toll road 417 thus avoiding the downtown Orlando traffic. On the way back we skipped 417 since the traffic is not too bad through Orlando at 11:30 pm ! We got there just after 9am and picked up our tickets -- I had booked them in advance since that is the only way that you can get the Florida Resident tickets. This saved about $30 for the four of us.

The first thing that we did was head over to Space Mountain to get our FastPass tickets. We were given a time of 11:30 to 12:30. Kylie and I came back before lunch and went twice.

Over the day we rode what used to be called the Wedell Peoplemover; the Disney Carousel of Progress (used to be GE), Sandy and Kylie went on Splash Mountain; all four of us went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad; the Mad Tea Party (spinning teacups); Alladin's Magic Carpet; the railroad around the park; It's a Small World (after all); Kylie and Lauren went on Peter Pan's Flight; ... I'm probably missing something -- oh yes, the carousel.

We waited in line in Toon Town for a picture taking session with Mickey. I'll look at the pictures later ... I was not carrying my flash so the results could be a little soft. We got off the railroad in Toon Town and then resumed our journey back to Adventureland to pick up the stroller. We ended up abandoning the stroller right by the main gate after dinner -- the cleanup crew would not have to take it far ... perhaps 100 feet.

Sandy did not go on the teacups -- it upsets her stomach -- we spun so fast that Lauren could not keep her head from banging on the cup (not hard) and Kylie's ponytail was strung out straight. We laughed and laughed and staggered off the ride. We were a little nervous that Lauren would be scared on Thunder Mountain. Before we went on I told her that it was a fast, round and round, up and down, train. She squealed and laughed the entire time and said afterwards that it was like a roller coaster (which is what it is). She wanted to go again but then again she wanted to do everything !

We ate at Pinnochio's (pizza etc.) for lunch and at Tony's at the main entrance, for dinner. Dinner was excellent. I had Eggplant Roulade on spaghetti; Sandy and Kylie had the salmon -- perfectly cooked, with a chopped olive mixture, asparagus and whatnot; Lauren had spaghetti with meatball (yes, one very humongous meatball) and a bowl of ice cream. After dinner we shopped for a bit and then waited for the light parade, now called Spectral Magic, and the fireworks. Lauren said that she didn't want to watch the fireworks but did want to see Tinker Bell -- well, from the first explosion and her "it's beautiful" exclamation, she was enthralled.

The entire day was a mob scene of course, very crowded. The FastPass access to Space Mountain, Peter Pan, Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain meant that we never really waited in line. The longest line that we saw was for Splash Mountain (without FastPass) -- advertised at 80 minutes -- but we did not have to wait. Sandy and Kylie tried to see Pirates of the Caribbean, but it was temporarily out of order and we never checked again. We got FastPass tickets for Stiches Great Escape but then missed it due to dinner -- which was ok, we had a great day.

The fireworks ended at 10:15 and by 11:00 we were in the car. We stopped at the car service center for gas and bathroom and were back home around 12:30 a.m. Kylie and Lauren slept on the way back of course and then almost rolled into bed back home.

Today ... hopefully I'll get out for a short ride. After I got back with Abby I got changed but we then had a short downpour. I'm waiting for it to dry out. We have a variety of things that we want to do including getting packed and will probably NOT do a boat ride since it takes so much time once you include cleaning up. Kylie and Lauren are still sleeping but we'll ensure that they do not sleep the day away. There will be plenty of time for sleep tomorrow on our return journey.

Abby was nervous when I picked her up this morning, did not want to come out for Kelly's boyfriend until she saw me. She is not used to having so many dogs around.

The week has gone by quickly, too quickly, but then that was always the case with our time in Florida with our kids. They would get bored with the beach after a few days but there were always other things to do -- mini golf; Disney; crazy cycles; rental golf carts cruising the beach ... We were never ready to leave, but that's a good thing.