Disney mania!!!

This will most likely be the longest post EVER, but here it goes.....

We arrived in Orlando at 9:30pm on Tuesday the 3rd. It was rough getting there because our flight to Atlanta was rather turbulent, resulting in both Connor and Kate throwing up EVERYWHERE. It was so gross and I felt so terrible for the other passengers on our flight. I just kept trying to remind myself that I would most likely never see any of these people ever again. Luckily we brought a change of clothes for everyone so we cleaned up in Atlanta before our flight to Orlando. We stayed at the All-Star Movies Resort, and after a brief ride on the "Disney Magical Express" bus, we were there. We were in the Toy Story section of the hotel (one of the boys favorite movies!!) on the third floor. When we got off the elevator, this is what we saw.....

Any guesses?? Yep, it's Buzz Lightyear's rear end, for anyone who isn't a Toy Story aficionado. It was so funny to see that every time we got off the elevator. Anyway, the hotel (it was more like a motel) wasn't too fancy, but it worked for us. We were all just so happy to be there!!

Hanging out in the hotel room.

That is one happy kid!!

Wednesday the 4th: Time to hit the Magic Kingdom!! After a nutritious breakfast of Mickey waffles and bacon, we were on our way. The first stop (after ooing and aahing at Cinderella's castle of course) was Buzz Lightyear Spin, in Tommorrowland. Cameron has been talking about this ride for almost a year, when his friend from school told him all about it.

The rest of the day is pretty much a blur.....I do remember getting a picture with Mickey and Minnie...

...and going on a lot of the kiddie rides in Fantasyland. And of course we had to go on It's A Small World. I know it's kind of cheesey, but it has always been one of my favorites. We ate dinner at the Crystal Palace on Main Street. It is a "character dinner," meaning that Disney characters walk around to the tables while you're eating. At this dinner we had Winnie the Pooh and friends. Cameron seemed happy to see them, Connor was a little skeptical, and Kate pretty much started screaming anytime one of the characters came near. Eeyore about gave her a heart attack when he tip-toed up behind her....oh well, maybe when she's older we'll have to try this again.

Kate's staring down Piglet there....

We were wiped out and headed back to the hotel early so we could all get a good night sleep (hardly likely, with all five of us in one hotel room!)

Thursday the 5th: Epcot day! After enjoying the “entertainment” on the bus ride over (imagine a bunch of cheerleaders from Louisiana singing Sweet Child o’ Mine in a heavy southern drawl), we got a look at Spaceship Earth (it’s that big golf ball looking thing at Epcot.) It is unbelievable to see up close! Anyway, we spent the morning checking out the attractions, a favorite of mine being “Turtle Talk with Crush.” He’s an animated turtle you watch on a screen, but he was able to interact with the audience (how do they do that?!?) We spent the afternoon wandering through the World Showcase - England, France, Norway, Mexico, and Morocco were some of the countries represented. While we were in France I stopped at a bakery for a pastry (uh…..it was actually 3….hey, it’s not like I am going to get to Paris anytime soon, I’ll take what I can get.) Overall I really enjoyed Epcot, it’s more of an educational experience than just straight entertainment, but the kids still really seemed to like it. By late afternoon we caught the monorail to the Contemporary hotel to have dinner at Chef Mickey’s. Another “character meal,” I think by this point the kids were wondering why they couldn’t just enjoy a meal in peace :) Then we took the monorail into the Magic Kingdom just in time to catch the fireworks. Good day!!

Enough with the Disney characters already!

Friday the 6th: Time to check out Hollywood Studios. We were shocked to find out that the Toy Story ride had an 80 minute wait!! And the fast passes were already gone for the day!! So we decided to check out some other things, including a live show demonstrating how movie special effects are done in movies.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. We also met the characters from Monsters Inc. Kate handled Sully pretty well, I thought she’d be terrified!

After going on a few other rides and watching a parade, we made our way back around to Toy Story when the wait was a bit shorter – thank goodness!

Hanging out in the line for Toy Story Mania.

That night we had dinner at the California Grille, it’s a fancier restaurant on the top story of the one of the Disney hotels. Of course this is the dinner where the kids decide to act up, so it made for a less than relaxing experience. Afterwards we watched the fireworks from the roof, which was nice, though a bit chilly.

Saturday the 7th: Well we couldn’t stay away from the Magic Kingdom any longer so we headed back. This time we attacked Frontierland and Adventureland. Connor and I rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (he is barely 40 inches so he just made the cutoff.) Then we went to Splash Mountain where they also have a 40 inch height requirement, but there he was an inch too small (???) We watched the Spectromagic parade (really cool!) and had a great view watching the fireworks right in front of Cinderella’s castle. They were AMAZING, one of the best fireworks shows I have ever seen. And to think they do this every night! The park was open late, so we had a few more hours to enjoy. Mistake #1 – Taking the kids to the Haunted Mansion. Cameron will most likely have nightmares for awhile :( Mistake #2 – Letting Connor (who is prone to motion sickness) ride the Tea Cups. About halfway through, his face turned a strange green color, and we were done with rides for the night. Mistake #3 – Jinxing myself by taking a moment to savor how wonderful and absolutely perfect our vacation had been so far…..

Sunday the 8th: We woke up to a horrible retching sound. Oh. No. It was Connor puking all over his pillow and bed and everywhere. I still don’t know how Cameron – who was sleeping next to him – managed to sleep through all that. At first I thought this was the consequence of the tea cups the night before, but it soon became apparent it was more than that. Connor was violently ill the entire day. So we readjusted our plans and Keith took Cameron to the Animal Kingdom while I stayed back at the hotel with the little kids (Kate had a runny nose and fever so we kept her back as well.) It was a very long day. That evening Keith returned and I took Cameron over to the Magic Kingdom for a bit. I’ll spare you all the details of the rest of the evening, but because Connor hadn’t kept anything down in 18 hours, I kind of went into a panic and, after a visit from some EMTs and almost taking Connor to the hospital for dehydration, I ended up in a cab at 2am to get to a Walgreens across town to pick up some medicine to stop his constant puking. It was a long night. Wait, didn’t I just say it had been a long day? So yes, it had been a long day and a long night……….

Monday the 9th: We had A LOT of laundry to do that morning, so we hung around at the hotel, then I took Cameron out to lunch at the Planet Hollywood at Downtown Disney. We had a really good time eating lunch and hanging out at the Lego store. Cameron is such a fun kid!!

That sea creature (whatever it is) is made entirely of Legos!

Then Keith took the two nonvomiting children to the Magic Kingdom for one last night of fireworks and fun. I packed and policed the amount of fluids Connor could drink. And yes he was still throwing up.

Tuesday the 10th: We woke up oh so early to catch our plane, after staying up oh so late with a sick Connor. The flights were ok, more throwing up but by now we were developing a bit of immunity to the grossness of it all (I feel so badly for the people on our flights!!) We were so grateful to be home!!

So now here is it three days later, and Connor finally seems to be done with the throwing up. and even though Connor getting sick was a bummer, the rest of our vacation was so much fun and I am so excited to go again (maybe in a couple of years?) Sorry for all the details, I am sure I have lost everyone by now…….I think I’ll be done posting for awhile…..