The Parks

I've been planning a trip to Disney World since the kids were little, wanting to go when Taz was 7 and Rainbow 6. It turned out to be the perfect time - they are young enough to be into the characters and the magic but big enough to have the endurance for each day's activities and the height to ride most of the rides. Although I suspect that Disney has enough to offer for all ages that any time can be the perfect time.

I decided upon a seven day park hopper pass because I wanted our vacation to be leisurely. Frankly, I was envisioning a morning at one of the four Disney theme parks followed by some lounging at the pool. I pictured myself reclining with a People magazine while the kids frolicked, or perhaps even napping.

Didn't happen. But I will say, we made the most of our park passes and did pretty much everything we wanted to.

We arrived in Orlando around 1:30 p.m. on Friday. By the time we got to the hotel, checked in, and found some much needed food (it was early in the trip, after all, when we still had appetites), it was almost 5:00 so we decided to forgo a park that day and to explore our neighborhood instead. We were on a lake with other hotels, restaurants and shopping. Scouter and Taz became quickly enamoured with the ESPN restaurant/gift shop so that's where we spent much of our time. Friday was quite chilly and we wondered what arctic climates bred the people who were in the pool.

Saturday dawned sunny and beautiful. We walked to Epcot, which was about five minutes from our hotel. I had purchased and studied the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, so we entered the park with a plan of action. It worked quite well, and we were able to do the three major rides very quickly: Test Track (twice), Mission to Mars, and Soaring (twice). While we were in line for Soaring, a Disney Dream Team popped up and awarded us FastPasses for six of the major attractions at Epcot, good for that day. Score! This is Disney's year of a million dreams, and the special FastPasses are one of the dream gifts. One of the Dream Team members chatted with Taz for awhile and reminded us of Scouter's brother Mark.

Taz and Rainbow were anxious to see some characters, and our longest line of the day was to do just that. We were rewarded by a host of characters, one after the other, including Mickey, Minnie, Chip & Dale, Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy. We got autographs and plenty of pictures.

In the middle of the afternoon, Taz said he was tired and ready to go. I could have coaxed him through it, but Scouter jumped on the opening and scurried off with Taz in tow to hit the ESPN zone to watch the Va. Tech/Miami football game (which we won by the way). Rainbow and I opted to use our Dream Team passes to hit Test Track, Mission to Mars, and Soaring yet again. Soaring was her favorite ride of the whole trip - it was a really cool simulation of gliding over many locations in California, including Napa, San Fransisco, the desert, LA, San Diego, and of course, Disney Land.

We swung by to pick up the boys on the way to our next adventure which was dinner and an Aloha Luau at the Polynesian Hotel. Dinner was much improved by the inclusion of wine and beer. The show included Hawaiian and other South Pacific native dances including a flame thrower. Taz and Rainbow even went on stage to learn the hula after much encouragement (aka bribery) from Daddy. Rainbow put her sweet little head down on the table and fell sound asleep before the show was over, so I carried her back to our hotel. That was my one and only workout of the week.

Damn at the rate I'm going, this trip post is going to be longer than one of my race reports even! I'll try to summarize...

Sunday, we went to MGM which is setup like a real Hollywood studio and actually functions as one although of course we didn't see any of the real stuff. We saw Donald and Daisy Duck while there and got the requisite autographs and pictures. Also Stitch. Taz and Scouter hit the Rock and Roll roller coaster and the Tower of Terror (Taz's two favorite attractions of the week) while Rainbow and I took in a condensed Beauty and the Beast show. We all enjoyed the High School Musical pep rally, several stunt shows, and the abundant Christmas lights after dark.

Monday, the kids were wiped and we all slept in a bit. We then went to the character breakfast at our hotel which featured Minnie, Goofy, and Chip & Dale. Rainbow decided that Minnie was her favorite while Taz preferred Goofy. Then Taz realized that he and Dale are both missing their two front teeth. Much excitement! I have a cute picture of Dale pointing to his mouth and Taz's.

We headed off to Animal Kingdom which was very crowded. Due to our late arrival, lines for the major attractions were too long for our children's tolerance. We ended up walking through several animal displays and seeing two shows, Lion King and Finding Nemo, which were excellent. Lion King featured interpretive dance to pretty much all the songs in the movie, while Nemo summarized the story with large puppets. That description totally doesn't do it justice! We saw Rafiki from Lion King and Pocahontas characters while we were there.

My book had warned us to save the Magic Kingdom for last since the other parks would pale in comparison. Tuesday, it was finally time to go. We got there right when the park opened and followed the book's itinerary almost exactly. It worked really well. We were able to ride Space Mountain and tons of other rides plus see shows like the 3D Mickey's Phiharmagic, Rainbow's favorite. She was also a big fan of Space Mountain and said she "cut her teeth" on that roller coaster. We saw Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, Peter Pan and Wendy for autographs and photos. We even snuck in some day two activities such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Big Thunder Mountain for the boys. We had a character dinner with Minnie, Goofy, Chip & Dale. I was a little disappointed to see the same characters again but the kids were thrilled so all was good. Our restaurant was right on the parade route so we popped out a few times to get a glimpse. Then we enjoyed a fantastic fireworks show.

Wednesday, we returned to the Magic Kingdom and we all rode Big Thunder Mountain. Twice. The kids begged to ride Splash Mountain, much to my dismay, so we finally did it. Rainbow's butt got soaked! We did a few other things then we actually returned to the hotel for some pool time! At last! Somehow though instead of relaxing in a lounge chair, I ended up going down this huge cool water slide into the pool with the kids. Repeatedly. Then we returned to the Magic Kingdom, rode Space Mountain again and did a few other things, then saw the parade in full and watched the fireworks again. Scouter is a fireworks connoisseur and deemed these among the best he's seen.

Thursday, we were on a mission to return to Animal Kingdom for the activities we were shut out of on Monday. Both were excellent. The Kilimanjaro Safari was so realistic, and we saw tons of animals - lions, giraffe, elephants, hippos, rhinos, monkeys, and more. And the Everest Expedition roller coaster was my favorite ride of all. It was good and long with several big drops and a backwards segment. Fun! We saw Pooh, Tigger, and yes Kermit, Eyore! We also caught some more shows including Flights of Wonder with live birds and a funny 3D bug film. Animal Kingdom was Scouter's favorite park. It definitely had the best shows. Taz and I agreed that our favorite park was whichever one we were in at the moment!

Thursday night, we headed back to MGM to see Fantasmic which was quite an experience. The staff at Disney is unbelievably creative. This show featured Mickey in a dream sequence with many of the characters in his imagination. The bad guys from many of his shows stage a coup but Mickey prevails. Many of the graphics were displayed on huge vertical shooting sheets of water. Rainbow found it to be frightening, but it was Taz's favorite show.

As we were heading back to our hotel, Rainbow - in very dramatic manner - started asking WHEN WHEN WHEN she was going to be able to get some sleep around here. She cracks me up. Taz and I strolled hand in hand as he regaled me with his vision for our family Christmas card, which by his plan will be a collage of all his character pictures and rides.

Friday morning, we hit Epcot one last time. The highlight of this visit was lunch in Italy at a restaurant called Tutto Italia which was by far the best meal we had. We would have liked to spend more time in the World Showcase area of Epcot which featured a number of countries from Japan to Mexico, but alas, we had to leave for the airport.

It was a great trip. The kids are already asking when we're going back.