Disney! Day 1

We're on our first trip to Disney World in Florida and I want to write our adventures down so I don't forget anything. It's been so much fun so far.

Mar 29, 2010 - We get up at the crack of dawn to get our flight from Dulles to Orlando. But don't worry, the flight is 40 minutes delayed, so we get to listen to complaints of ,"I'm tired of waiting! How much longer? It's already been one-hundred hours! I can't wait any more, Mommy!"

When we finally arrive, we are all past starving. Thank goodness we have a driver waiting with a sign at baggage claim that says "Welcome Wheatfall Family". Our bags come very quickly and we proceed to the van. Our driver Manny is very nice.

Once we arrive at the Swan, we get our room, put our things in the room (after a bit of a delay b/c the room isn't quite ready yet) and go to the Garden Grove restaurant. It's 1:45pm and they close at 2pm. . . The restaurant has a huge tree in the middle of it - quaint.

We then proceed to the pool, but with a high wind blowing, it's barely 70 degrees and FREEZING. The girls don't care. I tell them no way I am getting in that water, but good old daddy gets in with them. They swim while I doze off in the lounge chair in a hoodie to protect me from the cold wind.

I stop by the hotel's Disney desk to buy our 3 day passes. Grand total for family of 4? $864!!!! This makes me even more curious to find out what all the Disney-mania is all about.

We go back to our room and they nap. I shower and get ready for dinner. We forage for food by walking on "The Boardwalk" area to the ESPN Zone. It's a loud sports bar type place with TV's blaring. I tell them I'm allergic to flour and sugar and the chef comes out himself. They fixed my food perfectly abstinently.

In the hotel room, I present Sophie and Viv with the first of their "presents" - new Tiana nightgowns. Then I show them their autograph books I bought them, and explain what "autographs" are.

We settle back in for a good night's sleep, while Daddy and I map out our adventure at the Animal Kingdom park the next day.



March 30, 2010

We wake up at 6am. Garden Grove breakfast opens at 6:30am at our hotel and we get there around 7am. Animal Kingdom opens at 8am and we need to get the transportation to the park. I am very impressed the breakfast buffet has plain low-fat yogurt! I have never seen a restaurant that has it. I make a bowl, pour in my 1 oz of shredded wheat and cut up a banana. I take a bite, only to find out it is vanilla yogurt! We make friends with Erik the manager and he brings me plain, yogurt in the container so I can see it. They also bring me oatmeal, no charge.

We anxiously await our bus outside the hotel. It's the first time taking the Disney Transport system. It works great and really is hassle free.

We get to Animal Kingdom just as they are opening the gates a little before 8am. There is a welcome show starring Mickey and Minnie in khaki outback gear. We rush straight to the back of the park to the Kilamanjaro Safari. We easily walk briskly through the empty snake lines, and I'm thinking how wonderful this is we are early. I can only imagine what it would be like if you were snaked in there, mid-day, in 90 degree Florida heat. Not fun.

The safari is a success - we see lots of animals (albeit the lion and cheetah are quarantined up on a rock so they can't escape - this makes them guaranteed to be visible). Then we take a train to Rafiki's petting zoo, where Vivian is in heaven. She grabs a brush and begins brushing anything that will stand still. There are rams, goats and sheep. The animals sometimes walk back and forth between their roped areas, and I look over to see Vivian escorting a sheep from one area to the other. She is walking alongside the animal like it's been her best friend for 20 years! She claimed this was her favorite part of the day.

We then made our way to the Festival of the Lion King. There were a bunch of characters in costume and Sophie pointed out our first princess!!! It was Pocahontas. Viv demands to see her and I have to explain to her that there is a LINE and we must wait. She just wants to run up to her and start hugging her. . . This was their first autograph.

On our way to Lion King, Vivian had quite a fit - she did not want to see this show at ALL. She was very concerned about Simba's father dying, and hates that. She wanted nothing to do with it at all. Luckily, it is not a recreation of the story of the Lion King, but only a "festival" - more like a circus. 4 singers perform songs, engaging the crowd, and giant robotic versions of Poomba, Simba, an elephant and a giraffe watch. There are gymnasts dressed like "monkeys" who perform on parallel bars and rings and a trampoline. It's quite clever.

The highlight of the day may have been right before lunch. Mickey and Minnie had lines for autographs - Viv wanted to see Mickey and Sophie, Minnie. We split up and I went with Viv to see Mickey. Minnie's line was a bit shorter, and Daddy called us over, but Viv insisted on Mickey.

As we waited in line, a young russian guy with ballcap was looking around nervously. He motioned to someone, calling faintly, "Natasha!". He didn't get "natasha's" attention, so he looks at me, tells me, "i'll be right back" and takes off for about 10 minutes.

I look over to watch for him, and see him standing near the Mickey line, meanwhile we are getting closer and closer to Mickey. I am thinking to myself, "No way am I letting him back in here when I've been waiting patiently with my 3yo." He then comes back in the line when we are at least 1/2 way to Mickey, with a young wife and 6yo looking daughter. He doesn't even acknowledge me or ask permission or anything. He just stands in front of me. Then he gets on his cell phone and starts talking about an HMO or something. His wife(?) is looking nervously at me and I am thinking to myself , "I'm really mad. I don't like this. This isn't fair."

Now I do not want to cause bad juju at the "happiest place on earth". I do not want to be a "hater" but still, in my gut, I feel fair is fair. I finally say to him and his wife, "I have been waiting with my daughter and you are just cutting back in line. I never said I would save your place. I would like to go in front of you. If you are going to cut back in line, you can go behind us, not in front of us." He looks at me, apologetically, b/c he knows darn well that what he has tried to do is not fair. He says, "Parhaps dare hes beeen some misteek. I tolt you I would be beck." So I said, "I did not agree to save your place. I don't even know you. You can go behind us." His wife said, "Ok, that is fine. We are sorry."

I felt uncomfortable with the situation, but still felt it had to be done in the name of fairness. Not long after this, the person working Mickey's line says, "Mickey has only 5 more minutes. Then he has to take a break."

It is almost 11am, time for our lunch reservations at Rainforest Cafe, back at the entrance to the park. My husband is already on his way there with Sophie, since Minnie's line was shorter. "4 minutes til Mickey has to take a break." I'm doing the mental math, there are 3 people ahead of us. Finally it's our turn - Viv is DELIGHTED to say the least. She hands Mickey her autograph book. She poses with him. Even I run up after snapping some photos of her and pose for the PhotoPass photographer. As we leave, we hear the person working the line say, "Sorry folks, Mickey will be back in 5 minutes - he's taking a break."

I was SO GLAD I stood up for justice with the russian!

Lunch at Rainforest Cafe was so awesome. It's literally like a magical rainforest park inside there. There were robotic gorillas, a huge tree python, tons of saltwater fish tanks. The kids absolutely loved it. If only all restaurants were like this - they were not bored for one second.

After lunch, we tried to walk a nature trail and see some animals, but the girls were begging to go back to the hotel and take a nap (?). Who was I to argue this? We did browse through a giftshop on our way out and the girls could not decide on one souvenir. . Viv is leaning toward white sequin wedding mouse ears. . . .

We hopped back on the bus and at the hotel, they napped. When they awoke, they swam with Daddy while I took a nap.

I then presented them with new dresses - I had no idea this would cause such mayhem. It seems that Viv did not like the dress I got her - she wanted the one I got Sophie (of course) but it was not her size. I got them flower clips for their hair too, and this caused Viv to have a meltdown as well. I gave them some princess lip gloss, pink for Sophie, purple for Viv, but didn't realize that the "pink" had a picture of Ariel on it. . . oy vey.

After the tears were dried, we had dinner at Il Mulino, a very expensive, not worth it at all, Italian restaurant here in the Swan hotel. I got a huge piece of steak that was a great cut, but way more than I needed and it was $45!!!???

We let the girls take a walk to the boardwalk overlook so we can see the fireworks at Epcot at 9pm. They don't last long and it's not terribly cold out like yesterday.

We go back to the hotel, and they go right to bed. Time to plan Day 2.