Tuesday, January 18
Another 7 hours in the car. We were up at 6, on the road just after 8. We decided to try the scenic, gulf route. That didn't last very long, let me tell you. After about an hour of going mostly 40 mph, we decided to try and connect to I-10, the main road. That involved going into the eastern time zone, then back to central, before going back to eastern. It also involved going over and back over really big bridges. Mom and I were thrilled, let me tell you. ::rolls eyes::
But hey, we got here in daylight, which is nice. The villa is beautiful. Our balcony overlooks a pond with a fountain. My parents have a king size bed with a jacuzzi and insuite bathroom, Josh is on the sofa sleeper with his own TV and I have a bedroom with two beds, TV and connected bathroom. There's an open kitchen with a counter and bar stools and lovely decorations. Tomorrow, Epcot!
Wednesday, January 19
I have been to my first Disney park and it was gooooooooood. Dad and I went,
letting mom and Josh sleep in. It's literally an 8 minute drive in a straight
line from our parking space at the villa to the parking space at EPCOT. Straight
shot. Unbelievable.
It was a little chilly at 8:30, when we got there. I was in jeans, 3/4 sleeved
hoodie and pink chucks. By the time we left at 11:45, though, I would have
gladly shed the hoodie. We were at the ropes for the countdown to the park's
open, and that was greatly amusing.
Our first stop was at the Journey to the Imagination -we had the whole building
to ourselves. LOL We rode the silly ride and played in the other part. I took my
picture and sent it to a few of you. We made music with our arms and bodies and
made pictures make sound and played with slowmotion.
We walked around a lot. I opted to skip Mission:Space (even though the two
children I know under age 10 LOVED it and of course the Lance factor) because
frankly, I can get motion sick driving in my town. <.g> I had considered popping
some of my homeopathic pills before going, but I completely forgot. We did,
however, play a mission control game with space ships Titan and Orion and that
was a blast. To commemorate that, I bought a mission:Space shirt. ;)
We walked around more, did some Innovation things. Then we took off for the
World Showcase. We really only explored Britain, although we spent some time in
Norway as well. The UK was amazingly awesome, though. I took oodles of pictures.
Then, basically, we hiked around the circle and I snapped pictures because we
had to be out of there in 40 minutes. <.g>
Germany's model train place was fabulous - I adored it. The Venice "canal" was
so pretty, and the building for the US looked an awful lot like my college's
union. <.g> Norway's shop and church were wonderful, and Mexico smelled divine.
I would have loved to explore each place thoroughly but of course the whole
reason we're here is because of mom's conference. LOL That has to take
precedence, at least today.
I just had this huge grin on my face the entire time I was there. It was
fantastic. I can't imagine a better introduction to Disney World! And our timing
is perfect - the weather is superb. Upper 60s all this week, 70 on Saturday.
Couldn't ask for anything better.
Thursday, January 20
Josh was in the Festival of the Lion King!!!! We were just going to check out where the theater was, and they had room for one more wheelchair. It was an amazing show, utterly gorgeous. We were in between the elephant and giraffe, I think. <.g> Josh was down on the floor with mom, and when it came time for the Circle of Life, one of the cast came over and asked him and mom. So he got to shake a maraca type thing and go around the floats. He was SO exited!! He kept waving to everyone, it was so cute.
Other than that, the day was quiet. We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe - Mom has always, always wanted to go, and it was so fun. We sat by the rain and Josh loved the thunderstorms and watching the elephants talk in front of him. We explored different areas, I bought a MMC tshirt, we got our pictures taken with Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore, and had amazingly good frozen coffees by the Tree of Life. (Thanks for the heads up, Kate. <.g>) Funny thing - a lady named Jenni took our pics by the Tree of Life (cuteness with an added baby Simba) and then was there again to take our pic with Pooh Bear, and then at the end of the day, was in the camera shop and printed our pictures! LOL
We also took the Safari ride and saw TONS of animals! That was great - apparently you don't always see as many as we did.
Tonight we're all going to EPCOT for dinner at the Coral Reef and to show mom and Josh the countries and fireworks. I'm very tired and sore from walking, and so not entirely thrilled at the prospect (we're also leaving at 8:15am for Magic Kingdom and that should be lovely) but it should be fun.
Oh! We went back to EPCOT last night, too. Stopped in all the countries except Mexico, due to lack of time. Canada had a whole shelf of Anne of Green Gables stuff - I ended up with a doll, the soundtrack and a pen. LOL Nearly $100 of Anne stuff. I also met a fellow Anne fan in front of the shelf, and we chatted for awhile, which was fun. The ending fireworks were amazing, and I greatly enjoyed it.
Hopefully tonight I can try to hit the Norway Maelstrom ride. I'd like to try it! Oh, but I really want to see the American Experience. I wonder if I can make that work....
Friday, January 21
This was our longest day of all! We left for the park at 8:15am. The ferry was easier for the wheelchair than the monorail, so we took that over. The fog was so dense, we could barely see off of the boat!! What a welcome for us. <.g> It got sunny quickly, though, and the fog dispersed.
Our first stop was Pirates of the Carribean. Josh was less than impressed. <.g> Too dark and too slow. It was neat to look at, to be sure, but not our favorite ride. We immediately turned back and went to the Aladdin ride we passed that Josh thought looked awesome. Dad was going to take Josh on it, and he did, but there were extra seats and so mom and I ended up going on it too. Eeeeeeek!!!!! Who would have thought it went that high???? And we were in the back, so we could control the tilt but not going down lower. A lot more freaky than I thought it'd be. LOL
Haunted Mansion was the next stop, and we loved it. Dad declined to ride because he thought it was going to be a wild ride, so it was just mom, Josh and I. We had the ride to ourselves because they stop the cars for us to get on, and it was so neat!! I just adored it. We told Dad about what he missed out on, so after lunch, he and I rode it again, this time without Josh, so from the real start. (Wheelchairs begin at the exit.)
Josh had seen the Tiki Room on our way over, and he HAD to stop, because his Hilary Duff sings the song on Disney Mania. <.g> It was a really cute show, we all enjoyed it, and we got one of Iago's feathers that fell, for Josh's scrapbook. The Jungle Cruise was a fabulously funny script and a lovely ride. We also saw Mickey's PhilharMagic - WOW!!! Wow wow wow. We adored it, it was fabulous, and wow. Multisenstory show, and so cool. We didn't think Josh would do the 3D glasses, and he didn't - until Ariel came on the screen. <.g> He kept them on for her, and then the rest of the show.
Lunch was so cool - Crystal Palace was a lovely, big, open old style restaurant with excellent food. Perfect for Josh and his wheelchair, and for greeting Pooh Bear, Eeyore and Piglet. I got some great pictures, and nice snuggles with Pooh Bear and Eeyore. <.g> It was a wonderful experience.
We rode the train, Josh and mom went on Goofy's Barnraiser, we ate yummy things from the bakery on Main Street, and we saw the afternoon Parade. At this point, we took mom and Josh back to the hotel (It was about 4), but then dad and I came back.
I loved Liberty Square - the costumes and Christmas store (we got a 2005 Disney ornament for our tree) and everything, really. I also loved the Wishes fireworks display. It was so neat! I loved the hearts and stars and the Blue Fairy and the shooting star fireworks. It was just gorgeous.
By the time we got back to the hotel, it was almost 10. It was long and tiring, but so fun. I can't wait to go again. LOL
Saturday, January 22
I woke up to Josh practicing his Bear cha-cha-cha. This kid was way excited to see Bear in the Big Blue House, let me tell you. We spent the morning wrestling with the internet and then headed to the park just before 1. The weather was gorgeous - 75 and only partly cloudy. Just perfect.
Our first stop was Pizza Planet. Josh loves Toy Story, and I wanted to see where Kate worked. <.g> Yes, they still have those costumes, I'm sorry to say. LOL But the food was pretty good.
We had to dash over to Playhouse Disney because Josh was all gungho. He actually wanted to wait in line for 30 minutes, when he didn't have to. <.g> He got a little too excited at the start, but settled in and loved it. I did, too. The rather cute and entertaining host, Jamie, who was my age, had a little something to do with it. You'll see him in pictures, trust me. It was a fun little show, though, and I'm glad it worked out. We then hopped across the way to The Voyage of the Little Mermaid, which Josh also loved.
I LOVED the Great American Movie Ride. Eeeeeee! It was so up my alley. I would have love love loved to do it twice. Sadly, Josh was on his fourth park in three days, and hit overload. I didn't know it, but my parents had a devil of a time keeping him seated and quiet. I thought the ride was awesome, though.
We mostly hit stores from there on out. AFI was neat. I found a Justin pic for sale that cracked me up. I considered buying a Casablanca poster and a tshirt with Abott and Costello's Who's On First routine printed on it, but decided against it. I really wanted to go on the backlot tour and see the multisensory show on Walt Disney's life, but Josh just couldn't. So I saved them for next time. : ) We stopped in the Muppet Store, and I grabbed a Miss Piggy tshirt and a princess Mickey to go on my car antenna. <.g> Then came time for Fantasmic. That was so neat - I loved the water as a movie screen! They are so creative at Disney. I really enjoyed it. Then I dashed for the store to pick up our family picture, with a cute little Stitch inserted in Josh's hat. We hit the shops one last time and then we left Disney. : ( : ( : (
I loved the look of MGM. The old billboards, the old style buildings, everything. I just fell in love with it all. I cannot wait to go back to that park, most of all, see the stuff I missed and just go slowly through it all.
I still can't believe I'm done with Disney. No fair! I wanna go baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack. LOL
I got one tshirt at each park as my souvenier - Mission:SPACE at Epcot, Mickey Mouse Club at Animal Kingdom (for I am an *NSYNC fangirl, forever and ever amen), a silver sparkle outline of Cinderella castle at Magic Kingdom and a Miss Piggy kissy kissy shirt today at MGM. We also took pics at the parks. We're using the Cinderella Castle one as our 2005 family picture, the rest (with Stitch and Simba) we'll put throughout the house.
I loved Orlando. I loved the villa, the weather (65-75, windows open at night), the sites, the parks, everything. Dad really is looking at retiring down here instead of Utah. We'll see how that goes. Meanwhile, this same conference mom came for is in Orlando every January, so here's hoping. <.g>
