Disney World Day 6

We had originally thought we would go to the beach after attending church on Sunday. But that would have meant 9 am church (again, 7 am our time and 6 am Grandma's time) and we just weren't in the mood to get up that early. We spent a leisurely morning by the pool and made it to 1 o'clock church quite nicely. Thank heavens for a GPS and listings of LDS churches and meeting times world wide. We found a bench and sat in air conditioned comfort. Honestly, I looked around and wondered, why do these people live in Florida? It is wholly uncomfortable. Kristen snuggled up next to Grandma and within five minutes was fast asleep. On our way home she stated, "That was a great meeting."

Magic Kingdom was open until midnight, so we decided to spend the rest of the day there. We had lunch of leftovers before leaving the condo and filled up our cooler with plenty of snacks and water. I would say that Magic Kingdom was not quite as busy as our previous day, but it was still fairly crowded. Especially in Tomorrowland. That seemed to be a very popular place to hang out.

Misha chummin' it with Walt and Minnie:



It was our sixth day of non-stop fun. Most of us were feeling like this; but some were still having fun kicking up their heels.





We experienced "Splash Mountain" and "Big Thunder Mountain Railway" again and all kinds of rides and shows in between. Grandma took Kristen to "Mickey's Toontown Fair", and we saw "Country Bear Jamboree." It was pretty lame and 1970ish; it could definitely use a little Disney magic.

We had dinner at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe before trying to ride Space Mountain again. The line was far too long and FASTPASSes had long ago run out. I guess it was for the best since on our previous visit, I left my sunglasses in the ride. Chris went back up to the loading area to try and retrieve them. It took about twenty minutes and my children weren't very pleased with me. I was careful to check all cargo bins before leaving rides after that.

Prior to watching the fireworks again and part of the main street parade before getting caught in the throng moving toward the exit, we rode one of our final rides of the day: "Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin". As you can guess from the name, it was inspired by Toy Story 2 and involved shooting laser guns at targets. Kristen and I rode together and she kept saying, "Die, die, die."

Chris surprised the girls and splurged on Mickey ears. They were all mostly thrilled except Kristen who had wanted her name on the front of her hat. Telling her that everyone had their names on the back didn't console her. Chris felt badly for not asking her first. She had a wedding veil down the back and you couldn't see her name all that great. Oh well.







We boarded the monorail to return to the parking area. Kristen was asleep two minutes later; I say, "Thank heavens" for the stroller.

Disney World Day 5

Saturday was our return day to Epcot and Linda's first experience with the park. We were sure to have our stroller easily identifiable. We got an earlier start today so that we could get FASTPASSes to "Soarin'" and "Test Track". It was a partly cloudy day which was nice for less intense sunshine, but the humidity was high. We started with "Spaceship Earth" because, really, if you are coming to Epcot, this is the icon you identify with. We even picked it out from the airplane when we flew in.



This was the one and only time I caught Kristen plugging her nose the entire vacation. Apparently, Orlando doesn't smell too bad.



Riding "Spaceship Earth".



One of the unexpectedly cool rides we took was "Living with the Land" which gave us a tour of amazing greenhouses and some of the forward-thinking methods they are researching for growing food. Even my girls thought it was quite interesting. We parted ways for Kristen and I to stand in line at the "Character Spot" while the rest became super secret agents in the "Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure".











Once we met up again, we headed over to the "Test Track" and followed that with lunch. Fortunately, we all seemed to have pretty strong stomachs. I saw one girl hurling in the bathroom.

We made the mistake of riding "Mission: SPACE" again. Chris and I both felt nauseous the first time we rode it, but Amy and Misha wanted Grandma to go on it with them. This time, Chris, Grandma AND I felt nauseous following our blast into space. It didn't seem to bother our younger passengers.



We traveled back to the World Showcase since we hadn't had much time on our previous visit.



There was still so much of this park that we didn't get to see, a lot of that due in part to the downpour we experienced. The little shop across from our umbrella'd table switched from selling squirt water bottles with fans attached to $7 ponchos. They did a very brisk business. After an hour of watching people with or without ponchos and shoes racing past us, we decided to don our ponchos and join the throng. Plus, the rain began to let up to a light sprinkle.





Our final ride for the day was the popular "Soarin'" that simulated a free-flying hang glider adventure. It was very cool. As we flew over the Orange Trees of Florida, we could even smell them. It was a fun ride to end our day AND we still had our stroller.

Grandma kindly watched our girls for us while Chris and I went on a date. We ordered pizza for the girls and Grandma and were on our way. Sadly, the pizza delivery people were non-Disney employees (I'm telling you, there's something to our theory), and the pizza did not arrive for two hours!

Chris and I went to the House of Blues at Downtown Disney. Wouldn't you know, our waitress was exceptional. I changed a menu item for my order and when I got it, it tasted awful. She told me that another person had ordered the same thing previously and hadn't like it either. She kindly resubmitted my order. We saw Iron Man 2 following dinner. I was so exhausted, I'm afraid I missed some of the key moments.

Everyone was sound asleep when we arrived back at the condo.

Disney World Day 4

Finally, they slept in. I guess keeping them up until after 11 pm helps with the sleeping-in factor. We decided to take this day a little slower and arrived at Disney's Hollywood Studios at 11 am Orlando time.

Sometime during our first days in Orlando, I got a nasty bite on my leg. It didn't bother me much for two days and then my leg began to swell, the hair follicles around the bite were red, and I itched like the dickens. Misha too had some bites, and this morning, I asked Chris to stop at CVS to pick up some Bendadryl spray. It was somewhat effective for a short time and had to be reapplied often. Crazy insects. A week and a half later, I still have redness on my leg. Another remnant of Disney World is a feeling of vertigo as I sit and type--it seems as though I am still riding rides, though I no longer wake up with that "in motion" sensation.

Riding on the trams from the parking lot to the entrance of each park can be fairly boring because the tram "cast member" was either hard to understand or not funny or the experience can be quite entertaining. Always the drill is to wait until the tram comes to a complete stop before exiting. We often heard, "Wait for it...wait for it...wait for it...NOW!" And then everyone would disembark with a "NOW" attitude--get outta my way! Kristen picked up on that and began her own mantra as we entered Disney World and neared the entrance sign, "Wait for it...wait for it...wait for it...Now!" Sometimes we heard "wait for it" twenty times before we finally reached the sign.



We began our day at Hollywood Studios. It was the beginning of their Star Wars Weekends. Later in the day, we got pictures and autographs with some pretty fun characters. Chris headed down Sunset Boulevard to get a FASTPASS to "Tower of Terror" while the girls and I, including Grandma, watched the High School Musical 3 concert celebration in front of Mickey's Magic Hat on Hollywood Boulevard. Amy loved it and hoped to be picked to be a part of the show. No luck this time. From there we watched "Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!"



There were a few rides, such as Toy Story Midway Mania! and Rock and Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, that were so busy that we had no hope of seeing them, but there were plenty of other fun shows and rides to see. We made it back to Tower of Terror at our designated time amid nervous protestations from our girls. They wanted to go on it, but they felt A LOT of trepidation. I took this picture of Misha as we were waiting in line. Her expression on the ride was pretty similar. She kept telling us, "I'm not a screamer, I'm a clutcher." That's me, pretty much, too. Kristen liked to tell us that even though a ride was scary, "I didn't say a word." That was not always true. You might remember me saying something about her "screaming her ever-loving little head off" on "Expedition Everest". It was her way of staying brave. The Tower of Terror definitely required a little bravery; it was stomach-dropping, plunging fun.



I took a picture of the photo they snapped of us mid-ride.



Lunchtime. Not so many nicely-shaded spots today, but we found an out-of-the-way place without too much traffic. Our lunches were pretty routine and maybe boring, but the girls were excited and anxious to move on to their next adventure and didn't want to spend a lot of time eating.

Grandma (aka Linda) grew up in California close to the beach and was pretty amazed that the building fronts and streets reminded her so much of what she remembered from her teen years.

The girls were thrilled to see C3PO on "Star Tours" but even more excited as we exited the ride.







Amy wasn't about to pass Darth Vader by without an autograph and picture. We waited with her and then jumped in for a photo or two.





As we neared the end of our day at Hollywood Studios, Kristen and the girls were also excited to see this popular character. We were one of the last few allowed in line before they closed the door.









But that doesn't mean that the day was over for Grandma. After dinner at Logans with more horrible service, she enjoyed the funky hair stylings of Misha and Kristen. We figured we were enduring all of this bad service because all of the quality, happy workers were hired by Disney!

Disney World Day 3

This morning, Amy was our early riser, which is so unusual for her. To be fair, the blinds in the bedrooms let in a lot of sunlight, and their 8 am was our 6 am, so it was plenty bright. Add to that a little Disney excitement and sleeping in was nearly impossible. This was our day for experiencing the Magic Kingdom and reuniting with our long, lost stroller. We drove to The Contemporary hotel and while we waited for Chris to figure out where Mrs. Merrill Lynch had left it, a sky writer sent us messages: "TRUST JESUS" AND "U + GOD = HAPPINESS (happy face)"

We parked in The Contemporary's parking lot and headed inside to the monorail. It would have been faster to walk, but the experience was fun. We loaded up our lunch into the stroller and we were off. Our first FASTPASS was for Space Mountain. Unfortunately, our return appointment time was lots later in the day, and we weren't able to get another one for a couple of hours either. Not a problem at Disney World, there are always plenty of other lines to wait in. Today the park was packed--it seemed as though there was wall-to-wall people.





Amy particularly loved "Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor". She was highlighted on the main screen and asked numerous questions. She loved it. Kristen was sitting right next to her and made sure to lean in as close as possible. Misha was sitting next to Chris and grateful that she wasn't anywhere near the spotlight.

It was so nice to have our packed lunch with us today. We found a secluded shady area and enjoyed meats, cheeses, bread, snacks and treats. Interesting as we left to see a Muslim gentleman with his prayer rug saying his daily prayers. After a refreshing lunch break in the shade, we continued on riding rides and watching shows. It was a blast. Our girls were great, and it impressed Chris and I that they would look through the gift shops and then just walk out without begging for something. 'Course the alternative for them wasn't great:



We stayed at Magic Kingdom until 6 pm, even though it was open until 11 pm. We had just finished our "Splash Mountain" ride where I got soaked. My family thought it was hilarious.



We decided to take a break, get some dinner, and swim. We had plenty of leftovers from Macaroni Grill and the girls were off as quickly as possible to swim. I put a toe in the water and quickly retracted it. The water was NOT warm. But the girls and Chris said it was refreshing. I said the hot tub was refreshing.

We returned to the park at 9:15 pm. The 9 o'clock "Celebrate a Dream Come True" parade had just finished and the multitude of people leaving was amazing. We had to push our way past the people leaving, or we would have been caught up too. A light rain was falling which inspired even more people to leave the park. We had a FASTPASS to "Peter Pan's Flight" but held off to watch the fireworks. They came from the left and the right, and we were right under them. Misha plugged her ears the whole time, but the music and fireworks were amazing. After that, we rode the Peter Pan ride and then caught a few other rides we had missed earlier in the day. "The Magic Carpets of Aladdin" was nearly empty so as we walked in, I asked the operator if we could stay on if the line didn't get longer. She said, "Sure." Misha and Amy didn't hear my question because after the ride, Chris, Kristen and I were still sitting in our magic carpet and the other two were walking back to where we parked our stroller. They spied us and asked what we were doing. They quickly climbed over a wall and got back on the ride. Not necessarily kosher Disney etiquette, but the line was short.

We had a little time left before the second main street parade and went on the Jungle cruise. Our girls were pooped. Kristen was all but falling asleep. Until we had a front-row seat next to Frontierland for the parade. Kristen was waved at and talked to--it made her night that Snow White shook her hand. Snow White said to Chris, "You look a little outnumbered." You just know Kristen's five-year old little brain had imagined such wonderful things about Disney World. So wonderful to watch dreams coming true for your children.

The parking lot for the Magic Kingdom was quite a distance from the entrance to the park. In fact, it was separated by a lake so the only way to get to the parking lot was either via the monorail or on the ferry. We chose the ferry just for the fun of it. The monorail would have been much faster. Kristen fell asleep in the stroller on the ferry.

We stopped at Publix grocery store to pick up more food and...Chris picked up a Bag Lady. He came back to the car with her in tow. She was quite a bit older, had definitely been drinking, and informed us that she had a really bad cold. She needed a ride across the street to the bus stop. It took us awhile to finally figure out where she wanted to go, but we got her there. Interesting.

Our final exciting event for the day was to arrive back at the condo to find Grandma Ball had arrived. She was excited. The girls were excited. We let them hug and talk for a couple of minutes and then shooed the girls off to bed. They were asleep within minutes.

Disney FASTPASS Explained

If you have a Disney FASTPASS for a ride, you're loving life. If you don't, waiting in line stinks, especially when you see those with FASTPASSes walking right on by you. Here's how they work:

"Attractions operating FASTPASS will have a regular line and a FASTPASS line. A sign at the entrance will say how long the wait is in the regular line. If the wait is acceptable to you, hop in line. If it seems too long, insert your park admission pass into a FASTPASS machine and receive an appointment time (for later in the day) to return and ride. When you return at the designated time, you enter the FASTPASS line and proceed directly to the attaction's preshow or boarding area." Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2010

We also forgot to take this book with us.

Disney World Day 2

It was a bright and early morning for us on Wednesday the 26th. Misha and Kristen shared a king-size bed and when either woke up early, they proceeded to wake the other up as well. Might have had something to do with having a tv in their room. We were up and dressed and on our way by 8 am--10 am Orlando time--a slow start for the die hard Disney fan. We decided to stay on Colorado time. Since we didn't have the stroller, we left our lunch in the cooler in the van. Otherwise, we would have just slipped it in the back of the stroller and stopped at a shady spot in the park. Alas, no stroller. I suppose it had its pros and cons. On the pro side, it made getting around the park a little easier without having to worry about parking a stroller all the time. As for the cons, there were more of them: Kristen got wiped out pretty quickly trying to keep up with Daddy Long Legs; it would have been nice to store stuff in the basket underneath; we had to go back to the van for lunch. We carried a backpack full of water, snacks, and sunscreen. After a few days in the park, we all knew the drill for applying sunscreen.



Day Two took us to the Animal Kingdom. Our first stop was to get a Fast Pass at Expedition Everest. The girls were semi-excited about this ride. Prior to arriving, both Amy and Misha vowed to conquer their fear of roller coasters. They were quite successful.

Now, let's get back to bad hair days. I was having them, that's for sure, and my makeup felt as though it was going to melt off my face. So when Chris and the girls wanted to go on the Kali River Rapids, I took preventative measures. They thought I was a wuss, but we'd been on a similar ride at Elitch Gardens in Denver, and I got soaked. So, I wore my poncho. And yes, I probably looked ridiculous, but I stayed fairly dry. Thanks to Tasha for giving me the tip about ponchos. Even if it never rained, mine was useful.

Kristen was a trooper. She was just tall enough that she could ride almost all of the rides and was willing to go on all of them. Though she probably never really knew what she was getting herself in to most of the time. When we finally went on the Expedition Everest, she sat with me and screamed her ever-loving little head off the whole time. When we got off she asked, "Was that monster real?" I had to reassure her that it was just pretend, and she was okay with that.

We saw a wide variety of animals in the Maharajah Jungle Trek. The girls particularly enjoyed the tigers. You can see Kristen doing her impression of one:







We rode a number of rides that were fairly easy and enjoyable for Kristen and saw a few of the shows. We all enjoyed "It's Tough to be a Bug", but be ready for a few surprises.





Mid afternoon, Mr. Merrill Lynch left a message on Chris' cell phone that his wife, Betsy, would be getting in touch with us about the stroller. We finally connected via phone later that evening. She apologized for taking our stroller, but wanted it to be our fault for not having a name tag on it. You'd think they would have checked for their own name tag! Anyway, they were leaving the next morning, didn't have any transportation to bring the stroller to us and wondered where theirs was. When we told her that Guest Services wouldn't let us take their stroller, she was a little miffed--again that probably goes back to not having the transportation to go and get it from Epcot. They were staying at The Contemporary next to the Magic Kingdom. We told them we could pick up our stroller from the concierge, but they were on their own for picking up their own. Whew. Chris had faith that we would get ours back, I just figured it was gone. Interesting phenomenon with strollers at Disney though. They are everywhere and though the employees move them around to make room for more, people are generally comfortable leaving them. Funny because when I got back to the Denver airport, I was cautious about not leaving the stroller while I went in to the bathroom. But I digress, we were back at Animal Kingdom.

The workers had told us about the very new baby elephant and rhino that had been born in the past week. We were excited to take the Kilimanjaro Safari and see the newborns along with gazelles, giraffes, lions, alligators, hippos and a variety of other animals. We learned on another ride that all of these animals are trained to return to their specified cage every night. Even at Disney World they worry about poachers!









After a few character sightings, we left the park when it closed at 7 pm; we had plenty of time for swimming and dinner. We found a Macaroni Grill that met with everyone's approval. Our server was horrible. We waited and waited for food to arrive. By the end of the evening, he could tell that we were more than peeved. He brought out a huge brownie and two extra loaves of bread for us to take with us.

Chris gave each of the girls $20 to spend on Disney stuff. This was a few items that Kristen chose--much cheaper to buy them outside of the Disney parks.



The girls were excited for a little evening swim before bed time. A fitting end to another fun-filled day. You can imagine it didn't take any of us long to fall asleep.