Magic Kingdom/Clearwater

We had to set the alarm to get up EARLY this morning. We have a big day ahead of us! Roan started the day out tired.

The poor kid was just not getting enough sleep. And he said his stomach hurt which was no wonder since he fell asleep before eating his dinner at the Rainforest Café. We went back to the Magic Kingdom first thing for breakfast at the Crystal Palace.

Roan was excited to see the Winnie the Pooh characters, but his joy was temporarily interrupted by a brief episode of vomiting in the bathroom! No wonder his stomach hurt! Fortunately it was empty! After that, he naturally felt much better and even ate a full breakfast. That was the end of that! He was fine. He even got pictures with all the characters.

The buffet was very good. Amy is the one who recommended the Crystal Palace Breakfast Buffet. Thanks Amy!

The other thing on our ‘to do’ list was to go ride Thunder Mountain Railroad which was closed the first day we were here but open now. We all loved it, even Roan! He had gone on several ‘Big Boy’ rides, this one being number 4. (Yes, he was keeping count!)

In the next picture you can see Dean and Roan right in the middle.

The ‘plan’ was to leave at this point but you and I know that was highly unrealistic. There was no way we were getting out of there yet. We rode Splash Mountain again, then walked through Adventure Land to buy something in a shop there. While passing Pirates of the Caribbean we saw an outdoor performance of Captain Jack and another pirate. Man, they were good! And the guy who played Captain Jack looked JUST like him! He even did a fair job of acting like him. We then walked back past the Castle catching the end of a show, and on to Tomorrow Land where Dean took Kai and Alyssa on Space Mountain again while I took Roan on the People Mover. THEN we left. The kids got to ride up front again in the monorail.

Now is when I potentially make a lot of people mad at me. We went to Clearwater. (ducks and hides) Yes, we did. In my defense, our plans weren’t concrete, we almost didn’t go at all and we were only there for a very short time. I apologize to all friends and family for not being able get together with you.

We arrived in Clearwater about 2:30. I had two goals. One, to show my kids where I grew up, and two, to show them a REAL beach. We’ve been to beaches here on the East Coast, and maybe there are some good ones, but in our experience, they are narrow gray beaches with more broken shells than sand. The water is dark and very wavy. I longed for the miles of powdery white sand and calmer waters of my youth. All three kids fell asleep in the van. Any wonder? We drove straight to Post Corner Pizza right on the beach for a late lunch. I love greek pizza and hadn’t been to Post Corner in 10 years. Also, Sherry called us that morning and when it was confirmed that we were coming, she met us there. I was happy to see Sherry, but I felt guilty that we were unable to see everyone else. After lunch, we just walked across the street to the beach so the kids could wade a little bit and squish their toes in the sand. (I wish we’d had time to actually go swimming) They had a blast. We asked the kids not to get their clothes wet and they sort of tried. But, Roan, who are we trying to kid? They collected shells, I took pictures and Sherry took this one of the family: What's wrong with this picture?

Anyway, quick lunch, quick wade in the ocean then we stopped at Dairy Curl on the way back up Gulf to Bay. Had to, revisiting the childhood and all. Then I drove the kids past what I still and always will call Maranatha Chapel, my schools, and the house I grew up in, which has been all ‘tacky-fied’. They tore down the magnolia tree and three palm trees and replaced it, the whole front yard, with a circular drive-way! There is a giant C on the side of the house, too. Hmmph.
We then needed to head back to Orlando for dinner reservations in Downtown Disney at Wolfgang Puck Café. Dinner was very good and yes, once again Roan fell asleep in the restaurant before his dinner came. Here he is asleep in daddy’s lap with his arms in his shirt because he was cold. Gotta love him!
Roan Quote: “So far, I want to live at the Magic Kingdom!”

Animal Kingdom

This morning we slept in a bit, then had breakfast at our hotel, Mickey Mouse waffles! I had a made to order omelet. Mmmm. None of us had ever been to Animal Kingdom, so we arrived not knowing where to go or was to do. After getting our map, the first thing we did was go to Dinoland. They had a Dinosaur ride there that Roan was really looking forward to.

Unfortunately, it was VERY loud and a bit scary. He didn’t like it. Neither did Alyssa and I, really. But, he loved the store and bought himself a big stuffed dinosaur with his own money.

(All the kids have been saving up for the last three years so they would have their own spending money. They each had over a hundred dollars. This made things so much easier on us! Not just because we weren’t buying everything, but because if we were, they would have asked us to buy them stuff every two seconds. Then when we said the inevitable ‘no’ there would be weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, followed by why not? And PLEASE? and lots of begging. Am I wrong? Anyway, they were a lot less willing to waste their own money that way. So we really had quite a successful time of it and they did a great job spending wisely and listening to our counsel. Two of them even made it home with some leftover!)

Alyssa took Roan on the triceratops ride which is the Animal Kingdom version of Dumbo, while dad took Kai on Primeval Whirl. I took pictures!

Next we went to Expedition Everest. This was THE ride Kai was most looking forward to. It’s a rollercoaster being chased by a yeti and at one point it goes backwards! Again, Alyssa and I were nervous but we did it and loved it! We went several times.

We rode the Kilimanjaro Rapids. This was the best one I’ve ever been on, I think! We got absolutely soaked! It was a lot of fun. Then we went back to Dinoland to have lunch at Donald’s Restaurantasaurus. Dinoland also has an awesome playground. It’s huge. It looked like a dino boneyard. It has a climbing net maze, lots of slides and a life-sized dino skeleton you can dig up. They loved it.

We went to the Tree of Life and saw the ‘It’s a Bug’s Life’ 3D movie. This was creepy but fun. Roan, not too thrilled with it.

We took a train ride to a petting zoo, bird show, and reptile complex where they got to touch a python.

We went on an African safari. Unfortunately, the pictures were disappointing. I did get this ‘upside-down’ tree:

We walked through trails where we saw tigers, bats, gorillas, a hippo, fish, lots of birds, etc.

Towards the end of the day, we went back to Dinoland. I took Alyssa and Roan back to the playground while Dean took Kai to ride the Dinosaur Ride and Primeval Whirl again.

We ate dinner at The Rainforest Café which is right at the entrance to the park. The kids went to this restaurant once in Connecticut and it is such fun, we had to make sure we went while here even though it was not on our dining plan.

And, again Roan fell asleep before the food came. Alyssa says this may be her favorite of the four parks. G’night!

Epcot

Ok, it's getting harder to remember everything! We arrived in Epcot just as it opened and went straight to 'Soarin'. This is a great ride where you are in a 'hang-glider' flying in front of a huge movie screen. You even feel the wind blowing and smell the pine trees. Cool. We then took a boat ride through 'The Land'. This is where they show you all starts of cool stuff about hydroponic plants, fish farming, etc. The fish they serve in the restaurants come from here. It was very interesting. Next we went to the Living Seas with Nemo & friends. It starts out with a cute little ride and when you get off, you're in the aquarium, a really nice two story complex with lots to do. Our favorite was the dolphin show. It was so dark, I didn't get get great pics but here ya go. Also a video.

We went to ride 'Figment' and played on the computers and stuff afterward. Dean and the kids made this:

We saw the "Honey, I shrunk the Audience" 3D movie. That was cool.

After that we walked through part of the World Showcase to Morocco for lunch. Dean's favorite park is Epcot, more specifically, the World Showcase. We ate at the Tangeriene Cafe. (counter service). We looked around the shops there in Morocco...

... then took the boat back across the lake to Future World where we rode Ellen's Energy Adventure and Speedway. Outside the Speedway they displayed lots of great cars. This was the one Kai claimed:

We then walked back to the Showcase from the other side visiting Mexico which has a ride in the restaurant inspired from the Disney cartoon 'The Three Caballero's'. Norway had a ride, too, called 'Maelstrom' which was fun. Here are my little vikings:

(One of the things that was cool was that they had 'Kidcots' throughout the Showcase. These were tables where they could make a mask and add a different decoration at each stop. They enjoyed that.)

We saw street acrobats perform in Japan, walked through China and Italy stopping at shops along the way, until eventually coming to France where we had dinner reservations at La Chefs De France. It was delicious, one of our favorite dining experiences. By the time dinner was over, the laser show 'Illuminations' was beginning so Dean took the kids outside while I took care of the check and finished my dessert, Creme Brulee, the best I've ever had! Therefore, I did not get any pics of Illuminations. I didn't really feel the need since I had pics from Dean's and my trip to Epcot when he ran the marathon. At this point the park closes and of course Roan was once agan asleep!

I must say, the kids did really great! I was all geared up for complaining about all the walking, being bored in lines, etc., but they really didn't, hardly at all! With all the late nights, endless walking, and an average of 3-4 hours less sleep every night then they're used to, I was amazed.

Tomorrow, Animal Kingdom!

Roan Quote: "Someday, can we go to the 1960's?" (I have no idea where that came from!)