Disney day two

Day two had us lined up in front of Epcot waiting to get in. They let folks through the turnstiles to walk up to a roped off line further inside the park. When the people, including the characters, come out, they take down the ropes and everyone is off like a shot. Although this sounds exciting, it bugged me. Everyone was pushing and crowding and in a big mass. When going through the turnstiles, it naturally spaces people out, so there is no huge mass of people pressing in at any given moment. It was craziness. But it was still fun! We got a close up of Minnie Mouse. Donald walked by but my camera hesitated, so all I got was his little hat. Oh well!
I made a list of everything we did on the second day and it blew my mind. We hustled and got a lot done! I have to also recommend the Unofficial Disney travel guide. It was excellent and we got many of our time saving tips from reading the book and following it's strategies.

First we stopped at Soarin' and got ourselves a Fast Pass. This is where you wait in a line to meet up with a kiosk and put in your ticket card and it spits out a paper card with a later time on it and you go do something else and come back during the specified time and your place is 'saved' in line and you can pretty much just hop right on the ride.. or have a much shorter wait than the 'regular line'. I have to say it's a sweet little innovation.. and isn't that what Epcot is all about?! Getting our 'FP' for Soarin' did not go smoothly though. The machine broke down with the lady in front of us so the employee 'cast member' just handed her FP's out of her pocket. We were right behind her and she told us we had to start over in another long line. GRRRR. There are a few things at Disney that are pretty uncool in the way they handle them.. that is one example! But we finally scored our tickets and bugged out to....

TEST TRACK! With no wait, I might add. Thanks to the wonderful research done by the book writers, we walked right on the ride. And it was our favorite, hands down.

We also rode a little Nemo ride.. think little kid thing. And then another animated interactive thing called Turtle Talk with Crush and yes it was very funny.. even for the grown up set! And then we went back to ride Soarin' with a shortened wait. (this was our longest FP line. This ride is insane popular) In the same building is a little boat ride called The Land... it was more informational than anything, but it was a nice place to rest the feet, which at this point were SCREAMING. And then we had lunch.

One note here about Epcot. It's original intent by Walt Disney himself seems to be lost here. Remember how it stood for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow? I had to remember that myself to really 'understand' the purpose of some of the rides..like The Land. Walt's vision is fading for that park and it's sad they aren't keeping his vision for it more alive or at the front of people's thoughts.

I think I will split day two into two posts, as there is a lot more info to go. And I don't want to bore you to tears! Oops.. too late.. already did! LOL

The sights! The sounds! The smells??

Our trip to Disney was, of course wonderful! There was so much to see and do. It truly kept the senses busy. But one thing that I didn't expect was just how complete the sensory experience was going to be.

Some things were expected like the smell of popcorn..or more unpleasantly, the stench smell of cigarette smoke every time we walked toward an outdoor 'smoking area'. But there were some smells that took us by surprise. One of them was when we rode the ride Soarin' at Epcot. It makes the rider feel as though they are flying... or soarin'.. get it, get it?!... above several different environments. I could feel the wind on my face, which was pretty neat.. but then something unexpected happened. I could smell things. Like evergreens and oranges and oceans and whatever else we were flying above at that time. It really completed the experience.

But then there were some even more unexpected smells. We stayed at resort on property called Caribbean Beach Resort. When we went into the gift shop area for our resort, it smelled like.. you guessed it.. the tropics and a little bit like coconut. And while waiting in line for several rides, we'd smell cinnamon rolls, of all things! And there weren't any nearby, so that smell had to be 'piped in'. It was strange, and yet it played it's part in enveloping us in 'the experience'.

In case you're wondering when is she gonna quit talking about that trip? Well.. I don't know. It's nice to document things here since this is a diary of sorts. And.... it's more interesting than saying 'bah humbug' for a while longer. Although, I have to say, this trip has lightened my mood and I'm not feeling as down as I usually do during this month, so that's a plus right now! : )

the people

One of the interesting things we saw that wasn't on any ride or attraction was the people. I'm talking people watching. This can be done on quite a grand scale at Disney! I lost count of how many languages I overheard. And the different cultures and their clothing choices. Oh my! The young Asian ladies have quite a thing going.. that's all I'm gonna say! LOL One day we decided to ride the monorail around the park. How can you go to Disney and NOT ride the monorail? Anyway... a family got on.. obviously not um from around here since their shirts had foreign words on them and they either had a thick accent or didn't speak English at all.. couldn't tell. But their little group was interesting. A set of parents, two children and their opposite sex 'friends'. Nice. One girl looked like she'd been attacked on the neck by a vacuum cleaner (a-hem) and another 'set' sitting next to me needed to seriously get a room. I was glad when they got off! LOL

But of course, the kids were the most interesting. After all.. aren't they the ones that place is all about?! We had opportunity to see little kids faces light up when they saw something wonderful. But there were also the tired, gripey kids that had been dragged around all day that were just done. with. it. (on a side note.. one of our little sayings toward the end of our stay was 'this is no place for little kids!' LOL) And there were the enthusiastic kids dragging their parents around even after a long day at the park. And there were lots of crying kids too. But the ones that stick out to me were the ones that made me smile or laugh or brought up another memory. Like the little kid at the fireworks over the castle the first night... every time there was a lull in the action, he was ask rather loudly "is it over?". Cracked us up! We laughed our heads off every time and in turn, his parents laughed with us. They were funny little moments. And so much like our little Bub. He would have asked the same thing at that age...at every single lull..just like that little boy did!

And then there was the family we met at the bus stop one morning. Every time a bus came and went and he couldn't get on, he cried. Not angry.. just sad. It cracked us up! At one point, I had to turn away and blink back tears. He reminded me a little bit of Bub too with his cute little pug nose and funny ways. And then of course, there were the wish families. We spotted three that we know of... they all had Make-a-Wish tshirts on. And of course, that has a tender spot in my heart too. Those families have been through so much.

And there was the little boy walking in front of us on a pathway at our resort. The sidewalks were made of bricks. Bricks are small. So there are lots of cracks. hint hint! I couldn't figure out why he was walking funny until his dad grabbed him by the arm and said "sorry buddy, but there are just too many cracks. You're gonna have to step on them!". LOL

People.. and kids are something else!

our first day

The first day of our trip was crazy yet so memorable. We had to get up at 5 something to be ready to go by 6 something and be at the airport by 7. Our plane left at 9am. Everything went very well with catching the shuttle and getting to the airport and finally arriving at the Orlando airport and getting on the Magical Express to Disney. Everything went flawlessly...our luggage even arrived at our room the way it was supposed to!

Anyway.. by 2 something we were checked into our room and we had ditched our carry-ons and applied sunblock and gathered all the necessary items for a half day in the park and headed out to the Magic Kingdom. By 3pm we were standing in our first line... to ride The Haunted Mansion, which we loved. We did everything on our list that day.. including Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, The Laugh Floor (interactive animated show featuring the characters from Monsters Inc), The Carousel of Progress (an old time attraction), It's a Small World (of course!), and a couple of other things. We ate dinner at a little place called The Plaza and it was directly in front of The Castle. It was dark outside by this time and Boo watched the castle through the window as she ate her dinner. It was lit up and changed colors throughout our meal. Every time she gushed about the colors, we turned and looked and commented appropriately. It really was pretty!

Not long after that, it was time for the evening fireworks to begin. We walked right up to the very last spot on the sidewalk and snuggled close together (just like the other zillion people in attendance) to watch the show. The music of course, was delightful and sweet. It was a magical time. I wrapped my arms around my little girl and held her close as we watched and oooh'ed and aaaaah'ed at the beautiful show. Before long, I found myself in tears. I can't tell you why.. other than life is so stressful and so much of the simplicity that used to be our lives, is gone forever. This just took me to a place I needed to go..even if just for a little bit. Every time I think about that, I begin to cry again. I feel so silly even saying that... but it did feel like a weight had been temporarily lifted and it was just wonderful. It was so nice just to be swept up in it all for a little bit. It set the stage for a great trip!

our Thanksgiving

This wasn't the normal Thanksgiving for our family since we were traveling this year ON Thanksgiving. We've always traveled before and after, but not ON turkey day. Anyway... our lunch was from a fast food joint at the airport in Orlando. It was actually hot and good. I like me a fast food burger once every blue moon. So there ya go.

When we got back to our neck of the woods, the shuttle driver took us to our car and we made our way home on deserted streets. It was a little bit weird. We started unpacking and had things fairly under control by dinnertime. I made something boring with noodles and canned chicken. Fayn-CEE if I do say so myself. My two turkey day meals.. a burger and noodle somethin' or other.

But it was ok. Friday morning, I woke up early and went and got our kitty cat.. pictured above in my header. : ) And started putting together a mini-feast for the three of us. I bought one of those oven ready turkey breast jobber-do's and plopped that puppy in the oven. Easy-peezy! And got out my crumbled cornbread I pre-made for this occasion to make a small batch of homemade dressing. We had a nice little feast of turkey breast, dressing, green bean casserole and cranberry sauce. Hmm... something is missing isn't it?!

Dessert! Well.. lemme tell ya.. when we were at Disney, we had what they call 'The Disney Dining Plan' and it's a little card that has all your meals including dessert pre-paid. It was very convenient. But it also meant we ate dessert with every meal. So we weren't all that sad that I hadn't pre-bought the stuff for pies or something like that. We're kinda tired of dessert. I know! Crazy, huh?!

So there ya have it. Probably the most unusual Turkey Day ever!

I'm back!

I had a wonderful bloggy break! I enjoyed not being at the computer and just hanging out over the holiday. But I didn't just hang out at home... we went on an adventure! I'll give you some hints... hope you can guess where we went!
Nope.. it wasn't France! Although it looks a little like it....

And it wasn't New York...although it looks a little like it...

And it wasn't a jungle safari... although it looks a little like it...


It was all of those and more! We went to Disneyworld over the break. We got back yesterday afternoon! It was truly a magical vacation!

chillin'

Well girls, I'm taking a little break from blogging. As you could tell from my recent posts, I am in a bit of a slump. So I'm taking the opportunity of the holiday to just chill for a bit. See ya soon!

ps..don't forget the holiday post below. Thanks! : )