Oh, To Travel By Car...

Our 18 hour travel day started like this:

And ended like this:

Serious traffic backups cost us about 4 hours, making this day 20 and day 21 of our trip.

Some random thoughts...

Exegeting Revelation is hard enough.  Doing this in the car is nearly impossible.  I did it anyway.

I really hate flying, but I would have taken a plane today if I could have.

87 minutes of sleep is enough if that's all you can squeeze in.  Sometimes it's hard to do what I need to do, but it's OK.  I can do hard things.

Next time we vacation, I'm intentionally planning some rest days.

When someone stops to tell you how well behaved your children are and especially how impressed they are with your boys, it feels good. 

I still love driving... especially at night... in the rain...

That might have been too much coffee.

L.

Pictures Taken Today: 3

See Ya Real Soon...

Our typical Florida vacations usually end in the mid afternoon, often at Downtown Disney/Disney Springs, sometimes after a short trip to finish things up at a park or parks.  Today was not typical...

Since Disney Quest is closing... forever... we really wanted to get back there, because the only time we had ever visited was in 2008, and Disney Quest is not stroller/baby friendly at all, so it was difficult, to say the least.

We started out the day with lunch at T-Rex and then our Disney Springs shopping, which was very fun/productive. 

My best buy of the trip was a Lego photo frame

featuring this sea serpent... $0.98

I am eventually going to make a complete post about what I thought of all of the dining options, how the dining plan worked for us this time around, etc.  However, I will give a little preview here and say that we had a ridiculous number of snack credits left as well as some counter service credits that we simply could not use up.  Had we not had to alter several of our days due to illness, we would have used all of our credits, but because things got a little crazy, we ended up with 47 snack credits to spare.

This is just a sampling of what we brought home:

Disney Quest, itself, ended up being something of a disappointment, and I can see that it really is time for it to close.  It is essentially the technological dream of the 90s.  And I am simply too old for simulators.  When the magic carpets make you sick, it's time to throw in the towel.  I'm really glad we went, though, because I think it's the kind of thing where if we hadn't gone we would always be wishing we had, wondering what we missed, etc.

We left Disney Springs at 9:15pm, which is far too late any way you look at it.  We only made it as far as Valdosta, and that was really pushing it, because I could not keep my eyes open, so Phil had to drive without any intelligible conversation, and it's safe to say that we are both too tired for that at this point.  Tomorrow will be a very long travel day.  

L.

Pictures Taken Today: 116

One More Gasp...

... of magic.

The last full day at Disney is always a little sad, even if you've been vacationing for a ridiculously long time!  We had some really fun adventures today, though, to finish up.  Traditionally, we like to spend our last day in the Magic Kingdom.

The Crystal Palace is one of our all time favorite places to eat breakfast at Disney, both because the food is incredible and this is where you meet the characters from Winnie-the-Pooh.  You can't do much better than that!  We may have "struck again" when Eeyore came by.  For those who have never heard the story, Caleb was terrified of the characters when we went to Disney when he was two.  When Eeyore visited our table on that trip, Caleb smacked him with a waffle, leaving butter all over Eeyore's nose.  Miah might have accidentally gotten permanent marker all over Eeyore's belly, today... 

 

One of the best character photos ever...

Poor Seth...

Because we have spent so much time at the Magic Kingdom on this trip, we only had a few things that absolutely had to get done.  Most of the day was consumed with re-riding everything we love after we knocked out the last few things we hadn't done yet, in the morning.

Liberty Square River Boat:

Exploring Tom Sawyer Island is one of my family's favorite things to do.  You would think, as a literary enthusiast, that I would love it, too, but it has never ranked very high on my list.  However, I enjoyed playing a game of checkers with Phil at the fort (even though I lost badly), and even though I ran camera lens first into a wall in the mines, at least I didn't get hurt... which has been known to happen on the island...

Reading the Map: 

Raft Ride Back to Civilization:

It was super hot and crowded during the day.  At this point, I have no idea how many cups of frozen lemonade we have consumed.  I am feeling pretty thankful for snack credits, both because they keep that frozen lemonade coming and because that led to this moment when you can see that Caleb and Ian do love each other, near constant picking at each other aside:

We don't always make it to the daytime parades, because we are usually so caught up in riding, and have I mentioned it's hot?  However, I was super impressed with the Festival of Fantasy parade and am glad we decided to take it in, even though it was a bit of a challenge when tall people decided to stand up in front of our kids... again.  I think Disney needs a parade watching etiquette guide or something.  I am quite certain that this was the last time that I am ever going to be able to throw one of my children up on my shoulders in the blazing heat for a parade.  In case you're wondering, Miah is super heavy... and wiggly... and again...  it was hot...  It was worth every second, though...

Well, hello there Maleficent:

Minnie is blowing a kiss to Miah here:

Over the course of this vacation, we have done 36 character greetings!  That has to be a record for us.  Tinkerbell was our last greeting, and she was super excited to be in Miah's hair:

Speaking of Tink, here she is flying across the Magic Kingdom during Wishes:

After some ice cream, which sort of revitalized us, we spent our extra magic hours riding Thunder Mountain and the Seven Dwarves Mine Train again.  If you need proof that it was a long day, this is the first time we have ever seen both the park opening and closing shows!

 It's been magical:

L.

Pictures Taken Today: 364

P.S.  Ian keeps saying that this will be our last Disney trip, because now all of the children in our family have had their magical trip.  This is cracking me up.

Today Has Been Sort Of Crazy...

... aren't they all?

We started our day in Animal Kingdom, where we had all kinds of wild experiences.  These included:

Reaffirmation that Grace will never be a paleontologist:

 But Ian might:

And the realization that Miah is fearless (she rode most of Expedition Everest with her hands up) and that Mama will panic on roller coasters that are just too big for "the baby"...  Miah is the first kid who I have ever seen look for a reasonable way off the ride when it stops at the broken tracks before going backwards.  I now remember why people have children in their 20s:

Our character greetings were ridiculous.  Baloo was so funny, but he might have gotten a little over excited when he chased Grace after she left the character greeting area.  I probably laughed far too hard about this.  As a side note, while waiting in line my kids informed me that only Caleb has seen The Jungle Book.  I have no idea how this happened.  It made little difference, because we are all TaleSpin fans:

And then there was Rafiki, whom Grace desperately wanted to meet.  The only problem was that we didn't make it onto the Wildlife Express Train until the last train of the evening, and we were informed that all of the characters had already left.  This was seriously going to be a disaster.  I have never prayed for a character to still be at a greeting spot before, but I did today.  Well, believe it or not, Rafiki was somehow hung up and Grace was able to sneak in for the last character greeting of the day.  Thank goodness, because I couldn't figure out how to cram another trip to Animal Kingdom in over the next couple of days:

Of course, we were so late getting out of there that they had to hold the train back for us... particularly because we needed to stop to take a picture with the elephants.  It's family tradition.  One does not go to Disney without getting a picture with the elephants: 

Per normal, Finding Nemo, the Musical, and Festival of the Lion King were fabulous.  Festival of the Lion King was made even more so by Ian and Miah being chosen to participate in the show:

I have always loved Kilimanjaro Safari.  The best quote of the day came from Miah who shouted, "Hey Dad!  Look at that blade of grass!"  Sometimes it's the little things...  

The low point of our day was when we got a call from the resort informing us that we would have to move cabins because of a maintenance issue!  I really thought I might cry over this, because it is no easy task to pack up and move this much stuff and this many people, but our pre-teen and teenager crew managed to get the job done in about 90 minutes.  I am struggling a little bit with the fact that I am still awake at this hour, but at least we are all set for the remainder of the trip.

A highlight of the day was heading over to Epcot one last time (that makes four visits this time around) for dinner at Le Cellier.  We have always wanted to eat there, but at $50.00 a plate, there was just no way without the free dining plan!  It was really good steak, but I know it wasn't a good value, since we had to use so many table service credits.  Undoubtedly, the funniest part was when Miah was upset that the server kept taking our silverware after each course.  This was particularly funny after she tried to return the silverware she didn't need earlier in the trip.  Again, keepin' it classy...

We are quickly approaching the end of this vacation and continuing to try to capture every moment and memory.  You don't get these times back...  

L.

Pictures Taken Today: 281

It's Been Another One Of Those Days Where We Didn't Do Much...

... primarily because I am sick, and since no one really wants me to die on this vacation, it made sense to let me sleep in.  Then I spent the afternoon pumping myself full of albuterol, steroids, cold medicine, and cough drops.  As a rule, I do not "do" sick very well.  On vacation it is almost unbearable.  The good news is, I am still breathing, tonight, and better than last night, at that...

We did have a reservation for Rainforest Cafe'.  I have always wanted to go there and managed to drag myself out of bed long enough to do so.  The food was incredible, and it's just completely unfair to bring such a delicious dessert to people who are already full.  I mean, who can really eat a volcano?  As it turns out, we made it on the last tram back to the parking lot, which was a blessing, since I don't think I could have walked that far...

 She just had to touch the frog...

With any luck, I will get my late schoolwork done, tonight, go to sleep at a somewhat reasonable hour, and the rest of these meds will kick in by morning so that I won't be holding everyone back at Animal Kingdom...  One more mountain to knock out on this trip... 

L.

Pictures Taken Today: 33 (and they're pretty much all blurry...)

P.S.  My kids are crazy today...

A Whole Day In Fantasyland...

If you'd asked me, before the huge Fantasyland addition, if we could spend an entire day there, I would have told you no.  Now it is completely possible.

We started out our day at Cinderella's Royal Table.  It is always a big deal to eat in the castle, even though I have to say that the food, itself, seems to have deteriorated in quality.  Not that we pick character greetings based on the food, but we might pick dining options based on the food, in the future, so this is more of a reminder to myself than anything else.  Still, you just can't beat the view, and the princesses were great (Jasmine was pretty concerned about the level of pixie dust at our table).

I just love this face:

From there, we proceeded to take in as much of Fantasyland as possible, which ended up being all of it, because the Magic Kingdom hours changed, so instead of a 10:00 close with extra magic hours until midnight, we ended up with extra magic hours until 2:00am. 

I have mixed feelings about "New" Fantasyland... I guess they're not actually referring to it that way anymore, but whatever.  Now, part of how I'm feeling about this is undoubtedly influenced by the fact that I am really, really sick.  I wasn't even sure I could do Disney when I woke up, and it got worse as the day went on.  Sore throat, nose running all over the place, asthma kicked in full force, whole body aches.  And I'm grumpy.  Really, really grumpy.  Which is probably why I loved the Seven Dwarves Mine Train...

Beast's castle and Gaston's tavern are less than impressive to me, but maybe I am just bitter about not being able to get a reservation for "Be Our Guest".  Ariel's castle is pretty cool, and the ride is fun, but it seems a bit redundant considering the Little Mermaid show at Hollywood Studios.  Some of us still rode it three times, though.  Miah and I only rode it twice, because we took some time to wait for Elsa, Anna, and Rapunzel.  I'm a little bit sad that character greetings are completely obsolete for "the big four"...

If you've ever complained about the It's a Small World song running through your head all day long, guess what?  Your wish has been granted and the song no longer plays, in excess, at It's a Small World.  I mean, the music is still there, but you are only subjected to the lyrics a couple of times.  In theory, the lyrics are sung in multiple languages throughout the ride, but the soundtrack drowns this out.  As someone who loves It's a Small World, I was kind of disappointed.

Miah has been wanting to ride Prince Charming's Carousel for months, and she got to ride it three times, today.  I think she was pretty happy with that.

I was really worried about the modifications to Dumbo, since this is my all time favorite Disney attraction, but I think it turned out OK.  At least, it turned out well enough to ride it four times and to take more Dumbo pictures than anything else... all day long...  The best part was when there was no line and they let us stay on to ride twice in a row!

How many kids can you fit in one Dumbo?

Three...  Just three...

Or maybe five, if it's the trained photo Dumbo:

We got the pink Dumbo!

Don't judge us.

We have been trying to get the pink Dumbo for years:

The Barnstormer, The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh (can't believe we all made it in one honeypot),  the Mad Tea Party, and Mickey's Philharmagic were fun, as always.  And I think that only leaves Peter Pan, which had a typical hour plus wait throughout the morning... afternoon... and evening... but finally dropped to 25 minutes during extra magic hours.  I have always liked this ride, but I have never understood why it is the most sought after attraction in all of the Magic Kingdom.

Of course, somewhere between the riding, we watched the Main Street Electric Parade, Celebrate the Magic, and Wishes.  I was super impressed with Celebrate the Magic.  Wishes is, as always, my favorite.  The parade caused a little bit of stress, because we had been sitting in a prime viewing location for about 90 minutes, eating ice cream (while Phil went in search of Ian's lost magic band), when a full grown man decided it was appropriate to push Ian out of the way and to sit on him.  Are you kidding me?  I made mention of this and was completely ignored, which I thought was rather rude.  Perhaps he could have said, "I'm sorry"?  Then, at the very last minute, a couple of other people pushed in beyond the barrier where you are supposed to leave a walkway, and stood right in front of my kids with their cell phones held up above their heads to get some pictures or video or whatever.  I cannot believe how rude people can be.  In the end, we managed to find a way for everyone to see alright.  Geesh!

Who thought this ice cream sundae was a good idea?

We did eat dinner at Cosmic Ray's and ended our night with Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (again), so I guess we didn't spend the day exclusively in Fantasyland.  Close enough... 

 Lovin' us some Sonny Eclipse...

Well, except Miah...

She thinks he's "creepy"...

But she does love to drink frozen stuff:

These don't really fit neatly anywhere, but...

All five year olds are entitled to a late night

Disney meltdown:

Because sometimes you just need a nap...

at 11:00pm... on a bench...

L.

Pictures Taken Today: 429

I think we finally found the rightful leader: