How to Do Disney Really Fast...

I must admit that on this latest Disney adventure, I was too tired to blog our trip at the end of each day.  If you’ve ever followed one of our trips, you know we vacation long and hard, but with a little bit of rest to catch up.  We only had a week to work with this time, so we just never stopped running (although we did fall asleep on a few attractions, true story…)

 

I started out thinking I would give only the statistics… a real “just the facts” rundown of our trip, and that’s mostly what follows, but I guess I can’t post something entirely without narrative, so there are a few gems of moments detailed below.  It’s mostly just the facts, though…. The numbers in parentheses are the wait times, in minutes, because clearly every sane Disney loving vacationer should know exactly how long they waited for everything…

 

Travel Day

Phil drove to Disney from MA, and the kids and I dropped Theo off in MI and then flew.  After we almost missed the connecting flight, things were pretty smooth…. It was Ian’s first time flying, so that was fun.

 

 

Park Day 1: Hollywood Studios

7:30am-10:30pm

17,919 Steps, 7.3 miles

 

3 Shows: Walt Disney One Man’s Dream, Mickey’s Vacation Fun, Fantasmic

The films were both great, in different ways, of course.  The reimagination of Fantasmic is phenomenal!

 

7 Rides: Slinky Dog Dash (27) – So fun!  We started out with an elaborate plan to split up for Rockin’ Roller Coaster and lightsaber building, but by the time we reached the entrance, we were all on board to just rope drop Slinky Dog!  I’m glad we did:

 

 

Toy Story Mania (19) – Caleb destroyed us all with his high score!, Alien Swirling Saucers (78) – not worth that long a line, but a fun ride, Smuggler’s Run (70) – a simulator… I wasn’t overly impressed, but the kids loved it, Star Tours (26) – Caleb was the spy!, Mikey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (90) – I really loved it, but the wait was too long and our feet were so sore by that point!, Rockin’ Roller Coaster (18) – The ride had a long line and was down for part of the evening, we got on very shortly after it reopened (run, don’t walk). Ian loved it, Caleb thought it was better than he remembered, Miah did not like it, which is odd, because she tends to love coasters.

 

Food:

Breakfast: Riverside Mill (standard food court fare)

Lunch: Woody’s Lunchbox (grilled cheese, tomato soup, potato barrels, cuties oranges, lunchbox tarts) - The raspberry tarts were delicious!  The grilled cheese and tomato soup was average to good.  The potato barrels were not great, kind of stale.  I am convinced it is a better deal to buy kids meals at Disney counter service, if for nothing else but the drinks.

Drinks: Oga’s Cantina (Blue Bantha for me and Cay, Carbon Freeze for Ian and Miah – neither was too great) – weird “seating” as in no seats, just a hightop, shared with two other parties. 

 

9 lightsabers built (Even I got sucked right in…):

 

 

Funniest moments: A first order lady tried to recruit Caleb when he and Ian were lightsaber battling.  She offered him air conditioning.  Lol.  I wasn’t sure what this was all about, and I wanted to make sure they weren’t in trouble with their lightsabers, so I walked over and asked them if they were in real trouble or fake trouble.  This got a laugh out of a lady standing nearby.  They were in fake trouble.  A storm trooper told Phil he wasn’t worth the paperwork.  Another storm trooper made a “talks too much” hand gesture at me when I told him Miah was not the jedi he was looking for…    

 

Park Day 2: Epcot

8:00am-10:00pm

22,073 steps, 9.8 miles

 

7 Shows: Beauty and The Beast Sing Along, Reflections of China, Voices of Liberty (Astounding!), The American Adventure (I slept through this.), Canada Far and Wide (The song is still the best part.), Turtle Talk with Crush (Always hysterical, even when your own kids are too old to be part of the show anymore.), Harmonious (This was an excellent show, but it’s hard to make a case that it fully replaces Illuminations.)

 

7 Rides: Frozen Ever After (10) – Really fun!  I’m glad we rope dropped it, because the line gets crazy within minutes of park opening, Three Caballeros (12), The Seas with Nemo (31), Living with the Land (4) – Note to self, we’d like to do the tour of this… which is pretty funny, because it used to be one of those “boring” attractions the kids weren’t interested in, Soarin’ (41), Spaceship Earth (33), Imagination (walk on) – I could ride this multiple times for Figment, but the family thinks once per trip is enough.  Also, we did manage to cram ourselves into the photo booth afterward…

 

 

Food:

Breakfast: Miah and I had baklava and an almond cookie (Caleb and Ian tried it) from the Morocco stand, because the French bakery line was long.

Lunch: Biergarten (Some of the best food ever, amazing entertainment, the kids say we have to come back here every time we go to Disney.)

 

Funniest Moments: “I’m pretty sure we just toasted to sausage and meatballs” - Caleb (we did). Cast Member at Figment when Miah and I got behind, taking a picture, “Come on Disney Princesses!  Holy Cow!”

 

Maybe my favorite part of the entire trip was just exploring the World Showcase in the morning, when basically nobody else was there:

 

 

Park Day 3: Animal Kingdom/Epcot/Disney Springs

26,455 steps, 11.6 miles

 

7:00am-2:00pm AK

2 Shows: Finding Nemo: The Big Blue and Beyond (Good, but not as good as the old show.), Festival of the Lion King (We were the second to last family in for the 1:00 show, which saved us some time in the afternoon.  Again… running…)

 

8 Rides: Dinosaur - Ian mentioned that he had a dream to be the first person on a ride in the morning.  We made this happen by rope dropping Dinosaur, which was his absolute favorite when he was little.  It helps that Animal Kingdom has Pandora now, and that’s what everyone else in the park was rope dropping (walk on), Triceratops Spin (walk on), Expedition Everest (2, 5) - I rode the first time with the kids and they waited five minutes for a second ride.  We saw the Yeti!  What a great way to spend the morning in Animal Kingdom, Kilimanjaro Safari (21) – The best safari we have been on, to date.  Kwaherini – Go Well, Wildlife Express Train (8 there, 4 back) – We got a picture with the elephants, which is what really matters, Kali River Rapids (walk on)  

 

    

Food: Did we eat?  I don’t think we ate anything at Animal Kingdom.  We got coffee at Starbucks.  Maybe Caleb grabbed a breakfast sandwich.  This is a testament to the fact that we vacationed too quickly…

 

Funniest Moments:

Ian: “You shouldn’t have allowed me to get a venti coffee…”

Me: “It’s out of my hands at this point.”

Other children: “I’m pretty sure it’s not.”

 

 

After the mad dash to finish Animal Kingdom in under seven hours, Phil dropped the rest of us off at Epcot and went back to the hotel. 

 

2:30pm-7:00pm Epcot

 

No Shows

 

3 Rides: Mission Space Orange (CM) (2), Green (LI) (7), Test Track (LM) (18 – single rider line)

 

My main motivation for returning to Epcot was that I didn’t get to eat Fish and Chips at Yorkshire Co. Fish Shop the day before, because I was way too full to eat another thing, but the fish n chips stop is just about nonnegotiable for me, so it seemed like a pretty good time for it, since… see above… we had not yet eaten on this day… lol.  We had decided not to eat around the world on this trip, but as we entered the World Showcase and the snacking began with churros in Mexico, I knew this was a lie.  By the time Miah had added egg rolls and kakigori and Caleb had consumed a soft pretzel that was literally as big as his head, I knew we were in trouble for our late night dinner reservation.  We rounded it out with more pastries purchased in Morocco (which I didn’t even open until days later when we got home) and a stop by the French bakery for a chocolate croissant, strawberry tart (maybe the best dessert I’ve ever had), and a baguette… because Ian and Miah are obsessed with baguettes.  It was only then that we reached the UK and I finally got my fish n chips (which weren’t as good as I remember them, go figure).  At this point, it was clear to me that we should go ahead and finish out the rides we’d missed the day before, so Caleb and Miah got on the intense version of Mission Space, while Ian and I did the mild version.  None of us felt too good when we got off.  I am noting this here, so hopefully I’ll remember someday, that I should never ride Mission Space again, because it makes me sick, and I also had a panic attack (which I covered well) due to the tightly enclosed ride vehicle and the delayed ride start.  Neither Caleb nor Ian cared about Test Track, and the line was long, but Miah really wanted to ride it, so she and I waited in the single rider line and it worked out well, because I was in the car right behind her.  We were going to catch a bus back to the hotel, but we were staying at Port Orleans Riverside (which is close to Epcot), so Phil came back and picked us up.

 

We took short naps until it was time for our 10:40pm dinner reservation at Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’.  To be clear, I didn’t make a reservation for that time because I wanted to eat that late.  I made it because it was the only available time I could find that worked with our schedule!              

 

I cannot believe my children were hungry enough to order full meals and to eat extra sides.  I came back to the hotel with leftovers.  Homecomin’ was delicious, but survey says my mac and cheese is better…

 

Park Day 4: HS/Magic Kingdom

24,455 steps, 11 miles

 

7:30am-1:30pm HS

 

2 Shows: For the First Time in Forever Frozen Sing Along, Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage

 

3 Rides: Rise of the Resistance (26) – We roped dropped this, and I can’t imagine waiting for it any other way.  It was a great ride, but not three-hour wait great, Smuggler’s Run (15) – Caleb, Ian, and Miah enjoyed a second ride on this, with a short wait time, Star Tours (?) – I’m unsure on the wait time here, but it was a huge plus that we met up with our long-time (almost lifelong for Ian and actually lifelong for Miah) friends and fellow Disney enthusiasts, the Newmans, and Matt got to join Caleb, Ian, and Miah on this ride!

 

1 more Lightsaber built… because we needed an even 10, I guess…

 

 

Food:

I once again cannot remember if there was food involved.  Knowing that we had only so many specific reservations, I did make sure my children had Disney gift cards for snacks, and I think this is the day they ate ice cream.

 

Funniest moments: Caleb: “Mom, you’re going to meet Olaf by yourself?”  Yes… Yes I did…. Nobody else wanted to meet him, and I was on Star Wars overload…

 

We never made it on Tower of Terror.

 

2:30pm-11:00pm MK

 

1 Show: Enchantment (This show is fine, but it’s not Wishes…)

 

16 Rides: Magic Carpets (12), Jungle Cruise (10) – WHAT?  Turns out parade time is the time to go, Pirates of the Caribbean (23), Tom Sawyer Island Raft (x2) (walk on both ways), Big Thunder Mountain (75 – felt like three days), Carousel of Progress (1), Space Mountain (7), Tomorrowland Speedway (7), Teacups (walk on) – I do not know what possessed me to get in a teacup with Caleb, Ian, and Miah, who all love to spin things.  Heck, I can’t even believe we fit.  But we did, Dumbo (4), Goofy’s Barnstormer (1), The Little Mermaid (walk on), It’s a Small World (1), The Haunted Mansion (11) – I hate The Haunted Mansion… always have… (and it’s not that I hate haunted stuff…. See: trip to the Wizarding World last summer), but Miah insisted that she had to ride it.  When we got off, she was like, “That was awful!  I remember it being a roller coaster.”  It is safe to say we do not have to ride The Haunted Mansion again, Splash Mountain (walk on)  

 

We basically ran to everything with a five-minute wait time listed, because we knew it was going to be difficult to get on everything at The Magic Kingdom in a day and a half.  There were plusses and minuses to this.  It was pretty fun to run from ride to ride, but it was also so rushed I almost don’t feel like we were there!

 

Food:

Dinner: Cosmic Rays (It was just terrible, and Sonny Eclipse was missing!)

 

Great Quotes: Caleb (on Tom Sawyer’s Island): “I wish this was what life is like, exploring places you know are safe, but there’s lots of places to go…” Me… too…

Also Caleb: “I remember this being an infinite, dark abyss, but clearly there’s light in it.”

 

Park Day 5 Magic Kingdom

20,636 steps, 9.4 miles

8:00am-10:30pm

 

3 Shows: Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor (5) – How do you get to be “that guy,” that is the question…. Ian and I were the two-headed monster once, when he was a baby, Philharmagic (again with the sleeping), Enchantment

 

11 Rides: Seven Dwarves Mine Train (31) – Rope drop is the only way to do this, Prince Charming’s Carousel (walk on), Astro Orbiter (25) – WHY?  Why do we wait for this in the blazing sun, only to remember it is Dumbo after an elevator ride?  Why?, Walt Disney World Railroad (20-ish) – Whew… the railroad has been closed for years.  Thank goodness it came back up last week, Splash Mountain (109) – Is this an insane wait time?  Yes.  But, the final splash… and all those memories.  Did I cry through the ride?  Also yes, The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh (47, ride broke down, got complimentary fast passes for later, waited 10), River Boat (18) – Caleb and I both fell asleep… like, really asleep, Space Ranger Spin (10), Peoplemover (10) – Forever a favorite… go ahead and judge me, Peter Pan (9) – Cast member insisted it was a 60-70 minute wait.  We were like, “OK… but there is no line,” Space Mountain (?) – Not sure on exact wait time, but Caleb and Ian ran and took turns carrying Miah to get there just barely before park close.  Phil and I missed a second ride on the Peoplemover by seconds…

  

Food:

Breakfast: The Crystal Palace – We have always loved breakfast at The Crystal Palace.  It is delicious, but I think it’s also nostalgic.

Dinner: Be Our Guest – How many years did it take me to get a reservation here?  Beautiful atmosphere, really good food, Beast runs through the dining room way too fast to make it a worthwhile character greeting, price tag is too big to make it a regular stop.  But the grey stuff?  It’s delicious… 

 

Best Quotes: “You can’t run away from trouble, ain’t no place that far.” -Splash Mountain

 

 

Travel Day

We finished out at Disney Springs with Gideon’s (cookies and cold brew) – never thought I’d wait 40 minutes for cookies, but…. Lego Store, World of Disney (where I finally snagged a Loungefly bag… here’s to the next trip), Wetzels, and a variety of other souvenir shopping.  Our flights and drives home were uneventful.  Theo was really happy to see us.

 

And that’s it for how to do almost everything we actually care about at the four main Disney World parks, in a week… 

 

 

           

Universal Studios for Disney People

We are Disney people.  To know our family is to know this one fact.  But in a rare break from character, as a graduation trip for Caleb, the two of us headed to Universal Studios for four days, primarily to experience the Wizarding World.  Because we are also Harry Potter people, which came as a surprise…

My bank statement is hilarious, this morning…

Fountain of Fair Fortune (show me the butterbeer), Gringott’s (wizard money), Honeydukes (chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties), Fountain of Fair Fortune (more butterbeer), Ollivander’s (a couple of magic wands), Three Broomsticks (because food), Fountain of Fair Fortune (just give me *all* the butterbeer)… 

As a newly ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene, let me be abundantly clear that butterbeer is non-alcoholic!  Now, with that out of the way, let me also be clear that it is delicious.  I drank regular butterbeer.  Caleb and I drank multiple frozen butterbeers.  We ate butterbeer ice cream and butterbeer fudge.  I need to learn how to make butterbeer.  Perhaps the funniest moment of our entire trip came when I spilled just a little bit of frozen butterbeer, and then Caleb spilled a lot of frozen butterbeer, and he turned to me and held it out, so that he could get some napkins.  I immediately said, “Just say it…” to which Caleb responded, “Say what?” and I replied, “Hold me beer…”  He laughed.  He realized I was serious and said, “Hold my beer.”  We both laughed.  And then he cleaned up the mess.

As far as food goes, Universal is sub-par to Disney but basically gourmet compared to Six Flags.  Here’s a rundown of our meals:

Voodoo Donuts: Realistically, I had been to Voodoo in Portland (OR) several years ago, and it was delicious then, so I thought we should certainly enjoy a Voodoo donut upon our arrival at Universal.  I had a Mango Tango donut, which was very good.  The best part was the mango sprinkles, which is a little weird, because I’m usually not all that into sprinkles.  Caleb had a bacon maple bar, which he said was also good.  I had planned to go back for a voodoo doll donut but we never did, much to Caleb’s relief, as he found the voodoo doll donuts to be fairly creepy.

The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium and Savory Feast Kitchen: This was our one sit down reservation for dinner.  I discovered pretty early on in the trip planning that dining reservations at Universal are vastly different than at Disney.  If you want to eat at a sit-down restaurant at Universal, you can basically walk in and wait.  Even if you have a reservation, you might have to wait (as we did).  By the time we arrived here, we were miserably hot (more on that later), so we stared by drinking glasses upon glasses of water. I ordered Fettuccine Alfredo, which I realize is boring.  It was alright.  Caleb ordered the “May Contain Bacon” burger, which he thought was pretty good.  He also liked the fries, which is a big deal, because Caleb is very particular about fries.  We shared the “May Contain Nuts” sundae.  It was gigantic.  I forgot to take a picture of it.  Like the rest of the food, it was good but not exceptional.  I’m glad we had this experience, but I probably would not go back.  Our waitress was really great, though!

The Three Broomsticks (breakfast and dinner):  We had a breakfast voucher as part of our package.  Both of us ate the “American Breakfast” with pumpkin juice.  It was standard theme park breakfast fare.  The croissant was fresh and delicious.  The sausage was quite good.  It’s always a plus to start the day with protein.  We both enjoyed the pumpkin juice, which tasted like pumpkin pie spice.  We didn’t like it enough to order it more than once, though.  The dinner we had was quite good.  I had fish and chips, and Caleb had the ½ rotisserie chicken with corn and potatoes.  He raved about the potatoes, but he definitely cleaned his entire plate.  The fish and chips was good, but not Epcot good.  To be fair, I could eat Epcot fish and chips every day of my life, so this didn’t stand a chance.  The theming was great, but there was no access to the second floor.

The Leaky Cauldron:  We also had a breakfast voucher here.  We both had the “Pancake Breakfast.”  Same story about standard theme park breakfast fare.  Same story about theming.

Now, here’s the real kicker…  We ate breakfast once and dinner twice at our value resort (Endless Summer Surfside) food court, and it was really good: For breakfast we both had a chicken and bacon waffle sandwich.  I liked it more than Caleb did, but we both ate the whole thing.  I might have preferred it without the powdered sugar.  For our first dinner there, we both had lasagna, which was… unbelievably… the best lasagna I have ever had (Caleb said it was the best lasagna he had ever had at a restaurant… he remains partial to Grandma’s lasagna… please be advised, my lasagna is about the worst dish I make.  My kids called it “the lasagna of death” for years, so…). We also had peanut butter brownies, but by the time I ate the lasagna and breadstick, I was too full for the brownie.  I took it back up to the room, flew it home, and ate it days later.  It was still good.  Our second dinner there was spontaneous, because our flight was delayed, but we didn’t know that until we had already left the park for the day, so we decided to just hang out at the hotel for a couple of extra hours.  Caleb had a meatlovers pizza, which was exceptionally good for a value resort food court.  I had a bacon cheddar burger and fries, which were OK.  We also had the pumpkin pasties and butterbeer fudge we had picked up at Honeyduke’s.  I think I could have just eaten pumpkin pasties all week and been alright.          

We also consumed a couple of frozen slushies each from the walkway to Citiwalk because the heat was unbearable.  I had two lemonade slushies.  Caleb had a cherry slushie and a grape slushie.  He liked them both but the cherry one was better.  Obviously, I loved the lemonade one, since I got a second one.  We took refillable, collapsible water bottles, which Caleb was much better at actually refilling than I was.  There are water fountains throughout the parks, but not as many as I had imagined, based on reviews.  It might just be that we drink an excessive amount of water.  Had other children of mine been on this trip, we may have invested in the Coca-Cola freestyle refillable cups, but Caleb and I are not pop drinkers, for the most part, so we didn’t think it would be a very good value.  We bought juice at the trolley stand in King’s Cross Station.  We were terribly disappointed that the pasties available there were not pumpkin pasties, because of course we had hoped to eat pumpkin pasties on the Hogwart’s Express.

Regarding the Universal Photo Pass, I went into this knowing that it was not going to be even relatively comparable to Disney’s Photo Pass.  I reiterate, it is not relatively comparable to Disney’s Photo Pass!  The photographers who offer to take your picture at the park entrances do not frame the picture in any sort of reasonable way… forget about artistic.  We’re talking mid-late 90s snapshots with half the entrance message cut off, and maybe one or more person is blinking!  There are no opportunities for Universal photographers to take your picture at other iconic places (you would think there would be someone at Hogwarts, but no…).  However, here’s the thing…  if you are going to be there for multiple days and want your ride photos, it’s still worth the cost.  We ended up with 24 photos total and 3 videos.  The two videos from Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure made it worthwhile for me (again… more on that later).  If you want a really fun video and some decent pictures, go to Shutterbutton’s in Diagon Alley.  It’s a greenscreen deal, but the finished product is super fun.  This is not included in the Photo Pass, but it was included in our package.  

If you know me, you also know I usually take thousands of pictures on vacation (literally thousands, this is not hyperbole).  However, for this trip I decided to mostly just soak in the experience, so I took only my phone camera.  I took exactly 251 photos and 3 videos.  Caleb said, “Mom!  I thought you weren’t going to take many pictures.”  I said, “I didn’t.”  then we laughed really loudly, because we were exhausted.

Something that I had some concern over before going on the trip was the possibility that I might have to do the fat person walk of shame.  This is a little bit difficult to write about, but I have a certain degree of body dysmorphia, and it can go either way for me… so sometimes I think I look like I weigh 300lbs. and sometimes I think I look like I weigh 120lbs. and the reality is that I am not even remotely close to either of those numbers!  I am definitely overweight, and I am definitely out of shape, so I joined a Facebook group for people who are overweight and traveling to Universal to try to get some information about the sizes of the rides ahead of time.  The truth is that I had no trouble fitting on any ride, and there was never a moment where anyone asked me to try a test seat.  In fact, there was one situation where the people behind us couldn’t fit on a ride, and the ride operator asked us to trade rows with them, because we had apparently sat in a modified row for larger people.  I fit just fine in the regular row.  That said, I don’t think I would ride Dudley Do-right’s Ripsaw Falls again.  It wasn’t so much a size thing as a coordination thing.  Every person has to enter the ride vehicle by slipping their feet forward and basically wrapping their legs around the person in front of them.  I found this wildly awkward with a stranger in front of me.  Unloading the vehicle is just as bad, and I accidentally stepped on Caleb while slipping on the wet floor.  Super… embarrassing…

The rest of the rides were fairly epic.  Although we went for the Wizarding World, we are also coaster enthusiasts, so we spent some time in the Muggle World, as well.  The first thing we rode was Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket.  We bought the video, and I’m glad we did.  It was unique and tons of fun.  The Hulk was a great coaster but it gave me a headache, because I apparently didn’t have my head against the back of the seat, which resulted in a lot of movement and banging my head on the restraint over and over again.  VelociCoaster was just unbelievable!  It was one of the best coasters we have ever ridden, and there was a lot of airtime.  There was one terrifying moment when I thought I might fall right out into the lake, but of course that’s unreasonable!

We spent a portion of our first day in Suess Landing.  I would like to publicly acknowledge how great Caleb is, because I know a lot of people have children who are embarrassed by them and who might not even be willing to spend the day riding cool stuff with their moms, but Caleb never even batted an eyelash about getting on Cat in the Hat, the Caro-Suess-el, or One Fish, Two Fish.  He did arrange for One Fish, Two Fish to hit us with every… single… fountain (which was fine… we were hot).  Please note: Caleb was wearing a Horton Hears a Who T-shirt that day, because he is just that fantastic!  

Some logistical notes…  The wait times were very long.  We used the Universal app to decide where to go at what times, but it took us the entire four days to get a handle on which rides had better wait times at specific times throughout the day.  If we went back, we would be better prepared with a ride schedule.  I wasn’t willing to pay the premium for a four-day express pass.  It was expensive.  However, if I was going for just one day, I probably would, because otherwise it would be difficult to ride much of anything.  The roller coasters are also not glasses friendly!  I wore contacts for about half of the trip, but I had my glasses on when we went to ride VelociCoaster.  I had to leave them in a locker, and I could not see (my eyesight is very poor without my glasses/contacts).  I had to ask Caleb if there was a seatbelt!  Thankfully, there was only a bar restraint, so I didn’t have to fumble around looking for a buckle.  Caleb (whose eyesight is also not great) took good care of me, and we both breathed a sigh of relief when we were reunited with our glasses!    

Of course, we made the decision to go during the hottest, most crowded time of the year!  Caleb and I are the most miserable people ever in the heat and sun.  We prefer our rooms to be air-conditioned to around 65 degrees (Caleb would go colder), and walking miles and miles in 90+ degree Florida heat is not something that anyone in their right mind would choose to do with us (I have other children who like the heat much better, but Caleb and I are just dark, cold, gloomy weather people, and snow is a plus).  Every day when we got off the shuttle, I looked at Caleb and said, “It feels like Florida!”  What I meant by that is that it was terribly hot and we were basically wet all day long.  Looking around, this was also the case for everyone else in the parks.

Volcano Bay was a welcome retreat from the heat one afternoon.  The wave pool had extraordinarily long stretches of waves, and both the lazy river and action river were lovely (minus the part where I took a whole chunk of skin off my big toe in the action river, but I don’t think that’s a typical experience for people)!  We also enjoyed several raft slides (we had to ride combined with other parties, because even though they say 2-5 riders, you really have to have more than two people to weight enough) and a tube slide.  I was most disappointed in the Photo Pass situation at Volcano Bay, because I thought we would get a lot of photos there.  Part of the issue was that only certain slides have cameras, but even the ones that did didn’t always capture the picture at the right time.  I loved the queue system, because you tapped your wristband for a time to return to the slides, which meant we didn’t have to stand for hours in the heat.  We could wait in the wave pool for our slide times!  The one drawback to this system was that arriving in the mid-afternoon, all of the times for the water coaster were already full, so we didn’t get to ride it at all (there is no stand-by line).

Of course, the real draw for us was the Wizarding World.  We were walking through Universal Studios, looking for Diagon Alley, when we caught sight of the Knight Bus.  At that point we looked around and were both starting to feel underwhelmed and disappointed, but neither of us mentioned this until later.  I saw a passage that looked like it might lead to bathrooms and a water fountain, so we stepped into it, and wow, oh, wow, were we ever surprised at what awaited us on the other side!  We had accidentally stepped into Diagon Alley through the exit, and it was spectacular!  I wish there was a hidden camera there, because both of our mouths dropped!  The first thing I saw was Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, and I am something of a Weasley super fan, so that was pretty special.  The fire breathing dragon on Gringott’s is, of course, magical.  We walked by Gregorovich’s and spoke of the absurdity of buying a wand there when Ollivander’s was available...  I think I forgot this was a fictional world for a moment…  Knockturn Alley really hit me, because it is this hidden cove of darkness in the midst of so much magic.  However, it is also probably the coolest place in the whole park, so it was a great reprieve from the heat!                

One of the challenges we dealt with on this trip was that the Hogwart’s Express closed for refurbishment halfway through our time there.  I discovered this would be the case last week, so it was not surprising, but it was still disappointing.  We made sure to ride on the first day, just in case it closed early.  It didn’t, so we also got to ride on the second day.  Overall, the ride wasn’t as spectacular as we had hoped, but there is nothing like walking through that wall at platform 9 ¾!  It took us a couple of times to get this shot:

As far as the Wizarding Rides go, we rode Forbidden Journey three times and Escape from Gringott’s twice.  Both of these combined simulators and ride elements.  I tend to get a little motion sick on simulators, but I did fine on these.  Caleb liked Forbidden Journey better, and I gave the edge to Gringott’s, but they were both excellent!  We rode Flight of the Hippogriff twice, as well.  It is a small coaster, very kid friendly, but fun for adults, too, especially if the wait time is short.  We discovered that Forbidden Journey and Flight of the Hippogriff have very short wait times during early entry, and Gringott’s has the shortest wait time at regular entry time.  We really came for Hagrid’s Motorbike adventure, though!  At early entry, the wait time was 100-120 minutes!  This seemed excessive.  We kind of lucked out both times we rode, because we waited for the Florida rain to end and then got in line.  The first time was at park closing.  They will allow anyone who is in line at closing to ride, so we rode after closing but only waited an hour.  The second time, we took a chance that the line would move faster than the 120 minute posted wait, and we also got on in about an hour.  This is, by far, the best themed ride I have ever been on, and it was a pretty great coaster, overall, as well.  The elements of surprise were exceptionally well executed (backwards portions of the ride, a part where the entire track drops), and it was just so fun!  There is an extra added piece for us, though, because when Caleb was about four years old he decided that he was going to live next door to me forever and that he would own a motorcycle with a side car to take me everywhere I needed to go.  The exception was that he would have a car in case we needed to go to Disney World.  So… it was pretty special for Caleb to ride the motorcycle and for me to ride in the sidecar.  We also posed for pictures at the stationary motorbike, because that’s who we are…

Will we go back?  I mean, probably someday.  Ian is just now reading the Harry Potter series, and Miah won’t be too far behind.  Overall, Universal wouldn’t be a vacation destination for us without the Wizarding World, because even though there are a few good coasters, there is not much outside the Wizarding World that appeals.  Universal Studios, itself, only had Diagon Alley and Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket for us.  Islands of Adventure had much more for us to enjoy, but of course you have to have the Park-to-Park tickets to ride the Hogwarts’ Express between the two Harry Potter lands.  What made this trip priceless, though, was four days celebrating Caleb and his graduation from High School.  We had such a wonderful time being together, taking it all in at whatever pace we wanted and just relaxing for a little bit.  I loved every single minute of that!

L. 

 

Why Did We Do It This Way?

I’m desperately trying to wrap up thoughts on high school graduation before we move full force into the next stage of life around here.  To be honest, the thoughts are lingering, and I’m OK with that, because if there’s one thing raising babies to adulthood has taught me, it’s that time moves faster than we imagine.

If you’ve followed our family for long, you know we have lived a mobile life.  I have a whole lot of thoughts on that, too, but something else I’ve learned is that if thinking doesn’t lead to action, it eventually becomes pointless.  This is not a popular idea for someone who loves philosophy.  Whatever.  I live with the tension.

But as I sit here, this morning, pondering the unusual graduation my oldest two children just experienced, I want to flesh it out a bit further.  There were some well-intentioned (I hope) questions surrounding this event, much like there have been some questions surrounding their entire lives.  I want to be clear that I don’t feel like I owe anyone an explanation to the question, “Why did you do it this way?”  Except maybe me.  Can you owe yourself an explanation? 

Here’s the bottom line.  When we packed up a U-Haul trailer full of trophies and pictures and memorabilia and proceeded to cart it across the country for a total of three graduation parties, it made sense, because we’ve been carting these kids around the country since 2001 (when we first moved Seth, age 14 months, and Grace, age 4 weeks from Michigan to Colorado).  For as many drawbacks as have come with this mobile life (and there have been many), there is also one undeniable advantage: They have people everywhere!

Road Trip Stage One: We started where we are.  We have been here in Massachusetts for a little over 10 months now.  Moving frequently has taught me that every move is different, and some places become home more quickly than others (also, some never do, and that’s OK too).  I can’t speak for my whole family, but some of us have had conversations about how strangely easy this move felt.  We’ve had moments when we’re standing in the ocean and wondering why it doesn’t seem weird that we live on the coast.  But it doesn’t… seem weird…  It seems right.  I love the people here.  I love the people at our local church, who have welcomed us with open arms.  I love the people at BU.  I love the people at other local churches who have invited me to have coffee and preach from their pulpits.  If you know me or have read me, you know my ultimate dream lies about 2700 miles west of here, but I also like it here enough to stay.  It did not take long to feel like home.  But that was a long aside to the point.  We started where we are.  There’s really nothing else to do, friends.  We have to start where we are.  This was a literal statement, but it’s also a figurative one.  Living in community with the people you are actually with is something of a lost art these days.  The people here make it easy.  This was the only appropriate place to first break cake and pizza together for a celebration that culminated right here.

Yet there is also something incredibly beautiful about the connectedness we have that allows us to hold onto all the people we have ever known and loved.[i]  So, Road Trip Stage Two brought us “home” to family.  I struggled to imagine what graduation would look like for Seth and Grace without extended family.  It was unreasonable to expect people to travel so far.  And so, when my parents graciously offered to host an open house, there was no compelling reason to say no.  In fact, I was quite relieved (in part because this allowed so many more people to share in the celebration, but also in part because I was finishing up year one of my PhD program, and this took a little bit of planning pressure off me).  The group of people who showed up there was eclectic and incredibly appropriate.  I expected grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins (although some of them still had to make quite a trek), but the really fun part (at least for me) was watching the friends show up.  And it wasn’t just Seth and Grace’s friends.  It was also my parents’ friends (some I have known my whole life and some I had never before met) and my friends.   There is something strangely binding about sharing spaces intergenerationally for cyclical celebrations and about enduring, childhood friendships.  There were two particularly powerful moments for me that solidified my gladness regarding this second party.  The first was when we were setting up.  I was fairly absorbed in my own tasks, when I turned and saw Grace placing her quizzing trophies in exactly the same place mine sat twenty-two years ago at my own open house.  She had no way to know she was repeating history.  The second was when my dearest remaining high school friend showed up, and as we sat and chatted for awhile I was struck by how we had done this before.  Life events are so strangely and beautifully interconnected.

And then, finally, Road Trip Stage Three took us to the place Seth and Grace will always remember as their childhood home.  This is where we held the actual graduation ceremony, along with their baptism.  Even more than the “trophy-mobile…” this may have been the most perplexing piece of our week long rite of passage.  Why did we do it this way?  The answer is complicated (much like life), and believe me, we put a lot of thought into how to best engage in this sacramental act in a way that was genuine, orthodox, reasonable, responsible, and fully reliant on Gods work through the sacrament of baptism.  I feel like there are people who make judgment calls on the way others worship based solely in rubrics, facts, and figures, and as a liturgist I have to admit that I kind of “get it.”  But narrative matters, too.  A lot.  And so, when I looked out on the people who had gathered and realized that this was, indeed, the village who raised these kids, I knew we made the right call.  I said it then, and I will defend it again and again, if I ever have to: I’m not sure there have ever been two children who belonged more fully to the church than Seth and Grace Michaels.  Clearly, I think there’s a “most right” order in which to do things, but I also have to remember that I haven’t always known everything (and I still don’t, and I expect I never will), and we can only do the very best we can do in any given moment.  That Seth and Grace were baptized in the presence of the community that loved and nurtured them in life and faith is significant.  It’s surely not the only way this could have gone down, but it was right.  And it was also confirmation of God’s grace upon grace upon grace which manifests itself in ways we understand and ways we don’t.

So… skip ahead a couple weeks to orientation at Olivet.  I regret that I wasn’t there, but Phil sent some pictures that further reinforced some of my thinking on initiation rites and the unique path my children (now entering adulthood) have taken.  There was an event at orientation during which all of the incoming Freshmen were given ONU sweatshirts to put on, as they crossed a stage.  Much like I would tell you my kids belonged to the church long before there was an official seal of initiation, I would also have to admit to you that Olivet has called to them for over a decade, and they have belonged there, too.  But as I was looking through these pictures, I noticed something that physically embodied this belonging theory of mine.  Kid after kid is crossing that stage and pulling on that sweatshirt over their clothing, marking themselves as a Freshman at Olivet, literally covering over a part of who they were before this moment.  And then I look at the pictures of my kids, and they are pulling on their sweatshirts right over their Olivet t-shirts.[ii]  And honestly, I laughed… and then I cried… as I thought to myself about the layers upon layers of personhood that have been consistent for them, even in a really jarring, itinerant life. 

If part of following God’s call means dragging your kids all over the country for the ride, then you’d better be willing to drag them all over the country for the party, too.  And diligently check to see just how faithfully God is layering on the grace.

L.  

             

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[i] Realist me admits there is also a negative side to this, but that’s a conversation for another day.

[ii] They might not be the only kids to whom this applies.  I only have so many pictures.