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amanda_loddenAs I said before, Team Enthusiasm went off to the Magic Kingdom to see the opening ceremonies while Team Lazy slept in and dawdled. Shane cemented his place as Hanna's Favoritist Person Ever!* by taking her on Big Thunder Railroad and Splash Mountain and several trips through Space Mountain before we got there. We met up for lunch, then John surprised everyone by saying that he'd go with Hanna on Space Mountain. Afterward, he said that going right after lunch was a bad idea. I broke one of my theme park "Don't Buy Junk" rules and purchased the picture of the two of them on the ride, because I figure it's never going to happen again.
We split up briefly to take the kids to Stitch's Great Escape, which is not one of Shane's favorite rides so he went on... something else. It's hard enough for me to remember what we did, much less what he did. Then we spent a fair amount of time trying to catch up with each other, during which Hanna rode anything we'd let her get on (the tea cups and the carousel, both of which had short lines) while Shane and I texted and called each other, trying to find each other.
The park was packed, and we wandered around quite a lot, checking out the lines for some of the rides we really wanted to go on and deciding to try again later in the hopes that some of the smaller children would tire out and force their parents to go back to their hotel. Salvation came in the form of a thunderstorm, which shut down 3/4 of the rides and encouraged a bunch of people to head over to a different park with more indoor attractions. Of course, that meant that the rides in the Magic Kingdom that WERE open were a complete zoo. We ended up riding out the storm in Mickey's Philharmagic, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed, so that worked out nicely. The storm also took the temperatures down a notch, from the high 90s to the high 80s/low 90s.
Most of today was wandering around and backtracking, catching up on rides that had really long lines the first time we passed them. John got tired around 3pm, which was unfortunate for him because we kept him going until 8pm. We made the kids go on a bunch of things that they didn't really care for, but that we liked and considered "classics"-- Country Bear Jamboree, It's A Small World, Snow White's Scary Ride (which is due to be closed soon for the Fantasyland renovation, and which is not at all scary), and the train around the park. Nick liked the Haunted Mansion but Hanna felt it was too slow and not scary. Pirates of the Caribbean went over well with both kids. I insisted on the Jungle Cruise, which was what finally did John in. I had forgotten that the line winds around and you can never really tell how much more you've got to go-- you think you're almost there, and then all of a sudden the line goes off to the side and you discover that you've still got a whole room full of line-maze left. Add to that the part where we didn't even get into the line until 6:45pm, and then didn't get onto the ride until 7:20pm, and you have one cranky John.
The restaurant in the park that I wanted to eat at turned out to be reservation-only, so we split up again and Shane went off to shoot a few videos that he wanted to get but couldn't with Hanna towing him around, while the rest of us went to dinner at Perkins and a quick stop at the grocery store because 5 people eat Cheerios much faster than 2. Cranky Johns do lead to well-behaved children, though-- he didn't yell or snap at them, but they got the idea that they had pushed him past his limits, and started being polite to each other.
John dropped into bed immediately upon arriving at the condo. I soaked my feet in the pool (even during the storm). I have a huge blister across my left foot, just under the big toe, and another small one on the 4th toe. This will make tomorrow's activities... interesting. I tried suggesting that we foist the kids off on Shane while we stay home, and Shane countered with Animal Kingdom because it's a smaller park so it should be a shorter day. I suspect this means that he does not want to be stuck with the kids alone. I can't say that I blame him. I have no idea how John and I would have survived without Shane. Right now, he's my Favoritist Person Ever too.
While we were at dinner, another big storm blew in-- enough that I do not have Internet access, and am just typing into Notepad for later cut-and-pasting. The outside temperature seems to have dropped again because of it, so tomorrow has a chance of being pleasant. Here's hoping.
* Though both kids have been quick to add that John and I are really awesome too, because we
arranged this trip.
We split up briefly to take the kids to Stitch's Great Escape, which is not one of Shane's favorite rides so he went on... something else. It's hard enough for me to remember what we did, much less what he did. Then we spent a fair amount of time trying to catch up with each other, during which Hanna rode anything we'd let her get on (the tea cups and the carousel, both of which had short lines) while Shane and I texted and called each other, trying to find each other.
The park was packed, and we wandered around quite a lot, checking out the lines for some of the rides we really wanted to go on and deciding to try again later in the hopes that some of the smaller children would tire out and force their parents to go back to their hotel. Salvation came in the form of a thunderstorm, which shut down 3/4 of the rides and encouraged a bunch of people to head over to a different park with more indoor attractions. Of course, that meant that the rides in the Magic Kingdom that WERE open were a complete zoo. We ended up riding out the storm in Mickey's Philharmagic, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed, so that worked out nicely. The storm also took the temperatures down a notch, from the high 90s to the high 80s/low 90s.
Most of today was wandering around and backtracking, catching up on rides that had really long lines the first time we passed them. John got tired around 3pm, which was unfortunate for him because we kept him going until 8pm. We made the kids go on a bunch of things that they didn't really care for, but that we liked and considered "classics"-- Country Bear Jamboree, It's A Small World, Snow White's Scary Ride (which is due to be closed soon for the Fantasyland renovation, and which is not at all scary), and the train around the park. Nick liked the Haunted Mansion but Hanna felt it was too slow and not scary. Pirates of the Caribbean went over well with both kids. I insisted on the Jungle Cruise, which was what finally did John in. I had forgotten that the line winds around and you can never really tell how much more you've got to go-- you think you're almost there, and then all of a sudden the line goes off to the side and you discover that you've still got a whole room full of line-maze left. Add to that the part where we didn't even get into the line until 6:45pm, and then didn't get onto the ride until 7:20pm, and you have one cranky John.
The restaurant in the park that I wanted to eat at turned out to be reservation-only, so we split up again and Shane went off to shoot a few videos that he wanted to get but couldn't with Hanna towing him around, while the rest of us went to dinner at Perkins and a quick stop at the grocery store because 5 people eat Cheerios much faster than 2. Cranky Johns do lead to well-behaved children, though-- he didn't yell or snap at them, but they got the idea that they had pushed him past his limits, and started being polite to each other.
John dropped into bed immediately upon arriving at the condo. I soaked my feet in the pool (even during the storm). I have a huge blister across my left foot, just under the big toe, and another small one on the 4th toe. This will make tomorrow's activities... interesting. I tried suggesting that we foist the kids off on Shane while we stay home, and Shane countered with Animal Kingdom because it's a smaller park so it should be a shorter day. I suspect this means that he does not want to be stuck with the kids alone. I can't say that I blame him. I have no idea how John and I would have survived without Shane. Right now, he's my Favoritist Person Ever too.
While we were at dinner, another big storm blew in-- enough that I do not have Internet access, and am just typing into Notepad for later cut-and-pasting. The outside temperature seems to have dropped again because of it, so tomorrow has a chance of being pleasant. Here's hoping.
* Though both kids have been quick to add that John and I are really awesome too, because we
arranged this trip.
