Our first day in sunny Orlando began later than our usual Sunday mornings, enjoying the Eastern time zone, and not streaming the Chelsea church service till 11:30. I could not believe that Magan slept till 10AM, but when she did, she quickly justified that it was only 9AM in Alabama. OK, I don't understand, but we will go with that. After streaming the service, we got in the car for our first visit to Disneyworld. Today, we were planning to visit the deluxe resorts, beginning at the Wilderness Lodge where we had a lunch reservation @ 1:30PM. This was our first time at the Whispering Canyon restaurant, but from what I had heard, it would be a good experience. And it is always fun passing the Disney sign...counting down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...DISNEY WORLD! So kids, I will be honest, the cheering did not sound the same on Day 16. But on this day, lots of cheering and excitement.
The waiter was super rude, throwing our straws onto the table. Asking if we needed any help, then saying that he needed some too. My favorite was when we asked him for Ketchup, and he screamed "This table needs ketchup". Then looked around, yeah, I don't see any. Haha. Just a part of the experience, but this guy was really good, and we had some fun with it. I think we all noticed it, but Anabelle was the first to name it...the water served at the restaurants is always not very good, but Belle helped us all laugh when she asked how much we liked the "Splash Mountain" water. And after she said it, we all agreed, the smell quickly took you right to that last hill of the attraction. Ruby also got the first and only Mickey waffles of our journey here. And while it was not part of the Whispering Canyon show, Sam's food came out way late, and he had to sit there eating his BBQ sandwich by himself. The others quickly gave up on Sam, and left him and me alone while they went shopping at the resort. This was probably one of the best meals on our trip, and mine was really unique. A vegan platter of sausage and quiche...Yeah, I would say even the waiter was surprised I was ordering it when he asked me "Are you sure" two times...but wow, amazing meal.
The wilderness lodge is probably my favorite of the deluxe resorts, as if I have stayed at many, but the look of it is really cool. Ruby did her first pin trade in the mercantile store, and some disney magic included a special tinkerbell pin that was given to her by one of the cast members there. After visiting some photopass areas for some wonderful masked pictures (this is where we were informed that ALL disney pics indoors would require masks), we headed toward the boats for a trip over to the Magic Kingdom. No tickets for the parks today, but fun to be this close, and a convenient spot to hop on the resort monorail to finish our resort hopping. Magan cracked me up when she looked surprised as we were docking at the magic kingdom. She said what did he say. He said "Prepare to Dock", but apparently she heard "Prepare to Die". I also got a picture of the family on the front of the boat...well everyone except me. A kind man saw this, and asked if I wanted him to take one of the family, and he did...of me, Magan and Sam. Haha...I guess he did not think the row in front of us were also family.
At the contemporary, we got to see the $500 minnie ears being sold for the 50th anniversary. We elected to pass on those. Shopping was not too bad throughout the whole trip, as the kids had their $100 souvenir budget, and knew they better not spend it all of the first day. It was fun watching Ruby chat with all the cast members during her pin trades. At the Polynesian resort, we were able to get the dessert we all were waiting for...the dole whips. We had a special 50th anniversary whip that had some other juice in it, we had one with a swirl, one with vanilla, and a free one that they messed up and put straight up pineapple whip into the cup (super sweet with pineapple juice too). Anyway, I think we all agreed that vanilla ice cream with pineapple juice is the best combination. It was nice to see all of the Christmas decorations still out, and we got to see the gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian.
So back to the monorail and back to the Magic Kingdom to catch our boat back to the Wilderness Lodge to get to our car and back to our condo. Nothing is easy at Disney. At the magic kingdom I had to talk to guest relations, and got back to the family right as they were about to finish loading the boat back to the lodge. We ran to make it, not wanting to wait another 30 minutes to get home. And barely we made it onto the boat, and were off into the Seven Seas Lagoon. It was at this point that I remembered that both boats to the Wilderness Lodge and the Campground leave from that same place at the Magic Kingdom...and I had no idea which boat we were on. I did not share my nervousness with anyone, just kept hoping that maybe we made the right choice. But then I started looking around the boat, and asking myself...Are these RV people? Yes, I was making judgements that were unfair, but when I saw that many american flags, and one man with what looked like american flag shorts, I knew that we had gotten onto the wrong boat with a bunch of RV people. But it seems that my judgements were incorrect, as the boat made a turn towards the lodge where I was relieved that our journey was close to the end for the day.
On the way home, we decided to visit the local Walmart to get prepared for two weeks in our Disney home, and a few cheaper meals for lunch. And we all walked into probably the most crowded Walmart I have ever seen. It was like Black Friday sales with lines of people at each register. Magan saw the look in my eyes, and quickly we made a plan for me and the younger ones to go home, while her and Sam finished the shopping. At the house, I let Davis and the girls go swimming in the pool while we waited for Mom and Sam to finish shopping. And Davis will remember my outburst when I saw him using the pool noodles to blow water at the girls. Their squeals were not the problem...but we are in COVID days, and you just put your mouth on a pool noodle that you found in random pool in Florida. WHAT! I was also on super caution mode with the Omicron COVID variant spiking high everywhere. I just wanted us all to stay healthy for 2 weeks!
Magan finally called, and I left the younger ones with Davis while I went to pick up Sam and mom. Wow, I will not reveal the Walmart Bill, but Sam and Mom will remember how high it was...but I knew it would be and Magan did a great job, as it was very close to what we needed for two full weeks in Orlando. Back at home, we played one game of Exploding Kittens to end a very long but fun first day of vacation. Who won? Ruby did...after a super crazy luck draw of about 8 cards. After that pull, she was stacked for the rest of the game. The only other thing I remember is little Ruby getting teared up when I told her to "Go To Bed!"..."But I just made my Cocoa". Ugh, sweet girl. "Well finish your Cocoa quick, and then Go To Bed!"
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