Disney 2011 - Day 3 "Our Day of Rest at EPCOT"

I began this first day of the week by going to run some errands before church. This turned out to be a very bad idea as Magan does not know how a clock works, and we had lost an hour that night with the time change. Magan was still on Central Time, and we were now two hours ahead. But I still take the blame, because I did take way to long getting biscuits and some cleaning supplies.

We attended the South Bumby church of Christ where Josh Creel preaches and were looking forward to visiting with him. We all got a late start, but luckily traffic was not bad and we arrived…close to on time. We had a good bible class then a sermon on “The Sermon on the Mount” then made our way to The Boston Market for lunch.

This was an excellent lunch, and a place I wish we had in Birmingham. We may have one, but I don’t know where it is. The meatloaf was not very good, but the vegatables were great. We had a great time visiting with the Creels and seeing their little boy Jared. As our meal came to a close, Magan announced that she had to “go put on her pants”, which is just something that sounds funny when said in the middle of a restaurant. At least Josh and I thought it was funny.

Everyone seemed to go their separate ways to meet up at EPCOT that afternoon. This is Magan and my favorite park, but I have since realized that others in my family do not share in this same joy. But I think we all did have fun, and we began our day getting in line to see Mickey with the Chase Visa Rewards special character greet…unfortunately it was just Minnie and Goofy, but Belle had a blast with Minnie, and Davis loved showing Goofy his little goofy that he was taking all around with him.

We then toured the Living Seas, which is one I could stay in all day, but again…not exactly everyone else’s favorite. It was even feeding time and everybody was ready to go. I bet the kids would have liked to stay and watch. Dude, then we totally saw turtle talk with Crush and it is totally awesome…Dude, Sam like totally used the word totally for the remainder of this trip.

After a tour of The Land and Journey into the Imagination, it was time for supper. One side note for The Land…this is one of the best relaxing rides at DisneyWorld and is a must ride multiple times each trip. Davis loved the desert scene and thought it was cool, and Ben showed us the chomp chomp when we got to see the alligators. But Figment…while this is a somewhat neat ride…why does he have to scare the daylights out of the little kids with some loud booming noises right at the end. Disney just has a thing about creating an experience that is both joyful and traumatizing at the same time.

Supper at A La Cantina el goodo mexicano food was great even with some minor Junkin Family moments. The pico de gallo was great…but just like the Captain Ds of Day 1, did not hit me very well. Katie took the boys on the Donald Duck Mexico Ride…which I am only just now realizing that I did not ride this trip…what a letdown. The KidCOTs were a blast for Sam and Davis as they both got a chance to color with markers their own new Disney Bear (I don't remember the name of this bear and have no idea why Disney is using this in their parks). This was also a great time for me to sit back and relax. You can see below that Davis is still having some troubles staying in the lines.

We then took turns riding Test track, before deciding to leave the park…That is when the meltdown happened. During the fireworks Davis had decided that he REALLY wanted a Figment to play with and to have. He had done really good with his little Goofy, so I decided we would make a quick trip (Impossible with magan) through Mousegears to get him a Figment. We found it right away, and Davis then informed me that he did NOT want a Figment, but wanted to look for something else. It was at this point that the fireworks began, and I made a bad mistake. I thought that my children would enjoy the fireworks more than looking for toys, and took them outside to watch the fireworks. My children have a hard time when they do not have a nap, and this was amplified by my Drama King son Davis…he all of the sudden needed a Figment toy more than anything. So much so that he began crying and bawling to the point of totally ridiculous behavior…So then my patience as a Dad goes to the extreme limits testing the margin of insanity to teach him a lesson that he will not get everything he wants…His out of control wailing continues as I carry him on my shoulders towards our vehicle. What do I do? My inner monologue takes me through various scenarios of how he should be disciplined, or is it OK, he is just tired, how do I make it to my car without going insane…Then I hear Davis’ name being called from behind as my Dad comes running at a surprisingly fast speed up to us. I stop and turn around to see him pull a small Figment toy out of a bag to give to little Davis who was grinning from ear to ear.

Was this the right decision? I have no idea, but as I looked into my father’s eyes, I thought I caught a glimpse of understanding of both my struggles as a Dad along with a hint of childlike joy at the happiness he had just brought to Davis. I love you granddaddy…I may not remember many things about this trip later on, but I will always remember that moment in the EPCOT parking lot.

Disney 2011 - Intermission "Our Home Away from Home"

It seems only a short time back that I was making arrangements for this family vacation to Disney World. The first step was to find a time, which I left to the Shelby County School System and Spring Break worked best. I then needed to find a place that was affordable and would fit all of us (Mom, Dad, Katie, John, Shee', MawMaw, Colby, Mellissa, Ben, and our bunch). So I have several websites that I have used, but ended up going with www.vrbo.com. This worked out well in 2009 for a trip to the beach with Colby.

We ended up with a 6 Bedroom, 4.5 bath, home in a gated community. The home had a pool and jacuzzi (altho we opted not to purchase the heat for the hot tub), and a game room with a pool table and air hockey table. It had two master suites and plenty of room to stretch out in.

The kids loved the upstairs “game room” where they had their own seats and tv. This is where Sam and Davis liked to eat their breakfast in the morning. It was very nice to come home to this place, and to stay up late playing scattegories with everyone one night. I think Colby and Mellissa’s bathroom did not have any hot water, but I don’t know of any other problems we had.

If I ever go back with a large group, this is the place I will stay. You definitely can’t beat the price and the location was great.

Seems like we would have some pictures of the house...but I can't find them...

Here is something Sam added that he wanted to post...
Sam was riding Splash Mountain with his friends at DisneyWorld. Yeah!! Where is my dog. I want a dog. Where is my dog. no where. I rode Thunder Mountain. It is my favorite ride. I rode it when I was 3, it was still my favorite ride. It was fun!

Disney 2011 - Day 2 "Early Morning Magic Kingdom"

We woke up early on our first day to be at the parks by 8:00AM. We were doing pretty good till both Sam and I had to hit the bathrooms which caused a delay in our departure from the hotel. This was also a little difficult because we only spent one night in the hotel, and would be going to our rented house in the evening. Colby and Mellissa were looking to have some family time, and we decided to meet up later in the day...but it was funny that with all of the people in the park, we ran into them on our first ride of the day (Dumbo). Colby and I had similar fastpass plans, so our paths would cross again. This was supposed to be the beginning of Spring Break, and the crowds were fairly large, but they did not show up until around noon on this Friday. So we were able to ride Peter Pan, Dumbo, Teacups, Indy Speedway, Pooh, Snow White, It's a Small World, and Philharmagic before eating lunch...Awesome.

And one of the things I have always wanted to do at the Magic Kingdom, was eat at one of the tables in Pinochios Village Haus that overlooks the boats on "Its a Small World"...and what do you know...it was lunch time and these seats were open. I waved at some of the kids who probably also sat in that boat dreaming that one day they would be able to sit at that table with their family and watch the boats go traveling by...It just feels great that I was the one that probably inspired so many children with just a little wave. Colby and Mellissa joined us for lunch and we pretty much stuck together for the remainder of the day.

This was Davis after that first ride on Thunder Mountain. He was very excited, until we started going around and around VERY FAST. He was a trooper though and kept trying new things.

We next toured Adventureland and took turns with Colby and Melissa riding the big mountain rides...Sam LOVED splash mountain (This was his first time on that one). The tickets worked out well in that Davis' extra fastpass ticket went to Sam who would ride with both Magan and me, then with Colby and Melissa. While waiting for Colby and Melissa, I purchased a required refreshment while in adventureland...A Dole Whip Vanilla Ice Cream Float (floating in pineapple juice). This is absolutely the best dessert/drink you can find anywhere in Disney World...so of course we got two of them, because neither of us wanted to share...and we both made sad faces as our children decided they liked it as well. They should save up their money and buy their own. Not much more on the highlight reel of the day...We saw Pirate Goofy, Colby smacked his knee on the Jungle Cruise directly after our jokester tour guide told him to be careful, Magan racked up on Buzz Lightyear's spinning game, the carousel of Progress is a classic...but needs to have some updates...bad. So we left the park to go see our rented house, our feet feeling the small soreness that would become a throbbing pain by the end of the week.

Davis loved the parade and I have added a little video of him waving below. He was so happy when he turned back to us to tell us that everyone was waving AT HIM.

Disney 2011 - Day 1 "Are we there yet"

The driving day...often known as the day kids forget how to sleep or take any sort of nap. I believe we made it to Childersburg before we heard the first "Are we there yet". We were able to leave fairly early at 6:30AM, thankfully Magan had everything pretty much ready to go in the morning. We planned pretty well for our 10 hour journey by packing 20 hours of movies for the kids to watch. But I realized quickly that the number of times I was asked "Are we there yet" was directly proportional to the number of times they have watched a movie...for example, Toy Story 3 has been watched hundreds of times...therefore, the kids were easily distracted and able to ask the dreaded question...BUT, Sleeping Beauty was relatively unknown therefore allowing a period of silence almost unrecognizable to Magan and me. Good Thinkin' Mom. I finally did get an idea that I thought would work...I gave Sam a map of Florida, and showed him where we were at. I explained that we were on the blue road (I75) and it ran down to the green road (Toll Road - Florida's Turnpike) which ran straight into Disneyworld (Orlando). Sam is very much like me and loved the map, and even read some of the city names we passed by...but then both him and Davis found a new question..."Are we on the green road yet".

We finally made it and decided to go to Downtown Disney for supper. We ate at the new T-Rex restaurant, and had fun watching the meteor showers every 20 minutes. I don't think Davis or Ben were really sure of all of those animatronics dinosaurs, but we made it through.

I don't remember much more of the night other than getting to the hotel and being ready for bed. I do remember that we thought we had left one very important bag at the house, and both Magan and I began to stress over it. Then of course we found it and realized that it would have made a bad trip to not have our camera battery charger, all of the kids cups, and Belle's pacifiers. We made it to DisneyWorld!

Southern Museum of Flight

Today was a fun day that I had with all of the kids to myself. Magan had a photography training seminar that lasted all day, and left me with the children. I like to get out of the house when I have all the kids, as I get stir crazy very easy, so I began dressing the kids to go out as soon as I woke up. Of course it still took until 9:30 to get out of the house, mainly because I turned on “The Empire Strikes Back”, and I was into it as much as Sam and Davis were, so I did not want to turn it off until it was over.

Anyway, it was snowing this morning, so the decision of where to go to was limited to indoor facilities. My decision came down to Bass Pro Shop or Southern Museum of Flight (SMOF). I shared this decision with Sam and Davis, who quickly selected airplanes over boats.

After finally getting there, we found the place rather busy, as they were having a model competition. But their first stop was the gift shop where they found all of the toys they so desperately needed. Sam wanted a bomber jacket “so bad…it’s only 4 dollars” (I showed him it was actually 45 dollars). The model show was actually pretty neat, and the kids loved seeing the model battleships, airplanes, tanks, trucks, and even some cool cars. They also enjoyed looking at all of the cool exhibits. They grabbed my hand to take me to see many of the models and show me all of the cool airplanes. It was fun…then they both grabbed my hand to show me something SO NEAT. I didn’t know what to say when they took me to the snack machine and were so impressed that it had Pop-Tarts in it…just like they eat. WOW. Then they all of the sudden became so hungry…

We then went to another section of the museum that had a plane they could get in and pretend to ride, and a large blow up castle they could jump around in. They also had a large table for legos and building materials for small airplanes.

As we were getting ready to leave, we heard about a cool surprise. For the model show, they had some snap together models that the kids could make at the show and take home with them. I was also all for a free take home toy. Sam and Davis were all onto this, and we went to make our planes. This proved to be very stressful to me as Sam and Davis were both a little small for the directions and we had lots of small parts…then Anabelle chose this moment to go crazy wanting out of her seat. With sweat running down my brow, I told Sam and Davis that we would just have to go home and make them at home. Sam then calmly took control of the situation…I was helping Davis try to pick up all of his pieces when I turned to see Sam digging out some peanut butter crackers, opening them and giving two to Belle, then also getting out her Juice. Sam told me that she likes those crackers, then asked if I could help him with his plane. As another gentleman began helping Dave, I stepped over and starting helping Sam, and Belle just sat nice and quiet while we finished the planes. They have not stopped tonight playing with these planes. Sam made the F14 Tomcat, and Davis made the F18 Hornet (Blue Angel plane)


I just left after that last paragraph to take Davis’ plane away from him, as he will not go to sleep…he just keeps flying it and keeping Sam up. And I hear him crying right now, so maybe at some point in time they will sleep…HOW DO THEY WAKE UP SO EARLY?

Picture quality is a little grainy...I had to use my IPOD, as I could not find the camera this morning.