We’ve had an amazing first half-day and
change here in Florida! It’s really
late, and I have a lot to write about; so let’s get right to it.
Morning came way too early, but Mom and Dad
did not have any trouble getting all of us moving and ready to load up into the
minivans and truck for the drive to the airport. Yes, we had to leave really early to catch
one of the earliest flights; but that was so worth it to be in Florida in time
to enjoy most of what’s been an absolutely gorgeous day. Since Mom and Dad both needed to drive, Ethan
and Aiden went in the truck with Dad and Michael; I went with Mom, Ehlana, and
Naomi in our minivan; and Rowen and Tim went with Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and
Zack – mostly so that Rowen could give them a hand with Zack if he got fussy
during the drive. He hadn’t been happy
with the early wake-up call, but did go back to sleep again by the time we were
on the highway.
The drive to the airport was uneventful,
though Mom and I had a nice little chat while Ehlana and Naomi went back to
sleep; and I had fun texting with Michael and Rowen too. Messaging each other isn’t new to us, but
doing it using cell phones is; since we always just used our computers and the
town wifi for that. Michael, Tim, and
Rowen don’t all have phones like mine – their parents just set them up with
pre-paid phones for this trip so that we could all stay connected with my parents,
aunt, and uncle anytime we’re not with them.
That wasn’t an issue all morning since we
pretty much did everything together from the time we reached the airport
parking lot until we checked into our rooms at the Disney hotel. Most of that time together was very exciting,
and while I didn’t particularly enjoy dealing with thins like security at the
airport; we all managed to have fun all morning despite those small travel annoyances. It’s been way too great a day to go off on a
mini-tirade over government ‘security’ measures that just seem to do more to
either scare people or tick them off than anything else; so let’s not go there
and move along.
Our flight to Orlando was basically
on-time, and while it was uneventful too, Ethan, Ehlana, and I had a lot of fun
with our friends – mostly because it was a new adventure for the four younger
kids and still mostly a novelty for Michael, Tim, Rowen, and me too. Zack wasn’t as impressed and had some pain
issues from the altitude change; but I’m fairly sure that Mom found a way to
help him out with that during his first mile-high diaper change when she and
Aunt Leanne could get him away from the rest of us and do that for him. Mom and Aunt Leanne managed to have a short
nap while Zack rested too; but Dad and Uncle Adam stayed awake during the
flight – though they looked ready to have naps by the time we were in our
rental vans and on our way out of the airport to meet up with Grandma and
Grandpa for a late lunch.
While I don’t want to rant on all of the
hoops travelers need to jump through to get anywhere on airplanes these days; I
can’t help but be both a bit annoyed and amused by the fact that it took longer
to deal with the ground transportation and airport time than it did to actually
cover the vast majority of the actual miles between Witch Falls and Disney. The drive time at our end is inconvenient,
but we like living in a town that’s off the beaten path; so it’s worth it for
that. The hours at both airports shouldn’t
need to be that long; but I guess we did have a lot of luggage; and picking up
those rental vans took a while too by the time we’d done that after rounding up
our checked luggage.
The weather back home has been great lately
for this time of year, and I think that worked out really well for us
today. Making the jump from around fifty
degrees to the mid-eighties was really awesome, but also easier to acclimate to
than a bigger temperature shock would have been. We all still really loved the change from
spring to something closer to summer weather back home; and I’ll be very happy
all week if my heavy-spring jacket can stay in my bag the entire time we’re
here. That definitely wasn’t an issue
today or tonight; and the entire week is looking pretty good so far for the
forecast.
We met up with Grandma and Grandpa at a
seafood restaurant that they’d picked out for us. The main reason that we didn’t have them meet
us at the airport or help out there was because it’d just waste hours of their
time without really saving much time for us anyway. The reunion at the restaurant was better too;
and it is so awesome to see how happy they are when visiting one of their
favorite home-away-from-home destinations.
The food was good, and having an hour or so to visit with our grandparents
before getting to the play time at the Magic Kingdom was nice; but my
hyper-active kicked up a few notches when we moved on to our hotel next and got
checked in. Grandma and Grandpa split up
with us for a while to find parking while we used valet parking at the hotel;
but they came back to the hotel to meet up with us again by the time we were
ready to go and spend the rest of the afternoon and evening at the Magic Kingdom.
Disney World has so many different
entertainment options that I have no idea how long it would actually take to
try and do everything once, but the main theme park is probably on every
visitor’s must-do list – especially for first visits. We missed the first half of the operation day
for the park, but we still had a lot of time left – and some of us got to stay
even longer for the ‘extra magic hours’.
We also had one other nice little perk that I highly recommend – the
FastPass bonus that was part of our vacation package. There’s a very good chance that we were able
to go on as many rides in a half-day as visitors that didn’t have the passes could
do in a full day.
I’m not going to do a play-by-play of our
entire Magic Kingdom adventure. Let’s
instead just keep the story moving and a bit general. We stayed together for the first few hours;
caught two shows and went on a couple of rides that we could all do together. We stopped for a late dinner; and then
Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were set free for a couple of hours to go and do
some of the thrill rides that the younger kids couldn’t while the parents and
grandparents did another show and some kiddie rides with the twins, Naomi,
Aiden, and Zack.
Coasters are a must for me, and we hit most
of them at least once tonight. The bonus
visits came during the extended park hours – and after the fireworks; but I’ll
get to that part of the magic tonight in a minute. Along with the rides, we caught one of the
after-dark light shows; and eventually met up with the rest of our gang in time
for the fireworks display that marked the end of the play part of the day for
all non-teen kids, parents, and grandparents.
All of that was amazing, and while the teen time was awesome too; I
really loved seeing my brother, sister, cousin, Naomi, and Aiden all having
such a special day too – and getting to share that with them. It was a beautiful night for the fireworks,
and though the park was crowded; we still managed to get a nice spot to watch
the show from while some of us snacked on ice cream or had cold drinks.
We did the goodnight hugs and kisses there –
or I should say that Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I did; since I’m sure there were
more hugs and kisses when Grandma and Grandpa moved on to the parking lots on
the monorail after everyone else got off at our hotel. Being trusted and set free for the rest of
the night in a place like Disney is fairly magical without adding in any bonus
fun; and we got to have that and so much more as we got back to the thrill
rides, fun, and major entertainment. We
saved up going to the Haunted Mansion until after midnight, and Space Mountain
and the Mine coaster were two of our top picks for repeat rides. Everything we did was a blast; and getting to
do that with my boyfriend and our two best friends made for a perfect night.
Mom and Dad didn’t give us orders to check
in with them or anything, and while Tim thought that was very cool; Michael and
Rowen knew that Mom can keep track of me anyway – even if they don’t know that’s
a secret about me that they share. We
didn’t stay right until the last train back to the hotel; so we were there in
time to split up for a bit of boyfriend-girlfriend alone time. Michael and I took care of our goodnight hugs
and kisses in the room that Rowen and I are sharing; while Rowen was with Tim
in the boys’ room. By then, we’d been
awake for about a full day, and while it was very tempting to accidentally fall
asleep and swap roommates; we resisted the urge and I sent Michael to his room
after sending Rowen a head-ups text message to let her know he was on the way.
Once Rowen was back in our room, we took
turns getting ready for bed; and we’ve been talking ourselves toward sleep
while I’ve done my bedtime computer checks.
The main park opens at eight again, and we’re going to be there for the
little opening ceremony, and it’s now heading toward three; so I’d better wrap
this up and get to the few hours of nap time we’ll manage before getting back
to the fun and adventure. A little early
morning healing for Rowen and Michael might be an option too; but I’ll see
whether I can get that done or not. We’re
young and can handle a few days without much sleep; but I don’t want to totally
wear out my friends in the first two days so I should probably pace them a bit!
;^)
Our second day at the main theme park is
going to be amazing, though, and I really do want to get some down time now; so
that’s all for tonight, and, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
