The hotel staff, locals, and southern
visitors all know when you’re from the northern half of the country. Michael and I were exercising by the pool in
tees and light workout pants while the staff came outdoors with jackets and
dressed the way we would back at home when the temperature is around
freezing. By comparison, we thought that
fifty-seven was wonderful – and we went for a dip in the pool after our workout
too! That just had people shaking their
heads and I saw a few shudders, but there were lots of smiles too; since we did
manage to provide a fair bit of early-morning entertainment with our workout
and micro-swim. Some may have thought
that we jumped out after only five minutes because we were cold; but that was
strictly because we needed to get back to our rooms and ready for the day. Our breakfast meet-up was set for seven o’clock;
our group did that at McDonalds; and then we were back at the hotel with time
to spare before catching our eight o’clock buses to Disney.
We were with our group for that trip;
stayed with them for the morning so that we could play with Patrick, Jessica,
and the rest of the tweens; and basically had a blast as we worked our way
through the Animal Kingdom Park. Every
group, or some sub-groups, had their pick of which park or parks to visit
today, but the Animal Kingdom and Epcot were recommended because of the school
assignments we’d all been given. We’ll
be spending the day at the Magic Kingdom park tomorrow for the day – and the
parade we’ll be in, so I don’t think that anyone picked doing that today too;
but I did hear that some of the groups opted for Hollywood Studios; and at
least one group of teens went to the beach for a couple of hours in the
afternoon. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I
went with the play day in the Animal Kingdom until we stopped for an early
dinner; and then we went to Epcot for the rest of the day – partly so we’d be
there for the fireworks at the end of the night. Brent and Sharon eventually joined us there
with the rest of our group, but we only met up with them in time for the
fireworks.
I’m not going to cover everything we did
today in this update, but we did all have an amazing adventure. The teen time with Rowen and Tim was great
too; but Michael and I really liked getting to spend extra time with Jessica
and Patrick too – just as we loved getting to spend time with the twins, Naomi,
and Aiden when we were here with them.
Whether we were catching the shows and seeing the sights of the Animal
Kingdom or going on the rides; our day was packed full of non-stop fun and
adventure! Since it was cooler by
comparison for most of the morning, we did the shows and touring attractions
first; saved the extreme rides for when it was warmer after lunch; and had that
early dinner once we’d hit all of our favorite rides.
Epcot is a different kind of fun, but still
has some extreme fun to go along with the more educational aspects of the
place; and we had no trouble keeping the fun rolling as we picked our favorite
attractions so that we could hit those highlights in the three and a half hours
or so we had to do that before meeting up with our group in time to find a good
spot to watch the fireworks. That was an
awesome way to end the day before going to catch our bus ride back to the
hotel; we were there by eleven o’clock; and the room check was pushed back by a
half or three-quarters of an hour so that the teens and tweens with the bedtime
munchies could go and get food before returning to their rooms for the night.
Rowen and I didn’t do that, but Michael and
Tim did; they brought back drinks and desserts for us; and we had our bedtime
snack together before they needed to be back in their rooms for the night. Our goodnight hugs and kisses moments were a
near-repeat of last night; and then Rowen and I did the same bedtime routine
too with the addition of taking quick showers while getting ready for bed. That gave me more time for my computing, so
this was the only job I had left to do after I was done my shower and was ready
to get into bed with Rowen. She was
already half-asleep by then, but we listened to some music and had a wrap-up
girl chat before she did drift off; and I’m pretty much ready to join her in
nap mode now that I’ve had time to wind down from the excitement of the day.
As I’ve already mentioned, we’ll be at the
Magic Kingdom tomorrow for the main event of this adventure, and while the
parade will only be a total of a couple of hours of our week – including the
work before and after the parade; it is what we’ve all worked so hard for over
the past year and will be one of those remember-forever moments for all of
us. I am so glad that I’ll have this
photographic memory for that – even if having it isn’t always a blessing!
This seems like a very short report for
what’s been such an awesome day, but as always; it’s getting to have these
adventures with my friends that really makes what we’re doing so amazing. Michael and I have another early-morning date
for Tai Chi, though, and I don’t have anything else left to add to this report;
so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
