vacation Sunday: Magic Kingdom

We came into the day not knowing how busy the park was going to be.  It was going to be on the cooler side and it was Super bowl Sunday, but it was also a weekend.  (Spoiler: it was a great day to go.)  We had a tentative plan and expectations that we might not get to ride everything we wanted.  (Spoiler: we rode everything at least once.)

Cheryl and Joshua were talking and the following came out.  Cheryl: Grandpa Larry isn't a good waiter.  He always wants to do things now!  Joshua: He shouldn't work at a restaurant then.  (Joshua has had a few one-liners lately.  It's fun to hear them come through.)

Our goal was to ride Seven Dwarves first thing and then skip the extra payment since it's a special lightning lane.  We got there early and stood in a large crowd at "rope" drop.  We rushed with the best of them, although there were probably about 200 people in line ahead of us.  When we got in line the sign said 65 minutes, but then lots of people later that were still getting in line it still said 65 minutes.  We probably only waited 30 minutes, hooray! The first thing Joshua said getting off was that he wanted to ride it again.  What does Grandma do? She worked her magic and we got another ride later in the day.

We started walking towards Thunder Mountain but found a really short wait at Haunted Mansion, which was also on our short-list.  We all enjoyed it, but I'm not sure Isaac understood the reason behind it.

We went on Thunder Mountain, again with a pretty short line.  (This was a pretty surprising but normal theme throughout the day.)  Everyone enjoyed it!  We weren't sure what Joshua would think because it was probably his biggest ride so far, but he liked it!  Ben and I were both pretty excited that both kids were enjoying the big rides.

Our time for Pirates of the Caribbean was up so we went and did that.  It's cool.  (Future note: we started watching the first movie when we got home.  It might have been better to do ahead of time, but I didn't think about it and had assumed that it wouldn't be appropriate.  I've been enjoying watching the movie and seeing the scenes that we rode through.)

We had an awkward amount of time after that, so we decided to ride Thunder Mountain again.  The line said 40 min, but it was closer to  20 min.  A happy surprise, but makes it hard to plan things.

Then we had our time for Jungle Cruise.  I love this ride because of the one-liners.  It was funny but hard to hear.  They need to update their sound system.  

We went to space mountain.  (Without Cheryl, who has said this is one that she never needs to ride again.)  Isaac loved it.  Joshua gave it a medium.  I enjoyed it more than I remembered.  (I love this picture.  Joshua is being so brave.)

At this point we did some of the little rides and sit-down shows.  I was enjoying them, but Isaac was ready to go on some bigger things by the end.  (He really, really wanted to go on Space Mountain again.)  The new magic bands were a big hit.  Joshua figured out that a double tap lit them up.  Of course, Ben put several of them under his shirt and got them all going at once.

Instead we went on Seven Dwarves again.  Once again, I loved it.  It is such as smooth ride.

We had about an hour before our dinner reservation, so we decided to try the Barnyard roller coaster.  It wasn't a bad choice, but it might not have been the best choice.  The ride was really short, and this was the ride it felt like we waited the longest.  We did a lot more standing still than several of the other rides and that makes such a huge difference.

We had dinner at the Plaza.  It was good, but Isaac was getting a bit moody.  Let's be honest, it had been a long day.  We decided to forgo the fireworks because it was cold out and we didn't really have the correct clothes and we thought the Space Mountain line would be especially short.

So we went back to Space Mountain.  I was impressed that Joshua was willing to ride it again.  We did have to wait, but it was only about 45 minutes.  We caught the last part of the fireworks.

We did our last lightning lane at Peter Pan.  The flying feeling is fun but I also agree with Cheryl: I'm not sure why it is such a popular ride.

We thought about trying for another ride, but it seemed like the kids were barely holding it together. So we just called it.  Coming into the park with expectations of not having time to ride all the rides but then being able to ride several of the big ones twice was pretty amazing.

Saturday: Life is Good

The pain that was in my upper neck has travelled down to my lower neck/upper back.  I assume it's a good thing because the old soreness is gone and the new soreness is probably from compensating.  Anyway, I wasn't feeling great so I sat down on the couch with my book.  And then a cat curled up with me.  Could life get much better?

Yes, in fact it could.  I fell asleep.  When I woke up I also had Grey Bear to snuggle with and I was in a castle that Joshua made for me.

Almost better yet, Joshua picked it all up when I woke up without being asked.

vacation Saturday: "down" day

 Today was a down day, but we still packed a lot in. :)  Instead of the 18700 steps that I had yesterday I only had 10000 today.  (My record is slightly over 20000 when we went back and forth at the Tulsa zoo due to an "emergency".  I'm hoping to break that record this trip.)

We had a delicious breakfast (probably one of my favorite things about Disney) and saw some friends.

Then we started walking towards mini-golf.  We stopped on the way for a quick playground.  (In hindsight, we should have stopped at the playground on the way home or while we were queued for mini-golf, but it didn't really matter.)  We had a bit of a wait so Joshua and I went exploring.  There wasn't much to explore, but we did make a stick creation.  There was also a big connect four, so we could patiently wait.

The mini golf was great and worth the wait!  The holes were all a lot of fun.  There were a lot of really tall/upwards initial putts which was a bit odd, but it made the holes interesting too.  There was one hole were Isaac didn't get it up high enough, then he got it high enough but it was in the path that sent it back to him and then for the third try he got it in the bushes.  Then I didn't get it high enough, then got it on the return path and then I got it in the bushes.  Then Cheryl didn't get it high enough, then on the return path, but luckily she broke the cycle and got it on the right path for her third try.  The mountain hole was the favorite for several people, but I liked the buckets of water (not shown) and the whirl pool with water at the end holes.

After lunch we went swimming.  We enjoyed the lazy river and the pool slide and the hot tub and being active but not having to worry too much about a schedule.

Then I made the kids do some homework.  They did it without too much complaint, but they were not very happy about it and I had to prod them near the end a bit more than I was hoping.  Oh well.  They were still working on it.

For dinner we went to the Hoop-dee-Doo Revue.  It was a dinner show and super fun.  Joshua was having a bit of hard time in the beginning because he was cold, but I had him sit on my lap and the show picked up and he was giggling all over the place.  

Ben and Isaac went back to the pool for a few night time slides.  I think Joshua really wanted to join them, but smartly listened to his body and instead went to bed.  He was trying to tell me that he wasn't very tired, but two minutes later he was sound asleep.  The boys slept together and it really seemed like we could fit two more of them in the bed, at least.

vacation Friday: Hollywood Studios

Today we went to Hollywood Studios for the day and it was an excellent day.  We started off with Mickey and Minnie's Railroad and that was probably Joshua's favorite. 

We then headed over to the StarWars land.  We got on Millenium Falcon twice because the line was nice and short.  Joshua enjoyed being a gunner while the rest of us tried different jobs the second time.  Turns out that we're not very good pilots.  I was able to follow the story a lot better the second time, and I'm not sure if it was because it was the second time or if it was because I could see the screen better.

After we got off Joshua bee-lined to the gift shop: he knew what he wanted, and that was a Empire-themed shirt.  We tried the blue and green milk; I liked the blue milk better by far.  It was more refreshing while the green milk was more sugary.

We then went on the big ride of the day: Rise of the Resistance.  It was cool but there was so much to see.  

We got a few fun pictures in the area too.  Using the force...

Looking cool...(Ben and I nailed it.  Not sure what Isaac is doing.)

And being happy.

From there we went to the Toy Story area for a while.  We waited in our longest line for Toy Story, although it was only about an hour.  Joshua was almost done by the time we got to the front of the line, but I had thrown their phones in the backpack and that helped a lot.  I also had a new puzzle toy that was a pretty big hit with the kids, but only one person could use it at a time.

Cheryl and Joshua did the Alien ride.  It had been one of Joshua's top picks and since he really didn't want to do Tower of Terror they were able to quickly do that one instead.

Then it was suddenly lunch time!  We went to Woody's Lunch Box and the logistics could have been better.  We mobile ordered our food, but it felt like a crowded and confusing rush to actually get the food.  I guess it worked out because seating was also in short supply, so having to wait for the food gave Ben and the kids time to get a table.  The food was really good though.  All the adults had totchos and I would totally recommend them.

After lunch we had some time until the next planned activity and we had been going all morning so we did some of the sit down shows.  I do love the muppets and the Indiana Show was not at all what I was expecting, but it was still really cool.  We also went back to Star Wars Tours.

Then it was time for our next big ride: Slinky Dog.  It was Joshua's first real roller coaster and possibly Isaac's too.  Isaac throughly enjoyed it, Joshua was pretty happy with it too.  It was just the right amount of scary for him.  I also enjoyed it.  During the second *up* I thought there was going to be a big down, but then it was a nice gentle crest.

Ben did an amazing job with the lightning lane stuff that they have and so we rode Toy Story again, this time using the short line.  I improved my score, so I was quite happy about that.

Dinner at Prime Time was next.  I had the meatloaf and some of Joshua's jello salad.  

Then the Tower of Terror with Isaac.  We walked right on due to the fast pass; it was amazing.  Isaac was giggling the whole ride which was hilarious.  I find that ride slightly scary, but to giggle?  It made me giggle too.

Ben had booked another Mickey's Railroad just in case we had time so we went over there.  The line, even the fast line, was a little long so it took a bit longer than we were hoping but Joshua really wanted to do it again.  We had been planning on Fantasmic but by the time we were out it was just a bit too late and we decided to just go home.  It was probably an excellent decision; the lines for the skytram were shorter, people were starting to hurt, and we had had a late evening and early morning today.  

Overall: an excellent day.

We came home to find the lovies relaxing and watching TV.

Friday: no school

The kids didn't have school today.  It was a pretty normal day, although they did have a rock climbing lesson.  Ben and I wanted to make sure they weren't developing any bad habits (they're not) and just give them a few pointers on how to do things better now that they've practiced for a while.

This evening Joshua was giving me a back massage and he got up to kitty paws.  He saw Tornado right next to us, so he carefully picked him up and put him on my back.  I was expecting Tornado to leave promptly but instead he sat there for a minute.  Then he laid down, long enough for Joshua to find a phone and take some pictures.

 

Thursday: ice

Well, canceling classes preemptively was a good call because Hope was closed until noon.  (It was also nice because they can send out a text to tell everyone classes are canceled, while I can only send out an email.  I'm not sure everyone checks their email regularly.)

I went outside this morning to check the garage before we opened it (it was perfectly fine) and noticed that you could hear the trees creaking as they moved in the wind.  It was odd.

Besides that, it was a rather normal day.  We didn't do anything special, but the kids played together well and I heard a lot of laughter.  I did some work but not too much; it was nice to have an ice day.

Wednesday: ice

We all stayed home today.  Ben had enough work to do from home and everything else was canceled.  It started raining/sleeting around 11am and by 4pm we had some icicles on our windows.

The kids don't have school again tomorrow, which means in the last two weeks they'll have gone to school all of 2.5 days between planned days off, vacation, and ice days.  I decided to cancel my classes for tomorrow.  I have an extra day in the spring semester that I usually use before spring break, but I'm also nervous about the roads and sidewalks at 7:30am...I expect they're still going to be bad.  We also weren't quite sure what to do with the kids as we're not ready to have them brother-sit for seven hours.  I need to go into Hope for a meeting, but it isn't until 11:30 and I expect roads will be better by then.  (It'll also be for only about two hours, so it is a reasonable amount of time for brother-sitting.)

Ben said the back deck looks really cool right now; there are even more icicles.