Ditzoyd's Dizzy Disney
Trip dates 07/06/01 through 07/18/01
Cast of Characters:
myself, Dennis my husband, Emily age 7, Erin age 2, James age 1.
My sister Robin, her husband David, Celia age 2.
My mother Jan, and stepfather Bob.
My mother and father decided to drive to the parks for the first time, and brought the girls down heading out on July 2.
That left my husband and I heading down on the 6th with our son. Plans were made to meet on the 7th at the hotel.
Since it was our only night "alone" with only our infant, we Pricelined into Wyndam Palace for $48 + $5 bonus. We arrived into Orlando, and headed straight to the Emerald Isle. The Isle was pretty picked over, so we asked a porter if anything "interesting" was coming up. She arrived about 15 minutes later (she told us it would be that long) with a Dodge Intrepid, leather, and 4 pack cd... Beautiful Car. So off we went to the Wyndam. We were upgraded onto the 23 floor, with a Epcot View. We headed to my favorite off site restaurant "Jungle Jims" for dinner and had Great burgers. By that time, we were quite tired, and we headed back to the hotel, sipped some wine, and watched the fireworks from Epcot, then Magic Kingdom from our balcony.
The next day, we moved hotels, so we checked out, and went to Epcot. We strolled through the Nations, and ate dinner inside the Mexican Pavilion. This was the only low light. Unfortunately, Dennis and I had the same thing, and we both got very sick several hours later. Around 3 pm, we headed to the next hotel, The Sheraton 4 points, Lakeside. We had pricelined into there for $10 plus $20 Amex bonus $ for one night. It was acceptable, and clean. The entire family met up, and then we went to Chef Mickey's for dinner. It has been our family tradition to go there the first night. It allows the kids to see Mickey so we don't have the "I wanna see Mickey" syndrome. Erin was in love with Minnie Mouse. She was so excited she couldn't eat... and she is the best eater of all the kids. Celia was scared of the characters... she liked seeing them, but up close they were pretty scary to her. James' eyes were So big! Of course Emily took it in stride, she was happy to see the characters, she is a Disney pro so they are really not a huge deal to her.
The next morning (Sunday) we moved again to Old Key West. We stayed in a 2 bedroom suite with my sisters family, and my mother had a studio in the same building.
We set about enjoying the parks over the next several days. Dennis and Robin particularly enjoyed the new show Who Wants to be a Millionaire Play it. We all did pretty good. Once Robin would of been in the hot seat if they had not run out of time. Another time, Robin was 2nd, I was 7th, and Dennis was 9th overall in the entire audience. So close, yet So Far..... Dennis and I repeatedly rode our favorite coaster, Rock-no-Roll roller coaster several times, and I did Tower of Terror twice. We went to all the parks on different days, and would head back to the hotel before it got to hot. My sister is a DVC member, and they have pool hopping privileges, so we went to the Polynesian's pool once, and to the Yacht and Beach Club a couple times.
Total Disney magic!
On the morning of the 12th, Dennis, Robin and I dragged ourselves out of bed at 2am to head over to Cape Canaveral. There was a shuttle launch that morning at 5am. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever saw. We were at a park in a nearby town, out on a pier. The launch lit up the sky like it was daytime. It was totally awe inspiring.
Dennis and I then headed over to Kennedy Space Center. Robin headed back to the hotel. Although we were exhausted, we stayed to do the tour of the complex which did not start until 9am. I was really surprised at the cost. It was $25 for the tour per person, then if you wanted some of the extended tours they were $20 each. There were 2 available. We decided to forgo the other tours since we were so tired, and feeling kinda cash poor. The tour we went on was wonderful. We got to go to a observation tour where we were a couple miles away from the launch pads... it was cool. We could see another shuttle on the pad waiting for it's launch. We drove right next to the crawling platform that moves the shuttle from the assembly building, it was crawling back at 2 mph back to the assembly building. The coolest thing we saw was items being readied for the space station. They had several mock ups you could walk through, and then you crossed a bridge to a observation area, and could see the actual things before they were to be launched. The solar arrays looked like giant Twix Bars!
We returned that afternoon, and napped because we had dinner reservations at the Rose and Crown with our children for Illuminations. We sat on the deck, next to the lagoon, had a wonderful dinner and watched the fireworks. Poor Erin was terrified. However the rest of us enjoyed them. Erin definitely preferred the fireworks from a distance.
The next morning (Friday) we moved hotels again for the last time. We all went back to the Wyndam, that we had Pricelined several months earlier for $33 a night, plus $20 Amex bonus money.
That night was I-ticket night. Robin, Dennis and I went and enjoyed the rides. We did Space Mountain 3x in a row! We did Buzz Lightyear 4x, and then over to Big Thunder Mountain x2, Splash Mountain x1, and since it was close to closing time (1 am) we headed over to Haunted Mansion. Then it was time to head back to the hotel.
Erin got sick that day, and really didn't feel well, so the next day, I stayed in with her, and Dennis took Emily over to Downtown Disney. This was Dennis's last full day since he had to return to work on Monday. He and Emily played in the Leggo shop, and ate lunch with Grandma and Grandpa over at Wolfgang Puck's. They enjoyed themselves, and had a wonderful time together. We all went out to dinner together that night to a Thai restaurant that my mother had some gift certificates to. The food was great, but it was a 30 minute drive.
The next day we all went to Magic Kingdom to have our picture taken together by the castle, and then we said goodbye to Dennis and James. I had developed pinkeye, so I headed back to the hotel, since the sunlight was to strong. I napped the afternoon away. It was some nice downtime.
Monday was to be my last full day, so we headed over to Animal Kingdom the only park I had not had a chance to visit. We spent the day there. We then went to dinner at Emily's choice, which was Planet Hollywood. She had always wanted to eat there. The next morning Emily, Erin and I went swimming, then it was time for me to head to the airport. I said goodbye to the girls who were continuing their vacation with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple more days there and then on to Georgia to visit Grandpa's family, and their GreatGrandma.
Unfortunately, there was a problem with my plane. The engine wouldn't start. So instead of waiting several hours for another flight, that was going to lay over in Washington DC, I booked onto a flight the next morning.I headed back to the hotel to surprise everyone. I was a little disappointed since the next day was my anniversary, but I would still make it home before noon. We all watched the fireworks from the balcony that night, and I snuggled one more night with my daughters. The next morning I headed back to the airport and headed home. This time the airplane took off... and I was heading home.
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