Stories about you from our vacation:
Disney imagination is convincing
The very first ride you went on was the safari adventure at Animal Kingdom on Sunday, March 11. It was a lousy day, the only bad day we had. The skies opened up with heavy downpours most of the time we were there… I bought Disney poncho’s for 13 of us it was so miserable.
You sat in the last row of the safari ride with me, Emma and Camden. As the African-themed truck drove us across the bumpy terrain in search of a lost baby elephant, we encountered real wildlife as the guide told stories over the loudspeaker. The heavy rain made the animals get even closer to our African Safari trucks.
One time we went over a rickety bridge (actually very safe, just created rickety by Disney imagineers), the guide said “the bridge might give way… everyone lean to the right!” I watched your face and it was white as you quickly leaned toward me … you didn’t say anything but the look on your face was sheer terror for a few seconds. Funny and special at the same time.
When winning once is evidently too much – At Legoland, we visited the game arcade. I always like that. Basketball is my favorite, so I decided to shoot some hoops to win you a yellow Angry Bird. As is usually the case, the rims were intentionally small… I’d have to throw the perfect shot to get it in. The guy who handed me the basketball told me the rims were wild, so just try and get it in clean. Three shots for $5.
I’ve shot a lot of basketballs at arcades and have a good feel for it. I palmed the b-ball in my fingers, it had a nice grip. I aimed for a clean shot, no backboard, no rim. My first shot went in clean. Nice! A winning shot on my first try – you chose the yellow bird.
I got ready for my other two shots… but the arcade man said “You can’t shoot any more. Once you get it in and win, that’s it.” I was a little stunned – what about the rest of the money I had given him? “no refunds, you won.” I said, “you mean I can’t shoot again?” He shook his head no. I said, “If I pay you another $5, can I shoot again?” The answer: No!
Evidently these stuffed birds are worth more than they seem… well at least you ended up with something… a few minutes later your Dad gave it a shot and never scored. I guess it was my lucky day after all.
Your top three – After seeing the Animal Kingdom on a very rainy morning and afternoon, we went to the Magic Kingdom at night. In Adventureland you said:
Are you ready to rock the carousel?
We went to Pirates of the Caribbean, which you loved, especially the drop in the dark.
Then we checked out the Haunted Mansion, still my all-time favorite. After it was over I asked how you liked it:
I was kind of scared at first looking at the imaginary footsteps on the stairs.
I asked what your favorites were after a very busy day and you said:
Safari ride, Pirates and Haunted Mansion
When getting there isn’t the longest journey – you enjoyed the flight down. You hung out with Camden, played games and ate food. Time flew by pretty fast. Once we got our rental cars, we were on our way to Disney World. We decided to stop for groceries, get a bite to eat (which we ate in the grocery store parking lot) and then got lost on our way to the Wilderness Lodge (we erroneously visited another “Wilderness” location). At one point, anxious to get to the hotel, you exclaimed:
Are we going to spend the whole time getting mixed up? It’s like waiting for Christmas!
Hollywood Studios – this is my favorite park, and you enjoyed it too. The first thing we did was visit the Indiana Jones show. At the end you said:
Awesome!
We also saw Star Tours, which you thoroughly liked and also the Voyage of Little Mermaid show. No way were you going on Tower of Terror even though Emma went!
Harry Potter – on Day 5 we journeyed to Universal Studios to see the new Hogwarts-Harry Potter land which opened just last Fall. 
It was incredibly packed with people… elbow-to-elbow crowds.. 
You, Emma, Grammy, Uncle Tim, Mommy and me waited over two hours to get inside, but it was so awesome to see…inside the paintings moved and spoke just like in the books and it was amazingly life-like. The ride was a fast moving, topsy turvy affair with cool special effects that included flying on our broomsticks and through giant spider cowwebs. Poor Emma… after waiting so long, she wasn’t let on the ride because she was short by an inch!
I asked how you liked it and you said:
It’s even better than I imagined.
Autograph books & pins – two of the things you enjoyed the most were collecting autographs from the various characters throughout the kingdoms and adding new collector pins. At Cinderella’s Castle for dinner you and Emma had forgotten your autograph books, but Camden tore out pages from his and gave to both of you.
Favorite restaurants – your favorite dining experiences were the Polynesian breakfast, the T.Rex restaurant (storms & scary dinosaurs! ) and Sci-Fi Theatre where you watched famous black and white “B” monster movies while drinking a chocolate shake with an ice cube that lit up!
Tom Sawyer’s island – this was easily one of your top two favorites from the week. You had fun roaming around (running actually), walking through dimly lit caves, exploring a fort, shooting guns at imaginary targets on the river, walking across a rickety floating tire bridge; finding the secret tunnel; hearing the creaky water wheel in the windmill. The log raft ride over to the island and back was also a cool way to get there.
Splash Mountain – this was the last ride we did- you and Camden sat in the front seat of our log flume boat…. Emma sat with your Dad and I had the middle row. It’s a great drop at the end and we all got wet, especially you! Check out the photo of you and Camden going down the waterfall on the other blog post – you guys might have been a little nervous!
Movies at night – the night before we left, we watched a Winnie the Pooh movie under the stars at the Wilderness Lodge beach. Camden re-arranged the beach chairs so you, could all sit together… Emma, Ainsley, you Camden and Molly. Grammy and I were there as were your Dad and Uncle Tim.
The swimming pool – nothing feels better than a dip in a pool after a long, hot day. The pool at our hotel was a real nice one. We did a lot of “fake fighting” having been inspired by the Indiana Jones show. You and Camden piled on and soaked me with endless splashes.
On our last day you said:
I don’t want to leave… when are we going to come back? Five zillion years?”
It was an unforgettable vacation… Grammy and I are so proud we were able to take you and everyone else there… spend time together and create great memories.
