…for example: If you’re going to Disney World on the last weekend in August before school starts there are going to be long lines, obnoxious children and ohmyGod will it be hot.
Since I am a (somewhat) reasonable person, these are the expectations that I had. I was not disappointed. In fact, my expectations were not only realized, they were surpassed.
First, let me say that it wasn’t all bad. There were good times to be had and we did have them. However, there were some pretty hellacious moments in there. I want to share all of them and I will, just not at once. No one could survive that.
We begin our story at the beginning, which is a very good place to begin, don’t you think?
We left for the airport at 3:30 on Wednesday and got there around 5ish for a 7:20 flight. You probably don’t remember this but last Wednesday was when some crazy woman decided to smuggle vaseline and matches on board a plane and threaten to blow it up (at least…that’s what I heard). Somehow the Washington DC airport was involved. Guess where our layover was? That would be DC. Which meant that security was looking veerrryyy closely at people flying to DC. Yippee.
We had to check in with our luggage with a real person, not a computer. Which was fun. You know what was even more fun? Having a mouthy 16 year old who decided she wasn’t going to wait for me to read the signs and just walked over to the TSA people and tried to hand them her baggage. Then got pissed at me when she got yelled at. Not by me, by the TSA person. Somehow, it was my fault. Lovely. We got checked in, got our baggage checked, found that our suitcase was 12 lbs overweight and were told we had to shuffle. Yes, having 62lbs in one bag is too heavy however, you can put the extra poundage into your other luggage if it will fit. Alternatively, you can stuff it into your carry-on. The logic escapes me. (…and before I get comments explaining the logic to me please understand that my dad is a pilot, we flew ourselves to Florida twice a year when I was a kid and when our luggage was overweight it was either a) mail it home b) leave it with grandma c) leave it on the tarmac (which I wanted to do with my sister on more than one occassion but nooooo…) or d) one of us wasn’t getting in the plane (which I voted for too, but again, no.) Also, we were checking two bags for three people, not three bags with one being overweight.) Anywho, long story short, we got to Florida around midnight, got to the car rental place around 12:30, got the car at 12:45 and got to the hotel at 2am. Please note, the directions that are given to you by the car rental staff are sometimes not correct. Then, to my utter glee, I was greeted by the perky hotel person with a, “Welcome to Disney, we hope you had a magical trip. You’re late. Wow. You’re really late.”
Do I get points for not responding with a “no shit, dumbass.”?! I mean seriously, that was a herculean effort on my part.
At this point Dobby was feeling a little homesick. This was assuaged when she came upon a likeness of her father and his new girlfriend:
This hotel was way cool. We stayed at the Disney Pop Century Resort (it was more like a motel with a restaurant and a pool, not a resort but they had cool stuff). Let me show you!
Not sure if you can see it but the Big Wheel says the recommended child weight is 877 lbs. Bet this thing would make some noise if it was raced at Kampersville, eh, Jessie? ;o)
The first day we were there we decided to hit the Animal Kingdom since we didn’t go to that park when we brought Dobby there in 2000.
We got a few good pictures of the ‘Tree of Life’ (which, btw, is fake. I overheard a little girl asking how the tree could be the tree of life if it’s synthetic. Smart kid, I pity her ‘rents ;o) )
Click to make bigger – it’s full size so it’s a big file.
They have a new coaster there, Expedition Everest. I LOVE this coaster. Let’s just say it surprises you ;o)
One of the ways is during the waiting in line. We turned a corner and I was delighted to see this:
It’s official. Knitting is everywhere – even Disney World.
Tomorrow, Epcot. Does anyone know what the letters EPCOT originally stood for?
(whoever gets it right first gets yarn)