Babymoon, Family edition
My mother had started threatening to take my son to Disney World without me and since I wanted to be there for his first time and I knew my travel would be pretty restricted for the next year at least, I bit the bullet and planned a last minute birthday trip, despite the cost.
It was totally worth it.
Thursday afternoon was a logistical masterpiece wherein Jon took a car service (with our luggage) to each of the boys' schools - which happen to be on opposite sides of the East River - and went to the airport. The TSA has stared porno-scanning pregnant women, which pissed me off, but whatevs. Our hotel was a perfectly adequate, not as frightfully expensive Springhill Suites just off property that had (included) Mickey waffles at breakfast, a pool we didn't have time to use, and an on-site ticket office staffed by a cast member.
Friday was Animal Kingdom and if it weren't for the Festival of the Lion King, I'd never go back. They no longer have the afternoon parade - they claim it's a noise issue but the (terrible) nighttime (lights) show was louder - which was really the only afternoon parade that was worthwhile for grownups. Lucky commented it felt like visiting a national park, which is a pretty fair assessment. Maybe I'd've felt differently if I could've ridden Expedition Everest or if we'd been able to get Fast Passes to any of the Pandora rides and shows. Lexan learned all about animals/ecology and saw giraffes and elephants. We sat down for the Festival of the Lion King and realized he'd never seen a stage show with that level of production values. It was also hilarious that he kept asking where the movie screen was. Our big character meal of the trip was Tusker House, which was wildly overpriced but at least we took the teenager to a buffet (and the kid got pictures with Mickey, Goofy, Daisy, etc.).
Saturday was EPCOT with Nala. This was my third time at Food & Wine Fest and there were a lot of vexatious things. I was charmed by all the effort people put into dressing for the parks with matching shirts, until I realized they were all bachelor(ette) parties and they started getting disorderly, especially after dark.
I was annoyed by how they've transformed Norway into Anna & Elsa land. The admittedly lame troll ride was refitted with the exact same ride track, slowed down, and now plays songs from Frozen. YEARGH. Lexan, like all kids that age, is completely obsessed with Frozen so I thought we'd do a character meet & greet in the Norway pavilion. We did one with Mickey & Minnie at their safari lodge the day before, so I figured it'd be similar and we'd get some cute snaps. OH EM GEE was I wrong. This is the greatest thing I've ever seen at Disney and I don't think I'll ever see my son happier in all his life. Anna and Elsa posed for pictures with the kids, but also engaged with them to make the snaps more animated. The 4yo was showing Anna his pin collection, which included Olaf as an apple, and they had a whole discussion of how maybe Sven would stop trying to eat Olaf's nose if it was an apple not a carrot. He and Elsa made ice magic together. His smile was so broad as he talked to the entertainers and I can't imagine how he'll ever be happy to have a woman's attention as he was at that moment. This made the whole trip worthwhile.
I love the format of trying little nibbles at each pavilion - there are more than ever, which meant we were too full by the time we got to the Hawaiian and Australian pavilions - but Lucky hated it because he never felt like he got fed. The best were the ones in Future World, Flavors From Fire and The Art of Pairing, because on the whole, I felt like I could recreate many of the pavilions by going to the right restaurant in NYC. All the shows my family spent literal weeks watching - the improv shows at Italy and UK, the candy artist in Japan - are gone and Journey Into Imagination wasn't running, as usual. OTOH, after decades of wanting, I got to pick an oyster with a pearl at the Japan pavilion, where Lexan got a sticker for saying "konichiwa!" to the cast members. I got to cuddle my bunny during the France movie, which was even more meaningful after visiting the Loire valley together. OMG how did that trip never get written up?!?! We took the boys to the American Adventure and Spaceship Earth and the 4yo got to hurt Crush's feelings by saying his favorite sea creatures are sharks. oops.
Sunday was Magic Kingdom and while my family used to bang out most of the rides in a night - immediately after driving from Connecticut - Fantasyland is busier than ever and we were traveling with a 4yo and a stroller. We hit many of the classics, although Pirates of the Carribean was a little too scary and required lots of hugs, so Haunted Mansion was right out. We got front row seats to the afternoon parade by dint of my dispatching the older males for food while the 4yo and I did kumon workbooks and saved seats. Lexan (and everyone else) was too tired to stay for fireworks, but we ended up seeing them from the parking lot.
We went back to MK for our partial day on Monday because we really hadn't finished everything and because Jon and I were too tired to engage with Hollywood Studios. I felt bad for Lucky because he was so very helpful and this was one of a few things he asked for on the trip :( He says he had a good time and maybe he'll want to come with us in 4 years, when we take DoubleTap on the same trip.
This post was made on Dreamwidth & crossposted to LJ.
The dreamwidth post is here: https://katestine.dreamwidth.org/1381139.html and has
comments.
It was totally worth it.
Thursday afternoon was a logistical masterpiece wherein Jon took a car service (with our luggage) to each of the boys' schools - which happen to be on opposite sides of the East River - and went to the airport. The TSA has stared porno-scanning pregnant women, which pissed me off, but whatevs. Our hotel was a perfectly adequate, not as frightfully expensive Springhill Suites just off property that had (included) Mickey waffles at breakfast, a pool we didn't have time to use, and an on-site ticket office staffed by a cast member.
Friday was Animal Kingdom and if it weren't for the Festival of the Lion King, I'd never go back. They no longer have the afternoon parade - they claim it's a noise issue but the (terrible) nighttime (lights) show was louder - which was really the only afternoon parade that was worthwhile for grownups. Lucky commented it felt like visiting a national park, which is a pretty fair assessment. Maybe I'd've felt differently if I could've ridden Expedition Everest or if we'd been able to get Fast Passes to any of the Pandora rides and shows. Lexan learned all about animals/ecology and saw giraffes and elephants. We sat down for the Festival of the Lion King and realized he'd never seen a stage show with that level of production values. It was also hilarious that he kept asking where the movie screen was. Our big character meal of the trip was Tusker House, which was wildly overpriced but at least we took the teenager to a buffet (and the kid got pictures with Mickey, Goofy, Daisy, etc.).
Saturday was EPCOT with Nala. This was my third time at Food & Wine Fest and there were a lot of vexatious things. I was charmed by all the effort people put into dressing for the parks with matching shirts, until I realized they were all bachelor(ette) parties and they started getting disorderly, especially after dark.
I was annoyed by how they've transformed Norway into Anna & Elsa land. The admittedly lame troll ride was refitted with the exact same ride track, slowed down, and now plays songs from Frozen. YEARGH. Lexan, like all kids that age, is completely obsessed with Frozen so I thought we'd do a character meet & greet in the Norway pavilion. We did one with Mickey & Minnie at their safari lodge the day before, so I figured it'd be similar and we'd get some cute snaps. OH EM GEE was I wrong. This is the greatest thing I've ever seen at Disney and I don't think I'll ever see my son happier in all his life. Anna and Elsa posed for pictures with the kids, but also engaged with them to make the snaps more animated. The 4yo was showing Anna his pin collection, which included Olaf as an apple, and they had a whole discussion of how maybe Sven would stop trying to eat Olaf's nose if it was an apple not a carrot. He and Elsa made ice magic together. His smile was so broad as he talked to the entertainers and I can't imagine how he'll ever be happy to have a woman's attention as he was at that moment. This made the whole trip worthwhile.
I love the format of trying little nibbles at each pavilion - there are more than ever, which meant we were too full by the time we got to the Hawaiian and Australian pavilions - but Lucky hated it because he never felt like he got fed. The best were the ones in Future World, Flavors From Fire and The Art of Pairing, because on the whole, I felt like I could recreate many of the pavilions by going to the right restaurant in NYC. All the shows my family spent literal weeks watching - the improv shows at Italy and UK, the candy artist in Japan - are gone and Journey Into Imagination wasn't running, as usual. OTOH, after decades of wanting, I got to pick an oyster with a pearl at the Japan pavilion, where Lexan got a sticker for saying "konichiwa!" to the cast members. I got to cuddle my bunny during the France movie, which was even more meaningful after visiting the Loire valley together. OMG how did that trip never get written up?!?! We took the boys to the American Adventure and Spaceship Earth and the 4yo got to hurt Crush's feelings by saying his favorite sea creatures are sharks. oops.
Sunday was Magic Kingdom and while my family used to bang out most of the rides in a night - immediately after driving from Connecticut - Fantasyland is busier than ever and we were traveling with a 4yo and a stroller. We hit many of the classics, although Pirates of the Carribean was a little too scary and required lots of hugs, so Haunted Mansion was right out. We got front row seats to the afternoon parade by dint of my dispatching the older males for food while the 4yo and I did kumon workbooks and saved seats. Lexan (and everyone else) was too tired to stay for fireworks, but we ended up seeing them from the parking lot.
We went back to MK for our partial day on Monday because we really hadn't finished everything and because Jon and I were too tired to engage with Hollywood Studios. I felt bad for Lucky because he was so very helpful and this was one of a few things he asked for on the trip :( He says he had a good time and maybe he'll want to come with us in 4 years, when we take DoubleTap on the same trip.
This post was made on Dreamwidth & crossposted to LJ.
The dreamwidth post is here: https://katestine.dreamwidth.org/1381139.html and has
comments.