Our trip was planned around Starwars Weekends. We had always wanted to take the boys to Disney but were unsure of the right time. I was talking with friends last summer and they told us all about Starwars Weekends. Obviously that conversation had a huge impact on our vacation plans for 2010.The journey began at the Columbus Airport. When we arrived in the terminal Nathan asks, "where's Mickey Mouse?" When we got on the airplane William says, "this is kinda scary." I very much agreed with that statement as I am not a big fan of air travel, but I didn't want him to tune in to my fear. The flight went well and they even behaved.
When we arrived at our "resort" the boys were bouncing off the walls. We were lucky enough to get a "preferred" room because of its handy location to the main entrance. When I say handy I mean it only took us 20 minutes to get to our room opposed to the 21 minutes it took the people with "standard" rooms. The room was clean but very small. We were in the Toy Story section.
We were new to Disney so we didn't have defined plans nor did we know how our meal plan worked. During our first day and a half we roughed it spending little money or credits on meals or snacks. A few drink breaks would have been a welcome reprieve from the heat and beating sun.
Our first two days were at Hollywood Studios. This was the setting for the Starwars invasion. Characters were everywhere. The Darth's were the most exciting. Nathan was scared, had a melt down and was overall unpleasant....we thought it was going to be Myrtle Beach 2007: the Sequel. Thankfully he adjusted, we gave him some Mt. Dew and he bounced back into shape. It was hot, we were near miserable but we did it. William did great. He understands that the characters are people in costumes, not because we told him, he's logical and realizes the impossibility. William was really excited to ride what he called, the "Tower of Torrer." Once he rode it he understood that it was terror not torrer! It was like a Demon Drop/Power Tower hybrid. It was dead on Friday night??? We were able to enjoy several rides and shows with little or no wait time. Saturday was another story. We also found a character hot spot that was somewhat off the beaten path. It was also in an air conditioned building. Ahhhhhhh. We saw Fantasia Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale, Incredibles/Frozone and Hugs A Lot Bear. William was really getting good with his autograph book. We saw and/or rode nearly everything at Hollywood Studios. Meeting Buzz and Woody was great fun. Don't know if most people know it but Woody can be a little handsy. Since we have two boys we get to eliminate all yucky girl stuff. We finished up each night at Downtown Disney. We even got into the T-Rex Cafe where Nathan accidently hit his noggin on a boulder and then fell asleep in his plate (unrelated to the head injury). On the second night Downtown I got to pick the restaurant since it was my birthday. Fulton's Crab House it was. Again Nathan fell asleep in his plate. He had to be carried through Downtown, held while waiting for the bus, held on the bus and then carried the 20 minutes back to our preferred room.
Finally on day three we made it to the Magic Kingdom. The park where it all began. It was magical to see Cinderella's castle for the first time. Unfortunately, the only thing you do in the castle is walk straight through it. Unless of course you want to go to the Bibbidie Bobbidie Boutique and be all made up like a princess. We kept teasing the boys that we were going to make them do that. You can also eat in a fancy restuarant there. By this time we figured out our dining plan and were almost eating and drinking like royalty. We got the econo meal plan so there were no Cinderella Castle meals for the Hummels. We got a lot of food and it felt like it was "free" since we paid for it ahead of time. We highly recommend getting the meal plan because if you really had to hand over dollars for the high priced food that tasted two steps above blahh you would be very unhappy. It was a thrill to see how much food we could get at one time for "free." During our first day at the Magic Kingdom we rode many rides and saw many shows. We really liked Splash Mountain, the Buzz Lightyear Spin and the Big Mountain Express. At 8 pm we decided to take a seat against the rope for the big light parade. We hated to wait that long, but we really wanted a great view. Well the view ended up being great but the people behind us who shoved their way in at 8:55 pm made the atmosphere very unpleasant. A water bottle got dropped on me twice, I got splashed with something multiple times and Reed's mom planted her feet in my butt (at first I was sitting down). Because Reed's mom and grandma were driving me nuts (Grandma "Reed look its....!!! Oh Reed its...!!!! Look at that Reed!!!!) and my legs and back hurt from sitting on the road for an hour, I stood up. Oh the chain reaction! Can you see Reed?!! Reed can you see!? Reed could have cared less, let me tell you. It felt great to stand up and tick Reed's mom off. How could she not tell that her feet were in my butt? There was nothing else there for her feet to be against....seriously!!! I decided I was not watching a parade again unless I could stick my feet in someone's butt. The parade was neat and the boys liked it. Of course it would have been better with a few beat up tractors and some candy. Next we meandered over to Fantasyland to hit the Dumbo ride. We were in the Dumbo ride when the fireworks were going off by the castle. We couldn't have gotten a better view. We quickly got on several rides since we stayed late. I talked William into riding Space Mountain with me. Nathan wasn't tall enough which didn't go over well. When William and I got to the ride it was closed due to technical issues. We called it a day. It was a lot easier to carry Nathan's limp body from just the bus to the room as we skipped Downtown. On Monday we hit the rest of Magic Kingdom. Keith suggested William and I try Space Mountain again. Nathan, unhappy to be excluded from anything says, "I growed up, so I can ride it now." You can't knock a boy for trying. Believe it or not it was still down due to technical problems. He growed up for nothing! We hit the rides in Toontown Fair, snooped through Mickey and Minnie's houses and met Mickey and Minnie in the Judge's tent. A common theme we had noticed by this times on our trip was that both boys REALLY enjoyed waiting until we were at least half way through an hour long line and then do the pee pee dance. They apparently loved the thrill of seeing how fast we could run when an attraction was over to find the nearest bathroom. They also enjoyed the pee pee dance when we sat down to dinners. By this time we were also noticing that a lot of the rides were very retro or throw backish. We felt like we were being transported back to the 70s. We especially felt this way while riding the Carousel of Progress. We are still trying to figure out the last scene. It was like Mix 106. 80s, 90s and todays favorites. We ended our day Downtown. We got there early enough that Nathan stayed awake until the bus ride home. While we were shopping he fell in love with the cutest little sword. He swashbuckled the night away. As we were heading back to the bus he began swording Keith's behind while saying, "attack the poop deck." Yes, we, along with all the people around us, began laughing hysterically. Then we got on the bus and Nathan promptly fell asleep. William would fall asleep on the bus as well, but he usually would wake up (somewhat) to stagger back to the preferred room.
Tuesday, day five, we went to, as William called it, Epricot. I always thought Epcot was the big silver ball and that all the contents of Epcot were in the big silver ball. Wrong-O. It's just a ride. Well not just a ride, it's a fun ride. Day four marked the first day that we really skipped what felt was a lot. We were also very full, (we figured out that we better get eating (even more) or we were going to have left over meals and snacks when we left) so we only managed to get "grown up drinks" in three of the countries. We failed that task miserably. Margarita in Mexico and beers in Italy and Norway. Lightweights. Several strangers said that we HAD to ride Soarin. The first time we checked the wait was 100 minutes. We decided to try again later. Who would have thought that a boat ride through an experimental green house would be fun? Something else we noticed was that Disney World wants you to learn stuff while you are having fun. What a crazy concept! Many rides and attractions had a message or educational element. Half the time we stood in a line for something and we had no idea what we were in for. I think this strategy works well because if kids could see the ride they wouldn't want to ride it. We were able to make the best of extended hours and ride a lot of the popular rides.
The last day. William was the most excited about Animal Kingdom and the Yetti ride. Keith had gotten some dvds from Netflix and one we watched prior to the trip was about Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom is best served on a cooler day. Almost everything is outside. Our two most favorite rides were the dino ride and the Safari ride. We were able to get on the dino twice. The safari was really great because it lasted a long time and you actually saw animals!! I was very excited to visit the bat exhibit. The bat enclosure was heavily populated by male bats who were equally excited to be there. Keith and Nathan braved the Kali River Rapids. William and I didn't want to tempt fate and possibly end up drenched, so we opted out. Even though I swore off parades, we ended up seeing another one. We did view it as encroachers and it was much better. My toes were nice and warm! There was an exotic animal petting zoo featuring sheep and goats-wow! We never get to see sheep and goats in Ohio! We found Jiminy Cricket. We never realized that when crickets rub their legs together a gassy smell is released. I guess you only notice when the cricket is life sized. William lost interest in the Yetti ride when he saw how tall it was. The Bugs Life Show was awesome. It was probably the most interactive of all the shows.
Every time we walked by the pool at our resort Nathan begged to go swimming. So since we were so hot and tired we decided to call it a day and head back to the resort early (9:30) even though we didn't see it all or do it all. So on our last night we finally let that boy get in the pool.
We walked through Andy's giant door one last time...."get the door boys!" as Keith liked to tease every time we passed through it.
After we got our bags at the claim center, as William is rolling his along, he looks up at me and says, "this all feels like a dream."
We are counting down the days until we can go back.
Disclaimer: No children with the Hummel party were given Mt. Dew or any other caffinated beverage during this vacation. Mt. Dew was only mentioned for entertainment purposes. William does believe in Santa or at least he humors me and pretends like he does. So please don't blow that one. I lie, lie, lie to get him to believe in Santa. Oh, I also make him believe in the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. I'm good at justifying and making up crazy stories to extinguish his doubts.
