Sunday, August 14, 2005
We got all 11 people in our extended family to our Disney World resort, the
Port Orleans Riverside, in Orlando, yesterday without a hitch. The "Super
Shuttle" picked us up at 8 o'clock by prior arrangement. Airport check in went
smoothly. Everybody made it through airport security with no trouble, although
the grandkids did find amusement over Grandma having to get "frisked' (she
has an artificial knee). We all had an airport breakfast with Ronald, and went to
board our plane.
For Dave's kids, it was their first flight, and they were very impressed with
take off and landing; holding their Dad's hands. The 3 hour flight was as
expected. Disney greeters at the Orlando airport were helpful. Our Disney bus
took about a half hour to take us to the resort. Everything was efficient; AND our
rides plus luggage transfer (which is automatically "free" for the 50th Disney
anniversary year).
After checking in at our resort, we took another shuttle to Disney Downtown
where we had dinner on the outside deck at Rain Forest Cafe. We (R and T) came
back to our room, while the younger two generations continued their
exploring excursion. We unpacked and went to bed about 10 EDT. Tired but ready to
have a good time tomorrow.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Up bright & early at 6! Breakfast in the hotel food court at 8. This
building is supposed to approximate a Deep South cotton mill, complete with
giant waterwheel outdoors; and indoors is outfitted appropriately with very high
ceiling, beams, driving wheel mechanism, etc; and as everywhere in Disney, "cast
members" (what they call all employees) are dressed to fit the theme.
Then. we spent the day at the Animal Kingdom. We saw maybe 8 to 10 attractions.
Everything from dinosaur ride to bug movie, not to mention two real wild animal
tours. Then back to the hotel pool for a couple of hours, to cool off from the
sweltering heat; and to entertain the kids further. Our Disney World Parks
pass lets us go to any park, any day. This is a ton of walking - both at the
resort hotel as well as the park, even though there is efficient free shuttle
service. So if you plan to come, do some serious training to build up your
strength. We think we walked 5 miles per day; the books say that the average is
9 miles.
This place is huge: 35,000 acres with only 8,000 acres developed. That's 47
square miles. Our individual hotel complex is a great many buildings, we walk
two blocks just to the lobby (some folks walk double that!); and it is about 4
miles just to go around the circumference our hotel resort. There are more of these complexes than
we can count! And more ore on the drawing boards. Easily several dozen. so they
are doing something right.
Tonight we went to dinner at Epcot. There, we walked thru the "Innovations"
Building and visited both Mexico & Norway pavilions. Had dinner in the China
pavilion. Watched the 9 o'clock fireworks and went home to bed. This heat and
humidity (104 heat index); and we walked an estimated 5 miles; the others
probably did almost twice that much. ugh. The kids are loving it. One high point
was the "Soaring" movie. There were a great many others.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Up at 6:00 a.m., again, with breakfast in the hotel food court. Had a wonderful day
today at the Magic Kingdom till we all "crashed" just after 5 o'clock.
Then, swimming was a welcome activity for awhile.
We visited all the "high-demand" attractions, and never had any really long
lines. We did "Space Mountain", "Haunted Mansion", "Pirates of the
Caribbean", "It's A
Small World", "Carousel of Progress", "People Mover",
"Swiss Family Robinson Tree House", "Tom Sawyer Island", the
"Cinderella Castle", and more. The photographer said
that we are lucky; big days are 90,000 in attendance; we are experiencing only 35,000 since
school has started down here, already. (What a mess those higher numbers would
be! We think it is busy now.) All of the staff are outgoing and courteous which
helps a lot. Kids are in "heaven"; but they really like the swimming pool back
at the hotel. We came back and swam and ate a leisurely dinner. Grandma
sprang for little souvenirs; and off we went to the welcome bed. This touring is
hard work!
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Up at 6:00, as usual.
Spent another warm day (96 degrees) at Disney - MGM Studios viewing lots of
attractions about current and historical movies. Saw lots of movie "stuff".
Theresa couldn't walk for the day (was totally wiped out by yesterday afternoon;
her legs just would not carry her, with the pain and fatigue.) So we rented her
an electric wheelchair. Worked out great. We were all pooped by 4, so we
returned to our hotel to nap and then supper. This park featured many
attractions having to do with the movies, including stunt shows and special-effect rides (all spectacular but not scary).
Dave and Cam took took the 4 kids to "Typhoon Lagoon", a water park, and didn't return till about
7:00, leaving Kathy "kid-less", with the
other adults for a quiet time doing our own park attractions. Upon return,
the kids looked
"bushed" but said they had a good time.
We had to pack our bags before retiring, because they pick them up early tomorrow
morning to take to the ship for the cruise portion of our vacation, which starts
tomorrow.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Went to breakfast about 8:00. Bags were picked up while we were out. Dave &
Garth slept in. Cam took 2 girls, Kyla & Hannah, to Epcot to ride Soaring. Cam
missed it before, and Hannah wanted to do it again! Dan and Dawn left
later for Epcot. Bus to the cruise leaves at noon. Goodie: we have a free hour first for a nap.
Bus to Port Canaveral took nearly 2 hours due to traffic; and we were on the
Disney ship "Wonder" eating their great afternoon buffet at 3. It was worth the
price of admission for Grandma to hear the little ones ooohing and aaahing at
the first sight of the big ship as the buss approached the pier. We spent
the afternoon
exploring the ship and unpacking. A Bleess cousin, Kathy Lowery, was at a nearby area
waving us off as promised! THANKS, Kathy! Dinner with all 11 of us at 6:15. Then
Her-cules Muse-ical stage show at 8:30. In bed by 10:00.
Friday, August 19, 2005
We slept in till 7:30, then had breakfast with kids. Some of us were soon off to an
excursion in glass bottom boat viewing fish and coral reef, while the rest did
things like snorkeling and rays. Dinner was in a beautiful dining room with a huge
mermaids mural in tiny tiles on the wall. Spectacular.
Each evening, we do family pictures at 6, family dinner at 6:15, evening show at
8:30. Hannah was in tonight's show: played a dwarf! After all of that
there was outdoor music and dancing on an upper deck, which entertained both
generations of kids in fine fashion. Dave and Cam even made their way to
the stage, for more fun. The kids all did the Macarena and lots of other stuff.
To bed at 10:30.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Up at 6. Everybody, except Theresa, is going snorkeling this morning. She is
taking pictures.
==
Morning snorkeling was great! Although Connor & Hannah haven't learned to enjoy
it as much, as of yet. So they only did a little bit, but that's ok. Had lunch on the island - Castaway Cay. Grandma & Grandpa came back
to the ship for a nap while the "kids" spent the afternoon on the beach. There
was a thunderstorm, but not very serious.
Packing bags which have to be put outside the room this evening by 11:30. At
3:30, Theresa had a hairdo onboard ship in preparation for our final
evening and celebration. Roger got to attend the disembarkation meeting at 4:15.
The boat left harbor and is underway at 5:10.
After another set of family portraits,
we had another lovely dinner, this evening complete with complimentary champagne
and anniversary cake. The chef even came out
to personally congratulate us and to say he personally made a special cake ; and
that if we come back for 50th he will make a big, tall one!
A little story: When our kids were very young, we ate out whenever we
traveled/moved to a new home. Theresa and I always wanted the kids to try new
dishes rather than the same ole hamburgers & hot dogs. So sometimes, we'd have
to bribe them with money to get them to try new things. Their most memorable
"try" was getting a dollar to taste escargot.
Well, guess what was on the Appetizer menu on Saturday night. That's right.
Escargot. So Grandpa encouraged our kids to bribe their kids to try some
Escargot. And would you believe all parents were successful! Every grandchild
tried Escargot. Course, they didn't enjoy it too much. And it cost me $5 apiece.
Must be inflation. We all enjoyed the little game.
After dinner we came back to our room, and finished packing and were done and in bed before 11.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Debarkation day is early on Disney Cruise Lines. Today we woke at 5 as the
lights slowly flashed by our window. We were sailing down a narrow channel into
port.
Our flight out of Orlando was much delayed, and last ones did not
get home until 11:00 p.m. But we made it , and have many good memories.
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