Ok, so the week before we went to Disney Jade was sick, we left the Sunday and from the Monday before she was very out of sorts, I can really count on my one hand how many times this child has thrown up in her life and Monday night started with a throw up session, like I needed a sick child this week or the extra laundry that goes with it golly ... but the poor thing, anyway Tuesday she seems better but I still kept her home from school, Wednesday she went back and still for the rest of the week she seemed weird. Friday night she said she had a sore throat which sent me into a tailspin since I knew she had been exposed to strep at school but Dave took her off tot he Minute Clinic on Saturday and thankfully they said she was ok on all counts so who knows what was going on but Sunday we were off bring and early on our trip to Disney.
She thankfully didn't complain about anything on our trip other than being tired, that being said it was an 8 hour trip and she didn't sleep in the car. We arrived at our hotel after 7 hours or so, it was nice it was early evening and we still had time for a swim ... going from 10 degrees in Charlotte to swimming weather in Florida, that itself was crazy. The hotel was very nice with many pools unfortunately the cold one was too cold and the slide into it was been worked on but we found a really nice jacuzzi that we made good use of. We only found the heated pools a day later and didn't get an opportunity to make use of them sadly.
Anyway Sunday night or should I say Monday morning Jade woke up at like 3am and was awake for a long time, it felt like the rest of the night to Dave and I so come morning when the alarm went off, we were all exhausted but we still had a very busy day ahead of us, anyway we got done and went to breakfast, I had paid for a bed and breakfast package at the hotel which was a very good move, it was a great buffet breakfast which we all filled up on so really thankfully we didn't need to eat again till much later in the day.
We didn't stay on the Disney property which as far as travelling goes did cost us a little more time but really I don't think if we went again I would stay on the property either so it was no big deal, the bus rides, the monorail rides and the ferry boat trips was all part of the fun for us anyway.
So Monday we went to the Magic Kingdom, this I think is the largest of the parks so we planned to go back on Thursday again which was a good thing because really we didn't get to see everything on the Monday. Jade wasn't as amazed or wowed as I thought she would be but I think she was exhausted before we even got started so I guess that had a lot to do with it. Also Monday was hot as hell in Florida too which took a lot out of us all but thankfully I was prepared with lots of water on hand.
Magic Kingdom I think was the park we all liked the most, there was just so much more to see and rides to ride there than any of the other parks, Jade loved seeing the characters but the lines to wait for autographs were so long that really we only stood once for about an hour at Minnie's house which was too cute for photo's with Minnie and to get her autograph. I had a surprise for Dave and Jade later, will tell you more further down in this novel.
We totally loved the 3D movies at all of the parks, some were a little scary for Jade but she was a real trooper and did most of the rides she qualified for in height. Our favorite I think though was the Buzz Light Year ride !!! We also went to see as many shows as possible at all the parks, we say the Beauty and the Beast show which to me wasn't that amazing but we loved the Lion King. Also Jade got to dance with the High School Musical cast so she was thrilled about that. For Dave I think the Stunt car show at MGM was the best, Jade and I thoroughly enjoyed it too, it was quite long but we all sat on the edges of our seats to what was going to happen next.
The rides were really good, Jades favorites were all the roller coaster rides, her favorite being the one, and now I forget, but the one next to Splash Mountain. She also amazingly enough went with us on the Everest coaster which had someone told me that most of the ride was going backwards and in the dark, I might not have taken, well she was just fine on it, she really did well, amazing in fact.
I know I am all over the show here with stuff in different parks but back to Magic Kingdom, we saw the afternoon parade but to me the night time parade was just amazing and the fireworks afterwards, I have to say that I think that part of the trip was the best part for me, partly also because Jade got to see Tinkerbell, not up close like she would have liked to have seen her but at least she got to see her, that brought tears to my eyes since it was really the only thing she looked forward to when it came to this trip. She doesn't know but the Peter Pan ride was not working, just our luck ... but anyway we didn't get to go on that one which was really sad but as I said, she doesn't know she missed anything.
Monday was our latest night in the parks and although before arriving I was disappointed that the parks closed early the week we were there, we really could not have done more than we did in a day anyway. Jade fell asleep in the stroller (thank God for the stroller) on the way to the ferry trip back to our hotel. So when we got her back to the hotel, the poor thing we gave her a quick wash down and into bed she went, Dave and I ordered pizza to our room since it seemed the only thing we could do at that late stage.
Thankfully that night we had a better night sleep and were ready to rock and roll on Tuesday morning, off to Animal Kingdom we went, it was a way cooler day with threat of rain which didn't arrive till almost closing time which worked out really well for us. We were so prepared with our ponchos and umbrellas that really it wasn't so bad anyway, quite refreshing actually. What was funny is as prepared as we were for not getting wet in the rain, Dave and Jade should have been more prepared for the Kali (I think it was that) Rapids ride which they both enjoyed but came out drenched which didn't make Jade happy !!! She had done Splash Mountain with Dave the day before but hadn't really gotten too wet on that one but this ride well, I am glad I passed on this one (hehehe) !!!
Jade loved the live bird show and the petting area of course, my little animal lover that she is. We also all enjoyed the little African Safari that we went on, that was pretty well done. The parade got a bit rained out but thankfully we got to see most of it under the umbrellas.
Tuesday night we quickly rushed off to Downtown Disney to get one or two things, I really wanted to stay down there longer but I knew Jade was exhausted so I really I knew what I wanted and quickly got them and we left, had a quick dinner and thankfully not too late a night.
Wednesday was MGM which really is more for adults I think ... but as I said earlier the Stunt Show here was awesome. Also the backstage tours were pretty cool too, but too hard to explain in here you kind of have to experience them yourself. I let Dave do two rides on his own while Jade and I went to watch High School Musical which she really wanted to see. After that we went to this art area which she was able to get really creative at which was nice for her. I don't think any of the parades at either Animal Kingdom or MGM could beat the Magic Kingdom parades but we made sure we saw them all anyway.
Wednesday night was my big surprised, I had booked a character evening at Chef Mickey's which is a buffet type restaurant at the Contemporary Resort on the Disney Property. This was really cool and not as expensive as the Princess dining experience which we couldn't get into because we hadn't booked that long in advance but I was very happy with the Chef Mickey's experience. The characters, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald Duck all come to your table throughout the evening and you are allowed to take pictures with them and Jade got them all to sign her autograph book which really was pretty cute. It was nice to spend one on one time with them that wasn't rushed, also all of them visited our table at least twice but probably more times than that, Minnie actually sat at our table a bit and chatted with Jade which was really special. I think what was nice is that we had the late meal with them and probably the last sitting for the evening which really meant the characters had more time with us, hey I even got to dance with Pluto which was really funny, thankfully there were no video camera's around !!! I think this was well worth the money and if we go again, it's definitely something we will do again.
Wednesday night I packed everything ready to go on Thursday morning, we checked out early, had our breakfast and for the first time drove and parked at Magic Kingdom. The second day at Magic Kingdom was way more relaxed than our first trip, that is for sure, we only chose the things that we really wanted to do again and went on those, we hadn't seen the show outside the castle so we made sure we saw that. We wanted to do the Areals (spelling ? ) Grotto but the wait was always 60 minutes long or longer so we passed on that one. It started to rain towards the end of the day and we decided to leave early and get on the road as soon as we could which was a good decision since it poured most of the trip to John and Carries house so we couldn't drive as fast as we normally would.
Before I go on, I have to say and all my girlfriends here that know I am married to Mr Scrooge will get a good laugh at this. Everyone knew how I tried to get the best deals everywhere to make this trip as cost effective as possible because I knew if I didn't Dave would never bring us back again ... anyway long story short all the books say for a 4 person family you need at least $100 a day in the parks for spending money well are you all sitting down ... in 4 days in the park Dave spent $7.50 and really he wouldn't have spent that had I not wanted to buy Jade and I the cutest Mickie Mouse ice creams. I took water in which we refilled at the water fountains, I packed sandwiches every day for lunch which worked out well and we had a few snack with us too, which proves you can take anything in really. But that just goes to show how much money you can save when you really want to :-)
Anyway bottom line for me regarding Disney and many of my girlfriends here will shoot me for this one ... take me to Vegas any day but I think I have had enough Disney for a couple of years now (hehehe). I am very thankful that we were able to take Jade at this point even though I think still, she could have enjoyed it more had she been a little older but anyway, it's done now and that's all that matters. Maybe one day when we have another child if the good man upstairs wills that on us, maybe we will do it again but for right now ... did I say this before ... send me to Vegas anytime (hehehe) now that was a vacation of a lifetime for me :-)
We had a nice and relaxing time at John and Carries house, I think they were worried we were going to be bored and they wanted to keep us occupied but really after all the walking at Disney all we wanted to do was hang out at their house and catch up with them. It was nice seeing them again, it had been two years since we saw them last. It was also nice just spending all that time talking about SA and using language on SA'ns would get, eating toasted 'saamies' braai'ing, and pigging out on Romany Creams, Chokits (spelling), good old 'finger biscuits' and not to mention all the droewors ... it was cool !!!
Friday we took Jade to the beach but the wind was blowing so much we didn't think we would stay long at all, Dave even said not to put lotion on Jade well we landed up staying I think for about an hour and even though Jade wasn't in the water much she played in the sand and had lots of fun but my golly when we left the beach the poor thing was tanned red, red that got redder as the day went on. I felt so bad and a terrible mother but thankfully it didn't seem to bother her too much. She has never in her life burnt red like this so ... thank God it didn't seem too bad.
Also I thought she would be out of hand at John and Carries but you know she was just fine, we really have been blessed with a pretty good child, she was bored a couple of times but she did well, spent a good deal of time in the pool which was way too cold for John and his family at this point in the year, John let Jade push him in one night but he got out almost as quickly as he fell in, Dave too got in once but was out very quickly, shows you we really do have a little fish on our hands.
Also there are so many birds at their house, Jade loved seeing them all and throwing bread to them too. Their neighbor had his granddaughter there visiting and she came over and played with Jade a bit, she was 7 but the two played for while nicely which was great since Jade really didn't have anyone to play with the 4 days we visited them, now having said that, I think she has a new favorite uncle, Uncle John, he played with her so much and made such a fuss of her that she cried in the car when we left, now having said that I am not sure who she cried more over, Uncle John or that she was going to miss their cat which I am sure was happy to see us go (hehehe) or hey there were even tears for Roxy the little dog next door which she played with for a few minutes ... I have one emotional little drama queen on my hands, good luck Dave !!!
So Monday we hit the long trip home, a very uneventful trip thank heavens. Now it is just trying to catch up on laundry which is my main priority ... busy week though so we will see.
Thanks John and Carrie for having us, we really enjoyed our time with y'all.
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