A Fun Five Days

Sorry for the delay. Disney World is exhausting! We spent one day at each park and had a wonderful time. These pictures pretty much say it all.

True to everyone’s predictions, it was incredibly crowded. Early afternoon of each day, there was an announcement in all of the parks that the Magic Kingdom was closed to new arrivals. Navigating the scooter through those crowds was a challenge, since even at the happiest place in the world it would not be fun for someone to have their toes under one of those wheels. On a number of occasions, Barry and Eliana were walking ahead of me and then at some point I couldn’t see them. Once we even resorted to using our cell phones to find each other.

We spent Sunday in transit, at the grocery store, and getting settled at the hotel. On Monday we headed for The Magic Kingdom, where the highlights were Buzz  Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Peter Pan’s Flight, It’s a Small World, Tomorrowland Speedway, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Barry and I were a bit nervous about that last one, because I seemed to recall from having done it years ago that there was a rather steep drop at some point; fortunately it turned out to be less dramatic than I remembered. What we should have passed on was Tomorrowland Speedway. The cars only fit two people, so my macho side took over and I offered to drive alone. Turns out those little cars are not so easy to drive, and the route is much longer than I expected. I needed a brief break to rejuvenate me when it was over.

We went to EPCOT (Environmental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) on Tuesday. We went on Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land, Turtle Talk with Crush, and Soarin’, which remains my favorite ride by far.

Wednesday was spent at Animal Kingdom, where the main rides were Finding Nemo, Killimanjaro Safari, and the Kali River Rapids. Fortunately the weather was unusually warm for late December, because we had not brought rain slickers to the park and we were completely drenched on the ride. If it had not been over 80° I don’t think it would have been so much fun.

Thursday was our last day, and we spent it at Hollywood Studios, where the highlights were The Great Movie Ride, Lights, Motor, and Action Stunt Show, and Toy Story Mania. That last one is really a blast! We had planned to do it twice, but unfortunately it was out of order for part of the morning, so that by afternoon even the Fast Pass tickets involved a substantial wait in line.

Our plans and preparations for food went well. Eliana had cereal for breakfast, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, lots of fruit, and a substantial dinner each night. Before the trip, Barry had barbequed steaks, burgers, and hot dogs and then frozen them. Our suite had a small microwave in which we heated them for her, and although there were other options, steak and either a hot dog or a hamburger was what she wanted every night for dinner. Since we always grossly overbuy and prepare for these trips, we had plenty for her to eat.

We had our own “Small World” story while at the park. On the first day, we ran into a woman who we often see at the Shaw’s Supermarket in Sharon. Somehow over the last few years we have chatted enough to discover that she has a relative who does medical research. Imagine our surprise on meeting her in the middle of those throngs of people far away from either of our homes. Actually we saw her in duplicate because she was travelling with a twin sister we never knew she had. But it gets better. We ended up seeing the two of them each of the four days. What is the chance that she and her sister would select the same parks to visit as we and that we would cross paths in these unbelievably busy places? You do not have to be a statistician to know that this probability is definitely £e!

We arrived back in Sharon just in time to say “Happy New Year.” May you all be blessed with a healthy and productive year!

Love,

Rebecca