I lived it, do I need a picture of it?

We spent the second day of our trip at the Magic Kingdom, touring nearly the entire day. We took a short break in the afternoon to prepare for our very special dinner with Mickey Mouse and friends at Chef Mickey's located at the Contemporary Resort (click on Chef Mickey's for Williams family blogs directions and description of Chef Mickey's, I can not do it the justice that they can). And then following dinner we went back to the Magic Kingdom, took in the fireworks, the carousel, and the lighted parade.

The NEXT day, we decided to rest up, just a little. We spent the day at the amazing pools and water slide at our time share the Fountains Resort. Will loved the water. He was just a little fish in his life jacket and floaties. I was shocked at the difference between last year and this, with his enthusiasm for floating on his back and for leaping off the side of the pool with no one to catch him. He climbed the stairs to the water slide and slid down on his own maybe 30 or so times before the resort "caught" him and let him know that he was technically too little to slide.



That night we ate dinner in the time share and then headed back to the pool only to realize that because of lightning we were going to be unable to swim. Will was so upset. I carried a screaming, kicking, and hollering 2 1/2 year old what seemed like a mile back to the condo. And, eventually we went to bed. In the morning before I even opened my eyes, I knew. I knew that my camera was gone. That I had left our water proof camera right on the edge of the pool just before the lightning forced us out. And it was gone, along with hundreds of pictures. I ran down to the pool but it was not there. I was confident that it was gone, but checked with lost and found. They would open in a couple of hours. I was so sad and when I informed Joe he was so angry he said, "I have nothing to say to you." Because after all, I lose stuff constantly. I even once recycled my reading glasses. Just yesterday I lost the garage door opener in his Jeep Wrangler, it has still yet to be found...and we are not talking about a very big space. So, suffice it to say I have a reputation. I tried to be encouraging that we could retake the pictures....but then I remembered that while we could retake a great many of them...our dinner at Chef Mickey's would be lost. Why is there no photopass guy (click on photopass to see Williams family's explanation of photopass at WDW) at Chef Mickey's, taking pictures as they do throughout the park I wonder!?

Chef Mickey's was a real highlight of the trip. Delicious food and a "contemporary" restaurant are fun. (I love pics of food!)


But the truth is that nothing compares to the energy and excitement of having dinner made by Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Minnie, and even Pluto. It was such a highlight. And we would not be able to relive that.





To our shock, when the woman who worked at lost and found came in, the camera was on her desk. She called me immediately and we were elated that the camera was found. HOWEVER, the drama was not over yet! Joe decided, to go ahead and transfer the pictures to a computer so that if God forbid I lost the camera again, it would be OK. Well, upon transfer there was some kind of technology snafu, and the pictures were all lost---the memory card erased!! By this time, I am finding it almost comical..and just darn grateful that its not my fault!! And I at this point feel like, I lived it. I do not necessarily need a picture of it. I would however miss the pictures of Chef Mickeys.

I have heard a number of camera stories now, people having broken their cameras, losing them, dropping them in water, technology problems etc. I'm wondering on our next trip if I should plan to remove pictures every day in case there is another snafu??

I am pleased to report that we were able to recover the pictures as seen above..with some fancy software. And while they are not the quality that they might have been, we do have them. And I am glad to have them.