The fear of the tantrum....at Walt Disney World

Our first day at Walt Disney World was spent at the Animal Kingdom. It is a beautiful beautiful park. When we originally planned our trip, we were planning to go only for two days, and only to the Magic Kingdom; however, my husband's desire to see Kilimanjaro Safari prompted us to commit to a third day (Animal Kingdom) and then three lead to four and four lead to five. Anyway, we got to the Animal Kingdom very close to the time that it opens; and we headed directly to Kilimanjaro Safari. Kilimanjaro Safari is a feature that allows you to pretend that you are on Safari in Africa.

When we got there we used the Williams' families strategy for Fast Pass. Joe and Will got in line, and I too our tickets to the Fast Pass Kiosk to get a Fast Pass to ride again, later in the day. We have heard that riding the ride multiple times is even recommended because you just never know what the animals might be doing. We were excited to see the animals in an environment that is more natural than the typical zoo provides. We were not disappointed. And, one of the cutest moments of the whole trip happened on that ride. Will was so excited by the animals (keep in mind this is the very first thing we have done on our much anticipated trip). Will sees a giraffe and he said so excitedly, and in such a loud and grown up voice, "Hi Giraffe, I Will!" I am not sure if it was cuter that he introduced himself for the first time to my ears, or if it was the fact that he actually thought the giraffe cared and might respond! We saw many exciting animals, and I particularly loved seeing the baby animals!



We left Kilimanjaro Safari and went on to other attractions. It was a very very hot day. And, we were tired. The excitement and travel and heat had successfully worn us down prematurely that day. Yet we still had our Fast Passes to ride Kilimanjaro Safari again. So we pushed on. Despite the fact that we had our Fast Passes, we still had to wait a short time (10 minutes)...and Will had the tantrum. And when I say the tantrum. I mean THE tantrum. It was a tantrum of epic proportions. We felt stuck, should we back out of line? Should we go forward? Should we hope that if we just get on the ride he will recover? But just like everything else at Walt Disney World...the cast knew what to do. Along comes an official looking guy who said to us that he would like to help if he could. Might he suggest that we go to the Child Care Center and give Will a break, and that he would give us a slip of paper so that we could go on ANY ride we wanted that day and go right to the front of the line. Could he put the magic back in our day? We were so relieved, he helped us out of line, he helped us to take the break we should have known to take for ourselves, and he helped to make it so that it was easy to return to the fun when we were ready. When I hear families worry that Walt Disney World is big, and scary and crowded, and that their kids or worse their husbands might not be ready. I shout, "relax!" Believe it or not, Walt Disney seemed to know what he was doing with this place and families!!

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.

Total buy in

I've been reflecting on what makes some people enjoy Walt Disney World more than others. Whether you are talking about children or adults, some people just seem to have a better time there than others. Some people don't really get it; while others seem to not be able to get enough of it. And, I'm thinking that it has to do with your amount of "buy in". Not buy in, in terms of cost, but buy in, in terms of fantasy. For children, it may be about going at the right time, before they are too old to realize that the mouse is not ACTUALLY a mouse....and for adults, perhaps it is whether or not they can really let themselves pretend. We decided to go to the "World" to find our smiles...we had lost them. And when we got there, I just decided to let go of my reality and to just pretend to allow the fantasy to overtake me. Now, I am not sure if I did this was on purpose or by accident...but it was something about this meeting with Sully from Monsters Inc., taken in Hollywood Studios that really made me realize it.

Following Lauren's birth Will and I must have watched Monsters Inc about 50 times. It is a Disney children's movie that I genuinely like...and he and I would watch it again and again. It was a movie that I would sit in front of; sometimes watching, and sometimes just sitting, and sometimes thinking and sometimes not thinking. An escape from my world into a different one, with Will holding my hand and the comfort of the cool and the dark of our basement lulling me into a sense of calm. And, so on this very sweaty day in Walt Disney World I could not have been happier to see Sully. It was wonderful to see my old friend, and in that moment I think I actually believed it was good to see me too..again, smiling. You might notice, Will is not in the picture. He is smarter than me perhaps, he is in his stroller tired of having his picture taken..actually saying to me, "no more pictures." I'm not particularly fond of the picture. I think I look fat, Joe points out that he is as big as Sully himself, which makes us laugh...but the funniest part was when I realized later. It was a man in a costume. It was a MAN in a costume. But I had such complete buy in, so overtaken by the fantasy...that I believed we knew each other and that he was happy to see me, and that he was happy to see that I had found my smile. I wonder, what it is that makes some other people love the World, and what makes other people not like it so much. Two of my friends confessed that their husbands hated the Magic Kindom, the most....some other good friends really had to readjust their expectations upon arrival due to heat and crowds and wait times for lines...I would love to hear from friends about what makes vacations magical and what makes them less than magical. Anyone??

Have a Laugh!

Will Mickey Miss His Date?

Is that a parade I hear?

I keep expecting to be greeted by a parade in my normal life...the fact is that the return to the normal "world" ain't easy! And, I bet its that way for a a lot of vacations, (my brother's zip line pics and repelling pics looked pretty awesome)! But for me, this was really the first vacation where when I returned, I just had a hard time getting really, really back to life! I think it took me about one day in regular life for each day I spent at the World to really adjust. So now I've moved on to re-living our adventures, and thinking about the ones to come!

I really felt like all of my planning paid off at WDW, for instance I had the map of Disney really under my belt. I had character dining reservations made, I had a list of prioritized things that I thought my family would enjoy. And all of this planning (though made fun of by some of you) really made it so that I could enjoy the unexpected magic. One of my favorite things at the World were the parades. I did not plan to be in a certain place when the parades came, (with the exception of the lighted parade at close at the Magic Kingdom), but periodically we would be greeted by High School Musical, Block Party Bash, or my favorite the Celebrations Parade mid day at Magic Kingdom. On this particular day it was Woody/Buzz Day because it was the opening of Toy Story 3. We had fun dancing with the characters, not just getting our autograph and picture.

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I wonder now in the regular world how many times I miss the joyous spontaneous celebrations of life because they are not accompained by music, and men in costumes? Thanks to WDW I'm going to try and look harder for the celebrations and find the magic in my every day life!

Disney's Have a Laugh! Mickey Mouse - I Gotta Feeling (Black Eyed Peas)

Stop CMV pictures sent to me already!

Thank you Sarah Hobson, Thank you Heidi & Charles Lynn, and their healthy baby girl Tori

, Thank you Marcia and Jacob Thurman and their precious baby to be. Thank you Stacie Manary and her children Cameron & Kate!