Disney 2009 - A Huge 3 Generation Family Success

We are back at my Mom's in Atlanta after our fun week at Disney in Orlando. When we originally planned this vacation a year ago, we picked October for a couple of reasons. The first,it would be cooler in October than in the summer....wrong, we had record high October temps in Orlando mid to upper 90's! The second, it would not be as crowded...wrong again! This was a break for Florida schools and very crowded! But we still managed to have a wonderful time! (I had planned on blogging and being on Facebook some, but we didn't have internet coverage in the room and I just didn't want to go sit in the lobby. So I had a vacation from the computer too!)

We stayed at a condo about 5 minutes from the front gate. The 6 of us were quite comfy with our 2 bedrooms/2 bathrooms/kitchen & living room! We weren't in the room long anyway! We were at the park for 6 days straight.

For the last 20 years of my visits to Disney, I have always had a stroller and pushed a child around. This time, we had a wheelchair and pushed my mom around. Then Miss Katie's ankle started swelling from all the walking, so the last 3 days we pushed 2 wheel chairs around. Previously, when I saw families getting onto rides earlier with their folks in wheelchairs, I didn't think it was quite fair (after all, I was standing in line and they just walked up). After being one of the chair pushers, I will never complain again! That is hard work! However, Mom's knee and Katie's ankle really benefitted from the rest!

Everyday, we took a cooler full of water bottles and sandwiches into the parks. They do check the bags, but we got everything in everyday. Our sandwiches helped with our budgets so that we could indulge other days. And $2.50 for a bottle of water gets too pricey for 6 people, several times a day. We bought a case of 24 bottles at Publix for $4.49...I can do the math. They are making a ton of money selling water!

We spent 2 days at the Magic Kingdom...Amy wants me to announce that she overcame her fears and rode Splash Mountain 2 times. She loved it! Mom was our official photographer since she doesn't ride anything much more daring than Dumbo! We enjoyed Dumbo (2), Peter Pan, Splash Mountain (2), Pirates of the Carribean (2), Race Cars (2), Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear (2), People Mover, Carousel of Progress, Aladdin's Magic Carpet, Jungle Cruise, Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, Its a Small World, The Barnstormer, Teacups (3), the mid day parade, & Spectro Magic Parade. And Katie and Mom had thrilling, heart gripping rides in their wheelchairs. They both decided to get swords from Pirates and "slash" people out of their way. Honestly, people would see the wheelchairs and run in front of them or cut across and stop in the way. Ramming rude people did cross my mind but mom and Katie vetoed my idea.

We spent one long, hot day at Animal Kingdom. The Lion King show was just as wonderful as I remembered. That show is the one reason that I go to the Animal Kingdom. We also rode on the Safari Ride. We got lots and lots of animal pictures with our great camera. The most fun ride of the day was the Kali River Rapids ride. We saved it for the end of our visit. There is one part on the ride where one rider gets absolutely soaked, that was me! I got drenched. As soon as we got off, the kids wanted to ride again...so off we went to get in line again. This time, Greg was in the drenching seat! We left the park very soggy and sunburned.

We spent 3 long, lovely, very hot days at Epcot. We did the boat ride in "The Land" and then booked a backstage tour of the greenhouses. This was very interesting for all of us and we got lots of information and pictures about their hydroponic gardening. We also got instructions on how to make our own garden so Amy's empty fish tank will be called into service soon. Greg and the kids rode the "Soarin" ride and then Will & Katie rode it again. (We love the Fastpasses) Greg & Will rode "Test Track" and loved it, the last day, Katie rode it with them. I love going up in the ball and learning about Communication through the ages...Me, Amy & Mom rode it 3 times, the rest 2 times. But our favorite was the International Wine & Food Festival. Many, many countries had food booths set up all around the countries and we tasted lots and lots of yummy food...not just one day but two! We literally "ate our way around the world". And as always, seeing the film and animatronics at the America Pavilion moves me to tears. I am usually ok till I see the footage from the space shuttle crew before it took off, when they were smiling and waving before boarding and before it blew up.

I have a post in my brain about the ins and outs of a Disney Vacation...but that is for another day. Also, I have to post pictures, we have hundreds and hundreds!