Disney Day Five

Joe and I sat through our first (and likely last) time share presentation. When I booked this hotel, I was told that they'd knock several hundred dollars off the price if we'd agree to go for a 90 minute golf cart tour of the property. Although I wasn't keen on the idea of having my vacation interrupted by a time share talk, the savings were enough to make me agree to it (after I was assured that my kids could come along with us.)

Long story short - there was no golf cart. There was no tour. There was 90 minutes of talking. I'll admit that the salesperson wasn't annoying or pushy. I mean, of course she was trying to sell a time share unit, but she really wasn't overbearing. The whole plan sounds nice and I understand the benefits to it, but I had to tell her, "Um this is the first non-camping family vacation we've ever taken (other than when Savannah won a 3 day trip to Disney and when the PR folks at Discovery Cove sent us there - we didn't pay for either of those trips.)" I can see where this would be good for the families who vacation every year or every other year, but did you understand the part where I said this is our first family vacation???

Anyway, the kids were actually pretty good there. We declined the time share; the salesperson sent in her manager. We declined his offer and we left. It really was 90 minutes.

After that, we went to the Magic Kingdom again for a few hours. We saw a couple attractions that we didn't have time for the other day. The kids wanted to go on some of the same rides again and we were able to do that today too.

While I was there, I had the chance to meet up with a fellow blogger and Chicagoan, Michelle from HonestAndTruly.blogspot.com. It's a weird coincidence that we live near each other, we were both going to Orlando at the same time, we're staying in the same hotel, we both had nasty smelling rooms at first and had to switch, and we both went to Magic Kingdom today! I met her, her sweet parents, and her totally cute kids in Tomorrowland.

We left Magic Kingdom at about 5:30 and came back to our room where we met Angie from GoodForTheKids.com and her 2 cutie girls. We ate dinner outside at the pool and watched the kids swim for a while. Angie told me I have an accent. I so do NOT have any kind of accent. She obviously didn't hear the English/Scottish women talking yesterday!

While we were outside at the pool, we saw a guy who looked familiar. It was the crazy ole birdman! It was the same guy we saw when we were at this hotel last year! Really, there's a picture of him HERE from my post about Discovery Cove last year. (BTW, although Disney is fun, Discovery Cove is a fun, relaxing vacation!)

I soaked my aching feet in the hot tub while the kids swam and they feel so much better now. I may eventually walk again. I think I'll probably be able to compile some tips and do's and don't's for Disney World by the end of this week. I'll give you a couple "don'ts" right now though. Don't bother going to the Enchanted Tiki Room. It's lame. If you ride on Aladdin's flying carpet ride, be prepared to get spit on by a camel. (I didn't see that one coming!) Bypass Stitch's Escape because it's kinda stupid for one thing and it'll scare little kids for another. Don't forget your cell phone if you go to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor. You can text in jokes while you're waiting in line and they may use your joke in the show. I think a lot of the humor goes over the heads of little kids, but it was a short enjoyable show, in my opinion. It was kinda like Who's Line is It Anyway, in that it includes a bit of improv. Because of that, they show will be a little different every time you see it. Skip the Swiss Family Tree House. No kid has a clue about that show. Heck, most adults I know, don't remember the show. Basically, you just walk up like 6000 steps and see a bedroom in a tree house and then you walk down another 21,000 steps to ground. Yes, I counted the steps.

And the last tip for today - Don't plan on visiting theme parks every day of your vacation. Believe me, it is not a vacation to walk 50,000 miles in a week. It's too much for you and the kids. My kids were acting up this morning after the fun-filled time share thing, but thankfully they settled down when we got to the park. I, however, was on a rampage. I seriously fantasized about mowing people over with the stroller all day. Seriously, why do people just STOP in the middle of a walkway??? Why? Do they not notice the 4 billion people walking behind them? Do they not get the concept of moving over to the side of the road or sidewalk? Grrrr.

Other than my near explosion, we had another great day. The weather was beautiful, the park wasn't too crowded and we were able to do a lot of fun things with the kids.

Tomorrow we plan on spending a long day at MGM or Hollywood Studios or whatever it's called these days. It looks like it's supposed to rain the next couple days so maybe the parks will be empty. We'll see.

Here are a few pictures before I hit the sack...


The kids being goofy with, well Goofy.


I had to get a picture of Austin with Dumbo. When he was little, he was obsessed with elephants and he watched our Dumbo videotape so many times, he wore it out. Literally.


Captain Jack Sparrow on The Pirates of the Caribbean ride


The Jungle Boat Cruise


Brooklyn being unusually happy on the monorail


Me and Michelle


Lexi and Brooklyn with Angie's kids, Claire and Anna
(I've got to hand it to Austin and Savannah too. They played with and watched the little kids in the water for a long time this evening. Even our waitress commented on what great teenagers I have and she's right. They're good kids. I'm proud.)


Beautiful view!