Family Vacation 2014, part 2

TIP: Buy or make matching shirts so you can spot each other easier in a crowd. Plus it was just fun to match! Now they have new PJ shirts to wear to always remember this trip. 

Day 3: Walt Disney World

After getting to bed at 1 am the night previous the children were not too keen on waking at 8am-ish the next morning. But....we wanted to fit in the most play time the 2nd day at WDW because we weren't going to stay until park close that night.

We woke them up, quickly packed our stuff, said goodbye to Cassie and hurried off. This day we followed their "insider tip" and parked at the Polynesian Hotel and took the tram. We were allowed to park their because we told them we were checking it out. And we did....actually, I would really like to stay on Disney property next time we go because it is much more convenient and you get more perks. Anywho, we parked, got on the tram and were there, with minimal walking, in 15 minutes.

Our first fast pass was for Ariel's ride, which I think we missed because we didn't get there at opening. We were too tired. So we headed to some smaller rides in Tomorrowland until our 2nd fast pass ride, Space Mountain. As you can tell by their faces the kids did NOT like this ride. I had forgotten how dark and "scary" it was and I see why they didn't like it. Tyler enjoyed it though.

Colin was a super-trooper the entire trip. Only on the last two nights did he wake up out of the ordinary. He was incredibly overtired by that point. When he slept in his crib I put the blanket up to shield him from the sun. I am so glad I bought these metal clothespins from the $1 store. They came in handy several times.

We stayed until about 8pm. We got a little rained out for about 30 minutes. But after the heavy rainfall we were able to hit some of the bigger rides one last time. Splash & Thunder Mountain until we got rained out again. Luckily, I found another TIP. Buy $1 ponchos and bring them with you to avoid paying $5+ inside the park. We got soaked. From our head to our toes. We walked to the car with drenched and cold feet. Again, the kids were tired but we wanted to squeeze the most fun out of the time we had.

 

Then we had a miscomunication, Tyler and I. He was walking faster to get Colin out of the rain but then it stopped so he stopped to take some night shots. I kept walking with the girls and didn't see him. I figured he, Colin and Samuel would be waiting on the monorail platform for us but they weren't there. Of course, by this point, my old cell phone was dead so I couldn't call him. So we got on the train hoping to see him at the hotel. He was not around. So then we walked to the car, still no sign of them. So....we waited and waited. Finally, I asked a stranger if I could use their cell phone and called Tyler. He was ticked off but I quickly hung up after telling him to meet us at the car. He had been waiting for us on the platform and finally just got on the train after he figured we had left. So...that wasted another 20 minutes. Oh, well. It could have been much worse! 

A highlight of this day was being able to see an old college friend of mine. Becky, a fellow actor, is a hilarious performer. She does voice over work, to character shows, to all kinds of acting activity in the park. She got us "special" seats so that we could be on camera for the laugh show with Monsters Inc characters. It was really fun and kind of her to showcase our family for 5 minutes.  

We got to go to the major attractions but missed a couple things. Like Pirates of the Caribbean was temporarily closed for some reason. Also in Adventureland we didn't get to go through the Swiss Family Robinson house. And we didn't do the cliche dumbo ride in Fantasyland. But, those are all pretty minor. And we still had a great time! I think Tyler liked going better with kids than when he was a kid or as newlyweds. We went for our 1st year anniversary over 11 years ago! Not only had the price gone way up but we went in October instead of August so the temperatures were much more mild, plus there were several new rides to try out. And this time we brought in our own bottled water and flavoring so we didn't have to drink the nasty stuff from the fountains. 

 Will we go again? I hope so. It is certainly expensive but really fun. So...we'll see.

From WDW we drove to Tampa, had to make a pit-stop in the Tampa airport to sign some new papers for the car rental (long story...did it to save money by using vouchers) and then headed another 20 minutes to Clearwater. We used our Hyatt room upgrade vouchers for a 1 bedroom but luckily they had space, and with our diamond status, they gave us a 2 bedroom. It....was...awesome. The kids were in one bedroom. Colin in one of the 3 bathrooms and we had a full kitchen and living/dining room with two balconies to boot. With a great morning view of the ocean. Tyler did a good job in booking this room. Totally worth it. The kids, of course, fell asleep on the way to the hotel. We got in about 10pm. We had to wake them up, kicking and screaming, and drag them to the room. They never went to bed so easily, this whole trip! It was great!

Day 4....Clearwater.