Day One: Yes, We Have No Bananas

It's amazing how much nicer it is to wake up in the cold, snowy north when you know you'll be heading to 80 degree temperatures soon. We travelled to NH the night before our flight, courtesy of Gramma and Grampa who volunteered to put us up and drive us to the airport. We were met bright and early by Grammy and Poppy, who were hitching a ride as well, all of us eager to get the day rolling.

The only one not excited by the prospect of adventure was our poor dog, Toby, who was scheduled to lodge with Gramma and Grandpa in our absence. In the commotion of packing up the car, Toby decided to try the old "stowaway" routine, climbed into the car, and wedged himself under the way back seat. We tried, calling, cajoling, and treats, but nothing would move him. Ted even tried starting the car and driving it in a circle in the driveway to convince Toby that the trip was over, and we had reached our destination. He was not fooled. Ted finally had to physically dislodge him, and carry him inside to wait with Grandpa.

Dog out of car: check. Luggage and kids in car: check. We were ready to roll.

I will spare the frightening details of boarding our flight with six people, five carry-ons, two car seats and a stroller, as anyone who's travelled with small children is familiar with it already. Suffice it to say that we made it on, had an uneventful, if turbulent, flight, and arrived in sunny Orlando right on schedule.

We had elected to rent a car for the length of our stay, and my husband was the designated driver. God bless him, because everyone else in the car immediately became a front seat driver (Poppy), middle seat driver (Grammy), back seat driver (myself) or car seat driver (Griffin). Only Amelia stayed out of the fray. With all passengers shouting out sometimes contradictory directions, we finally got on the road to our new home: Old Key West.

Old Key West is the first of Disney's DVC resorts, and as a result the rooms are bigger than those in other DVC resorts. Because there are seven in our group, my parents hauled out the big guns and booked us the Grand Villa: three bedrooms, four bathrooms, full kitchen, living room, dining room and laundry room spread out over 2400 square feet and two levels. Sweet! I had seen pictures online, but I was still blown away when we walked into the space.

A few weeks before the vacation started, we had ordered groceries to be delivered to the room. The bags of food arrived shortly after we walked in: sandwich fixings, breakfast foods, snacks and...bananas. Tons and tons of bananas. An entire brown grocery bag filled three quarters of the way with bananas. Apparently, it's cheaper to order bananas by the pound rather than the bunch, so we had plenty.

While Ted took the kids out in search of a playground, my parents and I unpacked and settled into our various rooms. The plan was for pizza and an early bedtime. Uncle Matt was not scheduled to arrive at the resort until 9:30 PM, and Grammy was texting him anxiously to make sure all was on schedule. Poppy pulled out the bag of electronics he'd packed, and set up the wireless router so the Villa was wired to the hilt.

Sadly, I did not have the stamina to wait up for Uncle Matt. Bath and bed was the order of the day for kids and Mommy alike. Tomorrow: onto the Magic Kingdom!

Teacup Reunion Tour 2010

So, in the blogiverse, I've just returned from my solo trip to Walt Disney World, but in real time it's almost February, and we've just returned from our fabulous family trip to the House of Mouse. At the risk of turning this dusty old blog into an endless stream of Disney ramblings, I have to document the Teacup Reunion Tour 2010 in all its glory.

This particular trip was exciting not just because it was Molly's first trip to the World, but because we would be joined by my parents, Grammy and Poppy, and my brother, the elusive Uncle Matt. This is the true story of one extended family, picked to live in a house and have their lives taped (by Ted and Uncle Matt), to find out what happens when family stops being polite and starts being real: Teacup Reunion Tour 2010.

Not as Young as I Used to Be!

I survived my Disney In A Day or Die trip (barely!), and had a wonderful time, but it took me over a month to find the time to come back here and post a follow up.

I started my touring at Disney's Hollywood Studios, shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of other mouse groupies. At Disney World, you admission comes in stages, so after waiting at the front gate, we were let into the park...but stopped in the street, before you can get to any of the good stuff. After a cute little welcome production, the cast members pulled back the rope, and the stampede began. Fortunately for me, I was not following the herd to Toy Story Mania, but hanging a right down Sunset Boulevard to my all-time favorite ride, TOWER OF TERROR! I was ahead of the bulk of the crowd, and yes, I was the first person to board that ride on December 1. Woohoo!

After a quick zip, it was off to Rock N Roller Coaster, which I rode twice in quick succession. I could have made it three, but the Zero to sixty MPH start started to make the birthday cupcake in my stomach feel a little bit queasy. Instead, I popped myself back to Tower of Terror for one more ride.

When I boarded Tower of Terror on this go-round, I was seated next to another lone rider. As the ride started, I saw him pull out something that looked suspiciously like a book. It was a book, and when the doors opened and the car we were riding in plummeted to the bottom of the elevator shaft, this dude held up his book like he was reading. Hmmm. I was too curious to let it go, so I asked him what was up. Apparently, the book is called MouseJunkies, and it was written by a friend of his. In order to promote the book, he and his friends were getting photos of themselves reading the book on Disney's most famous attractions. Sure enough, the end of ride photos showed my fellow rider with his face firmly ensconced in MouseJunkies. For that effort, he should get a random, gratuitous plug in my blog.

At this point, I ran into my only real disappointment of the day. By the time I made my way over to Toy Story Midway Mania, the line was insane. I was informed by the nice gentleman at the fastpass return window that there USED to be a single rider line, but because so many people had a hard time with the concept (ie, you wait less time, but don't get to ride with your friends and family), that they ended that option. Fortunately, this was the only ride that I missed out on.

I walked out of the park at 10 AM, about an hour after walking in, and stepped right onto a bus headed for Disney's Animal Kingdom. The gods were on my side with timing, I have to say. The bus dropped me off at the Animal Kingdom about 20 minutes later, and I hotfooted it to Expedition Everest. Fortunately, the single rider line was functioning here, and I rode three times in a row, in the space of about 15 minutes. Best of all, the last ride was in the very front seat (scariest by far). What an amazing birthday present!

After grabbing some lunch, I took a walk through the Maharajah Jungle Trek to see some tigers, then donned my 3D glasses for It's Tough to Be a Bug. With that, I decided that a short break was in order, and grabbed a bus back to the Beach Club to freshen up for the next half of my adventure.

After a cool bath, and more cupcakes delivered to my room (thanks, mom and dad!), I suited up for a trip to Epcot. Full disclosure: Epcot is my least favorite park, and I was not particularly excited about doing anything here. It just seemed more fitting to do all four parks instead of just sticking to three. So off I went, walking to Epcot from the hotel (a big plus of staying at the Beach Club!).

One point I will award Epcot is the excellent coffee, and I picked up a large iced cappuccino to ensure I was full of zip for the rest of the night. My obligatory Epcot ride was the park's beacon and claim to fame Spaceship Earth. I hadn't been on this ride in years, and it had undergone some updating. I'm so glad I chose this, as it was a slow, dark, calm ride with some fun changes to the end. It ended up being a great tip of the hat to Epcot.

Finally, the moment I had been waiting for all day: the monorail to the Magic Kingdom, my favorite park in all the World. I arrived at about 4:30, my ticket for the Very Merry Christmas Party in hand. I have been to Walt Disney World countless times, and I never fail to get misty-eyed when I see Cinderella's castle. Probably just as well that I didn't start here, because I sob like a baby at the park-opening ceremony.

Lots of folks were headed out of the park already, so I took a quick jaunt over to Adventureland and rode Pirates of the Caribbean with no wait. Nice! Adventureland is right next door to Frontierland, so I figured I'd mosey over and check the line at Splash Mountain: five minute wait! Then Big Thunder Mountain: five minute wait! Haunted Mansion: walk on! Boom boom boom, fast and furious! I actually decided that it would be a good time to grab some dinner, which may or may not have been a good idea, as lots of people had the same plan.

After eating my dinner overlooking Cindy's castle, all lit up for Christmas, I headed over to Tommorowland to scope out the lines. Space Mountain had a scary looking 40 minute wait, and while I love this ride, I don't love lines, so I skipped it in favor of It's a Small World and Mickey's Philharmagic. An excellent decision, I might add.

It took me awhile to figure out why there were mobs of people at a closed restaurant, but it made more sense when I figured out that they were handing out free cocoa and sugar cookies. After getting my fill, I scooted back to Tomorrowland, where there was still quite a wait for Space Mountain. Instead, I hopped on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority for a leisurely spin around this end of the park, then to Laugh Floor Comedy Show, which was cute.

Finally, the first parade started over on Main Street, causing mobs of people to exit Tomorrowland en masse, leaving Buzz Lightyear as a walk on. After netting myself a new high score (and taking a picture to rub my brother's face in it), I decided to give Space Mountain one more try. The sign said 20 minute wait, and I figured that was the best I was going to do that night, so I went in and proceeded to have the longest wait of my day. It was totally worth it to see the revamped ride, and to achieve a 99.9% rating of hitting the attractions that were most important to me.

After the white whale of Space Mountain was behind me, (and yes, limping a little bit after the crazy runaround of the day!) it was almost time to end my adventure. I had just one more item on my list: Wishes, the fireworks over Cinderella's castle. I headed out to stake out my spot in front of the castle, and wait for the show. There are few things as magical to me as fireworks over the castle, and it truly was a perfect way to end my birthday adventure.

So yes, I did it. It was fabulous and fun, but if if you've never done Disney, it's definitely not the way to start! I'm glad I finally came in to document the trip in all it's glory, because in just 12 days I will be going back for a week with my parents, my kids, my husband and my brother (Woohoo, Uncle Matt!). Yes, I know I'm crazy, but what can I say? I just love the mouse...