Housekeeping

If you are here because you googled “housekeeping” intending to find some good housekeeping hints, you are in the wrong place.  I know only one really good housekeeping hint, and I will share it with you:   Always keep…  No, no.   Never put…  Ummm.  Place your…  Sheesh.

I do not know any good housekeeping hints.  I am so sorry.

I’m using the title “Housekeeping” to refer to the fact that my Disney posts have taken up the better part of two weeks and I want to catch you up on all of the exciting things that are going on around here!

First of all, as a result of one of Jack’s playdates telling him twice within my hearing that Jack’s house looks like a “junkyard”, I have been trying to clean it up around here a  little bit more. I did want to tell that child that we had just returned from vacation three days prior and that was why things were in a minor state of upheaval, but I didn’t, because a)  He is 7.  I do not care what he thinks (much), and b) That didn’t explain the crushed pretzel on the floor in the living room, so he probably had a point.  Maybe I should google “housekeeping” for some tips.

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It has been warm around here!  This is very unusual to have extended weeks of warmth this time of year, and we are loving it.

I know the cold and wind will be back, that’s the way fickle spring is, but we are soaking in every minute of this warmth.

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My brother-in-law and his fiance gave Ben the movie “Napolean Dynamite” for Christmas this year.  We had never seen it before and now it is our favorite movie ever!  All five of us quote it all the time.  If you haven’t seen it yet, rent it, it is HILARIOUS (and completely family appropriate)!  Anyway, Maddie decided to add a Napolean Quote of the Week to our chalkboard, and she’s pretty faithful about changing it up every week.

I don’t think there is another movie in the world as quotable as Napolean Dynamite.  “Napolean, like anyone could even know that.  Gosh!”

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Maddie and I are very anxious to see the Hunger Games movie which is opening this Thursday at midnight.  We aren’t going this Thursday at midnight, that’s for crazy people who love their daughters more than I do, but I’m hoping to take her this weekend sometime.  We are both very excited!  Are you planning to see it?  Have you read the books?

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The leprechauns visited us again this St. Patrick’s Day.  Do they come to your house?  I had never heard of leprechauns visiting until Maddie was in preschool.  She came home from school after St. Patrick’s Day and told me that the leprechauns had visited Victoria’s house and were naughty and messed things up and then left Victoria a little present!  And why didn’t the leprechauns visit our house?  I thought fast and told her that they don’t visit every house every year, but they had visited us when she was two, that she just didn’t remember it, and they’d probably visit us next year.  And they have ever since then.  Darn that Victoria.

Our leprechauns don’t do anything major:  one year they hid the kids’ toothbrushes and toothpaste and left green rock candy sticks in place of them.  Another year they turned the milk green and hid the breakfast cereal then left them donuts with green sprinkles.  This year they put Herbie’s cage on the dining room table and threw toilet paper over the ceiling fan, and they left these little cuties that they must have seen on Pinterest (that’s where I saw them):

    (Rolos and Twizzlers in a clear bag, tied at the top with a green ribbon…very easy and cute!) 

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Did you get yourself a Shamrock Shake this year?  Can you believe this was my first Shamrock Shake ever?

I was never interested in trying one because in college a good friend told us that she had once had too many Shamrock Shakes at a time and they turned her poop green and hard.  This same friend also made the mistake of telling us that she got her first period ever on President’s Day when she was 12.  This is the sort of information that friends do not let die, therefore every year on President’s Day we did something different for her.  One year we decorated a bathroom stall (we were still in a dorm) with balloons and streamers and included lots of signs in the bathroom that said, “Congratulations, Ellen!” (not her real name), “Way to Let it Flow!”, and “Wishing You Many More Years of Menstrual Bliss!”  Another year we made a board game for her, I think we called it Menstropoly or something like that.  She’s now a Facebook friend, and I still write on her wall on President’s Day every year (as do others) wishing her a Happy Anniversary and I always let her know when I see the Shamrock Shakes are in (another friend beat me to it this year!)

I did enjoy my Shamrock Shake, by the way, with no ill effects.  So get out and enjoy your Shamrock Shakes everyone, they will soon be gone!

Last Day-Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Our final day at Disney proved to be the perfect day, weather-wise.  Our first four days were hot (though most of us were not complaining), the next two days were on the chilly side, but our last day was sunny with temperatures in the high seventies.  It was nice to end our vacation on a positive note. 

Or so we thought.   Dum Dum Duummmm!

We all love Hollywood Studios.  We started off the day by heading to the right when we got into the park to Aerosmith’s Rock’n’Roller Coaster.  Dave convinced Jack to ride this one, because he remembered it as being pretty tame.  “It’s a limo ride, Jack, and you are trying to get to a concert on time and you’ll go fast around the traffic, and up the sides of tunnels!”  I kept giving Dave my “I don’t think this is a good idea” eyes over Jack’s head, because I remembered it as being a fast coaster, but Jack was willing, so I let him do it.

Our “limo” took off and I knew immediately that it was too much for Jack, because it took off like a shot, and then there were a lot of loops.  Dave was right:  it’s a short, smooth ride, BUT I knew Jack would not like those loops!  Because Aerosmith’s music is playing (really loudly) the whole time, and the ride is pretty dark,  I wasn’t completely sure how Jack was doing, but I kept my arm across his shoulders and up around his head the whole time.  When the ride stopped, there were a few tears, and he told us he hated it, but he got over it all pretty quickly. 

At this point, Maddie, Ben and I headed to Tower of Terror, and Jack and Dave went over to Fastpass Toy Story Mania. 

The first time we went to Disney, Maddie (who was 7) and I did the Tower of Terror.  We both hated it.  It was scary and we didn’t like the freefalling.  The next time we went to Disney, we agreed that it would not be on our touring list.  But this time, Ben wanted to try it, so Maddie and I put on our big girl pants and joined him in line.

We were assigned to an elevator car filled with teenagers who all knew each other. They were giddy and excited, and once the elevator car started heading toward the freefall  area (there’s a little bit of traveling to get there, in the dark, with spooky images and sounds, and you never really are sure when the dropping’s going to start) the teens were all screaming hysterically.

Finally, we got to the part where we were pretty sure we were going to fall, the spooky voice even said something like, “Prepare to suffer like the people in the elevator did many years ago!” or something like that, and seriously, Maddie and Ben were gripping my arms and their handgrips so hard, and my palms were so sweaty that I was so worried that when we fell I wouldn’t be able to maintain my grip, and the teens were screaming and screaming and screaming, and we knew we were going to drop!  And then…

The lights came on and a voice said, “Sorry for the interruption.  We will be back online in a minute.”  A minute would have been fine.  We’d have had a little mental break and been ready for our fall.  But it wasn’t a minute.  It was at least ten.  And as we looked around at the teens (who were now screaming that they thought they really were going to die) and the area around us, I realized we were in drop position.  You could see through the floor, which was like a metal grate, and there was a lot of open space under us. I didn’t draw the children’s attention to that fact, but now I was getting nervous.  Also it was really hot.

They were masking their terror with brave faces.

Eventually, the voice told us our ride would begin in a few minutes, and after about five additional minutes it did, AND IT WAS AWESOME AND WE LOVED IT! 

And the best part was they gave us all Fastpasses when we got off to ride again, useable any time that day!  We decided to save the Fastpasses for later so Dave could have a turn. 

We headed over to Toy Story Mania to meet up with Dave and Jack. They had gotten the Fastpasses for Toy Story Mania, and even though they got them around 9:30 in the morning, they were only good for after 3:30!  So get your Fastpasses to that ride early, people!  The wait for Toy Story Mania was already at about 50 minutes!

By the way, I was so amazed that the kids hadn’t asked at all this week to get their photos taken with characters.  As far as I’m concerned, this is a huge time waster, and I will reluctantly wait in those crazy long lines, but luckily no one showed any interest.  Until today.

We waited about a half an hour each for Pooh and Phineas & Ferb, though Piglet and that other dude (who is he?) were a pretty short wait. 

Phineas and Ferb were really nice, if a mute costumed character can be really nice.  Jack saw a lot of other kids getting their autographs and he decided he wanted one.  When I explained that those kids had brought autograph books and we definitely weren’t buying one for just one autograph, he thought maybe Phineas and Ferb could just write it on some scrap paper.  I scrounged around in the backpack and came up with an advertisement for somewhere that had a blank side and a pen.  When we got up to them, Jack immediately gave Phineas the paper and pen, and Phineas looked at it but didn’t sign it.  He walked over to his handler and mimed to her that he needed another paper and pen.  She didn’t understand, but after a lot of miming and subsequent guessing on her part, she scrounged around and found a Hollywood Studios brochure and a Sharpie, which both Phineas and Ferb signed.  I wondered if maybe he thought I was trying to get him to endorse a product?  Which is pretty funny that the pretend character of Phineas played by a random dude’s signature would actually be taken so seriously.  But I appreciate that he didn’t just refuse Jack but tried to get him what he wanted.

We also did The Muppet 3D Adventure which was terrific, The Great Movie Ride, which was also good, and the new and improved Star Tours which was EXCELLENT!  The old one was so-so.  The new one is a definite must see!  We had a forgettable lunch at Min and Bill’s Dockside Café (we’ve previously eaten at both the Sci Fi Dine-In Theater and The 50’s Prime Time Café, which we love, but it was so busy we couldn’t get in this time).  After lunch we saw the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular which really hasn’t changed much, but is still an exciting and funny show.

By now it was time for Toy Story Mania.  This is a super fun ride, and even with the Fastpasses we still had about a 15 minute wait.  The poor people in line though had a 90 minute wait by this point!

Poor Daddy. No one wanted to sit with him.

After that Dave and the big kids used their Tower of Terror Fastpasses and then we realized we were pretty much ready to go.  We got snacks to prolong the inevitable  departure (here’s Jack with a Mickey Ice Cream, and Ben got popcorn, but Maddie hit the lottery…she decided on a milkshake from Min & Bill’s and it was huge and thick and delicious!)

We said goodbye to Disney World and headed for our car.  (Sob!)  So long Mickey and you stupid Kali River Rapids and Phineas and Ferb and Dole Whips and that crazy Goofy-like character who we don’t know!  We love you!  We’ll miss you!  Don’t forget about us! 

But that’s not, unfortunately, the end of this story.  We decided to head to a Mexican restaurant near our hotel, El Patron, for supper.  Everything was absolutely delicious, and our waiter told us that everything is homemade there, even the sour cream.  We ordered a shrimp cocktail as an appetizer, and the shrimp arrived in a delicious, chunky, fruity yet zippy salsa.  Yummo.  All of our meals were also excellent, and we left full and happy.

We headed back to the hotel where we proceeded to pack up everything, as our flight home was scheduled for 8:30 in the morning.  Jack told me he wasn’t feeling well, but I brushed it off.  I figured his belly was a little full, and told him maybe he just need to poop.  We all know that sometimes a little bowel movement can work wonders, now, don’t we?

By bedtime, he still didn’t feel right, so I set the garbage can next to his bed.  I climbed into my own bed and settled down with a little Words With Friends.  All of a sudden, Jack was in our bedroom running for our bathroom.  He threw up so much and so long, but I promise I won’t give you any more sordid details than that, because I’ve already used the words poop and bowel movement in this blogpost  and I don’t want to alienate any readers more than I have to.

After I hugged him and cleaned him up a bit, I noticed his face was very red.  And when I got him in some better light, I realized it was red because his face was covered with tiny pinpricks of red.  Had the strain and stress from all of the vomiting broken blood vessels?  Had he had an allergic reaction to something in his dinner? If it was an allergic reaction, was anaphylactic shock the next step?  We called Urgent Care. They were open but promised us a four hour wait.  We gave him some Benadryl and decided he would sleep between us where we could keep an eye on him.  He said he felt better, he fell asleep quickly, we made our flight in the morning, and I called our doctor when we landed.

                                    I took this at the airport the next morning.  Poor little fella.

The doctor thought it was an allergic reaction, probably to the shrimp he had at dinner (even though he’s had shrimp before), so now I’m worried about him having seafood by accident again, and what that may do to him.  Boo.

And that’s how we finished our week in Disney!

Day 5-Harry Potter!

Oh my gosh, are you as tired of these vacation posts as I am?  I’m sorry.  I must push forward with them for the whole family record thing blah blah blah, but I promise there’s only one more after this one.  So…

When Universal opened their Harry Potter section in their Islands of Adventure theme park a few years ago, I knew that someday we would go there.  Maddie, Ben, and I are huge Harry Potter fans. 

[Please, if you haven’t read the books, I am begging you to do so. Why haven’t you read them?  Do you think you’re above reading a book aimed at children?  Are you too intellectual for fantasy literature?  Are you too busy exercising your body to exercise your mind?  Get over all of that and get started.  Now!]

I did my research on the park ahead of time.  One source told me that even now, two years after its initial opening, the HP section is so popular that they must sometimes deny entry to some guests, or give them raincheck-like passes to return at another time.  Excellent mother that I am,  I knew I couldn’t let this happen to us, so I chose the day Undercover Tourist said would be the best, and we got to the park about 30 minutes before it opened.  We parked in the first row of the parking garage, then once we passed through the front gate, we raced to the Harry Potter section!  We were so excited when we saw it for the first time!  It’s absolutely stunning!

The photo above was taken when we first arrived…

The photo below was taken mid-morning!  Note the crowd!

Maddie, Ben, and I headed straight to Hogwarts for Harry Potter’s Forbidden Journey.  There was no line, so we moved quickly through the castle, but I wish we had gone slower, there were so many things to see, the detail was astounding to Harry Potter geeks fans like us!  We passed through Dumbledore’s Office and saw the pensieve, the Gryffindor common room, Professor Sprout’s green house, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, etc.  It truly looked like the real thing (not that the real thing is real…).

The ride itself left the kids excitedly breathless and me a little sick (I’m prone to vertigo if I turn my head the wrong way, also I had to keep my eyes closed for some of the ride.)  It’s not a coaster, more of a simulator ride, wherein you are to imagine you are riding on a broomstick with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. As soon as we got off we joined Dave and Jack (who had ridden Flight of the Hippogriff—very tame coaster, Jack loved it) and Dave and I switched places.  He rode Forbidden Journey with the big kids while Jack and I did Flight of the Hippogriff three times.  Dave loved the ride a lot more than I did.

View from the top of Flight of the Hippogriff.

We also rode the Dragon Challenge twice with no waiting (I’m telling you…get there early!).  This was an excellent, smooth roller coaster, similar to  The Great Bear at Hersheypark.

Then it was time for some shopping in Honeydukes, where the Maddie bought a Chocolate Frog, we went through Zonko’s and saw some of Fred and George’s inventions, and then we waited in line at Ollivander’s Wand Shop for about 20 minutes.  Yes.  We waited in line to get into a shop!  But customers are only allowed in 25 at a time, where a small show is put on for you before you shop:  one of the children in the group is picked to pretend to be a Hogwarts student trying out their new wand for the first time.  It was really cool, but very short after such a long wait.

Here is Ollivander, finding the right wand for the chosen girl.

Afterwards, we looked at wands, but didn’t buy any.  They were very authentic looking though, and boxes are labeled so you know whose wand you’re buying (Snape’s, Voldemort’s, Dumbledore’s, Harry’s, etc.)

Ben tests out a wand.

We had lunch at The Three Broomsticks!  Maddie chose this as her special meal for her hard work in the Spelling Bee.  Apparently, J.K. Rowling was very picky about what she wanted the Three Broomsticks to serve.  No soda, for one thing.  And the food was very English, including items such as pasties, shepherd’s pie, and fish and chips.

And Butterbeer!

Maddie loved it!

Ben and Jack liked it, but didn’t like the foam.  I had to scoop that off for each of them.

Then it was time to check out other areas of Islands of Adventure.  I took Jack through the Seuss area, while Dave rode The Hulk coaster with the big kids.

Jack met the Grinch and then we walked into a book store and found The Cat in the Hat hiding standing all alone in the book section!  You could just tell he wanted some company.  He was probably so bored not having a bunch of little kids hanging all over him like I’m sure he usually has…

So Jack read to him!

            Look at the Cat’s face!  You can tell he is enthralled with my baby’s reading! 

Afterwards, we joined Dave and the big kids and it was my turn for The Hulk.  It was awesome!  Then we walked through the Toon Lagoon section, where Maddie tried desperately to stop Marmaduke from running away…

And then Dave and the kids rode a bunch of water rides, while Jack and I played at the Camp Jurassic Playground (well, Jack played, and I mostly sat).  This is the best playground EVER and Jack could have spent hours here.  Eventually, we went looking for everyone else though.  We tried squirting them when they went by us on the Bilge Rat Barges.

Looks like they all got their ponchos on okay.  Hmph.

Really, an awesome day was had by all.

Tomorrow:  Last  Vacation Post (It’s rude to cheer.  I can hear you, you know).  Disney’s Hollywood Studios coming up, detailing, among other things, some of us being stuck at the top of a major, scary ride!

Day 4-Cocoa Beach and Downtown Disney

Back when I was planning our trip to Disney, there was a good week or two that I wavered back and forth between two choices:  a fifth day at one of the Disney parks (which works out to about $7 extra for each person or something ridiculously cheap like that) or a second day at the Universal Parks (I know I haven’t mentioned Universal to you yet, because that is Day 5 of our trip).  On the one hand, $7 extra a day is really cheap and I know we would have all loved to go back to the Magic Kingdom for an extra day.  On the other hand, there are two Universal theme parks…we really wanted to go to the one with the Harry Potter section, but didn’t know if we should go to the other one too (the cost is what held me back on this one…a second day at the Universal parks was about $30 more per person) .

Yes!  That’s Maddie and Ben… holding hands!!!

I asked a few people who had been to Universal before for advice (thank you Lara, Carol, Tara, and Sue). I spent a lot of time online calculating costs, looking at the rides in the other Universal park, and weighing my options.

Because Day Four of our trip was a Saturday, Undercover Tourist was not very hopeful that any of the parks would be that great for visiting.  I mentioned to Dave that maybe we should head to the beach on one of our days and completely give ourselves a break from the parks, but he wanted to make it a park day.

Dead crab.  Jack eventually buried him and built a sand church and cemetery around him.

And then Tara at Taradactyl wrote her blogpost  about their visit to Cocoa Beach.  She even provided the name of a free beach with bathrooms and a playground.  I showed Dave what Tara said, but he still wasn’t convinced, until our friends Carol and Dane mentioned that they had also headed to Cocoa Beach on one of their Disney trips.  This clinched it! 

We slept late on Saturday morning and had a leisurely breakfast.  Cocoa Beach was about a 50 minute drive from our hotel.    As we neared Florida’s coast, we could see the remains of some Cape Canaveral launch sites, which was pretty cool.

You can see some of the launch pads off in the distance in this photo.  I searched but never did find I Dream of Jeannie in a bottle though.

We found our way to the Lori Wilson Beach Park.  Since it was a Saturday, and the temps were in the low nineties, the beach was pretty full, but we still had plenty of space around us.  We had planned our time at the beach to be for an hour or two.  My kids do like the beach, so we knew they’d find something to do.  But we ended up staying there for over 4 hours, and when it was time to go, no one really wanted to leave! 

The kids mostly alternated between jumping waves and playing in the sand.  Dave left at one point and brought back subs for everyone.  It was a gorgeous, relaxing day,  just the thing we needed to perk us up after three tiring (though fun) days at the Disney parks.

I saw this one on Pinterest…though theirs turned out better!

When we got back to our hotel, we all showered and then headed to Downtown Disney.  I have never seen DD as crowded as it was this Saturday night.  Dave stood in line for 20 minutes just to get our name in at the T-Rex restaurant and then we waited another hour for our name to be called.  While we waited we played in the giant Lego store and shopped in the giant Disney Store. I did a little Easter basket shopping while I was there (shhh!)

Finally, our table was ready at T-Rex.  The food here is so-so, really, you are paying for the atmosphere.  The last time we ate here we were seated in the main dining area with all the dinosaurs.  This is very cool because, besides moving animatronically and roaring every now and then, every 20 minutes a meteor shower strikes and the dinosaurs get very active and noisy.  This time, however, we were seated in the Ice Age Room.

I have to admit, I was disappointed at first.  We had very few dinosaurs, and everything was blue.  In fact, I ordered the Pterodactyl Salad, and couldn’t even really see what was in it.  Tomatoes?  Cucumbers?  Hard boiled egg?  Actual pterodactyl?  I had no idea.

But then the meteor shower struck.  The Ice Age room is a cool (ha! pun!) place to be during the meteor shower because the room explodes in reds and pinks and oranges and rumbles and crashes with loud booms!

Are they mocking me and my excitement?

Then we headed back to the hotel for a movie and bed. 

I’m sorry this day lacked much excitement or suspense or laughter at my expense.  Maybe in tomorrow’s installment, when we visit the Harry Potter park at Islands of Adventure, I will trip and fall on the Sorting Hat or possibly choke on some Butterbeer.  Would that make you people happy?

Day 3-Magic Kingdom

Undercover Tourist let us down today.  The Magic Kingdom had gotten a Great Big Go from their Crowd Calendar…but we’ve never seen the Kingdom as Krowded as it was today.  Some of that may have been due to the fact that a large portion of the park was under renovation (Mickey’s old Toontown Fair area and then some) and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was shut down for repairs.  It seemed that everyone was scroonched into the area between Space Mountain and Splash Mountain, which made walkways busy, attraction waits extra long, and temperaments a little bit stretched.

First off we headed to Space Mountain, immediately got Fastpasses for it, and then rode it (not using Fastpasses yet).  We talked Jack into it, and he didn’t hate it, but he didn’t like it either, so while Dave, Maddie, and Ben rode it again Jack and I headed to the Race Cars and took a drive.  This was more his speed (ha!  I’m so punny!)  The line for that was so loooong though, that Dave and the big kids rode Space Mountain four times, the last time using those Fastpasses, while we waited for our racecar.

While in the Fantasyland area, we also went to the Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor (they used Maddie’s joke in their show!), the Peter Pan ride, and saw Mickey’s Philharmonic.  The line for It’s a Small World didn’t look too long so we headed there.  Unfortunately, it was deceptively long, and about 30 minutes passed until we were assigned to a boat.  By then, Jack was losing it.  He didn’t want to ride It’s a Small World at all, but by golly, we had waited this long, and we were riding it.  He spent most of the time seated with his butt in the air and his head on the seat, refusing to look at anything with his fingers shoved in his ears.  Dave and I each gave each other one of those looks that only mothers/fathers can interpret…his look said, “Let him alone…at least we’re getting some peace.”  My look to him said, “Is there any of that sangria left from last night?”

And then the dang ride stopped.  We were almost at the exit.  We could see the “Adios!”  “Au Revoir!” “and “Good Bye!” signs, but we were stuck.  I couldn’t help but think maybe someone in the loading area was having trouble donning a poncho, so I tried to be patient and understanding, but by then Jack’s butt and that endless song were getting to me.  We sat there a good five minutes, I’d say, before they started things up again and we were able to escape.

By this time the park was getting crowded, and we were getting hungry.  We headed to Liberty Square where we rode the Haunted Mansion ride, and then ate at Columbia House.  The food was definitely forgettable.

Do I sound grumpy?  Well, we all kind of were at this point.

After lunch I Fastpassed Splash Mountain (the wait was up to 50 minutes!)  and then the kids explored Tom Sawyer’s Island, but once again, only Jack really loved this.  I hate it when kids outgrow things.  The last time we were here, they raced around the island over the bridges and in and out of the caves, looking for paintbrushes (Disney Cast Members hide paintbrushes here and there…if you find one, you get a prize), but this time they could have cared less about the paintbrushes.

By now our Splash Mountain Fastpasses were ready, so we headed there.  I did not use a poncho.  Dave and Jack did, but I’m fairly certain I will never be using a poncho ever again.  Here’s what we looked like at the top of the hill (Jack is completely encased in plastic…I was unaware that he had done this to himself, so please no comments about my bad mothering):

After that Dave and the boys rode the Disney Railroad while Maddie and I got Fastpasses for Jungle Cruise.  While we were waiting for the guys to return, we split a soda, and a bird pooped on Maddie!  Ha!  Highlight of my day, I tell you!  Then it was Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, boring old Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, and YAY!  Dole Whips!

Dave and I were ready to leave at this point, but for some reason, Ben really wanted to ride the Winnie the Pooh ride.  I think he wanted to experience that comfy, little kid feeling that Winnie the Pooh brings on, so we headed over there.  I am not kidding you, there was a 60 minute wait. Who waits 60 minutes to ride Winnie the Pooh?   But we Fastpassed it and rode the Carousel and checked out some gift shops and played in the Pooh playground right outside the ride, until it was time to use our Fastpasses on Pooh. 

Then it was time to go.  At this point, there were tears from both Ben and Jack who really just didn’t want to leave yet.  We were willing to stay and do things and gave them suggestions, but we found they really didn’t want to do anything…they just didn’t want to leave.  They were crying because they knew they wouldn’t be back again for a long time and they both just loved Magic Kingdom.  This moment made the whole trip worthwhile to me, and made me so glad we went. 

Next installment:  Cocoa Beach and Downtown Disney!