Dismal Day at Disney

Wednesday the boys and I were scheduled to go to the parks together. Unfortunately, Andrew woke up with a migraine so he wasn't able to come to Animal Kingdom with us. It was an adventure just finding the public parking lot. Some how we ended up in cast member parking. I kept saying this all looks to familiar. But it was cool to show them a little from when I worked there.
Once we got in the park we worked the system and got a fastpast to Kali River Rapids and waiting in line to ride Mt Everest. The line wasn't the bad since that park had just opened. I some reason remember it being a little faster than it was. That is the problem about growing up going to cedar point. Nothing is fast enough unless it is going 100+ miles and hour.


The heat and humidity were killers. Even at 10 o'clock in the morning you were sweating bullets. My dad loves animals so we of course had to go on the safari. We actually had to wait in line for too. A whole hour. I was not impressed with the wait ;-) But it was worth it when we finally got on and saw some really cool animals and a very close distance. I didn't use the zoom for most of these. Pretty cool to be so close (and with no cages) to elephants, giraffes, lions and so many other African animals.








After only about 3 hours it was lunch time and we were all pretty hot. The resort we stay at sits up against the Animal Kingdom so we were pretty close to home. We decided to go back home and have a FREE lunch in a COOL room and maybe even take a dip in the pool. And so we did. Around 2 o'clock Andrew was feeling better and dad was motion sick. So Andrew took dads place and we went back to Epcot to ride Soarin' over California. To bad the fastpasses were for 8:00pm. Bummer. So We had to wait in line for over an hour. The only perk was it was inside and we had Mike's iPhone to play trivia games on. Oh and we had lots of snacks so we could keep up our strength.




After waiting in line for about an hour and a half and seeing the lines were that long everywhere. We said FORGET IT! We went back to the house and swam in the lazy river, played some putt-putt and took a nap. Later that night I told Mike that I really wanted to go back to Epcot to watch the night show "Illuminations," eat a funnel cake and have dinner somewhere on the world showcase, maybe Mexico (since we love Mexican.)
Being the wonderful husband he is he gave into my demands. We got there and were both pretty hungry. Since Mexico was first on the world showcase we stopped there. The menu was small (as we were eating at a "quick service" place.) I was on the phone when he ordered so I was a little distracted. When we got the food we both had ordered the same thing (we never do that) and the food looked disgusting. It tasted the same way it looked. So I saw some nachos that looked good so I got those with some guacamole, you can't go wrong with guac! WRONG. It was all TERRIBLE! Like the worst dining experience ever. I chocked down my food since I just payed over $40 for 4 tacos, nachos and guac! Robbery! To make it worse we were outside eating hot food in the heat. That alone makes you sick. Not to mention it was gross food! I was not happy but still wanted a funnel cake. Poor Mike was pretty sick from eating all that disgusting food. He had it about a 1/4 of the way around the world showcase before I had to leave him on a bench to die while I continued my journey for a funnel cake in solitude. I finally got the object of my desire (and yes, that was worth $6.50)and ate it as I walked back to find my dying husband. Can you imagine how pathetic I looked. Some worn down chick, walking alone, shoving a funnel cake down her mouth. It had to have been a sight worth seeing for those people watchers. When I found Mike he was DONE! He did not want to wait an hour for the show, and surprisingly I didn't want to either. I had been burned by Disney. We used our fastpasses from earlier and road Soarin' again. That never gets old. We were out of the park right as Illuminations started. I wasn't even tempted to walk back, I was done with walking, done with fighting crowds, done with Disney, especially in June. What made it even worse was knowing I had to do it all again the next day. I know. Words I never thought I would say. I was cranky!

American Idol Experience

On Monday the whole family ventured together to Disney's Hollywood Studios. We got there before the park opened and had a plan of attack (as one must when fighting the crowds at Disney.) As soon as they let people in the park half of us took off to get a fastpass to Toy Story MidwayMania (seriously the coolest ride. You are in a car with 3D glasses & a "gun thing" and you go up to 5 different screens and play 5 different carnival games and try to score as many points as possible.) This was obviulsy the rest of the parks idea as well. The line for just the fastpasses was huge even when I got there and I was basically running to get in line. The rest of the family was off to audition for the American Idol Experience. Andrew and KT went to audition together. We were all pretty nervous. We didn't want one to make it and not the other, but the producers told them before they auditioned that since they were siblings it was likely only one would be chosen. They wanted variety in the show and assumed they would be to similar.

While the whole family waited to find out what was happening Mike made friends with a squirrel. He even got it to eat out of his hand. Pretty crazy huh?


After about an hour or so these two came out of the auditions both wearing there "Golden Ticket." They both made it and were put in two separate shows the 1:30 and 4:00 shows respectively.
To celebrate we went back to Toy Story Midway Mania. It was a ride everyone could ride and wanted to ride (Which is hard when you have an age range of 85 to 10 year old.) The only down side was we didn't have enough fastpasses. I went to the people working the fastpass distribution kiosks. They said they never had extra tickets for the ride. I told them about my siblings and them not being able to get tickets because of auditions. Then she looked a little harder and found just the right amount. It was magical. She hugged me and wished them both good luck with their performances. So all 10 of us were able to ride the ride together. I love the magic of Disney :)

With Andrew and KT both being in a show and having to be over an hour early for the show we had a very limited time to do things. Luckily their big sis knows how to work the fastpass system and asses line wait times. Both were able to ride Rockin' Roller Coaster twice before KT's show!
The whole experience for them was pretty incredible. They got to work with a vocal coach on there song and go to hair and makeup. They got the whole star treatment! About 350 cam to Kt's show at 1:30 and Probably 500 to Andrew's show at 4:00. So they both had decent crowds as well.
KT sang the song "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat. She did awesome. Her tone is very much like Colbie's so she rocked it. They judges loved her. They told her she looked like Barbie and was as sweet as cotton candy. They told her to not worry about looking at the lyrics but the crowd next time because she had the song down. The other people competing against her sang "What Hurt's the Most" and "Reflection." In the end the Boy advanced to the final show. His whole choir of over 100+ were there to vote for him. I thought if KT didn't win the other girl would since she rocked her vocals. But oh well. KT didn't care and loved every minute of it so she was a happy girl.
After KT's show we were on our way to ride Tower of Terror when these street performers saw Andrew's American Idol tag and asked him to sing. He sang Josh Turners "Your Man" in his deep, sexy country voice. I think they were surprised. Then we told them KT had just done the show they pulled her up and she preformed "Bubbly" again. I was recoded the whole thing and they saw me and came up to me and asked if I sang. I told them "Not like these two" but KT told them I sang awesome Disney songs. So they had me come up and sing. I sang "Part of Your World." They told us we were a talented family with great teeth. LOL. Thanks. I got it all on camera so I will need to post that some time. We went to Pizza Planet for lunch then back to watch Andrew's show!
Andrew is honestly a natural. I thought he was amazing. He sang "I don't wanna be" by Gavin Degraw. Of course it isn't as much of his style as Coldplay or Josh Turner but they only had 100 songs to pick from to sing. We are all a little bitter with the judges. They didn't give him as much love as we thought they should have. They we different judges than KT had. KT's judges told all the performers to stop moving around on stage and just sing, so that is what Andrew did. He took center stage, made eye contact with the audience and just sang. They told him marketing wise he was a dream come true, but that he had basically had stage fright since he didn't move (since he didn't think they wanted him too.) At any rate he did not advance to the finale either. They other two preformeres were in there late 20's with kids and sand "Hot Stuff" and "I Hope You Dance." The lady who won the round was pretty good and did rock it so what can you do?

After the American Idol let down the grandparent and parents left the 6 kids with the keys to the van and headed home. We took the fairy to Epcot to see if there were any fastpasses left. But being the middle of June and 6 o'clock at night. There was nothing but 90 minute lines and humidity.

We went to drown our sorrows in the soda at club cool. The free samples of soda across the world is always a must when at Epcot. I think we drank our weight in the stuff. Italy was just as gross as I remembered and Japan was still my favorite. CHEERS :)

Luckily we were able to ride one ride. Mission Space. It is actually the only ride that scared me a little. You are put in a simulator that spins you around so fast you hit G force speed and feel like you are in a space ship. The skin of your face is pulled back and your eyes water. If you close your eyes or look sideways you will begin to feel the spinning and for sure get sick. I was a little worried to take my 10 year old sister on the the ride. Especially since she is still afraid of rides like that, but they boys talked her into it. Luckily we all enjoyed it and felt like we accomplished something at Epcot. So off we headed to The Magic Kingdom. *sigh*

Notice how many people are at the park? I was astonished. I had forgotten how crowded the parks get. I was disgusted. To many people, to many screaming kids, no fastpasses left, long lines and people, humidity and people! We went to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy show. Then got some food to give us the strength to fight the crowds for the firework show.

Luckily we were able to score some of my personal favorite seats. The street curb outside the Edy's ice cream store. I was able to enjoy a little dessert before the show. In the end...

it's moments like this....

and this...

...that put the magic that is sometimes lost in the crowds, lines, humidity, heat and dehydration back into Disney. I always get teary watching "Wishes" in front of the castle. As the tears rolled down my cheeks this time I thought "this is silly why are you crying?" and then I decided it was the lyrics being sung

"Star light, Star bright,
First star I see tonight.
I wish I may, I wish I might
have the wish, I wish tonight.
We'll make a wish and do as dreamers do.

And all our wishes...

Will

Come

True..

and that all of my dreams and more are coming or have come true!

Downtown Disney & Fathers Day

The 3rd week of June Mike and I headed down to the Orlando FL area. My parents and grandparents both own timeshares at a resort in Kissimme. This was our first time back since the summer Mike and I got married, and Mike's first time ever. I was so excited to show him around the beautiful resort (which wasn't as beautiful with the drought, not nearly as green as usual.) It was exciting to be with my family on vacation, everyone was in a good mood and there were few disagreements. The first thing I wanted to do was go to Down Town Disney for dessert and to walk around.

The resort is about 10 minutes away from the parks so it was a great set up. As we made the drive that night I started to second guess my decision, the clouds were really dark and ominous and looking like they were going to wreck havoc at any moment. We wanted to go to planet hollywood for dessert but I forgot how insanely long the lines are in the summer. So we walked all the way around to the other side of downtown disney to go to the giridehli place. Just as we started to get close... I could feel the wind pick up and the sky starting to rumble in the distance. We had already bought tickets to a movie in 30 min so we couldn't afford to get stuck in the rain on the other side of the place. So we made a beeline back to the theater. We used our best NYC native skills and maneuvered our way around tons of people. It was very impressive.

We made our way into a Ben & Jerry's right as the storm started. We took advantage of our location and got some ice cream for dessert. Then headed to the theater for the movie. We saw Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides. I really liked it, just not the 3D part, that made me a little motion sick.

Sunday was Fathers day. But our father and mother spent most of their day at a mandatory meeting for owners. Boring. So all of us kids hung out together, which was a lot of fun.
We spent a lot of time either in the lazy river or putt-putting. I'm sad I don't have any pictures of us doing these things at all while we were there. I just never wanted to bring my camera to the pool to get wet.
We went to the local grocery store (Publix) to get stuff to make the fathers day dinner. The guys saw the lottery machines and all realized they had never bought a lottery ticket, so much to my disproval. they all bought one. $6 down the drain, but for the lesson on never winning at the lottery, it was worth it.
I started to make dinner when we got back from the store. Then we went to buy all of our park tickets at shades of green. When we finally got back we sat down to our nice fathers day dinner. I made my staple chicken parm dish (which is to die for) and Bry made a brazilian salad, for dessert we had a german chocolate cake. I think my dad and grandpa were happy campers.
After dinner we all went out to play some more putt-putt. It is really a staple of our FL trips. 5-6 game a day minimum.

Mike was very happy to score a hole in one to beat the boys. The guys were pretty competitive with their putt-putt scores all week. We made some fun memories. My favorite part was after we got back we ended up having a little mini talent show. KT and Andrew knew they wanted to audition for The American Idol Experience the next day at Disney's Hollywood Studios so they sang a few songs for us. Then Liz, Bry and I all sang for fun. Grandma loves music, and loves to sing so she was in 7th heaven listening to all of us. It was pretty fun and got us all excited for them to audition the nest day.

Lobster Dinner

At the end of every school year the school I work for hosts an end of school year lobster dinner for the faculty. It is held a private beach club right on the water. If you like sea food then the food is fabulous and the ambiance enchanting. Mike and I aren't the biggest sea food fans but gave it a whirl. Mike was brave and tried the lobster whole. He had to have some help as to how to crack it open and eat it. I think he enjoyed the first few bites but could have stopped there. I had a bite and hated it. It wasn't so much the taste but the texture of the lobster I didn't care for.
After the dinner there was dancing. It was actually pretty fun. I don't get to dance very often. So anytime I get a chance, I take it. Unfortunately Mike is not a dancer so we didn't stay to much longer but it was till fun. I am lucky to work at a school who values it's employees. It was a fabulous evening and I look forward to next years event.