7:30 a.m. - Alarm, Shower, Igor.
8:30 a.m. - Had to go to Wal-Mart for some reason that I can't remember. I see an Asian couple in a Travel America trailer camped out in the parking lot. The old lady is sitting outside the door of the trailer drinking her coffee with her hair in rollers. Nothing really exceptional here except I realize there is a way that to go to Disney World that holds no interest for me whatsoever. I think I would actually turn down the opportunity for a free trip to Walt Disney World if my accomodations were in a Travel America trailer set up in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Despite its close proximity to the Hookah Bar.
8:48 a.m. - I had made a specific request that we try and leave by 9:00 a.m. today. We aren't going to make it. Logan, despite feeling fine otherwise, makes it four out of five days by puking in the bushes on the way to breakfast. We choose to take a glass half full approach by realizing he didn't puke in front of the other hotel guests like last time. Abby is also expressing that she doesn't feel well. I can't help but wonder if she isn't suffering from a little bit of Tower of Terroritis as we are going to Disney's Hollywood Studios park. Home of the Orlando version of The Tower of Terror. Otherwise known as Abby's least looked forward to attraction.
9:34 a.m. - We are off. We arrive and park in the Film lot. Amazingly enough, yet again this will play into our days events before it is all said and done.
9:56 a.m. - Get in, get strollered up and head into the park. The first ride is The Great Movie Ride. I managed to keep my sunglasses throughout Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and even the Atlantic Ocean. Yet somehow, I lose my sunglasses on the slowest moving ride in all four parks. Go figure.
10:20 a.m. - We check in on the Indiana Jones stunt show and it is a ways off, so we go to the Muppet movie. We have seen this before in California, but it is a fun show.
11:00 a.m. - We get out, take a picture with Mater and then decide we are ready for lunch. How fortunate that we are right outside THE Pizza Planet. How cool is that? We look for THE CLAW, but it apparently isn't there anymore along with the three eyed aliens. That would have been the ultimate. I could have done my best Sid impression..."Let's go home and Plaaaayyyy. HA HA HA."
11:22 a.m. - Following lunch we let the kids play one game in Pizza Planet. We made the right decision on when to eat. We walked right in and ordered. Now the line is 7 people deep. I always smile to myself when that kind of good fortune smiles upon us. Conversely, it is all I can do to avoid swear words escaping my lips when I see a line form in front of me and I become that seventh person in line. My mood is already better today. That 30 minutes we lost trying to leave this morning has just been made up.
12:30 p.m. - We are ready for the Indiana Jones stunt show. As we sit down, Logan makes friends with the kid from the family sitting next to us. Very friendly child. Show was awesome, but as with many theme park shows, they have a person who is part of the show "volunteer" along with several other audience members. In this show, that guy is asked to help the stunt woman show how to fake hit people. Except he "accidently" keep leaning too far into her punches. So it appears he is just getting unmercifully knocked around. At one point, he gets hit and flips over and spins on his head. It was really cool. However, Logan has not caught on that this is part of the act and is very concerned for this poor man. The rest of the show is awesome with lots of explosions and death defying stunts. Plus, it was Indiana Jones. Which only cemented further into my sons' minds how cool Indiana Jones is. And they haven't seen any of the movies yet.
1:13 p.m. - We can put it off no longer and we head to the Tower of Terror. All the way there, both Abby and Braden whine about having to go on it. Finally, I am done arguing and let them both wait in the store you come out in at the end of the ride. Logan goes with us. I still don't think it is his favorite ride, but he does it. He got a little freaked out as we got loaded into the car and was ready to bolt, but he made it. For his trouble, he got an extra pin of the Tower of Terror ride. I have to commend him on his courage this week. There were several rides he wasn't crazy about going on, but he did them all and with minimal complaining. Maybe we will have one child that will go with Shannon and I to Magic Mountain after all. Or maybe we will have two??? (More to come)
1:34 p.m. - Some very nice people gave us four fast passes to Toy Story Mania. I run over to see if we can get a fifth one so we can all go. Apparently this is a very popular ride and the fast passes are all gone. So glad I ran across an entire theme park for that.
2:06 p.m. - Another thing I am so glad (said in a completely sarcastic sneering voice) we did was the Narnia exhibit which turned out to be nothing more than watching a preview for the second Narnia movie which we already own.
2:40 p.m. - Back lot tour. It was exciting (and time consuming) enough to warrant a mention. It was not exciting enough to expound upon.
4:00 p.m. - We are ready to watch the car stunt show. This looks to be COMPLETELY AWESOME. Not completely awesome? The 100+ steps it takes to get to open seating for this show. Good crap! After 5 days of walking, my calves expressed an interest in filling out union paperwork for better working conditions following that climb. Fortunately, it was totally worth it. We saw cars driving backwords at 80+ MPH. We saw cars do that cool thing where they drive on two tires. We saw a guy get lit on fire after skidding through flames on his motorcycle. (After the dude getting beat up at the Indiana Jones show, this about put Logan over the edge. He was dancing and shaking in concern for his fellow human being who was engulfed in flames. I suppose that is a good thing. It certainly beats him laughing at these individuals. Anyway.) We saw jumps, we saw cars driving at super high speeds while only inches from each other and we even saw Herbie the Love Bug get cut in half. By the end, even my calves were applauding.
4:52 p.m. - Toy Story Mania. Shannon let me go with the kids. In my typical "I am a horrible father" fashion, I did not let them win. I cleaned up.
5:23 p.m. - We let each child choose a "major" souvenier. These did come with limitations. ($40 wands and $100 Gryffindor robes were out.) It was with no small sense of pride that I purchased Logan's choice. Indiana Jones action figures. It is good to know that my teaching of good principles is getting through to my children.
5:46 p.m. - We next went to a cute show about animating characters that starred Mushu. Now the cast member who works the show has to memorize dialogue and say his lines within a specific time frame to work with the animated cartoon character on the screen. Our specific cast member did a pretty good job, but you could see the stress on a couple of occasions as he tried to not stumble over his lines and get them in before his time ran out. I enjoyed this portion of the program more than the program itself. What does that say about me? Following this, we saw some characters and couldn't resist the opportunity to pose with Mr. and Mrs. Incredible.
6:01 p.m. - Final ride of the evening. Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster. We had let Abby and Braden have one pass on a ride they didn't have to go on. We knew they would use it on the Tower of Terror. Now Abby is asking what is the Rockin' Roller Coaster like. You can see in her eyes she is getting up the arguments to get out of going on this one too. No such luck baby doll. Shannon forces her and Braden down the shoot. Logan and I wait for them because he doesn't quite have the heighth to go. Darn it. When they get out, both Braden and Abby are a bit iffy, but it wasn't as bad as they thought. Now due to child swap, I get to go and can take one person with me. Neither is jumping up and down, but I offer $5 to whomever will go again. They both jump at it. So I say $4. Abby says it was worth $5, but no less. Braden and I are off. After the second ride, he actually is now loving the Rockin' Roller Coaster and since we have two fast passes left, he wants to go again. He and Shannon head off. (Unfortunately for Braden, we charge the kids $1 each time they leave their towels on the floor of their bedrooms. He is down to $1 left since that trip.)
6:35 p.m. - While waiting for Shannon and Braden, Abby, Logan and I stop in at a place that sells rice crispie treats and hot chocolate. I get a hot chocolate and buy rice crispie treats for the kids. These are not regular rice crispie treats, but rather rice crispie treats on sugar steroids. They are covered in frosting and other stuff. Letting them have these prior to dinner might not have been the best idea. (Ominous foreshadowing music begins to play.)
6:45 p.m. - Braden has joined the I love roller coasters club and will also be included in our Magic Mountain trip. He wants to blow off the Animal Kingdom the next day so we can come back and ride the Rockin' Roller Coaster. Not happenin' kid.
6:59 p.m. - Our parking woes this week have started to shake our confidence in ourselves. We get on the tram and when we arrive at the place where I know we are supposed to get off, they don't announce the Film lot, but only mention the Music lot. Now the Music lot is on our left. But I know the Film lot is on our right. Shannon is not convinced.
"They didn't say Film."
"I know, but that is the lot we parked in. Music is over there, but Film is right here."
"What if it isn't. They didn't say Film."
"I can see the car from here."
"I don't know."
"I am getting off. You are welcome to stay and take a fun 15 minute ride and I will be waiting for you when you get off."
"Fine. Let's go."
I was so convincing in my argument that a lady three rows away told her family. I believe him. I'm getting off too. Fortunately, I was right. I would have felt really stupid at that point if I had been wrong.
8:05 p.m. - We have our nice dinner for the evening by heading into town and eating at an Olive Garden. Good food. But that rice crispie thing earlier plus Fettucini Alfredo equals...
12:00 p.m. - After everyone is in bed and we have all drifted off to sleep, I wake to hear Abby puking. I go in and try to be a supportive father. Fettucini does not come out better than it went in. Boy I am so glad I figured out that stupid alarm clock so that it won't go off at midnight and wake me up.
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