Disney World: October 6, 2013

(click here for pictures)

Conquering Everest!

• Reagan woke up this morning and said that at home it takes her forever to go to sleep but not here.  And she added that she was even still tired when I woke her up this morning too. There is no tired like Disney World tired.  
• The kids woke up in a good mood and everyone was quickly dressed.  Now my Graham was again the first one up and he convinced Grandpa that an oatmeal cream pie had enough oatmeal in it to qualify as a breakfast food.  So that is what he had-not one but two (he was pretty pleased with himself)  I had rice krispy treats so I wasn't going to say anything about his breakfast choices.
• Today's park of choice was Animal Kingdom.  We parked fairly close thanks to that diamond parking and off we went. Robby went to get fastpasses for the safari and the rest of us headed toward the Dinosaur area.  We first rode the Triceratop Spin-similar to Dumbo but with a triceratops instead of an elephant.  
• Then a ride caught Reagan and Anderson's attention right behind the other one-Primeval Whirl. The height requirement was 48 inches and there was no way that Graham would make that.  He was really disappointed but I secretly handed him some candy and Grannymom took him, Campbell and Keaton on the Triceratop ride again.  
• Reagan, Anderson and I went on the whirl ride and it was pretty good.  Robby and I did this ride about 10 years ago when we were here and soon after he almost passed out because he was dehydrated (oh yes, even an ambulance ride and short hospital stay)  So needless to stay he is pretty leery of that ride.  Anyway, we did that ride twice and had a blast.  
• By this time Robby was back and we took Graham, Reagan and Anderson to the Mt. Everest roller coaster.  Now, we were not really sure if Graham met this height requirement so Robby and I just prayed the entire way-that poor child would have crumbled if he couldn't do that ride either. Thankfully, he made it and off we went-not once but twice.  
• The kids loved that roller caoster and would have gone again but after two rides, Robby and I were done.  I hope it is because we ate breakfast this morning when usually neither of us do eat in the mornings.  But I secretly think my stomach is just getting weaker and I can't ride rides like I used to.  
• Grannymom, Grandpa, Keaton, Whitman and Campbell were going to go to the playground but it was still closed as it was not yet 10.  So they just found a shady spot, rode the dinosaur ride again and had a snack.  Then we walked over to the safari and all boarded it.
• This is a pretty favorite ride of mine-the animals that you see are just amazing.  On some rides or in some shows, there is always someone who doesn't love it as much as the other kids-maybe they are scared or it is too loud or they think it is boring or any other reason.  But the safari is one ride that everyone really loves.  
• Next up was a quick break-we passed our some water and applesauce and then went to the Lion King.  That is a show that everyone loves as well-I think one of the best shows in the park (can you tell I am pretty biased towards Animal Kingdom?)  Well Keaton did like most of it but she would occasionally put Grannymom's hands over her ears or over her eyes.  Graham said that he wanted to be one of those monkeys that jumped on the trampoline (I believe this!) and Campbell danced along to the music and absolutely loved this show.
• After the show, we found our strollers and headed back to our snack spot.  This time it was for lunch-but before that we had one more ride.  The 4 big kids, Robby and I went to ride the river rapids while Grannymom, Grandpa, Keaton and Whitman started in on their lunches.  
• The river rapids were fun-pretty ride with really one drop and one splash.  It was pretty much a bust.  The kids had fun so that is all that mattered but the river ride at Disneyland soaked us and everyone on the boat.  This ride got Robby and a girl on the other side him a bit wet but that was it.  Come on Disney, step it up!  Ha!  It is something that even though we were here a little over a year ago, there are so many changes too all of the parks.  I so would love to know all of the behind the scenes in this magical place.
• We then went back to eat our lunch and then had one more show before heading back to the house-A Bug's Life.  This show wasn't a favorite for Keaton and Campbell.  At one point Campbell screamed "they are going to eat me!"  No one was eaten though-even Whitman survived happily by chewing on the 3D glasses I had gotten for his picture.  
• Then we left the park and made it back to the house around 2:15.  The pool again called everyone's name and we all spent more time swimming today than yesterday.  Keaton is doing well with her little floatees, Campbell can get anywhere she wants to go (still with much supervision) and the big 3 are like fish.  They were all pretty exhausted when they got out and Keaton even had a nap for a few minutes before supper.  
• Tonight's supper was lasagna and it will not be too long before Whitman can start eating with us-he now has 3 teeth.  This one is on the top but not one of the top two-one next to those.  After supper, we quickly shoed up, pottied and were soon on our way again.
• This time we headed to Hollywood Studios.  Since we don't do Fantasmic-don't really know why we don't but we really never have-there wasn't too much for us to do tonight.  Well, we could have seen two other shows but did run out of time.  Our first stop was the American Idol show.
• It was really neat and just like the tv show.  Now if my kids had ever seen it, they would have enjoyed it more.  But it still was really entertaining-even Keaton loved it and sat wide-eyed in her seat for a long time.  We voted on the winner-it was a pretty tough decision.  A stay at home mom that sings at church, a 14 year old, a cute little new mom that sings at church, a cute little scottish man and a big football looking player guy singing a church song.  My vote was for the stay at home mom (she was probably the best), Reagan voted for the cute new mom but the crowd favorite was the big guy.  
• After the show was over, Robby passed out everyone's light up spinner toys.  We actually had to get 3 new ones this time-the little girls got cheaper non Disney one and Reagan got a Minnie one from ebay.  Though the night before we left, we could not get Reagan's spinner to work.  We had never checked it and the batteries inside had corroded.  We finally cleaned it enough that it started to work-we were relieved a bit.  I say "a bit" because if we didn't get hers to work then we were not going to bring any of them.  (I have glow sticks too so everyone would still be pleased!)
• They were tickled with their light ups-well, the girls were but the boys were a bit "ho hum" about theirs since they weren't new.  It didn't matter too much since we were headed to ride Tower of Terror.  I had told the kids I would pay them 3 dollars to ride it and Robby told Campbell that he could buy her an icee if she rode it.  By the time we were finished bribing everyone, we had almost convinced Grannymom to ride the ride.
• When we made it to the entrance to Tower of Terror, Reagan tried to convince Campbell not to ride, Robby tried to convince her to ride, I tried to convince her not to and Anderson tried to convince her to ride.  She was so confused that she ended up saying that she was going to ride.  We were all shocked!  
• The line was pretty long and while we were waiting in the shorter fast pass line, we heard an announcement.  Of course it was pretty muffled and we had no idea what was said but the line started moving so we considered that a good sign.  Soon we were in the holding movie room and then downstairs to the boiler room to wait in another line.  This line went pretty slow so when we made it to the front and the lady said that she had seats for 2 and 3, I said that was fine and we didn't all have to sit together.  
• I sat with Campbell and Graham beside me and Reagan and Anderson in front of us.  Campbell was on the verge of screaming as soon as the doors closed but I kept telling her not to scream YET.  At one point before the drops and even before the rise, our ride stopped long enough that it didn't seem right.  I was hoping that our car wasn't broken and that wasn't the announcement that we hadn't understood earlier.  Then things started working again and all was well.
• All was well as we then dropped and rose and dropped and rose again and again.  The kids loved, loved it.  I did too and I think that Campbell enjoyed herself.  She probably will not ride on it again but she didn't cry, scream or yell for her Daddy so I will take that as loving the ride.
• By now it was 8:30 so everyone was streaming out of the park and it was pretty crowded but we took our little shortcut and were to the car in no time.  We passed out the juice boxes and headed back to the house.
• It didn't take too long for everyone to put on their pjs, brush their teeth and get into bed and then we had the dishes done and laundry folded.  The only thing left was the blog and some work work for Robby. Today was another good (yet hot) day and hopefully tomorrow will be the same (not rainy like the weather calls for!)