April 20, 2006

• Also…posted pictures for Days 1 and 2 so refresh your browser if you want to see them. 

  
  

  Day 3 (April 18th, Serra Senior and Junior’s Birthday!)

  
  

  We got up at at about 9:00 with the goal that we’d be out of our hotel room and on the road by 10:00.  It’s been difficult adjusting our clocks to the three hour time change.  Especially in the mornings.  Anyhow, we still did well, by my calculations, by getting out of there by 11:00.  After a quick stop at Einstein Bagles for breakfast we hoped on the 95 Freeway and left Ft. Lauderdale and started the trek towards Orlando.

  
  

  Before we left on our trip out here we’d talked about getting a navigation system for the car but in looking at what the rental car company offered it looked like it’d run us about $300 to rent one.  At that price we figured we’d buy one so we stopped at a Best Buy along the way and made the purchase.  All we have to say about it is that it’s really nice although it’s already led us astray a couple of times (when looking for a Wal Mart it took us to a Sams Club…huh??) I want to see about getting a celebrity voice for it.

  
  

  Other than that purchase the only other significant event on the ride to Orlando was the fact that we took toll roads.  It was both Pam and I’s first time doing that and it was a bit different.  The toll booths are a lot like the fruit checkpoint on the 15 just outside of Barstow and they give you a ticket on one end when you get on and then collect at the other end of the road.  In between there are no exits (and about a 100 mile distance) other than “Service Area’s” put in to the center divider.  In all the tolls got us for about $10 but it cut about an hour of travel time off our trip if we’d tried to take “free” roads.

  
  

  Once we arrived at our hotel in Orlando we were completely blown away.  We’re staying at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissemee, which is about 5 minutes from Disney World.  This place is HUGE!  We could see it from several miles off and once we got there I missed the turn for valet and it ended up taking us 10 minutes to get all the way around it.  It’s really hard to describe it but you should visit the link above to take a good look at the place.  It’s really the nicest hotel we’ve ever stayed at and bow down to Priceline for booking it for us (at an amazing deal nonetheless). It has 1000 something hotel rooms and a giant open atrium area with two large pools, 5 fullsize restaurants, all kinds of shops, and fantastic rooms.

  
  

  Did I mention the fantastic rooms? When we were checking in the girl at the front desk was making a fuss over our two girls.  She’d mentioned that they had a large convention in and that rooms were at a premium and then she was quiet for a little bit as she punched her keyboard.  I was half expecting her to say “Sorry Mr. Priceline Rate you’ll need to either stay in the broom closet or make other arrangements” but instead she said “We’re sold out so I’m going to upgrade you to a suite…is that ok?” I quickly confirmed that that would certainly be ok by me.  Both Pam and I were floored as we were both in awe of the place as it was and could only imagine what a suite would be like for the four nights we’d be here. Now I must say that we aren’t exactly naive to what a nice hotel room is but we are certainly more “La Quinta” than we are ”Ritz Carlton”. Anyhow, here are some pictures of the hotel and our room…needless to say we feel very spoiled with our 3 room apartment. Can you say SCORE!?

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  These pictures are from outside on our balcony overlooking the INTERIOR of the hotel.

  
  

  

  
  

  By the time we’d unloaded all of our stuff in to the room we decided to relax a bit at the family pool.  We had thought about doing four days of Disney World rather than the three but we figured that with the drive and all it’d be worthwhile just to get here and relax.  Relax we did as we played around there for a few hours.  One funny tidbit was that Pam left before Serra and I as she was going to go back and get cleaned up and feed the baby.  Serra and I started back about 20-30 minutes after Pam had left and naturally I’d forgotten my room key and the room #.  Serra and I were debating as to what room to start knocking on or if it’d be worth the 20 minute walk down to the front desk in our pool clothes to ask what room we were in when Pam, in full pool attire, came walking down the hall pushing the stroller.  She’d gotten lost on the way back and had wandered the hotel for 30 minutes looking for our room….did I tell you this place was big or what?  Thankfully she knew the room # and had a key so it all worked out in the end.  Here’s some pictures of the cool family pool and the crew enjoying it.  It had a giant octopus with a slide down the center of it and water spraying from its tentacles.  Also the seafood restaraunt..aka boat just outside our window.

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  After getting back to the room we decided to clean up and get out to dinner to continue to celebrate the V’s birthday.  We let her choose what she wanted and she naturally announced that she wanted Pizza.  We plugged in the new navigation system and searched for Pizza.  It led us to a Checkers (which apparently used to be a Flippers Pizza) but did lead us from there across the street to another Italian eatery. It was there we dined on Pizza and had the entire restaurant sing Happy Birthday to her.  I, and I know Pam despises it as well, typically hates the singing of Happy Birthday at restaurants but our Serra V absolutely LOVES it so we indulged her.  We got the whole thing on film…she was beaming. When we explained to her that it was no longer her birthday tomorrow she said matter of factly “Well that breaks my heart.”  That melted my heart and I assured her that she needn’t worry…that we’d be celebrating it all week long.  I know I’m going to be in trouble when she’s older and asking me for stuff.

  
  

  Day 4

  
  

  Disney World (Day 1)

  
  

  We took a good look at the various park schedules and decided that our first day of Disney would be spent at the Magic Kingdom.  We chose that one because it had the majority of rides that we were familiar with as well as it being open the longest (all the way till midnight). We’ll be spending tomorrow at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and then Friday at Epcot Center. 

  
  

  A running theme is our difficulty in getting out the door in a timely manner but that’s to be expected with two little girls that need to be dolled up and us still wanting to sleep in till 10:00 (PST vs EST). We missed our intended shuttle but that wasn’t so bad as it gave us time to sit and plan a little and we still made it in to the park by 11:00 or so.  The Gaylord Palms has a free shuttle to all three parks we’ll be going to which is a major perk.  Have we said already how much we love this place?

  
  

  Pictures of dolled up girls

  
  

  

  
  

  We’re so thankful that Pam and Serra had some training from Gary and Leisl et al in regards to the whole “Fast Pass” usage at Disney.  The place was absolutely packed with most waits, even for the smallest rides, being 45-60 minutes. There were several school bands there that played a parade down main street so there were a ton of teeny bopper zit faced kids running around the place. Anyhow, I digress.  The fast passes came in handy big time as we were able to ride just about every ride we wanted to and only got caught up in a couple really bad lines (The Haunted Mansion and Pirates).  Serra and I rode Dumbo together while Pam and Sophia ran off to It’s a Small World for a quick feed and torture (is there any other way to describe that ride?). Other than that little excursion we pretty much stayed together the whole time.  Other observations about Disney World vs. Disneyland for you Disney nuts out there;

  
  

  
  
  • Much smaller area so stuff is right on top of other stuff.  We were still dead from walking by the end of the day but it was nice that nothing was all that far.  Then again, maybe that’s why it seemed so crowded.
    
  • PAM EDIT: It’s actually bigger but with less rides and more restaraunts and shops than Disneyland.  Much less dead space but is situated similarly to Disneyland. It’s also cleaner and newer.
    
  • You actually take a ferry across a lake to get from the parking (Bus dropoff point as this case was) to the park entrance. You can take a shuttle, similar to Disneyland, but we chose the ferry.  Very cool.
    
  • Pirates ride is very similar but shorter.  It’s obviously still open……no word on it closing down like the Disneyland one.
    
  • Winnie the Pooh is much better here than at Disneyland. 
    
  • The Lilo and Stitch ride was lame.  I would have been upset except we did the fast pass thing and didn’t wait 90 minutes like the other poor souls.   
    
  •  We saw a great show that was done on the steps of the castle.  I forget what it was called but it was basically the story of Cinderella getting crowned a princess and it had Jasmine, Snow White, and Belle there as well.  Actually it wasn’t all that great but Serra sure loved it.  I had her on my shoulders the whole time and I was ready to be put to rest after enduring the heat and all the dancing and princess stuff.  I sure love my Serra.

  
  

   - Dancing princesses!

  
  

  I’m sure Pam has some stuff to add to that list as she’s been to Disneyland a lot more times than I have recently but that’s what I can remember.

  
  

  Various Disneyland Pics (most are of Serra just smiling)

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  Hard to see but Pam is pulling a “Gary” in this one. Either that or she’s having far too much fun on the Buzz Lightyear ride.

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  By about 7:00 Pam and I were pretty much done and Serra was petering out as well.  Actually Serra was tired almost from the getgo as I don’t think she slept all that well the night before.  This was evident by the constant request to be carried and the aches and pains in my feet and shoulders from obliging. She had a blast though and Sophia more than cooperated and if she wasn’t only 5 months and I knew better I’d say that she had a great time as well. Pam and I both had fun but we clocked it in and decided that we’d rather go back to our abode than take in the parade and fireworks that would have kept us out till midnight. 

  
  

  Unfortunately our sense of time management needs some help as I ended up running from the ferry to catch our Gaylord Palms bus before it left us stranded.  Had we missed it the next one was an hour and a half later…DOH! On the way home on the bus Serra was all over the place showing off her new toys (a small stuffed Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh) to other kids on the bus.  It made me think that perhaps she wasn’t all that tired during the day and maybe she was just asking for rides because she knew she could.  Anyhow, she also ended up with some small Lilo and Stitch play people and a spray bottle with a fan attached to it…all courtesy of her birthday gifts from her admirers.

  
  

  Once back in the hotel we’ve spent the evening cleaning up and relaxing…not to mention updating this this thing and getting caught up with the pictures.  I know it’s cumbersome to read but I’m going in to as much detail as possible as again, we’re using this to supplement our own memories so we can reread it when we get back as it’s all happening so fast.  Anyhow, I don’t know if I can keep up this posting pace but we’ll keep trying. night night.

  • 1:26 am
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