Day at Disney

Well, we made it there. We did not plan on being able to afford the $75 for each of the 4 of us who are over 9 years old, and the $65 per child over two years old for 4 of our children. In addition to that, if we planned to eat or buy anything at the Disney park, that could potentially cost as much as our monthly food budget. But thanks to a new calculus friend, we were able to get the oldest three of our family in for free to what we like to call the ‘Character Kingdom’ (since we aren’t fans of magic - Rev 21:8; Rev 22:15; Lev 19:30-31; Acts 19:18-20 - although, I have seen a good Christian illusionist). Here during our last week in Florida, the theme has been ‘no regrets.’ If there was something that you are going to wish you did while here, you better get it done.

My friend works at Disney on the weekends, but she had a meeting on Saturday morning until 11. What we did was drive the hour to Orlando for an all-you-can-eat breakfast at the Golden Corral. Disney was a surprise for most of them, we told them we were going out for breakfast. With this brunch, water bottles, and some trail mix, somehow everyone lasted until after 9 p.m. with great attitudes. We had a fabulous meal at the Starlight Cafe. The 'live' audio-animatronic singer had some great jokes and we particularly enjoyed the Planetary Boogie. About quarter till 10, Joseph wanted to lay down in a booth. He got a second wind when the 10 p.m. fireworks started and he got to drive the Indy cars with Mom, do the Buzz Lightyear ride two more times, see an illuminated parade, take a Jungle Cruise, and ride a carpet three times until the park closed. Our oldest daughter did buy a cool 2008 Disney postcard as we were leaving down Main Street. After the fairy boat ride across Seven Seas Lagoon, since our youngest two had been sleeping for over two hours in the blessed double stroller that we borrowed from a family from the Orlando church, I decided not to wake them up for the tram ride. I was surprised to discover that the parking lots are within walking distance. I got to Minnie 42 with the two sleepy heads before the rest of the family who rode the tram. There weren’t too many cars left in the parking lot around 1 a.m. The rest of the children were asleep before we got out of the parking lot.

It was a great day. The entire family got to do almost everything together. We did do the ‘baby swap’ for Splash Mountain, which the baby and I went and got the Fast Pass for while everyone else was doing their first ride of the day, Aladdin’s Carpet ride. The middle of the day rain didn’t slow us down or dampen our spirits. We were glad it wasn’t too hot. We enjoyed the dry and cool wait and show for a 3D philharmonic show presented by Mickey. Well, actually Donald got in trouble because he was messing with things who shouldn’t.

We loved Fast Passes. We got them for Peter Pan, while we rode Small World, went to Belle’s Storytime and watched a live show in front of the castle staring Princesses, and many other characters. We also got Fast Passes for Winnie the Pooh, Buzz, and Space Mountain. While we waited to redeem those, we visited Mickey & Minnie’s home, road the Walt Disney Train around the park, flew the elephant Dumbo, rode/watched/sang along to the Carousel of Progress, and toured Tomorrowland in their Transit Authority. Actually only myself, my 8 and 11 year old, were interested and brave enough to ride Space Mountain. Since we got 5 passes for that, those two kids were delighted to by-pass the 50 minute line for the second time at 10:30 at night.

All in all, we had an excellent day at a theme park that exemplifies excellence. (Philippians 4:8)