In August 2009, we bought annual passes to Disney World. My wonderful mother (love you, Mom!) took our whole family to Disney World as a means of coming back together to enjoy each other after the loss of my dad. We applied her generosity to a bit of our own moola and voila, we were annual passholders. The challenge, then, was to fit as much Disney World into one year as possible from the distance of about 500 miles.
We went for a week that August, another week after Christmas (holy cow, you can't imagine how crowded it was, but still wonderful) and culminated it with two weeks in June 2010. It was going to be my dream trip. The trip where we didn't have to rush, didn't feel compelled to wake the crack before down and return to our resort as zombies only to turn around and do it the next day. I was looking forward to sleeping late and enjoying a leisurely pace. Here's how it actually went...
June in Florida is hot. I don't normally complain about the heat. We live in South Carolina, which is ten degrees cooler than hell in July. I'm used to it. I still sit on the beach and cope just fine. But this was the type of hot where when you walked out of the door in the morning, the fifty pounds of oppressive humidity sat on your shoulders until you returned home for the night. No matter how excited we were for the day's activity, the minute we walked outside, there was a collective, "Ugh" from the four of us, times fourteen.
On the night we arrived, I realized I forgot my contact case. Luckily I had two small bowls, which I filled with solution and closed my eyes for the night. When I attempted to put the right one, the excruciating pain hit. Involuntary reflexes snapped and glued that eyelid shut and I had to pry it open to get the offending contact out. The pain continued. My eye was horridly red. No matter how many eye drops I put it, the pain persisted and, being completely honest, I don't screw with eyes. I like seeing, so off to the urgent care we went. The diagnosis? Scratched cornea. Lovely. Some antibiotic drops had me all healed up in a few days, though I was afraid to put my contacts in for the remainder of the trip. Since I'm completely blind without them, this also meant no sunglasses. Boo.
On day three, my husband had to leave for three days for business. This subject arose a week before and we contemplating shortening the trip, but the uncertainty of which day he'd have to go back was too much to overcome. The trip would be cut in less than half, so we forged forward.
Hubby left in the morning. I, trying to stick to my "no early mornings" vow, decided to take the gals to craft time. We were staying at the Fort Wilderness Campground in our RV. They have loads of great activities. I was sure crafting would be a hit. Little did I know it would lead to lots and lots and LOTS of whining about wanting to go to the pool. Lots of whining. We had four parks of wondrous entertainment and my children wanted to go to the pool - which we have one at home we use all the time. Fine. Whatever. That afternoon we finally made our way to the Magic Kingdom.
The next morning, the vomit hit the fan - or rather the couch. One of my girls had a wicked stomach flu. And as I cleaned it from various upholstered services, the pain in my throat and head burned. I had no voice and quite the fever. I thanked the good Lord above that we were in our RV, as opposed to a hotel, because we had food and everything it took to keep a five year-old entertained and safe while her sister and mom vacillated between moaning in pain and sleeping. It ended up being mostly a 24-hour thing. The next day we were able to venture out a bit.
Two days later, I found myself on Kali River Rapids in the soaker seat. Six hours later, I still had not dried despite having being on Expedition Everest and was quite over it.
On day twelve, I surprised my husband with a fishing excursion as an early Father's Day present. Twenty minutes into our two-hour tour, my younger ladybug puked all over herself and the boat. Glad we had eggs for breakfast.
Our last day, during which we planned to pack up and enjoy in the Magic Kingdom, it poured harder than I've seen it rain during most category 1 hurricanes. It was relentless and soaked you through if you dared to step outside. We were trapped, until dinner time. We ate at Raglan Road at Downtown Disney and it was quite good!
When we pulled out the next morning for our drive home, I couldn't have been more ready. We had some good times, despite having not really named any in this blog post. But let's be honest - it was a trying "vacation". By the time we got to I95 North, I stated boldly that our next trip would be December 2012.
A week ago my mother said, "You know, I'd really like to get back to Disney World again for the holidays." I haven't made the reservation yet, but I'm sure it will be completed by this weekend. I'm such a sucker. So even when Disney scratches my cornea, makes my kids puke, gives me a cold and roasts me like a turkey I still can't say no to it. And, just for kicks, I think we'll buy annual passes again. :-)
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