Vacation, Day 4

Sorry for the delay! There aren't a lot of pictures to go with this day's adventures...unfortunately I wasn't feeling well at all much of the day and that cut short our adventures in Disney's Animal Kingdom. The picture of A & B to the right is taken in front of a photo station where Expedition Everest (the newest Disney roller coaster/attraction) is in the background. Sorry you can't see it well...visually it reminds me of the Matterhorn at Disneyland, but much bigger. Since neither of the girls wanted to ride this ride, we were able to cut out a lot of walking and waiting.

Originally we were going to follow the touring plan and TourGuide Mike this day and go to Magic Kingdom, but we decided that this was the park with the fewest "must see" activities for us and by Tuesday night the girls were really worn out...we were all worn out...and we decided we needed to change the schedule and have a lighter day on Wednesday. I'm glad we did, since I woke up feeling pretty sick Wednesday morning. We took our time getting ready and I enjoyed my (by now) traditional WDW breakfast of a chocolate filled croissant and the nectar of the Gods (Coke, for those of you who don't know). It was incredibly humid this day, probably due to the incredible thunderstorm from the night before...it was muggy from the moment we stepped out of the hotel room and that made it seem even hotter than it really was. It was going to be a scorcher! As you can see from this picture (one of the first we took that morning) -- as soon as we took the lens cap off the camera, the camera fogged up! That happened most of the day, so we had to let the lens unfog before we could take pictures.

Even though we veered off the touring plan by going to a different park than recommended, we still followed the touring plan in the park...except that we cut out a lot of things because (1) we didn't want to do them or (2) because we decided to only hit the high points because I was feeling so sick.

A little bit about this park...it is the newest park and I found its layout to be the most difficult to navigate. I never did really get a feel for the layout of the park. The walkways are much more narrow than the other parks, and there are trees everywhere. It really has a jungle feeling to it...but it also seemed to make it more humid. There were misting fans were all over the place and they really helped -- even at 9:30 in the morning -- we were already hot and sticky by then.

The girls liked this park o.k. and wanted to do a couple more things than we did, but for us this park never would have been a full day park, anyway. The girls wanted to go on the safari and Kali River Rapids, and I wanted to see the Lion King Show. B wanted to do the petting zoo but we didn't. Other than that, there weren't any "must sees" for us in this park. Next time we go we'll definitely do more, but I don't think it's a full-day park for us.

When we got to the park, we got our FastPasses for the safari, and then wandered around for a bit. We decided to go to the Festival of the Lion King show...we got there early and waited a while. The show was worth it -- we all really enjoyed it. It was fabulous! The animatronics, singers, dancers, gymnasts...everything was fabulous. This was one of our favorite shows (and is the reason I'm seriously thinking about getting tickets for all of us to see the Broadway production of The Lion King when it's in Atlanta next year). I highly recommend it!! After that we headed over to the Safari and waited no more than 10 minutes with our FastPasses. The regular line was about 90 minutes -- why on earth would you wait that long for a ride??

We enjoyed the Safari. There was a cute storyline built in and it was neat to see the animals. I was worried that we wouldn't see many because of the, heat but we really saw a lot. This was a fun ride -- we will definitely do it again. After the safari we got FastPasses for the Kali River Rapids and had lunch at Pizzafari. There is a real lack of places to eat in Animal Kingdom and not one table service restaurant (other than Raintree Cafe which isn't a Disney restaurant, just co-located on the property). One of the counter service restaurants is being converted to table service...I think it will open next year.

After lunch we went to Kali River Rapids and got right on in about 10 minutes with our FastPasses. I was the only person in the raft who put on a rain poncho....and guess who was the only person in the raft to get drenched? Yes -- me. How on earth did that happen??? A wave came up over the side of the boat and hit me just right...went in the hood and down the neck of the poncho. I was absolutely soaked! It was a fun ride, but very, very short and not really exciting (according to the girls). They liked it and said they would ride it again if we come back. They said the river ride at Lagoon (an amusement park in Utah) was much better. But the cool water felt good, although it didn't smell great.

After that ride we left and went back to the hotel to rest and swim. It was already about 2:00. It felt great to rest and swim and I felt much better by mid-afternoon. Dinner that night was at O'Hana at the Polynesian Resort. We took the bus to the Ticket and Transportation Center and then took the monorail to the Polynesian Resort. Dinner was amazing -- way more food than we could eat -- and I have already collected several of the recipes from our meal. In fact, we made the bread pudding with banana caramel sauce a few weeks ago and it was good! During the meal there was a lot of stuff for the girls to do...hula lessons, limbo contest, dancing, etc. It was a fun family atmosphere and we were seated by the window, with a great view of the Lagoon. We loved it and will definitely go back.

After that we made our way back to Disney MGM Studios to see Fantasmic, since it had been rained out the night before. We sait and waited and waited and waited for over an hour for the show to start...it was a good show but I don't think it really lived up to all of the hype. DH would have been just fine if we had skipped it (LOL) and the girls and I enjoyed it ok....but maybe we were just to hot, sticky, and tired to really appreciate it. I love the way they used sheets of water as a projection screen and the pyrotechnics are neat, but parts of the show seem kind of disjointed. We did enjoy it, though, and I'm glad we saw it.

After that we made our way back to the hotel...dreams of the Magic Kingdom in our heads...tomorrow we would finally make it there!

Here We Go Again.....

I thought we weren't going to do this again. I really, really, really thought that last year was (to use a British phrase), a "one off." Just once, and that would be it. Never again. Really -- just once. Isn't that how it goes? Just once...only once...doesn't turn out to be just once?

A participated in her school pageant last year. She wanted to participate the year before but we managed to talk her out of it. Last year we weren't so lucky. Ccould it have been the "let's just see how it is run and what it requires the first year, and then think about it next year?" line of reasoning we used two years ago...which didn't work because A never forgets anything? Whatever it was, we were in pageant Hades last year. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I expected -- A kept her head and was wonderful throughout. I can't say the same for other participants, some of whom were rude and obnoxious (one 12 year old girl yelled at her Mom in the dressing room!). A placed well in the pageant last year and I hoped that was the end of it.

The biggest struggle we had last year was finding a gown...floor length, age appropriate, and MODEST. That last one was the kicker. It's downright impossible to find a reasonably priced, MODEST gown for someone A's size and age. We finally found a dress but it wasn't ideal and it wasn't without pain, aggravation, and frustration....and expensive alterations.

Fast forward to this year. A wants to do the pageant again...and, like the sucker I am, I said yes. What was I thinking??? This weekend we started searching for a dress....because surely if we start looking this early we'll find something, right? My sister E and I searched online and found two dresses in the price range I was looking for and in A;s size. Unfortunately, she doesn't like those two dresses. We looked at two places in town and found one dress that can be modified slightly, without too much effort, that A likes but it wasn't quite as fancy as we all had in mind. The other place we looked at -- no options. Apparently they don't carry ANYTHING with sleeves. Well, a few bolero jackets and shrugs, but no dresses with sleeves. What do they have against sleeves? It's hard enough to find a dress when you're 5'2" and not enough pounds...but when said dress must have at least a cap sleeve, no plunging neckline, no plunging back, and no thigh-high split....well, it becomes nearly impossible.

I don't know many middle school aged girls who are built like Las Vegas showgirls...and I know even fewer who should actually be permitted to dress like Las Vegas showgirls. Sadly, there are many who do dress like that. Obviously, my definition of age appropriate varies dramatically from the way other people define "age appropriate." *Sigh*

Fortunately, we ended up with not only one but two gown options that will require only minor alterations. They're both the best possible price (free from an absolutely adorable newlywed girl at church who used to babysit my girls, both dresses worn only once). A loves both dresses -- they're really beautiful but very different styles -- so we're going to take them to a seamstress who specializes in pageant/prom/wedding gowns and see what we can do with them. One is a beautiful, pale pink and the other is black and white. A looks so grown up in them. We just need to get shoes and the evening gown competition outfit is done. We've already got jewelry. She's already working on picking music for the talent competition, and trying to plan out her casual/school spirit wear outfit.

*Sigh* Here we go again. My justification for letting her do this again this year? It was a great confidence builder for her last year, and she really had a ton of fun with it. She hasn't been bitten by the "pageant bug" and didn't get a swelled head from all of it last year. If we come out of this year's pageant the same way, it will have been a success (from my point of view). And hey -- we're already coming out cheaper than last year! LOL