Tag: adventure

We got up early this morning, but for some reason I agreed to let the kids get breakfast at the resort instead of leaving on the bus for our last day in the Magic Kingdom. By the time we got outside, the line for the bus was as long as we had seen it all week long, and Julie and my parents came strolling out just as we got to the head of the line. When we got to the park, we just took off to do what we wanted while we could.

Eventually we all caught up with each other for a little while. I got the newbies through the rest of the park, but the kids started to be less into it as we went. It got more than a little aggravating at times, but I know the week has worn on them too. We’re all just ready to be back home now.

Our last dinner reservation was at Be Our Guest, and we ended up sitting in the exact same room, at very close to the exact same table. It would have been nice to get another room so we could look around at something new, but I guess we didn’t get a choice. I didn’t care for my lamb chops, or even the overly sweet dessert. At least the bread and French onion soup were good.

When we got back to the room, the kids packed everything up for the trip home tomorrow. Summer and I walked to the neighboring resort to look for a different sized ring she wanted, but in the end she decided to force a fit into the largest one they had. Tomorrow, we’ll begin what’s looking like a completely booked flight back home. I just wish we didn’t have to spend so much time in the airport before our initial departure.

More like “the most exhausting place on earth.”

Everyone got up early this morning to try and queue for Rise of the Resistance, but it sold out immediately, not even loading the “join” button for some. We carried on to Hollywood Studios, a little defeated, and we were let into the park about half an hour early. Our first stop was the Hollywood Tower of Terror. Then we hit the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, followed by a surprisingly great Lightning McQueen animatronic in a show.

After finishing that, we pretty much immediately split off of the family group to do our own thing. I wasn’t willing to stick around for it to turn into a fight first thing in the morning, and we had a whole new Star Wars area to discover. The Smuggler’s Run was incredible and worth the wait. We ordered some food while we waited for the rest of the family to come around, but they still ended up doing their own things.

I really wanted to build a lightsaber, but I also really didn’t want to have another large toy sitting around the house. We ended up just wandering through some shops until we could get in to eat. We didn’t order much food, but it got us right to the 1:00 queue time. The five of us refreshed our phones to try and get in for Rise again, and Summer actually made it. With that out of the way, we were free to enjoy the rest of the park.

Our dinner reservation at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater happened to be right around the time we expected to get called back to our virtual queue, but we made it work. We just didn’t waste any time at all getting food to our table and down our throats. We arrived back at the physical queue just in time to wander into the cave leading to the ride. It wouldn’t really even be fair to call it a ride. The whole thing is more of an event with several stages, and it was incredible.

We wrapped up the evening with Toy Story, and then headed back to our rooms for an early night. No more Disney Springs for us, after all.

Going to light speed was so satisfying.

Today was our vacation from our vacation day. I tried not to sleep in because I knew sleeping in would just make it harder to go to sleep at the end of the day. So of course I woke up to my alarm, was scolded, then slept in until 10 while everyone else got up and walked around the resort. When I did finally get up, everyone came back and we took the bus to Disney Springs.

We were a bit worried there wouldn’t be anything for the kids, but it was actually a really neat place. Sure, there were tons of brand stores where you could pay retail for all their offerings, but there were some other places like a big Disney store that we could pick up some other souvenirs that we hadn’t seen in any of the parks. We saw a tiny Lego store with some statues inside and out. We had a huge, late lunch at T-Rex Cafe, where they had dinosaur animatronics and a periodic meteor shower show where the lights dimmed as a re-enactment of the extinction event.

Overall it was a pretty great day in spite of the couple of people that didn’t feel well. It was a whole lot less stressful than trying to cover all of a theme park, and I think everyone walked away happy with the things they bought. The kids got a bit tired of shopping though, so we let them take the bus back to the resort to go swimming.

When we finally got back, the kids were leaving the pool for food, so we stayed in for a quiet evening. Everyone got a quick training on how to queue for Rise of the Resistance, and eventually it was off to bed.

Man, Motown in Motion was HOT tonight!

I wanted to get everyone out the door at eight this morning so we could make it to the park right at open. Somehow we actually managed to get pretty close, even with a human version of the old Snake game leading to the shuttle buses. It was pretty awesome seeing the kids’ reactions as they were transported back to the 1920s, and every time we expressed how large the park was, they would just gawk. We got just a few classic pictures, but I was disappointed to see the Disney street photographers were not in operation. It really made me wonder why we bothered to buy the photo pass.

There were gobs of people there in spite of the pandemic. I hated wearing the mask, and there’s no way I could have done that in the heat of the summer. We snacked throughout the morning, then had a late lunch at Cinderella’s Royal Table. The princess came out a couple times during our visit, but stayed at the back of the room to wave at everyone. The food was excellent, and didn’t disappoint me too badly with portion sizes. I’m not sure it would have been worth whatever the regular, non-COVID price was though.

We covered Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, and somehow even convinced Mom to ride most of the rollercoasters. I think she was actually surprised that she wasn’t as scared as she’s always been in the past. At least we got the ride pictures with our photo package, to prove she went on the rides. I can’t wait until the Tron roller coaster is finished, because I’m sure it’s going to be awesome.

The nighttime atmosphere was really nice, and the temperature was incredible, but I think we missed a lot in the dark on the west side of the park. We were all pretty beat after the first day, but tomorrow will be shorter. The only real fight I had with Julie was over a fight she had with a couple complete strangers that she thought were just being rude kids. Hopefully we can avoid any more of that, but overall we did pretty well today. The kids did great, and had an awesome time. They still can’t believe this was only part of one of four parks they’re going to this week.

Practice what you preach.

We got up early this morning to get Summer to Little Rock for Conquer the Gauntlet. Some guys from Splash were running, so we caught up to them and got her started. Then the girls were hungry, so we ran to the Pilot and Burger King for something small to eat. The girl at the drive-through said their system was down and they couldn’t serve us, but then I talked to a group of employees standing outside, and the girl there said they would have our order out in just a few minutes. Food did come out, but the fries were unsalted, and we didn’t get any condiments at all.

We made it back to the course with just enough time to finish our food and make it to an obstacle near the end. Autumn caught the guys first, then Summer came along shortly thereafter. It was the same thing Hannah and I got to see last year, and Summer powered right on through.

Summer finished with a time of 1:35, then we went back to the Pilot so she could get a shower. I accidentally left the car running on battery power while we waited, so when I got back to the girls it was completely dead. I pulled out the jumper cables, and almost immediately had two different guys offer to jump me. It really could not have been a more convenient inconvenience. The car was super dead, so it took a couple minutes of charging to start, but we got going and didn’t have any more trouble the rest of the day.

First we went to Red Lobster for lunch. Our waitress even brought Summer a sundae for her accomplishment. Then we went to McCain Mall and spent an eternity walking around that place. I don’t remember ever spending any time in the furniture area in the past, but they actually had some interesting looking stuff. The department did seem very unfinished in a lot of places though.

After the mall, we went to The Original ScoopDog for some ice cream. They were only operating at the drive-through, so we ended up waiting there for probably half an hour at least, because they didn’t actually have a speaker set up. We just had to give them our order at the window, and they turned around to make it.

Everyone was pretty exhausted, so we came straight back home from there. We got settled in, and Summer and I watched a couple episodes of Cobra Kai before Eaddie came around. Then we watched a couple episodes of Glee with her. We ended on the memorial episode for Cory Monteith, which tore us to shreds. It really just felt like the day would never end.

It’s an even more powerful kick that you deliver while standing on your hands so it frees up both legs!

We all got up this morning and Summer made waffles for breakfast. Autumn drove me to Dollar general so we could pick up some peanut butter for them, and we had a great breakfast. On a bit of a whim, everyone agreed to go to Magic Springs for the day, so we all got up and ready pretty quickly. We had to stop for gas, then by my house to check on the cat. Dad wanted to go with us, so he came over and drove down with Autumn while Eaddie and Noah rode with us.

It was a pretty uneventful drive down, and Dad just happened to get right behind us after we got stuck behind a box truck that was just creeping along. We got to the park in the early afternoon and sent Summer and Autumn off to swim while the rest of us went down the hill for some rides.

We really only had time to ride a couple of the rides. Dad took Noah and Eaddie on the Hawk while I took pictures from below. Then we all rode the Gauntlet. That line experience was the worst we had all day because of all the trashy people cutting in line ahead of us, but we eventually got our turn.

The others tried to ride the X-Coaster, but it got stuck while they were in line. We wanted to ride some more, but we ran out of time before having to meet the others back at the top. It was hot and humid, so we wanted a chance to cool off in the waveless pool before eating. Eaddie insisted that someone else brought her swim suit, and instead learned another important lesson in doing what I tell her to do even if she thinks she knows better. At least we had someone to sit and watch our stuff.

After a brief swim, we went up to the Split Rock Grill and had a bunch of hamburgers. Except Eaddie, who had a sad three little chicken strips. The burgers were surprisingly satisfying, yet devoid of any extras. The kids went off to ride a few more rides while we went to get chairs for the concert. Then we all went down the hill for Lee Brice.

The lawn was absolutely packed with people. It was nearly as crowded as any other popular, non-pandemic concert I’ve seen there. We squeezed in between a few people, quite a bit closer than we really should have, but nobody seemed upset. We watched for a few songs, then left pretty early to beat the traffic out.

We stopped to fill up on some spring water on the way out of town, and decided to do a lap around a few blocks. It was a bit too late to get into any shops, but the kids had fun hanging out together and seeing the night life. Then it was a slow drive following Dad back home for bed.

Lemme hear y’all holler if’n y’er a country bumpkin!