Time glides by with constant movement, not unlike a stream; for neither can a stream stay its course, nor can the fleeting hour.
–Ovid
I know I’m not the definitive source on the subject and I’m sure there are some -ologists out there that may be able to explain why this is, but time spent while on vacation just seems to go by in the blink of an eye. I find it difficult to believe that the same rules of “you’ve-got-24-hours-in-this-day” apply while I’m enjoying myself. When you get home it just kind of all runs together…
Now, let’s see… Was that Monday or Tuesday that we went to Downtown Disney. Tuesday? Oh, okay. Then what did we do Monday?
Even now I have to refer to timestamps on pictures to separate the events in my mind. It’s strange…
But at any rate, we’re all home now. If the bold sentence above didn’t give it all away, my family and I just got back from Walt Disney World. If you’ve read anything else posted on my website (like stuff here, here, and even here) then you probably know I have a thing for central Florida, Disney World in particular. I don’t want to take every vacation there. (The beach is nice too.) But I do like to visit frequently.
I started out this trip keeping a sort of “travel diary” like I did in 2007, our last full-on family trip to Disney. But this time that approach didn’t work. We had ten travelers this time. Tina’s brother brought his family down too. And between the six excited kids and four excited adults, time was a precious commodity. No time to spend tweeting or Facebooking, if that’s a word. (My status update was “is at the mall for a haircut” for two weeks. Loooong haircut…) And by the end of each day I was so wore out with all the walking and park hopping (and extreme heat!) that I didn’t feeling like writing a daily recap. Oh, it started out good. I have an entry for “Day One…” Not much after that.
Well, where to begin? To start I should probably mention that we didn’t hit the Disney parks straight away. We spent the night in Daytona Beach just down the street from the speedway. So Monday morning we got up and hit the beach. Very nice weather! It was cool to be able to just drive the car right on the beach and park. We got a few good hours of swimming and wading in before heading to Lake Buena Vista. So it was almost like two vacations in one.
Daytona Beach
After our first family trip to Disney World we had decided that future visits to the “Happiest Place on Earth™” would include staying on Disney property in one of the resorts. We have stayed on site two previous times. Once at the All-Star Movies Resort (in 2002) and once at the All-Star Music Resort (in 2007). For something different, this time we chose the Caribbean Beach Resort as our destination. It’s so nice to be able to arrive in central Florida and just park the car and leave it. Let Disney do the driving for you. After checking in, we took a little tour of our new home. Very nice place.
Caribbean Beach Resort
Our park hopping began on Tuesday with a trip to Epcot. We got to ride Mission: SPACE together as a family, each with our own responsibility as crew member. Then the kids got to try their hand at being a mission specialist in the Advanced Training Lab in the multiplayer game Mission: SPACE Race. Later in the week, we went back and had the chance to be astronauts. Our team (Team Triton) won!
I love the interactive attractions at Disney. Turtle Talk with Crush and the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor are incredibly entertaining. It’s so amazing to see those animated characters talk to you in real time. Cool stuff!
Turtle Talk with Crush
Oh, and one of the best ways to keep kids motivated on your trip to Epcot’s World Showcase is to pick up a World Showcase “Passport” when you arrive. Kids can get their passport “stamped” and signed at each country they visit. They can also create a colorful mask in any country and take that with them from country to country. Our kids got to see their names written in several different languages.
Epcot Passports
One last tip for kids (and adults): the new Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure is a blast! The kids are recruited as special agents who must defeat some crazy villains and save the day. The kids get a neat high-tech “Kimmunicator” that looks like your average flip phone from 2005. But the screens come to life sending kids on miniature adventures throughout one World Showcase country. Keep your eyes peeled for the unexpected… I won’t ruin it for you, but the best climax comes in Mexico. I’ll just say it was a very cool way to prevent a missile launch!
The girl agents play Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure
I think this post has lasted long enough… Gosh. I’m only two days into the vacation and have written a short story. More to come in the next post.
