The Trip of a Lifetime

It's been quite some time since my last post, but I have a good excuse. Wanna hear it?




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WE'VE BEEN IN DISNEY WORLD!

Yes, again.

Beware of this post...I plan to post detail upon detail of our trip, so I can be sure to remember them when I'm old and feeble. If you're not interested in the minute details of our vacation, you may just want to view the slide show for the highlights.

So, here goes...

A few months ago, Todd and I were talking about Devin and how proud we are of him. He went from being an only child to having not one but two little sisters in the blink of an eye. Combine that with a host of health problems and the amount of attention babies need, and you have an older brother who often gets put on the back burner. He's been a real trooper and Todd and I really wanted to do something special for him, especially before he starts Kindergarten.

So it hit us -- where would you take a kid in order to show him or her the time of their life?

Well, duh.

So we planned a trip to Disney World. Four days, three night, just the three of us. Not a super-long trip, but long enough for us to give Devin the undivided attention he hadn't gotten in a long, long time.

We left for the airport before the sun came up on February 21. Todd's parents graciously stayed with the twins while we headed to Orlando, via Atlanta.

We arrived in Orlando around 1:30 and jumped right onto the Disney Magical Express bus. Like last year, we took full advantage of this awesome service, skipped baggage claim and were taken straight to our Disney resort.

After stopping at the other All-Star hotels (Sports and Music), we arrived at the All-Star Movies resort. We hopped off the bus and headed for the registration desk. Our good friend, Ed, noted that we were celebrating Devin's first trip to Disney World and gave Devin a special button to let everyone know that he's a first-timer. He also made sure we got a good room, in the building we requested.

Now remember, this is Disney, so your hotel is a dream-come-true, and the All-Star Movies resort did not disappoint. It's one of Disney's "budget" hotels, but they still spared no expense.

There are five "themes" to the hotel, each section dedicated to a different Disney movie -- Herbie, Fantasia, the Mighty Ducks, 101 Dalmations and Toy Story. We requested to be in the Toy Story section of the hotel and were put in a prime location, close to the pool (but not so close that we could hear the noise), on the first floor, looking out on a giant RC Car, straight from the movie. The buildings of our hotel were adorned with huge Buzz Lightyear and Woody statues (38 and 45 feet tall, respectively -- each significantly taller than the three-story buildings next to which they sit), as well as a three-times-the-size-of-real-life replica of Andy's Room. Devin was in Toy Story heaven.

After checking out Andy's room, we found our own room and were so excited to see that it, too, was decorated in Toy Story theme, complete with bed-spreads, artwork and wall-paper border.

We got settled in, locked our valuables in the room safe, poked around the grounds of the hotel for a little while and then hopped on the bus for the Magic Kingdom.

It was at this point that Todd and I really started to play up the excitement of seeing Main Street USA for the first time and by the time we arrived at the park, Devin was about to explode.

We made our way through the turnstiles, through the front gates and onto the circle at the end of Main Street. Before we rounded the corner, though, we stopped Devin and said, "This is it, Dev. You're about to see Disney World for the first time."

Then we slowly walked him around the building and pointed him toward the castle.

What happened next was nothing short of...well...weird.

Devin didn't gasp, or breathe or make a sound. He was perfectly still. It was almost as though he couldn't get a grip on what he was seeing. It was such a totally immersive experience that he just couldn't wrap his mind around it. Truth be told, the poor kid was kind of off-kilter for the rest of the day.

So we walked up Main Street, pausing to pay homage to the statue of Walt and Mickey holding hands. Then we asked the kiddo what he wanted to do first and he said, "Splash Mountain." That surprised us, since he'd been saying all along that he wanted to ride the Haunted Mansion first. But whatever!

We went to get in line for Splash Mountain, but the line was over an hour long. Luckily, Disney has a fantastic innovation called a "Fast Pass" in which you get a ticket at a particular ride (most rides have the Fast Pass option) that gives you an hour period of time in which you should return. When you come back, you get to skip to the head of the line and get right on the ride. It's a fabulous arrangement as your ticket sort of waits in line for you while you go do something else.

And that we did. We went and rode the Pirates of the Caribbean (Devin was not impressed), Aladdin's Magic Carpets (he loved that), and toured the Swiss Family Robinson tree house.

We also walked through the castle where we ran into a character meet-and-greet. It was Lady Tremaine (more commonly known as the wicked step-mother from Cinderella) and Anastasia and Drizella (the wicked step-sisters) and I couldn't have been more excited, as Cinderella was my mom's favorite movie and it holds a special place in my heart. Devin wasn't interested in meeting these three ladies, so I jumped in line with his autograph book and took a picture with the meanest of the meanies.

I held up a picture of the twins in my photograph and Drizella said to Lady Tremaine, "Mother! Look how cute they are!" Lady Tremaine replied, in a deep, growling voice, "How adorable." She never cracked even a hint of a smile. She actually gave me the chills.

We snapped the photo, but before leaving, the step-sisters reminded me that there are two sides to every story and not to believe everything Cinderella tells me.

By this time, though, it was time for our dinner reservations at the The Liberty Tree Tavern. We chose to dine here because it was a character dinner, meaning that various Disney characters will greet you at your table while you dine.

During our dinner (which was fabulous, by the way), we were visited by Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto and Chip & Dale.

After dinner, it was time for us to head back to Splash Mountain. Sure enough, we were escorted to the front of the line and hopped right on the ride. Bada bing, bada boom.

Again, Dev was not impressed. He especially didn't like the big plunge at the end where we got all wet. I'd like to remind everyone, though, that it was his idea to ride this ride, even after watching it a few times. Needless to say, Splash Mountain was not on the itinerary for the rest of the weekend.

At this point, we were exhausted. We trudged through the park, pausing only for a trip through it's a small world (yes, it's meant to be with no capital letters). This was much more Devin's speed.

We got back to our hotel, but Devin saw the pool and that was the end of the idea of bed time. We put on our bathing suits and Dev and Todd went to splash around. I stayed in the room for a few minutes (our bags had arrived by this time) to "get some things arranged" and met them at the pool a little later.

Begrudgingly, Devin finally got out of the pool and grumbled his way to our room. His mood lightened, though, when we opened the door to find a gift basket on the table in our room.

Apparently, Mickey Mouse himself had brought a welcome basket to the room for Devin! It was filled with a plush Mickey Mouse doll, a coloring book and crayons, a Lightening McQueen die-cast character and some Captain Jack Sparrow stickers. There was even a card, featuring all three of these characters, that read, "Welcome to Disney World, Devin!" It was only the beginning of the magic.

We got some much-needed sleep and headed out the next morning to EPCOT.

We immediately made our way to Soarin', a ride designed to make you feel as though you are hang gliding over various parts of California. I rode it last year and it was almost a religious experience.

The line was pretty long, so we got a Fast Pass for Soarin' and decided to check out the Nemo Ride in the building next door. It was a fun ride, but sort of scared Devin, who was still not quite himself. After riding, we took a photo opportunity with Bruce the Shark from the movie and went next door to Turtle Talk with Crush.

This is an incredible, interactive show in which you are looking at an animated screen with Crush, the sea turtle from "Nemo." The cool part is, though, that Crush can see you too, can hear you and respond to your questions. How is this possible? It was amazing.

The kids all sit down in front while the parents side on benches behind them. Crush "swims" onto the screen and greets the audience. In our particular show, he picked one little boy out from the audience and asked him his name, where he's from, etc. When he was done talking to this little boy, he spotted another boy in the audience, wearing an "orange shell."

Wouldn't you know it? Devin was wearing orange that day.

The attendant handed the microphone to Devin and Crush asked his name.

"Devin."

"Well hi Devin! Who brought you here today?"

"I slept here last night!"

"You did? And you came to EPCOT alone?" (Laughter from the audience)

"No. My mommy and daddy are here."

"Where are they?"

So Todd and I raised our hands.

The attendant then brought the microphone to us and I introduced Todd and myself to Crush. Todd and Crush laughed about Devin and his excitement and his propensity to ask a lot of questions. Soon, though, the mic was passed to someone else and we were left laughing at how we were the only ones in the audience whose entire family got to talk to the famous sea turtle.

After exiting the auditorium, Todd picked Dev up and said, "DEVIN! Crush picked YOU out of the crowd and talked to you! You are so special!"

Suddenly, Devin burst into tears. Todd and I exchanged alarmed glances and put Devin down. What could possibly be wrong after that?

Todd asked Dev if he was hurt or upset, but instead he said, "I'm just so happy!"

My four-year-old was crying tears of joy. He was so completely overwhelmed by the whole experience that he just couldn't get a handle on his emotions.

After we got the tyke calmed down, we went back to Soarin' to claim our place in line. We shuttled to the very front, where we were told to wait until the next "concourse" opened up.

As we stood with another family of three, I noticed a group of Disney employees (Cast Members, as they are called) standing nearby. They were all huddled around, talking and one of them even counted down, out loud, from ten, while looking at his watch. What was this all about?

One of them, the only one not wearing a uniform, approached us. She began talking with Todd, Devin and me, along with the other family standing there with us. We talked about Disney and how great of a time we are having, etc.

The mom of the other family asked, "So what do you do?" since it was obvious she was someone special -- not wearing a uniform is a dead giveaway in Disney.

The lady answered, "Do you really want to know?"

We all replied, "Yes..."

"Well, I have nothing to do with Soarin'. In fact, I'm not employed by EPCOT. I'm in charge of the 'Year of a Million Dreams' program. Are you familiar with it?"

We all said, "Yes," again and she continued.

"Then you know that we have to give out a million or more dreams come true this year. Some prizes are small and some are huge. Some are worth nearly $90,000 and others involve shopping sprees. There are a ton of wishes we can fulfill.

"One of those wishes is a Dream Fast Pass. It's a card that you wear around your neck that allows you to go to the front of the line on any ride, at any time. You don't have to get an electronic Fast Pass and wait for your specific time. You just show up when you're ready and hop on.

"Sounds cool, huh?"

Now we were all pretty excited.

"How would you all like to have a Dream Fast Pass? You've all just become the latest winners in the Year of a Million Dreams!"

And with that, we were each given a Dream Fast Pass, good that day only in EPCOT, but allowing us to ride all of the best rides with no wait.

I thought I was going to cry. Devin did. More tears of joy.

I found out later that the daily wishes and dreams are granted using a computer generated random sequence. That morning, the computer told the Dream Fast Pass team to hand out 15 Dream Fast Passes to the people in line at EPCOT for Soarin' on Concorse 1 at 11:15 a.m. Whoever was there at that time, got the Fast Passes. We just happened to be there. Luck of the draw.

And that's why that guy was counting down on his watch. A few seconds earlier or later and we wouldn't have been the winners. For the rest of the day, too, we were treated like celebrities, with people congratulating us and shaking our hands. It was a big deal!

On the biggest high of our lives (well, almost), we boarded Soarin' which did not disappoint (except Devin, who was scared of it). From there, we left, knowing that we didn't have to worry about wait times or coordinating our Fast Passes with timing on other rides, lunch, etc.

So we took our time, by-passing lines at Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth, and Test Track.

We had a late lunch at the Coral Reef Restaurant where we got to watch sharks, sea turtles and fish swim around, and then headed back to our hotel for a nap. It was already quite a day!

We did have a great surprise in our room when we returned -- Mousekeeping had taken our washcloths and made them into little bunnies. They placed them on our window sill so they were greeting us upon our arrival.

We returned to EPCOT that evening to make our way through the World Showcase. The World Showcase is a fabulous attraction built around the lake in the center of EPCOT. It showcases nearly a dozen countries from around the world, giving tourists an idea of the architecture, culture, food and history of each country. It's a celebration of the differences and similarities that we all have, giving a reminder that we are all a part of a global community. Each county's pavilion is employed by visiting students from that particular country, who help to lend realism to the experience.

We made our way through China, Norway, Mexico and Morocco, stopped for a glass of wine in Italy, a glass of Champagne in France and a beer in Germany. We headed around the lake to the UK Pavilion where we decided to have dinner at the The Rose and Crown pub. We were seated on the patio, where we had a perfect view of the incredible, awe-inspiring IllumiNATIONS fireworks show. It even caused another round of tears of joy from Devin.

After dinner, Todd and I took turns again riding Soarin' (since Devin didn't want to ride again) and we finally went back to our room. We were exhausted.

The next morning we headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios. This is one of the smaller parks and we intended only to spend half a day there. Most of the rides are pretty geared toward bigger kids and adults, so we bypassed the rides to take in shows and meet characters.

Our first order of business was to meet Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater from "Cars." These two guys are Devin's heros and he was actually shaking when they made their appearance and revved their engines as they went by. He was second in line to meet the famous race car and rusty tow truck. We all three approached the two automobiles and were able to touch them, talk to them (though they didn't talk back, they did respond by revving their engines) and take photos. It was the chance of a lifetime for Dev.

Afterwards, we headed to meet Buzz and Woody from "Toy Story." The characters had a great time with Devin, each pretending to deface the other's promotional posters on the backdrop of the set while the other was taking photos with our kid. Devin proudly told Buzz that he went as Buzz Lightyear for Halloween in 2006 and spent a good five minutes with the two heroes. It was so much fun!

We were pretty hungry by now, so we headed to the real Pizza Planet, the pizza shop in Toy Story. We had...what else? Pizza and played a few arcade games, as well as looking for Hidden Mickeys throughout the restaurant.

It was starting to rain, but luckily, we were right across the street from the Muppet Vision 3-D theatre, where we took in the show starring Kermit, Miss Piggy and even the guys from the balconey. Devin loved it.

Afterwards, after sprinting through the rain, we took in the Playhouse Disney Live on Stage show, starring Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisie and Goofy, with help from the characters of "Handy Manny," "Little Einsteins," and "My Friends Tigger and Pooh." It was an interactive show, that invited the kids to jump up and down, shout out answers, call to "Toodles," pat their legs to help Rocket go faster, find Pat for Manny and "Think, think, think" with Darby, Tigger and Pooh. Needless to say, this was a highlight for Devin.

Finally, we took in the Lights, Motors, Action! stunt show, which Devin just loved. It featured specially made automobiles, stunt drivers and big sets all created to show you how high-speed chase scenes are filmed. We learned that the scenes where cars drive backwards at high speeds are actually built backwards, so the driver is actually facing the back of the vehicle and driving it very safely. They even created a driving suit with a dummy head in the front so you couldn't tell that it was someone sitting backwards. Pretty ingenious!

The rain picked up, however, and cut the show short. Devin was disappointed, and we thought this would be a good time to get back to the hotel for a rest.

Lo and behold, though, the rain stopped and Todd and Devin were able to take a dip in the pool while I took a nap. Afterwards, we took off to the Magic Kingdom where we took the Monorail to the Polynesian Hotel (where ZZ and I stayed last year) for dinner at the Kona Cafe.

Then it was back on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Devin loved the monorail so much, though, that he wanted to ride it some more. Since it just makes a loop between a few different resorts and the Magic Kingdom, we just sat, rode and enjoyed the scenery. At one of the stops, I hopped out and asked the monorail driver if we could sit up front with him. Sure enough, the cab was open and we were allowed to "drive" the monorail. Devin felt so special and even got an official monorail co-pilot license. Again, the right place at the right time. Our kid must be our good luck charm!

We finally got off the monorail at the Magic Kingdom and, for the first time during our trip, really had no agenda. We took Devin on the Snow White ride, which he did not like. I was starting to think this kid wasn't going to like anything!

We did manage to make it on the Winnie the Pooh ride, which he loved. FINALLY!

We also spent a lot of time playing in Pooh's Playful Spot where Devin was able to burn off some energy. We also went to Mickey's Toontown Fair, a section of the park just for little tykes. We toured Mickey's house and played on the playground. I was hoping Devin would want to ride the kid-sized roller coaster or meet Mickey, but he was more interested in just running around.

We finally pried him away from this area and rode Stitch's Great Escape, where Stitch sneezed on us, burped chili dogs on us (yes, smell included) and generally disgusting. Devin and Todd loved it. This time, I was not impressed.

Finally, we made our way down Main Street to watch the Wishes! Fireworks Show above the castle. Tears of joy flowed again, this time from all three of us.

Our last night was a late one and we zonked out quickly. We woke up on Sunday, got packed up and took our luggage to the front desk. Again, utilizing the Disney Magical Express option, we were able to check in for our flight and check our luggage right there in our hotel. From there, we departed again for the Magic Kingdom, where Devin announced that he was finally ready to ride the Haunted Mansion.

If you remember from my Disney Trip last year, the Haunted Mansion is a family tradition. As a kid, ZZ, our parents and I all laughed at the hilarity of the silly ride, from the paintings in the stretching room, to the ghosts that sit on your lap and follow you home, it's just good fun. To take my kid on it was like passing on a legacy.

So we entered the house, went straight into the stretching room and Devin immediately wanted out. He noticed, though, that one of the portraits in the stretching room was the same as the Haunted Mansion tapestry we have hanging in our house (oh stop laughing) and the familiarity brought him a little bit of peace.

It didn't last long, though, and he was asking to get out. We put him in between us in the Doombuggy and proceed through my favorite attraction.

In the year since I've been there, though, the Haunted Mansion has been remodeled. And the changes are awesome! The hallway of portraits now includes a bay of windows through which lightning lights up the corridor and changes the seemingly benign portraits into hair-raising images of ghost ships, headless horsemen and Medusa-like creatures.

The library, piano room and coffin room are the same, but the scene with the big spider webs is gone, replaced with an Escher-style room filled with staircases going every which way and upside down.

The sceance room is different, too, in that Madame Leota's head is now floating in a crystal ball, instead of sitting on a table.

The best change, though, was the attic scene. Instead of the bride with the red-beating heart, you now enter an attic dedicated to Constance (the new bride) and her many husbands. As you pass each of their Victorian-era wedding portraits, you notice that each of the husbands' heads disappear after a few second, leaving Constance there with a beheaded beau.

You pass one, two, three, four husbands before rounding a corner and meeting Constance herself. She's beautiful, standing there in white, repeating her wedding vows, but in true Disney form, out of nowhere, she produces a silver-edged axe and says, "'Till death to us part..." Yikes.

We got off the ride, with my grinning ear-to-ear and Devin protesting that he will never, ever ride that ride again. I'll just add that to the list of a zillion other rides he'll never get near.

We ate a quick, early lunch, and redeemed our Fast Pass for Peter Pan's Flight, another favorite of mine. Luckily, Devin loved this as well. Whew! I had redeemed myself.

We took another ride on Aladdin's Magic Carpets, rode The Jungle Cruise and hopped a horse on the Carousel.

We ate lunch at the Pirate and Parrot cafe, trying to coax Devin back on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. No dice. He wasn't going to fall for it.

We made one last trek through some shops, picking up souvenirs for the family and a t-shirt for Todd (which, when we got home, we found was a children's size shirt, not adult!) and walked through the castle, back down Main Street. We all paused, in the middle of the street, blew a kiss to the Castle, made a wish and turned our backs on Disney World.

(If you've read this far, leave me a comment. I'd love to know if anyone actually read through this whole thing, despite my warning at the beginning. Just to put it into perspective, it's taken me nearly three hours to create this post.)

After a short delay, we were home by 12:30 a.m. on February 25 and spent the day together today, as a family reunited. We missed the girls terribly and enjoyed spending some time with them.

It was a fantastic trip. A totally different experience from what I had a year ago. This time, I was the mommy, where as last time I was the kid. I loved watching the world of Disney through Devin's eyes, but nothing could have prepared me for how he reacted. He only started to come out of his shell after two days. He was just totally overwhelmed, but in a good way.

Of course, it's all Dev can talk about now. How he talked to Crush, how he ate dinner with Goofy. Suddenly, the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion are his favorite rides and we laugh at how by putting few states between you and a scary ride can really give you a lot of courage. He's excited to take his sisters to meet the princesses (yes, he actually said that) and wants to make sure that the next time, all five of us go. I never saw that coming.

To sum the trip up, I'll recall the conversation I had with D on the Magic Kingdom Railroad. As he sat next to me, quietly watching the scenery go by, he turned to me, with big eyes and a slight smile and whispered, "This is the best time of my life, Mom. Thank you."

And they lived happily ever after.