Spring Vacation - Part II

May 2, 2010

3733 km

On May 1, we travelled from Regina to Toronto, went through customs, then flew to Orlando. We arrived at 11PM, caught the Magic Express, and travelled to our Disney resort - Saratoga Springs. I didn't take any pictures of the inside because by the time we got to sleep it was at least 1AM, and then our stuff was all over, the sofa bed was made up, and there was really no point.

Our room at Saratoga Springs was in the Congress Park area (across the lake from Downtown Disney) - 1 of over 5100 rooms at that resort. Mind boggling.
Our villa building at Saratoga Springs
The boys on the balcony our first morning. They were so happy to be out in the warmth!

After the previous day of travelling, and not getting to sleep until so late, we all slept in until 11:30AM. We sent Craig off to get our rental car while I got the boys up and dressed. It was perfect timing - he pulled up just as we got downstairs because I couldn't stall to keep them holed up in the room any longer!

We were off to Downtown Disney for our first meal. I had made reservations at the T-Rex Restaurant - fortunately, for 2PM - which we just barely made! I thought this was a perfect surprise, given the kids' interest in dinosaurs. Turns out it was "kinda loud and scary". There were gigantic dinosaurs all around the restaurant that moved and roared. In the middle was the ice cave, which changed colours - we were in a sort of rainforest section. Every 15 minutes or so, a meteor shower went off, which meant flashing lights, booming sounds like thunder, and all the dinosaurs roaring at the same time. Yeah, it was kinda loud and scary for lunch!


After lunch we drove to Craig's favourite store in all of Florida, Bass Pro Shops. His pretence for going is to buy clothes - particularly silk Hawaiian shirts. What will he say next time, since they don't carry them anymore? He had a quick look around at other things, but admittedly not a lot of time was spent there.

He couldn't even stay awake for 9 hours.

May 3, 2010

The Magic Kingdom! A relatively short day at the park, followed by running out for snacks for the room, juice, adult drinks, and breakfast supplies. This is the day we realized what a bad cycle Logan was falling into, with falling asleep at around 5, not being able to sleep in bed until after midnight, and being incredibly grumpy in the morning.

Ahhhh.... Back in the Magic Kingdom!	Awesome rented stroller - plus a family ready for a holiday
Restaurant fun	Mickey peanut butter & jelly sandwich
It's a Small World	My Grandma and Grandpa and I went on this ride when they took me to Disneyworld. We went on, um, a couple of times.
A picture of the inside, for Grandma	Standing in the castle, looking back down Main Street
Looking up at the castle	Coming back from grocery shopping

May 4, 2010

This was a rest day. We hoped to get Logan back on a regular sleep schedule. It was also our last day at Saratoga Springs, and we hadn't even been in the pool yet. So we got up, ate and got changed.

Our previous attempts at swimming at Disney have run up against a (gasp!) stubborn Logan, who always says no, and so Liam and Craig go swimming. Amazingly, this time Logan worked in one of his new, favourite, phrases. "I will never go swimming. I will never put on my swimming trunks." You can imagine how shocked we were. So we told him that he didn't have to go in the pool, but that we were all putting our swimsuits on, and he would be much more comfortable and cool if he did, too. We were shocked when this worked.

So we walked over to the main pool - about 5-10 minutes. Logan and Liam started off in the Donald Duck spray area, while Mom and Dad cooled off with some Mommy and Daddy drinks. Hey, I even got the kids a smoothie! Then Liam couldn't wait anymore. He had seen the slide when we arrived. We actually had to cross the bridge over it to get to our table. While I took Logan to the bathroom, he saw the zero-entry into the pool. Maybe because Liam's favourite pool activity used to be jumping off the edge and Craig catching him, Logan thought that was the only way to get in? After seeing that he could just walk in, though, he couldn't wait either.

We got them some lifejackets and in we went. Liam is paddling completely on his own now, although we haven't tried him without the life jacket. After a couple of trips, he was going up and down the slide alone, too, with a parent to catch him at the bottom. It took Logan about 15 minutes of clinging to me like a baby monkey before he let me hold him in front. Then he let me carry him through the water. Then he started paddling while I held him. Then he didn't want to be touched anymore. After a couple of hours at the pool, the boy who would "never get in the pool" was "never going to get out of the pool." And neither was his big brother. But it was time, and we were hungry, so we popped into the cafeteria-style restaurant and grabbed a bite. Then back to the room to get showered up and ready for supper.

Supper was at Kouzzina by Cat Cora, located at the Boardwalk. Once we were ready and in the car - nearly running late again - we realized that we had no idea where to go. I assumed that the Boardwalk was someplace like Downtown Disney - an entity separate from a resort or park. But all we could find was the Boardwalk resort. I remembered reading about a fancy restaurant on the Boardwalk, so we punched that into the GPS, it showed up and we followed it. Turns out you have to go into the resort, then out the other side. And how fortunate that the Flying Fish is two doors down from Kouzzina.

We had a couple of minutes to spare, so we waited in the candy store next door for our pager to go off. It went off and we went to park the stroller to go in. Then we realized Logan had done it again. Sound asleep. Sigh. So much for that plan. They took away a chair at the table and we wheeled him up. After an excellent meal, we went out through the candy shop, and I waited outside while Craig and the boys in the stroller browsed. Out they came, with Logan wide awake. He woke up inside and asked Craig for a drink, oblivious to the fact that he slept through supper. He woke up exactly where he fell asleep, and he was a little thirsty! So Craig bought him a drink and we went on our way. Yes, we fed him later, back in the room....

Having fun splashing. No pictures of swimming, as we were actually all in the pool!	Supper at Kouzzina
The Boardwalk	As we were leaving, a juggler came out to do a show, but we couldn't stay.
Mmmmm.... supper.	Sleeping through yet another supper. Are you keeping count?
Pretending to eat the chocolate from my dessert. Camera went click. And... chomp, chocolate gone.	"How come I'm so hungry?" "Not me, I just finished a sundae!"