We all woke up nice and early for the Extra Magic Hours at
Magic Kingdom. Not by choice, but by
Nate’s jumping around on the beds at 6:30 in the morning. Because if he is up, everyone is up. Thanks Nate!
So now the kids were frustrated and overly tired. And being day 6, going to a park everyday, losing
sleep each night, and the general stress of a family vacation with small children finally caught up to Lindsey
in the form of a migraine this morning.
And she was without coffee again to add a little caffeine withdrawal on
top of the migraine. So at 7:00, in the
morning we were already off to a great start at the most magical place on Earth.
"What a great picture boys. Can we get another one?"
"Nate, please?"
"Nope"
We went to Magi Kingdom for our second time this trip and
went to ride the rides that we had missed on the first day. We split from our big group and just went as
a family to Fantasy Land. We found Nate’s
favorite ride, Dumbo. I thought he would
have been too old to enjoy it but he loved it!
He kept requesting to do it over and over again. The lines were not too bad, so we rode it 3
times. There are certain things you will
find at every ride at Disney: long lines, wait times, screaming kids,
frustrated parents, and a ride-themed gift shop. We went into the new “Big Top” gift shop at
the end of the Dumbo ride and partook in all the circus themed crap that Disney
wanted you to buy, to squeeze even more out of your emaciated wallet. But within the store they had a real clown
performing tricks and balancing plates who gave us some personal attention
letting Zachary and Drew try holding a spinning plate. It was fun.
Zachary spinning a plate
Drew spinning a plate
After a few more rides and Lindsey almost peeing behind a
building because she could not find a bathroom, we decided to cancel our lunch
plans and head back to the resort for some much needed R&R. We returned the room and everyone settled in
to bed except me because I was now on a quest to find Lindsey’s missing prescription
sunglasses. The $300 prescription
sunglasses. I took the bus to the Lost
and found building at Magic Kingdom. I
could not believe the sheer number of lost strollers they were loading up onto
a semi-truck when I was there. You don’t
think about too much, but Disney collects more lost strollers than the Little
Mermaid collects “whacha-ma-call-its.” They
brought out a large bin of lost sunglasses from 2 days before when we were at
Animal Kingdom. So in one day at one
Disney park, they had a bin of about 50 different sunglasses that were all lost
on that day. But of all of them, Lindsey’s
glasses were not in there. So if anyone
is going on Expedition Everest in the future, will you please keep your eye out
for her $300 prescription sunglasses, because I am convinced they are still on
the ride somewhere, or the Yeti ate them.
I returned back to the room ready to settle in for my nap,
when I walked into the room with Zachary fully awake and pacing back and forth
chanting “I can’t sleep. I’m not
tired. I can’t sleep. I’m not tired,” and everyone who was trying to sleep,
grinding and gnashing their teeth. At
this point, to save my family, I gave Zachary his Kindle before Lindsey killed
everyone in the room, still dealing with her migraine and trying to sleep it
off. Now you would think he would sit quietly
and play a game on his Kindle while everyone else slept but no. Remember, I too was trying to sleep and my
kids make it their goal to ensure I don’t sleep. So Zachary kept opening the door and walking
outside, to which Lindsey freaks out and wakes me up to yell at Zachary because
to her, obviously there are Pedophiles and Kidnappers waiting outside our door
waiting for a lone kid to step out.
Because that’s what they do. Well
he did it 3 times because he kept saying “I heard a noise.” OF COURSE YOU DID! It’s a resort in the middle of the afternoon
at Disney. A resort housing hundreds
upon hundreds of families and children who will probably be “making noise!” Needless to say, Lindsey did not get her nap
affectively increasing her migraine. We
all ended up getting up and getting ready for dinner. Thanks Zachary!
For dinner, all 18 of us went to Chef Mickey’s. It is a character dinner at the Contemporary
Resort which serves buffet style food while Mickey, Donald, Pluto, Goofy, and
Minnie come around to your table for autographs and pictures. This was one of my favorite dinners. It was very laid back, very loud, and our
children blend in with the rest of the screaming, unruly children. We did not stand out. Referring back to my last blog about buffets,
you will know that my children did not eat a well-balanced meal. Drew ended up eating 2 ice cream cones piled
high and a large bowl of ice cream. Why
not? He had a good dinner of half a roll
and 4 bites of pizza. I did not see what
Zachary had, but he was the one who ended up with a belly ache. Then the characters started coming
around. Nate was initially scared of the
big intimidating characters but after he saw the fun his cousins were having,
he warmed up to them. With each
character, he became more and more comfortable.
And as the sugar started hitting him, he became down right euphoric with
each character visit. Check out these
pics.
The whole group at Chef Mickey's
Grandma getting a Mickey hug.
Grandpa getting a Mickey hug.
Nate was a little hesitant at first.
But once he warmed up to the characters...
...he was obsessed!
Nate even took a picture with Minnie Mouse. Last time we were at Disney, Zachary refused because she was a girl.
He is either trying get Pluto to 'bust it' or about to show him his favorite finger.
Nate said "I love Goofy."
"No, you don't get it Goofy. I love you, man. I am never letting go!"
Until Donald came around.
Wes shows everyone a special trick: Double pickers.
"Look mom. Look what Wes taught me."
But one of my all time favorite videos was when we were leaving, I was able to catch Nate saying good bye to all the characters as we walked out. And I even caught his "Donald Shuffle."
That night after dinner, it was time for the epic light
saber battle. Ben had been asking and
asking for this night the whole trip.
All 10 boys had visited the “make your own light saber” kiosk at Disney
and created their own unique light saber.
And if Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker taught us anything, it was that
the best light saber battles are between family. We all met outside in a grassy area at the
resort. The grassy area was next to a
main sidewalk through the resort buildings but it was not too crowded for 10
boys to swing lighted plastic sticks at each other in the pitch black night. As the epic battle commenced of purple and
red light sabers versus the blue and green light sabers, many things
happened: Drew got hurt, Nate and Wes
were the cutest Jedi as well as the scrappiest, Drew got hurt and came crying
to me, Lindsey and Janie stood on the balcony laughing at the ensuing fight, my
brother Mike and I took up the battle to fight each other at the exact moment a
family walked by long enough to judge the full grown adults playing light
sabers away from their children, Drew go hurt, and finally a mom came out of
her room and told us to keep it down because her kids were asleep at 8:00 at
night.
Zachary raises his double light saber, calls us to order, and the battle begins.
Check our Lincoln's Sith eyes. He really got into character.
With the red light saber in hand, Mike uses a force push on Josh. And Josh loses respect for his father.
"Which end of this light saber do I hit Drew with to make him cry?"
"Found it!"
I did manage to catch a little bit of the epic battle on video. Watch till the end, for the epic conclusion.
Epic conclusion: Drew got hurt.
At the end of the night, after a busy day at Magic Kingdom,
riding rides, eating amazing food, meeting Disney characters and having an epic
light saber battle, we asked the kids what was their favorite part of their day. Zachary’s response: “playing my Kindle.”
Its like when the most popular present at Christmas was the box the toys came in,
The Joyful and Tired Dad
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