June 29, Sunday
I am so exhausted but I'm so grateful
to be in the condo in Orlando! Michael took me to the airport and I made it in plenty of time. I got off the plane and took the little
tram and as soon as I came out Dad was there waiting
for me. He never got the door code or any of the information from the
Summerville resort people. He had tried calling but nobody answered. We drove
around the resort trying to find somebody to talk to but never could. We called
and called and selected the emergency option repeatedly for 45 minutes and
nobody answered. Dad sent an email asking for help at their info email address.
We finally gave up and went to dinner at Bonefish Grill. Before we went in, I
said a prayer for us to bless the food and asked to please help us get this
resolved otherwise we're going to be staying at some random hotel for tonight.
While we were eating dinner, somebody from Casago who rents condos for the
resort (that's who the reservation was through) reached out and we thankfully
got all the information we needed for today and for tomorrow. For some reason
he's not getting the emails from them. Anyway, we
were so relieved to get that taken care of. I think the dinner tasted even
better after that. We finished our dinner and came over to the condo and got
right in and it's perfect. Dad's downstairs and I'm upstairs and it's the same
kind of cute condo that we usually stay in here.
Condo at Summerville Resort
Cute little table if you have small children
My bedroom and bathroom all to myself
June 30, Monday
Today
was stressful but also wonderful but also exhausting. I'm glad I'm here to
help. Dad and I are having such a fun time.
Dad kept shouting, "We're going to Disney World!" He was more excited than the kids!
Hollywood Studios!
I can't share any pictures of the kids because of privacy reasons, but we were definitely a sight all dressed up in our green Ken's Kids t-shirts!
We pulled into the parking lot and they were
just getting out of the van so that was perfect timing. Khadijah and Kaiden were excited and raring to go but
the others were pretty tired. We went to the ticket windows so everybody could
show their Florida resident drivers licenses. I asked the lady for First Visit
pins and Kaiden and Khadijah were excited to get those. They opened up some new
lines on the far side so we got into those and got in quickly. We used the
bathrooms and took a minute to figure out what we wanted to do because the
lightning lanes didn't start till later in the afternoon. Actually, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster was in the morning but most of the lightning lanes were in
the afternoon. Star Tours had only a five-minute wait so I suggested we do that since Kaiden
was excited to see Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. Everyone had fun on Star Tours
except Dad didn't go on it. I'm glad he didn't because it really does jerk you
around quite a bit. Then we headed to Galaxy's Edge. The Smuggler’s Run wait
was only 35 minutes so we did that next. On the way, we were able to see Grogu
and baby Yoda. That's what Kaiden had said he wanted to see the most today and
I'm thrilled that he got to. Everyone
seemed to love the ride. When we got off of Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run, it
was raining. By then, it was time for the big kids to go off to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster so they split off. Pam, Kevin, Dad, and I went with Khadijah and Kaiden
back to the spot where the Mandalorian was. We got some
pictures and they were excited about that. I gave advice on where I thought we should go for lunch. I told them I
thought Backlot Express would be best so that's where we went. I was having an issue trying to get lightning
lanes for a different group of people for the same ride. I thought it was
because we hadn't scanned Dad in for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster so he
walked all the way over there to scan in. After that, he met up with the big kids and they came over to meet me.
While Pam and Kevin ate with the kids, Dad and I went to talk to guest
services. We needed help because Dad and Faith didn’t have a lightning lane for
Safari but everyone else did. A cast member named Phoebe helped us and she
didn’t hesitate to get us those lightning lanes. She also showed me how to book
a lightning lane for the same ride for other people in the group. It turns out
that Dad didn’t need to scan into Rock 'n' Roller Coaster after all. Dad wanted to
give her a tip but she said she couldn’t accept one but he could give her a
cast compliment and she showed him how. Pam and Kevin took the little kids to
their first lightning lane of Alien Flying Saucers. Dad
kept asking if I wanted a Num Num cookie and I couldn't resist.
We met up with Kevin and Pam and the little
kids. I walked them over to Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. Later, I got them a new
lightning lane for the Frozen Ever After show so they did that after Mickey and
Minnie, which they loved. Especially Pam. They really wanted to ride Slinky Dog Dash but
I had to explain to them that we couldn't get a lightning line because they
were already sold out and if they wanted to ride it today they would have to
wait in line. They ended up doing that later, which was great. When they got
out of Frozen, we all met up and went to the Indiana Jones show together.
That's when Kevin and Pam decided to take the kids to Slinky. I had told them
they could go see the Beauty and the Beast show, the Little Mermaid show, or
wait in the Slinky line and they chose Slinky which worked out great. The kids
loved it! I went with the big kids on Tower of Terror. Dad and Hallie didn't
want to go so I went with the others. We had a fun time.
There weren't many more lightning lanes to get
so I got everyone Smugglers Run as a lightning lane and they all went on that.
Dad and I waited for them. After they got off the ride, we saw Rey walking around so they went over to say
hi to Rey and Chewbacca also came out so we all had fun interacting with them and getting
a picture. I was going to take the picture and then Chewbacca motioned to me to
join everyone so that was cute. After that, we went to our lightning lane for Rise of the Resistance. I wanted to make sure they all got scanned in OK since
we had paid for everyone and they started at different times. They all scanned in and Dad and I
waved and said, "Bye, have fun!" They asked if we were going we said no we didn't
get passes for us. The cast member was so sweet. His name is Miguel which I
need to remember so I can do a cast compliment. (I did.) He said, "It's just you two
that aren't going?" I said, "Yes." He's motioned for us to come on
through. I said, "That is so sweet, are you sure?" He
said, "Yeah," and he waved us through and everyone was happy that we could join
them. That was so nice. Plus, it was so sweet of the cast member to do that for
us. We had fun riding it together. Kaiden absolutely loved it! Afterwards I said
to him, "Did you love it or did you really love it?" And he said he really loved
it. I'm so glad that he loves Star Wars because we got to do all the Star Wars things.
Quick photo op with a grumpy stormtrooper
After that, we took a bathroom break
and headed to Toy Story Mania. We all had fun on Toy story Mania. Dad didn't go on it with us because it jerks you around quite a bit, but the kids all had fun. I sat next
to Lexi. I gave her some tips and she did great. After that, Pam and Kevin said they were done and
they needed to get the little kids home and in bed. So, we said goodbye to them. Dad and I stood there with the big kids
wondering what we should do. We decided that there wasn't anything else we
wanted to do at the park because we had already done it all and we may as well
go so we can get some rest. Plus, we wanted to stop at the store and get a
couple of things. We stood in line at Woody's lunchbox so everybody could get
an ice water and then we were going to go. Then it was funny because Faith
answered the phone and it turns out it was Pam telling her that they're coming
back and wondering where they were because the kids begged to stay and they
agreed to do it. Dad and I said our goodbyes and headed back to the condo. First, we went to Publix. Then we went to Cracker
Barrel for dinner. That was a nice break. Then we headed
back to the condo and went to bed.
July 1, Tuesday
We
were pretty sure that the kids weren't going to go to the park early but we
really wanted to go to Tron so we did. We left the condo about 8:45 AM and got
to Magic Kingdom by about 9:30 AM.
Our obligatory picture at the Magic Kingdom entrance from the parking lot
We decided to take the railroad and get off at Fantasyland
which is right next to the Tron ride. The wait time for Tron was about 70 minutes and it
went pretty quickly.
Tron is the best!
Once we got off the ride we asked where
they were so we could meet them and they said they were at the entrance so we met them at the
castle and got a picture.
Fun fact, because the cost of a four-day ticket was only a few dollars more than a three-day, Dad bought all the kids and chaperones a four-day ticket and then they came back to Magic Kingdom to use it later. So this picture wasn't taken when I was there, but it's the only one of the kids that I can post.
The first thing we did was walk over to the Bibbidi Bobbidi
Boutique. Dad was able to surprise Khadijah and tell her about it. She smiled so big and looked up
at him and said, “I get to be a princess?” It was so sweet. It was tricky for him to even get the appointment, and he was so grateful it worked out. We were waiting a
few more minutes till it was time to check her in. The big kids we're debating
if they wanted to go to Tron. I told them that this was the perfect time because
in the afternoon we have back-to-back lightning lanes and right now we're kind
of just killing time so it was perfect. It turns out that was great advice because it was pouring rain in
the evening so I'm glad they went. They took Kaiden with them. I was concerned
that Khadijah would feel bad but when we asked her if she wanted to do the
ride or the princess makeover she said, "I want to be a princess." So
that was settled. So, Kaiden joined the big kid group and they all went on it
and he loved it. Dad and I got some food because apparently it's a 90 minute
experience. We got him a mobile order at Pinocchio
Village Haus. Then I went to get my cheeseburger spring rolls finally and I
got a waffle at Sleepy Hollow and met him over there. That Pinocchio Village
Haus was packed. We sat there enjoying our lunch and then by the time we were
done eating they were done with the princess experience so we met everybody at
Peter Pan.
Then I got a lightning lane for the tea cups and
they loved that. They liked Peter Pan, too. Then we had to get to Pirates so I
suggested that we take the train to save us some walking so that's what we did.
Pirates was fun. Their next lightning lane was for Space Mountain and
we had been trying to figure out when to have lunch and I told them that it's
probably best to go to Space Mountain before lunch and everyone agreed so that's what we did. I had them give me their order for Cosmic Rays
and then they went to Space Mountain and then the rest of us got on the train
and we all met at Cosmic Rays. Lunch was a little chaotic but we were able to
find three tables together so that was nice. Andrew called but I only had a
couple minutes to talk to him and he had to get off anyway. Next, we took Kaiden and Khadijah on Buzz Lightyear and then on Tomorrowland Speedway. I really didn't want to ride
that ride but Khadijah begged me to go with her so I did. Kevin went with Kaiden.
Dad and Pam were sitting over by the Starlite Café so we went
and join them and we sat around trying to figure out what to do. Next thing we
know, it started to rain. I had set up lightning lanes for everybody, like it's a small
world and the Little Mermaid for the little kids and they could've also gone to Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor or we could've gone on the People Mover but the rain
ruined all that. I also set up some lightning lanes for the bigger kids while
we sat there. There weren't very many lightning lanes left, actually. By 6 PM, we decided to brave the rain and walk over to Mickey’s
Philharmagic. The kids loved it! They kept trying to reach out at the 3-D images. It was so cute. When we
came out of that, it was still pouring rain and everybody was putting their
ponchos back on. By then, they were just done and we walked out of the
park. It was so
cute today how both Khadijah and Kaiden kept looking at me and saying I want to
ride with you! They also enjoyed riding with Dad. We said goodbye to them and headed for the monorail. We had thought about some
takeout options but we figured Olive Garden wouldn't take too long so we went
there and enjoyed our food. Then we headed back
to the condo and got out of our wet clothes and got ready for bed.
July 2, Wednesday
This
morning, we got up and ready and cleaned everything up and packed up the truck.
It was a little before 9 AM when we left. We drove over to the other condo and
the sedan was already gone so Faith and Hallie and the three older kids were
already there doing their Expedition Everest lightning lane. We waited for
Kevin and Pam who were still packing up when we saw them. At Animal Kingdom, we all met up together and headed
over to the Safari.
We got a picture in front of the Tree
of Life. The Safari was amazing!
The lion is laying on the second rock from the left.
We saw two lions laying there and then
another lion standing regally so I got a picture. The kids got to
see so many animals and it was really cool. Afterwards, I suggested they might
like to go on the gorilla trail since we were right by it. The little kids were
pretty excited about that. When they came in and we were first headed towards
the Safari, there was a wilderness explorer station and they stopped and got a
little booklet of things to find in the park and they were so excited about it.
It was so cute. So Kaiden kept asking if he could go see all the things on the
map. I told him he needed to find them as we go places and he found quite a few
while we were there. After that, all the kids went on the Kali River Rapids ride with their lightning lane. We held their bags for them and I got all of their
lunch orders before they left. Then we went over to Flame Tree Barbecue to reserve
some seats and they met us over there. We had a nice little area in the shade
and it was pretty quiet and there was a place for everyone to sit and it was
nice. It was nice for them to have something other than chicken
and fries. Next it was time to head over to Avatar Flight of Passage. Everyone but Pam rode Flight of Passage and the kids loved it!
It was so fun! Even the big kids who had been to Disney World before had never ridden it so that was fun to experience with them. After that, they shopped in the store just outside the ride for
quite a while. By then, it was getting close to 2:30 PM and I was getting
nervous that we should probably leave so I could get to the airport. I suggested that the younger kids could
start their lightning lane for Na’vi River journey and Hallie had figured out that
if they waited until 12:45 PM that everyone could go on it together and I said
yes that's true so that's what we did. We all rode Na'vi River Journey and then after that we headed
out. Dad took me to the airport and we got there around 4 PM. As we were
driving, I got a notification that my flight was delayed. It ended up being
delayed two hours. It was absolutely pouring outside. I know I was very tired today because I was able to sleep
for about two hours on the flight. I was on the plane for about five hours so
that was a long day but I'm glad to be home. I've never been so relieved to
have Michael come pick me up at the airport because that would've been awful to
have to take the Skytrain, find the car, and drive all the
way home. I was glad to see the boys. We had a family prayer
and I went to bed. It's been a wonderful trip but I'm completely mentally and
physically exhausted and glad to be home for the next month.
I'm so glad I was able to go on this trip! It was wonderful to help with the kids, but even better to have some one-on-one time with Dad!
