Orlando, FL....again

A man should never neglect his family for business. ~~Walt Disney

We had already scheduled a trip to Orlando for the weekend so that we could make good use of the annual passes that we purchased. Our plans were to meet up with Thomas, Nicola and their children for the weekend. As it turned out, I was requested to stay the following week for business so Jeff and the children stayed with me and we enjoyed Orlando for the entire week.

We spent the weekend with Thomas, Nicola, Britney (& Ricky, Britney's boyfriend), Trenton, and Trevor (aka "The Bear"). We arrived Friday afternoon. We spent Saturday at the Magic Kingdom and Sunday at MGM Studios. Thomas and family joined us at Fort Wilderness Sunday evening for dinner at our camper. We grilled burgers and hotdogs and then spent a short time at the Fort Wilderness outdoor theater enjoying s'mores.

Thomas and family returned home on Monday and we continued our stay through the week. We went to Sea World on Monday. We ate lunch at the Sharks Grill and the girls enjoyed the water play area in the afternoon. We sat in the splash zone for the Shamu show and Rachel was panicking at first. We were high enough that we didn't get wet but she was still fretting over it for the beginning of the show.




For the remainder of the week, we hit various parks as time allowed after I was done with work Tuesday-Thursday. Some firsts for us on this trip included Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom. We never did this ride previously because we were there when the weather was cooler and a water ride never seemed appealing. Anna loved the ride. Rachel hated it and vows to never get on it again. Rachel isn't too keen about getting water in her face and she got pretty wet on the ride.

I took Anna on the Kali River Rapids ride at the Animal Kingdom. We both got soaked but loved the ride anyway. Rachel rode Mount Everest at the Animal Kingdom on this trip. She loved the ride and keeps calling it "Mount Neverest." And, we all rode Test Track together at Epcot for the first time on this trip. The children weren't tall enough to ride it with us before this trip. Rachel, Jeff and I all rode Mission Space on this trip as well. Anna was still too small to ride Mission Space. I did the wimpy version with Rachel and Jeff did the full version alone. Honestly, there are much better rides than Mission Space. I've flown in a real aircraft and pulled real Gs. I don't need a simulator for this thrill and I knew it would make me nauseous anyway. I've never been able to stomach the simulator rides very well or any ride that goes fast backwards.

Our friend, Roger, joined us a few nights and hung out with us as well. It's always great to see Roger!
We also watched the Spectro Magic Parade one night at the Magic Kingdom. It reminded me a lot of the electric light parade of old. It was nice to see once but overall we skip many of the parades...if you've seen one....you've seen 'em all pretty much. We'd rather be on the rides!

Rachel also got to meet Captain Jack Sparrow on this trip and she was dubbed an honorary pirate. She's pretty proud of her certificate. And, I have to admit, the cast member looked just like Captain Jack Sparrow.


Having annual passes has been great. It removes the pressure to squeeze everything in to a short period. And, honestly, you can't see everything in a short period anyway. There is just too much to see and do at each of the parks. I could spend days at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot alone. We had planned to return this summer for the Star Wars time period at MGM but I think we have reconsidered that trip. I just can't imagine standing in 100 degree heat when its packed beyond belief.

I received notification while we were out of town that Anna was selected for the 4-year old pre-k program at the local public school for the fall. Children locally are selected by lottery for the 4-year old program so we were one of the lucky families selected. Now, Rachel and Anna will both be going to the same school and Rachel will be starting kindergarten in the fall. I'm glad we got the annual passes this year so we could really get our moneys worth from them. When they are both in school full time, we won't have the luxury of going any time of the year that we want like we have done this year.

In the end, I think Walt had it right when he said, "a man should never neglect his family for business." Life is too doggone short and in my case, I actually got to to mix a little bit of business and family together this past week and it made for a nice long visit with Mr. Disney's theme parks. We had a blast!