Disney

Today is day three of our Disney World trip in Orlando, Florida. I won the trip in a drawing at work. You get your name put in the drawing when you provide a good work experience for a client or co-worker. So far, 3 out of the 4 drawings winners have been from my interface team. The prize includes 3 nights stay, 3 day park hopper pass to all parks, and airfare. We didn't decide until beginning of February that we wanted to go to Florida during John's spring break. Not the greatest time to go since that's when everyone else in the world goes, right? Oh well. I had to use the tickets in a year and I had won them in September or October. Well, I didn't tell our company travel agent until beginning of February that we wanted to go Mid-March, so she wasn't able to find us a hotel on the Disney property. So instead we're staying at Homewood Suites (Hilton chain) on International Drive. A two bedroom suite - one bedroom has two double beds and the other has a king-size bed. Then it has a common room with sofa, arm chair, dining table with 2 chairs, stove, dishwasher, microwave, sink, and cabinets. Plus all the plates/cups/silverware that you'd need. Very nice.
We took Southwest and arrived around noon on Monday 3/21. Got to the hotel around 2 PM. Then to Disney MGM Studios around 4. The kids loved it even though it poured buckets. I had bought the kids and John and myself rain poncho's - a tip from some Disney and travel websites. We also brought our double stroller that has canopies over each seat. The kids were pretty dry except for their feet (soaked from the run from the car to the parking tram). Parking is pretty convenient because there's a tram train that drives up and takes you to the park. The only inconvenient thing is folding up the double stroller to stick in the tram.
So at MGM Studios, we saw a Little Mermaid show - very cool. It was part laser show, movie, and actors. The beginning had actors all dressed in black holding puppets of fish and Sebastien the lobster. There must have been black lighting or something because you couldn't see the people unless you squinted and stared really hard. We had seats in the 2nd row too. The line also wasn't too long because it was raining and probably less people at the park. There was no line at all to get in to Playhouse Disney's show. We saw Bear in the Big Blue House, Stanley, Roley Poley Olie, and best of all, Pooh Bear. Asia really got excited when Pooh Bear and his friends came out on stage to sing. They were mostly all puppets. Very neat. Also both shows had special effects like bubbles coming down on to the audience. And none of it was scary for Zach. I thought he might get scared when lights went out or in Little Mermaid when the scary Octopus witch comes out. He was fine the whole time.
Wednesday, we went to Epcot. It was a beautiful day. It was supposed to have thunderstorms, but that ended up not hitting til way past bedtime. It was so hot! John paid ten dollars for sun screen. Again, the kids has a good time. We were there from about 11 AM til 3 PM. A little too long for the kids since they started to get too wild and grumpy. There was still so much to see at Epcot. We went into one exhibit that was all about fire safety, TV, and video games. Then we went to World Showcase for lunch. We were pretty hungry so we didn't see most of the different countries and made a beeline for Germany. We ate at a great buffet restaurant that had live German dancing and music. Outside was a model train station that Zach and Asia didn't want to leave. While I was with the kids watching the trains go around (and little lizards jumping around), Zach accosted a curly headed boy and gave him a tour of the train yard. He kept his arm at the kids back and was telling him, "And look at this train there! And this one little one!" It was pretty funny. The little boy's mom and I laughed. Good thing she laughed, too. Wouldn't want her to wonder why this strange boy won't take his hand off of her son's back.
Then we visited the China exhibit and got some paper masks. Also a bus of Disney characters was driving around the park so the kids got to see Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy, etc. Zach said he didn't like the character's costumes, but at the same time, he was intrigued. Asia kept wanting to see Goofy and Mickey. We got back to the hotel around 3 and then went swimming in the hotel pool. The water was freezing! We still had fun. They also had a jacuzzi, so the kids stayed in that most of the time. After about 1 1/2 hours, we went back to our room where Asia took a long nap - maybe another 1 1/2 hours. Ordered out at the restaurant near the hotel, called Bahama Breeze. Then by the time dinner was over, it was already 8 PM. Too late to go to the parks for the kids (Magic Kindom was open til midnight, the rest of the parks closed around9). So we went for a walk down International Drive to a nearby mall. The mall courtyard had a fountain that you could run in - Zach did that and played with another little boy at the park. Then I went shopping at one of the stores and bought myself 2 shirts and Asia one shirt - all for 25 dollars! The kids were pretty tired and we returned home around 10 PM. What a day!