We're going to Disney World!!! Part 2: Day 1, A Very Long Day Indeed!

Day 1: Sunday, November 14

12:01 a.m.: I'm packed and ready to go and have been in bed since 9:15, but seem unable to sleep. Which is frustrating because I have to get up in less than 5 hours. I haven't slept well all week and having a serious sleep deficit is not the way I wanted to start my vacation.

5:45 a.m: We're on the road to the airport! Our flight leaves at 8:05 a.m. from Flint and I hope we've allowed ourselves enough time to make it. I'm a little anxious, and rightfully so, since the last time my family flew we didn't give ourselves enough time and missed our flight. Even my niece said to me last night, "You guys better not miss the plane this time Auntie Jen!!!"

6:45 a.m.: We've joined the other members of our party and are standing in the ticket line waiting to check our luggage. We did a weight check on our two suitcases last night and both were under 50 pounds (one was 46 and the other was 49), but after stuffing a few last minute items in our large suitcase, it is over the limit and we have to reorganize. Still, we have plenty of time. The beauty of the Flint airport is that it is usually pretty quiet and the security lines are short and fast.

8:15 a.m.: We're airborne and up in the clouds! This is the first flight that Nicholas and Victoria remember and they are very excited. Nicholas is awestruck by the fact that we are above the clouds and parallel with the sun. Michael keeps himself busy with something new - Star Wars Mad Libs.I was hoping that we'd all get some sleep on the plane but only Jeff and Dad manage to get some shut-eye.

10:30 a.m.: We have landed and are on our way to the Disney Magical Express line. From here we'll make our way onto a bus that will take us to our resort. We were unsure about using this free shuttle service because I'd read reviews from people who had spent a long time (up to 2 hours) waiting for their bus to fill and also from people who had been on the bus for an extended period of time because their resort was the last stop. We wanted to get to our hotel as quickly as possible so we could get to Epcot. However, the alternative was to take a limo or van service which, because we had a party of 9, would cost about $100 one way. We decided that money could be better spent in the parks. So we gambled on the Magical Express and hoped it was a relatively quick and positive experience.

12:00 p.m.: Our gamble paid off. The bus filled up quickly, the kids enjoyed the ride, and our resort was not the last stop on the bus route. Here we are at Port Orleans French Quarter! While my mom, dad, Jeff, and Jon check in, the kids watch Disney cartoons in the lobby and trade pins with the hotel staff.

Pin trading is a fun activity that the kids can take part in almost wherever they are in Walt Disney World. This is how it works: kids buy the metal pins at Disney or on-line through the Disney Store, wear them on a lanyard or display them on their shirt, and then they can trade pins with any cast member. The cast member has to make a trade as long as the pin is an official Disney pin (the pin will say so on the back). It's a great way for kids to collect special souvenirs of their trip. However, these pins are not cheap - they cost anywhere from $6 and up per pin!

Luckily I read that you can buy pins on Ebay and they are a lot cheaper. I bought 35 pins for $33 (including shipping), which equals out to just over $1 per pin, a huge savings. These pins most likely aren't going to be the pins with 2010 on them, but we got a decent assortment of characters and the kids were delighted to have 10 pins each to start with.

Meanwhile, Janet and I try to organize our carry-on luggage (our checked luggage will be delivered to our rooms later by the Magical Express people). After we check in and eat lunch we are going to Epcot so we need to transfer our park essentials to our backpacks: autograph books, pen, kids' lanyards with pins, sunglasses, hats, sunscreen, and snacks.

Speaking of snacks, I wonder if the food we ordered from Gardengrocer.com has arrived yet. Even though the Disney Dining Plan is included in our package (which means that we get one breakfast or lunch, one snack, and one sit-down meal per day), we decided that we were going to need to supplement it with breakfast foods and snack foods. We all had packed cereal and a few other snacks in our luggage, but had ordered juice, milk, mini bagels, yogurt drinks, bananas, applesauce, chips/pretzels, and water (which was $6.99 for a flat of 32 bottles vs. the Disney park price of $3.00 per bottle). It seemed like a lot of food but Janet and I always like to have more than we need "just in case", for a hungry kid is an unhappy kid. Our total, including a $12 delivery charge, tax, and tip, was $100 and much cheaper (we figured) than buying food in the parks.

Just as I speak of the food to my husband he gets a text message from the hotel that says they have our food. Perfect timing as our rooms are ready and we can now haul everything up.

1: 30 p.m.: We've checked out our rooms, which are in a great location - right by the pool, playground, restaurant, and lobby; eaten lunch at said restaurant (which has a well-needed rejuvinator); and are on the bus to Epcot!

2:00 p.m.: The kids are enthralled with the "big ball" of Epcot! Michael poses for a picture while Victoria gets an autograph and picture with Daisy Duck. We get a group shot taken by the ball by a PhotoPass photographer. These photographers are strategically located throughout the parks and their sole purpose is to take your picture. You give them a PhotoPass card, they scan it, and take your picture. You can visit various locations throughout the parks to view the pictures or view them on-line. At the end of your visit you can edit the pictures and purchase them individually at $14.97 for two 4X6's or buy a CD of your pictures for $149.95 (nothing is cheap at Disney!). We pre-ordered the CD before we left at a special price of $99.95. Splitting the cost 3 ways made that a little easier to swallow.

Everyone is anxious to start having fun so I glance at my plan for the day. Soarin', one of Epcot Future World's newest and most popular rides, is number one on the list. However, on the way there we see that the wait for it is currently 60 minutes, so I go to Plan B, which is to send everyone to The Seas With Nemo and Friends attraction while my mom and I go get a Fastpass for Soarin'. Fastpasses are the best thing that happened to Disney World. They allow you to return to the attraction at a later time and essentially go to the front of the line.

We're lucky - we get some of the last Fastpasses of the day. Our return time is from 7:20 - 8:20 p.m., which should work well since we can go on it after dinner at 6:15.

There is no wait at The Seas w/Nemo and Friends so we board our clamshells and take a tour through a Nemo-themed adventure, which is basically a 5-minute ride through a giant aquarium full of fish and the Nemo characters from the movie. I thought it was kind of lame and Janet noticed that the story line was out of order, but I think the kids liked it.

After Nemo, we head over to Turtle Talk with Crush, an interactive and highly recommended show in which the Nemo character Crush actually talks with the audience. This show is a hoot! The highlight comes when Crush asks one little boy what it is like to be a human. The boy responds in all seriousness, "Well, first of all, life is full of disappointments."

We are laughing so hard I think we're going to fall off our benches. Crush immediately responds, "Well, little dude, that's how we learn and grow!" What a comeback! Bravo, Crush! Our kids are going to hear that one-liner a lot.

Next on the list is Mission:Space, another new ride at Epcot. Essentially it is a simulation of a rocket mission to Mars. There are two versions - the orange version in which your inital take-off is pretty serious, creating g-force and spinning; and the green version, which is less intense. My mom, dad, and I take the 3 kids on the green version; Jon and Jeff decide to try the orange version; and Janet, who gets motion sickness, decides to sit this one out.

The waiting time for our line is supposed to be 5 minutes but we end up waiting about 20 minutes, while Jon and Jeff speed through their line, which had a supposed waiting time of 20 minutes, so we think Disney got their lines mixed up.

Now I'm a roller coaster junkie, but I have to admit that I am a little nervous about going on this ride. I've never been on anything like it before and am not sure how I, or the kids, will handle the take-off or being enclosed in a tight space. While we are waiting to board we are shown a video in which actor Gary Sinise explains our "mission" to us. When he says that we will go into hyper-sleep for 3 months on the way to Mars, Nicholas pulls on my sleeve and says, "Mom, I don't want to go on this ride!" I reassure him that the ride is just pretend and is not real and he relents, although reluctantly.

Finally, it is our turn. We get into the ride - Mom, Victoria, Nicholas, and I in one "ship" and my dad and Michael in another. The control panel closes in on us and I take a deep breath. Ok, I don't feel too closed in, I can handle this. I try to appear calm because I know that Nicholas is not. Then we take off. It feels like we are going up, but it is not as dramatic as I had envisioned. One glance at Nicholas shows that he is smiling.

I'm not going to give away the whole ride but when we are done and I ask the kids how they liked it, they all shout, "It was awesome!!!" On the way out Nicholas asks me if we are still up in space. Gotta love the magic of Disney combined with the innocence of a 5-year-old!

Next it is off to Test Track. Here the wait is 60 minutes but we don't need to get a Fastpass this time. We have our own version with us in the form of a GM worker - Jeff. GM employees get to show their business card and take the back way to the beginning of the line, so that's what we do. Janet joins us this time because roller coasters don't usually bother her. I've been on Test Track before but I don't remember getting a "tickle tummy" during the last part when the speed of the car tops 60 mph. When we get off the ride all the kids want to ride it again, speed junkies that they are.

We look at the time and see that it is almost time for dinner, but we have time to squeeze in a few more rides. I'd read positive things about a ride in World Showcase's Norway called The Maelstrom so we head there. In this ride you take a viking ship through old Norway and can even get wet. As it turns out, this ride is very lame! Luckily there is no wait and it is a relatively quick ride. Onto the next thing, which is a ride in Mexico, where we are having dinner.

On the way there, we stop to get pictures and autographs with Donald Duck. By the time the kids (and my dad, a true Donald Duck fan) are done with this they are getting whiny, a sure sign that they are tired and hungry. Actually, I think we all are - it has been a very, very long day. Our dinner reservation is for 6:15 at San Angel Inn, a Mexican restaurant inside a pyramid, but it is only 5:30. Luckily we are able to get a table earlier than our reservation, so we opt not to go on the 3 Caballeros ride.

 I love authentic Mexican food and had chosen this restaurant for our first meal. And the food is really good, albiet a little oniony, as is the ambiance - every so often a volcano in the distance appears to be erupting (Nicholas is worried that it is a real one). However, if I had to do it over again I would have picked a different restaurant for the first night, one that was a little more kid-friendly.

After dinner we are all ready to go back to the hotel but we have one more ride to go on: Soarin'. So we load up the strollers with tired kids and walk back across the Future World to The Land Pavilion, which is where Soarin' is located. We show our Fastpasses and walk right to the front of the line. We still have a bit to wait, which is good since Nicholas decides that he has to go to the bathroom. But the wait is so worth it! Soarin' turns out to be one of our favorite rides! You really do feel like you are flying over different landscapes. We are glad we saved the best for last. There is a lot we didn't get to in Epcot but we did a lot in the time we had.

By the time we get back to the French Quarter it is after 8:30 p.m. and everyone is tired, especially me. Janet, Mom, and Victoria ask if I want to join them in the hot tub but I decline. Tomorrow is a big day - we are going to the Magic Kingdom - and I need to get some R & R. I think I am asleep by 10:00 p.m.