DISNEY WORLD

This weekend we had the opportunity to go to Disney World for the first time as a family. Some of us have been separately, either as children or with grandparents, but this was the first time we were there all together. We had soooo much fun! We got up at 5am on Saturday morning and drove down to Orlando. We got to the Magic Kingdom and the first thing the kids wanted to ride was Space Mountain. We rode a few more rides in Tommorrowland and then ventured over to see Mickey's PhilharMagic. That was one awesome show!

The best thing that ever happened to Disney was the invention of the Fast Pass. With FP we never waited in a line more than 10 minutes. It was a wonderful way to be able to experience so much more in a day's time. Not all the rides had the FP option, so we would get our Fast Passes to one ride, go ride another that had a shorter line, then come back.

The weather was great; aside from the typical afternoon Florida thunderstorm. It only rained for about 45 minutes, but the rest of the day was overcast and breezy. It made being outside all day a little more enjoyable. Greg and I had fun trying to figure out how much money Disney made in one day on ponchos alone.

When we weren't on rides, the kids were busy trading pins with all of the cast members. I don't think there's a cast member in the park we didn't meet while there! I must admit, they got some really cool pins and I was just as excited as they were to see what new pin they would get next. The kids also worked and earned money for the trip, so we shopped in every store in the Magic Kingdom. There was a role reversal of sorts when we had to beg them to stay out of the shops!

A DAY WITH THE FAMILY AT DISNEY: $500
GAS, FOOD & LODGING: $250
OUR HOTEL EXPERIENCE: PRICELESS

Our day of fun ended at the strike of Midnight and we ventured on to our hotel. I should have known what kind of experience it was going to be when the hotel advertised it was 1.5 miles from Disney, when in reality it was 10! Upon arrival, I went to check in and the hotel informed me that altough I had made reservations with an online agency, the hotel had never received my reservation. So, of course, the suite that I reserved which slept 6 was not available. Their best offer: a room with a king bed. I was not in the mood at 1 am to be humored by her best suggestion as to how we would fit 6 people into a king bed, so I never bothered to even ask. I kindly explained to her (in my worn out, been at a theme park all day, nice voice) that a room w/ a king bed wouldn't work so she offered me a king suite with a fold out couch. We were on a roll...from a bed for 2 to sleeping arrangements for 4. Her next best offer was that they could provide us with 2 rollaways, but what she probably wasn't aware of was the fact that I had just overheard her conversation with a co-worker about how there were 3 people requesting roll-aways and none were left. Nevertheless, she promised me that 2 would be delivered to our room (upstairs w/no elevator because these were condo style villas) in less than 15 minutes. So a little after 2am we ventured to room 521 and began to unpack.

I turned on the TV while we were getting things situated and it started making this funny sound. So I turned to see what the problem was and the TV had smoke billowing out of it. We were hastily moving our luggage because I just knew at any moment the sprinkler system was going to activate. Luckily, that never happened, but I ran to the front desk and informed her of the situation. I know she probably thinks I sabotaged the thing out of revenge, but I swear I had nothing to do with the smoked television. She informed us that we would have to change rooms - because you know how important TV was going to be to us at 2am - so we packed everything up and changed rooms. Now in room 510, it was approximately 2:45 and I was placing my 4th call to the front desk for the 2 roll-aways that had been promised to us an hour before. Finally, we had a knock on the door and to my surprise, ONE roll-away was delivered. Greg was frustrated and said he was going to call for another one, but I didn't want to stay up for another hour waiting on them to deliver yet another bed. Who even knows where the first one had come from... they probably had to rent it from another hotel. While I was at the front desk I asked for a late checkout. Apparently, that never got put in the system either because at 8 am the lovely maids were a knockin...knock, knock, knock..."housekeeping." They knocked a second time a little while later but never returned after that time...it must have been something I said to them in a not so pleasant I'm trying to sleep because I've been at Disney all day and was waiting for a bed til 3 am tone, but I'm not quite sure. When we finally did check out, I had words with the manager. Anyone that knows me knows I wasn't going to let the hotel get off easy, but I was very nice to him in explaining our adventurous stay on the property. He issued me a certificate for a free night's stay (apparently the enthusiaism in my voice was screaming out "I want to have another experience like this"), I kindly thanked him and we were on our way.

Overall, we are very grateful for the opportunity we had to enjoy a day with the Mouse. Disney World truly is a magical place. I felt so much like a kid again there. And it was great to leave the world behind and experience a day of fun as a family. Hopefully, this is just the first of many more trips to Disney...and if were adventurous enough, maybe at least one more trip to The Palms hotel.