Walt Disney World Trip Report Day 6: Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Wednesday was our late start day.  We had lunch reservations in Italy at Via Napoli at 11:30 so we’d planned to sleep in and arrive in time for our reservations.  It was so nice to have a day we didn’t get up before 6am.  We arrived at the World Showcase rope drop a few minutes before 11 and waited until they let us through. We then proceeded to Italy. 

Via Napoli pizza was delicious.  I didn’t care as much for the crust, but the actual pizza itself was wonderful.  We ordered a split pizza – half cheese for the kids, half pepperoni, peppers and onions for me and Jon.  We had a mezzo metro pizza and there were only two pieces left.  Great way to start the day.

 

 

From there, we went to the American Theater to let the kids watch The American Adventure.  I think Dakota liked it ok.  I’m sure it’s a little boring to kids, but I wanted him to have a few educational things to do since he was missing school this week.

After The American Adventure, we started back around the world towards Mexico.  We stopped briefly in China to grab a few things, and again in Mexico.  We did do the tour inside Mexico.  It was the longest line I’d ever seen for that ride, but it moved quickly.  Once we were through with it, we were headed to let Dakota ride Test Track.

Dakota and I went first and got a rider swap for Jon.  We waited in line for a bit and once we finally got to the front – one car load in front of us – the ride shut down.  They did give us a fast pass but it had to be used that day and we weren’t going to be back in that area the rest of the day.  Luckily, since we’d already gotten the rider swap, that was good for another day so we tried to reassure a very disappointed little boy that he was going to get to ride Test Track before we left.

We headed back around the world via Canada.  We made our way through Canada pretty quickly and just briefly stopped in the UK.  We rarely ever spend time in France (I know…shame on us) and didn’t stop in Morocco either.  Then, we came to our absolute favorite – Japan.  Years ago, before kids, Jon and I visited the shop in Japan during a rainstorm and had a blast.  Ever since, it’s been our favorite pavilion.  Sarah and I were going to pick a pearl, but she fell asleep before it was our turn so Jon took her and Dakota helped pick our pearls.  We loved that experience.  I ended up spending more money than I’d planned because we did get necklaces with our pearls but it was worth it. 

 

After shopping, we had dinner scheduled in Teppan Edo.  Wow.  This meal was out of this world.  We love going to hibachi grills at home, but this was so much better.  The chef was more entertaining and the food doesn’t even compare – it was SO much better at Teppan Edo.  I don’t even like cooked cabbage and zucchini but I ate ever bit of the veggies.  I can’t say enough good things about Teppan Edo.

 

After Jon ran back in the shop quickly and we took a few more photopass pictures, we left Japan and headed to the International Gateway.  The lady at the exit noticed I was having trouble walking and suggested taking the boat to Hollywood Studios and from there catch a bus to Magic Kingdom.  The boat ride was very nice and allowed us to see some areas we’d not seen before.  The walk was a little far to the Magic Kingdom bus, but it was doable.

 

 

Since this was one of only two nights of Happily Ever After due to the Halloween Party, we’d planned to go see Happily Ever After tonight.  The line to security was the longest we’d seen but finally got through.  At that point, we saw the line waiting to get into Magic Kingdom and decided quickly that this was going to be much more crowded than we’d anticipated and we weren’t prepared to deal with that crowd.  So we went out of security and found a quiet little bench just outside the security entrance where we sat by ourselves and watched the fireworks.  I’m fully aware we missed the majority of the show since it was on the castle, but to us it was worth it to not battle the crowd.  When we saw it was getting close to time for the show to be over, we headed back to the bus and was able to just walk right on and sit down.  It worked out perfectly for us.

 

Another early morning back at Magic Kingdom tomorrow, so off to bed we go!

Walt Disney World Trip Report Day 5: Tuesday, October 10, 2017

We had breakfast reservations at Hollywood & Vine at 8:15.  This reservation was primarily so we could sign Dakota up for Jedi Training and still get into the park before lines got crazy. Once they finally let us in the gate, we headed straight for the Outpost to sign up Dakota for Jedi Training.  We were only the 2^nd or 3^rd kid to sign up for the day so we pretty much had a pick of times.  I knew we had a fast pass for Star Tours around 2:10 so we signed up for the 1:40 show, knowing the show would be right next to the Star Tours entrance.  We then headed back to Hollywood & Vine.

Hollywood & Vine is a decent breakfast.  We liked it, but it was pretty standard.  Sarah was still a little nervous around the characters but finally would get down and stand by them by the time Handy Manny came around.  I enjoyed seeing Doc McStuffins.  She’s probably my favorite from that breakfast.  When my son was little, I was excited to meet Handy Manny.  Sarah didn’t really know who he was this time, but still agreed to get a picture with him.

 

After breakfast, my original plan had us going to Toy Story Mania with about a 20-30 minute wait.  We arrive about 30 minutes ahead of schedule, shortly after rope drop (maybe 10-15 minutes) and the line was already at 95 minutes.  We decided we were not waiting in that line and instead turned around and headed back to Voyage of the Little Mermaid.  Jon and Dakota went in Launch Bay while Sarah and I did the Little Mermaid show.  I always liked Voyage of the Little Mermaid.  Sarah liked Ariel but she was terrified of Ursula.  She’s not a fan of Ursula AT ALL. But really, who is?

After the Little Mermaid, we headed for our first FPP of the day – Tower of Terror.  It was scheduled for some time around 10:15am. I love Tower of Terror.  Jon hates it.  He has ridden it before but now refuses.  Luckily, I have my little dare devil in tow and he rides with me.  He was scared, but loved it.  And he loved to brag to his dad about how HE rode Tower of Terror and his dad was too scared.

 

After Tower of Terror, we had a little bit of time before our FPP for Rock N Roller Coaster, so we swung by the Beauty and the Beast theater and watched the stage show.  The amphitheater was cooler than outside and it was a nice break.  The show is wonderful. The kids enjoyed it – Sarah kept asking where the beast went every time he left the stage.

Next was Jon and my favorite: Rock ‘N Roller Coaster staring Aerosmith.  Jon rode with his dad the first time and he loved it.  Next, was my turn with rider swap.  I absolutely love this ride.  I love the take off, the music, the scenes – just love it.  This is probably my all-time favorite roller coaster. By the time we were through with the roller coaster, we didn’t have a ton of time until Jedi Training.  I tried to make it to the Frozen show before it began but the theater was already full.  While the guys picked up Starbucks, Sarah and I relaxed at the tables next to the Frozen ride.  By the time the guys joined us, she was asleep. 

 

 

We hung out drinking our mocha frappucinos until it was almost time to go to the Outpost.  Here’s where I about lost it thinking I was the worst mom ever.  I remembered reading that he needed to line up closest to the audience.  I’d thought that was once they got to the theater.  From what I’d read, the one closest to the audience fought Darth Vader and the other fought the Seventh Sister.  Dakota did not want to fight a seventh sister and was devastated when he realized he was in the wrong line.  I was devastated too.  Jon talked to him and convinced him to try.  He did and I was proud of him. Then, they brought out who they would be fighting.  To my surprise, he wasn’t fighting a seventh sister…he was fighting Kylo Ren! He was so excited and was perfectly fine with not fighting Darth at that point.  Memory Maker provided us with some awesome shots of him fighting Kylo Ren.

 

Once we were done with Jedi Training, it was about time for our last fast pass plus.  Jon and Dakota went on first. By this time, we’d decided we’d go back to the room for a nap after this.  While waiting, I discovered there were some Toy Story Midway Mania fast passes later in the day.  As soon as I scanned in for Star Tours, I started looking.  The earliest I could see was at 7:10pm.  I knew that would push it for Fantasmic, even with the dining package, but really wanted to ride Toy Story Midway Mania.  I kept trying later and eventually got one for 7:00pm.

After some rest in the room, we headed back to Hollywood Studios.  Just past security, Dakota announces that he’d left his MagicBand in the room.  Instead of going back to the car, he and Jon hopped the bus back to get his MagicBand while Sarah and I went in begin exploring.  We stopped 3 different times for photopass pictures and got some awesome pics.  We then went to the Frozen Ever After Sing Along.  It was very cute.   I wish Jon had been able to see it with us.  He would’ve loved the jokes.  Sarah kept asking where Anna was after she left stage.  She wasn’t a huge fan of the snow falling at the end of the show.

 

 

By the time the show was over, the guys were back waiting on us.  The show lasted a little longer than expected so it was already time for our Toy Story Midway Mania fastpass.  We got there and had to wait a bit, even in the fastpass line.  It was a very cool ride, but by the time we got out, it was time to be at Fantasmic.  They’d told us to be there at 7:30 and it was very close to 7:30.  I stopped for a very quick bathroom break and we booked it.  By the time we got in and up the ramp to the theater, it was maybe 7:40 or so.  The dining package section was extremely full.  We couldn’t find seats anywhere.  I heard another guy complaining that these were supposed to be reserved seats.  I would expect it you had paid extra (or not if your using the dining plan) for a dining package, those seats would be limited to those with dining packages and more seats would not be sold than available.  However, we were told by the not so great cast member that they’d let people come in from the night before.  He said there were seats but we didn’t see any – everything we saw was being “saved.” He said there were some earlier down near the bottom of the theater.  By this time, I was almost in tears.  I told Jon I didn’t think I could walk down those steps and then turn around and walk back when there was nothing.  Luckily, this family sitting near the top offered to make room for us.  I was so thankful to that family.  I hope they received plenty of Disney magic on their trip.

As for Fantasmic – I didn’t recall being terribly impressed with it before but have seen so many people talk about how great it was, I wanted to see it again.  Sarah was terrified of this show.  After about 10 minutes, we were getting bored and Sarah was terrified so I walked out with her.  We walked out of the theater and I found a place across the street to get a drink.   While waiting on the drink, Sarah said something to me about being terrified and I mentioned to the cast member working that Fantasmic had scared her.  She asked Sarah if a cupcake would help and gave her a free cupcake.  More Disney Magic!

Shortly after we’d taken a seat waiting on the boys, Jon and Dakota came down – they’d gotten bored with the show as well.  We sat there for a bit watching the Star Wars Fireworks from a distance and let some of the crowd get out.  We finally decided to battle the rest of the crowd back to the room.

Walt Disney World Trip Report Day 4: Monday, October 9, 2017

We’re up bright and early to hit Magic Kingdom today!  When they first changed park hours to begin at 8AM, I was a little disappointed, because I’d already planned out my day.  With a little tweaking of my plan, I realized that extra hour was actually wonderful!  We arrived before rope drop and immediately headed for Peter Pan’s Flight.  I like this ride, but its not worth the normal wait time to me, nor is it worthy of using one of my three fast passes.  So, I knew it we didn’t get it early, we probably wouldn’t do it all.  Arriving at rope drop, we maybe waited 5-10 minutes to board.

 

After Peter Pan, we immediately headed across the way to It’s a Small World.  I feel like this is a Disney classic that shouldn’t be missed.  Sarah absolutely LOVED It’s a Small World.  She would point to different things she saw.  It was her favorite ride of the trip.  After we finished It’s a Small World, we headed for Princess Hall to meet Cinderella, Elena, Tiana, and Rapunzel.  Sarah still wasn’t too comfortable with characters so I had to go with her. She liked some of them but wouldn’t get too close.

 

After meeting the princesses, we headed to Adventureland.  Dakota, Sarah and I rode Aladdin’s Magic Carpets.  Dakota tried his best to get us to the right height for the camel to spit on us, but I think we only got wet once.  It was hot enough that I was more than willing to get spit on by a camel.

We then headed to Jungle Cruise.  This was more fun than I remembered, as well.  The jokes are so bad, they’re good, if that makes sense.  You just can’t help but laugh.  From the Jungle Cruise, we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean.  It was maybe a 15 minute wait at this point.  Sarah was a little scared of the drop and I had to keep pointing out the “non-scary” stuff to keep her from getting scared.  Our picture didn’t turn out great because none of us were expecting the picture to be taken at that moment.

 

 

Once we got off Pirates, it was pretty close to time for our Big Thunder Mountain fast pass. Dakota and Jon rode first, getting a rider swap pass.  Once they were finished, Dakota and I rode.  It’s still a fun ride.  I am still disappointed that it’s neighbor, Splash, was closed.   That is one of my favorite rides.

We then headed to Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Café for lunch. I had the fajitas, Jon had the nachos, and Dakota had the tacos.  This meal was delicious.  We really enjoyed our lunch and that there was somewhere cool to eat and relax for a bit.  We decided not to do Country Bears and our Fast Pass to the Haunted Mansion didn’t start until 11:45am so we took our time eating lunch and enjoying our time together.

Dakota was a little scared of the Haunted Mansion.  I actually think Sarah did better on it than Dakota.  This is one of Jon’s favorite rides, so we had to do it.  It was fun, just not the excitement level of some of the bigger rides. After Haunted Mansion, we headed to Mickey’s PhilharMagic.  Every time I see this show, I think its so cute.  The kids enjoyed it as well, I think so it was well worth the 15 minutes or so spent. 

We still had a few minutes until time for our 7 Dwarfs fast pass, so we let the kids ride the Carrousel.  Now, let’s pause for a minute.  Remember me briefly mentioning in a previous day that I was using a cane?   I have pretty severe arthritis in my hip and it prevents me from being able to do a lot of things that “normal” 34 year olds could do.  My feet were also hurting and I’d discovered that standing still hurt worse than walking most of the time, so I decided I’d try to pick a horse that wasn’t too high and actually sit on it with Sarah.  Successful – we found one that was very low to the ground and I was able to get up on it pretty easily and sit with Sarah.  She LOVED the “horsey” and asked about going on it again later in the week.  Once the ride stopped, it was time to get down.  The “horsey” that had been so easy to get on was now up about as high as it could go.  In addition to not bending very well, I’m 5’1” on a good day, so a ‘high horse’ isn’t a good situation for me.  It took me a bit to figure out how I was going to get off the horse.  I finally put one foot on the top level of the horse next to me and one on our horse.  Then, stepped down to the next.  Now, my problems was that I’m so short, I can reach the bottom with my foot.  So finally, I put my knees on the bottom step and THEN was able to reach the floor.   It took way too long to get off the horse on the carrousel.

Now, it was time for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  Sarah isn’t quite tall enough for this one either, so again, we did rider swap.  Dakota and I rode it first.  I enjoyed this ride – it wasn’t too rough or wild, but was enjoyable and not too boring either.  Jon and Dakota rode next and their picture from this ride was my favorite of all ride pictures we had.  They look like they are having the best time ever on this ride.

 

Once we were done with Seven Dwarfs, we decided to start heading out of the park, but I had one request – I wanted to stop and let Sarah meet Tinkerbell on the way out.  This line was very deceiving.  It looked like a 15 minute line and I believe the time posted was something like 20-25 minutes.  It felt like we were in that line for 45 minutes and it moved SO SLOW! It was horrible.  Some of us finally sat down on the ground waiting.  We finally entered into Pixie Hollow and met Tink herself.  She was awesome.  She was a much better character than the princesses we’d met earlier in the day.  Sarah was still a little scared and just kind of stared at her.  She did give her five and as we were leaving, she wanted a Tinkerbell Barbie doll, which she got.

 

 

After Tinkerbell, we headed back to the room for a quick rest.  We had dinner reservations later that night.  The bus wait felt SO long.  We were the first in line and I’m pretty sure we waited over 30 minutes for a bus.  As I believe I mentioned before, standing still hurts my feet worse than walking so this wait was no fun.  We quickly decided we would be driving more often than we’d originally planned.  We finally got back to the room, rested, and then got ready for dinner.

Our original plans were to take the bus to Magic Kingdom and then the boat to Wilderness Lodge for dinner at Whispering Canyon Café. After our bus adventure that afternoon, we’d decided instead of taking Disney transportation, we’d drive to the Wilderness Lodge.  We enjoyed the drive and learning our way around the property a little better.  Jon described the Wilderness Lodge as looking like Lincoln Logs and he kind of had a point.  We arrived a little early and had a bit of a wait but their sitting area in the lobby was so comfortable, we didn’t mind the wait at all. 

I cannot say enough good things about Whispering Canyon Café.  It was absolutely wonderful.  We ordered the All You Can Eat Platter and it was delicious.  We ate so much that we all decided to take our dessert back to the room with us for later.  If you go, make sure to ask for ketchup.  Sarah is still yelling “I NEED KETCHUP!”

 

 

After dinner, it was time to head back to the resort to prepare for ANOTHER early morning on Tuesday.



 

Walt Disney World Trip Report Day 3: Sunday, October 8, 2017

We had reservations at 8:30am at Tusker House on Sunday morning so we were up early again.  We drove to Animal Kingdom and were a bit surprised at how close it was to the resort.  I thought we were early, but since it was already 7:55am when we got to the front gate, they let us go in.  My kids were SO excited to be at Animal Kingdom.  We had to stop numerous times to let them see the animals on the way to breakfast.  We let Sarah walk (instead of riding in the stroller) and they were having a blast.  We came around a corner and saw a cast member.  She was so impressed by how excited the kids were.  She stopped us and asked what we had fast passes for that day.  We told her and she wrote us a paper fastpass for Dinosaur at any point during the day.  It was so nice to get a little Disney Magic.

Breakfast was great, as usual.  We saw Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Mickey.  Sarah was still a little scared of the characters, but you would tell she was starting to warm up a bit.  We ended up getting out of Tusker House quicker than we’d planned and it was just slightly after rope drop.  We’d planned to be out around 10am and had a fast pass for Kilimanjaro Safari.  We walked over after breakfast and the line was really short so we went ahead and rode early.  The safari was excellent.  We saw so many animals and they were very active this morning.  Once we got off, we decided to go ahead and do Gorilla Falls Trail.  It was nice, but almost too hot to fully enjoy it. 

From there, we headed to Festival of the Lion King.  Once we found the entrance, I started to accidentally enter the handicap line.  I guess the cast member saw that I was walking with a cane (due to arthritis) and allowed us to continue on through that line. There ended up being plenty of handicap seating, so it wasn’t a big deal, but it did allow us to get great seats. 

Let me just say – Festival of the Lion King has always been and will continue to be my absolute favorite show in all of Disney.  There is just something about that show that almost brings me to tears.  It was beautiful and the kids were mesmerized.

 

Once the show was over, we decided not to do the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch.  It was so terribly hot and such a long walk once there, we decided to forgo that chance. We stopped for a quick Mickey ice cream and then decided to go ahead and visit the Tree of Life.  We stumbled up on Flik and stopped for some pictures and autographs.  We then went in to see It’s Tough to Be A Bug.  I think the kids were a little nervous – I stand up when its time for the “bugs to leave” and lean up when its time for the bees to sting.  I know – I missed part of the fun.  But since I already knew what was going to happen, I prepared myself.

 

 

After the Tree of Life, it was time.  Time for the one fast pass that is hardest to get at Disney and I’d somehow managed to score it.  We had a 1:05pm FPP for Flight of Passage.  We headed over to that section and utilized rider swap so both Jon and I could ride.  Jon sat with Sarah while I rode first with Dakota.  We didn’t have to wait terribly long in the FPP line, like I’d been afraid of.  It was just a short wait and we were on.

Let me back track for a minute.  I’d almost decided not to even try this ride unless I could get an easy FPP because of the crowds.  Two different people came back from Disney telling me how awesome this ride was and I decided to try to get a FPP for it.  It was available first thing that morning, but I was able to score one later in the day.  Let me tell you…this ride is out of this world.  I actually had to remind myself a time or two that it was a simulator.  It was absolutely wonderful.  I understand why people stand in line for hours to ride this ride.  Awesome!

 

After Pandora, we headed to Flame Tree BBQ for lunch.  It’d say it was OK compared to some of the other meals we had.  Pretty good, but not excellent.  After lunch, it was getting close to time for us to ride Expedition Everest.  Dakota and I rode it using Rider Swap and then he rode with his Dad.  The going backwards kind of scared Dakota.  I’d forgotten how wild that ride was.  In my mind, it was milder than it actually is. 

 

Once we were done with Everest, we were going to do the Nemo show but decided to skip it.  We ended up heading to Dinoland.  The boys went to ride Dinosaur while I took Sarah on TriceraTop Spin.  Dinosaur is one of my least favorite rides in all of Disney, so no need for rider swap on this one.  Once we finished, Jon was ready to go back to the room.  Dakota was begging for one more ride and I saw Primeval Whirl had a pretty short wait time so he and I hopped in that line.  That ride is so rough. It’s definitely not my favorite, but it made little man happy.

 

After Primeval Whirl, we headed back to the room for the night to have dinner at the resort and try to get settled before too late since we had another early morning on Monday.

Walt Disney World Trip Report Day 2: Saturday, October 7, 2017

We decided we would try driving to the parks more this trip.  We got up on Saturday morning, ate a quick breakfast in the room, and then headed to Epcot.  We arrived at Epcot about 45 minutes before rope drop.  This wasn’t the greatest idea with an 8yo anxious to get into the park.  He wasn’t happy about it, but we made it!

We headed straight for Mission: Space at park opening.  Jon and Dakota headed for orange while I sat back with Sarah. We did not use rider swap because I wasn’t sure I could handle the orange side.  Jon and Dakota basically walked right now and loved the ride.  Dakota and I returned to the Green side.  I liked the green side.  Dakota liked it but said orange was better.

We briefly sopped in Innoventions East.  We did the color challenge and it was pretty fun, but Jon was disappointed that Innoventions was so much smaller than he remembered from before.  We had a FPP for Character Spot next.  We headed in and once Sarah saw the characters, she started getting excited.  That is, until it was time to get close to them. She freaked out.  Our pictures are mostly of me holding her as far away from the characters as possible.  By the time we got to Minnie, she did blow her a kiss, but was still scared.

Our next stop was Club Cool.  I had one main goal and I succeeded.  I convinced Jon and Dakota to try the Beverly.  I should’ve had my camera out to catch their expressions.  We did all try the melon flavored coke from Thailand and decided that was a much better option than Italy.

Our touring plan had Soarin’ next but we found ourselves significantly ahead of schedule. Instead, we went on to the Land pavilion and had a delicious lunch at Sunshine Seasons.  Once we were finished with lunch, we headed to Soarin’ and used the rider swap.  I love this ride and possibly love the newer version even more than the older version.  It was wonderful. 

We wanted to do Living with the Land next, but the wait time was very long, so we decided not to wait for it.  We had another FPP for Spaceship Earth at 12:10.  This isn’t the greatest ride in the park, to me; however, it is a nice educational experience for Dakota and is something that Sarah could ride with us.

Our original plans had us leaving to head back for a midday break at this point.  However, we’d decided that because Illuminations was so late and our preferred viewing was all the way in Italy, we would finish our Future World plans before going back to the room, so we headed back over towards The Seas. We got in the line for the Seas with Nemo and Friends – it’s a cute ride, especially for Sarah.  Dakota didn’t really want to do Turtle Talk with Crush, but we convinced him to try by telling him he could sit with us if he wanted.  We still sat on the front row.  I had almost forgotten how hilarious that show is.  I love Turtle Talk.

At this point, we considered going back to the room because Sarah was getting cranky and didn’t want to go to sleep.  Her wonderful mom had forgotten to get her sippy out of the car that morning.  We tried with a cup from the gift shop but that didn’t satisfy her.  Finally, on the way back, the boys went in to get (more) Starbucks and while we were waiting, she fell asleep.  Since she was asleep, we decided to let Dakota go back and ride Mission: Space again, since he’d loved it before.  Sarah slept while they rode but woke up before they got back.  She wasn’t in a great mood, it was extremely hot, and we were tired so we decided to call it a day and head back to the room.  We had a nice nap in the room before getting up for supper at the resort. 

 

Walt Disney World Trip Report Day 1: Friday, October 6, 2017

Our original plans for Disney included leaving on Friday night, stopping around Valdosta, GA, and then arrive mid-day Saturday with a possible afternoon visit to Epcot.  Once we realized Dakota would be out of school on Friday, we decided to book an extra day and arrive on Friday.  That eventually led us to leave at midnight.  You can see the path we’re taking here.  Needless to say, Day 1 actually began about 10pm Thursday night.

Knowing we’d plan to leave around midnight, Jon had decided to stay up all night on Wednesday night and sleep all day Thursday.  We left home around 10pm with everything packed – almost.  We got about a mile up the road and realized we’d left Sarah’s sippy cup in the fridge at home.  Knowing she tends to want her sippy a lot during the night, we turned around to go home and get it.  Thank goodness we weren’t any further down the road or we may have been making a stop at Walmart on the way.

Around 10:15pm, we finally left home the last time with blankets, pillows, and that ever important sippy in tow.  We drove straight through only stopping for gas and bathroom breaks.  Just past Chattanooga, we encountered a small traffic slowdown due to construction.  Atlanta is always our main concern since traffic can be so bad down I75.  I’m usually the navigator through Atlanta.  Jon pays attention to the traffic and I watch the GPS and signs to make sure he’s in the right lane so we don’t venture off I75.  It’s what works for us.  He woke me up before Atlanta and we proceeded through the entire city with extremely low to no traffic.  It was amazing! We decided 2am during the week is the perfect time to drive through Atlanta. 

 

Just past Atlanta, we were needing gas and a bathroom break.  We stopped in Jonesboro and quickly saw this was not the place to be at 2:30am.  After getting gas, we realized there was a sign on the door that they didn’t have restrooms anyway and seeing people hanging around outside at that time of morning made us uncomfortable so we quickly got out of there.  We traveled south a little further and stopped in Perry, GA for the necessary bathroom break.  As soon as we pulled into the gas station and saw a cop car sitting near the front, we felt safer.  The people in the store were SUPER nice and told us their town had been rated as one of the 5 safest places in Georgia.  They said at night a cop was never far from there store. 

After a bathroom break and some snacks, we headed back on the road.  We all went back to sleep, except Jon of course.  He trudged along down I75 until we reached Florida.  By that time, it was daylight and we could enjoy the sights a little more.  We continued until we reached our destination at around 9:30am: All Star Movies.

 

We were very early for check-in but we were able to spend some time “playing.”  We went to the playground for a little bit and let the kids have some fun.  I finally convinced Jon to go back to the car by himself and take a nap.  He slept for about an hour and woke up feeling refreshed.  By the time he woke up, it was almost time for lunch so we headed to the food court and enjoyed a pizza lunch from one of the counters there.  Once finished with lunch, the kids had a blast playing in the arcade for a while. Once their cards were almost empty, we decided to let them play at the kiddie pool for a while.  We’d just sat down at the kiddie pool when we received a text saying our room was ready.

 

We spent some time napping in the room after unpacking.  We then decided to take the bus to Magic Kingdom and hop the monorail to tour some resorts.  We decided not to stop at the Contemporary, thinking we wouldn’t have much to see or do there.  We did stop at the Polynesian, which is a beautiful resort.  We took a moment while there to enjoy Dole Whips.  We then headed back to the monorail and proceeded to the Grand Floridian.  The Grand Floridian is a nice hotel, but a little too fancy for my liking. It was still neat to see the details.  After dinner at the resort, we decided to head in for the night since we were going to attempt rope drop at Epcot on Saturday morning.

 

 



 

Opening Up to Love

Has it really been over a year since I’ve updated the blog? I read something once about the people who are happy and content with their lives are off living it and don't take time to write about it.  I guess that's true because I haven't done a very good job of keeping my blog updated.  We have recently had a major change in our adoption story, and I thought it was time to update.

Open adoption is a new subject to many people.  It's a scary topic to most people outside of the adoption world, but is becoming part of life for many within that world.  You see, most in that world have researched and read (and researched and read) and have discovered that many times, when safe, it's in the child's best interest.

Our adoption was semi open for about the first two years.  We sent updates and pictures to the agency, who would then forward them to Sarah's birthmom, T.  Late last year, Jon and I began talking about the possibility of opening up our adoption.  We decided in February that we would offer to open up the adoption if T wanted.  She did and within a few weeks, we were texting each other.  In April, we met face to face for the first time and again on Mother's Day.  We have continued to text each other, usually at least weekly or more. This past Saturday, we were blessed to be able to meet more of Sarah's birth family at a birthday party for her cousin. 
Let's pause for a minute.  I don't consider myself exactly a social butterfly.  If I know the people around me, yes, I can talk nonstop and it may seem like there's no shy bone in my body.  However, put me in a room full of people I don't know or even people I'm acquaintances with, but don't know well, and I very well may clam up.  Even around some (not all) of Jon's family, I feel so uncomfortable sometimes that I will stay to myself and not say much. I'm not great at "starting" the conversation with people I don't know well, but once I know you, it's difficult to get me to shut up sometimes. Unpause.

I can't really explain it to anyone outside the adoption world, but I feel a connection to Sarah's birth family that I can't describe.  The immense love we feel for T and her family is beyond explanation.  I want to share those feelings with others, but I have found that almost no one understands.  You would think going into a room where you barely know anyone would be extremely uncomfortable - but it wasn't.  It felt like sitting around with family.  Now, don't get me wrong - my stomach was in knots and I was very nervous before we got there - I mean, what if they don't like us?  But once we walked in, everything settled and we felt at ease.  Family is the best way to describe it, at least for us.

One of the toughest things for me to get used to is reactions from others. I'm a pretty open book with our lives, especially when something exciting is going on.  I want to share it with others.  However, I'm having to learn that most of our friends and family don't share the excitement of open adoption with us.  Most of them haven't "researched and read" enough to understand why we chose to open our adoption and, if they're honest, they probably think we're crazy.  It actually caught me off guard at first hearing unsupportive comments; however, after doing a bit more research, I found that almost all families in open adoptions hear the exact same thing.  I've come to realize it is mostly coming from a lack of knowledge and understanding.  I've just had to learn to not be offended when someone else isn't as excited about it as we are. 

I know that we are still new at all of this, but I can't speak highly enough of open adoption at this point.  If you're in the process of trying to adopt (especially domestic infant adoption), please keep an open mind and do your research.  If you have family or friends who are in an open adoption or pursuing one, please keep an open mind.  While you may not have done research, please remember the family you know likely has and isn't going into their decision(s) blind.

I started this blog as a way to keep record of our adoption journey.  If you read back through some of my previous posts, you'll see a glimpse of the emotions that come along with adoption, from a hopeful adoptive parent's viewpoint.  I can honestly say now that every single day of that wait was worth it.  I now know it was necessary to wait those three years because we didn't just need a child - we needed THIS child.  We weren't just waiting for a baby - we were waiting for our Sarah.