Re: [TR] Grandbabies 6.7, Epcot & home
- From: Lisa Cubbon <cubbon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 04 Jan 2006 16:48:43 -0500
Recycle Elysia's my vote! Thanks so very much for sharing all the fun of Gavin's trip to WDW. Lisa
Don Jennings wrote:
Laurie, Don, and 5-year-old grandson Gavin, on the seventh and final day of our week-long July adventure.
Gavin's racing Grandma to get ready this morning. I'm sure this was Grandma's idea, but he's got even more energy than normal this morning, knowing this is our last day and he's deciding where we go and what we do. I try to help him with his shoes, but he won't accept the assist; he tells me "I know exactly how to double-tie." He's probably noticed that I slip my sneakers on and concluded that my actual tying may have been done by others.
The race was effective, as we make rope drop at Epcot. The character bus comes out to greet us in the Fountain Plaza, and we think it's safe to say now that Pluto is Gavin's favorite. He's the one he has most excitedly pointed out every time we've seen characters. As soon as the quick march back to Soarin' begins, I go out in front to get FastPasses for us while Laurie pushes Gavin in the stroller. He's telling her "Why don't you keep up? Run!" Heh. She smiles and suggests that if he gets out and runs, then she'll run too. He declines. Guess the current speed is acceptable after all.
It's 9:15 when we get to the turnstiles and we board shortly after. On the ride, it's fun to watch Gavin (and lots of others) pick his feet up as we go 'over' the ridges and waves and what-not. The only part he says he doesn't like is where you follow the hang-glider up along the cliff wall. Come to think of it, that may be the only place where you're looking pretty much straight down for a moment. Once again, as we're walking out of the ride, Gavin has both fists up in the air with a big Woo Hoo. As we leave, the line of people still coming in stretches outside the building, and he shakes his head and says "Boy, a LOT of people like Soarin'!" True words.
The standby line for Test Track says 40 minutes, but it looks like (and turns out to be) more like 20. Gavin wants to know why they have all the 'fences' in the queue here, and Laurie tells him that all the tools are here to be looked at, but not to be touched. I tell him that they use all these tools to test cars, and he tells me "They used to." Well, yes, nobody's doing much in here lately. (His big sister Alexis gave us one of our favorite lines here, when she asked "Where are all the men to these tools?") He decides he wants to sit on the outside this trip, so Laurie lets him get in first, since he'll think of that as the 'driver's seat'. He clearly enjoys the ride again, and when we go around the big curve on the outside and start the long trip back in at high speed, he's grinning and WooHooing with his hands up in the air all the way back in.
He immediately wants to ride again, but by the time we get outside he's decided he wants to go on the dragon ride (Imagination). And on the way, we're going to go to one of Papa's favorite Epcot attractions - the Fountainview Café Bear Claw. We all really enjoy sitting in the shade for a minute over breakfast, watching the fountain and talking about what fun we've had this week. And Gavin's joy is fairly unbridled this morning. As our Figment car gets underway, Gavin points up ahead of us and shouts "OFF to NEVERLAND!!!" I've never thought of it in those terms, but that's exactly what I feel every time we get on that plane in Buffalo for one of these trips.
We use our FastPasses and ride Soarin' for the last time this trip. It's every bit as much fun as the other times we went. Gavin's quite impressed with the number of people still waiting to get on the ride as we're walking out. "I'm glad we're not still waiting with THEM!" Someone from the line asks us if it's worth the wait, and Gavin eagerly offers "It sure is, and the ball looks like it's coming right AT YOU!"
He clearly is aware that Spaceship Earth is going to be our last ride of the trip. We've arrived at one of those few times of the day when the line wraps around both sides, and Laurie asks him if he's sure he wants to wait in line for this one. "Yep!" This ride has really triggered something in him, he's up on the edge of his seat and discovering something new in about every other room. His mom manages to get a call through while we're still on the ride, and it's fun to hear the excitement in Gavin's voice as he's describing the ride to her. "I love it, they're all robots but they look like real people, but you can learn new things from them, like that's the very first telephone."
You and I can sort of see a flaw or two in their plan, but there are hundreds of people lined up buying tickets outside Epcot at 12:20. Most of them are at best going to be in very long lines all day, and a lot of them are no doubt going to think they didn't get their money's worth. We were here at rope drop, and may have had more fun in three hours than they will between now and their cranky exit. Thanks, RADP, for showing us the way ;-)
As we go to catch our last internal bus of the trip, back to the hotel, we're in line all by ourselves. Until a group of about forty joins us. Gavin, as has been his practice all week, strikes up a conversation with Amanda. She looks to be about 20, and is here with a "psych group," whatever that means. He wants to know if the guy sleeping next to her is her boyfriend, and if the guy standing up next to us is her brother. He tells her he's 7 and in pre-k. (I hope as he gets older, his 'lines' get better.) She enjoys the conversation as much as we do, and Gavin has yet again helped make some down time more fun.
Our Magical Express bus back to the airport is actually a Cruise Line bus. It's kind of odd that these busses aren't wheel chair accessible, as the poor couple outside have just discovered. They're being told they have to call something special. Doesn't sound right.
I get to see yet another example of Gavin's outgoing nature in the rest room at the Orlando airport. There's a janitor in there whistling away, and singing softly in Spanish. Gavin stands right next to his cart, looking up into his face. The man looks down at him and smiles, never wavering in his work or tune, and Gavin gives him a big grin back. And then on our way back out to the gate, Gavin's singing in 'Spanish', just making up words as he goes along. Now he takes a seat in the window with a two-year-old boy, playing some sort of hand game, just keeping him entertained. This boy will go far.
So our sixth grandbaby Disney adventure has come to an end. We really are lucky. We've been able to give something very special to each of these kids, both in terms of Disney fun and the kind of focused attention you can only get when you're an only child on holiday. And they've given so much enjoyment to us. After making three such trips this year, it's a little hard for us to imagine not making a trip next year, since Colby's only 3 now. Maybe we need to start recycling. Elysia's almost 10 already ;-)
.
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- [TR] Grandbabies 6.7, Epcot & home
- From: Don Jennings
- [TR] Grandbabies 6.7, Epcot & home
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