Re: GRANDBABIES II: THE RETURN, 1.1
- From: aksco33 <aksco33@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 29 Apr 2007 18:54:48 -0700
On Apr 27, 10:45�pm, "Don Jennings" <don...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Day 1, Arrival and Epcot
We've made six "Grandbabies" trips over the last five years, taking each of
our grandchildren (one at a time) the year before they enter school. Since
we don't have a five-year-old this year, Laurie thought it would be
reasonable to recycle them as ten-year-olds and take Elysia again this
summer. (And of course by "this summer," I mean last summer, in 2006.
Having made a move and taken a new job last year, I really didn't get right
on the trip report as I had hoped. ;-) We had wondered about the logistics
of getting the kids for our trips, since our new home is about four hours
away from them. This trip works nicely though, as Lisi's family takes a
week-long road trip vacation that ends with a couple days at our house.
We have another couple days with her before we leave, which provides time
for some enjoyable planning. She hasn't been what you would call a morning
person these few days, but now that departure day is here she's up bright
and early and skipping outside to load the car. The conversation on the way
to the airport is fun, during which we discover her career plans. She's
going to be either a professional tennis player or a professional swimmer.
(That's a new one to me, must be ESPN doesn't carry the National Swimming
League.) If neither of those works out, her third choice is to go to
Harvard. Well, it certainly is good to have a backup plan.
The only time she's flown was with us when she was five, and she seems to be
experiencing a little anxiety at the airport. She's careful not to show it
too much though, and we've been looking forward to seeing what the little
differences are between a Disney trip at five and one at ten. At ten, you
hide your anxiety a lot more. The takeoff is a bit tense, but we relax
immediately thereafter. She found Gone With the Wind in our carry-on and
thought that would be a great way to spend the flight, but she's spending
most of her time with her face glued to the window saying "Oh my gosh, look
at that!" She's extremely wide-eyed later when we break back through the
clouds, and is awed by the way the rivers bend and join the ocean.
All the little details after arrival are exciting, too, things you and I don't
spend much time thinking about. Restaurants and shuttles and Baggage Claim
A and B are all very exotic and exciting. It's here that (for the only time
on the trip) Papa pouts and insists on getting his way because the girls
want to stop and eat at the airport and then go, but I want to get to Disney
NOW and we can eat at the food court. They don't put up too much of a
battle. Which is more than I can say about the Disney cm (cast member) at
the airport who only very reluctantly lets me borrow his Mickey hand to wave
to the waiting Magical Expressers. We get to see The Incredibles on the bus
ride, and Laurie's as excited as anyone on approach, pointing out the Epcot
ball as soon as it appears.
I love taking the morning flights, because we still have better than half a
day ahead of us when we arrive. When we get to our resort (Pop Century), we
find one way that 10 is a lot like 5 - "Can we do the pool first?" Laurie
checks us in while Lisi and I walk around the end of the building to stow
our luggage and check out the pool area. As we're walking and looking, we're
just like a couple of tourists, taking turns walking in front of each other
and stepping on each other's heels as we check out the scenery.
She's been telling Laurie for two days that her ears are starting to close
up (the piercings, that is), so before we even get to the food court, we're
checking out jewelry in the gift shop. I show her where the prices are, and
she looks at me, incredulously. "$18, I'm not getting THAT!! I think I'd
better look for the cheaper ones." It turns out 10-year-olds are much more
serious shoppers, as she wants to get gifts for her sisters in our first 12
minutes in the resort. I make a strategic move here that will add to my
enjoyment of the trip, telling her that I can't help her buy anything
because Grandma is the Official Companion Shopper. It's what we call a
Win-Win-Win.
During lunch at the food court, we fill Elysia in on the only two big rules
we have for our trips to Disney - the first is No Hiding, and the second is
that whenever one person has to go to the bathroom, everybody has to try.
When we get out to the Epcot bus stop, Laurie suddenly remembers she forgot
to get the camera from the bag we checked, and wonders aloud if she should
go back and get it since we're going to the Princess dinner tonight. Heck,
even I know the answer to that one!
As we board the bus, I excitedly announce First Bus of the Trip, which Lisi
immediately corrects to Second Bus of the Trip, not discounting that Magical
Express ride. We see Laurie running around the corner of the building with
the camera, so the driver waits a moment and she joins us. Lisi brings her
up to speed on her updated list of our modes of travel so far, which include
car, bus (at our airport), airplane, monorail, bus, bus. She decides we
shouldn't try to keep track after this.
The entrance to Epcot is very exciting, what with Spaceship Earth towering
over our heads. We talk her into bypassing it so we can go back and get FPs
(fast passes) for Soarin', but it's 3:50 and they're gone for the day. "Can't
we just go back down and ride the 'ball ride'?" After reminding her that we
don't have a stroller this trip and might want to save some steps, she
pleasantly agrees to go over to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Walking past
my favorite waterfall, she asks "Is that water jumping UP?" Looking at the
water running past The Land, "Is this a river that runs all through Disney
World?" The leaping fountain "looks like water worms." Okay, 10 is going
to be fun too.
Remember when I said that the ten-year-olds are more likely to hide their
anxiety? Lisi has this awesome thing she does with her 3-D glasses during
the movie - disguising the removal of her glasses during the 'scary' parts
of the show. Instead of pushing the glasses up to her forehead or (heaven
forbid) covering her eyes, her hand is on her chin and side of the face,
where the first two fingers can sneak up and grab the bottom of the lens and
pull down, instead of up. But she smiles at the lion, and merely rolls her
eyes at the snake.
Journey into Imagination is next, and she must have built up a bit of
immunity now. We get the big blast on the Figment ride and she doesn't even
move. I point out to her on the way through the Image Works the pictures on
the floor that she loved when she was five. She gives me a quick "no
thanks" and blows on by. But she is checking every computer station
throughout to find one open. This is something new at 10, we now have to
wait in line to basically photo-shop our portrait, and that "Hey, look over
here" stuff that sometimes works with the 5-year-olds just isn't going to
cut it.
We go down to the Land to check the standby time for Soarin' and it's 90
minutes, so she'd like to go down to Spaceship Earth now. We show her the
'Crush' building on the way, and she's quick to say "Oh yeah, let's do
that." (Okay, so it does work sometimes.) While she's getting her picture
taken in front of Nemo, I'm noticing the sign on the construction wall
pointing to the entrance, and of course it's doing it with an arrow made of
fish, just like in the movie. Inside, on our way back to the dolphins, we
get hung up by the fish tanks where they have the little Nemo and Dory fish.
And since there's a computer in this room with an ocean knowledge kind of
puzzle, we'll stay here a while. We're not only checking out the fish in
all the tanks, but we're completely reading every sign. Cool! At the tank
full of live shrimp, she looks at the mass of legs on each and says "Ew, to
think I eat them."
It's 6:00, and Elysia has suddenly decided "Let's do something else." So we're
on our way up to Norway for dinner. [I can picture her in a couple years
wearing the t-shirt I just saw on a teenage girl - "If all else fails, good
thing I'm hot."] We check to see if there are any fish under the bridge to
World Showcase, and there are not only fish but a quite sizeable turtle.
Lisi pulls some animal crackers out of her fanny pack and breaks off some
little pieces, and the fish are going nuts over them. It's a target game
now, as she's trying to get some close enough to the turtle so that he can
get them before the fish do.
When Elysia was here at age 5, we had dinner in the San Angel restaurant and
she kept wanting to climb the pyramid that's on the other side of the boat
ride. I don't know if she remembers that or not, but as we approach the
Mexico pavilion she notices the 'steps' built all the way up the side of the
building and asks "Are you allowed to climb those?" It's comforting to know
that some things don't change. As soon as we walk inside the building, "I
think I remember this, let's do the boat ride."
At the Princess Storybook Dinner, she's very excited to see Ariel when we go
in. She didn't see anything on the menu outside that she's excited about
though. There was hardly anything she would eat when she was 5, but that's
mostly gone away. After looking carefully over every item on the appetizer
table, she comes back with about 37 peel-and-eat shrimp, legs and all. And
then orders a hot dog off the kids menu. Sort of surf and turf junior.
Laurie has some kind of chicken and pasta dish that she says is very good,
and I have venison stew, also delicious. My meal includes the
never-before-eaten rutabaga mash, which I had guessed might be a lot like
turnip. Unfortunately, I was correct.
A girl comes over to our table and tells us the picture they took with Ariel
on the way in is $31.95, if we'd like to purchase it. We thank her for the
...
read more »
It was pretty neat to read about how you are comparing the age
differences of when she was 5 and now 10. I too have trips that I can
compare what my nieces and nephews were like at different ages at WDW--
what they liked and disliked and what stuff they are discovering and
what is cool and what is not.
.
- References:
- [TR] GRANDBABIES II: THE RETURN, 1.1
- From: Don Jennings
- [TR] GRANDBABIES II: THE RETURN, 1.1
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