The Trip - Part III

Tuesday morning I woke with a limp.  I wasn't surprised, really.  Something happened to my left foot on the bus to the park Monday morning and it got worse as the day progressed.  I was holding Punky and desperately trying to keep my balance while standing and grasping one skinny rail with a death grip.  The bus took a corner and something in my foot just popped, or tore, or twisted, or something.  All I really know is that it hurt.  Badly.

Daisy Duck!

I sucked it up, put my game face on, and hopped around the room getting ready.  We were headed to Epcot that day, my favorite park of all.  Aside from my limp, the morning played out much like the day before and we made it to the park early.  Just inside the gate, Punky's face lit up when she caught a glimpse of Daisy Duck signing autographs.  We waited in line and Punky greeted her with the same excitement as Goofy.  Stitch happened to be right there as well, and even though she had no clue who he was, Punky hugged him like a long, lost friend.  But there was still no sign of the mouse.

Of course, we hit the ball first.  No trip to Epcot is complete without starting the day on that ride and then doing it again last on the way out of the park.  She was able to ride most of the rides in Epcot and by this point she was an old pro.  No hesitation whatsoever.  She really liked the dinosaurs in the Universe of Energy, she had a blast finding Nemo in the Living Seas, and she simply adored Figment in Journey into Imagination.

The heat bordered on unbearable for the second day in a row.  We prayed for the daily rain shower that usually hits Florida, but it never came.  We found out later in the week that Mother Nature was saving it all up for one torrential downpour.  Anyway, we had reservations for a late lunch at a steak house in Canada.  It was by far the biggest and most expensive meal we had all week, and we were in the restaurant for over two hours.

We purchased the Disney meal plan with our stay, so all of our major meals were prepaid.  The plan entitled us to one sit-down meal, one counter service meal, and one snack per day.  We made reservations months in advance for the daily sit-down meals because it was a great opportunity for the kids to meet the characters.  The meal at the steak house was the one adult meal we planned.  The food was good but wouldn't have been worth the hefty price if it weren't included in the meal plan.  The problem I had with all of the sit-down meals all week was that they took way too long.

In the case of the character meals, we usually finished eating but had to sit and wait for the characters to finally make it to our table.  Not only that, but going back outside in the extreme heat after eating a three course meal made me feel like crap.  And we wasted close to two hours at each one, which really cut into our day at the park.  Plus, we had to plan our day around the reservation so we wouldn't miss it.  Next time we go, Punky will be older and we will skip the meal plan.  We'll grab something quick to eat when we're hungry instead of the heavy, time-wasting, expensive meals.

Mickey's nose squeeze!

Anyway, once we finally made it out of the steak house, we headed back to tackle some rides we missed earlier.  On our journey, we hit the jackpot.  Punky spotted him through a window.  There he was, the mouse himself!  Finally!  We got in line and waited.  It took close to an hour but was worth it in the end.  Not only did we find Mickey, but Minnie, Donald, and Pluto were there, too!  All in the same spot!  So, standing inside in the air conditioning for an hour to meet four characters at the same time was so much better than standing outside in the heat and waiting a half hour each to meet them scattered across the park.  Punky squeezed the heck out of all of them.  She was so excited!  Now we had autographs from all the major players.  The only was remaining on her list were Chip and Dale, and they continued to elude us for days.

Before we knew it the day was over and we missed seeing so much in the park.  The only country we visited in the World Showcase was Mexico; we had no time to do more.  We missed out on riding most of the adult rides we were looking forward to and planned to return to Epcot on Friday to give it another go.

Safari Breakfast

Wednesday morning we headed to Animal Kingdom for a safari breakfast with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, and Goofy.  If we realized in advance that they would all be there, we might have skipped the hour-long wait to meet them the day before in Epcot.  Ah, live and learn.  Anyway, the food was good and the kids got to dance and play instruments with the characters.  After breakfast, it all went to hell. 

Of course, day three brought no relief from the heat.  The adults were tired, cranky, and sick of dealing with the lines and crowds.  I was still limping and my foot was getting worse, not better.  We managed to take the safari ride as a group, but right afterward the pot reached its boiling point and we ended up going our separate ways.  My mom went with my sister and her family, and they left the park within the hour.  The four of us actually went on to have a nice afternoon, despite the heat and my limp.  

Drums!

Punky's dad found a shaded spot with dinosaur statues to climb where they could play while his son and I rode a scary dinosaur ride that was not for small children.  We had a quick lunch and took Punky on one of those spinning kid rides.  She fell asleep on my shoulder while we waited in line for the 3D Bug's Life show.  She woke up about half way through it.  By around four, we had enough of the heat and called it a day ourselves.  

They spent the evening in the hotel pool while I tackled a load of laundry.  What a pain in the ass that was.  Umpteen buildings with thousands of guests and one small laundry room with ten washers and dryers.  I waited almost an hour for a washer.  The dryer stopped right when they were done swimming.  We grabbed some dinner and went to sleep early.  As bad as it sounds, I was sort of glad there were only two days left.

To be continued...