Events of Monday, January 10, 2011

                As we planned and saved for this trip, visiting Disney World became a major carrot dangling over the kids’ heads. Every time we had to say no to something, (like joining swim team since we’d be missing half the season), I’d remind the kids that not spending the money now would allow us to enjoy one more day at Disney World on our trip. I think it was Caitlin, who after the umpteenth “no” remarked, “We’ve probably saved up for an entire month at Disney World.” Not quite, but it is nice to have saved so we can enjoy this “splurge”. And it has been a “magical” time so far here in the Magic Kingdom.

                This morning didn’t go exactly as planned, but much better than expected. I woke up, wide awake at 6:15am, not my favorite time to be awake. I’m a grown up. I’m not supposed to be so excited about going to Disney World that I can’t sleep. But there I was wide awake, and waiting for Jim to wake up, which, if you know anything about us, is not the way it typically is for us. At 6:30 I was headed to the showers, and Jim was headed out for his morning walk. At 7, Ben went for a run, and the girls showered and got everything ready for breakfast.

                One of the things I am enjoying most about this trip is the opportunity to spend time, 24/7, with my family. There is an old saying that “a family that prays together stays together” and that has been true for us. However, I also would add that a family that laughs together has a lot more fun staying together as well. We have laughed more on this trip than I can ever remember and this morning was no different. Poor Ben had gotten a stomach cramp on his run and, as we were laughing about something else, he begged us to stop as it was hurting his stomach to laugh due to his cramp. Then Abby pipes up, “You wet your pants?” Since she had misheard him, I said yes, her fifteen-year-old brother had wet his pants. At which point, she went off on this tirade of amazement, and the rest of us laughed so hard we couldn’t correct her. Finally, I explained what Ben had actually said, but Abby continued to be befuddled. Soon we were laughing so hard I was crying, and poor Ben was on the floor in a convulsion of giggles and pain. Finally pulling ourselves together, we readied ourselves for our day at Epcot.

                The buses were running much more smoothly today now that the marathon and resultant traffic weren’t a problem. Arriving at Epcot shortly after 9, we were amazed at the lack of lines. We went through the bag check without a problem and soon were in the door and perusing the map. Years ago, Jim and I had spent one day in Epcot and one day at the Magic Kingdom. He came away wanting more time at Epcot, while I wanted more time at the Magic Kingdom. So today was his day. He was to be the Epcot guide and determine what we were going to do and when. We started off the day getting a fast pass for Soarin’ , a ride Epcot has copied from California Disney. Then we went on a tame little boat ride called The Land which showcased how our land has been used throughout history. The most interesting part of the trip was when we went through the greenhouse where Disney scientists (whoever heard of such a thing?) are studying plant life and agricultural practices to grow better plants while protecting the environment. We saw a wide variety of growing techniques including a tomato tree and huge pumpkins growing up in the air. For both of these they have utilized an above ground framework. This cuts down on the amount of water and fertilizer used and protects the crops from bugs. We also saw huge strawberries grown in a pipe system and 9 pound lemons – now that makes a lot of lemonade.

                Leaving this part of the park we went over to the Seas and went on a clamshell ride to see Nemo and friends and then talked to Crush. For those of you who have not had this experience, it is pretty amazing. Crush, the surfer dude turtle from Finding Nemo, is before you on a screen in all his animation glory. However, he is interacting with the audience, taking and answering questions, his animation completely in sync with the words we are hearing. He would identify a child by the color of his “shell” (shirt) and “noggin” (hair) and the microphone would be brought to the child to ask Crush a question. Then Crush would reply without missing a beat or a bit of animation. After this we returned to the Land and soon were soaring over California. The kids had gone on this adventure with their Aunt Pat when she took each of them to California Adventure when they turned 10 and they were very excited to share it with us. And while it was fun to see California again, the actual ride did not live up to the build up the kids had given it. Next we saw a Circle of Life film using Lion King characters to tell us to protect our earth. Then it was on to see the world.

                The part Jim most liked about Epcot on our last visit was visiting the World Showcase part of the park. So we started in Mexico and enjoyed a short little boat ride following Donald Duck’s adventures in Mexico. In the “Mexican Marketplace” we found some supersized sombreros and got a picture of us all wearing them. Lindsey then decided that she would document our day by getting pictures of us in all the countries’ hats as we made our way from country to country. Next it was off to Norway. (What? Isn’t Norway located next to Mexico on your globe?)

                In Norway we enjoyed Maelstrom, another water ride that took us through Norse history and had some “scary” encounters with trolls who threatened to send our boat backwards over a waterfall. In the end, we were safe and went down a small waterfall and remained quite dry. After touring the Norwegian shops and getting pictures of us in Viking hats, we decided to have our “first lunch”. Sitting down on some rustic rock outcroppings overlooking the lake, we enjoyed our bread, cheese and summer sausage. However, soon we were being dive-bombed by tiny sparrows, flying right by our heads to scavenge any crumbs we dropped. For dessert we visited a Norwegian bakery. There we purchased a pretzel drizzled with chocolate, a chocolate mousse cake and school bread, a bagel looking pastry filled with custard. Dividing each by six, it amounted to about three bites per person. Next came China where we enjoyed  a presentation of China utilizing CircleVision, a film in the round, then it was on to Germany and Italy where we simply enjoyed the shops and the set up of these “towns” and took pictures with hats. Just then the sky opened up and it began to pour. We waited inside the Italian shops until the downpour decreased and then made our way “back” to America.

                At the American Experience, we first enjoyed some great acapella singing by a group called Voices of Liberty. Then it was off to a hokey film about our nation’s history. Having visited many of the places where these historic events took place, we noticed several creative re-writes of history to make it “magical” enough for Disney. In Japan we enjoyed watching Taiko drummers and we made reservations for tomorrow night’s dinner in Morocco.  In France we enjoyed the rest of our lunch and had a dessert of crepes. However, it began to rain again as we were eating, so we quickly scooped up our food and ran for shelter. We enjoyed France’s theatre in the round film and found the rain had stopped when we ventured out again. As we exited we were treated to French street performers juggling and performing acrobatic feats of balance with wine bottles and chairs. Then we buzzed through the United Kingdom and headed over to Canada for their film in the round presentation of “O Canada” narrated by Martin Short.

                Throughout the day, we had noticed people wearing these huge medals around their necks. These were the marathoners. They received a medal if they ran the half marathon on Saturday, a different medal if they ran the full marathon on Sunday, and a Goofy medal for running both the half and full marathons. However, in addition to the medals, we noticed something else. A number of the people wearing medals were in wheelchairs, motorized scooters, or limping painfully from place to place. As the kids wondered about this phenomenon, I remarked that the human body was not made for running a marathon; a fact proven by the first person to ever run the 26.2 miles that a marathon commemorates. After running from the Battle of Marathon to Athens to announce “we won”, Pheidippides, the Greek messenger, collapsed and died. After that auspicious beginning, I wonder why anyone would want to try and repeat his feat. After seeing yet another poor soul limp by, Jim remarked, “OK. I’m convinced. No marathons for me.” Wise choice.

                Having circled the world, we headed for home, full of plans for how to spend our next day at Epcot. Upon being delivered to our campsite, we soon busied ourselves with dinner preparation, blogging and packing lunches for the next two days. We will be having dinner at Epcot tomorrow and staying for the fireworks. So we prepped for two days and are planning on having breakfast outside tomorrow morning, weather permitting, so the kids don’t have to unmake and remake the couch and table beds. The kids’ tired but happy bodies were soon fast asleep and now Jim is asleep as well. As I head to bed I hope I’ll be able to sleep and not awake quite so early tomorrow morning.