the beck family: July 2012

Monday, July 9, 2012

Disney World - Day 2

April 11, 2012 - Wednesday - Woke up around 6:30 a.m. to be out the door by 7:30 a.m. – We had originally planned to attend Magic Kingdom today, but after looking at one of our phone apps, the crowd meter was higher their today so we chose Epcot instead. We arrived 45 min. early and waited in line for about 30 min. All of the adult tickets had to put their finger into this machine to scan our fingerprints before entering. I had never seen this before. Then when we went to each additional park, the fingerprint had to match the ticket. I guess this will keep people from buying 5 day passes and selling half of the days to somebody else. We used the WDW Lines app which Byron paid $15 for. The app told us what ride to go on in order and when to get fast passes for certain rides. The plan was for it to help us save 3-4 hours by jumping around this way. It was amazing how nice it worked. We followed this list at each park and didn't have to wait in many lines especially for being one of the busiest times of the year to go. We loved not having to think about what to do next. Fast Track was the first ride we went on. It was a huge hit and so fun. Bradley was scared at first, but then seemed to like it at the end. Next we went on a “Mission: Space” - you can either ride the Orange (extreme)Green (easy) simulated rocket ride. Since the adults were all going to go on the easy ride, I decided I was brave and didn't have problems with sickness so I would go with the kids on the orange ride. Boy was I wrong! You are strapped into a small space into a simulator that makes you feel like you are going to Mars. I felt claustrophobic and very sick most of the time. I was so grateful it ended when it did or I don't know what would have happened. I guess I am getting too old for these kid rides :). We went on Soarin’ twice and loved it each time. Mom Beck had never been on this ride and he said it was her favorite she had ever been on before. Living on the Land – very interesting – I loved seeing tomato trees and all of the plants growing in their facility. We also loved Crush the Turtle – awesome how he actually talked to children in the audience – not sure how they did it. The rides at Epcot are based on educational experiences compared to fun at the other parks. So some of the kids liked Epcot and some didn't as much.

By noon we had hit all of the rides in the park and headed over to the countries area. Their is a huge lake that is surrounded on all sides by different countries. It was a lot of fun walking through each one getting a good feel for the atmosphere. They had entertainment in each area along with food that is native to that country. It was also fun to go into the shops and see souvenirs from these areas. For dinner we ate Chinese food. It was so good and filling. I ate orange chicken - each child shared a plate. For lunch we shared meals and were still hungry after eating. This dinner made up the difference as we definitely got our fill and more. In France we saw a cool 5 screen (around half of room) show. The crowds felt pretty light, but found out that Epcot is massive after walking around it all day. By following the app we didn’t hit huge lines at all – Soarin’ and Fast Track were 110 min. lines without the FASTPASSES. So nice we didn’t experience those lines. Melissa bought gelato for us to share - so creamy and good. We sat to see the evening show for 1 ½ hours, then people stood in front of us and wouldn’t sit down after it started - that was pretty upsetting. Luckily the kids were on the front row next to the water so Byron & I went over with them. It ended up being a very late night. We went by Walgreen's on our way back to the condo. The kids bought some Disney World things for a lot less money. I was glad I had brought snacks in my bag since we ate them all through out the day. The food is so expensive in the parks.

The crew before entering Epcot - Parker, red and Carter, green

Waiting for Fast Track and Bradley looking a little scared before the ride started.

The lines were so long to wait and see the characters, that we opted to just take them from a distance.

Soarin' with the crew.

We finally waited in line when we saw one not very long and had fun with Chip and Dale.

Their is a Coke store where you can test coke from different countries. Byron & Dad Beck were in complete heaven:).

These cool character bushes were all over Epcot. They were fascinating to look at. Below are some fun hats we had trying on in the different countries.

Bradley wiped out half way through the day while looking at the countries.

The yummy gelato. She got chocolate, lemon and another really good kind.

Fun telephone pictures in the United Kingdom.

Waiting for the evening show to start.

A beautiful view on our way out.

Disney World - Day 1

April 10 – Tuesday Our much anticipated trip finally happened. The kids were more excited about our flight than actually being in Orlando. The night before they were all restless and had a really hard time sleeping. Carter didn’t get to bed until around 11:30 p.m. We sent the kids to bed around 7:30 since it was going to be an early morning, but they just stayed in their rooms for a couple of hours not being able to sleep.

We got up around 6:15 a.m. to get ready for our early flight out. The kids were easy to wake up and quick to get ready. They all had their rolling suitcases packed two days previous and were all ready for this fun adventure ahead of us. We ended up getting to the airport and drove around for quite some time before we found an open parking spot. Then after finding one, we unloaded all 8 bags, Bradley’s car seat, Bradley’s stroller, 4 backpacks (every child shared one with somebody else with snacks and things to do for the trip). We all had our hands full and were quite the sight. The bus we got on that took us to the airport was packed – luckily we all got seats except for Byron (unfortunately he stood up). Byron has such awesome status at Delta; we were able to get into the Priority/Medallion line. There was no wait and Byron was able to get everything checked in on our flight (all 10 pieces) and it cost us nothing – that was a huge perk right there. I couldn’t have imagined having us do carry on with all 8 pieces – it would have been a disaster for sure. Once everything was checked in, it was easy to maneuver around with just 4 backpacks. The security line was pretty easy also as Byron’s status again allowed us to go ahead of others and go through security faster. The kids 12 and under didn’t have to take off shoes which made for an easier time. Once we finally got past the security, we headed over to the walking escalators since Byron had told the kids all about them. We went down one way and then headed back the other way. While on these, we found Mom Beck and Melissa. They had beaten us there.

Byron’s seat was upgraded to 1st class. He wanted me to take it for him, but I opted against it since I wanted to experience firsthand each of the kids excitement and emotions during the flight. Byron ended up giving his dad the ticket and made one man VERY happy!!! All of our tickets were in two different rows except for Melissa’s (she was about 4 rows ahead of us). It seemed like it took forever to take off. It was fun to see the excitement and fear for takeoff with the kids. They all realized soon enough that flying isn’t quite as fun as they had imagined it would be. After being on the plane for about 2 hours, Bradley had had enough and was ready for it to end. Luckily we had some Tom and Jerry cartoons on the I-pad for him to watch for a short time. The kids all loved being able to pick their own drink and snack. They also enjoyed eating all of the treats that were brought with us in their backpacks (Johnathan had a little too much of the snacks and was feeling sick afterwards).

The first leg of our trip ended with a layover in Cincinnati, Ohio. We had enough time to grab some food, go to the bathrooms and head back to the airplane. I ended up taking first class the second leg of our trip. I was seated in seat 1B – front row on the left side next to the aisle. It was nice at first, but then started getting pretty lonely as I didn’t have anybody to talk to. I did love getting the unlimited drinks and snacks. It was fun to finally head back to see where the kids and Byron were seated. They were pretty much at the back of the plane and seemed to be fine. It was fun seeing them for a short time, but then headed back to my seat. I enjoyed some reading and quiet time for the 1 ½ hour flight.

We landed in beautiful Orlando around 6:00 p.m. After getting our luggage (which miraculously came out at the first), we went to wait for the Payless Rental Car shuttle to pick us up.

We got a KIA Sedona as our rental car - it is very nice and pretty roomy. One of our children ended up going with Dad & Mom Beck since we only got a 7 passenger which was a lot cheaper. We had about a 30 min. drive to our condo. I was so grateful for GPS as it saved us while driving around. Went to grocery story to shop for food for the breakfasts and different snacks while there. The condo is so nice and large. There are two bedrooms with twin beds, two queen beds, one king bed and a pull out bed in couch. It was so nice that everybody had a place to sleep. The condo has a foosball table, pool table, air hockey and a pool outside. The kids couldn't wait to go swimming. The water was 85 degrees and the kids were able to get their wiggles out. We headed to bed way too late!

The very excited kids on the way to the airport - they had no problems waking up and were wide awake on the ride to the airport. (Carter - left, Parker - right)