And That's The End of That.

Dear occasional visitor,

It is my hope that this blog will amuse you and encourage you to document your own trip to GKTW and the Disney empire. I have regularly come back to it to reminisce about the trip and the many happy memories we made that week.

The past month, it has become even more important to me. On 30 January 2012, we lost Kayla. True to form, she slept through it. We had always known that Kayla was unlikely to outlive us, but we always thought we would have plenty of warning and there would be time to gather the family around for the final hours. Instead, she was dead within hours of a diagnosis of pneumonia/sepsis. The onset was sudden to us, and the end was a confusion of medical staff, procedures and urgency, but ultimately she didn't have the strength to beat it back this time.

Treasure your trip. Preserve the memories. But above all, enjoy yourself and don't experience the whole thing through a viewfinder. Your memory will provide all the high points for your review for many years to come.

Day 7, Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity-Jig!

Wow, another long day.  Up at the crack of toodamnearly.  Gina gave packing a good try last night, but she was just too out of it to do any good.  If you saw yesterday's blog post before my editing job, you probably know that I wasn't in any better shape.

Day 6, The Final Countdown

Go ahead, try and get that song out of your head now.

Day 5, Nothing's out of reach in the backyard beach!

Time for a day off.  We've done so much walking and sweating, and such light eating, that I've probably lost 30 lbs.  I've had to tighten my belt a notch!  I haven't been this thin since the last time I was this thin.  I could get to like the Disney Diet Plan.  The problem here is that I'm already so thin I look like I only gained my third dimension last month.

Day 4, Living life to it's fullest.

Ah, the Magic Kingdom!  Just thinking about it reminds me of the trip we made when I was 12.  My standout memories of that one are the Haunted Mansion and Snow White's Scary Adventures.  I love childhood trauma.

Chapter 3. In Which Everyone Becomes Dampened.

Ah, Tuesday.  The Plan:  Get up at our usual time, breakfast at the Ice Cream parlor and be ready to hit Animal Kingdom at the 9:00 opening.  Easy-peasy, right?

Day 2. I thought I was tired yesterday....

First full day, and first park visit!  Wore me OUT!

Today started off with some character photos.  Micky and Minnie were in the theater.  Kayla visited with Micky for a bit while Minnie distracted Jason and Emily.  Then they traded so Minnie could have some quality time with Kayla.  Once she had spent some time with each of the stars, they came together and we got some family shots.

Day 1

Wow, I'm pooped.  And we haven't even hit a park yet!!

Image credit: Mr. Blurrycam

Alarm went off at 5:15 and we were ready to go when the limo and van got there at 6:45.  Jennifer and Frank got us to the airport in style and we checked everything in with no trouble.

Arrival!

We've landed!  Security went well, but we had to move to different seats on the plane.  I got Kayla's car seat in place only to discover there was no leg room for her.  They moved us up to the bulkhead seats - extra leg room for everyone!

.1.

Errands, packing, laundry, yard work.  All the usual stuff before you leave home for a week of FUN!

Thanks for the use of the car seat Melanie.  I don't know when they got so complex though.  There's more straps and harnesses on that thing than a parachute.  Which begs the question: "Why does it have to be so beefed up for aircraft use?"  Really, the likelyhood of needing that thing and having it do any good in an airliner is so slim that it really doesn't matter.  On the other hand, its usefulness in a car is substantially more significant but the standards seem to be lower.  Or it's just been so long since I've shopped for car seats that I'm out of touch with the industry.

Limo arrives at 0700 tomorrow!

..2..

The mountains of laundry are now mountains of CLEAN laundry thanks to Gina.  We're down to stuffing some things into suitcases, cleaning the house up a bit and then sitting up all night watching for the limo to show up at 7:00am Sunday.  Kayla is excited, Emily is excited, Jason is getting more and more anxious.  What is it with this kid?

...3...

Continuing our countdown, we now have our Traveler's Checks and a couple rolls of coins for the penny/quarter smashing machines.  The kids don't know about Disney's yet, but love the ones at the zoo.  You know the ones - you go to the zoo so often that you never think about souvenirs and then somebody finds the crank to turn at the Manatee Falls or Insect House.  Then it's all "Daddy, can I?" and "Did you bring any money?" and "No, but you did!" and then "I'm not smooshing my debit card."  followed by much wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Ah, good times, good times....  

Who wants to start taking bets on when I lose the TC's?

Wish granters came today!

We now have all the neccessary paperwork!  Thanks to our volunteers, Ashley and Christina (whose pictures I forgot to take - this doesn't bode well) we now have buttons and tickets and reservations.
Kayla got a special MAW Barbie doll and Emily is alraedy barganing to make it hers.  Sorry sweetie, but you will not appropriate this one.

....4....

The count-down is on!  Tickets and itinerary to be delivered tonight.  We'll be putting stuff in baggage the next couple of days, and probably repacking once or twice to minimize the overall bag count.  Checked baggage fees will add up fast if we aren't careful, but carry-ons with Kayla, her car seat and two smallish kids could be a real challenge.  Very grateful to have a direct flight!

5 Days to go!

Just about there, and the kids are as excited as ever.  Tomorrow night we'll meet with our MAW volunteer and get all the paperwork.  We keep saying we're going to start setting aside clothes to pack, but somehow it just doesn't get done.  I can see already we'll be up at 4:00 still trying to cram stuff into a suitcase!

Getting close!

We got the Disney vacation planning DVD in the mail today and watched it twice before dinner!  The kids are excited of course, but Jason freaked out over the 5-10 seconds of video of the Haunted Mansion.  Man up, kid - you're riding it.

More MAIL!!!!

It must be getting close!  We got our map/brochure from GKTW today!  Sifting through the mail: bill, bill, bill, EOB, EOB - Kayla got a big envelope, where's that refund check from Duke?  Wait.  Kayla got a big envelope?  OOHHH!!!!!!

Testing testing, 1, 2, 3...

Chose this one off my phone while testing the email blog post.  Emily is minus her glasses, but Kayla is alert and happy after a long nap.  Yay Princesses!

Planning and data-mining

I've been hanging out on DISboards.com where there is a thread (several actually) dedicated to MAW trips.  Many helpful tips there and good info about Give Kids the World Village.  The various trip reports there have been even more informative.  Things like the fact that GKTW is a gated resort and the guard shack is not staffed 24/7.  Nice tidbit to know, and I'll be sure not to get the van stuck between the gates.  And I will not leave home without my Bunny Book.  Can I get that in PDF for my phone and nook?

Bummer!

Checked the Disney website for park hours, maps, etc.  On the schedule for Magic Kingdom it states that "It's a Small World" will be closed for refurbishment!  That's the iconic ride I remember best from my visit as a 12 year old!  I won't get to share that one with the kids I guess.  Oh well, I suppose we'll just have to make new memories instead of boring everyone with my old ones.

Disney park schedule for September 2010