A Super Bowl Love Story

Well after our second day at the WDW parks, I can officially say we are having a magical time! Our travel to Florida went remarkably well. Once in San Francisco - we flew in from Modesto and that was a breeze, not to mention really fun to fly on a little puddle jumper. Anyway, once in SF Frank was able to use his elite status and move his family up from the very last row to Economy Plus - and let me tell you those extra six inches make a difference!! Then the plane was only about three quarters full so we switched around and all had a seat between us. We arrived at the car rental and were offered a very reasonable deal to switch from a Yaris to a Ford Explorer. Cathi- with both of our kids and two large hard sided suitcases, two small and four back packs I'm sure you would know what that would look like.... It was even your color! I had found such a great deal through Payless - $14.00 a day that it was not a leap to upgrade.

We drove very easily to our hotel - very near downtown disney and several other amenities. We are staying at the Residence Inn (a nice new one) - I had booked a one bedroom suite with our points - that was the only thing that was offered at the time. But when Frank presented his new shiny gold card they quickly upgraded him to a two bedroom suite (for no extra charge and no humming and hawing!). For just a moment we were really glad that Frank's work always includes travel. When we got to our room, another surprise awaited - in the second bedroom there are two queen size beds - so everyone is VERY happy to have their own nice bed. No one with a bar mark in their back every morning!

On Sunday morning we forced ourselves to get up very early. We ate a great breakfast here at the hotel and all took a piece of fruit with us. We caught the shuttle and headed over to Animal Kingdom. Highlights here were Expedition Everest, the animal safari, and giant fruit bats in the Maharajah Jungle Trek. We ended the night with a trip to a local restaurant called Nagoya Sushi. We had a coupon for them from Restaurant.com it gave us about 60 percent off our total bill. And it was really tasty!

I should also mention - DAD and BETH that these pictures were all taken with Haley's new camera. She saved up about 75.00 of her own money for a really good digital camera and then was very disappointed to find that the sort she was really wanting started at about 100.00 so Papa and Grammy Beth came through with early Christmas money so she could get it for her trip. She had enough fun with it on the first day to well pay for it! She took 200 pictures!!! Also, I'm really glad about the camera for two reasons. In the first place she really wanted a hand held gaming device. This is a much better option! Plus she really is good with a camera and now she won't be bugging me for mine all the time. Today we went to Disney Studios. But we choose to sleep in and head over to the park on the second shuttle which runs at 10:45 am. That is the only problem with the hotel shuttle - it services several hotels but only runs three times in the morning and three times in the evening- so there is no returning to your hotel in the afternoon to rest.

After our lunch - which we bought the fixings for at Super WalMart just up the road - Haley and I checked out possibilities for dinner. Months ago, we had half heartedly promised that we would let them pick a place or two in the parks to eat. Well, the two restaurants the kids were really interested in accept reservations 180 days in advance and we didn't have one. But both suggested that we come back later in the day and look for cancellations - as the park wasn't that full that is what we did. We weren't altogether sure we wouldn't just wait and come back to the hotel for something near here. (Pam - the trouble with the shuttle is that it doesn't get us back in time for the "hor d vors" here at the hotel - I think we will drive to the parks one day and pay the $12.00 in order to come back and enjoy the free dinner) But when we decided we were famished and tired at about 4:30 we decided to try our luck. We actually got seated in about three minute at the Sci Fi Drive In - but after we were in there the kids decided it wasn't really what they had in mind so we decided to try our luck at Prime Time Diner - man I'm glad we did.

Here are the kids in the diner - it is a great old kitchy place filled with stuff and tvs from the 50's that play old sit coms like the honeymooners and the dick van dyke show. The waitresses and waiters nag you like they are your parents "elbows off the table Caliornia" and Frank even got sent to the corner! One old waitress stuck her tongue out right at me - I laughed and told Frank and he said, "that's not the first time a waitress has done it, it's just the first time she has done it to your face!!" It was a bit of a splurge but we still stayed on our per diem for the day so I can't complain. While Haley was standing here for the picture a waitress came through and said to her, "move it or wear it missy!"

Also at Disney Studios the Osbourne family light show. Not to be confused with the Ozzy Osborne family! This one is from the midwest somewhere - A daughter one year asked her dad for Christmas lights and it became a 3million light display. Disney bought everything from him and brought it here and added to it. The lights dance to Christmas music and there is snow - and actually it's not just the lights that felt like dancing!

It has been a great time so far. Tomorrow we are hitting the Magic Kingdom. We have been using a website called TouringPlans.com. They have info about crowds for each day of the year and detailed plans of how to tour each park based on your age, interests and amount of time you have to spend. So far it has really helped us get started with what to do and where to go. Tomorrow is supposed to be lighter at MK than at Epcot so we are heading there.