Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Time to head home!!!
On Sunday we regretfully knew that it would be time to leave soon. We hung around the resort till about 11:00 then got on the road. We arrived at St. Augustine about lunch time so decided to take a detour and go spend some time in the beautiful city. We ate at one of our favorite Mexican Restaurants right off the water and then walked around a little prior to getting back in the car and getting back on the road. We arrived home late Sunday night exhausted; but knowing we had a wonderful experience.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Resort Day!!!
Saturday we were all exhausted so according to Grandma JuJu we slept in (8:15 am). We all got ready and headed down for a quick breakfast prior to heading to the pool. Such a relaxing pool and Samantha quickly got comfortable with the life jacket and loved showing off her swimming abilities. Samantha met a couple of friends in the pool and they got to all play together for a little while prior to us heading out of the sun for lunch and a break away from the sun. We decided to eat right there at the resort and the food was wonderful. Afterwards we got the stroller out and went to look at some animals but Samantha was exhausted and fell asleep about as soon as we started pushing the stroller. Mommy and I decided to head over to the other building to check it out as well as their pool (still part of Animal Kingdom Lodge just a different building) and check out the animals while we were there. On our way back we ran into Grandma JuJu and Grandpa and Samantha had woken up so Mommy and I headed upstairs while Samantha and Grandma/Grandpa headed outside to see the animals. Samantha got to see how Giraffe's drink water and continued to imitate it most of the night. When they came back up they learned that we had a special treat for dinner.
Let me take a second to brag about my wife as she does an amazing job when it comes to planning out these trips. For years when we take trips I usually just show up (get excited about the day we are finally packing to go on the trip) but part of that is because I know she will make sure that everything is perfect. The reservations for the character dinners/brunches are done sometimes 6 months out. You plan what day you are going to the park based on what meals you are able to reserve. People watch message boards to find out when a new dinner reservation is opened and which ones are the ones to do. She has it down to a science but if it were me I would be sitting there 30 minutes before we are hungry trying to call and get a reservation to which I would 99% of the time be told sorry no seats available. Not only that but she had special notes and presents for each one planned/printed for Samantha and Grandma JuJu and Grandpa. It is also a tradition of hers to have her own signature cards printed out which usually has the character on it; the location that we are going to see them and their name; an example would be 1900 Park Fare; Cinderella's Picture; and Cinderella at the bottom of the card. The characters love it and always give her compliments on how good her signature prints look. I usually respond with a thank you I worked an entire week on just their card but most of the time they know I am kidding and it is actually Paige that plans these wonderful trips.
The treat was going to be that we were in fact going to 1900 Park Fare and were having dinner with Cinderella. Mommy also pulled out Samantha's own Cinderella dress that the Princesses had requested that she wear to dinner. Now this is our second time doing this and it was just as funny this time as last to pull up to the guard station and roll down my window to say, "yes we are here to have dinner with Princesses Cinderella." I then look at the guard and watch him try and be as serious as he can with me although I know down deep is wanting to give me a hard time. We proceed to walk around and take pictures while we are waiting for our time slot and in we went. They have this down to a science and it was absolutely a blast to watch Samantha interact with them. She had a wonderful time and is truly daddy's little princess.
After dinner we said goodbye to Cinderella and headed back to the resort to sit by the camp fire; look at the animals again, then headed to the Animal Kingdom Lodge Primal Parade which was one of the cutest things I have ever seen and then we headed outside to look at the animals with night vision binoculars which was pretty cool (although for some reason all I could think of was Call of Duty game or some other war game where you would use this type of technology).
We then headed upstairs to call it a night as we knew we had a long trip on Sunday and needed to get some rest. We watched TV for a little prior to everyone falling asleep.
Let me take a second to brag about my wife as she does an amazing job when it comes to planning out these trips. For years when we take trips I usually just show up (get excited about the day we are finally packing to go on the trip) but part of that is because I know she will make sure that everything is perfect. The reservations for the character dinners/brunches are done sometimes 6 months out. You plan what day you are going to the park based on what meals you are able to reserve. People watch message boards to find out when a new dinner reservation is opened and which ones are the ones to do. She has it down to a science but if it were me I would be sitting there 30 minutes before we are hungry trying to call and get a reservation to which I would 99% of the time be told sorry no seats available. Not only that but she had special notes and presents for each one planned/printed for Samantha and Grandma JuJu and Grandpa. It is also a tradition of hers to have her own signature cards printed out which usually has the character on it; the location that we are going to see them and their name; an example would be 1900 Park Fare; Cinderella's Picture; and Cinderella at the bottom of the card. The characters love it and always give her compliments on how good her signature prints look. I usually respond with a thank you I worked an entire week on just their card but most of the time they know I am kidding and it is actually Paige that plans these wonderful trips.
The treat was going to be that we were in fact going to 1900 Park Fare and were having dinner with Cinderella. Mommy also pulled out Samantha's own Cinderella dress that the Princesses had requested that she wear to dinner. Now this is our second time doing this and it was just as funny this time as last to pull up to the guard station and roll down my window to say, "yes we are here to have dinner with Princesses Cinderella." I then look at the guard and watch him try and be as serious as he can with me although I know down deep is wanting to give me a hard time. We proceed to walk around and take pictures while we are waiting for our time slot and in we went. They have this down to a science and it was absolutely a blast to watch Samantha interact with them. She had a wonderful time and is truly daddy's little princess.
After dinner we said goodbye to Cinderella and headed back to the resort to sit by the camp fire; look at the animals again, then headed to the Animal Kingdom Lodge Primal Parade which was one of the cutest things I have ever seen and then we headed outside to look at the animals with night vision binoculars which was pretty cool (although for some reason all I could think of was Call of Duty game or some other war game where you would use this type of technology).
We then headed upstairs to call it a night as we knew we had a long trip on Sunday and needed to get some rest. We watched TV for a little prior to everyone falling asleep.
Here is a short video of Samantha after doing the Animal Kingdom Lodge Primal Parade playing with her African Instruments.
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