DISNEY TRIP part 1
We came in on Saturday, hit the pool for an hour or so and then off to dinner. We put "restaurant" in the GPS and drove around, looking for a place with a decently short wait. We found a TGI Friday's a mile or so away and we hit so much ridiculous traffic that it took us 45 minutes to do so. Dinner was not great, but it was food. Got back to the hotel around 10. Sam has decided to do a project. He's writing down how much money we spend on this vacation. We're giving him our receipts and he is keeping track. Poppa Aaron would be proud!

Sunday we got up early and went to Animal Kingdom. We leaft early because we'd heard it was supposed to rain later in the day. We got there and it was drizzling, but not bad. We saw Finding Nemo: The Musical and the kids got their faces painted. We went on the Triceratops Spin ride, which was mild but fun. Then we had lunch of burgers and hot dogs and such. Sam wanted to go on the Primeval Whirl, which was a roller coaster. I nominated Mommy to go with him. Sam had a good time. Mommy didn't feel so well for an hour or so after. It was raining pretty hard by then. We wandered a little more and it began to torrentially downpour. We decided to cut our losses and go home. We were ready to just leave, but we had an hour and a half until the shuttle was due. We hid in a gift shop for a bit and then joined the throngs of ponchoed refugees out of the park. We were absolutely soaked. Sneakers squishing, we returned the electric wheelchair Meme rented and trudged out to the parking lot and waited for a half hour in the pouring rain. Miserable and cold and wet, the kids were crying and the adults were angry. Finally, the bus came and we all climbed in. There wasn't enough room for everyone, but somehow we all jammed in like sardines. We were wet and tired and squished and uncomfortable and then a leak sprang in the roof at one point and some poor girl got dripped on the rest of the ride. We finally got back to the hotel and the entire bus burst into applause. Some of us took hot showers, some had hot chocolate and we all changed into clean, dry clothes.
We had reservations for a character dinner at Chef Mickey's, after an hour or so, we got in the car and headed out for dinner. The guard who we had to go past saw we were from NY. He said "Me too. I'm from Long Island." We said "Us, too!" He said he was from Massapequa Park and the Whytes said "We go to church there!" They said which one and he knew exactly where it was. Turns out his Boys Scout troop used to meet there! Crazy. The food was very good, but the real treat was Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and Pluto swinging by every once in a while to dance, pose for pictures and sign autographs. Everyone had a great time. We all agreed it was a welcome end to a lousy day. To top it all off, we got back to the hotel in time to see the fireworks from our terrace.