Davis Family Blog

We started out heading for Magic Kingdom, but the buses were packed so we changed our direction to EPCOT. At EPCOT we got Martha to do the Orange challenge on Mission Mars, and had a great time on TestTrack. Greg did his thing – yelling and getting everyone in the car very engaged in the trip – the kid next to me was so excited and had so much fun that I think he was going to bounce all the way through the rest of his day. Great job, Greg!

We then headed to Magic Kingdom. True to the indication from the full buses, the park was very crowded. We did a number of great rides, and worked our own magic in balancing Fastpasses with Standby. At 5:30 we headed to the Polynesian resort for dinner. Unfortunately, there was a delay with the monorails and we didn’t arrive at the resort until 6:30. We were still able to eat, but missed our opportunity to go back to the park for the fireworks. Here’s something I didn’t know – The Ohana restaurant in the Polynesian resort has a spectacular view of the castle in Magic Kingdom, and during the fireworks they dim the lights and play the fireworks soundtrack perfectly synchronized to the fireworks. It was awesome!!

Ohana serves meat that’s been cooked on skewers over a bed of charcoal. Martha couldn’t figure out why her meat had a hole in it. I think it would be great to tease her with this when we go camping – “Martha – why does your hotdog have a hole in it?”

On the bus ride back to the Carribean Beach, Greg fell onto Dad’s lap and immediate started saying “I want a pony, and a rocketship”, just as if he were sitting on Santa’s lap. The rest of the people on the bus roared with laughter. His timing and delivery was perfect.

I couldn’t be prouder of the kids. Kelsey and Greg are full-fledged adults, and Ty is very well behaved with more excitement and more of a sense of wonderment than we ever remember from any of the other kids. What a blessing!

Dad is have a more difficult time with his arthritis than expected. I’ve had to skip a couple rides that would be difficult on my kneess, and standing still for any amount of time can bring so much pain that it gives me a headache too.

We are having a terrific time as always, with new adventures and plenty of laugther.

Incredibly, we had the smoothest journey ever from Pennsylvania to Orlando. Everything went so smoothly that we found ourselves waiting over an hour in Philadelphia for our flight. We expected a long line at the Magical Bus station – and no line due to a recent change that really streamlines checkin. We got right on the bus and the Carribean Beach was the first stop. Quickest transition ever. It was great.

We decided to change the room occupants at the last minute, so Kelsey and Ty walked back to Customs House to make the switch. While they were doing that, we realized that Magic Kingdom was open until 1am that night. Jeanne called, and we could get another day added onto our park passes for only $3.26 per person. So another trip back to Custom’s House to purchase an extra day. We then went to dinner at Shutters Restaurant at Old Port Royale right on property. However, after the meal our enthusiasm for going to the park waned. We were exhausted. In bed by 9:30pm and slept great. So we wasted the cost of the extra night – but it adds a new paragraph to our adventure story.

Shutters restaurant features carribean dishes like Carribean Pork Ribs or other meats in Carribean spices. It was ok, but nothing that I’d recommend to someone.

The Carribean Beach resort is well-maintained. Most of the rooms have a “Finding Nemo” theme that is very tasteful and fitting. Rooms are a good size, though I don’t understand why they don’t use Queen size beds instead of doubles. There is enough room in my opinion. It is nice having a refridgerator in the room. We bought 6 bottles of water at the store so that we’d have it, particularly late at night.

We met up with Beverly, Martha, and Margrette. They are in the room next to us. On Monday we head to Magic Kingdom for the day.

Weather is sunny, but cool. Temperatures are due to rise to the low-70’s, but the nights are cooler than expected.

prAna blog » Blog Archive » Handbook for Life… 2010.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could all take this advice – and live it each and every day.

Water is dangerous.  Beware of dihydrogen monoxide.

The Gathering.  This is a page of funny and very true quotes.

WTF Code.  Here are some good quotes about code quality that I might want to use in a presentation some day.

Caribbean Beach Resort

Here is our current itinerary for the 2010 Disney World Trip

• Sunday – Travel day – Dinner at the Carribean Beach Resort
• Monday – Magic Kingdom – Dinner at the Contemporary or Polynesian Resorts
• Tuesday – Animal Kingdom – Dinner at Trader Joe’s or Yak and Yeti
• Wednesday - Disney Studios – Dinner at Hollywood and Vine
• Thursday – EPCOT – Dinner at Canada or Italy
• Friday – EPCOT and travel day

Please provide your comments on this plan.

We’ll be hosting the 2009 Thanksgiving noon celebration at our house again this year.  Uncle Pat is cooking the turkey and has promised to make lots of stuffing for Kelsey (or Kira – whoever can get to it first).  Please send mom an email with your plans.  Matt & Stacy – we have a real bedroom for you this time.  

The evening meal will be at the Lindsey’s.