Our Island Hopping, Rain Dropping, Champagne Popping Adventure About This Page:

[pamcarey]

Yay, I've been wondering if you made your annual June trek to the world. I'm even more excited that this trip includes a cruise portion! And I'm on board before the TR is finished.... woo hoo!!

[HiddenMickey]

Every time we drive past the signs for St Augustine, I want to make a stop there. Visited when we were little and remember liking it. Gotta plan it into a trip one year.

Off to a fun start!

[KMB733]

Looks like a fun day in St Augustine!!

[lazanya]

Great start to your vacation!

[Cam22]

Great update! A stay over at St. Augustine sounds like a great way to start the vacation. I love when resorts take such good care of kids!

[bonphil]

Great start to your trip!

[kingfamily1129]

Just joining in...the trip sounds fantastic so far! Can't wait to read more

[OCEANGRLLG]

Found ya!!! Man this trip TR is goin to be awesome, yall have alot of places to see and things to do! My husbands sister lives in Rose Hill SC and we might be heading that way one weekend coming up, do yall live close by to Rose Hill? Would like to met up if so! You can message me on FB too!

[OhToodles!]

St. Augustine looks like a great place to stop on the way down to Disney!

[ilovedisney247]

Sounds like you guys had a good day even with the rain! I love the sound of the book store!

[shnewell]

Wow, this sounds like it's going to be the adventure of a lifetime! I'm glad y'all had an enjoyable first day, even with Beryl getting all up in your face like that.

[mommapants]

What a lovely first day even with the rain. I love those types of days where you just sort of go where the wind takes you. I had to laugh at you WWIII comment. When my brother's kids were about the age of your girls they took a road trip and by dumb luck they bought something and could no longer put their suitcase in the trunk. They had to place the suitcase in the backseat between the 2 kids. He said it was the BEST ride he ever had. For the next few years any road trip they took they place the suitcase barrier in the car.

[Jillybean]

Monday, May 28

Happy Memorial Day!

Not surprising, Thom was the first one up this morning and took revenge on the girls with a little photo op of his own.



We were all ready to get to Disney, so we were up and ready in record time. We enjoyed a fantastic buffet breakfast downstairs in the restaurant complete with Belgian waffles and omelets to order. I’m pretty sure that Maddie tried at least a bite of every single item offered.

After we had stuffed ourselves silly, we went back upstairs to brush teeth and finish packing up. When we walked back through the lobby, the head of housekeeping motioned for the girls to come with her and took them into the back. They came out with tons of Andes mints, more “cones of goodness” and the lady’s card (in case they ever needed her ). We made sure to let everyone know how wonderful they had all made this little trip. We will definitely be going back.

The valet had brought our car out front, so we said to everyone inside and headed out to our car. The maintenance man, Jaime, was hosing off debris from the storm and pointed out the steps that are in the courtyard. I had never noticed them, but he told us that they were the original steps on which Martin Luther King, Jr. had given a speech and was arrested. He even took a picture of us in front of them. Such sweet, sweet people.



We were on the road again by 9 a.m. and pulled up to the Poly at 11 a.m. on the dot.



While a bellman whisked away our luggage, a CM popped up to escort us to the Hawaii building. It had been sprinkling off and on all morning, but we were able to take the quick walk without getting wet. The ominous clouds above made me glad that we had arrived when we did.

The same CM who had checked me in the month before did the honors once again. She told me that she didn’t know my name, but she definitely knew my face. Along with our key cards, she gave us the good news that our room was ready. We were on the first floor and just a tad closer from the end of the hall than Sharon and I had been the month before. Apparently, the room assignor thought I was in need of some exercise.

About the time that we reached our room, the heavens opened up and it poured along with some fierce thunder and lightening. We stood at the sliding glass doors for a while watching the weather and the people scurrying about before Thom offered to wait for the luggage while the girls and I headed to the lounge. With the fierce weather, there was no way that our luggage was going to be here anytime soon.

The girls and I walked back down the hall and started up the stairs to the lounge. Maddie hesitated and I suddenly remembered her fear of open staircases. She was really brave though and kept going. She was so proud of herself when we reached the second floor. While we waited for Thom, she spent most of her time building up the courage to take the stairs to the third floor. It was no time before she was at me from up above.

In between exploring every inch of both floors of the lounge, both girls enjoyed some snacks at the kids’ table. I sat at a table near them and enjoyed the view as the rain gradually subsided. By the time that Thom joined us and we headed back to the Great Ceremonial House to catch the monorail to MK, the rain was all but gone. We had a 1 p.m. ADR at The Plaza and we were going to get there right on time.



Once through the gates, Thom and Mary Devall checked us in at The Plaza while Maddie and I went for SM FP’s (as I type this I’m wondering why the two people who are not going to ride SM ran for the FP’s . . . Maddie and I must be nice people ). We waited about 20 minutes for our table, but we filled that by taking pictures and generally trying to annoy each other as much as possible.



At one point, I saw that a table right in front of the window had been cleaned and I remarked that there was a table where they could sit us . . . and guess where we were seated about a minute later.

I must say that we probably had the best seat in the house with a dead-on view of the castle, so it was worth the wait. Mary Devall and I both ordered a turkey sandwich while Maddie went with a burger and Thom went in the opposite direction with the chicken strawberry salad.



Thom and I were facing the window, so we watched as the clouds got darker and darker. All of a sudden, we heard and felt an explosion. It scared the absolute living life out of me! Once we all snapped to after the shock, we realized that lightening must have struck something in Tomorrow Land. Several parents ran past us from that direction carrying screaming children and one little girl had a look of absolute terror on her face.

As loud as it was in the restaurant, I can only imagine how scary it was being outside. We never heard a word about it although we did see a CM checking out the roof tops a few minutes later.

Some time after our food arrived, the skies opened up again so we had a front row seat as people ran by soaked to the skin, sauntered by with ponchos or sauntered by without caring that they were soaked to the skin. You can see in the background of the first picture that everyone is blissfully walking and sitting around . . . not so much in the second picture.



It was still pouring when we finished our meal, so we decided to sit back, relax and order some dessert. As if we weren’t going to order dessert if it had been sunny outside!



The girls each ordered a Mickeylodeon with Mary Devall having mint chocolate chip and Maddie having chocolate while I went with butter pecan and Thom went all out with the Plaza Sundae. When we could eat no more, we finally paid the bill and left. Luckily, it was barely even drizzling by this point.

The SM FP’s were ripe by now, so Thom and Mary Devall took off to ride twice while Maddie and I found something to do in TL. The line for Buzz was backed up outside, but most of it was covered so we didn’t mind waiting. Before long, Maddie has us spinning around and around and around. Just when you’ve fixed your gun on a “Z” and are about to shoot, Maddie goes into action again and around you go. If I had any competitive spirit in me at all, this might drive me crazy, but it really just makes me laugh and laugh.

After we finished up with some really bad scores, we walked across the way to TTA and took a spin around TL. As usual, Maddie kept her eyes closed throughout SM even though I promised her that she really couldn’t see a thing.



Thom and Mary Devall finished up with their 2 rides on SM while we were on TTA, so they met us when we descended.

Maddie had been waiting a long time to ride her beloved Barnstormer, so next we took the pathway to FL where the first glimpse of the renovated train station almost put Mary Devall over the top. She is so eager to see FL completed that anything “new” results in squealing and lots of clapping and jumping up and down. And Maddie was pretty much speechless when she saw her old friend revived.

A funny story about the CM standing behind Maddie. Just before we entered the line, two boys about Mary Devall's age ran into the line. The CM told them to stop running and they did . . . that is until they thought they were out of his sight. Almost as soon as they started running again, he yelled out "I can still see you . . ."



The rain had started to pick up, but we were all wearing our dollar store ponchos so we were good . . . that is until my dear husband made one dreadful mistake. As we waited in a short standby line, we took refuge under trampolines that are dotted above the line (probably more to shade you from the sun than rain). As we stood under one, my husband thought it would be funny to punch the trampoline from below so that the water that had accumulated on top would pour down the back of my head and back. Now I did have a poncho on, so I didn’t get any wetter than I already was, but . . . really? I was so mad at him, but I finally got over it. Two back-to-back rides on Barnstormer and two happy girls made it easier.

Next all four of us crammed into one teacup and spun around like crazy. I think after the water incident, Thom was a little hesitant about spinning me too fast, but I finally took control and spun us until the girls were giggling their heads off.

We then headed to Liberty Square where we had a little fun in the cemetery before riding.



Mary Devall was able to talk Maddie into riding with her, so I think Thom may have been a little worried about riding with me . . . in the dark . . . where no one could see me seek revenge . . . with the hatchet that I borrowed from the killer bride. I let him live . . . someone had to drive me to Port Canaveral later in the week.

Outside the girls found this new tombstone and had to have a picture. As Larry replied when I posted the picture on FB . . . “They wanted to get ahead.” Gotta love him.



We had been missing BTMRR, so we were excited to see it not only back up but with a short line to boot! The standby line did look “refreshed” with a few more little bells and whistles and it flipped with the FP line, but other than that, I didn’t notice any change. It still was fun and made two little girls scream like crazy.



Mary Devall and I were going to ride Splash, but sadly it was down so we ventured on to Adventure Land where we rode PotC and walked through the Treehouse.



After our loop around the park, we decided to hit Main Street for a little shopping. Maddie’s gift card was burning a hole in her pocket, but neither she nor Mary Devall found anything that they loved. We actually had to talk Maddie out of just buying something for the sole purpose of spending money - - especially on the first day of our trip.

Mary Devall had just missed out on the Sorceror’s game on our last trip in February, so I suggested that we go into the fire station just to check it out. There wasn’t a line, so the CM took a lot of time with us and explained the game to Mary Devall. We were going to wait until later to actually pick up cards and start the game since we were about to leave the park, but the CM convinced us to go ahead and get started. The first spot was a stone’s throw from the fire house, so Mary Devall got started.



Of course, that led to her next destination which was just around the corner.



That one led to the next which was one block away, but the line of people waiting their turn convinced us that we had reached a good stopping point.

As we were walking back down Main Street, Maddie heard the parade coming and decided that she wanted to stay and watch it. A nearby CM told us that the parade would turn right at the circle, so we planted ourselves at the turn and had a fantastic viewing spot.



After the parade, we headed out of the park and then caught a waiting boat back to the Poly.



We headed right for the lounge where there was a spread set out. We helped the girls with their food and got them settled at the kids’ table before we helped ourselves. It was just so nice to sit there and relax with a nice cold glass of wine and a delicious plate of food.



Mary Devall joined us after she finished her food and we were able to convince her to try sushi. She is an extremely picky eater, so this was quite a feat for her. Thom wisely steered clear of the word “seaweed” by calling it an “ocean vegetable” instead.



I had originally planned for us to go to DHS tonight for EMH, but Mary Devall asked if we could just hang out at the hotel and swim instead. I was all for relaxing, so it was fine by me. Thom and the girls went back to the room to change while I kicked back with a second glass of wine. Yep, I had no problem whatsoever hanging around the hotel tonight.

By the time I changed and met them at the pool, Mary Devall was ready to hit the slide. I went down with her a few times and then switched off with Maddie to play with her some. We were waterlogged by the time we went back inside, showered and then headed back to the lounge for dessert. Maddie wore her lei every single time that we went to the lounge.



Thom and I grabbed one of the seating areas at the window and enjoyed our desserts while the girls watched a little television.



When it was time for the Electric Water Pageant, they joined us at the window and had the best time watching it. It was like a walk down memory lane for Mary Devall who used to love watching it and clapping along to the music.



When it was time for Wishes, both girls snuggled up on the couch with me and we watched as the sky lit up in front of us. It was a perfect way to end our day. We were a tired bunch, so went back to our room after Wishes and went to sleep fairly quickly.

[ilovedisney247]

A great first day in the Magic Kingdom! I had sushi for dinner tonight so give Mary Devall a thumbs up for me!

[dutchdisneyfamily]

I love your update! Everyone looks like they were having so much fun, despite the rain. What a lovely ending to a great day!