Sunday, April 19, 2009

The Not So Minnie Vacation

Picture this: Disney World with a gazillion people. (Is that a word?)
Anyway...It was packed! I should have thought about everyone there at one time for Spring Break. And they were!
But we ventured on since the tickets were already bought on line.
Before I go on about Disney let me start more at the beginning of our trip so I won't leave out anyone.

We stopped in Savannah for our 1st night to break up the ride. Siena had been a good passenger all along I might add. We met up with my Aunt Marthann & her boyfriend for breakfast. It was nice to see her. We just don't get to see family often enough. Thank you again for the nice coin set for Siena, Marthann.


Once in Florida, our 1st day for the parks was nice & cool. Actually cold for Florida weather. But seeing our good friends Dan & Maria (AKA Fairy Godmother) helped warm things up. We visited Animal Kingdom on our 1st day where Dan & Maria met up with us at. Since Animal Kingdom isn't overly Mickey & Minnie, Siena was a little reserved. It was even so cold that we had to buy a beach towel just to wrap her up in.(For the Disney price of what seemed like 120.00) I didn't plan on such cold weather so I only brought everyone light jackets. Most ride & show lines were about an hour long. Did I mention that it was PACKED?! So packed that we had heard that the Magic Kingdom closed early due to being filled to capacity.


We waited almost an hour to get into the Bug's Life 3D show to find out that Siena was afraid of the show. Therefore Siena & Momma waited outside so that everyone else could enjoy the show. From then on she was afraid of most everything inside a building. Thank goodness our line to see Minnie Mouse wasn't so bad. Something new to me though, the characters are not walking around the parks like they use to & having people come up & take pictures everywhere. They are standing in little pavilions or shelters where everyone waits in line to see them & take pictures. But finally, someone that Siena wasn't afraid of. We had no trouble with her hugging up on Minne!


For day 2 we plugged on to The Magic Kingdom thinking it would be better. NOT...as far as the crowds go. Lines were horribly long again. We did manage to have lunch at the Crystal Palace for Mark's Birthday & see Winnie the Pooh & Friends. Again, Siena was happy with that. There were several rides that she wanted to do but we knew that she wouldn't hold out for the long wait. The biggest highlight for Siena was the playground in Toon Town. It was your basic Mall style playground outside. We even had a hard time getting her out of there. Imagine that...right in the middle of Disney, she was happiest at a playground. We stayed the longest at this park. We managed to make it to dark so that we could catch the Electric Parade. It was a beautiful parade with lights on everything. Siena watched peacefully while sitting in her stroller.


On day 3 it was Hollywood Disney. We made sure that we saw the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show 1st thing. Siena loved that show for sure. The crowd was better by then also. Just outside of that show, we waited about a half hour each to see the Little Einsteins & JoJo. Mark was waiting over by the gift shops so I flagged him down to run & buy the $200.00 autograph book so they could sign it for Siena. Well, maybe not $200.00 but again you know how expensive the souvenirs are at Disney. We tried again to see another 3D show with the Muppets but it didn't go over either. A little weary & cranky we had had our fill of theme parks. Maybe...or I should say, we will probably go back when she is about 5 or so & definitely NOT during Spring Break!
Despite all the crowds, long lines & cooler weather it was All Priceless!

Well the vacation didn't end with Disney. We still had the weekend planned for Baba's (Grandma's) house. We had a small Birthday dinner for Daddy & Aunt Lori with all the fixin's. Thanks Aunt Lori, for the homemade lasagna. My best friend Mia & hubby were able to attend so that made it even more special. After dinner Siena got to go head on with some Easter egg dying. If it had been up to her, all of the eggs would have been "Blue". Her favorite color. But we all grabbed an egg & joined in on the fun. Needless to say, Baba had a lot of egg salad to eat for the rest of the week.

On Easter morning, the Easter Bunny had arrived. We had told him to make sure to leave Siena's presents at Baba's house & sure enough he did. A ton of presents too.
An Easter breakfast & egg hunt was being held at Baba's church so we soon ventured out for all of the fun there. It seemed that Siena had loaded up her basket with more eggs than she even weighed. She was running with so many in her basket that they were all spilling out.
Back at Baba's house to wind down. But no...that wasn't going to happen. Siena wanted to play with Baba's dog Mandy. She kept that poor dog running all weekend. I think Mandy was glad to see Siena go home.

Well it all came to a close on Monday when we headed north. We stopped only for one night at Aunt Betty's house in S.C. Her southern hospitality was as warm as always. She greeted us with a nice relaxing dinner & some Easter goodies for us all. The next morning it was time to head home so that's the end of the Not So Minnie Vacation!











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