Everyone in the Carroll family is looking forward to the usual joys of Christmas, but this year we are especially excited because after all of our presents are opened we will be hopping a plane for our annual visit to Disney. Last year we went to Disneyland so it has been two years since our last trip to Disney World. We leave knowing that the park will be more crowded during the holidays, but we are well prepared to employ our proven crowd avoidance techniques.
One of the things that I look forward to with every Disney trip is all of the great food and fun restaurants. This year I got up at 4:00 a.m., 90 days prior to our visit, to make all of our reservations and to ensure that we got the times and places we wanted. We reserved some of our old favorites but also selected a few new places.
Our first day will be spent at Hollywood Studios where we will have dinner at Mama Melrose. As part of our reservation we purchased the Fantasmic dinner package. Fantasmic is our favorite show at Disney World and the dinner package gives you access to special reserved seating and means you don’t have to fight the crowds. To us this is always worth the extra expense.
The next day will take us to Animal Kingdom, where we will enjoy lunch at Tusker House. We have not eaten at Tusker House since it was converted to table service. We are not sure what to expect here.
Day 3 will be spent at Epcot where we will have my favorite counter service meal, Fish and Chips (and beer) at the Rose and Crown Pub. It requires no reservation and it is perfect for a picnic lunch in the small park located at rear of the England pavilion. If we are lucky we will be able to listen to British Invasion while we eat.
Day 4 we finally make it to Magic Kingdom. Here we will dine on a traditional turkey dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern. This is always one of our favorites.
Day 5 we will return to Epcot and eat at the Biergarten Restaurant in the Germany pavilion. We have been to the Biergarten in the past but it has been quite a few years. The German music and dancing along with some pretty good food always makes this an enjoyable experience.
Day 6 is New Years Eve, and we have decided to make it a flexible day. This means that we will float around to different parks and resorts in order to avoid the most crowded spots. We might try to check out the holiday food selections at some of the resort hotels.
New Years Day is also scheduled as a flexible day, but we plan to start with breakfast at the Cape May Cafe at our home resort, the Beach Club.
We will kick off our last day with breakfast at Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary Resort. While the kids are a little beyond the target age group here we are just not ready to give up this traditional stop. We also enjoy taking the monorail to the Magic Kingdom after breakfast.
By the time we return to the real world I am sure we will have put on a few extra pounds, but I am also sure we will have smiles on our faces.
Aaron started riding four years ago at Helping Hands Therapeutic Riding Center (HHTRC). He went from being led around on a lead rope, to riding on his own, to competing in the show ring. Every Monday night for four years we have driven one hour both ways for a one hour lesson. During these four years Aaron got to know and love Scooter, Skippy, and many of the other great horses at HHTRC. The highlight of the last two years was having the opportunity to work with a truly wonderful horse trainer, Lacie Robinson. Lacie gave her all to helping Aaron improve and she pushed and inspired him to achieve things that he never thought possible.
Sadly, our time at HHTRC must come to an end. In August, Lacie had a falling out with the program manager, and had to leave HHTRC. Since Lacie left, Aaron has worked with other trainers, but it is just not the same. One night as we were riding home from a lesson Aaron told me that he really wants to continue to improve his riding skills and to work on some of the more advanced showmanship skills that Lacie had taught him. I was thinking the same thing, but I was glad that he came to that decision on his own.
So, we started looking in earnest for another trainer. To my surprise it has been very difficult to find a barn that specializes in western pleasure (as opposed to english). After an extended search I finally found a trainer that could work with Aaron. The best part is that the barn is only 20 minutes from our house.
We had our first lesson tonight. I was very impressed with the trainer, Sarah. Aaron really seemed to click with her. Aaron got to ride a retired show horse named Buggs, and he did very well on him. We have agreed to start riding with Sarah twice a week.
While we will miss HHTRC, I really have a good feeling about our decision and I am excited to see Aaron take this next step.
Here is a short video that I took at the new barn.
Aaron has been looking forward to the opening of Prowler, the newest roller coaster at WOF, for a long time. Today was opening day. As annual pass holders we were able to attend a special members only event where we got to be some of the first people to ride Prowler. You can see an excellent review by James Rao at Theme Park Insider. Also, check out my comments to his post.
I was surprised to find out that there is no Flickr group for Worlds of Fun. I took some pretty interesting pictures last weekend and so I decided to start a Flickr group. Right now I am the only member!
Aaron and I are season pass holders, so I will be taking a lot of pictures there this summer. Here is the first set.
Becca’s 5th grade class put together an incredible program to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This event is one of the highlights of the year for Mill Creek students. Mr. Potter, the music teacher, spends weeks getting the kids ready. His dedication and love of teaching is apparent in this program and in everything he does. The kids adore him.
I put together some of the highlights of the program and added a few clips of my own. Enjoy.
Yesterday, December 26, we enjoyed temperatures approaching 70. Last night we were under tornado watches. Today we had temperatures in the teens. What is going on.
Last night we were woken about 4 am by severe winds. It was howling so loud that the entire family woke up. Aaron even went down to the basement to sleep. It slowed down pretty quickly and turned in to rain, lightning and thunder.
When I woke in the morning I looked outside and was surprised to find no real damage. Just a lot of small limbs in the yard. A drive around the neighborhood revealed that others were not so lucky. Here are some pictures of the damage.
We decided to check out the Tales of Desperaux yesterday. This is a G-rated movie based on the books by Kate DiCamillo. Even before the movie started the family behind us was being a little loud, kicking the backs of our seats, talking, moving around, etc. They had two small children, probably too young to even get what was going on in the movie. I did not think too much about it. I figured once the movie started they would quiet down.
Well, the noise persisted during the previews and continued as the movie started. The parents were doing nothing to get the kids to be quiet. Every 30 seconds or so the kid behind Aaron and I would kick our seats. Aaron was starting to get upset.
Then, some guy about two rows back gets a cell phone call. The phone rings about 10 times and the guy picks up. I’m thinking, boy he must be embarrassed that he forgot to silence his phone. Well, the guy takes the call!!. In a full voice he starts talking to someone on the phone. Everyone in the theater can here his booming voice. He talks for about two minutes. At this point I am thinking I must be in the twilight zone.
Then the kid behind us starts to mimic every line of the movie. He is doing it in a full voice. People around us are turning around and looking at the family behind us. The parents are munching their pop corn and acting like nothing is happening.
Well at this point Aaron is getting really upset. I am trying to get him to calm down and trying to figure out a strategic place to move far away from the annoying family. I am not sure we could get far enough away. Before I can take evasive action, Aaron has a complete melt down. I had to get him out of the theater as fast as possible. Now Aaron is creating a disruption. Once we got out of the theater and got him calmed down we had missed about 20-minutes of the movie. Aaron and I decided to just go to the car an wait for Becca and Mom to finish the movie.
When we met up after the movie they were steaming. Apparently the kids behind us got worse. At one point one of the kids threw a sippy cup and it flew into the chair that I had occupied. The mom reached over and said “sorry that just slipped off our chair”. What? It slipped off her chair and bounced over the back of my chair? What planet is she from!? Leigh Ann politely handed the cup back. I think I would had a different response. Anyway, the movie was a complete bust.
Oh and what about the movie review? What I saw of the first 15 minutes looked great. I guess I will have wait for the video.
One parents thoughts, ideas and experiences while raising two wonderful children, one of which has Asperger's syndrome.
Our family loves to travel. I will use this blog to share our many adventures.
Please feel free to share your thoughts by adding comments to any of my posts.
