Sheri Niklewski - May 2003 - Fort Wilderness Cabins

Time of Year: Spring
Travel Method: Personal Car
Resort: FWC
Accommodations: Cabins, campsite
Ages Represented in Group: Pre-School, Adult, Senior
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie, Infrequent, Veteran
Comments: Sheri begins her report with a warning that it is long. And she knows that of which she speaks. But when bringing together 11 family members from around the country for a visit to Walt Disney World includes Memorial Day Weekend, how could it be anything but long. Enjoy.

Sheri Niklewski -- May 2003 -- Walt Disney World (FWC)

Introduction
WARNING – this is a long report

This trip will probably involve the most planning of any trip I’ve ever done to Disney World. And I’ve done quite a few trips. I did a family reunion in January of last year to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. I thought that would be the most challenging one. But this one has its moments. We will have veterans, first timers, parents, young adults, a child, and assorted personalities, needs, and budgets. We’re all family, though.

The Participants – There are quite a few of us – I’m doing groups for the intro but we’ll probably break up during the trip. I don’t even know if I’ll keep up.

From Georgia – the “younger” Niklewskis

Me – Sheri (41) – planner of all trips and the Disney World expert – over 30 trip experiences
Husband – Rich (43) – always glad for a Disney trip, co-owner of a sports card shop – over 30 trip experiences
From Ohio – the “Kids”

Son – Chris (turning 21 on this trip) – wonderful son who moved to outside Toledo last year to be with his now fiancee – over 10 trip experiences (we had to leave the kid behind sometime!)
Chandra (26) – Chris’ fiancee and Disney first timer
Marlie (turning 5 two days before the trip) – Chandra’s daughter and Disney first timer
From Maryland – the “older” Niklewskis

Father-in-law – Ed (72) – I’ve managed to take him to Disney World twice now – third time is a charm? He’s a retired medical professional.
Mother-in-law – Bobbie (66) – same deal as with Ed. She’s also retired from the medical and teaching professions.
Cousin – Marty (late 70s) – biggest curmudgeon ever. Been retired from the CIA photo shop for as long as I’ve known him. Disney World first timer. Marty is more like a brother to Ed – they grew up together so he’s been in Rich’s life forever.
Cousin – Mary (later 70s) – Marty’s wife. Retired nurse. Disney World first timer.
From the Florida Keys – the Sowas

Father – Bob aka Spike (73) – retired scuba instructor and truck driver. Sarcastic beyond words. Disney World occasional.
Stepmother – Betty (late 50s) – computer expert, real estate broker, and whatever else needs to be done person. Same as my Dad.
When: May 20 – 27, 2003 for the Younger Niklewskis and the Kids - Memorial Day weekend but Chris’ birthday is May 25th so we had no choice with the dates. Everyone else will vary the dates but I think we will all arrive on May 21st or 22nd.

Where: Fort Wilderness Cabins and campground. Works with all the multiple families and travel dates. Plus, we get a kitchen to help with a five year old and those pesky coffee drinkers and breakfast eaters.

How: Personal vehicle from Ohio to Georgia for The Kids. Then the Younger Niklewskis and The Kids will all go together in my car to Disney World with a stop first at Daytona Beach. The Older Niklewskis will take the BAV (Big *** Van) from Maryland to Florida. The Sowas will drive from Pennsylvania even though they live in the Florida Keys (family and work commitments before the trip).

Experience: Veterans, Infrequents, and total Rookies

Why – A Sure Sign of True Love

Chris and Chandra met via a chat room last year and had a long distance relationship for a while. Chris finally fessed up to this last July. Rich and I started chatting with Chandra online. Then Chris moved from Nebraska to Ohio in late October. Chris wanted some place to spend his 21st birthday with Chandra and Marlie so, of course, I mentioned Disney World. Since Chandra and Marlie have never been there and Chris is a veteran, he thought it would be nice to share Disney World with two important people in his life. I was called upon to plan the whole thing. So I invited us along as well.

And then mentioned things to Rich’s parents and to my dad and Betty. Bobbie and Ed were pretty much committed to the trip since they have a lot of free time. My dad and Betty were a little less sure since Betty had some family obligations back in Pennsylvania in May. But everything worked out and they decided to be there to meet Chandra and Marlie. It’s very hard for me to realize that both sets of grandparents now become instant great-grandparents.

Traveling With Others – Definitely a Different Perspective for This Trip

Oh man, I haven’t traveled to Disney World with a youngster since Chris was three years old! A lot of the planning and things to do were built not only around Chris turning 21 but also around Marlie and what we all could expect. Rich, Chris, and I have toured Disney World so much together that we are in synch. I’m sure having Chandra along wouldn’t be a problem. But a five year old? So I did a ton of research on what to expect, asked Chandra specific questions about Marlie’s habits and tried to plan a vacation all five of us could enjoy without any one person, adult or child, going into overload. Chandra was going to experience Disney World for the first time so she also needed to be given a break every once in a while. But I wanted them to get enough of the Disney magic that’s out there. Equal balance.

I used www.wdwig.com and the sections on traveling with a 5-11 year old and even traveling with infants and toddlers. I also read the educational sections since Marlie is in pre-school and will have to miss some days. Chandra made sure way back in September that Marlie’s teacher was fine with her missing time. I plan to carry a map of the United States and one of the world around with us and as we tour, point out to Marlie where all the Epcot countries are and utilize the Epcot Passport for signatures. I also will make sure we all carry little things to keep Marlie occupied if she gets bored. Marlie will have her own, small fanny pack for herself and I’ll get her a disposable camera so she can take pictures herself.

I asked Chandra how Marlie fared with darkness and loud noises. The answer was sometimes OK, sometimes not. We will definitely carry a small pen-type flashlight with us. And if Marlie shows any apprehension with an attraction, we will either do a Kid Swap or one of us will sit out of the ride. Chris wants to show Chandra Disney World and Rich and I have been there so much and will be there again so one of us will happily wait with Marlie if needed. Then again, she could turn out to love everything but we’ll be prepared just in case.

NOTE: This changed just a few weeks before the trip. Marlie saw a movie that Chris and Chandra thought she could handle since she’s seen these types of films before. We think because it involved a five year old girl and ghosts, that Marlie developed a fear of the dark. A big one. We learned to be flexible with this.

I’m not sure about character interaction and we’ll play that one by ear. Chandra thinks Marlie could go into her shy self and that’s fine. But if she wants to do character greetings, we’ll do whatever ones we happen upon.

Rich and I did make a weekend trip up to Ohio where I finally met Chandra in person. And we both met Marlie. I think that is going to be essential to planning this trip. Marlie is a whirling dervish, literally. But she needs her afternoon nap. So that has to be put into the thinking of the trip. And a stroller is definitely going to be needed. Not all the time but when Marlie starts lagging, she will not want to continue on. So we will take the stroller, park it somewhere, and then retrieve it when needed. Chris’ stroller was retired when he was eighteen months old so all this will be new to us. Marlie doesn’t typically use a stroller but there’s so much walking while at Disney World and if you’re not used to it, your little legs can start to give out. I did get a very simple umbrella stroller for $20 at Toys R Us. Extremely easy to fold up and it’s very lightweight. It’ll do for putting a tired just turned five year old off her feet.

With the other adults, I knew things would change many, many times before the actual trip. Unfortunately, I was proven right. Marty and Mary joined the party after two other members bailed a short month before the trip. I resolved to only plan things for my group of five. Everyone else will have to decide for themselves what they want and when they want it.

One note here about my family. Both sides get along very, very well. Bobbie and Ed have made trips to see my dad and Betty and vice versa. Without Rich or me involved. So planning a vacation with both sets of parents is very easy. There are no family issues at all. We do consider ourselves very blessed.

Resort – LONG chapter and verse (just never give up)

When the three of us (Chris, Chandra, and me) were talking at the very beginning, I sent out a post to the newsgroup and asked which of the moderate resorts did people think was the best for a five year old. Caribbean Beach came back with more “votes”. That kind of surprised me because I thought the Port Orleans sister resorts would be better. But I suggested Caribbean Beach to Chris. He’s stayed at both. He said absolutely, positively, he wanted Chandra and Marlie to be at Port Orleans Riverside. We haven’t stayed here since 1993 (I had a one night experience in 2001) so that was fine with me. Chris adamantly wanted it which surprised me. That would continue with all the planning.

We will get two rooms. Marlie would be fine in a trundle bed but I don’t want to shove five people into one room. And each couple would get their own time. On purpose, I will not ask for connecting rooms or adjoining rooms. Just rooms in the same building. Chris and Chandra have their own lives and so do Rich and I and this will give us our privacy when we need it.

Then Rich and I went to Disney World and stayed at All Star Sports. Much better price and we found it fine for our needs. So I suggested that instead of Riverside. Chris still wanted Riverside. The three of us were chatting online and I asked Chris what the big deal about Riverside was. Didn’t he want to save money? He said one word – “raviolis”. This kid ate the entire Riverside food court out of raviolis every time we’ve been there. So I went to wdwig.com and looked at the food court menus. Err, Chris, they took the raviolis off the menu. All Stars it is!!!

And then Bobbie and Ed and my dad and Betty joined the party. I love my in-laws and my parents but their habits are so different from ours. They will get up early and have a very, very leisurely breakfast. Takes them about an hour and half if we’re lucky. I thought a kitchen was in order. And if The Kids and the Younger Niklewskis paired up, we’d get a kitchen too.

I thought about two Fort Wilderness Cabins. Full kitchen, deck for early morning coffee (yeck!), charcoal grill, and each one will sleep six. Perfect! Let’s have those Annual Pass rates come out, please! Not that the rates are guaranteed to be offered at any time but I was hoping. I got a little nervous about the timing since this trip was going to be over Memorial Day weekend and there aren’t that many accommodations available for this many people. I figured I could go back to multiple rooms at the All Stars if needed but the idea of the cabins really was perfect for everyone.

In February, I finally caved in and Bobbie graciously said I could put both deposits on her credit card (love those in-laws!) so I called and booked two cabins for the time at rack rate. We didn’t have firm commitments from anyone except The Kids and us but I made the reservation for our entire visit and with everyone that could possibly be involved.

We did have a problem with the cabin reservation, though. When I got the confirmation notice, I realized that it went through the Walt Disney World Travel Company. Their policy is a small deposit down and then you have to pay for the whole thing 45 days in advance. That was not what I wanted since not everyone was committed to the trip. I called 407-WDISNEY as soon as I got the confirmations and they easily switched my reservation over to Central Reservations with the more liberal cancellation policy of 5 days out. That’s what I needed with everyone’s changing schedules. And I put the deposits down thanks to Bobbie’s credit card.

Then my friend Adrienne returned from her trip to Disney World (we missed each other by a couple of days) and was going through her emails. She had one from mousesavers.com about discount codes available for Fort Wilderness campgrounds and cabins. So she emailed me about it. I called. My rate was reduced by $100/night per cabin! I made the changes to both reservations and had the deposits applied. This just saved our entire group $1000. Unbelievable.

We are getting charged $5/adult over two adults. So the rate for my group’s cabin is $179/night and for the other cabin is $189/night. Marlie gets a free ride. Chandra and I will split the cost of our cabin. The other cabin can make their own financial arrangements.

No wait – the Annual Passholder rates did finally come out! I am signed up to get any announcements from mousesavers.com and I was sitting at the PC when one came through. For the AP rates. Lots of good stuff on there. Humm, wonder if I can get something knocked off that still great $169/night rate for the Cabins? I hesitated for about five seconds, ran downstairs, got the cell phone and called. I wasn’t even sure the new rate would be in the Disney Central computers but what the heck.

Edith Ann answered. I was just about dying laughing with that name. OK – those people who are too young for “Laugh In” or Lily Tomlin just got lost but I had to go with it. Anyway, the discounted rate was now $144/night. Not that much but enough. We’re still getting charged $5/adult/night over two adults. But that’s fine. I saved my group $125. This rate is the lowest we’re going to get.

I did call the last day of April and had the entire stay for both cabins paid for via credit card. We owed Bobbie and Ed for the first night deposit and they had paid for a weekend for us in Gatlinburg, TN so I split their cabin bill. Not a problem doing this at all. We will owe nothing when I check us all in. Much easier this way. Well, at least I think it will be.

And my dad and Betty really did a number on me. I knew not to depend on definite travel plans with our parents. Sigh. Dad and Betty bought a camper/truck and asked if I could get them a separate campsite. Ugh! Double ugh. Fourteen times ugh. I called to see what I could do. The entire campground was sold out for the discounted rates. Disney was even sold out for the regular rates. OK – I tried and I called Betty and told her they were back to square one. They were OK with going back to the original plan but wanted to know if they could just park the camper/trailer in the driveway and sleep in that. Which is fine except we’ll have to park one vehicle down at the main gate. Which means it’ll be my car. The camper/truck for the driveway and there’s no way Bobbie and Ed can survive without the BAV right next to them. They seriously pack a small army in there.

But I never gave up. Where there’s a will, there’s a way; patience is a virtue; and all that jazz. On a lark, I went out to the official Disney website one day and plugged in the Fort Wilderness campgrounds for Memorial Day weekend just to see if anything was available. Imagine my surprise when I was able to snag a full hookup site for Friday and Saturday night! It was $60/night and I kind of gagged with that but I called Betty. She said to book it but try for Thursday-Sunday if possible. Thursday night was not available so I did just Friday and Saturday night. For Thursday, we can put the camper truck in one of the driveways. Having my car not available will be OK for one night.

But I decided to see if I could pull off yet another miracle. Remember that I couldn’t get the campsite for Thursday night? Well, I’ve had luck with having a reservation and being able to slide it forward a day or backwards a day. I called to see what I could do. I figured the worst that could happen would be told no, nothing was available. Instead, I got “Not a problem to do that”. So my dad and Betty have the campsite for the entire time they are there. We won’t have to play tag with parking vehicles anywhere.

Tickets – How Many Different Options Are There?

Rich and I have Annual Passports that are getting good workouts yet again. Rich and I went to Disney World in April to meet up with some friends. It was a short weekend trip but a very enjoyable one. As we entered Epcot our last day via the International Gateway, I stopped at the uncrowded ticket windows (they are never crowded back here and can do anything the front windows can do) and bought the Kids’ passes. Two adult and one child five day park hoppers. I did not get the Plus features since we will barely have enough time just for the four theme parks. We will need all five days.

Everyone else is on their own. The Older Niklewskis and the Sowas will not be there long enough to warrant any hopper passes. Bobbie and Ed have one day left on a four day hopper pass from last year plus an additional hopper day on another ticket. No one at this point is looking towards a future Disney World visit so they will buy theme park or water park tickets as they go. Not that economical but I’m not in charge of their finances.

Touring – The General Plan Always Subject to Change

The Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot will be going on at this time and I’m sure the older folk will like that at least for an afternoon. Betty really wants to see it too but my dad is balking at going (he probably thinks it’s not manly or something).

Chris, the total Star Wars junkie that he is, found out that George Lucas and Michael Eisner must have made up because the Star Wars weekends are back May 16-June 15. So we definitely need to be at MGM for at least the Saturday that we are there. We don’t know the schedule yet but Chris has turned Marlie into a Star War groupie too. Chandra, Rich, and I will tolerate this for them.

I’m “planning” our touring for The Kids and The Younger Niklewskis. I have no idea what everyone else will be doing. Since the purpose of this trip is to have Chandra and Marlie enjoy Walt Disney World, that’s what I’m concentrating on. We will regroup for family time but that won’t be factored into the touring plans. Everyone should be off and doing what they want to do.

I was a little worried on how to fit the four parks into six days with two rookies. Chandra said she was looking forward to Epcot and MGM the most. Which pleased me to no end because those are Rich’s and my favorite parks. But what about Magic Kingdom since we have Marlie? Chandra asked if Marlie could at least see the castle and maybe watch one parade. Animal Kingdom will be the last park we think about. But we’ll see. Anything can happen.

I came up with a very loose plan to make sure everything was covered. I won’t share this with anyone in my group because they will accuse me of over planning. Well, Chandra and Marlie won’t but my guys sure as heck would. I’ve done the commando mode with them and they didn’t like it at all. But the general plan became as follows:

Wednesday – arrive from Daytona Beach in the early afternoon. Check in at the Cabins which probably won’t be ready and that’s fine. Over to the Epcot resort area for the afternoon. Reason – to wait for Bobbie and Ed to contact us via cell phone when they get nearer to Disney. Meet with them at the Boardwalk and back over to the Cabins for the evening. We won’t do a park since I don’t want the Kids to use a day on their pass for just a couple of hours.

Thursday – Animal Kingdom to start out with, Epcot after that. Depending on energy levels, naps needed (Marlie and the adults), there’s no telling when we’ll get started, if we’ll go back to the Cabin during the day, or how late we’ll be out.

Friday – Magic Kingdom. Reason – Thursday is an Extra Magic Hour day at Magic Kingdom and there’s no way I’m going to Magic Kingdom the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. I wouldn’t go to Magic Kingdom on any Saturday. Fireworks and SpectroMagic are currently not scheduled which is no big deal because Marlie won’t know she’s missing them anyway. We will see the afternoon parade.

Saturday – MGM. Reason – Star Wars weekend. This is for Chris. Dinner will be the entire family at Cape May Buffet. We’re going to try for the Magic Kingdom fireworks at 9:30. I want to see them from the Polynesian Resort beach so we avoid the crowds. My group will be going for Marlie, not sure what everyone else is going to do.

Sunday – My group will be on their own to do what each person wants to do. Rich informed me that he intends to spend the whole day at Epcot and taking in all four Off Kilter shows (our favorite Celtic rock band that performs at the Canadian pavilion). I’ve really turned this man! There is a NASCAR race on that starts at 5:00 so I think Chris and Chandra will be back at the Cabin for that. We will see where Marlie ends up. Trust me, Rich and I won’t mind having her with us the whole day.

Monday – we added this day very late in the planning. Very open day for my group. Everyone else will have departed so it’s just the five of us. We could just go back over to Magic Kingdom but we’ll see how much we have left to do. And those guys in kilts over at Epcot will be calling to me!

I got an email from Betty complaining about my dad. All he wanted to do on this trip was sit at the campground and read a book. My father had total knee replacement surgery a couple of years ago on both knees but still has trouble walking long distances. And he’s not exactly a cuddly kind of guy so the Disney magic gets lost on him. Betty really wants to do at least one day at the Flower and Garden Festival since she loves things like that.

So I start going into the planning mode right away. I immediately emailed Bobbie and asked if they would wait until Betty got there and she could join them at the Festival. I also told Bobbie that my dad and Betty were looking at going to a water park. Bobbie came back in response to my panic. She said she and Ed were talking and were probably going to do Epcot on Saturday since the dinner at Cape May was that night and it’s right there outside the International Gateway entrance. Which surprised the heck out of me – Bobbie actually remembered where the restaurant was! So those plans fit in nicely for Betty to go along with them and leave my grumpy dad back at the campground. Bobbie also said they wouldn’t mind experiencing a Disney water park either. Whoo hoo! All the parents are on their own. See ya later.

Food – One Meal Together, please!

The only sit down place I’m going to think about for all 11 of us is Saturday night. Marlie will have just turned five (on May 18), Chris is turning 21 on May 25. So this is a special dinner. Because I have no idea what everyone except The Kids and The Younger Niklewskis are doing with admission, I wanted something outside the four theme parks. And with 11 people, I thought a buffet would be the best. Everyone can get what they want in as big or small portion as they want. And everyone will pay the same price (except for drinks). I came up with Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge), Cape May Buffet (Beach Club), or 1900 Park Fair (Grand Floridian). Chris will decide for all of us. He is the main reason for this trip so it’s his right.

Chris decided on Cape May Buffet. He likes the salad choices. And there’s animal flesh enough for Rich and Chandra. The kids menu here is fine (adults and kids share the buffet lines). And the seafood for me is wonderful. If that’s not enough variety for anyone, then you really are a picky eater!

Exactly 120 days before, I called 407-WDWDINE for our priority seating at Cape May Buffet. Wow, this took more maneuvering than some combat missions. The maximum amount of people for the birthday dinner would be 11. But I wanted something just in case. I asked the extremely helpful Cast Member about a table for eleven. I was prepared for the “we can’t seat that many people at one table” line. Not a problem. In fact, by that time into the vacation, I’d probably be ready to do bodily harm to half the people in my party anyway!

We’ve been to Cape May Buffet many, many times (it’s a favorite) and have seen larger parties seated all together so I wasn’t concerned about the warning. But the Cast Member said that they only had two tables that would seat six and they weren’t close to each other. OK, how about one table for six and one table for five and join the seatings? Couldn’t do that either. Well, we have a five year old, can we take it down to a seating for 10 – one table for six and one table for four? YES! And it’s in the system that we want to be seated next to each other. I made everything under my name so I’ll check everyone in.

I did tell the Cast Member that it was a special night since we were celebrating my son’s birthday. She immediately wanted to put that information into the seating arrangement which I thought was nice. Then I got a little bold and said we would actually be doing two birthdays during the trip. So she took all the information. Marlie’s 5th birthday, and Chris’ 21st birthday. Now, I am not expecting anything out of the ordinary for anyone but just knowing that a Cast Member on a Saturday afternoon took the time to ask for the information is enough for me. This is a buffet so I don’t think we’re going to get anything for “free”. Maybe just to embarrass the heck out of Chris and that’s enough. The fact that we’ll be there with most of our family (I wish my sister and her kids could be there but they arrive the week after we leave) is going to be more than enough.

Side Trip to Daytona – Chandra’s First Visit to the Atlantic

In chatting with Chandra (we’re online with each other every day), I found out that she has never seen the ocean. And that this would be her very first vacation, ever! So I am determined to make it great for her. I changed our plans so that we will first drive to Daytona Beach on Tuesday. Chandra is also a huge NASCAR fan (she even had me watching the Daytona 500) so she’ll get a racing fix thrown in there too. I’m going to find a place on the beach for the night.

I wanted to get some nice accommodations for Chandra and us in Daytona Beach. I used www.daytonabeach.com and printed out all the lodging choices. And then I went through each one. I wanted one room for all five of us since it’s just for one night. And I wanted oceanfront so Chandra can sit on a balcony at night and in the morning and see the ocean. I was a little concerned with this because Rich, Chris, and I take the ocean for granted. Rich and I took summer trips there while we were growing up (Ocean City, MD) and Chris is a good traveler with trips to both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.

I started going through all the official accommodations listed and found the New Frontier Beach Resort. It’s oceanfront (with courtyard views if you want). For $70, I can get an oceanfront room with two queen size beds and a fold out sofa bed with a full kitchen. I checked out the hotel website and then decided to book it. It might not be my idea of a oceanfront resort (it’s bare basics) but Chandra was just so excited to be even anywhere near the ocean, that I didn’t think we could go wrong. We do have to make at least a drive by of the Daytona Speedway since Chandra has turned us onto NASCAR (we have different favorite drivers which causes lots of Sunday conversation while football is not being played).

We will make a stop before getting to Daytona. Marlie is so excited about going to the beach and I know that little girls (OK, and us big girls too) like to get seashells. Rich and I had visited Vilano Beach last year for a friend’s wedding and the sand there was “littered” with tons of shells. Since Daytona is more commercialized, I wanted Marlie’s and Chandra’s first glimpse of the ocean to be a little purer. Vilano Beach will do that. It’s about an hour north of Daytona and it’ll make a nice introduction for them. Then we’ll take route 1A1 along the coast down to Daytona Beach.

Organization and Being a Tour Guide Barbie

I made up some card packets for everyone. Thanks to my friend, Adrienne, I used library card holders but customized them for us. We use these to hold our admission tickets and room keys but I added necessary information that everyone needs. I had a card for cell phone numbers. We will use these for each party to communicate. They will be turned off in queue lines, attractions, and shows. We also have walkie talkies. I did another card with the Fort Wilderness phone number and a place to write down the Cabin or campsite number. For Marlie, I included a card that said “My name is Marlie Mitchell and I’m traveling with my mother Chandra Mitchell. I just turned five years old”. For all the adults, they are not leaving the Cabins without having another card that lists what Marlie is wearing that day.

I had asked on the newsgroup if I was overdoing it with Marlie. If I was giving out too much information. Marlie will not have a key to the Cabin so even with the Cabin number listed, no one could get her in there. I was relieved when all the replies said I had some good ideas. A Cast Member said that kids sometimes will clam up when they are misplaced. Even forget their own name, let alone their parents’ name. Plus, all reservations are in my name and there’s no way I’m going to make a five year old try and remember how to spell Niklewski. And a lot of people said they don’t remember what their spouse is wearing so making the adults know Marlie’s attire was a good idea.

I also had picked up park guide maps from our trip in April. I put those in portfolios for each couple. I then included Fort Wilderness FAQs, bus routes, miscellaneous items to pack, and anything else I thought a non-veteran to Disney World would need to know. And that’s when the frustration levels were rising.

I love doing all the planning, I really do. But I feel like it’s the responsibility of my guests to at least look at what I send them! Think about it. If you employ a travel agent, don’t you go through the materials so you’re prepared for your trip? My family won’t do that. They will just turn to me five minutes before they are ready to walk out the door and say “now, how do we get to the Magic Kingdom from here?” When I’ve already given them detailed instructions. This is my vacation too and I really don’t want to be on call 24/7 for everyone. I’m fine with Chandra and Marlie since they are a huge reason for the trip. This trip will not be perfect – none ever are. I will pull out the Damn Skippy Moments when needed. Those are the times when the in-laws and my parents are getting to me and I need a break. I just tell Rich I’m feeling “Damn Skippy” and he steps in and plays referee. Chandra knows the phrase too so we can bail out together and go for a glass of wine or something!

The First Surprise

I asked Chandra when she was going to tell Marlie about going to Disney World. I wanted to send the free planning video but didn’t want to do it before Marlie knew she was going. Chandra said “when we pull up to the gates”! Yikes! So all this planning will be done without Marlie knowing she’s going to Disney World. Marlie knows I’m a Disney freak and that I want to take them there someday. She just won’t know when it is.

Marlie is being told the reason for this trip is Chris’ 21st birthday and to see the beach. That’s certainly true. We’re just telling her the extra drive is to go meet more relatives. Well, I feel Mickey and friends are our family. If we pull this off, it’ll be the miracle of the year.

The Second Surprise

Chandra and I were busily planning her wedding beginning days after Chris popped the question. Actually, they just decided they were going to get married. An official proposal was never done. Chandra broadly hinted she wouldn’t mind a proper question being asked while we were at Disney World. Chris and Chandra are on a very limited budget so getting a ring was out of the question. Until I remembered that I had a silver banded blue stoned ring that I don’t wear anymore (I’m a gold person). Chandra is a silver person and loves blue stones. Perfect! I found the ring and a matching necklace and sent it to Chris on the sly. We figured he could do the official proposal whenever and wherever he wanted. Since Chandra thought it would be at Disney World, she’d be surprised. Especially since she would know immediately if Chris ever bought a ring.

And then we threw Daytona into the trip. You have to understand Chandra’s devotion to NASCAR. She’s as hooked into watching the races and I am in watching football. When we made the trip to Ohio, all of us were watching the Darlington race. Well, I was making lasagna but the others were glued to the TV. So seeing the Daytona Speedway is so important to Chandra. Let’s just say her eyes lit up when I told her my dad actually had a chance to go there a few years ago. And Chris’ friend John (who we took along to Ohio) was pointing out where he sat at Darlington the year before.

So Chris came up with the idea of proposing to Chandra at the Speedway. She’ll never suspect it. She’s said she doesn’t need a ring so that will really be a surprise. I just hope Chris remembers to pack the damn thing!

Now, just to wait for the kids to get here. This trip has been in the works for about nine months. Yes, it has felt like childbirth.

The Week Before – Now That I Have Everyone Organized…

I made sure everyone had what they needed for the trip, now it was time to get myself together. Usually, I will start making my lists and getting things weeks if not months in advance. Not this time. I don’t think anyone except me will totally realize the amount of information needed for a Disney World vacation for this many people.

I have three different confirmation numbers and slips to remember. Plus, the priority seating arrangements. Driving navigation is also my department so all maps are my domain. I’ve never been to Daytona Beach so I sent for a map of that specific area too. I also had to remember the beach hotel information as well as Daytona Speedway brochures. For Vilano Beach, we set up to meet a friend of Rich’s there (Dean lives in St. Augustine). We’re supposed to call Dean about fifteen minutes before we get to Vilano. Of course, you know who will have the address book with her, right? Plus, since the Kids are coming here, I have to make sure the house is cleaned and ready to go for them. Well, at least I won’t be bored right before the trip!

I wrote up a fax to send to Fort Wilderness Cabins and Campgrounds room assignor. The only thing that I really wanted (other than non smoking for the Cabins) is for all three accommodations to be as close together as possible. The two cabin reservations are linked in the CRO system but nothing, of course, is guaranteed. And throwing the campsite into the mix so late doesn’t help. Thanks to Jeff’s site at http://fly.hiwaay.net/~jlspence/faq_fw.htm, I pulled up the resort map to see where a cabin loop and a campground loop were the closest to each other.

I made the unilateral decision that we wouldn’t care about being close to a bus stop, comfort station, swimming pool, or trading post but would rather enjoy being close to each other. I put into the fax that we realized the request would be difficult since we had different accommodations and we were all arriving and leaving on different dates. Then I requested loop 2100 for the cabins and loop 1100 for the campsite and explained why. I’ve had good luck with faxing requests but I’ve never had one of this magnitude before. We will take what we can get at this point.

We firmed up plans with the Kids to arrive early on Monday morning. They will leave Toledo around 8:00 or 9:00 PM Sunday. That way, Marlie can sleep through most if not all of the trip. Chandra and Chris are night owls so the drive won’t be that bad for them. Once here (it’s about a twelve hour drive), Rich and I will pull grandparent duty and watch Marlie while Chris and Chandra get some sleep.

Day Zero – Monday, May 19, 2003 - The Whirling Dervish and Her Parents Arrive

Chris called last night around 8:00 PM and said they would be on the road in a couple of hours. So that put their ETA at our house around 9 or 10 AM. Of course, I couldn’t go back to sleep after my initial wake up so I was on the PC by 8:00. Rich got up shortly after that. We both figured that we should be available in case the kids needed some directions since we were sure they would get lost. Atlanta roads are not laid out in a nice, familiar grid pattern by any stretch of the imagination. I just happened to glance out of the upstairs window and saw Chris pulling into the driveway. This was around 9:30 so the timing was perfect.

Marlie had slept for most of the drive and only had one slight incident with car sickness. We took care of that and unloaded Chris and Chandra and their stuff into the house. I think they have the biggest suitcase in the world! But it does hold enough clothes for the entire trip for three people so it’s fine. Rich and I can always pack smaller suitcases and bags for our things. As long as everything fits into my trunk in the morning.

The five of us visited for just a little with Chandra getting the obligatory house tour. Neither Chris nor Chandra slept at all on the drive so they were drooping quite a bit. They hit the sack and Rich and I pulled grandparent duty with Marlie. I cheated a little and took a nap downstairs while Rich entertained Marlie upstairs. I do think we set a record for the most Disney videos watched in one day. “Rescuers”, “Aladdin”, “Tarzan”, “The Tigger Movie” (which we hadn’t even unwrapped yet) plus multiple readings of mini books from Anatasia (OK, not Disney but Marlie likes it) and Barbie. And our king cat, Todd (he’s five and extremely set in his ways) got a great workout. He’s the only one of the three cats that braved Marlie. Gus and Belle are two years old and have literally never seen a child before. Belle stayed safely under our bed and Gus only came out when he knew Marlie was at least one floor away. Poor cats will need a break tomorrow.

Chandra and Chris got up and took showers and were ready to go by close to normal dinner time. Poor Marlie was tuckered out herself and fell asleep as she was trying to get Chandra up. The adults visited while Marlie napped. I had made homemade pierogies during the afternoon so that was dinner. It was delayed a little until Marlie was up and ready to go. Not a problem but I hadn’t even started packing yet and that was in the back of my mind the whole evening. Rich usually will wait until the last minute to even start thinking about the fact that a major trip starts in the morning but he surprised me and got his clothes together without me asking. Whoo hoo! Of course, that was after I tersely asked him to fold the laundry while I was getting dinner started. Rich does do the second half of the pierogie cooking so I did my packing while he did that.

The Kids needed to see the season enders of “Mr. Personality” and “CSI: Miami” so we fit everything around those shows. You’ll see that TV will dominate some of the week. Yes, we are on vacation but TV fits into that for us. Unfortunately, none of the four of us watch the same shows. We traded things off quite nicely during the trip. Lots of things were videotaped just in case.

We all went upstairs around 11:00 to get Marlie bathed and in bed and to get things packed. For Rich and me, it took longer than I wanted but that was OK. I finally relaxed around midnight and we were in bed by 12:30. Game plan was to get up at 7:00 in the morning so we could be on the road no later than 9:00. I figured two hours for five people was enough. Would it be?

Day One – Tuesday, May 20, 2003 – The Clown Car, The Beach, And Trailer Trash

Rich and I joked that there was no way the Kids would be even moving at 7:00 AM but Chris surprised me and while Rich was in the shower, he came over to our room after he heard me moving around. Contrary to the house in Nebraska where Chris spent most of his life (12 years of it), you can actually use both showers at the same time without any temperatures differences or pressure problems. So the four adults were able to take simultaneous showers. Which probably saved the day. I am so used to just Rich and I getting up and going within an hour. Add three more people and another hour and a half. Oh well, we needed to wait until we knew that the Atlanta traffic was gone from the morning rush. After some prodding, we got the Kids to get their things out to the car starting at 8:30.

Oh my, my, my, my. For the week, Rich and I had one wheeled medium sized suitcase, one carryon bag and one laptop bag. None of them were filled to the max. Chris and Chandra had the megasuitcase (MSC) which was fine. And then they brought out Marlie’s toys. And more toys. And more toys. And video tapes since the Cabins have a VCR. Oh, and don’t forget the books. A blanket for Marlie in case she gets cold (don’t we have temperature control in the car?). Rich and I got a bag together for snacks in the car and then Chris and Chandra realized they would need stuff too. Marlie too. Turkey, cheese, a cold pack, chips, candies, etc. Wow!

Rich and Chris managed to get the two main huge suitcases (the MSC and ours) into the trunk and then bag after bag after bag after bag started going out into the garage. Chris literally loaded up the back seat. The car seat, the blanket, the food bag, the cooler bag, the CDs, the duffel bag with things for The Kids to do, Marlie’s backpack with her stuff, and all the Barbies she couldn’t live without. I honestly don’t know how the three of them fit back there.

There was so much stuff gathered and stuffed into the car and the trunk that Rich dubbed it The Clown Car. As in how many other things can we stuff into it? We thought we were done and lo and behold there would be something else we needed. Well, Chris and Chandra and Marlie needed. How many Barbies does one five year old have? It didn’t help that Marlie’s birthday was the day they left and she didn’t want to leave any of her new presents behind. We “tossed in” the stroller and a beach chair. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the trunk lid went down and latched. I think I detected a slight bulge in the trunk but that could have been my imagination.

I pulled my best sergeant duty and herded everyone into the car by 9:00. Chris had to move his car from the driveway into the garage while we did the opposite. We were finally moving shortly after that. We said a hasty goodbye to the cats. Todd was fine but Gus and Belle were hiding out. We left a message for the cat sitter to take extra special care of the “kittens” after experiencing Marlie. Marlie was not a terror but the little guys just have never seen anyone shorter than me.

We had to stop at the bank for our fund withdrawal and then did a gas run to start off the trip. Chris and I picked up beverages and breakfast items at the QT. We were finally on the way on I85 by 9:30. Quite honestly, I was impressed. Only a half hour later than I wanted but not that bad. Rich coasted us all the way south of Atlanta in about 45 minutes. I thought it should take six hours to get to Vilano Beach but that was just with Rich and me. No telling what would happen with three other people.

Not to worry. Rich and I were the reasons for the two stops we made. I think Chris, Chandra, and Marlie would have been fine in the car for the entire time. Rich passed up our usual rest stop outside of Macon because the Kids were all sleeping in the back seat. But he had to hit the next one. We all took a short break. I took over driving and stopped outside Valdosta before crossing into Florida for a gas break. We had plenty of gas (over a half tank) but didn’t relish the higher Florida fuel prices. OK – note here to Larry – it’s not the $5/gallon you pay in the UK but we’re spoiled Americans. An extra 20 cents per gallon is duly noted between states.

A couple of notes about driving with lots of people in the car. As I’ve said, it’s just usually Rich and me. We either drive without a radio or have Off Kilter playing. This time, we added some artist of Chandra’s choosing that she was sure we wouldn’t like. Wasn’t my type of music but at least it was tolerable. I’m sure Chandra thought the same about Off Kilter. We did slip in a Disney CD as well for Marlie. It was kind of fun to see the reactions of everyone to all the different selections. Marlie couldn’t determine if she liked bagpipes or not.

Chandra said that kids should be allowed to choose the number of toys to take in the car comparable to their age. In this case, Marlie took just about every single toy she had to play with in the back seat. Didn’t work. Chandra thought five toys would have been better. The rest should have been in the trunk and out of the way. Available for later but just not practical in the car. And Marlie wanted her Barbies within reach but couldn’t do that much with them since she (Marlie, not Barbie) was strapped in her car seat and the only thing she could do was swing the Barbies around. Activity books would be good but we weren’t equipped with a desk type situation for Marlie to be able to do those kinds of things.

The cooler wasn’t needed at all. We did beverages at the first and second gas stops. We could have tossed that into the trunk. CDs are fine but you might want to think about your choices and just put those in the main car and the rest in the trunk. We had three different CD collections and did one or two from each. We should have combined beforehand.

Marlie said she needed a blanket in case she got cold. Maybe using a beach towel instead would have been better. Double duty. So think very carefully about what you need in the car and what you can put into the trunk and get out at a normal stop.

The trip was relatively uneventful and definitely boring. Outside of Jacksonville, Rich’s cell phone rang. We had set up to meet Rich’s friend, Dean, at Vilano Beach. Dean lives outside St. Augustine and since we were in the neighborhood, Dean thought he’d come over and chat with Rich. The phone call was from Dean and it was perfect since we figured we were about an hour from Vilano Beach. So that was taken care of and I got us through the nasty I275 crappy roads. Ugh! There’s construction and even when there’s not, the surface conditions are horrible. But onto the beach.

We parked at the Hampton Inn right at the beach. Rich grumbled about this being “illegal”. The hotel was no where full on a Tuesday afternoon and the two spots we and Dean took up weren’t missed at all. The weather so far today had been cloudy and rainy – it didn’t actually rain but felt like it would any minute. The clouds broke up enough when we got to the beach so that was nice. It was very breezy, though.

Chandra got Marlie down to her bathing suit (worn beneath her clothes that day) and the three kids enjoyed the surf and getting wet. I walked along and picked up shells and Rich and Dean walked and talked. Chris took Marlie into the shallow waves and, of course, she was a little scared. I’m sure those small things look absolutely huge to a five year old. We spent a very nice hour or so on the beach giving Chandra her first look at the ocean and Marlie her first romp in the waves. We also saw a jellyfish on the beach. Marlie had been warned about these guys so she got a good glimpse of one from a safe distance.

We made our way back to the car (not that far) and regrouped for the trip to Daytona Beach. All of us were getting hungry so we grabbed some snacks for the hour drive and decided to check in at our oceanfront resort and then get dinner and set up to watch the season enders on TV. We took Route A1A all the way down, thinking we’d constantly see the ocean to the left. We got glimpses and that was about it. Decent enough drive though, since we had been on interstates the entire day.

We found the New Frontier Beach Resort without any problems. It’s located along the beach side with all the other hotels and restaurants. I checked in with no problems except the front desk clerk just handed me the key and said I was set. She didn’t tell me my room number, didn’t give me directions on how to get there, and didn’t tell me any information about the place. OK – the place isn’t that big, let’s go check out our nice oceanfront room.

All I can say is never trust anything you see over the internet. I would rank New Frontier in a league below fleabags and dumps. I’ll give the positives first before I thoroughly trash the place. The view from the room is very nice. We are on the second floor and overlook the pool and then beyond that is the beach. Chris and Chandra would get up the next morning and see a very nice sunrise so the room was worth the view. We do have two beds and a kitchenette area with a refrigerator. Plus a TV and drawers for clothes. That’s about it.

Since it is a beach hotel, I didn’t expect carpeting but I don’t think the tiles have been cleaned this century. That was proved later when Rich and the Kids were walking around with slightly wet feet. They left quite a few dirty streaks on the floor. The beds themselves sagged in the middle. We were supposed to have a pull out bed but didn’t so Marlie slept with Chris and Chandra. There were no kitchen supplies at all. Only disposal plastic cups in the bathroom. One trashcan in the whole place. The curtain was almost falling off the rod. The bathroom, well, the bathroom. Rich was the only one brave enough to take a shower the next day. There were only three threadbare towels for the five of us and no washcloths at all. No clock either. Which is an absolute necessity to most travelers. Fortunately, Rich and I had a similar experience a few months earlier and now always carry two travel alarm clocks.

The hotel itself was in very poor shape. Peeling paint and very run down. No amenities at all. No ice machines and the two vending machines were both out of order. There is a pool side bar area so I guess you were being forced to use that for beverages. In our room, there were moldy things hanging from the ceiling of the closet and I don’t think anyone swept underneath the beds since the senior Bush was in office. While the view was nice, we didn’t have a balcony – it was a walk through area. But no chairs to sit outside. Well, at least the TV worked after Chris got it off Game Mode.

After I stopped shuddering and realized that moving to another hotel was not an option for us, I grabbed some brochures that the guys picked up while I was checking in and decided to scope out dinner choices. I found a restaurant called Sweetwaters that had a sample of their menu including prices. It had seafood, steaks, and sandwiches. At decent prices. More importantly, it looked like it would have at least beer and wine. Which I needed. I was really disappointed in the hotel and felt responsible for choosing it.

We headed out for dinner so we could be back in time to watch “24”. It was extremely important for Chris and Chandra to watch the season ender. Rich and I kind of made fun of the Kids for their TV addiction but I can see the reason for needing to see this one. I directed Rich to Sweetwaters which was along the inlet. My choice of restaurants far exceeded my choice of hotel. We were led to a very lovely table in a nicely decorated restaurant. There were floor to ceiling windows that boasted views of the inlet and the brown pelicans getting their dinner out of the water. It was nice and relaxing after the drive and the stress of the hotel.

The menu was varied so everyone could get something different. Marlie did a kid’s meal of chicken fingers (I have a feeling we’ll be seeing lots of those in the next week); Chris opted for the shrimp scampi; I did the Salad Extraordinare which was chicken salad, shrimp salad, cole slaw, melons, and tomatoes with greens; Rich did his usual chopped steak but had rice instead of fries, and Chandra went into vacation mode for the very first time. She ordered a meal that she had no idea if she was going to like. She chose the Chicken Jamaican which was made with brown sugar and had jerk spices. She also picked cole slaw as a side dish – she’s never had cole slaw before. Rich and I ordered a carafe of white wine and Chandra enjoyed her first glass of white – she likes red.

It was a very enjoyable meal and we talked and relaxed. The food was very good and the service nice. A great way to end our first day of the drive. We were almost finished when Chris made the comment that he wanted to be sure we were back in time to see “24”. I was the only one wearing a watch (grr to that). It was almost 8:30! Where did the time go? So we grabbed our server, knocked back the wine, paid ($68.65 including tip) and got back to the room just as the opening credits were coming on. Whew!

As for Sweetwaters, we all highly recommend it. Lovely setting on the inlet, good food at reasonable prices (Chris’ shrimp was the most expensive at $12.99), and nice overall environment.

We did a little more investigation of the lovely room and when I pulled out the nightstand drawer, Rich spotted something. At this point, I wasn’t sure what that would be but Rich gamely pulled it out. A very nice watch. I guess housekeeping here doesn’t bother to look in the drawers after someone leaves. Why would they since they don’t clean the closet or under the bed either? Anyway, the watch fit Rich very nicely and he decided to keep it. Chandra proclaimed him immoral for doing that but Rich justified it with pointing out the horrible conditions of the room. I am a very honest person but in this case, I felt like we deserved something after being subjected to the squalor.

While I worked on the report, Chris and Chandra watched “24” and Rich took Marlie for a nighttime stroll along the beach. They took a flashlight so Marlie’s little apprehension of the dark was alleviated. Rich and I did have some grandparent moments. Rich and Marlie left but were back within minutes. Marlie wanted to go on the beach but was “scared”. She didn’t like the waves. When Rich went to leave on his own, she wanted to go with him. He was firm and said that if she got scared again, she wasn’t going to be allowed to come back since he wanted to go for a walk, not spend his time coming back to the room. They went off without a hitch. And Marlie wanted to carry the flashlight. I know what little kids can do with flashlights. Have them on all the time even when not needed and just generally bug the crap out of other people. So I told Marlie that you have to be 16 years old in order to use the big flashlights. Not true but it resolved the issue.

Then we had the trailer trash problem. I don’t like using negative classifications but this situation was awful. These four guys were sitting outside their ground floor “courtyard” room drinking beer. Which was fine. They were across the parking lot from our room. A few rooms away from the office. One of the “features” in our room is the head height curtainless window in the bathroom. That you can’t close – it’s open all the time. Very open. It’s located in the shower. So anyone walking by can turn their head and see right into the shower. Now you know why none of us wanted to take a shower the next morning. Anyway, the four “gentlemen” weren’t content to listen to their music inside their room or even with the volume at a decent level. They blared it out of their truck parked outside their room. Now, Chris and Chandra were intently watching “24” and had the TV volume cranked so they wouldn’t be distracted. And we could STILL hear every word to the outside music. At 9:30 PM.

I called the front desk and they said they were taking care of it right away. This had been going on for at least a half hour (we had seen the guys when we got back from dinner) just doors from the office. I looked out the bathroom window and the clerk was just now talking to the guys. Why did it take a call from another guest for the office staff to do something? I think you could hear these guys in Orlando! I told Chris and Chandra that if the music didn’t stop by 10:00, the next call I was making was to the police. It was that loud and that bad. We suffered through a Fleetwood Mac set and they finally turned it off. It’s one thing to enjoy music especially at a beach, but please don’t subject the entire city to your personal likes. When Rich came back with Marlie, he said he didn’t think the trash can the guys had set up in front of their room was there for trash. He said it was full of beer and ice. It’s their right to party, just do it somewhere other than a hotel parking lot.

After “24”, it was time for “NYPD Blue” for Rich and me. Chris and Chandra took a stroll along the beach and we used some manipulation to get Marlie to stay behind. Part of this whole trip is for Chandra to relax and enjoy her first vacation. We’re going to try and get the young couple some alone time each day. Other than when she works, Chandra is usually with Marlie 24/7 so taking a break from her is a treat. It’s a very good thing Marlie did stay behind. She sat on the bed – well, she sagged on the bed – in between Rich and me and we chatted while I worked on the report and we watched TV. Marlie started tugging at her eyes and I could tell she was getting very tired. She hadn’t had a nap all day and it was a very active day for her. She said something about having sand in her eyes. Which I took to mean she was sleepy. So I told her to lay down for three minutes with her eyes closed and if she still had the problem, I’d look at it. She was sound asleep almost immediately! She didn’t wake up until the next day. I guess I haven’t lost a parental touch yet.

Chris and Chandra came back and we talked for about another hour and then set the alarms. The Kids wanted to get up for the sunrise and Rich and I opted for another hour of sleep. Marlie was moved over to the Kids bed and we all turned in around midnight. Some of us slept, some didn’t. The guys will be well rested tomorrow. The beds are very uncomfortable and small. Rich took up about three quarters of ours so I was literally perched on the one edge. I couldn’t do that much because if I turned over, I would have rolled right into him. Chandra was over by the air conditioner and every time she touched it either with herself or the blanket, it vibrated and made noises. The supreme topping to the cake was at 1:30 AM when the smoke alarm batteries decided to let us know they were about ready to expire. Chirp, chirp, chirp. Silence for five minutes. Chirp, chirp. Silence. Chirp, chirp. I finally turned on the light and located the detector, pulled out the battery, and went back to bed. That sounds easy but there was some cussing by me, surprise by Rich that I did it without killing myself, and more curses when my hand came in contact with the top of the light fixture and what I felt there might have been alive. Yeck! We all settled back down and caught at least a few hours of sleep.

Day Two – Wednesday, May 21, 2003 – A Day of Surprises

Chris and Chandra got up with the alarm at 6:00 and went out to the “balcony” to watch the sunrise. Chandra said it was very nice and she cried. That didn’t stop them from coming back in and going back to sleep, though! Our alarm went off at 7:00 and I pushed everyone to get up and going. Rich braved the bathroom and took a shower while the rest of the adults did minimum maintenance and got dressed. I worked on the trip report while Chris and Rich packed the car. Then everyone wanted one last walk on the beach so they headed down there while I continued to type. It was an excuse to get Chandra out of the room so I could move the engagement ring from my laptop case to my shoulder bag.

We left the New Frontier Beach “Resort” by 9:00 and I’ll be following up our stay with letters to DreamRes and the Daytona Beach official website about the horrible conditions we found. If these organizations don’t end the affiliation with this place, I would recommend you take your business elsewhere. They obviously have not inspected the New Frontier in quite a while.

With the adults’ thoughts centered on Disney World (well, maybe Chris’ were centered on getting engaged!), we headed to the Daytona International Speedway and Daytona USA. We found it with no problems and Chandra was in seventh heaven. Admission is pretty steep, or at least we thought at the time. Remember, Rich and I are not the NASCAR fans – Chandra and Chris are and this was for them. It was $16/adult for the exhibits only. $21 if you wanted a tour of the racetrack itself. We went with just the exhibits.

Daytona USA displays the last winning car of the Daytona 500. Exactly as it was when it crossed the finish line. Confetti and all. The winner of the 2003 race was Michael Waltrip so it was his car on display. This was immediately on the left as you enter. So that’s where we went first. I slipped Chris the engagement ring from my shoulder bag. He was going to get one of the biggest and most important moments of his life quickly over with!

All of us walked around the car which was kind of neat. After our inspection, I used the excuse that I wanted to get a picture of Chris and Chandra in front of the car. Of course, Marlie wanted to be in the picture too so I took one of all three and then insisted on just one with Chris and Chandra. Marlie reluctantly went over to be with Rich. Chandra had turned away from Chris, thinking I would need that for the photo. Chris said something to her to cause her to turn back and demand “what are you doing?” because she thought he was messing up my shot. (I found all this out later – I was far enough away to give the couple their privacy but close enough to get an awesome picture once Chandra realized what was going on. Rich and Marlie were off to the side. No one else was even in the area.) Chris went down to one knee, told Chandra he loved her, produced the ring, and asked if she would marry him. Her mouth flew open, she said yes and I honestly don’t think there has been that many hugs and kisses at Daytona USA in its history. My hands were shaking as I played photographer. I am so grateful that Rich and I got to share in this very special moment in our only child’s life.

Now that the personal stuff is over, here’s a description of Daytona USA. If this kind of thing doesn’t interest you, feel free to skip over it. However, I’m not a NASCAR fan at all and I had a very enjoyable time. That surprised me. We started off with a cute film on Daytona. It began with an old time black and white print and then literally exploded into modern times – we jumped out of our seats when that started! There are lots of displays about the history of Daytona, beginning way back in the 30s with a race that was half on road and half on the beach. Then the speedway was built in the 50s. There’s a trivia game which Chandra won when the four adults played (hard for a five year old who doesn’t read yet) – the game is continuous so you just join in whenever. There are tributes to the past winners and a special display for Dale Earnhardt. Which caused Rich to say THE most callous thing he could have. They have a replica of one of Earnhardt’s cars at the display. Chandra wanted a picture of it. Rich asked “why? That certainly wasn’t the last car he drove”. I’m very glad no one else was around when both Chandra and I hit Rich. (Dale Earnhardt had a fatal crash at Daytona). We spent almost two hours at Daytona USA and everyone enjoyed it very, very much. Well worth the side trip and the extra $$$. One word of warning – it is extremely LOUD! Rock music is constantly pumped in so it’s an effort to carry on a conversation at some points.

The gift shop was a big hit and Marlie, being a five year old, wanted a souvenir. This would be her test. To teach her that you can’t get everything that you want all the time. We were successful in leaving the shop without buying anything! Whoo hoo! We all did want something to remember the trip and I showed Chandra just how cheap I can be. For Marlie, we appeased her with a pressed penny. Cost of 51 cents. For the adults, we needed drinks for the short trip to Disney World and our souvenirs became mugs filled with Pepsi for Chris and Chandra ($4 each) and a plastic cup for Rich and me filled with Pepsi ($3). Can you tell it’s the Pepsi 400 at Daytona? We went out to the parking lot and took some more pictures of the track itself (couldn’t go in but did see it from the outside).

We made a quick stop at a nearby Target (Rich sniffs these out) so Chris could get a watch and some Chap Stick. Rich didn’t need a watch since the New Frontier generously gave him one. Chandra continued to pick on Rich this entire time for his “theft”. I picked up a silver Sharpie hoping to be able to get Off Kilter to sign their third CD, Celtic Armadillo, for me. It has this green liner and Rich thought the silver ink would look nice on it. I have the other two CD liners signed and sitting safely at home under lock and key. Well, maybe not under lock and key but you get the drift.

Then we were bound for Disney World. With poor little Marlie still not having a clue. It’s been interesting talking about going but not being able to use certain terms. Disney World became “Chris’ Grandparents House”. As in “is there a hot tub at Chris’ Grandparents House?” “No, but they do have two pools”. As we approached Disney World from the north along I4, Chris diverted Marlie as much as he could so she wouldn’t see billboards. She can’t read but there is a presence of a certain Mouse all over. I pointed things out to Chandra as we went. “Oh, over to the right is the competition”. I couldn’t say Universal Studios. “Over there on the left is another competition”. Sea World. We could see a little bit of Downtown Disney so I just said there was a Planet Hollywood over on the right. At that point, I told Chandra that basically, this was the start of Disney World (using “Chris’ Grandparents’ property”). We weren’t officially on the property yet but I wanted her to get a scope of just how big the World is. She had no idea what she was getting herself in for. If you have anyone who just doesn’t get how much is involved with Disney World, let me know and I’ll have Chandra contact them. She was totally blown away with the size of everything. Her point of reference was Cedar Point. I don’t think Cedar Point will ever hold a candle after the experience.

I had Rich drive all the way down to Highway 192 for our arrival. I wanted Marlie and Chandra to get the full effects of World Drive. I think of that as the official entrance to Disney World. That’s the way I came back in 1977 for my first visit. I had sung “Looks Like We Made It” by Barry Manilow as we drove up the road. But that’s another story. As we left Highway 192 and got onto World Drive, I turned to Marlie and said “Marlie, do you remember when I said I would take you to Disney World one day?” She said she remembered. I said “you’re here”. A few seconds later, the sign welcoming us to Disney World appeared before her and the eyes lit up and she realized what was going on. “Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie!” Things didn’t quite sink in at that point but she knew we did something special.

We drove up World Drive and pointed things out to Chandra and Marlie. Chandra saw the entrance to MGM on the right. Well, actually, she didn’t see the entrance. She saw the poster for Twilight Zone and said that could be taken down immediately. We diverted her attention by pointing out the Star Wars poster to Marlie. Then we had to make sure Chandra saw the Twilight Zone “replica” in the median. She was not amused. We have been playing mind games with this poor girl about Twilight Zone. It’s the only thing she’s really apprehensive about. In our little evil family once we find a weakness, we prey on it. The girl was putty in our hands about anything Twilight Zone related.

In order to get to Fort Wilderness from World Drive, you have to go through the Magic Kingdom parking lot entrance. It was around 1:00 and this was very painless although Rich, who was driving, made sure he went to a booth so I would have to talk to the Cast Member. We were let through but not given any directions on how to get to Fort Wilderness. Oh well, I know so let’s go. Now that all the surprises were over with for the day (the last nine months have been extremely tough for me and I don’t think Chandra will ever find out just how Chris got that ring for her!), my tour guide duties were about to begin. I was the one who suggested the Cabins, I was the one that made the arrangements, and I was the one who needed to get things done.

We got to Fort Wilderness and the confusion began, at least for me. From looking at the online maps, I thought the check in for the Cabins was separate from the check in for the campground. It is. For the campground, you pull up in your vehicle and check in at a manned booth. For the Cabins, you check in at the Outpost building. I just thought the Outpost shared the same parking lot where you park for Pioneer Hall. But that’s a totally separate parking area. We now know from experience that you can’t get from that second lot over to the Outpost lot. Oh well, you can walk which is what we did. I’m going to throw some Marlie lessons in here because dealing with a five year old on her first visit to Disney World really had some valuable lessons. When we pulled into the second, incorrect lot, Marlie saw the horses. The Tri Circle D Ranch is right here and it’s home to Disney horses. That’s all Marlie wanted to do – see the horses. We had to tell her time and time again that she would be able to do certain things but she might have to wait for them. Do you know that a five year old has the memory of a fruit fly’s life? Repeat the chant – “Marlie, if we say you can do something, you will do it, but maybe just not right now”.

Over to the Outpost dodging into the correct parking lot. For the record, if you are checking into the Cabins, use the same entrance as to the Campground (the sign does say Fort Wilderness Campgrounds and Resort but I was too stubborn in my belief that the Outpost was far removed from the campground check in). You will encounter a security booth and then immediately after that, turn right to get to the Outpost. Campers proceed straight ahead for check in. We had to wait just a little and then were helped.

I was checking in not only my group but the Older Niklewskis. I did not want them to deal with the front desk at all. I don’t think Bobbie would have been able to handle the information overload and I’m so glad I did this. The Cast Member was very nice. I said that I had two reservations and gave him the confirmation notices. He handled everything so nicely and understood that I wanted everyone’s cabin keys to distribute later. I expected a hassle on that one since the second reservation was in Ed’s name but not a problem at all. One cabin was ready, one was not. It was Ed’s cabin that was ready. But the CM suggested he just move assignments and we could get the available cabin immediately. Excellent. He realized that the Older Niklewskis weren’t there yet and the second cabin was in the process of being cleaned. So that was moved around in the computer and we had our cabin keys. I put charging privileges on the four adult keys and nothing on Marlie’s key. The keys this year are so cool – Tinkerbell! I love the current campaign. Then I was given Ed’s keys as well (no charging privileges for them – if they want that, they will have to use their own credit card). I got two sets of all the brochures and information which was a nice touch. And we got our cabin number 2442. And Ed’s of 2444. Right next to each other. I was instructed NOT to go into Ed’s cabin until I had called the front desk and made sure it was in the available stage. I figured those cabin keys were already activated but I’m going to play by the rules on this one. This check in could have been a disaster with the two reservations, one cabin being ready and one not, and me wanting all the keys and things. But it probably was one of the smoothest and most pleasant ones I’ve ever had at a Disney resort. So that’s saying a lot.

We hiked back over to the car with Marlie wanting to see the horses. I think Chandra will set a record for saying “later, honey” this trip. After a couple of miscues (Rich’s fault, not mine), we were on the way to our cabin. We’re in Settler’s Bend (loop 2400) and while the proximity to the pool and a bus stop was not a major consideration, this location is absolutely perfect for that. When we turned right into our loop, the bus stop was right there. All the loops are one way so we followed it around and around and around. It turns out our cabins are at the end of the loop, about five spaces from the bus stop! And the pool is just a short walk down from there. I had requested loop 2100 to be closer to the campground and my dad but we’re close enough and our two cabins are right next to each other.

I’ll do a description of the cabin here. First of all, there is no way you can park more than one vehicle in the driveway. In fact, we were concerned that the BAV might not fit. There is a deck with a picnic table. The first door leads into the living/dining/kitchen area. It is a full kitchen with stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave, and all the kitchenware (except for one thing that Bobbie absolutely needed which will come into play later). I thought the living area would be more compact but there is plenty of room. We all were pleased with the size. To the left is a short hallway that leads to the bedroom with the bathroom on the right along the way. The bathroom is a nice size with lots of counter space. There is a full tub with shower. And plenty of towels and washcloths. Not only are they hanging up but there’s a nice extra supply in the cabinet below the sink. So if all you need is clean towels for your vacation, you won’t need housekeeping at all if you don’t mind making your own bed. The bedroom has a nice size double bed (Rich and I were not crowded at all) and Marlie absolutely loved the bunk beds. I thought there was an extra sink in here but there’s not – it’s just a counter top now. No big deal as we all shared bathroom duty fairly well. Another door from the bedroom opened onto the deck. That was nice in the mornings so I could go out there and not disturb Chris and Chandra.

We unloaded the car and I tried to get Marlie to help with her stuff. She was into the “why do I have to do anything mode”. She did help. By carrying in one Barbie at a time and finding a special place for her. Oh well, at least she thought she was helping. We said farewell to the Clown Car mentality for a while and the Kids would have foot room in the back seat for the next week. We all unpacked and got the supplies stowed in the pantry. There is plenty of room in the kitchen for supplies. We had packed a year’s supply of medicines since Chandra had been sick the week before, Marlie is five and can pick up a bug easily, and Rich is on meds for his gout flareups. Those we stowed high up above the microwave. Kind of brought home the fact that there is a child on this trip. I wouldn’t have thought twice about just leaving these on a counter somewhere.

It was now around 2:00 and the plan was to walk around the Epcot resort area and meet up with the Older Niklewskis once they got there. The problem was that we had had absolutely no contact with them in over a week. At this point, I didn’t even know if they had successfully left Maryland. I called on the cell phone and Ed answered. They were just approaching Daytona Beach. So I knew they had about another hour and a half if they didn’t stop anywhere. That was fine – we were all beat so we took about a half hour and unwound in the cabin. Marlie was close to meltdown since she hadn’t had a nap yesterday and today was very filling for her. We avoided Marlie falling asleep and got going closer to 3:00. I drove us over to the Swan and parked there. We pulled out the stroller for the first time and this turned out to be the best $20 investment I ever made. Maybe not for this afternoon but for the rest of the trip.

Marlie alternated being in the stroller and walking around Crescent Lake. We went over to the Yacht and Beach Club and had just looked at a dry docked Breathless when my cell phone went off. It was Bobbie from the Swan parking lot. They had just arrived. We were to meet them at the Spoodles takeout pizza window at the Boardwalk. This is a great place to meet with them since they know this area very well from when we brought them here in 2000 and then again last year. Bobbie loves it. I figured with their pace and our pace, we’d probably get there at the same time. So my group continued on, not rushing and letting Chandra take in everything. We got to the pizza seating area and no sign of the Older Niklewskis. At all. Not even walking along the Boardwalk. Rich got a beer and a wine for us and Chris picked up a Coke for his group. We sat along the water and enjoyed and looked towards Jellyrolls for any sign of the parental units. We finally saw three out of the four. One of the three sat on a bench while the other two continued on to meet us. We figured out what happened. Unfortunately, we were proved right. Marty barely made it to the Swan lobby before opting out and sitting down. Mary could only make it to Jellyrolls. Bobbie and Ed came over to meet us. Disney World requires a lot of walking so older folks with health limitations should be prepared. And so should those with them.

We met up with Bobbie and Ed, introduced Marlie to them (she was shy at first but came out of her shell fairly quickly). They had briefly met Chandra last fall. Of course, I made Chandra show off the ring. Bobbie acted like she didn’t know what was going on but I had told her beforehand. Heck, the whole world knew about the proposal except Chandra! We strolled back to where Mary was and did introductions again. Then we went back to the Swan and met up with Marty and did introductions yet again. Now we had eight adults and one child all talking at once. I went into overload.

We made it back to the parking lot and split up. I did use my cell phone and called Fort Wilderness to verify the other cabin was ready. It was. I was taking the Kids back to the cabin so Marlie could take a break. Rich was taking the Older Niklewskis for an offsite grocery run. They had arrived with no supplies at all. I put in my order of a box of wine and we parted ways. We went back to the cabin where Marlie did a Damien imitation but finally had the door to the bedroom pulled closed to drown out the decibel levels that would rival anything we heard at Daytona USA. After five minutes of a Demon Dimension, Marlie finally quieted down. Actually, I think she passed out. The three of us watched TV and Chris and Chandra were very disappointed to realize that Disney World doesn’t have a full contingent of cable. They were looking forward to watching the NASCAR race on Sunday night but it was on an obscure channel that was not carried here. I had warned them about limited TV but I thought the race was on Fox, which I knew was an option. I hadn’t even realized there was a Speed Channel. So a phone call will have to be made to get the race taped. Oh well, I guess we’re not here to watch TV anyway. (Turns out the race was on Fox so that made The Kids extremely happy).

I didn’t hear the BAV pull up but Rich came quickly over to our cabin. Very quickly. He went into a Damn Skippy Moment. Just an hour with his parents and he was going into overload with them. Our ideas and their ideas are very different. Add Marty and Mary to the mix and we’re really not thinking along the same lines. For us, we’re living day to day – plans change and you go with the flow. We don’t know where we’re going to be for any meals or even if we’re going to stick to the original “plan”. But the Older Niklewskis had to buy enough food for the next five days. All of it now and all of it planned out. I thought Rich would combust. He immediately told us that we might eat with them tonight but all of us were to make sure to say that we had no plans for any other meal. I guess he got the impression that the Older Niklewskis expected us to have a sit down, cooked meal every night. Ain’t going to happen with us.

The plan, which we all had discussed in the Swan parking lot, was hamburgers on the grill with potato salad, macaroni salad and baked beans. That was fine but everything had to be done IMMEDIATELY! Marlie was still asleep, the Older Niklewskis hadn’t even unpacked but dinner had to be on the table ASAP. Poor Rich was on grill duty (all the cabins have charcoal grills) and he was forced to get things going. He couldn’t even get a beer! That was cruel and unusual punishment. After a flurry of activity by Bobbie and Mary (I stayed out of the way lest I be trampled), dinner was on the table. I made sure that everyone was aware that all the burgers were gone and Rich was still out by the grill. He had done most of the cooking and didn’t have anything to show for it. But he brought in more burgers and some hot dogs (Mary insisted on having hot dogs) and proclaimed that he was feeling Damn Skippy. Chandra and I exchanged glances and laughed. The first Damn Skippy Moment and it wasn’t mine! Marlie and I shared a burger. I was hoping to get her into that habit for the huge Disney portions.

Now, here’s where traveling with so many different people and so many different personalities will come into play. Call this an ongoing study into the psyche of human nature. Bobbie had bought deli potato salad and macaroni salad. Which were in deli containers. But she had to dump that out into casserole dishes. And then complained when there were leftovers and she had nothing to put them in because she had thrown away the deli containers. Mary was so set on having one hot dog left over so she could have it for lunch the next day. I think if someone had shown up at the door after spending the last week lost in the woods and needed something to eat, Mary would have refused to let him have that last hot dog. Chandra later said she was so tempted just to eat it and see if Mary would combust or make Rich grill her another dog for left overs.

One of the other things that was a great contrast was the housekeeping service. Chandra is not used to the level of service at hotels and certainly not used to the high service at a Disney resort. She was impressed that we would get clean towels every day and that the beds would be made up for us. The cabins get full and complete housekeeping every day. Bobbie, on the other hand, was disappointed. Which surprised me. Her words were “we don’t get full service, do we?” I said they did and she said “oh, that’s too bad”. We figured it out later that it was because Marty was going to sit in the cabin all day.

As for Housekeeping, they did an excellent job with the cabins. We did leave a tip every day in Mousekeeping envelopes I had made up before hand. I had sent five of these to Bobbie as well and she used them too. I think we had the same housekeeper but maybe I’m a better tipper ($5 or $1/person) because I always had a handwritten “thank you!” on the empty envelope where Bobbie didn’t. Also, it doesn’t matter if you have one spoon or one glass in the dishwasher. It’ll get run for you. If you have dishes in the sink, the dishwasher will be stacked and run for you. Our towels were liberally restocked every day.

After dinner, we visited for a while until the Older Niklewskis actions got the best of us. Then we bailed out and went to our cabin for the night. A couple of other issues that came up was the lack of a 9x13 pan so the Older Niklewskis could make a pasta bake one night for dinner. Bobbie was astounded that one was not provided. There certainly were enough pots and pans available as well as casserole dishes but not THE pan she needed. That became the obsession. On every trip, Bobbie has some sort of mission and getting a 9x13 pan was this one. Another issue was the number of plates and utensils in each cabin. Set up for six people per cabin. Six plates, etc. So we needed to bring over some of our plates for dinner. And utensils. Bobbie freaked because she was so sure we’d get charged for the missing plates. Even after a short visit, the younger people were ready for a break.

We just watched TV and let Marlie unwind. She had her choice of the top or the bottom bunk. She picked the top one and I told her that she could not change her mind until the next morning. The last thing I wanted was her bunk hopping in the middle of the night. She chose the top one (go figure). We all got changed and settled down for the night. Rich and I took the bedroom with Marlie. Chris and Chandra pulled down the Murphy bed in the living room. After the horrible New Frontier and the great Disney accommodations, we were in total heaven.

A funny thing – as we were sitting around in our cabin talking, we were discussing with Marlie how we surprised her. She said she thought we lied to her. I said that we told her she would be going to meet Chris’ grandparents and didn’t she do that? The look on her face was priceless when she realized that, yes, that’s exactly what happened. Then I said that we just didn’t tell her it was going to be at Disney World. That got a huge smile. And a big “oooooohhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!” Then I said “aren’t we good for doing that?” Which got an even bigger smile and an even bigger shake of the head indicating that we might have pulled the wool over her eyes for this one but she’s not going to forget it!

Day Three – Thursday, May 22, 2003 – Meltdown, The Rains Came, New York Pizza World

Oh, waking up this morning was pure bliss! The cabins are very quiet and the curtains and the tree cover keep out lots and lots of the light. I was awake at 8:00 but Marlie was still sleeping soundly and so was Rich so I stayed put for another half hour or so. Then I got up and took a shower as quietly as I could. I took the laptop outside on the picnic table, thanking whoever for the electrical outlets on the deck. I worked on the report for a while until Rich and Marlie got up. Chandra had Marlie’s clothes out and ready so she got dressed on her own while Rich showered. Then Marlie and I went over to the Older Niklewskis’ cabin. The very first thing Bobbie asked Marlie was if she had had breakfast yet. Sigh. The Older Niklewskis are of the generation that you HAVE to have a full breakfast, a full lunch, and a full dinner. Or supper. The rest of us are “we eat when we are hungry and we don’t look at a clock”. With the mention of breakfast, Marlie had to have something to eat. I got her a Pop Tart. Which she ate one quarter of one of them. Leading Mary to comment “she doesn’t eat much, does she?” No, but if you would have given her another hour or so, she would have wolfed down both of them. But Rich and I tend to defer to the older folk on matters like this. They have earned our respect and even if we don’t agree with them, we’ll treat them accordingly.

I had to prod Chris and Chandra to get up and get ready. This was our first Disney World morning and I was figuring on a couple of hours of getting up and out the door. This was Animal Kingdom day and the park closed at 5:00. I realized that with our pace, we would not get to do everything. We had already mentally crossed off Camp Minnie Mickey from our list of things to do. Sounds strange with a five year old but none of us thought Marlie would really get into the characters. She’d either freak out or do the exact opposite – go crazy with them and not want to leave to give another child a chance.

Around 10:30, the Older Niklewskis announced that a walk was in order. Of course, Marlie wanted to go on it. Chris and Chandra were still getting ready but they were close. So I told Rich that he and Marlie needed to be back by no later than 11:00. But it took the Older Niklewskis so much time to get ready and then Marty opted out of the whole thing so Rich said he and Marlie would stay behind as well. Good thing. As they came back to our cabin and Bobbie, Ed, and Mary were walking down the road, my cell phone rang. My dad and Betty had arrived (my dad figured out the entrance to Fort Wilderness much better than I did). Unfortunately, Disney World can be horrible for cell phone connections and this was the case. Betty and I didn’t connect so I hung up and waited for a callback. Which happened on the cabin phone. It was the front desk explaining that my dad had checked in, the campsite wasn’t ready (no surprise there) and would we like to come down and pick them up? Yes! So we called to the Older Niklewskis to wait up. Bobbie went with me to pick up my dad and Betty while Ed and Mary waited at our cabin with Rich.

I got to the check in area and picked up my dad and Betty. After an initial “hey, I thought we were all paid – didn’t you take care of that with your credit card?” stuff (my dad, the kidder of all kidders), we were on the way back to our cabins. I had given a heads up to Chandra that she was to meet yet more members of Chris’ family. Poor girl did so well – I would have combusted. Back with hugs and greetings and introductions all around. Honestly, I’ll be surprised when February 6, 2004 rolls around and Chandra goes through with the marriage after meeting the entire side of the family in such a short amount of time!

Like I said, both sides of my family mesh so very well. Rich and I politely excused ourselves, feeling like intruders on the Older Niklewskis and the Sowas. As this is being written, they are planning a boat cruise on the St. John’s River in Florida with my dad as Captain, Betty as First Mate (seriously certified) and Bobbie and Ed as passengers. Rich and I are NOT invited.

The Kids and Us headed out for Animal Kingdom. I drove and did the usual parking lot thing. This was Chandra’s first experience with Disney World. As we were driving over to Animal Kingdom (via the Polynesian, the Richard Petty Driving Experience ((wish we could afford that for Chandra – she’d die!)), and then World Drive), Chandra remarked that even though Chris had talked to her and I had chatted with her about Disney World, she was no where near prepared for the sheer immenseness of the place. She said she constantly had to stop and remind herself that she was STILL at Disney World. Even though we had been driving for ten minutes. Later she said that it took her months to understand that Animal Kingdom was Disney World, Magic Kingdom was Disney World, Epcot was Disney World, etc. And Marlie never really got the concept that we weren’t leaving Disney World when we left a theme park. Huge eye opener for Rich and me.

We bypassed the entire subject of mentioning a stroller to Marlie today. We had it in the trunk of the car but Rich and I knew that Animal Kingdom’s paths aren’t really conducive to stroller pushing. The paths are “genuine” and are rough and uneven. None of us are seasoned stroller pushers so this park wasn’t the best to test our skills. So we just didn’t mention it and Marlie never thought about it. But it was there just in case. Before we left the cabin, I threw all five ponchos into the trunk as well. The day was overcast but predicted for afternoon showers. Like every other Florida late spring/summer afternoon. Let’s be prepared.

As we were walking from the parking lot to the entrance (there are trams but we were close enough to walk), Marlie decided that the pretty blue flowers along the walkway would be a nice present for her mother. After all, didn’t Chris just give Chandra a nice pretty blue ring yesterday? So she picked a flower for Chandra. We had spent that morning telling Marlie all about how precious nature is and to leave the Fort Wilderness creatures alone and she understood all that. She just wanted to give her mother a nice gift. Unfortunately, all of our responses were negative about picking flowers. We didn’t yell or anything but told her not to pick flowers anymore. Chandra didn’t want to accept the “gift” and that had Marlie in tears. Rich and I continued on and let Chandra and Chris calm down Marlie. In about two minutes, she was fine and yelling for us to wait up, we were going too fast.

Into Animal Kingdom where Chandra and Marlie got their first lesson on ticket admission and turnstyles. They learned quickly and the Cast Members helped a lot. Excellent! I picked up a show schedule since Flights of Wonder would be a highlight for Marlie. She loves birds. We walked through the Oasis on the left side since that’s where Chris’ anteater is. A word about this thing. It’s very rarely seen. But every time Chris has been here, he’s spotted it. So we gave this thing a huge buildup. Rich and I haven’t seen this in over a year – the last time was with Chris. Guess what. Yep – go over to the area, and there’s the walking furry carpet. Chris’ anteater! Whoo hoo! First great family Disney moment right there. We’re passing on the torch. It might be Chris’ anteater but Marlie and Chandra got to see him too.

We looked at the Wait Board and everything was fairly reasonable. It’s Tough to be a Bug was a walk on and Chris and Chandra thought Marlie could handle it. It was in the dark but I told Chandra all the pitfalls and when to hold Marlie (no sting in the back) and when to have her sit (the ending). Things worked out well until Hopper came out and those spiders dropped down. Marlie was fine and she removed the 3D glasses and survived. No screams (that would change the next day) She certainly was not going to go on that anytime soon again.

Then we headed for Flights of Wonder for the 1:00 show. I took everyone’s passes and went back to Kali River Rapids to get FastPasses. Marlie was tall enough for this and we had cautioned her about getting measured and how she couldn’t ride certain things because of height. We told her that was for her safety and not because she was too young. She was fine with all that. The FastPasses were for 1:25-2:25 which was perfect for after the bird show. I met up with everyone outside the entrance and we waited for the masses to enter the theatre and then went in ourselves and got great seats two rows behind another family. Marlie was positioned with Chandra to see things fine.

And then we had our meltdown. The first one of the trip. No, Marlie was fine. It was Rich! Oh my, my, my, my. Maybe it was his parents, maybe it was he was coming down with a cold, whatever. The story is that I had gotten that stupid silver Sharpie pen hoping for Off Kilter to sign my new Celtic Armadillo CD with it. So I was carrying the pen with me. Chris needed something to cross off photos from his list (he’s putting together a website for me). The first thing he spied was the stupid silver Sharpie. Rich freaked. He wanted the idiotic pen in pristine condition for the sigs from Off Kilter. Yes, my husband is an insane collector and every autograph has to be perfect. Even from Off Kilter and the many, many, many chances we get for an autograph. He freaked when Chris reached for the pen. Which led to an argument between Chris and Rich. Which led me to try and be peacemaker (if you know me, you know how stupid that sounds). Which led me and Rich to go into the worst stupid, idiotic, brainless, juvenile, twitter you ever want to hear.

Me – “what’s going on”
Rich – “he going to ruin your pen”
Me – “whaa?”
Rich – “he’s being stupid”
Now I finally get the whole story.
Me – “if the pen does get smushed, we can always get another one”
Rich – “right, just where?”
Me (getting ticked) – “where we got the first one, Target”
Rich – “like there’s one here”
Me (really ticked) – “you’ve BEEN to the Kissimmee Target”
Rich (now more ticked than I am) – “that’s not the point, he should have known you had another pen”
Me (wondering how I gave birth to a mind reader) – “I don’t think you’re being reasonable”
Rich (throwing his hand up in front of my face) – “Just stop it”
Me (if you ever want to really tick me off, throw your hand up in front of my face) – “No, I won’t”
Rich (still with his hand up) – “STOP IT”
Well, it went downhill from there. I do believe we went to “you stop it, no YOU stop it, no YOU stop it, no YOU STOP it”. I finally said that Rich could go sit somewhere else because he was being stupid. He said he would and stomped off. OK, thought for the day. Disney World is for children of all ages. We certainly were not acting like ours today and it was a bad thing.

The Flights of Wonder show was about ready to start (I almost forgot why the heck we were where we were). Literally about a minute before the show, a family comes down to the empty row right in front of us. We were on the aisle which saved the day. But…. This Dad and his Wife sat down directly in front of where Marlie was. It was Chris on the aisle, Chandra, Marlie, Rich (his seat was now empty and would remain so), and then me. This wonderful Couple sat their children in front of Chris and Chandra. They totally blocked off Marlie. They didn't even say anything or look around. All they were concerned about was the view for their kids. I wouldn’t have had a problem with it except for the fact that they all could have slid down on the bench in front of me, the kids could have seen the entire show, Marlie could have seen everything and everyone would have been happy. But they could have cared less. I loudly expressed my dismay. I got “oh gee, this is the happiest place on the earth, deal with it”. I responded with less than happy thoughts. Fortunately, Marlie was on good terms with Chris at the moment (she was so NOT happy Chris gave Chandra a ring) so he held her for a good portion of the show.

I admit I didn’t handle this situation well at all. In retrospect, I should have said something along the lines that Marlie was such a great little girl for waiting for so long for the show to start (about 10-15 minutes) and now someone who didn’t plan a little took her sightline away. And then asked the Dad if he would mind trading with Marlie so he could see over her head instead of the other way around. That way, all three kids could see the show and all the adults could monitor the kids. And if the Dad had given any hassles about being separated by one row from his kids (the mom was fine where she was), he would have looked like an ogre. But the Sharpie incident was rearing its evil head and I turned into Damien. Oops.

After all that, the show was wonderful, as usual. Marlie was totally blown away. Since Chris put her towards the aisle, she had several close encounters with some birds. That thrilled her. So one highlight for the trip. I did take perverse pleasure on noting that Dad’s kids got very bored very early and were making the show intolerable for their parents. I don’t think the ending notes sounded and that family was out of the theatre. Too bad, so sad. Meanwhile, kids were invited up to the stage to see the birds up close and personal and Chris took Marlie up there. Where she was face to face, literally, with an owl. Another Disney moment. My 20 year old son with his 5 year old stepdaughter having a very nice moment together. Chandra and I stayed behind. I glanced back and Rich was waiting for us. Silly Old Bear.

We regrouped for our ride on Kali River Rapids. Word of note – no apologies were uttered and none needed. Things like this will happen and that’s just the way it is. Rich and I were fine. Chris and Rich were fine. Everyone was fine. It’s just one of those things.

Marlie was measured at the FastPass entrance for Kali River Rapids. She got a little confused since she thought she had to give the guy her FastPass. But she did fine and passed with flying colors. She had her hand stamped for proof. We went by the twenty minute stand by line and had a short wait. Then we were boarding our raft for our adventure. Marlie chose to sit with me and I was sure she was going to get wet since I usually get soaked on this. Chris and Chandra sat together and Rich sat with a guy who decided that both seats should be his. Rich was a little mushed.

We had promised Marlie a nice raft ride. Unfortunately, she was able to see the initial ramp and the spray of water at the top. I found out later that Marlie does not like getting any water up and over her head. Hindsight is 20/20. Let’s just say that I had body parts touched and grabbed and held that would have normally been deemed X rated. Marlie hung onto my side and my chest for dear life. She wouldn’t look up at all. I finally got her head up and it was at the wrong moment. Marlie doesn’t like fire either. Of course, I finally got her to “look at the nice truck”. Damn it! Poor girl really didn’t trust us after this. On the first big drop, Rich and I knew what would happen. Fortunately for the little one, Chris and Chandra and Rich went up that hill backwards. Oops. They were soaked. And then on the second drop, Rich got soaked yet again. He was wringing out his shorts for the next couple of hours. BTW – we anticipated going on this today and dressed accordingly. Chandra wanted to wear a white shirt because of the heat factor at Animal Kingdom (actually not bad today) so she chose the appropriate underclothing. Rich and I picked shorts and shirts that could dry easier. Not easily but easier. Oh – and there are now signs on this attraction that you have to keep on your shoes. So many people used to remove their shoes and socks and use the waterproof middle area for storage. Which meant things like cameras and purses didn’t have a place. I’m extremely thankful for this new rule. Just put your feet up in the middle section and you’ll be fine. None of us, even though three of the five of us were soaked, had wet feet.

Marlie survived although she did cry all the way through the exit line. She wanted to stop and get comfort but I told her to keep walking so as to not clog anyone else up. She could cry and wail if she wanted but just keep walking for a while. She understood and when we got to a more open area, Chandra got her calmed down. Of course, it was to point out the elephant shooters on the bridge so we could now laugh at everyone else getting soaked. Marlie wasn’t upset about getting wet, she was upset about the fire. Oh boy. Now we had to think about every single fire effect in Walt Disney World.

To dry off, we did the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Marlie completely forgot about the Kali River Rapids horrors. We saw the Komodo Dragon (Marlie didn’t understand why a lizard was called a dragon – Rich explained that the Japanese saw the long red tongue and thought it was fire – thank goodness my husband knows nature), the bats (I braved it in here so Marlie wouldn’t think I was a chicken – one bat was flexing his wings – grossed me out and I stayed towards the back of the room), and the tigers. I do think it’ll be a while for Marlie to get into birds as much as Rich does and every species in the water was “a duckie!”

Next up was some simple food and a sitdown. We showed Chandra her first glimpse of a Disney World turkey leg. Chandra is a carnivore but this didn’t appeal to her at all. She was amazed that anyone would even consider walking around and eating one of those. I have to agree with her – my friend Adrienne’s sons absolutely love these. To each his own. We grabbed some pretzels, beers, and soda from a kiosk and then went to the Flame Tree BBQ seating area for our very simple lunch. A good rest for everyone. We all shared the pretzels with Chris adding nacho cheese to his and Marlie and Chandra using some mustard. Rich and I just did plain. We were heading to Dinoland next so we needed our nourishment.

On the way to Dinoland, we passed the area at Flame Tree where Chris and I shared a special moment last year. It had been cold and raining and the rest of our party had gone on It’s Tough to be a Bug for the second time. We opted out and watched this ibis patiently pick at an almost finished turkey leg in the trash. Kind of gross but it was a mother/son moment. One of the few remaining ones I would have with my little boy. Chris pointed out the area to Chandra – it’s nice to know he views that time with me as special too.

Marlie was so set on doing Dinosaur. Chris is really dinosaur knowledgeable and he has passed some of that onto Marlie. Which is great. Which was bad for today. The standby time was 15 minutes and manageable. Not a problem. We jumped in line and Marlie liked the exhibits before we went into the preshow. And then the short walk to the preshow. Oops. A Carnotaurus skull. A what? Marlie freaked. How many people can actually say they know what that is? Marlie knew. It’s like a T Rex. No way, no how for Marlie. She almost got slammed into the preshow doors because she refused to move another inch. I got her into the holding area and tried to talk her into going on the ride. Ha! But it was way too late to bail now. I got her going with the promise that if she didn’t like the look of the jeeps, she could leave with someone. We got into the loading area and she said she was “so not going on there”. Somehow, we got her down to the loading dock and Rich said we had three to ride and two to leave. Rich took Marlie over and through the jeep (freaking out not only Marlie but also the loader who couldn’t understand why five people were lined up for a seat for four). Disaster averted. Chandra did get her first introduction to Disney scary tactics. She liked the ride and said she ended up laughing at the T Rex because the only thought in her mind was “I’m so glad Marlie is not on this ride”!

I guess the lesson here is that you need to know and appreciate your child’s limitation(s). With Marlie, it’s dark, fire, and things that will jump out at you. Dinosaur was not good for her. Rich and I didn’t realize that going in but after this, we made adjustments if necessary. The dark thing would come into play the next day. Harmless Magic Kingdom, right? Well, there’s your foreshadowing for the report. We did make sure Marlie knew that if she had any reservations about a ride, to let us know. Even if it was just before we boarded. There’s always a chicken exit (we didn’t use that term) just like at Dinosaur.

After we saved the dinosaur (not even telling Marlie it was Alladar helped), we went for the short walk along Cretaceous Trail. Marlie liked these dinosaurs much better since they were dead. Primeval Whirl was next and Marlie already knew she couldn’t go on it. I thought this was a shame because the cars could have been designed a little better to allow kids under 48 inches to ride. The exact audience this area was supposed to attract. But safety is more important so Rich, Chandra, and Chris rode while I took Marlie off with me. We had our walkie talkies today and we were prepared for the split up. Marlie took one look at the Triceratops Spin and wanted to ride that. I thought that like with Dumbo, we’d wait forever. But it was a walk on. Whoo hoo! I did make a big point about how Marlie was going to ride something that her mom and Chris were never going to ride. That got a big smile out of her.

As we were waiting to board our plastic flying dinosaur, Marlie said she didn’t want to go on it. Whaa? Harmless Triceratops Spin? She said it wasn’t scary, it was loud! OK, another thing to think about. Sound levels. I told her she could plug her ears if she needed to. Rich and I spent the rest of the trip realizing just how loud Disney World is. Well, this ride was a huge hit with Marlie. We had the dinosaur all to ourselves. Marlie initially wanted to control the height but realized that she couldn’t do that and put her fingers in her ears at the same time so she let me do it. I also turned in the seat and did the back seat control as well. I have no idea what the hell I was doing but Marlie seemed to enjoy it. I was so liking her reaction that I didn’t even notice that I was off the ground in this tiny little container.

After our spin, I took Marlie off to the Boneyard. I have never been in here before and I heard that it’s very easy to loose a child. I wasn’t really that worried about Marlie since she had been so good up to this point about keeping an adult in sight. But there were other kids running around and you never know. I can totally understand any parents concerns in here. Kids IQ levels drop drastically in all phases. They zone out the entire world since this is a huge playground. Rules, what rules? Stick with a parent? Oh, I forgot that when I came down that slide, I was supposed to wait. It was too much fun, I wanted to do it again. Marlie did great and even had me going through those reinforced rope bridges and climbing up the ramp. I still don’t know how I did that with my fear of heights. Oh well, anything for the granddaughter I guess.

I did chastise one boy because he ran through one of the rope bridges as I was walking through it, causing the whole thing to bounce up and down. Oh, and the earth is that thing waaaayyyyy down there? I told the kid NOT to do that again around me or he could call for the ambulance since I would have a heart attack. He got the point that if he wanted to make the bridge bounce, to wait until other people wanted to make the bridge bounce too. Don’t do it when a 41 year old woman is on it.

But there was one little boy, about eight. Marlie was on the very top level, slowly crawling along the rope bridge. Slowly. I was waiting for her to get across (her little feet would have gone through the ropes so she quickly decided crawling was the best way) and this little boy wanted to come the other way. I knew he wanted to have fun but he waited on his side until Marlie had totally cleared the bridge and then walked across. When he got to my side, I talked with him and thanked him for being so patient and waiting so a little girl could have some fun. He gave me such a huge smile! I wish I knew where his parents were so I could tell them that they are on their way to raising a fine son. I tend to bash kids quickly but I do recognize the good actions as well. Unfortunately, the good things often go unrewarded while the bad things get played up.

Then we had an incident. Marlie had one last slide to go through. She had to run up a zig zap ramp to get to it. That was fine and I waited at the end for her. Then the next section (the digging area) was up that same ramp and over the bridge. Marlie, of course, wanted to run up the ramp again. Sorry my child, but I don’t run. So I told her to run and when she got to the top to wait for me. I was sure she understood that. I was sure she nodded her head in agreement. I was sure she said “OK”. So I walked up the ramp thinking how great it was that Marlie was being so good so far. I got to the top and no Marlie. My heart went to my throat. Aargh! First time alone with her and I lose her! She could have gone in either direction. She had her ID holder pinned to the inside of her shorts but did we really want to have to use that? I started towards the digging area and just happened to see a familiar little person way down below me. MARLIE!!! I screamed at the same time as I heard another “Marlie”. Chris, Rich, and Chandra had also seen Marlie after the twirl. I guess my yell was louder. Chandra looked up at me and I requested that Marlie come up so I could talk to her.

Poor Marlie got a good dose of Sheri Justice. She claimed she didn’t know what she was supposed to do after getting up the ramp. I think it was the fact that five year olds have the Fruit Fly Retention Level. But I wanted to make sure Marlie knew that she ran off without an adult. She had done what any five year old would do – she went down the slide again. I got her back to me and explained that I thought she knew what she was supposed to do. She said she didn’t. Her biggest fear was that her mother was going to be mad on top of me being mad. After all of us regrouped Chandra got Marlie’s tears under control and we continued on to the digging area.

Which was a huge hit and a nice break for the adults to sit down and rest and relax. It was getting close to 4:30 after a while and the park closed at 5:00 so Marlie got cleaned up the best she could and we headed out of the park. Our goal was Epcot and Off Kilter for their 6:30 show. I wasn’t sure Marlie would last this long but she was going semi-strong and we did have the stroller in the trunk so we were willing to give it a try.

There was this one kid in the digging area who was climbing on the “rocks”. They are fake but parents sit along them to watch their kids. But this little boy just wanted to climb them. Which led the Cast Member in the area to direct him to get down. He wouldn’t. His barely older sister (I’m guessing she was related to him) tried her best but he wouldn’t listen. The Cast Member really didn’t do anything except repeat the request to get down. Not sure, but I don’t think a Cast Member can physically do anything to a child. But the point was this kids’ parents were no where to be seen. Any where. The kid finally got down (his sister dismissed him and went back to digging) and then ran out of the area. And right into a metal handrail. Right around eye level for him. Poor kid started bawling but there was no one to comfort him. I have no idea where his parents were. We saw him later and still no one around him to make sure he was OK. He was younger than Marlie. I freaked when I couldn’t find Marlie but I guess some parents think their kids are totally protected at Disney World. Unfortunately, those would be the same parents that if something harmful happened to this boy, they would sue the pants off of Disney World.

After our digging adventure, I drove us over to the Swan for parking and we walked over to Epcot from there. Marlie was in the stroller for the ride. This was such a great investment. Renting a stroller at each park is an option but not the way we drive and park. I can’t imagine Marlie being able to walk from the Swan to Epcot. The $20 was well worth it.

After we hit the Epcot International Gateway, we headed right to France for some wine. Chandra normally will drink red wine and I ordered two whites and a red. But the guy mixed it up and poured three whites. Chandra gallantly said she’d take the white. I have to be careful or I’ll turn my daughter-in-law into a white wine drinker! There wasn’t really enough time for a complete walk around World Showcase so we headed back around towards the United Kingdom and Canada. It wasn’t quite 6:00 so we had a wait for the last Off Kilter of the night. As we approached the stage area, Rich saw Tony, the Off Kilter keyboardist, getting a coffee at the kiosk next to the stage. So we went over there.

Tony remembered us from before and we talked for a little bit. This was his break and we didn’t want to interfere. It was a treat because I knew Tony was going on vacation and this would be the only time we got to see him before that. I asked him if he could get my Celtic Armadillo CD signed (I threw that into my bag at the last minute before we left the car) and also gave him the stupid silver Sharpie. He agreed to have the guys sign it backstage and then give it to me after the performance. Wonderful! We excused ourselves and let Tony take his break. Good thing we did get to talk to Tony now.

I wanted to wait at the Off Kilter stage area for the next show. I’m so anal about doing that. Chandra and Chris went off to explore Future World. Just for a look around and some alone time. Rich and I stayed with Marlie. We took bathroom breaks (thankfully Marlie will tell you way ahead of time when she needs these) and Rich grabbed a beer from the very convenient beer stand. The clouds were rolling in and about fifteen minutes before showtime, the skies opened up and it poured. A great Florida rain dosing. There was no way in the world the last show was going to go off. Too much lightening to interfere with the electrical equipment the guys are wired into. Oh well, we will be back here all day Sunday so no big deal to us. But what about that CD I gave to Tony? Who was off to New York on vacation tomorrow?

Chris and Chandra were still off doing their own thing so we waited with Marlie huddled under the umbrellas at the Off Kilter seating area. We passed the time chatting with a young lady and her mother visiting from Michigan. They had turned into Off Kilter fans on their last trip (in March) so they were spending their days watching the group. I guess we’ll see them on Sunday too. The daughter had a Disney trivia game and she so kindly played that with Marlie. If I knew an answer, I’d raise my hand. Very nice interaction with people.

Chris and Chandra came back and were absolutely soaked. They were at the entrance to Epcot when the rains started and figured no matter what they did, they were going to be wetter than wet so they just took their time. Chandra did get to experience the neon lights on the ground outside Innoventions. Rich and I donned our ponchos. I immediately did the yellow Disney one but Rich put on the flimsy two for a dollar one thinking Chandra would use the other yellow Disney one. But she declined saying she was already wet and the poncho would probably make her more uncomfortable. So Rich put on the yellow one for more warmth. We had already put Marlie into the other flimsy poncho figuring if she ripped it, no big deal. Plus, the yellow ones were adult sizes and Marlie would have swum in it. After Rich took off the other flimsy one, we used it to cover the stroller and more of Marlie. That girl rode out of Epcot in style.

The stage handler (I think his name is Bob but even if it’s not, we’ll call him Bob anyway) came out and closed down the hatches for Off Kilter. Their stage is protected by heavy canvas flaps that get dropped during inclement weather or when the guys are off. I didn’t see any sign of my CD at all. I wanted Rich to ask about it and he balked at doing it. He said they would probably have it on Sunday (the guys don’t perform on Fridays or Saturdays usually). But I was a little concerned. We did a little of “you ask someone, it’s your CD” and “but if it gets misplaced and I have to spend another $20, you’ll get mad” garbage. Chandra had enough of us bickering (it really wasn’t that bad) so she went up to the stage area, poked her head inside and talked to someone. Rich and I thought it was Bob. Chandra came back and said “he” was going to check into it. Bob ran up to the sound booth and came back and said the CD would be there on Sunday. Fine with us. More on that later.

Our initial plan had been to see Rob Grill and the Grass Roots who were part of the Flower Power Concert Series. We were sure the performance would go off since it’s way under cover (Off Kilter’s stage is under cover but not that much so anytime there is lightening in the area, they make the call to cancel – not a bad idea) but we bagged that because we were wet and getting cold. Illuminations was also shelved for the same reason. We slogged back to the Swan and the car with the rains stopping by the time we got there. Oh well. At least Chandra and Marlie got a nice dose of Florida weather.

We made the decision to go back to the cabin and get dry clothes and then go out to New York Pizza World for dinner. Chandra was looking forward to this as I have hyped the place up in many trip reports. So back to the cabin for a change of clothes. Rich and I made an obligatory stop at the Older Niklewskis cabin and found my dad and Betty there. Lots of chatter, lots of talk, Rich and I made an exit ASAP. It’s not that we don’t love our parents but they are from a totally different generation. I’m sure Chris and Chandra feel the same way about us.

Offsite for the first time this trip. Chandra and Chris did prepare Marlie for not seeing purple signs. She was so afraid we were leaving Disney World forever. Tuesday morning will not be pleasant. But onto dinner. We love New York Pizza World which is a place on Highway 192 on the west side of I4. It’s about a five to ten minute drive from Disney World. Certainly nothing fancy but good enough and cheap enough and the food is good. We ordered a carafe of white wine for the three over 21 year olds, a Pepsi for the almost 21 year old, and a Dr. Pepper for the little one. Cheese bread was an appetizer and then after much debate from the other three adults, an extra large pepperoni pizza and a cheese steak sandwich followed. The sandwich was for me and it was good but lacked something. Rich said ketchup (go figure) but that wasn’t it. It had steak, it had cheese, it had onions. It could have used mushrooms but that wasn’t it. Chris ate the other half and agreed it needed something but didn’t know what either (I’m thinking horseradish sauce). But it was good. The others devoured the pizza. Marlie did a good job on her slice and then conked out for a while. Total here was around $40 which is not bad for a complete meal including wine for five people. New York Pizza World comes through yet again. BTW – you do get a 10% discount coupon for your next visit with your bill. We used our coupon from a couple months ago so we saved a couple bucks.

While we were chatting during dinner, Chandra mentioned that she sure hoped Bob got paid enough money because there’s no way he should be wearing a kilt if he just got minimum wage. Rich and I just about choked. Bob does not wear a kilt. The only guys that do are the Off Kilter band members – the five guys. She had said earlier that she had surprised the guy when she poked her head into the stage and he almost dropped his cigarette. And now she said this guy was wearing a kilt. Humm, was the kilt red? Chandra said no, it was not red. The only member of the band that doesn’t wear a red kilt is Jamie, the leader and bagpipist. He must have come out to make sure all the equipment was taken care of in the sudden rain. We didn’t let up on Chandra’s inadvertent “intrusion” of Jamie.

Our next stop was at the Publix up on Highway 192. Chandra wanted some coffee, Rich wanted some beer, and we were in search of that pesky 9x13 inch pan for the Older Niklewskis. Now, the Older Niklewskis did not venture offsite at all the entire trip. In fact, they didn’t drive anywhere. I suggested that they go to a Trading Post for the pan but Bobbie said “I’m not paying Disney prices”. How much does a 9x13 inch aluminum disposal pan cost? Even if Disney World doubled the price, what would it be? $4? Geez, I’m not even that cheap. But, the pan was found at the Publix so disaster averted.

Marlie and I stayed in the car whil