The Conference we spent the day at was FABULOUS! OMG I got so much good stuff. The only downer was when we came down for breakfast we saw that the hotel (Hilton Resort) had a breakfast buffett. we decided that would be better than a danish. Well, after we ate and the check came, we found out it was 17.00 a person. YIKES! For teachers on a budget, we really should have gotten the danish. About 3:30pm I began to chomp at the bit as I knew we would be going to Magic Kingdom in just a few minutes. Once everyone was done with the conference we went out to wait for the free shuttle. It was suppose to run every thirty minutes. Well we waited 40 and no shuttle arrived. So we just all pitched in for a cab.
As we knew we had very little time and 3 of our party had never been to DisneyWorld before, we knew we had to get in the most for our time. Thus, upon our arrival we sprinted to Splash Mountain and got fast passes. Then we went over to Pirates. Last year while standin in the line for Pirates, the theme to my class last year was born. (I did a whole pirates thing and the kids, their parents, and pretty much anyone that came to our school LOVED it.) So, while standing in the line we once again came up with a them for Tanya's school. She is now an elementary school principal and her school theme this year is..."Its a Small World. We make a BIG difference!" How cool is that?!?
The ride was great. Shorter than Disneyland though..oh well. Upon leaving you exit into the Pirates store. Yeah, I spent about $100.00 buying stuff for my classroom. I got some great stuff: a mouse pad, a cup, a lithograph, a skull filled with 187 items, amongst many other things.
So now we have to run to Tony's on the Square for our dinner reservations. When I had made our reservations I had asked them to make a special event sort of thing for Tanya who was celebrating her promotion. Our table was decorated with streamers and toodles shoped confettii. It was so cute. She got a littel teary eyed. We had a fabuouls meal. I had the Chicken Florintine. It was very good. The bread was awesome. So after our meal, they brought out a cake that had arranged for. it was chocalate. It was OK...not great, but OK. It was however, a catalyst for us to start crying.
So after the dinner we ran over the Spash mountain. Jennifer decides she can't handle the ride so she goes into the Pirate stare and we tell her we will meet her there after the ride. The ride was great. Connie Kirk and over 60 woman in our group kept her hands in the air for the drop. OMG! It was amazing! So we get off the ride and were all pump so we head over to Buzz Lightyear. We are trying to beat the parade that is getting ready to start. Yep, we forgot Jennifer.
The line for Buzz was pretty short, but while we were waiting in line, Jennifer called. I told her where we were and to sit and watch the parade, we would meet up with her when it was over. Our timing was perfect. We got off the ride, right as the parade was ending. So we call Jennifer. This is what she tells me. "I'm right in front of the castle." Can you imagine how many people were right in front of the castle. We eventually find her and cop a squat right in front of the castle for the fireworks.
We sat a little too close for the fireworks, but they were still amazing. We all cried. How can you explain the magic of the fireworks? The awe, the wishes, athe dreams, the feeling of the magical all around you no matter where you are from of what you believe. It was magical.
After the fireworks, we run to It's A Small World. You can't make something your school's theme without seeing it. There was no line. Jennifer decided she couldn't go on it..too scary. Truth is she had no idea what the ride was and is not adventurous enough to find out.
When we got off we shoped on Main street. I bought my family some cool gifts. Mom got a set of toodles egg shapes, Gabriel (6) got a rug checkers set, Molly (3) got a sun dress with Tinkerbelle on it, and Marec (15) got candy. The coolest experience I had during shopping was seeing a Cast member from China with buttons on his sash. Some were in Spanish. I used to be a Spanish teacher and some of my best friends still are. So I asked him if I could have one. We started to give me an English button. I said no, "español, por favor.". he smiled and gave it to me. I then asked him how to say Thank you in Chinese. I thnaked him (in Chionese) and he replied with a shakey "de nada". How cool is that? Break done language barriers at Disney. After the shopping the park was closing so we went home and went straight to bed...
More later, Cat - part 3: http://www.disneymouselinks.com/Forums/Topic74397-5-1.aspx