magic and misery

Our worset Disney mistake was made on our very first trip.

We flew from New York to Orlando on a 6 AM flight, took Mears transportation to our hotel (awful ride -- after that we always got a town car) and checked into the hotel (the Poly), dropped our stuff in our rooms and headed to Magic Kingdom in the middle of the afternooon with two tired, cranky kids.  Trust me, they were not feeling the magic ...After that experience, we learned  ....we'd fly down at 6 AM, take the town car to the hotel and check in, enjoy the pool in the afternoon and then hit one of the parks in the evening.

Or at least, that's the way it was supposed to work.

Our second trip, summer 1999, we stayed at Dixie Lnadings.  Our rooms wweren't ready, so we stored our bags and headed over to the pool.

A few days before our trip, Jen was diagnosed with strep throat, and was still on antibiotics when we flew to Florida.  You know the deal -- when one child gets it, the other is likely to get it as well.  As the afternoon wore on, Becca became tired and cranky, and soon we noticed she was feverish as well.   As soon as we got to our rooms I started to make inquiries about medical attention.   I  found out that, for a fee, the "disney doctor" will make hotel calls.  And pharmacies will deliver antibiotics to your hotel.My sisters took Jen out to dinner and I stayed in the hotel room and ordered room service for myself and my sick child.  One dose of children's tylenol brought down her fever, and by the next day she was fine.

But we missed our breakfast in Cinderella's Castle.  The girls were disappointed, they'd loved the breakfast with the princesses the year before.  but our reservation was for 7 AM, and we thought Becca should sleep a little later to allow herself time to recover.  Sigh.

but...

Later in the trip, we were in the Magic Kingdom and needed diner reservations. The CM suggested the Castle -- no characters in the evening, but lots of atmosphere.  What he didn't tell us was that our table would be right under the window, and that we'd have a perfect view of the fireworks that night.    We'd seen the Magic Kingdom fireworks from main Street, from the Beach at the Poly, from our balcony at the Poly and from the middle of Seven Seas Lagoon, but seeing the show from inside the Castle was absolutely magical.