The Blanding Bugle

Volume 20 Issue 4

April 2011

The trip of a lifetime: DisneyWorld

Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would ever get to go to Disney World until Steve's mom approached us at Christmas.  She wanted to take us somewhere special.  We put our heads together and realized that with Kray heading off to college soon that would put us in three different school systems and who knows what else would happen so this Spring Break was about the only time we could all be together and do something grand.  And grand it was. We decided to go to Disney World.

We went the last week of March and had one heck of a time.  We flew the red eye to Orlando (left at 10:45 PDT and landed at 7:30 EDT). We had to get a jump on it so in the park we went.  We hit Magic Kingdom first and had one glorious time in 90 degree weather.

We ate dinner in Hollywood Studios that night before crashing!  Cousin Eric was a blast and almost got help cleaning up the tables!

The next day was pouring rain! We hit EPCOT and had a great time.  We loved the rides, even when they shut them down with us in the middle of them.  (They had to clear Test Track as lightening was in the air.) We had a fantastic lunch at Tappan Edo (Japanese). Remember the onion volcano and "got it on eBay"? The kids loved their dishes and even used chop sticks.

The whole day it rained on us until we got home from the parks.  Our feet were soaked through and we had to buy umbrellas and ponchos for some of us. 

The next day was spent in Hollywood Studio. It threatened rain all day, but it held off.  Fantasimic show was worth the sit down wait and boy did our feet enjoy not being walked on during that wait!  The kids loved Rock n' Roller Coaster and I enjoyed not going on it. (I don't like going upside down.) We loved the stunt shows they had that day for us.

Then the next day we spent in Animal Kingdom. We had a blast riding the water ride and Everest.  Getting soaked that day wasn't a problem because later in the day we were going to get dumped on!  We had to wait forever on the Safari ride because the animals wondered over the road, but that was really the only "long line" we waited in all week.  We ended the day in EPCOT. It rained so hard on us the first time there that we wanted to go back and catch the stuff we missed.  We had an enjoyable time but right when the weatherman said the heavens would open--it sure did!  We got DUMPED on! Thankfully we were able to find ourselves in a little shop. It was Grandma B's special knowledge of what storm clouds look like that drove us inside before it even hit.

Poor Kray was back at Animal Kingdom with his girlfriend and didn't have Grandma's special ability and got soaked while running to get in a vehicle. As he would say, "Sucks being you."

We ended the evening riding Test Track (at full speed) and watching Illuminations. One of the coolest shows in town! (Mike remember our race through the park so we could do both?)

Since we had seen all the parks the last day was spent doing things we didn't feel we had enough time doing.  But before we even got to the park we were under a tornado watch! Not a warning, but a WATCH. It was so windy and so rainy!  Here we are a family from Seattle and we go to find sun in Florida and we get wind and rain!  When we finally made it to the park we choose to do lunch in Italy (back to EPCOT) then went to Magic Kingdom.

Because of the rain a lot of people had left the park so we almost had no wait times in any of our lines.  We grabbed a bite to eat then hung around for the Eclectic Parade and Fireworks show.  Grandma ditched us just after the Parade and it is probably a good idea because we ran around catching all those rides that had long lines. I think Jessie drug us on Space Mountain five times before the night was over. Matt even got a joke on the Laugh Floor!

We stayed to the bitter end that day (1pm) then headed for our condo.  Five of the six kids fell asleep on the bus ride home. I would have too but I was planning our attack for the next day.

Our last day I sent the younger kids to swim with dad (about the only day we could swim since the lightening and thunder storms kept us out before) while I tried to stuff wet stuff in suitcase.  Before we knew it we were in the airport on our way home! (frown).

We got home around 10:30 that night and we all crashed!  We had to as we walked and walked and walked for six days straight and had such a GREAT TIME!

Thank you Grandma! 

Grandma B!

Let the Memories Begin...

At SeaTac waiting for our late night flight!

My two sets of triplets.
The family joke is that when we are out people ask me if Matt and Chris are twins.  I've almost begun to time it.
We had barely gotten in the park when I was asked if I had two sets of triplets.

Grandma at Tappan Edo
in the background you can see that the chair are covered in bags--it was that wet. Thankfully our chairs were dry and didn't need to have covers.

Eating!

Chris is so hungry he uses a fork
and a pair of chop sticks!

Food!
Dessert from the Brown Derby and yummy Japanese food from Tappan Edo.
"Volcano gone. eBay!"

Cousin Eric trying to fool Kray

Cousin Eric and Grandma helping Jason eat his veggies.

Weather!

Matt, Jessie & Chris trying to stay dry and in great spirits after a long day of walking.

This is what sheets of rain look like; this
was not shot through a window. 

Rides!

Matt's joke.
look closely and see if you can't figure it out.

Took all six to find Gopher!
One of the best queues in the park.

Hollywood here we come!

Magic Kingdom and Space Mountain, are you ready for the Blandings?

Doreen went over 2500 miles to find
 her home town.

Jessie playing shuffle board in the rain.

A little magic Jessie

Jessie, Chris and Doreen struttin' their stuff.

Always Mr. Polite (Matt)

Got to have the family photo before entry.

The hats a bit big for Mike

Steve and the "golf ball" before it started to rain.
just think how great this shot would have been
on a non cloudy day!

Proof Doreen went!
Steve, Doreen, Mike & Kray