In Vacations - Part 1 I chronicled Nancy's and my first week in Florida last March, hanging with my mother and visiting old friends in the Ft. Myers area.
In Vacations - Part 2 I reported on joining up with daughter Cathy and her family at Disney World, including the events of our first theme park day. That post led off with a lament about how I had fallen behind in my footrace with life. I've caught up a bit now and am feeling very "bloggy". I hope it lasts for a while.
So. We left our little band at sundown on Monday March 18th, the 11th day of our trip, recovering from a day at the Magic Kingdom. As has become our family custom, Tuesday the 19th was not a theme park day. We've learned that taking a day off between the "shanks' mare-athons" that are park visits keeps the family fresher and more able to maintain the energy levels needed to make it to the end of the vacation.
Of course, these interlude days are not sedentary. One still has to crawl out of bed at a decent hour, get dressed, and interact with the world. And when the extended family is involved, we almost always have to do something fun. Tuesday the 19th was no exception.
If you're not familiar with the concept of a "character breakfast", here's my synopsis. It's an event where you wait in line a little longer than normal, pay a little extra for a meal, set unreasonable expectations for everyone's behavior, and hope your young children aren't scared to death by life-sized versions of their stuffed animals. I should mention that you also get mountains of delicious food, excellent photo ops, and (hopefully) gleeful memories for you and your kids.
Case in point. Here's a couple of my favorite photos from a character breakfast Nancy and I took the kids to in our early Disney years (circa 1994). This was when Christy taught me how to tell Chip from Dale. Chip's nose is black. Dale's is red.
Here I came face-to-snout with my own favorite Disney character. I'm the one on the left.
You get the idea. Age doesn't mean much at one of these events.
That character breakfast was the one held at Disney's Polynesian Resort. It's called 'Ohana, and it's still going strong. Of course, Disney has added some new characters since '94, and we've been back a couple of times to check things out. This trip we did it again for Ian and Lena. Here are a few pics.
First is the waiting thing, where kid management is key. Fortunately, Disney has provided a tropical paradise-themed sitting area where the kids have fun just trying out all the funny looking seats.
Even the little one seems to be enjoying things as much as her mom.
Then we were seated. Here's the happy crowd during the fruit and juice course.
Eventually, the giant critters make their rounds. A little scary, but charming. Mickey led off.
Then that rascal Stitch intruded.
Note that in this final group shot Lena was so excited at rubbing elbows with the "Mouster of Ceremonies" that she lost her pacifier.
It was a fun time. And enough food was consumed to carry us all the way to dinner.
Back at the condo, we all recovered from the excitement and gluttony in our own ways. The kids took long naps. Afterward, Ian and I played a fiercely competitive game of "Match". It's sort of a Disney version of the old Concentration game. It was a good test of how fast Ian learns and how well I forget.
Cathy and Matt also took Ian for a little outside time at the playground. Neat slides.
Based on the adjusted rules (first kneecap over the line wins), Ian smoked his mom.
And later there was this little encounter between short creatures. It's not often that this very lucky duck gets fed right at beak level.
All in all, a successful and somewhat restful day at The World.
Wednesday the 20th was another theme park day. Here's an early shot of me getting some assistance with my med pack during the load out.
This time the outing was to Disney's Animal Kingdom. In a nutshell, the day amounted to turning this -
Into this. Again.
We're getting quite good at it. Of course, there were some highlights. First stop this day was the feature attraction at the park - the Kilimanjaro Safari. This is sort of like the Jungle Cruise but on land and...with real animals. Oh yeah.
I'm happy to say that this ride has improved over the years to remove some of the "watch out for the poachers" narrative to focus more on getting riders close to the animals. We found the targets of our curiosity quite cooperative this time around. Like these rhinos.
I have to admit that not everyone was interested in performing for the crowd. I'm not sure but this may have been what you could call a "rhino moon". Impressive.
But the kids enjoyed the ride, as did the rest of us. Here's a shot of the Kuhlmans, each parent applying a firm grip on a child, always recommended when schmoozing with the wild life of central Africa. Or central Florida for that matter.
After winding our way through the crowds, enjoying another theme park lunch and stopping to watch the many street performers, we found our way to Pandora. Or at least a Disney recreation of the strange moon from the movie Avatar.
In the movie, Pandora has unusual gravity and a substance called unobtanium which is a powerful source of energy coveted by corporate raiders. Not a new theme. Because of its unique materials, Pandora also sports islands of land that float in the air high above the surface. Among its unique creatures is one called a banshee, a smallish dragon-like creature that flies and can be somewhat domesticated.
The centerpiece of Disney's Pandora is a thrill ride simulating a ride on a banshee through these floating islands. Not exactly my cup of tea, but it's undoubtedly a crowd pleaser (except for our crowd due to the extremely long wait time and a wimp or two). Here are a few shots of Disney's attempt to recreate the landscape of Pandora.
We cruised through the new exhibit taking in and admiring the detail of the design, with the usual outcomes. Kids snoozing.
And adults snacking. In this shot, mom Cathy enjoys a Mickey bar. Note in the background there is a caregiver assisting a poor senior who can't locate his afternoon Ensure.
Weary from interplanetary travel, we headed back to the condo late in the afternoon. Here's a shot of a key part of our end-of-day activity.
That brings us to Thursday March 21st, the 14th day of our trip. Remember in my last post I recited some Burk family vacation protocols. One of them was "Don't forget Grandma Burk". Thursday was Grandma Burk day. So after breakfast, we packed up and drove the hour over to my mother's place in Zephyrhills. It was the introductory meeting of my mother and little Lena. Things went swimmingly. This picture tells the whole story.
Dolores and Lena got along famously. We had a nice visit. A nice lunch. And took this four-generational pic to commemorate the day.
We had taken our trip to see Great Grandma Burk early in the day so we could return to Disney by early afternoon. That was the first day of the NCAA March Madness tournament, a major event in the Kuhlman household. Cathy and Matt had previously contracted for some high-end talent to sit the kids that afternoon and evening so they could go off to a sports bar and do things up right.
The kid sitting gig went just fine. The kids, not too sure of Grandma and Grandpa's tolerance for shenanigans, were on their best behavior. There were more match game challenges.
Some gourmet dining.
A little Disney channel before bed.
Through it all Lena was her usual "gotta love me" self.
All the while, Cathy and Matt were finally enjoying a little kid-free time watching sports and doing a lot of this.
Another successful day.
Friday the 22nd, our 15th day on the road, was also our last full day at Disney. Time for a little R&R before the Kuhlmans headed home. That meant pool time. Here's a shot of the happy foursome packed up and heading to the pool, complete with proper headgear.
And for good measure, here's a few pics of the lovely walk to the Old Key West Resort pool area along the pond, the golf course and the concourse in the common area known as Conch Flats.
And a few shots at the pool area. First, sand play.
Then some water play, in pursuit of a beach ball.
Having had quite enough of the Florida sun, the group headed back to the condo for their usual afternoon routine.
After dinner there was a little more excitement as Ian discovered Disney bubbles.
To wrap up the fun, Grandma and Lena shared one more cocktail before bed. To help them both get a good night's sleep for the journey home.
For the record, while the kids were lounging at the pool that morning, Nancy and I, being annual pass holders this year, took the opportunity to cruise through the new Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios. It was very cool. But I'm out of ink again, so I'll save that story for a future post.
The kids arose on Saturday the 23rd, packed and loaded up their rental car and headed to the airport. Rumor has it that the kids were a little more rambunctious on the plane home than on the way down. But since I'm only a grandparent, I'm allowed to ignore that story. I'm sure the little darlings were angels.
Nancy and I also packed up and headed back over to Zephyrhills for another couple of nights with my mother before the long journey up I-75. We made it home on Tuesday the 26th, the 19th day of the trip.
It took three posts, but there you have it. An update on our vacation habits which now include kids and grandkids as often as we can lure them out of their real lives.
Until next time,
Grosse Pointe Charles
