Walt Disney World: Day 5

Swimming at the main pool called the Dig site. We planned to leave early afternoon so we decided to spend the morning at the pool. The pool at Coronado Springs is set up like a mayan pyramid. It has a water slide called the Iguana slide that is the main feature.



At 1pm we decided we needed to be going but...the kids were all suddenly hungry and had to eat again so we ate at the Pepper Market for the last time and started on our journey home. Instead of leaving at 1pm, we left at 2:45 pm. About 3 hours into the trip home all was well until my mother in her infinite, distorted and quite paranoid wisdom decided that since I took one hand off the steering wheel to scratch my head, that she was terrified. I thought she has lost her mind. So did everyone else in the car!



A little background on my mom. She was hit in the rear by a mack truck many, many, years ago and every since that she has been a very nervous driver. She, nor the car was seriously hurt but she never got over that. Instead of focusing on the cars ahead of her she focuses on the cars behind her whenever she drives or is in any car. In addition to that she has glaucoma , has had vision surgery and had very little vision in her right eye. She no longer drives herself anywhere and has not done so in years. What she has become is a paranoid back seat driver. My father still drives and that is scary--with the 2 of them in a car. My mother turns the right side mirror so that only she can see it and tries to verbally control my fathers driving from what she can see in the side mirror. They end up yelling and screaming at each other because my father does not do what my mother says he should do. She does not let the driver drive and I fear she will be the cause of them getting into a wreck one day. She sits in the front passenger seat and is so nervous that she is mashing the carpet on her side like she is driving and all way yelling to slow down, watch that car, let's pull over and let that mack truck behind us pass. CRAZY!



Well, I am the designated driver for them on any long trip and have been the driver for them for many years. My mother is in her 60's and cannot see and my father is in his 70's. So, I scratched my head for about 1 second and put my hand back on the steering wheel. You would have thought I took both hands off the wheel. My mother began her paranoid ramblings and I told her that what she was saying was ridiculous and it was! I told her to please let me drive and to just be quiet and let whoever is driving her drive the car without all those ridiculous commands. She got upset and said that I said she was ridiculous. I told her that was not the case. What she was doing was and everyone else in the car was in agreement with me and they even told her so. They even told her that I did not say she was ridiculous. She got even more upset.



I was not speeding at all. The speed limit was 70. I was doing 60. I had an itch and took 1 hand off the wheel to scratch my head for about 1 second and she was out of control. The car never wavered from its path. It was just her paranoia. I refused to back down as she will be the cause of a serious wreck someday with her and my father. It is not going to be with me. She has to know that what she is doing to any driver she is with is a distraction and is very dangerous. The way she is was one of the reasons I appointed myself their driver for any sort of long trips. My mother harasses my father constantly when the he is driving and I was in the car for a lot of that and I realized I was in personal danger. I put my daughter in summer camp every single day all last summer instead of letting her spend the days with them while I was at work because of the fear of them getting into a wreck with her in the car. My daughter says my mother harasses my father so much when he is driving that she gets upsets and begins to cry for them to stop yelling at each other.



This match took place on I95 just at the point where I needed to change highways. Of course with all the yelling I missed my turn and we traveled about 45 minutes out of our way. I had to stop for directions. I pulled off at the closest gas station, told all I would be getting directions as due to my mothers paranoia I has missed the fork in the road where I needed to change highways. I did not know where I was. I got good directions and eventually made in to another junction where I could pick up the highway I needed. Of course by then night was falling and a thunderstorm rolled in. I know my mother was terrified even more of the storm but she never spoke another word to me about driving once I announced that because of her I had missed my turn. She just sat with her arms crossed leaning forward. At night she can see even less. I reminded her I had driven my this family to WDW 3 other times before, to North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, you name it and we have never had an accident. She just needed to be quiet and let the driver drive. She did not say anything.



We got safely home around 10:45pm last night without any other incident.

Walt Disney World: Day four

Epcot! There is so much to see here we never get to see it all. We hit the highlights. We road Spaceship Earth, Mission Space, the Maelstrom, spent lots of time in Innoventions, road the ride at Mexico. I think it was called the River of Time. After riding the Maelstrom at Norway, I fell victim to the scent of the perfume they were selling at the gift shop. I bought a bottle.



We had decided that we would have one nice dinner while we were there and we decided it would be at Epcot at Italy. Around 2pm we went back to the hotel to collect my mother. We had fast passes for 5:40 for the Test Track. We made it back around 6pm. The rain and lightening began so we were unable to ride the test track. They gave us fast past tickets that never expire so we can ride it in the future. After the rain we made it to Italy and had a wonderful dinner. We stayed for Illuminations and made it back to the room.



Let's not forget--pin trading! Pin trading was done with every cast member we could see with a pin lanyard on. I got some good ones!

Walt Disney World: Day Three--The Animal Kingdom



Mom stayed in the hotel today. She was done in by the heat and the walking on Day 2. First stop was the Tree of Life and the show It's Tough to be a Bug.





There were a lot of new things to do. We road the Primeval Whirl about 6 times. We road Dinosaur, the Kali River Rapids, the Kilimanjaro Safari and of course we pin traded.



And what day at the Animal Kingdom would not be complete without one of those giant turkey legs. We had those and a soda for lunch. The Animal Kingdom closes at 6 because the animals need to be cared for so we were off to the hotel to go to the pool again after dinner. The rain began while we were at dinner at the hotel and we did not have our rain ponchos with us so we had to walk the mile back to the room in the rain.

What Lion King Character are you? I took the quiz below and I am young simba.



Which Lion King Character Are You?

Walt Disney World: Day Two



The Magic Kingdom!







We spent the whole day there hitting the favorites more than once and trying some new things. My mother who is in her 60's went with us. She was barely able to make it. For most of the day she spent it sitting in restaurants keeping out of the sun or trying to rest up from so much walking. It was not a good combination. She invited herself. After the last trip there 2 years ago and she had the same situation she decided she would not go to any amusement parks anymore.



I knew it would not be a pretty site but what can you do? What would you do if your mother invited herself on your vacation? Say no? Most likely not, so you go with the flow. We left her with the walkie talkies--which she never answered when I called her--and off my child, nephew and I went.



We road the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We road the Carousel, saw Philharmagic, rode the Carousel of Progress and pin traded. There were other things we did but those are the main ones. Philharmagic was great! It is the new 3-d show.



One dissappointing thing was that It's A Small World was being refurbished. That is a ride I have to go on each time I go. It will not be ready for quite some time.



We left before the parade to get back to the resort in time to go to dinner and go swimming. We stayed at the pool until 11:45pm.

Trip to Walt Disney World: Day One



The drive down took about 10 hours. Normally it would take about 6-7, but we had to stop and have lunch at Red Lobster...which took awhile. The extra time came in before we made the decision to go to Red Lobster. We spotted a Cracker Barrel along the interstate and was trying to make our way to it when we realized we had passed the entrance. I tried to go up the road--hwy 203--and turn around to come back but there was no exit!! We had to travel for about 10 miles to turn around and when we did we had to get off on a clover leaf that was very hard to figure out. We got lost. We now know highway 203 eastbound and westbound! Finally after stopping at a World Market Store for directions, I got back onto 95 south and continued to the next food exit. Forget Cracker Barrel! We were able to eat and get back on the road to Disney World.



We arrived around 6:30pm. We were booked at the beautiful Coronado Springs Resort on the Disney property.



It was an absolutely beautiful place to stay. We stayed in the Ranchos--one of three hotel groupings at Coronado Springs. It was like being in the Southwest with the huge cacti and bubbling springs everywhere. We had to walk about a mile to the front building where all the restaurants and shops were located. The scenery was beautiful being on the lake. Pictures do not do the place justice. (A mile to eat and a mile back to the room for breakfast and dinner) I did walk about three miles each morning in addition to the miles we had to walk to eat. Up at 6 am to walk around that beautiful lakes. There were bunnies and ducks everywhere.



That first evening we unpacked, roamed the resort and did some pin trading. (I have about 300 pins that I have been trading for the past 4 years. We then planned out our day for the next day--the Magic Kingdom!