I'm so tired, so here it is. I probably missed a few details, but what a great time we had!
Day 1
We had an awesome time at Give Kids the World and Disney! GKTW really knows how to treat families with young and sick children. Alex absolutely loved it. We couldn’t keep him off the carrousel! And we put a dent in the ice cream at the ice cream shop.
They really do a great job with the kids, it is all about the kids. I would highly encourage you to donate to GKTW or Make A Wish if you ever have the opportunity. It means so much to the families and it is a wonderful, magical place! I know sometimes you wonder where your dollars go when you donate and I have to say, this place is well worth it!
Day 2
On to Disney. We started out at the Magic Kingdom. Seeing the castle for the first time is awesome! Pluto was waiting for us at the front too! Steve called him Goofy and Pluto thought that was funny. Then we were off to meet Tigger and Pooh and ride the Dumbo ride. Alex enjoyed that. Then Mary Poppins met us at the carrousel and rode with Alex on that! That was fun. All the little girls wanted her attention, but she talked to Alex the whole time. He’s so like his dad – attracting all the females!
Then we ate some wonderful but very expensive hot dogs and moved on to Mickey’s Toon Town. There is where we got to meet Mickey! We actually got about 10 minutes alone with Mickey in a private room. I guess that’s quite unheard of! We all enjoyed it! We then got to meet Minnie, Goofy, Chicken Little, Chip and Dale, Daisy and Donald Duck. Chicken Little thought it was cool that Alex had glasses too! Daddy wanted to meet the princesses, but mommy said no.
By this time, the crowds were getting thicker and the humidity was rising. Also the love bugs were “in season” and it was quite gross, so we headed back for the Village. We hit the waterpark and swimming pool. That was refreshing. And of course we snagged plenty of ice cream!!
Day 3
Off to Seaworld. It was packed full of people. Rude, annoying people. And more love bugs. And humidity and smoke. Alex really liked the manatees and feeding the dolphins and the Budweiser Clydesdales. We got good seats at Shamu, but not in the soaker section. We enjoyed it, but it was long on video and short on Shamu and friends. I think they could stand to change that a bit.
All and all, we were not impressed with Seaworld. Steve and I have been to the one in San Diego and thoroughly enjoyed it. Orlando, not so much. It was dirtier and crowded and the employees were rude. They sure didn’t treat Alex like the Disney folks did! We ended up going back to the Village, doing our usual carrousel rides and ice cream!!! Grandma and Alex had Ms Mary’s pizza while Steve and I went to Joe’s Crab Shack for dinner.
Day 4
Was Downtown Disney and City Walk at Universal. We were bummed when we got to Downtown Disney at 10:00am only to find out most of the stores didn’t open til 10:30! We didn’t like the first area we went too, I guess where the Cirque de Soliel is. Kinda dirty and not much going on. More of a night time venue I think. We did head up to the Marketplace and liked that much better. Did some shopping and ate lunch at Mickey Dee’s. Alex was in no mood for a sit down place at all. I did get into a fight with an employee at one of the gift shops. I collect spoons and finally found one. So I took it up to pay for it and she told me it was on the sale rack, buy 4 for $10. She wanted me to go back and look for 3 other items. Well it was all junk. Most of it was dated 2006 too. So I found a Bruce keychain and took it up. She wasn’t going to sell me them unless I picked 4 items! I finally screamed at her to sell me the damn spoon for $10 and I didn’t want all that other crap. Finally she sold me Bruce and the spoon for $10. Geez. We left there and headed for Universal Studios.
We only did Citywalk at Universal. We hadn’t bought my mom a ticket for the actual park and Alex wasn’t in a good mood either, so we decided to skip the whole theme park part. So we hit Hard Rock for the proverbial bear and t-shirts purchase and had a huge ice cream sundae there too (you’d think we’d be ice creamed out by now huh?). We also hit Margaritavilles and bought some t-shirts and Alex really wanted Scooby-doo until we got into the store and then he really wanted Cat in the Hat. So the cat won out over the dog. Again it was muggy and smokey, so we headed back for the Village. We did hit an outlet mall for a bit on the way back.
This night was Winter Wonderland. It use to be Christmas, but because of religious views, they changed it. It really was a magical night. They even made it snow!!! Santa gave out presents and we rode in a horse drawn carriage. Alex danced with the snow princess and some elves! We really enjoyed that night. Lots of fun. Of course Mayor Clayton and Ms Mary had their Christmas outfits on! We got the biggest kick out of the parade. This lady was dressed as a Christmas tree and had presents on her feet and she was a bit “out there” if you know what I mean. We laughed our heads off at that one! We rode the train around the village and Alex got to help conduct!
Day 5
Off to Animal Kingdom (after the required breakfast at the Gingerbread house of course). Alex didn’t have a good day here either. Too much walking without a lot to look at for him. He did get to meet Safari Mickey, Goofy and Donald though! We petted the goats and tried to get into Finding Nemo. I do have to say that Finding Nemo was one area that Disney let us down. They have no access for wish kids. We were very upset and disappointed by this. I went to complain at Guest Relations, but Alex was melting down and it was hot and we were all hot and tired and mad, so we went home again for more swimming. Mommy and Daddy went shopping at a mall while Grandma and Alex had dinner and hung out at the Village.
Day 6
Off to MGM. Alex enjoyed this park the most. He absolutely loved Playhouse Disney and danced along with the show. It was nice and cool too…. Nice cool sit down thing! It was very hot this day, the hottest of the trip. We got to meet Jo Jo, Sorcerer Mickey, Buzz and Woody and Mike and Sully. We also did the Great Movie Ride. Alex was a bit scared, but he managed to hang in there. Again another cool, sit down ride! We ate lunch here too, near the Star Wars ride. We missed the storm trooper by a few minutes. I hear Darth Vader shows up, but daddy was too hot and tired to go back. Grandma had a few Disney dollars left, so she bought a t-shirt finally. We headed back to the Village for Mayor Clayton’s birthday party. Alex didn’t want to hang around much that night, but what we did do was fun.
GKTW
Each day we would come back to the Village to find another present on the table for Alex. That was fun to get a surprise each day!
We met some new friends, including Molly and Ben (who also has down syndrome). The volunteers who work there are phenomenal (except for the one stoopid lady in the Castle who wouldn’t let Alex ride the carrousel, yes I went and told on her). They do not discriminate or leave any children out, no matter what the activity. It was nice to be in a place where all kids are equal. We didn’t have to worry about being different. Some of the parents commented on that as well.
Our favorite activities were Winter Wonderland (every Thursday), where Santa Claus comes to visit and brings toys for all the good little girls and boys! Alex picked Alex the Lion from Madagascar of course! Mayor Clayton (the bunny in charge) also had a birthday party (every Saturday). Lots of music and face painting and bubbles and cake! He also loved helping in the Gingerbread House, after meals, by taking all of our dishes up after we finished eating. We all enjoyed our daily breakfast buffet, I sure miss it now!
