My mom and I took my girls to Orlando for a quick trip--we had three full days in Orlando and the plan was to spend days one and two at Disney World and day three going to the beach and winding down. It was going to be perfect and I was SO excited to take my kids to the ocean and enjoy the wonders of the park!
Of course, as it seems with most of my life (wink!), the best laid plans didn't quite work out. Upon arrival in Orlando, we spent a gross amount of time getting the rental car ( I*literally* stood in line for two hours at the Budget counter) and getting lost for a few hours trying to find our resort--it was terrible--by the end of the evening, I was feeling AWFUL but still optimistic and ready to shake the crud from the travel day for our three days of fun. We went to bed and I knew something was wrong, but was praying that a good nights sleep was all I needed.
By 1:00 AM, I had a 102 degree fever and hurt all over. I was a wreck and totally bedridden. My fever just kept climbing and I kept feeling worse--day one was a wash. My mom called around and had a Disney doctor come to our condo--several hundreds of dollars later, she said I had severe strep and she gave me meds. The next day just HAD to be better!! My mom and the kids went to the resort pool and made the most of the day while I just slept.
On day two, I was DETERMINED to make something of the day. But I got up and was still miserable and had a lingering fever--even though I'd been on antibiotics for 24 hours at this point. I was still determined and slowly got dressed. My body had a different idea and rebelled a bit and I started throwing up. I'm thinking
'Seriously?? Really?? This cannot be happening.' But, no, not even this stopped me. I finished getting dressed and we headed to Disney World. Yeah, I really went to Disney World feeling like this. We had reservations for the Disney Princess lunch and I just wasn't going to keep the kids from that unless I was unconscious! ;) Not to mention how much we'd paid for it all!!
I dragged myself through Epcot (where our lunch was), ate about two bites of my $40 lunch, and tried to enjoy watching the kids elation as they met their favorite characters. I did it. As the day went on, I kept up with my meds and Rx pain killers, and actually started feeling slightly better. We just moved slowly and tried to pace ourselves.
Day three was finally better. I still didn't feel great, but we were going to make it a full day! :) We hit Magic Kingdom and all loved it! We hit the classic rides, saw the characters, and enjoyed the day! The night ended with the amazing parade and truly spectacular fireworks--Disney showed us why it's called the
Magic Kingdom, for sure! We stayed until nearly 11:00 and crashed that night. We had a plane to catch in the morning--which felt so strange to me, because I'd spent half the trip in bed and felt a bit cheated. And my mom deserves some sort of award for having to deal with me and the kids by herself!!
I am so sad we didn't make it to the beach--I wanted the girls to see the ocean so badly. Despite what we didn't get to do, we had a great time and it was a blast to see the girls enjoy Disney World so much.
Below are some pics from our two days in the park!
We made it!
We saw lots and lots of characters! The girls each had their own autograph book and we filled those things up!
Meeting Donald Duck!
At the Princess Lunch! We met 5 different princesses--the girls LOVED this.
Carly
Day two in the park--All of us at the entrance of Magic Kingdom
The Castle!
One of many rides--Em and I in the first car--Carly and Mom in the one behind us
The teacup ride! Emma loved spinning us around!
And Carly loved being spun!
Pretty girl
I love this shot--they could not contain their excitement to peek inside Minnie's house (even though the front door was right next to the window)!
Another favorite shot--I actually have a series of these and they crack me up!! My mom and Emma riding one of the roller coasters!
Mickey in the parade at the end of the day!
The fireworks were truly amazing!
Fireworks finale! Spectacular!!
