WDW December Day Six – A Taste of Home

Once Leah woke up from her afternoon nap, we got our stuff together and headed out to the Magic Kingdom. There are windows about halfway down the hallway toward the elevator, and I stopped dead in my tracks, because the 82-degree sunny day we had left outside a few hours back had been replaced by sideways rain. And a lot of it. I muttered “Oh shit” a couple times under my breath and hoped Aly didn’t hear me. We decided to press on and Aly and I pulled on our rain ponchos to go retrieve the car and pick up Rachel, Leah and the stroller.

I invited Aly to sit in the passenger seat while we drove through the parking lot over to the driveway, and when we parked, she said “Dad, since we’re on vacation, can I just stay up here?” How can you argue with that? Laws be damned, we’re on vacation, people. So I had pink-ponchoed 45″ blonde riding next to me in the passenger seat.

We got a good parking spot at the MK parking lot (Zurg 106, if you’re curious) and I hopped out to unfold the stroller. It was again raining sideways, and directly into our faces as we walked across the parking lot. The temperature was dropping quickly, and the wind was howling – my poncho looked like farted pantyhose. Probably shouldn’t have said that just now. Poor Leah, already tired, just had no interest in that wind and rain, and she was expressing her displeasure for all around to hear. Well, they could have heard, except for the wind that was drowning out all sounds.

The monorail would be our savior – climate controlled interiors were the order of the day. Except for one thing. They weren’t letting anyone go up the ramp to the MK monorail, and they waved us over to the ferry boat, which, strangely, Rachel and I have never taken before in all our trips to the MK. We didn’t have to wait long for the boat to arrive, and we loaded quickly and were on our way. Just as we pushed back from the jetty, they started letting people board the monorail again, wouldn’t you know. Both Aly and Leah were unhappy about being on the boat – it was loud, windy and a bit rainy. It didn’t take too long though, and we were headed into the MK and the rain was gone. Yep, it only rained for about 20 minutes, just long enough for us to be out in it at our hotel and the walk through MK parking lot. That’s what I get for praising the weather earlier today, idiot.

We headed straight to Crystal Palace for our 5:45 reservation, checked in, and then Aly watched the castle show from the area outside the restaurant. Leah also watched it from a distance, and liked the fireworks at the end. We only waited about 15 minutes to be seated, and we headed inside, grabbed some food, and waited for Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore and Pooh to arrive. Aly loved them all, collected all their autographs, and gave them all hugs. Leah, still recovering from her “What the hell are my parents doing to me, bringing me to Florida, which all the old people say is supposed to be warm, and here I sit, freezing my baby buns off” moment, played shy with the characters, as you can clearly see in the pictures of Tigger. She did like looking at Pooh in the reflection, though, just not the real one right behind her. Leah was highly entertained by the boy at the next table, who had pushed his parents past the breaking point and they just didn’t care anymore. He was probably three, and it was one endless tantrum, complete with lying on the floor, throwing food, and yelling “Pooh, I’m not waving at you!” while waving at Pooh. Good stuff.

After we ate, we made perhaps the smartest decision of the trip, and headed out of the park, rather than squeezing in a ride or two before the 7pm closing, even though we’ve barely been in the MK yet. I did get a couple good pictures of the castle with Christmas lights before we headed out.

Leah was freezing and exhausted, and Aly was a bit whiny, so they loved being on a packed monorail heading back to the TTC, but they handled it really well. I let Aly ride up front again (don’t tell, please don’t tell) and made it back up to our room, put Leah to bed, and started packing up for the move tomorrow morning.

Aly and I headed downstairs to return her life jacket, get some rome pressed pennies, and get me the funnel cake they didn’t bring me last night. Except I’m so damn tired, I forgot to get myself a funnel cake, and I’m too damn tired to walk back down there and get one. Plus, then Aly might see Brian the magician again, and we all know how that ends – bad jokes and still no funnel cake. I eat like one funnel cake a year, why is it so hard to get one when there’s a funnel cake stand like three minutes away on the Boardwalk? Apparently my language gets a bit loose when I’m tired, so I apologize if I’m using bowling alley speak.

PS – if you’re wondering about the post title, it’s a reference to the Michigan weather we all love to complain about.