Skamarakas Family - April 2006

Cast of Characters - Jim (dad, age 29 - well, at least that's all he'll admit to); Anna (mom, age 41); Brighid (DD age 14); Eilis (DD age 5); Granuaile (DD who turns 1 on our trip!)

Day 6

I am already expecting this NOT to be a good day. Grace is coming down with her Dad's cold, it is already pretty hot out when we get out the door, Jim still doesn't feel that great and has no desire to be out in the heat then in the air conditioning. We decide to make this day a walk around the lake at the World Showcase, enjoy a few of the shows, and then go to our lunch with the Princesses in Norway. We are again taking the approach that we will do what we can, we will see what we can, we won't wait too long for anything, and we work under the idea that we will be back.

We start off at "Cool Club" - formerly Ice Station Cool. Eilis, for some reason, loves tasting the sodas - even the bad ones. Trouble is, most of the sodas seem to be out. We don't burn off too many minutes this way.

Our next trip is over to the Living Seas. I don't know what is going on in here, and I can't make my way through the crowds to figure it out. There is a MOB of people when we walk in, and we are having a hard time manuevering through the crowds to see anything. We go into one room, where Eilis finds Dori and Nemo swimming around, and we gaze in awe at the jellyfish, which are so cool, but once we leave that room, we are back in a throng of people and we can barely move. We start to head out, stop to look at a few of the items in the gift shop, and then head the rest of the way out. Whew - I feel lucky to be out alive!

We make our way over to the World Showcase, and things are already getting set up for the EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival. We like the food and wine deal more, but there are some things that we stop to see anyway. One of the areas has different pieces of sculpture that are pretty cool to look at, and Eilis spends a few minutes here. By the time we make our way over to the UK section, the show is about to start, and Eilis grabs a front row seat. Jim and I find a bench, and then he runs off and comes back with a HUGE, delicious cheese danish. We have skipped breakfast, as usual, and this hits the spot.

Eilis loves the show, and runs up afterwards to the actors to thank them for their performance. Some days, ya gotta love this kid. They oooh and aaaah over her, and then she decides she needs to make a bee line for the potty. We wander around the maze behind the shops for a little bit, and admire the Pooh topiaries.

Continuing around the lake, we stop at the Kidcot station at the American Pavilion. Jim gets to talking to the CM there, an elderly man who spends quite a bit of time complaining about Disney and how poorly the employees are treated not compared to when he first started working there. Then he complains about not being able to sell his home in Celebration and how there are so many homes for sale there that people are stuck with massive mortgages and can't get out. I am getting depressed, so I walk off with the baby, and let her out of the stroller for a few steps around. By the time Eilis is done and Jim is finished chatting, it is time to go to Norway.

I worry that our ADR will be delayed when I walk up and see the crowd in front of the restaurant. It takes me about 10 minutes just to make my way to the podium, but we are seated within a few minutes and enjoy a nice lunch. Grace misses most of it, as she has fallen asleep, but Eilis has a blast and the food is pretty good.

On our way out, Eilis starts acting like the kid we know and love anyway. She is complaining that we haven't done any of the rides. She is complaining she didn't get to ride Test Track (which we had FPs for, but she didn't want to leave her kidcot project to go and use them), it is 93 degrees, the baby looks like a dishrag, and I make the call to take them back to the hotel. Eilis cries all the way out of the park and I know I look like one of those people that doesn't know when their kid has had enough, even though I know when my kid has had enough and I'm trying to fix that.

Back at the hotel, we enjoy the pool for a while, and then we get take out food from one of our favorite Florida fast food restaurants - Pollo Tropical (Tropigrill in some locations). Everyone gets bathed and jammied, and we sit out in the cool breeze on the balcony and enjoy the fireworks. This is really the perfect way to end the day!

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