Patricia & Family - February 2008

Cast: Myself - Disney crazy (celebrating 44th b-day –though a week late); DH – Jay, not so Disney crazy (but coming along) (43); DS–Dan, too cool for Disney "wink-wink" (15); DD –Tiffany, only here for the fast rides (11); DS – Joe, a Disney convert (7); DS – Andy, another convert (4) (started early with the little ones)

When: Feb 11 – 13, 2008

Where stayed: All-Star Music Resort!

DAY 1 - Arrival & Surprise Day

The day had finally arrived. Everything was ready to go. Jay would call my cell when the ME bus arrived, & I would talk about where we were & what we were doing (& give him clues to find us). We weren't sure if we would be able to get into the room early or not. The plan was for us to leave about 9am (we are about 1 ½ hours away). We would go straight to get the tickets, then try go check in at the resort, then swim for a while dinner at `Ohana at 5:20pm.

Everything went as planned. I kept watching the clock, knowing Jay's flight got in just before 11am & it should be ½ an hour to 1 hour to get to the resort. We checked in & our rooms were ready, so we headed to the rooms & unpacked the van. The kids wanted to go to the pool, but I kept stalling (knowing Jay would be there any minute). Finally my cell phone rang. I never said who it was & just kept babbling about how we had gotten into our rooms, & we were on the 3rd floor all the way in the back in the Country Fair section in Building 6, & how we had to go from the lobby all the way back passed the 2 pools. He followed the cues & said he'd be there in a couple minutes. I hung up & turned to the little ones (the older 2 were in the other room listening to MP3 players & TV), & said "since we are in such a magical place, wouldn't it be great if we could close our eyes & make a wish & daddy could be here?" I got the camera ready & got into position.

There was a knock on the door & someone said "housekeeping" (Jay forgot that they are "mousekeeping", but no one caught on). I asked Joe to open the door for me since I was on the other side of the room (and turned the camera on). He opened it & the look of surprise & complete joy was priceless. When he got over the shock he turned & said "my wish came true!" –again priceless. We went to the pool for a while then headed over for dinner.

Dinner was fabulous. The food just kept coming & was so good. We all ate so much. The shrimp was the best I have ever had. I am not even a really big fan of shrimp, but did go back for seconds. Our cousins were very attentive & just kept bringing more food. We all were grateful for the warm wet towels (especially after all the shrimp). Even though I was full, I had to try the banana bread pudding with the banana foster sauce. It was sooo good.

Even if your budget is tight, it is so worth splurging on at least one of the table service restaurants. They really do not disappoint. Oh, & there is no dieting at Disney (too many good things to try).

We headed back to our room to rest for tomorrow – EPCOT. We had early morning EMH. Jay had been up since about 4am traveling & was tired. We were all full & just wanted to roll back to our room. Tomorrow would be a great day. Jay hadn't been to EPCOT since Dan was 8 months old, & Andy had never been. So, off to bed.

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