School Vacation!

My nephew's school vacation was last week. My brother and nephew decided to spend school vacation week with us in Florida. Unfortunately, my sister-in-law was unable to come so she was missed.

At the time my brother booked the trip, we had a mid-week all-day outing planned. He decided to book three nights at Disney. We booked one night at Bay Lake Tower and planned to spend two days with them at Disney. Later, our all-day outing was canceled so we were able to book two additional nights - but at Animal Kingdom Kidani Village so we had to change resorts and rooms.

Brother and ten year old nephew arrived late on Saturday afternoon, April 21st. Our nephew asked if we could go to Kennedy Space Center on Sunday so we did. My brother had not been there since he was a kid and my husband and I had not been there for 30 years or so. We had a wonderful time until a rain shower mid-afternoon drove us out. I will certainly return here.

On Monday morning, brother and nephew headed over to Disney. They had plans to spend three nights in a cabin at Fort Wilderness. We followed a short time later, stopping first at Bay Lake Tower to drop our car off and then busing over to Animal Kingdom. The plan was to spend the day in Animal Kingdom. We went on the Safari, Expedition Everest and Dinosaur altogether. They also went on Kali River Rapids and Primeval Whirl which we declined. We had fastpasses for Navi River later that evening but also had booked reservations at Citrico's so did not ride Navi River that day. Instead, we went back to our respective rooms and met up pre-dinner at Mizner's where we listened to the band for a bit before checking in for dinner. We had an excellent meal.

Tuesday was a Magic Kingdom day. We were transferring from Bay Lake to Animal Kingdom Kidani Village this day but opted to leave our car at Bay Lake and walk over to Magic Kingdom. My brother and nephew arrived at the park before we did and were able to walk right on to Splash Mountain. Big Thunder Mountain had a short standby wait so we did that. When finished, there was still enough of a window that my brother and nephew were able to take a second ride on Splash Mountain with fastpasses. We also had Splash Mountain fastpasses but opted not to start the day off wet. We also had fastpasses for Pirates and Haunted Mansion. I know we also went to Hall of Presidents. Lunch was as Tony's. After lunch, my brother and nephew headed off to the standby line for Space Mountain. All the lines were pretty long by this time and no more fastpasses were available until later in the evening. We went on the People Mover and then decided we would make our move over to Kidani so we monorailed back to Bay Lake Tower, picked up our car and drove over to Kidani. Unfortunately, we packed about as far as possible from our room location. The only availability when we booked this stay was for a standard view room. I was very surprised that we actually had a view of animals and, surprisingly, I think we saw more animals in the small viewing area we had than we ever have seen from the savanna view rooms we have booked in the past!!! Tonight, we had reservations for California Grill. We bused to the Magic Kingdom and monorailed to the Contemporary while brother and nephew took the boat over from the campground. When we arrived at the Contemporary, we sat in the lounge but discovered my brother and nephew were shopping nearby so went to meet them in the shop. With his shopping completed, we checked in for California Grill and were notified that our table was ready before we got off the elevator. We had a lovely booth with a nice view of the Magic Kingdom. Dinner was good, as always - love that goat cheese ravioli!! After dinner, we walked over to Bay Lake Tower and went to Top of the World. We were very close to fireworks time so no tables were available. We waited until just before the fireworks started to go outside though as there was a brisk wind that evening which made it feel very chilly!!! After Happily Ever After, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom to get a bus back to our resort while brother and nephew headed to the boat ramp.

Wednesday was scheduled to be another Animal Kingdom day but since we had covered most of that park - except for Pandora, we decided to make this a Blizzard Beach day since nephew wanted to go there. Still, brother and nephew got up very early to head over to Animal Kingdom to see if they could get on Flight of Passage during extra magic hour. Unfortunately, both Navi and Flight of Passage went down while they were on line. Once we arrived at Blizzard Beach, clouds rolled in and there was a breeze which made it a bit chilly. Everyone but me went off to go down the big slide which they did a couple of times. They went into the wave pool for a bit and then invited me to go along for the lazy river ride. I declined. I'm not sure if they made the whole circuit but nephew was chilled by time they finished that. Brother and nephew decided to head off to Hollywood Studios. We didn't have a change of clothes with us so decided we would head back to Kidani and meet up with them later at Animal Kingdom for our Navi River fastpass - figuring the ride would be back up and running by then. We had driven to the water park so drove back to Kidani. We decided to lunch at Sanaa but they were completely booked. We were able to grab a table in the lounge and had a very nice lunch there. Brother and nephew lunched at 50s Prime Time. Brother texted later and said things were not looking good for Navi River ride so he and nephew decided to go over to Epcot. We said we would meet them at Epcot. We got to Epcot before they did. Spaceship Earth was a walkon so we did that. From there, we did a show about color in Innovations - cute but probably more interesting for the under 12 set. While in that show, brother texted they had arrived and were heading for Soarin'. We didn't see them there so got on line and said we were in line. After Soarin', got a text saying they had finished Soarin' and were heading to Mission:Space. We walked over there and waited by the exit. When they came out, brother decided he wanted a Magarita so we walked to Mexico and got Mararitas. We didn't find a bench to sit at until we got to China which worked out well as we were in a great spot to see the acrobat show there. Nephew wanted ice cream so we walked around the the American pavilion and got ice cream for him there. From there, we made our way out of the park and we each went to our own resorts.

Thursday was originally scheduled to be for Hollywood studios but since brother and nephew had already done it the day before, we opted just to have a nice breakfast at Sanaa and return home - leaving brother and nephew to spend the day as they wished. They did manage to get on Flight of Passage on Thursday as well as favorites from other parks. They ended their day at Disney Studios returning to our home around 9 in the evening.

Nephew asked if we could go to Gatorland on Friday so we did. It was interesting but I see alligators on an almost daily basis in my community. Still, I might go again with out of town visitors if they wanted to go. We saw the gator wrestlin' and gator feeding shows. We fed alligators with hot dogs and saw white alligators. Still, a half day is about all you need here.

On Saturday, nephew wanted to go to Sea World so we headed there. I had not been here in a number of years and my brother hadn't been since he was a kid. Brother and nephew went on two of the coasters and my husband joined them for one. We saw the whale show and the dolphin show (which was my favorite of the day). We got to see manatees and some of the other animals there as well.

Most of Sunday was spent in the pool. Late Sunday afternoon, we drove over to Disney Springs, wandered around a bit and then had a nice dinner at the Boathouse.

On Monday morning, we were all up at 5:30 am to see brother and nephew off. They left our house at 6:30 am to drive back to the airport and catch their flight north.

It was a very busy, but fun, week!!!