the disney adventure--a trilogy, part one.

14. Visit Disney World. Preferably with Sadira. - DONE!

In looking for a spectacular way to tell the tale of our Disney trip, I'm first going to start with a commemorative rap.  To be sung to the tune of the first verse of the Beastie Boys' "Paul Revere." 




Now, here's a little story I got to tell...
About two fine mamas, you know so well.
 It started way back, last January, 
With K-Mac, Nas & Sean, and my girl, Say-DEE!


Been had a little voucher to plan our stay...
 Had to lay out the deets, pick the month and day,
Would we go by air? Would we go by land?
Didn't matter since good times were on demand.


One worried Nassy I be.
How we gonna keep these 'cited kids happy?
The plan was getting good as we drove through several states
Spend the night in Savannah 'fore they knew their fate. 
 Lookin' for a way, 
To tell them 'bout that day, 
My friend Lissa made them presents, they said, "Disney? What? No way!"


Oh yeah. 

You're welcome. ;-)

So in plan English, thanks to the mommy board I used to be a part of, about a year ago I found out about a great deal on an Orlando vacation--it was a Today Show special, and $200 for two adults and two kids, for four nights in Orlando. Like, $200 TOTAL.  As in, if Kerri and I split it we each had to contribute only $100. TOTAL.  Seriously, how could we pass this up?  I emailed Kerri the day I found the deal, and we decided in minutes to purchase it.

Around the beginning of the year, we decided it was time to select our dates, and get our plans for our trip firmed up.  We decided to go during the week of Memorial Day, so we had the extra holiday day off and only needed to take four days off of work instead of five.

Of course we told the children nothing.

I scoured the internet for a good deal on airfare, but sadly came up empty handed.  So it was decided that we would drive, and stop through Savannah on our way down.  I had wanted to take Sadira to Savannah for some time, because my Aunt Gabby lived there, and I wanted Sadira to have that connection with her namesake.

Plus Savannah is gorgeous, and who wouldn't enjoy a little day trip in the Peach State?

So we planned and planned.  We would drive down, spend one night in Savannah and then head to Orlando, and do all the Disney crap.  Kerri and I excitedly kept the details of the trip secret from our children.  We were thrilled that we were going to pull off an Orlando vacation on a budget, and not spend thousands of dollars in the process.

As soon as my friend Melissa found out about this plan, she whipped into action.  Melissa is what I call a CDP---a Crazy Disney Person.  I've learned that pretty much everyone falls somewhere on the continuum.  From the DGDADs (Don't Give a Damn About Disney people, AKA my friend Lindsey) to the CDPs (Crazy Disney People, a la Melissa) everyone has an opinion about capitalistic Disney.  Even if they don't realize it right away...all it takes is a trip to any one of the Disney theme parks and you will quickly learn where you fall.

For your reference, please see Graphic 1, below.

So displayed far to the left, we have the Disney haters, happily drinking their HaterAde, cursing over the Disney obsession, ranting that it's not worth the money.  This is probably the only time in my life I'll be able to describe my friend Lindz as "far left" in anything, so I'll take it. ;-)


On the far right, we've got my friend Melissa.  This girl literally eats, breathes, and sleeps Disney.  She even sees Mouse ears in places where there are none.  It's like a Disney hallucination.  Except CDPs proabaly call them halluminations, or some shit like that.  These CDPs are hardcore.  When in Disney mode, they are surrounded by magic (thus the stars and "sparkle" in the graphic above), cartoon animals appear happily at their feet, and they speak their very own Disney language.  For example, the people who WORK at DisneyWorld can't be called employees, they are CASTMEMBERS. And they are more than willing to describe, in detail, anything you'd ever want to know (or didn't know you needed to know) about FastPasses, IllumiNations, PhotoPasses, Pin Trading, Magic Your Way, Magic Express, Character Dining, Character Autographs...the list goes on the on.  And as they talk about it, they're eyes get bigger and bigger, and they start to speak faster and faster until you think they just might start speaking in tongues.  Magic tongues. With ears of course.


My friend Kerri falls somewhere in the middle.  She's a healthy mix of appreciating Disney, but not needing to go over the top.  She thinks it's fun, but it has its time and place.  It's not an every year vacation, in Kerri's world.


I'm slightly to the left.  I continually feel like I'm missing something.  I'm not a full blown HATER, but I just don't GET it.  I mean, yeah, it's fun and all, but I could never imagine going without my kid. Or going year after year.  Or spending thousands of dollars on a vacation to a theme park when I can go on a cruise to the islands, or trip to Europe for the same price.


I also just really don't "get" the cheesy song and dance routines.  I mean, and I love me some musical theater, but at Disney it catches me off guard and unprepared every time. 




So anyway, my friend Melissa the CDP, was kind enough to pull together a complete four page (FOUR PAGE!!) itinerary for us.  After reading my story of visiting DisneyLand last year, she did not want me to "waste" a single Magic Moment waiting in line.  

She also was kind enough to put together gift bags for the kids, which we used to "reveal" their surprise to them.


The day before we left, I asked them both where they thought we were going.

Sadie said, "Chuck E Cheese."
Sean said, "to visit Aunt Nicki."

Excellent.


So the day of our departure arrives, and our ride down is not uneventful.  Mainly because halfway through Virginia, this happened:

We later found out that Kerri got pulled over in DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Virginia.  If that doesn't sound like middle-of-nowhere VA, I don't know what does...

So on the road again, we continued.  Until 10 hours later, we arrived in beautiful Savannah, Georgia.  We spent the rest of the day running around downtown Savannah.

The next morning...


we revealed the big news:









Disney, here we come!  (Hooray! Kinda! Eek...Lord help me..)