Never say never again

Let me just say it - I love Disney!  LOVE IT!!  My children do too.  My husband - not so much.  Or at least he will tell you that if you ask him.  However he will also tell you everything you need to know in order to maximize your time, energy and money if you go.  We just went "for the last time - EVER" over Labor Day Weekend.  I say it like that because every time we go he says we are never going again - until we do.  I know what you are thinking - "are you crazy".  It is actually a great time to go.  We have been three times and all three times the parks were not busy.  Sure it is hot hot hot, but at least it is not busy.  I will give you an example: at Animal Kingdom we rode the Kali River Rapids and when it came time to get off the attendant asked us if we wanted to ride it again.  So we stay seated and did it again!  That is just one of many many examples of no lines.  Apparently the beginning of school keeps all the northern visitors away and so you just have "local" traffic.  So if you are looking for a good time to go you may want to consider September.  We arrived late Thursday night and hit Disney World early on Friday morning.  There were only a few rides we targeted as must do's so we headed straight for Tomorrowland.  Buzz Lightyear here we come!  Lucy was reluctant to get on, but once she started blasting away she was eager for more.  Jim and Lilly broke off to ride Space Mountain - Jim said she was terrified (can't believe it).  Lucy, Ben and I rode Buzz Lightyear again.  After that we hit a few more attractions then decided to bolt for Epcot.  Jim wanted to ride SOARIN with the girls and so Ben and I rode through the green house.  Jim said the girls (especially Lucy) loved SOARIN and basically had everyone on the ride laughing at their outbursts.  I took Lilly on it last time we were there and it was all I could do not to laugh out loud at her reactions.  We puttered around for a few hours then decided to head back to our hotel for some pool time.  We rolled the dice and went back to Disney to watch the fireworks.  That was a new thing for us.  Usually the kids turn into monsters by the time dinner is over since we typically blow through nap time.  Again, no crowds so that was probably what saved us.  We stood in the middle of Main Street USA and watched a fantastic show.  The kids were asleep before we even got back to the car.

The next day we decided to go to Animal Kingdom.  Jim and Lilly rode the roller coaster Expedition Everest and then we did the rapids.  We had an early lunch at the Jungle Cafe and then immediately headed over Disney Studios.  Really and truly there isn't much at this park our kids can do, but we wanted to try and do the Toy Story ride and of course go by and day hi to Lightening McQueen and Mator (Ben LOVES them.  Here our luck ran out.  It wasn't crowded by any stretch, but the Toy Story attraction had a 90 minute wait.  So that was a no-go.  Instead we got in line to see Buzz Lightyear.  The kids didn't know the difference so we made a quick exit shortly thereafter. 

Next stop - Blizzard Beach.  We love Blizzard Beach!  It was somewhat crowded when we first got there, but as the afternoon wore on it really thinned out.  Usually we just camp out in the kiddie area while at the water parks and stick to the small slides.  We rode the family slide Teamboat Springs as a warm up and then on to the more "varsity" slides.  I wasn't at all worried about Lilly and Lucy, but Ben was the wild card.  He would have to ride on the mat or tube by himself.  The first one we tried was a toboggan race.  We had to lay on your belly face first and hold onto grips.  Ben jumped right on and took off!  After that we rolled the dice again and did Snow Stormers.  Again, he laughed the entire slide!  We packed up our stuff and headed back to the hotel for dinner.  Our hotel was right around the corner from Sea World and they are doing a promotion that servicemen and their families get in free so why not - let's go see Shamu Rocks!  It was incredible!!  On our way to the car the fireworks started so we sat down and watched a bit.  Lucy had already passed out in the stroller, but Lilly and Ben seemed to enjoy it.

Sunday was going to be a slow day - only one water park - Typhoon Lagoon! Buoyed by our success the day before we headed to the family slide first and then took on some other slides.  All of the slides Ben had to ride by himself in the tube and he did incredibly well.  Half the time he wasn't even WET!  Big big smiles at the end when he would reach the splash pool.  Typhoon Lagoon also has a wave pool that generates 6 foot waves every 90 seconds.  The kids loved it!  It makes a loud sound and then the wave comes cranking out and basically knocks everyone to their knees!  Usually when you hear the sound you notice people swimming away from the wave, not Lilly!  She was running towards it.  The wave hits and then she goes bottom over teacups up the beach.  Soon she got Lucy into the action.  I was scrambling like mad to jerk them up as they went tumbling past me.  Ben was smart, as soon as he heard the noise he ran over to Jim and got up on his shoulders!

So just to recap - that was seven parks in 2.5 days.  Yep, that about does it!  Good thing that was our last trip ever!! Guess who has booked a Disney Cruise for Spring Break?  So much for "never again"!