Sunday, September 16, Day 3, was our day for Blizzard Beach.
We arrived late morning and shared a cinnamon roll. Not long after finding a semi-shady place to claim our chairs did DH spot another friend of ours, Travis, walking toward the kiddy pool.
We knew Travis and his family would be there the same time we were, as they had invited us to their Disney Party they had for everyone they knew who was going to WDW during the month of September. Gotta love that Free Dining.
We chased him down and found his wife, Melissa, and 2 little boys playing the pool. DH ran off with Travis to try some slides while I stayed with Melissa to help her take care of her boys. I was content to sit my bladder down in the cold water while DH had some fun. I was having fun, too, just in a different way. A way that didn't involve beating up my backside on a slide. And being generally incomfortable. Instead, I was sitting in a foot and a half of pool, happy as could be.
In fact, sitting there helped so much, that by the time DH came to collect me and we said goodbye to our friends, that I was ready to try some slides myself. We did a few, then the very last one - the one we were looking forward to the most - we waited in line forever for, and when we got to the very top, the very next ones to go down the slides - they shut down the park.
"Sorry," the lifeguard said. "There's a storm coming."
Ah, the quintessential mid-afternoon Florida storm.
We made our way through the crowd of tourists to the bathrooms to change. When we came out, it was pouring down rain. We ran to the bus stop and sat halfway soaked underneath the entirely-too-small shelter they have for the buses and waited for the Polynesian bus. We were having dinner at 'Ohana at 5 PM today.
The year before, my parents and I tried Kona, and we really liked it. I decided to try 'Ohana this year, even though I had heard Kona was still the very best the Polynesian has to offer.
Boy, I think I have to contend that one. Because 'Ohana was delish.
Someone was even dumb (or smart, depending on how you look at it) enough to ask for A-1 sauce. They absolutely made a HUGE fuss about it, and made him put on a grass skirt and parade around the restaurant with the kids and Cousin So-and-So because he angered the 'Ohana gods, or something.
It was pretty loud in there, but we were against the window on the side, and honestly we were too busy eating the AWESOME meats and other foods to even care.
This was the view from our table:
We tried a pineapply drink. Yum!
And more free dessert. Too beautiful to eat!
We left 'Ohana completely stuffed and satisfied. DH was learning very quickly that everything I said about Disney food was absolutely, 100%, I-kid-you-not correct. Before now, he had always made fun of my being a Disney Snob. "Oh, <insert Disney dish here> was SOOOO much better at Disney," I would say. Or, "There will never be food as good as Disney food." And he'd always get irritated with me and say I wasn't being very open-minded. He doesn't say that anymore, of course. Now he is somewhat of a Disney Snob, at least when it comes to food!
We got on the monorail, not sure exactly how we wanted to spend the rest of our evening. I suggested we walk around the Grand Floridian. This was a staple of past trips to WDW - if we couldn't actually STAY there, at least we'd get to visit and pretend we were. It was (or still is, actually) my mom's favorite place on earth. This is where we stayed for our first Disney trip, all of nearly 20 years ago, when it was BRAND NEW. Of course, we never paid a dime then, nor did we pay for the 4 trips that were to follow, the last free trip allowing us to once again stay at the GF. My dad worked for Chevrolet, and THEY paid for our vacations. And after that, we were hooked.
So I needed to pay homage to the place I fell in love with as a child. However, there isn't much to do at the GF except walk around. And I was restless. I asked DH if he wanted to go visit the Boardwalk. Instead, DH suggested, "Why don't we go to the Magic Kingdom? We're right here."
I felt my heart grow wings and flit away like Tinkerbell. "That's an even BETTER idea!" I squealed.
It was Extra Magic Hours night, anyway. The storm was long gone, leaving behind a beautiful pink sky in its wake:
My favorite castle in the world:
We spent most of our time in Fantasyland, and went to the bathroom in between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland where Lilo is looking for Stitch. Maybe there was no toilet paper in her stall, and she needed him to find some for her?
These are things one thinks about when one has a UTI at Disney World.
But I can assure you, it IS quite possible to forget one has a UTI when one is taking the proper meds AND watching the most magical, beautiful thing the Magic Kingdom has ever created....WISHES.
This would be DH's first Wishes, and it had to be a good one. So we stood just behind Casey's Corner on Main Street, and I had my camera ready. Because this time, I was going to take pictures.
When the music swells in the beginning, I hold my breath. Because I know that in just a few moments, my heart will spread its wings and fly away in enchantment over and above Cinderella's Castle as fireworks explode above its spires.
But would DH feel the same way?
Here are my favorite pictures...sorry they're not professional, but it's very hard to actually ENJOY Wishes and take pictures at the same time:
However, during the last few minutes of the show, it got to where I couldn't take pictures anymore. I was too busy holding DH's hand and listening to every *gasp* and expression of delight he was making over the fireworks. *MY* wish was that DH would love Wishes so much he would want to come back. And that I could enjoy the rest of our trip, bladder trouble-free. And that DH would love WDW as a whole enough to want to come back...I wasn't even expecting him to love it as much as I do, because I know I have nearly 20 years of memories there, and he's just getting started.
But just before the end, when the voices are singing "When You Wish Upon a Star," and the castle is a lavendar color, with giant golden fireworks painting the sky, DH looks at me and he is.........
Crying?
Well, there are tears in his eyes.
"I love you," he said, and leans in to kiss me.
Sometimes, the biggest firework finales of all, in the most magical place on earth, don't compare to the ones inside the heart.
Next up: Back to the Magic Kingdom, when I see the interior of the Castle for the VERY first time, and somehow the Fairy Godmother knows who we are?! Lots of Disney magic to come!