Day Five: When ducks attack

~ Continued from previous post.

We all waited in the lobby while Rich retrieved the van from the parking lot.  Grammy graciously offered to stay behind with Allie so Rich pulled the single jogging stroller from the van for Grammy and Allie to use in our absence.  As a mother, I was in an odd position.  If I had stayed behind to comfort and care for Allie, Rich and Grammy may have had a difficult time navigating around the park.  I knew the rides and attractions that Anna and Emily wanted to experience and where they were all located.  Also, it reduced the risk of a stranger assuming that Rich and Grammy where husband and wife.  Obviously, I am being sarcastic here but it has happened before.  We even had one of the security guards checking our bags at the park entrance ask if Grammy and I were sisters.  To which I jokingly replied, "I don't know if I should be offended by that or not."

As a parent, you sometimes feel like you are choosing between children.  Thankfully, in this situation, Grammy has helped care for Allie since the day she was born and Allie said that she was okay with Grammy staying with her.  Friends and family have asked if Anna and Emily had a fun vacation despite the fact that Allie was ill.  Well, of course they had fun.  It is Disney.  But in a way, they didn't.  The girls have such a strong connection and that connection was a bit broken during this vacation.  Also, Anna and Emily both had a few moments of being upset when I couldn't do something with them because I was caring for Allie.      

I forgot to mention in one of my earlier trip report posts how we now prefer riding the monorail instead of the ferry when traveling to Magic Kingdom.  I had read that you may be asked to fold up strollers on the monorail if it is crowded.  When Rich had to go back to the van to grab the girls' princess dresses, I suggested that he take the monorail.  He told me that it was so much faster than the ferry and it is.  We were never asked to fold up strollers so I'm not sure if that is a rumor or only applies to extremely busy times.  I should note that the monorail cars are a few inches higher than the platform so you do have to lift the strollers.

By the time Rich, Anna, Emily and I arrived at Magic Kingdom, the afternoon parade was in full swing.  We stayed back from the crowds so that the girls could watch what was left of it.




Sometimes my kids look miserable even when they are having fun.

When the parade ended, we cut through the gift shops to avoid the crowds on Main Street and headed towards the Haunted Mansion.  The wait time was listed as 10 minutes and it was on the girls' list of rides they wanted to do.  We ended up waiting much longer than 10 minutes to board the ride.  The line filled in rather quickly because the parade had just ended and then there was some issue that caused a delay of about 10 minutes.  So we ended up in line for about 30 minutes.

I was a bit surprised that Anna wanted to ride this considering that she's afraid of almost everything.  And wouldn't you know that the ride stopped and we were stuck for almost 10 minutes in front of that green ghost/goblin thing that pops up.  The man walking the emaciated dog was next to us and I made the mistake of looking at that man's face for too long.  I actually started to get freaked out.

After we escaped that ride, we decided to check out the fairy meet and greet.  Rich stopped for drinks on our walk over there while I went ahead with the girls so that we could join the line if it was long.  The wait time was 45 minutes.




The line moved faster than I expected it to and I didn't really mind waiting.  The girls really wanted to meet Tinker Bell and I knew that this was our last chance to do so.




I was a little bummed that Tinker Bell was the only fairy present at the meet and greet.  From what I've read, there are supposed to be two fairies there.  Either way, Tink spent a good deal of time with the girls and they were very happy.    




Anna is still in that I like my hair messy phase so we were all amused when Tink attempted to fix her hair.







This was the only meet and greet where the Photopass photographer didn't even bother to take any photos at all.  She asked me if I was a professional and I told her no, that photography was a just hobby of mine.  As we were leaving, she said, "Good luck with your, er, hobby."

We then scooted over to Pirates of the Caribbean, which had about a 10 minute wait.  Anna was a bit scared during certain parts of it but we all survived.  It was close to dinner time by this point so we stopped at Casey's Corner.  This is a quick service restaurant with outdoor seating.  Most of the tables were taken but we found an empty one without issue.  Except for the ducks.  There is a fenced-in grassy area in front of the tables and apparently birds and ducks enjoy hanging out there.  Earlier in the week, Rich and I had commented on a woman feeding the birds and ducks while standing next to the sign that says "Please don't feed the birds."  There were two or three ducks cruising around the tables looking for handouts.  Anna is afraid of bunnies and kitties so as you can imagine, she was terrified of these ducks.

There were two tweens eating at a table next to us with their grandparents.  One of them was feeding the ducks even though I heard her grandmother ask her to stop.  A young girl a few tables away started screaming because apparently, she too was feeding the ducks and one snapped down on her finger.  Anna was almost in a panic at this point despite the fact that I kept telling her that I wouldn't let the ducks near her.  Well, two ducks ended up between our table and the tweens' table and when the tween dropped some bread to the ground, the ducks started fighting over it.  One of the ducks snapped at Emily's flip flop and toes.  She didn't cry but it scared her.  And Anna.  I suggested that the girls sit criss-cross applesauce and asked the tween to please stop feeding the ducks.

While not very healthy, the food (chili dogs and french fries) was tasty.      

Sadly, after dinner, we bade farewell to Magic Kingdom.  While it wasn't extremely late, Rich and I had made an effort all week in Florida to have the girls in bed at a decent hour.  We also wanted to give Grammy the opportunity to eat dinner if she hadn't done so already.

Touring the park as a family of four was a completely different experience for us.  It was noticeably easier to walk around and move through crowds.  And find tables and take food orders.   Now I can see how some families are able to zip around and do more than we are able to.

When we arrived back at the resort, Grammy and Allie were eating dinner.  Well, Allie was picking at hers.  They had spent the afternoon going for walks, people watching and eating ice cream.  While Allie wasn't any worse, she wasn't considerably better.  We had two days remaining and I realized at this point that she probably wasn't going to be 100% recovered until our vacation was over.

Evening balcony view.




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